Week #9 - Bolivia!

Moooommmie!!!!! and family :)

Wow. where to start. Well I'm here haha. Quick last week in CCM: it was great- so cool to see Elder Christophersen! I sat almost right behind him. just being in his presence was super powerful. We sang after the first two speakers (I need thee every hour in espanol of course). then Elder Christophersen got up to speak. (i had to have a transator to understand him ha). He said the choir was so powerful, he asked us to sing the song again after he was done talking! Poor Hermana Cardon (Presidents wife) almost had a heart attack. haha she is so great. Well the CCM was awesome.

BUT! Now im in Bolivia. Wow. Be grateful Im alive. Like, seriously. We arrived on Tuesday evening. We got off the plane and onto this little bus and were given Subway [sandwiches]. haha that was weird. My companion for the flight, and my first two days in Bolivia, was Hermana Huenchur from Chile- the one who wants to study animation. She is amazing- i hope she gets in one day! Anyways the first two days it was meet the President, go to the police, meet my lawyer, etc etc etc. It is so hard for me just to get on a bus and not know where im going or why. one time we got out at a clinic. yeah they took our blood. it would have been nice to know that like even an hour in advance, especially because I accidently said i didnt want breakfast at the hotel that morning... hehe oops. good ol speaking spanish. also my President really wants us to focus on the work, thus if i understood correctly we only receive mail and only get to send mail once every 6 weeks!!!! so... sigh. I love you all, and see you in 18 months? ha. but anyways that day was amazing compared to the rest of my week. ha.

So on thursday I got my companion- Hermana Choque! She is super sweet and doesnt speak any english. :) She has been out for 4 and a half months, so technically we are both newbies. when we got to our house, it was all i could do not to have a panic attack. Its...well...awful. I will have to take pictures and send them. Just know that I was so terrified of the shower and toilet that I didnt go the first day. like at all. and I cried (literally) thinking about having to use the shower in the morning. I would have used it that night because i was dripping in sweat, but i was terrified of it. Also, if i get bitten by certain mosquitoes, i will get dange i think its called? anyways its where your whole body is in pain for two weeks to the point where you cant move. and if you take aspirin here and a mosquito bites you, YOU WILL DIE. Those are the exact words of my Mission Presidents wife. Good thing i dont believe in aspirin. Also this first night i was really scared of all the spiders in my room, because the last week at the ccm one boy got bit, and had to be rushed to the hospital. So if i die here in Bolivia, you´ll know what from.

Friday my first day in the field! I read Mosiah 24:15 which really helped this morning. I really tried so very hard to be positive all day. While i got in the shower i just hummed "just whistle while you work" (because well i cant whistle) and the line that really stuck out was "try to be just like a cheerful chickadee". But that day I was attacked by five dogs and a mouse ran past me in my kitchen... that was hard. so if i die here in bolivia, you´ll know what from. After i saw the mouse that night i just started saying "I CAN DO THIS!" over and over and over again until i believed it.

Saturday was mostly better. I invited someone to baptism! The lessons are great and what make this all worth it. I just wish i could be in lessons all day and not have to go home haha. Well minus the fact that a giant spider jumped off my neck in this guys house. Also that night in my kitchen, there was a cockroach!!! ah... not cool. The power phrase that came into my head this day was "you are not yet as Job". except this leaves a lot of possibilities.. for example when i tried to confide in my sweet companion, she said to be grateful i wasnt there when there was this reptile in the shower. I dont understand much, but she said it was similar to a crocodile and was on the roof somehow? anyways... If i die here in bolivia, you´ll know what from. But needless to say i have stopped praying like this: "Dear God, please anything but another mouse!" or "anything but another cockroach!" because well, actually theres always something worse. instead now i pray, "thank you for a companion who killed the cockroach." and try so so so so so so so so hard to be grateful.

Sunday i was looking forward to relaxing at church, but when you are asked to give a talk its kind of hard. the ward is sweet, and we had a family of investigators show up! Sorry im not writing a lot about the people here that Im visiting. this week has mostly been about trying not to have panic attacks. I fight this pretty much hourly. Sunday though, after church and lunch (lunch is provided everyday by our neighbor except for sunday its a member), the best power phrase yet came to me. it was simply, "Satan get out of my head!" I say this in my head and im instantly relieved of fears!! Also singing hymns works instantly as well. So The rest of sunday was good. everytime i start getting scared, I just yell at Satan to get out and things are much better.

Well out of time....

I love you all lots!!!

love, Hermana Black