la paz 18 - july 5

hola.

Thanks for the pics again. They are the BEST! So ya. I’m still here in La Paz….i will be here for atleast 6 months in total …if not more. But ya…We are finding more people…but they just don’t really progress…we have a few potentials, so we will see.

Soooo…remember that guy that we met in the mud that told us to go past his wife (Lorena)? Well, the other day we were heading over to her house to go and teach her again, and we found her on the way and she just started crying. It turns out the government had taken her kids that morning and she was on her way to go see them. But it seemed awfully suspicious to me. I already knew that Lorena couldn’t read or count…but she said that the kids were in the house with a lock put on the outside of the house (she was at her sister’s house), and that the police went and broke it down and took the kids. So we went with Lorena to go and see the kids. They were in a nursery. And the kids looked good. They had bathed them and put clean clothes and shoes on them. And Lorena was content to be with them. But the littlest, the baby of 7 months was not there…she was in another building.

But, through some connections that we have, we were able to find out why they had taken the kids… It turns out that Lorena and her husband are alcoholics. And on the weekend she locks her kids in the house alone and goes out to the clubs, and gets really drunk. And when Juan (her husband) is there, they go out together. The baby of 7 months weighed 4 kilos…which is a little more than 16 pounds.

So we decided maybe we can help them to turn their lives around. They won’t have the kids for about 3 months. So the other day we went to go visit Lorena. And their house is at the back of a circle of little houses all together…her sister lives in front (Beatrice). And as we approached this little circle of houses we saw her sister outside with a big bottle of alcohol…empty. My comp says, “oh no, they are all alcoholics, what are we going to do!?” and here comes Beatrice (the drunken woman). “I wanna talk to you!” to us. So she comes over…yes, very drunk. “Tell me why they took my sisters kids!” and she begins to cry.

I don’t think I will ever forget this moment. How this drunken woman clung to me, crying, pleading us to help her sister. At one point she told us it was our fault. “FORGIVE ME!” she said “But I believe this is your fault…because when the girls with the long skirts came, this happened!” and I was like …oh no…not again. Please not again…and we explained to her that it wasn’t our fault. The she says “OH. FORGIVE ME! I am catholic, but if you help my sister…I am with you!” So we tried to comfort her and I told her that she shouldn’t be drinking because it just makes the situation worse.

But anyway. That was one of our adventures for the week. Oh, and I am sick again. Yesterday we worked half day. But I feel better today. Oh and the conference on Friday….its half the mission….the other half go on thurs. but I am way excited to be able to see some people :)

all my love

hermana amundsen