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!