Bananas, Cardboard Traps and Sublime

Hola Everyone!

This was another great week, where I learned so much, including opening my eyes to avoid cardboard traps, and what I find joy in during harder times!

Funny: When my companion and I were entering an investigators house to teach them, I accidentally fell into a hole that was covered with cardboard...I don´t know if that was there to catch wild aniamls, or even missionaries, but they definitely got me, haha!

A Little Break...

Cultural: There is one, big, general store here called IC Norte. It is great, and I love it, but people actually prefer to shop in the alternative, hole in the wall stores that are barred (to prevent theft), because it is much cheaper, and much more convenient as they are pretty much everywhere. I have come to love these stores too, because they sell bannanas for 25 Bolivians and this awesome chocolate called "Sublime" for cheap too. These two items bring me so much joy when it is super hot and when it is a harder day:)

Spiritual: For Zone conference I got to accompany a sister while she sang. We performed "I know that My Reedemer Lives." It was such a joy to play, because this is such a beautiful song, and it is actually pretty rare that anyone can play the piano here, so I loved being able to share that with others:)

Have the greatest week ever!

Hermana Garff

Seriously Katie.  Youa re not giving me much to work with here...

Bolivia is Great!

Zone Conference with Hermana Romero

Hello Everybody!

I hope that everything is going well for you all. Bolivia is great, I love my mission presidents and the examples of the other missionaries to me. It is not difficult to learn hundreds of positive, great things every single day:)

Funny: Last week I sprained my ankle, but forgot to mention that the reason for doing so was because I was distracted by the drivers ed cars...the people were probably driving 2.5 miles per hour, and I couldn´t help but watch and laugh a little bit while we were running, and I rolled my ankle, haha! So, not very smart, but totally worth watching. It reminded me of the good old days when I failed my driving test not 1 or 2 or 3, but 4 times, haha!!

Fruit a la Cancha

Cultural: The fruit here is absolutely amazing! It is always fresh, available, cheap, and very different! My new favorite fruit is called Chidimoya...I think that is how it is spelled, haha, but it is crazy good!

Spritiual: I forogt to mention my thoughts on General Conference last week, but watching General Conference was such a special experience, and I couldn´t stop thinking about our investigators as I was watching it. This Gospel is so good, and changes lives for the better! After conference, I was so happy and so filled with a new hope and trust, that when we were teaching, I couldn´t stop from shaking!

Juevitos!  I learned how to say eggs correctly in Spanish for the first time in my life.  I found out that I was telling everyone that I like Thursday for breakfast instead of eggs, haha!

This gospel is so great, and I hope that you all know how much I love you, but also how much your Father in Heaven loves you!

Love, Hermana Garff

Feeling Sort of Like Ariel

Washing clothes by hand.  I just love it ;D

Hello Everyone!

This week was really great, and as usual, I learned so much! Part of that learning process was searching for the good in absolutely everything. I twisted my ankle earlier this week, and was sort of bummed that we couldn't walk as fast, but it was actually a small blessing in disguise, because it was a GREAT excuse to introduce myself and talk to three other women, all of which also had twisted ankles. God works in strange ways sometimes, huh?!

Flamingo Sheets.  One of the more unusual items on Katie's Missionary Packet Packing List

Funny moment: We meet a borracho (drunk man) on the street and he came up, introduced himself and could not seem to fathom that I was American. At our departure, he took my hand a gave it a big old, wet, alcoholic kiss. YUM;D

Marketplace in Ingavi

Cultural shock: Water is something to be cherished here! We usually only have running water for 1-2 days per week, and the other days we really have to ration, and fill up water while we can. Kind of funny, but in order to get the toilet to flush, we keep 10 liter sized jugs by the toilet so that we can drain one of them into the toilet to flush it.

Spiritual moment: I felt like Ariel in the Little Mermaid this week, because most of the time I could kind of understand the conversation, but couldn't really say anything, because my Spanish vocabulary is pretty limited. Thus, I realized that all I could do was really just show them that I loved them by listening and smiling, like Ariel, haha! This really is a blessing in disguise too though, because sometimes people just need someone to listen, even if they know that the person on the receiving end can't understand it.

The Temple in Bolivia

Loving the People of Bolivia, (and throwing pamphlets at them)

No explanation went along with this.  I hope the owners knew that they were doing this...
Katie is companions with Hermana Romero.  She is from Peru and is very patient.  Katie loves serving with her in Ingavi

Hello Everyone!

Bolivia is so great, and I am loving it here so much! Here are some great things that happened this week!

Funny moment: My companion and I were walking down the street when we felt impressed to look up. We saw a women looking out of her window so we decided to preach to her. She was sick so she couldn't come downstairs, but we decided to try to throw a pamphlet up to her. She started backing away pretty fast, and said that we could come back so long as we didn't throw the pamphlet at her, haha!

Cultural moment: Bolivia doesn't have any carpet! This was a very interesting adjustment for me! Also, All of the houses here are 1-3 rooms big and usually only have one, faint light bulb in each room. However, only one light bulb is needed because the people are so bright and wonderful!

Katie and some sisters when they met to watch Women's conference.  Yes!  That is Hermana Lizzy Mitchell on the right!

Spiritual moment: I have noticed that I cannot understand any Spanish on the streets, but when I am in lessons, God loosens my ears and my tongue so that I can help others. This is such a tender mercy to me, and such a great reminder that this mission is absolutely not about me. It is about the people that I am serving!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Garff

I love, love, LOVE Bolivia!

Katie was fortunate enough to run into Sister Lizzy Mitchell the first few hours she was in Bolivia.  Katie spoke about being present as Lizzy opened her call to this mission.  She is a wonderful friend and missionary.
We are so grateful for Lizzy!

Oh my goodness! Like, super wow! I love love LOVE Bolivia! There are such amazing people here, and it is absolutely beautiful! Particulary, I love the SMELL! There are definitely some interesting smells, but it reminds me of the ranch, and it feels very familiar. God has blessed me with great reassurances like that to help me know that this is were I am supposed to be. Another tender mercy has been the trees. Most all of them are full of bright flowers that smell amazing! When I am having a hard time continuing to knock on unfamiliar doors, it is such a blessing to look up and see one of these beautiful trees. God helps me through hard times like these every day:)

The preceding paragraph was from Katie in a message to our family.  It was simply too good not to include:)

Wow!! Bolivia is so great and I love it so much! The best kind of people are here and I feel so blessed to get to serve them. Bolivia is much more developed than I thought! There are lots of little stores all over the place, and everyone lives in gated areas cut off from the street for security (so kind of like little castles everywhere:)). My companion is great and I just absolutely love her! She is extremely patient with my Spanish and absolutely lit with the light of the gospel. She is 30 years old, is from Peru and has two months left, crazy! Something funny is that she calls me her "conejo" or bunny, because I like to eat carrots, haha! Apparently that is not a popular thing in Peru:) I call her "chef" because she cooks like none other, and she is confused as to why I am a horrible cook, haha!

Funny moment: I have made hundreds of mistakes with the language this week, but the funniest mix up was when I thanked a member for her "caca" (which means thanks for the poop, but I really meant to say, "thanks for the cece (cake)" whoops!!

Culture shock: The people here are not incredibly short, but I am about as tall as it gets (besides the other missionaries:)). Thus, the day that I looked in the mirror after getting back from tracting was a very mixed one, because I realized that a bird had pooped on my head. At first I was super embarrassed, BUT, because I soon became very happy because I remembered my height and realized that nobody could have even seen it. Wahoo:)

Spriritual moment: The people here are absolutely the greatest, and very humble. When we went contacting we met a mother who was around my age, had two children, was waiting for her husband to return from Peru (after two years), and had little to nothing in their home. It was difficult to witness, but telling her about the plan of salvation was amazing as her eyes lit up with hope. When we asked her to pray at the end, her eyes were full of tears and so were ours. I am so happy and privileged to be out here to help great people like this find joy.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Garff

Bolivia :D

IN BOLIVIA!

Hello! I am just writing to let you know that I am alive, safe and that I love you so much. The mission home is so beautiful and it is right across the street from the temple! It is so great here and I am so glad to be here!

It was so great to talk with you all yesterday and I love you so much! I meant to finish by saying that as soon as we arrived in the airport I could feel an immediate love and connection with the people. I just love them so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach and learn from them!

I love you all and I will look foward to hearing more about you all later. Love ya!

Love,

Hermana Garff

Katie with President and Sister Hansen

Katie and President Hansen

The New Arrivals

Last Week at the CCM (That's MTC in Spanish)

The Best Study Bench in the World
(Located under their favorite palm tree)

Hello everyone!

This week has just flown by, and we received about a hundred more missionaries! They were all so wide-eyed and full of excitement which was really neat to see! Also, it´s crazy to think about, but we started packing to leave the MTC today! I love the MTC, but I am also so excited to serve in Bolivia next week!

Katie and Sister Masina with some friends they made at the CCM
Katie has really loved these people, and it is not just because she enjoyed the pancakes that she could request at any time.
These two wonderful gentlemen fixed the plumbing in the girls' dorm - Roberto and Alberto.  It's good to know good people!  

We have decided as a family to omit part of Katie's entry this week.  It seems that there have been a few pranks played this past week that would detract from the serious nature of the work in which they are engaged.  Needless to say, they have not lost their sense of humor.  We offer in replacement, the following.  It is an excerpt from a letter sent to Rachel:

This week I have been playing a lot of cage soccer and it is so fun! Playing soccer with Jas is so fun, and I love playing again, weird, haha! The only person I could play soccer with forever was you because it terrified me! Also, I have a PRIME story for you! Our teacher announced that he was having a baby girl and so we all started shouting out names. When it all got quiet, I raised my hand and said "platano" (which means banana), haha! It was so funny and we all laughed forever. I tell you this, because it was something I thought you would TOTALLY say!

Last P-Day with Sister Masina

All of the hermanas have been laughing about these (the omitted pranks) ALL WEEK! Amazingly enough, I think Hermana Masina and I have laughed even harder.  This was included to let you know that they are having a lot of fun.  Please know that they are still working hard and learning a lot.  They just prefer to enjoy the journey:)

Lots of people put "Only Spanish" on their nametags, so we decided to switch things up a bit.

A few more friends at the CCM

Cultural moment: I´m pretty sure that Hispanics cut apples the traditional way-with a knife, but the cultural moment definitely goes to my companion who showed me how to chop an apple in half with my head. It was great!!

The Devotional Singers

Spiritual moment: This week I had the great opportunity to sing in a quartet with Hermana Masina, two other elders in our district and Elder Bagley (on the piano). We sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace" in Spanish, and it was so neat! We all loved bringing the spirit into the meeting that way.

Have a great week in school/work and enjoy watching the football games!

Love, Hermana Garff

Bunk Buddies

Words cannot hope to express our gratitude for Sister Jaslyn Masina and her wonderful family.  They, along with the marvelous residents and staff of the CCM have made these first few weeks of Katie's mission a joyful experience.  We are delighted that Katie has had the chance to learn from such amazing individuals.  Our hearts are filled with gratitude for all who have helped her along the way.