We received our transfers last night, My comp is going to train, Im so happy for her, she is going to be great! I got transferred to open an area in Mesa Verde in Sucre with Sister Fuenzalida, I bet you'll never guess where she's from! SANTIAGO, CHILE too! All of my comps are from there :) Im really so excited, she is so awesome, we leave tomorrow!

This week has been really good! I've actually had a cold so thats a bummer. But I've had this desire to just teach more than ever. I've wanted to talk to everyone and I just love these people!

Elizabeth is doing really good and growing a lot. Im sad to leave this area because of all the people that I have met. But I know that it will be a good transfer.

I don't know if you remember Ana Belmonte, however, her dad past away this week and she sent us a text to tell us and that she is so thankful for her knowledge of the Plan of Salvation because of the peace and hope it brought to her. The Plan of Salvation isnt just any ordinary plan, it literally is a plan of God because He loves us so much.

I know that God knows all of us so specifically. I know that He knows the desires of our hearts and that as we follow the commands and example of Jesus Christ, that we will want, what He wants for us, for ourselves. He wants the best, it just takes our own desire to be humble that we will find that. Im so thankful for Christ's example that he has set for us and his pure love for us. I know that we need to have struggles so that we may to know to prize the good. I really love God so much! I hope you all have a great week, and that you can do something to help you feel the love of God in your lives. Know that it wont always be easy, but that it will be worth it.

Love you all.

This week has been really good! "Tranquila no más" which is like calm haha

We have had great lessons with Elizabeth. When we taught her about our purpose as we are on the earth, we realized we needed to teach it in a more simple way to understand. I just started praying cause sometimes you can't just tell someone something and they understand! So then this thought came to my mind, "act it out" hahahahahahahahha.

So I told my comp that we needed to act out this life and so each step I acted out while my comp sat by her telling her a story:

Faith in Jesus Christ, so that I can Repent knowing that he will help us, and Baptism to make covenants with God and to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ and only through baptism can we Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and with that, we can Endure to the End.

It was actually really funny, but she really understood it, and thanks to Heavenly Father for answering our prayers so quickly.

Later, we had a lesson with a lady and her 5 year old daughter, we wanted to teach them something that they can both learn something from, and the young girl likes princesses so my comp shared the story about Ester in the Bible, how she loves her people so much and wants the best for them and she was a loved princess!

It came to mind, that all of us are princesses and prince´s, because our Father in Heaven, is a king. It was just a sweet thought that I thought I would share with you all!

He loves each and every one of us so much, He wants the best for us and to help us grow, and only He knows how we can grow the best.

Love you all, have a great week!

Mosiah 18

8. And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9. Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10. Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?


I love these scriptures. Wednesday morning, I was thinking a lot about them and how this is our baptismal covenant that we make. I later, read a part of an email that my friend sent me. It has a quote that says,
"you were in the war in heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world you will be enthralled with those who you associated with. You will ask someone in which time. They lived in, and you might hear, I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea, or I helped build the pyramids, or I fought with Captain Moroni. And while you are standing there in amazement someone will turn to you and ask, "which prophet time did you live in?" And when you say President Hinckley or President Monson a hush will fall in every hall and Corredor in heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back 6000 years, because you were the most talented, most obedient, most courageous, and most righteous. Remember who you are!"

I was thinking a lot about this and how it can apply to missionary work. When we shared in our companionship study, as I was talking, I learned that we are here to believe in the people so much that they believe in themselves and believe that they are strong enough to do this. I felt the spirit so strong. And I, myself was pumped to go through the hard times.

Then we left and we had an appointment, we got to the house, and he wasn't answering. At this moment, we were just like, "What should we do, where should we go?" but nothing felt right. Then, in that moment, we got a call from a random number.

It was Elizabeth Marquez. (When I was with my first comp. we visited her but then she didn't want us to visit anymore about 2 months ago. And about 3 weeks ago my new comp and I were walking past her house and I just told my comp that we needed to stop by and just see how she is doing and not teach her anything, just so she knows that we are her friends and she can trust us...) so were talking and she said, "can you please come to my house and see me?" and my comp said, "yeah, are you okay?" and she just said, "just please come." so my comp looked at me and said something is really wrong, we need to go. So we both started running up this hill (me thinking cause were missionaries, that we would have some special energy, and I was out of breathe real quick hahaha.) we weren't fast enough and so we took a taxi to her house.

We got there, she let us in, we all just sat on the floor in a circle and it turns out that she told us she didn't want to live anymore. That she wasn't happy. That she was thinking a lot about her mom and how she died. We asked her why she called us and she said, "cause I felt alone." I was trying to think, (how am I going to say anything that will help her, in spanish...) But I testify, thats in moments like this, when you open your mouth, the spirit takes way and speaks from your mind the language that needs to be spoken. I thought of something my sister, Amberleigh, sent me a few weeks ago, she said, "If you ever feel alone remember that Christ had a moment when Heavenly Father himself had to pull way so Christ knew what it felt like to be completely alone."
I felt that I should share that with her so I did. We talked to her more and it started out that she felt bad, and didn't want to live. and then when we shared the scripture from Mosiah 18, we asked her how she felt and she said, "Alright". Then my comp suggested that we sing, cause that helps us. So we sang a song that we had been practicing that morning for a conference, "conmigo quédate Señor, and acompañame" mixed and after a moment of silence, we asked her how she felt and she said, "Peace and calm, better." And I knew that she had felt this way cause of her countenance. It was so beautiful and in my eyes, light.

Later that night, we went with her and Juan Carlos to an activity at the church and Juanca showed me the green CTR ring that someone gave him, I had already bought him a CTR ring and so he looked at Elizabeth and gave it to her and told her what it meant. And she has been wearing it ever since. I was smiling so big my face hurt and I just wanted to cry. The spirit is so amazing!

She has a date to be baptized for the 31 of July! We have been visiting her a lot, and she has been really happy!

I hope you all have a great week! Remember who you are and your abilities! You were put on this earth, at this time, with a whole lot of purpose! Love you all!

How can we live the Gospel?
In other words, How can we live the teachings of Jesus Christ?

This week, I realized how we can live the Gospel completely in just one step.

Now, There are 5 steps for all of us to take en this life. So that one day we can live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, again.

These 5 steps are:

-Faith
-Repentance
-Baptism
-Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost
-Enduring to the End

now, how can we live all of these things in just one step?

I have the answer...

Participate in taking the sacrament.

How?

We need to have FAITH. Faith in Jesus Christ that he can accompany us in our decision to REPENT. By taking the sacrament, we remember our covenants that we make with our Heavenly Father, such as baptism. In so doing, we are promised that we will have his spirit to always be with us. To be our guide. With the Spirit, we have the help of the Lord in our lives to help us endure to the end.

It really is a blessing that we have to take the sacrament each week.

Jacob 4:13 says

13. Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.

We are going to have many experiences whether we would like it or not, throughout the week. And only through the Holy Spirit we can learn exactly what God wants us to learn. Or be aware of the things that God wants to protect us from.

I know we have this opportunity each week to partake of the sacrament, to be a symbol of God saying, he never mind last week, you do better this week. Give it your all, cause you can, Ill be there with you!"

Romans 8

31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Time for a story....

So this week, my comp and I were contacting just knocking on doors. We came to a door, and my comp was like, "what a creepy house." and I was like, "yeah, but maybe a special person." haha so we knocked... She was super special.

She was paralyzed on the right side of her face, so her eye was shut and she talked side ways. She opened the door and looked at my comp and said, "I know you, come in!" and we were like "oh a sweet little old lady that knows my comp! lets go" (This never happens that someone just invites us in)

So we walked in and I walked in first and all I remember thinking was, this is so weird, theres so much space, and so many things but it just feels so empty. Then this old lady said, "dont be scared if you see anything ugly." I just looked at my comp and me being the biggest baby, my eyes just became so wide and I was looking for ugly things.

There were two couches across from each other, a 2 seater against the window, or a 3 seater with empty space behind, and a door to the kitchen, the window couch was safer to me cause in my mind, there were maybe uglier things where there was more space. So I sat on the two seater and my comp sat right by me and this old lady just slowly started to talk towards me like she was going to sit on my lap, but we asked if she wanted to sit and she said no... Then I got up and said, "lets sits over here the 3 of us." So we did and she was talking about random things. then got up and went behind the couch to walk scarily into the kitchen. I hurried and asked my comp how she felt and she said. "I don't know." and I said, "were going now." and I got up. (I felt so sick) My comp got up and walked after her to see if she needed help and she just turned so fast and said no, its okay." So then she came and sat with us again.

Now we asked her about Jesus and she started talking about the things in her house and I just thought (please don't say they're all from dead people) and she didn't say that and my comp said, "hey, we need to sing for her." and so her sitting in the middle of the 3 seater, we both got on the floor in front of her and sang lead kindly light" and she was staring at my comp and her eye went completely normal and big and then we finished and my comp stayed on the floor across from her. But I thought, well, this lady can see behind both of us so Ill sit by her so my comp can see behind me and I can see behind her. She was talking about how beautiful the song was then randomly shot her head to the right and asked my comp, "who are you looking at?" and my comp said, "No one" and she said, "Oh I thought there was someone right here." and my comp looked at the couch and it was as if someone had sat up from the seat. So I hurried and said, "Were going to say a prayer to bless your home okay." And she said okay, and yes, I held my comps hand and then we finished and ran out and she ran out and said, "when will you be coming again?" I lied. I said, next week. I wont be going back.

After walking on a busy street for about 6 blocks, we noticed her dog was running ahead of us and then coming back and doing circles around us. we kept telling it to leave. Then I prayed, and it left the second I said, "amen."

Haha she was half our size but I nearly wet myself.

That was a little story about my week! I hope you all had a great week. Im praying for you all and love you a bunch!

Have a great week with the Spirit to be with you :)

Happy 4th of July!

light some works for me, yeah? ;)

This morning I was studying in Mosiah 18. This chapter talks a lot about the baptismal covenant that we make and its so beautiful!

8. And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9. Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life-

10. Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

30. ...how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.

Are we living our lives so that one day when we come to the judgment bar with Jesus Christ, we are ready to say confidently, when he asks, "do you know me?", say, "yes."?

One day, when we come to the presence of our brother Jesus Christ, I know without a doubt all of us are going to be so in awh! Because no matter what he´ll be there with his arms ready to embrace us. I know that if I could chose anyone in the world to judge me when the time comes, that sincerely Jesus Christ is the only person that can. Because he knows me and he knows my heart, perfectly. The same for each of you as well.

I love these scriptures so much because if everyone can be there reaching out for just one person, then we can all be able to feel Gods love through someone.

I know that God loves us. I know that He wants the best for us and that it is never too late to turn around and try better. I know He sent us His perfect son, Jesus Christ, to be our example, to follow him, and to become the best person that we can be within ourselves. I know that service to others builds an inner confidence between our relationship with us and our Heavenly Father. And I know that we are given trials to literally become better at something, to throw our hand out in service and to mourn with those that mourn. I know that at times it will be hard to have that spiritual desire to serve and love reading the scriptures and pray, but I know with all my heart, that in those times, when we do those things, we will feel stronger and more able to lift others around us and in so doing, God will lift us.

I love you all so much, and Im missing the 4th of July vibes! But I really do hope you all are having a great week and that you're having lots of laughs! Haha

This past week was my last week with my mamíta and she was super sick so we didn't do as much as we wanted to with our investigators, and then she left to Potosí to be a leader for all the sisters. I miss her sooooo much and it was hard to let her go haha!
But she will be such a great leader. I'm happy for her :)

I got my new comp! Hermana Gonzalez, she is also from Santiago, Chile and she speaks really good English and that's not normal cause I'm new and I'm supposed to learn the language before I get comps that speak English but President thinks different this time I guess! Haha.
Shes awesome and super funny too, I'm excited for another step in the mission with many more things to learn!

So this past week, Hermana Bisama and I were visiting our investigator Ana Belmonte. She has a 21 year old son who has a 3 year old daughter. We just taught Ana on Tuesday about the Plan of Salvation and she knew a lot about it cause she has visited church many times before and she just thought it was so beautiful and then because Hermana Bisama was most likely going to leave before the next week, she invited us to make dinner with her on Friday, we made Plato Piseño (my favorite meal, its from La Paz) and her son Sergio and his daughter Maite came and ate with us and he was like, "so my mom is gunna be mormona?" haha he told us that he actually is really interested. He said, "my mom was telling me about a lot of what you believe, and what really caught my attention is that, you believe that we can be with our loved ones after this life." So were going to start teaching him too! They have a great family. I really love the Plan of Salvation so much. It really brings so much light and peace and hope to our lives.

So, this past week was Fathers Day. I love that we celebrate on a specific day for our mothers and fathers. Because they really have the biggest impact in our lives, but... Did you know, here in Bolivia, they have a day to celebrate for the kids?... That would be cool too in the US! Haha.

Something I'm so thankful for about my dad, every Sunday growing up, we(my sisters and I) used to walk to church with him and he used to tell us stories and stories and stories about his childhood and mainly about his mission. Because of him sharing with me the most important things to him, real life matters, I had a desire to serve the Lord at a younger age, and I thankfully made the choice to be a missionary and it has done so many things for me and I know more about who I am and Gods love for all of us. Having said that, I know I'm not perfect whatsoever but that I have a potential, just like all of you too! Ahhh you're all so great! :)

You will love a lot of people but first, you have to serve them!

I wish I had a lot more to write about from this week but we didn't get too much done cause my comp was sick :( I miss you all and love you!

What a beautiful week!

We got to go to the temple with Juan Carlos! It was his first time, he said he felt so good in there.
It was so beautiful you guys! Im so proud of him. He is starting mission prep classes soon cause he wants to go on a mission.

As you know we have been teaching his older brother Jorge Daniel, he is so amazing! We talked about the word of wisdom and he thought it was funny that we don't drink coffee cause he loves coffee but he said, he wont drink it anymore and so we told him about a drink called ECCO, its sooo good! I don't know what its like in the US but in England, its just like Barley Cup! And so he bought it the next day and hasn't been drinking coffee anymore, he said he likes ECCO a lot! Its ricisimo! Hahaha. He really is so great! His baptism date changes cause he wasn't able to make it to church this Sunday so we have to wait just a little longer, but he is excited. And me too! I love their family. We went over last P day to make cookies and just spend time with them to get to know them better and Im just in love with their family! They are so strong and funny.

Something personal, and very special for me happened. So back in April, actually on Ava's birthday (21st) my comp and I were at the stake building and two elders brought in this member and his girlfriend who isn't a member, and I met her and gave her a hug and she wanted to learn english, and thats all I remember. Yeah, so her name is Carolina. Her boyfriend now is on a mission, and she was taking the lessons from the Elders. So last P day when we went to the BBQ, it was at her house. She sings and plays the guitar. Well we found out, the reason she invited us to go to her house was because when she walked into the stake building a month ago, she said, "I looked at her, (pointed at me) and I felt her spirit through her eyes, and I knew I wanted someone like her, to teach me, because I know I could trust her to be my guide, and then she gave me a hug and I felt like I had come home."

This was really special for me to hear. Sometimes in life we really don't realize the effect we have on people around us, literally random people that you might run into for just 3 minutes. God has a plan, and we are all a huge part of it. We all have something to share and something to take from someone.

I love the opportunity I have right now for this little time of my life to learn about the part I play and how I can play it the best I can! I love you all so much! And I know you all have such a beautiful part to play in many lives, so take the time to cultivate that part and spread some love! Haha!

I love you all. Have a fantastic week!

Juan Carlos received the priesthood this Sunday! And his older brother Jorge Daniel(19) has a baptism date for June 18th! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he so humbly told us that he has a lot to learn. We found out that their dad served a mission! Both of his parents are inactive members. It's cool to see the difference in their home compared to other homes around here, even though they are inactive. They still received the Holy Ghost as a constant companion after their baptism.
Having Juanca baptized recently, I know has changed a lot too in their home. Jorge told us, "He used to be so shy and now he has so much more confidence and he isn't so serious like he used to be." Thats what Jesus will do for you!!

We had a lesson with the whole familia Calicho. It was so awesome! Towards the end, they confided in us with a story from the past and in brought a little argument between the family, (reminded me of my family HAHA) and I was like, "oh no, we can't leave on this note." and then so humbly my companion bore her testimony to them about this situation and asked them each to say something virtuous about one another and we were all laughing and smiling and the spirit came again.
but I was like wait I wanna compliment you guys too! and I looked at Ceasar and said, you are so strong and such a good father and I can see you care so much for your family, then I looked at Liz and I said Liz, I always want to call you Luz (light) because you are such a light always and for your family and together your'e both such a strong (accidently said birds) but I meant couple and my comp corrected me and they laughed and then I said really though, just look at your kids, and they looked and I was like, they ugly but... and we just laughed so hard. It's funny cause I think Ceasar loved that I said that, they were laughing so hard and just repeated what I said and same with my comp and then I was like no really though, look at them, they're great kids and together your'e all so strong. And it just ended so well and then they offered to drive us home. I love their family so much!

There are so many ways that we can invite the Spirit. Fasting, praying, singing songs of worship, and simply just complimenting and finding the strengths in people, will help us to invite the Spirit to dwell with us.

So I challenge you all to compliment every person you talk to this week, with one virtue that you see in them!

Doctrine and Covenants 6:21
"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto mine own, and mine own received me not. I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not."

This past week, in our house, one of the lights blew out and the rest of them were all dull and it was kind of dark. We finally decided to buy new bulbs and change the lights. We made sure to buy ones that were warm and bright so that we could feel more at peace in our home. And let me tell you! It changed so much. I want to relate this to an analogy that I thought of months ago.

It was early in the morning and I was along the side of the mountain and the sun was behind this mountain, so I was in the shade. It looked so gorgeous all around me, with snow and the mountain was a deep healthy green. As I looked out to the West, the sun was shinning on all of the west part. It looked foggy and not as beautiful as it did around me, in the shade. after an hour or so, I drove out to the west and it was SO gorgeous! Way more gorgeous than the shade that I was in. This made me think of something spiritual. When we are spiritually in the dark, we wont always notice. We might think that everything is okay cause things are still enjoyable. But the minute that we go into the light (feel the spirit) we realize that we were in the dark and that there is a better feeling that we can have and a better peace that we can feel.

Try to find that light that stands a little higher. It will always lay within Jesus Christ and He will, without resistance, give you that warm light with a peaceful feeling.


I love you all! Thank you for everything. Have a great week!

So as you know, I was sick last week, and it carried out to this week too! Woohoo!
Wednesday night at like 10pm, I was feeling so ill, so we went to the Hospital and they gave me an IV and I felt a whole lot better, Im still getting better.

That being said, we had a few days in the house being sick. But all is well, all is well... I have the best comp!

Here in Bolivia, Mothers day is the 27 of May. Which is also my mums birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! I thought about you all week!

And here is the mission, we´re always sharing messages with the people about the love of God. So my comp and I wanted to focus on how the love of God is so similar to the love of a mother. So unconditional and strong. And even though sometimes we don't like to admit it, they're always right! HAHA (at least mine is). My comp in the mission, is my mamita (mom) cause she is my trainer, hahah she always tells me, "Mothers know best." And we had a funny conversation about how when we were home it was funny cause moms really always know what is going on and if somethings wrong or what haha.

So Im really thankful for moms! I love the example of Sariah in the Book of Mormon, the wife of Lehi. She was so strong, so trusting and such a good leader for her children.

My dad always said, "I'm the head, mums the neck." so basically, you dads out there can't do anything without your wives hahaha! Nah, joke. You can do many things, but you can do it better with your wife.

So Happy Mothers day to all you mothers! I hope you know how special you are. :)

We have been teaching this family. La familia Calicho. Liz(mom), Ceasar (dad), Brandon(son), Ceasar (son).

Brandon is 15 years old and he was the only one receiving lessons in his family. The missionaries taught him to pray, and he taught his family to pray and now they all pray together making it a priority. A family that prays together stays together, no ve? (no ve in Bolivia means like, right?)

Ceasar, the dad, he didn't ever want to listen to the lessons from the missionaries. But now, when he has time, he loves to come and talk with us and he´ll ask us when we can come next.
So last night we visited and only Liz had time, so she told us that this week, Ceasar and her were on their motorcycle and they got in a crash, her whole right arm is super scratched up and she had to get stitches and she said, "the only thing that we could think to do was to thank Heavenly Father for keeping us safe so that we can take care of our kids still." She committed to baptism for the 18th of June! Before that, were going to have a wedding for her and Ceasar. She is so excited and so wise with such a bright light. I love to visit their family. I can easily see them all in white.
Last week, I was with a member and we visited her and talked to her and he son Ceasar and we were just talking about reading the scriptures and saying our prayers and she explained that sometimes she gets too busy and I bore my testimony to her how God has time for all of us, that there is always time for God. And just yesterday(Sunday) Liz and her son walked into sacrament! She told us last night that she really realized there really is always time for God, so she went to church. :)

I love you all and hope that you all can find that time for God, its always there. Have a fantastic week!

2 Nephi 31:21 says, "And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen."

We went to go visit Juan Carlos earlier this week and I had been studying this chapter a few days before. When we were with him, I felt strongly that we needed to read this chapter and also chapter 30 of 2 Nephi, and while reading, at the very end of the chapter, I felt the spirit so strong about this verse. I then thought about the hymn, "I Am a Child of God". Such a simple, short, but super bold song.

"I am a child of God, and He has sent me here, lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way."

We are children of God, and we have been sent here and we fortunately get to follow and be guided by Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our light we just get to follow it. Imagine you're walking in a dark forest, and sometimes its hard cause you accidentally trip on that rock on the ground, or get cut by the branch to the right of you, or bird poop lands on your left shoulder(lol hate when that happens) and you didn't even see it coming(hate it even more when I don't see it), but all will be well as long as we are following the light, Jesus Christ.

So this week, I ate something and I got super, super sick. So Friday at 3am I woke up super nauseous so I went to the bathroom but nothing was coming so I laid back down and then felt it again and thought, I'll bring my scriptures this time. I got in there and the light was flickering and I was scared (Im a baby) and my comp was asleep and so I just felt sick, alone, and scared. So Immediately, I just looked up and said, "Heavenly Father, please just stop this light (it immediately stopped) In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." I opened my scriptures to where I was reading in Jacob 3, and verse 1 says;

"Look unto God with firmness of mind, pray unto Him with exceeding faith, and He will console you in your afflictions, and He will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction".

My testimony of this verse grew so quickly.

I was firmly praying because Satan was like,"Ahh she's weak, let me scare her!" (what a brat haha)
I don't even know where my strength came from in that the light (a physical thing), would just stop, but it did in the very middle of my prayer.
Console, He comforted me in my scared feelings in the time that I was having pain in my stomach.
And God pleaded my cause, I know He did. I know He loves to help us, and as He does so I know He wants us to feel His love for us too. Im so thankful for this experience, only for this reason, but other than this experience I could've done without ;)
But after all, Nothing in our lives just happens to happen, they happen because we have something to learn, that could help us or someone else, in the future.

I love God. My love for Him is simple it doesn't need to be complex at all, I've learned. I hope that you all, ALL, can try to do something to feel His love and to feel love for Him. It's a really peaceful and comforting feeling.

I also love you all!

PS Sorry for TMI haha. Have a great week!

Today is my 3 month mark! Time flies so fast!

So early in the morning on Saturday, Hermana Bisama and I went on a run with President Hansen(Mission President) It was so beautiful! Then, Juan Carlos was baptized on Saturday! It was supposed to start at 6:00pm but we're in Bolivia so everyone including JuanCa showed up at 7:00 haha! It was so beautiful! My first baptism in the mission and the first in our ward in over a year! He bore his testimony and said, "I can't hug the sisters but they will forever be in my heart, and one day I want to do what they did for me, for other people." He is such a light and he was so happy and I was so happy and we we're all so happy it was like eat, drink, and be merry but like learn about Christ, be baptized, and be merry. Haha

My short message for this week-

2 Nephi 26:25 "Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. but he saith: Come all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price." And Vs. 27 Says, "Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance."

I feel like I write a lot about repentance and I know for a lot of people (including myself before my mission) that it is a subject we often want to avoid. However, just this past week, I was reading this chapter and these two verses, what I took from them, is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is sweet and as delicate as milk and honey and whether we want it or not, the Atonement is there for us. Its a gift that we have been given for our earthly life! How sweet of Jesus
:) (No pun intended)

So then I started to think about the great apostasy after Jesus Christ died and all of his apostles, Many churches were created and none of them taught true repentance in the loving manner that Jesus Christ did when he was on this earth. I love the Book of Mormon because right there in 2 Nephi 26 we learn that his Atoning Sacrifice is as sweet as milk and honey and we can partake of it being completely satisfied. Its so beautiful I think!

I hope you all know that I love you so much and pray for you and that you are all so special in the eyes of God, and that He loves, absolutely loves to bless us, we just need to come to Him first. :) "...knock and it shall be opened unto you."

Have a great week everyone!

The Sacrament... En español, La Santa Cena which is like the holy dinner...

This week I really learned something more about the Sacrament.

First off, we take the sacrament to renew our covenants,each week, that we have made with God. Baptism, etc.

What I learned this week was that each time that we take the sacrament, we are basically being baptized again, in a way and starting fresh for the up coming week. I love that so much! I really felt so strongly the other day during sacrament, that God only wants us to recognize our faults and come to Him with them and then start fresh and do better each day. I felt the love of God so much! He doesn't and never will want us to dwell on our faults! This life is a time that we have been given to learn, grow, and understand more about our purpose here on the Earth. However, if we are always focusing on what we did wrong, we will never see our potential to be better. God wants to live with all of us again.

Ether 12:27 Its talking about all them who come closer to God, He will show unto them their weaknesses and through Him their weaknesses will become strengths. I love this scripture because it really shows us that God gives us the opportunity to have confidence in Him, and to trust in Him.

We have a new investigator, her name is Stephanie! She is 18 and lives all alone, we got to her house/shop and she was about to do her nails and then I ended up doing them and it was really fun haha! She is really excited to learn more so were visiting her this week. Its fun to meet people with similar interests. Missionary work isn't only in talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is most definitely 100% being a friend too. If you think about it, Christ was the ultimate friend! :)

Juan Carlos has his baptism date for this coming Saturday (May 7) turns out his mom is actually a member she has just been inactive for a while. But she is so excited for him to be baptized, we changed the date cause his whole family wants to be there. His older brother Jorge (19) wants to take the lessons too! When we go to see Juanca, his brother is there sometimes and we usually talk and Ill help him with English and the last time we were there, he was like I want to learn more about the Book of Mormon, and then we can still talk too! Hahaha I love the people here! We invited him to come with us that night to an activity to watch "Meet the Mormons" and he was asking all about baptism and then he said he wants to be baptized! Theres still a lot that we have to teach him, but Im so excited!

Haha funny story for this week.... Anyone know Bryce Rummler? He went to Lone Peak last year... So... We went to the church building to practice a song that we were doing and Rummler was playing the piano. Behind the piano was a window and the blind's were like the long ones that break really easily, so like 4 of them had fallen and I tried to fix them while he was playing the piano and it stayed and I was like all chuffed to bits that it was fixed so I turned to look at my comp like "thats right" and one of them falls back down away from me onto a table to the left side of the piano and Rummler is playing and Im like to the right side of him.... There like this little glass vase for the flowers and the blind thing kept sliding down and it started to move the vase and I notice that it isnt stopping and its going to fall off the table onto the tile floor so I, without thinking, reach my arms to stop the vase and Rummler is like right there and it was so awkward and the vase fell and smashed, #Rummlerwasintheway hahahah we laughed for a good 30 minutes!

And then today I played soccer with a couple of the Elders and then there was a group of guys playing and one of the guys ran into me and hugged me and it was so awkward cause I didn't know what to do and I just froze. #Missionaryprobs #KarmafromwhatIdidtoRummler

Thanks for everything.
I hope you all have a super good week I love you all!

I love the priesthood. I love the power that it has. My dad once told me that the priesthood is stronger than a whole worlds army. And I have no doubt about that.

Remember Juan Carlos, our investigator who used to be atheist? This week, my comp and I thought that we should go up the big Cristo at the top of the hill, to talk to him and just talk about the love of God. Well, he called us the day that we were going to go, to tell us that his girlfriend had appendicitis and she isn't doing well at all. We haven't ever met his girlfriend, but we asked if we could go to the hospital to visit her and just talk to her and see how she is. He said he would be honored. So we went and we talked with her and her mom and we asked if she would like to receive a priesthood blessing. She said yes. We talked a lot about our beliefs as members of the Church of Jesus Christ and after we went back to Juan Carlos´ house and he cried and he told us that he knows for sure that God exists. And that he knows that God loves him. WOW! It was so amazing to hear him say that, he said he knew it with everything in him.

So the next day, (yesterday) we had church and JuanCa was supposed to come but he didn't answer his phone and he missed his ride. We were sad and sitting in the chapel and right before sacrament, in RUNS JuanCa!!!! We were so happy, he had ran all the way from his house about 3-4 miles away from the church, just so that he could take the sacrament. He was out of breathe hahaha but we were so proud!

Then after church we went to the hospital with two of the elders to perform the blessing for Camila, (women don't hold the priesthood) and the elders preformed a healing blessing for Camila. It was beautiful. We left and then later yesterday, we had a fireside with all of the missionaries and their investigators. Juan Carlos came all alone and at the beginning he sat in the very back, and after about 15 minutes, all alone, shy Juan Carlos walked all the way from the very back to the frontest of frontest rows. And he was crying. It was so peaceful and the spirit was sweet and present. We asked him at the end why he was crying, and he told us that Camila, his girlfriend, told him right after the blessing, immediately she felt no pain.

I know, that all things through faith and all things through God, have power. He is always there for us. He will never move. If He has been there for you in your life before and you don't feel like it now, have no fear because He is the same yesterday(that time in your life before) today, (when you might not think He is there for you) and tomorrow. He will always be there for you and always want the best for you. Have hope and choose faith over doubt every day!

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything. Have a great week!

This week went well, pretty normal, but well!

DC 50:24
"That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."

So we have an investigator, his name is Juan Carlos(17 years old), he used to be atheist before we started teaching him. He was so shy, very serious and yeah, just very shy! My comp and I noticed a huge change in him this week. He has been so happy and laughing so much and smiling so much, and asks so many questions and just loves to talk to us. He told us that we are like his best friends and that he loves us. We fasted this week with him and he just explained to us how happy he is and he brought me and my comp cake and pie (tan rico :)) He is planning to be baptized the 30th of this month.

I love to see what the teachings of Jesus Christ, does to the countenances of people. Its so beautiful.

To follow that, this morning, we were at La Cancha, a huge place to shop, and my comp and I were walking to find the other sisters to get a taxi so that we could go eat at a place called Mexico(a place owned by a guy from highland, he married a Boliviana and they're moving to Highland this week!) anyways, haha #ADD... As we were walking, we walked passed these two huge scary looking guys... And they were speaking english!!! haha I got so scared and just walked past them and got the strongest feeling, "hey they're children of God too! Go share your message!" So I told my comp that we needed to and she was like yeah, we don't have much time, but if you think we should lets do it.
We turned around and I was like, "hey guys! I heard you speaking english, and I speak english and I wanted to talk to people that speak english!" haha they were like "Hey! Yeah, whats up hows it going? (looked at my tag) you're from the church!" and so I was like yeah! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you know about this church?" and they were like "No!" haha so I was like, "Mormons?"... "Oh mormons! Yeah, well a little!" So I said, "Well, since Im always sharing our message in spanish, could I share it with your guys in english?" They kind of hesitated but then he was like , "Yeah, sure!" I just started telling them why I was here, because God loves us so much, and I want everyone to know that. That we are all children of God and He wants the best for us, I really cant remember everything I was saying! I was just so at peace to share the message in english, but not only that it was in english, but that I literally saw something in his eyes as I was talking to him. change. We gave him a pamphlet of the restoration and he said, "Im going to read this. Wow, thank you so much, yeah Im going to read this, thank you!" THE SPIRIT WAS THERE, IN LA CANCHA!!!

God loves us so much, and I love that I get so see a small portion of His love for everyone around me!

Just this past Saturday, There was a huge party across the street from our house and we just were joking around about how funny it would be if we could go all dressed funny and ready to share our message... So we made the funniest video, Im going to try to send it but Im still trying to figure out how!

I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week!

Oh and Happy Birthday to McKinley, Ava and Skyla this week :)

No hay palabaras para describir esta semana pasada! (There aren´t words to describe this past week)

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

Well I loved so much in conference last week, someone said that we make the choice to choose faith over doubt everyday. It is so rewarding to do so. Obviously there are a lot of hard things about the mission, but man, when I chose faith whole heartedly, I feel the hand of God guiding my day. My spanish is better, Im able to share my testimony in a language I barely know, but completely understand and feel what Im saying. I love that we have been given agency in this life, because without this agency, we would never know the difference between good days and bad days. Therefore, we would never know happiness. There are two different kind of choices that we get to make throughout our lives, good or bad. When we choose faith, everything works out and makes sense! I just love it.

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors though him that loved us."
"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:37&39

WOWOW!!! How motivating! Seriously! I love it so much!

A recent convert and his brother and my comp and I were all talking about our testimonies about the Book of Mormon. And when it was that our testimonies were really set in the Book with no doubt. He said, "while reading the Book of Mormon, I realized how much confidence God has in all of us." I loved that, its so true! Our Heavenly Father has so much faith and confidence in all of us, I feel it while talking to investigators everyday. He is the ultimate dad! (sorry dad youre fantastic too ;)) But really! He knows we can overcome any hard thing, because He knows that He will always be there for us. I love God :)

sooooo... I've been kissed by a man.

It was an accident, Im still getting used to the culture hahahaha.

Yesterday, was fantastic. After church, we did our studies and went to go to one of our appointments with a family. And I just randomly felt like I needed to bring my Plan of Salvation layout thing, (even though thats not what we planned to talk about),that Jordan Hansen got me before I left, (shout out to reddragon haha) We called Wendy, our friend who is a member of a year and a half now! Woo she is amazing she´s 18 years old and is planning to go on a mission! Anyways, we went to her house so that she could accompany us. There is an inactive member named Flora who lives right by her and we always go to just spend time with her and see if she needs anything, we´ll sing for her and just we love her so much :) anyways, while we were waiting for Wendy to come out, we walked accross the street with Flora so that we could talk to her in the shade, so we sat on the curb. We had 20 minutes til our next lesson, and I got this strong impression to talk about the Plan of Salvation with her. So I quickly told my compañera and we asked her if that would be okay with her and she said yes! So we sang a short hymn and then we asked her who she would like to offer the opening prayer, she volunteered and it was so sweet! So I asked her if she had heard about the Plan of Salvation, and she said never! I got so excited to teach her that I think she started getting so excited haha its my favorite part of all things that we share on the mission, because it clearly shows Gods love for all of us, His children. She got so happy and excited and kept saying "START!" So we started with the Pre-Mortal Life, she was like "What! Keep going!" She was loving it so much. She asked about babies that die because she has always worried about them and we explained to her a little bit about Moroni chapter 8 how it talks about how young children die in Christ basically. That they dont need baptism because they are no sins. She just started crying, We went through the whole Plan with her. She told us this has answered all the questions that she has had in her life, because she was so confused. She was so happy about it and thanked us a million times.

The Plan of Salvation, is a plan that God prepared for us before this earth. We came to the earth to obtain bodies and experience all things, but most importantly, to except Christ, live His gospel, and allow his perfect atonement to heal us so that we can be happy for all eternity. It was so special with Flora. I felt the spirit so strong. I know that God created the Plan for us to one day live with Him. I love sharing this Plan with everyone I can, because I feel so much love from God, I feel close to him, like I know more about him.

In Jarom verse 2, I dont have the exact scripture, but I love that he says something about how the Plan of Salvation has already been revealed many times, so he doesnt need to explain it again. This verse for me, shows me how important this plan is for us to know, 1 because God wants to live with His kiddos again (us) and 2 because we can learn how we can return to live with our daddiyo again, for all eternity, gaining all that He has. I just love it.

I've met so many cool people here, like legit gangsters with tear drop tats on their face, that have solid testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the food is amazing! I love the food. I drink so much coke everyday but Ive lost about 10 pounds...

My compañera y yo make the funniest videos, Im going to try to send them. hahaha I love my comp. She is so strong, and I have learned so much from her! Im just so happy, and I feel so previledged to devote this short year and a half of my life to think about other people all day and how I can serve them.

I love you all and hope that you guys have a fantastic week :)

I love Cochamba! My area is Villa Moscú, Cochabamba. About 3 minutes from the Cochabamba temple. It´s so gorgeous! My comp is Hermana Bisama from Santiago, Chile. She is amazing we clicked so fast! I love her. We go on runs around the temple in the morning! Lots of hills. Haha! Skyla would love it here because there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE! Mum would hate it because they talk all night long. The people are so cute and little.
I want to clean everything and spiders watch me when I pee and showers are COLD and I want to clean everything and bleach everything and clean and clean and I have to throw away my toilet paper!!! Hahahahaha!:))
The little boy in the pic would hold my hands and we would dance and then he would give me the biggest hug!!! and the cute little girl was glued on me as we were teaching her mum about repentance. Heavenly Father really helps :)

Anyways, we had a lesson with a girl named Elizabeth, she is 17 years old and lives with her older sister. Our first lesson was about the restoration and prophets.
Hermana Bisama had a great visual analogy thing! She put out her fist and asked Liz to put her fist out beneath hers but not touching and said, "now follow my hand" and Liz followed. Then she said, "now close your eyes and follow my hand." Liz couldn't follow because she couldn't see it. Then she held the top of the pencil in her fist and told Liz, "hold the bottom of the pencil without touching my fist and follow mine." Hermana Bisamas fist was God, we were Liz's fist and the pencil was the prophet. We can't see God, however, we do have prophets that guide by the word of God that we can follow and come closer to Him. I loved that!

1 Nephi 22:2 "And I, Nephi, said unto them: Behold they were manifest unto the prophet by the voice of the Spirit; for by the Spirit are all things made known unto the prophets, which shall come upon the children of men according to the flesh."

I really loved general conference this weekend, and I hope that you all got to watch some of it. We are so blessed to know of a living prophet, and apostles, who loves us so much.

I really loved what all of them said, here are just a few of my favorite things:

"Something so completely destroyed can with no doubt, be restored." This can apply to so many things and people. I also like how he said that "God will force no one to Heaven." In fact, anyone who doesn't come to know God or doesn't care to know God, wont even want to dwell in His presence. This is sad because God wants to live with EVERY single one of us, again. We are His children, whom He loves unconditionally.

God see's us as we truly are and He see's us worthy of rescue. As much as we might forget to think of Christ, remember, that he always, Always! Remember's us. Thats so special.

The Holy Ghost is simple, and offers a constant flow of guidance. That being said, "offers" Is a key word, because He also honors our free agency.

If we seek to do our best, The Lord will help us!

God will never desert us. It´s not His character. Give God your heart and tomorrow will be magnificent.

I love you all and encourage you to watch conference if you haven't.

Oh how funny is this! Gabe Crosby, my friend from Lone Peak high school is serving in Cochabamba too and he called me the other day and we were both like what the heck, hi! Hahaha. That was way funny. He's a great missionary!

Thanks for everything!! You're all in my prayers!