You should see the computer I'm using... It is STRAIGHT out of the
'90s. I don't have too much news this week either, so don't expect the
longest email.

It's FINALLY starting to warm up. It has been COLD this month.... Today it's really nice
though. Not too hot, not too cold.

Really, this week not a lot happened. The coolest thing though was
that we met a 19-year-old girl (one of our investigator's sisters) who
was visiting from way far. In Bolivia, there are a lot of "pueblos" or
people who basically just live far from the city in smaller groups...
And she's from one of them. The church isn't out there yet, but we met
her when we came to pick up her older sister to see if she wanted to
go to an activity, and she answered the door. We were like "uhh.. We
came to see if your sister wanted to come to an activity..." She was
like "oh, she's not home." We were like "Do YOU want to go?" and she
DID. And she LOVED IT. We wound up giving her a Book of Mormon, a For
the Strength of Youth pamphlet, and the Restoration, Plan of
Salvation, and Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlets. She really ate up
what we talked about and me and Hermana Kofoed kept talking about how
she's "just going to go start the Church out there in that pueblo she
lives in."

But. Yeah. That's it from me. I sure love you guys, and thanks for
being so awesome. :) Have a great week! :)

I don't know if you heard this or not, but on Saturday, the mission kind of took a hit. A returned Elder Merkley (from West Jordan) passed away in a camping accident. He served in this mission, finished the very transfer that I entered the field. He finished his mission in the very ward I am serving in, and everyone here remembers him very fondly. President Willard came to our sacrament meeting yesterday and spoke a lot about him. Send your prayers for him and for his family. 

It's a tradition in the mission that in your last conference of your mission, you bear your "last testimony." On Friday, I heard Hermana Mejia give her "last testimony." ALL of the missionaries that she had trained or started to train, were there to hear her bear her testimony for the "last time" as a missionary. It was a really cool thing to see for me. I love her a lot.

Gordon Rogers is bishop! I don't know how I didn't call that! That sounds like a stellar bishopric. West Jordan 28th Ward is the best ward... Except for maybe Aeropuerto. ;)

Not the most eventful week. One thing was pretty cool though.

We're teaching a lady who listened to missionaries with her family when she was just a little girl. I think it impacted her a lot, because even though she was just a little girl, she still remembers about Joseph Smith, and how happy she was to watch the Restoration movie with her siblings. 

Now she's older, with two children. One is an 11 year old son with special needs. 

 

She is SO loving and patient with her son, which is AMAZING. But it weighs on her a lot. She started to cry and tell us about what she's going through, and we could just see how much love she has for her son. Then I watched my companion with SO much power, testify to her that "her son is an angel." It was a really powerful lesson, and we could feel how much she needed to hear that what she was doing was right, even though it was not recognized by the world. It was the best lesson me and Hermana Kofoed have taught together this far.

 

I guess that's it from me this time...But I love you guys! Keep working hard and being awesome... And I love you to the moon and back!

 

-Hermana Hall

 

 

Okay, I cannot believe it's been a year since I got my mission call. I just remember seeing Bolivia and having no idea where that was or what to expect. And then I thought I was going to a land filled with llamas and devoid of hot showers... Then I got here and I remember that the first time I saw a car I was like... Am I in the right place? 

I love Bolivia. Even though I eat rice, potatoes and chicken every day, I LOVE this place. Especially Tarija. The day I leave Tarija (and Aeropuerto) will be SO hard. I have never loved a group of people so much in my life. They are SO humble, so devoted to the gospel, and so willing to serve those around them. There are so many people that I just love.

I was talking to the Barrientos Family yesterday (the family that the Elders got married and baptized but now they live in our area :D) and I just was so taken aback by how much I love them. They're not even my baptism, but they are such true disciples of Christ. Hermano Rafael (the dad)'s favorite scripture is Alma 48:11, which talks about Captain Moroni and what a good man he was... A man who doesn't delight in bloodshed. His HERO is Captain Moroni. If there's anything about him in the scriptures, Hermano Rafael eats it up. And you can see it in the way he lives, that he is following Moroni's example. 

And then there's his wife, Hermana Rosa, who I will probably miss more than anyone else in this area. She is ALWAYS taking care of us. She's got a soft spot in my heart, that's for sure.

Hermana Kofoed is my FAVORITE PERSON. She is the youngest of five, three girls, two boys. She's from Spanish Fork, and she is so darn funny. She is the hardest worker ever, EXACTLY obedient. She makes me be the best I can be, but she does it lovingly. I have learned so much from her. The language is harder for her, but that does NOT stop her from opening her mouth. While I try to use persuasion to get in doors, and in contacts in the streets, she uses pure boldness, like a true disciple of Christ. 

We've had a rough week with Vivian's family. Her dad is drinking a TON. Vivian's kind of just used to it. It'll still be a while I think.

Gloria is moving to Argentina in like a week and a half and we have completely lost contact with her. That's been kind of rough too.

Jenny has been traveling. A lot. We need to have a good, direct lesson with her. We feel like she hasn't been progressing.

This week we met someone named Aide. She's a 25 year old single mom who lives with her sister. She's a referral from a member who is her friend and felt the prompting to talk to her about the gospel, and families. She is SO interested and she came to church yesterday. We have a lesson with her tonight. :)

 

We came back from the leadership conference on Tuesday, and we didn't eat lunch until Wednesday... So on Wednesday we saw Vivian's dad and he had been drinking again. Apparently he had been drinking all week. But he came to church yesterday and so did Vivian's mom which was a huge miracle. I can't believe she went from not signing the papers to going to church with her family. I just really hope Vivian's example keeps touching her family.

Hermana Mejia is still in the zone, she's just training. Again. A bunch of sisters came in this transfer. Me and Hermana Kofoed (spelled her name wrong last week, that's embarrassing) are in charge of the sisters in the zone, but half of our zone are sisters. We're a huge zone of 24 people, 12 sisters. We have to do exchanges with all of them, inspections, etc. Plus if some of them are sick, have trouble getting along with their comps, etc., we also have to help them out with that stuff. We are a very new zone 4 of the 6 companionships are training. Plus, neither of us really have that much time in the mission. I'm really lucky that Hermana Kofoed is a GREAT missionary.

This morning, me and Hermana Kofoed made french toast... Having a gringa companion is pretty great. :)

 

It's been a pretty funny week. Being two gringas walking around Tarija makes for some pretty funny situations. :) I'm pretty excited to be Hermana Kofoed's comp. She's SUCH a hard worker, and such an obedient missionary. I've learned a lot from her already. 

 

I love you guys, and thank you so much for your support. I hope you have a great week. :)

 

Love you to the moon and back!

-Hermana Hall