Celebrating Women's Conference

Women's Conference - we celebrated at a great restaurant!

Hello Everyone:

This week was incredible, and I absolutely loved Women's Conference! I definitely needed to hear every single one of the talks and I am very excited to apply the talks to my mission!

District Activity

District Activity with the other Hermanas

A Little Hockey in the District

Funny: We had a p-day activity where we played beach volleyball. This was really fun, but my KNEES got absolutely roasted! Of all things, really, haha:)

Cultural: After having been reviewed by the editing committee, this section has been omitted.  You may inquire of Katie regarding its contents at a later time. Rest assured, she has not lost her sense of humor.

Another gringa and I watched conference in English.  What a blessing! :D

Spiritual: We had exchanges this week in Tupiza:) Tupiza is a good 8 hours in bus from Sucre so for 2 nights we had a pretty excellent experience in the bus. It really made us grateful for beds, haha! Exchanges are wonderful becuase we can learn so much from one another during this change in companionship. Specifically, I got to serve with a sweet girl from Idaho who is new. We laughed all day, and it was amazing for me to see just how much energy she radiated when teaching/contacting. Although the language is new, and she is also new to missionary work, I loved seeing her efforts to help the people in her area:D

Have a great week. I love you all!

Con amor, 

Hermana Garff

Things Are Sweet in Sucre

El baptismo de Familia Duran (Juan, Pablo, y Mario)!

Hey Everyone:D

This week was amazing! I was able to grow in so many new ways, and see the hand of God every day:) Specifically, we had 2 baptisms this week, and I was able to help

Nuestra zona jugando volley:D

Funny: I was trying to print out a phrase by Elder Holland in Spanish for our zone conference, but my mind was in a complete WHIRL on p-day because internet time is so limited. Thus, I accidentally printed it in English. I realized this, and hurried to print antoher copy, but realized after we had left that I had printed it in Portugese, haha! Resolutely, I had a gringo help me translate the phrase into Spanish.
Good old gringos:D

We were teaching a lesson to a woman when her niece decided to join us.  Throughout the lesson she was rifling through my bag, and ultimately decided that my water was the best item to enjoy :)

Cultural: I have learned to check expiration dates:) There are little stores about every 10 houses, which is great, only a little sketchy sometimes because the expiration dates are a bit off, haha:D

Zone Conference :D

A picture of exchanges we had with another companionship  I love this picture, because we were all trying to take a picture at once, and Sister Madsen ended up with a completely red face, haha :D

Spriritual: We had 2 baptisms this week and it felt so great! Juan Pablo and his dad, Mario, are such amazing people and have such strong testimonies of the church. My favorite part of the baptism was seeing the bright smiles on their face after their baptisms and hearing their testimonies as well. They are very excited and eager to grow and help in the church!

Bolivian Night in Sucre

No Dragons in Sucre

My New Zone

Hey Everyone:)

This was an incredible week and I learned "oso" much!!! I was able to go on exchanges with two sister trainers and we are going to have 2 baptisms next week:D

Celebrating birthdays here is a bit different:D

Funny: Bolivians celebrate birthdays a bit diferently. There is always a giant cake and the person with the birthday "takes a bite out of the cake" but in reality, everyone knows that their face gets smashed into the cake when they go to take a bite. It is awesome! 

There are pigs in this area!

Cultural: Our area is absolutely beautiful and it is filled with livestock! I have seen pigs, goats, chickens, cows and sheep! It is amazing and I am so happy to be here (with the exception that I haven`t seen any dragons....;()

A CUTE girl whose parents were recently baptized as of a month ago.  Her name is Gabby and my companion and I love her TO DEATH!

Spiritual: Because I am serving as a sister training leader, we get to have exchanges with the other sisters. This week we had two exchanges where I got to serve in two different areas. The people are incredible just about everywhere here, but what I loved was the strong desire that the sister trainers had for their companions and the strong desire they have to serve the people in their area. The sisters in my district are incredible and I love and will learn so much from them!

A cute girl from one of the pensionistas during intercambios.  She loves to "jump high" and she loves it when we take pictures of her...so I have a lot on my camera, haha!

It looks like we cooked something, but in reality, we just washed her dishes and threw on some aprons, haha:D

I love you all so much:) Thanks for your love and support!

Hermana Garff

We All Need 4 Ducks and "Special Spanish"

Note: In her new area, the computers do not accommodate Katie's photo memory card.  She has promised to send more pictures next week.

HELLO Everyone:D

I am in Sucre and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I love the people, the culture, the food, todo!:D What I love the most is that there are no fences:) I served in Ingavi, which was probably the wealthiest area in Bolivia. It was wonderful and I loved it, but there are NO FENCES to keep us from reaching the people!

Funny: We were teaching the Restoration one day and I was likening the 4 principles we need to that of a chair (we need 4 chair legs/4 principles to be able to sit down (or have a strong foundation in the church). However, I accidentally said we need 4 "patos" (no "patas")....which means that we need 4 DUCKS to sit comfortably in a chair...solid, haha!

Cultural: The people hear are WONDERFUL, but the house development is a little slower. Hardly anybody in Sucre has a functioning bathroom or a running shower with hot water. Gratefully, we have both of those, but WOW! That was definitely a shock to me!

Spiritual: God has blessed me abundantly with the language. Por FIN I feel like I can understand just about anyone and I can say just about anything....but with "special" Spanish, haha:D