I got a Dr. Pepper!!!!!

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a good week!. I was a good week for me.

So, Monday was a super-good p-day. We started the day off with going to play wallyball(volleyball with walls. It´s sick), where I did just ok. But it was fun anyways. Then Elder North and I went to go find a
new grocery store that´s supposed to be cheaper than the huge ones around town...and we found it! It´s called Que Barrato(How cheap), and it was pretty cool. I like it a lot....mainly because I found Dr. Pepper there! I was soooo stoked. It´s been six months since I´ve had one, and it tasted soo good!

But then we went back home where my comp Elder Hull was feeling pretty sick, so we stayed in the apartment for the rest of the night, which sucked because we had a family home evening that we missed out on. Then the next night in our English class, we had ten people! That´s a lot because we usually only have three or four people show up, so we were super stoked to teach that many people. Then Wednesday and Thursday were just normal days. On Friday, we had exchanges with my District Leader(They usually happen every other week so that he has a chance to work with each of us.) And things started off hectic. We got a  call at seven twenty in the morning from my Zone Leaders saying that I had to go to Migrations....and that I had to be there in ten minutes(it´s a fifteen minute taxi drive). Plus, I was about to shower. So, that meant a very crazy morning. We hurried as fast as we could to get there...but we weren´t on time, at all. But I still made it in. Then Migrations took until noon..mainly because of the lines, which were very long. Then, I spent the day(again) climbing the highest hill in Cochabamba teaching lessons, which went pretty well. Then Saturday.....well, not to freak you guys out or anything, there was supposed to be a 9.0 earthquake in Cochabamba. And, tons of people(lots of preachers in town) were claiming last Saturday to be the end of the world. Well, needless to say, nothing happended, and I´m ok. Sunday was a great day as well! We had two of our best investigators finally make it to church! We are so excited! Two more and they can be baptized. We´re hoping it happens. Also, we had District Blitz, where all of the district work in a area to help find more people to teach. It was in my area, and we ended up with three more news. So, that´s about it for the week.

Dad- Hope you have a great week, and good luck on the job search!

Mom- Glad you had a good ALC conference. Can´t wait to hear from you next week!

Aly- Just relax and enjoy your time now.....good luck on the job search!

Emi- Have a great week!


That´s all for now, folks!

AEA

Elder Craig

And so it begins.....Cambio nº 4!

Well, hello everyone(Everyone:"Hello, Elder!")

I hope everyone had a fantastic week, because mine was pretty good!

Well, this week started off with a good P-day, but it was kinda bittersweet. This was the last day for us to see a bunch of the members of the zone who were being shipped out to other areas, namely my district and zone leaders, and one of the members of my group that´s been with me forever, so it was sad to see them go. Luckily, I´ll see most of them at the temple this week. Then, one of the members of the ward invited us over for lunch, and she made me my favorite Bolivian dish for my birthday. It´s called Pique Macho. It´s a traditional Bolivian dish that starts with a base of steak fries, then pilled on top with ground beef, sausage, onions, a spicy pepper called coto, and topped off with ketchup and mayo. It sounds like a heart attack, because it is.....but it´s really good. So, be ready to have some when I come home. :) 

So, then we had English class the next night, and it was better than usual, because we had people actually show up( We haven´t had anyone for the past few weeks, which sucked.) So, one other crazy thing that happened is that my companion and I have a goal of finding 12 new people to teach every week, and this week the doors were not opening up....so, needless to say, we were totally freaked out that we were not going to reach our goal. But, luckily, and patiently, we were able to reach the goal and not feel so stressed out. Then on Friday night, we had our bi-weekly "Noche Misional" or Missionary Night. What happens is that members of the ward, and investigators come to the church, and we play a couple of games, then give a spiritual message. This week was about  forgiving others. It was really cool, and well attended. And then on Sunday, we had the coolest thing happen. We have a reactivated member, and she´s married to this die-hard catholic man who wants nothing to do with the Church....¡and he came to church! It was so cool! The member was so excited, and she was telling me and my companion to invite him to Sunday school, and then to get a cita(which we got!) to teach him the Gospel. It´s really cool, and I hope good things come from it.

Dad- Have a great week. Hope you get super muddy mountain biking! Good luck with the doc appointment, too.

Mom- Glad to hear you´re super busy with work! Have an amazing week!

Aly- You should try going to bed early...lol. I know you can do it!

Good luck with the job search!

Emi- Have fun with your band stuff this week! Enjoy it while you can.

P.S. I want a pic of you in your work uniform!

That´s all for now

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

Six Months!

(This letter was sent May 2)
Hello family and friends!!!!!

Hope everyone had a fantastic week. Mine was ok....well, it was still
good, but not the best.

First thing...I complete SIX MONTHS tomorrow! That´s absolutely crazy!
I cannot believe it. It has flown by....but there´s still so much
left. So, it´s totally weird. Also, only six days until my birthday!
I´m totally excited! I can´t believe that I´m turning 20 years
old....I feel old! Hahaha.

Well, this week wasn´t totally exciting. Monday was a pretty boring
day because we had nothing to do because our zone leaders let us down
again by telling us that we were going to have soccer...and it didn´t
happen. The rest of the week we were just working. Wednesday was sweet
because we found three new people to teach, and that´s awesome. One of
our goals as a companionship is to find at least twelve new people to
teach every week, and that´s been something that we´ve been pretty
good at. And it´s not just a numbers thing. We´ve found out that the
more people we find, the more we´re going to end up actually teaching,
so it´s pretty sweet to see how the Lord prepares people for us to
find. Also, we had splits with the district leader again, so I went
and worked in the highest point in the entire city for a day. It was
TOUGH! But, the view was amazing(I´ll have pics next week). And the
split went well.

Things here are becoming a little bittersweet. We found out this week
that two of our investigator families(one of which are our best
investigators that we have) are moving out of our area. So, my
companion and I are sad about that. Also, there´s a good chance that
I´m leaving the area next week(we find out the changes this sunday- my
birthday!), so I´m pretty sad. I love my area and the people in it.
I´ve seen so many live change for the better, and it´s going to be
tough to leave them if I do this next week. But, as the prophet Joshua
says in Joshua, to keep relying on the Lord for strength, and move on.


Dad- Hope you have a good week! You should send me pics of the dummy downhill.

Mom- Thanks for your email! I´m glad to hear all is well at home. Love you!!!

Aly- Hey! I can´t believe that you graduate this week! That´s nuts!
And I only have a year of college under my belt.... oh well. Send me
plenty of pics!

Emi- Glad to know you´re doing well. Have an awesome week!

Have a good one!

AEA

Elder Craig

Easter Week

Why, hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a great week!

Well, I believe the highlight for me this week is that we finally had a BAPTISM! First within our companionship! It was a super-cool spiritual experience. But, anyways...

So, Monday was a huge disappointment because we were supposed to play soccer, but we didn´t. So, it just turned into a day of relaxing and sitting around doing nothing. That night we didn´t even have a Family Home Evening, which meant a boring night.Tuesday was a looong day. We turned out having lessons all day, and we worked busy all day.

Something my companion and I have been working hard to achieve is to find 12 new people to teach every week. Not for the numbers, but to have more people to teach. This involves a lot of knocking on doors, which neither my companion and I like at all. It really is not fun to knock doors, but it´s necessary to find more people, so we do it. One of the really cool things that happened this week is that we recently started to seriously teach a friend of the kid who was baptized this week. He´s a super cool kid, and he already wants to be baptized. He already asked his dad if he could be baptized, but his dad said he wants him to learn more before he does so. That makes sense, and we still have stuff to teach him, but it´s super cool to have someone with the desire to be baptized so soon. On Saturday we had our baptism. This means we practically lost the day. We still hadn´t received the permission from his grandma, so we were freaking out about that until we got it that afternoon. Then we were stressing out even more because the chapel was being used for a stake youth activity that was supposed to last from four until six, but they started an hour late, so we weren´t happy about that. Next, our investigator didn´t show up until seven because he was at his great aunt´s house, so we were freaking out until he got there. Then, to top it all off, our mission president decides to show up for the baptism, so we were totally stressed out! But everything turned out fine, and our investigator was baptized by his uncle. It was a super spiritual experience, and I almost cried when our investigator shared his testimony. It was so STRONG! I am so happy right now for him.

Dad-I´m sorry ski season is ending. I hope you have a good week!

Mom- Thanks for your email. I´m glad you´re doing well and enjoying yoga!

Aly- Didn´t hear from you......Have a good week.

Emi- Glad to hear you had a good week and a good first date. Now work hard to beast your chem test!

Have a good week all!!!

AEA

Elder Craig

Greetings from Bolivia!

Hello family and amigos(that´s spanish for friends.... XD) !!!!

Wow, this week just flew on by, it´s crazy! I can´t believe that I´m half way through this transfer, either.

Well, this week was a good week. We started off the week alright, with a family home evening with a part member family, which went alright. This family is an inactive mom, who has a daughter that we´re teaching, and this daughter has a kid. Well, we challenged the daughter, and she has a baptismal date for this next weekend, April 30th. We´re really hoping that this baptism goes through. We haven´t had a baptism in this area in four weeks, so we really, really need one right now. Also on Monday we played futsal(street soccer) as a zone, and that was fun( I scored three goals!!!!). Then we just chilled until our FHE, so it was a good relaxing day. Tuesday didn´t go entirely good. All of our citas fell through, so we spent most of the day knocking on doors. And we found some awesome new investigators! The only problem is, is that they told us that they don´t have a ton of time to listen to us( I know you´re thinking that they´re giving us excuses not to listen, but I can tell the difference, and they were sincere.), which totally blows, because they would have been awesome. So, we´re planning to pass by sometime to see if they´re there. Wednesday was a looooong day. We got up at 5:30, because we had Zone Conference! It was a great conference, and we talked a lot about how our desires can shape our destinies, and how what visions we have can determine our lives. And then they decided to show us how a desire can change everything by showing us a good chunk of that new movie about the guy in Utah who got his arm stuck under a rock, and after five days, he cut his arm off because he had a vision of him having a son someday. Yeah, it was cool. It´s definately on the mental list I have of movies to watch when I get home. It was a super cool conference. One other thing that they taught us was to focus in sharing about the Gospel from the first lesson, and boy has it worked! It´s awesome. I´ve definately changed the way that I teach now, and we´re getting more results from it. Thursday was a normal day, but something cool did happen. We were teaching one of our investigators, Dennis, and he decided he wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon before he gets baptized. He told us this three weeks ago. Well, he´s in Alma now, and he asked us about Alma 5:38-41, which talks about being a part of different folds, whether the Savior´s or Satan´s. He thought that they were judging people right away, but I studied it, and read him Matthew 6:24, which talks about how you can´t serve two masters. Man, you should have seen his face! It was awesome. We hope that he finishes soon, so that we can finally baptize him. Then for the rest of that day and the next day, I was on exchanges with my district leader, Elder Cespedes. It was a super cool experience, and we worked a lot! We ended up getting seven new investigators and challenging a bunch to baptism. Saturday, my companion and I were out working all day long(like we should) and boy was it HOT! We were sweating all day long.But we still ended up teaching a bunch.....and we have a baptism for this Saturday! His name is Oscar Sierralta. He´s 14, and he´s been coming to church with this grandma and aunt and uncle for a while, and he wants to get baptized! So, this week we´re going to focus on him, and he´ll be ready by Thursday! I´m super excited! Well, Sunday kinda sucked. We had one investigator in church, and we had to drop an investigator. It´s super sad when we have to do that, but sometimes it´s necessary.

Dad- Hope you had an awesome birthday! Mom sent me a picture of you at Texas Roadhouse, and you look like you had a great one! Have a good week. And good luck on the job search!

Mom- hey, I´m reading the Bible right now for the first time, and I´m almost finished with Exodus! I´m glad you like your yoga program that much!

Aly- Have a good week in school, and good luck on the big girl job search!

Emi- That totally sucks about your knee. And about your date.....I can´t believe you´re old enough for that. I guess you still seem super young to me....Well, have a good week!

Until next week!

AEA

Elder Craig

District Conference

Hello beloved family and friends!

Well, another week has past, and it was a good week. I hope everyone else had a good week as well.

Ok, so Monday. Well, my district and I went to lunch at a place called Tuesdays, which is just a TGI Friday knock-off(everything´s a knockoff here), but it was good anyways. Then afterwards we went bowling. Those of you that know me, know that bowling is not my best sport. But, with the help of my companion and some friends, I was able to bowl a 90! I was so excited! Then we went and played futsal(basically street soccer), where another elder practically took my right knee out with a kick(don´t worry, I´m ok now, just need to be careful.). On Tuesday, we got up at five-thirty in the morning to go to the temple! It was such a cool session! Afterwards we had the chance to go to the distribution center to buy stuff, and they didn´t have ANYTHING! Which totally sucked, because we needed to get stuff for our investigators.

So, we just went home, and went to work. It started out as a really good day. We found three new people to teach, and it was going really well, then I got the chills really bad, and a headache, then a fever.

So my companion took me home and put me to bed. I literally slept from six in the after need to ten the next morning. I felt horrible. I spent the day on Wednesday in bed resting. It was not fun. I never figured out what I had, either. Thursday I went back to work, and it was seeming like it was going to be a bad day....until that night we were knocking on doors and we found eight people to teach! I was sooooo excited to teach them.  So, that was the end of a good day.

Friday we just taught citas all day, and one of our investigators, Dennis, asked very difficult questions. It was crazy! Saturday was just a normal day, with teaching citas like normal, and we found one more new investigator when we went back to the house where we found the eight. And Sunday we got the chance to watch Conference, which was awesome. We didn´t teach at all yesterday.

Well, that´s all for now. My zone leader´s threatening to turn my computer off(He really wants to go), so I gotta go.

Dad- Hope you have a good week! Work hard!

Mom- Glad you´re having so much success! Have a good week!

Aly- Glad school is going well! Just know that these weeks are going to fly!

Emi- Good luck with the doc and work! Have fun!

AEA

 

Elder Craig