You got Mail (Monday, November 3)

Most of this week has been pretty average, a lot of walking around and teaching a little here and there, so in this letter I'll sum up the main events really quick and then try to explain a little about the culture here.

 

We found a guy that loves to read the Bible and the words of God, but when we tried teaching him he wouldn't accept the Book of Mormon, so we had to cut him off. An investigator that has been being taught since like February or something finally told us she decided to be baptized, so that should happen Saturday.

 

That was fast, huh? Well, I guess I'll start with the most important part of any culture - the food. Here in Bolivia, rice is eaten with EVERYTHING. Enjoying some beef? It goes better with rice. Got that nice chicken? Nothing better with chicken than rice. Eating some kind of vegetable mixture thing? Rice will add some flavor to those plants. You want some soup? Of course we're going to put rice in it. Trying to drink some milk? BAM, rice milk, nothing better. It's pretty absurd how much rice is eaten here, but I ain't complaining. Lunch is also the biggest meal here with a relatively small dinner, the opposite of the US.

 

Anyway, especially where I'm stationed, there are no supermarkets or big stores we can stop by to get everything we need. Instead, there are little pulperías practicly every street. These pulperías are pretty simple little shops where we go and buy food and drinks and the like. If we want practicaly anything else, we have to take a trip downtown where there is essentially an open-air market, but inside. Supposedly there are actually supermarkets and malls further downtown, but I think those are part of the South Mission.

 

Here, you can't walk up to some's door. There is either a wall with big, solid metal doors, gates, or a little wooden and barbed wire fence around each house. Most don't have doorbells either, so trying to get the attention of the inhabitants can be fun sometimes. However, the culture here is pretty nice when it comes to visitors since almost everyone will come and greet you when you come knocking, except for a few inpolite people.

 

The puplic transport buses, Micros, are pretty crazy too. I think I touched a little on them last time, but I'll go over it again really quickly. There are usually 13 seats in the back then a little area round the driver with like 4 or 5 seats and then just a little open space in front of the door that, in the US, would probably hold like 2 or 3 people. Not here. Here the people fill up EVERY open space, from the seats to the aisles, which can make it difficult to get off sometimes, not to mention the actual trip. Fun times.

 

Not sure what else to share, since everything is at least a little different, but if I get anything else I'll send it your way.

 

Sincerely,

Elder Yates