Week 34

HEy HEy Hey!

 

So another week has passed us by... crazy crazy crazy.

 

I had to teach sunday school yesterday.... principles of the gospel... in spanish... alone.  but ya, it went a lot better than i thought that it would.  sweeeeet.  hopefully, the members learned something... haha. o man o man.  I had a lot of help from our mission leader.  but ya, it is all good now... and general conference is this weekend.. awesomee!!!!!!  i am so hackin excited.. after this... that means that i only have one general conference left in boliva. weird. 

 

So we fixed our electricity and cleaned the house today. o ya and i hand washed my clothes... i am still not used to that.  ugh.  but we are going to go to the bolivian black market today to buy some stuff. i am pretty excited. 

 

So transfers were this last week, and my companion and i are going to stick around in villamoscu for six more weeks.  but the problem is that we have the temple in our area, so all of the sisters that are waiting for their companions get to come and hang out with us for a day or two.  on tuesday, hermana bates spent the night with us. she was finishing off her mission, and needed a place to sleep for her last night in bolivia.  so we were with her for a day. and then the next day hermana guerra spent the day and night with us because she was waiting for her companion to fly to cochabamba.  Wow, trios are pretty interesting.  we sure spent a lot of time on transfers... and we didnt even have a transfer. haha. geez.

 

We are teaching this woman named Lupe.  She is not a member.. but she has been a maintainence worker in the temple for the past 12 years. can you believe it.... she told us that she feels so much peace in the temple grounds and that she is finally ready to be taught and baptized.  she has two kids and is a single mom.  she helps maintain the temple grounds  when they need her.  all of the temple workers are so excited that we are teaching her.  she is really spiritual and a happy person.  i cant wait to talk with her again. 

 

We were at the mission leaders house last friday, and his wife made some banana shake for us.  she had a cup for herself, but her son threw a banana peel at her and somehow the cup of banana shake spilled and splashed up all in her face... ooooo. it was like a cartoon. haha.  but this is just one example of kids acting out.  the kids really like to act out when we come to visit.  every single home we go to... the children start acting like demons the moment we walk in the door.  they just really want the attention.  every single parent tells us that their kids usually arent like this... o yess... we know  hackin

 

well i hope that you all have a great week.  and enjoy the pictures.  we had a lunch with the presidents wife in the mission home.  and the next monday we had a bbq up on the hill.  this is the view.  i dont know if you can see it very well. and ya.  thats it.  good luck this week.  i love ya!!

 

Hermana Milke   (ya... sometimes the people say milk instead of milne) they think it is totally hilarious. haha

Week 33

Hey Hey!

 

How is everything going?  I am sure that it was an interesting week.  okay well, here it goes.

 

My companion let me in on a little Bolivian culture secret.  are you ready?  So Bolivianos show how much they care for you by how much food they offer you.... o hackin.  So ya, we cannot turn down the food.  HAha!  I dont know which is worse......  Fat and well liked....... or skinny and shunned.

 

Our new challenge that the president has given all of the missionaries is we have to memorize the Living Christ... wow!  it is a little bit harder in spanish but i am a quarter of the way through.  So ya, it you are super bored and need something to do on Sunday, you can read the Living Christ... it is super cool actually.

 

So, it was an interesting week... we havent had electricity for 4 days... dont worry, The blessings are that the shower still works and the blender. haha!! awesome.  It has been pretty cool,  we have to use candles at night.  pretty .... rustic... right?  I dont know how the people in the past only lived with candles.  So ya, big shout out to Thomas Eddison for inventing the light bulb.... (and if that historical fact is completely wrong... dont judge . my head is full of spanish right now) 

 

We had a really interesting Saturday.  We woke up and had to go find some baptismal clothes for a baptism, and then we went to a members house to iron our clothes... because we dont have electricity still... and what do you know... there happen to be a birthday breakfast with the relief society.  so we had a delicious breakfast.  then we ran to the baptism. (with refreshment)  then we had lunch at Tuesdays.... awesome.  it was like an american restaurant.... sooooo gooooood.  o man.  the texas roadhouse of bolivia.  We went with the brazilians that live in our ward.  At first, i thought that i just couldnt understand their spanish.... but ya.... they were totally speaking hackin portuguese. o ya.... riiiiggghhhtt.  hmm Then we went and did some service for some members in the ward. we worked all day long and then we went to dinner and what do you know.... it was another birthday dinner for our pensionista.  yyaaaayyy.  THe food was really good.  sooo.... much .... food.... but ya it was totally amazing.  

 

One of the assistants that we eat lunch and dinner with is going home this Tuesday.  So we had a farewell party in the pensionista´s house.  Each of us had to share a talent... It took me three days to figure out what i was going to do... I ended up with another one of my dad´s tricks... m&m sniffing... hackin awesome!  if you dont know what it is. ... ask my family.  Everyone was quite shocked at first, but then everyone decided that they wanted to give it a try.  haha!  I have never laughed so hard.  it was so much fun.  I took a video, but the internet here is slower than a donkey on the highway. 

 

We were teaching this lady in the park this last week.  and can i just say that there is some weird stuff on cable.  She shared everything that she had learned from cable about religion.  o man o man.  We talked with her for an hour and a half. After about the first 10 minutes i was completely confused.  hahahah.  some advice... read books. dont watch cable and repeat what you learn.  you might seem a little foolish.  Well ya, i gotta go.  we are having a bbq with the zone and maybe going to a museum today... sweeeet!  I hope that everything is going well at home.  I love you.  good luck this week. 

 

Hermana Milne

Week 32

Hey HEy HEy

 

This week went really really great.  I dont have a ton of time, but we taught like a million lessons this week.  It is so much fun in my area.  We are getting to know the people and we found a lot of new people to teach.  So we got the assignment to give a class in our zone meeting tomorrow... how to find new investigators.  so naturally, that was our main focus this last week.  we spent almost every moment looking for new people to teach.  wow wee.  it was a blast.  we talked to everyone that we could find. 

 

So there is this dog that lives in the house of the members that we live with... We named the dog pom pom, because we dont know her name and the family is in the united states for their daughters wedding.  So we pretty much take care of the dog... she is super old, and she hadnt had a haircut in like..... 2 years... so we decided to offer some service and give the dog a haircut.  .... an hour and a half later... we finally finished.  luckily she was really old so she didnt fight us a ton... it is a good thing i had experience... i truly did learn something all those times that i shaved the cat. haha awesome.  but ya, that is what we did one morning.  Also the teenager that takes care of the house totally locked us out two times this week. ugh... seriously?  but dont worry, thirty minutes of ringing the doorbell and we got in just fine... and of course the zone leaders were calling us and wanted to know where we were.  haha i am not sure if they believed us. 

 

So something extraordinary happened this week.  one morning, we got a phone call from a woman in the ward.  she called and said that she has decided to be baptized and that we need to come and teach her the lessons.  SHe has been investigating the church for 12 years... can you believe it?  So we have been going to her house every day to teach her all of the lessons.  She is a really great person.  all of her kids are members and have their families.  Her son is the bishop of the ward next to our ward. 

 

Well i am totally out of time. sorry it is so short.  i will write lots more next week.  i love you!  good luck this week. 

 

Hermana Milne

Week 31

Hey HEy  whatsup?

 So everything is going great.  We had a really interesting week.  We are still trying to get established in the ward.  The members are super awesome.  The ward is really nice and we are having a great time.  The house that we are living in belongs to some members.  They are in Utah right now for their daughters wedding.  They are supposed to come back tomorrow, so we will finally meet the people that we are living with. Haha! Cool.  Well today all of the sisters in Cochabamba  get to have lunch with Sister Dyer, the presidents wife.  I am so hackin excited.  She is going to cook American food!!! Ya!!!  So ya, that is what we are going to do today.  We also wanted to bathe the dog that lives in our house, because she is really dirty.  O ya I know… the life of a missionary is spectacular.  Okay so ya anyways… I guess I will just tell you what happened this week.

 My companion is from Orullo, which is about a four hour drive from here.  We were outside the temple and she recognized some people at the temple. Well it turns out the some people from her home town came to visit the temple.  … wow!  Well, we first ran into to this guy… and it was super awkward.   I didn’t know why until after when my comp told me that it was her exboyfriend…. Super weird.  Then another girl came running up and the first thing she said was that my companion was really fat!!  O my hackin.  I was ready to fight someone, but apparently it is not an insult in south America.  Ooookay! 

 So we went to visit a member in our ward. This family lives up on the hill in a private condo.  He is the consulate of Brazil.  So we had to hand over our identification to get in the gate.  We then attempted to find the house.  And of course we got completely lost in the private community.   We wandered around for twenty minutes and finally the guard came on his motorcycle and pointed us in the right direction.  Haha. Woops.  The house was so beautiful, I am going to bring my camera next time and take a picture of the view.  You can see all of Cochabamba from his house.  Wow.  They ordered pizza and then asked me to bless the food in English… sweet…. But then… I began to pray, and I couldn’t remember the English words. Haha.  I was praying half in Spanish and half in English.  My comp and the members thought it was pretty hilarious.  O hackin.

 So we went to the only existing supermarket in cochabamba, and guess what I found….Waffle Crisp!! The cereal that I hackin love.  I never could find it in Cedar City or in salt lake… but don’t worry I found it in the only supermarket in Cochabamba Bolivia.  Hahahh! Awesome!!  O ya and gobstoppers too. Heaven on earth. I forgot how much I love gobstoppers.  And my new favorite ice is called Waferito.  Yuuuummm it is like 20 cents in American money and soo addictive.  I cant stop eating them.  The waferito is going to be my down fall ,  I just know it…

 Power of prayer.  So we were late for dinner one night and it was dark and a little chilly.  We were waiting for the bus FOREVER!  And it never came. Whenever we need the bus, it doesn’t come. And when we don’t need it, it is right there.  So naturally, I thought it would be cool to pray for a bus to come… and within three minutes. The president and his wife pulled up in his car and gave us a ride to our pensionista´s house.   Score!!! God Cares.  (even if it is half in English and half in Spanish) haha

 We had an 8 year old get baptized yesterday.  His name is Randy, and we taught him the lessons to prepare him for his baptism.  He is a really good kid.  O ya and our mission leader asked me to give a talk and direct the music 5 minutes before it started.  O crap.  But ya I think that it went okay, I am pretty sure the members understood most of what I was saying.  Haha. But ya, we helped randy´s mom make empanadas for his baptism.  IT was soooo delicious. 

 Well I hope that everyone is doing well.  I am sure that everything is going great. And school has started!! O ya and a HUGE shoutout to my brothers.  Artem and Devin. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!  I love you! And I hope that you have fantastic birthdays this week.    Good luck this week. i gotta run.  Godspeed.

Hermana Milne

Week 30

Hey Hey Hey!!

 

So another week has ended and it sure has been hackin spectacular! 

 

Last monday we finally played some volleyball.  first time in seven months... awesome!! it was a ton of fun.  Then we went to some member´s house in my old area and had a bbq.  it was soo delicious.  william and leticia made everything and there were four missionaries there.  We talked about the family and i made sure that they were doing well. they are my converts.  Everything is going great.  Leticia got a calling and William recieved the priesthood, and the members are really helping them to learn everything in the church.  Then my companion gave me a haircut. sweet... free.    okaaay.  what else did we do this week.... well, a lot of our appointments fell through so we decided to find acts of service that we could do for the people in our area.... we walked a widow to the bus stop.. she talked talked and talked... i can only concentrate for so long.  It takes extra attention to understand in spanish, and it is super difficult to understand when the subject changes every three minutes and she doesnt stop talking... wow.  woops i guess i still have a lot of room to improve.  O ya! and remember Timbre the doorbell dog.  We went to the house again and  no one was home.  we realized that the dog had no water to drink and the house looked abandoned so naturally.... we walked all the way to our apartment and brought some water for the dog.  I think that he likes a better now... he doesnt bark as loud as usual.... haha. 

 

 Three times a year, cochabamba has a special day when no one can use their cars.  It happened this last sunday.  Only walking and bicycles are allowed on the streets.  It is like to show respect for the environment and try to clean the air or something.  It was super cool.  Everyone had to walk to church.  I am totally used to walking, but the members are not.  Not a lot of people came to church, and then we only had sacrament meeting because they didnt want to walk home in the afternoon heat.  We live up on the hill near the temple, so the walk is pretty difficult.  Some of the members came, but it was super cool because everyone was out on the street and just enjoying  the day.  It was really interesting. 

 

We eat with 4 other elders, and i realized that the cups we had were made of crystal... so naturally i started to make the cups sing... (i dont know what its called, but it is the same thing she does on Ms. Congeniality)  Well, naturally all of the elders wanted to learn how.  They practiced to for two days in order to get it down.  I just kept thinking how we always would have crystal cups when we went on our cruises.  haha!! I am sure our pensionista got a little tired of it, but my companion still cant do it.  she is pretty frustrated.  The elders think it is pretty awesome.  Thank you dad for teaching me such a valuble skill. haha! 

 

So we didnt have electricity for a day.  that was pretty fun.  We had to plan out in the street, and then get ready for bed in the dark... o hackin.  luckily my companion had a candle.  so we studied by candlelight.  It was a new experience... pretty intense.  And then there was a huge spider on the wall.  my hypothesis is that spiders seem a lot bigger and scarier when there is no electricity and only a candle... dont worry, i killed it.  But my comp was almost hysterical.  Then we decided we have a ghost in the house, because the next morning the window was wide open... woooohhhhhh.  haha!  or it was just the wind.  but a ghost sounds a lot cooler. 

 

So i thought it was really funny in our district meeting.  The missionaries were talking, and they said that satan has one good attribute... persistance.  He never gives up, he never stops tempting.  As missionaries, and members in general, we need to learn to be persistant in righteousness.  We must never give up and let oppurtunities pass us by. 

We also talked about the blessings that God gives us.   They say that:  

Obedience brings blessings    but....

Exact obedience brings miracles.

I dont know if that translates well, but i really like it... i ask myself if i am exactly obedient to all of the commandments of God?  If so, i know that i will see miracles occur with my investigators and my personal development as well. 

Yesterday is the past.  Today is the present.  Tomorrow is the future.  God gives us a present everyday, by letting us live one more day.  I like to think about this when i need to improve my attitude.  sometimes we just need to think about the blessings and the life that God has given us each day.

 

Well that is my uplifting thought for the month... enjoy.  haha!  I hope that everything is going well at home.  Good luck with everything this week.  Let me know what is happening!  I love you guys!!

 

Hermana Milne

Week 29

Hey Hey!!

How is everything going? So this week was really awesome.  We are getting to know all of the members and trying to find the investigators that the other sisters left for us.  it has been a little harder than expected.  ugh.  But ya, the members are super great.  My new zone is really cool too, we are going to have a great time in this ward. i just know it.  

Okay so the husband of our pensionista is a really funny guy... his name is Saul.  So the elders and I were sitting at the kitchen table when he came in and started cracking some jokes.  We were eating some apple cake (delicious!)  So I took a bite of cake at the exact moment that Saul cracked a joke.... and I exploded... haha!  i laughed and spewed apple cake all over one of the assistents...... uh.... sorry elder murphy.  o hackin.  But ya,  it was hilarious, and he hasnt stopped cracking even more jokes about it.  woops!! 

So we made american breakfast this morning with our pensionista.  it was soooo good.  We made omelets, hashbrowns, and pancakes.  fantastic, there is nothing more i can say.  Sunday night... the elders and hermano Saul had a hot chili pepper eating contest... o my goodness.  all of them had tears in their eyes.  I decided not to participate...but they said that the peppers are going to kill all of the parasites in their stomachs... hahahaa.  I guess there actually is a silver lining to everything.  The assistent from mexico won the contest... naturallly.  wow i cant believe it.  But it was a ton of fun, then i had to go home and frantically finish up all of my letters that i need to mail.  

So on wednesday morning, we recieved a phone call that the president´s wife and some elders were going to come and inspect our apartment in two hours... we have only been here for a week and we hadnt had time to clean everything from the previous sisters...  So then the chaos began.... We were frantically cleaning everything up, organizing papers, and taking out all of the garbage.  Then we had to get ready for the day.  We finished with ten minutes to spare.... phewwww..  We passed the inspection, and were totally exhausted for the rest of the day.  haha! needless to say, it was a good motivation for us to get everything in order in our apartment.  

The stake had a huge dance activity this saturday.  it was totally awesome.  all of the reliefsociety in the different wards had to dance the different dances of bolivia.  Every department has a unique dance.  It was so much fun to watch and learn more about the culture.  My companion is from bolivia, so she loved every single moment of it.  Every single dance, she would turn to me and say that this dance was reeeeallllllyy good, and that i should pay attention.  Haha, well there are 13 wards in our stake, and after about the seventh dance number,  everything began to look the same.  The activity was really great, and i cant believe they got all of those ladies to come and participate in the dances.  I have some vidoes in my camera, but i dont even know where to begin in order to send them to you.  

My companion has a serious phobia for ... all insects in general. haha.  She is from Orullo, which has a really high altitude, so there are not alot of insects there.  it my duty to kill all of the spiders in our house.  Which is all good, and i have definitely had to step up... we were at our pensionistas house eating dinner when my companion shrieked and started to swat the air all around her...  hahahaha.  it was a baby fruitfly who wanted some of the strawberry jam.... how much more harmless can you get. I couldnt help but laugh.  Our pensionista was super confused because one girl was shrieking and the other was laughing like crazy.  maybe you just had to be there.

There is one house in our ward that we are trying to visit.  We walked up to the door, and i started looking for the doorbell. but my companion told me to just wait.  the door bell will show up at any moment... wait... silence...i was a little confused and .... then this huge german shepherd comes around the corner and starts barking like crazy. . the dog is the doorbell.  haha!  so naturally we have named the dog Timbre... which is doorbell in spanish.  so i am so certain that i am totally going to name my future dog timbre if it is a boy... hahaha.  okay maybe you just had to be there again.... lame.  

Well i hope that everything is going well at home.  Good luck with everything this week. Enjoy the pictures.. hopefully they will come, it is taking forever to load. I love you!

Hermana Milne

Week 28

Hey Hey Hey! 

So ya what a crazy week!  So last monday I was frantically writing letters to all of the members and converts in Jaihuayco when I recieved an interesting phone call.... PSYCH!  I am being transfered to Potosi.  They told me i was leaving in the airplaned the next day... so i frantically packed and prepared to leave the city.... but....then.... Tuesday morning I recieved another phone call.... PSYCH AGAIN:  I am being transferred to VillaMoscu again.  Well, naturally this did no good for my mental health in general.  I was running from place to place and calling everyone to figure out what my transfer actually was ... for realsies.  ugh.  Well, wednesday they called and told me to pick up my companion in the airport.  okay....  We are going to villa moscu for sure.  My companion´s name is Hermana Blacutt.  She is from orulllo, Bolivia.  IT is like a four hour drive away.... can you imagine me serving my mission in St. George?.... ya that is what it is for her.  But she was in a different city up until now, Sucre.  She has a little sister and that is it.  She is graduated in economy and worked at a loan office before her mission.  She is super cool.  We are really just trying to not get lost in our area right now. haha!  Villa Moscu is super cool.  It is up on the hill, if you know what i mean.  They all have intercom doorbells.... o hackin.  missionaries worst nightmare.  Well, the members are waaaaaayyyyy super cool.  Our pensionista totally rocks.  Her food is sooooo good.  We share our pensionista with two other companionships of elders.... our district leader and the assistents to the president.  we eat with them twice a day everyday.  it is a lot of fun to talk with them.  I am definitely going to gain some weight in this area.  Every member so far has given us like an entire meal when we go to visit.  wow... but it is just so delicious.  But ya it is super different here.  the ward is so hackin organized.  It is almost like the wards in the u.s.   they even have programs for sacrament meeting... that really blew my mind.  

Well, some sisters that were in this area before came and showed us around a little bit this week.  it really helped alot! the sisters are super cool in cochabamba.  We went on our grand tour, and afterwards... we started from zero... reopening the area.  We werent extremely productive, but we know where the bishop lives!!! (the second floor of the house of our pensionista...) haha!!  awesome.  and easy.  We are also attempting to clean out our house... ugh gross.  but ya, my comp is super afraid of insects, so it was my responsibility to kill all of the spiders... and crazy and slightly uncomfortable fact....:  We have to tap our shoes in the mornings before we put them on because the scorpions like to hide inside of our shoes.... o my hackin... crap....  but ya, so far i havent seen one single scorpion so maybe the other sisters were trying to freak us out....  

Really cool people in my ward:
Temple Workers
THe consolate (or ambassador, i dunno)  of Brazil
Mission President
Temple President
A member of the Seventy
   awesome!!!!!!

O ya and we totally had lunch on saturday with the coolest members ever.  They live in the teletubby house... their house is literally almost an exact replica... hahahaha. i  will totally send you a picture if i have the opportunity to get into the house again.   the father is recovering from brain cancer and works across the street in the temple. they have seven kids, and are the most unique people i have met so far.  haha! awesome.  But ya, the members are really willing to help us and give us references.  i am really excited to get to know them and work side by side with them... Everything is going great.  I hope that everything is going well at home.  Ilove you!!

Janessa