I'm Moving!!!!!

So this week was full of stress and sickness and tender mercies! We finally can move into our new home TODAYYYY!!!!!!

Our investigator who we could FINALLY teach because her parents gave permission, well... her parents wont give her permission anymore.. She said "I want to be baptized. I want to be clean again. I want to start my life over... Why cant my parent just give me the permission??" It broke my heart! She wants so bad to be baptized, and we just have to be patient and do lots of praying!

Yesterday in church, the bishop pulled us out... He was in a hurry and said that he found a woman who lives in our area and she needs help. So we go do a different room and find a woman sobbing... We dont know her, she isnt a member. So we begin talking to her. She just left her family. She wouldnt tell us why, but she said that she had to leave, and she couldnt take her kids casue her husband wouldn't let her. She wandered around for a week, sleeping in the streets in the freezing cold, looking for a room. looking for a home. She gave up, saw the chapel, and just walked in and cried. Then they found her. We talked to her a lot, and shared some good spiritual things, and it was sooo cool being able to feel the spirit so strong, and feel a love for someone I didnt even know. But God knows her! and God loves her! and that is enough. She left, and we havent seen her since. she doesnt have a phone, and all we know is where  her kids live. We are praying so hard for her...
Sorry this is so short... I dont have much time.

If I learned one thing this week, one thing that stood out above the rest, it is the Plan of Salvation. The more I teach it, the more I realize how miraculous it really is. How blessed we are to have this map. This help that we can look to to know where we are going. To know what we need to do. It amazes me how much more I have learned about things I have grown up knowing all my life.

It has been pretty cold again, but we are keeping warm! Thank heavens for hot chocolate and socks! I have slept in my gloves and hat the past three nights. It is crazy!

Well, I love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful fourth of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :):)

I STAYED!!!!

I STAYED! hahhahaa that we had transfers and I stayed! yaya!!!!! We prayed and prayed and praaaaayyyed!!!! and I stayed!

We received a reference from one of the members, and when we went, HOLY PREPARED. she said "i always saw you people walking around over the years, and always wondered what your message was. (then she looks down at the book of Mormon we gave her, tears start welling up..) and now I can know. now I have the means to know." the spirit was soooo strong!!!! She was about 234 months pregnant, and about to have her baby any day. Then we went again, and her husband was all  "oh, she isnt here. she is at the hospital. the baby is on the way!" soooo, she is put on hold for the time being! BUT SHE HAD HER BABY! hahahaha so happy! Her name is Cecillia, and she is just adorable. pretty young too... She was married when she was 15, and this is her second child. Her 6 year old son has a lot of questions about God and Jesus, so it is way cool to be able to teach them all!

We have another investigator, Yocari. She has a rough life. real rough. And we just couldn't get through to her. We always taught her in a members home, but it was always unsuccessful. but we felt like we couldn't drop her. so we decided to go visit her one day, before our third lesson, just to see how she was doing. and she BROKE DOWN. the walls around her heart crumbled as she told us about what she is going through. It is a long road ahead, but she wants to see the hand of God in her life. She wants to find answers on what she needs to do. So, It is starting to get better. She is more herself when she isn't in a member´s home, so we might just keep teaching her and her kids... without the member. she closes up again when others are around. so we will just have to play it day by day with her until she is more comfortable.

I am feeling a TON better about my Spanish, I still am not perfect, but I can put into words what I want to say. One of the members we are working with told me that my grammar is sooo great, and that he can understand everything i say. I just sound like a gringa. haha that´s okay, the accent will come with time, right? The Lord has been mindful of us this week, and I see evidence of this every day. I love this work, and I never want to leave. This is so wonderful, and yes, it is hard, but the blessings outweigh everything else. This is for sure the work of the Lord.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Until next week!

Hermana Arave

My keyboard is broken!

the ññ button on my keyboard is stuck, so i ñwill try to make this as readable as possiñble!! this past week was a blur!! So fast. And my first transfer is this week! ah! Where did time ñgo??

We contacted a reference, and we started to teach about  prayer, and she went on for 45 minutes about her child having an allergy to their cat... but she bathes them togethñer anyway. i really tried to focus, but all i could think was....  what the heck is she saying???! Sñuper wierd.

We had a reality check ñthis ññweek, and decided to change how we teach. we are ñgoing to keep añsking ñrefeñrenceñs of the memñbers, but as well, in that moment, ask to have the lessons ñin thieir house. Cause when it is cold, no one leaves their house. And so we wait for the ñmñembers ñthat never show up.... haha. SO, this way, they dont have to leave! And it CHANGED OUR WEEK. It totally changed it around! We are doing so much better! And The spirit ñhas been sooo much strongerñ in our lessons. We are continually finding ways to better our efforts, and it is such a blessing to see the results.

We went to go teach a menos activo, and we found her with a box of cigars... ha she tried to hide them under her shirt.... jeez. it was funny though. she kept thiking we were fooled, and told us how she reads the Bñook of mormon...6 chañpters... everñy day. and how ñsñhe loves the blessings from keeping the ñcommanñdmeñnts. hahahñahañ The people here rock!

We are teaching Jandira and Karen, and They are so prepared! THey are ñthe two references we recieved! sooooo prepared. it is so fun teaching them! realmente, it is like they are teaching us. i love it . they just love it! I feel like they are learning things they once knew... and the truth is, they are! They came to church yesterday and looooved it! and we have  an fhe tonight with them!

I love you all, and hope your ñweek has been gñreat! Happy Fathers day to all you dads out there, especially my own! I love you, dad! thanks for all you have taught me!

Until next wñeek!

Note from mom. this is un-edited  because of the broken key board I left this post as is. Kind of funny that she has so quickly forgotten where to put an ' and to capitalize I but I guess that comes with learning a new language. Most posts that is the things I have to change but this one is as is. and no pictures :(

Just another week in Heaven!

Ya know, I really love being a missionary. Sometimes we will be walking and I’ll catch a glimpse of my name-tag out of the corner of my eye, and it makes me so happy that I´M HERE! I´M A MISSIONARY! And I just want to sing and dance! haha This is the greatest work I have ever done!

We had some pretty cool things happen this week. We had an emergency transfer, and guess who came to live with us? HERMANA FEDDOCK. MY COMPANION FROM THE CCM. I was so happy! I just missed her so much! haha

So, our district leaders called early this week for some numbers. Then told us that they were giving us ten minutes to make goals for numbers for the month of June. UM. haha Ten minutes!? That´s it!? So we got down and prayed. We made our list of people to reactivate, felt way good about it, then made our list of baptisms. We felt like we were missing 2 people, so we just put "2 more" on our list. But when the leader called back, we got really scared. We didn’t tell him those numbers. They were still on our goal list, but we left out the two extra in the call. We didn’t even have anyone to put on there! During our delivering of our numbers, someone kept calling us. Over and over and over! So when we ended our call with our leader, we called the other person back. It was Rasid Chambi, a member of the ward. He said "Hey, I have two people who just came to me today saying they want the missionary discussions, and want to meet with you guys on Friday night at 8." And we just CRIIIIIIEEED. Then we got on our knees and prayed. God sees the bigger picture even if we can’t. When we follow his will and his direction, we will see miracles. So Friday night we met with them. And they are SO PREPARED. Oh my word!! I can’t even describe the spirit that we felt during that first appointment. This is the Lords work! If that isn’t proof, I don’t know what is!

Also, we started feeling a tad sick and weak on Thursday night... all of us 4. We just thought it was because we ate a TON of food that day. Then Friday it was a bit worse... Then Saturday, we all woke up with stomach aches, headaches, and weaker than we have ever been. We can’t all have the same symptoms of the same disease if it was from food. We are in different areas, and eat different stuff. Well, it has also been raining. And our house is WAY HUMID inside... and, it leaks when it rains. So everything is constantly wet. So when we looked closer... we have mold. On.  Everything.  It wasn’t there Thursday, but it was there Saturday. My carry-on has mold, Hermana Willes has a moldy pillow, our doors and chairs and tables have mold, and our food went rotten. It hit like a whirlwind! We aren’t even messy! Our house if pretty dang clean for being in Bolivia! So we are looking for a new house. haha.  So stressfulllll.... But thankfully my mom makes this amazing smelling citrus thing she boils at Christmas time, so we took the good oranges and lemons we had and put them in a pot and boiled it. And opened windows so get fresher air, and left them open. It still isn’t good, and we freeze at night, but we feel better, so no worries!!
Oh the Joys of living in humidity :) This is wonderful, and I love it here. I love working. I love the people.  And I’m learning to love the language. I’ll get there one day! ;)

I love you all!!

Note from Mom. Alex said she was able to get something to make it possible to send pictures so expect pictures next week :) happy dance!

Lita Lima and her Book of Mormon!

Okay, guys. A mission is hard. And the moments that are the best is when you see the hand of God in the lives of these people!! God loves all his children! 

This week started great! We had a super awesome p day, full of Latins trying to play basketball. man, that was funny. they are way better with their feet! hahahaha:) By the way, thank you mom, for teaching me how to de frost a freezer. That was a joyful experience!:) 

AND WE GOT HOT WATER!!!!!!! So we wont die!!!!!!!!!! Our cold water mixed with the cold temperature was a bit more than we could handle.. hahah. 

Last Sunday we visited a menos activo (less active member) we have been working with and we gave her a list of scriptures to read (we are trying to get her into the habit of reading her scriptures) just one a day! My companion asked me to make up the list to give her, and each day we read the same scriptures she would be reading. Then, when we went yesterday, SHE READ EVERY DAY. And she liked them so much that she just kept reading! She read the whole list three times... in one week... And she bore her testimony on the Book of Mormon! Suuuper  powerful! So when we gave her the new list, she was all ¨can I have more than this to read?¨UUUUM. YES. YES YOU CAN. and she came to church the past two weeks and everything!!! SHE IS SO GREAT! haha I just love her! Her name is LIta Lima.. Super fun to say! 

Hermana Willes has a MoTab cd that has some opera guy singing, and I was singing opera right along with him getting ready for bed the other night, and my comp recorded it. Guys, I could go pro... That´s a lie. it was super embarrassing. hahaha but then the next day Me and Hermana willes were asked to sing at the baptism of a guy in our ward!!! That was sooo fun!!

It rained cats and dogs the other day too. when I got home, I wrung my skirt out in the sink it was so wet... I loved it. This is what it is about! haha and I finally saw the streets turn to rivers!!!!! That was exciting! hahaha 

Sorry this is short... everyone should read Omni 1:26. It will all be okay! Endure to the End! This verse kept my hopes up this week!