Lost Bag and Rainstorm

Good Morning,

Well, I hope Niels enjoyed that family history presentation. If I was only there we could have done some replay/rehearsal/reenactment on how we use to wrestle together or something.

This week we had to go to Villamontes for the zone conference with President Willard and that turned out to be quite the adventure. First of all, they told us that we had to buy the tickets and go the day before so that we could get there in time. So we left at 10 in the night in a minivan thing and come to find out  that the elders house in Villamontes didn't have any room for us. So when we arrived there at 12:30 am we went to a hotel and stayed there. But as we were getting out (I was the last one out and I was in my state of tired, booting up mode) I thought that the driver took everything out of the back and that the other elders had my bag, but when we walked into the hotel no one had my bag and it was still in the car that was now heading back to Camiri. We had no phone number, no name nothing. So that night I slept in my church clothes on a what felt like a straw bed. And the next day in the conference I had nothing, no scriptures, no Preach My Gospel. Only the stuff I had in my pockets (my camera and wallet thank goodness). So when we got back to Camiri that night we went to the offices and asked them if perhaps they had my bag. They told "no" and that it was probably in Villamontes. So that begins the big investigation. We call Villiamontes and it is not there. We try finding out who the guy was who took us there and no one knew his name (turned out he'd been recently hired). After awhile we were able to get a number and called it and it was him (apparently he lives in Villamontes). Thank goodness he was honest and sent it to Camiri. After a couple days of crisis, I was reunited with my scriptures and everything else in the bag.

Thursday, as you saw, it rained pretty hard. We were in the church when it started and when we walked out after about 40 minutes it looked like what you see in the picture. The streets turn into rivers. Even the sidewalks are like that. We had to walk two blocks and when we got to the house we were soaking wet and another elder was sad to find out that he left the window open and his bed was soaking wet.

Sunday, a less active family attended for the first time in years (Inactivate because other members offended them). After years of visits with elders and church leaders, they finally came. That was pretty neat.

Anyway, till the next week comes around,

Elder Gilbert

 A recent convert family that lived in the country as Guranai (native culture). 
Behind us is their house made of mud and sticks. Pretty neat.

 It rained pretty hard Thursday night. 

This is the street perpendicular to where we live

  In the car heading back to Camiri with the sunset.

 Selfie with the storm in the background

Fluffy Dog

Good Morning,

Looking good Karen there on the side-by-side. I remember we went to the motor cross thing last year and I remembered that race with side by sides and thought of you guys. I don´t remember what happened but I
think they tipped over or something funny, right?

Anyway, last week we made cuñape with a sister in the ward. It is like a cheese bread thing. The first batch turned out like pancakes and the later batches turned our good. The dog is the sisters dog it was soo fluffy. And the other one is my current companion.

This week we did some service hualing around wood. We loaded up burlap sacks full of wood and then carried them about 6-7 blocks. My shoulders were a little sore afterwards.

I can´t remember what else we did this week. It seemed like I just wrote yesterday.

By the way, with the Christmas Package one thing that comes to my mind is perhaps some of those doodads that you buy in Deseret Book. I don´t know specifically but something that is kind of cool. And also the new Mormon Messages and videos that came out.

Anyway, until next week, My time is about up.

Elder Gilbert

Home Repairs

Good Morning,

The weeks seem to be flying by at an increasing exponential rate. It feels like yesterday that I just wrote you guys.  I can't wait to see the house, sounds like it has really been getting the remodel job. I too had some home repair jobs this week. First, the bed of my companion broke and so we had to take the boards to the carpenter to fix them. And then we also replaced a faucet and I took it out using my own hands.

Recently, it has been doing some cold weather. My temperature thing tells me it is 66 degrees and oh how cold that is.

This week we have been teaching new families that are really good. In fact, one of them came to church this week (attached below is their photo) It is really exciting when a whole family goes to church together or keeps the commitments together because that is the focus of the gospel--the families.

Today for p-day we are going to play soccer and make cuñape.

Attached I have a picture a service we did, a photo with me and the parrots, and a family that went to church for the first time.

So I got the photos uploaded and I'm going to send before something blows up.

General Conference Bolivian Style

Good Morning

Wow, it sounds like the house is really falling apart. The more work you put into it, the more things seem to break.

To answer some questions.

Weather and Seasons: There are only two types of weather here. The first is rainy and about 60-65 degrees. The other is hot and sunny about 95-112 degrees. Winter is from May to July/August and the rest is just summer. Right now I feel like it is June weather and as we move into December and such we get 100 plus weather. The leaves never loose their color and the days seem about the same.

General Conference: I watched the whole thing in Spanish with the Branch. What happened is that they get on the internet (laptop) and then put it on a big monitor and then put the microphone to the speakers and then listen to General Conference. It was somewhat live because we watched it at the same time as in Utah (12-2pm, 4-6pm, 8-10pm Priesthood). But you guys know how the internet works down here and so we had to pause, wait, buffer , and watch many times.

It is also different to watch general conference in Spanish although I understand it all, it loses the voice of the prophet and in the way they say things. Although the translators try to imitate their voice, it is just not the same. Sometimes the translator would finish before the speaker and sometimes the translator was finishing as the speaker sat down. When President Monson spoke I only noticed that he was slumping down, but his translator voice was calm as a whistle.Interesting that many spoke about Sabbath Day and sacrament.

This weekend the city is celebrating their Saint patron day (San Francisco de Asis) and during General Conference the street where the church is all the kids and students dress yup and dance through the streets with their music and drums. You can probably look it up on youtube (traditional Bolivian dance, where they parade trough the
streets with bright costumes dancing.) So that was also playing during General Conference.

So I was hoping you guys can do me a big favor and look for recipes that I can cook super easily (american products like Ranch, tomato sauce, peanut butter, etc do not exist here. Also no oven, just stove top and blender). I was hoping things like pancakes or french toast or smoothies. I really want to impress my companion with some American cooking.

 Till next week comes round,

Elder Gilbert

A double banana

A family we are teaching