Exchanges and Baptisms!

Family,

Sorry for not sending a family letter last week.  It wasn't too exciting, especially because I was sick for about 3 days. But everything is good now, and it has been a great week!

If you guys haven't heard, last night at a missionary conference, they announced that all missions throughout the world will be able to use Facebook, and other blogs to spread the gospel! We will all be training the members of the ward how to use it also!  I am not sure when it will hit my mission, but all the members of the ward believe its going to be very soon.

So this past Wednesday, I had exchanges, or intercambios, with one of the Zone Leaders. He is an American from Arizona, and is a great worker.  This day was especially good for the both of us. We were in my area, which I know pretty well, and we got a lot done.  One thing that is frustrating for me is being trained, and being the junior companion.  I normally don't have a say in where we go, or what we do. But this day was different.  My normal companion does not like to knock doors.  This is understandable because we live in a primarily Adventist area, but I still feel that it can be very helpful for finding people to teach.  So when I went out with the ZL, this is exactly what we did.  The very first door I knocked, a younger lady answered the door.  We introduced ourselves and she actually seemed interested in what we had to say.  After a few minutes of talking, she told us she had spoken to the missionaries more than 5 years ago in another city in Bolivia, but lost contact.  SHe has 2 small kids, and invited us back without question.  We have two appointments with her next week.  My normal companion may not have had success with knocking doors, but I have now, and this lady is already a great investigator.  We also found one other investigator that day, and she invited us back to her house to meet with her again.  

On Saturday, we had another baptism.  This was the first baptism that I performed the ordinance for, and it was a great experience.  The person I baptised is a member of the Ramos family, the ones who have been inactive for 10 years.  Her name is Astrid, and she is already very active in the ward, and comes to every activity.  

This baptism has not only been a blessing for her, but for her entire family.  Between the english class, a sports night, the baptism, confirmation, and church, the family has now attended every activity for the past 2 weeks!  It started a few weeks ago, around the time that I started the English class.  First, it was the oldest son, Jonathan.  He told me he wanted to learn english, so I started the class.  He has attended every single one of them.  He later told me that he really loves to play basketball, so we incorperated "basket" into our sports night, which only consisted of futsal before.  He attended that activity, and even got the dad to come, since he also loves basketball.   Astrid also attended.  On the day of the baptism, the whole family came early to help set everything up.  Every member, from the parents to the 4 kids, came and helped us prepare for the baptism.  Even on Sunday, the family was there a few minutes early, for the confirmation of Astrid.  I was expecting them to only stay for sacrament, but they star¡yed all 3 hours.  We asked all of the members who knew them (which aren't that many, since it's been so long since they came to church) to talk to them and fellowship them during the meetings.  They did, and I really think they enjoyed their time at church.  One of the younger members of the family, who is 9, also told us that he would like to be baptised too.  Hopefully this whole process will get the family in the habit of attending church regularly again! 

Fotos

The First Members of Bolivia are in my Ward!

Family,

I have had a very good week in my mission, but it feels like I just wrote you all yesterday.  The mission flies by!

The first thing of this week is that the mission boundaries are changing for me.  They are creating a new mission, Santa Cruz North, and so the Santa Cruz mission is taking part of our area.  The cool part too, down near Argentina! So I will never get to go there. How sad. This also means a few of the guys from my group are being absorbed into the other mission.

I have also started an English class here in Bolivia.  I started it originally because of one inactive member.  He is from the Ramos family, the one who has been inactive for 10 years.  He hasn't attended sacrament meeting yet, but is starting to come to the activities.  Anyway, there are so many people here who want to learn English. They did a study here that showed that if you are fluent in English, then you will make on average 4 times more money per year.  So many of the members come to this class.  Most of them being adults, which is interesting.  Even though I can't speak the language perfectly, I can speak English, and this is what they all want to learn.

The best part of this week was meeting some of the first members in Bolivia.  Back in 1981, the first 4 missionaries of the church entered the country.  3 of them were American, and there was one who was a Latino, but lived in the US.  There is an elderly couple in the ward who were baptised by these missionaries!  They even have an old record, with 2 songs on it from the missionaries, and other pictures of them.  I will send pictures of these in the other thread. So this couple lives in a place called Motecato, which is in our area, but very very far up towards the mountains.  It takes about 30 minutes in a trufi, and then another 20 minutes or so of walking on a small dirt path to get to their house.  They are great members though, and love having the missionaries come!

I miss all you guys.  Have a good week!

Elder Potts

Power Outages, Baptisms, Dog Attacks, and More Ripped Pants

Family,

This week has been good, but a very long one also. A ton of things have happened, but I have enjoyed every single day of it.

I'll start off with some of the bad news:  We lost power last Monday when I got home from Pday.  At first it was the whole street, but everyones came back on that day except ours.  A reminder that we live in a town full of Adventists, and the dueño, or the land lord lady does not like uis for some reason.  Anyways, we have been promised it would be turned back on every single day, but its been 7 days, and still no light.  The secritaties are apparently working with the office of the building though.  The biggest problem this causes is no electricity means no heat for the showers.  Also, may I remind you that it is winter, and coming up on the middle of winter.  It is miserable, but they seem pretty certain that today it will be turned back on.

The next bit of bad/funny news is... I have ripped my pants.. again.  The same pair of unlucky pants that I had just sewed up.  So last wednesday or so, I was walking from Almuerzo to our next appointment, and there were dogs.  Dogs eating a bowl of old food.  Apparently they felt threatened by us walking, and came after us.  As I scrabmbled for a rock, I stumbled and the pants blew out in the crotch again.  The dog got me in the ankle, but it didn't break the skin, luckily.  It did rip through the ankle of my pant also though.  On the way back from the appointment, I did get my revenge though.  We walked back the same way, and I hit him with a rock from about 20 yards away.  Yay!  I was able to have my pants sewed up again too.  This time exta strong in that area.

Now for some good news:  We have our first baptism on Saturday! It was the older guy, our investigator named Victor.  He is about 73 years old and loves reading the Book of Mormon.  He already seems like a strong member of the church and bore his testimony on enduring to the end yesterday, which makes me feel good since it means he will probably stay active his whole life.

So last week I spoke in sacrament on Faith.  I was very nervous for this, and was supposed to fill about 10 minutes.  I was not told I was speaking until the announced my name over the pulpit.  So I scrambled and put something together.  When I got up there, I was very nervous. I was trying to relate faith to a muscle, but instead of using the word 'musculo' I said 'musculino'.  So basically what I said was you have to excersize your masculinity in order to keep a testimony.  I didn't even realize this until I sat down. At least it was over by that point!

Love all you guys! Email me if you have time!

Elder Potts

This Week in Bolivia

Familia,

This week has been more of a normal one for me, but my spanish is developing more, and we have found new investigators.  Today marks 2 months for me in the mission! Not that anyone is counting though.

So last sunday, there was a girl who came to church that nobody seemed to know.  She is a youth, and about 16 years old.  She spoke to her teacher in Sunday school, and said she wants to be baptised.  The teacher found us, and we began to talk to her.  All on her own, she told us that she wants to have the lessons by the missionaries, and then to be baptised.  This of course, was a huge blessing for us.  On Tuesday, she attended a youth activity at the bishops home.  We met her there, and went to her home, which is about a 20 minute Truffi ride towards the mountains.  When we got there we met her family, and did not think much of it, but the mother seemed a bit uncomfortable.  We sat and began to meet with her, and the mother sat in on the lesson.  Eventually, my companion asked the mother if she had something to say.  She eventually told us that her and her husband are members. Not only that, but they have been inactive for 10 years.  What is even stranger is that before becoming inactive, she was the releif society president, and the husband was the ward mission leader.  We couldn't figure out why they went inactive, but were very welcoming to us coming and teacher their daughter, and visiting with them.  The name of this family is the Ramos family, and they have been inactive for so long, that only one family in the entire ward even knows about them.  It has even been over 5 years since missionaries have been to their home. We visited them twice this week, and invited them to church, but this is something they have as a goal, but no date yet.  They also have another son, who is 9, who wants to be baptised, so we will teach him also.

Other than meeting this family, we also have 2 younger girls, about 10, who we are teaching also. They are references from the ward.  Without references here, the work is very hard.  The university is in the heart of the city, and pretty much every one we talk to is an aventist. When tracting, it honestly feels like I am an Adventist or Jehovas witness missionary trying to teach Mormons in Provo.  The ward has been very dilligent in providing some references though.

Until next week,

Elder Potts

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