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

Week 47

 Hey, so we spent like 30 minutes trying to find a functional internet, and now the internet is so painfully slow, i can barely stand it... sigh. bueno...
 
 Well new years was a lot of fun. I washed laundry and went to dinner with the rest of the zone... The food was good, and we played a question game. I won a can of Dr. Pepper... wow.. so american. and delicious. And at midnight, we woke up to all of the yelling and fireworks... sigh.. whatevs. But the funniest part, was that there
 was a marching band that passed by our house during the night and again in the morning. In the morning we looked out the window, we realized that it wasnt a normal marching band... it was a completely wasted marching band. All the people were completely drunk and marching down the streets while playing their crazy music... dont worry, i totally have a video. It wasnt very funny when we were trying to sleep, but in the morning it was absolutely hilarious. The next day, we went out to visit some less active members. We walked past two old drunk guys... one of them was attempting to play the flute and the other was completely bawling... haha! maybe you just had to be there. unfortunately, i couldnt get my camera out in time to catch the moment... blast. But ya, it was an interesting holiday. o ya and some kid told us that he hacked into secret information from the U.S. and Spain governments that is going to change the world in 8 months... haha! o boy... very very interesting holiday.
 
 So we are still teaching the atheists and it is going super well. we think that they are understanding a little bit better now, and are really open to learn more. We are going to talk with them this wednesday, hopefully they will be willing to learn more and feel the spirit.
 
 We had a super great baptism this last saturday. Her name is Susan, and she is 19 years old. she is super cool, and has such a strong testimony. It is amazing that you can really see the difference aftersomeone gets baptized. they literally shine afterwards, and then she shared the most simple and beautiful testimony that i have ever heard. I love that the simple things are more spiritual.
 
 On sunday, we had a pretty crazy morning. We had to make sure that Susan was going to come to church to be confirmed, and we had to go pick up other investigators. The thing is... the other people live on top of a mountain.. we did a little bit of mountain climbing before church, and the investigators werent home... so we descended the mountain and headed to church. When we finished the first hour, they told us that none of the primary people showed up, so we needed to go control the primary for two hours. bueno... Child control is super exhausting, but we survived. It was a super great week, and next week is going to be even better. I hope that everyone is doing well, and that you enjoyed your first week of 2013! good luck this week, i love ya!
 
 Hermana Milne

Week 46

Happy New Years Eve!!  woo hooo!! ITS THE END OF THE WORLD!! ..... o wait  .... oops  ITS THE END OF THE YEAR.... ya that sounds right.

So what are all of your sweet plans for 2013?  can you believe that 2012 is totally over?  ... wow.  weird.  i will definitely be sleeping when it is new years... whatevs.  until 2014... but ya, how is the holiday season going for everyone?  It was pretty cool here....

okay so what did i do for christmas... well we woke up and followed the same routine. exercise, study and then we had our district meeting in the stake center.  it was really interesting, and we got to say feliz navidad to the elders in sucre.  i really dont know any of them so it was kinda weird, but ya. whatevs.  Then we had lunch with some members.  they made us the traditional bolivian christmas plate... a soup full of corn chicken and carrots... but ya it was pretty good.  then we went to do some service.  A lot of the poor people that live on the farms come into the city to beg for food and presents for christmas. so sucre is full of super poor families during the christmas season. we went and made hot chocolate and buñelos and then gave them out to the people in the streets.  it was a lot of fun and i got to learn how to cook some classic bolivian food.  but all it is, is fried bread... sweet. Then we headed home and waited for our families to call. it was a super great day.  It was so much fun being able to talk to the family and it sounds like everything is going well.

okay what else happened this week.... hmmm. o ya!  you wont believe it. so we are teaching this guy, and he has a few doubts.  We went to visit him with his girlfriend, who is a member, and he told us that he invited some of his friends to listen too.  oh i see... now we know why he has doubts... because all of his friends are athiests.. o hackin.  so we taught about the restoration to a group of atheists.... it actually was pretty interesting.   it didnt turn out a complete disaster.  They were actually really cool and listened to us. one of them actually found the book of mormon in the trash at school and read it.  He really liked what we had to teach.   We are going to teach them the plan of salvation this week.  woo hoo!  awesome.  it was a really spiritual lesson, i just hope that they recognized the spirit of God in the lesson too!

The ward had a temple trip this week, and didnt get back in time for church... so there were like 10 people in sacrament meeting this week.  it is tough, because a lot of the members are students at the university, so they are not here in december and january... and all of our investigators went home for christmas too.  haha! o man o man.  so we ended up teaching the young single adults class the second hour, and then the primary in the third hour.  Honestly, the primary kids were more attentive and willing to learn than the adult class.... sigh....

The other night we were walking down the street, and we saw an older lady that was shoveling dirt and rocks into bags and taking it into her house. We crossed the street and offered our help.  She was constructing something inside and had to  move all of the material inside, before it rained and washed away all of the dirt... we were on a hill. So my companion, another homeless guy that was looking for work, and I started helping her.  We were helping in our skirts for the first hour and a half, and needless to say, we got some pretty funny looks. haha! then we ran home and changed.  I was able to carry the rocks inside.  they were super concerned that i would get tired or hurt myself... but do not worry. i have had the practice.  It reminded me of all of the roofs that i helped dad tear off, back in the day... pretty much the same work. haha!  they couldnt believe it.  but I helped the other homeless kid carry, and my companion shoveled.  We were there for two and a half hours.  i cant imagine how long it would have taken without our help.  pheww.  but ya it was super fun, and exercise!! ya! 

Well i hope that everyone has a fantastic new year.  Dont be too crazy.  good luck and godspeed this week.  enjoy the holidays! i will write you next year. 

love ya

Hermana Milne

Week 44

Bueno.... hey.

 

So all is super crazy because christmas is coming up.  woo hoo.  craziness.  How is everyone doin at home?  i am sure it is going okay. but ya... honestly not a lot happened this week.

 

We had our christmas devotional with the mission president this last week.  it was a lot of fun.  we listened to some super awesome messages and then got to play some games.  the games were super fun.  the president had a pushup contest with the elders and the president won!! woo hoo awesome.  We also played some fun games with toiletpaper and pingpongs.  and i saved my companion from eating almonds, because she is totally allergic.  The food was soooooo good! o man. that is the best apple pie I have ever eaten in my life. wow!  blew my mind.

 

We also had the primary christmas party in the ward on saturday.  we were santa´s helpers.  we had three investigators come and visit the activity.  sweet.  the husband of our pensionista dressed up as santa and the kids almost died with excitement.  You could hear him from two blocks away.  ho ho ho! haha o man o man.  well we helped them out and had to take off for some more appointments. 

 

We are teaching a little girl named Camila.  Her family is less active members.  we are reactivating them and she really wants to be baptized. she is super smart. we asked her if she had read the bible and she started reciting memorized passages.  holy cow!  Her family is so amazing and we had a family night with them the other day and watched some mormon messages.  it was so cool.  but ya... that is pretty much it this week.  i hope that you are doing great at home.  and i hope that you enjoy the christmas season, and dont forget what it is actually really about.  godspeed. i love ya!

 

Hermana Milne

Week 43

Hola! como estan?

This week was pretty interesting.  ... like always!!!  So last monday we went paintballing with our zone.  woo hoo! it was sooo much fun.  i got hit in the shoulder and in the back.  but Elder Piñel totally cheated and pretended that he was out of paintballs and then walked by and shot me!  o hackin.  it was latinos versus gringos... only slightly separatist. but whatevs.

So we were preparing this kid named cristian for baptism.  we always taught him in a members house. but this week we found out that he technically lives in the ward boundaries of Colon. the ward next door... hmmmm o hackin.. so we had to pass him over to the elders. sigh. that stinks pretty bad. but hopefully we will find someone else to teach this week.  

My companion and I were studying one morning and we were eating a little breakfast too.  there was one piece of toast left on the plate and i told my companion that she could have it.  i didnt want any more.  she didnt want it either, so we just left in on the plate on the desk.  we started reading preach my gospel together and when we finished a section we both looked up. my comp told me that if i wanted the toast that i could eat all of it.. not just one bite.  i told her that i hadnt touched the toast and neither had she... but there was a big bite out of the piece of toast.  we were a little creeped out... we totally have a toast eating ghost in our house.... kind of awesome.  in a way.

Last Friday was my companions birthday.  woo hoo. 2 birthdays in one week!  we got to eat pizza and cocacola and chocolate cake. yuuuuummm!!! we had another party with the elders that eat with us, and they gave her some more matte to drink.  cool!! this birthday party, the both of us werent partly sick... sweet

We had a huge christmas choir devotional in the temple yesterday.  People from all parts of bolivia came to watch it.  it was amazing!  We handed out 4000 invitations in our area and we have a whole bunch of references to go a visit now.  all of the missionaries were waiting at the doors to catch the investigators and bring them in to the temple grounds.  muahahah.  The activity turned out really well, and I got to see some people from my old area.  especially Zenovia.  my bolivian grandma that took care of me for the first 4 months in the field.  woo hoo They decorated the temple grounds with christmas lights, so it was beautiful at night too.  we are so lucky to have the temple in our area.  well i gotta go, but i hope that everyone is doing great and good luck christmas shopping!  I love ya!


Hermana Milne

Week 42

Hello!  Christmas greetings!! it is December! woo hoo!

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. they were totally awesome.  This was probably my most interesting birthday in my life.  I will tell you all about it.  later. haha! This week was super interesting. we taught a record number of lessons.  We are handing out invitations for a choir christmas devotional in the temple, so it is super easy to start up conversations with everyone in the street.  and then we end up teaching them the gospel too. .. muahahah!  So there are a lot of street guards or watches in our area and we pretty much teach all of them because they cant escape from us.  but we were super surprised that one of them actually is interested in listening to us. haha! he had a lot of questions and we tried to answer all of them.  his name is Luis and he now has a baptismal date.  We also found a young couple named Luis and Jessica.  they have a 4 month old baby and are super interested in the gospel. they are like the ideal family that we could teach.  i will let you know how it all works out.  we gave them some mormon messages to watch and they are super interested.  they live like 2 blocks away from our house... sweeet! 

One day we ran out of breakfast food, so my companion and I decided to eat CocaCola and chocolate for breakfast... hahaha o man.  big mistake.  we were so hackin hyper allll day long.  We ended up line dancing in the street for awhile (dont worry no one was around) and bouncing off the walls in lunch.  But ya, it was a ton of fun!  haha!  i dont know if we will do it again though... because we totally crashed at night.

Okay so my birthday... let me just start from the beginning.  First of all it was fast sunday. so we didnt eat in the morning.  and it was dia de peaton.  which means that no cars are allowed in the street. everyone has to walk, to save the environment or something... so we had to walk all the way to church, which is like a good 35 or 40 minutes. o hackin.  we tried to pick up some investigators, but they couldnt come last minute.  so we just headed to church.  my comp was a little sick during church so we headed home. but we had to climb the gigantic hill back up to the house.  she almost died, ugh. but then we had a delicious lunch with the members slash landlords of our house.  they even made cake.. yum!!  Then I went out with the ward to hand out more invitations all day long. we did divisions, so my companion stayed with a member at home and i left with other sister missionaries.  But unfortunately, i was a little sick too.  3 and a half hours knocking doors in the hot sun... o man i wasnt feeling good.  we finally came back to the house and my comp was a little better, but i was worse.  One of the elders gave me a blessing and afterwards i felt completely fine!  wow, Priesthood works!  I know that the men in the church have the power and authority of God. We just need to have the faith and strength to press forward.  Then we had my  birthday party with my pensionista and 6 other missionaries.  They smashed my face in the cake because that is the tradition here and we sang and i introduced them to m&m sniffing... yes! awesome.  Then we headed home cuz my comp was still feeling a little down.  I am sending you some pictures from my bday and also from our jungle trip last week.   I hope everyone is doing well. and good luck this week!

Godspeed

Hermana Milne

Week 41

Hellloooooo!!

Okay so this week pretty much rocked... i am just going to start right off.

Thanksgiving.  I ate dinner with 13 other missionaries in our zone.  we ate at a members house.  she lived in the united states for 25 years so she knew exactly what to cook.  it was soooo good. the homemade pumpkin pie just about knocked me off my feet.  the latinos thought it was pretty strange, but they have never celebrated thanksgiving.  it is an american thing.  but ya.  the members father was there too.  he is 100 years old and completely healthy.  it was super cool to listen to all of his experiences.  he will turn 101 in a couple months.  

We did some service and helped a lady move... we had to carry all of her stuff down one floor and then up three floors to her new apartment... ugh.... Hermano Saul kept asking what we wanted and i just yelled... Justice... Freedom... and Saltenas!!! saltenas are the most delicious food in cochabamba... yum!!!  it was hard work, but we had a really good time.  

This last wednesday was the bolivian census... so we had to stay in the house all day long. if they find us in the street, they charge 1000 bolivianos and then you get arrested... so we stayed in the house all day long.. we studied, cleaned, washed clothes, planned, washed the dog, and took a celestial nap.  ahhhh awesome.  so productive and now our house is squeaky clean.

I was brushing my teeth the other day and worms started jumping out of the drain in the sink... gross 

My companion is from argentina and so she drinks a lot of matte. dad can explain what it is.  you have a special straw and cup and it is really hot drink... i didnt like it at first, but i think i am slowly getting addicted to it.  so dont blame me when i get back and crave matte every second.  haha!! yummmm you should try it!  And ya, my companion is just super cool we are really working well together and she is learning so fast!

There is going to be a huge christmas choir concert in the temple in two weeks and since the temple is in our area... we are responsible for passing out 4000 invitations.  holy cow.. but we are asking for help and that is pretty much what we are going to focus on this next week.  it is going to really great and it is super easy to approach and talk to people when you have a special invitation for them.  they are more willing to talk to you.  so we are going to have a ton of success in the next few weeks and then we are going to receive hundreds of references at the activity... or at least that is our plan.  haha.  

We have run into to Jehovahs witnesses almost every single day this week.... o hackin.  we almost invited them to the christmas choir concert and then i remembered that they dont celebrate christmas... phew. maybe we will invite them anyways.

Okay and so today was the best Pday of all time.  We got to go to chapari!!!! We had one of the highest baptismal rates as a zone last month so we got to go on a FIELD TRIP.  President took us in a big tourist bus to the tropical part of cochabamba.  the city is a normal climate, but you drive two hours and you are suddenly in the jungle... awesome.  we went and saw a bunch of waterfalls and got to visit a big lagoon... it was humid, tropical, muddy, and super fantastic.  we went hiking through the jungle, my companion had never been hiking before in her life... i dont think she liked it very much. but i was on top of the world.  Afterwards we went to a trout farm... and we ate fresh trout.... it was sooooo delicious.  such a good lunch. yum!!  we were with 30 missionaries and the president with his wife.  it was just so much fun.  missionaries are never allowed to visit there alone... so we are the most lucky missionaries in the mission.  yesssss.  i will hopefully be able to send some pictures soon.  

Well, that is what happened to me this week.  thank you for all of the emails and letters.  you are the best. i hope you have a super good week.  i love ya!  godspeed.

Hermana Milne

Week 40

Whatsup?!

 

How is everyone doing in Utah?  Good?  Everything is going well here in Bolivia.  This week has been full of training and conferences.  So i had to wait for my companion to come from the mtc, so i got to have a sleepover with the other hermanas in my zone.. awesome!  It was a ton a fun and the next day i headed to the temple for the trainer´s training meeting.  We talked all morning and then had lunch in the mission home with our new companions and then another training in the afternoon.  My companion totally rocks.  she is from Buenos Aires Argentina... city central.  She has been a member her entire life.  This is my first companion that is not a recent convert.  it is really interesting and different.  She was a tour guide before her mission... so she totally knows english perfectly.  wow.  my first comp to know english... also very different and new.  She has one little sister who is preparing her mission papers right now also.  She is super chill and spiritual.  we are going to have an awesome time.  We are for sure going to be together for 3 months, her birthday is in the first week of december too. we are pretty much going to party it up, in a missionary appropriate manner of course... ahah!  Training is a lot of fun.  We get to study together more and she is really motivated and ready to preach. 

 

So our second day we had a few appointments, but all of them fell through so we decided to walk the area and visit everyone that i knew.  We ended up walking all day long to the limit of our area and back.... nobody was home.  But we found two investigators at the last moment of the day. it turned out really well, but i made the mistake of making my new companion walk all day long on her second day... woops sorry!  We really didnt break into it slowly.  but i am learning.  it is a ton of fun to train. 

 

We had our conference with all of the missionaries in Cochabamba this last week.  We had a special guest come to visit.  Elder Allen: he is a seventy and the creator of Preach my Gospel.  he pretty much is in charge of the missionary work for the entire world.  He reports directly to the twelve apostles.  wow... no pressure.  we have been preparing for his visit for 2 months.  and wow it was worth it.  He taught us a lot of useful stuff that i am going to put into practice.  what a privledge to hear from him and learn so much.  so i was studying in Alma 36 37 38 and it was totally awesome.  i love this part of the book of mormon.  Alma is pretty much giving a bunch of really good advice to his kids.  I learned so much and i want to apply it in my life.  well i gotta go.  i hope that everything is going really well.  o ya.... and this last week i hit my nine months in the mission... half way..... can you believe it?  blows my mind.  well good luck. i love ya lots!

 

Hermana Milne

Week 39

HEy Hey.

 

So how is everything going?  how was Halloween?   I just found out that there was a hurricane... wow that is too bad.  I think it is so funny that i dont find out about anything until like a week or two later.  o man o man.   Well.... we had transfers yesterday.... My companion is leaving and I am staying in my area...... and i am training.  wow.  surprise!! My companion is going to still be in Cochabamba, but a different stake.  so this means that i am 80% sure that i am going to stay in the temple area for three more months. which means i am going to be in cochabamba for christmas. yesssss! christmas is the best in the city.  This also means that i will complete one year inside cochabamba without leaving the city.. wow!  It ought to be pretty interesting.  I do not know who my companion is yet.  they make it a big surprise. i will let you know how it goes next week. 

 

So something pretty crazy happened this week.  It lets me know that we really are instruments in God´s hands.  We were walking down the street and ran into a inactive member that we can NEVER find and talk to.  We talked to him in the street.  his name is Nefi and he is like 26 years old.  We finished talking and he told us that we should go visit this other family that is inactive... it wasnt part of our plans at all, but we said.. why not? and then we asked if he could come with us.  He really didnt want to, but he gave in and said that he would come with us to the door.  We arrived at the door and knocked for like 10 minutes.  they werent coming out, but we knew they were home.  Finally, the 18 yr old girl came out and she was shaking... we asked her what was wrong.  She said that her brother came home really drunk, and he was threatening her other younger brother, and the younger brother was trapped in the bathroom.  Then Nefi immediately called for help.  We stayed outside with the girl, while Nefi was helping the brothers out.  Then we saw the drunk brother and he had a knife in his pocket and he was totally out of it.  The backup arrived and helped the little brother and the sister leave the house without any trouble.  we left after that and Nefi and his friend were going to stay and take care of the brother. Surely, God led us to go help this family at the exact moment that they needed it and we just happen to have a member with us that could help.  That was a miracle.

 

So i got to help nurse some orphan puppies this week. that was pretty hackin cute.  i am going to have to get a picture with them next time that we visit.  O ya and speaking of animals... I had to kill a scorpion in our shower this week.  my companion just about died when she saw it in the trash can.  apparently when there are big rainstorms... all of the wildlife comes down from the mountains.. scorpions, spiders, rats... etc... needless to say, my comp was praying for a transfer.  her phobia is super serious. ahahah!  o man i gotta go buy some more bug spray. 

 

What did i do for halloween? Well we helped decorate for the primary activity for a day and a half.  it was a lot of fun.  It was in the brazilian´s house.  The couple both served their mission in the United States.  In fact the husband knows the McBride family really well.  it was pretty crazy. and interesting to talk with them. Their kids are super cute/crazy, the kids know english, spanish and portuguese. awesome.  Then we picked up some kids and other investigators and took them trick or treating in the gated community above the temple.  It was a lot of fun.  I will have to send you some pictures.  Well i gotta go. we gotta go pick up a new sister in the airport today.  Good luck with everything and let me know how the elections go!  I love ya lots!

 

Hermana Milne

Week 38

Hey Hey Hey!

 

How is everything going?  This week was pretty great.  The sisters in our zone got to sing in a baptism this last saturday.  I dont know how good we sounded... i really dont have much musical talent... but whatevs.  So ya, a family of 6 got baptized and it totally completely rocked.  A lot of the missionaries in our zone had baptisms this saturday so we were in baptisms all day long.  The girl that got baptized in our ward is soooo cool.  her name is angelica.. she has been coming to church for months. She has even been doing her personal progress in young womens even though she wasnt a member.  She has so many goals, and pretty much is the coolest teenager in Bolivia.  yes!  We also got a new mission leader this week.  It is the husband of our pensionista.  so we are in his house two times a day ...everyday.  Saul is from argentina and is a little crazy,  he is pretty much the funniest guy in Bolivia.  We are going to have a lot of fun.  O ya and transfers are next week... ahhhhhh!  i dont know if i am going to leave the ward or stay... we will just have to see.  i will let you guys know.

 

so the Assistants gave us a reference this last week.  We found the house finally, which was a complete miracle because it was hidden behind a catholic church.  So we rang the intercom doorbell, expecting to be completely rejected. but the woman was so excited that we came to visit her.  then we entered her home..... wow... it is the nicest house i have been in so far in bolivia.  It was a hackin mansion with a pool and everything... But the lady was super cool.  She has two sons and her husband and she said that she is missing something in her life and she wants us to help her and her family... awesome!!! it was so cool.  God is really guiding us to the people who are ready to listen. 

 

This sunday was the primary program in our ward... hahahha. it is just as good here as it is in utah.  the little kids are soooo cute!! and it was just so hilarous.  It was also my companions birthday this last week.  yum yum... we started the day with homemade pie and then had apple cake and ice cream and then more ice cream and then cake and then we had a special birthday lunch for her and then more cake... wow it was soooo delicious!!! yum. but so much food.  We also got special permission to eat pork.. sweet. first time i have eaten pork in a super long time.  Well, i hope that everything is going well. and have a Hackin Happy HAlloween!!  Godspeed.

 

Hermana Milne

Week 37

Hello Utah!

How is everything going at home?  So my instincts are telling me that it should be getting cold... but i am in bolivia.... and we are entering summer right now... huh.  so it is getting hot. and it is really windy. haha!  so we have the hot windy season for a while and then we hit the rainy season in january and feburary.  sweet.  It was pretty hackin hot this week.  but it really motivated us to find people to teach so they would let us into their house.  but! nobody has airconditioning here because the climate is usually so mild.  ugh.  the church was a little steamy yesterday, but we finally had normal church.  we had general conference, stake conference, and dividing the stake so we havent had a normal sunday for almost a month... wow!  it was pretty awesome.  

we had two birthday parties in the same day last week.  A lot of the birthday parties here occur in the early morning.  We headed to a members house and ate cake and a special hot chocolate for her birthday early in the morning.  yum the hot chocolate is sooooo good.  we need to have birthdays for often.  and then one of the elders that we eat with had his birthday dinner at night.  yuummmm PIZZA! yes... awesome.  good day. and!! my companions birthday is this wednesday, so we get more food.  and we got special permission from the president to eat pork.. we are usually not allowed to eat pork, lettuce, strawberry, or fish.  so naturally. all i crave is a good salad with ranch dressing and strawberry cheesecake.  hhaaha! 

but ya we had a really good week.  We finally know our area and we are working hard.  the investigators are doing really well. and the cell phone is just so fantastic.  we got to play some wallyball this morning.  it was sooo fun.  my companion played volleyball in high school too, so we are a pretty good team.  We also had our interviews with the president yesterday... president and sister Dyer are just so amazing.  They have so much love for the people of Bolivia and the all of the missionaries.  They really take care of us and know what we need to learn.  

So there is a house across the street from the temple that is almost an exact replica of the telytubby house.  It is pretty cool.  and members live there.  this family with 7 kids.  The mom is sooo cool.  Her husband is recovering from brain cancer and she has 7 kids to take care of. Hermana Saavedra is so caring and used to be a pensionista for the missionaries.  you can tell that she is a mom, because she gives the best hugs in Bolivia.  (she might even pass up Devin in her hugging skills.)  She is so humble and you can feel the love that is present in her home.  

The school that is in our area was supposed to have  5 parachuters drop down in to the street to celebrate their anniversary... but only 4 arrived.  one of the parachutes didnt open and the parachuter fell and died near the temple. in our area... and all the kids saw it.  luckily, we were in a training meeting in the stake center. but wow... i cant even believe it... Advice for the Week.... Do not go parachuting in Bolivia.  and i think i am going to leave it at that.  good luck this week.  i hope everything is going great!  i love ya and Godspeed


Hermana Milne