Amo Sucre! - July 9, 2018

I asked Jessica what things the sisters told them they were doing wrong.  Did it apply to obedience or just the way she and her comp were doing things.   Both, there were some things that I didn´t even realize that were in the handbook (because we´d only read it together one time, at the very beginning of my training when i really didn´t understand that much (and actually we are supposed to read the handbook together every single day, which i didn´t know either...)) that we were either going directly against (and i seriously did not know) or that were being bent a LOT (I know I shouldn´t play the victim here but I feel a little bit like one because of all these things that i´d never known or realized because i´d never been told about, or i had but i didn´t understand). But it´s ok now because we´ve been doing a lot more things right this week :) 

So! Welcome back to the Bolivian life I´m living, friends and family! I have to say, I feel like I don´t have a whole ton to say this week, but we´ll see I guess. 

Tuesday: We had district meeting like normal, and the topic was the small simple things that we should be doing obedience-wise. It was super great. My invitation to all of you is to to do the small simple things that add up to a great big relationship with God: Read the Book of Mormon, at least a few verses every day, and pray every morning and night on your knees. I have seen such a large spiritual progression in myself as I´ve done these things, and I know that we can have the spirit with us more abundantly as we do these things. This is something that we talk about with people pretty much every day, and I have seen the huge difference it can make in people´s lives. On Tuesday we ate Pique Macho at the pension, and it was SO GOOD! Apparently the pique macho from Cocha is better, but I was happy to eat it. It is french fries with ketchup mayo fried egg, steak strips, hot dog, peppers, and onions... it´s pretty good :) 

Wednesday: Happy 4th of July y´all! I made sure to subtly rep my país by wearing red white and blue. We ate ice cream, and also made a dinner of hot dog, rice, eggs, and I drew fireworks on mine with ketchup mayo and mustard. It tasted super good. :) (Yes I know, Bolivian food is oddly sofisticated but super child-like at the same time) It was a good day, even though I was a little trunky thinking about friends and family :) I really tried hard to lose myself in the work for the rest of the week.

Thursday: We had interviews with Presidente Montoya, and he basically told me that Hna Padilla is going to Cochabamba for the next transfer, and that I´ll have at least one more transfer here in Sucre (YAY!!) But we won´t ´officially´ know until this Sunday night. It was really good to talk with him. I was able to express a little of my frustrations and ask advice about what to do when I want to be more obedient than my comp (he told me that was a common theme this transfer, so it´s good to know that I´m not going through this alone). 

Friday: I actually can´t really remember much from Friday. I know we actually had time to get in all of our studies, so that was good! Let´s just assume it was a good day because I can´t remember haha

Saturday: We were going to have a baptism, but the date fell through because she wasn´t ready. We are hoping that she´ll be ready in another few weeks, but we´ll see. But it was going to be a group`baptism at the stake center, and they had asked me to do the special musical number, so we went anyway. I sang Teach Me to Walk in the Light (because two of the people being baptized were kids over 8). I´m really glad I´ve been able to use my musical talents to help others feel the Spirit. I continue to play piano for the ward in sacrament meeting every Sunday, and I´ve been asked to sing for things many times.

Sunday: A very good happy day! I was a little stressed out in the morning because 5 mins before the meeting one of the people giving talks hadn´t showed up yet, and they asked me to share a message. It actually turned out pretty good! I´m choosing to count it as a blessing that I had to do that because seriously I have seen HUGE improvements in my spanish. I understand the majority of things that people say, and Ï´m able to respond adequately, so it´s looking pretty good! Almost every other week President Montoya tells me in response to my weekly emails to him that he is really seeing a lot of improvement in my Spanish as well! It makes me happy :)

Today (Monday): For P-day today we hung out at the stake center and played games. One of the Elders (My district leader, Elder Fisher) bought Settlers of Catan from the Cancha in Cocha, so he brought it and we played it! It was super fun. (It was also super cheapy and a rip off of the original, but I´m not complaining haha :) A lot of things in Bolivia are like that. For example: All the movies here you can buy for 1 or 2 bolivianos which is like 20 cents, and they are ALL pirated. It´s so funny because it´s illegal to pirate movies in the US, but in Bolivia it is actually legal. And ALL the stores do it. It is next to impossible to find a movie that is not pirated. So at the end of my mission every has to let me know what movies they want, and i´ll buy them here since they´re super cheap. And no, they are not all in Spanish) We also played soccer, and we were all surprised by how tired we were after! (the hermanas, idk about the elderes) (btw we played separately, don´t worry) But I guess it´s because we don´t run at all, because it´s not really safe for the hermanas to go on morning runs because it is still dark out when we get up (also it´s cold because it´s winter here). 

AAAAAaannd here we are. Thanks to all for your emails, it really does make a difference! I love hearing about what is going on in your lives! Lots of love and keep doing the small simple things!!

AMOR,

Hermana Rowe

4th of July Ice Cream

The dinner

A cool sign that they found (yes, she is allowed to wear pants, as long as she doesn't wear them to church or meetings,)

I Didn't Ask for Mezcla, But That's What I Got - July 2, 2018

This week was a mix of emotions for me. Monday night we started intercambios, and I was with Hermana Cristobal again, so that was pretty fun! I have a lot of respect for her as a missionary, she is awesome. (but we didn´t take a pic to prove it, so sorry about that) Tuesday we were in intercambios all day, and I was in my area again. At the end of intercambios I was feeling bad because the capas (hermana leaders) had a lot of things to talk to us about, that I didn´t even realize that we were doing wrong. But we have been working super hard, and been a lot more obedient this week. That evening, we found out that the brother-in-law of my pensionista died (brother of Hno. Absalón), so we spent a lot of Wednesday morning helping them out and supporting them. We got permission and went with them to do paperwork (because the cemetery is in our area) (actually the cemetery is really cool because it has a lot of famous Bolivian royalty, from back when that was a thing, presidentes, and people like that) and I was glad that we were able to support them that morning, because they were hurting BAD. My spirit even felt heavy, and I didn´t really even know him, but I have such a great love for their family. I really felt like I was "mourn(ing) with those that mourn, and stand(ing) with those that stand in need of comfort." 

In that same day we had an amazing lesson with Ana Carla, who was baptized this week! The spirit was super strong in that lesson, and we were so excited for her. That evening was the viewing for the hermano, and it was kind of really sad, but at the same time it was good because a bunch of members from our ward came and sang hymns. Our district leader and his companion came too, because last Saturday when we had the baptism of Blanca, Hno Absálon asked the elders if they´d give a blessing to his brother. They actually gave the blessing on Tuesday, and he died about an hour after that. Apparently that last hour he was a lot more peaceful  (because he was super sick, he had been in a bed for a year and in a lot of pain). Our pensionista Rocio shared with us that she was outside during this, and actually saw a pillar of light and heard comforting voices, and felt real peace when he died. Super cool experience that she said really strengthened her testimony of the reality of God. Anyway, at the viewing they asked me to sing "Conmigo Quédate, Señor" (Abide with me tis eventide) and I felt the spirit SUPER strongly during that (and yes that is the same one that I sang in the CCM). 

Thursday I was in Cochabamba for trámites (I think that means immigration or something like that... I´m not entirely sure) and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! A lot warmer than in Sucre (even though Sucre isn´t that cold haha). We ate empanadas with really good Bolivian cheese inside, with bags of chocolate milk. (I don´t know if I´ve mentioned this before, but most of the single portion drinks in Bolivia are in bags. Kinda weird, but it is what it is haha) That evening when I got back we had the baptismal interview for Ana Carla, and after that we were at the house of a part member family for a family night slash birthday celebration for Davíd Colque Alaca, who turned 11. It was a pretty good day.

Friday we ate RIDICULOUS amounts of food. We didn´t know if the pension would be open (understandably so) and made plans with a member to eat lunch. While we were walking to the member´s house, Hna Rocio called us and insisted that we eat lunch there. So we ate lunch with the members, then went to the pension and ate lunch AGAIN! I was SO SO full. (and in Bolivia if you refuse food it is super offensive, so we chose to go the less offensive route and gorge ourselves haha) We actually decided to fast a day early because the baptism of Ana Carla was Saturday night and we were planning to have a mini celebration with her afterwards (and maybe a little bit of the reason was because we had eaten a ridiculous amount of lunch haha). We also had an appointment with an investigator Friday that ended in a funny way. She (se llama Belen Serrudo) has a younger brother that is probably 2 or 3, and as we were saying the closing prayer, this younger brother was throwing spoons at my head! For the whole prayer! It was funny, and I was trying SO SO hard not to laugh during the prayer. 

Saturday we had the classes of English and piano, and 2 people showed up, that hadn´t been before, so I just taught the same things that I´d taught in lessons before. In the evening was Ana Carla´s baptism! A little bit about her, her family (parents and older sisters) were baptized 8 years ago but went inactive. Recently they have been re-activating themselves, and we had a family night with them about 2 weeks ago and found out that she was never baptized! But she was so ready, and already knew basically everything that we taught her. We got lucky that we got to be the ones to teach her, because it was like every missionary´s dream! :) During the baptismal service I sang for the special musical number, Lord, I would follow thee. It was a great baptism, and their family is so happy. (And so are we!!)

Sunday was fast Sunday, and there were a lot of less active members and investigators that came! We were so happy that they were there, and that they were sharing their testimonies! Especially Hno Absalón, because our pension family (Calvimontez Mancilla) have been really inactive, but I think everything that has happened this week has really humbled them, and brought them so much closer to Heavenly Father. We are so happy for them. They even set a goal for themselves so that they can go to the temple in Cochabamba (45 mins in plane but 8 hours by bus) and be sealed as a family. (That´s actually really common here, that there are members but haven´t ever received there endowments or been sealed) We are so proud of them.

Today for P day we went and toured a really old house museum thing that I guess was the house of a bunch of the royalty and presidentes of Bolivia. I think the coolest part of that was that we got to go in a tunnel that they had dug however many years ago, I think 200 or 300 years ago, and it was so small! We were basically squat walking slash crawling through it. But the tunnel lead to a different one of the government buildings, I think in case the people needed to escape in the case of emergency. But yeah, super cool, and that was my day. 

So there ya go! Lot´s of stuff happened this week, happy and sad, but I know that that´s just a part of life! I hope you all have a happy 4th of july and enjoy the fireworks for me!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Rowe

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

Fun, Frio, Y Frustrations - May 28, 2018

Ok so this week! Well, it was two weeks, but i forgot to bring my journal, and thus week was absolutely full to the brim!!! The only thing I´ve got from last week is that I was "baptized" into the ward. The way Bolivians celebrate things (birthdays, holidays, welcomes, etc) is by smashing eggs on your head and then throwing flour at you. So yeah that happened. And I guess that doesn´t usually happen, that you get baptized into a ward, but I guess it was just something special for me from Hermana Padilla and Ronal haha 

So Monday! We FINALLY got to go to Uyuní, and it was super beautiful. The bus ride was 8 hours, and SO SO SO COLD. We seriously were all freezing. And what was even crazier is that we left on Sunday night around 10, but got stuck in the middle and didn´t get there until 8 or 9 am! So yeah, that was not super fun, but it was awesome to get to know my zone better. The first place we visited while we were there (we actually took a tour) was an old train graveyard, so that was pretty cool, but the coolest part of Uyuní was definitely the Salt Flats! (Salar) Wow it was huge! We drove to an island in the middle of it that had a ton of cactuses. I have no clue how they even got there, because it took us an hour of driving on salt to make it there. 

There were also random things (buildings and such) on the way there and back that we stopped to see. The bus ride home wasn´t nearly as bad because we all were so tired that we slept the whole time (yeah that seriously didn´t happen on the way there). We got back on Tuesday about 3 am. The cost of the trip was 250 bolivianos plus money for food. That seems like a lot, but actually that´s like 35 dollars, so not too bad. Although most of the missionaries in our zone have been kind of broke this week because we used up a bunch of money this week. But the new month is this week, so we´ll be alright.

Also this week: my first zone conference! and it was in Potosí, so it was also cold there! (that was Thursday). It was with our zone (Sucre), Tupiza, and Potosi zones. The other two zones only have elders, so that was a little interesting haha. On Wednesday we had meetings with Presidente Montoya, and I was really happy with how it went! It was a conversation, and i understood pretty much everything he said! El don de lenguas (the gift of tongues) is real! The sister leaders in my zone asked me to lead a special musical number (because on the bus to Uyuní we were singing hymns, and then people heard ME sing, and I guess I have a pretty good voice because right after that they assigned this to me) (actually it was kind of cool because the bus was super noisy, and the hermanas asked me to sing my favorite hymn for them (because they knew my voice was good) so I sang How Great Thou Art in Spanish, and by the end of the first verse the bus was silent because everyone was listening. (and they asked me to sing the whole thing, so that was a little bit awkward, but at the same time i think others felt the spirit, so that was good) ANYWAY so for the zone conference our zone sang Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy (because I got to pick, and it´s Mom´s favorite). It turned out really well. The conference was cool, we learned a lot of doctrine about the fall of Adam and eve (though i´m sure i didn´t understand all of it), and i got to share my thoughts at one point so that was awesome! (And even though the grammar wasn´t perfect, and it was a little choppy, i was proud of myself for sharing my thoughts, in Spanish, in front of 60ish other missionaries. 

So the frustration part: the longer i´ve been in the mission, the more i´ve realized what things are right and wrong, rules, etc. This week my compañion and i had more than a few disagreements about obedience. The hard part about this is that you are a companionship. I can´t just leave her and go home if it is late but she doesn´t want to leave a member´s house, (and things like that). Another thing this week was that going to bed and waking up on time are important to me, but they are less priorities for my companion. The problem is that we are supposed to go to bed at the same time, and she didn´t want to. So I was frustrated about that. There were other things too. I know that I can´t let her disobedience affect my obedience, but sometimes it´s unavoidable. But we had a companionship inventory this Sunday, and we talked through a lot of stuff. There was stuff that I had been saying that I didn´t realize that had hurt her feelings, and I expressed to her my frustrations with the obedience thing, with myself and the language, and my thoughts about home. Sunday this week was hard because the confrontation thing about bed time was Saturday night, then things were frosty between us all day, and it was Bolivia´s mother´s day so I was thinking about Mom and all that´s going on in her life So yeah, in our companionship inventory I was sobbing. That was the first time in the mission that that has happened. But It was a good thing, and after we talked everything through, we were really unified and now things are all good between us.

Her new sweater made out of Llama fur (wool?) and hot chocolate that she drinks almost every night because it is starting to get cold there.

Flowers that she got for Mother'd Day.  She said the Chocolate one was really good.

Today for P day we hike to the "7 Cascadas" which is 7 waterfalls, but seriously there was basically no water. It was fun though, we scaled some cool rocks which was awesome. No they weren´t cliffs or anything, but they were pretty big, and there wasn´t a ton to grip onto. So it was an adventure. Our companionship was the only one from our district that went, so there were a lot less gringos to talk to, which i think was a good thing, because i used more Spanish than usual on a P day. It was kind of funny because nobody fell down when we were scaling rocks, but i fell down when we were walking on the path. I guess that was me just being kinda clumsy haha. Don´t worry, I´m not hurt :) Actually I stumble around a lot, and I think it´s because the sidewalks are not very well kept, and are not smooth at all. But it´s ok because it makes for a lot of funny moments haha

I memorized one of my favorite scriptures this week. Josué 1:9 I´ll let you figure out which one that is :) "Mira que te mandes que te esfuerces y seas valiente. No temás, ni desmayes, porque Jehová, tu Dios, estará contigo dondequiera que vayas" 

Keep reading the scriptures and praying everyday! It´s so so important for your testimony to be in a constant state of growth, because it it´s not, it´s shrinking. I´ve seen that a lot here, because the majority of the members of the ward here are inactive. 

Lots of Love!

Hermana Rowe

This picture is for her friends at BYU... She is now friends with Elder Rivera (they apparently have a lot of friends in common.)

The Bolivian Life is the Life for Me - May 14, 2018

           This is a mandarin (a cutie, south american style... they are SUPER good! and bigger and green)


Ok so another week has come and gone. On Tuesday last week we weren´t allowed to leave the apartment, but every other day we´ve been able to do proselitismo. I have received questions about how  my stomach is adjusting to the food, and I´m doing great! I actually had a harder time in the CCM than here, and I think that might be partly because comida peruana is a little different than comida boliviana. (Bolivian food is pretty tame, I haven´t really run into much that I thought was gross or that my body couldn´t handle) (But in the CCM I DEFINITELY did). 

Thursday was a little weird because in the early morning we were told that we wouldn´t be able to leave the apartment at all, because the night before there had been a riot and the police shot and killed 2 college students who were a part of it. Then about 2 hours later we were told that we could go to lunch at the penisonista´s, but we had to wear P day clothes (which Hermana Padilla and I both enjoyed), and after we got back, we had a weekly planning session, and in the middle we got a call from our zone leaders that we could go out and do proselitismo, so we visited some families in the ward that lived near to us.

There is this one family, la familia Flores, and they are so cute! There is a 10 year old boy named Javier, and he absolutely loves me! He always practices his English with me, and is always interested in what I have to say, even if I can´t say much. There is another family, la familia Alaca, and they are super fun! It´s kind of a Volmer situacion, because there are like 4 different familia Alaca but they all live right next to each other. Its interesting because some of the families are all members, others are half, and some are only a few, but there´s a ton of them. And all the kids (when we went and visited them) were asking me whats this or whats that in English, so that was pretty fun. A lot of people have asked me if I´ve been to a Justin Bieber concert. Not sure why they think HE is the type of guy I´d want to go see, but eso si que es haha.

This week has been pretty chill though. Pretty much everyday this week when we´ve gone out to do proselitismo we´ve taken Ronald Mancilla out with us, which is pretty fun. Up until recently, he has been an inactive member of the church. He was baptized 3 years ago, but moved out of Sucre for work, and there was so ward in his area. But now he´s been back for 3ish months, and he has decided to reactivate himself because he wants to serve a mission. He´s fun to have around, and i see great potential in him to be an awesome missionary. Most of the time he just bears testimony, but sometimes I feel like he is a better missionary than I am! (I think part of that comes with fully understanding what people are saying to you). He´s the one in the picture from last week (with the Salchipapas), and I think I have another picture from this week that I can send. 

One of our investigators is named Blanca, and she is very sweet. She came to church this past week, and she has been progressing really well. We are hoping that she`ll be baptized next Saturday, but we`ll see. Other than her for the most part the work has been really slow, but part of that is because we haven´t been able to work in the same manner as usual. And also Hermana Padilla wanted me to meet a lot of ward members this week, so we spent a bit of time this week doing that. 

Another woman that we met this week is named Dora, and she seems VERY prepared to receive the gospel, so we are hoping that she will progress quickly and follow through with compromisos. (commitments). 

Sunday was awesome, I got to meet the ward! (officially). The Bishop asked me to share my testimony (which went fine) and since there is nobody that can play the piano, I played for Sacrament meeting. I also found out that starting this week I´ll be teaching group piano AND English classes, so please wish me luck with that one. 

I finally got to have my first district meeting this week! My district seems super fun, especially since 4 of the 7 gringos in Sucre are in my district, and both the district leaders are gringos. It made P day a little bit easier today because I was able to speak English! It felt good haha, but I also am starting to enjoy figuring out Spanish (even though my brain is exhausted every single night). And my brain isn´t the only thing that´s exhausted! My legs are going to be BUILT by the time I get out of Sucre, because no matter where you go, at some point you will hike up a hill. Even in the centro, it´s hilly. But like I said, my legs will be beautiful by the time I leave, so that´s a plus haha. Our Pday today was wally ball and mini indoor soccer, so it was pretty fun, and afterwards my district and the zone leaders all went to lunch (the zone leaders came with us I think probably because we have the majority of the gringos haha) and Hermana Padilla and I got Oreo milkshakes! (SO what I needed! And they were SUPER delicious) 

Love love love you all! Please send me pictures of what`s going on in your lives, as well as memes! (Extraño memes!)

Hermana Rowe

                                                 At her pensionista's husband's restaurant with Ronald

                                                                             The milkshakes!

Sucre Week 1 - May 7, 2018

So... I made it to Sucre and WOW!! Things are more than a little different here than Cochabamba. My new companion, Hermana Padilla, flew to Cochabamba Tuesday morning to meet up with me, and we flew to Sucre together. The Sucre airport is super far away from Sucre, so we had to drive about 45 mins to get home last week on Tuesday. My zone leaders picked us up from the airport, and they are super nice. They are also the only people from my zone that i've met besides my companion. More on that later. My first thought when we got out of the bus to Sucre was that it smells like a port o potty here. No joke. So that has been a little bit of an adjustment, but i don't really smell it anymore. Except when we walk by this super filthy stream thing in our area. 

Something else new about Sucre... DANGER. Yes, it is more dangerous here in Sucre than in Cochabamba. They have these things called Pardos, and basically it is the people being either happy or mad at something that the president does (the happy one doesn't make sense to me, but that's what my companion said), and so they set up a blockade in the road so nobody can drive through (but you can walk through). They sometimes are made out of cars, garbage, or people sitting in lawn chairs. There is also a bit of civil unrest here, i'm sure if you look online you could find some good videos of some of the things happening here in Sucre. 

One of the family members of our pensionista showed us some of the violence that has been happening. (Probably not what you wanted to hear about my first area in the mission, but hey! Its an adventure!) Thus we have spent quite a bit of time in the apartment this week. So, I taught Hermana Padilla how to make Deviled Eggs, and she knows how to say Whats your problem? and Thumbs up! haha. We also have watched Coco and spent a lot of time studying. We actually didn't have church yesterday because it was too dangerous, but our pensionista lives really close to us, so we were given permission to spend the day there. And then we have had to spend all of out p day locked up too, so definitely too much time in the apartment. We haven't been able to have a district meeting since i've gotten here, so that's why i haven't met anyone yet. But i do want everyone to know that i feel the spirit with me, and I have never felt in serious danger, because we have never been witnesses to the street riots and things like that. And even though i hear gun shots every morning during study time, i know that as long as we follow the spirit we will be protected, because we are here to do the Lords work, and we are being obedient. 

I love my pensionista and her family! Her name in Rodillo, and her husband owns a restaurant, so we eat there for lunch every day. They are less active members, and her brother, Ronald, is an inactive member, and he helps out everyday. They are such funny people! They really make you feel like part of the family, even though it takes me 30 seconds sometimes to realize that they are joking about me haha. But its all in good fun, they call me gordita, i call them bajitos, its all good haha. 

What they say about Bolivians feeding you tons is TRUE!!  I have heaping plates of food for lunch everyday, and we always are served a huge bowl of soup beforehand. I've learned to eat breakfast early and not snack before lunch, because it is offensive to them if you don't eat EVERYTHING! Lets hope i dont get too chubby on my mission. new favorite candy bar is Kilatte, and it is those awesome vanilla wafer things covered in chocolate. They are delicious.  We made

 Salchipapas this week! (If you forgot, Salchipapas is literally french fries, fried hot dog, ketchup and mayo, and seriously it is one of the best things ever created).

Thanks for all the love and support friends and family!

Hermana Rowe

Hola Hola Family de los Estados Unidos! - April 30, 2018

WOW I'M A MISSIONARY!! Ok I'll do my best to update you on the last 2 weeks. Loved my last week in the CCM with my district, and I've been missing them quite a bit this week. We left the CCM at 6 pm Monday night and didn't get to Cochabamba until 9:30 am! It was a long hard night on airport benches. I basically didn't sleep. When we got to the Cochabamba airport a lot of missionaries were there waiting for us, and they sang Called to Serve as we walked out of getting our luggage. We ate breakfast at the airport with el Presidente Montoya y Hermana Montoya, and then we went to the mission home. I had never realized that when people talk about the mission home, it is literally a house! and it is very beautiful, right across the street from the temple. And if you look at the temple from the mission home, you can see the Christus in the background!

I will be training in Sucre (which is apparently really touristy and is known for its chocolate, so I'll update you on that next week), because that is where my trainer is (i haven't actually met her yet) and ill be flying there tomorrow after a meeting with el Presidente and all the new missionaries. It would have been last week, but he had to leave to go who knows where that afternoon. So the two hermanas that I've been tagging along with all week are Hermanas Cristobal y Pardo, and they are so sweet and fun! (but i'm also slightly grateful that they aren't the ones training me, since there are quite a few rules that they are super lax on.

Cocha is beautiful! Even though its full of poverty and trash, as soon as i could see it the first morning i couldn't stop staring! I already love the people here so much, and I'm excited to see that love grow. 

Everything here is crazy cheap, and bolivianos are basically worth nothing. I think 100 Bolivianos is 15 dollars, to put that in perspective. I haven't bought any souvenirs yet, tho I've been tempted, since i know that I've got a year and a half ahead of me to buy cool stuff.

The first day i was here we were teaching lessons, and even though i didn't really say anything except share a testimony at the end, it felt great! (but we only got to go to three because i almost fell asleep in the last one, so we went home and i went to bed. that was at 7 pm) Seriously tho it has been so cool to be with real people instead of teachers all the time! And even though the majority of what i can do is bear testimony and explain maybe 1 principle a lesson (or share the first vision, since i have that memorized), i still love sharing the gospel! 

My first p day has been pretty relaxed, we went bowling with a bunch of other missionaries in our zone and in other zones. And we ate lunch at a members house. His name is Fernando and he was baptized this past Saturday! (he was an investigator of the 2 hermanas that I'm with). So cool to see a baptism my first week! 

I will say that this week i have struggled a little bit with loneliness. Hermanas Pardo y Cristobal both speak English, but basically never do, and a lot of the time i don't catch everything they say, and when they do speak with me about things, i have kinda a hard time responding (tho its been getting easier). I also have felt kinda like a dog following the 2 of them this week since I'm not doing much to help out, so I'm excited to ACTUALLY start being trained my my actual trainer. I also feel like I've had a loss of personality because i spend all day listening to people, and not saying much, but little by little its getting better. 

Speaking of dogs, they are everywhere!! And it makes me really sad sometimes, but what can you do

This week has been hard on me, but know that i feel a lot better at understanding Spanish than i did a week ago, and that i love seeing the light that the gospel can bring into peoples lives. 

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Rowe