I'm in Bolivia!

Oh my, I don´t even know where to start. I´ve already had many crazy times. It was so good to talk to you on the phone before I got on the plane. I am so glad I don´t have to do that again for fifteen more months. I still have jet lag a little bit pero estoy bien. So when we got to the airport in Bolivia it was like stepping into a sauna. It was so hot and muggy. I was instantly in love! The airport was playing 80´s music we joke and say we´ve gone back in time. Its amazing how much American music is here. I wasn´t expecting that at all. We met our mission president and his wife at the airport and the Elders who are serving here in this part of Bolivia. They brought us Subway. Everyone instantly spoke Spanish to us and the whole ride to our hotel was a learning experience for me. I felt like I got a ton of new vocablulary words from Hermana Calderon. She is so sweet and talkitive and she speaks really slow for us so we can understand. They let us go to our rooms and get some sleep or shower. I did both. Then they took us out to dinner. We had a chicken soup and then rice with three different kinds of meat. They had really good salad too. I love the food here! It is so different and yet similar to things I´ve eaten before so its not hard to get used to. That first night I slept like a rock because it is impossible to sleep well on a plane. But I got to do alot of contacting, well I talked to four people so I guess thats not really alot haha. They all came from different places it was crazy. One man I met on our first flight was from New York and he asked about how we decide where we serve our missions and he joked and asked if we just pull names of countries out of a hat ahaha. So I explained that we are called by God to serve through the leaders of the church. That was all we talked about as far as church topics go. He was very nice. I also met three different women on the flight to Peru. The plane was awesome. We could see where we were on a screen on the back of the seats in front of us. We also played games on them too. I beat Hermana Hernandez at Battleship, it was pretty great. Anyway I talked to a girl from Germany, a woman from the Netherlands, and a woman from India. It was so great. They all had very different backgrounds. I was able to give them passalong cards so they could look us up on the internet and contact missionaries in their areas. I loved talking with them, I was so relieved to know they all spoke English. The woman from the Netherlands speaks dutch, spanish, and english. Her husband is Bolivian, she met him in Bolivia when she was here for a school trip and fell in love and they have a son who was sitting on her lap for most of the flight. She speaks dutch to him and his dad speaks spanish to him. He was so cute, he tried to talk to me and his mom translated so I mostly used my hands alot when I communicated with him. So when we flew I honestly felt like I was on a rollercoaster on our first and last flight, we had major turbulance. But I loved every minute of it, even when I got nausiated. Our hotel is really nice, not by american standards but for Bolivia its probably better than most. We have warm water and we are served breakfast every morning. I still don´t know how I will send you pictures but I´ve taken alot. I get to meet my companion on Wednesday and tomorrow I´ll be contacting people on the street for the first time! I can´t believe I´m here and diving into this culture. It´s very different but nice. I liked going to church alot, the members were so nice to us some of the women did the touch cheeks and make a kissy noise thing with us. I´m not totally sure yet but I think my blow dryer is broken or my transformer. I hope its the blow dryer but I don´t really know. We got our first major rain storm yesterday. I loved it so much. The traffic here is totally nuts. I don´t know how people avoid accidents or hitting pedistrians all the time. The people here are fearless. I´m so grateful I won´t be driving. I like the buses, even though they are tiny. Its so windy here, I don´t think we´ve had even an hour of stillness outside. I´m feeling like doing my hair is pointless. I found out that I can e-mail Nanny and Bomp, will you tell them for me? I got all my legal stuff figured out today and I got my blood drawn, yeah I got my blood drawn in Bolivia. We had to go into a police station first and it was pretty intimidating but one of the men who worked there was so nice to us for the hour we had to wait to sign a few papers and get finger prints he talked to us which calmed me down alot. Supposedly I should be able to speak well within a couple months. I can´t wait, its hard to not know how to say anything. I can understand alot but I just struggle with making my own sentences. I´m glad the people I´ve talked to at least get the gist of what I´m trying to say. My companion is going to be a native from either here or one of the surrounding countries. I´m so grateful because I feel like I´ll learn alot faster that way. I love you all so much! My p day is on Mondays, I have to go now because I need to go and buy socks ahaha. My family is so wonderful, I love you with all my heart.

Oh, My Goodness!!!

Alright I'm so full of a million different emotions! This is the last e-mail I'm going to be sending you from the MTC. Aaaaah! I'm so happy though, most of my packing is done. I just have to weigh it and hope to high heaven it’s the right weight. You might be getting some packages from me in the next little while if my bags are too heavy. So this is my flight plan we're going to be at the Salt Lake airport around nine or ten, we fly to the airport in Kennedy, New York, next I'll be headed to Peru. My next flight will take me to my mission in Santa Cruz Bolivia!!! Crazy crazy stuff. It's going to take us almost two days to get there. We leave Friday and get to Bolivia on Saturday afternoon so basically I will have the Spanish language down before I get there haha I wish. The temple was so nice today. We stayed longer than normal today because it was the last time we will be able to be in the temple for sixteen months. I got emotional thinking about what it must have felt like for the Saints to leave their temple in the days of Joseph Smith. The temple is such a beautiful place. We truly are blessed to have them so near to us. Guess what was super crazy, I saw Justin Wall on my walk back from the temple! He said hi to us and I'm not totally sure he recognized me. I recognized him after he passed us because he was going kind of fast on a bike but it about gave me a heart attack. I haven't seen anyone I know around here so I was totally unprepared to see him. I totally had my prayers answered the other night during the devotional. There is something about getting closer to departure, lately for me it’s been me feeling like I'm unworthy to be doing this. But during the talks that were given I just felt the most overwhelming feeling inside of me. I pictured the Savior and from the words that were spoken, I understood for a moment the love that He has for me and how much mercy He has shown me because He has perfect love. The speaker's name was Elder Zwick from the seventy. He said his handicapped son asked him if he knew Jesus once. Elder Zwick then asked us if we could say we know Jesus. Often times I paint the Savior being only slightly harder on me than I am on myself but more and more I realize just how wrong that is. It’s almost embarassing to admit I've thought of Him being this way. I appreciate so much the experiences I've had here at the MTC. I've learned so much about the Savior and Heavenly Father. I've taught lessons over and over about their perfect gospel and the spirit is continually testifying to me in every one that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and He is the only way we can attain eternal life. Over and over today I've pictured myself holding the Savior's hand or being a child cradled in the arms of my Heavenly Father. These images bring me so much peace. The reason why I picture the second thing is because we have seen the Joseph Smith movie three times while we've been here and every time when Joseph is about to have his leg operated on he glances up at his father with so much trust in his eyes even though he is so scared. It is so symbolic for me because I feel like I am about to go through something wonderful but very difficult and I'm constantly looking to Him in hope and trust that everything will be okay because I am in His constant care. I hope you feel like this too. I love you so much and I can't wait to hear your voice!!! It will be so wonderful. Anyway have an amazing day!

I feel like a ton of stuff has happened this last week. I have gone through so many changes. Our new Spanish teacher is a bit hard for me to be patient with because he seems to not have a filter or something. He comes off as harsh and unfeeling sometimes and he's said some things about sister missionaries that weren't very nice. But Heavenly Father helped me see that wasn't okay to focus on the things about him I didn't like because we are all learning and we're all so different. It was a sobering experience for me because I know I have so many things that I need to work on. Guess what is so great! I have calluses on my knees!!! Its evidence that I am praying all the time. Oh I had a dream that I was called to serve in Texas a couple nights ago. Weird huh? I am interested to see if it was put into my mind to help me prepare for that or if it was just a wacky dream. We gave our first lesson in Spanish. It was so amazing. This gift of tongues is so real. Words came to me and I was able to put sentences together that mostly made sense. I also bore my testimony and felt the spirit so strong. Missionary work is so amazing it is truly helping me become who I really am. The reason why I say that is because we had a member of the seventy come for the devotional yesterday and he was so powerful. It was a huge blessing to have four apostles come and then a member of the seventy because I was able to see that God speaks through them just as powerfully as the apostles. Honestly I was just flooded with the spirit. I was fighting back tears the whole time because he was speaking straight to my heart. He talked to us about how knowing we are disciples of Jesus Christ makes us act differently than we would if we didn't know that. He asked us to look in the mirror every morning as a child of God and not just the person we think we are. Because we have no idea what we are capable of. I could go on and on about the things he said but just know it was incredible. We are speaking a lot of Spanish lately. It’s hard but so worth it. I just keep thinking that I am assisting Heavenly Father and Jesus in their work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. How incredible is that.

And we all have that opportunity, not just missionaries. I just want you to know that I know the Savior lives and through His atonement we can change and become who we really are. It’s happening to me little by little every day. There are Christmas decorations up in the bookstore here already. I am so excited for the holidays!

I'm most likely staying here instead of going to Peru. Elder Bednar and his wife came yesterday! I am really starting to wonder what is going to happen on my mission because I feel so much help and support from the Lord right now. Maybe I'm going to really need that later. I'm sure I will it just makes me curious. Anyway he talked about how any answer can be answered with doctrine. And it should be answered with doctrine. I loved it because its so true and it helps people learn how to become spiritually independant. We also got to hear from Sherry Dew. She was so amazing! I loved hearing from her. She talked about how short our time here is and that once someone told her to think of this life being three minutes long so she asked us if we thought we could be good for three minutes haha. It really puts things into perspective huh? This life has such a huge impact on our lives after this. Every day I am more amazed at how wonderful the plan of happiness is. So things are going pretty good with my companions. They make me laugh a lot and they're both so strong. I feel so blessed to know so many good elders. The ones we have in our district and zone are all really impressive. They have such testimonies of the gospel and they speak with a lot of power. I love it! The elders in our district make me laugh so hard. The other day they were singing the phantom of the opera in spanish. It was hilarious. Elder Prince teases me a lot. I wear both my jacket and my raincoat to class because the elders refuse to turn off the ac and he always points out that I am freezing most of the time. Our teachers are the only ones who take pity on us and ask the elders to turn down the ac. I am really loving teaching. It’s honestly my favorite part of being here. I 'm learning how important it is to teach with the spirit. It feels so good to teach to someone’s needs and know that you've said something important for them to hear. Spanish is coming along. I still don't know enough to sound older than a five year old haha. But it will come, I know it.

Week 4

I love you all and miss you everyday but its a blessing that I can know how important it is to be here and the fact that I sacrificed the thing that means the very most to me,to serve a mission makes it so much more meaningful. We got to hear from Elder Ballard yesterday! Isn't that awesome, three apostals in three weeks. That never happens usually. I'm so happy that we have the opportunity to hear from them. He had so many wonderful things to say. I'll always treasure the times I've had here and the things I've learned. Oh I'm not going to Peru today. We found out last week that our visas didn't come so we have to wait and see if they come before the halfway mark of our MTC training. If they do we will be sent to Peru. I want you to know I recieved an answer to my prayers. We've had four different teachers in our three weeks here so we are way behind the other districts. It was not a good feeling. Most of the time I felt so lost and overwhelmed and thought I'd never be able to survive being in Peru because I hardly know Spanish. I almost cried in class a couple times because we have been pulled in so many different directions by the different teachers. They all have different ideas of how we should do things and what we should focus on. Anyway, we finally got a new (hopefully permanent) teacher.He is so great! He is one of the most organized people I've ever met. He has everything planned out for us so that we make the most of our study time and he has goals for us to achieve daily, weekly, and monthly so that we are fluent by the time we leave the MtC. It was exactly what we needed. I am definately being strengthened and helped through my trials. You know whats really funny I think I've only had a couple days so far where I've felt good. I got sick a few days ago because Elder Brown sits next to me and he was sick. So I've just gone on acting like everything is fine. It just makes me laugh because that seems to be one of the most used trials of my mission so far. But I'm just grateful it is bringing me closer to the Lord and all my experiences are refining me.

A Look into the Near Future

Well, I'm done with week 2! On to my last week here in Provo. We got our travel information last week so we will be leaving the U.S. early Wednesday morning. I'm so excited but the more I think about it, the more nervous I get. I've met sister missionaries from all over. I even talked with and did my best to comfort the sisters in my residence floor who are from Pakistan, Brazil, and the Philippines. They were sad last night because they were homesick. They have birthdays coming up in November and that's got to be rough! I talked to one sister for a long time about it and she told me the food is so different here and she misses home but she prays and the Lord blesses her really quickly. I met another sister from the Ukraine and she really inspired me. She was so brave as she sat by us at lunch and spoke to us in broken English. Thankfully I understood her. But it really struck me then that I'll be in her shoes in a week. I'll be surrounded by Spanish speaking missionaries. I'm excited to be immersed in the language and the culture. I know I will learn a lot very quickly. Ive been told the food in Peru and Bolivia will be very strong at first because they use so many spices.

Week Number Two

I am so upset that it snowed last night. what is up with that? I actually am staying really warm. I'm so glad I’ve got so many sweaters and those wool tights. They are both saving my life right now. I think I'm going to Peru now. I just got my travel information last week. It explained what airline we will be on and when we'll have to leave. It's pretty crazy. We'll be going at seven in the morning so we have to get up around five in the AM to be ready to go. It won't be very easy at all to sleep the night before. I still don't really know what to think about it. So the flight we'll be on is five hours long and we have to stop in Georgia and wait for our next flight which takes five more hours so I'll be fluent in Spanish before I get to Peru haha.

So in my room there are two bunk beds. I sleep on the bottom bunk and no one is on the top so I stole the pillow because the pillows are super flat. So now my arms don't fall asleep anymore haha. On the other bunk bed Hermana Hernandez sleeps up top and Hermana Harman sleeps on the bottom. We have two closets for our clothes and two mirrors attatched. I'm not very good at explaining so I'll send a picture before I leave.

So I can get the dear elder letters every day if you were to write that many. But I only get to read e-mails on Wednesday. Okay the Elders in my zone are so funny they have to have the a.c. on all the time, even when its forty degrees outside. They all like to tease me because my coat never comes off. They are all so fun. I love that we get along so well. The most incredible thing happened to me in the last couple days. I've been really stressing about learning Spanish because so many of my district elders know it really well because they had two years of Spanish in high school before they came. not fair. I prayed and prayed I could understand things better and quicker somehow. So the next day we got a new Spanish teacher who grew up in Argentina. She is learning English right now in college so it is so helpful. I truly believe that she came here because I needed to have her teach me before I go to Peru. She is so full of the spirit and I can understand her so well. She really cares about us. Her dad was in the Quorum of the seventy, her name is sister Ortega. Then yesterday guess who came to our devotional? Elder Scott, the apostle. So we had two apostles back to back. That never happens usually. I feel so blessed. He also gave us apostalic blessings, one specific blessings to the sister missionaries was a protective shield. I felt so good and I honestly cried because I could feel his genuine love and appreciation for sister missionaries. He also blessed us with the gift of tongues. So after he was done speaking my doubts and fears were completely gone. I know I will learn the language and be able to say what's in my heart to the people in Bolivia. My mission is teaching me so much. I'm really getting a lesson in patience right now. That seems to be the theme of my life for some reason. But I am getting so much help.

First Letter Home

I only have a half an hour to write so I'm sorry if this ends up being short. I will type as fast as I can. So the day I got here I was alright. I didn't cry that night or the night after that because I was so charged up by the meetings we had and all the initiatory stuff happening. But on Saturday night I was starting to realize there is a lot I need to do in only a week so I got a little overwhelmed. I prayed and prayed that I would feel better so I wouldn't be a mess and not do my best in class and when I studied. I've had so many wonderful experiences since that night. It seems like every meeting I've gone to and everyone I've talked to gives me some sort of comfort. Then I just had to deal with four blisters and a migraine. Trials come in many forms that’s for sure. It actually made me laugh that I'd get blisters before I'd even been here a week. They were from those cute shoes with heels I wore to my farewell. So I might be sending those to you at some point. I went to the temple this morning and after I prayed in the celestial room the Lord told me that I need to let myself go at my own pace with the language and not worry so much about understanding everything right now. He has helped me so much. I love how close I feel to Him here.

We are so busy all the time. We got to hear Elder Russell M. Nelson speak yesterday. It was so amazing! I felt so blessed to get to hear him speak because not all missionaries get to hear apostles speak while they are here. The food here is so yummy! I love my companeras. They are both so much like me I know that it was inspired. I feel that way about my whole district. There are so many amazing people I'm surrounded by.

I found out too that I will probably be staying here instead of going to the Peru MTC. A lot of missionaries who are going to the same mission have told us that they just found out they have to stay here because the MTC is so full over there.

The Adventure Begins

My First Blog

I finally have a blog! I am starting to get so nervous and excited for my mission. Only seven more days till I enter the MTC. This is going to be such an awesome adventure. I can't wait to learn how to be a missionary. I hope I don't cry too much when I give my talk on Sunday. All of a sudden I'm getting emotional over everything. So most likely I'll be a mess. But it will be alright, I have my parents speaking with me. Just as long as my mom doesn't start crying.