Week 54

Hey.  Hows it goin?

This week was pretty cool.  I hope that you enjoyed our totally awesome video.  yessss.  we rock.  So we had a great week.  lots of really cool stuff happened.  and We get to go and make salteñas after this... sweet. the most delicious food in Bolivia.  I will make them when i get home.. but the problem might be that the ingredients might not exist in utah... oi.. crap.  but ya, i will send some pictures if we can find an internet that is fast enough next week.  haha.  well everything is going great in Sucre.  we are teaching and working.  We have a lot of really super cool investigadors.

One of them is Oscar.  His girlfriend is a member, and we have been teaching him since i came here to sucre... before christmas.  He is super stubborn.  He changed his opinion every time that we went to teach him.. he is the one that invited all of his atheist friends to come listen to the lesson... sigh.  well, needless to say,  he has had a hard time with his testimony.  He really didnt want to pray and ask God for an answer, because he was afraid that God wouldnt answer and he would be disappointed.  We asked him the baptismal questions two weeks ago, and he said that he was uncertain about all of the questions... we knew that he wasnt progressing and he wasnt keeping the commandments that we had taught him.  This last week, we planned a lesson for him, promising him that if he prayed everyday and kept the commandments for one week, that he would recieve his answer.  And if he wasnt willing, we would have to drop him... So we went to his house, all prepared... and we sat down with him and a member... he seemed to be really happy. and he told us that we really didnt need to come visit him anymore.... uh oh... we thought that he was rejecting it all.... but then he told us that the reason was that this last week he was keeping all of the commandments and praying everyday, and that he felt a lot happier and that he had already recieved his answer and wants to be baptized next saturday.  wow!  He kept the promise before we even offered it to him.  major whiplash compared to the other lesson that we had with him.  He came to church and was participating the whole time.  it is like he is a completely different person.  wow.  It is amazing to watch the changes that God makes in the lives of the people who are looking for the truth.

My companion also overcame her fear of cows this week.  sweet.  She thinks that they are going to go all crazy and start attacking us, like in the bulls in the movies... i told her that they are just going to keep eating grass and pooping.  they have no reason to attack us.. haha!  but ya, it was pretty funny.

I also had to kick two drunks off of our doorstep .... twice!  so we could get into our apartment.  I guess it is an advantage to have 6 inches on everyone here... haha ! what can i say... i am hackin intimidating to all of the drunk bolivians. success...   well, i hope that you all had a great week,  i love ya, good luck, godspeed, and all that jazz

Hermana Milne 

Week 53

Hey HeY!

How are ya?  So it was a pretty good week... after carnival ended.  sweet!  We were trapped in the house all sunday and monday.. but at least i wrote a ton of letters.  sweet.  Then, on Tuesday, we had our zone conference with president. sweet!  President said that we might do an exchange with the sisters in Potosi.  sweet.  so i might go on a three day trip to another city.. awesome sauce.  Potosi has some of the most history in south america.  o man. cool.... but really, it is ridiculously cold there.  woo hoo.  we shall see.  but ya, it was a lot of fun.  also president taught us a ton of useful stuff.  We also redeemed the rest of the week in the five days that were left over after carnival.

So my companion and I got bored again... and so we made a valentines day movie.  enjoy!  we worked super hard on it.... haha.... ya.... o man we are so crazy.  but ya it was fun. and ya we just worked normal on valentines day... sigh.  bueno.

O ya and I got to hold a baby lamb this week... soooo cutttteee!  o man o man. it was on top of this mountain with one of the girls that we are teaching.  her name is olga and she is super super smart.  One of the smartest 11 years olds that i have ever met.  haha!  but ya, it was pretty much the coolest.  i know that this is short... but we are going to play some wallyball with the zone.  awesome.  o no! so we are sitting in an internet cafe right now, and there are a ton of teenagers here... and ya one of them has the same power ranger ringtone that i had before the mission... ahhh.  i am reaching for my cell phone that doesnt exist to see who has texted me... o man this is so oo  weird.  But ya i hope that you have a good week.  good luck. love ya and godspeed

Hermana Milne

Movie - my companion and i singing

foto 1 on top of a mountain with the little girl and the lamb

foto 2 during our weekly planning session.  the two best things from our respective countries.  USA - peanut butter   Argentina - Matte

Week 52

Hey HEy,    HApPY VaLeNTiNeS DaY!!  I hope that you all have a super great day!  haha, it will be a normal day for me... valentines day is in september in Bolivia... whatevs

Dont worry I am still alive.  so this week has been really crazy.  We have had quite a few carnival experiences... So a little kid had a water gun and was waiting for us in the street. My companion told him that we werent playing and that we had books, but he just smiled and sprayed my companion right in the face from 4 feet away... we almost killed him... but then we remembered that we are representatives of Jesus Christ... o ya.... sigh... bueno.  just keep walking.  We have been pelted with various water balloons and water guns, but we have yet to experience the bucket of water... i guess that is a blessing.  We couldnt leave the house yesterday because it was so crazy, and tomorrow we have zone conference... and then carnival is over... sweet!!! Mom is right. this is truly testing my patience and love for the people... oi... haha but ya, the elders think it is a ton of fun.  sigh...

We had a bbq with the elders last monday.  it was pretty good, but it ended up that the sisters had to cook and clean and the elders just played card games and board games... what the heckkk? whatevs.  o man o man.  but ya, it was a lot of fun.  

Okay, it is time for Janessa´s crazy moment of the week.  We were climbing a mountain out in the boonies.  the people only live on top of the mountain, and it is all dirt paths... as we were climbing... i was suddenly reminded of the Lord of the Rings... and the surroundings were almost the same as the movies... so naturally..... I totally started acting out Lord of the Rings on a small, abandoned, dirt mountain path in the middle of Bolivia.  yep... It rocked.  And my companion totally joined in,  Sometimes we are just hackin crazy, no wonder the kids think that we are going to steal their organs.  

But ya, i hope that you are doing well. I love ya and good luck this week.   godspeed.

Hermana Milne 

Week 51 - One Year Mark

Hellooooooooo!  yep dont get too excited, but i will have one year in the mission this week.  yes i know..... I just blew your mind.  

It is kind of blowing my mind as well.  okay, so this week pretty much rocked.  we woke up to some rockin fog this morning... first time in Bolivia that i have seen fog... weird.  o and i finally got all of your packages and letters!! that took two and a half months... but ya, thank you for the christmas notes and packages.  they really mean a lot.  shout out to shawn and chelsea. their letter pretty much was super hilarious.  thanks to the ward too!  it was really fun to read all of the notes from family and friends. and all of the members who tried to read my letters really enjoyed the notes in spanish too in my giant christmas card. haha! 

Okay, well what happened this week? we have been dodging children and adults with water guns, buckets, and water balloons. all week long.. sigh.  worst holiday ever.  And we found out that carnival is an old tradition where they pretty much worship the devil.  they do what ever they want for two weeks, and then it is exactly 40 days before easter, Like the demon inside of everyone is released, and then afterwards they go to church to repent for 40 days before easter for all that they did during carnival.  They ignore all of the laws and get super drunk.  we cant leave our house for four days during the climax of this holiday.  sigh.... boring.  Now they are starting to throw ice water balloons... yikes.  so illegal.  We now wear our plastic ponchos where ever we go.  haha we look ridiculous and slightly like blue aliens... and everyone laughs at us, but at least my scriptures are protected.  also the drunk bands are becoming more and more common.  sigh... oi.  We actually had two drunk old ladies give us cactus fruit and figs the other day ..  so random.  but these two types of fruit are like super delicious... and i totally got to eat fruit that Jesus ate.. blew your mind again. o ya and there is the plant here that they used to make Christ´s crown of thorns.  it is wicked sharp.  yikes.    

We helped a lady wash her laundry in a stream this week... how many of  you have had that experience?  awesome.... 

We are teaching a guy, and his uncle from Chile is listening in on our lessons too... it is the same guy that invited all of his atheist friends to the lessons.  well, his uncle is a math professor in Chile and he is Bahai.  which is like buddhist christian ish... i think... the lessons are getting more and more interesting every single time.  But his uncle is actually really cool.  haha!  O ya and one of the girls here got her mission call to serve in the arizona temple, cool right? she is leaving in march.  she came to proselyte with us this week.  which makes her very brave to come out with us during carnival.  she is super cool.  

I also had to get all of my shoes repaired this week... Somehow every pair of shoes that i own broke in the same week.   sigh... but ya, its all good now. o ya and we bought some hair dye... we were bored... needless to say, i am not really blonde anymore.... Just blew your mind AGAIN!! wow i am rockin this letter.  Well i will just leave it at that... i hope that you have a great week!  good luck and godspeed  Muhahahahaha!

Hermana Milne

Week 50

Hey HEy!

 

Okay... so transfers.... I am staying in Sucre with my companion, Hermana Cervera!  WooHoo!  sweeeet!  This transfer is going to be eight weeks long, so ya,  i am here until the end of March and probably even longer after that.  sweet.  We didnt have a lot of changes in the zone, so ya... its going to be pretty cool.  and fun!  yesss.

 

Okay so .. not a ton happened this week.  We dogded at least 20 water balloons this week, but yesterday the hackin kids finally caught me... i got hit with 2 water balloons on the way to a less actives house... sigh.. bueno. They say that when Feburary starts the people will start using buckets of water instead of water balloons... and their main target is all of the girls that are walking down the street.  they usually leave the men alone during Carnival.  really really bad news for sister missionaries.  haha!  so naturally, we are going to start wrapping our scriptures, cameras, and all valuables in plasic when we go out to teach.  We are also going to start wearing plastic ponchos everyday... haha o hackin.  so ya, we are going to look like total fools for the next two weeks... wearing plastic everywhere that we go.  oi.

 

Our wrd mission leader got married this last week, and we got to go help out with the food.  It was super cute!  His wife is catholic, so we hope that we will be able to talk to her sometime.  They made food from argentina, and it was sooooo good!  my companion was pretty happy to have some food from her country.  yum yum yum.  So we had some pretty crazy lessons this week.  The thing is... We really try hard to keep the investigators on subject with the gospel... but sometimes they pull a fast one on us and start talking about other super crazy stuff.  haha! this week in particular was strange.  we had conversations about the beliefs of Einstein, physics, Hawkins, aliens(several conversations), dinosaurs, and every other subject imaginable. hackin.  but ya, we usually can get them back on the right subject afterwards.  haha! o geez. Sometimes we just have to stop ourselves from just laughing!  but ya, we are waiting for all of the students to return to sucre in feburary.  Hopefully we will have some more normal conversations.

 

But ya, everything is going super great here in Bolivia.  I hope that you are doing well.  Good luck with this week, godspeed. i love ya family!

 

Hermana Milne

Week 49

Howdy!  from Bolivia.

 

Random fact.... I have the same hairdo as Legolas from The Lord of the Rings today... awesome.  I may or may not pretend to shoot arrows all day long today...  o ya that makes me super cool.

 

But ya, how is everyone doing?!  It has been a pretty crazy week.  It has rained for the past three days straight... lame!  Why didnt i bring rain boots? oi.. but ya, everything is going well in Sucre.  We had a fun week, and i can´t believe the time is passing by so fast.  This is the last week of this transfer... blah!  and the transfers are so unpredictable lately, that i dont know where i will be next week. but ya, cool. 

 

 We had a training with the president last tuesday.  it was super interesting.  The problem was that the assistents had to come and teach a class to us.  but their flight was delayed so they couldnt make it... so the president asked my companion and i to give the class in front of everyone 5 minutes before the conference started... o boy... but it actually went really well.  It is a good thing that the spirit tells us what we need to say in the precise moment that we need it.  And then, we had a suprise house inspection... phew!  luckily, everything was clean.  haha! o man.  interesting conference.  Then on sunday, we had to teach the adult sunday school class and then the primary... we taught them the apostasy and the restoration... missionary classic.  and once again, the children paid more attention than the adults.  haha!  75% of the adults fell asleep at some point during our class... geez haha. but it was pretty funny.  we only had 30 minutes to teach, but we finished in time. 

 

Okay so what happened this week?  We visited the gigantic famous cementary in Sucre.  it was super cool.  the trees are huge!! .... ummmm o ya, and we ate sheep for lunch on saturday.  that was pretty interesting... and it was actually pretty good. The computers here are super slow... and the computers here gave my memory card and flash a virus!  ugh!  what a pain.  now they do not work.  and i have to find someone with computer skills to fix them. Carnival is coming up too... this holiday is pretty much an excuse to throw water balloons at everyone in the street for the next month... not good news for missionaries.  In feburary, the official three days of carnival, we are trapped in the house because it is so bad.  ugh.  but i am sure that it will be super interesing. haha!  i will let you know if we get super soaked in the next few weeks.  

 

O ya! So we were teaching this woman the other day.  We taught her the first lesson, and she seemed really nice.  Then she told us that she was a missionary too... for the catholic church.  wow!  cool. She goes out and teaches all kinds of people.  But she was really cool about it, and she actually accepted a baptismal date... suprise!! Hopefully we will be able to go back and teach her again.  ... teach a catholic missionary the gospel...... check that one off of my list... haha

Last Tuesday, We were in the street and a man just walked up to us and started talking.  He was obviously completely drunk.  He just started talking about whatever, and he bought my companion some chips... cool?... haha.  so we started talking to him too.  We were talking about the gospel... when suddenly.... he just turned and started talking to michael jackson, who was apparently standing next to us... hahahah o man o man.  so funny.  we told him that he should probably stop drinking. We taught him the word of wisdom and gave him the pamphlet... then he just started balling... wha?  o man, drunks are super funny.  But ya,.....Teach a drunk guy the word of wisdom in the street.... check that one off of my list....

 

Well, i hope that everyone is doing super great!  Good luck this week, and let me know what you are up to.  i love ya!

 

Hermana Milne

Week 48

 Hey, So surprise! we spent an hour searching for a functional internetthis week. sigh... sucre bolivia..... what else can ya do? Now i have to be super fast because we have a time limit that was totally up an hour ago... haha! oi! okay well anyways... what happened this week?

 

 Last monday we went to a dinosaur park... it was okay. they only had footprints of dinosaurs and giant fake dinosuars. I got some pretty cool pictures. But they are so cheap. they charge three times as much if you are from a different country... what?? and extra if you want to take pictures.. sigh... but it was okay ish

 

 So we have a part of our area that is pretty much on the top of a mountain. We also have to cross a river using stones to get to an investigators house. It was rained alot lately, so the river was a little more crazy this time. dont worry, my companion totally has a video of me stranded on a rock, in the middle of river... in a hackin skirt. oi..... but ya it was pretty funny.

 

 The more traditional people have some pretty crazy beliefs. I learnedthis week, that the people have a interesting tradition. So whenever there is a storm coming, the farmers are afraid that it is going to hail. In order to prevent the hail from coming, they shoot off fireworks, to save their crops. uhhhh. okay cool. So ya usually the storms here are pretty noisy with thunder and fireworks. We were talking with a little girl that lives on top of the mountain... we asked her why the other kids never talked to us. she told us that they think the gringas are coming to steal their organs... o boy.. i am so glad i have such a fantastic reputation among the natives. hahaha! so that is why they are so shy and afraid. They think i am going to take a kidney with me when i leave. no wonder no one wants to come to church. We were also trying to teach a super old lady how to pray in Quechua... i dont know how successful we were, but she seemed really nice. it is tough because most of them dont speak spanish very well... sigh.. bueno.

 

 I had to give a surprise talk in sacrament meeting this week, and then we were in charge of the primary again for two hours. woo hoo. i gotta admit, some the kids are pretty cute... and others... not somuch. haha! I am also officially addicted to oreos and peanut butter... which is tough because peanut butter doesnt really exist here. but somehow we had a jar in the apartment... sweeet!!! O ya and strawberry waferitos... it is the cheapest and most delicious ice cream that they have in bolivia. sweet it is like 20 cents... so worth it!! But ya, everything is going really well. we are teaching a lot of different people. from old ladies that dont speak spanish to 24 yr old atheists. it is a lot of fun, and i am learning a lot. This is a university town, so we are just waiting for all of the students to return for classes. I hope that everything is going great this week. good luck and godspeed i love ya

 

 Hermana Milne