November 24

Thanks for your letter and news. We actually saw a bit about the snow on the news here. Our pensionista works on the weekends (she sells the most amazing peach juice) and gives us money to buy dinner at a restaunte which has a tv. (We eat with members for lunch on weekend now, but have to stop doing that starting in December because too many missionaries were getting sick.) I wish it was snowing here. In the evenings it´s very nice and cool and it gets quite cold if it rains all day and there isn´t much sun, but most of the time it´s hot and sunny.

I finally got the paper letter from Mom on Thursday, but it had a stamp saying it entered Bolivia on the 7th, so I´m not sure how much of that time it spend sitting in the mission office. If you haven´t already sent a Christmas package, I would love any of the following: a new exersize dvd, church music on cd (I already own a cd with songs about Joseph Smith if you can find it), or anything by the Mormon tabernale choir. Could you also email me the recipes for pancakes, oatmeal cookies, and lentil walnut burgers (in moosewood cook book)? 

Remember, I skype home on Christmas. The members we live with have a computer that we can us that day, so I just need to know your skype address and coordinate with the other missionaries who is calling home at what time. They are working around more of a time change to reach Utah. 

We are also thinking of doing something for thanksgiving, but it´s this week so I would be surprised if we actually pull anything together. Hna Aliaga wants to make pumpkin pie, which would be great, but I have no idea if we can find canned pumpkin.

Yes, I got to see Hazel, which was really great. She hasn´t changed a bit because it´s only actually been two months since I saw here. I also met some of the other dragons, which was awkward because they didn´t know what to make of me. Her host family also couldn´t figure out who we were, but that´s mostly because they speak more Quecha than spanish. Hazel is having a great time and wishing she could stay longer in each place to really get to know them.

I´m finally getting settled in here and starting to participate more in lessons. Actually, lesson are the easy part, it´s talking to people for the first time or at the start of the lesson that´s harder, but Hna Aliaga sets a good example and I´m gradually learning.

I added more pictures to dropbox. I wish I could add captions. The one of Hna Aliaga looking sad with a letter is her letter saying exactly when she goes home, which we know is around jan25th. She hasn´t opened it yet.

The ones that look like they might be at zone conference are at zone conference which was really great. I got a picture with Elder Watts because I kept hearing about him.

I covered my agenda in pictures from the Liahona (the church magazine in everywhere nonenglish speaking) and some of the quotes Sister Meyers gave me.

I am really loving my area (our section of the ward that the two of us cover). I am still getting to know that ward members themselves, but I´ve gotten to know most of our investiagators and they are really great. I especially love teaching Roli because he really listens and thinks about what we are saying. He and his family belong to a different Christan church so he knows the Bible really well and often thinks of additional stories to relate to what we are teaching. He´s 19 and was injured a few months ago and is just now recovering and walking around, which according to him gave him a lot of time and persepctive to think about his life and what he wants to change about it. I am really excited to teach him this week lesson three, the doctine of Christ, faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, because knowing about repentance will hopefully make him feel a lot better. We have a few investiagators with baptism dates, but we keep having to extend the dates because they aren´t ready.

We also work a lot with less active members, who are also great. A lot of them just lack friends in the church and are too shy to easily make friends there. They love to see us and talk to us and pray and sometimes read the Book of Mormon, but won´t actually go to church. 

Our ward has three sets of missionaries, which looks like a lot but it´s a relatively big ward and both sets of elders have really large (geograficly) areas, so they spend a lot of time traveling. We also spend a lot of time walking and occasionally taking the trufi, but our area isn´t quite as big and is flat.

I really love being a missionary. I love getting to know people and sharing things with them that will help them.

November 17

I haven´t had time to read your letter (before I started to write), but wanted to respond to some of the questions and just tell you about my week.

Yes, I have a frigde. I am walking a lot, but the people here are very proud of the fact that most missionaries gain weight while in Cochabamba unless they get sick. Yes, we just have a hot plate with frying pan and electic kettle, but we only cook our own breakfast. We do get some vegetables, they just aren´t in the proportions I´m used to. 

I had lots of time all week to think about all the things I wanted to tell you about Bolivia and our investigators and everything, but I don´t actually have time to write much. My idea of a great p day involves doing as little as possible and napping because we are so busy all week, but the elders want to do lots of big trips (see picture) and such. 

I don´t think we were really supposed to play paint ball, but it´s a lot of fun.

It rains a bit and show rain more and more every week for a while. It can also get really hot when the sun´s out. I don´t know the exact temperature because everything is in celcius, but it feels really hot.

You don´t need to print my emails now.

My clothing is great. Only one of the three pairs of shoes really works, but they are great. The brown ones from keens this lots of tread. I think they might last the whole mission. the black one´s are okay and I´ll wear them occaionaly, but the tan ones rubbed all the skin off a bit of my heel and I don´t think I can wear them at all. 

Ideally one sees the mission president very rarely at zone conferences every few months. The only reason to see him more often is if you or your companion is sick or in trouble. We eat with a pair of elders (see picture) every day for lunch and dinner. we also seee them and a second pair every sunday. We do email in a internet shop where you pay a few bolivianos per hour for a computer. We plan pdays as a dictirct (the 6 of us) or zone (24ish), but whatever the zone or district leader discidedes we do. I think if hna Aliaga and I didn´t want to participate we don´t have to, but she wanted to go to the mountains so we did. I have no idea how transfers work, but I know I am defintly here until late januagry when hna aliaga leaves, and probably longer.

I could defintaly shop here if I ever had the time, but I don´t think I´ll need to for many months.

We have some really great investiagators and I love teaching them. The difficult part is the small talk before the lesson, but I know it´s important to establish a relationship with them. It even has it`´s own section in preach my gospel, called how to start teaching, so something like that (it´´s in spanish). I want to tell you about each of them, but I think we need to go now. Check drop box for photos. I gave dad the info. The computer didn´t get them all becuase it´s too slow, but I´ll upload the rest next week. 

thanks so much for the news from home. I with I had time to write a more thoughtful letter, I´ll try to be more relaxed next week.

November 10

Here are pictures! The things I´m looking at in the plaid skirt are three kittens sleeping in plant pots.

Yes, hermana Aliaga is my companion. She´s great! She´s from another part of bolivia, i forget which.

i should have more time to write next week, but we have plans for a member to come with us to the market thing and shouldn´t be late. Also, i hate this keyboard.

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we have three rooms in the front hard of a family of members of the ward. We have a bed room, bathroom and study and kitchen, where we spend most of our time. there should be some pictures in a differnet email. the plumbing in as good as can be expected although the water pressure is almost none existent, which makes rinsing difficult.

I understand spanish very well if there isn´t too much background noise and the speaker is loud enough and uses complete sentences. For example, talks at church or planning with hermana aliaga. However, I find it very hard to understand a less active member who we are talking to with loud music next door while she is crying and covering her face.  
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I just realized that the time on this computer is way off, so I have much more time to write to you.

I am in the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. It´s a really nice ward and the area´s nice and flat so the walking isn´t too hard. you can use lds maps to find it if you want.

We eat lunch and dinner with anavel, our pensionista, who is also the relief society president. Two elders also eat with us and I really enjoy the break from spanish. They enjoying telling me all the gossip and slang from the mission. We always get feed too much, there and when we visit people, lots of juice and soda. I am not generally a huge fan of vegetables, but we are getting almost none somedays, just rice or potatoes and meat, with often some purple onions and tomato slices. I think the best thing we´ve eaten so far was fruit salad, served as dinner in a yogurt sauce.

I was in the part of cochabamba where Hazel is and saw some other where there be dragoners! We were there this morning to play paintball, lots of fun, but it´s about 30 minutes away on the other side of cochabamba, so I hope Hazel, will be able to come over here.

the pictures of the city and us, where taken from up near the cristo blanco statue, which has a different name here. there were three new sister and three trainers, though at the time we didn´t know who went with who.

I really like all the elders we´ve meet and, of course my companion is awesom, ....

Thank dad for the politics news. I saw a newpaper that said that the republicans had a majority in the senete now. I´m also really surprised that charlie baker won, any details on that?

November 4

I am here safetly, but the spell check is in spanish so I can't spell. The flight was long, but I was welcomed by the mission president, his wife, and more than a half dozen missionaries singing called to serve in spanish. I have all my luggage. I decided not to keep taking my altitude sickness pills because the side affects are so annoying, but I only occasionally feel dizzy. 

I find out tomorrow or maybe the next day who my trainer is and when I will be, but I have permission to meet Hazel for breakfast sometime as long as it's only for an hour or so, which is great.

Everyone is great and I am so excited to be here! 

Week 1 in Bolivia

Provo MTC

October 27

Hi Mom,

I'm doing well. I sent you a letter my second day here, but I'm not sure if you have it yet. 

Things are going well. I am very busy, mostly with class, which is learning how to teach lessons from Preach my Gospel. It is all in Spanish, which is sometimes a bit difficult, but the challenge is usually the material. Our teachers are two BYU students, but they are very good at it, despite being only a few years older than us. 

I've adjusted very easily to dressing formally all the time, I think because my clothing in pretty comfortable. I'm surprised by how tight and short the skirts some sister were. My shoes all work well, some better than others.

The MTC in general is a well oiled machine moving huge numbers of people this way and that. We have a strict schedule and very little unscheduled time. The only part that doesn't seem to run smoothly is the cafeteria where the lines are always way too long. By the time you get your food you have very little time to eat, unless you pick the unpopular item. They food is pretty much the same as BYU's yummy, but not many healthy options. I still can't figure out how they always have lots of nice pineapple.

We are supposed to speak Spanish all the time, because we can, but I find Sister Lopez and I get along a lot better in English. In Spanish it doesn't always seem worth the effort to make the unnecessary conversation that helps us get to know each other. On days we have class we speak a lot more Spanish because we get in the mode, but today and Sunday, not much around us was in Spanish, so we mostly spoke English. 

I think I have all the right stuff. My hymn books arrived on time and almost all my clothes fit the modestly standards. 

Dad doesn't seem weird about writing. I'm replying to you before reading his messages, but he's sent me two articles, I think.

I think you can write as much as you want and I'll just reply once a week.

Picture right in the middle of the email because that's where they showed up:

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In class we have lessons about things like how to start a lesson or how to teach about the Book of Mormon and then practice teaching lessons to the teachers. We start teaching other people this week, who we are pretty sure are actors or other teachers, but the teachers insist that a percentage of them are real investigators. Hermana Lopez and I know that ours is a teacher because we meet him the other day. 

Generally, I'm happy and doing well. When you are with someone all the time, the little things, like not walking at the same speed get really annoying, but mostly we get along well. We also speed a lot of time with the other two sister with whom we share a class and room and they are really nice. 

I thought the song choice for the broadcast we watched on Sunday was really funny. Every Sunday there is a Mormon Tabernacle Choir does a performance called Music and the Spoken Word. One of there songs was Tonight from West Side Story. It's a really pretty song, but if you know the story, the girl singing is looking forward to having sex with her new boyfriend.

Okay, I need the time to respond to Dad, so that's all for this week.