Thursday, September 27, 2012

Bolivia, Week 3


Hello hello!!

Well this week was better. Each day gets better as i get more and more accustomed to my new life and the things around me. I am learning how to print off emails, so I haven't read your email yet. so for the future, write any pressing matters you need me to comment on that week in the first paragraph. thanks so much!! jk I can't print! oops gotta go back and read hold on...ok so thanks for the emails! yes i got the david archuleta pictures but not till after she left! so i sent them to her mission this last week. haha i laughed a lot when i got them.

Wow ok. so first of all, Happy birthday Madeline! because mail is crazy you probably won't get my birthday card for another week or so. Sorry!! But thanks for all the mail i receive here!! I appreciate the support each week.

Congrats Trevor! I finally got a letter explaining the results of your audition. How fun and crazy!! Way to have a good attitude- i hope you're having fun and being a good example to all those people! wow how fun :) my favorite play in high school was probably pirates of penzance because of all the fun with friends backstage haha

So Im in santa cruz de la sierra, and hamacas is my ward area. by the way I've only been to less than half of my ward area and I've seen 11 different churches. Its insane here. whoever said that bolivians are all catholic had to have been here more than 2 years ago. this place is crazy with religion! seriously, they teach kids at school about religions, and about how the mormons are bad. sigh. we talked to this 8 year old boy who goes to church every week by himself, and he was interested in talking to us- he even got his friend to come over and hear too (his friend is 9). but they aren't convinced our church is right. ha. way cute. but weird because of all they are taught in school.

Ok so my theme scripture this week was Alma 17:11. If you want to know exact words that God spoke to me, read that verse. And i believe that mosquitos are part of long suffering. I use repellent often,  but we can only use it in the night hours because we are supposed to wear sunscreen during the day. Anyways i started counting the bites on a small part of one leg- i got to 20 and gave up. ive got around 100 or so im guessing. fun fun. :) Oh there is peanut butter here by the way! and also ants. you want ants, we got them. small, medium, and large. we also get them in long leg, thick, and creepy. also just get used to them always on you. its too tiring taking them off constantly.

so on pday this last week we got to go to the center to drop off mail. AH i loved it!!!! I was SO much more comfortable in the heart of the city with tons of cars and people and tall buildings!! I never knew if i liked cities or country better, but after monday i know i like big cities more! I loved it!! hopefully i´ll get to serve there sometime. I do serve in what is considered city. But its not big buildings, lights, and shops, and business!! its more suburbs i'd say.

also, i hate leaving the toilet lid up, but i have learned that its just nicer to you and your companions when you do this. You get to see our "friends" on the toilet from the door instead of right up next to them. so i leave the lid up. goood times.

Also, members are so much help in this work!! We are supposed to have a member at each lesson if possible. When we do have members, they help so much! Like on tuesday this 16 year old girl is really struggling to go to church stuff (she lives with her grandma because her parents died :( ) we brought Neyda with us- the daughter of Roxana who is my neighbor. She is 18 and has been a member for almost 2 years. she is the seminary teacher here. anyways she got this girl laughing and talking and praying! it was a miracle.                     

On wednesday i woke up to the sound of thunder!! I was excited! so i jumped out of bed and landed in ankle deep water!! haha. wednesday was an adventure. going to the bathroom or the kitchen was the best- the water outside was almost kneedeep in some places! this day we actually didnt go out at all- not becuase of the water. but becuase we had a conference with Elder Uceda of the 70! He was so great! the conference was from 2-8. It was so awesome. He even role played with us which was super fun and incredible. I loved Wednesday! also, I got to talk to other girls from north america! oh man this was a relief for me. they understood what i'm going through right now. Hma Morris is even from Cedar city and studied chemistry at SUU!! small world! there are 8 of us from North America i believe. Anyways according to them i'm doing really good haha. This week was better though so i'm grateful.

Thursday i realized that everything I've done in my life has helped me prepare for my mission. for example, the time i spent memorizing scriptures in seminary really pays off here (or not because i didn't memorize as many as i should have). but all the scripture reading and anything else i did before my mission is paying off here. its awesome. This day i also learned that "porque" not only means why and because, but your welcome as well. haha that was funny. love it.

Friday i realized that i am really going to need some TLC for my teeth when i get back. all this meat eating is nuts! I floss when ever i get an extra minute, but i'm afraid its not going to be enough. haha. Also we met with this family in the ward this day and talked to them about the importance of reading the book of mormon. people here love to read the Liahona, but struggle to read the book of mormon. when i told them of the blessings of reading the book as a family in my family, the mom said it was easy because i was born in the covenant. she is convinced her family doesn't need to read the book of mormon because they weren't born in the church. weird right? and sad...We are trying to help them out. 

Saturday we went to a park for a minute. parks here are called Mangoles because every park has tons of mango trees!!!! there's mangos everywhere here. but they are not ripe yet. oh also a rooster attacked Hermana Choque this day. They are so big and beautiful here! and apparently violent. Also the mouse came back this day. Our neighbor has 5 cats so you'd think wed be ok ha.

Sunday none of our investigators came to church this sunday. But we are starting to have more people as investigators!! haha. there's some interesting people here. So today is the birthday of Santa Cruz!! Everything is green and white because those are the colors of the city. Last night there was lots of music everywhere in celebration!!

Anyways that's all for now!! I love you all lots!!! Things are getting better and better!! I love God and his church!!! also thanks for the emails from Patrice and Anita!!!!!

much love,

Hermana Black

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