Viva Carnival!

Hello everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great week this past week! Ok, so technically this title(which I stole from my mom's email title) is for this upcoming week that we are technically in right now, but whatever! [Mom note: I spelled it the correct way in Spanish: Carnaval]

This week was a tiring week, but I am finally going to have a legal Bolivian ID! I literally spent all day Wednesday in Cochabamba just sitting around waiting to have my picture taken and get my fingerprints printed. It was a super boring day, but there was a really cool thing that happen while I was waiting. The migrations department is in the downtown of Cochabamba, and is next to this modern plaza called the Plaza Colon. Well, my companion and I were sitting there and we were approached by a missionary from the Baptist Church! And he was gringo! It's super rare to find another american here in Bolivia (other than the missionaries that I already know), so it was pretty cool. Well, this guy comes up to me and my companion, and asks us to teach him about the Church and answer a BUNCH of questions that he had about the Church's doctrine. It was a really cool experience to be able to teach and testify to another church's missionary about church, but for some reason it was really tough for me to teach in English. This guy didn't speak a lick of Spanish, which makes me really curious on how in the world that he even survives down here. And after we had to go I finally got all the stuff done I needed to for my ID, which for me is like "Finally! Now I don't have to explain to cops why I don't have an ID!" Yes, the police is real dumb and corrupt down here. But, anyways, I was super excited until they told me that it would be another MONTH until I got the actual ID....and they don't even give you a paper one or anything to hold until the ID gets to me. They make it WAYYYY too hard down here to get a legal ID. I think they want to scare as many people off as possible.

We also went and visited another village here in Bolivia this week. We went to a town called Pocoata( Po co-ata), which is a teeny tiny town south of Punata. We went with the ward to have a picnic lunch and to visit some members there. It's super pretty in the country-side, like it almost blows my mind. I honestly never would have guessed that it looked that good, because before I was here in Punata, all I knew of Cochabamba was the big city, which is big and brown and super dry. But, just go another hour south, and it's green, more humid, and a heck of a lot prettier. And we had a really good time down there. And I attached a pic of me drinking out of a coconut shell, in which they traditionally serve chicha, which is a corn liquor, but we were drinking a nice hot peach juice from it. Don't worry. ;)

My companion and I finally have a bunch of baptismal dates! we've been working hard to try and get a baptism before he goes home in 8 days, but it doesn't look like it's in the cards, which is a real shame, because I really wanted to have a baptism with him. But, we've been making up for that by  setting up for me when he leaves, so I can get a few baptisms with my next companion.

Dad- well,sounds like it was fun. Thanks for the advice...I really appreciate it!

Mom- Well, but a King Cake then! Those are some funny stories from your childhood! Happy Mardi Gras!

Aly- Sounds freaky, but I'm glad you made it home safe! Have a good week!

Emi-Hi! Have a good week!

That's it for now!

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AEA

Elder Craig