I stayed here with Hermana Nahuel. :) But, the ward did change a lot. Now we're just four missionaries in the ward, two sisters and two elders. It's kind of a bummer, it's a lot quieter... And plus we have to re-divide the ward in two instead of three... Our area is going to be huge.

 

Hermana Mejia came here to Tarija! :) Aaaand (drumroll)..... She's my sister leader! Chances are we'll go on splits, and I'll be her companion for a day again, haha! She finishes her mission in August... So she'll probably stay here until the end of her mission! How crazy!

 

Hermana Llerena is also here in Tarija! I didn't know she was coming, but I was there in the airport because we had to wait with another Hermana while she waited for her companion to come in from Santa Cruz. So I just see her get off of the plane.. And I just had to give her a hug. It was SO good to see her. She's had a rough couple of transfers, and she just really needs a friend.

 

Dr. S. is so dang funny.... I'm glad that you work with people that are so good to you! ... even if they make you x-ray 800 humerous bones... I'm sure you don't think that's very humorous. (I am so sorry, that was the dumbest joke ever. )

 

Oh, Mr. Bones that's terrible. (Okay, I really am done now.)

 

Pray for our golden family. This week is kind of make it or break it with them. We had a good talk with her yesterday, and she's looking into another church too. She needs your prayers. Hermana Nahuel and I trust that God will answer her prayers, but we need her to recognize her answer and not listen to outside sources and take that as an answer.

 

I think that's it from me this week... I'm going to keep it short... But I sure love you! :) Have a great week!

 

OKAY. So this week has been... Crazy. There's a family that the elders had been working with... And they're awesome. They've been working with this family for EIGHT MONTHS. The problem is that the wife had been married before... and the divorce papers hadn't gone through even after years and years... (welcome to Bolivia, where the only thing harder than getting married is getting divorced). Anyway, this week their papers finally went through and they were able to get married! The whole ward threw themselves into their wedding and baptism plans. Wedding Friday, Baptism Saturday.

One of the elders that had been working with them had been in this ward for like 6 months working with this family.... And on Thurdsay night, the night before the wedding, the elders got a call. Emergency transfer. President Willard told him that he was going to leave at 7:30 the next morning to the offices to be President's secretary and had to go before transfers to be "trained." President also said that (even though all of the areas in Aeropuerto are pretty big) it's likely that he's going to close one of our areas and redifine the boundaries. In the meantime... the other three elders (one of which is being trained, and one of which goes home this transfer) are going to stay in a trio. So we have no idea what's going to happen with transfers on Wednesday.

We asked permission to go to the wedding... AND WE GOT IT.

I went to a wedding... As a missionary.

It was really sweet, and the people in the ward were sweethearts for all the preparation that they did for the family.

BAPTISM THE NEXT DAY. Saturday morning, 9 AM, the sister missionaries are starting their companionship study when we realize that we have a text message... "Oh hermanas, I forgot to tell you yesterday, but you're in the program as a special musical number. See you at four!"

So me and Hermana Nahuel (who sings like an angel, by the way) start freaking out. We had sang a duet at the baptism for an 8 year old boy in the ward, but it did NOT go well... So we start practicing "Abide With Me, 'Tis Eventide," my companion on Soprano, and me singing Alto... And we were nervous, and our voices were worn out... But we did it and it went pretty okay! And I sang alto, all by myself! The baptism was beautiful, the wife cried... And we sand "Come Come Ye Saints" as one of the hymns because for that family, that song is special... Because for them, finally "all is well."

And the next day at church the Relief Society president made me teach the alto part of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" to the altos because they have to sing in a stake activity. A sister in the ward recorded our l'il duo, I'm going to have her send it to you. :)

We have not been able to find our family this week. Hermana Jenny has to travel to Oruro a lot, and this week she was there. She either comes back today or tomorrow... Pray that we'll be able to have a lesson with them this week. We're worried that they won't be able to progress much if we don't have the chance to have much contact with them.

So. That was my crazy week. :) I'm a little nervous about transfers because a lot seems to be changing in the ward. I want to stay here with Hermana Nahuel. Hermana Nahuel is my favorite companion. We are constantly singing, joking around, laughing, and finding ways to enjoy the work. :) She's awesome. This ward is awesome. This transfer has been awesome and it has gone by in a flash. I hope you have a good week.

 

Hey Ma! :)

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this email, and then upon reading it... I realized it's just a whole lot of cheese. It's so gooey, and I'm really sorry. Next week I'll write about the work, and Bolivia, and being a missionary. LOVE Y'ALL.

It was sure good to talk to you all yesterday! :) It was so crazy to see that while everything changes.... Everything stays exactly the same! :) I hope your Mother's Day was as wonderful as you are.

Because you all know what's been going on with me as of right now, and because Dad requested long letters (and also because I haven't actually written a letter in like two weeks) I'm going to get a li'l bit spiritual here.

I LOVE the quote that you sent me that says "Sometimes the Savior calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms you." During a hard time in my mission, I had the amazing opportunity of receiving a blessing from President Willard, in which I was promised that "as the Savior calmed the stormy sea, He will calm the storm in your heart." After receiving that blessing, I lost myself in whatever scriptural story I could find that included storms and water. The Brother of Jared crossing the troubled sea in the tiny ships that would resurface only to go back under; Peter attempting to cross the water to reach his Master only to fall down into the waves, and be caught by his Savior, and of course, Christ's words of "Peace. Be Still," that calmed the troubled water. I cannot agree more with the quote that you sent me. Sometime the storm rages on, but Christ calms US.

Can we talk about how my family is the coolest one in the world?? What other family would come up with something so awesome as what you guys did? It worked out so well! :)

Okay. Bailey Paige is so cute. I am so happy for J and Beth... What a cute family full of cute girls. :) I hope J grows out his hair and neck beard, so he can look amish when I come home ;) (I am so sorry, Beth.)

Speaking Spanish with Dustin (that sounds like a children's program) was pretty dang cool too. My companion was so surprised by his accent! His boys have gotten so big so fast... too fast. I appreciated the pickle that Porter Porker was eating...

It was really great to see Grandma B and Gram and Grandpa and Lynn! :) And Great Grandmother came! :) My companion was only able to talk to her dad and one of her sisters... What a blessing it was to have such a huge group of people, even extended family, willing to talk to me. I have the best family in the whole world.

Kali and her family is so awesome too! :) Even though we didn't talk much, I love them with all of my heart. Seeing my sister and how strong she is and how strong she's been through so many trials is a great example for me... Even here on the other side of the world. I hope her kids know how blessed they are to have such a strong, loving person as a mom.

And I got to see Reesey Roo! :) Even though she was just on a little phone screen, I was so blessed to see her and her family. I hope she knows how much I love her and how happy I was to see her.

And it goes without saying that I was happy to see you and Dad. :) What awesome, supportive parents you are. You look so happy and healthy and cute, and seeing Dad with Bailey Paige... it was just too awesome. Knowing that y'all are okay and happy makes focusing on the work so much easier. :)

I was thinking about it and... How awesome is it that I can see your faces? We are the first generation in the long history of missionarywork that has had the blessing of being able to see the faces of our family members from wherever we might be. Peter, James, and John sure didn't get to see their family's faces, even on a computer screen. Heck, even my brothers didn't get to! We really are so lucky. :)

I love you guys so so much... and I hope you all know that I'm doing great. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I love my companion, my ward, my investigators... And the time is flying by. :)

Mom... I spent like 20 minutes writing you an email... And then when I sent it the internet cut out, and it didn't send. I am so maaaad.

 Long story short, we are seeing MIRACLES with Jenny and her family. They started reading the Book of Mormon without us telling them to, Hermano Jose Luis listened to one of our lessons and then prayed (with us and his entire family there) to know if the Book of Mormon is true. I seriously wrote all of the details and then this dumb computer deleted it. UGH.