Primer Conversa! - June 25, 2018

Yes, it happened!! Blanca is a baptized and confirmed member of the Church, and she has such a sweet testimony! I am so happy and full of joy for her. But let me back track a little bit. 

On Tuesday, I felt like a missionary!! We worked so hard, had a bunch of appointments where the spirit ws really strong, and were super busy. I really felt pure joy and happiness and Tuesday, because I really felt like I was in the service of God, that I was really doing His work. I wish everyday was like that. Part of the reason why it was great is because my comp was motivated to work hard as well. I´m going to look for ways to help motivate her in the future. (Even though we only have 3 weeks left together, probably) Wow, I only have 3 weeks left of my training! I am really starting to feel like a missionary that is having some success, because I am really able to participate in teaching the lessons a lot more. I´m not perfect, far from it, but I really feel like there are some principles that I can teach well, and I´m starting to get better at contacting, and just talking to people in general. On Tuesday night our dinner was salchichas fritas (fried hot dogs) with scrambled eggs, rice, mayo and ketchup. I HIGHLY recommend this dinner option, it is delicious.  Wednesday was pretty similar to Tuesday (even down to the dinner) and I really enjoyed the work. 

Thursday... oh Thursday. I´ll come back to that in a minute. Friday was the zone conference for this cambio (transfer) and we were in Potosí again, so we all froze, but we all made it back without getting frostbite or dying, so that´s good. We actually were having dresses made for the conference (this brings me back to Thursday) (This is apparently a thing in her mission.  I have seen pictures on the fb page of sister missionaries with matching dresses and even sisters having matching dresses and elders with ties that match...) and a lady in the ward was doing it. We spent a lot of time on Thursday waiting for her to finish up the dresses, because the day before she said that she´d have them ready by Thursday morning. So that morning we went, had her do some adjustments, and went about doing the work again.  We came back early afternoon (because that´s when she said she´d be done, and we ended up waiting for half an hour while she was working. And when we tried them on again we didn´t have anymore time for adjustments, but that evening we tried them on again at the apartment where we have a better mirror, and it´s actually comical how ill-fitting they are. Needless to say we didn´t end up wearing them to the conference. Each one was 50 bs, but don´t worry too much because that´s only like 7 dollars. We felt bad about it, and actually we were both really frustrated because we asked her to make adjustments that she didn´t make, but it is a funny memory now. I will probably never wear that dress anywhere, actually. 

Saturday!! Baptism de Blanca! Really it was a beautiful baptism. And her sons came which was great! We are so happy for her. I´ll send pics :) Saturday evening was also good because we set up a baptismal date with another investigator, so I hope it works out! :) (Also, we were in an appointment with a member and I accidentally flipped off a member when I was counting down on my fingers! I´ve never done that before in my life!! It was so funny, and they knew it was an accident, but I was really embarrassed! Now is not the time to be making accidents like that haha!) 

Yesterday at church Hermana Padilla and I both gave talks (which I THINK went well, at least it seemed too). I really felt the Lord helping me out and blessing me in my preparations this week, because it was a 10 minute talk, and it was in Spanish, but I didn´t feel like I had a hard time at all figuring out what I needed to say. Today for P-day the zone got together at the stake center to play games and make chocolate chip cookies. It was a pretty fun activity. And that brings me to the present! I hope everyone had a good week, and PLEASE keep the letters and pictures coming! I LOVE hearing about what´s happening to those I know and love. Have a happy happy week!

Hermana Rowe

The ill-fitting dresses... They are wearing each others because they thought they might fit a little better...

Blanca's Baptism

The dresses... They are wearing each others because they thought maybe they would fit a little better.  They don't!

Blanca's Baptism

Muchisisisisisisisisisimo mejor!! - June 18, 2018

This week was waaaaaaaaaaaay better than last week. We were actually out working, and doing missionary things! Also, happy 3 months to me! Every 14th of the month I am 1 month better at being a missionary! This week one of our investigators, Blanca Arista, passed her baptismal interview and her baptism in this Saturday!! I love her SO SO much, and I am so excited for her to take this step in her life. She has had a lot of hard things happen to her, but I know the gospel will be a HUGE blessing in her life, especially since I have already seen the joy that it brings her. 

On Tuesday we got to do a super fun service project helping an investigator paint and move into his new apartment. He is one of the other people that eats at our pension, so we already are on a friendly basis with him. One of the things that I actually really love about having our pension in a restaurant is that it is a great way to meet new investigators! SUPER great missionary tool. That night we ate Pollo a la Broaster (fried chicken) (but don´t worry it was from a restaurant) (oh wait there´s more), and the next day I was sick and throwing up and we couldn´t work that day because I was feeling super choppy!! (Qetchua for bad) But Wednesday I was fine, so I´ve decided not to eat Bolivian fried chicken ever again and hopefully that´ll solve some of my stomach issues. 

This week our DVD player (yes, we have a DVD player) stopped working, so we´ve had to get creative with our daily exercize (wow i had a hard time spelling that) (I still think it´s wrong but that´s ok, i´ll figure out how to write in english again after my mission) because usually we do Zumba or P90X DVDs. But it´s no worry because now i´m doing a lot more push-ups and sit-ups. Something unexpected in the mission so far is that i´ve lost weight. Which makes me happy and at the same time confused me because I feel like I eat WAY more here than I did at home, since the portions are so big. 

The English and Piano classes are going well. I´m actually enjoying teaching English more than piano, and I thought it would be the opposite. Anybody have any advice for how to teach piano to a big group? Because it´s not easy. Also, anybody have any advice for easy things to cook on a stove? With minimal ingredients? thanks friends

This week we did a lot of contacting, so other missionaries and RMs have any advice for how to contact creatively? Man, contacting in another language is not easy. Yesterday, we were door to door contacting, and a cholita opened one of the doors, and I guess I got the order of how to do things mixed up, and I ended up asking her right off the bat, "What´s your name?" (not effective btw) and she said, "¿Porque?" And I thought she had said her name, so I said "Hola Malachia, mucho gusto, somos misioneras..." (etc) and Hermana Padilla started laughing at me!! And I didn´t understand why until she told me afterwards, but MAN that was so funny afterwards. What´s your name? -Why? Oh, Malachi nice to meet you, we´re missionaries... It doesn´t make any sense but yeah. Things like that happen a lot, because i think I hear one thing but they say something else. We laugh at my language skills a lot haha. 

This morning for P day all the hermanas in Sucre (there are 8 of us) got together to eat salteñas for breakfast. I don´t know if I´ve mentioned this, but MAN salteñas are good. It´s kind of like an empanada, they are filled with beef or chicken, have lots of other stuff that i don´t know what it is but tastes DELICIOUS and are full of meat juice. SOSOSOSOSOSO good. And they only serve them for breakfast, but I could eat them at any time of day, all day, everyday. SOO GOOD my mouth is watering right now as I´m writing this haha. After that we played wally and soccer as a zone. I think that pretty much sums up this week. This evening we have an appointment with a new investigator, and he seems really interested, so we are excited about it. 

Lot´s of love everyone! Enjoy summer because for me it´s winter, and we wear our coats everyday.The sun herre is hot, so sometimes it feels like summer in the middle of the day. I´excited to experience summer in December.

Hermana Rowe

We thought it´d be cool to take some pictures with these donkeys in a field next to where we were contacting. You´re welcome 

 After one of the classes de english and piano (not everyone is pictured sorry) 

Happy 3 Months to me!

My Comp Accidentally Poisoned Me! - June 11, 2018

Hola hola todos! I hope everyone´s weeks were full of fun times and laughter, because mine was not haha (I say that as I´m laughing, but actually this week was pretty dang rough). 

So, you know how Monday last week I was so hopeful that I would not get sick? Well, Monday night I started getting sick, so that´s cool haha But it´s actually not cool because we did absolutely nothing to further the work in our area this week, which on one hand was super frustrating, and on the other is still frustrating even though our bodies needed the time. On Tuesday we were in a different area because it was cambios (changes/transfers) and one of the other sisters was getting a new comp but had lots of appointments to go to. On Wednesday we spent the day in and out of hospitals and clinics trying to get mission approved meds (after three days of being sick you have to call Hermana Montoya (The mission president's wife (I believe)), and this was day 7 for mi comp) (this was our second time calling and those were our instructions). Then that evening Hermana Padilla was super exhausted so we rested. Thursday was when it started to hit me pretty badly, and that night we called Hermana Montoya for my behalf. Friday morning we were both feeling ok, so we went to the first district meeting for this cambio which was good to get to know lots of people. That afternoon I was feeling BAD (achy, stuffy nose, etc) and we went to the hospital for me, but couldn´t get an appointment, so went home and rested. Friday we both were super bad, though Hermana Padilla was a little better. (Here comes the part that you´ve been waiting for) That night Hermana Padilla was trying to do something nice for me, and decided to cook rice and chicken. The problem was (and i didn´t realize this) that the week before, there was a night where we had planned to eat dinner at home but ended up eating at the pension (since its a restaurant and we love their family so so much) and before we had left that afternoon she had left out the chicken to defrost, and when we got home that evening afterwards she stuck it back in the freezer as if everything was all good. So fast forward to one week later, she made the chicken and we ate it, and neither one of us could really taste or smell anything weird about it. But! Friday night (I guess Saturday morning) at 3:30 am I was up vomiting it all out. And then after that i couldn´t sleep because i had ridiculous nausea and i couldn´t breathe very well (still cant) since my nose is super plugged. Saturday morning (when there was actually sun out) i still was feeling terrible, and we had our zone leaders come over and give us blessings of health. They were both in Spanish, but it was super cool because i felt the same spirit as a blessing in English. I felt a lot of peace, and for a moment, it was like i wasn´t sick at all. And then the elderes left. And then i was feeling it again. That afternoon we went to the hospital (Hermana Montoya´s orders) and i got some meds to help me with the sickness and with the nausea. Sunday we didn´t leave the house. I felt bad in the morning, but slightly better in the afternoon. Hermana Padilla felt good in the morning, but terrible in the afternoon. Today the group activity as a zone was going to museums, which we both felt well enough to do, but right now i´m exhausted. And i have crazy sinus pressure. So please please please pray for our health. 

Love you all! Thank you so much for your love and support! I´m grateful for the example of obedience you are to me, especially since sometimes obedience is RIDICULOUSLY hard to do as a companionship, when you´ve got different priorities. That was one of the things I struggled with the most, sometimes more than the language, during my first cambio. My goal for this cambio is to continue working on obedience, little by little, week by week (we have weekly goals that for me this cambio will all focus on different aspects of obedience). 

Mucho Amor!

Hermana Rowe

End of Cambio 1 - June 4, 2018

My final week of my first cambio (companionship or transfer) was pretty good! (Although my email wont be nearly as long as last week) Monday night we started intercambios (exchanges), which was an awesome experience! The Hermana I was with is called Hermana Salazar, and she is super awesome! It was also kinda fun to be in my area, but to be with someone else who does things with a different style and a different flair. I learned a lot about just being bold, and talking to LITERALLY everyone about the gospel. Even if we weren´t contacting, but we were walking in the street every once in a while she´d just ask someone if we could give them a card about Christ. I know I need to be a little more bold. (Right now I think a part of my timidity is the language, but if i ever want to be not timid i need to start now) 

This week Hermana Padilla has been SUPER sick. She´s had the chills, sore throat, watery eyes (SUPER watery, as in crying all the time but not actually crying, just water leaking from her eyes), stuffy nose, junk in the throat, you name a symptom and she probably had it this week. So I´ve been working SUPER hard not to get sick. I've felt a little bit bad about it, but i have been refusing to hug her all week, and i haven't allowed her to cook anything (which is one of her favorite things to do). Ive been making her take airborne (which she thinks is one of the most disgusting things ever) and ive been taking it as well (one because i dont want to get sick and two because i like the tablets). Ive been drinking lots of water, and ive been making her drink lots of water, and i made her start using my mentholatum because i couldnt sleep because she was blowing her nose so much in the night. This week has not been a great week for sleep haha. I also was having stomach aches a little this week, but I think it was because I ate some risky fried chicken. (i didn´t know it was risky at the time because it was in a restaurant, but looking back i realize that it was a little risky) Sorry I dont have pictures of it. But Its been a few days and i feel good now. Also, idk if i have mentioned this yet but I have officially eaten weird Bolivian food! I ate panza (sorry no pics, didn´t know it was weird before i ate it) last week which is the lining of cow stomach. It tastes like how a barnyard smells, so yeah, pretty bad. But i ate all of it because you basically have to if you dont want to offend people.  But i´ve also had some really really good Bolivian food too! Next time I get served something really awesome Ill take a picture. Ill try to take a picture of normal Bolivian food also so you have some examples. 

Not much else to talk about this week. We were going to have a baptism 2 Saturdays ago, but our investigator, Blanca, had some doubts. We havent been able to talk to her since the first interview which has been really sad. She hasn´t been answering our calls, and she hasn´t been at home ANY of the afternoons this week, and usually she is at home EVERY afternoon. We´ve been praying for her a lot, she is so good and sweet. 

Love you all tons! Thank you to those who have been emailing me personally, I love to see whats happening in your lives!

Mucho amor,

Hermana Rowe