April 13

The six week period is in Spanish a cambio and in English a transfer. At the end of the ¨cambio¨ on Sunday night, we find out our ¨cambios¨or when we are going next. The actually day for moving is Tuesday morning, so that we have Monday to say goodbye and pack. I will know my cambio the next time I write to you,

Hna Nuñez´s cough is finally getting better. We called Hna Hansen and she said it was just a cold, which made me feel a lot better. However, we still spent a couple days being given conflicting medical advice from every single person we talked to. In all of this, I only got slighty sick for two days with a headache and being generally exhausted the first day and a sore throat the second. 

I find it interesting how the way we talk about body shape varies with culture. In Spanish it´s acceptable to call someone ¨gordita¨ and and Hna Nuñez says that she´s had to learn not to say that to gringos (americans) because they get offended. People are also less politically correct about race. For example poking fun at asian names. However, Korean soup operas are hugely popular. 

Going into the center of Cocabamba we often pass a billboard that reminds me of the subject of income inequality. In magazines at home I often saw ads to donate to the smile train that does free surgery on kids with problems in how their lips or nose and mouth are formed. In Cochabamba there is a big billboard with the dates when the children to receive the operations will be selected and what days the operations will be. 

Gender equality is also not an issue I find myself especially interested in, but I have noticed here in Bolivia a real problem for mothers who don´t have daughters. Daughters help with the cooking, cleaning, and laundry and a mother with only sons has a lot more work for herself. 

I finally have a good number of pictures and hope to have even more next week as I say goodbye to people in this area. 

First, Hna Quispe who served in this area a while ago and has since finished her mission came to visit for a day while attending the temple (she´s from la paz).

 Elder Thomson made a cool cardboard suit of armor to talk about the armor of God in a distric meeting. I don´t remember who it is wearing the armour. 

 In Molle Molle (a part of our area) there is a monkey in a tree. It is always there and creeps us out a bit. None of the photos came out very well because the monkey was moving and we felt a little awkward taking photos. 

 Hna Anavel gave us a chocolate egg each with a toy inside. I can´t seem to find any kinder eggs to take a pìcture of, but there are lots from cheaper brands. My little alien spins and tells you si, no, nunca, and tal vez. 

 We took pictures with Magali and Carola (estefani wasn´t home). The girl with the cat on her shoulder is Magali. The three of them got baptized together a bit over a year ago, but have a ton of problems at home that often made it hard to establish a habit of always going to church. 

This morning our district got breakfast (at 10:30) in the center. From left to right we are: Elder Pasten, a new missionary from Chile, Elder Galan, me, hna Nuñez, Elder Laksberger from California, Elder Thomson, also from California and the district leader. None of these photos came out very well either. The restaurante sells saltenñas, something similar to an empanada that they call a wistu and various drinks. I got banana milk which is the closest I could find to a milkshake. It´s milk and sugar and a banana. It´s cold, but not the same as a milkshake.

This Saturday the elders had a baptism. It all turned out well in the end, but we started two hours late because no one showed up to preside for the first hour and a half. To have a baptism we need someone from the bishipric to preside. 

As we arrived there Hna Nuñez and I realized that we had forgotten to go pick up an investigator who was going to come. I felt so bad because Roli is a really great investigator and I was hoping that seeing the baptism would be a spiritual experience for him. However, as we approached the chapel we noticed that Roli was there waiting outside. He had come all by himself! Roli is a really awesome investigators becasue he is a really good christain who actually reads the Bible and trys to apply it to his life. However, all his family goes to an evangelical church which makes it hard for him to choose to come to church with us on Sundays.