December 21

Hi Mom, Hi Mom, Hi Mom,

I am so excited to get to talk to you all later on this week. Even though it´ll only be for about 40 minutes, I can still talk faster than I can type. I will be calling on christmas day at  4PM. I plan to call using your (mom´s) account and will call to dad´s account. If there are any problems I will send a message from this google account.

First the fotos.

 Last monday after internet we went clothes shopping in the cancha. I found, in the used tshirt bin, a lake quinsigamond rowing shirt. I thought of buying it for Charles, but decided not to. See if you can find Bromfield on the back.

We went to the temple to say goodbye to the missionaries who were leaving and ran into Hna Aliaga, my trainer. Actually, we didn´t run into her, she was there to say goodbye to Hna Molina. Anyway, she seems to be doing well and to be happy. she has almost a year out of the mission and is continuing her major in agriculture enginering or something like that.

Here I am with my new companion, Hna Bender. She´s cheerful, chill, and generally really cool. We are trying really hard not to speak in English all the time. She´s from Boise Idaho.

i did get your box last Tuesday. All my presents are waiting for me and the pine cones are all hung up using dentel floss. Between your gifts and grammies I have plenty to open. Plus, President and Hna Hansen gave everyone a stocking with cookies, a kitkat and a chapstick that says Bolivia Cochabamba mission.

I have had a crazy week with Hna Bender showing up and Hna Callata leaving and also it´s started to rain about every other day. It often rains really hard. Tuesday the water almost flooded our pensionista´s house and we spent a good bit of time squeegying out about two inches of water in some places. When in rains it only rains for two or three hours at a time, but it rains really hard and a lot of the streets turn to rivers. It also dries quickly.

In other news, Roberto is going to be baptised this Satuday. His name is cool because he´s Roberto Carlos. He is really looking forward to it and I am very happy for him. He was really looking for the truth and is so happy to have found it. He is reading the Book of Mormon and marking all his favorite parts to read to us. I will tell you more about him and his awesome family on Friday and send you pictures on Monday.

I decided to get over my fears and try to teach all my companions to give back rubs. So far so good. Hna Callata loved it although she was not very good at giving back rubs. Since I´m in Bolivia, I give and get a quick hug and kiss on the cheek about a dozen times a day, but that´s different from someone you can give a good hug to. With all my companions, we´ve hugged each other after each time we pray together, which is a lot. Although, I would very much like a good hug from you, I am not completely without hugs.

Thats all for now because I´ll get to talk to you all soon.

Love, love, love 

Natalie

PS I almost singed off Hna Watt. That´s just who I am here.

PPS. Hna Bender says that Charles looks a lot older that 18 and I agree that he had changed a lot.

December 14

Hi Mom,

I have not gotten the [Christmas] box yet, but as I have Grammie´s package, I will have somthing to open on Christmas morning (or probably in the night, as is the tradition here). 

My companion on the computer next to me, just accidently deleated a lot of her photos and is all stressed. I´m trying to be sympathetic, but I hope it doesn´t put her in a bad mood all day.

I think I have heard of "you´re not special" before. I like the idea because it means that even if you only achieve normal things in your life, you are still a good person. I don´t need to be the best in everything or anything. I just need to achieve good, normal things in my life. I should study hard so that I can be happy with myself, but I don´t need to be in the top 10% of the class. I should work hard as a missionary because I want to please God, but the fact that others have more success does not mean my work is not important. I can do good and important things without being ¨special¨ or extraordinary.

This week we were given our new Christmas video to share with our investigators and the people we try to talk with in the street. Here it is, if you want to see it. I really like the music and the part that says rejoice greatly. It makes me remember and be able to tell people that God wants us to be happy. That´s why He gave us Jesus Christ. 

The photos today are:

A lot of photos outside the temple during intercambios with Hna Chicaiza

The sidewalk outside the temple says missionary walk 2001. I don´t know why or what it´s refering to.

Hna Vilca and I. The camera goes blurry at night.

Hna Callata going through her photos as we wait for lunch to be ready. We eat in the back of the pensionistas store because the kitchen is often crowded. 

I had a LOT more to say, but I didn´t keep track of the time. I´ll write to you first next week and arrange for the skype call too.

I love you all a ton.

Love,

Natalie

December 7

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!! I love you so much and hope you have an awesome birthday. I didn´t find the time to send you anything, but I´m thinking of you all the same. I send you lots of hugs.

This weeks has been once again busy, but very good. I was a bit sick on Tuesday. I ate something on Monday (luke warm papaya juice, I think) that made me sick, but I was better again on Wednesday. We had intercambios, which makes the week both shorter because we are too busy and longer because there is a lot to do.

We are assigned to the sister missionaries in two zones, six companioships, 12 missionaries in total. We do one intercambios per companionship per transfer for everyone. We generally do two intercambios per week. Other months we might have spread them out more, but Hna Callata goes home on the 17th. (they are sending the missionaries who leave this transfer home a week and a half early because it would be sad to get home two days after Christmas). We report on the intercambios to President Hansen and imform him if the sisters need any help from him. If they have problems we also work together with their zone leaders, who often see them more frequently.

Thus I have learned my area pretty quickly and am now able to be here for the day with another sister instead of always being the one who goes to their area.

I realize that my grammar is sometimes coming out wierdly, but I am too lazy to try to think of what would sound better when I know that it´s understandable. I do feel that my Spanish continues to improve. Phone conversations are still the most difficult, but I´m good with just about any other situation. My grammar isn´t perfect in Spanish, but people don´t speak with perfect grammar here anyway, so I´m okay. I no longer have to take the spanish exames. I had so much trouble getting them to work that Hna Hansen looked into it. It turns out that I never had to take them because I was in the MTC for only two weeks. I feel confident with my spanish. I look forward to be able to test my reading skills on spanish books other than the scriptures. The hardest thing to read in spanish for me is our booklet for training new missionaries, but I think that´s because it was translated from English really badly.

I think I will have permission to skype only on Christmas unless you really have a conflict with that date. I would perfer to skype Christmas morning like last year and hope to see the Christmas tree better decorated than last year. :) I have no idea where I will be or with whose computer, but I´ll arrange that the week before.

Thanks for the pictures and the story about your personal earthquake. I and my companion also laughed at the breakdancing story. Don´t worry, we laughed at the story, not at Charles.

One of the things I have been thinking of recently is having an eternal perspective. Thinking of things, especially when making decisions, in the bigger picture. This means remembering who we are, children of God, and that we have a huge potential if we chose to develop it. When I remember to have an eternal perspective, I remember that the decisions I take have consequences. Sometimes it´s little consequences. For example, I think to myself, I don´t want to wash my socks, but if I don´t wash them, I won´t have clean socks tomorrow. Sometimes the consequences are truly eternal. I remember God´s promises in the scriptures, that if I endure to the end and serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, I will have eternal life.

I think eternal perspective is what a lot of people, both investigators and some missionaries, lack. If you have eternal perspective, you realize that the spiritual part of life is of much greater importance than the physical and that obedience to realize future blessings is more important that our momentary desires. I guess, delayed gratification is very connected. If I had realized this earlier, I think I would have studied a lot more and made the sacrifice to wake up for seminary more too.

The Fotos:

Temple at dusk. It was actually cloudly for once. It´s starting to be a little cloudlier as it starts to rain occasionaly.

The temple´s nativity scene.

My camera is always blurry at night. I don´t know why. Hna Simons came to the temple from Santa Cruz and we talked for a few minutes. She´s doing well, but says that the transition from the mission to being at home is very hard.

This is how bananas grow.

The mission home is beautifully decorated for Christmas. We went because Hna Callata had her end of mission interveiw (even though she still has two more weeks). 

I love you a ton and hope you have a great week. I miss you, but I stay very busy. I send you lots of love and many happy birthdays and a hug with a kiss on the check, Bolivian-style.

Love,

Natalie

PS If you want to look up Bolivian music, Los Kjarkas are a popular folk music group. There is style of dance from Potosi called Tinku that I especially like.

November 30

See November 23 for the letter and photos we didn't get last week.

For thanksgiving we had a conference of all the missionaries in Cochabamba with Elder Godoy, one of the area seventies. However, it was just a coincidence that she had time to visit on thanksgiving and there was nothing thanksgiving themed. Howevers, the pensionista made us psumpkin pie.

This keyboard is really old and is driving me nuts, please excuse all the extra s´s that show up ramdomly. I don´t know if I found and deleted them all. This message will be sshort because I donñ´t have time nor pacience.

President Hansen asked us all to be obedient with exactness and to record the miricales that happen as a result.

On saturday we helped a woman to carry her shopping bags into her house and then asked borrow her batheroom. This gave us the change to talk to her and get to know her a bit more. She invited us back to teach her and her children about the plan of salvation next week. 

We are currently teaching Roberto who is a wonderful christian. He loves God and is actively looking for the true church. On Thursday we fasted with him to help him recongize the answer of the Holy Ghost. Although he still wasn´t sure, he happily accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of December. 

This Sunday he came to church for the first time and I think he really liked it. After the second hour he quietly told us ¨sisters I think this is the true church. I´m not totally sure, but I think I´ve found it." Roberto is a miracle. 

This weeks photos:

Monday Hna Vilchez and I took selfies in Luigsi´s

We also bought hats. Ever since I bought my hat it´s been very windy and starting to rain, so I haven´t used it much.

Hna Olivias and I in intercambios.

In intercambsios with Hna Vilchez on a little bridge.

That´s all for today. I love you all a ton.

Please explain to Grammie that I simply don´t have time to write to her every week, but i send her my love and a big hug and on the blog she can read everything. 

November 23

Thanks for all the fotos and the thanksgiving wishes. I had forgotten that it was thanksgiving. 

I´m happy to hear that you finally got my card and letter. I had given up on that letter and thus have not sent Mom anything physical for her birthday.

Hna Callata (with two l´s I discovered) and I are doing well. We´ve gotten off to an interesting start with two of the sister missionaries in the zones we cover not getting along at all. We knew that their personalities would clash a bit, but we didn´t realize that it would happen within so short a time. We visited them, did an exchange (intercambio) for a day, and tried to get them to work together. I think they are okay together now, but wow, was that an exciting way to start being a capacitadora. 

My new ward is actually very mountanous. You can see in a map that only about half of it is in the mountains, but we do most of our teaching there. It´s very pretty and very good exercise, but also very hot and sunny. I am having to put on sunscreen several times a day and this afternoon we are going to go buy hats. We recently got permission to wear hats if the weather requieres. Usually we try not to wear hats because we already get confused with the Jehovah´s Witnesses enough and they always have hats and umbrellas, however it´s just too sunny to not have a hat. Expect photos next week. 

The Photos:

The view from really high up. We are up at the hight of the cellphone towers. 

We bought really good ice cream from the first ice cream truck that I´ve seen in Bolivia. We think he was a church member, because he refused to let us pay for the ice cream.

The panaramic shot is out of our window. 

The church building. You have to go down  a flight of stairs to enter. 

We had a baptism this Saturday. Her name is Brenda and I only met her once before her baptism, so I don´t really feel that she counts as my baptism. However, she is really awesome and has a strong testimony of the church, the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.

We are with the Hna Cicotte in the pictures because she is in trio for a week while her companion had to go defend her thesis in Ecudaor. It´s pretty wierd that she got permision and we hope she comes back. 

Brenda with her friends, Amanda and Emily (or Amielia).

The return missionary who baptised her, Jorge. They are not dating at the moment, but everyone thinks they will. 

Photos of our awesome trio leaving the house this morning. You can also see that the room is pretty, but pretty small and not all that organized at the moment. 

My cards and fotos and my pinecone.  

May I suggests another book for your studies? Our Search for Happiness is not all that long and is sort of an introduction to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written by the Apostle, Elder Russel M Ballard. I have only read it in Spanish, but I am sure that it is equally good in English. I´m not sure if you can get it from the library, but if not, I will send it to you for Christmas. I really liked the book because it is interesting to read and also walks you through a lot of the basic beliefs of the church in a way that is not complicated, but isn´t overly simple either. I learned a bunch about the beginnings of the catholic church with Linus as the bishop of Rome and also more about the reformers. 

That´s all the time I have today. I hope you have a great week. 

November 16

A surprised cat, who doesn't live here, but kept coming in to the patio.

Yes, I got transfered. I was actually pretty sad about it at first. I decided at last minute that I would really rather stay in Cobija with Hna Garcia and the great ward leader. Also, the bishop invited us to his house for Christmas. However, my opinion has no effect on transfers so I am going to the cala cala ward as a sister training leader. As you will find out when you look it up on lds maps, cala cala is Cobija´s next door neighbor. I was a little disappointed because it is also a rather wealthy area. However, I had enough experience in the mission to know that the transfers are inspired and that I need to be in cala cala.

Another thing that helped me feel more positively is that I called my new companion, Hna Cayata, last night. She is so excited and pleased to have me as her companion and her positive energy wore off on me. My replacement here is Hna Greenhaugh, who I know vaguely to be a good person and I have assured Hna Garcia that she will be great. 

Hne Cayata told me that this is her last transfer in the mission, so I know going in that I have to learn the area in only one transfer, which feels manageable. Also, as a sister training leader (capacitadora) I will do intercambios (exchanges with the sisters in universidad and sacba stakes). I am not a huge fan of lots of intercambios, but this also feels manageable. It was not a huge surprise to be called as a capacitadora because I now have a good time in the mission and our mission has received so many new missionaries recently (30% have 3 months or less) that I am among the oldest.

Modeling my aguayo that I bought last week. It can all work as a table clothe, picnic blanket, or baby blanket.

I finally made the hummus recipe. It turned out really garlicy, but still good and very hummusy.

This morning we went to play basket ball as a district first thing in the morning. Afterwards, we took a photo. Elder May, who is recently joining the district today, took the photo, so I got a photo of him afterwards.

on the way back to the house I took some more photos.

I don´t particularly like this metal horse, but I walked past it at least 3 or four times a day.

One of the bigger avenues in the area.

Best mural ever.

The three pets of the house´s owners. as seen from our door on the second floor.

Hna Garcia waiting for me to finish taking photos.

We live (d) at Suipacha and general acha, which I said several times a week to taxi drivers. Taxis are cheap enough to take when we are running really late.

November 9

I really miss you and hearing that you accidentally brought out a place setting for me made me cry. Everything is fine here and I am getting along super well with Hna Garcia, but I still miss you. I feel that I am getting towards the end of my mission, but at the same time I still have many months left. 

Next week I will know if I have a transfer. I´m pretty sure I will, but I actually might  perfer to stay here. I get along well with Hna Garcia and we have lots of plans to work hard and improve in this ward. I know the ward members well and we have plans to visit the last few active members who I don´t know. I know the streets and can find directions quickly and we never get lost anymore. When I go the area will no longer have someone who knows it well because Hna Garcia has only been here for one transfer while I am on my 5th here. However, I think I will leave in a week.

I haven´t recieved anything yet, but Elder Hansen, who is in charge of the mail, says that I have somethings in the office and he´ll bring them to me when he gets the chance. Packages get to bolivia pretty quickly. Then slow down a bit from la paz to Cochabamba and then slow down even more when an elder has to pick them up from the city post office and remember to bring them to me. 

Yes, Robert sent me some nice, normal day around the house photos. Charles looks way more grown up.

I think that´s it for this week. Things are going well. 

Oh, I almost forgot the most important. We are just starting to teach a woman named Teresa a few weeks ago, she is really nice to us, but really evangelical. The first time we talked about the Book of Mormon, she said, no no no and didn´t want to hear anything about it. We insisted on leaving her a copy and she said she might read it. Well, in the next lesson I asked her if she had read it and she said ¨yes, and it´s a marvel, it´s poetic¨ with a big smile. The Book of Mormon has that power and that effect on people. When you read it, you can feel the Spirit and know that you are reading something good. When you pray to ask God if it´s true the Spirit comes even more strongly. The promise in Moroni 10:4 is true. Later on in the lesson, we asked Teresa if she thinks that Joseph Smith is a prophet. She said that he was a good and a holy man, but she isn´t sure if he´s a prophet because she´s really wary of false prophets. However, this was a huge progress for her and I was really happy to be reminded of how the Book of Mormon can really touch our hearts.

I bought leather scripture covers that many of the missionaries buy. I´m really happy about how they turned out. You will see in the photo the Boston temple and the cochabamba temple and one of my favorite scriptures. The cover will be for an English quad, which I plan to buy when I get home. They cost about 23 dollars, which is really cheap for nice leather things, but took up a lot of my monthly allowence. I will have to take money out of my bank account again this month.

This morning we went to play futbol (soccer) in a part of Cochabamba that I hadn´t visited before. It was fun to run around a bit. We played gringos vs latinos, which not only makes it easier to remember who´s on your team, but also gets more exciting. I played on the latinos team because none of the elders really cared which team the sisters were on and I ¨wanted to win¨, which we were (winning) as I and the other sisters left. We had a lot of shopping and errands to run and didn´t want to stay as long playing futbol.

 

On the way up from the road to the futbol field, we passed a whole bunch of sheep. We stopped to take fotos because sheep are not common in our bit of the city. 

You can see the Cristo de la Concordia in the distance back of one of the fotos. 

Then we waited for the trufi to go to the cancha to go shopping. I bought a couple souveniers, mangos (¨hand over a whole mango, please¨), and got my watch fixed. The wrist band had finally, and after a lot of glue fallen apart, and I bought a new band. 

I tried to take a selfie of us, but I didn´t show up in the foto. Hna Balderrama has a cool shirt that says ¨I´m the fun friend¨