May 4

Thanks for your lovely letter. It{s good to know how you all are doing. I can imagine the Spring weather. Today, it also feels rather springish here, sunny and perfectly not too hot or to cold. However, it is technically fall. This doesn{t make a big different, but it has barely rained for about a month. It gets rather hot at noon and pretty cold at night and in the early morning, but I have finally gotten into a habit of always putting on sunscreen and find myself to be pretty resistant to different temperatures. I am used to much colder weather, so I am always the last to get cold or put on a sweater.

Hazel{s plans sound so exciting. I didn{t know there was a biking bit. I would love to explore new england like that. I sent her a postcard, but I think it will get home before she does.

Thanks for the advice on myself. I think knowing that will actually help a bit. In this week, I{ve made a lot of effort to pay attention to how Hna Gonzales is feeling (emotionally and physically) so that when she{s upset, she{s at least not upset with me. That does mean deferring to her opinions and judgement a bit more, but I find that it doesn{t matter that much. If we walk in the direction that I think takes longer or decide to take a taxi when I think we don{t need to, the effect of that choice wears off faster than being upset with each other does.

Every Thursday after weekly planning we do a companionship inventory. With Hna Aliaga she said we had to say two nice things and one thing to improve on. With Hna nuñez we just said, [things are going well. Yep? yep. This week we talked for at least half an hour and both of us cried, but we{ve gotten along much better since then.

One of the things that makes this companionship hard is that it{s a difficult area. We don{t have many new investigators and the members aren{t as excited to work with us. That puts more stress on us, but once I realized that I was able to adjust for it. 

We eat lunch with 7 other missionaries (I still don{t have pictures). Us, the other sisters in the district, and the five secretaries. There is a secretary of tramites (procedures), of registros (new baptism records), two of finances, and one more that I can{t remember, but he does flights among other things. We eat dinner just us and two of the secretaries because the others live further away. It{s pretty fun and relaxed.  We are sometimes eating all together, but often some arrive late or early so that we aren{t all starting and finishing at the same time.

I don{t really get the question about what spaces we share in common. We eat in the dinning room of the pensionista{s house and sometimes use her bathroom.

I{m missing all the boys growing up! I realize that I also missed a lot being at byu, but your descriptions of Robert are not the same Robert I remember. Does he make his own snack when he gets home from school too?

Pictures: we made brownies with Rosalin. They turned out really well. Rosalin and her husband, Rodrigo, are both return missionaries, but they only got married a month ago, so we are helping them in their process of becoming fully active in the church again. We always end up staying in their house later than we planned because they are our friends and we enjoy talking and cooking with Rosalin. The best brownie stuck to the placemat, but it was delicious and I now know how to make brownies from scratch. We also cooked (a different day) pizza,which was yummy, but very different from american pizza. The main different in that it{s made with ketchup instead of pizza tomato sauce, baloney, and canned corn kernels. 

I also came across a pamphlet on the laws related to lost children that has harry potter fan art as the picture. Look at it. It{s Harry and Ginny in their school uniforms. 

This next week we have zone conference, which we have once every three months, and also will go to the temple! I{m sure there will be photos.

I love you and look forward to seeing you on skype next week!

-Natalie

PS I almost signed my email Hna Watt

PPS If you see Sister Winroth, please thank her for her lovely card. It has a painting of the temple and I stuck in up on my wall. 

April 27

Cobija is different. It´s right in the city. The first thing you notice is that there is a lot more traffic and a lot fewer street dogs. The people are much wealthier and better educated. This is at first a benefit because they read and understand the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets, but they are also a lot less interested in learning about the church over all. In Villa Mexico we rarely knocked on doors because we didn´t need to much. We met people who were sitting on their front steps or we knocked on a handful of doors and at least half of the people agreed to let us come back to visit again. In Cobija this week we knocked on more than 30 doors and only got one yes and two maybes that we could teach them about the church. However, the ward is very good and well organized. 

Hna Gonzales only has one transfer in this area so she´s still getting to know it and the people here. She just ended a really difficult transfer. She and her companion didn´t get along at all, so I´m trying to be patient with her, but I´m starting to think it wasn´t all her companion´s fault. I know that I´m not a perfect companion either. I ask way too many questions without remembering the answers (who is that investigator, how long have we been teaching them, where are we relative to x other place). I tested Hna Aliaga´s patience too. The street noise also makes things difficult in some parts of the area. I also sometimes forget to think about other people´s feelings when I am trying to get things done. Hna Gonzales gets on my nerves sometimes because she does things (such as weekly and daily planning differently and sometimes isn´t very open to suggestions). 

Hna Gonzales has a year in the mission. She is a good missionary in general. She is a convert and only got baptised about three years ago. Her older sister got baptised first. The twin of that sister got baptised a week ago last saturday and he mom is thinking of investigating the church. She´s pretty introverted and doesn´t like having a ton of people the pension. I´m not nearly as introverted as I thought. I feel tired of talking to people at the end of the day, but I like all the chatter of the pension.

However, I know that we both have the same goals and want to get along, so I think we´ll find a way to compromise. I know that I need to be more charitable in all senses of charity. I need to love other people more and pay attention to them. I´m good at doing that when we are in a lesson and all my attention is on how the other person is feeling and thinking, but when my main goal is remembering where the streets are or which trufi goes where, I often forget. We also argued a bit other the other sense of charity. A man came into the church this Sunday with a story of how he was robbed and needs money to get back home (a few hours outside of the city). I was sure he was lying and tried to tell Hna Gonzales this, but she sort of snapped at me that it didn´t matter because we should try to help him. It turned out that the bishop wasn´t there and thus no one had the authority to give him money and they sent him of to a different ward. Hna Gonzales was probably right that it isn´t our job to judge who really needs help, but I still think he was lying. 

I was a little disappointed when I got this transfer because I thought the middle of the city was a ¨soft¨ area and that I could manage something harder. However, I´ve realized that this is actually a difficult area. The people aren´t nearly as receptive. Although, the ward is very well organized with great people, we don´t have anyone who regularly visits with us like we did in villa mexico.

the new pictures.

Last monday I went to say goodbye to Nicole and Malena. It was pretty awkward, because we´ve hardly seen them for a week or two. Nicole is strugglying because she still doesn´t have any friends at church and no one talks to her.

Hna Gonzales and I. This is a really unflattering picture of me. I don´t like that shirt much, but people will notice if I always wear the same thing. 

Elder Walton´s birthday and cake. He wasn´t that happy because he doesn´t really like celebrating his birthday, but the cake was yummy. the tradition is that the person has to take a bit out of his cake and as they do they get their face pushed into it. Luckly, no one tried to do this with Elder Walton. The other missionary is Elder Mandujano, who is also from Peru. He doesn´t know where his last name comes from. 

the view out the window. We are only on the second floor. (out of three, I think)

The apartment´s main room. The bedroom is normal and not very intersting to take a picture of. The bathroom is tiny., but the main room have lots of extra space. I put up my pictures on the walls and my pinecone too. We have lots of draw space for books or clothing, but there is nowhere to dry towels except for the two extra matresses. 

We sometimes split into Latinos and nortemericanos (or gringos), but not always. The language is almost always Spanish unless absolutly everyone nearby speaks English or unless there is a new missionary who doesn´t speak spanish much at all.

I will see Hna Nuñez occasionally on mondays, but only of one transfer more. She broke her wrist this morning playing futbol and has a white plaster cast for the next six weeks, but is taking it very well. 

I bought two new skirts and have two new shirts that Hna Aliaga left me. The second new skirt needs repairs (it´s a bit see through) before I can wear it. We might go clothes shopping next Monday, but if not, I might want some new skirts (I know exactly which ones). It´s only slightly colder and I still am rarely wearing my sweaters and blazers. 

Hna Nuñez and I did 15 minutes of stretching. Here we have more space and exercise a bit more. I´ve finally learned to do a proper sit up and generally do that and some jumping jacks and stretch for about 20 minutes. 

I now have music because I bought I cd from a sister who sells church videos and some music, so I don´t really need more. I also had a video of mormon messages, but it go really badly scratched. I have christmas music because the sister promised that it wasn´t all christmas music (it was) and a video of the apostles from 15 years ago baring testimony of Christ, which is actually really nice. 

April 20

Yes, I have a transfer and am going to the Cobija ward (not to be confused with Cobija, which is a province in Bolivia outside of the mission limits and in the jungle). I am going to be with Hna Gonzalez, who is from Puno, Peru, and has a year in the mission. She seems nice from the two times I´ve seen her.

Cobija is in the center of the city and is small and flat, which is pleasent, but not paticularly exciting. Hna Gonzalez says that people aren´t all that receptive, but I´m looking forward to a new type of challenge. I am hoping for more investigators who are sceptical and less who can´t get their minds around the fact that we are neither catholics nor evangelicals (okay, we only have one investigator who has trouble with that, but we do have a couple who can´t read much, which is really difficult for us.)

From what everyone says about Cobija, it´s a lot weathier than villa mexico and thus speak more English. We also are going to share a pension with three other companionships, inculding the secretaries, who work half the time in the mission office. Our area will also include apartment buildings, which means you can´t knock on doors as well. 

This Sunday Hna Nuñez and I gave talks in sacrament meeting on the Plan of Salvation. We only were told about it on Friday late afternoon, but we managed just fine and I think the talks went well. I´m really happy to know that I can plan and give a talk in Spanish with only a few days notice. Mine was actually a bit too long because I had too many scriptures to share and couldn´t bear (bare?) to cut any of them out.  I wanted to type and send it to you to test your Spanish, but I don´t have the time this week.

As promised, I took a lot of photos. First there a ton of photos of my kinder eggs, which I finally found last Monday. I have two little toys to put on my desk and fiddle with during planning sessions.

Roli´s family have five little chicks and Hna Nuñez wanted a photos with one. They also have a super fancy and beautiful yard because Roli´s Dad works as a gardener in the north of the city (wealthy part). The gardener show up more in the pictures with Roli.

The big octopus is the entrance to the parque pulpo, which is a main landmark in villa mexico. We spent a lot of time waiting in the covered basketball court (not pictured) waiting for members to come to acompany us to appointments. We never actually went in the park because it costs 1 bs and is all little kids.

I took pictures with Isabel Catorceno, who is a somewhat less active member of the church. She smiles a lot more in real life, but seems to have the habit of not smiling for photos. I think this comes from the fact that you can´t smile for id photos. Isabel comes to church every Sunday, but she never stays for more than sacrament meeting, so she still doesn´t know a lot about the church after 4 years as a member.

We took pictures with Roli who is a really great investigator, who I´ve written about before. He also didn´t smile. Usually he has a sort of nervous smile.

I took pictures with Hno Lopez, the ward mission leader and his son, whose name I´ve just forgotten. Hno Lopez has improved a ton as a ward mission leader in the last 6 months and is really invested in missionary work.

Next are some photos of the area from a sort of lookout point. The big blue building is a glass factory that serves as a useful landmark.

I took photos with Valeria, an investigator who lives just across from the church. She is now great friends with Noelia. Then we took pictures with a bunch of the young women and jas from the ward. More details about who the people are next week.

My new agenda.

Edith and her brothers, the youngest of whom is investigating the church. Henry, the older brother, is in our ward and teaches gospel principles, but feeds the elders from lindo, because no one from lindo really wanted to.

Then there are a lot of photos from Hna Nuñez´s camara, from the whole time we´ve been together. Description will have to wait, but I think you can figure of a bunch of them.

Thanks for the photos of Charles. I enjoy trying to teach Hna Nuñez about rowing, and new england´s trees.

I get to call home for mother´s day, but I´´m not sure if it´s for the american or bolivian mother´s day. Both are in may, but different days. I´ll figure that out in the next couple of week.

April 13

The six week period is in Spanish a cambio and in English a transfer. At the end of the ¨cambio¨ on Sunday night, we find out our ¨cambios¨or when we are going next. The actually day for moving is Tuesday morning, so that we have Monday to say goodbye and pack. I will know my cambio the next time I write to you,

Hna Nuñez´s cough is finally getting better. We called Hna Hansen and she said it was just a cold, which made me feel a lot better. However, we still spent a couple days being given conflicting medical advice from every single person we talked to. In all of this, I only got slighty sick for two days with a headache and being generally exhausted the first day and a sore throat the second. 

I find it interesting how the way we talk about body shape varies with culture. In Spanish it´s acceptable to call someone ¨gordita¨ and and Hna Nuñez says that she´s had to learn not to say that to gringos (americans) because they get offended. People are also less politically correct about race. For example poking fun at asian names. However, Korean soup operas are hugely popular. 

Going into the center of Cocabamba we often pass a billboard that reminds me of the subject of income inequality. In magazines at home I often saw ads to donate to the smile train that does free surgery on kids with problems in how their lips or nose and mouth are formed. In Cochabamba there is a big billboard with the dates when the children to receive the operations will be selected and what days the operations will be. 

Gender equality is also not an issue I find myself especially interested in, but I have noticed here in Bolivia a real problem for mothers who don´t have daughters. Daughters help with the cooking, cleaning, and laundry and a mother with only sons has a lot more work for herself. 

I finally have a good number of pictures and hope to have even more next week as I say goodbye to people in this area. 

First, Hna Quispe who served in this area a while ago and has since finished her mission came to visit for a day while attending the temple (she´s from la paz).

 Elder Thomson made a cool cardboard suit of armor to talk about the armor of God in a distric meeting. I don´t remember who it is wearing the armour. 

 In Molle Molle (a part of our area) there is a monkey in a tree. It is always there and creeps us out a bit. None of the photos came out very well because the monkey was moving and we felt a little awkward taking photos. 

 Hna Anavel gave us a chocolate egg each with a toy inside. I can´t seem to find any kinder eggs to take a pìcture of, but there are lots from cheaper brands. My little alien spins and tells you si, no, nunca, and tal vez. 

 We took pictures with Magali and Carola (estefani wasn´t home). The girl with the cat on her shoulder is Magali. The three of them got baptized together a bit over a year ago, but have a ton of problems at home that often made it hard to establish a habit of always going to church. 

This morning our district got breakfast (at 10:30) in the center. From left to right we are: Elder Pasten, a new missionary from Chile, Elder Galan, me, hna Nuñez, Elder Laksberger from California, Elder Thomson, also from California and the district leader. None of these photos came out very well either. The restaurante sells saltenñas, something similar to an empanada that they call a wistu and various drinks. I got banana milk which is the closest I could find to a milkshake. It´s milk and sugar and a banana. It´s cold, but not the same as a milkshake.

This Saturday the elders had a baptism. It all turned out well in the end, but we started two hours late because no one showed up to preside for the first hour and a half. To have a baptism we need someone from the bishipric to preside. 

As we arrived there Hna Nuñez and I realized that we had forgotten to go pick up an investigator who was going to come. I felt so bad because Roli is a really great investigator and I was hoping that seeing the baptism would be a spiritual experience for him. However, as we approached the chapel we noticed that Roli was there waiting outside. He had come all by himself! Roli is a really awesome investigators becasue he is a really good christain who actually reads the Bible and trys to apply it to his life. However, all his family goes to an evangelical church which makes it hard for him to choose to come to church with us on Sundays. 

April 6

Thanks for the letter and pictures. I only had two pictures this week and the computer was giving me problems, so you´ll get them next week. 

I finally got your letter (Dad) this Friday along with a letter from Grammie in Newburyport and a Christmas letter from Brother Gentile. Thanks for the news and thoughts. 

I´m sad to hear that Grandma and Grandpa are thinking of getting an apartment. I´ve always had an unrealistic dream of living in the big brick house in Allentown. I agree that they do have a lot of stuff to be moved. I´m thinking of all the old kids books and comics on the little bookshelf downstairs. 

I don´t think there are any mormon spanish phrases. We never say adios, just like in English you rarely say ¨goodbye¨. We say cuidese and hasta luego ( take care of yourself and see you later) when saying goodbye. The missionaries have plenty of slang, but half of it is english. 

It´s interesting to see how people adapt to new places. For example, one sister who has been in the mission a few months longer than me has had a lot harder time adjusting. From what I can see, it´s all about attitude, and also that she came not speaking a word of Spanish and changed areas four times in the amount of time that I´ve just been in one. 

The difference is that she is always finding the things she doesn´t like about Bolivia or all the says that it´s different from the US instead of just accepting it as a different place. Also, she misses home a lot more than I do because; I think, she was a lot less independent before the mission. She was really sad to not be home for Easter, while I was really excited because there are kinder eggs here (I have yet to buy one, but I will this afternoon). 

The only really big thing this week was General Conference, which was great. This is the first time that I actually watched all of conference and I really enjoyed all the messages. It was so much more fun to watch in a group of missionaries (all the norteamericanos watched in a different room to have it in English) than alone at home. The general themes of the conference to me were the family and the atonement of Christ. One of the main messages I got from it is that salvation is not something I can earn through my own works, but only through relaying on Christ. However, we still need to keep the commandments to show our love for God. 

There was also a great message about the parable of the prodigal son that concluded with the message that we are really all the prodigal son. The speaker said that he had often thought of himself as the good son who stayed home, but that he realized that to God we are all prodigal children that must be forgiven even though we have made so many mistakes. In general, it was a beautiful conference and a vacation for the missionaries because we got to watch conference instead of working for two whole days. We only had two hours in the evenings to go visit people. 

Also, semana santa is a big deal here. On Friday night I saw a bunch of Roman soldiers walking down the road, no doubt, going to a reenactment at a nearby church. The tradition is to cook on Friday 12 different dishes and eat fish instead of meat. Most people cooked fish and a couple of the dishes, but not all. We can´t eat fish. :(

I love you all and look forward to the emails each week. Keep doing exciting things to write to me about. :)

Thanks for the reminder that germs cause illnesses, not weather. Everyone mentions the changeable weather when explaining why people are sick and I don´t even know the word for germs in Spanish, but there was clearly a cold or flu going around last week as the weather turned a little colder (not that much colder, in my New Englander opinion).

I´m glad you could figure out how to help Charles´ health. Hna Graciela, who got baptised a few weeks ago, has really bad asthma and ends up going to the hospital every couple of weeks. I am embarrassed to say that almost all of my knowledge about asthma comes from fanfiction, but it was very well researched fanfiction, so I know a lot more about asthma than Hna Nuñez. 

Hna Anavel's struggles with her kids (who are 8 and 4) seem very familiar to me. She is contantly fighting with Joanna, who is 8, over her homework. We try to tell her to be patient, that she´s only a little kid, and that it´s okay if she makes mistakes in her homework, but Hna Anavel is often upset with Joanna, which makes the whole house unhappy. My apologies to the boys for all the times I was yelling at you and they were just trying to eat dinner. Any advice we can give Hna Anavel? 

Oh, thanks for the family photos. Everyone says I look just like you (Mom), which I take as a compliment, and that we all look the same.