Christmas in Bolivia

Good Morning,

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. It was good to see you all after so much time. I was surpised to see how much Justin has changed---definetly a growing boy.

On Christmas eve we went with a few of the members to go sing christmas hymns and to give out Christmas toys to the children and a dinner too. It was cool because the day before a lady called us (a lady that we talked to in the street and left her our number) and asked if we did something for the children for Christmas. And so the next day we went to her her house and sang a few hymns and then gave her family gifts and a dinner. They seemed pretty amazed. That night I didn't sleep all that well because when I went to bed there were fireworks until midnight and I felt like we were in the middle of the war with all the explosions and squeaks and squeals. 

This week we also helped the youth in the stake by going around and talking to people while they gave out cookies. Then we went and sang hymns on the corner of the street.

Some fun facts:  In our ward we spent 90 percent of the yearly budget on food. Which was like 38,000 bolivianos

A missionary in the ward recently returned from his mission on the California Irvine mission and I asked him if her knew Elder Gee and he said that yes, and that he was the one who picked him up in the airport. Pretty slim chances of that happening because he is the only Latino that I know of that went to the United States.

Anyway, I hope you all a very happy new year of 2016

Love, Elder Gilbert

Lesson on Food

Good Morning

Yesterday we ate a boat load of food. We went to our usual lunch right after church and that was pretty normal. But then we went to our next appointment and it turns out to be the lady´s brother´s birthday. So of course there was food for all. We tried to tell her that we had just eaten and that she didn't need to worry. And then she is like, ¨well, didn't I tell you that I was going to make something (which she did not). So now you are going to eat as your punishment so the next time you´ll learn.¨ We then had chicken breast, rice, baked potatoes, and rabbit with it´s little rabbit paws still attached. It´s kind of like chicken but it tastes a little different and the skin is a lot harder to cut. 

This week we also had the Christmas Conference. It was pretty nice. Yes, me and my companion did sing, Oh come let us adore him. It turned out okay. Oh yes in the cambios my district changed to hermanas.

Anyway, I have to go. Have a wonderful Christmas, see you on that day!

Elder Gilbert

Singing in Church

Good Morning,

Mom has been getting pretty crafty hasn't she; looks like she fooled Natalie for her birthday. By the way, I send Natalie my birthday wishes also, I think she will be 27 right?

Well, lately, president has been talking about the language of faith, using invitations such as ¨Would it be better if we passed by at 8 or at 8:30 to pick you up for church.¨  Well, I recently got that used on me. The assistants call and tell me that they felt impressed that me and my companion should sing a duet in the Christmas conference for all the missionaries and then asked me ¨So which song would you like to sing?¨ Well great I don´t know. I will talk with my companion and call you back to tell you which one. Let´s just say that worked like charm.

I also saw a motorbike crash. We where teaching a lesson when we hear a great crash sound, so we all run out the door to go see what happened and turns out that two people  on a motor bike ran into a truck turning onto the street. Basically everyone just ran over there and tried to do something while all the other cars start honking so that they could get buy. The next day we passed by there and they had it all outlined with spray paint and there where blood stains so hopefully no one died.

This week there were 4 investigators at church and 4 less actives. Not too bad for this week.

Here is the photo with me and my Christmas tree. I also got the other package today. That is Bolt the dog that lives outside.

Anyway, until next week,

Elder Gilbert 

Semi-trucks

Good Morning Family,

I hoped everyone enjoyed this week. As it comes time to write you all again, I always forget what I want to tell you and then I usually remember afterwards. But anyway we had a pretty good week. We had some investigators go to church yesterday and one has a baptism date for the 26 of December.  

I suppose I can tell you about the owner of our house (his name is Felix Choquevillca and he is a member in the ward). He is pretty much a multi-millionaire. He accompanied us this week and I asked him how he got into the transport business (he has like 15 semi-trucks that he bought from the United States and had them shipped over here on a boat).  He told me that he started by carrying bags of shoes on his back over the border of Argentina and he didn't have even a hundred dollars. But just last week he told me he bought a house that wasn't anything cheap. It was worth a half-million dollars (which is a ton in Bolivia). But his sons are going to go to BYU to study and now he is thinking about moving over there. He is really funny and he has been practicing English.

Anyway here is a picture of me and my companion and one of the semi-trucks.

That's all I can remember for this week. If you have a question that sometimes will help me remember stuff.

Elder Gilbert