This week that has just ended was a pretty exciting week for us, as
many interesting things have happened. As such, I have several things
to write about, and this letter is probably one of the easier ones
that I've had to write. So I'm sure the next week's letter will be a
very difficult one to write. But, one week at a time is how these
things go.
Last Monday we were getting excited to have a BBQ as a zone in a
nearby park, but we got news that Pdte Zambrano was coming to
Trinidad. And we would be having interviews Monday afternoon, so we
wouldn't have time to do the BBQ. Instead, we only had time to clean
and wash a little before we had to be in the stake center at 4:30 for
our scheduled interviews. While we were there on time, the interviews
were passing by very slowly. I think it was because it was the last
interview that we would have with Pdte Zambrano before he goes home.
And so, when 7:40 rolled around, we had to ask if we could go have at
least one of our visits and have the interview the next day. I think
there were 6 of us that had to postpone our interviews. Peruanos sure
do talk a lot.
Long story short, we made it to the appointment just on time. Tuesday
morning we had our last conference with Pdte Zambrano and his family.
I think half of it was learning how to improve the missionary work,
and the other half was talking about the life of the Zambrano family.
For lunch we went to a Brazilian buffet. I was hoping something like
Fogo de Chao, but it wasn't. It wasn't even like a normal,
pay-to-enter buffet. It was a serve-your-plate-and-weigh-it place. Oh
well, I still made sure to pile the plate well. And the food was
pretty decently tasting too.
many interesting things have happened. As such, I have several things
to write about, and this letter is probably one of the easier ones
that I've had to write. So I'm sure the next week's letter will be a
very difficult one to write. But, one week at a time is how these
things go.
Last Monday we were getting excited to have a BBQ as a zone in a
nearby park, but we got news that Pdte Zambrano was coming to
Trinidad. And we would be having interviews Monday afternoon, so we
wouldn't have time to do the BBQ. Instead, we only had time to clean
and wash a little before we had to be in the stake center at 4:30 for
our scheduled interviews. While we were there on time, the interviews
were passing by very slowly. I think it was because it was the last
interview that we would have with Pdte Zambrano before he goes home.
And so, when 7:40 rolled around, we had to ask if we could go have at
least one of our visits and have the interview the next day. I think
there were 6 of us that had to postpone our interviews. Peruanos sure
do talk a lot.
Long story short, we made it to the appointment just on time. Tuesday
morning we had our last conference with Pdte Zambrano and his family.
I think half of it was learning how to improve the missionary work,
and the other half was talking about the life of the Zambrano family.
For lunch we went to a Brazilian buffet. I was hoping something like
Fogo de Chao, but it wasn't. It wasn't even like a normal,
pay-to-enter buffet. It was a serve-your-plate-and-weigh-it place. Oh
well, I still made sure to pile the plate well. And the food was
pretty decently tasting too.
My plate of food and the restaurant
have our interviews returned to the stake center to have them. And
now, I'm not entirely sure I'll see Pdte Zambrano again here in
Bolivia. Strange to think. Then we moved on and spent the rest of the
day visiting and sharing the gospel.
My (last?) picture with Pdte y Hna Zambrano
It looked like it was going to rain pretty hard Wednesday morning, but
after about 10min of sprinkling it all went away. And then it only got
a little cold. Hurray for jackets? As we set out to visit, we found a
hilarious scene of 3 boys trying to learn how to drive a motorcycle
together. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Trinidad
basically only travels by motorcycle. It's hard to find a car around
here. Anyway, it was funny to watch the 3 kids (probably 13-15yrs)
swerve around before landing (softly) in a ditch. Then they all hopped
up laughing before trying again, almost hitting a passing motorcycle.
I guess they have to learn somehow. When we went to visit a family, we
wanted to have a little fun with their loro (parrot I think?) while
exploring the nearby jungle. It seemed like the greatest idea ever at
the time. After a little while, the loro grabbed hold of a nearby
branch and started to try to climb away. So, we had to try to grab it.
I grabbed one of it's tailfeathers, but before we could grab the rest,
the feather came out. Sorry birdie. Somehow we brought the loro back
to the house, and I walked away with a feather (will include the
picture).
after about 10min of sprinkling it all went away. And then it only got
a little cold. Hurray for jackets? As we set out to visit, we found a
hilarious scene of 3 boys trying to learn how to drive a motorcycle
together. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Trinidad
basically only travels by motorcycle. It's hard to find a car around
here. Anyway, it was funny to watch the 3 kids (probably 13-15yrs)
swerve around before landing (softly) in a ditch. Then they all hopped
up laughing before trying again, almost hitting a passing motorcycle.
I guess they have to learn somehow. When we went to visit a family, we
wanted to have a little fun with their loro (parrot I think?) while
exploring the nearby jungle. It seemed like the greatest idea ever at
the time. After a little while, the loro grabbed hold of a nearby
branch and started to try to climb away. So, we had to try to grab it.
I grabbed one of it's tailfeathers, but before we could grab the rest,
the feather came out. Sorry birdie. Somehow we brought the loro back
to the house, and I walked away with a feather (will include the
picture).
The loro that tried to escape
The loro that tried to escape, with a better view of the branches that he tried using
The tail feather with pen to scale
Thursday decided that it didn't like us, and it got even colder. But I
guess it had some pitty, because it didn't rain. E' Quiroga woke up
kind of sick because (supposedly) of the restaurant we ate at combined
with some tea (of tree leaves) that we tried out. Luckily he was fine
by the time we finished the District meeting and we kept on walking
and talking. As we were walking, we found another scene of youth and a
motorcycle. This time, however, the motorcycle slid from one side of
the road to the other, crossing a ditch and crashing into a fence. The
two riders were left in the dirty canal. While it looked like there
wern't any injuries, I bet it was still quite a shock for them. And I
don't think the parents will be too happy with what happened with
their motorcycle. Since there wasn't wanything we could do, we kept
moving on.
Over the weekend (I'm not sure which day) it was Trinidad's
anniversary as a city, turning 330 years old. And, since the people
are pretty fanatical about their city, we were told that we had to
return home by 7 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Darned parties that we
can't go to. And so, we had to give up the best time of the day to do
some visits. Luckily the cold went away Friday so we could walk
without jackets, and we went about preaching normally. When we got
home early, we spent the time talking and reading and the like. Not
very exciting. Saturday was pretty much the same. However, the warm
morning fooled us as it got really cold in the afternoon. I was pretty
happy to return home early and put some more layers on. Also, Saturday
night, we ordered a pizza and had a little bit more of an exciting
night than Friday.
The weather Sunday was a lot like the weather Saturday; warm in the
morning and then cold in the afternoon. This time I made sure to bring
a jacket with me, and kept myself a lot warmer than Saturday. It was
hard, however, for us to find people to visit Sunday because most of
the people were at the jocheo del toro. For all of those that don't
know what that is, it's the local costume here for the anniversary. I
guess you could call it a sport, or at least a tradition. But what is
it? First, they make a corral and but a giant post in the middle. Then
they grease up the post, put prizes on top, and let people try to
reach the prizes. To make things interesting, they also throw an angry
bull in the corral. Not sure how they came up with such a tradition,
but the fact is that many people were watching and/or participating.
Our day was pretty boring until we returning home early, and then
spent time talking and reading. A very exciting way to end the week.
And an even better way to end this letter, ¿no?
Elder Yates
Some ties to share (thanks!)
Hunting to the people ready to accept the gospel.
A part of the brick making process
A book one of the members had in Church this last Sunday
Elder Yates mentioned in passing to me a couple weeks ago that his sandals were broken and he would send a picture. I got this in an email this morning.
I remembered that I said I would send a picture of my sandals the other week, which I didn't do, so here it is. I tried glueing the things down some times, but since it seems like they don't want to stay together, I just leave them.
I'm not sure why he doesn't go buy new ones as I keep telling him to do, but I told him they probably broke because he was wearing them with socks. Hehehe
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