Bolivian Chickens

 

You have chickens now . . . you are one step closer to becoming a Bolivian like me!!!

 

Well the other day we were walking home and it was late, it was after consejo de barrio which never starts on time so it sucks.  Someone was washing their car, hermana RS said, ¨Who washes their car at 930 at night?¨ümmmmmm my dad does¨.  dad no one washes their car at night, I actually said you do more at 12 in the morning!! I thought it was funny.

 

So we had one of our golden investigators come to church! Her name is Eveline and she has sooo many questions, I always tell her just to read to find answers.  She prays and asks for a testimony like ours.  Yea she came to church with her two kids . . . and her dog!!! It followed her in.  They close the doors during the sacrament and well it was whining the entire time outside.  Then they opened the doors and well in comes running cliford! It jumped on her lap and she was so ashamed and embarassed that she left.  We tried to go by her house yesterday but she wasn´t home.  We have to try again.  Not only was the dog there but so many kids were running around and the speaker had her baby up with her, it was really hard to feel the spirit.  At least after church we had lessons, Sundays we usually don´t, they are really hard. It was like Dwight´s family on drugs or something.  

 

So i have maybe thought about being a child therapist.  I have decided that experiences on my mission have made me want that more.  Especially with Barinia, she i could see being one of my future cliants.  She has had a lot of awful stuff happen to her.  I just want to help people and children would be hard, but also easier.  Harder for me to hear but easier for me to talk to, I can play baseball with them too! 

 

So today as a zone we went to a beautiful place like 30 minutes away and we had a paint war!!! It was cold though and we got wet but it was a ton of fun! We played with another zone.  WE started out playing capture the flag but it took to long so me and everyone else in jail broke out and stole all the balloons and started the fight.  Everyone´s garments changed colors too.  I hope it comes out hahahaha.  It was a lot of fun! It´s been raining all day and i finally broke out my rain boots! Through this experience i learned that my zone is looked to as being the examples, we have the temple in our zone, the mission presidents house and the offices so that means we have the asistants and the hermana leaders.  I didn´t really realize before that different zones have their own characteristics.  I am glad I will be in this zone for another transfer though! I am sad to see RS leave though.  She was so sick this last weekend.  One day we couldn´t study because we were up all night.  All better now though! Our pension has been our mother.  Her son asked me if I have ever been to conference.  Yes many times.  When we come up and visit you can you take me and translate for me! That made me so excited! I want them to come and then I will be their tour guide in SLC! They are the best.  

 

All is well here.  My training is almost over, thank goodness.  No one told me about this, I don´t like it hahaha.

 

Mom i believe i have two dresses, one purple and the other pale pink in the backof my closet, for my birthday or 4 of july you should send those haha.  I deserve presents on the fourth because its one of my favotire holidays and i am sad to miss it. 

Carnaval

Oh mom I know how you feel.  We spent two days locked in our apartment.  There is only so much you can do!! Yesterday morning we went on a spider hunt and killed maybe 12 spiders in our house.  Then we watched movies in our beds, wrote in our journals, wrote poems, ate and well not much else.  Have you seen previews for the movie the Purge? I kept imagining we were in that preview, although not nearly as bad.  We just kept hearing fireworks go off.  Well we did that for the last couple of days.  We are also going to have conference tomorrow and we have been given the talk to read, Becoming a Consecrated Missionary.  So we have made goals for ourselves to do better and to become more like that.  Oh we also had pancakes for lunch yesterday.  That was good.

The Bishop did it again.  Sunday he took us into his office, ¨This girl wants to be baptized, let's do it Friday¨.  Uhhhhh bishop, still have the same rules as before.  Apparently she has been in seminaries for awhile.  We are meeting with her today to figure out what she knows and get this all situated.  Three baptisms in one transfer maybe and all have just been placed in our laps.

Honestly not much to report.  We´ve also had to be in our houses earlier because of Carnaval.  Apparently Jude Law has been in Oruro for it, we have been tempted a couple times to go and visit him.

We did go to the temple last Tuesday! Finally! It was the best day ever.  I love the temple and it is soooo pretty!

You asked last week if I needed money, dad should be able to see in my card report if I need more or not.  I don´t know.  Aslo can someone send me Madeline Davis´s email, I wanted to send her a letter but then decided that no, that´s too far and too expensive. Transfers are on the 8th or 9th.  We don´t see president a lot but I love him, he is the best! I am so excited to hear from him tomorrow!!

After School Snacks

Familia!!!

GDawg I got your package.  No worries!! and Before I forget next week I am going to be writing Wednesday not Monday!

 

So the other day we helped with a service project.  We were selling Jello shots to little school children.  I don´t think there was alcohol but you never know, they sold quickly.  What child wants jello as an after school snack? Heck I always wanted ice cream and coke. Way better.  We are going back wednesday to help.  

 

So Hna Routsong´s mom watched a documentary on the Cancha.  I don´t suggest that, you can always talk to her about how worried you guys are about us! We always talk about it.  I will send you her number hahaha maybe.  

 

So the other day we were going to a visit.  We got a call from a Natali.  We don´t know a Natali.  She was telling us how we had a visit with her.  We searched our planners for ten minutes.  No Natali! So we tried to find her.  Her house doesn´t exist.  She doesn´t exist.  We called her 15 more times in the next two days.  No Hay Natalie!!! Well i guess we weren´t supposed to be in that street at that time. 

 

The next day we conntacted this man named David.  He lived in Florida for 30 years.  He came back because the economy was bad.  We asked him if he was going to go back, he said, ¨Well duh, I hate it here.  It´s dirty, lawless, and the people are mean.  My house is very american then when I go outside it´s culture shock and I just want to go back inside.¨ We were laughing about that for days, we still are.

 

I went on intercambios! I got to stay in my area and I was happy.  It was with Hermana Webb.  She is from Hurrican.  She is so sweet and it was amazing.  She said that my Spanish is far better than it should be, I am a wonderful teacher, and I have wonderful examples.  Apparently I am just rocking it here. haha, no I wouldn´t have ever said that about myself.  She was just being nice.

 

Barinia was baptized! Oh my gosh everything here is so disorganized.  We started an hour late because the bishop is always late.  But it was good I think, not a baptism like in the states.  Oh also the water heater was broken, poor girl.  Her mom came which is way good.  They don´t have a good relationship.  She actually had a ton of family there, which for a baptizm is a little werird.  Imagine that!! I have never seen her more happy though!! 

 

Yesterday we had missionary day in the church or something! We made a list of people that needed to be visited by the ward.  Then we all went out in companionships and taught for an hour! Yea someone stole my family and I am still a little bummed.  

 

I met a guy today who served in Ogden.  We were talking about Utah.  I miss Utah.

 

All is well here! 

 

I haven´t died nor am I in a Bolivian Prison.  Also GDawg sent her package express, mom maybe yours wasn´t express.  It will come soon.  

 

Hermana Carol Parry

Figs and Dreaming of Italy

 

Family!!!

 

Well I  have done some thinking.  Maybe to get people to stop stealing credit cards they should have thumbprint ones, when you buy something you just give them your thumbprint and the money goes through! Life would be so much easier, just thought of the week.

 

Hermana Routsong and I decided that if we met at BYU we probably wouldn´t have become friends.  Her plans for after the mission are to come back to SA and go backpacking and get dreadlocks.  My plans are to go to a study abroad in London and eat at Zupas and Starbucks.  Hahaha.  We actually laugh about that a lot.  I told her I was in fencing and she looked at me and said, you are too classy for me.  We get along great! 

 

So being in a foreign country makes me really miss our trip to Italy.  I think about it more than I think about my Jeep, haha, which is a lot.  That was a fun trip, next summer we are going to Spain.

 

So I bought some DVDs at the temple store so I don´t need a ton, but the ones you have send them! Also maybe send a flashdrive or two for my pictures.  The ward member has a washing machine and she washes my garments.  I pay her because then they can actually get clean.  We get 30bs for laundry but I still have to pay with my money sometimes.

 

We have a new zone leader! I can´t remember his name, he´s really funny.  He looks like a Latino version of Raymond from Everybody Loves Raymond.  We were laughing so hard in our zone meeting.  

 

We eat fig! A lot of it too.  Oh it is so good! While we are walking we find them, take them off trees and then eat them, a lot.  Hermana Lola has a fig tree and she gives us buckets of them.  We have decided if there is no fig in Utah we aren´t coming back.  Just kidding we miss Zupas too much.  The probably is they make our hands really sticky, so then when we shake people´s hands they are probably thinking, Crazy Gringas! Because that is what everyone thinks here.  People rip us off too.  

 

We were visitng the Colqay family this week and talking about Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.  We had a member with us and she was giving them wasca, that´s quechua for discipline, for watchinkg soccer on Sundays.  I wasn´t really paying attention, I was actually thinking about you dad.  Then it was my turn to share. I started talking about the importance then I said, I love sundays with my family we do a lot together like watching baseball games. Hermana Routsong almost started laughing in the lesson.  I had no idea until later what the crap was going on.  Whoops.

 

We got to visit Presidente Hansen and the temple this last Saturday! Barinia had an interview with him so then we walked around the temple grounds.  Her baptism is Saturday! She is 15 years old and had enough faith to go with us to a complete strangers house and she tole him everything! More than she had told us, and when we heard the new stuff it broke our hearts.  There wasn´t a doubt in anyones minds that her baptism would be changed, so it is still Saturday.  She even invited the President to it! She invites everyone! It is so amazing.  

 

Alejandra bore her testimony yesterday in church.  Her mom actually came by herself 10 minutes late, we thought she had to work.  So I told Ale to care her testimony and she did.  It was amazing.  She asked me when her baptism could be so after church we all talked.  Blanca supports her decision but we all agree that she is too young to be baptized without her mom being firm in the church.  I know someday she will be! Her and Barinia have become close friends so I am sure she will help her!!

 

All is well here.  Nothing to exciting or crazy.  I might be hunted down by the police because at the bank I had to use Hermana Routsongs id number.  So i might end up in a Bolivian Prison.  That would be fun right!! 

 

Hermana Parry