Happy 6th of August - Independence Day for Bolivia!

My Dear Family and Friends!   

Happy 6th of August, which is Independence day for Bolivia!  This week it was so awesome to see all the flags and people celebrating the country’s independence.  My companion and I bought flags and put them in our bags to go proselyting and show that we are cambas or Bolivians in corazon!  In one of our lessons with Mickol, his dog, Negra, ate my flag.  It sure was funny, and I guess I will have to buy a new flag.

Also, I received the package!  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you so much.  It is exactly what I needed! The two pairs of pants fit perfectly, and I can walk much more comfortably.  Also, I loved the letters and food, especially the biscuits and gravy.  Wow, it tasted like real biscuits and gravy from Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  My companions liked it too. I saved the 2nd package to eat on my birthday. Also, Jason thank you for the flash drive and the music. The music is great for exercise time and for study.  I was wondering - some of the Piano Guys music and MOTAB doesn´t work in our music players because I think it is in MPEG 4 and I don’t know if there is a way to convert it over but I love the music a lot!

My new pants feel so good!

Eating biscuits and gravy with my 3 best friends

Also, we did 2 service activities.  One was clearing a lot of sticks and branches and also we are working with the Elders to build a little room to hold seminary classes.  Here they don´t hold all classes in the church but in homes of the members, and there are more than one seminary teacher for each ward.

Clearing branches and sticks

Building a Seminary Classroom

Also, today we cooked in the house with Bishop.  Elder Torres, from Peru made a really good rice, egg, and sausage dish, and my companion and I with the help of Elder Flores and Hermana Poma we made crepes.  For the filling we used caramel, bananas, and crushed Oreos!  (I accidentally grabbed the wrong type of flour from our kitchen and it was integral flour but none the less the crepes tasted delicious.)
 

Cooking in our Bishop's home

Hey even better news.  My companion is walking without crutches!  Wow, these past 3 weeks have been hard for him, but he is a spiritual giant, and I am so glad he is better!

This week though, Hermana Genisis the daughter of Familia Cholima, who is 8 years old, had an accidente in the kitchen, and a big pot of boiling water fell on her chest and part of her legs.  And she has been the hospital these past 3 days.  Today we got the permission from Presidente Rodrigues, and we went to the children’s hospital to give her a blessing.  The hospital was very clean, but there sure were a lot of sick children and there were barriers between each patient so we were in a room with about 20 sick children.  Discretely, I anointed Hermana Genisis and my companion then gave her a blessing.  I know that through the power of the Priesthood Jesus Christ created the world and healed the sick, and I know that the same authority is in His church today.  We felt so good to give her a blessing, and I know that the Lord will honor and bless Hermana Genisis to get better soon so she can come home.  Please keep her in your prayers this week!

I love you all so much, and I know this church is true and that Jesus Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon is his word given to bless our lives.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Matheson