Estoy Jugando

Garlic Field We weeded.

Sister Missionaries we went on visits with different companions.

Our Apartment.

This week I did some real life hard work. Forreal. I am pooped. On
Saturday we went to Quiriza to do service. It´s about an hour away,
and the drive there was super beautiful. There is only one set of
Elders there, because it´s a tiny pueblo. They only have like 40
members. And the members know that if they need help with something,
they can ask the Elders. So they do a TON of service. We went Saturday
to help their branch president and his family weed their field of
garlic. The back of my legs still hurt. But I went really hard,
forreal. I did like 5 rows of garlic, and people noticed that I was
doing a lot. And I am taller than like everyone in Bolivia, so I had to
squat down more, too. The back of my legs are still sore.

We also did exchanges with the sister training leaders this week. They
had to come all the way from Potosí to do exchanges, since there
aren´t any other sisters where we are. But it was really fun to have
other sisters for a day! And it was a nice day break from my
companion. We get along fine, but it´s hard sometimes to be with the
same person all day everyday. It´s nice to have a little break now and
them. We do exchanges once every transfer of 6 weeks. And Hermana
Ashton, one of the sister training leaders, told me my Spanish was
really good. She said she has done exchanges with sisters from my same
group, and they can speak Spanish alright, but my Spanish is really
good, especially for the time I have. Which made me feel pretty good!
Haha.

We have been teaching a 9 year old named L M, who lives by
himself! He has a rented room to himself, and his mom lives across the
street. It´s a little sad, because I don´t think his mom takes care of
him very well. But he is a good little kid, and we´re hoping that
going to church and having a little structure in his life and leaders
to look up to,it will help him as he grows up. Yesterday we passed him in
the street, and he was just playing with tucks by himself. We asked if
he had time to talk with us for a little bit, and he said "Estoy
jugando..." which means "I´m playing..." Like, oh, of course! What
were we thinking? He was clearly busy. It was really funny.

Things are going well here for us in Tupiza. We have a lot of really
great people that we are teaching, that have been prepared by The Lord
to hear our message. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life, and
the opportunity I have right now to share it with others.

Sitting on rock President Kimball prayed to God to see if Bolivia was the place for new chapel.

Inside church

Arhentina

Eating pastel de queso

A picture with my comp at our pension.

Studying on the floor, because my companion`s chair is broken.

Blue/white flag Argentina, Red/yellow/green Bolivia flag.

That`s how they say Argentina here, in case you were wondering. Also,
I went to Argentina today! We are like an hour, hour and a half
away from Argentina, and there are Elders from my mission there, too. So we
went today for personal day, just to say we`ve been to Argentina, basically.
Haha. We had to cross a "river", which was really a tiny little creek,
to get there, since we didn`t have papers to get in. And we ate lunch
with a member, BUT IN ARGENTINA! It was fun.

This week went well! We are teaching this lady named M, who I
really like. She has two super cute little kids, and one SUPER ugly
dog named Adam. Like, Adam and Eve. And she told us this story about
when her daughter was born. She said her daughter was really sick
right after she was born, and thought she would not make it. Then she
thought about the prophet Abraham, who was commanded by God to kill
his only son, Isaac. She thought of his obedience to the Lord, and
prayed to God and said the fate of her baby girl was in His hands. And
after that prayer, her daughter started to get better. And now she is
healthy and super precious. But, ending this story, she said "and
then I named this ugly dog, Adam..." It was pretty funny. I like her a
lot. Haha.

We have a lot of really great people we are teaching here in my area.
I am really grateful to be able to help them become closer to God, and
to follow thew example of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the
restored gospel, and to have to opportunity to know it in this life. I
know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true
church of Jesus Christ.

Go find some missionaries to talk to, because they know what`s up.

I hope everyone has a great week!

 Hermana Wingate

We made donuts with a member and his mom.

Elders and Hermanas in Argentina!

Argentina lunch

wild pigs and piglets

Zumba

fried potatoes from the 4th!

The North American's cooked for the Latin Americans.

We had a conference with our new president this last week, and the
assistants talked about our schedule in the morning. Which is
basically wake up, exercise, personal study, companionship study, and
language study. Buuuuuut, we haven´t been exercising in the mornings.
A lot of missionaries don´t. But we want to be obedient, so our work
can receive more blessings. So we bought a DVD of Zumba and have been
doing that every morning! Let´s all take a minute to recognize how
spicy I am, living in Latin America and dancing Zumba every morning
with a girl from Peru. (but really, if you saw it, it´s painfully
white.)

I´ve also been working more with my companion to teach her English.
It´s a commandment for the Latin American Missionaries to learn
English, but a lot don´t ever study it. But we have been working on it
more! And she helps me with my Spanish, too. Like, I can speak Spanish,
but sometimes not very well. Haha.

This week we had a lot of really great lessons. The parents of two
girls we have been teaching just gave them permission to be baptized.
And the elders have been teaching a lady who lives in our area, so
they asked us to help teach her. She is really amazing. She prayed to
know if the church is true, and when she bore her testimony to us that
she knew it was, she cried. It is really amazing how much the Lord has
prepared her.

There is a saying, probably from a prophet or apostle, I don´t
remember, but it´s that obedience brings blessings, but exact
obedience brings miracles. I definitely feel like we have been getting
a lot more help in our work from The Lord because we are trying harder
to be obedient.

It´s amazing how much I have learned and changed already in my
mission, and I still get to be here for a little more than a year
more. It really is a blessing.

I hope everyone at home is doing well!
Love,

painting on Night stand

Hermana Wingate

The van says, "Don´t cry, I will return"

Happy 4th of July

Today at 11:08 AM

7/7/14

deviled eggs

Cook-out food

Last year for the 4th of July the North American missionaries were not
allowed to leave their houses, because there was some political thing
happening. But this year we were allowed to, and nobody died, as far
as I know! And the North American Elder that eats at our pension and I
made Cookout food! I made deviled eggs and fried potatoes, and he
made hamburgers. It was pretty fun. And my pension thought I wanted to
fry my potatoes like french fries, and I went to check on them and she
was like taking them out of my pan and deep frying them in another...
Silly.

Another fun little story, my mattress kind of sucks, and I was trying
to tell my companion about it, but I said my Cajón is bad, and not my
calchón. So, I told her that my back was hurting because my casket is
bad, not my mattress. I am good at Spanish!

Pizza for Family Home evening with family.

We had a family home evening this week with a family we have been
teaching, and we made pizza! And it was the best pizza I´ve had since
I´ve been here. Like, the pizza in Bolivia is good, because it´s
pizza. But it´s not super good.

I really like it here in Tupiza (I´m actually in Sucre right now,
because we have a conference and interviews with the new president
tomorrow.) But we have a lot of good members and investigators, and a
few people who are really progressing. And we started teaching our
pensionista, who is not a member, but her daughter is. And her
daughter is preparing to serve a mission. It would be really beautiful
if her mom could join the church before she left, to have that support
at home.

OH, I don´t know if you knew this, but Tupiza is kind of a touristy
town. A lot of people come to hike or something. But there is a random
amount of white people. Whenever I see them, I say "what are they
doing in my country" to my companion. Because I think its funny. But,
I had like the most random cultural experience of my life last Monday.
We were eating lunch with our district, at a place that THANK GOODNESS
had a giant TV, so the elders could watch the world cup. And France
was playing. And these three bearded french dudes walked into this
Bolivian restaurant, to very passionately cheer on their team. It was
weird.

Well, that´s all I can think of to tell home about. I hope everyone is
doing well!

Love, Hermana Wingate

BEDS

Apartment

Our Dryer!

Our washing machine.

Ayyyyy

Chickens

               June 30, 2014
So, it´s pretty chilly here in Tupiza, and SUPER dry. I had to buy
some eye drops, because I couldn't see very well the first few days I
was here, because my eyes were so dry. My poor Ohio skin, that grew up
in 115% humidity, it pretty sad. It´s also been super windy lately.
And its all dirt, no grass to be found. Usually it´s not too bad, but
Friday it was CRAZY.   Like, we could hardly see, because there was so
much wind and dirt.

We had some really good lessons this week, and a baptism. But some
days no one was home for us to visit. Our area is a pretty decent
size, so we try to visit people in one area one part of the day, and
others in other areas. We plan pretty strategically. But, when no one
is home, we end up just walking all around town. It´s more tiring when
we don´t have any lessons than when we do.

This week our baptism was a 10 year old girl named E.. Her older
brother is a member, and her uncle is the branch president. But the
day of the baptism was pretty interesting. We called to remind her to
bring a towel and stuff, and her mom told us it would be better if she
was baptized another day. I guess E. was nervous to be baptized, and
her mom didn´t want her to have any doubts about it. But when we went,
E. told us she wanted to be baptized that day, and didn´t have any
doubts. So we talked with the family for a while, and they were still
a little unsure. So, we all got on our knees and prayed, to see if we
should go ahead with the baptism that day, or wait a few weeks. The
spirit was so strong, testifying to us that E. was ready to be
baptized that day. We all felt it, everyone in the room. It was one of
the most spiritual moments I´ve had in my mission and in my life so
far.

I am really glad to be here right now, and to have this opportunity
to invite other to come unto Christ, and to help them grow closer to
our Heavenly Father.
I hope everyone has a great week!

Potatoes they take their skin off with their toes!

Giant Slide open only on weekends

Baptism

Random wall!