Doing Fine

Hello

This week we had a good week. We found a miraclous person, but I will have to tell you next week because the internet is soo slow and I don´t have much time now. 

Sounds like you´ll have a fun time at the Bear Lake reunion. And there will surley be people that will ask how I am doing. Just tell them I am doing fine and something funny.

Anyway, I promise write a fully detailed email next week.

Thanks y con much amor 

Elder Gilbert

Fell Down Like a Log

Sounds like a wild time in Cedar City, hope everyone recovers from the race. 

This week I did some interesting things. 

We did a service project this week. We literally moved a house. There is a less active member in the ward who needed to move her kiosk where she sells food. So the whole zone of missionaries came (16 people) to move the house. It was soo heavy because it was made of metal. I about busted a guset trying to lift it up, but we got into place after 6 attempts. To add to the fun, it was raining all day this day and so we did in with rain and in the mud.

I also fell down this week. We were leaving a house and there was a stream of water surrounding it and so I jumped on a rock but it slipped and tried to recover but I just fell down like a log while throwing my scriptures on the dirt so they wouldn´t get wet. I had mud all over one side of me. My companion thought it was funny. 

Something else new: we had ward council in a bus because there was soo much rain that President Rocha (of the quorum of elders) couldn´t make it in his wheelchair to the usually designated spot.

And also the bus that usually carries us to the church changed routes and so we almost ended up in Plan 3000 (a different area in Santa Cruz). Had to walk a little ways to church. 

Well it is time for me to go again, love and smiles 

Elder Gilbert

Cumavi

Thanks for the Birthday package. My companions got a kick out of the card, because it was so high tech. They have never seen anything like it before.

We had a jolly good week. We are continuing to find new investigators and teaching.

Wednesday, I went on excanges with Elder Peña the Zone Leader. He decided to try something new to find new investigators and so he carried around baptism clothing and asked people what they thought it was, or or put it on them to see if it would fit. Some thought it was doctors clothes and such, but it was interesting to try. It reminded me of something Natalie´s friend would do (I don´t remember her name but she like pòetry and went to Korea)

On Thursday, we went shopping on Cumavi. The Cumavi is a big avenue and every Thursday there is a peach days booth/swap meet thing that they set up (Just 50 times bigger and 50 times more rip-offs). They sell used American clothing (the kind of stuff you usually send to the DI. In case you were wondering where your charity donations of clothing go in third world countries)  and we got permission to go and buy some clothes for winter. The funny thing was that my companions bought some clothes in while it was somewhat dark and when we got home they found out they had bought a  dark green women´s coat. And that the pants they bought were brownish-red. Thankfully I didn´t buy anything, but the latinos learned not to buy stuff in the dark.

Friday, I got my Bolivian identification card, so now I am officially Bolivian now.

Hope you all have a good week. Sounds like the Summer Games are just around the corner so, Let the Games Begin!

Love ¨

Elder Gilbert

Welcome to Winter

Welcome to Winter!

Strange to look at your pictures while it´s getting colder here (about 65 degrees-March weather in Utah). The thing is that there is so much rain and humidity that it feels cold. The two coldest weeks of the year will get here in June.

This week the Family Cruz got baptized. I would send pictures but it will just put more viruses on my memory. But it was a good experience and the hermana Sonia gave a powerful testimony about how she had a dream with her brother that had passed away telling her to get baptized. So that was pretty neat.

Tuesday, we painted a shed that a less active member owns and then the President of the Quorom of Elders invited us over for lunch. Turned out it was for my birthday. So I had a birthday lunch. He reminds me a lot like Grandma Miller in that when he gets an idea, he wants to do it (He is in a wheel chair so he spends a lot of time thinking about these things). He is always trying to feed us.

Today for p-day we are going to go play wally. It is like volleyball and racket ball put togther. It is just like volleyball except you can play off walls and the ceiling except the backwall. 

Well that is the short clip for today I hope you enjoy the summer vacation!

Love Elder Gilbert

Happy Birthday!

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes. I had a wonderful day and got away with just handshakes and birthday wishes. Today I think I'll buy myself a cake to eat.

Wow...that is a big truck. When I saw it, I thought ¨That´s a little too nice from the usual fleet of trucks we´ve had.¨ And Stephanie's new bike (that´s some flower power). And Natalie looks like she is enjoying Washington DC (Keep sending me photos).

I have a new companion. His name is Elder Caballero (which means knight or cowboy or gentleman) and he is from La Paz. He is the District Leader and he is really nice.

Today it has been raining soo hard. The thunder even broke one of our light fixtures. Pretty soon we will have to be swimming. 

This week we were able to find new families to teach and the Cruz family is going to be baptized this weekend. So we shall see how that goes.

I haven´t been able to send pictures becuase the computers just keep putting viruses on my memory so you will just have to wait until further notice for photos.

And I have to finish now because the computers are soo slow (might just be because of the millions of viruses)

Love 

Elder Gilbert

Lightning

Happy Week, 

Sounds like Stephanie got a new house, Natalie is going on vacation, Mom is working on the new calling, Dad is buying a new truck, and Grandma is in charge of everyone. Sounds about the same from when I left, uhh? Stephanie moved in with Logan, Natalie dreaming about her vacation to Europe, Dad was debating about the truck, and Mom was stressing about her lesson to give in 3 weeks, and well Grandma Miller is always in charge. Strange, no?

This week was the last week for my companion, he will be  leaving on Wednesday and I will go to pick up a new one. That is just the way it is with companions, you throw one away then you buy a new one. 

This week, they hauled me into the migrations again. Thank goodness we were only there for 3 hours instead of the 8 hours from last time. But tomorrow we have to go to SEGIP to start the process of getting my Bolivian identification. The only bad part is that we have to be there are 6 in the morning and it is on the other side of town. 

For my Birthday, I am going to go the Ramada today and maybe I will buy something for myself--like a cake or something. I expect the package to arrive next week or the following. It is about 5 weeks for something to get here.

I didn´t really think about the email beforehand, so I don´t remeber much what happened. I guess it is what you guys would call a regular week. Besides the lightning. There was a big rainstorm and it started when we were eating lunch. There was a flash of light like someone had just taken a picture with the camera pointed in our faces and then there was a bang so big that it shook the house and sounded like lightning had struck like two houses away. 

Anyway, you guys have a good week and enjoy

Elder Gilbert

Toberorchi Tree

It was great to see you all yesterday. The people that have changed the most are Justin and Grandma Gilbert. I was sad to see that Grandma has really declined in her health. She looked a lot like Grandpa. And well, let´s just say Justin is entering into that awkward time between childhood and adulthood (and I just loved the special effects by the way, Justin).

This week I made a list of the things that I want to tell you about because I usually forget. 

As I said yesterday, these days we have been getting a lot of rain. In fact so much rain that it took out the bridge and canal that I walk across everyday. Here are some good photos. 

I am the first gringo companion for my companion. This is a little bit strange but, yes there are more Latinos in this mission than there are gringos. I would say about 60% are Latinos .

The big animals in the north would be things like crocodiles, anacondas, piranhas, jungle cats, poisonous frogs, and really big insects. They are found mostly in Beni and the Chupari.

Transfers are in two weeks. My companion will go home and I will likely receive a new one in my same area (3-4 transfers in one area is normal). Transfers are every Wednesday every 6 weeks.May 20 is the next and the next after will be July 1.

As for that package, you can wait for the next week (give me some more time to think). But something that I thought of would a wrist watch that doesn´t have nickel.

New Investigators.

Juan Vargas. He found the Church while living in Spain but this lead to a grand conversation about the water quality in Spain. Apparently the water comes from the ocean and has a lot of chlorine or something. Anyway he drank that water for six months and when he came back to Santa Cruz he started to have problems. Namely that what usually comes out of your bottom started coming out the front end. And he went to many doctors but nobody believed him until he showed to them. Then they hooked him up to a lot of machines for 6 months until that finally found out that the crapper had somehow melded with the bladder and for this he had problems. He even had the scars of right down the belly where they opened him up. And he blames it on the water that he drank in Spain. Never heard that before. He could possibly progress but likes to talk a lot.

Carla Leanos. She is a reference of a member and she is likely to be baptized. She is a single mom of 2 children and has had a hard life. She pretty funny, but fears that if she takes her children to church they will throw her out becuase they are trouble-makers.

Others

Juan Carlos Rivero. He finished reading the Book of Mormon. Only took him four months to do it--put the rest a the people to shame who take 4 months to get past 2 Nefi. He likes the message but isn´t convinced that it is true because there is no real solid proof. Refuses to pray specifically if it is true. He Thinks he should only pray for wisdom and understanding. Interesting guy.

The Cruz Family. Aurelio is the recent convert and we are teaching his family to get them ready for baptism. Last week they got sick with chikagunya (pain in bones, joints, rash, fever). We gave blessings to all of them and they got better in 2 days. The wife, Marta, told us that she had a dream that she fell into a hole of mud and frogs and that a gringo angel came and saved and ever since that she has felt better.

As for the service for this week, we hauled dirt around (to put around a house so that the water wouldn´t enter). I also pushed our president of the quorum of elders in his wheelchair. Sometimes he likes to set appointments to go visit people but can´t get there by himself. So I ended up pushing him down a busy road of cars (speed walking of course so I wouldn't get ran over) And then navigating down sandy and rocky and muddy roads of Santa Cruz. What an adventure.

So the missionaries are coming over. Make sure to give them some authentic Bolivia Food and tell them is a balanced meal of grains, meat, fruits and vegetables and that it will slim them down a bit if they continue for about 6 months. Also ask them if what they do in an average day? How are their investigators progressing? How many lessons are they teaching with a member? Then offer to invite people over for a Family Home Evening and they can give the lesson. And then offer to accompany them to some of their appointments. And be sure to give them at least 10 references (to people who would like to hear, less actives etc). Their mouths will drop because they have never had so much to do in Utah.   

After talking with you guys last night, the family offered to cook us some delicacies of the cow-including the heart and all other organs, and udder. They tell me it is sooo good. Guess I´ll have to try it, won´t I?

I am also sending a picture of a toberorchi. The traditional tree of Santa Cruz. There is a very interesting legend about them. And they just have the most beautiful flowers--Happy Mothers day. Tell me what you think when you read the legend.

I hoped you enjoyed this well-planned email and we talk to ya next week.

Love 

Elder Gilbert