December 12

We have two baptisms coming up this week. Lucas who is 15 is getting baptized. He wants to serve a mission one day . He is a super great kid. He comes to church every Sunday. And a little girl who is nine is getting baptized. Her parents are members but they want us to teach her and baptize her. I 'm really excited! I love teaching kids the spirit is so strong and sweet they understand things so quickly. Aida didn't come to church this Sunday but she says she'll Come next Sunday. I'm feeling the end of my mission is coming quickly and it makes me really happy and sad at the same time. I had a dream that I was home and we were shopping and Hayley told me that I wasn't a missionary any more and that I needed to take my plaque off. In my dream I started to cry, my comp told me that in the night was whimpering haha. How sad Huh!Oh well life will be so good at home I can't wait to be with you all again. We went teaching with a nineteen year old who is from Brazil she is great! She wants to serve a mission so bad its fun to be around her and remember how much I wanted to serve a mission. I don't know when I'm going home yet but my mission president said he'd let me know. I hope he doesn't forget to tell me. I don't want to ask him too much because I don't want him to think I don't want to be here. I hope you have a really good week.

December 5

One thing I really love about Christmas here is that its so hot that I forget about whats going on at home. And they don't play any Christmas music on the radio. Honestly, it makes me sad at the same time though. Last Monday we played volleyball for an hour and a half on the day it reached 40 degrees Celsius so I don't even know what that would be in Fahrenheit but it was so hot! I got a bad sunburn on my face and arms so did hermana cruz. Bit it was so fun. One of the photos is of Elder Boyd he's really funny and quotes movies while we play any sport. But he put a ginormous bug on his tongue! it was dead but still I had to take a picture of his craziness. There is a picture of our cat Snickers too. It's the neighbor's cat but I love it. She always hangs out with us. My companion cut my hair one night when I was feeling sad about my imperfections as a missionary. I like my hair like this. She's such a great companion. We have two new investigators who are great. They are an old couple, about 70 years old. The wife is mute. She showed us xrays of her lungs and pictures of her brain and she explained that the doctors can't figure out why she can't talk. But we think she had a stroke because she was found passed out on the ground and when she came to, she couldn't move her arms or legs very well and couldn't feel one side of her body. She inspires me so much because she tries with all her might to communicate and she has such a good attitude. she broke down yesterday though, because she was trying to tell us something and we tried guessing but we couldn't figure it out and she cried so we both hugged her and held her hands and told her if she was faith in Jesus Christ He can heal her and give her back her voice if it is Heavenly Fathers will. She told us she prays and as lots of faith so we offered to have someone come and give her a blessing. She wants one really bad. I can't wait to see what happens. I love teaching her. She is so funny and light hearted even though she has gone through so much. Her husband drinks and yesterday we basically dragged him to church with us for stake conference. I personally didn't want him to come because he was still drunk from the other night. And while we were the convincing him to come with us he told us he had a dream that his wife sent him to buy manzanilla and a nail. Manzanilla is chamomile tea. And he said when he saw us for the first time he knew his dream meant that we were coming because I am the manzanilla and hermana Cruz is the nail. So he told me over and over that I'm his manzanilla. It was funny at first then it made me uncomfortable when I was sitting next to him in the chapel so I asked hermana Cruz to sit by him and she started coughing and gagging because his breath smelled like the cocaine leaves they chew here and beer. She can't stand that smell. It was so sad, I felt really bad for asking her to trade me places. But finally she asked Aida, his wife, if she wanted to sit by her husband. She did so Hermana Cruz was saved. It was such an interesting experience. But I am determined to help her husband Alfredo quit chewing and drinking. They both really are receptive to what we teach. I can see them getting baptized. We have had so many beautiful experiences lately. I feel so blessed. A gecko almost ran up my leg during stake conference. It's not fun imagining something crawling on you, it gives me the heebee geebees, haha. Today we are going to lunch and haircuts with the mission presidents wife. I'm so excited! I hope you have a great week. I will write soon.

I am so happy! I have to tell you that these last few days have been absolutely wonderful. We had combios and I got sent to an area called Equipetrol that is really close to my last area Belen. It is such a nice area and my companion is the BEST companion I have ever ever had. I am so grateful. She really is wonderful. Her name is Hermana Cruz and she is from Guatemala. She is the sweetest, most patient person I have ever met here in the mission. I 've only been in my new area for a few days but the members have been so warm and friendly to me. My new house is TINY. There is only room for our beds and our wardrobes and a super small pathway to get to my bed. Speaking of my bed, I have a funny story. The other day I was scooting down to the end of my bed to kneel down and pray with my comp and as i was sitting at the foot of the bed it went crashing to the floor haha. Just the bottom half of the bed but I laughed so hard with Hermana Cruz and then we hurried and assembled the new bed that was sitting outside our door. THis all happened before church haha. It was so funny. I had to do a contact in English the other day. It was so hard! The guy I contacted was in his late forties, I'd guess, and he had a perfect spanish accent. But truns out he is from Texas, haha, but here studying anthropology. It was actually fun to talk with him because my comp is learning English here on the mission and she could understand practically everything we said.She's helping me perfect my Spanish and I'm helping her with English. She made me breakfast the first day.We have a calico cat too that lives on our patio that beongs to the member family we live with. Its so cute and makes me feel like I'm at home. ITs really nice. I 'm learning a little Portuguese. I know how to greet people and say everthings fine. My comp is teaching me because there are so many universities in our area so lots of people come here from Brazil to go to school. I'm doing really good, a little sluggish still after being in bed for a week (had dengue again) but really I'm feeling good. I gave one of my sheets to a man that lives on our street. He was sleeping on the sidewalk and it was a little cold so we brought him a couple sheets while he slept. It was so special. I love you all and will write in a week.

My comp and I have been getting sick back and forth. But I heard a testimony on Sunday that made me feel a lot better. The guy was talking about trials and how they are proof that Heavenly Father loves us. He said that they are meant to show to what point we choose to do the will of the Father. That really hit me and made me think if I am always choosing to do what He wants me to or if I'm letting my trial prohibit or discourage me. I have to admit I think that has happened. I thought after having a year in the mission everything would be down hill from here and the trials would seem like nothing because I am going home soon but that is not the case. I feel silly for thinking that. We got to baptize Shirley who had her baby alone in her bathroom and then carried him to the hospital in a backpack so he wouldn't get soaked by the rain, that Shirley. She's so amazing I really admire her faith and how she has gotten through so much. Her baby was born premature and had to have surgery on his eyes but he is coming out of the hospital in only two weeks and Shirley doesn't have anything. So yesterday in our ward counsel meeting we asked the relief society to please put together a little baby shower for her so she can be prepared to bring home her new baby boy. She named him Benji after the guy who baptized her, I think that's really sweet. We went to their house after the baptism and it absolutely poured! We were all walking all the way to the house because they don't have a car. But we were all laughing and having a great time getting soaked. Then, they gave us shirts to change into so we wouldn't get sick. Then after that the grandma gave us towels for our heads. I was so touched by how kind she was being even though they had so little and their roof was leaking everywhere and soaking one of the beds completely. It was so incredible to see a family in such hard circumstances be so happy and so giving. We got a huge grasshopper in our room last night. It flew in our room and we seriously thought it was a weird type of bird because it was that big! It took a lot of work to find it after it hid itself under my comps stuff. This all happen at midnight haha. Crazy huh? Then a littler one flew into our kitchen so we were feeling like we experienced a mini plague haha.

Highlights from the Last Couple of Months

Hermana Tibbitts is the one with brown hair and Hermana Randall is the blonde.

The first of September Brittani was really excited to receive some pictures from Hayley. She says "I loved the pictures Hayley sent! Will you tell her thanks for me and that I absolutely loved them."

Sept.19: It's getting warm but a sur came so its kind of chilly and out shower is busted so we've been showering with cold water lately haha. but its not too hard to get used to and its really good for your hair haha. This week we had two cockroaches in our house. One of them was huge!!! It crawled on my companion and I was the one who had to sweep if off the counter and it went sailing towards her. It was a total accident because our kitchen is so tiny. But we both screamed alot because we had no idea where it went. When we found t we just screamed some more because it was on its back waving its long hairy legs in the air. But I fearlessly stomped on it really hard and kind of slipped a little because it was that big haha. Our duena came up the stairs yelling because we scared her. She got pretty mad at us, she seemed to forget the fact that we're girls haha. We have two baptisms coming up this week. One is Rosa who we found out last night might actually be 90 years old. She gave us both two kisses on on each cheek and told us she loves us both so much. It's seriously been so much fun to teach her. And Cynthia is getting baptized too. She just has to move out of her house because her ex lives there and its really hard to find her work and a house. We've been room hunting for a couple weeks now and not many accept ids or they're too much money. But I have faith we will find something. Today we are going bowling as a zone. Its going to be fun!

Sep.26: We baptized Cynthia and Rosa the same night. We had planned to Baptized Rosa and Saturday and Cynthia on Sunday but Cynthia wanted to be baptized so bad she didn't want to wait another day. It was so cool. They were both so beautiful. Rosa came out of the water chuckling a little because she has bad knees and her grandson held her like a baby and had to struggle a bit to get her completely submerged haha. She prayed after and promised Heavenly Father she wouldn't go back to the way she was. It was so sweet. I cried. We sang at the baptism and it turned out pretty. The picture with us and the kid is Leo he is such a goof. We love him so much though. He took so many pictures with us.

Oct.3: I love conference with all my heart. I was so awesome wasn't it. We got to see both Saturday sessions in English because not very many people came. On Sunday, we went early and the church was packed and people were still coming. So we had to give up our seats and sit in an empty classroom that was semi close to the tv so we could at least hear it. It was a really cool experience just because it reminded me of Mary and Joseph when they were looking for somewhere to stay the night. It was so great to feel like I was sacrificing so that other people could be comfortable and enjoy seeing conference. It was feeling like I was doing what the Savior would do. I admit I felt a little sad at first but it was so worth it to know it was for such a great cause.We got to see the second session in English with the help from someone in the ward. It was so wonderful. I can't wait to watch conference with all of you someday. We changed our pensionista and it was so cool to see that the new one we chose really needs us to be there. She is a great person but right now she's struggling in her marriage. Her husband is threatening to leave her. She was so excited that we asked her to be our pensionista she said she would love it because she knows the Lord will bless her for helping us out. Kaidence is amazing. I know she is such a blessing in our family. She sure helps us remember the Lord and to have faith in Him. I know she'll be okay. Its still painful to know that she is going through so much but Heavenly Father knows why and we have to just be strong about it.

Oct. 9: Things are going so good now but Thursday through Sunday I felt like the Lord really carried me. So Hermana Randall left and she has always been a one man band about things. I'm not really sure why she was always that way, but anyway there are things I had to do all on my own this weekend. I had to organize a Sunday morning baptism, go to el centro to get her interviewed, get her registros taken care of, find speakers and other things like that. It gave me the biggest headache, I was so stressed out. Plus hermana Tibbitts is my companion here in Belen now. She is a good person and she has changed alot from the last time that we were together. I'm grateful she has been such a nice support to me with everything I had to do last week. I love being able to have so much responsibility and for the chance to make good friend with hermana Tibbitts. We have three more baptisms planned for this week! I am so excited. W have been so blessed an we even have people who are likely get baptized next month. I can't tell you how much real joy I feel being a missionary. The lady who got baptized on Sunday is so happy and the ward has completely taken her in. It's so great.

Oct. 16: Yesterday we didn't go to church because there were elections and the president here says that nobody can work or go to church that day. So we had a sacrament meeting in the house of the family we live with. It was so strange to be sitting on the couch for sacrament ha ha. The dad was pretty nervous and made a couple mistakes blessing it but he had a huge smile on his face the whole time. It was so great. I think he felt good that he could do that for us and his family. We had a little testimony meeting after and they made us crepes. They are definitely not like the ones we make. I'll just say that. I'm getting along really well with Hermana Tibbitts she likes Moulin Rouge and Harry Potter and Hunger games ha ha. We've been able to laugh alot and have some good talks. Im so grateful because I prayed Heavenly Father would send me a friend this cambio. And when I heard she would be my comp my heart totally sunk because we had a rough time in Guaracal. But things have been going really good and I am so thankful. There has been a swine flu problem here and there aren't any vaccinations available to people But it seems to be slowing down thank goodness. We had Elder Pino of the seventy come and he was totally awesome he told us we have one of the best mission presidents in the whole world! how cool is that. It was so wonderful to hear from him he is so inspired and full of love. I am so excited that we have two baptisms coming up this week and two more next week. But I have to admit it kind of stresses me out. I have to remember I'm not doing this all on my own and I shouldn't depend on myself but look to Heavenly Father for help. I have something to admit. I feel like i have been gone for way too long ha ha. I miss you all so much. Its the first time that I've missed home this much. But its such a blessing that I'm so busy with getting our investigators ready. Heavenly Father is really helping me out. Its been cold here lately. Today we bought nail polish and we are going to go bowling. I am so excited. We are only going to pain our toe nails thought because we are not allowed to paint our finger nails.

Oct. 23: I've been sick this last week but somehow we pulled off two baptisms this morning. Hugo and Alejandro, they're both so special. Our pensionista's husband told us on his mission he got to go see star wars with his zone and they were supposed to relate it to the gospel So he is a huge fan of fiction movies like that and he loves relating them to the gospel he told us all the movies that have come out that we need to see. I can't wait to see them haha. I love my mission. I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be. I love being able to help other people and lift the burdens they are carrying. I'm so thankful for the experiences I'm having here. Heavenly Father answers my prayers all the time. Everyone in this country runs late and Hugo was fifteen minutes late for his baptism, I was sweating bullets and praying that he would get there in time and he showed up not even a minute later. I 'm so thankful for all the miracles I've been able to see here. I know this gospel is true, every bit it it is true. I love sharing it with other people. I love this ward so much I have lots of friends here. We've lost contact with one of our investigators we had with a baptismal date and another one is really busy with with school so she is hardly ever home to receive us and its a little frustrating but I know we'll find them. Our district leader loves us. He says we are an example for the whole district. I don't believe him but we appreciate him for saying such nice things. I'm trying really hard to do what I'm supposed to and really enjoy the experience of being here and I really do now more than ever, the Lord has worked miracles for me so many times. He is so wonderful and merciful.

Oct. 31: So, I have something funny to tell you. I kind of broke the rules last week. I danced. There was a relief society birthday party for all the birthdays that have happened recently and there was a recent convert who who'd been struggling a lot and cried every time I tried to talk to her last Sunday. She was finally getting happier and to the point where she would tell me what was going on but she wanted us to dance with her really bad and I have to admit I love the music here its got a really fun rythm to it. So, I got up and did the latin shuffle everyone else was doing haha for maybe five minutes and then the president found me and told me I didn't have to dance because she knows we can't as missionaries. I felt super super SUPER guilty. My companion made me feel alot better about it and we were able to laugh about it later. And our pensionista told me that I need to be careful with my dancing because she said my future husband won't like the fact that I can dance because he'll get over-protective about me haha. We made mud cups for our last family home evening. They have chocolate pudding and crushed oreo on top and then we put gummy worms in them. Bu the pudding was still hot because our penionista made it too late and my comp wanted to hide the worms so it would be a scarey surprise and the gummy worms melted in the cups and it actually made them hard to eat haha because it was a little too realistic. I took my shoes to a zapatero haha they are shoe fixers that have their little shops by the road and they are miracle workers! I've taken almost all my shoes there because they are all pretty worn out and I have not been able to find any shoes here in my size everyone here has little feet. So the way they fix them is by sewing a piece of tire rubber to the bottom of your shoe. Isn't that funny? Happy Halloween! we are having a halloween party tonight for family home evening but they don't really celebrate it here. I am happy. I think it will be a fun party. I hope you have lots of fun today!

This week was so fantastic! We had two baptisms. They are two brothers named Leo and Alex. I love them with all my heart they are both like two little lights in my life. They are 16 and 13. Their parents aren't members but their whole family, like grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, are members. Leo has been taught before and has wanted to be baptized for so long. So teaching him was pretty easy, he had some good questions though and we were able to help him figure them out. His little brother didn't seem as excited to hear from us at first and then more and more he's just loved being with us and hearing the things we have to share. He is so special. Their mom didn't want them to be baptized so it has been a real battle with her because she wouldn't even agree to talk to us even once and we had to help Leo and Alex get up the courage they needed. It was so sweet to see them have so much respect and love for their mom. They just wanted to at least have her permission. They had a really long talk with her and she finally told them they can do whatever they want. So we were able to get their father to sign the permission paper. Their whole family was there to support them. We sang the song called "I'll find you my friend" in Spanish. I don't know how we pulled it off because both of us were choking up. But it turned out really neat. It was freezing cold that night and the water was really cold too but the neatest part was that both Leo and Alex said that when their uncle who baptized them started saying the prayer they felt a warmth start at their toes and go all the way up to their heads. Isn't that so awesome! We are so blessed here. The members love us and we are finding new people to teach all the time. Thank you for your prayers. I know that they are working miracles here. I got so sick yesterday. I drank some tap water at an investigator's house and when we got home I was hurting reeealy bad, haha. I spent the whole night running to the bathroom, the whole night. I mostly had the runs but I threw up once too. I definitely learned my lesson. Never, ever drink water from the tap EVER. I hope your week is really great!

It's been a really fun week. So, I am going to tell you about the baptism we had this Saturday. It was for the son of an investigator I had the first time I was here. Her name is Melva and she has a twelve year old daughter and a ten year old son. They are so cute and so much fun. Her daughter was taught and baptized by a couple of elders about a month ago. Yoli, the daughter came to church with her brother and he said he wanted to get baptized. We tried once to get him baptized but at the last minute his mom cancelled on us for a really lame excuse. So this weekend we tried again but were getting the feeling that she was going to do the same thing again so we decided we needed to do the baptism quick. We decided to go by her house and talk her into having the baptism Saturday instead of Sunday morning. We gave a lesson on the 2000 strippling warriors. My companion bore a beautiful testimony about motherhood and how much she loved her mom. Melva cried and after we offered to pay for the taxi to bring them to the baptism she agreed. So we had two hours to call our mission leader and somehow warm up the font and get people invited and buy refreshments. It totally worked out. We were literally running everywhere and making phone calls haha. It was a really great baptism. Me and my comp and Yoli sang "We are as the Army of Helaman" to Diego It was so fun. And the warm water , guess what we had to do, we carried two big pots of hot, hot water about a block to the church. It was so funny that night I laughed so hard picturing us carrying those pots. But what a great experience. I loved it. Things are going so good. We have cambios this week so I don't know what will happen. But you know what, I'm not scared. I feel so confident that things will work out. I hope you have a great week! I can't wait to tell you about what happens next. I love you!

August 15, 2011

We had a really great baptism. It was for a fifteen year old kid named Juan. He's made so many changes in his life and has so much support from the ward and the bishop's family. He's going to be so well taken care of. We almost couldn't baptize him because our president has said that we shouldn't be looking for teens and kids to baptize because their parents should be our main focus. We want to be completing families not baptizing kids who will probably go inactive over time. I'm totally for it but our leaders thought that president meant we couldn't baptize teens at all . so there was confusion for a while and my companion cried. I just felt like everything would work out so I wasn't super upset about it. I just figured that if he couldn't get baptized there was a good reason and if he could, it would work out. I know the atonement is real. It works so quickly and makes so much difference. I love the Savior so much. He shows me he loves me by sending me angels like the girl in the other picture I sent. Her name is Ines. I can honestly say she's been my best friend here in the mission. I can't wait to be surrounded by all of you. That day will come, it's getting closer all the time. I love you so much. I hope you have a fantastic week.

The zoo was so fun. There weren't monkeys walking around at the zoo, like we heard. Apparently, there is just one that lives on an island in the middle of a little pool that escapes sometimes haha. It was so fun. There was this cage for a leopard that was so open and the fence to keep it in was a joke. It was so crazy. Luckily they moved him to a cage. The boy who was suppose to get baptized this month didn't. His dad is unworthy to baptize him and got mad at the bishop for not letting him do it. All our baptisms for this month fell through but I know there are people waiting for us here and I am excited to see what August brings. The light in our shower blew out. The light switch kind of exploded and lit on fire while my Comp was in the shower. So we have to do everything in the dark in our bathroom haha. The knob to turn on the shower shocks you every time you try to tun off the water, just like those shocker pens. Ahhh Bolivia! I love you . I hope you have a great week!

Lately I've been able to see more cultural fun around here and I'm so happy! There were people dancing in the street next to our house. It was so cool there was lots of hip swinging, haha and the guys were dancing so well! They had these cool boots with bells on them. There was a talent show in our ward on Friday. We were going to sing in it but it started late so we couldn't. There were some cool acts. And its crazy the people here just don't get very nervous. They played music so loud, because some young men were in charge of the music, haha. It was really fun though. We have some references because members brought their friends who aren't members. I am so happy. I'm back in Belen! Can you believe it. I love it. Its like coming home. I got so many hugs from the members and I got to see my convert Aide. She has her own chocolate business that is going to get started really soon. Her chocolates are so good! I love seeing her. It almost made me cry to see her doing so well and she has a calling as a young womens counselor. We have three baptisms coming up this month and three more for next month. I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be here. My companion now is hermana Randall. She is from Utah. I've never seen an American hit it off so well with the people here. Everyone automatically loves her. I feel very lucky to be her companion. I just hope I can learn a lot from her and help her out if I can. Guess what, a monkey was climbing around the patio of some investigators we were teaching. It was their pet. I was a little nervous I have to admit because it was a kind of big monkey, haha. And it walked around making a growling sound that I didn't know monkey s made,haha. Me and my comp had our first fight thing the other day. It was because I am not talking as much. It's just hard because I am not used to the way she teaches. And I can never tell when she is going to stop or when I need to come in. So to punish me she made me say the prayer at the end of every lesson. I got ticked because she was treating me like I was under her and I had to explain that I'm just trying to learn how to teach with her. So we figured things out and now we're good. We had a baptism planned this last Saturday but the little girl was terrified of being in so much water even though she goes swimming at water parks with her family. I think she was just nervous and the water was really cold because the water can't get heated up in that chapel. We tried to convince her, along with everyone who was at the baptism haha, but it didn't work. We even put our feet in the faunt to try and calm her down. But nothing worked. That was a first for me. I'm hoping it'll be the last too. I'm having so much fun here. I feel like I can be myself and be a missionary at the same time. It's different because I've been very strict in my conduct and how I talk with people but being with my new companion makes me realize its so much better to be yourself. People really respond to that and open up more and its just natural.

July 11

It sounds wonderful to have so many people there for the fourth. It was really cold here for the fourth. It was too hard to imagine it being summer there. But its hot again now. The weather here so so crazy. You never know what to expect. I had a really great birthday. My companion and the hermanas we live with made me breakfast in bed and then we ordered pizza that night! It was so much fun and a few people called me to tell me happy birthday. It was so nice even though it was kind of against the rules. But its nice to know that the Elders care and want to help me feel better about not being with my family for my birthday. I was so blessed. It was so nice. I still can't bring myself to say I'm 22. Its just too weird. It was a little hard honestly to not be with you all like always for my birthday but I didn't get too sad about it because I got so much help from others and from Heavenly Father. So lately I've been getting a little sad because I feel like I'm halfway through my mission and I'm not sure I've helped a whole lot even though I'm trying so hard. But I know that feelings like that will pass. I just can't think things like that because they don't do anything to help. I realize that the times I feel the saddest are the times I think about myself. So I'm going to try harder to look beyond the things that are hard for me and focus on just helping others in any way I can. We are going to have cambios this week. I don't know what to think. There are pros and cons about staying or leaving But I know whatever happens will be for the best. So I want to tell you about some stuff. There are lots of animal shaped bushes here. They love to do bush art work here. They are pretty creative. My favorite is this big rubber duck shaped bush on one of the corners we always pass. I'll send a picture next time. I was feeling a little unworthy to be here and praying and praying for help to overcome that feeling and I read Mosiah 28:4,7 they helped me so much. I can honestly say I receive answers to my prayers every single day. I got my hair cut here for 15 bolivianos, that's like two bucks. But she did a good job and I don't have lice! haha I bought one of those pan flutes for my birthday. I can make sounds with it! I am so happy. Last Monday, I was kind of having a bad day. My feet hurt so bad I could hardly walk and the buses here are super crazy, so that being said, after we went to the grocery store and got on a bus full of people I was struggling. I couldn't get my hands on any of the bars and I fell into my companion and she fell into a few people because of me. Then this old man reached up and told me to give him my bags. I was reluctant at first then I gave in. He had such a warm smile on his face. Then when he got off he told me to take his seat. I cried after he left because I felt like the Lord really reached out to me and helped me in that moment. I know He lives and works through us. I am so grateful He helps me so much. I can't wait to be with all of you again.

July 4th

This week I got sick and its been cold so its been really fun but I think I am at the end of it. I just got a really bad cold. I've received lots of help and blessings though. I was trying to wash my clothes today and two hermanas we live with came out of the house and basically ordered me to go to bed and they finished washing my clothes outside in the bitter cold. And my companion has been really caring. She has made me soup a couple of times. I am so blessed. I feel so much of my Savior's love and support through times like this. Its been an interesting week. We didn't have a whole lot of success but we had one of our investigators come to church and she watched the restoration video with us. After we invited her to baptism and she just asked where they baptize in the church and accepted . She is seventeen and has so much faith. She loved it when we taught about how the church is built upon the priesthood and prophets. She loved this because she could see how essential it is to have those things. We are so happy to have found her. Its so incredible how we just happen to come across people like her even after four months in the same area. I read a conference talk that was so perfect for me right now. The Savior suffered so much before the miracle of His resurrection. So it gave me a lot of hope to know that maybe the things I am going through are just preceding something really great. I am so thankful we have conference and we get to read the talks after. I hope you are enjoying your summer. It is super super cold here but we should be feeling the heat again in August. I hope you have an awesome week.

The End of the World

So, lately people have been stressing out a lot here about the 21 of mayo because apparently it's going to be the end of the world. I don't know if you've heard, haha. It's funny that almost everyone we meet on the streets asks us what we think about that. It's even on the news here. We have Martha's baptism that day so we joke about how we hope it won't happen until after she's been baptized. Mother's day here is on the 27th. That's weird for me. I wish we could call twice for mother's day, haha. Martha is so ready for her baptism. The elder who interviewed her said she has a strong testimony and he even learned something new about repentance when she commented. Her family isn't happy with her choice but she won't budge on her decision. Isn't that great. It makes me want to cry happy tears. We have a new investigator who is so ready to hear the gospel. The first time we visited her she thanked and thanked us for finding her and told us that we are angels sent to help her. She's so in tune with the spirit too. When we teach her she says "that's true" after almost everything we teach. I can't wait to see what happens with her. I hope you have a really really good week! I'll write next Monday.

So this week was fantastic! We have four people with a baptismal date! It has been so amazing to see people take that first step and start making changes necessary for baptism. We have one guy that we've been teaching for a while now who just accepted a baptismal date and he is going to try to quit smoking and drinking coffee. He has two little girls who are just adorable. One is four and the other is 7 but her birthday isn't until August so we're hoping that one day her dad will be ready to baptize her. When we were talking with him about the word of wisdom his daughter, the seven year old, told him he needed to stop smoking and drinking coffee. It was so cute to see her so determined to tell her dad he couldn't keep dong those things. She keeps telling us she wants to be baptized. She is so smart, she's reading in Apocalypse right now in the Bible and is very concerned with what will happen when Jesus comes again. But i think she's starting to worry less. We're also teaching a little family who just melt my heart. They have prayed to know if the church is true and the other night we went by just to see how they were doing and asked them if they'd gotten an answer and the boy who is eleven said, I know its true! He said it so boldly it made me want to cry. I am so grateful the Lord has blessed me so much to be here. I keep thinking how much my mission has helped me prepare for the future and it amazes me. And I still have time to keep learning and having wonderful experiences. More and more I am coming to appreciate the family I've been blessed with. Things are so different here I just feel so much gratitude for the mercy Heavenly Father has showed me and continues to show me.

Oh, my goodness! I think I need a lot of humbling and patience because I got sick again last week. I got Dengue, it's the dreaded sickness that everyone prays they don't get. It only lasted a couple days though thankfully. So, I've been really thirsty. I can only drink this special stuff called suero that supposedly helps when you have the runs. It' pretty tasty, but I'm excited to drink water again. I loved watching conference. I got to watch the whole thing and a couple sessions in English. We had two different investigators come on Saturday. We were so thrilled! I love love love all the talks that were given. What a special treat. I felt so blessed to have received so many answers to my prayers through the prophet's words and his apostle's too. We got to watch with some of the elders in our zone, they are so fun and good. I'm so grateful we have such good elders here. They were talking about how much they miss waffles and pancakes. It was so funny. I love how strong and dedicated the missionaries are here. I have so many good examples around me. So, tons of people came on Sunday for the first session which was fantastic! so many people crammed into the stake center. I loved it. The language is coming slowly but I am surprised how much I can communicate even though I don't know all the words. I have a lot of work to do still but I know its coming more and more each day. I love you so much. I hope you are all so happy. I can't wait to talk to you next week.

Okay first I want you all to know I love you so so so much. It's so fun to hear about what's going on at home. It took two months but I finally got the packages my mom sent!!! I was so thrilled. I share my candy with my roomies every day. I think they are starting to really like me haha. My companion is from lots of places. The last place she lived was in Quetar, I don't know how to spell that. But she was going to school at BYU in Utah. Her dad works in an oil company so they've been to lots of places and lived in different countries where there is oil. She has been to so many other countries. Its fun to hear her stories and adventures. I love our ward and our area. The people are really great and the barrio is really nice. But lately we've seen tons of guys peeing in the street haha. They don't even try to be discreet about it. They just stand next to the wall or next to their car and go, seriously its so shocking! And every time I can't figure out what's going on. They're looking down and I hear running water but I always figure it out too late. Then I turn my head really fast haha. Its definitely a different culture here. We had someone ask us if we were from Germany the other day haha. That was a first. But they said we speak really well so I don't know where that came from. Fathers day was on Saturday here so guess what everyone did, they partied and got drunk. So sad. But we saw one family walking arm in arm with their dad in the middle of the road on our way home that night so that made me feel better to know some families spend fathers day that way here. It made me miss my dad a lot and I felt this urgency to send him something haha. I'm all confused now. My mom asked me if I needed anything. Well, I could use some new feet haha, I can hardly walk in the morning. It's more funny than anything because I look like an old woman hobbling around in the mornings and my feet are all swollen but i don't need anything. I love you all. (Brittani also wrote: Please let people who are emailing me know that I am trying to write to them, I just don't have much time.)

So I feel like I have a mountains of things to tell you. I don't even know where to start. Okay Carnaval was fun. We had to spend three days in the house and during this time we weren't sure if we would have cambios. So we were pretty anxious during this time. We made pancakes! I was so happy. They were really good. We bought these pouches that were instant betty crocker pancakes and all you needed was water to make them. I was in heaven. The way they truned out was more like crepes and we put condensed milk on them, at least I think that's what it was. It's the sweet milk stuff thats the same consistency as syrup. Anywho, it was so good. We also made this meal called tomatada. I will make it for you when we get home. We made meat too, with oriental top ramen seasoning and spaghetti noodles with eggs. It was really different but I liked it a lot. I have a new comp and area now. We are in a small area of two barrios. It's called Guaracal. This place is so nice. The streets are actually paved! In my last area it was mostly dirt roads but the homes are pretty nice and the people are very kind to us. My companera's name is Hermana Tibbitts. She has been to lots of other countries and she is like the exact opposite of my last companera. It's really funny. I was so nervous to be with an american. I just feel a lot more security with a native but so far we are doing really good. We got like 85 contacts in two days. There are a couple people we are teaching that we feel will probably be baptized soon. I am living with an hermana who was my companion in the MTC her name is Hermana Harman. It's really fun to live with another companionship. The comp of Hermana Harman is from La Paz so she is the only native in our house. She is so cute and fun. I feel so blessed to be here. My comp can speak so well and she is very gospel smart. On Sunday we couldn't go out teaching so we only went to sacrament meeting and home. That was perfect timing because I really needed some time to pray and search the scriptures. I was blessed so much as I did this. I felt so much peace and understood that I am alwasys learning and growing and becoming better if I keep my eye single to the glory of God.This mission is so hard for me sometimes, but I know it's important. I have faith that even though I feel like I am not doing so much to help and I feel like people don't listen to me, the spirit will touch the heart of the people I am trying to reach. We played volleyball with our zone today and we got to meet a couple of the new missionaries. There is one sister who is struggling a lot with being here. She told us she just wants to go home and she doesn't like the heat. I could feel for her because it is not easy. I have had my struggles too so I just told her the real strength to overcome comes from reading the scriptures and praying. I hope I helped. I'll talk to you next week!!! I love you.

This week was so good and then Saturday came haha. I was a little irritated becauses my Spanish was not good during one of our lessons witha couple teenage girls and one of them had really hard time focusing on what we were saying. She was funny and just kept trying to make us laugh but I felt like the reason she lost focus was because my Spanish is so bad. Anyway after this we tried to find an investigator's house. My companion didn't remember where she lived but I remembered her and her directions really well. Which is very rare for me because so often I get turned around here. The streets and house numbers are so unorganized I have to remember most of the homes we visit by trees or stores that are nearby haha. She was so happy to see us and we got talking with her about her family and found out things aren't so good with her husband. He is not good to her at all and she is depressed most of the time because of the way he treats her. So when we explained the plan of salvation she started crying. It was such a precious moment for me to feel how much the Savior loves her and how important our timing was to share the things we did with her. She accepted a baptismal date in March! I am so excited. I was feeling so good and all charged by the spirit and then we went to a baptism for a little girl in our ward and I was asked to give the message. I don't know why but I got so nervous. I was so afraid to give a talk on baptism, I felt like I couldn't do it and I started to cry. My companion helped me find a scripture and told me to just bare my testimony afterwards. I fumbled through the whole thing fighting back tears. Afterwards I bawled like a baby, I honestly had no clue at this moment why I was sent to Bolivia for my mission. My companion said so many things that helped me feel better but the one that helped the most was when she told me the Lord can see how much this experinece will help me in my life and I need to trust in him and not in myself. And on the way home the thought came to me that I promised specific people that I would find and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. I can't even explain how this made me feel. Even now I can feel the same strong spirit testifying that this is true. I am so grateful I was given such a powerful witness of the Spirit, it has helped me so much. My companion is so stressed and unhappy because she wants so much to be perfect. It makes me really sad because I can see how much of a toll this takes on her. I tried to help her but she isn't doing much better. I am really missing food from home haha. Even quick spaghetti, I know I can hardly believe it myself. I'm so looking forward to the time when I'll be with my family again. I miss you all so much. Tell everyone I love them and think of them often. I hope you all have a really good week. I won't be able to email next Monday because there is a holiday called carnival where people soak each other with water and paint for three days haha. So we won't be able to leave our apartment for the 6,7, and 8 of March.

Hola Familia! So much happened this week but first I want to tell you about the baptism. Hermana Aide was baptised on Saturday!!! She was so happy. I love the spirit that is present at baptisms. She was nervous but so excited. We took pictures of her with her new ward family. After her baptism, she prayed before she got changed because she felt so grateful to the Lord for taking away her sins. It was such a beautiful experience. She is such a social butterfly she already has friends in the ward, she won't have any trouble at all adjusting. I'm so grateful everything went so well because our day before her baptism was crazy. All of our citas fell through. We had almost no success that day. My companion took it really hard becacuse she is a perfectionist. She wants so badly to be perfect. Its so sad because she stresses so much about things. I really admire her desire to serve at her best but its getting to the point where she has trouble liking herself. I 'm trying my hardest to help her but its hard when I can't express myself fully. I asked her to read the talk by Pres. Uchtdorf about slowing down and remembering the important things. I hope it helped her. We have two families I'm so excited about. I feel like they are my family. I love teaching them because they have desires to learn. There is so much joy in my mission, the Lord blesses me so much. If the day goes bad, it always ends well. My prayers are answered constantly. The spirit helps me everytime I try to speak with our investigators. I could go on and on but the point is I feel so blessed. We got a shower yesterday haha. It pours here, literally. We were soaked in seconds. It cracks me up everytime that happens. I love being here. This work is so hard but I love it so much. I'm so thankful for my eternal family. It comforts me so much tha if we live the way we should we can have the greatest blessing our father in heaven has to offer. I love you with all my heart. I am so happy to hear all is well with everyone! I love hearing about the things that are going at home. Its so nice to feel connected. I can't wait to hear from you. I love you!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I love you all so much! Parents can make such a difference in the lives of their children. The other day I had the worst luck haha. I hit my head on the doorway of a bus because they are built for people who are a foot shorter than me. My skirt flew up around my waist because the wind here is so crazy, and I had a little two year old swear at me when I said goodbye to him. Honestly, the most heart breaking moment was when the little kid swore at me. It was so strange to feel so hurt by a word I couldn't understand. It hurt to think of him hearing that word often enough that he could understand what it meant and how to use it. He was upset because he wanted to leave so bad but his mom wanted to listen to us. I'm so grateful that I was able to grow up in a home where the Spirit could always be felt. Sometimes I feel like when I overcome something the Lord immediatly presents another opportunity to grow. I have to work really hard to remember that I don't need to trust in my abilities or what I think I can do but to trust in the Lord. We have had two all day meetings with missionaries from other zones that lasted from eight in the morning till six at night. we had to practice in front of everybody, talk about nerve wracking because at the same time Pesident Calderon would critique us on the spot. I think I did okay. But at the end of our last meeting he said we'll be getting 25 new misssionaries this next cambio. And five of them are sister missionaries, Hermana Calderon said this is evidence that the lord has a lot of trust in us because that means a lot of us will be training. I almost said "crap!" haha because that scares me so much. I just can't imagine myself ever being ready to take on that responsibility with what little knowdledge I have. But I'm trying to learn as much as I can to prepare for it just in case that's what the Lord wants me to do. Thank you so much for the ipod. Tell Hayley thank you, thank you!! My companion loves it too. (That's the only package I've received of the ones you've sent mom). I found out that not only do we have to wait for the packages to come from the US but sometimes the Elders don't pick up the packages that are in the offices. So I have to be really patient with them haha. We got to go to the baptism of Claudia! It was so beautiful. The Spirit there was so sweet. I loved it so much. I felt so excited about our work. Also, we have a baptism this weekend for Aide! I took a picture of her daughter Angi she is so crazy haha. I love her. She is so sweet and fun. Her mom read all the pamphlets we gave her and she answered the questios in the back of them which investigators rarely do. She is so well prepared to recieve the gospel in her life. I miss singing with my mom. Singing with people is a different experience here. My companion along with the majority of people here are tone deaf haha. It cracks me up when we sing without a piano. Anyway, I hope your week is fantastic and full of happy moments. I love you so much!!

I love my family!!! You are all so special and wonderful. I love you with all my heart. I found out all the letters sent to me need to be addressed to the package mailing address. It is the one now on my blog. My debit card works. I have been able to get money in Bolivianos. I am the proud owner of a shoe brush now. haha. I never thought this day would come. HaHa. I am doing really good. I don't feel any real pain where my appendix use to be. Only when I eat too much. I'm getting chubby haha. I eat so much at lunch because that is our only real meal and then I can't exercise like normal because the doctor said I can't for three months, especially not sit-ups and that's what I need most right now. I hope I don't come home round haha. I'm going to try to figure something out. But it's hard when families offer us pop and dessert stuff, or full on meals. I am so excited that we have baptisms coming up!!! This weekend is Claudia's baptism, she got married this last Saturday. Her wedding was small and only with family but it was so beautiful. She has such a strong testimony and desire to follow the Savior. My Spanish is getting better. There is woman we are teaching who has a baptismal date for the nineteenth. Her name is Aide and she has a five year old girl named Angie. She is such a doll. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week full of warm moments.

I love you so much. I have so much to tell you , but first off I want to tell you the Lord answers prayers. I know you know this, but I feel so much gratitude for this. Yesterday, I was so sad because I let myself get discouraged with spanish again. I asked the Lord why He wants me to be here speaking spanish and not in the U.S. where I could be doing so much more. I felt prompted to read a conference talk by Henry B. Eyring. The whole thing was exactly what I needed to hear. I think it was called "Trust in the Lord then Go and Do". I love the Lord so much. He is so patient with me as I struggle. I'm so grateful I am building my relationship with Him here. I have so much to tell you! There is a guy in our ward who is leaving on a mission to Cochabamba and he is supposed to go to the Peru MTC but its full so he has to wait three weeks, poor guy. He is in one of these pictures with his twin little brothers. They are in the family Chipunabi. They are my favorite family here haha. I love them so much. I have the same companion. She is so awesome. We have music to listen to finally. The son of our pensionista gave us speakers and cds. Which was shocking because he always teases us relentlessly. Sometimes its really hard to be patient with him haha. This week I had two dreams that I was pregnant haha. It was so wierd. Both times I felt really happy when I woke up. I think its because there are a lot of people we know who are pregnant or have new babies. I got to be in a trio again for a day with Hermana Ortiz, she was so nice to be around she has so much peace about her. Oh, I ate cow stomach. It's nasty. I thought I was eating fried fish because the texture was rubbery and the flavor was fishy. No one told me what it was until after I ate it. When I first saw it I thought it was chicken so I took this big peice. Now when we're in the street I can smell people cooking it and it makes my stomach turn haha. We have an investigator with a baptismal date! Her name is Aide, she makes chocolates. I have a recipe for these coconut balls. They are so so so good. Ican't wait to make them for mi familia. This week is Claudia's baptism. I hope we get to go we have to get permissions from President Calderon to go. I have a picture of her too with her husband and two kids. I love you so much thank you tons for telling me whats happening with the family. I can't wait to talk again next week, love you with all my heart!

It's so funny to me that my mom said she feels like time is going by slow because this week has felt really slow for me too. Honestly, there are times when I feel like I'm going to be in Bolivia for the rest of my life haha. But I'm so grateful for this experience. I've met a couple people who are truly awesome. One woman came to church all on her own because she is having so many difficulties in her life and she was seeking help from the Lord. She prays a lot and is close to the Lord. Her life is so complicated. I feel so bad for her but I'm so happy for her because she accepted a baptismal date in our first visit with her. Also, we met someone who is very much like her minus the super complicated life. He prays a lot and believes that its important that we have a prophet to guide us today. He also said if he comes to know the things we teach are true he'll be baptised. I am so amazed at how much the Lord prepares people to accept the gospel. Our investigator, Claudia's baptism is coming up. Whenever we visit her she is just beaming. It's so special to feel her excitement and see the change in her countenance. One sad thing is that she is actually living outside our area so we won't be able to finish teaching her. She was visiting the family of her boyfriend who live in our ward when we met her and we have been teaching her at their house. I hope we can get special permission to go to her baptism. There is a huge void in my heart because I can't be with my family, but I am filling it with the people I know and love here. I can't wait for the fun times we'll have when I'm back home. I'm so grateful I can email you. The pictures attached are of my first time eating pizza in Bolivia. I wanted pizza for such a long time and my companions said we would get pizza after my surgery so when we finally did I had to get a picture. We ate the whole thing in one sitting haha. I want to get recipes from my pensionista but guess what she told me. She doesn't have any. She cooks from memory always. My comp told me that mostly everyone learns how to make things by practice and watching their moms cook. The recipies are passed down through lots of generations. Cool huh? But she said I could watch and take notes so I can try to replicate it when I get home. That'll be interesting haha. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Oh I have comp changes this week. I don't know if I'll stay or go. I'm so nervous! But I know whatever needs to happen will happen.

Surgery in Bolivia

Can you believe I ended up needing surgery here.

I was sick for a couple of days with a stomach ache and a high fever. My companion was so sweet and carefully watched over me the whole time. She even wiped down my arms, legs and forehead with washcloths that had a mixture of water and alcohol. It was so nice of her. She did all she could to help me feel comfortable. Then I had to go to our doctors office and there I took a couple of blood tests and he checked my stomache. After that we came to find I needed surgery that same day. I broke down. I wish I could say I didn't but I did. I was so afraid and wishing so much that I didn't have to go through surgery in a differet country. My companion tried to cheer me up by telling me that I could talk to my family but I ended up not being able to, which is probably a good thing because I would've just cried the whole time. I wasn't at peace until I was on the gurney. My companion held my hand the whole way to the hospital. After surgery I couldn't feel my body from the waist down and that made me panic. I started sweating and crying then a nurse came to tell me it was part of the anesthesia and that it would wear off soon. I had to pray and sing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" a few times before I could calm down. I was so overjoyed when I could feel my toes again haha. I had to spend a day and a morning after that in the hospital. It felt like prison. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I could only eat broth and jello and crackers. Afterwards, I still needed injections so they kept the thingy in my arm so that my companion could give me the shots in the morning and at night. She was a nurse before the mission and Hermana Torrez was also working in a hospital. I felt so comforted knowing they had experience and would make sure everthing was done right. Hermana Castro was an enormous blessing. I cried when she had to go to a different area because she reminded me so much of my mom. I don't have to take anymore medicine or injections. I am so grateful for the help I have been given from the Lord. I know He is working through so many people to lift me up and help me through this time of my life. I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! I wish I could talk to you on the phone so bad but I'll have to wait just a little while longer. I love you so much. Thank you for your help through prayers and your emails. I wish I could express how much I appreciate you. I hope you like the pictues haha. My companions kept me laughing during this long week. Time passed by so slow for me during all this. I am so excited to ge back t o work. We have one investigator who is for sure getting baptized this month. I can't wait to see that happen. Her name is Claudia, she is a girlfriend of one of the son's of a very special family in our ward. I love them so much, they ask me to translate things into spanish for them haaha. One of the daughters gave me an empty box of brownies to take home and translate the directions from english to spanish. I 'm sure it sounded so bad to her but she said she could understand it. I'm starting to feel more at home here. I love you so much. I hope you know how much I value our family. In my eyes everyone is so beautiful and perfect. I miss you, have a great week.

So lots of crazy stuff has happened this week. I got sick for the first time, I got diahrea, haha. I think it was because I drank water that wasn't pure. We were at a member's house and usually the water they give us is pure because they know our stomachs can't take it. Anyway, it was not fun. My companion got burnt by the shower because it decided to go crazy and steam. It was a scarey sight. So our shower is broken and we have to wash ourselves in the sink. But other than that, everything is fine, haha. Belen is pretty well off for the most part. There are a few poor areas. I like my companeras, I have two, they are both really nice but I feel left out a lot because they can speak to each other and I talk like a three year old when I try to. Pero, I read in John 14 and I feel a lot better now. I'm teaching people but I mostly read scriptures to people, haha.I wish I could do more but spanish isn't coming very fast for me. I got a blessing of health from our ward bishop and he could hardly pronounce my name. It was so funny. It was nice and I felt the spirit but I didn't understand a lot of it. That was a bit heartbreaking. I sure miss you a lot. But I am trying really hard not to be selfish and focus on why I am here. I got to bear my testimony in church, I wasn't afraid, I was able to say a lot and words came quickly. I felt so good afterwards. I love you so much and I can't wait to write more when I finally understand how to do everything I'm suppose to. We have to report the work we've done during the week to our mission president. Your'e in my thoughts and prayers. I love my family so much. You are all so wonderful. I don't want anything more than to be with you all again. Have a fantastic week!!!