BETANZOS - A Very Humble Beginning...

This was his first email in his new area; Betanzos.  This area has a much higher altitude and is much colder so I am praying that he is staying warm.  He was able to write back and forth for a short minute and told me that he didn't have a shower and was using a bucket to shower.  Oh the things we take for granted each day.  As I was sending a quick response to him through tear filled eyes, I could only type out; stay safe, be obedient and stay clean.  But, no matter what in each email he always sounds so happy and always assures us that "all is well".  Enjoy...

Yo whats up fam I feel like i have not talked to you guys for like a year.  A ton has happened this week.  So first thing which is kinda crazy is like a month or two ago there was this girl who wanted to talk to us so we found some time and when we met with her all she wanted was for the church to buy her house and build a temple, she was crazy so we told her to talk with our bishop but she never found a time so then she was getting bad and she went to the Police to say that the church and the Elders where bullying her so they had to pull the missionaros out of my old area for two weeks! Way nuts and all is good, worked out perfect for me because I left the next day.

Lunes- Well last day in Lindo was really crazy after internet we went and said good bye to a lot of families and some converts it was kinda sad but it was a good last day we had a family night with a way rad family who live next to us and have always been way awesome.   In the night is when our president called and told us the news about the crazy lady.

Martes- Transfers well this day was pretty dope I said goodbye to a lot of the elders here too because a lot of my friends here in Cochabamba might die(go home) before I get back which was really sad.  So around 9 we left Cochabamba on a plane to Sucre after that we took a rapidito to Potosi, which is about three hours away met our zone leaders where they told us they did not have a house, a pensionista (cook) or anything haha so we stayed the night with them, and it hailed during the night! it's so freakin cold here! but it was fun to hang out with them and get to know them for the night.

Miercoles- like all in the night they were talking to a member who found us a house in our area and a pensionista , she lives with us haha.  But at around 11 we made it out to our area, its a solid hour from our area to Potosi so we are really alone out here, but all day we just cleaned the house and cleaned all our stuff cause they closed another area to open this one, so all the stuff we got from them was just all trash so we had to clean a ton and fix like everything!

Jueves- Ok this was the real first day in the area and what we did was work! We contacted all day looking for someone who would want to hear. Us we found a few to people who were really cool and spoke more Quechua than Spanish.   Quechua is pretty much like a Native American language and in this pueblo like all of them speak it! Who knew it would be hard to find Spanish speakers in Bolivia! All in all good day, hard day

Viernes- Well this was the day of district meeting so we had to leave our area at like 8.30 to get to Potosi by 11 and after that we headed back to our area, which took us until 3! After we contacted some more and then that was about it.

Sabado- Well again we went to Potosi to go to this thing called a fariat where we can buy a bunch of American cloths I bought a dope KC hat here which is a real Nike hat haha super dope and it was like 12 bucks! We have permission to go to that because its only open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Domingo- Well this was the first Sunday in this new ward, and oh man was it crazy first off the reunion (meeting) is in Quechua! All of it! we sing in Spanish, but after that the announcements and prayers and blessing of the sacrament all Quechua! But after the sacrament the secretary walks up to us and says that the two people with talks today did not show up! So we had to talk! On our first day! And with maybe 2 second notice! Ha ha but it was pretty good my comp talked about the mission work and I talked about the gospel it was a good Sunday but really hard there was maybe 15 people in church and no leaders! Only the secretary of the ward and a relief society president ha ha that was it and a guy from the stake which was it..

This area is really huge which is really hard the only thing I wanted from my next area was a smaller area but looks like that is not the case, but its all good, the area is super beautiful which is really cool all the mountains but its really hard to learn another new language.  But its all good.  Love you all, and all is well down here!

--
- Elder Clayton
Bolivia Cochabamba

 Packed and ready to go to his new area

 Dining on guinea pig...

Saying good bye to a family in Lindo

¡ yo voy a Potosì! - I'm going to Potosi!

Whats up fam! So big news I'm out of area Lindo! The cambios (changes) came in last night and I will be heading to Potosì , I'm way stoked because I will be opening an area that has been closed for almost 6 months, and it's with my zone leader, his name is Elder Barros, from Utah.  I´m way stoked!  This area is way out there.  But I´m way stoked, also if you guys did not know Potosì has the same altitude as the base camp of Mount Everest! Should be good, cold and hard to breath! But I´m way pumped!

Okay, well usually what I do when I write my letters is I have my agenda so I just look at the days and see what I did that day, but I forgot it this week, sorry gang. Something that has been way cool this week is everyday we have gotten up and played basketball everyday, at six! haha its really tiring but its way dope! And we have gotten a lot of the youth to come play after seminary and the other missionaries too. So it's way rad!  This week was the conference too which was really cool cause this time our president talked about the Book of Mormon, and told us his conversion story que es super loca, so what is way cool to give a background is before he was a member of the church he was a bible teacher kinda like a pastor in a college but he never really had a strong religion so he always was looking for a church.   He talked to the Jehovah Witnesses, Evangelists, Catholics and one day the LDS missionaries knocked on his door and he wanted to talk to them they gave him a Book of Mormon and he read the whole book in less than two days! He read it in two nights, loved it and continued to investigate the church when he was baptized at age 21 after 6 months of looking at the church! way cool and way amazing to hear his story

On another note a little less spiritual was for the longest time I have wanted to try guinea pig cause they eat it down here and she finally bought some and made it for us! Let's just say it was not very good... haha I was really pumped and I ate the whole thing but man, it sucked! haha and it still had the paws on it! But I ate the whole thing like a champ.

We have been meeting with this one family Mamani for the last week or two who are really really cool, they are always super excited for us to come and visit and they pull out the red carpet for us, always have snacks and juice for us its way funny and really cool to meet with them, we taught them twice this week and both times they just have tons of questions and are really interested!

Yeah pretty chill last week here we worked with a lot of members to have family nights as my last week here which was really rad.  I´m really sad to leave this area cause I really love it but I'm really happy to be leaving too.

Well love you all and all is well down here in the great Bolivia! I´ll talk to you guys next week all about this new area love ya!

Well one thing that is way amazing about my comp is he can sleep with his eyes open! I'm not kidding I thought only Major Payne could do this.. but nope my comp can too! and here is a photo to show you that I"m not just blowing your minds, he is sleeping in this photo, and when he wakes up his eyes don´t shut and then reopen they just move!

We were able to send a package with an elder that was serving here in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission who was returning home to Cochabamba on Tuesday, March 13.  When Caleb received his call, we were able to take Elder Maldanado and his companion to lunch at Olive Garden.  At that time we talked about how he would take something to Caleb when he returned and that he would be five months in Bolivia.  That seemed like it would be forever away; and now it is here.  We are so grateful for this blessing of getting something to him.  A pair of pants and some homemade cookies.  We know he will love these whenever he gets them.


The movie COCO is the talk of Bolivia here haha its really funny i don´t know if it's like that in America but everyone loves it here! Andrew  McKinley is a real stud and I'm glad that he will get something from home when dad said he was going there that's the first thing I thought of was him! One thing that is kinda hard is that guy who is coming home from his mission today I won´t be able to see him my new are Potosi is very far away you need to take a plane to Sucre, and after that a three hour trufi to Potosi and another hour ride to my area! So I think the package is not a problem just need to take that to the mission home or office but I won´t be able to talk to him which is a bummer. love ya mom!

Ultima Semana - Last Week

What up Fam! So I´m thinking that this is going to be my last week here in area Lindo. I´m not for sure tho  but should be a good last week and this week was really good too and went by sooo fast!

Lunes- Last week was a pretty cool p-day we went out to this place called Punata where we took this tour of all these old churches and like old stuff that was in Bolivia it was really rad and after that we went to that wing place again and ate some more BBQ wings!

Martes- one thing that is really dope that we have started in this ward is basketball Tuesdays now there are rules here where you can´t play with members but if you have a investigator you CAN! So we invite everyone! To play basketball on Tuesdays and we have been having tons of success it starts at 8 and we usually come by at like 9 and play with them for about 30 minutes.  It's way fun and it helps a lot to bring them to church and make friends, my comp and I just play in our shirt and tie which is way funny.

Miercoles- We have this new kid that we have been teaching whose name is Natanal.  He is really interested and way cool his mom is a member but his dad is really anti-Mormon and he has never talked with the missionaries before but we have been teaching him the last like week and he is really rad and really interested! We first went to their house to just share a message but he started talking like he was a member of the church for his whole life.  I asked when he got baptized and he said he is not a member! Ha ha way funny and way fun to teach.

Jueves- we were contacting in this area called V.Israeal this day and we came to this one gal who was just sitting out on her curb, we walked by and just started talking to her and she was way rad her name was ¨Yolo¨haha I´m serious and she was so happy to talk to us she went and invited her kids to come and listen to us too!  We shared the message of the restoration which was way rad and they were really interested and told us they would come to church, when Sunday came they did not come but they called us at 7 in the morning to say sorry! That never happens! Familia Mamani

Virnes-in the morning I woke up feeling super bad like a had a really bad headache and I was trying to study my scriptures but I could not look straight I told my comp and then went and laid down for a little. I then took a 4 hour  nap! I woke up and started to talk to my comp and he said I looked terrible so we just took it really slow, for the afternoon and ended with a family home evening at 7 with a recent convert Silvia tellez! (I'm all good now)

Sabado-The hardest thing for sure about this area is how far everything is and how we want to do all these things but we can´t cause time is a real factor, but we made time to visit this one family called Tenorio where we went to their house that we take a trufi about 30 minutes and then after hike this mountain for another 20  but we found their house and shared a message with them which was so awesome I have videos of us playing this game that I was not really good at, but they were so grateful that we made it which was way awesome!

Domingo- so Rodrigo y Sebastian made it to church! yeah I was really nervous but the were right on time today which was way rad and I was really happy they were confirmed this week, but after we went to this other ward in our stake where we had all the young men and young women where we just contacted for like 2 hours for them it was really rad and we got over 90 references for them!

​All in all a good week and a busy week. Love you all and hope you are all doing good up in Utah!

Love ya and hope you know all is good down here in Cochabamba!
Te amo!​

--
- Elder Clayton
Bolivia Cochabamba

Here's some back and forth we were able to do:

MOM:  Just read your email; you sound so great.  Except for the headache part.  Make sure you are drinking enough water...good water if you can.  Sometimes that's what a headache is from.  Maybe, makes my heart sad when you aren't feeling well.

We are sending your joggers to you with that missionary that is returning home next week.  By the sound of it, if you are not in the area, I am hoping it will get to you.  But, have faith; it will eventually.  Still  much quicker than regular mail; right.  Sure love ya..  Package will be on it's way.  Hope you enjoy it.  Couldn't send a lot because he was limited in space, but full of LOVE!!!

Love you so much and  pray for you every day.

Elder Clayton:  haha yeah with Rodrigo y Sebastian, it was really hard but i´m really happy for them and they too were really happy! so it all worked out hey have you seen the show coco? our mission president aproved us to watch it and its way dope! the songs in spanish are a ton better than in enlish haha just thought you would like to see it its really good, love ya mom!

Bautismos pero... no de fuego...

What up fam pretty chill week we had a lot off new solid investigators and a little bit of service this week!

Lunes- pretty chill p-day last week we got some photos printed out and then after that we ate some wings over at this place called BOBS its like a very run down Bolivian Buffalo Wild Wings ha-ha but they were really good and I was happy ha ha after that we had a chill lesson with our 1st councilor in our ward and his two kids.  This family is literally our family; mom. dad. three kids and one (the youngest) is on a mission!  Way funny!

Martes- So we have this new investigator that just came to church last week and he said he has a girlfriend in Santa Cruz where they met and she is a member of the church, so he was really interested in the church and her faith, really cool guy and we had a lesson with him where we shared the message of the resturaciòn and after he was so happy he asked if he could take a picture with us! ha ha way cool and humble guy he was divorced with his wife like 3 or 4 years ago and he just lives in this house like 15 by 15 with a big yard and just has a bed, 2 chairs and a laptop to work!

Miércoles- so half of the day we could not leave the house again, cause Bolivia is doing there barricades again, these days really suck cause we just have to cancel everything that we have planned and just sit in the house but it was only for like 5 hours this time but after that we met with this one gal named Rosario and shared a message with her about the gift of the Atonement, and she said she was so happy that we stopped by and how much she loves us way fun to hear that cause does not happen often.

Jueves- So the one guy that came to church the other day he has a very big lawn and it has this thing called grass, there is not much grass here like actual grass not just random weeds, but its like 3 feet long so we came over to help him cut it and get rid of some trees.  So we were doing some yard work I was using the trimmer on this grass while my comp had a machete and cutting down trees way fun! He was so happy again and asked to take pictures with us again!

Viernes- we had a pretty normal day today not sure anything cool

Sábado- so today was the babttizmos de Rodrigo and Sebastian, way really cool brothers one is 17 and the other is 15 they were super ready to be baptized funny story their interview to be baptized was the same day as their baptism interview at 3 and baptism at 5:00! They were being interviewed when we were filling up the font! But we knew they were good so we felt good about it, but the babtism was way awesome and their testimonies after were crazy strong! The spirit was super strong and I feel so happy for them both and it was his birthday Rodringo, and we bought him a cake!  I have a video of it. (I tried uploading on the blog, but it wouldn't let me)

Domingo- so today was supposed to be the confirmation but... they came late! Frekin Bolivians! it was really hard they came during the sacrament so they could not be confirmed which was really hard because they were really sad, its really hard when your area is so big and they live almost 35 minutes away from the church! But next week I hope.. they are really awesome and they know the truth! but they just could not get to church on time!

yeah all in all pretty dope week the baptisms were the best and really awesome to feel the spirit, love you all and all is well down here in the Cochabamba! te amo mucho!

This is the family negirite they helped us out a ton with these two kids to be baptized they are way awesome and yeah.. that's a pic of them also, they took off the belts to be baptized too ha ha

--
- Elder Clayton
Bolivia Cochabamba

This is the family negirite they helped us out a ton with these two kids to be baptized they are way awesome and yeah.. thats a pic of them also, they took off the belts to be baptized too haha