Crazy week this week! It was awesome! I went on interchanges in Quiriza for most of the week, so it was quite the experience! The church entered into Bolivia through Quiriza, and the first church constructed in all of Bolivia is there as well. President Dyer was one of the first missionaries to enter Bolivia too, and he worked there in Quiriza a lot, so he loves that place! It's awesome there.
Its about an hour outside of Tupiza, on dirt roads the whole way. We went out there Wednesday afternoon, along with a ton of other people. One of the members there in Quiriza always brings the Elders to and from Tupiza, cuz its expensive in taxi. But he also brings whoever else can fit in his truck. So we piled 13 people in the back of his pick-up, and there were 3 more upfront in the cab. It was the most stereotypical scene you've ever seen in your life, it was funny.
But we got there, and changed into different clothes. In Quiriza, proselyting clothes is a white shirt and tie, with jeans, and a cowboy hat, its way sick haha. But right off the bat we went and helped a family kill a pig, so that was interesting. From start to finish too. We corralled the pig, brought it out to the table (which was a wheelbarrow with two wooden planks), and then killed it. We had to clean it then open it up, make its insides its outsides, clean it more, then hang it up, and now they are gonna go sell the meat in the market, haha it was crazy, but pretty cool.
Then Thursday we did just straight up farm work. There in Quiriza, the mission work is all service based. They teach very few lessons and have very few investigators cuz all they do is service. Its a farm town, and they specialize in garlic, so that's what we did, worked on big giant fields to prepare them for garlic. We spent the morning leveling out two big fields where they were gonna plant, cuz they had like ditches running through the middle of them, so we had to make it all nice and even. Then in the afternoon we had to haul huge bags of fertilizer out to the fields and spread it out. The thing is that there are no roads out there, so you can only drive so far, and then you have to hike in. And with huge bags of fertilizer on your back, it was not an easy task! And we got mad dirty! So by the end of the day, I was wiped, and slept like a rock.
Then on Friday we helped with the same fields a little more, to prep them for planting, then had to help one of the families in the ward peel garlic. That's right, peel garlic, for four hours. And yes, it was as fun as it sounds haha. We just had giant bags of garlic, had to peel it, then sort everyone of the seeds, or cloves I think they are called, wasn't tiring, just a little boring!
Everyday we were also visiting with one of their investigators, an 80 year old man named Guillermo, and his story is awesome. In Quiriza, there hasn't been a missionary baptism in over 4 years. A few weeks ago, President Dyer told the Elders there that he wanted a baptism by the end of this month. He told them he knew that there was someone in Quiriza who was prepared to be baptized. They had no clue who, cuz nobody they knew was even close. Then about 2 and a half weeks ago, they run into Guillermo. Turns out, he was going to be baptized 15 years ago, but on the day of his baptism, there was no water in Quiriza, and they even went to Tupiza, and there was no water there either, so he never got baptized. But he came to church, he met with us, and then yesterday he got baptized! It was so cool. We ducked out of our church early here in Tupiza to make it out to Quiriza in time, and right after their church services, we all got trucked down to the river. Elder Saad, from Argentina, who I was with all week, baptized him right there, and afterwards, I got to confirm him. It was such an awesome experience. It really was a miracle to see a baptism in Quiriza.
And that was my week. We also had transfers last night, but nothing happens with me. Me and Elder Sazo stay here in Tupiza. But like I said, it was a really cool week, very different from what the mission usual is.
Hope all is well back home, miss you guys! Talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Sehestedt
Out in the fields, some sweet panoramics with my new camera...
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| Those bulls you see in the picture, we had to untie them and lead them down to the river to drink water! That black one is the one I led, and everyone else just took another one. It was crazy. The mosquitoes there are nuts too. I got eaten alive!He was a little stubborn, but just walked behind me is all. They have bug spray here, but of course I didn’t bring any cuz I didn’t know what I was getting into! |
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| Killing and cleaning the pigs |
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| Working with Elder Saad in one of the fields. |
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| In front of the church in our 'prosolyting clothes' |
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| Here is the Baptism in Quiriza, he got baptized right in that river behind us, and confirmed on the bank! The water looks dirty, but its really not. I assume its normal, I don’t know though, I didn’t go in. Haha not sure about any creatures, but everyone survived. |
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| The first LDS church in Bolivia. Quiriza is only a branch, and only about 40 members. |
Q: How was your birthday? What did you do? Any cake in the face this year?
A: Haha no cake in the face this year, but it was still fun. We had a little BBQ type deal with the six of us in Tupiza.
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