That´s Quechua. I´m glad you guys had fun in Rio picking Cameron up
and that Cameron had a good mission. What are you going to do now
Cameron? You should go convert Red across the street haha.
Answers to Mom´s questions:
My living conditions aren´t that bad. I have a bed, a desk, drawers, a
small bathroom about the size of my bed with a toilet that actually
flushes, a sink, and a shower with hot water. The 1st counselor in the
Bishopric lives right above us and we pay rent to him. There are two
other missionaries in my district right across our door. Our apartment
is actually way nicer than most of the houses here in Potosi (which
are usually just bricks built up in a box with no floors and most of
their family living with them).
My daily routine is: get up at 6:30, get a six-pack, take a shower, 8
personal study, 9 companionship study, 11 language study, 12:30 lunch,
2 first appointment. The rest of the day is usually appointments; if
not, we contact. 8 dinner, 9 plan 9:30 personal necesities, 10:30 bed.
Repeat for most days. Saturdays is baptism service, Sundays - chuch,
mondays - preparation days.
Luckily for me, my companion is really good with making friends or
people trust him. So, the person who makes us Lunch also has a washing
machine and does it for us (for money of course). We drop it off early
Monday morning and pick it up someday at lunch. However, sometimes, I
wash my own laundry in a bucket and hang it up to dry. I don´t really
make any meals. The people here don´t eat breakfast, but I usually
make hot chocolate with powdered milk and some cookie or pun I bought
earlier.
The money system is 1 dollar for 6.9 bolivianos. We get 80 dollars a
month which is 550 bolivianos. Here for the most part, things cost the
same as in America, but in Bolivianos. So a one dollar donut cost 1
boliviano. People say that if you start converting it to dollars, you
will end up spending all your money because of how cheap it is.
My companion is pretty cool and funny. The only problem I had with him
is that he has no patience for me. This is the first time he is
training anyone (which he´s doing great) and the first time he´s had a
gringo. However, I talked to him last night in comp invetory and he
said that he knows and will try harder with patience while I try
harder to learn Castillano.
For the language, I am starting to understand people better so I get a
jist of the conversation. However, I need to speak more to practice.
My companion is great with that because after he´s done talking or
teaching one point, he just stares at me until I say something.
Sometimes it´s awkward because either I didn´t understand what was
said, I don´t know what to say, or it turns out that I sometimes get
distracted in my head. Even when I´m looking at them, my mind
sometimes wanders to like the dog or the little kids in the room. I
sometimes get tired of trying to discern what was said.... yeah.
Also, the peptmo bismo didn´t work because that came up too. I threw
up last night. But I think that is because I ate way too much. It´s
always hard for me to finish the food because there is so much. It is
rude to leave food on your plate. Also, most houses we get into, they
give us something to eat or drink.
Everyday like clockwork (at least this week), it rains right after
lunch and at like 6. Even if the sky is blue and looks like a
beautiful, the rain clouds seem to find their way to Potosi. I
understand that rain is good for cleansing, crops, and other things.
But two days this week, the rain turned to hail. Hail is truly from
hell. It hinders the work because people usually don´t let us in, it´s
hard to talk to people outside (if there is anyone), and it hurts. It
feels as if you are losing a bb gun fight!
Well mom, I hope that answers you questions. I have no more time to
write of other things (probably of more importance). Oh yeah, and i´m
sorry if it sounds negative. It really wouldn´t be if I was talking to
you face to face. I´m just telling you exactly how it is. And in fact,
I´m loving it here. The peole are really nice and are probably a
little frightened of me. I stand out because I´m a gringo and have a
name tag on. It´s funny because people think if you´re from the U.S.
you are really rich. It doesn´t help that I say I´m from Las Vegas.
They think the streets are paved with gold there. When I asked one
lady we were teaching what she wanted in my prayer for them, she said
money and she kept commenting something about money and me. Next time,
I will tell them that I have something worth more than money for them:
the gospel.
munakuyqui family,
- Elder Walker
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