Gringa Party ;) - Jan 21, 2019

Hey everyone! So this week went a lot smoother than last week. We worked really hard to have a lot of family home evenings throughout the week, and really it was cool to see that if we really put in a lot of effort, usually we could get an investigator to come. (We had some divine help) We have a fairly new investigator named Jesus, and he is very interested in investigating EVERYTHING! (Which is great, except that he gets a little confused with his concept about God because he is also meeting with Jehovah´s Witnesses) But he came to 2 noches de hogar which was sweet. He said he is agreeing with a lot of the things he´s learning, so that makes me happy! 

We had interviews with President this week, and I always love talking with him. He helps me walk out feeling like a good missionary. I can always tell him how i´m feeling and how i know i need to get better, and he helps me turn self criticism to self betterment (if that makes sense...) 

Today for P day we had a ¨gringa party¨ so we invited all the north american sisters to our house (and their comps of course) and we ate pancakes for breakfast and celebrated some birthdays that are this week. It was really fun! It was fun to host it too (even though cleaning up after isn´t super fun).

So I was reading 2 Nephi 26 this week and i loved reading these scriptures, they gave me some comfort :). I know the Lord loves us.

25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me?   Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.

26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues,   or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

27 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.

28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.

29 He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts;  for, behold,         priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.

30 Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore,   the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing.    Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish.

31 But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish.

32 And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal;                              that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice;   that they should not contend one with another;                   that they should not commit whoredoms; and that they should do none of these things; for whoso doeth them shall perish.

33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord;      for he doeth that which is good among the children of men;   and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men;                                       and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him,  black and white, bond and free, male and female;                     and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.

I hope you all have a great week! Keep serving the Lord and doing His will!

Hermana Rowe

Completos (Chilean hot dogs with guacamole?...)

The Gringas

Jessica with the 2 hermanas that had birthdays this week.

Missions Are Not For Quitters - Jan 14, 2019

So this week was actually pretty difficult for me. I cried a lot. I felt like a bad person, and a bad missionary. The first 2 days i was pretty sick, so we didn´t go work Tuesday or Wednesday. My comp and I clashed A LOT. This has actually been probably the hardest week that i´ve had as a missionary, emotionally. I´ve missed my family a lot, and i´ve wanted to go home. But I know why I´m here serving a mission. I know it´s not about me. It´s about serving the Lord, helping people to feel the joy and peace that the gospel can bring. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that whatever bad feeling I have, I can give it to my Savior. Whatever pain or frustration, I can give it to Him. Whatever sin I´ve committed, or error I´ve made, I can really truly repent and be made clean of these things. I´m so grateful that I´ve been so privileged to be a member of this church for my whole life. I´m grateful for parents who love and serve the Lord, who have always shown me the way to be better, little by little. 

We had intercambios this week, and it was awesome. I really needed it. I learned a lot about how i can be a better missionary, and how I can be following the Spirit better. 

I´m grateful to have the privilege to be a missionary. It´s the hardest thing I´ve done in my entire life. It can also be one of the most rewarding, and the most spiritually uplifting. 

Sé que mi Señor me ama, y que Él quiere que yo sea feliz. Estoy tratando mejorarme, aunque soy tan imperfecta. Sé que siempre puedo depender en Él. Les amo muchísimo, y espero que esta semana puedan depender un poquito más en el Salvador, y sé que van a ver la diferencia en sus vidas. 

Con mucho cariño,

Hermana Rowe 

PS Don´t worry too much about my comp and I because we already made up, and she´s super awesome :)

She didn't send any explanations of the pictures.  I am assuming the two with American looking sisters are from intercambios (exchanges- where they swap companions and areas for part of a day to learn from other missionaries and areas.)  and the other two are the beauty of Cochabamba...)

Clinics are fun... right? - Jan 7, 2019

Paneton is super gross fruitcake. And the latios LOVE IT for some reason, and it´s all over the place. (For Christmas). And during christmastime everywhere you go the people will serve it to you, and you have to eat it to not be rude to them haha whoops. not the funnest thing ever. That´s the explanation for my title last week, sorry. 

This week my comp has been kinda sick, so we really spent the majority of the week in and out of the clinic. 

But! The times that we did get to work were awesome! We were really following the Spirit with our plans and where we went this week. Lots of times our plans fell through, and we felt like we should go visit someone that maybe didn´t make sense to go visit at that time, but then they were there and we got to teach them. It´s been pretty cool to see. But I still feel like I have so far to go with my relationship with the Spirit, I know i need to keep practicing and getting better at listening to the spirit to keep having these experiences. 

New years was fun, we were with the same hermanas as Christmas, but were went to their house. We are safe and sound. We enjoyed the fireworks, and even did sparklers :) (but then we repented because there is a rule in the mission handbook about fireworks that we had forgotten about... whoops)

I can´t believe it´s already 2019! I hope everyone has set some good goals for this year, and that you keep up with them :) 

Con mucho amor,

New Year's Eve

They carried their mattress from their apartment down the street to the other sister's apartment for the night. (She obviously has something tucked in her sweatshirt...)

Her pensionista with her grandsons (who are really more like her sons.)

Bowling on P-day

Paneton, paneton everywhere - Dec 31, 2018

So! This has been a pretty fun week. For Christmas eve we ended up hanging out with some other hermanas that didn't have a family to spend Christmas eve with either, and we did Christmas Bolivian style, so we opened up gifts at midnight which was fun. (Don´t worry, Presidente said it was alright ;) ) 

Suckers that had fun lips on them that I sent in her stocking...

The puzzle I sent her.  It's tradition!!

Our week has been pretty normal other than that. Something cool that happened this week is that we had some plans to go visit a contact, but when we passed in front of the house of a different contact that we hadn´t planned, we felt impressed to knock on their door and see if they were home, and they were! We got to teach the couple about the Restoration of the gospel and the book of Mormon. Que genial! I love seeing the little ways the the spirit guides us in all that we do as missionaries.

(we didn't write to her on Sunday night like we usually do.  It was Elijah's birthday and we had family in town.  They came over for dinner and we hung out and I was tired and went to bed...  She surprised us and wrote early Monday morning... (we usually get her emails in the afternoon but it came in at 6am!)  We quickly wrote to her so she heard from us when she went back to the internet cafe but then she didn't have time to write... )

Until later today,

Hermana Rowe

I really actually don´t have a lot of time, and I know I promised more of a letter but it actually isn't gonna happen sorry!! D: 

Feliz Navidad! - Dec 24, 2018

A short little email for you all this week :)

We´ve been super busy all week and have been enjoying the work! This is a really fun time of year to be a missionary.  The zone conference ended up being this week, and it was awesome! Presidente Montoya talked a little at the beginning (about some things that REALLY needed to be addressed in the mission) and then we had a bunch of different acts from the different zones which was cool! For one of the 2 acts that my zone did, I sang and an Elder from my ward (Elder Stevens) (but not the Elder Stevens that is Josh Cahoon´s cousin that baptized my convert last week, this is a different Elder Stevens) ¨What Child is This¨ and he played guitar. I thought it turned out alright, and we did it again for sacrament meeting on Sunday. 

The gringas in her zone.  They traded clothes for the day at zone conference

Talking with people this week has been kinda funny because everyone keeps telling us to come back next year haha! I´m not sure exactly what we´re going to be doing this week, but I guess we´ll find somewhere to teach/contact. The important part is about bring the joy of the gospel to people. 

Today has been fun because it was the birthday of my pensionista, so we made cinnamon rolls at her house while it RAINED super hard. I also have been wearing my Christmas Santa hat all day, so I think that´s made people happy too. :) I´ll probably wear it tomorrow too haha. I love this time of year. I´m so grateful to not only have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas, but to literally preach about how awesome this time of year is! It´s been fun today to walk through the streets and say ¡Feliz Navidad! to everyone and see the smiles on their faces. 

I know Christ came to this earth with a purpose: to save all of us. Only in and through Him can we return to the presence of our Heavenly Father, and I´m so grateful for His sacrifice! I love that in this time of year we can celebrate the very beginning of His ministry. I think his birth was the first of the many miracles that He did. I know He loves us. 

Feliz Navidad, prospero año y felicidad ;)

¡Les amo muchísimo!

Hermana Rowe

(We got to google chat (with video) for 2 hrs on Christmas and it was divine!  It was so hard to say goodbye.  She bore her testimony before we hung up that was powerful and faithful and sweet.  She doesn't have a lot of member support in her ward but she is enjoying the area and learning a lot.  It sounds like she is going to ask her mission president to come home a little early so she can get back to school in Sept.  BYU starts Sept 4th and she is slated to come home on the 10th I believe.  Only a little more than 4 months until we get to talk on Mother's Day :) )

Her guitar that she bought.