Panaca: Petting Zoo

President Mantilla of the Granada Stake invited President and Sister Hacking and us to an activity at a place called Panaca. We were not sure what kind of place it was until we got there. They had all kinds of farm animals and then they put on shows. We watched a show with the cows, pig races and the best was the equestrian show with beautiful horses. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Institute at Our Apartment

We invited Linda's Institute class to our apartment for a lesson and a small party. We ate mini-burgers and seven-layer bean dip and played games. By the time we took the picture, some students had already left. We had a great time!

Mission Christmas Party

"Papa Noel" and Mrs Noel came to the party for all of the missionaries in the Bogota area. The missionaries played sports in the morning, had lunch, watched Toy Story 3, did Skits, had a devotional and ate a wonderful dinner. We watched the skits and enjoyed the devotional and dinner.

Christmas Decorations in Bogota

Here are a few pictures of some of the decorations around the area that we live. The nativity scene is made of sand and they are always working on it.

Eating Rat!

Sister Boulter and Sister Hacking went shopping for Christmas lights and stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch. They saw that the napkin holders looked like little rats. They ordered from the menu and thought they were getting pork. When their lunch was brought they asked what is this. They were given the name and then asked what kind of animal. "Raton, mas grande!" They posed with a porcelin rat just to remind us that they ate rat. They said it tasted like pork!

Our Christmas Tree

We decided to go green for our Christmas tree. Fake plastic trees cost about $30.00 with no decorations and they were only about two feet tall. We walked to the area called "Flores" where they sell flower arrangements. We loved this arrangement shaped like a Christmas tree. There are 13 roses and two sunflowers and it only cost us $10.00. Flowers in Colombia are very inexpensive. I think we will keep this tradition.

Justice and Mercy

Last week we were meeting with President Gallego and Jaime Mayorga about giving credit to students who had too many absences. Jaime said to give them the benefit of the doubt, but President Gallego said that we must follow the rules. Later in the day, we walked past their offices and the signs on the door said "Justicia" on President Gallego's door and "Misericordia" on Jaime's door. By the time we got our camera, they had removed the signs so they decided to pose with their signs for our camera. They then switched sign. I guess you had to be there to laugh about it.