A New Companion, Swine Flu And Missing Letters

In an email dated July 13, 2009, Justin wrote "Well changes were this week and I have a new companion. Elder Guerrero from Ecuador. He was in the offices for 5 months as the personal secretary to the president before, so walking around all day is taking a bit of getting used to for him again haha. That would be a tough transition. My last companion. Elder Viloria went to Potosi, one of the highest cities in Bolivia and is freezing his tush off. Bummer. I think we are coming out of winter here in Coch, it's not quite as cold in the mornings and night.

What else. Oh I bought a new shower heater head for the bathroom. The bathroom actually stems up when I shower now and it's quite enjoyable. One of the finer things in Bolivia, hot showers. I've been enjoying the Mexican food mom sent. I made the bean dip the other night and breakfasted (his own word?) on tortillas.

I guess grandpa got back well, at least I hope so. It was great to see him, and even though everyone thought it, I am not homesick or anything, but just fine. (Good. That tells us his heart is in the right place.) Last Monday with him was great. After internet and everything we went to go pick him up at the hotel and went to hang out with Jesus (the statue) for a while to take pictures. Then we went down to a Japanese/ Korean restaurant and had lunch with President and Sister Tenorio there. We had kalbi (marinated short ribs) and bulgogi (thinly sliced marinated beef) and some noodle dish and kimchi (hot pickled cabbage). It was pretty good. Grandpa was the judge of that. I think everyone seemed to like it a lot. (Grandpa did not really care for Bolivian food. He said it is all too salty!) After that we took him to go buy a bunch of gifts and tourist stuff. He got a kick out of that. Then we went to go visit some Korean minister here in Coch and hung out there for about an hour. We didn't understand anything. But we got a full tour of their church/ college. It was weird to see Koreans here. They spoke Korean, English and Spanish. Afterwards we went to go eat at Tuesdays. It's a knock off of Fridays in the states. It was great, the first steak I have had all my mission. What more could I ask for?

We found a lot of new people to teach this week, kind of. (Kind of??) Elder Viloria hated going to look for new people, but my new companion is pretty go with the flow so we have tried. No one really wants to listen to us. Knocking on doors isn't too efficient. So we have been visiting the members a lot and asking for references. Hopefully it works. Our area is sooo big, it's impossible to work in all of it. We are mostly just in 2 little areas of it. I guess there used to be 4 missionaries in our ward, but now there is just us two.

This week Tomasa, who just had her baby, accepted a date for the 25th. By then her health should be good. We still haven't talked with Jose the husband but I suppose that he will want to as well since she was the only reason he didn't want to anymore. But I guess the members helped them a lot this week. It's tough to get a hold of him though. He has two jobs. Oh Tomasa and Jose really liked the clothing. Thanks mom.

Elder Parker emailed me this week. He said that right after I left they baptized about 8 of our investigators. Too bad I missed that. Sometimes I kind of miss Peru. But what can you do. My investigators from there always email me which is cool.

This pig flu thing is supposedly getting bigger. Grandpa says it's all just a big crock. The mission wants us to wear those doctor face masks all day and gave us all hand sanitizer gel to carry around. But every thing's good.

Well I haven't really been getting too many letters. Don't know if you are all just being lazy or if mail just sucks here." Write him people, please write!

"Faith Is The Reward Of Obedience"

In a letter dated July 12, 2009, Justin shared with us a wonderful lesson on obedience. He said, "Yesterday we had our interviews with President. Went pretty well. He said something kind of interesting. That President McKay, or someone said that faith is the reward of obedience. That just trying to be obedient isn't good enough, but that we have to do it completely. But if we do, we can ask for things in prayer that we normally wouldn't be able to and we'll receive them." Justin is learning a lot of great lessons about obedience on his mission. He knows how important obedience is. We love when he shares these lessons with us.
He also writes, "Sounds like Hanson's baptism went well. That's good. Glad my video made it (he made a DVD of him that we played at Hanson's baptism) and that it was such a hit. Knew it would be." Humility at it's best.....

"Grandpa Is Here!"

Justin was there to welcome him! Don't they look handsome?


An aerial of Bolivia.


With excitement, Justin wrote in his email today (that he titled,"Two Koreans in Bolivia") that "Grandpa (Hong) is here! I went to go get him from the airport yesterday. He looks good. I called president Friday night to ask him if I could go get him off at the hotel so that I'd know how to contact him for Monday. Haha, I could kind of tell he kind of regretted his decision. He was kind of hesitant about it all. He told me he didn't want me spending much time with him. But he told me to go get him from the airport and that he was going to send Godo (a returned missionary who works with the mission and has a car) to be his chauffeur for his stay. So he met us here and we took him to the hotel.


In the hotel room.



The view from the hotel room.



Godo and grandpa



Grandpa treated Justin, Elder Viloria and a new convert and his family to dinner at a nicer restaurant in town.



Thanks for the two suitcases full of stuff for me! That was great. The pants fit really well. I guess they were too short for my companion, but they ended up fitting me so it worked out.

President had us over to his house for dinner Saturday night. We had roast and potatoes and everything. Very American. (I love how Justin tells us about the meals he eats. He does not take good tasting food for granted anymore. At least for the time being.)Grandpa had a good time chatting with president.


Dinner at the president's home. Sorry the picture is blurry. It was all there was.




I guess during the day he went to go eat at Dumbo's with Godo and then he went to the temple. There weren't any sessions, but president Tenorio had called the temple president to receive him and he gave him a tour of the whole temple. Grandpa said he liked it. Godo was telling me that he saw grandpa in a video about President Hinckley's life that they played in his funeral that shows his picture and him translating and talks about how he went to California to study and everything. Me or grandpa haven't seen it. Have you? Yesterday he came to church and bore his testimony. I had to translate it. Then I took him to our pension's to eat and he went back to the hotel.

At the temple.
Elder Viloria in their apartment window.

In Justin's apartment


Hanging on the wall. Sweet!


Photos Justin put on his wall. Along with a coto pass.


Justin and his companion's bed. Justin had us send him his down comforter and brown duvet cover. He said it is freezing at night! Hopefully he is nice and cozy now.



The church building in his area.


Grandpa wanted to sit by a chollita.


The chapel.


Grandpa took a liking to this little one.


Justin's pension.


Ready to eat after a day of fasting!


Justin and Elder Viloria.



Today we are going to the Jesus statue to take a pictures and then I guess there is a Korean restaurant here in town. Grandpa invited President and Sister Tenorio. My companion doesn't want to go, he's going to play soccer. It has been great seeing him though. I don't think I'll be too sad when he leaves. I haven't been with him the whole time which I think is good. Still been working.

Grandpa with the Jesus statue having fun.

A happy Justin!


Loving his grandpa!




View of Cochabamba.


Group photo.


At the Korean restaurant in Bolivia. Who would have guessed there would be such a thing?


Ladies in the back preparing some food.


An example of food the missionaries are forbidden to eat. Anything that is washed in water and not cooked. Justin should be relieved for many reasons!


At a Bolivian street market.






We found out changes today. My companion is leaving. I am staying. There were a few rumors that I was going to be zone leader, but I am happy that I am not. I am more than content doing the district leader thing for a long time. Better that way.

Friday we had a great wedding, baptism and party. Of course it all started two hours late. The bride didn't want to show up. We got them married, then he got baptized, then the had a big old party. Dancing, food, cake, the works. He had to get baptized Friday and not Saturday because they wanted a party. Sunday is fast Sunday and they all start fasting her Saturday and stuff so we had to change it. Bummer, grandpa would have liked it. We are planning on going to the temple with them Wednesday before Elder Viloria goes. Jose Pedros was who got baptized.

Fourth of July was alright. I bought a bunch of fireworks to light off at night but when we were at presidents I got really sick. Came down with one of those 24 hour flu fever things and was knocked out in bed. I feel a lot better now. I also have some sort of fungus on my hands and the skin is falling off. I had to buy some cream to fix it. Thanks for all the sour candy. They give me a lot of gas, but that's okay. (For him or his companion? It is nice he keeps me updated on his gas and his bowel movements.)

Well president said that they have told him that the rest of the gringos should all be back by the end of the month. So we will see."

We are happy to hear he had such a nice time seeing his grandpa Hong. It was nice of his grandpa to fly so far to visit and for President Tenorio to allow the visit. Sounds like life in Bolivia is pretty good. Oh, and thanks for the photos grandpa!

"Who Wouldn't Want To Meet A Korean Celebrity?"

Justin's grandpa Hong comes at the end of this week to visit Bolivia and Justin. They are both way excited! As Justin said in his email today, "I am wayyyy excited to see grandpa! And all the stuff he is going to bring haha. It should be a really good weekend with him. I think everyone is excited to meet him too. Probably because we have that royal blood flowing through our veins. Who wouldn't want to meet a Korean celebrity?"

He also wrote to us that 10 other "gringos" arrived this week and now that makes 20 of them that have returned to Boliva. His mission president told them there are still 18 in Peru that will be returning sometime. "Elder Brinton (His first companion) is done in 8 weeks! Crazy huh?"

Justin has been sending us a list of things he would like us to send with his grandpa. Including a larger suitcase to trade for his smaller one. What missionary do you know that upgrades to a larger suitcase while in the field? Only our Justin. He even asked for some pants he found on line. Still shopping? He is a funny one. Of course his Crest whitestrips to keep his perfect smile perfect! The weirdest thing one the list was a George Bush bobblehead. I guess someone in the ward wants one. I don't think we will find that one in time. It will be nice and fun to be able to send a lot of stuff to him. I think he will enjoy the suitcase full of stuff.

They had a baptism last Saturday. Susana Jurado. She is the sister of the young and pregnant married couple. He said it went well. He mentioned how hard it is to fill the baptismal font in their chapel there. They have to fill tanks on the roof to get water in the baptismal font. He said the fonts in Bolivia have water heaters, unlike Peru, but he has no idea how they work. Bummer for Susana! "Only one person got baptized Saturday. Her brother and sister in law were going to as well, but her sister in law, Tomasa, said that she still didn't feel ready and wanted to wait longer. She said it just didn't enter into her heart yet. Jose, her husband and Susana's brother, wants to get baptized and is really excited, but wants to do it together with his wife. So we put a new date with those two for the 4th of July and Jose said that if Tomasa still isn't ready by then then he is going to go ahead and do it to show her the example. So hopefully that works out. But anyways not many people came to the baptism. Some 8 year old in the ward was having her birthday party and I think everyone went there instead. Susana got there and no one else came for another half hour. There ended up being around 8 people by the time we started an hour late. Jose and Tomasa still weren't there and when she called to see why, it was because Tomasa was in labor to give birth. So we did it all pretty fast so that she could get out of there to go to the hospital."

He is still working with his other investigator (a term we use for some one learning about the church with the missionaries) Jose Pedro Rojas. They are working on getting papers ready so he and his girlfriend can get married, so he can get baptized. He actually wanted Justin's grandpa to baptize him, but it's not going to work out now. But hopefully he will get baptized this Saturday when Grandpa Hong is there. Justin also mentioned that Jose and Tomasa want to name their baby after him and his companion. I wonder what names they will come up with and hopefully
the baby was a boy??

Saving the disgusting grossness for last.... "I may die of some Bolivian disease. (Kidding of course) Yesterday after eating lunch we were in a taxi going to the church for a meeting. I was sitting by the window and it was down, just not paying attention and we drive over this bridge and I guess the road was flooded with sewage water and at the same time a big semi drove by and soaked me. (He actually got more descriptive with the grossness of what may have been in that water...... gives you the heebie jeebies!! Justin could write a horror flick with his descriptive writing skills)I really didn't know how to react. And after I got to walk around in my poop covered suit, hair and face, go to a 2 hour meeting, go eat dinner and finally at night I got to shower. (Besides Justin I was feeling bad for the poor people that had to be around him all this time!) I almost puked 10 times, gagging from the smell of myself. I hope it didn't get into my mouth." Only in Bolivia.

Introducing.... Elder Viloria

In an email dated June 22, 2009, Justin wrote that Aliana Pimiento ended up not getting baptized on Saturday. They aren't sure what happened. They can't get a hold of her. "I guess she wants to get baptized but is scared of what her family is going to say, even though they live in La Paz, Bolivia. She just lives with her little grandma who speaks quechuwa. I think she thinks we are mad at her or something, but we just want to help. We always try to help the people understand that we aren't going to obligate them to do anything, that all depends upon them. We are only going to invite, and they make the decisions." They do have another couple getting baptized this Saturday. The Jurado family. They are the couple that is 18 years old and she is 9 months pregnant. He wrote that his 20 year old sister, Susana, came to church again on Sunday. "Last week we brought them extra beds we have laying around the house because they had been sleeping on the floor in their little one room house. They always cook us dinner when we visit, it makes me feel bad because I know it's a big sacrifice on their part to give us that food. Luckily I've been able to get it all down. (And hopefully not get sick!) They now have 5 people with baptismal dates for July 4th, for when his grandpa come into town. "In total we have 12 people with baptismal dates, but there is a lot of work to do to get them ready."

This next part we found funny..... "Last Monday we went to go play beach volleyball in my old area La Chimba in this amusement park place. There were no nets of course, so we have to imagine the net. Kind of lame. "But they are all excited to play more volleyball now." Justin is converting the elders from soccer to volleyball. His sport of choice.

Today for their pday, a member is taking Justin and his companion to eat lunch at a "good" restaurant and then they are going to visit the big statue of Jesus Christ. We are so grateful to those that are so kind to "our missionary."

Last week they went to the mission home where Hermana Tenorio served lunch to all those that had their birthdays in May and June, plus their companions. The Tenorio's are very kind and loving to these missionaries. Justin said she served a good chicken casserole.

I was asking Justin to tell me more about his companion and he finally did. Elder Viloria has 2 older brothers that have both served missions. One in Chile and the other in Argentina. "The one in Argentina just got back a month ago. His companion "played soccer professionally before his mission and loves to talk about it. That doesn't get old. And he did military service. And he loves to talk about that too. He wants to be an orthodontist."

For those of you that have been curious as to what a chollita is, Justin explains. "A brief explanation on what is a chollita, that I always refer to. It's the little old typical Bolivian ladies that wear top hats, big old skirts, speak quechuwa, chew on coca, carry everything around on their backs, including their small children, in these cloth sacks they make. The rural or mountain, or farm people. That's a chollita. They also poop on the street corners. Squat and wipe with their skirts. (That last part is just lovely!)

Our shower has been acting up a lot lately. It sometimes doesn't want to heat the water up, so I have been remembering all the cold showers I took in Peru. It's worse here when you have to shower when it's 30 degrees outside in the morning or night. (Just like camping, I guess) Love you. Justin"