Bolivia, Charcas—Week 21

There was a straight up river in the road
and there was no getting around it!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was crazy, crazy! I don’t know if you’ve heard on the news, or maybe they didn’t show Bolivia, but there have been crazy rainstorms all over that have caused a lot of problems in other parts of Bolivia. Don’t worry, Santa Cruz is good and there aren’t any big problems here. We heard that in La Paz, people are dying because of all the rain. Crazy stuff.

It was a pretty eventful week. Mostly just having fun in the rain because it was basically raining nonstop for three days. It’s coming back on Thursday, so we are going to be real cold and wet until about August! Wahoo!

Hope you all are doing great.

Love you bunches!

xoxo

Hermana Nelson

Journal Pages

February 10, 2014

P-Day

Vaca Fria

We went to Vaca Fria (ice cream parlor) with Hermana Lucy and her husband today. It was delicious, free, and the Olympics was on ESPN. It was a good p-day!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Yep, we went to our FHE tonight and Hermano T. made us BBQ chicken pizza! I mean, it wasn’t quite as good as CPK, but for Bolivia, it was pretty darn good! We also made chocolate chip cookies with them, which don’t taste the same as at home, but were good.

You Know You’re in Bolivia When . . .

. . . the mailman drives his dirt bike right into the building

. . . they offer you ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard with every meal

. . . cookies with half the sugar and half the chocolate are still too sweet for them to eat

February 11, 2014

Rain, Rain, Rain—Santiago’s B-Day

We left the house to go to lunch and take Santiago b-day balloons, and got caught in a downpour. We were soaked head to toe when we got there, but we still had a good time with the Quezadas. Hermana Quezada made a chocolate cake which tasted really good.

Santiago’s birthday.
We made him balloons with messages.
The life of poor missionaries!

Finding (or I guess Not Finding) People

We went to Hermana Carol’s to ask for references and have her help us make a list of less-active and inactive members in our area. When we left, it started to rain again, so we went home to wait until it passed. We made some chocolates to give people, found members on our map so we could visit them, and then ate so much chocolate that we almost threw up. Great times. Later, we visited the “Garden of Eden” with the family Vargas. They gave us some of the crazy weird orange/grapefruit.

We had to stay in from the rain because
President didn’t want us to get bronchitis
cuz "aint nobody got no time fo dat!"

February 12, 2014

Happy Birthday, Devo!

You Know You’re in Bolivia When . . .

. . . you’re on the side of a 2-lane road and the car on the other side drives as close to you as possible

. . . you apply bug spray and you still can’t count how many mosquito bites you have

. . . it rains so hard there is a river running down the street

. . . you straighten your hair, only to have the humidity curl it for you 2 minutes later

. . . you get 87 whistles/cat calls in just a few weeks (yep, we’re counting)

. . . you eat tiny portions of food, walk all day, and still gain weight

. . . every car is a taxi

. . . every restaurant has “pollo” in the title

. . . the only bus you are waiting for never comes and when it does, you are already in the taxi

. . . you sweep all the floors and 20 minutes later they are filthy again

We may need new umbrellas . . . 

February 13, 2014

Non-Stop Rain

Super Embarrassing Moment

So, we couldn’t find a single micro this morning and we were sitting out in the rain for quite some time waiting, so we decided to call a taxi. We decided that Hermana Smith should do the bartering and if they said “20 pesos,” we would tell them “no, we want 16.” So, I called the taxi over and I’m not sure what happened, but I was the one who started talking. I said, “How much for the Mutalista?” He said, “15 pesos,” but I was thinking 20, so in my best bartering/begging tone of voice, I asked, “Can you for 16?” Then he gave me a real strange look and said, “Yeah, sure.” Hermana Smith informed me of my mistake and so we paid more than he asked for, but it was a good laugh.

Rain (kinda’ like on Trek in Wyoming)

Then we looked and looked and looked for raincoats and boots, but couldn’t find any. We just got more wet and miserable waiting for a taxi. Later, Hermana Quezada took us shopping. It was miserable (because of the rain), but kinda fun.

We bought matching white rain boots and raincoats!

February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Our Six-Month Mark!

Painting

We visited Hermana Teresa today and she taught us how to paint! I’m sure we didn’t do well, but it was fun and we got some pretty wall art out of it. We taught her about how she can use her talents to help share the Gospel. We read D&C 60:2-3, 13. We are also going to bring investigators so she can teach them and we can teach them as well!

English Class

We had 10 people come today! Hooray!

Burning my Six-Month . . . Sock

So, you know how all of the Elders send home pictures of burning articles of clothing in the mission? Well, I wanted to do something to mark my six-month anniversary. But what could I burn? (We were safe, don’t worry.) There aren’t really ties or anything for girls, so I had a sock with a hole in it and I decided to burn it. Hermana Smith thought it was silly, but she took photos for me. I started saturating it with bug spray . . . and when that didn’t work, I used hair spray. That didn’t work out either, so I brought out the nail polish remover. It worked like gasoline. It was cool . . . and funny because Hermana Smith was freaking out about it the whole time!

 You Know You’re in Bolivia When . . .

. . . the couple on the beach have a mariachi band playing for them

. . . you pass by men in the street and they yell (read with a “Nacho Libre” accent): “Hello! I love you! Good Afternoon! I love all de women in de world!”

BANANAS GROW ON TREES!