Intercambias en Sipe Sipe

Familia,

This week was my second week here in Bolivia, and I had the chance to go on exchanges with another Elder in a city called Sipe Sipe.  

A little bit about Sipe Sipe: It's a small town about 30 minutes south of Vinto and Quillacollo.  Its up in the mountains and is very cold, especially at night.  I was there for a total of about 24 hours.  NOw, if you can imagine this, the town looks like downtown Kennesaw or something, but in 50 years with no rennovation.  All of them buildings look like they are from the 50s, and there are piles of dust and debris literally everywhere. Basically all of the people there dress traditionally, with the skirts and all.

So While I was there, I was on exchanges with an Elder named Elder Rodriguez   He is also from Colombia, and is a convert of 3 years.  He is 25 years old, and is the hardest worker I have met yet.

In Sipe Sipe, we had the chance to teach a few lessons.  Our first lesson was with an elderly couple, who's daughter was a recent convert, and she was about 14 years old. These parents mainly spoke Quechua, but they could understand and speak Spanish also.  We taught them the first lesson, about the restoration.  They claimed they were Catholic, but knew nothing about the church, and had not been in decades.  They seemed very receptive though, and enjoyed our lesson.  Afterwards, my companion asked them if they would like a copy of the Book of Mormon and the pamphlet.  They told us they could not read.  He asked if they would like one in Quechua, and they told us they also could not read Quechua either.  We did not have the DVD player, but left them with some pamphlets so that the newly converted daughter could read to them at nights, and she gladly accepted.  This was a very different experience for me because I have always assumed everyone could read, at least a little bit.

This past Saturday, we also had the opportunity to give service to a young couple from the ward.  They are both in their early 20's and have one kid.  The Hermano from the ward had been given a very old, non working car. I believe it is either from the 80s or early 90's, and is a Volkswagon Brasilia.  This is the only car the family has, and it had massive holes in the floorboards from corrosion and rust, to where the seats no longer were in the car.  My companion, Elder De Horta, worked a lot with metals and welding before the mission, so he was able to repair the floor.  SInce I have worked on brakes a few times, I was able to put some newer brake pads on them, and we both helped install new window rolling mechanisms for the windows.  It was a pretty good experience.

Other than that, this week has been pretty normal.  We have our first baptism this upcoming Saturday, so that shgould be a good experience.  My spanish has gotten a lot better in the past week or so, to the point where I can hold a conversation with almost anyone about most things, especially the gospel.

Elder Potts

First Area: Quillacollo, Bolivia

Family,

I arrived here in Bolivia on Sunday, and every day has been so busy.  We flew out from Lima, to La Paz, to Santa Cruz, and then finally to Cocha.  My layover was in Santa Cruz, so that was where I called from.  When we landed in Cocha,  the president was there, along with his wife, all the secritaries, and the ap.  From the airport, all we had was an astrovan that looked like it was from the 80s.  There were about 18 missionaries, so we packed all of us into the van; missionary, on top of luggage on top of missionary.  It was so cram packed, but fun.  We went for the night to a hotel in Cochabamba.  The building was clearly built at least 50 years ago, and hadn't been changed since.  the roof was so old, it had falled through and they build a tin roof over it.  It was late when we got there, but we ate pizza that was about 3 feet across.  They topped it with the strangest things also. It had corn, uncut mushroms, and even peaches on it.  My room had 4 guys in it, all gringos from my district, and it was our last night togeher.

The next day, we walked to a church building.  Downtown Cocha is very poor, but it rains a lot, so the area seemed pretty clean.  When we got to the building, we got another picture with president, interviews, and got our new companions and areas.  They called my name, and my new companion's name is Elder De Hornto!  He is as black as they come, and he is from Colombia.  He is also a convert of 3 years, and I am the 3rd person he has trained.  He loves playing soccer and is very good at dancing.  He does not speak a single word in english, so the past 2 days have been interesting.  We received our assignment, which is Quillacollo, and the name of our barrio is Vinto #2.

Quillacollo is a small town about an hour outside of Cochabamba, and is very poor.  You can tell all of the roads were once paved, but probably not for the past 20 or 30 years.  There are dogs everywhere, and a ton of native old ladies.  They wear these dresses that go to their feet, they all have their funny looking hats, and a piece of fablic slung over their shoulder, usually holding a baby or other stuff.

Getting from Cocha to Quillacollo was incredibly difficult.  We took a taxi from the hotel, and started our journey.  There were 4 of us, and one elder was from the US, so he told me a little bit of what has been going on recently with the government.  There have been protests a lot recently because of their president.  They are never violent, but they just like to block major roads.  That is why the other elders were late getting there that morning.  Anyways, about 20 minutes in, we reach a big road, and there is another blockade in the road.  The taxi turned around, and tried to find another road to take.  When we got to the alternate route, it was blocked also.  The taxi told us he cannot get us to the area, and made us get out.  He told us we have to cross the blockade on foot, and then try and catch another taxi on the other side.  I had all of my luggage with me, so this wasn't easy.  There were crowds of people, rocks, trees, debris, and flames all in the road, but the people were not violent.  when we got to the actual road block, we had to throw all of my stuff over.  It was about 3 feet high.  I got my 2 suitcases over, and then started to climb over.  Right then, my suit pants split in the crotch, from the zipper all the way to the back belt loop.  I didnt have my suit coat, but the other new latino elder gave me his to put around my waist.  Finally we reached the other side, and were able to get a new taxi.  It took another 30 minutes or so from there to get to our apartment, but we made it. 

The apartment I am in has 2 sets of companions, 4 elders total.  I am the olny one who speaks english, but I can usually get my point across for the most part.  We live on the second floor of a building.  The bottom floor has a quickie mart, and some other shops.  Right now I am at the internet cafe about a block away.  The winter here is just starting, and the elevation is pretty high, so it is pretty cold.  This morning it was about 38 degrees, but it has warmed up.

I will be able to talk to you guys again on Sunday! I am out of time, but I miss everyone.  I should have more time to talk on Mothers day!

Elder Potts

Last Week in Peru!

Family,

 

I found out a few days ago that I will be leaving the Peru MTC on Sunday morning.  This means that next time you all hear from me, I will be in Cochabamba, Bolivia!  It is about 5 days sooner than expected, but who is complaining, right?  I cannot wait to find and teach actual investigators instead of pretending to teach them.

 

This week has been more of a normal week.  We had Elder Bednar come and speak to us.  It was especially great because there were only about 60 people there total, because of all of the visa issues with Peru.  He told us that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be with an apostle with such a small group.  Everyone could literally feel the spirit as soon as you walked in the room.  I cannot even imagine the things that he has witnessed as a apostle, so I knew he was speaking with absolute assurity when testify of Christ and this gospel.  When I went to go shake his hand, it was after he gave his testimony and the feeling was indescribable.

 

Elder Howlett and I taught Abraham last night, the Jehoviah's Witness security guard.  It did not go as we would have liked it to.  He started off immediately with the bible, and even brought his own bible, thinking it was a different one than ours, but it is not.  We spoke about Revelations again, and he explained his beliefs about the second coming and we listened and asked questions about it.  Eventually, the subject of the Book of Mormon came up, and I asked him if he had a chance to read it.  He made excuses, saying he was too busy working two jobs and did not have time. After, he started to go off on how the Bible is the only word of God, and there can never be any other book like it.  We then gave him Moroni's promise in ch. 10 where is says all he needs is an open heart, to read, and then pray about it and the Lord would give him an answer. After we said that, I started to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon, saying that is was the word of God and that it has changed my life.  Since I speak slower spanish, he interrupted me and changed the subject back to the Bible, which was frustrating.  At that time we could tell that all he wanted to do was bible bash, so we started to wrap it up.  I told him the only way he can know if it is true or not was to read and pray.

 

This is pretty much my first real person I have taught, so it was difficult having to swallow the fact that some people are not ready for the Gospel yet.  It has really helped me see how difficult this work really is though, but I can only imagine the joys of bringing others to this gospel.  Next week cannot come soon enough! Let me know what all is going on at home this week!

 

Elder Potts

 

This Week in The CCM

Family,

 

Thanks for all of the emails and stuff about home and all.  It sounds like things are going pretty well for the most part. 

I had a couple of amazing experiences this week.  The first one I had happened on Saturday.  We went out tracting in an area of East Lima, named Javier Prado. (James might know where that is)  I had a Latino comanion from Chiclayo Peru who is also in the MTC here with me.  His name is Elder Navarro, and he is an amazing guy.  So, if you can imagine this, the little barrio was on the side of a mountain, or rather a gigantic dirt hill, and took about a half hour to hike up to.  We went knocking doors and did not have much success for the longest time.  Finally, a few people began to want to talk to us.  It was difficult because my companion and I were brand new at it, and it was just us, and a 15 year old member of the ward.  The few people we talked to seemed half interested in the Restoration and the book of mormon, but they stayed and listened to us.  I mostly just introduced the different topic, and then gave my testimony on it afterwards.  Man, tracting is such hard work, and is very inconsistent.

 

The scariest part for me happened when we went back to the church building.  We went in and there was a Baptism going on since it was Saturday.  They asked my companion and I if we would like to attend since we were back about 5 minutes before the other elders from the MTC.  So we go back to the room in front of the Baptismal font and sit.  Next thing I know, a member of the ward comes up and asks my companion if he can lead the hymn.  He of course said yes, and was ok with it.  Then, this member of the ward came to me and asked "Can you give a talk on the importance of Baptism within the church?"  I of course said yes, but immediately got so nervous.  Keep in mind I only really have about 3 weeks experience with Spanish.  As soon as I said yes, I closed my eyes and said one of the most sincere prayers of my life.  I knew there was no way I would be able to speak on Baptism for longer than about a minute on my own.  The time came and I got up in front of about 15 or 20 Latinos, most of whom were investigators and non members.  I don't even recall what all I even said, but I said what I felt and it went very smoothly.  Now, when Dad and James would tell me to always be prepared to speak, I wasn't expecting that to happen in the MTC, but wow, what an amazing experience!

 

Another experience that I had happened just last night.  For some reason,  one of the teachers came in and grabbed me and another guy in my district, E. Howlett.  He is not my companion, but all they told us is that we would be teaching.  I expected it to be another pretend investigator, like a different teacher or something.  They directed us toward the front gate, where the security guard office is.  We went up there and started speaking with the security guard.  I began teaching about the plan of salvation since he said his family was very important to him.  He stopped me in the middle of it and began to ask us questions about the bible.  He first asked if we read the bible, then asked us many questions about it.  One of the questions he asked was something like "How many people will Govern with Christ at the second coming?  He then pulled out a bible and turned to revelations.  It was at that moment that I realized that this was no fake investogator, this was a real one.  A non member.  Not only that, the scripture said that 144,000 will be "sealed" with christ in the 2nd coming and it hit me like a ton of bricks...  This Guy is a Jehoviahs Witness. Oh Great.  So he asked us a few more questions about the bible, and we actually could answer some of them.  He then told us our homework was to study the bible and know the contents better, and so we promised we would read.  At that time, I had a great idea.  I asked him about the book of mormon, and he said he had never read it before.  I explained that it was another testament of Christ, and if you want to know about all of his teachings, he would have to read also.  I gave him homeword also to read 2 Nephi 31, which is the doctrine of Christ.  I told him he needs to know it because I was going to quiz him on it when we spoke again.  He accepted and we gave him a book of mormon and left.  I later found out the reason that Elder Howlett and I were chosen was because we are the only 2 the teacher thought would be able to understand him because he speaks such mumbled and fast spanish, so that was a compliment.  I also learned that not only is he a Jehovias Witness, he is studying to be a priest or minister in that church, so this guy knows his stuff.  We got his work schedule and are going to teach him again in a few days.

 

Anyways, I dont have a ton more time, but I lov you all! Until next week!

 

Elder Potts

"This week's CCM Updates"

Family!

 

Thanks for everyone who was able to write me and keep me updated with whats going on at home. This is one of my favorite times of the week!  This week has been pretty crazy here, especially today.

 

Ill start with the coolest announcement, David A Bednar is coming to speak to us next week!  He has become my favorite Apostle to hear from especially in the past few years.  Its is even better that he is coming here than provo because there is a total of about 70 or 80 missionaries here.  That means I will probably be able to meet him and chat for a second!  If any of you havent heard his talk from 2011 called 'The Charachter of Christ?, you need to.  It is by far the greatest talk I have ever heard. From beginning to end.  He is a huge inspiriation for me, and I can't wait to meet him!

 

Today, since its Pday, we all had the chance to go to the temple again.  We did our session like normal, and one guy in my district, Elder Olson, and I were approached by a nice middle aged peruvian lady.  She spoke with us breifly and something didn't seem quite right with here. She eventually told us she was having a very tough time in her life, and would like a blessing of comfort by one of the missionaries.  At this point, all of the other Elders had also come out.  We went with her into the vitisor center in the temple to a room where we could have some peace.  When it came time to decide who should pray, everyone looked at me.  I honestly did not think I would be able to do it, but I accepted the responsibility.  Let me also say that this lady could not speak one word of English. I was so nervous.  I didn't have my white handbook in Spanish on me, so I knew I would have to be guided by the spirit completely.  I laid my hands on her head, and the rest of the elders placed one hand on also.  With my broken Spanish, I gave her a blessing of comfort and no longer felt nervous.  I honestly did not have a testimony of the Gift of Tongues, but now I do, and it is mind blowing.  She was so touched that we would take the time out of our day to give her a blessing and shook each one of our hands and talked with us.  It was such an amazing experience.

 

We got a new group of Latinos this week, and a couple new missionaries from the Provo MTC.  They are having a lot of trouble with Visas though for Peru and Bolivia.  We were only able to get 2 more elders and 7 more Hna's total this past group, when we should have gotten about 50.  I feel so blessed to have been able to get my visa and come to this MTC here in Peru.

 

Tomorrow marks the halfway point for us in the CCM, and I have come to realize something about this place.  Some people say time moves slow, and others say it moves fast.  I feel like time is sort of at a standstill, almost like a dream.  It is so different from our normal lives, but it is also so amazing.  Each of us are getting more and more anxious about leaving to the field each day.  I should have some good stories to tell next week also, because this Saturday we are all going to go proselyting with a Latino companion that day!  From the older guys in the CCM, we have learned that after you go out and teach the people, you never wanna set foot in this place again.  Just 3 more weeks and its off to Bolivia!

 

I hope to hear from all of you guys individually! Its so nice hearing about life back in GA and such. 

 

Much love,

 

Elder Potts 

Lima, Peru MTC: Week Two

Familia!

 

Things are going super well in the MTC! I hope to hear from all of you guys! 

 

My day to day life is pretty similar, but I am learning the language and the gospel like never before.  I am up at 6 or 630, and at breakfast by 7. At 8 we have a language class that goes until desayuno. after lunch, We have an hour for personal study, then comanionship study for an hour also.  Next is our hour for physical activity.  This is so much fun because they have a turf soccer  field in the MTC!! The Latinos love to play some futbol, and its only an hour, so it is the best.  After that, we basically just teach lessons to fake investigators and TRC people for the rest of the night.  My MTC teachers do not speak but a few words in english, so all of our lessons have to be in Spanish. The first couple were pretty rough, but once you teach a few of them, it gets easier and easier.  This is the part that helps me learn the language the best because it is just talking with people. My brain is starting to process most things in Spanish rather than english, which even causes my sentence structure to get all messed up when I do try to speak english again! 

 

Today is Pday, and I'm a bit nervous because I have to lead 2 districts around the city.  I have 14 missionaries total and we have to take the bus to downtown and to the temple and all. I'm sure it will be fine, but there is some pressure on you when you have to be in charge of a bunch of teenagers. I am excited for the adventure though.

 

The Latinos are another huge blessing for us! We have grown so close to them in the past couple weeks, and your language skills skyrocket just from chatting with them in Spanish.  Since they are only here for 2 weeks, they left this morning.  My favorite little colombian missionary, Elder Supelano, came to me last night and asked in the mist broken english if I wanted to trade a tie.  I pulled out my hanger full of ties and he brought over the 4 he had to his name.  I ended up giving him one of my favorite ties, and told him we didn't have to trade one of his. He was so excited!  It was a slim tie, but since he only weights about 85 pounds, and is under 5 feet tall, it looks like a normal tie on him.

 

Just a question for everyone: Whats going on with North Korea? Im not worried or anything but everyone keeps saying were at war or theyre making threats? We dont get any news here so I was just curious.  Until next week everyone!

 

Elder Potts III

Lima, Peru MTC: The First Week

Mama!

My P day is actually Tuesday, so that is when I will be able to email everyone. El CCM is so great! The first big news of the week is... I have been called as a the district leader! I am over 6 Elders and 2 Hermanas.  One of the elders has a card reader so I may be able to send pictures!  In El CCM, the main responsibilites of my calling are just to oversee the district. Making sure everyone is making to class alright, leading the classes at the beginning of it, and organizing our sunday school class.  I also deal with any issues within companionships. It isn`t that bad though, and my district is super awesome and spiritual.

I have already learned so much spanish and it has only been 6 days here. I can pray in spanish, introduce myself in spanish and bear my testimony in Spanish.  The most spiritual moment I have had was when I was thrown into a classroom of all Latinos and asked to bear my testimony solamente en español. I was so nervous, but I just said what I felt in my heat with the few Spanish words I knew and it turned out amazing!

The CCM is awesome. It only has probably 100 or 150 missionaries at any one time, which I was not expecting.  The food is all Peruvian, but it is actually very good. My favorite juice they have is maracuya, or mango juice. All of it is freshly made.  They eat so much rice and potatoes, its ridiculous. In the us, we usually only have like, one serving of carbs but here its your entire plate. They`ll give you rice, potatoes, soup (with only one measly chunk of meat) and bread.

The teachers I have are so great, and they only speak spanish, and only a few words in english so sometimes it is difficult for them to get the instuctions across. They are very loving though. I will get pictures with them when I can.  One of my teachers is my pretend investigator and makes us prepare the lessons in complete spanish. It is so hard, but each lesson goes better and better.

In one of my pictures, you will see Elder Supelano. He is from Colombia and is such an amazing guy. He speaks a little bit of english, so my companion and I taught him how to pray in English!  It was so amazing and he was so happy.  Last night, he came to me asking if I knew how to tie a tie. He said he doesnt know how to tie one, so I taught him how.  He eventually got it and spent the next 20 minutes or so tying and untying it!

Anyways, I hope to hear from all of you soon. Keep me updated on whats going on!

Love Yàll

Elder Potts