Happy Student Day, First Day of Spring, and Love Day

Part of the clothes from the night of the clothing exchange..it is a good thing that Elders don't wear skirts;)

Hey Everyone:D

First of all, Happy Student day, first day of Spring and Love day (as of Sep 21st). It was a crazy party week in Bolivia, haha:D

During the conference we had a little family reunion because I got to see my two "hijas" from the mission together, so cool!

Hna Renovato is definitely a minion from Dispicable Me:) Her phrases, her laugh and...her size;D

We had a clothing exchange for Women's Conference and a few of the Hermanas went a little bit crazy... hahah:D

Also, yesterday we received transfers and I will be serving with Hna Andreve from Panama (more on her next week:)). Also, it was incredibly hard to say goodbye to my best friend from the misison (Hna Renovato). She really is the absolute best and her family is so blessed to get to see her tomorrow!

Hna Garcés and I wanted to make a surprise for Hna Renovato, so we bought the stuffed animals that represent us (Hna Renovato-racoon because she is very mischievous, me-monkey because I eat fruit all day and every day and Hna Garcés -hippopotamus because there is a song in Spanish that uses her name...so of course we sang that every day;))
....yah, weird but I hope that made sense

We also tried to make her a cake...yah, TRIED! haha!

Funny/Cultural: The pictures really say it all. It was a crazy, funny and cultural week this week as we accidentally destroyed a cake, found a laundry mat and painted part of the city walls;)

We found a LAUNDRY MAT:D I LOVE laundry mats and now, have a very different love and respect for them.

Yup, this picture is a perfect summary of our crazy companionship;D

Spiritual: Yesterday, we taught an extremely humble man named Carlos. He didn't know how to pray and didn't understand that God and Christ were two separate beings either. But, upon learning those truths, his countenance changed completely and became very excited during the lesson:)

We had a missionary event in the church where all the return missionaries talked about their mission. It was AWESOME! Especially because I got to see the change in the missionary lessons. They started out teaching with HUGE flash cards, and then it got switched to a flip book, and now we have pamphlets. CRAZY:D

The original missionary planners, haha:D And, they weren't for 6 weeks, the paper only represents 1 week!

It was fun to see pics of the RMs in their missions, but more than anything, it was very educational for me. The blanket that you can see in the picture is the SAME TYPE of blanket that we use now...I am now much more motivated to take my blankets to my new best friend-the dry cleaners;)

These, (below), are more pics of baptisms in Sucre. His conversion story is amazing:D He was actually very closed off to the church (even when I was there), but little by little, through tons of little service acts, invites to activities and mini conversations, he slowly heated up to the lessons and got baptized by his dad (my convert):D

Missionary work is so cool!

I love you all and hope that all is well in SLC:D

Hna Garff

Look what I painted!:D JK, but it feels good to pretend sometimes;)

I Truly Am One of the Tallest People in Bolivia

Something that I absolutely love about this picture is that if I stood up,
I really would be taller than all of the young men in our ward, haha;D

Hey:)

I hope you all had a great week, especially my brother, Josh:) Happy Birthday Chubs, I hope you made good choices:D And, sorry, I am not going to write a lot, because the pictures really tell it all;) BUT, I hope you all know that I love you and pray for you every day:)

Our ward had a talent show night where every group in the ward did a traditional Bolivian dance.
It was so awesome (especially to watch my two favorite kids in the ward:))

We had a zone conference and I got to see Hna Condori (the hermana that I trained and one of the best friends I have in the mission:) 

Hna Reina: Also one of my best friends in the mission.
She taught me a TON during the exchanges that we had, including how to apply make-up again (I totally forgot!!)

Funny: I realized that I truly am one of the tallest people in Bolivia (see pics)

This is also one of my favorite pictures from the mission, because again, it shows just how tall I am here:D
This is a picture of me, my companions, and a member...
my feet are the ONLY pair that touch the ground while sitting down;D

Spiritual: We got to go to the temple with our recent converts this week, and it was such a wonderful experience:D They are so dedicated to the Gospel and want to have more and more of it in their lives. Rubén danced in the ward event this week and Angelo is seriously considering going on a mission (if not, he will get married in the temple the next year with his girlfriend). It is awesome:D

Sorry, it´s a bit dark, but this week we went to the temple with Rubén and Angelo.
They are our recent converts and they are the absolute BEST:D

One of the best pictures I have ever had taken of me on the mission, 
because it shows just how big of a dork I am;) 
I put on my jacket after putting on my bag...so taking it off was quite the process as I fastened all of the buttons on the front side;D

Love you!

Hna Garff

Busy in Bolivia

Leadership conference

Leadership conference continued

Hey Everyone:)

I hope you all had a great week watching the ByU vs. Utah game;D (Go UTES:D) because I had a very festive week here in Bolivia. Hna Renovato completed 18 months, it was Hna Garces´ birthday and also the birthday of one of recent converts. What a week, haha;D

We celebrated the Hno Rubens´birthday this week:) I LOVE HIM:D

Hna Renovato completed 18 meses this week, so we went to a Mexican restaurant to eat and...SWING:D

We celebrated Hna Garces´ birthday too:D

Funny+Cultural:What I love about Bolivia is that the flowers are so vibrant...but I have no idea why they are so vibrant if there is no water! We have not had water for a good week and almost a half, BUT:) God loves us so he helped us find a cistern where we could fill our bathroom storage buckets. AWESOME:D

Okay, we officially ran out of water and haven´t showered in days, SO I went to go find some water and yes:)
We may be taking bucket showers BUT we will at least have water;D

Filling the bathroom buckets

Spiritual: We contacted an AMAZING woman named Mary (sorry, no pics for this week) who is 27 years old, has some deformities and a heck of a life. She lost her only child a few weeks after he was born, she had an abusive husband, she craves the respect and love of her parents but only feels like a burden and absolutely detested God UNTIL she talked with us during Pedestrian day. She told us that she wanted to leave but felt SOMEBODY pulling her back to hear more. We later identified that as the holy ghost and an answer from God, and she BEAMED from ear to ear after hearing this. From that point on, her attitude has completely changed and she has been progressing a ton. She asked us what she needed to do to be like us and also what she needed to do to be baptized. She attended church with us for the first time yesterday and was absolutely happy to be there the whole time.

Despite the miracle that we have been able to see in her, the biggest miracle for me was talking to her mom. She told us that she hadn't smiled sincerely for 7 years and that she has neglected to open her heart to friends (and especially God) for those same long 7 years. I can only imagine how grateful God must feel that His daughter is finally smiling again as well:)

no sé: We re-enacted the tree of life with our ward and it was awesome! 

Lots of members were there and our current favorite little investigators too:D

Some teenagers were flirting in the street, so of COURSE we had to take advantage of that opportunity;D

The CUTEST little Bolivian boy that I have ever met in my entire life:) We met him today, his name is Johann and I am returning to Bolivia so that we can get married in a few more years;)

I love you all, have a great week!

Hna Garff

Happy Día de Peatón!

 To celebrate Hna Garcés´ first month in the mission, I drew a picture of the reality of how we proselyte. The two Lamanites (or half Lamanites) with the Nephite and her umbrella, haha:D

Katie is currently thinking that she is much taller than she really is.  Coming home might be sort of a shock...

Welcome to the story of our companionship. It is crazy, but we love it!

Hola:D

And, Happy Día de Peatón:D Or, Happy Pedestrian Day:D (more on that below) And also, I would just like to share how happy I am:) I absolutely LOVE the hermanas in my zone, my companions, my area, and the Gospel. This was an amazing week for many different reasons, but mostly just becuase I felt so happy every single moment of every day. I love being a missionary:D

 

 

Cultural: Día de peatón: This day is SO COOL because no automobiles are allowed in the streets, so there are tons of families out walking all day. It was a perfect opportunity to contact TONS of people, and we did it in style by centering our contacts completely on families.

Pedestrian day continued...I LOVE pedestrian day:D

Funny: Hna Garcés saw a baby bird trying to fly in the park and decided to chase it down to hold it...she also obligated us to hold it, but I was a big wus and didn´t want to...long story short, I ended up holding the bird, but after praying (haha) and squeezing it really tightly in my hands. Afterwards, Hna Garcés held the bird again, but because I had squeezed it too tightly, the bird ended up pooping in her hands and we had to go find a fountain to rinse, haha!

The Baby Bird

  

Rubén and David:D They are amazing!

Spiritual: Part of the reason that this week was so great is because Hna Garcés, the new missionary that Hna Renovato and I get to train, is amazing. She is conquering a lot of her fears right now, and we are so proud of her! One incredible thing that she did this week was invite one of our investigators to get baptized and he said YES:D 

It is Hna Garcés´ birthday this weeks and so we are celebrating BIG TIME! And, other Hermanas as well:) I LOVE the hermanas in my zone. They are so thoughtful and simply the greatest!
They made Hna Garcés' bannana bread:)

Girls are very funny sometimes. After making the bannana bread, the Hnas felt badly about eating so much, so they resolved to doing a few push-ups to burn some of it off....haha, I love them:D

I love you all and hope that you are finding a bit of happiness every single day, for God's plan is one of happiness:D

Hna Garff