Moving Hills of Dirt

I made it through Carnaval just fine. Did not see too much action, but the buses looked like moving hills of dirt because the people threw mud at them. 

Wow, Dad has really been racking up points in churchball and classic yard work mistakes. I remember the time we helped to pull down the tree but it just landed on the fence anyaway.

I dont even remember very well what happened 2 weeks ago. 

As far as the people go:

The family (Parada) is the closet to baptism and last week they spent all their money on their son´s apendicitis operatation  and now dont have money to get married. So we have to wait another month to save their money. And I hope the son makes it okay because he still had a tube or somthing to let all the infection drain out.

We started to teach the Rojas Family. The dad reminds me Mike. He sleeps all day and works in the night, so when we teach him he is not all the way awake. So we were teaching them and  his wife (who is a lot like Barabra Dallon) is talking about her testimony and he just sighs and then is like Alright lets start with a prayer. Then he was looking at the resturacion phaphlet and he sees the cover with Jesus holding a lamb and He is like Ah, this is buatiful Christ with a lamb and then turns the page to the Prophet Isiah writing and he is like And the profet holding a chicken. THen we were explaining the Book of Mormon and how lehi come over in the boat and we showed him the picture and he says AH yes they come over in NOahs Ark. Lets just say SOmetimes he is a little dazed and confused. 

As far as other things: 

Hammocks are fun and everyone here has one, but make sure to tie it sucrely to the tree. One menos activo was sleeping in the hammock and then all of a sudden just fell. They learned their lesson.

I spoke in Church for a few minutes. Thing is here is they usually call on the missionaries to speak if someone doesnt come 

This week is transfers and they will be closing an area in our ward so we will so what will happen tomorrow.

I have not recieved the package yet, I might recieve it today.

And ahh, I cant attach a photo cause the stupid thing is not working

Love 

Elder Gilbert

Bowling and Burger King

Well before I forget, this weekend Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday is Carnaval (the time of year that everyone goes crazy and starts throwing water balloons of paint at each other) so we will be closed up for those 3 days in house and I wont be able to write you until the following Monday which is the 23 I think.

That is quite funny about the toliets in France. I wished they had some here. The toilets are just the opposite. It is more like tin shed, with used toliet paper trashed in the corner and the toliet doesnt have a tank so when you go you have to fill up a bucket of water to flush it down. What a blessing to have a toilet that flushes by itself.

As Stephanie observed in the recent photo, I have lost weight. You might reasonably attribute it to parasites or some sickness, but the real cause is that there is nothing here fattening. I have had milk with rice, rice water,  cheese with rice, bread made from rice,  rice soup, and even rice at every meal. Would you like some rice with that? Oh please... I have been craving the flavor of rice ever since I eat my eggs with rice for breakfast this morning. NOT. But nevertheless the rice continues to be a family favorite.

But you will be pleased to know that last week for P-day we went bowling at the only bowling place in the center of the city of 2 million inhabitants. Lets just say bowling isn't really a Latino sport and that you can beat them pretty easily because most of them have never even played it in there life. And afterwards we found Burger King and for one small moment I felt like I was in the United States. I also had a chocolate ice cream bar which was really good except that my body is so accustomed to not eating much chocolate that I break out in a horrible acne spell when i eat chocolate.

Fun Fact: People here say,  "ahh come over tomorrow afternoon to drink tea." This usaully means come ever for a drink (usaully a home-brewed something or another but it is not tea) and a piece of bread.

Spiritual Thought. since you guys are sharing spiritual thoughts, I will give you one to think about too:

 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Here we have the Savior of the world turn away a woman because she is not of the house of Israel. We continue reading:

25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

Again the Lord rejects the woman's plea for help saying that we don't take the bread for the house of Israel and feed it to the dogs (gentiles). And then she says that even the dogs need to eat crumbs that fall from the table. And then the miracle occurs. Why do you think the Lord (who is loving and compasionate and suffered all the sins of the world) rejected this woman? Perhaps because she did not have the humility sufficient to have a miracle. The same is with us, the lord sends us trials to humble us so that a miracle can occur. So the question is, are you humble enough to receive miracles in your life?

Elder Gilbert

Marriage Advice

Wow...it sounds like the the tenth ward is dying off quickly. Might what to start buying up some burial lots or else all the old people will get the good spots, just like in Church for parking lots and benches.

Reading Natalie's commentary I can sure tell you that in any foreign mission you can find yourself in a lot of strange situations. Such as carrying around machetes on the bus, tracking down your investigator's cows, helping people strap furniture to their cars, and trying to find where the dog is the sacrament meeting of 270 people crammed packed into the small chapel, that somehow wandered in.

This weeks counsel is for Natalie and Stephanie who are surely desirous to get married. About 90 percent of the people here are not married, therefore just about investigators is going to have the Law of Chasity talk about how they need to get married. I have found over and over that there are 3 basic ingredients for a successful marriage. 1) the desire. Most of these people have been living together for 15-20 years and have a full grown family with grandchildren and still have fears that the don't "really" know the person or expect that their marriage should be problem free before getting married. This is generally the easiest factor to deal with. 2) the papers. everyone needs their identification and certificate. This is hard sometimes because to get a new one is a little tricky process. 3) the money. This one is the hardest. Marriage here cost 500 bolivianos which is like 70 dollars. But if you have this 3 ingredients...boom...instant marriage. 

We have been working with this one family to get married for months and they finally have the desire, the papers, and a member helped them with the money and we go with them to the office to get married and the sisters identification was in bad shape so she has to get another one which is another process. So close...in fact identification paper close.

The other thing is just let the natives cook what they normally like to cook. A member invited us over for pizza. They cooked it by using ketchup as the sauce, a little bit of squeaky cheese, pineapple, peaches, and jalapenos. And the lady that makes us lunch told me she was going to cook hamburgers which turned out to be meat with vegetables in the shape of a hamburger. There is simply no American food here.

If you haven't sent the flash yet, please also send another one blank to back up my photos on and the video of the testaments and whatever church videos you have on disc.

Here are some pictures of daily life.

A general idea of what I eat everyday, a recent picture of me with my companion who is excited, and a random corner street so you get the feel of what it is like

Anyway that what I have to say for this week

Elder Gilbert