Stickers and More Poop

I do not know if I have told you this already, but going into our 5th and 6th week, all Gringos get assigned to Latino companions. Crazy. Next time I write, which will be this upcoming Tuesday, I will have a Latino companion by the end of the night. It is going to be a lot harder to communicate, but I know it will improve my Spanish skills at an increased rate. I cannot wait.

Quick update on poop issues. During the end of the third week I had diarrhea for 4 days straight. Not fun. Since then I have been fine. Not an issue most of the time. Remember the Elder that did not poop for the first 10 days? Hermana Dyer gave him triple the dose of laxatives and he pooped 2.2 KILOS. That is almost 4.5 pounds. We know this because we weighed him before and after. So funny.

I have lost about 3 pounds so far at the CCM. Your weight at the CCM is totally up to you. If you eat like a pig and drink pop every day you are gonna gain weight. I just eat a decent portion and drink water. Dad, I have noticed a very sharp decrease in my muscle mass. I just can´t get the same workout in by playing volleyball. When we lose, which is rare, I make sure to do pushups and pull-ups. I just mastered being able to do a handstand push up. It felt great. 

On July 20th, Colombia´s Independence Day, a jet flew over Bogotá. The funny thing is that the jet was unsafely close to the ground. We were eating lunch when the walls and tables literally started to shake. Cups spilled water, food fell out of people´s mouths, and a couple kids ducked under the table. It was crazy. The noise was absolutely deafening. For a second I literally thought we were about to die. So funny and really cool. 

We do a training exercise called CRE. I forget what it stands for, but we teach an investigator while a teacher watches us from a camera in a different room. Really cool. They then go over what we were good at and what we need to improve. Elder Flamm and I have it again today at 19:30. It should be interesting. 

 
Quick somewhat spiritual note: Hermana Dyer challenged all of us to find the six places in the Book of Mormon where the phrase "One by One" is used. She said that those who find the six during their six weeks at the CCM would receive a prize. I have found all six. We received 6 small pieces of chocolate and a temple recommend cover of the Bogotá temple. It was a nice little treat. The chocolates have stickers in them. The stickers are equivalent to gold in the CCM. People trade and barter for them. Sounds ridiculous, but there isn´t much here in the CCM to get excited about. I currently have a sticker of a caribou on the back of my tag. Super sweet.