Wow, what a first week in Bolivia

ok, so what's up everybody from Bolivia for the first time...

wow. it's kinda weird that I'm actually here. so lets' start from the beginning i guess

got here on Tuesday but stayed in a hotel for two nights. during those two days we got to meet the president. president maynes who is really cool and a nice guy. ooober oober strict but that's the best type of president i think you can have. even though i think some rules are way too extreme....I'm starting a new mission this week and so I'm gonna try my best to be 100 percent obedient. which in this mission will be really hard actually.

so then on thursday we got to our area. i'm in the sixth ring of santa cruz. inside the city but on the outskirts. in fact my area actually runs to the limit of the city. my area is called fortaleza and it's fairly big. like i said it doesn't have a limit on one of the four sides. my comp is elder titto. he's a peruvian but from cusco. he has four and a half months in the mission and is a great elder. we get along great which is gonna help us a lot. in our area the missionaries were taken out a year ago. they went nine months without any missionaries and then three months ago two missionaries came to open it. now me and elder titto are taking their place...we are both new to the area and the missionaries who left didn't leave any investigators for us, outside of one young kid who's gonna be baptized this saturday. that's nice but outside of him literally there is even the area book to work with. it's kinda sad but we'll see.

so the thing about santa cruz is that it's very unorganized. there are very little street names and the houses don't have numbers. so it makes finding anything almost impossible unless you know the area. so me and titto have been walking around just looking and struggling to find any member and then asking the direction of other members and references. it's gonna be hard but we are starting to get to know the area really good in such a short time. we're confident you could say.

so this sunday was interesting. the ward had us share our testimonies and elder titto is apparently ...how do they say it...stage fright or shock or something like that.. .he doesn't like to be in front of a lot of people and talk. so that was fun...mine was a little more normal and trying to animate them to work with us. well, the member seem to be chill. they gave us a bunch of references and their directions by drawing a little map and so we should have a lot more to do this week, so we're even more excited.

now about bolivia. the mission here is ooober strict, like a said. the rule that i hate the most and will have to put everything i can to obey is that we can't receive letters from anyone who is not our parents, brothers and sister. basically if they're not direct family we can't read them. and we still can't write to anyone outside of those same people. in all honesty i don't know why they do that. i understand not being able to write them but not even being able to read messages from friends seem a little too much for me...but we'll see what we do. maybe y'all can send me a letter by emailing it to my ma first and then she forwards it to me but i don't exactly know. but if you send it directly to me i can't open it or read it. something ridiculous like that. but it's a rule and I'm gonna try to obey it even though i don't understand it.

now about the cool Bolivian weather. so, for those who don't know, santa cruz is like a jungle. it's very green with a lot of trees and bugs and animals in every frikin part of the city. kinda weird to be walking down the street and there is a herd of cows, on the next street a herd of chicken...then horses... then sheep... then frikin bambis...or something like that. it's just kinda funny. I'm gonna try to take fotos and send them but i don't know exactly when. santa cruz is kinda dangerous too. not like too dangerous but there are not too many lights at night so it's easy to get robbed if you're not careful. and like all jungles the weather is just strange. when we got here it was humid and hot. i was sweating like a person from Arizona. but then Friday and Saturday it got really cold. like ridiculously cold. it's windy and they say it will be for about two months more....fun fun. and the best part is when it rains it doesn't sprinkle like in Lima...we're talking like monsoon frikin type rain. you go one minute and you're drenched. it's horrible...but fun. i love the rain and the best part is that i got to use that giant trench coat thing that we got. the first time. I'm gonna have to buy boots though. o ya so the entire thing is mud and mud and wind and sweat and cold all at the same time. it's crazy. that's how you can describe the weather.

so ma, when i was in the airport i had to pay for the suitcases which was a ridiculous 214 dollar but the office is supposedly gonna give us that money back. if you noticed that's why it disappeared. i don't even think it'll be possible to use 214 dollars in Bolivia in a year. but ya I'll let you know how all that goes. but ya so when i need something it'll be a million times cheaper to buy it here then to have you send it so i will never ask for any packages or anything like that. if you wanna send something, send money....and even then remember that 20 dollars is 140 bolivianos here and a lot of money. so ya.

let's see don't know too much about the rules, the things are very different here than in Peru. so we'll see how all this goes. I'm still trying to get used to the schedule and things like that.

o on a random note, this Friday was my comp's birthday. so i bought him a cake and we had a very mini party type thing. with cake and dinner and some good old fashioned Disney music. it was kinda weird but i got some cool fotos and I'll send those out to y'all.

OK so i don't know what else to write...I'm excited to be here. it'll be fun. the people seem really chill and me and my comp are gonna work like crazy people to have some success in our area here.

ya so that's about that. bye

I'm in Bolognesi, zone Chorrillos

so there were a lot of changes for me this week. first a change of area. i'm in bolognesi, zone chorrillos. it's a very dangerous and not a very easy place to work. seems like i always get the worst area of the zone but whatever...we've got a lot of plans and hope to have a good amount of success. the cool thing is that it's right next to surco surco. were i was b4. and we go to the same church. that new church that they were building for them is ours too. so i see all the members from surco and it's an amazingly built church. like a temple to be honest. this thing is huge. twice as big as any I've seen in the united states. i couldn't believe it to be honest. but it's amazing and is gonna help us a lot. so we're happy.

the second change is a change of comps. my new comp is elder quispe. he is a very cool elder. has just as much time as i do in the mission almost....3 weeks more. but he works good, teaches good and will be a good friend. this week has been great and i don't think we'll have any problems with anything.

so another change kinda interesting is that i got lowered you could say to comp menor. kinda funny actually. i promise mom i didn't ask for it but it's sorta what i wanted. being district leader was great and i loved it but i just wanna work and focus on my areas. it's a hard area to tell the truth and so i'm glad that we will be able to just go at it and do what we can. elder quispe was also a district leader b4 and now is comp mayor. so we're good. like i said we get a long amazingly.

and so just so you know where i am. my area, like i said, is somewhat dangerous. if i don't get robbed here i never will, let me put it like that. my second day here i saw a group of guys get run down by cops. they turned the corner and bang.... a good old fashion gunshot. very cool. we see fights and all sorts of cool stuff. amanda this is my payback for you going cliff diving or jumping or whatever it's called. so ha. no, but in all honesty I'm sure we'll be ok. most people don't say anything to us and we keep ourselves safe. we walk on the borders of our areas because the streets are more populated. i have no intention of getting robbed but Bryce the race is on buddy. first one who does buys the other one a steak when we get back.

so ya outside of that the new pres is a great guy. pres. manning from Idaho whose wife doesn't speak like any spanish. it's kinda funny. but she's learning well and really fast. so ya. i don't really know him yet because we only saw him speak at cambios but we should have a multizona and interviews soon and I'll let y'all know how that is.

so the area when i got there had almost nothing. one progressing and only two investigators. this week we took one young boy to church who is really chill. reminds me a lot of john from san juan. a great young kid that guess what...we found knocking doors. look at that, elder taliercio knocking on doors. not gonna hear that from too many of my areas but hear we're determined to do anything we need to to find people.

and ya that's all for this week i think. if anyone has any questions or anything let me know. thanks for all you help and support. and mommy number two needs to write me.....just throwing that out on the table. ya know. it's there ... to pick up and all..... if you want to..

o and bryce take care. I'm excited to hear about you field stuff now. just work and remember to obey the rules

Great week in Miraflores

Ok so what's up everyone. this week was a great week for me!

we had another baptism here. baptized a young man. 17 yrs old. Alexis. he wants to be a missionary. if there is such a thing as golden investigators he would be it. so i did the baptism and only had to dunk him once. we'll see how things go, but the 21st we should have another baptism.

o ya the results of the cambios were pretty cool. my new comp is elder Medina. from the same group as my papi utia. and utia came to my zone. not as zone leader, comp mayor but still here. not in my district either but we still see each other twice a week so that's really cool. my comp is an amazing teacher and a great guy. kinda quiet and it's possible that he had done some bad stuff earlier in his mission bc he's comp menor even though he has 20 months. but if that's the case he's not showing it. and i don't have any interest in what he's done just what he's doing now and he is the best teacher I've seen ever. it's ridiculous. so I'm learning a ton and loving it.

so that's that. this week i didn't eat anything really weird. finally although all the stuff I've eaten is really good. the hna says she's gonna make bunny, and turtle if she can find them. they say turtle is one of the best meats in the world. I'm willing to try anything now, except for my own cooking. to please u mommy i also am eating breakfast again. don't know if i told u but we don't pay the pench for breakfast anymore. but since i wasn't eating anything bc i was lazy, i started paying the hna to cook me breakfast and now I'm eating again. so be happy.

about my physical health I'm ok. the knee brace and orth pads help a ton. there always has to be something wrong though. but nothing bad and nothing to worry about.

ok and i still haven't gotten the packet that y'all sent to the office so i would recommend sending the stuff to the house. just make sure the stuff inside isn't more than 100 dollars or weighing more than 2.4 kilos i think. and ya u guys have the dirrecion right.

it's summer here so it's kinda hot. and it doesn't help that i have all the hills to climb but I'm getting used to it.

o and ma don't worry if anything happens to me like getting mugged or chased by people with machetes i'll let u know. but nothing like that has happened. my mission has been very normal. here, there are a lot of dogs but when u threaten them they don't do anything. so that's the worst.

i think that's all thanks for everything i'll talk to y'all next week.

New area, new comp and new position...

ok so a whole lot to go through and so little time still.

my new area ........

solidalidad, zona san juan de miraflores

my new position.........

freaking district leader

my new comp ...........

elder santi

ok so that being said i have no idea y I'm a district leader but I'm learning a lot and I'm excited for the new responsibility.

but now for the important stuff

my new comp is totally chill. elder santi is from Lima and works oober hard. I'm excited to finally have a comp a lot more regla than me. but he is always serious and kinda a joke to a lot of people here. but now with me he has a smile and we are working a lot better with everyone. it's a great area too. the area is solidalidad and it's a dope area. really poor and humble but bc of that everyone listens. so I'm a happy person. we can actually do contacts and find new people. who knows. but ya.... the problem with my area is

its a freaking mountain. it's like if we had 3 camelback mountains and put all three together, u get solidalidad. so ya that's fun. everyday climbing a mountain two or three times. if i wasn't loosing weight b4 just wait. I'm gonna be a twig. but the pench is totally awesome here. we live and pench with the same person and she is great. I'm excited to be here. really happy and glad that i have this opportunity.

so the work this week has been good. despite how good the area was i got here and the other elder left only one investigator. so santi and i have been looking and found 9 nuevos of which 4 went to the church yesterday. i swear I'm in heaven. the only other problem is that I'm the dl. the pres says everything is for revelation, but i don't know now. I'm excited but scared. the work is the same, but now i have to give lessons, baptism interviews, and informes, and a hole bunch of good stuff. but i am trying to get the hang of it.

so the pench gave me an idea something i wanna try. the packet that I've gotten have been inconsistently coming to me. some in two weeks others two months. they said that some elders had their family mail it to their house and they would go and pick it up. i wanna try it and see how it goes. the address is ....

Mz. J Lt. 12
Asociacion 27 de Julio
San Juan De Miraflores
Lima Peru

or so they tell me. but the trick is that u have to send it in the name of Ricardo Fernandez Santisteban. Because he will be the one to pick it up and they need to see an id to give the packets. i wanna see how long it takes. ma if u could i don't know if u have a packet or anything to send me but when u do let me know and i wanna try it. anybody else that might possibly wanna send a package send it to the office for now. and thanks to everyone for the packages and letters.

now there was something else but i fo, never mind i remember now. my birthday is like one week away or something like that. i don't really care to much about it, never have. but my pench says that if i don't take the afternoon off for the surprise birthday party that they are planning, she's gonna feed me spinach soup for the rest of the time I'm there. she treats us good and we'll see how it goes. it'll be fun I'm sure so no worries bout that. 20 years old. i can't believe it.

what else. i do miss surco. just soes y'all know. i love it here in solidalidad but surco was great too. i wanna go back but the work will go smoother here. hopefully more fruits of my labors, and definitely more sweat.

so ya. thanks to everyone for all the help, prayers, letters and info on the cardinals. brother nelson at least will understand my pain if the cardinals go on to win the superbowl. why do they have to wait till i left tho. but that's life. like you said.... taking one for the team. enjoy it for me.

I'll talk to y'all next week and try to send some fotos.

We were illegal in Peru for 2 months

ok so we have a ton to go through today since it's been a while since I've written. not my fault by the way, i had to go to Chile and ya.

so what happened, two weeks ago utia had a cambio to lima tambo. he's there in a trio and seems to be more or less happy with it. with him gone i got a new comp. elder chafloque who's pretty chill. we've had some problems these first two weeks but things seem to be getting better. he came with a warning though it was kinda funny. when the pres announced the change two of the elders in his old zone came up to me and said you need to have a lot of patience with him and just don't yell too much. but he's not as bad as they made him seem. I've never been one to judge anyways. i just work and he does too so i don't mind. o but i became comp mayor. or senior comp in English. kinda cool but not something that i really care about. it just means that i get more money and have to be in charge of the area. so ya, that's the cambio.

so then this last week all the missionaries from my group, from the ccm the 17 whose mission was Bolivia all were illegal for about two months or something like that. so to get us all legal we had to leave and come back in. to do that they took us Sunday night flew us to tacna, which is the sur of Peru and we stayed there the night. did some shopping in the morning and went to Chile in the afternoon. stayed there for a couple of hours and just enjoyed our pday. but that Monday night we flew back to the mission. got the the mission home at about 1 in the morning and stayed there and at 8 and consilio. and then back to work.

this week our numbers in surco were very good. like numbers nobody here has had in a very long time. some are good and others not quite but we're progressing a little bit. it helps that i have such a long time here in surco and i know what works. so i do that and nothing else. the problem is that we still don't have ward missionaries which means we don't have a lot of people to get our investigators every Sunday and so we have few in the church.

and now since this week is Christmas just soes everyone knows. Peru does celebrate Christmas and does it like us. so ya. this Christmas we're gonna visit some members and call home. they say we have 45 min to call. lets see if i obey that rule. but ya i'll probably call in the morning and or in the afternoon. depends on when my comp will but guaranteed in the morning a little bit and then maybe in the afternoon. so around ten i'll call. ten in the morning. in the night we will visits members and so i can't call then. and that's that

Christmas ¡this year has a very special meaning to me. it fulfills 6 months in the mission. kinda cool. one fourth of the way done, but they say the first six months are the hardest and i believe it bc i can already see the hardest is behind me. i'll still have problems and challenges but i know how to handle them. so it helps . I'm a lot less stressed and just happy to be doing the work. for all the future missionaries there just get through the first six and you'll be as happy as one of these Peruvian dogs who has skin diseases when they die. kinda a bad example i think but it's true. the first six are hard then it is easier.

o and i did see the doctor and we'll see. didn't help much but basically gave me permission to act for myself so i will and i'll get it better.

o and more importantly my packets came. yay me. i was so happy . after three months. one had a ton of ties and coloring books and stickers, thanks for all that i was so happy. and the other was one from the church i forgot what it's called. so ya thanks guys. i don't know y i like stickers so much but i do .

so ya that my time. thanks everyone and have a very happy and merry and feliz Christmas. or navidad. thanks for everything.

we went to Chile to get visas

hiya. sorry i couldn't write this week, we had a lot to do. i went to chile and had to get some visas with the other americans from my group. and so we didn't have time to go to internet. so i'm gonna write this little bit soes y'all know i'm ok and whatever. esta lunes i'm gonna write to everyone and i'm explain whatever. my new comps name is elder chafloque. i'll put more detail this monday. gotta go love ya

(Sent on Wednesday, 12/17/08)