Finally... he has arrived!! After nine weeks of sitting in classrooms for ten hours a day, first in Provo, Utah then Lima, Peru.... Justin is in Bolivia and going to work! Justin left Peru on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 and flew to La Paz, Bolivia. ( We got a nice phone call. He was SO happy to leave Peru and go to Bolivia! On the phone his little four year old sister, Sutton asked Justin when he is coming home. Justin replied,"It is so long you might as well forget about me!") The following morning, he flew from La Paz to Cochabamba. The first day there, he was able to stay in the mission home all day and they were fed a big breakfast and dinner. He thought it was wonderful! His Mission President is President Miguel A. Tenorio and his wife is Sister Elizabeth G. Tenorio.
All the newly arrived missionaries with the mission president and his wife. Sweet!
To quote Justin when he arrived in Cochabamba, " The air is so crisp and clean here. It smells like you are in the mountains camping or something ( more like the "something " as he, like his family are NOT campers!). weather is perfect too. The area the mission house and temple are in is sooo nice. I wouldn't think this place is third world at all. It looks like California actually. Same weather, houses that look American built on the hills around the temple. Even the hills and the plants on them look like California. It's nice."
Sounds like he is off to a great start! Nice for Justin to feel the familiarity of home. I bet that felt good. Justin will be in Cochabamba in an area called La Chimba to start off in. He will have a North American companion. Justin said, " None of the missionaries here have ever heard of two North Americans being put together, so this is a first." His name is Elder Brinton and he is from Idaho. Justin thinks he is "great." Sorry, Justin hasn't sent a picture with him yet.
Justin and his companion live with a member family that is inactive. They have a room in the back, a bathroom, and another room with table, chairs, fridge and a stove. He says, " if it sounds nice or anything, it's really not. The family has a maid that they can pay each week to do their laundry. He says," They just wash it in a sink outside, but apparently they can get the clothes really clean here by hand." Here are some pictures. Warning: the toilet is SCARY!
Justin's bed is the one that does not have the Batman sheets!
Looks like his closets in the CCM/MTC.
Looks like the kitchen/living room.
Now.... for those with strong stomachs......
Home sweet home!
For meals they have pensionistas or these ladies who make their meals at their houses. For dinner, they feed themselves when they get home around 9 p.m.. He says," Lunch is a bigger meal here, but I wish it wasn't because I often don't like the food they give me too much. I have to force it down a lot of the time. And even then I start gagging sometimes." Justin is very picky and does gag easy with food he does not like. But in his defense, we warned by people we know that have served missions in Bolivia that the food in Bolivia is really bad. I don't think he will be so picky about the food he eats at home anymore. That's a good thing.
The first week he was there Justin says," we were stuck in our house allll day because of the election of the president." There was a potential of violence.
Electricity went out, so candles it is.
Well enough of the trivial things. Justin said his first two days out were really good because they taught a lot of people. He says," The people here seem really interested. My Spanish is coming along. I think I learn a lot just by listening to the way they talk all day. My companion always gives me the opportunity to teach and talk during our contacts and lessons, and is always there to help me if I get stuck. " He also asks for everyone to write him letters! His mission president asks that only his family email him as his time on the computer is very limited. Here is his address:
Elder Justin Evans
Bolivia Cochabamba mission
Edificio confort, septimo piso
Oficina #7, Avenida Villarroel #1132
Cochabamaba, Bolivia
He always ends his letters and emails with "keep doing good things." Good advice.
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