11/10/14

Hola familia y amigos! Como estan. Todo bien. Claro que si todo esta bien aya! Ustedes estan en lo mejor pais del mundo!

AMERICA! man america`s awesome right? i was just thinking about that cause every bolivian here always talks to me about america. The weird thing is that they all think that japan and china are way more advanced than america... WHAT?! don`t you dare say that china or japan is better than america! They all think that america is fighting china right now and that china is just straight cities and there`s no country or anything... they all have interesting ideas about the world and sometimes i just have to keep my proud american mouth shut and nod and agree. it`s a little difficult sometimes haha.

Anyways, it`s been a little interesting week. It`s still got it`s really fun moments but everyone in the house is really stressed cause the work is kind of slow right now, companionship issues with some of the other elders, and stress. So in the house it`s been just a bit hard. Everyone keeps saying that they`re trunky which blows. cause when everyone just keeps talking about being trunky it makes you trunky, so that wasn`t very fun. But whatever missions aren`t perfect.

OH! i ate cow stomach this week! and guess what! I totally know why no one in america eats cow stomach... cause it`s nasty junk! hahahaha. and my pensionista knew that i`d hate it too! she handed it to me and just started laughing! that evil little lady. Still love her though. I`m totally gonna come home and make panza for you people. It`s great, i promise. You`ll only want to puke a little. 

So in our pensionista their kids always watch disney movies while we eat and not gonna lie, sometimes in the corner of my eye i see what`s they`re watching sometimes while i`m enjoying my cow stomach. They watched frozen this week. Man i miss that... dang. oh well. 

this week me and my companion got so much food! literally everyone made us churazco which is like a barbecue basically so we almost died from too much food. that was awesome! Go BEEF.

Anyways we`re a little frustrated with investigators not keeping commitments but we`re still pushing along. Veimar already has a calling as ward missionary so he`s been accompanying us like every day haha. he looooves it. he keeps laughing and saying that two days ago he was the investigator and now he`s the missionary ahaha man he`s literally just the best guy ever. you people just got to meet him.

i can`t really think of anything else right now... dang! a bunch of other junk happened this week too but i can`t think! Hmmmm... sorry, just imagine me preaching powerfully, dripping sweat, and all that good stuff. 

i love your stinking guts, peace out

Elder buma

Baptism and pictures!

Alrighty so time for yet another chapter in the book of the missionary life of elder buma.

So this week was cool. Numbers wise it wasn`t as good cause we had to do some random junk but it was cool all the same.

First off. We had an intercambio this week! I totally forgot how to say that in english... It`s when two companionships switch companions for the day... anyways so I had a different companion for the day and it was another gringo! Elder Wade. He`s also from my group and when we found out we`d be companions we were just like... CRAAAAP! he`s awesome  and actually one of my besties here but you know, we still aren`t the best at spanish... But me being super smart planned an awesome day. So in our area there`s actually some pretty nice areas and in those areas there are some people who know some english! Also, there`s this one investigator from south africa named simon and he actually speaks better english than he speaks spanish! hahaha! So that day we actually taught two lessons in english and only one in spanish. Man am I good or what?! hahaha. Oh and the spanish lesson was actually pretty sweet too. We must have gotten something across to him cause he actually came to church yesterday. GO GRINGOS!

That was just such a good day too cause we got to speak in english, joke around, talk about stuff that we have in common and hmmmm... what else. Oh ya! a morbidly obese, COMPLETELY nude guy (seriously, totally nude, yucky) was just walking up and down the street we were passing by and he kind of started to follow us so we pretty much ran away. I`m all up for preaching the gospel to strangers but i got to draw the line somewhere. My personal line is that they at least have to have boxers on. You may say im discriminating but hey, that`s just me

So the intercambio weas great. We also had a baptism this week! Veimar Moreno. He`s 18 and not only is he awesome but he wants to go on a mission and is already helping us out get new investigators and junk. Man he`s cool. It was funny though he told me that when i finish my mission i have to come back and we`re going to do a tour of bolivia. He was telling us all about cool places in bolivia and it was awesome, there`s only one problem. Every single place he talked about is out of my mission haha. So i asked him where in my mission we`ll tour when I come back like riberalta or cobija or trinidad and guess what he told me. He said. Those places are terrible. They`re worse than the devil`s armpit and I never want to go to any of those places... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA so apparently my mission is like the stinkhole of bolivia... HAHAHA man that made me laugh... and cry just a little ;)

So Veimar`s baptism was awesome and guess who baptized him? ME! And I got it right on my second try! haha the first time he didn`t get the way under... But the second time i made sure that fool went all the way under. HAHA after the second time he told me. Dude i thought you were trying to drown me or something... HAHAHAHAHA so i guess i`m not the most graceful baptizer haha. But he felt the spirit and he`s awesome so it`sall good. HAHA I also kind of forgot to tell him that his confirmation wo0uld be during sacrament meeting the next day  so when they called him up to be confirmed he had NO idea what was going on. After we confirmed him he asked me. Was that where I receive the gift of the holy ghost and everything? I didn`t know it would be during sacrament meeting... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA so i taught him all the doctrine and everything and he`s got a testimony but maybe I should make sure he knows when exactly all the ordinances are going down... It was my first baptism without my trainer and I`m training so cut me some slack! HAHA i`m a goober

So Bolivia`s cool and I realized that popped collars and ripped jeans are still really popular here. haha that made me giggle. Also their testimony meetings are awesome here. There is NEVER a silent moment. Everyone wants to bear their testimony and theyre all way good testimonies too. I love these members.

Crap! We were also a trio for one day. Elder camargo`s comp was in the hospital with another missionary so he came to work with us and he pretty much is awesome. He know`s how to teach and he also just took my clothes out of my hand at night and washed my clothes for me! I didn`t have to wash clothes for the first time in like a month! It was a great day. The title of that story is called, Enjoy Laundry Machines.

Alright, I`m out of time so until next week ya? alright it`s a date. ;)

Love you people

Elder Buma

10/27/14

Hello everybody! Just another week spreading the good news.

So anyways you guys know that I sweat a bunch right? Ya, well it´s been quite the sweaty week. It´s quite interesting haha. So we were in district meeting right and we´re in the chapel and no one is sweating... That is except for me. I was literally dripping into my eyes, clothes, everything. Everyone was asking me. Are you sick or something? Haha and then during lunch my pensionista commented while we were eating our soup that i was eating more sweat than soup cause i was sweating in it. HAHAHAHA the sad thing is that it´s true. Haha oh man enjoy feeling dry cause that is something that i took for granted.

So I was taking a shower this morning right. Anyways while I was singing T Swift at the top of my lungs all of a sudden I smell smoke. My first thought was. I know I´m smokin good lookin but I don´t smell like smoke. So I looked up and the shower head wires were on fire! I only screamed a little. I put the fire out then me and elder zaldivar spent like 20 minutes stripping wires and stuff to fix it. it looks like a piece of junk but we still have hot water! We´re pretty amazing.

I apologize that i haven´t sent a bowel movement story for a few weeks. It´s actually been pretty normal. That is until like two nights ago... I was sleeping, dreaming about my lovely life when all of a sudden in my dream i really had to go... ya know. And that made me wake up and I realized i didn´t dream that i needed to... you know. So in the middle of the night I had to BOOK it to the bathroom and it was quite the experience. I don´t think I´ve ever run faster. I didn´t get any in my pants though! The commotion woke up my companion too so when I got out we had a nice laugh and went back to bed. Everything´s good now though. 

Man Bolivia is just interesting. So we were walking to an appt. right? Then we turn a corner and there´s like four horses in the dirt road on their backs scratching their backs, kind of like what sophie does. So we had to do some ninja moves to get past them and we made it to the cita on time so no worries.

You know cock fighting? Like how it´s illegal and stuff. Well here it´s LEGALISSIMO! HAHAHA we went over to a members house and he was talking all about it forever. Man it was awesome. He also has a cock fighting chicken that he is very proud of and he let me hold it! That bad boy has had like 5 fights and it still hasn´t died!... apparently that´s really impressive. I wouldn´t know but it was awesome. That chicken could probably kill me too if it wanted.

We ran into a white guy from the US this week! He´s Bahai... Interesting religion but super nice guy. We talked in english and it was just amazing. he´s lived in south america for like forty years and just doesn´t want to leave. Wow. Bolivia´s awesome but I don´t think i´ll want to live here my entire life. Utah´s just a bit better haha. Anyways I have an intercambio with elder wade this week and he´s only been out one transfer so his spanish is pretty eh too so we´re totally gonna teach that guy. IN ENGLISH!

Speaking of english we also contacted this dude from south africa and he knows english too! And he´s gosh dang rich too. He´s got like four houses in santa cruz, two in south africa, and one in france or something. He´s such an interesting guy. He told us that he just owns a factory or something so he never does anything. He doesn´t drink, smoke, or even leave his house, he just sits in his house all day. He also told us that he just wants to learn everyhting from us. His only belief is God. A very firm belief in God, and he also reads the bible like crazy. So that´s gonna be interesting teaching him. Totally gonna teach him thursday too.

anyways, now to spiritual stuff. Beymar´s getting baptized! This saturday! Not only that but he was talking to us during a lesson and he told us. You know, lately during my prayers I´ve felt like I really want to serve a mission... My heart just soared. I´m doing my job! He is just the stinking best. He told us that from when we first started teaching him to now he´s changed a lot and he´s so much happier! That just reminded me why I´m here. To help people be happier. That was just awesome.

We´re working a lot more with members this week which is awesome cause they help with teaching soooooo much. My spanish is still a little eh and my comp still doesn´t know everything so lessons with members have just been golden.

Training is better but still interesting. My comp still thinks I know everything which is good when really I´m just learning with him. Don´t tell him that though. he´ll lose the respect he has for me. And I demand respect.

All in all everything´s good. Just sweating and trying to figure everything out. Suggestions are welcome haha. Sorry these are always so unorganized. I just write whatever´s in my head, which isn´t much, hahahaha. Loving life. Be good!

Love ya

Elder Buma