Starting The Long Climb To Excellence

It's raining here and we are in our room just waiting for the leaks to start.  The roof of brick tiles leaks and we are anticipating that our little canvas ceiling isn't going to hold it back much longer.  Already a few little wet patches are appearing.  Luckily they are mostly on Kupu's side of the room!

The Latin people are really different and sometimes it is so hard to work with them and love them.  One thing that is really bad is the lying.  They teach the children how to lie.

One of the most discouraging and deflating things that I can think of is when you go out and knock doors all day, make a whole day's worth of appointments and then find out the next day that not one of them is home.  So we go out and do the same thing.

I really fell up in the air as to what to do.  Kupu and I have a hard time motivating ourselves to give 100% and when we don't I feel really guilty.

The dogs here are something else.  They don't bother the other animals here or the people, but missionaries!!  They must be the devil's best friend.  Every time one of them sees us it starts to bark and howl like it had been hit with a rock.  Sometimes we will want to knock on a door and there will be a big mean dog on the step.  It really takes some courage to try and walk up to the door.  However and funny though it may seem, the nicest families have the meanest dogs.

We are going into Paz this weekend for a conference with David B. Haight.  It will really be a good change of pace.  We were supposed to have gone into a conference with one of the seventies but we found out about it on the morning of the conference!

We have a lot of supplies to pick up for the members as well as us.  I hope that we get to do some work in Paz because we really have had kind of a "frito" week so far.

Elder Kupu and I are starting to get pretty close.  I guess that just follows when you are the only "extraneros" in Colquiri.  We have spent some time talking about friends, family and countries.  The other night we had a real neat companion inventory session.  I got to see some sides of him that I haven't seen previously.  It is really an opportunity to have someone from another culture as a companion.

Kupu's culture is really different.  In Tonga they wear skirts instead of pants.  That is pretty funny when he is walking around in his "falta".  Dating patterns are different.  Kupu plans to get married in about a month after he gets back from his mission.  That's just the way they are and he doesn't even have a girlfriend.  Food, family and just about everything else is different in his country.  However the gospel gives us that common bond that we need.  With the gospel it seems as though there is no difference between us at all.  This Church of Jesus Christ is really meant for all the sons of God on earth!

I have read back over the entries in my journal since I got here in Bolivia and I marvel at how inadequate they are.  They just don't cut the mustard as far as expressing feelings or ideas are concerned.  It makes me realize how much I have to repent.

The Lord has blessed me with a great deal of talent and ability which I have pretty effectively frittered away during this life.  I think that I have pretty fairly developed my physical talents and abilities.  However up to the start of my mission, I have sorely neglected the development of my mental and spiritual abilities.

I am beginning to realize how short this earthly life is.  I don't know if I will ever be able to make up the lost ground in the area of my mental and spiritual development (if there is a chance).  I think I know where to start.  I better repent and ask forgiveness of my Heavenly Father, my parents and myself. Then I must get going.  I feel real good about my MTC experience.  It really opened my eyes as far as my mental and spiritual potential are concerned.  I learned how to study and I learned how to pray and use them together.

What I must be able to do is to maintain this knowledge then start the long climb to excellence.  It will be a long road.  It will be longer for me than a lot of people because I have been walking the other way for so long.  But I am learning to enjoy walking up here in Colquiri, so where but here could be a better place to start!!

The Night Walk Home

Yesterday was really neat.

Besides baptizing Hermana Rosa, Elder Kupu, President Jeran and I blessed eleven children.  They ranged in age from just born to 7-years-old.  It was really neat because we could really feel the spirit.  It made me think about that someday when I would be doing the same with a little child of my own.

I felt really good yesterday.  I even didn't mind having chunyo and rabbit (guinea pig) for dinner.

We went over to Ibanez after dinner.  We were supposed to have a Family Home Evening with the branch but nobody showed up.  They are really nice and super humble.

I really enjoy walking home at night from Huayropata.  That mile or so of trail gives me time to think.  I usually look at the lights of Colquiri then gradually get into my mind.  I think of me as a missionary and how the Lord has blessed me with so many things.  I think of the people here, my companion and how neat he is.  I think of my family, my girl and someday of raising a family of my own.  What a great responsibility!

That high mountain air really revives me and I usually get any bad feelings out by the time we get to the room.  Then I sleep like a log.

Today was a learning experience.  It's P-Day but we decided to work anyway.  We had several "citas" set up but not one of them was home.  That is just the way it is in Bolivia.

"I think that I am beginning to realize that baptizing is where it is at."

I baptized Hermana Rosa Fernandez Buendia today.  I think that I am beginning to realize that baptizing is where it is at.

A Shouted Prayer & A Dog Bite

We are pretty down today.

We knocked on doors this morning.  We got into this one guy's house.  He asked us to bless his wife.  She had a bad pain in the stomach.  Just before we were about to bless her he asked if he could open with a prayer.  That was the weirdest prayer I ever heard.  He started real soft then louder till he was shouting then he started to cry then shout then soft then stop.  We proceeded to bless her but I really didn't feel the spirit and I was too scared.  We have a cita for him tomorrow but I don't know if it will do any good.

We were knocking on more doors after this and Kupu got bit by a dog.  It broke the skin through his pants, warm ups and pajamas.  We were walking along when another dog started sniffing his leg.  I don't think that it would have bitten him but Kupu gave it a kick in the head.  Then a bunch of chalitas started yelling at us for kicking dogs.  Whew!

We have just spent about two hours waiting for the Florta Station to open so we could find out if the ZLs are coming out tomorrow.  It still isn't open.

Poor Kupu has had a bad pain in his throat for a week now and it isn't getting any better.  This, plus the fact that we aren't finding any families to teach isn't helping his disposition at all and when he is down I get down.  I hope we can really get to working soon.  With all the waiting for families and delays, the days really seem long.

Baptizing In Six-Month-Old Green Water

I don't know exactly how but it seems as though I have been able to keep this journal up to date.  It's P-Day today and we have been kind of cleaning up.  Two elders are out visiting from Oruro.  One of them is another Tongan.

Yesterday was really neat.  The Mamanis were baptized and I got to do it.  The Church is an ex-mosque and I don't know what it was that we baptized in but it held enough water.  The water was about 6 months old and a weird shade of green.  It was harder trying to remember their names than it was the prayer.  That night after Sacrament we watched movies again.  When we watched The First Vision I felt the spirit really strong.

I guess I have been chosen to lead the music.  It is just like singing a solo.  We don't have anyone who can play the piano and a lot of the songs the people don't know, but it is fine.

Last night I about froze to death.  I was wearing my garments, long underwear, shirt, tie, sweatshirt, socks, and scarf and I still froze.  It was really cold this morning.  The wind was really blowing and we froze.

I have really enjoyed today.  I just feel good.

The 1st Sunday In Bolivia: "Missionary work is really different than what I expected."

It's Sunday.  My first Sunday here and I am going to baptize.  Even thought I haven't taught this particular couple at all, I still will feel good.  The Mamanis will be real strong I think.

Missionary work is really different than what I expected.  I really don't know where to begin.  For one thing it is not all teach, preach and baptize.  We have spent a lot of time as fix it men.  We have repaired water heaters for the baptismal font, made an awkward reel for a movie projector.

We have done a lot of walking up here.  The town is at about 15,000 feet and more or less divided into two halves.  Since Elder Kupu and I are the only missionaries here we have to cover both parts.  To avoid going down 500 feet or more and then up again, we skirt around the side of the mountain on sheep trails.  It is about a mile and a half.  It is not too bad during the day, but it can be pretty treacherous at night.

The people here are poor, real poor.  We find families of 5 and 6 or more living in a room about 12 feet by 12 feet.  They are usually kind and friendly, especially the members.

It is pretty cold up here.  The wind was blowing yesterday and we really froze.  There is not a paved road within 150 kilometers and the dust really gets bad.  Speaking of yesterday, I was really depressed but I feel better today.

One thing that I don't think I will ever get tired of is the little kids and babies.  Those big eyes and cheeks so red can just hold me spellbound.  They are great examples of the innocence of children.  Another thing that I don't think I will ever get tired of is the stars at night.  They seem so close and innumerable and clear.

The week has really been a long one.  Last Sunday at the temple with the Azul District seems years ago.  I think that I am adjusting to life here, the food, the lack of showers and everything else so that I think this next week will go faster.

"If ever there was a place where it is easy to get depressed it is in Bolivia, especially Colquiri."

Man, what a day.

If ever there was a place where it is easy to get depressed it is in Bolivia, especially Colquiri.

I finally got my suitcase today, minus my electric razor.  I hope whoever has it uses it in the bathtub and electocutes himself!

I'm surprised I still have a head attached to my body.  I have hit it on roofs, doors, and bars and almost had it severed millions of times by clotheslines.

It is time to go to bed.  Maybe I will write some more of these exciting things tomorrow.  Elder Kupu and I have been fasting for the Mamanis family, we are going to baptize them tomorrow wow!