feliz navidad!

hello hello and feliz navidad!!

Sorry no pictures this week again- i have lots this week but for some reason this computer isn’t letting me send anything. i don’t have time to figure it out haha. Anyways i will be calling actually at 6 if that’s ok. i hope so because there´s no way to talk to you before. its because i thought i was calling from the house but we have to leave to call. oh my companion. always assuming i know things... sigh. Anyways i really hope that’s ok because i don't know what to do if it’s not! also i wont know if i have any packages until right after i finish this email. so... i dunno. I’m so happy that you got my package!!!! yay!!! i hope you like the stuff haha :) so some christmas traditions here: they always put the nativity under the christmas tree. The christmas trees are all small and fake and on tables so this is easy. its also pretty normal to give and receive baby jesuses or clothes for the baby. Also, fruitcake is a big deal here. like its the nicest thing you can give someone. hahaha love it.

So this morning i went to the clinic! i wanted to talk to you first about it, but Hermana Calderon (wife of President) said i had to go today. I had a problem with my big toe- it was infected yesterday  Not really hurting, but yeah. so i went in and got that all cleared up this morning! All i have to do is wear flipflops all day and maybe this week. but it doesn't hurt or anything so yay!

Ok so martes we got to go and have an activity with the president for christmas! The activity was futbol! (there really isn’t much else to do here i guess). Anyways it was a multizone activity which was fun. We can’t keep score, but the elders were messing around that like everytime you scored you move up on the leadership- like district leader, zone leader, secretary, assistant. You´d have to score a lot of goals to get assistant. And guess who was the only person who reached that status? yeah. me. guys its so weird i dunno how this happens! I've been trying to figure it out and i think it’s because i have so much stress, and usually in my life i get rid of stress by talking with people, and laughing and stuff like that. well i don't really get to do that here, so my stress bottles up. Well exercise is the best outlet i have now, and it feeels suuuuuuuper great to play soccer! Also people don’t play dirty or mean. Anyways its embarrassing- i even got past President Calderon with the soccerball. ha. well later in the night we had a special dinner at a restaurant. It was a buffet. i was so excited- i could choose not to eat meat! I ate salad and salad and salad and then i decided to try me some of the stir fry. well the stuff i thought was cauliflower turned out to be sting ray and the mushrooms? chicken hearts. haha. chicken hearts are super yummy!

Wednesday was a hard day lots of walking. Thursday i was sick for the first time really- my stomach hurt. but i was still able to go out just had to walk slow. Maybe i need to eat less chicken hearts. On Friday Rudi told us that he feels pressure and doesn't want to get baptized or pray or go to church. sigh. Basically sandra is our only progressing investigator and she was in the hospital this week with her mom (sandra is 46 and is the youngest of 10!)

Saturday was fun. we received (surprise surprise) mangos from a lot of people. we also received fireworks and a table decoration for a graduation. ha. also, i finished making a map of our area, using three other maps that aren't complete. now maybe we can get some work done! ,) sometimes you just gotta take life into your own hands.

Sunday we tried to put together this activity where all the youth and young single adults visit the less actives in our ward. Well 7 people showed up and we have 42 less active families. We split into two groups and we almost visited them all- mostly just leaving a card because no one was home. its really hard organizing activities here, and i try so hard! I thought organizing things during high school for drama council was hard. ha. also hma choque has been really sick the last couple of days so it was a pretty slow week.

But anyways its christmas! I hope that this week is wonderful and that you all have so much fun! I can’t wait to talk! i think we are going with skype. i have an hour. Roxana has been working on the skype all week because she really wants to see you all haha. but i will be calling at 6 my time here so 3 your time. actually we will probably be half an hour late. my companion is sweet. ha. hope that doesn't ruin any christmas plans!!!!

oh also thought this week is from Joshua in the bible. In the first chapter God tells him to be strong and of a good courage. Sometimes even prophets need reminders of that. Also Joshua says near the end somewhere that "I yet have strength". Sometimes we just have to keep going a little more. Joshua has been my friend this week! :)

love you love you love you all so much and looking forward to talking soon!

love, Hermana Elisa Black

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

Bolivia!

**FYI for those of you who don't know yet...Elisa's (19 year old) cousin Michaela got called to the BOLIVIA COCHABAMBA mission!! Can you believe it? She goes into the CCM early May--Malorie beats her by 2 weeks! Awesome!**

hello hello!

Well this week was good. I can't believe I've never written about where my companion is from- Bolivia. I thought i wrote that. She’s from Oruru bolivia. Also i always forget to explain the pictures. its this place called New York mall. I don't know if its actually finished being built- most buildings here are only half built haha. But It’s funny to see the statue. Also, Elder Felton told mama Roxana that his mom knows my mom. so i dunno what that means. ha. And before i forget- the pictures this week-the first one is at this place called Conik pizza. its pizza, but turned into a cone. yeah its nasty. ha. And the other is me with the shirt you sent!

Conik Pizza, home of pizza in a cone

New T-shirt...only gift from the Christmas package that made it to Elisa

ok so monday, we decorated our house for christmas! We have this cute little tree thanks to some past sisters who lived in our house. We also made stuff out of the stuff you sent, I’ll have to take some pics.

tuesday- so i learned that i did something really bad my first week in the mtc provo. i wanted to work super hard and not waste a minute. So i decided that i wouldn't even think about my progress in spanish until i was fluent. Well this made it so i couldn't be happy with my progress. so i'm now trying to think more about my progress and this is really a happy thing because i can definitely talk more spanish now than i could 5 months ago! Also, advice for future missionaries- bring quotes and stuff that you like. and don't bring recipes. there's no time or stuff to cook with haha.

wednesday- so my companion is pretty quite. she isn't shy, but like every time we need to get off the bus (about 4 times a day) she just isn't loud enough for the bus driver to hear her say pare! (stop). But this day i heard her scream as she was leaving our room. this naturally made me get up on top of my desk as fast as humanly possible, because it could only mean that there was something she saw. Well you guessed it, gus gus came into our room. It’s one thing for the mice to enter our kitchen. But our room is the one sacred place i have. And of course, he hid in my stuff. sigh. Well there was a time where i wanted to tell God that i could keep going as long as no mice came into my room. I am glad though that i never said that. Instead, I yelled Get me the broom! And i got gus gus out of my stuff and out of the room. Then Roxana let her dogs in to get Gus gus. boy am i glad for that- gus gus was pregnant.

thursday- We went to the Cumabi today- tons of little shops (for lack of a better word) with used north american clothes. holy cow it was so fun! i bought myself stuff for christmas- boots, three skirts, two shirts, a dress, and 4 sets of earrings for less than $20! Also Sandra is progressing wonderfully! She has a baptism date set for this month, but she wants to read the whole book of mormon first before she totally commits... we are excited for her though! 

Friday- so sometimes you just have to accept that you can’t speak as well as you’d like and just sit back and pretend you're in a spanish soap opera during a lesson. we visited this lady and her old little mother with a member. The mom and lady and member talked and talked and as they moved about the room the only thing i was missing was my popcorn. It was intense, and kind of hilarious. Don't worry we did get a lesson in... kind of. ;) Also sometimes you just have to bark back at the dogs because you get sick of hearing them every two seconds. Except sometimes their owner is right there and sees you and then it’s really uncomfortable. But afterwards you laugh your head off with your companion.

Saturday- so it rained hard core and i guess rain kills mice here. Anyways Emile (Brother of Remy in Ratatouille) was found dead this day. I am running out of names for all the mice....

Sunday- Sandra and Auster came to church again this day! We are so excited about these two. The only problem with Auster is that he is always leaving town for work so we never have time for lessons! but these two are our baptism goals for this month. Ojala!!! Also, i got to play the piano and give a talk in church. i love giving talks. But not my favorite thing in spanish. ha. But it was awesome. I shared about your guyses experiences sharing a book of mormon!

Anyways i love you lots and lots have a great week!

love, hermana black

hola!

hello hello and hello all you people that i love!

So first off i got the Christmas package- thank you! I am excited to read the letters on Christmas!!! thanks!!! Man when i started here in september i did not think I’d ever get to december, but here i am!! We are getting through this. i am so glad that people are finally getting my mail man does it take forever huh? ha. we had transfers last week- hna choque and i didn’t move- we are in Hamacas with the Uriona family for Christmas! So that’s going to be super awesome. I’m grateful for that. they truly are the sweetest family. And i got to meet one of the elders that converted them on thursday! Elder Felton. 

It’s hard to believe that this family has only been members for about a year and a half. they truly are the perfect family. I’m soooo grateful for the elders (and sisters- it took a while for some of them to convert ;) ) that converted this family. They have blessed my life and I dunno what i would have done without them! Missionaries help other missionaries. But somehow I’ve found out that Mom you know Elder Felton’s mom? Through missionary moms or what? haha weird. i hope you’re not  telling all the missionaries here about me...ha. oh also Neidda has more pictures of me- so if you add her to facebook you can get more pics. Also Ninoska I think wants to add me. i want to add these girls because they are leaving on missions before i get back from mine! everyone here wants to serve in USA or Japan. English is so important here- i wouldn’t be surprised if the entire country is speaking english with in ten years or so! and they just love asian people haha. But now that these girls know where malorie is serving, they want to go to Cusco! haha. Also as far as the phone call goes- I’m not sure exactly but i know i call you the day before just to say call me tomorrow at this number! and then you call me at the time i will have or something like that.

ok well we only have 45 minutes to write, the internet is slow today, and i have to write president. i dunno why we have less time to write now. sigh. i need this time silly zone leaders! but I’ll do my best.

oh cool thing- the lizards change colors with their surroundings here!!! it’s so cool. i love the lizards, because they eat bugs!  also there are 10 different kinds of mangos here! my favorite are the apple mangos- they are really small. but there are pineapple mangos that are like soccer balls hanging from the tree! it’s crazy. Also one morning i woke up to the loudest thunderstorm of my life! seriously i thought the sky was breaking. it was awesome. There was some hard times this week, but sunday was the best sunday yet! we brought an investigator- Sandra. She lived in New York for 20 years so it’s great to talk some english with her! 

"New York" Mall in Bolivia

Then also, The Uriona family brought this 16 year old named Wilfredo who wants to be baptized, but he is going home until January so we will talk to him more then. Then, The father of the family Madrid came (they’ve been waiting 20 years for him to convert!) and it looks like he is finally ready! (i love the Madrid family-- sister madrid goes with us to visit people all the time, and Christian is 19 and is the ward mission leader) i would love to see the happiness from him converting in this family! Also, Daniel, a guy in our ward, brought his sister!! so like it was amazing I loved it. We are working hard with some other people right now too- and I am really hoping that we have a couple more baptisms before the end of this transfer (january 9th). 

Anyways that’s all i can write right now, but i love you all so very much, thanks everyone who has sent me advice and help and everything. I have the best family and friends ever ever ever!!

much love,

hermana black