Found luggage

Date: July 05, 2010
Area: Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua
Companion: Elder Velásquez

So another missionary had all of my stuff. They found my suitcase in their house when they were moving stuff around. It had my boots, ties, every single letter/envelope I got while in the MTC...my extra diaries, etc. SOOOOO much stuff and I had been praying for a while that I could get it soon, but I know that God was teaching me patience. As you all know, patience is one of my weak spots, so this has been a good experience for me: I had to learn that sometimes I cannot do anything besides pray, have faith and hope that all will turn out well. And that's exactly what I did, I prayed that I could learn the lessons that I needed to learn and that I could just turn my life over into His hands.

I wrote up a list of things that I wanted to tell you, so brace for impact (and I'll get to your new questions soon). HERE WE GO!

Okay, the way people pray out here is so interesting. I'm one of the only people that cross my arms and bow my head, etc. The people here pray with their hands in their pockets, hands over their faces, hands on their head and so on. Oh, and there's an elder in the zone who puts his hand over his food (they hover over his food) when people pray to bless the food. Very interesting. However, I love what they say when they pray: they are very sincere, open and honest. I almost cried when we were visiting a youth the other night. We had gone to visit him to ask him why he hadn't been at church for a little, and he talked to us for a little. Then my companion and I spoke to him about how he can change and I bore my testimony about changing lives, about becoming who we need to be and leaving our past behind us. At the end of the meeting, he prayed that he could change and make take the steps necessary to change. It was beautiful, and very powerful.

They say it's Winter here. Weird! It's like a constant 90ºF and at night it gets to be about 80º. Ugh. Sometimes I just want to die because I sweat so much! But I keep working, thinking about all the weight I'm losing. And, we don't do daylight savings, so I'm on Mountain Standard Time right now.

Okay, I live near an area called Las Colinas (behind a school called Marvin Mitchel). It's a dangerous area, but we're being protected. I will take lots of photos, and when I can, as I am in a technologically retarded area, I will send some to you. I'm sorry, but there's not a lot that I can do in that regard. You might even have to wait a couple months...unfortunately. (I forgot my camera cord at home...and for that reason I might have trouble uploading them and might just have to send the card via mail).

The Culture Shock. Yes, I did have a bit of culture shock at the beginning. People throw trash on the streets, they spit EVERYWHERE and they whistle to get your attention. To me, all of those things are gross or rude, but I'm learning to ignore them and just stay in my own little bubble still. And, I almost forgot, they don't flush toilet paper, they throw it in a trash can next to the toilet. WIERD! And they love fat people. A lot of the people here are overweight, so being chunky is kind of accepted. Nice.

I love the food. Then again, I've always loved rice, and I've learned to love beans over the years. They have a plant called yucca that's like a potato, but it has no natural flavor. Completely bland. The water is nasty. I'm allergic to it because of all the parasites. I've gotten sick a couple of times because of the food, but for some reason the water doesn't affect me as much as the food. Mom, we have someone who cooks for us. She cooks shrimp and seafood all the time and I love it! We also have someone to do our laundry for us, it's rather lovely.

Being sick here, in general, is awful. However, the drugs here are so cheap. You can buy amoxicillin, 6 days worth, for $1.10. Cheap. But the colds here are awful. The diarrhea is mean, and relentless. TMI, but at the same time you wanted to know. ;)

Another interesting thing that I've noticed is that the Lat-Ams don't waste money, they're very frugal and smart with they're money, whereas the Americans in my zone practically throw their money away. I'm being very careful with the money I get; however, I have been using money from my account because the APs didn't make me a credit card so I've had to wait to get money from my comp's card...I still have quite a bit left in my account, I'm just letting y'all know that I've been using my money.

Regarding how we're working: Mom, I think that your friend was right because my companion doesn't realize that he just misses the appointments, he just plans and then we go and do other things. We still teach a lot, but we do miss other opportunities, it's like picking between good and good, how do you choose between two equally good opportunities? He means well, and he is a hard worker, it's just different for me, as I've been raised to make plans and then follow through with them all, not just change them as the day goes along. We've actually offended some people out here because we haven't been in certain places at certain times.

Thanks for the quotes that you sent me. I love them! And that stuff about the Holy Ghost is so true! Some of the most important things that I have learned have come to me while I've been traveling around my area contemplating things. I've come to learn some truly amazing things, and I will share some with you at another time, for I don't have much time left to write to you.

I really think that you would love to visit here. It is hot, but not as hot as it is during the summer here. Maybe you could come and pick me up, we could just stay in one of the hotels with air conditioning!

I forgot to tell you that I had my first baptism yesterday! It was amazing and I was able to confer the Holy Ghost on her too! All in Spanish!

We have like 8 baptisms set us for this week and hopefully 10 for the week after.

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Love,
Elder Bolton