This week was so much fun. Finally have all my energy back.
The minimum wage in Colombia is 780,000 Colombian pesos monthly, i.e. 270 usd monthly.
San Francisco minimum wage right now is 15 usd per hour (holy crap).
And all the Venezuelans that have come to Colombia in the past 3 years work for waaayyyy less. Like 200k or 150k which is about $50 a month...for a family. Super poor. Good thing is that food is super cheap.
Empanadas you can find easily for 1000 pesos. That's 30 cents. And 2 empanadas fill you up for lunch.
By the way, I can buy a stolen motorcycle here in Piedecuesta for $85 usd. (I wouldn't be able to ride it anywhere outside of Piedecuesta.) Or a legal one with papers for $175.
I'm seriously considering shipping a mecedora home. Its the best chair that exists.
THANKS FOR THE HI CHEWS we have been giving them out to all the neighboorhood kids and blowing their minds.
Here are pics:
2 years later STILL USING THE ZIPTIES best gift ever
Elder Lucaila with the new mission president VALLADARES
Today we woke up at 4:30 to go on a hike with the Stake Patriarch to this place called the Ermintaños. It's a lugar on the crest of the mountain over the valley of Piedecuesta. It's where all these Catholic monks live. It was closed today... but the door was open. Nobody was there. And then we saw a tiny room with 50 monks in a monk meeting or something.
Cristancho family. I told you guys about them last week.
It's super fun. I do this secret handshake with all the kids in my area and now we just walk around and kids will come up to me and do the handshake.
We found this dude named Brian who looks like Jesus. All his friends call him Jesucristo. We have had some awesome charlas with him I'll send a pic.
I could for sure imagine living in Colombia or at least South America. I really want to visit the coastal cities of Colombia. Lots of people say the food is the best part about Colombia but the food is OK — the coolest part of Colombia are the Colombians.
We are working to make the ward better here. Mostly members and kids just want to have a good time, and parents just want their kids to have a good time without using drugs. That's mostly how we've been going about working the area. Going on hikes in the morning with young men, having huge FHEs. It's super fun.
I also spent a day in another area with Elder Baker. We had an FHE with a less active Venezuelan family and I told them my name was Elder Chavez and they thought it was the funniest thing ever.
LOVE YOU GUYS, GOODBYE
P.S. — This is Brian (Jesucristo) from my letter:
And more pics:
