Scenes From Bolivia

Hola Amigos:D

This week was GREAT! It was full of miracles, and the week will just continue to get better as it is Mothers' Day this Saturday (here). We have plans to contact people in the park and share the message that familias son eternas:D

Paintball - Finally, a skill from home:D

Funny: I don't know if I have written about this earlier, but it is SO funny, so it might even be worth it to write it twice;D We were explaining to a new, gringo elder how to celebrate birthdays in South America. We told him to smash an egg on his head and also in his birthday cake (which is TRUE that's how people celebrate their birthdays here!)....but, the elder misinterpreted the explanation a little bit and ended up smashing the egg in his companions face....which is pretty painful, but WAY funny:D

Cultural: There is a lot of fruit here, but sometimes they just eat it differently than we do at home. The other day, we were given an orange and just started to peel it. We were thinking about home and how we used to eat oranges there when it dawned on us that for the future, we could just CUT the oranges and eat from the rind...it's been a long time since we have eaten the "soccer oranges" apparentely, haha! 

Spiritual: Our area is doing extremely well. We have 2 marriages (not our own;)) planned for this week and a few baptisms these next few weeks. There are a ton of people attending church, and lots of new investigators too. But, more than anything, we have been able to see TONS of miracles!! One of which was when we met with a mom and her 10 year old son for the first time and both the mom and her son broke down in the middle of her prayer because of the gratitude and love they felt for both us and their family. She pleaded with us to come back and not make that the last visit. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Hna Garff

Happy Mothers' Day from Sucre

The Castle of Mirrors

Hello Everyone and Happy Mothers' Day!

This last week was great! I LOVED skyping with my family, and would specifically like to wish my grandpa a HAPPY BIRTHDAY:D

Funny: As described below, Cechua is another language here in Bolivia. However, I didn`t know that it was so popular here. I remember my first Sunday in my second area, I started panicking, because our sacrament meeting was in Cechua and I couldn`t understand it (I thought it was Spanish), haha! Later, I came to find out that every 4th Sunday here is in Cechua. Cool!

We visited the only castle in Bolivia, and it was great!  It is called the Castle of Mirrors because well... there are a lot of mirrors.  Here are some pics:

The king and queen adopted about 50 kids to like here so they could have somewhere to live and grow up.

Cultural: Hna Ines is the woman who I presented during Skype. She is an absolute angel and can speak Spanish and Cechua and is currently excited to be learning English from my companion and I. Cechua is a beautiful language and nearly all of the people in Sucre can speak it...except me and my companion, haha!

Spiritual: This week, I really wanted to focus on "fearing no man." This was a GREAT thing for me to focus on, because, truly, it helped me to follow the Holy Ghost every time. Specifically, we ended up having a cita with 3 big, footbally player looking guys and a member. It was intimidating at first, but as we taught, we did it with confidence, and ended up extending 3 bapstimal invitations and 2 of the 3 accepted and are excited and ready to learn more.

We also went to the dinosaur museum as a zone and it was awesome!

There is an AWESOME member who lives in our ward and he and hsi wife are SO cute! Even though they can`t walk very well, the husband always insists that we come to visit him so that we can visit his "investigators" He ALWAYS shares the Gospel WHEREVER he is and that is AWESOME!! Additionally, I remember a time when we visited them, and as we were leaving we turned back to say goodbye, but paused when we saw them kneel and hear them begin to pray for us. They are awesome!

More Adventures in Bolivian Plumbing... Thanks Katie:)

 

I don't know what it is with bathrooms and kitchen here, but they always seem to break down, haha:) We have not had any water in the bathroom or kitchen sink, let alone the toilet, but luckily, we have had water in the shower, so we have been using that:)

I love giving our CTR rings to the kids and adults here because they LOVE them and take such great pride in them!

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Hna Garff 

9 Months and Counting

Hello Everyone!

I hope it was a great week for ya'll as it was amazing week for me. This week was absolutely full of miracles!!!! Below, I have described two miracles that were absolutely incredible!

My first glass of ice water in the mission!

Funny-We were about to head home at 8:50 at night, when we decided to contact just one more person. This was a great motive, but we were extremely tired and we weren't the best at listening to one another`s questions....we approaced a woman holding a baby on the street and my companion asked ¨is this your child?¨ to which she answered, "I don't have any kids.¨Directly after, I accidentally asked the same thing, and to top it off, my companion concluded the contact with the inspired question ¨How many kids do you have?¨SOLID, haha! We came to find out that she was 15 years old...sweet!

For the Leadership Conference this week, one of my best friends in the mission had the same dress.  It was awesome!

My companion is so funny! She is so caring to everyone...especially the dogs, haha!

Cultural-We were in the mission home for a leadership conference (which is an american designed home) and we were able to help our mission presidents by washing the dishes. This was extremely enjoyable, because we both forgot that hot water in the sink existed, haha! 

For P-day today, we visited the Cristo negro. It is a place where people offer sacrifices and have other bonifires to worship God. Here are some pics...

We at home appreciate this "Pensive Pose" - Thanks Katie!

Spiritual- We were walking on the street one day, when a young boy ran up to us and asked us if we were the elders, haha:) We visited this young boy and his family in their house this past week and we were able to meet this wonderful family. Half of the family are members and the other half are not, but they have strong desires to get baptized. This family is extremely humble, and they recently moved here from Chile. Their 20 year old daughter is particularly special. She has 3 kids and desires to be baptized to follow the example of Christ and to be a good example for her kids. Her life, however, is extremely difficult. Currently, she has a serious illness which has caused her to lose 40 pounds over the past 2 months. Later that night, the elders in our area gave her a blessing of health and as we drew near her bed to ask how she was feeling, she said, with tears in her eyes, ¨I have faith. I have faith that God can heal me.¨ 

We were knocking on a door to arrive in an appointment that we had when a little girl answered the door and told us that nobody was home. I love the little kids here, but, more often than not, they don't tell the truth, so we asked her if she could simply call her mom. While she ran inside to get her mom, I felt the strongest impression to ENTER THE HOUSE. I have NEVER done this before, and was extremely hesitant to invite myself in, but I followed the impression, and as I did, my companion looked at me in horror, but YES, haha, we entered the house. The woman looked a bit startled, but she invited us to sit down and we had one of the most amazing lessons with her!! We came to find out that her husband and father were extremely abusive, her daughter was paralyzed and she feels utterly and completely alone. Following the spirit is not always easy, but it is incredibly important. She NEEDED us, and the spirit helped us to do that!

I love you all!!

Hna Garff

To celebrate and mark 9 months, I burned one of my jackets, haha!
We at home are not sure what inspired this move.  We likely should just send more jackets.

"Perhaps the congregation can sing with you..."

Hello Everyone!

This was one of the greatest weeks of my whole mission, because of one of the most AMAZING spiritual experiences I was able to have here!!

Also, sorry, this computer is a bit...special, so the format is really foreign, and I can´t send pictures, but YES:) I am so grateful to have found an internet store. When there is a holiday in Bolivia, EVERYONE takes a break, and hardly anyone works, haha:) 

Funny: We decided to sing with the elders in our ward to introduce ourselves as missionaries. This was a super great intention, but we ran into the difficulty that perhaps not everyone could sing very well...20 minutes before sacrament meeting, we were practicing upstairs and the bishop heard us...his first approach to fix the problem was to kindly say "not everyone sings right up close to the microphone. Perhaps you could stand to the side" ...:) Upon hearing us for 5 minutes more, he kindly made another suggestion "perhaps the congregation can sing with you!"HAHAHA:D:D We ended up singing the first part as missionaries, and the congregation kindly joined us;D

Cultural: As stated above, nobody works on holidays, haha:)

Spiritual: Hermana Lopez and I are working a lot with the other Hermanas to feel happy and confident with their areas (especially with contacting), but also in our own area. We have really tried to recognize who are the progressing investigators and how teach with more power. In doing so, we were able to see a GRAND miracle last night: 

We were about to knock on a door to visit an old investigator when we stopped and felt the urge to pray first. We knocked and the old investigator´s sister answered the door. She had previously heard from missionaries for 5 years, but was always very closed off when they came. This night was different. She expressed to us some of the concerns in her life, which lead us to ask if we could share a scripture with her. She ended up inviting us in and we had the MOST POWERFUL LESSON of my whole mission! The spirit was incredibly strong, and we were sure to accredit and recognize the spirit too! During the lesson we were all in and out of crying and by the end of the lesson, we asked her to pray. She was extremely hesitant, but after the prayer, we opened our eyes to find that she had tears in her eyes. She expressed that she had NEVER FELT THAT WAY BEFORE because she had NEVER PRAYED THAT WAY BEFORE! 

After the lesson, Hna Lopez and I reflected on the experience and expressed that with every prompting, invitation, or question, we felt very scared to do it (the investigator was very intimidating), but we did it anyway and with confidence and love. We both recently read a talk together which quotes "If you want to punch Satan in the mouth, open your mouth and preach!" We did just that, and because we followed the spirit, we had one of the most powerful experiences of the mission. 

At the close of the lesson, we practically pranced out the door, and were shouting and laughing with joy. As soon as we descended the large hill that lead to her house, we immediately knelt in the dirt and made sure to thank God for the amazing experience! 

I love you all! Have a great week:D

Hermana Garff

Pictures y todavia MAS, jajaja!

Fried broccoli... not one of our favorite dishes,  haha!

A cute family that we have been able to teach for these past few weeks:)

Our companionship friendship bracelets:D

These next few photos were taken as we were touring the Catholic church on P-day, haha:D  

We got to see pretty much all of Sucre from this beautiful view.  It was amazing!

We invited all of the Hermanas to our house to learn how to make no-bake cookies from a new gringa in the mission:)

Blurry photo - sorry - we just post all we can get
Right now we are having a Jesus marathon, haha:)
When we are preparing and eating breakfast, we have found that it is a fabulous time to do the marathon;)

But...sometimes when you are focusing too much on the Jesus marathon, you forget about the toast, hahaha:)
My companion is a saint though, and she still ate my hockey puck toast;D

THIS was the comida from LA PASCUA, hahaha; D  the funny thing is that I didn't even question it before eating it.  I just took a picture because it made me think of a rainbow.  Truth be told, we eat this sort of food all the time here, but now looking at it, I know I would have been extremely skeptical before the mission, haha!

My companion hit 9 months 2 weeks ago so we celebrated with pizza.  This companionship is awesome because I too, will hit 9 months during this transfer together:D

We were offered this interesting seed water in the street, and it is rude to say no, but it is also a rule that we can't drink things directly from the street, so we made her feel good by taking a picture and asking if we could put it in our water bottles for later...haha;)

Dogs are seriously EVERYWHERE here, haha:)  If we counted, I think we could report 200 different dogs every day.

People never wear seat belts here, and it is very common to sit in the back of the cars, like we are right now;)

Carpet!

When we had the leadership conference, we were able to stay in the mission home over-night and I cried when I saw and felt the carpet beneath my toes:)  I love carpet and will never under-estimate it's ability to please ever again!

Hey Everyone:D

This week was so great, and I sincerely hope that you were all able to have a great week too:D I would LOVE for you all to meet my great, new companion! Her name is Hermana Lopez and she is a RIOT! She is from Tennessee, but was born in Peru and also lived in Utah twice and Costa Rica once. She speaks English and Spanish, so we speak a good mix of Spanglish;D What I love about her is that she is so kind, and always strives to be better. She is 20 years old, and she has 9 months in the mission. We are honestly great friends even just after a week. I am so grateful for her!

Funny: We live in a garage, so it is always really cold in the night, so we sleep with 4 alpacha blankets:) The funny thing is that because the blankets weigh a ton, so we usually end up kicking them off during the night (thus, it is also essential to wear hats and coats at night so that when we kick the blankets off, we won`t freeze, haha:D)!

Another funny thing was that I was trying to express how rare it was that one of our investigators had a kind and loyal husband, but I accidentally said "raro"....which means weird, haha;D

Cultural: There are lots of little holidays here, one of which is "dia del niño" which is like a day to celebrate kids. It was awesome, and I love that the people take time to appreciate their kids:D Also, the people celebrate La Pascua (Easter) really interestingly. Some families celebrate with 12 plates of food! Our pensionista didn`t cook 12 plates of food, but she cooked something very...interesting, haha! There is a great picture, but I can`t send any pictures because the computer can`t read my memory. Maybe the next week;D But yes, it was a strange mix of this green soup, mashed, red, something, fideos, onions, tomatoes and I honestly have no idea what else, haha:D

Spiritual: Hna Lopez is the greatest, and is also very creative. We were able to sing Easter songs to a bunch of people in the area of other sisters in our zone to help them find new investigators and it was great! We were able to find about 20 new people to teach:D

I love learning in the mission, and I love what I am doing! Have a great week! 

Hna Garff 

Hola Hermana Lopez

We made areas (a Colombian food) with the other hermanas in our zone

Hello Everyone:)

This week, I was able to learn so much, and I am happy to announce that we had changes:) I will be still be serving in Sucre, but with another Hermana-Hermana Lopez:) She is a great missionary, and one of my best friends in the mission. I am excited to serve with her starting tomorrow.

One of our families in our neighborhood who have a ton of little pet pigs that run around like dogs, haha!

Funny: I was explaining one of our investigators to another girl in our zone, and I was trying to describe her husband "pareja" but accidentally said "parasito"....parasite, haha:)

Cultural: During intercambios this week, we had a lesson with a sweet woman and about 7other kids that we had met playing in the street. While we were teaching the lesson, their pet pigs trotted out and starting sniffing and snorting at our bags. We laughed so hard that we could hardly teach the lesson!

We helped an Hermana peel her potatoes to sell on the street with her friend.  I think we peeled nearly 250 potatoes!

Spiritual: During other intercambios, God blessed us with a miracle to encounter a woman who I believe to be extremely prepared.  When we contacted her in the street, she happily invited us right into her home.  After a great lesson, she thanked us profusely for out time and explained that she usually never leaves her house, but felt prompted to do so a few minutes before we contacted her.  I know God prepares His children to hear His precious word!:)

We had a leadership conference in Cochabamba and I was able to see one of my good friends, Elder Warr:)

Have a great week!  I love you all and desire your success:D

Love,

Hermana Garff