Worth It

I`ve been in Bolivia since Tuesday, spent a day and a half doing paperwork and orientation and all sorts of boring stuff like that. I got my companion and entered my area Thursday night.

My companion is from the Dominican Republic.  He likes baseball and basketball and telling jokes.  He has a bunch of jokes that he tells that other people seem to think are funny, but I can`t understand what he saying.  A couple of his jokes I have practically memorized, but I still have no idea what they mean.

I rarely know what`s going on. I never know what people are saying, where I am, where I`m going, whether the person I`m talking to is a member or not, or what I`m eating.  Despite this, things have gone fairly well.  The members seem to like me and are actually impressed with the amount of Spanish that I know considering how little I have studied it.  We have had some pretty good lessons and contacts, and I have personally extended 4 successful baptismal commitments, so I should theoretically have some baptisms in a couple weeks.

I have eaten basically everything that people have given to me except for a few glasses of bad water. As a result of this, I (like many South American missionaries) have had pretty bad diarhea for the past 20 hours, but I`m sure it will pass eventually and even if it doesn`t, the missionary work is worth it.