Monday, November 16, 2015

frutillar. . . a whole new world

first things first, shoutout to my sister syd! your maternity fotos son MUY LINDOS & im super happy you had a good birthday! i love you a ton and hope whenever my sobrina comes, things go well! besos & kisses!
and to my brother bryce, i think its my turn next for your surprise visits. si o si. ;)

so this area is incredibly different than my other area. La Floresta was el campo. super humble. here, Frutillar, is hylona. rich with a capital R.
randoms..
there are cameras EVERYWHERE at our house. theres even one in the tree across the street haha.
we have automatic lights. kind of creepy bc ill be walking in dark and then a light finally turns on. fe, right?
we kind of live with members. the main house belongs to Max, his wife is sick with cancer and is in the US so he travels back and forth a lot (like I said, $$$). a lady, Mirian, lives in a side house and her rent is to cook for Max. theyre not married. we live in the back, a mix between a basement and side house. its small but its safe and we have all we need.
 first night here, hna silvano dropped my peanut butter jar and it shattered. thats a worse omen than shattering a mirror. ;p
there was a nutella jar on my night stand!  huge one! but.. not mine. sad.
our house is tiny. two of my bodies lined up with each other wouldnt fit, its that small ahha.
my last house had water issues. this house has light issues. all of a sudden the lights in the bathroom will turn off and it is PITCH black haah
NO ONE is in the street here. its like a ghost town. they stay in their houses all day or travel.
almuerzo is HUGE. we have soup everyday, and THEN a mountain of food. we eat with the elders in our ward. im never hungry anymore. for cena its just hna silvano and i. we get a piece of bread, hot chocoalte or mormon coffe (eco), and a side (yogurt, jello, etc). its pretty small but im still full from lunch at that point. we eat dinner at 7 and have to be in our house by 8 in this zone (sacaba), something happened so its for our protection. so we just have to work that much harder while we have the time.
the hills here remind me of san fransisco. theyre everywhere. you cant see the road it dips down so deep and fast in some parts. i have a feeling my calf and quad muscles will be coming back REAL soon.
putting my hair over the girls here to see what they look like as rubias is an automatic ice breaker.
our area is to the right hand of the Cristo. were super close.
were opening this area. our goal is to get to know the members &have noche de hogars with them and that way get references. so far its been working. (speaking of.... WHAT ARE FUN/SIMPLE FHE IDEAS? AND GAMES? send them to me, por favor. :)
it feels like im learning spanish all over again sometimes.

funny moments (this week and last)
hna silvano shrieking when  (one of) the pension´s cat jumped on the table. SO funny.
"esta mejor?" -elder ortega (after having cat fur all over his pants)
"sabe besar?"
locking our door to the study on accident, with ALL of our books & all of hna silvanos clothes. it was quite the adventure breaking in..
"im just not going to let go, JUST to make it awkward" elder cribbs
when i took my picture for my bolivian ID, i had to retake it. the lady said she couldnt see my eyes, and i needed to smile not so big..

bendiciones
the dogs here are TRANQUILOS. my fear of dogs shall flee! :) they dont chase or try to eat me. its wonderful.
havent had chuño yet in frutillar! knock on wood.
gave hna silvano some books on learning english. she was super excited. she really wants to learn. her last comp didnt help her too much, so shes happy to have my help.
serving hna pastora. like my last area, the first person i met here was an old lady se llama pastora. she is a slightly  more duro old lady, but by the end of our service/reading the BOM she was smiling. a miracle.
getting blessings from the bishop. our bishop seems really great.  and he knows my old bishop!
lunch is an act of faith, faith to finish my plate. so far my prayers have been answered.
getting to know hna albalucia trujillo. shes a member, and i think shes going to be a big help for us. she told us all about colombia, and how the kids there play in the street until 10 pm. sounds great. :) the spirit in  our lesson with her was incredibly strong.
talking with a little girl from the Valdiva family. probably the first person who wasnt constantly judging me here. i love children!
walking up the hills backwards with hna silvano. somehow, its easier when theyre super steep ahah.
i have sheets! the old ones from hna hermansen (the hna who left this area).
hna silvano is talking more and has friends here. shes really opened up a lot and gotten a lot more courage. it makes my heart happy to see. :) she has a lot of love for this area.
elder ortega helped us with the list that the bishop gave us, writing who was in our area and who was in theirs. its a five page list of names. huge help!
talking in spanish again! with hna gonzalez there was more english than spanish. ive missed spanish. no one speaks enlish here, but i like it that way.
seeing the temple! we walked to get hna silvano´s patriarchal blessing and it was well worth the more than an hour of walking up hills. the temple is my favorite place and my patriarchal blessing is oneof my favorite things and to see the joy of hna silvano.. cant even describe it in words. its going to bless her life incredibly to have it. <3
laughing with hna silvano. its a miracle in itself to be able to laugh and be myself in another language. super grateful to have her as my compañera. its super weird were comps, es un sueño, but its great!
talking with hna silvano, about anything and everything, to build unity and confianza. i feel bad for the comps who dont ever talk to each other all day or walk together. shes all i have sometimes, and im grateful we have unity. it helps so much with the work. she opened up to me a lot the other day. weve been together only a week but she already trusts me completely, and im grateful for that. <3
cita de pres gordon b hinckley in PME/PMG about how to be happy. look it up. basically.. forget yourself, and LIVE the gospel. testifico de sus palabras. <3
my agenda for this cambio, me gusta MUCHo. it has significance, too. ill send a picture later, but basically its about being the light of christ /becoming like him.

2 milagros muy especial para mi..
one. we contacted an old cholita in the street. we were walking, but i stopped to ask how she was doing. i couldnt understand or hear her very well, i think she was speaking both spanish and quechua (not sure how to speell that) and there were lots of cars passing. i prayed that hna silvano would have the words she needed to hear. she ended up crying with us. we gave her the plan of salvation folleto to read and set up a cita. when we were walking away, i looked back and saw her granddaughter crouched next to her, reading the folleto. they had a light in her eyes. her granddaughter looked up at me and smiled, then kept reading.
two. we were leaving the house of the familia rodriguez, and hna daniela (menos activa) was standing in the street by her door. we basically ran to her. we had been trying to find her all week. she let us in and we talked with her and her daughter while she washed her clothes and got to know her better. she and her daughter want to participate in the stake talent show this week, dancing together (how CUTE), and we set up a cita.

these probably seem super small to you but to me they were huge. precious, small, beautiful moments.  I think sometimes people only look for the big miracles. But the little miracles are just as special, if not more, especially when you recognize them. . open your eyes.


.I have been trying to focus my thoughts on the Savior and His Atonement more. I´ve definitely noticed a difference in myself and the work. I´m more patient. My trials don´t seem as big as they are. I have more strength to go on. I pay more attention to the needs of others. The list goes on and on. But it´s incredible how when we really make Jesus Christ the center of our lives and thoughts we become more Christlike in every aspect. I´m in no way perfect. But my trials in comparison to Christ´s are practically nothing.  it would be easy to feel alone here i think, but i dont. i know that   Heavenly Father is with me. by studying the life of Christ & His Atonement more closely is making me a better person. its helping me to see the b igger picture. its changing everything.

2 nefi 10;22 &23
salmos 46;10

--
Hermana Wilson
 familia rojas

maria nelly and fam

 hna silvano and i at our proposal spot

were best friends i promise

 prima love

¿sabe besar?

 call me. or..... just send me a letter, thats all i really want. :)

elder castaño (from colombia) hna silvano (perù) yo y elder ortega (perù, also the trainer of elder rincon from our grupo)

  one of the hills / part of the area

so like i said our house is small. i sit on the fridge to wash our dishes. we only have one plug in the kitchen, and the fridge cord isnt long enough to be under the counter haha.

 zona àlamos at the "waterfalls" haha

arlete gaby lindsay rider

 zona àlamos after paintballing

closest ill ever get to crowd surfing on the mish jaja

 hna custode and i <3

happy birthday to hna cruz!!! we love you!
mis abuelos! RIP elder pachas, he dies tomorrow

an old pic of hna gonzalez and i paintballing

 one of the study programs ive been doing from our mission, we were invited to particapate at the conferencia de la zona. feel free to use it and send to other missionaries you know, but credit goes to Misiòn Bolivia Cochabamba!

last pages of obedience study activity



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