March 30

I´m sorry my last email made you worry about me. I really am enjoying Villa Mexico. Although I am looking forward to a transfer and getting to know somewhere new, I will also miss this area and all the people a ton. I feel comfortable in the ward and haven´t gotten us lost for ages. 

The fact that the last few months of one´s mission are the hardest to focus is well known among the missionaries. This feeling is called being ¨trunky¨ or ready to pack your trunk. Although, not all the Spanish speaking missionaries seem to realize that this is a word in English and not just mission slang. (and spell it tronki)

I´m glad you saw the pictures of our sister missionary gathering. It was a lot of fun. We had some lessons from the sister training leaders, a self defense class, a really nice dinner, and watched the general women´s broadcast. The self defense class was super short, but we learned some good, martial arts-y moves to get someone´s hands away from you or off your bag. The main difference with Impact is the length of the class, but also that Impact's main advice was not to be afraid to elbow or knee them as hard as you can, while this was more learning different moves that you can use to control the situation. 

Easter is a little confusing because for all the catholics the whole week is equally important (I think) and not just Easter. Also, we have General Conference this weekend, so there´s no Easter program at Church at all. Also, Easter is pedestrians´ day in all of Cochabamba, which means there are no cars or motorcycles anywhere and everyone has to walk or bike. This is a great idea in general because everyone dusts off their bikes and the little kids can use the whole street for tricycles and scooters without worrying about cars. However, it´s always on General Conference and some of the members live really far from the chapel. Dia peatonal is always the first is april, which happens to be easter this year, but is always general conference.

there weren´t any cars Sunday either because of elections (cars, motorcycles, and gathering of large groups are prohibited on election day). We couldn´t have church either.

The animal from last week wasn´t there anymore. I´m not sure if it got sold or just kicked out for eating someone´s pet bird. 

Pictures this week are of Hna Nuñez reciving her ¨carta trunky,¨ which has her instructions about the last few weeks of her mission. She has only one more transfer after this one. Behind her you can see the votes for what we are going to do the pday after this one. The decision is paintball again, because there isn´t really much to do in Cochabamba. Aparently, there used to be bowling, but the bowling place closed a few months before I got here. Today is going to be really boreing because it´s the very end of the month and no one has any money. 

Then there are two blury pictures of the temple at night. The mission home is just across the street from the temple, so I took these pictures as we were leaving. President Hansen also gave us roses, which I put in water bottles on the counter. The pink one is mine. 

Other news is that Jose Maria Leyes won the election for mayor. Since we don´t read the news I know the names and colors of the different parties well, but not any of the issues. 

Also, Hna Nuñez has had a cold and bad cough for days now, which I have still managed to avoid catching. I think it comes from the way the weathers been lately. Cold, rainy nights and really hot during the day. I got sun burnt again, but not too badly. 

This week we had intercambios with the sister training leaders and I went with Hna Rumaldo to her area, villa luz. This intercambio wasn´t as eventful as the last one and was really just a normal day in someone else´s area. They eat lunch with two pairs of elders and the elders are fun, but just as immature as ours were when we ate with elders. 

Thank you for all the pictures. Who took them? They turned out very well. I think Charles looks different, but I´m not sure how.