Our Temple Mission: Easter Fireside & Busy P-day with Holger Rodriguez & the Senior Missionaries

At 5:00 PM on Easter Sunday we went with the Hawses to the Tri-Stake Charla Fagonera (Fireside) put on by the Trujillo North Mission. President and Sister Casos brought the two Guevara couples as well. We all sat in the same row. It was a great way to celebrate Easter. The talented missionaries from the mission sang and played instruments. Several Easter videos were shared as well as testimonies from President Marler, President Rabanal, President Quinones & President Davila.

Sister Zamora from the temple was there with her little granddaughter.

Elder Parkinson from Draper & Elder Carman from Bountiful.
These two elders fathers were best friends and were in each others weddings.
They lost touch with each other over the years, then their sons were both
called to serve in the same mission. They met briefly with their families before
coming to Peru and have now become great friends.

Sister Marler, Elder Craft, Elder Marshall, Elder Heward, Elder Olsen & Sister Vaughan.
Such cute Elders and the sisters aren't so bad either.

Part of the choir, led by Sister Marler.

Seven Elders singing.

Sister Coleman & Sister South playing their violins like angels. Very talented girls.

Elder Olsen on the cello & Sister Coleman on the violin.

Sister Pineda from New York sang "I Stand All Amazed".

Cynthia Garcia and James Apolinario both work in the temple.
They started dating and are now engaged. They will be married in September.

Ziomy & Jan.
Ziomy is a recent convert of 3-4 months from the California Ward.

When we returned home we found one of our temple engineers, Oscar Palomino, outside with his little 2 year boy, Tiago. We ended our evening with banana splits in the Haws apartment.

When we went to church on Sunday, we sat next to Holger Rodriquez & his wife. Holger is the son of Irma & Guillermo Rodriguez who Bill baptized when he was in La Esperanza 50 years ago. I posted this story on February 22nd. They were the ones who adopted the little twin babies when their mother died giving birth to them in the hospital where Irma worked. Holger wanted nothing to do with the missionaries back then and only joined the church with his wife a year ago. They were recently sealed in the temple.

On Sunday Holger asked Bill if he could pick us up in his car on Monday morning and take us back to la Esperanza where the story began. We had a wonderful morning with this sweet and humble man. His wife was not feeling well so she didn't come with him but we stopped by their home later to visit with her.

Holger and his Toyota 4-runner. He says there are only 3 in all of Trujillo.

When Bill was here in 1967, this was a single story house. They later added two more floors and had missionaries live with them from time to time. This is where Holger & his twin sisters grew up. The two sisters still live in the family home on the 2nd floor. A dental office is downstairs. Only one of the sisters is married. The La Esperanza branch met in the family home for 1 year and 7 months until they acquired a branch house.

The Plaza de Armas is across the street from the house. Bill remembered this when he first talked with the family. This is the only home he can remember from 50 years ago.

On the rooftop of the house. Their laundry room is behind the windows above the
blue laundry basket.

Holger & Bill on the rooftop, overlooking the Plaza.

We took a picture of this family picture on the wall.
Holger, Irma & Guillermo,
Maria Elena & Maria Dolores at their Quincenera, 15th Birthday celebration.

The parents with the girls a couple of years before Bill met them.

Elena, Guillermo, Holger, Irma, Dolores & Holger's wife when he received his
first University degree. He now has 2 Doctorate degrees and teaches civil engineering in
one of the Universities here in Trujillo.

Irma & Guillermo with their granddaughter, Zahayra, Holger's daughter who lives in Provo.

Maria Valentina, 2 years old, the daughter of Maria Elena & Bishop Quezada. She was not
able to have children for years but finally had this little girl when she was 52 years old. Valentina thinks she
has two mothers since Maria Dolores lives with them and takes care of the little girl when they work.

Holger, Valentina & Dolores.

Another picture with Bill.

Holger was the Mayor of La Esperanza for 3 years. 220,000 people live in La Esperanza. As he drove us around the city we could tell that he was well known and loved by everyone.

The church where Elena's husband is the Bishop.

The poorest part of La Esperanza where people live in these little shacks.

This is the way Bill remembers La Esperanza, lots of hills and sand.
When Bill's parents visited with him here a year after his mission, his
Dad said, "This is where you became a man."

The outside of Holger's house. He said he made lots of money in his life but
he found out if you don't have any spiritual gifts in your life, the money isn't worth it.
His mother died July 5, 2015 at 102 years old. She was able to see her son and
daughter-in-law baptized before she died and attend the Temple open house.
His father died 1995 at age 71.

Holger with a book he wrote.

Holger with his wife in their living room.

Their kitchen.

The dining room.

Holger wanted to take us to get a juice before he took us back to the temple.

After our outing with Holger, we met the American Senior Missionaries for lunch at Romanos, a very nice restaurant near the Plaza de Armas in Trujillo.