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.