"you are my sunshine" (because it was rainy and freezing and stormy and a little extra sad at the beginning of the week, but i sang that song-which has a TON of meaning to me- to hermana ipanaquè, translating of course, and we made it through)
"americans are spoiled" (because i had intercambios again, and man oh man are the missionaries in america (an area in central) spoiled! lots of food, HOT SHOWERS, food, and HOT SHOWERS... just like all of you reading this.)
"where´s wilson" (as a wheres waldo reference, bc i went missing for a day at intercambios and everyone was wondering where i went)
but ive decided on into the jungle, bc today we went into the jungle and i have decided every person in the world needs to add it to their bucket list because it was incredible. sorry dad, but a hike into the thick of the jungle in south america beats our 50 milers. :) i was in heaven. im a little less jealous of all of your camping adventures now bc i have experienced the jungle. :)
random weekly things (i lost my list, so only a couple sorry)
we (hna cruz and I) have decided that we never remember our dreams bc we end up being in other peoples dreams (true story). so, the question is, whos dreaming about me this week?
i have decided on bucket showers. i can boil the water and pour in more (cold) water and its decently warm, (the water not the air) and it is doable. the water hurt it was so cold this week, so, no more regular showers for me. (and you can all stop being worried about me getting shocked)
parking on the right side of the streeet isnt a thing here. they just parkk.
theres lots of snow on the mountains! which is RARE. hna ipanaquè thinks its the most beautiful thing ever.
i may or may not be cutting off all of my hair. which really, is okay, bc apparently the water is horrible here and people lose a ton of hair anyways.
funny moments
only two, but quite possibly the funniest of my mission thus far..
#2: hna gilbonio asked what i liked to do before the mission, i said one of my favorite things was having a fire with friends and listening to someone play the guitar/sing, also finding waterfalls, etc.. she said "oh, so basically, you were a hippie?" but she was dead serious. oh, it made me laugh..
FUNNNIEST MOMENT OF THE MISSION: so secret, we havent actually taken out our trash since being here bc we didnt know when the garbage truck came. we just had them in bags in the back corner of our patio. well, we figured it out. were on the 4th story. we yelled to the garbage truck (it was an open bed and there were two people sitting on top of it) if we could just throw down our trash, they said yes.... well, long story short, hna ipanaquè NAILED the lady straight in the back of her head, with the trash from our bathroom, and her face.... i can count on one hand the times ive seen someone more angry hahahaha. "¡NO MAS!"
bendiciones
the sky was pitch black one night but we could see the clouds bright white for some reason. so odd but so beautiful.
my mom sent me the recipe for banana bread and other misc things!!!
i got an email from bryce that helped me tremendously. shoutout to the worlds best older brother.
recieving direct blessings when were obedient
FECHA POR BAUTISMO c/ hno antoine (9)! 5 de agosto. he is a little like hno rider. super cute kid. super dedicated. he wakes up at 6 am everyday to do his homework. hell be a great member. :)
hno silvano said my español is much clearer/better. which is a huge compliment for me bc she hasnt exactly been super supportive of it.
hno alejandra (11?) and hno yamil (8?) accepted a FECHA POR BAUTISMO in the first visit! super great kids, super great faith, super great examples!
i recognized hno humberto´s face (hna ipanaquè didnt) and we were able to talk with him, figure out confusion, (we had the wrong number), and set him up with discussions (hes not in our area after all, sad. )
saw baby rabbits the size of my palm and a leopard skin
DUCHAR CALIENTE IN AMERICA. seriously, SUCH A BLESSING.....
sharing 2 nefi 22:2 (riley affonso´s scripture) with hna bertha. such a sweet, OLD, lady.
hna routsong put a note on my bed to find once i returned, saying i had definitely earned my pillow... back when i had my first intercambio i had left a note on her bed, and she remembered, a month later... it meant a lot. shes great, i love her.
did my idea for planifacion semanal and did a investigator wall / organization thing. its a visual, and will help us see who we havent visited in a while, and be more oragnized int he work, and it feels SO GOOD to have a detailed plan for this week. my goals are pretty high but i have fe that we can achieve them. im determined and motivated to QWORK.
hno david invited us to dinner tomorrow night, near the temple! hopefully we get permission (we find out tonight). theyre our neighbors, also the owners of entire barrio fabril i found out (the neighborhood), and the ones we showed the baptismal font & are going to baptize, they just dont knoww it yet. :) slowly but surely, theyre growing in their faith. after the catolico holiday is over, theyre coming to church with us and were going to start teaching them officially as well. theyre so great!!! and theyre MARRIED. yes. :)
muchos fuegos articificiales (fireworks)!!! theres a big fiesta going on (WHEN IS THERE NOT IN BOLIVIA) , fiesta de la urkupiña. look it up, theyre super dedicated to it. its pretty cool, but theres been a LOT of drunks in the streets at night.
found a guy with a golden liòn. :)
we had a FAMILIA attend churhc for 3 HOURS on sunday, theyre so great and the dad especially is great, hes super open to the gospel and learning more. he has a true desire to find the truth, and we have what hes looking for!
hna ne linda said i have a beautiful singing voice. ive never been told that before. my shower singing must be paying off.
bringing hna ne linda and hno jhon R to the baptism for hno andres ( my first baptism! not an investigator but still way great! he shared his testimony with everyone at the end, it was so adorable and powerful at once!)
highlights
going to the jungle, obviously. oh it was so beautiful. and any movie youve seen with the sounds of the jungle are all accurate. kind of eery, not seeing past the cliffs, and tons of green everywhere, and secret waterfalls everywhere, and the roar in your ears. definitely worth getting soaked and the muddy shoes. :) i took about 100 pictures i think , ill try to attach my favorites. I LOVE THE JUNGLE.
hna arlete, is an angel. she isnt even batpized yet but she had an increible missionary expereience. she had a test in her religion class. they had to draw certain images. lucky for her she brought her libro de mormon and her folletos and drew the picture from the LDM of christ in the americas and the foto on folleto uno, christ holding a lamb, and got the best grade in the class! the BEST part of the story is that all of her friends asked her what the book/folletos were and she shared with them / her testimony! and now were teaching 3 of her friends! SHES AMAZING. also, it was her birthday saturday . we gave her flowers and chocolate and the liahona from conference in may, and man oh man she and her brother and sister (who is coming back! yay!) were mesmorized by it. second highlight with arlete was teaching her we have a living prophet today. her eyes about popped out of her head. she was so excited! it hit me that we as members sometimes take for granted what a blessing it is to have a prophet! my testimony was strengthed a ton by that lesson, so strong & great!
BEST LESSON OF THE MISSION. we had a lesson with jhon rodriguez, the one that i mentioned last week (i think). basically, i have never felt the spirit stronger in a lesson than in this lesson. also, i was able to teach and testify boldy with ALL THE WORDS i wanted to say WITHOUT HAVING TO THINK ABOUT IT. the spirit was definitely with me as was the don de lenguas. i KNOW that my words pierced straight to his heart (because they werent my words, after all) and it was incredible to see and feel and do. also, as i bore and taught about the evangelio de jesucristo, i realized just how strong my testimony is and just how much this gospel means to me. it means EVERYTHING, and i know without a single doubt its true. there was NO denying the spirit in that room.
scriptures1
helaman 5:12 foundation of christ gives strength to withstand satan. such a strong scripture, and also helped me remember things from my patriarchal blessing, which as some of you know is one of the things in life i hold MOST precious. direct council and blessings from the lord? how can you not hold that sacred..
hel 5:41 darkness of sin CAN BE LIFTED by fe and repentance
hel 44-47 unexplainable JOY comes from the healing power of the atonement and ability to have the spirit again in your life. it is NEVER TOO LATE to repent and return to christ
its hard fitting everything into one week. i dont even know if anyone reads these letters, but i write them for myself as well. its hard having time to write in my journal every night and every DAY i have incredible experiences and i dont want to forget them! or these people! they mean the world to me. im definitely not here just for my testimony to grow (although it is), im here for them.
love you all! have a great week!
IM GOING TO SEE BEDNAR THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(as well as three other general authorities).
be jealous. :) in a righteous way, of course. dont worry, ill share with you.
until next week.
--
Hermana Wilson
hna ipanaquè said i looked just like it
hna bertha and i. shes the greatest. :) you should hear her sing love one another, its beautiful
braids and bread. i think yes
and did i also mention i DO NOT LIKE CLOWNS?
hna davinia and i (daughter of hno david/ne linda) cutest future missionary!
hna ne linda and hno jhon rodriguez after the baptism. :)
bridge selfie, find the waterfall! :)
did i mention some planks were missing and it was hundreds of feet of a drop?
find the path! i wasnt joking when i said the jugnle was THICK
I LOVE MI COMPAÑERA
a prize for whoever finds whats missing from this foto first
a really super (non)attractive picture of me in the prime of my tarzan swinging action
waterfall with hna ipanaquè!
i have lots of great fotos with this arrow, well leave it at that. :) heres a waterfall!
one of the hidden waterfalls i found :)
gorilla in the jungle! gorilla strong, you should all save up and take a trip out here again. :) its only 5 bs (less than a dollar) to enter the jungle! although i must say, enter at your own risk. we didnt have a guide. :)
If you cut your hair I hope you will do so in a ponytail so you can donate it for cancer patient wigs. Some bald cancer patient would LOVE to have your amazing mane ! ! ! ! !
ReplyDelete