Bolivia!!

Hma. Black, her trainer's trainer (Hma. Conejo), and her trainer (Hma. Choque)

hello hello!

Oh my gosh how cool that Michaela is coming to bolivia, and will be with Malorie in the CCM!!!! Wow its amazing!!! I´m so excited about this haha congrats! My companion is already planning on visiting her because the temple is in Cochabamba. Also, this temple is the temple closest to Malorie's mission (well until the new one is finished in Peru but that will be a while). Also, i guess i didn't get everything in the package- just the shirt and it wasn't wrapped. oops sorry i didn't know it was for christmas. But thanks anyways! Also thanks so much for the lyrics. Could you send You know better than I as well? Sorry there’s just so much i wish i would have done before my mission and i cannot do any of it now. But Malorie (and Michaela) can learn from my mistakes! ha. OH OH OH I almost forgot in all my cousin excitement. YOU CAN SKYPE ME next week!!!!! The only problem is is i have no idea how to skype... so... you should give me all directions in your next email. And malorie’s password or whatever i need because i don't have anything. And do you get to skype via email? i dunno how any of it works so let me know. if its too hard, we will just talk on the phone. but i´d love to skype if we can! But yeah so next monday i will email like normal. then, in the day i will call you. I’m thinking ill call at 5 my time, so that's 3 your time right? email me and let me know if that works or not. I’m super flexible. At that time please let me know what time i should skype-call for tuesday the 25th. Literally any time works for me!

Monday- for FHE we had some straight up mango ice cream. Hermana Roxana makes straight up fruit into ice cream- im talking you have to pick the seeds out. You don’t add sugar either- sometimes you have to dull the fruit down because it’s too sweet! But anyways its mango season right now so we had mango ice cream. Actually mangos are more common than rocks here right now. People sweep them out of their yards and put them in bags outside their houses. (Everyone has a mango tree). Our fridge has so many mangos right now because people are constantly giving us mangos. ha.

Tuesday- today we found two different people that knew about mormons and that they are good people thanks to the example of Neidda! (a girl in the ward and daughter of Roxana) Letting your light shine is definitely part of missionary work.

Wednesday- Today we talked to someone in Quetchuan or however you spell it. well my companion did i cant ha. I only know how to say one thing in Quetchuan. It’s pronounced What Time Is It and means to hang a cat. hahaha. Also we called one of our passed investigators this night because we needed someone else to visit thursday. He answered and said we could visit. His name is Rudi.

Thursday- well we met with Rudi and guess what? His phone is all messed up so it was a miracle that we got a hold of him! and he tried to go to church not that long ago and was across the street, but then he chickened out because he is scared of ruining his relationship with his mom because his sister converted and now his mom wont talk to her really. and he’s the baby of the family (he´s 20) and is worried about this happening. but he is meeting with us a lot and really wants to know if this is true! He has a baptism date set for January 19th if he prays and gets his answer that its true :)

Friday- sometimes you just have to let things go. We weren´t able to finish planning today because we had a surprise inspection by our zone leaders. But it ended up being a great day- we just followed the spirit and found people to talk to.

Saturday- We met with Rudi again this day.... He prayed for the first time! This was a huge huge huge step for him. We met with him like 6 times a month ago and he wouldn’t ever pray. I’m hopeful for him!

Sunday- well not one of our investigators came to church today. It looks like we wont be having a baptism this month unfortunately. Auster (23) is definitely going to need more time. Sandra (she is 46, is a widow with no children and speaks english perfectly- she studied cinema in NY and CA and wants to teach english or make a movie. haha i love her) went on a vacation this weekend and didn't have time for us during the week. We are hoping that she is still interested but its hard because we havent’ been able to talk to her much. but we ate lunch with this family and the dad served in Cusco! he showed us pictures and man mal its so cool looking! My favorite picture is of what they think is a baptism font from the book of mormon days! too cool!

So i have a goal now to try every empanada in Santa Cruz. They are super good. Love them. Also how many people live in Provo? Salt Lake? Utah? and do you know the percentage that are mormons? sorry but these questions come up so often and I just keep making up numbers... i should probably start telling the truth haha. oh also i realized that ive been forgetting to write my favorite spiritual thoughts lately. I absolutely love Helaman 3:35 right now, its so beautiful! and is exact words for me right now. Also I read this week from my notes from the devotional with Elder D. Todd Christopherson in the CCM, and he said "a lot of people reject the Gospel. That Doesn´t mean it isn’t true." Anyways I’m excited to have so many people joining me in S. America- I hope you girls are excited!!! Start working on your spanish if you haven’t already!!!

much much love,
Hermana Black