Parasites! Oh my!

Alright, so I hope everyone had a good week! My week was...well, interesting. And I will get to that.

First things first, I don´t know how much news of Bolivia gets to the States, but if you hadn´t heard, things are a little shaky. First thing that happened was that sugar prices are sky high right now, like it´s impossible to find sugar here in Bolivia. You can find all of the sugar substitues you could ever want, though. That´s the weird thing.

They refuse to use that. Second, the government put a tax(they call it a tarifaso here) on taxis and trufis/buses/public transportation, so there were a lot of demonstrations and marches and protests, etc, etc.

I even took a pic of one passing our building. Third, milk prices went up, and a couple of riots went off in the night for that, but the police took care of it quickly. So yeah, things are fun here.

Now with me.....hahaha, um well, Tuesday was the start of a very interesting week. I got up, and let´s just say I was sick to my stomach all morning, so I called the wife of our mission president, and she sent me to go do tests and what not(which took all day), and that night I found out that I have parasites(yup you read correctly), which meant expensive pills that I´m getting reimbursed for and the infamous white diet. That consists of every white food possible(lots of rice, potatoes, and chicken), which means I´m eating the same thing everyday....it sucks. And then on Thursday, I had conejo for the first time(also known as guinea pig). It was weird. They boiled it, and then I started to eat the head(yup, la cabeza) without noticing until I realized that there was a lot of bone on this chunk of meat I was eating, then seeing a little eye staring at me.....kinda freaked me out. But yeah.

This week ended really well though! We ended the week with a baptism for an investigatore that we´ve been teaching for the past six weeks, and other missionaries for the past five months, so it was really cool. My compi baptized her. It was a special day for all. We also got another longterm investigador to committ to a baptism this Saturday, so we´re totally excited. I just hope it doesn´t fall through.

Dad- Have an awesome week! I hope the pow-pow is treating you well.

Mom- Hey! Hope you have an amazing week!

Aly- Thanks for the email. I´m totally jealous that you got to go sledding....just wait until I get back! :)

Emi- Hope all is well. Good luck on your tests this week!

Sophie- Hey little cuz!!!! Hope you had an amazing birthday. Luv ya!!!!

That´s all for this week!

Elder Craig

Cochabamba Street Demonstration

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, happy valentines day to all of you! I hope everyone is doing fantastic....I sure am!

This past week went really quick for me....I can´t believe how quick it went.

So, no baptisms this week, but we did confirm the two new members that we baptized last Sunday, and I confirmed one of them(my first

confirmation!!!) and that was really cool and humbling.

So, on Monday nothing really exciting happened. We got permission to go to this massive open market/bazaar thing called "La Cancha" (it means "The Field") because Elder North, who lives with us, wanted to go get the game Risk, which we found, super cheap, and his companion, Elder Mendoza, needed socks. My companion and I tagged along because we had nothing better to do during P-Day. Tuesday we had our English class, which is going ok.....no referencias from it yet (which is our purpose behind it) but, we´re holding out, and the members of the ward are enjoying it. And on Friday, we had our bi-weekly Missionary Night at the chapel, where we played a game and had a spiritual moment. That was more successful in getting us contacts, we got two that night.

So, we have an awesome new investigator who is READY to hear the Gospel...he´s the father of a recent convert, and he´s totally awesome to teach. This doesn´t happen very often because fathers are usually super tough to teach because they don´t want to open up because religion isn´t very manly.... But this guy is amazing, and I hope he progresses well.

So, yesterday we found out about the changes because this transfer is OVER!!!! And I am staying in Petrolero for at least another six weeks, my companion too( but it´ll be his last transfer here for sure because he´s been here now for 4 and a half months, and six months is the max in one area, and after this transfer, it´ll be six.). Elder North and Mendoza are staying too, so we have a happy apartment. The only real change is a new district and zone leader, so things are staying pretty much the same for now.

Mom- I´m glad you had fun in Dallas, sorry that your NASCAR thing got cancelled. I hope you have an amazing week. Happy Valentines Day!

Dad- Hope skiing is treating you well. Have an awesome week, and have tons of fun! P.S. Every one loves the Milly pic.

Aly- I´m sorry that you had a tough week. I hope you have an awesome Valentine´s Day!

Emi- Hey you! Have and awesome week! Happy V-Day!

That´s all for this week!

Elder Christian Craig

February 7, 2011

Hello everyone!

Yes, it is P-Day again. And I am writing from the land of Bolivia!

So, we started this past week by playing a game of soccer(futbol) and we had a ton of fun. We rented this cancha(turf field) and played for two hours against another zone. I played hard, and that was a HUGE mistake....I was really really sore for the rest of the week! Hahaha.Then I went to the grocery store to buy my breakfasts for the month. This month´s choice of cereal- Chocopics, a Hispanic chocolate cereal.I think it´s pretty good.

Tuesday wasn´t that exciting, but we did have our weekly district meeting.

Wednesday was a long day. It was my first zone conference( I only have about 7more) and it lasted ALL day pretty much.. We got out at about 4 and that didn´t leave a ton of time to do any work, but we did some anyways. Our zone conference was about several things. We talked about finding new investigators, asking good questions during lessons, and some other things that I can´t remember. It was really good, though, and everything went really well.

Thursday was a just a normal day. About half of our citas (appointments) fell through, so we spent a good time knocking on doors, without a ton of success. Friday, was a crazy day. We were freaking out the entire day(my companion and I) about a baptismal interview that we were supposed to have that evening....and it didn´t fall through!!! It was the hermana whose interview fell through three times last week. She was early to her interview too! And that´s wierd for Bolivianos. But after the interview, there was only one problem...the Mission President wanted to talk with her on Sunday during church. That means that there could be no way that she could be baptized on Saturday. So, my companion and I were a bit disappointed.

But, on Saturday, after our appointments, we went and cleaned the pila(baptismal font) because we knew that if the President ok´d it, we could baptize her on Sunday after church. And....WE DID! I included some pics of the baptism.

So, the week ended really well. Also, for the past three days, we´ve had rain in the morning, and on Friday, we had a huge front come in( I included a pic of it....Dad, I thought you might like to see it.)

Mom- Thanks for the letter. I´m glad to hear you´re doing well. Glad business is good.

Dad- Hope you had a good week. Good luck with the Cert III stuff.

Aly- Thanks for the letter and the pics. Glad you´re doing well.

Emi- Have an awesome week!!!!

That´s all for now(folks!)

Elder Christian Craig

End of January, 2011

Hello again!!!

Wow, this past week went super fast!

Ok, so this week we were supposed to have 3 baptisms.... and it was too good to be true. On Thursday, when they were all supposed to be baptized, two of them didn´t show up for their interviews. The weird thing is, the one who did show up for his interview was the one we least expected. And his mom was supposed to be interviewed too, but she never showed. Next, on Friday, we had a ward Missionary night, and that mom was supposed to come for her interview then, but....she showed up 20 minutes after our district leader( who´s supposed to interview her) left. So we wanted to try again on Saturday, but when we went to go pick her up from her house, no body was home(we could tell because their front door was padlocked shut). So we had a disappointing weekend. And with the lady´s son, he decided to go to a

pueblo(village) to go visit his aunt, so he wasn´t there all weekend.

He´s actually supposed to come home today because school is supposed to start tomorrow. And with the third person we were supposed to baptize, her dad had to leave for the weekend for work, so we had to move everything for this upcoming weekend.

Otherwise, we are working really hard. We definitely need to find more investigators. We have some very good one though that are progressing, with the exception that they don´t really have asistencias(church attendance). Also, the English classes are going well(I´m teaching English if you didn´t know...at least Elder North and I are), and we´re hoping that this week the attendance goes higher.

I´m sorry that this letter is so short, but our baptisms(that never

happened) are all that really happened this week.

Oh yeah, and we´ve had our first water balloon thrown at us. It barely missed my companion. He says that these are the signs of Carnaval. So, it should be an exciting time.

Also, we had a real breakfast this morning. I attached pics of it, along with the pics from my baptism last week.

Mom- I hope you had an awesome birthday, and hope all is well with Commgap.

Dad- That sucks about the audition, but you should totally keep trying. You´ll get there sometime!

Aly- I´m super sad that you were sick on your birthday, but I´m glad you got better. Have an awesome week!

Emi(¡Meemerz!)- That´s funny about your gym class. Hope hula is fun, and have a great week!

That´s all for now! I love you all!

Christian(Elder Craig)

Week 2 in Bolivia

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

Wow, another week has just flown by! I can`t believe it.

So, this week.....we were busy busy busy, which is good. We taught around 35 lessons this week, and I`m praying that these numbers stay consistent. But, I know that they always won`t be this good, but it`s nice to have these nuimbers anyways.

So, no baptisms this week, but we have two for sures this Saturday!!!

I`m super excited for them! It`s a mom and her daughter that have been taking the lessons for about a month and a half, and they are becoming super strong members of the Church! It´s been so awesome from what little time I`ve had with them to see them change even more! And now, we`ve just started teaching this hermana`s youngest son, who wants to find out for himself whether this message is true or not.

Another new investigator that we have is super awesome as well.  His parents are members, and he`s been going to church with them and believes that the Church is true, but he needs to be taught the lessons before he can be baptized. So that`s looking really up. So excited.

We`re also teaching the youngest daughter of a recently converted family, and  she´s getting baptized next weekend, so that´s awesome!!!!!

Another investigator that we started this week is just totally eating the  gospel up!!!!! Her only desafio( I forgot the english word) is that her husband doesn`t believe that God`s church truly exists.... I hope to change that . :)

And ANOTHER investigator is also getting baptized,  along with her fifteen year old son(Hopefully), next Saturday!!!1

Sooooo much work, but I´m loving it! Hopefully sometime this month, we´ll go and see the Christus statue that´s  towering over the city.

Don´t worry all, I´m being fed really well....like too well. I´m afraid I´m going to get fat. I can see why Allen loved the Bolivian food so much. Plus, we talked to our landlord, and we have running water, somewhat. We can take showers( hot showers!!!!! Love them!!!!), but the toilets still don`t flush too well, so we still use buckets.

But, all is well.

Mom- I´m alive and well. Hope you had an awesome anniversary!

Dad- Hope the powder`s still got you rockin`.  It`s been about 85 degrees here...which is super hot.

Aly- Hope you´re having fun in school! Study hard this week!

Emi- It´s about time!!!!!! i´m glad to hear you´re doing well(except for the physical therapy.... that sucks.). I want to know how peering is going! Good luck with finals as well!

Abuelita y Grandpa- Gracias para sus cartas. Estoy alegro que todo es bien con ustedes. Espero que tengan una semana fantastica!

Grandma Allen- I´m glad life is going well. I´m also glad that your dad is still going strong. He´s such an example!

Well, until next week!

Luv you all!!!

Christian

He's in Bolivia!

Hello family!!!!!!!!!(And beloved friends)

It feels like forever since I was able to write to you!!!! I haven´t had a P-day in about 11 days, so that´s probably why.

So, New Years was just another normal day at the CCM. That night, though, was crazy! Sooooo many fireworks. When we got outside the next morning, the air was so thick with smoke that it was literally blocking the sun!

I left the CCM on the 4th last week. I was up at 5:30 that morning and we left at about 6. Our flight didn´t leave Peru until about 10:00 that morning, though. We flew from Lima, Peru to first to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Man, that airport looks like Number 2 in Salt Lake( Parentals, you´ll understand what that means.). We were there for about 3 hours. Then we left for Cochabamba at about 7pm. We got to Cochabamba at about 8pm. We met out mission president, President Tenorio, who´s from Mexico. He´s awesome. We then ate Bolivian pizza for dinner, which is like ham and corn(weird, huh?). Then we stayed the night at a hotel because there wasn´t enough room at the mission home for us. The next day we spent the morning doing boring stuff like paper work..blah blah blah. Then after an awesome lunch and orientation, we went to a session at the Cochabamba Temple, which is right in front of the mission home. Then, that night, my companion picked me up, and I went to my apartment.

My apartment is on the fifth floor of a building, way way up. We live with two other missionaries, Elders Mendoza and North(Elder North and I have been together since Provo.). I share a room with my comp, Elder Atencia. He´s from Colombia, short, and very good spirited. He´s been in the field for six months. Now, back to my apartment. There´s only one problem with it....since we are at the top floor, that means that the water has to work really hard to make it up to us. That means that we don´t have a lot of water....we collect it in large blue containers and empty two liters. We mainly use it to bathe every day....yeah. Fun stuff.

My area is called Petrolero. It is a poor part of town, but the people are awesome. Very friendly and accepting. There are little tiendas every where that you look. It is on a small mountain(or a really large hill), so we have to walk up really steep hills, a lot. Our investigators are awesome! We have three baptisms scheduled for this Saturday, and two more next week, and more after that. It is soo exciting to see the Lord´s work progressing!

Yes, I am happy and healthy. I have two square meals a day(We don´t really have breakfast), and I´m drinking whatever liquids that our investigators give me, and what ever water I can get.

Mom- I arrived safely. Sorry that I couldn´t write sooner....this was my first chance.

Dad- Hope you´re doing well. I know that you´re loving the snow. Hope the job search is going well.

Aly- No dirt roads yet...just really dirty ones. Yes, I´ve seen donkeys, just yesterday, actually, but not pulling cars. Lots of taxis everywhere.

Emi- Hope you are doing well. YOU NEED TO WRITE ME!!!! I want to know what´s going on.

Well, until next week

Love you all!!!

Christian

P.S.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad(This Saturday!)

December 29, 2010

Hey everyone!(Everyone: Hey Elder Craig!!!!!)

Wow, has it already been another week???? I can´t believe how fast this past week has flown! Honestly, the first week felt slow, but now things are speeding up! AHHHHH!!!!!! Jajaja. Anyways, I´m sure that ya´ll would like to hear how my Christmas and Christmas Eve went......

So, on Christmas Eve, we had normal classes for the first part of the day, until about three in the afternoon. Then, we had a special Christmas Devotional. Then, after dinner, we had some free time to write handwritten letters to family (I don´t have any stamps, so I couldn´t write anything....sorry!). Then, after dinner, we had a special presentation about Christmas, which was basically just us hearing the Christmas Story from Luke( I could just imagine Dad reading it like he does every year....made me feel at home.) and hearing a bunch of Christmas carols. Then after that we followed a tradional Peruvian Christmas Eve hot chocolate and panteon( basically fruitcake, but a lot better quality than American fruitcake.). It was really good!!! Then we sang non-Christian Christmas carols to finish the night, as in Jingle Bells, 12 days of Christmas, You´re a mean one, Mr. Grinch, etc, etc. And we had a really good time with that one.

The next morning, we were able to sleep in til 7:30( That´s never going to happen again, until I have my own apartment after my mission, I already know. Jajaja!)  And we got up and had a light breakfast.

Next we had a Christmas Day Devotional, which lasted about two hours.

Next we had some personal study time. Then was our Christmas Dinner.....It included every kind of meat( chicken, pork, beef, and turkey), rice, skewers, mashed potatoes, salad, Jell-O( The Jell-O here rocks the socks off of the Jell-O in Utah, just saying.) and the best churros ever( filled with dulce de leche!!!!!!). And I practically ate everything on that list, so I was completely stuffed!!! Next we got to go change into P-Day clothes( Just regular clothing.). Then we got to break open piñatas that were filled with dulces and money(peanuts, not cash). I still have a cup full of it.

lol. Then we went and played waterballoon volley ball and kick ball for the rest of the afternoon. Then they said that we were going to have a light dinner. It was a 1/3 lb hamburger! Light my foot! After dinner, we finished off the night by watching The Other Side Of Heaven( The only Disney-made movie about missionary work.)! It was awesome....love that movie. And that was my Christmas!!!!

Everything else is the same here. Taking lots of classes, speaking plenty of español, forgetting some English words. I am totally stoked to hit the field next week. I can´t believe that my time to hit el campo is finally here!!! Crazy! The next time I email you, I´ll be in another country(again!!!!)

Mom- well, you can read what I did for Christmas, lol. And it is very warm here. I would say at least low to mid nineties. It´s hot!

Dad- I am totally ready for culture shock. It´s pretty boring staying within the same 100 yards for the past 9 weeks. But it´ll be good for some change. I´ll send you pics from Bolivia.

Aly- I´m glad you had a good time with the fam!!! I can´t believe that you start your last semester soon. ¡Buena suerte!!!

Emi- Hope you´re doing well.....YOU NEED TO WRITE ME!!!!

Michael- Hope everything goes well. Bug the KPsi peeps to write me, and anyone else who needs to do so.

Last mensaje de Peru!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Elder Christian Craig