First Exchange as a Sister Training Leader

This week I went on my first exchange as a sister training leader! It was super fun! I went with Sister Ordoñez from Ecuador to her area. She is in her last transfer in the mission, and training a new sister. We had a lot of fun! It was really cool to get to know her, and share our experiences from the mission.

Also, last night Hermana Giles and I had a miracle happen in our area! We had been walking all day, and all of our appointments fell through. And when we were walking down the street, a lady stopped up and asked if we were from the Mormon temple. We said yes, and she said she wanted to know which chapel she should go to in this area. Thinking that she was a member who recently moved into the area, we told her where the church was, and

View from Sydney's Apartment.

 asked if she was a member. And she said "No, but I want to be."

She told us about how her neighbor is a member of the church, and a while ago she had a surgery, and her neighbor brought the elders to visit her in the hospital. She said she has had interest in the church for a while, and she has a lot of interest in what we do as missionaries. She said she wants to go out like we do to visit people. We made an appointment with her, and invited her to a ward activity we are having this week, and she promised to be there.

This week we have a lot planned! We have a ward activity, and two exchanges with other sisters planned. It will be a little crazy, but super fun!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Overlooks Cochabamba.

Watching House Parents' Puppy.

The Original four from MTC and Hermana Hansen.

Exchanges!

New Companion. Hermana Giles.

New Area/ Sister Training Leader

This week went really well! I am in my new area with my new companion and I am very content. My companion, Hermana Giles, is super fun! And she is really chill. And my apartment is super nice. It is on the third story of a house, and kind of up on a hill, and has a great view of basically all of Cochabamba. it is the perfect place to end my mission, looking out over all of the city. AND, I have a GAS SHOWER!!!!!! It`s not just a crusty electric shower head. It is beautiful.

My new area is really cool, too. It`s my first area that has some hills in it. All of my other areas have been pretty flat. And the sisters who were here before me had been teaching a lot of really cool people. There is a guy here who has been listening to the missionaries for about a year named F. He is about 65 or 70, and only speaks a little bit of Spanish. His first language is Quechua. And he has read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon in Quechua. It is so cool!

I haven`t gone on any exchanges with other sisters, yet. I`ve just been trying to get to know the area and the people. But this week we have our first exchange planned, and I am so excited! It`s going to be so much fun. And we have a meeting tomorrow with President Hansen and the other sister training leaders and zone leaders in the mission. I am super pumped for that, too! It`s going to be a good week.

I hope everyone is doing well!

 

 

P.S. Four of the sisters that came from the Bogota, Columbia Mission at the same time, Hermana Hullinger, Hermana Santeco, and Hermana Hansen and me are all are sister training leaders right now. We get to meet together for a meeting! 

Transfers!!!

Another Kitten!

So, this week are transfers, and I am being transferred to a different area. Another sister is coming to be with my companion Hermana Lopardo in my area, and I am going to a different area in Cochabamba. I am sad to leave my area, because I really love it! But, I am really excited about my transfer. My new companion is from Arizona, and she is really cute! And I will be a Sister Training Leader in my new area, which is like a leadership position for sisters in the mission. I will get to go on exchanges with a lot of other sisters, to see how they are with their companions and if the need any help. I am really excited for the new opportunity to learn!

Also, something really cool happened this week! My companion and I were leaving from our pension (where we eat lunch) and this guy in the street asked us if we lived there. We said no, and he was like "and how do you guys do your visits?" And we explained That we visit people in their homes to talk about the gospel. He was like, do you think you guys could come by and visit my family? We were like, um... YES!!!! Haha. He gave us his phone number and his address, and told us to come by this Wednesday. He was with his son who was about 9, and he said he has a daughter as well. He said he had interest in talking to missionaries before, and he saw us and figured he might as well ask.

I am a little sad that I won`t be here! My companion and I have meet a lot of really great people in the last few weeks, and I would like to be here to visit them. But, I know that the transfers are inspired, and that there are a lot of people in my new area waiting to hear the gospel, too.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Companion from when in Tupiza going home.

Hermana Hansen and Hermanas at Temple.

My Zone until tomorrow!

Rats on rats on rats

 This kitten could help!!! lol

My house has mice! We found one in our toilet a few weeks ago, and TWO more this week. But they were little ones. The first one was sitting on a table where we study, and when I walked in it

That is Hermana Lopardo wrapped up. haha. But our house is really cold in the mornings.

JUMPED OFF THE TABLE toward me. My companion screamed, and shut the door, and trapped me in with the mouse, and went to call the dad of the family we live with to get it out. He came in and killed it.

THEN, there was one in the hall the day before yesterday, and it ran under a plastic mat. My companion was seriously freaking out and yelling at me to kill it. So...I stepped on it... and I felt it´s little bones break... AND IT KEPT MOVING!!!!!!!! So, I stepped on it like 50 more times. The family we live with said they are going to call someone to get rid of the mice.

This week we had a ward activity. We made a bunch of popcorn and watched a church movie. And there were like...8 people. It was so lame! Our last activities were so good, and there were a ton of people!

But We are doing well here!

I hope everyone has a great week!

 We were making Cuñapes, which is like a cheesy bread. They make them in Santa Cruz.

Service

This morning we went to do service for our relief society president, and then we went to play soccer with the elders in the zone. Although I have been almost 15 months in Latin America, I have to sadly report that I still suck at soccer.

This week Hermano L, D´s step dad, traveled to Lima! He went to see about the papers for his divorce.(He and D´s mom are not married, because he is not legally divorced from his first wife) So, when everything gets settled, they can get married, and Hermana M, D´s mom, can get baptized! I am so excited for her! And she is really excited, too! We are still not exactly sure when it will be yet, but Hermano L told me it will definitely be before I go home! Haha.

Also, Hermano L this week told us how grateful he was for us, and all that we have done for their family to help them to go to church. He got really emotional, and it was really special. I always feel so blessed to know them, and see how much they want to be a part of the church, and how much they want to help other people. And for him to tell us thank you was really special.

We went this week to visit A, that we met last week. She didn´t have time to talk to us, because she is in exams right now for medical school. But we made an appointment with her for next week, when all her exams are over. And her mom will have more time then, too. Hopefully we will be able to teach her whole family! They really are great.

I am doing well. I hope everyone has a great week!

Clean desk!

Happy Mother`s Day!

Mother's Day Skype with Alexis and Hermana Wingate!

Yesterday I got to call home and talk to my mom and Alexis for Mother`s Day! It was really fun to be able to talk to them  in real life (almost). And it was my last Skype call home in my mission! That is so crazy. They next time I talk to my mom it will be in real life! I feel like it wasn`t too long ago that I called home for Christmas, and now I will actually be home in about 3 months. I feel like time is going by really quickly!

Hermanas outside the Bolivian Temple.

This week went really well! We met a girl named A., who told us at first that she was Catholic (like everyone in Bolivia) and that  she doesn`t like when people switch churches all the time. Buuuut, she said she likes to listen, and invited us into her house! Then, her mom came down and talked to us, and said she was also Catholic, but her husband and her kids don`t want to go to church anymore with her. And then...she started crying. She said maybe it was a sign from God that we came to visit her family. That usually her daughter doesn`t talk to any other churches that come by, but she let us in their home. She said maybe it was time for a change.

My companion and I were both tearing up, and you could feel the spirit so strongly. Things like that don`t happen everyday as missionaries. People usually don`t want to talk to us, let alone invite us into their homes and cry in front of us. I really feel like God led us to them. That this family is ready to receive the gospel. It was one of the most incredible lessons I`ve had in my entire mission. We have a lesson with them this Wednesday, and I am excited to see them again, and share this gospel.

I am doing well here in Bolivia, and I am really happy. Thank you to everyone who has supported

me during this time with prayers and encouraging emails.

I hope everyone has a good week!

Testimony

This week D. gave his testimony in the sacrament meeting, and I seriously almost cried. He got up and thanked all of the members for teaching his family more about God and Jesus Christ, and for helping them learn more, and grow closer as a family. He talked about how he wants to go to the temple with his family, and have the missionaries  come to his house everyday to teach him and his family more. And D. is seriously just the most precious, sincere kid in the whole world.

 Then, an older member of the church, who probably was about 80 years old, got up and shared his testimony. He was from Santa Cruz, and came to Cochabamba to visit the temple. He talked about how 40 years ago, two angels came to his home to teach him about the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and changed his life and the lives of his family members. The "angels" he referred to were two missionaries, but he didn`t need to clarify. Then his daughter, her husband, and her son, all got up to share their testimonies, and how grateful they were to have the gospel in their lives.

Something really beautiful about the church here in Bolivia is that almost everyone is a convert, and they all have their story of how they found out about the church. There are people who talk about how they knew in that very moment and were baptized. Or people who will say they tried to hide from the missionaries for months before they finally gave in and listened. Or people who had to wait years to be baptized, to get permission from their parents or their spouses or their families. 

But, the common theme in these stories is that there are always missionaries involved. The members of the church in Bolivia LOVE the missionaries. They are eternally grateful that young people leave their homes to preach the gospel. I really feel blessed to be at the receiving end of so much love and respect, and the opportunity I have to hear so many powerful testimonies.

I know that this church is true, and I have the blessing of being able to declare it everyday to everyone I meet.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Companion from  when she was in Tupiza.

Mural.

Dinner.

Brown's are most important in Bolivia!!!!!!