2014-03-03 I'm really not sure how to explain that any better.

Hey Everyone,

First off, last p-day.  I went to lunch at Jacarandá and had charque with peach and tumbo juice.  Then I spent the afternoon going around the ward to say goodbye to people.  That night we had dinner and a family home evening at the pension.  That was a ton of fun but made me realize how much I'm going to miss the Carbalho family.  They gave me a grey cowboy hat as a going away gift.

The next morning I was in the airport at 7 for my 9 am flight.  Marco and Anghy came to say goodbye. Jazmyra and lady Jane also came to say goodbye.  Lady Jane gave me a letter and Jazmyra a giant letter but it was in a box covered in balloons shaped like apples.  I'm really not sure how to explain that any better.  She did it with rubber bands.  Security looked at me weird but let me on the plane with it. Bolivia airport security is a lot more easy going than in the US. Just as they gave us all our tickets and were herding us toward the security line I saw Gerardo and his mom running toward the airport through the window.  They showed up just in time. Gerardo's mom works 48 hour shifts and she'd been working ever since we got the cambio call on Sunday night so I hadn't even gotten to say goodbye to her.  It was kind of movie-like--they showed up so exactly just in time. It made me very happy though.  She brought me a framed picture of Jesus and Gerardo gave me an incredibly nice letter that is probably the best thing anyone's given me during the mission.  

I'm going to miss them a lot.  The Carbalho family too.  It makes me worried for the end of my mission.  It makes me so sad just to switch areas.

Anyway, we flew to Sucre in about 30 minutes.  In Sucre, the 4 of us going to Potosì went to a missionaries' house to wait for our flota (basically a bus without air conditioning) to Potosì.  We ate lunch while we were there too.  Elder Laidlaw (my comp from the MTC) was also going to Potosì so we just hung out for the 4ish hours we were waiting for the bus.  When it was finally time to go, we threw all the bags in a taxi and got in to go to the bus terminal.  Unfortunately, there were marches and protests in the street and we got stuck with the protest between us and the terminal.  It was pretty crazy, a ton of people and they were doing really loud banging fireworks.  Since 3 of the 4 of us were white, they made us roll up the windows and we couldn't get out of the taxi because they were afraid they would attack us or something.  It got so hot in that taxi.  The march finally moved on and we got to the terminal about 5 minutes after the bus was supposed to leave.  It was still there though.  Nothing in Bolivia ever happens on time.

The bus ride to Potosì was pretty.  It took 4 hours and we got to Potosì at about 7pm.  It's carnival here and while we were driving, someone threw a water balloon through the window and into the bus.  Pretty impressive considering how fast we were going.  Some kids sprayed into the bus with water guns as we went through a pueblito too. That night I met up with my new companion, Elder Severiano. We went to dinner and to the apartment so I could unpack.  I was dead tired and fell asleep quick.

Potosì is nice.  I miss the people form Cochabamba but besides that I don't have any problems with my new area.  It is super hilly.  The street we live on is ridiculously steep.  It's cold in the shade and hot in the sun.  In the mornings it is really chilly in the house since we don't have heating.  There's wind and it's rained and hailed since I've been here.  It's pretty crazy weather.  The ward actually seems really good.  They've been very helpful, especially in going with us to do visits.  The area was in pretty good shape in terms of investigators and less actives that we visit.  We only had 1 baptismal date though.  This week we got 4 more though and the people here seem very open to the gospel.

"last sunrise in cocha"

Carnival is nuts.  It's been going for like over 2 weeks now and today and tomorrow are the biggest days. Today we have to be in the apartment by 4 and we are leaving tomorrow to work.  People just carry water balloons and water guns around the streets and dump buckets of water from balconies and big trucks.  I got a bucket of water dumped on me from a truck while we were just walking down the street on Wednesday. We went to downtown Potosì on Friday for a meeting and it was even more crazy there.  The streets were all closed to cars and there were parades and people were dressed up like for Halloween and just going crazy with water and foam spraying cans.  I would have taken a picture but I was afraid I'd get my camera stolen.

I still have a lot to say but I'm out of time so I'll finish next week.  I hope everyone's having a blast back home and going to the temple often.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Matthew 4:4