And The Emails Get Shorter...

Making cookies with Hna Antonia and the Elders. Guess who cooked the cookies-the Elders, haha:D
Hna Andreve and I are still working on our cooking skills;)

Hola:)

This week was incredible:) We were able to see so many miracles, especially that of being able to listen to a member from the 70-Elder Montoya:) He is amazing, and I really admire the way he teaches (with power, authority and lots of love:))

Last night....we were so tired that we did pretty crazy things (like closing our dresses in the door;))

Funny: This week was pretty darn crazy becuase we worked super hard (especially yesterday) to find even more new investigators. And, last night, we returned home absolutely exhausted because we contacted all day under the hot sun without much water. So, we literally COLLAPSED upon returning home without calling our District leader and his companion...so, at 10:25 we awoke to our district leader standing outside of our house with his companion shouting our name in their pajamas to see if we had gotten home...whoops! 

Sometimes you just have to celebrate:) CHURRRROS:D

Cultural: We are currently working on installing a kitchen sink, YAY:D Yup, that's it for this week;)

I love my companion!

Intercambios with Hna Retamal y Hna Alvarez

Spiritual: We contacted a man named Roger who always works with a smile-I love that:) But really, his life is very difficult. He lived in Potosi (un departamento en Bolivia) but had to move because of the reputation that his violent son had caused him. He loves his son, but he is currently in the hospital with lots of police charges. He now lives in Cochabamba but as a watch guard for cars outside of a restauraunt. He doesn`t receive a salary, but he eats a free lunch and possibly dinner...

THAT is hard! But THAT is the life of a lot of people here and all around the world. Perhaps looking outward, people don't seem to have problems but the reality is that people are HURTING and need the life of the Gospel and the friendship of many to keep smiling.

Our crazy district 

I love you all!

Hna Garff

The Christ statue in Bolivia, Cochabamba:D

A Lesson in Pancakes and Bananas

Pancakes - Just because you can, doesn't always mean that you should...

LOL, we tried to make pancakes, and, yup, maybe we should practice more, haha;D

Hey Everyone:)

This week has been awesome, and honestly, it absolutely FLEW by! I actually feel like I was just writing yesterday, but YES:) How awesome to hear from you all again, I won't complain:)

This is Alex:) He is super awesome and super smart:) He has plans to be baptized in two weeks and we are so excited for him!

Funny: One funny thing, is that my companion and I have made it a goal to cook more (becuase we are really lacking in that area) and so we bought lots of ingredients to try something different....not only did we feel sick all week, but our whole house smelled like onions....so we are trying more basic things this week, hahahaha!;D

The festival that our stake had to celebrate all of the different countries where their missionaries are serving, it was so cool, AND I learned that there are 2 missions in INDIA, SO COOL!

This is just a picture to show one of the funny things we did this week. When plans get canceled, we like to do crazy things, like ring all of the doorbells in one apartment within 3 seconds of each other. It is really funny and I can't wait to do that when I get home;)

Cultural: Pam doesn't exist in Bolivia, so making pancakes was a bit difficult (see pics;)) but we gave it our best try and learned that we can just use butter to grease the pan but oil in the pancake mix....it was a great week;)

These pictures are just to demonstrate just how many bannans are in Bolivia. They are everywhere:) But the funny thing is, is that my companions from Ecuador have told me that this quantity of bannans doesn't even TOUCH the quantity there -  WHAT? is that even possible? 

Spiritual: We had an AMAZING week absolutely full of miracles. We had 11 new investigators again, but really good ones!! I want to mention one: we had made an appointement with a contact who didn't seem too interested, but after a week of not hearing from us, he called us to make sure that we were going to visit him. His name is Gustavo and really, he is like a spiritual sponge! He is super smart, read the pamphlet that we had left him, and told us practically every detail. Although he told us that he doesn't believe he can follow the Gospel path, he also didn't know how to feel the Spirit and get an answer from God. We taught him how to feel it and we have another appointment this next week. We shall see, Gustavo;D

I love you all and hope the best for you:)

Hna Garff

This is how I have decided to decorate my planner for this transfer: with a fatbooth picture that my sister, Rachel, altered for me, haha;) I love telling people that I have lost lots of weight on the mission, because they look really shocked and then make some crazy comment or hold it up to other fat things (like this baby;))

Taking Things Very Seriously in Bolivia

Happy Halloween:D

Hey:) 

First of all, I would love to give a big shout out to my little sister, Moose, HAPPY BIRTHDAY:D Also, I would just like to mention that this week absolutely FLEW by!!! It was full of miracles and we absolutely laughed until our stomachs hurt nearly every day, haha;D

We celebrated the birthday of this wonderful woman and her cute family. They are recent converts and the humblest of people. She is so incredible and is currently battling the trail of her husband´s relation with a 20 year old girl. Life is not fair, and it is hard, but when we follow the teachings of Christ, it is ALWAYS simpler and MUCH happier.

We were helping the elders contact in a new part in their area, and honestly,
it was so beautiful that we simply had to take a photo-shoot;)

Funny-pretty much all of the pictures that I took this week, but I think the winner definitely goes to the picture that I took with Hna Saari in exchanges. The funny thing about the picture with the pregnant ladies is 

that the one in the center actually wasn't pregnant-she just had a pot belly;)

We had exchanges the other day, and upon visiting a less active member,
we discovered this picture and totally decided that we had to act pregnant too;)

The less active member also gave us these chocolates shaped as hello-kitty...it is a good thing we left early because I totally would have begged for more little cat candies-they were SO GOOD:D

At this point, we should emphasize that Katie does really work hard in the mission field.  These photos and funny things are her way of balancing hard work with fun.  She takes missionary service seriously - she just does not take herself too seriously.  Back to the Blog...  

The secretaries have asked us repeatedly to take care of our cellphones.
it made me wonder why until we totally dropped our cellphone from a 2 story building;)

Cultural- I wore a seat-belt for the first time in Bolivia:)

My first time wearing a seat-belt in Bolivia, haha:)

Spiritual-My companion and I have been working really hard, but sometimes God challenges our faith and diligence. We have specifically been focusing on finding new investigators and prayed fervently for that this week. We really do work extremely hard and pleaded with God to see the fruits of our labors. And, God blessed us to find 11 new investigators who are ready to listen to the Gospel-so cool!

We are currently helping some investigators build a wall to protect their home, and, it is pretty darn solid! 

Happy Halloween:D - Again

I love you all. Please make good choices this week;)

Hna Garff

And, yup, this picture pretty much sums up our companionship-very serious!;)

Back to Work in Bolivia

Leadership conference-I love Pdte y Hna Montoya:D

Hola:D

This week was really great, but it totally FLEW BY! I learned so much, especially from my companion:) Hermana Andreve is the best. She is always laughing, joking around and with a smile. She is an extremly dedicated missionary and I am learning so much from her in the best and most efficient ways. She is from Panama, is 21 years old, likes to play volleyball and loves to tease me about marriage so she always prays for my extremely handsome husband to be;D

We celebrated the birthday of one Hna by decorating her mirror...yah, a bit lame, but at least we decorated the right mirror(we almost decorated that of her companion;)) AND we bought her brownies so THAT is a definite plus;D

Funny: There are a few pictures that I have attached that describe the result of making a cake for our pensionista. Despite our best efforts (and even saying a prayer before-hand so that everything would go well), she humbly told us that she would help us the next time;)

We made a cake for our pensionista and she was very humble in accepting it, but gave us a few tips, and timidly told us "nice try, but next time, we can do it together;)" She is awesome, haha!

Oh, and because the cake was so...interesting, she gave us a few pieces to savor for a later time...
and we fed it to the dogs, haha, next time;D

 I was sick last week, so it was my companion's turn to be sick, haha;)
She had almost the same thing that I had, but now we feel better:)

Cultural: Road kill is something that is very common, but the road kill that I have attached in one of the pictures has a very particular story. We took a picture of road kill on the way back from a service project and we came to find out later that night that it was our neighbor´s pet...it´s good we didn't start the conversation with "Oh wow, what stinks?" or "Wow, when will that get cleaned up?"...haha;D

Road-kill: pretty darn common;)

We worked with the Elders in our ward to serve one of our investigators, but we just ended up talking about the gospel, which was awesome, but lol, we didn't do any service, haha:)

Spiritual: I have learned so much about mission work from my companions but also from the elders in my ward. The elders are opening an area (which can be a very difficult thing to do), and my companion is still fighting a sickness, BUT they NEVER give up and they are always working hard to be as diligent as they can be, so cool:)

Have a great week!

Hna Garff

A Trip to the Hospital

Never a Dull Moment

Hey Everyone:)

I have a big announcement-I´m PREGNANT:D

Ok, not really, but we were in the hospital for two days because during the first session of General Conference I fainted, haha:D Really, it wasn't anything serious. I had a fever two days prior and the doctor told me that my temperature simply increased rapidly for about 2 hours and determined that that was the cause of the incident....BUT my companion and I think it was simply the Spirit:)

Earlier in the week, one of the packages we sent arrived.  Katie asked for Pepto-Bismal as it has been a highly requested item among the missionaries.  Yup - some ask for shoes or peanut butter - Katie requests Pepto-Bismal.  

Also earlier that week...
"A bunch of new Hermanas arrived in Cochabamba and we got the great opportunity to serve with 2 of them:D"

Funny/Cultural: The hospital really was the greatest because we laughed SO HARD:D I was searching for the button to move my chair up and down (because it is super fun), but I ended up pressing the button to call the nurse. They ran into the room all panicked, but we ended up making great friends with them:D ...in fact, we ended up pressing that same button about 5 times because my companion was thirsty, my companion was hungry AND I wanted to walk around, etc., etc., etc, haha:D

One more funny story: Because I wanted to walk around, I started to get out of bed, but my blood started filling the IV tube and I started FREAKING out, haha:D So, yes, the pictures really show that pretty well, and also my prayer at the end of the day (arms elevated) in order to keep my blood INSIDE of me;D

Spiritual: Even though we only listened to the conference for 2 sessions, it was so special, becuase I listened to it in Spanish, and it was so powerful:D I loved that the main concept of the sessions were: be obedient, remember that God loves you and the family is important.

I definitely testify of those messages. I love General Conference, I love my Savior and I love my family:)

Have a wonderful week!

Hna Garff

As an ending note, we were able to communicate with Katie and she informed us that the medications they have had her take are beginning to work.  We are hoping for a full recovery soon as we are not too sure the hospital will welcome them back after their holiday there.  Honestly, they continued their missionary service while there as they made friends with the nurses and staff at the hospital.