First Transfer!

hello hello!

Well this week there was transfers!!! I am with Hermana Morris, from
Cedar City UTAH! ‘Ive already sent you a picture of her ha! Its great i
am loving it. I’m in the same stake , but a different ward, and i
already love it. My area is Centenario. The members want to help and are so nice! its so great and so different!
:) but anyways my new piensanista gets really offended if we don’t eat
everything she gives us, and it’s a ton of rice with a little meat, and
some kind of soda. So... dunno what to do about that. She´s from
Columbia which is cool.

Ok so monday i learned a new word- wakala! it means yuck or gross! It’s
my new favorite word. Also, i took hermana choque out to get a
cupcake- it was one of my christmas presents to her. Oh and her family
sent her stuff so no worries about that.

Tuesday i had to go to migration for the second of three times. So
that was a long morning. This night we were visiting Fernando and when
we left, we both really felt like it was goodbye. I was surprised by
this, because we were pretty positive that Hna Choque would be
leaving, but I’d be staying in Hamacas. It was a good goodbye. He´s
awesome.

Wednesday hna choque took me out to ice cream. hm... maybe i can cut
back on sugar more than i thought...oops. ok I´ll work harder ha.
dang. Also, this night was our last night with the Uriona family. As a
good bye present, one of the cats peed on Hna Choques leg. hahahahaha.
Well this is the night we got the phone call about transfers!! So we
did some packing.

Thursday- packing all morning. I got to my new house at 2:30. It was
naaaasty!!! We ended up cleaning for 4 hours. It’s because elders lived
there last, back in november and they left stuff in the fridge and
then turned the fridge off. That’s just one of the things we found.
yeah.

Friday- so because we are both new to the area and it’s been a while
since missionaries were here, we are "opening" the area. We are doing
a lot of door knocking. But Hermana Morris knows how to work! We are
doing so much and i absolutely love it! Hermana Morris gets
how to work and we are working hard!!! I love it so much. Also, the
members are seriously amazing. Everyone wants to help us out. Which
is awesome, because neither one of us speaks perfect spanish. But i
definitely have the gift of tongues tons more now. I understand
basically everything during lessons. This week has been great!

Saturday- lots of hard work. lots of understanding spanish. i'm feeling
like a missionary and its great!

Sunday- wow this day was freaking hot!! Usually when it gets so hot
here that you feel it down to your bones, it rains hard core which I
love. But i waited, and the rain didn’t come! We visited the bishop
this night and his wife is from a different part of the santa cruz
mission. She says that it’s so hot there, that the missionaries cannot
leave between 11-5. Also hermanas kept fainting there so that’s why
hermanas can't work in that area anymore. Also she made tamales for us!
They are super yummy but different- sweet and cheesy. sounds gross
right? But i really liked it.

Ok well that’s all for this week. oh i bought that picture book i
showed you on skype! Also don’t send a new package grandma- we didn’t
really get mail all december and we don’t get mail when there’s
transfers so i could still get her package. Anyways can’t write more
but i love you! chao chao!!

hermana black

Booooolivia!

***So, my (mom) favorite part of this week's email is one of the last lines. I bolded it. I'm going to try and get excited from now on...***

hello and howdy!

This was a good good week. Hna Choque and i have definitely improved as teachers of the gospel. We are better at listening to the spirit, discerning needs, working together, and having more effective lessons. its great! But of course transfers are this week so... we will see what happens!

My toe is fantastic thank you. i stopped wearing flip flops the second day. i haven't had any pain since BEFORE i went to the clinic. Everything is hunky dory.

So for new years eve, parties usually start at 10 or so and go all night. The fireworks were incredible- we have a big window in our room and the colors flashed in amazingly. Also its traditional to do something with the number 12 at midnight. the most common things are: eat 12 grapes as fast as you can, run up and down stairs 12 times as fast as you can, or give people 12 million dollars in fake money. Also, they think that in the states we all wear these big top hats for new years so a lot of people here wear them. haha.

Oh as for the fruitcake- its not my favorite thing but people here love it. i hear its good with something to "drink"... but anyways it was fun to be a part of the tradition here by eating some.

Monday- we felt inspired to visit a certain less active on new years- and it was her birthday! Also, her brother died 3 weeks ago. i love being able to be an instrument in the hands of god. Also we played volleyball as a district since it was pday, and a lot of people kept saying, "its alright Hermana- volleyball just isn’t your sport. its soccer. don’t worry." Yeah i almost broke one of the lights at the church where we play... maybe its the change in hemisphere but I’m definitely better with my feet here.

Ok so tuesday we had hard core rain! it rains a lot here which i love love love! This time our house didn’t leak- we didn’t do anything i dunno why it doesn’t leak. but the rain hits hard and fast here. we were walking and suddenly bang! the we are wadding through water. The sidewalks in most areas are high up for when this happens. we were walking along a side walk that’s about 3 feet above the road when this taxi starting coming down the road.We stopped to watch it- it was incredible watching it go through the water! the waves were huge- i was like where’s my jetski? but then too late we realized that it was quickly approaching us. yeah, we got drenched. haha it was a blast. we didn’t have any lessons- no one opens their doors here when it’s cold, they all sleep. But we had fun.

Wednesday we found this girl named Erika- 25 years old. She had gone to church for a year in the past, but never been baptized! We were so excited. We gave her one of our few precious books of mormon. Well it turns out she doesn’t live in our area. Your welcome Elders. haha.

Thursday- god likes chain reactions. or doing things line upon line. We had talked with this Adventista (thats a religion) last week, and had been preparing to explain why even though God cannot change, things like the sabbath day change. Well we prepared a lot, but she doesn’t want to progress. Sometimes its easy to think, why did i feel inspired to knock on that door if the person doesn’t want to hear the gospel? But then this night we called Auster again. Well it turns out that he has been reading the book of mormon! But he was confused as to why god says don't kill, but nephi was commanded to kill Laban. Well thanks to our preparation with that Adventista, we were able to give him a good answer! This is only one of the many experiences that i have seen with line upon line. Like knocking on this door leads us to this door which leads us to this street which leads us to Erika. Even though she doesn’t live in our area God prepared the way for us to find her. Its awesome.

Friday we had an awesome zone conference- our zone is super small right now- only 12 people or so. its usually 18-20. But a lot of missionaries went home before Christmas and we didn’t get any new missionaries and one hermana went home because of her knees. But anyways it was inspiring and faith building- i'm grateful for these weekly zone conferences! 

Saturday so the Uriona family went to the temple this week (everyone but Roxana) to do baptisms for their family and they found that someone else has done tons of the work! so now they are trying to find who is in their family that is also mormon! its so cool.

Sunday- again with the line upon line thing- we went to pick up an investigator who wasn’t home so we were running to church and we got there just as Rosemary was walking through the door. because of the exact right timing of our entrance, we were able to find her and now she and her husband are our newest investigators! i have definitely been learning that when things don’t work out the way you want , be excited- God just might have cooler things in store for you!

Anyways i love you all so stinking much!

love, Hermana black

prospero ano nuevo (1/3 done!)

hello lovely family and friends!

This week was amazing because i got to talk to my family!! That was the best thing ever. Just a few clarifications: i said that no insects enter my room. That’s a lie. I’m always covered in ants. The mosquitoes are few though. not much else gets in thank heavens!!

Ok so monday night we had a special dinner with the Uriona family! that was great. it was yummy. we had to eat super fast though to get to our room on time though. we were woken up at midnight to tons and tons of fireworks! the same thing is going to undoubtedly happen tonight too so fun stuff! 

Hma Black at the Uriona home on Christmas Eve

Ok so christmas we went shopping because we weren't able to on monday pday because my companion was sick. Then we worked as normal- we delivered a bunch of christmas cards to people. We made sure to say feliz navidad to everyone we saw (which wasnt a lot) because pretty much every church here except the catholic church doesn't celebrate christmas but we do! And there’s so many missionaries- it was our way to differentiate from everyone else. then we talked to our families! yay!

Christmas dinner with fruitcake -- common in Bolivia

Wednesday- well lots of rain this week. did i mention our shower only had hot water for a week? oh also our stove blew out the outlet so we didn't have a stove or fridge (because the fridge is plugged into the same outlet) for a couple days this week. Anyways its super cold when its cold outside and then you shower in ice water! I’m thinking about doing one of those jump into the ice water charity fundraiser things after my mission. shouldn't be too hard after this :)

Elisa with her trainer, Hma Choque (pronounced Chokeee)

Ok so thursday at zone conference we learned about setting goals. We learned especially about the fact that we always need faith and hope in our goals. Hmana choque (by the way its pronounced chokeeee- everyone here is still laughing about how you said her name haha) and i have kind of lost this i think- especially because our only progressing investigator- sandra- is now in California! ha. But she said she’s going to look for the church there. She always keeps her word. Rudi will not keep is commitments (praying, reading, or going to church) and we´ve lost Auster quite completely. So we’ve been looking for new people but rather hopelessly i think. But after this conference and especially with the lesson from Hma Morris, we had lots of hope this day and we think we have found a family ready for the gospel: Elsi is the mom and she’s 36. She has 4 kids, and two of them live with her still. Santiago is 16 and has been visiting the church in another ward with his friends! Gabriella is 13 and goes to another church with her sister right now. But Elsi went to our church 3 times while living in Brazil for the last year. Anyways here´s hoping that they are ready for the blessings of the gospel in their lives!

Friday- happy anniversary! i thought about you both all day as we ran through the rain and didn’t have any doors open.
Saturday- i really got cabin fever- i want to go to another area! i love a lot of things about Hamacas (by the way that’s the name of my ward and it means hammic. hamick? its that thing you sleep on ha). But this day i was just so ready for a change of scenery! Again with the knocking on doors and not entering houses. ok we enter houses- but then we learn that they are less active members ha.
Sunday- one of our less active families that we’ve been working on for the last three weeks came to church today! They have been less active for 10 years or more. It’s a family of 6 kids, the youngest is 19. the dad used to be in a bishopric in Cochabamba. the mom and dad came to sacrament meeting today! that was exciting. we are really hoping to get more of the family to come to church- 4 of them are married to nonmembers. This family has the potential to really be a force for good if they will just come back! Also we’ve been praying and fasting that the hearts of our ward members might be softened the whole time ive been in this ward. we’ve wanted them to feel the importance of helping with the missionary work, especially with less active members and new people that come to church. Well today at the consejo de Barrio they started talking about the need for this! yes! we are so happy for this. we´ve been working so hard. We still can’t get anyone to say hello to the investigators or less actives without calling them the night before and then dragging them over during church, but at least they are talking about the change and we are excited for improvement!

So this week was long and hard but its because a lot of people around here leave town for vacations during this time. We work in a super rich area- everyone has houses en el campo. but yeah hopefully this week will be better. Also i stopped meeting with Sister Packard on the 21. I’m doing a lot better. i love one of the things she said- You don’t have to be here for forever. But if you did, could you be happy? i dont need to suffer my way though this. I can choose to be happy now. I’m trying so hard. Happiness is a choice and i choose it. :)

Also something Elder Christopherson said to us that i love: dont desire to do anything but His work His way. The His way part is really important. If it was my way, I’d send Elder Holland to knock on the doors here. But thats not His way.

Anyways I love you all lots and lots- happy happy new year!!!!!!
love, Hermana Black

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