Elder Zachary Gehring: Elecciones

Hi there mom and dad and family,

If you need any questions answered about the Bolivian voting system you can ask me. I could probably help you out. I was put in charge of coordinating all the voting of the Bolivians with in our mission. There weren't very many but its so complicated here. I'll make you a short list of how it works.

1. You have to vote. If you don't, you end up paying a ton of fines and they take away certain rights and privileges.

2. You register to vote waaaaay in advance. Then the day (only one day) of elecciones you have to return to that same place. No exceptions.

3. Its all by hand. Each school has tables, each table has a list of names and you have to vote on that table. The winner is chosen about 2 weeks later because it takes so long to count the votes. 1st they count who won each table, then who won the most tables in the school, then who won the most schools by district and then by province and then by another thing and then the country.

4. No one here knows the rules on term length. We asked everyone and everyone had a different answer. One says one can only win twice, another says 5 times you can win, and another says that after winning 5 times in a row you become the president forever. Im not too sure which is right.

5. You can't drive on elecciones day. You can't form large gatherings. You can't have religious meetings. You can't buy alcohol. No one in the whole country works. And as a mission, no one is even allowed to leave the house.

That pretty much sums up all of yesterday. We stayed in the house for a really long time and it was boring. We ate lunch and we undercooked the hamburgers. I think we all are going to get sick. Also mom, I used the shark plates that you sent me. So good choice there.

The rest of the week was so fast. I dont even remember what we did. It just flys by. We did end up staying late a couple times in the offices. I was in charge, with the assistance, of making a program for all the missionaries to follow during Sunday. It took so long. We kept changing a ton of stuff, President wanted this and then that and we were just blown away with the revelation he always receives. And this week that is coming up won't be any calmer. We have to start prepping for cambios again. It felt like yesterday that I was just walking into the office and now I have over 3 months here.

This week we didn't teach very many lessons, but we taught one man who we have been having a lot of trouble with. He is married but has had a few difficulties in his marriage. We came to this lesson not sure of what to teach. We followed the spirit and found out he really had no idea who we were. He had no idea why we were always passing by, why we teach him and what our goal is. We were able to explain that to him through the teaching of the Plan of Salvation. He lit up. I saw his curiosity change and his mind working. He has so many questions and it was the first time he had heard of such a thing as a life after this one. We explained that through Jesus Christ we can be make perfect and because of Him, we can become who God sees and wants us to be. We are excited to return and help him understand a little more. He finished our lesson with a prayer which he had refused in previous lessons. The spirit was there and he knew it.

I love this work. And I love you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Gehring