8/6/15

Everyone gather around and bring your popcorn, for it's time for the weekly Bolivian Letter. This past week was pretty much the exact opposite of the last week in terms of the weather, and it's been hot and sunny without rain. It's actually very strange to think about, going from so cold to so hot so quickly, but I'm told that's normal here and what should happen during the 'winter' here. The good thing is that the sun and heat is baking away the mud in our area, so we can walk peacefully once again in the streets. Now we only have to deal with all the dust in the wind...

 

Anyway, this week was pretty nice, especially as we didn't have to do any immigrations at all. What a relief to be able to sleep normally. We did, however, have our regularly scheduled interviews with President Zambrano, which took up practically all of our Friday. In other news, we were informed that we are going to have Church in the new Chapel next week. The difference this time with the announcement is that the bishop already has the keys to the fence and building, so it's set. 

 

In celebration of the new chapel, the ward is having a jam-packed week of activities every night, including sports, movies, and dancing. Luckily for us, we get to focus in the work of the Lord walking the streets of our area. Woo. We did, however, get to go and see the new chapel Sunday as we had several meetings, which took up almost all day. Luckily we were given time to eat lunch before starting, or it would have been very not fun, especially right after the fast.

 

We had great luck this week in doing service twice this week, both without the use of the Bolivian lawnmower. One day we went to dig holes for a family. Not entirely sure why, but I think it's to bury their trash. Unfortunately, the next time we passed by their house, they told us the holes wern't big enough, and on the wrong side of the yard. In our defense, the person that wanted the holes dug wasn't present and the others had to guess what she wanted. Maybe one day we'll pass by and fix it. The other day we went to clean the rafters of a house so we could later paint, but when we arrived the family was getting ready for a birthday party. Being the persistent people we are, we decided to help with that instead, as the other option was return home. We inflated some balloons and learned how to make empanadas de queso, a type of fried pastry filled with cheese. Very tastey; I'll bring it home with me.

 

Also this week we decided to go to a market that's only open one day a week called the Cumavi. First thing's first: es grandango; streets and streets filled stalls of whatever one would want. It's also the steriotypical open-air market with stalls with little awnings, sellers advertising their wares, and people haggling prices. It was pretty cool, but also very crowded.

 

Lovingly,

A loro we found when it was much warmer

Elder Yates

 

             

From the cold week...

 



a medallion for a soccer tourniment

(the child of our pension won it; i borrowied it for a picture)

The side of the new chapel