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!

--

AEA

Elder Craig

And Carnival begins!

Hello everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great week! 

This week for me was a pretty good week. Things here in Punata are slowly, but surely getting better for the work of the Lord. Also, this past week, Carnival officially began, which means water balloons have officially started to fly towards us on the streets here in Punata.

But, first off, this week we have officially started to contact references that we've received(finally!) from members. We went with one member to go teach her cousin and her cousin's kids. Well, we went and the lesson went really well. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel, and then we challenged her and her kids to be baptized. The mom said yes immediately, and then afterwards her kids both said yes as well! We finally have baptismal dates for the 26th of this month. They are a really good family, too. The husband of this hermana gave her permission to listen to us, so we don't really have to deal with that obstacle which normally would be a problem. Plus, her daughter really likes going to church. The only real obstacle is her mother-in-law(aren't they always?), because she's the owner of the house that they live in , and she takes the kids to her church on Sundays. But, we can get over that pretty quickly, I think.

Next, we went and taught an older man named Mario, who found the church years and years ago in Argentina. Apparently he assisted there for nine months and then stopped because he started moving around a whole bunch. But, he says he really likes the Church a lot more than the Catholic Church for a number of reasons. So, that's a pretty decent place to start with him, I think. And we'll see how everything goes with that.

Well, Carnival has started here, and that means groups of kids roaming the streets with bags of water balloons....and we are huge targets with our white shirts, ties, and name tags. Yes, we've been attacked several times already. But, don't worry, I'm ok, and it'll all go down next week during the official two days of Carnival.

Dad- That blows that Cert 3 fell through, but as I learned recently, "there are no failures, just feedback." That's really helped me out here. Have a good week!

Mom- Well, I'm not the only gringo still waiting for my X-mas package, so I still have hope.

Aly-Sounds like your week was good though.And don't worry, things can only get better from here!

Emi- you used the quechua perfectly! And I know junior year is boring(it was my worst year in high school), but it'll be done soon!

Have a great week y'all!
-- 
AEA

Elder Craig

p.s. Sara Pickett- Congrats on the engagement! I hope you don't get married before I get home!  ;)

  

Happy Carnaval (and Mardi Gras)

Hello beloved family and friends!!!!!!!

Well, this wasn´t a very exciting week as far as weeks go. The only real exciting thing that happened this week is that I got sick....again. Yup, three weeks in a row this time. It really sucks. I went to the lab after being sick all morning and having stomach pain.

And the results that I got were that it was parasites, again. Soooo, I´m taking really strong meds right now, and I´m still on the infamous  "white diet" which means nothing but chicken, rice, potatoes, bread, no dairy, no beef, nothing fried, etc. etc. So, it´s super fun.

We did not have any baptisms this past week, but we do have one, possibly two for this upcoming Saturday, so keep your fingers crossed and say your prayers that they come through because they´re really special to us. We did find a bunch of new investigadores this week, and so we´re starting to be really busy with them.

We also went to the temple- The first session after it was closed for cleaning! It was so awesome, and I really needed it. It´s such a blessing that we have a temple in our area. Not a lot of missionaries get to go for their two years, so I´m super grateful.

And now the Carnaval news......I´ve been chased down the street twice by kids with water balloons(that was during the week) and today we were headed here to the internet cafe.....and some girl in a van shot me in the face with a Super Soaker. So it´s starting to become really fun here. Because of Carnaval, we as missionaries won´t work today or tomorrow, because who´s going to listen to a bunch of missionaries during Carnaval. Plus we´re huge targets with our white shirts and ties.

Mom- I hope you had an awesome week!!! I love getting your emails.

Dad- Dude, I´m super jealous that you got waist deep powder!  I hope you keep getting teaching opportunities like that.

Aly- I´m glad all of your tests went well. I hope you have a ton of fun in Vegas!

Emi- I agree with dad, you´re out of shape....but that´s how´ll you´ll start the season, it´ll be totally different at the end of the season.

Have a good week.

Abuelita y Grandpa- Felicitaciones en su llamamiento! Quiero saber cuando saldran!

That´s all for now folks!

AEA

Elder Craig