Elder Zachary Gehring: Fotos and Stories

Hi there family,

Here are some fotos from this week. Ill tell the stories for each one.

-The Bowl

This week we went bowling on monday. I'd been before so it wasn't too exciting. We had to buy some food so we didn't actually stay the whole time. I've lost a lot of my bowling skills now that I don't practice so much. I think I'm going to get back in to it when I come home.

- For Rent

In Bolivia you can find just about anywhere to live. If your're alone that is. Just about every street you walk down there are signs that say ''Cuartos en Alquiler'' or ''Rooms for Rent''. They usually vary from 300 bs. monthly to 1000 bs monthly depending on the size of the room(s). They usually do not have private bathrooms, usually dont have kitchens, just rooms. It works for most people. I've learned that all I need is one room when I go back to school. 1 Room with a bed and a small dresser! The rest is just extra. Bolivians are very smart livers. Anyway, we saw this sign and it made us laugh so hard. The owners of the homes always ask if you have kids before letting you move in but it looks like this owner made up his mind about families!!

- Lote

Lote is a word that means lot. Sometimes they call it terreno also which simply means a piece of land usually before there is a house on it. People here loooove buying and selling their land. Heres a picture of a typical ''lote''. This one would probably be sold for 15.000 dollars. I think.. Maybe less.

- Bolivian Road Work

Road work is very behind here in bolivia. Heres a picture of a road that had really bad mud holes. They filled it with broken bricks and cement hahahaha

- Watermelon

One week ago we went to the market to buy a watermelon. We were so so excited. Neither of us had bought a watermelon before so we had no idea what to pay. We weren't thinking and the lady charged us 40bs. Of course there is no set price so she took advantage and won this one. We asked the members later how much they would have paid. They said the maximum would be 20. Oh well. We are going to go back to day and by a waaay cheaper one from the same lady. We took it home and ate it on our picnic style rug thing.

This week in our area we met a ton of new people. The ward is really excited to have 2 sisters and 2 elders. We are starting to see progress with the church attendance. There were 132 people who came to our ward on sunday which was great! The primary has about 20 kids I would say. A lot of the families just leave after the first hour. YM and YW have probably 10 each maximum and the elders quorum and Relief Society have probably 20-40 who actually come to church. I think. Its a pretty small ward but I love it. The bishop is a convert, the only member of his family, and very very young. He is 30 I think.

We had a hard week with people accepting our baptism invitation. We invited everyone to be baptized but no one has accepted. We have been practicing how to teach better. I lack a lot of work still to become a missionary like Preach My Gospel but my companion is helping a lot with the progress.

This week we met Faustino too. He is a less active member who hasn't come to church in 4 years or so. We found him on the list of memebrs and we looked for his house. We found it and he let us in!! We offered service and helped him put a wire screen on his window. We then talked about the importance of prayer and sabbath day observance. He came to church yesterday and has never been happier. Hes 48 and works with a Tow Truck Company. He still has a lot of goals but hes progressed more in 3 days than he has in these past 4 years. We are super excited for him. We also met these families who are now investigating the church. Dos Santos Familia, Rivera Family, Fernando and his wife and kids, Juan and Carmen, Claudia and Jaime, Joselyn and Rodrigo, Nestor Lovera, Joselyn and Sirilo, Sonia and her husband, Waldo Rojas, Reynaldo Vargas, Marta and her family, And the Rivero Family. Pray for them all!!

Love you all lots,

Elder Gehring