Happy 4th of July!

Well, happy 4th of July to all of you! I hope everything is going well for everyone!

Funny fact-  Today is the 4th of July, and my area is 4 de Julio II(4th of July II), and my ward is called 4 de Julio...ironic, huh? Well, I thought it was kind of funny.

So, every week  on the mission brings new, wacky, experiences. This week sure wasn´t out of that category.

Alright, so this Monday, after all the fun and festivities of P-day, I was in bed when we received a very disturbing phone call. Apparently one of the members in my district had to go to the hospital, so we went to see him at 11pm, which was very weird. When we got there, we found out that this elder, Elder Bond(Texas), was getting his appendix removed, and that I was there to translate to his parents back in the States about the surgery and why they were doing it, and that I was going to spend the night there with him(just me and his companion). The poor guy was scared out of his mind. He went into surgery at 1am, and came out fine at 3. He was totally fine until his anaesthetics wore off, then he was in a lot of pain. I talked to him to try to calm him down, and he told me that he was thinking about going home because he has had nothing but challenges and trials since he´s gotten to Bolivia. I came back and told him about the challenges that Joseph Smith went through, and how he felt at times when he went through his many trials. Then I bore my testimony to him about how trials are there to help us in life and that we become stronger because of them. I really feel like it helped him out. That was a long night, I only slept three and a half hours. But, good news is is that he´s recovering, and leaving the hospital today.

So, because Elder Barros and Elder Bond have been in the hospital this past week(and probably won´t work this next week either.), Elder Hernandez and I have been teaching one group of their investigators. One of them, José, had a baptismal date for this Saturday, so we went to visit him on Tuesday. One problem was was that he wasn´t sure if he knew enough about the Church to be baptized. We ended up talking to him about how baptism is something that we do with faith, that it´s a step of faith, and that a perfect knowledge isn´t necessary. Well, he decided to take that step of faith, and he was baptized on Saturday! He´s such a good kid, and now we hope to put baptismal dates this week on his two cousins.

And this week, we put two fechas on two of our best investigators, and we are going to work super hard to get these baptisms. This week(and next) is winter break here, so we hope to get lots done. Keep your fingers crossed!

Dad-Hope you enjoy the parade today! And maybe the new career is TV....keep your faith up, and all will turn out how it´s supposed to. Promise.

Mom-Glad you enjoyed the reunions, those are always fun. ANd my camera just doesn´t have batteries....and good lasting ones are tough to find....I might invest in rechargeables...we´ll see.

Aly- Keep working hard and playing hard. Things are going to keep getting better(Cuz floating in a river is the best!), so be prepared!

Emi- Glad you got to see that Vardlings! Hope work is good, and study hard for chem!


That's all for now! Enjoy those fireworks!
-- 
AEA


Elder Craig