I Feel Like I'm the one Being Trained! - Nov 26, 2018

So! It has been kinda a crazy week, and I´ve been dead tired, but it´s been a good dead tired!

Tuesday: I spent the day with Hermana McGuire (another missionary who is training, and also happens to be from Washington) (but she´s from the west side). We went back and forth from my area to hers, since our areas touch borders. It was a fun day. It´s kinda a luxury now for me to be able to spend a whole day talking in English! (except in the appointments of course) It was pretty fun, and she´s a cool Hermana.

Wednesday: I got my hija! (daughter) It´s kinda weird to think about it because I have a few friends who just entered the mission field this week in other parts of the world, so it´s weird that I could basically be training them! My hiija´s name is Hermana Muñoz, and she´s from Chile. She is very sweet and kind and thoughtful (reminds me a lot of Abby Henry) and has a great attitude about missionary work. At first she was SUPER nervous to talk with anyone, but now (Monday) she is doing a lot better.

Thursday: We had a few appointments today, but a lot of them fell through, and every time that happened, Hna Muñoz would say, ¨Hey, let´s go knock some doors¨ or ¨Okay, I want to go talk with those people¨ and things like that. It´s been really fun to see how in tune with the spirit she is, especially since she´s fresh from the CCM. She actually is really inspiring me a lot in the way of contacting, because before this week it was never really something that I enjoyed or loved, it was kinda more something necessary to find and teach more people, but after spending so much time doing it I´m starting to like doing it more! (Even though getting references is the best thing in the world!) 

Friday: So... we contacted all day, But I really didn´t feel bad about it because Hna Muñoz was so excited to talk with everyone! We had district meeting in the morning, so that´s always fun. 

Saturday:  The majority of what I remember from Saturday is using the whole day to contact. It´s interesting because no matter how many appointments you plan, the majority of the will fall through, yes or yes.  But at least we visited with lots o people! We´ve got 23 written contacts from the past 5 days, so not too shabby!! Usually I might be halfway through the transfer with that number, so let´s hope all the contacting and diligence pays off! 

Sunday: I felt like we spent the whole day in the capilla, because we had a 2 hour ward counsel after church (it should be 1 hour).  We spent all day walking and looking for contacts who didn´t want to be found, so we got home DEAD tired, but that´s the new norm, so I guess it´s a good thing. :D

Monday: We went to the store, bought ´the goods´ , played wallyball, went the the mall for lunch, and are doing internet. Oh, and I washed all my clothes this morning which took FOREVER (I miss washers and dryers) but it´s a part of life here in Bolivia.

Aaaaand that was my week! We are working hard so we can sleep hard haha!! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving, since I didn´t actually know Thanksgiving was going to be this past week until people told me haha. 

The church is true. If you don´t believe it, go find out for yourself. Read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY! It will bless your life!

I love you all! I know Christ loves you... and we can pretend that Bolivia loves you too haha!

Hermana Rowe

And my cambio is... - Nov 19, 2018

.......I'M GONNA TRAIN!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY I'm very very very very very very very very very very very happy about my cambio!! I'll meet my 'kid' on Wednesday, so we'll see!!

Tuesday: We got to do a fun service for a recent convert of the Elders, Hermana Ana!  Her brother in law has a toy store, and she helps put together the toys that they order from china in her house, so that's what we spent a lot of the afternoon doing! We really helped her get some stuff done! She was so grateful that she invited us to eat lunch later in the week.

Wednesday: Happy 8 months to me! I seriously feel like I'm still a new missionary, how have i been here for 8 months?? I'm so grateful for the many things I've learned about life, serving, being more like Christ, etc. I know that our Father in Heaven is pleased with us when we give up our will for His. That is honestly one of the hardest things about the mission, because the rules are so specific and there's so many! But He blesses us and helps us to accomplish what He's asked when we are willing, and when we ask Him to help us.

Thursday: We had another service activity in the morning where we helped an older single lady in the ward clean out some of her garage and put up some decorations. Today we ate with Hna Ana for lunch (we thought it was just going to be for us, but she invited the Elders too...whoops). Then we did our last weekly planning as a companionship. One of the things I realized is that even though these two cambios have been SUPER hard for me, I love her. There are a lot of things about her that I'm going to miss too, and there's a lot that I've learned from her. But! I'm still happy to be training :)

Friday: Zone Conference with Elder Fallabella! (he is the area president and a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.) It was awesome to listen to him. He had some amazing insights about how we can contact better. From now on I'll be walking with a Book of Mormon in my hands, and trying to talk with everyone not only when we are 'contacting' but if we've got time also with the people on the way to appointments and things like that. Normally conference is from 9 to 1 pm with lunch, but this was from 9 am to 4 pm (with lunch in the middle :) ) Then in the evening we had a ward activity where everyone brought desserts, we all shared, we played games with food, etc. AND we had 3 investigators come, which I think was the best part! 

Saturday: We only had the chance to visit a few people because a bunch weren't home, and because the stake conference was this week (and I played piano for the adult and general sessions) so we had to be at the stake center early. I liked what was said about every member a missionary. That really it's the job of the MEMBERS to bring their friends to church, to get their coworkers and neighbors ready to hear the gospel, and invite them to meet with the missionaries. In an ideal world, missionaries shouldn't have to contact because the members are constantly working to invite and bring others to church. It was pretty cool, I liked it a lot. I also liked that they talked about how really the purpose of ward council is to better facilitate missionary work. Pretty dang cool. 

Sunday: Stake Conference! A LOT of good things were said about how we need to sacrifice ourselves and what we want a little bit more. They talked about the parable of the rich young man, and about the stripling warriors. It was awesome. In the afternoon we ran around searching for people to visit (like almost every Sunday because it seems like people don't really like to meet with us on the sabbath... kinda weird, but yeah). We had a FHE with a part member family, and then went home to hear our cambios! We had to wait until after 11 pm to hear! (that kinda stunk, but at least then we knew)

Monday: Today has been pretty relaxed. This morning I was making the agenda for my 'kid' and trying to clean up the house a little bit so that things will be ready for Wednesday when she gets to come home. :) We're going to the airport in 15 mins to say goodbye to the people heading home. 

That was my week! I'm so excited to see what this week brings!  Lots of love from Cochabamba, Bolivia!

Hermana Rowe

It is a 'thing' to have the whole zone have matching outfits.  The sisters in the zone had these dresses made.  These turned out much better than when she did it in the last zone.

Joyful Jessica!

assembling toys

Patience is a virtue... - Nov 12, 2018

First of all, shout out to my big bro Jacob, today is his 22nd birthday! I realized that last week that I didn´t even put a title because I was so excited to respond to people´s emails... whoops haha. So glad to hear about people going to the temple this week! Hope you felt the blessings :)

Tuesday: Last district meeting of the transfer! (wow that was fast!) In the evening we had a practice with the primary because I´m playing piano for the primary program.

Wednesday: We had the chance to visit with an investigator named Jhennifer, and she is super fun! She has been meeting with missionaries for a SUPER long time, since her sister is a member of the church, and her boyfriend too. She feels a little confused, she´s not sure if she would want to join the church just for her sister, her boyfriend, or for her, so she´s been trying to figure that out (we´ve been trying to help her develop her testimony of the book of Mormon so that she´ll want to get baptized for herself!) But she comes to church almost every week, and likes it, but has seen a lot of hypocrisy in the members of the ward, and a few of them have been kind of unkind to her, so that makes me really sad (especially since they are returned missionaries). It makes our job as missionaries super hard when members don´t help us out by being friends with investigators. In this ward there is a lot of talk about things happening or changing, and then it doesn´t. But! Patience is a virtue. There are a lot of good helpful people in the ward, but sadly for a lot of people (especially investigators) it´s hard to see the good when there is something bad present.

Thursday: More practicing for the primary program :) I was a little frustrated with my comp because every time we have these practices (or the stake ones) she just leaves the room. And it´s not like I can follow her because I´m sitting at the piano playing it. Every time. There´s been a lot of other things too... I don´t need to mention them, but let´s just say that being obedient is hard. I started looking at my own faults this week to focus on the things I need to change instead of what she needs to. It´s hard because a lot of the things are companionship things. I´m kind of glad that I only have a week left with her. Don´t get me wrong, during the day we are like friends, but sometimes the way she talks to me hurts my feelings. And i´ve told her that, but she doesn´t try to change. BUT!!!! I will repeat: PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE, and it´s one I´m learning very well. We´ve had a bit of a hard time finding investigators who are truly interested in learning about the gospel. We have a lot who we thought that maybe they were, but then they don´t progress. Not sure how to fix it. We´ll keep looking for new people to teach. (and we have been for the past 3 months)

Friday: Full of canceled appointments and fallen back up plans. We spent the whole day walking. At least my legs are getting strong, right? I found some scriptures that every member of the church should read:  (they are basically about how we need to love and help and friendship others... I´ve been thinking about Jhennifer´s situation a lot) Helaman 6:3 and 3 Nephi 18: 22-23

Saturday: Today there was a choir practice for the stake conference. Most of our appointments fell through again. Patience patience patience

Sunday: Today was the primary program. It was super cute. After church we had the chance to go visit Dennys, who is in the hospital right now because he drank (alcohol) so much that he had internal bleeding in his esophagus. So, we decided that it would be a good time to give him the Word of Wisdom wisdom pamphlet to read when he has nothing to do. :)

Monday: Today really was just a preparation day. We cleaned, bought food, and printed pictures to give to people who are in their last transfer. 

That was my week! I´m trying to be a little more obedient each day, I´m trying to develop my teaching skills a little better every day, I´m trying to make my Father in Heaven a little prouder of me every day. Sometimes life is SO hard, but it´s not worth it to give up. We just have to keep fighting, and rely on the Lord to guide and help us. Prayer is so important. As I´ve prayed many times each day I realize that our Father knows us, listens to us, and WANTS to help us, even if it´s just to give us a little comfort to help us get through the day. One of the things I´ve been thinking A LOT this week is something that my dad has always told me: Being happy is a choice, so CHOOSE to be happy. That´s one of the things that has really helped me get through the week this week. I´ve been trying my very hardest to choose to be happy, even when I´m frustrated with myself, with my comp, with the ward members, with the area... I´m choosing to be happy, and I´m trying to be patient.

Lots of love,

Hermana Rowe

our last district meeting (almost all the zone)

After the primary program

The Temple! - Nov 5, 2018

So! To start off the letter this week, I realized that last week the title was about rain and then i didn´t mention anything about rain in my letter... (we noticed that too and were wondering about it...) basically what´s been happening is that it keeps raining during the night (and it wakes me up because we sleep with the window right above my head open, or it gets too hot) then in the morning for a few hours, stops in the afternoon and starts back up again. It´s SUPER loco. So I guess now i´ll get to what happened this week :)

Tuesday: WE FINALLY WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!! (We go as a zone) After 7 months I finally got to go to the temple again, and it was really what I needed. I realized that I had forgotten some of the covenants I´d made with my heavenly father, and that made me kinda sad. I have a renewed need to be more obedient. I remembered a little bit more about the plan of salvation, and I felt the spirit SO strongly. As a missionary, we feel the spirit a lot of the time, but it´s always welcome when it´s a little more palpable. So, I´ve got an invitation for all of you: Go to the temple!! And please please please do it often, whether you are a youth or adult. As a youth, I was so blessed to have a temple 10 minutes away from my house, but i went less than once a month. I wish I would have gone more often! Preparing for my mission I went almost every week, and we went every week in the CCM and I have realized that the temple is SO IMPORTANT. The prophets aren´t just telling us to go frequently for no reason. :) The blessings of the temple are so very important in each of our lives, and I know that if you will make a commitment to go to the temple more often (make it a goal, priority, etc) you will feel the spirit more in your life and you will be better guided by the spirit. Our father in heaven loves us so much, and that´s why he´s provided temples for us, so we can come closer to him, feel more of his spirit and he can bless us with even more blessings! (yes, going to the temple is kinda like wishing for more wishes!) So... (here´s where i´d get you to commit to going to the temple jaja)

Wednesday: Happy Halloween!! Hermana Alvarado and I dressed up (but don´t worry, nothing crazy, we just had cat ears all day). My favorite part of Halloween is that we got to go visit an investigator that´s in the hospital because she had a spinal surgery. She´s doing well :) And seeing our cat ears brought her a little joy and amusement jaja.

Thursday: Happy Birthday Mom!! Today wasn´t super out of the ordinary for me, except that I was thinking about my mutha :) 

Friday: We got to do service with the ward! We started at 8 am and went until 2 pm! We were so tired after that, but it was a really fun day! I didn´t bring my camera, but the bishop´s wife took some pictures, so we´ll see if I can send some next week.

Saturday: We got to help the Elders set up for their baptism and at the baptism I sang "Where Can I Turn For Peace" which apparently they don´t sing a lot here because a lot of the ward members were asking me about it afterwards. It was a really pretty baptism. It´s interesting to share a ward, because the baptisms of the elders feel like our baptisms too, since the people know us and we see them every week at church too. It really is a true joy that I feel every time I get to see a baptism. 

Sunday: It was fast Sunday (I was thinking about scrambled eggs bacon and sugar muffins (that is what we have to break our fast every time.  It's tradition!)) and then in the afternoon we helped the stake choir practice for HOURS!! The practice started at 4 and ended at 7, and it was in the stake center outside of our area. Super long time, but it was ok because it is a big service I´m doing for them! (playing piano)

Monday: Today was fun and pretty relaxed because we had a zone activity where an elder from Argentina made chimichuri which was super good! (it was big fat sausages on bread with this awesome tasting sauce) (and we grilled the sausages) We played volleyball and soccer, ate, hung out and talked with the zone. Super fun! 

Ta-da! That was my week. I hope that each one of you gets the chance to go to the temple AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I love you, and the hot Bolivia sun loves me because I got a super bad burn on my arms this week (i´ll send a pic) 

Happy Fall!

Hermana Rowe