Changes.... @.@‏

25 Mayo 2015

With my companion go home this coming week, I have been thinking a lot about how grateful I am to have my companion to help me to learn and grow for these two transfers. I have loved her helping me with my Spanish and to get to know the people here so well! It has been so great! I’m a little nervous to get a new companion this coming week... changes are always a little scary, but they are always good to keep us on our toes and keep us growing and changing within ourselves, too!

We had a baptism this week! Wow... was this ever an amazing experience! Everything just came together so well and we were able to feel the spirit so strongly and clearly. It turned out that only Paola was baptized this week (since we think that it will be better if Claudia is baptized with her parents). Paola’s baptism was special! She was so ready and so prepared to make this step in her life... It is an amazing feeling to know that someone is so ready to take this step in their lives, and watch them begin to truly follow Christ and begin a journey of a lifetime. A journey that is sometimes hard (baptism doesn’t just erase the troubles that we have in our lives- but it can make them easier to bare) but is so full of joy and love and growth – who couldn’t invite others to make this step? I am so grateful for the amazing experience that this was and for the opportunity that I have to share this love and joy of the gospel with the wonderful people here in Bolivia!

That is all the updates for this week! Thank you for staying awesome and for supporting me and all the other missionaries out in the world! It makes it so much easier to be away from home knowing that there are people always out there caring for us and willing to help us with everything! You guys are AMAZING!

Love you guys with all my `heart, might, mind and strength!`

Hermana Mather

Picture from last week: My whole zone  on the way to Tunari

Picture from last week: Llamas!

Picture from last week: Awesome missionaries! Love these peoples!

Paola's baptism pictures! So great!

We have amazing people in our ward! I love them!

Paula, Claudia, and ... Llamas

18 Mayo 2015

WOW!!! So much has been happening this week! Wow!

So, this morning we went to Tunari, Bolivia! It’s WAYYYYYY up in the mountains, and it is supposedly the only place in Bolivia that gets snow (if you go at the right time). We didn't see snow but it was super fun and super great to go have fun as a zone! Sadly, I don’t have my pictures with me right now :((( So forgive me, but I´ll have to send you pictures next week! Also, in the mountains there are llamas! AHHHH! too cool! I must have seen thousands of llamas today ;D

It’s crazy to think that it is getting warmer back at home and that everyone is getting ready to get out of school and get started with the summer! Here, it is actually getting colder where we have warm days but the mornings and the nights are REALLY cold! Especially cause we are always in skirts! hehe! So, enjoy the warmth and summer fun for me!

On the missionary side of things, My companion and I have been teaching an awesome family in our area! They are so great! Paula (17), the eldest daughter and Claudia (10), have a baptismal date for this Saturday (we are praying HARD that it works out!) Paula is SO amazing and has SO much faith! She does everything that an investigator should do when they are trying to build a testimony! She reads the scriptures and materials that we give her, she comes to church, she prays, she is really truly searching for the truth in her life with all of her heart and truly puts her effort into it! She is someone that we call a golden investigator, and a golden person! I love her so much! Her family is truly following her to come to know the truth! It is amazing to see the influence that one person can have on their family (cough cough, Elizabeth, cough cough;D)

Also, other news from the mission, my compi, (my “mother” in the mission) is going home in 2 weeks! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! So soon! It is so weird to think that people go home all the time from the mission... I am going to miss her so much! She has really taught me a lot in the mission and we have had some AMAZING times together! I hope that we are able to keep in touch after our missions!

Well, that is all that I have for this week, but just know that I love ALL of you guys and think and pray for you all the time!

LOVVEEEEEEE,

Hermana Mather

SOOOOOOOO HAPPPPYYYYYY RIGHT NOW!

11 Mayo 2015

Was it ever amazing to talk to my family yesterday? It is such a blessing to be able to talk to my family and really have that spiritual- moral recharge of really getting to see and talk to all my siblings and parents for an hour! SO GREAT!

We got to go to the temple this week! It was SO great to go to the temple and renew covenants and really enjoy this time at the temple! (picture below!)

So… updates from Bolivia... I have been given the awesome opportunities to get to teach the relief society American recipes and now all of the members in the ward want me to cook in their homes! Who knew that I could be so popular just from bringing a few recipes to make with members ;D I got the opportunity to teach chocolate chip cookies the other week and then this week I taught them brownies right before a baptism! YUM!

Speaking of the baptism, the elders in our ward had a baptism this past Saturday and to our surprise, President Hansen and Hermana Hansen came to the baptism! You should have seen our faces when we found out that he had come! My companion, two sisters from another ward, and I had the talk in between the baptism and the closing remarks while Abrahm was getting changing out of his wet clothes after being baptized. We were SO nervous! We ended up changing all of our plans for the message and when out in front of the church to get rocks and dirt (SUPER FUNNY just to see a bunch of sister missionaries digging in the dirt ;D) to do the awesome activity with the large rocks, small rocks and sand that represent our priorities in life. We had an empty jar that represents our lives here on earth that we filled with all of these things. When you put the smaller things first in the jar and then the larger rocks, not all of them will fit. but when you put the big things first, the things that have the most worth in your life (god, church education, family), and then let the small things (TV, sports, fun things) fill in the spaces, then everything will fit! It was very cool and it turned out really well!

That is all I have for this week! Thanks for reading, caring, and loving! You guys are great!

Love,

Hermana Mather

Me and my compi at the temple!

Bolivia has baby bananas here! How cool!

No Time... As Is the Life of a Missionary

4 Mayo 2015

AH!!!!! I am sitting in this internet cafe freaking out because we thought that we had had more time in the day (as if Mondays had an extra hour or something...). So let me just be honest... We logged on to read our emails this morning and respond to a few of them, and then we had people to see and things to do with our only free day of the week.... so to be honest, the time got away from us... So I really don’t have any time to write much right now =/

To update you on the week, I`ll just send you pictures with descriptions ;D and if I end up having much time I can send more of an update :D

Hermana Mather

Last P-day we had a BBQ and it was really cool,
because they had a parrot at the pension [apartment] that we went to!
Too cool!

We had some Sister Training Leaders from Sucre
stay at our place for a night after a leadership meeting

Super fun making pizzas in the home of a member for the training!

We made some pizzas for a ward missionary
training session that we had on Friday!
All they had were rectangular pans ;D

Miracles Really Do Happen

27 April 2015

Wow... this week has been so cool! This week our hopes and prayers were answered! Our investigator CAME BACK! Wow! How cool! We were honestly heartbroken when we heard that he had left and left behind his kids, until we received a call this week from one of the members that lives near him saying that he is back. And one more thing, we met with him this week and HE is the one who set his new baptismal date! How amazing!

Fun things to say for the week, I have officially carried on the CCM tradition and found the spirit animals of everyone in my Zone ;D very fun ;D They say that I am either a crane or a dolphin... who knows ;D

My companion and I were able to have a ‘noche de deversion’ [fun night] that is pretty much just a short lesson from us and then a bunch of games and refreshments at the end. SO fun! We had a lesson on fe [faith] then my compi and I gave them a bunch of games with balloons and another with an alphabet-soup-type game! Que divertido! [What fun!]

We also got the opportunity to go to the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple with our ward this week! This was quite the experience because at first we didn't think that we would be able to go. The mission rules are that we need to go with a recent convert who is going to the temple for the first time and we didn't have anyone... (This is a rule so that the missionaries don't flood the temple grounds and so that there is room for everyone else ;D) BUT! Long story short we ended up going because one of our AMAZING investigators wanted to go! Way cool that: 1. she even wanted to go and 2. that we had permission to go with her! It was such a wonderful day to just be on the grounds of the temple and to be able to share this with our investigator who we love to pieces!

Well, that is all I have time for this week, but take care, have fun, make the most of each moment and try something new (I tried cow intestine patties and cocaine cake- don’t worry it isn't “cocaine” cocaine - this week ;D)

Lovfte you!

Hermana Mather

Last p-day we went to a small Bolivian amusement park with my district! :D

We went to the temple with our ward this week!

The temple!

This is part of our area!

Haven’t Had Hot Water for a Week

20 Abril 2015

This week has been harder than usual... it has actually been kinda funny ;D  we haven’t had hot water for a week so we end up trying to warm up some water in our water boiler and take a ‘shower’ with that ;D also the baptism that we had fell through because the investigator that we had left for Chile, leaving his 13-year-old daughter behind to take care of her two little siblings and live with their grandma who isn't the best of influences because she is drunk practically every night... it’s been pretty sad to see things play out...

At these hard times I’m am reminded of the poem footsteps in the sand. I LOVE THIS POEM! It has such amazing meanings for me! It reminds me that Christ is always with us, in the good and the bad. And at times when things get really difficult and we feel all alone, these are the times that Christ is with us the most and is carrying us through these difficult times. I love the comfort and help that I can receive from my Savior and the love that I can feel from Him, for me and for all those around me!

Good news, my camera is here! WOOOOO! I’ll post some pictures of us with our new investigators ;D 

Funny story for the week- in our pension [apartment], two other companionships eat there -- one companionship of Hermanas and one companionship of Elders.  I was making faces for the emotions that they would name (sad, happy, angry, the like) and I made a face and one of the Elders just asked what emotion it was. I told him to guess and he just BURST out laughing! I had no idea why... and then he asked me about my ‘cara (face) de gas’! hehe He thought that I had said ‘gas’ instead of ‘guess’! So I officially have a ‘cara de gas’ in the mission! hehehe awkward... ;D

Tender mercies for the week:

• Cambios [companionship exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders] were this week and only one missionary from my zone was transferred to a different area! We are going to have an awesome zone of missionaries this transfer!
• I`m still learning slowly but surely! I have hope that I’ll be able to speak fluently sometime in my mission  ;)
• The ward members in Colcapirhua are really starting to get involved in the missionary work here (this is SO helpful!) the missionaries here are    so caring and funny and hard-working! It’s just great!

That’s all I have time for (especially with this HORRIBLE keyboard... I really am struggling to type anything...) Love you guys!

Hermana Mather

One of our new investigators: "Hermono Grinch"

Having fun between service activities!

My beautiful area!

Washing our clothes this morning!

Un Dia Mas de Vida‏ [One Day More of Life]

13 Abril 2015

The reason for the beginning of this email is every time that we pray with new investigators they ALWAYS thank the Lord for “one day more of life”! I think that that is way cool to thank the Lord for every single second and every single day that we get here in life to grow and learn and to become better! It really makes me appreciate all the time that I am given!

Every single day, my companion and I work SO hard! We come back to our apartment and are just beat and ready to plop into bed and sleep for days! Every day is so packed full of emotions and things to do and just WOW! So many people to love and to teach and to help!

Hehe, so funny story, it turns out that the people here REALLY love to talk! Really ;D and they honestly can talk for hours. I love listening to them and learning more about them! But at times, we have appointments right after another to visit more people in the area.... so we have a really hard time being on time for things ;D especially since I really don't know how to fluidly transition to end the conversation... so since we are always running late to things, we literally have to run from person to person, apt to apt ;d it is quite hilarious to see Hermanas running on the side of the roads at times, and we have had a few members of the ward come up to us and say that they saw us running on the side of the road ;D hehe

If you have time, look up the video Él Vive [He Lives] it is sooooooo good! Wow! It is so powerful! I love how it starts with how the Savior was a teacher, a friend, and prophet, and all these things for the people around him, how he died for us, but the greatest miracle of all is that HE LIVES! and He is in every second of our lives. He is always here for us. En las malas y en las buenas! En cada momento! El esta aqui! [In the bad and good! In every moment! He is here!] I also love that at the end of the video it says "buscalo" [look]! He is here in every moment and every seam of our lives—we just have to look for him!

soooooo... this week... we have just been working and teaching and helping everyone around us as is the life of a missionary :D

One cool thing, I feel like before my mission that I have a really strong testimony in English and now that I'm learning Spanish and reading my scriptures in Spanish, I’m gaining a testimony IN SPANISH! It is amazing to feel the swelling, large growing feeling that comes from this little seed (Alma 32) of faith and the  growth of a new testimony in a new language ;D

Challenges for those of you out there who have read this far in my email ;D :

1. Make goals for reading the Book of Mormon! It is so much easier to work towards a goal and be motivated by it!
2. Help the missionaries by letting them know of friends and people that could really enjoy the blessings of the gospel (that is everyone ;D)
3. Pray every morning and night! And when you do, wait just a little bit afterwards ;D its pretty awesome what the Lord can say when you are listening
4. Just keep smiling! No one is perfect and life is to be enjoyed! (Men are that they may have joy)

Tender mercies for the week: Either I have less bug bites, the bugs don't like my blood as much, or the bites have just stopped itching! Woo! My compi [companion] is lovely and patient and sweet! I have a lovely family who loves me and writes me, the people here are so open and kind. I have the energy each day to keep on going!

Keep your head up and your spirits high.

Love you guys!

Hermana Mather

Here in bolivia they have special days where no cars are allowed on the roads which is VERY different than usual!

 So we wanted to get a picture or two! Way cool! And this is one of the few roads in my area that is nicely paved!

We found glow sticks in our apartment the other night!