Birfday week! (received 5/14/12)

Hey everyone! 


Well, happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! I hope you had a great day yesterday! This week was a TON better than the past week. It was more successful and rewarding than the last week.

So, my companion and I did a lot of work this week. We focused time into working mainly in Yacanahuyo and with the Crespo Family. Lately it has been rough for us to have investigators come to church, and now we are having our investigators come to church, but now the problem is that they come late to church. And the Area Presidency has declared that for the asistence to church to count towards the baptismal date, the investigators must participate in the Sacrament.....that means that even that we've had 5 or 6 investigators show up to church, we've had to report 0 investigators at church for two weeks in a row. That's been really frustrating for us, but we're really happy that they're even coming to church, which was a huge problem before. But, our investigators are progressing well now.

Ok, so you all probably wanna know what happened on my birthday. Well, it was a Tuesday, which for us here means that we travel to Cochabamba to go  to our District Meeting. So, we were in meetings all morning, and we got back to Cochabamba in the mid afternoon, so we had to go and start to work, because we had several investigators to go visit. So, at dinner that night we got to dinner, and there was a cake box on the table. Well, I thought it was a cake, so I gave everyone a hug and everything, and opened the box, which was full of corn and had a sign that said "The Cake is A Lie!" (it's a video game joke- Google it.), and we had a very good laugh about that. Then they brought out the cake and we sang Happy Birthday and then they wanted me to bite the cake, which is also a tradition here. And normally they smash your face into the cake, so I told everyone to get away from behind me and went in to bite the cake. Well, Elder Martinez flipped the table up and my face got completely enveloped in the cake. So it was a good night after all. Then the next day, a member family invited me over and they had another cake for me. AND that night at our Missionary Fellowship night, the ward had bought me ANOTHER cake. So, I got three cakes for my birthday! I don't feel like I'm 21, but here I am, 21 years old.

We also had our Zone Conference this past week. It was a good conference and all, but the weird thing was to see the sisters from my group go up and give their final testimonies. They're going home next week. Weird. I also had my bi-transfer interview with President Dyer, and we spent some time talking about how I'm going to finish my mission. Soooo.......You'll just have to wait and see. ;)

Family- It was great to see you yesterday and to be able to talk to you! I hope that you have a great week!

That's all for now! ¡Hasta luego!


-- 
AEA


Elder Craig

The Day After ... My Birthday!

Why hello familia and friends!

I hope everyone had a fantastic week! This was a really good week, and not just because I got to talk with my family!

My companion and I spent monday playing soccer with our zone versus another zone. It was sick. We lost but it was fun anyways. I was the only defender too for most of the game, so I was running ALL OVER the field. I was exhausted afterwards. On Tuesday we found a awesome new couple to teach that seem really interested in the Gospel. Then later that night, we had a Family Home Evening with a family of less actives, and it was SO COOL! We taught a lesson on the difference between the talents we´re given and spiritual gifts. Then we played a game with dice called Snake Eyes, which was awesome. Then we finished the night with cheap Bolivian ice cream. It was a really good night.

Wednesday was just a boring, normal day. Thursday was disappointing too, but we did get a surprise call that morning....we had migration at 8:30am(We got the call at 7:30am)! So we practically ran to the middle of the city to go to what we found out was to get our blood drawn.  That was a nice surprise to start the day. Then practically nothing that day. But Friday was a huge turn around. We found 7 new people to teach on Friday! That was so awesome! Friday, nothing happened. But Saturday was a exciting day....We were double-booked with lessons, and we had a baptism to go to(the elders that we live with had a baptism). Most of the lessons went through, but the funny thing happened when we were heading to our lessons. To get to a certain part of our area, we have to pass a gas station. And these gas stations are full-serve, so they gave these skimpy dressed girls that put gas in the cars. Well, two of these girls started WHISTLING at me and my companion. Yup. So, it was pretty awkward to pass by again to head to the capilla. And Sunday, my birthday, was an awesome day. I went to church, then got to talk to my family, then my companions surprised me with cake(no pics)...then my pensionista(the member who feeds us) also had a cake! It was an awesome birthday!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

AEA

Elder Craig