June 10th-June 16th

We've been really busy this week, as most of you are aware there has been a large increase in the number of missionaries. Our mission has 37 more arriving this week from all the MTCs Provo, Bogota Columbia and Lima Peru. When Jack was here the first time the mission had between 80 and 120 missionaries for the whole country. There are now over 1000 missionaries in Bolivia. Of our mission of 287,over 75 percent of the missionaries are from Latin America and the number of sister missionaries is increasing rapidly.  Senior missionaries, there are  2.  ....Jack & Lorna. In less than two weeks Bolivia will have 4 missions. The Cochabamba mission will be losing the areas of Tarija and Bermejo, about 50 missionaries. Really nice areas that we have never visited. We will be traveling there this coming week with Pres. and Sister Dyer to make sure the housing is in order and to say goodbye to the missionaries we are losing. We have been helping with  housing and spent this past week in an area east of town called Sacaba where there are about 24 missionaries in 10 different places. To say the least we are very appreciative when pull into our apartment on the Temple grounds each night.  Most of the missionaries have adequate living conditions. One apartment had no water for a week and another, west of town where our branch is, had had no electricity for a week. None of the missionaries have hot water heaters. They heat the water for their showers with the same units they were using 40 years ago. Lorenzetti's which attach 220 wires to the shower head. Although it reaches nearly 80 degrees in the daytime most days it is  winter now and the nights are cold. We've gone to La Cancha, the big market several times to purchase about 20 blankets.( Lorna talks more about La Cancha later). Some apartments don't have refrigerators or hot plates. One apt didn't have any glass in a large bathroom window. It's important to Pres. and Sis. Dyer that the missionaries are taken care of. We haven't heard any complaints from any of the missionaries. They are really dedicated. When we are passing out blankets, everyone wants to make sure the coldest gets them first. The missionaries do eat lunch and dinner at pensionistas except on the weekend. Here is a picture of Lorna with Hermanas Ramos y Tomala. Lorna feels very tall for once in her 5'2" life!

 

One other great blessing we had this week is we got our side mirrors back on our pick-up. We had them removed when the tail lights were stolen, to have molds made for them so they would be harder to steal..  It's not fun driving without side mirrors in heavy traffic with streets made for 2 lanes, and the Bolivians think they can make 5 lanes out of two! Lorna has yet to drive, her choice.

Before we left we met with the Bradshaws, who were here for 18 months, about what to expect. Lloyd said he had never been stopped by the police.  We haven't been here 2 weeks and I have been pulled over 4 times. Cochabamba instituted a new law that license plates ending in certain numbers could not be downtown on certain days. At first we didn't know which day was  ours. The last time we felt we were doing the Lord's work going to La Cancha for supplies and needed to be there. We never got ticketed. The last time,we needed to get turned around in the market area. I got to an intersection  and we didn't see a "no left turn" or "no u turn sign" so I went ahead and turned. What we failed to realize,is that I made the turn right in front of the police station! A policeman, which are the military here with rifles that look more like machine guns, came running out and stopped us and asked me what I thought I was doing after he asked for my license. (Which believe it or not I actually had)  I told him I didn't see a sign. He said "You foreigners think you don't have to obey any rules", which I thought was quite amusing since I don't think there are any rules here. I told him I had seen others do it. Although he looked 17 he gave the regular parent response, "Well just because everyone else does it does it mean you can?" he said "Here in Bolivia  when you are driving straight down a road,you can never turn left or right! never!"  Since everyone knows how I can remain calm with authority figures, I said "I've seen several drivers make right and left hand turns" As the policeman's face got redder I thought it was better to apologize and beg.  Didn't get a ticket!

On Monday, our P-day,we went to La Cancha. Christy (Sis. Dyer) took us. When we need to get blankets or most anything for the missionaries apartments this is the place to go. They have everything you can think of and a lot you wish you could forget. Monday we were after blankets. A few things about La Cancha. It goes for blocks. You can get lost. Best not to wear jewelry and you need to be very selective about the bathrooms or better yet, wait until you get home. To show you the wide variety of items. Here we are sampling margarine and shortening:

 

 

 

We took a wrong turn and ended up in the Witch's market. They have a lot of dried llama fetuses hanging everywhere,potions for whatever ails and a lot of things we had no idea the purpose. This picture is not about us,it is the only way Christy could get it.  Look in the bottom left hand corner:

 

The Cholita with her back to the camera is reading coca leaves (as in what cocaine is derived from). We were up next for a reading,but were running short on time. ;)

The culture here is so fascinating. Something new surprises us everyday. In the U.S. you see a lot of lawn care companies. Most have a pick-up and trailer with everything they need

 

 

This guy has his lawn mower on his bicycle,with a broom made out of branches.

We have seen very few real estate signs,but we see this everywhere:

 

 

 

 

If you can't see the spray painting on the fence, it says "lote en venta" or "lot for sale". At least they don't have to worry about someone stealing their sign. In the background, a peek of the city.

We love our branch in Bella Vista. It is extremely diverse,with businessmen and the native Cholitas.  The people are all so friendly and accepting,and there is a great spirit there. An older couple have a flower farm and bring several arrangements of beautiful roses each week. Each week the Relief Society has sent me home with a bouquet of roses! They have asked us to help teach the Temple prep class. They also asked Jack to teach some Priesthood lessons in Spanish. Half of each lesson time is taught in Spanish,then they teach it again in Quechua. Jack won't be teaching in Quechua. Here is a sample:

 

 

Every meeting we have been to, we sing acapella. They have a keyboard,but no one knows how to play. Jack volunteered us to play. When they find out my Spanish is better than my piano playing they may hide the keyboard! Luckily we found a simplified simplified Spanish hymn book with no sharps or flats (and limited hymns). Might be one hand,one finger,but we will give it a shot. That's it for this week. We love Bolivia and we love the people!