January 18

Hi Mom and everyone else,

Thanks for your letter and the photos. Hna Bender and I want to know if Charles is dancing ballet or just leaping about. Either way it looks cool. I do have photos this week so I will start by telling you about them.

First Hna Bender is chasing baby or adolecent chickens in the park. She did not catch any of them. 

A selfie after the temple trip. The white background is a very cloudy sky.

The sisters of universidad zone outside the temple. From left to right we are: Hermanas Vilca, Olivas, Beltran, Chicaiza, Rosillo, me, Gutierrez, Bender.

Then with some of the elders as well. but not all because we couldn´t gather them all at the same time.

Hna Carrie´s little kid with their kitten.

selfies with hna Mosteza in intercambios. I am borrowing a coat because it was actually very cold (as cochabamba goes) and rainy that day.

With some of Hna Mosteza´s investigators.

Hna Bender taught me to throw the noodles at the wall to see if it´s done. I thought it was a lot of fun. We are trying to cook cool things at night, but we are always very tierd and don´t have any time so we eat a lot of noodle, hot dogs, scrambled eats and mashed potates. However, we are going food shopping today after this and will buy better things, such as tortilla wraps and deli meat and fruit (mangos ) 

A cool mural.

A tree near our house. Robert, do you want to find out what sort of tree it is, please?

Selfies behind a large bush. First, we are not very good at taking selfies in which we both show up. Second, there is a story behind these. We went to an appointment and saw the testigos (jehovah´s witnesses) already at the door. Thus we hid akwardly behind the bush until they went away. Then our person wasn´t home and the husband wasn´t all that excited to talk to us when the testigos had just barely left.

Some of this photos are from a few weeks ago I don´t remember if I had sent them to you yet. 

The news this week is that Brayan finally went to chuch with his brother, Roberto, and his mom, Cristina, who both always go. They are a really awesome family. Roberto, if you remember, was baptised at the end of december. We invited them two to be baptised yesterday and they accepted a baptismal date for the 13th of feb. Cristina was especially excited to be baptised and Brayan is also eager to do what he knows is right and true, it just is a bit more difficult for him to stop going out drinking and partying with his friends and to be at church at 8am on sundays. 

Even though Hna Cristina always goes to church and eagerly awaits our visits, we were a little nervous about talking about baptism with her. She´s a bit older and doesn´t always understand everything we teach. However, we taught her about Joseph Smith and realized that she had grasped a lot from being in the room during lessons with other family members. She remembered everything about the first vision, had clearly read the pamphlet and even corrected Hna Bender when she misspoke and said that the first vision was in 1830 insted of 1820. We invited her to pray to ask if Joseph Smith was a prophet and the next lesson discribed how she recieved her answer and knows that the church is true. I´m so happy about Hna Cristina and also that Brayan finally came to church. they are trying really hard to follow God and keep the commandments. 

This week Hna Bender and I learned an important lesson on obedience. We´d been slacking a little this week on doing our morning exercizes and studying spanish and we could see the results. We were not receive the insperation to find new people to teach and were not very happy either. This cuminated with Saturday night when we could not find anyone to visit from 7 until 9 at night when we go home. We visited absolutly everyone we could think of and then tried to knock on doors, which didn´t work because it was dark out and people didn´t want to talk. We just ended wandering about being sad. However, we talked and reflected together and decided to be much more obedient this week to be able to have people to teach and have the Spirit with us more. Although in the moment I wanted to cry, I learned an important lesson that obedience really does bring blessings and that I can´t do this work without the Spirit and God´s help.

I love all of you a ton. 

January 11

 I am writing this to you Sunday afternoon to save time on Monday and because I have, surprise, free time. 

As sister training leaders, we help the sisters out when they are sick as well as with other problems. Hna Bisama has amiebas (how do you spell that? a-me-bas?) and is in the hospital. Hna Bender, my companion, is staying the afternoon with her while I give Hna Wilson, Hna Bisama´s companion, a chance to go home and shower and sleep in a real bed for a few hours. Thus I have a few hours to write and read in their house.

I just read a really cute story in a Liahona that made me think to write to you. It´s from the children´s section and tells about a little girl who was fighting with her older silbing while her parents weren´t home. She went crying to her room and didn´t know what to do. However, she remembered that she could pray for help. When she prayed she didn´t feel sad anymore and felt very loved as if someone were giving her a hug. When her mom got home she was happy to see her and hug her, but she had learned that even when her mom wasn´t home to hug her she could feel Heavenly Father´s love for her. 

I feel the same way. I miss you all a ton, but I know that I am doing God´s work and that this is the most important thing that I can do. 


Natalie also wrote a lot today about choosing classes for the Summer Term, which isn't for the blog.

January 4

Hi Mom,

Thank you for the lovely letter and the family photos and dad´s photos too. It´s nice to see that it snowed even a little bit and dad´s photos of sweet pepper is very nice.

I hope your shoulder keeps recovering. I will put your name in the temple prayer list when we visit this wednesday. 

We´ve had a good last week. I´ve been able to teach well with Hna Bender. I really like being about to teach and testify about the plan of salvation and the atonement so often. I have come to understand the plan of salvation a lot better in the mission. Not just to relate the order of events in our lives and the world to come, but to really understand the importance of this plan. God really has it all figured out. He knows that that we would commit errors and feel guilt. He knew that there would be injustice in the world. He knew that we would sometimes feel sad or hopeless and sometimes happy and joyful. He knew that people would all eventually die. And He created and planned a solution for all those things. Jesus Christ and His Atonement. He has truely suffered for us and for the whole world. For our sins and also for the sadness and injustice that is not our fault. As I´ve learned more about this, I´ve come to feel more gratitude to God and more desire to follow Him better. As I try to do that, I keep understanding the Atonement and the plans of God better. I like teaching about these things because I can see how people´s lives change for the better as they understand them. 

Although, I still have a good bit more of time in the mission, I am thinking about souveniours to bring you. I would rather bring you things that you all actually want. If you do not suggest anything, you will just get a keychain with a llama on it or something like that. Choices include: sweaters like in peru, traditional fabics and bags made from them or lots of other things made with the fabric, little boxes and costers and paintings to put on the wall, tshirts, and just about anything else you can think of. Let me know what each of you would like? I´m not going to get you really expensive things (dad´s ideas of silver from the silver mines in potosi), but generaly things are cheaps here. 

New Years eve is a very big deal in Bolivia. The stake had a all night party, but we are missionaries couldn´t go, not that we really wanted to. We didn´t do anything more, but set the alarm clock formidnight to get up and watch the fireworks. Our window looks down on the whole city and we had a great view. However, I was half asleep and don´t really remember how the fireworks were. I was so tired that I had not trouble falling back to sleep at 12:05 depite the noises of explosions. 

There are no new photos because I was having a few problems (not fixed) with viruses in my camera memory.

I love you a ton. I miss you too. 

Natalie (once again, I almost signed off Hna Watt)

December 28

The highlight of this week, besides Christmas, (and I´ve already talked to you about Christmas) was Roberto´s baptism (see fotos). He´s a really great person and was very well prepared for his baptism. I had written a lot, but the internet we were in last didn´t save it. (it closed when we had only been there 45 minutes and the internet quality was so bad that my mail account didn´t save my draft properly).

Anyway, this is a copy of what I wrote to President Hansen:
We just found him and taught him. He converted himself. From the first lesson he told Hna Callata that he was only going to believe in what they said if he felt the Spirit. Well, he felt the Spirit and so did we. We fasted with him, we read the scriptures with him. I could see the change in Roberto as he decided for himself that if he wasn´t to be firm in the church he would have to choose better friends and start to read the scriptures a lot more to be able to understand things better. In the last week before his baptism we could see that he was truely converted. Roberto cares a lot about his family and that they can also recieve the gospel. His elderly mother is now coming constantly to church with him and enjoyes it (although we are taking it really slowly with teaching her so that she can understand well), his younger brother is preparing for baptism as well and said the opening prayer in the baptismal service.

All this comes from Roberto´s cousins Ester and Samuel, who are members and introduced us. They continue to be an active part of the process of teaching them and encouraging everyone to get to church on time. Ester and Samuel continue giving us references and we are currently teaching several more of their extended family members. All of my baptisms in the mission (expect for one reference from other missionaries and one reference from a progresing investigator) have been references from members. (end of copied part)

I am struggling with the internet quality today and trying to get my photos to load, so I might not write that much.

The only photo that isn´t from the baptism is from yesterday. You can see that it´s really hot and sunny even though the dark clouds are covering most of the sky.

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.