April 18

Thank you for the email. I might also get lazier with shorter emails in these last weeks. I don{t think I will call on Sunday of mother{s day because I will be busy with my last visits to people in Cochabamba. I also will not email on Monday the 9th.

I don{t know if anyone will travel with me, but I expect that there will be other missionaries with me until Panama or maybe until DC. I am finishing the mission with 2 other american sister and one american elder, but if they are going to the west coast we might part ways in Panama. 

I know the first names of most of my companions because of offical documents or email addresses, etc, but we never use them. 

Well, this has been a decently eventful week. 

First off, we are battling either beg bugs or fleas for the last two or so weeks. I washed all my clothes and sheets in hot water and it got a bit better, but we think the dogs of the member who we live with probably have fleas and we are going to buy some spray today to try to get rid of them. However, this has been a good learning experience for me because I have learned that I am capable of dealing with bugs without stressing out or thinking about it all the time.

Today we went to a village/town about an hour away called Tarbuco. (see photos) It was very peaceful, but there is completely nothing to do. It seems that there is a big Sunday fair that all the tourists go to, but early Monday morning everything is closed. We wandered around a bit, took photos, and had a adventure of finding a public restroom when they were all closed. One of the elders taught us to make a peashooter with a part of a plastic bottle and a balloon and we shot peas (which he just happened to have with him) at each other and for distance. 

On Friday we had a conference with all the missionaries outside of Cochabamba (Sucre, Potosi, Tupiza, Villazon, Uyuni) in Potosi. We visited very briefly the outside of the Mint House in the center (see pictures) and then had a lovely conference. I gave my testimony because it is my last zone conference. Potosi, the little that we saw of it, was very pretty, with an old colonial feel. However, the altidud gave me a headache and the trip home make everyone car sick because the driver went very fast around about a million curves. 

We met a great new investigator this week. Claudia felt like something out of 12 weeks (our training videos) because she expressed so openly that she is looking for something more in her life to improve her relationship with God. She has two cute little kids and we haven{t met her husband yet. It makes me so happy to be able to teach someone who really wants to learn more and to feel closer to God in her life. I know that this gospel will help her and her family.

I love you so much and can{t wait to see you all and hug you. I will have 18 months in the mission on the 22nd and then I will have 18 days left after that. Actually for me, I will only have until the 5th in sucre, working normally, then I go to Cochabamba for end of mission activities and time to visit my old areas. I love you so much. I miss you a lot.