Broken Machines

Good Morning,

Ah, I see the good old ¨do it now and ask forgiveness later instead of permission¨ happened again. What could possibly be waiting to surprise me when I get home? (hint hint)

With the investigators, really right now the best prospects is Ariel, the guy that works for Coca-cola. He always makes me laugh. He told us how at work one of the machines broke down (the one that puts the soda in the box). And so that got that fixed and then they started up the line again and about 2 shakes later the same machine broke again but a lot worse this time because all the other machines are operating and they can´t be stopped for more than an hour and so he has to fixed the problem quickly. So what he does is he wrangles up and the line workers (which is difficult because he tells us that sometimes they get really tired and just start sleeping or they find a crate and go off and start sleeping in the corner when things break). And so he wrangles everyone up and they start putting the soda in by hand. Afterwords someone tells him that there is a back-up of 400 liters of soda and so needless to say by the time he got home he was pretty stressed out.

This week I made peanut butter bars and they turned out quite nicely and so I took them to our district meeting on Thursday and everyone loved them. It also worked out nice because one of the assistants showed up and observed the meeting. When we left the church that day it started to come down really hard. Needless to say it is starting to look a lot like a Bolivian winter. 

My companion got the Chikunguña this week. It is a disease transmitted by the mosquitoes that makes all your joints and bones hurt. But we found a less active member doctor who gave him a prescription for a shot and so we took him to the pharmacy and they gave him one right up the rear end. That fixed him right up.

I forget that this weekend was Easter I thought that it was the next week.

Happy birthday to dad. May you have a wonderful day!

Love, 

Elder Gilbert

Taxi and Wedding Ideas

Dearest Family

I loved the poem that Niels wrote, he really does have some skill in that. I am glad everyone enjoyed the drinks. That is what I drink everyday--the peanut mix is acuatully pretty good to put in smoothies and such in the morning. 

Last week for p-day we went bowling and afterwards went to the newly built Papa Johns. It tasted really good. I almost forgot how good food tasted at home.

This week was pretty regular. There were a couple of youth investigators that went to church this week. This week we found a cheaper way to get to our district meeting. Before we always paid 15 bs to go in a taxi but now we get there for 8. The only downfall is that now we have to take 2 rides instead of only one. The transport here is always a hoot. 

It must be pretty exciting with all the wedding preparations. If I was there I would have put myself in charge of as asset management and seating logistics. You know how those things are. We could have elite table seating which includes an extra candle and a goldfish in water or something and then there are the uninvited guests which clearly got a seat with poor visual view. Also a small picture taking fee so that we can make a little more business off it and so on and so forth. Just kidding  

Anyway have a good week,

Elder G

Mission Facts

Good Morning,

To start off, I didn´t get transferred so I will be here in Antofgasta for at least the next 6 weeks.

And an answer to mom´s question, we have zone conferences (usually about 80 missionaries) with President Willard every transfer or every six weeks (with an interview every other transfer).  Back in the day we used to have lunch with the conference but they cut back on the money and now they broke it up into one session in the morning and one in the afternoon. We also have zone conferences 2 times every transfer where the zone leaders teach (16 missionaries) and then the other 4 weeks I teach my district (8 missionaries.). In our mission there are about 200 missionaries in total but they are spread out. Most are in Santa Cruz but then who have to travel up to 8-9 hours to reach the borders or an airplane ride to Tarija. It is quite large the mission (hard to think of the mission at home only being Logan and Brigham)

This week we have had some difficulties with our investigators with not attending church and such, but there always seems to be these kinds of problems. Sorry I didn't get to write much, I'll try to write more next week. 

Thanks for sending all the emails mom, you guys are the best.

National Flower and Investigators

Good Morning,

I just sent a couple pictures. In one of them I am holding the national flower of Bolivia the Patuju and other is with the sons of the Mamani Family. The small kid with the red shirt is Rodrigo. He is actually 22 years old--I suppose his body never hit that growing stage. 

The week is transfers. It is a toss up on whether I go or not. 

This week we found a pretty cool guy. I asked my companion if he wanted to knock a certain door and so he goes up and pounds it really hard. We looked through the cracks of the gate but we didn't see anyone. A few seconds latter a man comes out and I presented ourselves and he let us in. He gave us two sodas to drink and said to start walking with him and we found out that he works for Coca-Cola (apparently he supervises 60 people and the machinery and he has to make sure that everything runs smoothly because every minute about 15,000 dollars of product comes of the line and so if there are any delays or faults he is in charge of it.) He was super intelligent and had so many good questions and made really good inductions. The next visit, we took Natan (who visited mom) because they work in similar fields and Natan shared how he turned down being an CEO of a company because it felt that it would drive him away from God and his Family. It was a pretty good lesson.

The Family Mamani. We have some work to do there still. We have to help them get married and such. We have to work hard with the members and help them feel more comfortable and such.

Anyway, today we are going to go shopping in the center. Should be exciting.

Love, 

Elder Gilbert