Another Crazy Week!

Well hello everyone, 

I am back again! How are you all doing?? So I have a new companion now. It is still two weeks until cambios but I had another emergency cambio. This time is was because my companion, Hermana Padron, had to go home for problems with her knee.  We had to drop her off at the airport at 5AM and the taxi driver almost killed us twice on the way back-once when he hit a pothole at 50 mph and again when he almost swerved into a median #noseatbelts. 

(Hermana Padron and I on our last day together)

So Hermana Padron is back in Canada and I am in a trio with the Hnas of Vinto (the area next to ours). We were supposed to work one day in my area and one day in theirs but instead, Hna Jara has a member with her until cambios (Febuary 7) and Hna Cicotte is working with me. It has been weird to have a completely gringa companion (she is blonde too). We are terrorizing Villa Moderna. 

     Anyway, we got offered a ride from another random stranger. (This is the 4th time on my mission-all of the times have been in the same area). The guy told us that he would give us a ride because it was dangerous for two white girls to be walking around there (it was completely light outside so I knew it wasn't dangerous yet). We just said "No gracias" while both thinking that it would be more dangerous to get in his car than it would to walk. Haha. 

     Okay, so I have learned of a myth that they have in the United States. This is HUGE. The myth is that you have to refrigerate meat and dairy products. I am convinced that the refrigeration companies made it up. Bolivians do not refrigerate meat or dairy products and sure they taste a bit funny but usually they are fine. ;) Haha, totally joking. But Bolivians really don't refrigerate meat or dairy. 

     Okay, a miracle for the week. We had talked to a guy in the street who's name is Girardo. He told us he lived on calle 4 in the house with the green door. So the next day we go to calle 4 and start knocking all the green doors. At one the person who answered said, "Eduardo?" And we, thinking that we had heard the man's name wrong when we first contacted him were like, "Uhh, yeah". So the guy who comes to the door is NOT Girardo. His name is Eduardo and apparently the missionaries taught him before. So what a miracle that we found him!! We are going to teach Eduardo now and keep searching for Girardo. Haha.

     Oh, GREAT NEWS!!! Remember Edwin? The hombre we baptized in December? Well, he received the Priesthood (which is a power that God gives to hombres so that they can act in His name) on Sunday!!! He was so happy about it and I am sooooo excited to see him progress. I am really happy especially that the next step for him is to get a temple recommend and go to the temple to do saving work for his ancestors. I am so happy to be a missionary and I feel like I am becoming a better person and becoming closer to God every day. I love you all! Have a great week! Stay out of trouble! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Just a spoonfull of sugar helps the antibiotics go down!‏

Hola a todos!

     It has been a really crazy interesting week. First of all, lots of you asked how I was doing since I was sick last week. I am doing great! So much better. I don't feel sick anymore and after a few antibiotics I am Amoeba free. :) Now I have to take Probiotics for a few days. Hna Hansen said it would help me. So I sometimes eat it with a spoonfull of dulce de leche because bacteria doesn't taste really good plain...haha. But yeah, I am all better now. 

     Some #onlyinBolivia's:

         -Little kids in the back of a truck on the freeway. And it's not even illegal...

         -We almost die in taxis every week. The one we were in this week was during intercambios and it seemed like the guy was training for a race or something because he had his car in 6th gear during most of the ride. At one point he stopped so fast that I slid forward into his seat (no seatbelts). How fun. 

         -I saw a guy getting out of a trufi. It wouldn't have been weird if he didn't have a live ferret sitting on his shoulder. Mom what would you do if I walked off the airplane with a live ferret on my shoulder?
  So I have said lots of things in Spanish but I think one of the best stories is one I had this week. We have a Menos Activo in our ward named Beto Adriazola. We taught and baptized his 9 year old son. Beto and his wife Giovanna are sealed in the temple. They have a car, a tennis court, a sauna, peacocks. Lots of nice things...but they DON'T come to church and it is mostly Beto's fault. He goes and works. Last week, I told him that if he wasn't at church then the whole ward was going to come use his sauna for free (how I show my love as a missionary-I issue threats). WELL, he wasn't at church so if anyone wants to use a sauna for free just come to Bolivia because his is open. Haha, really though, we just went Sunday night and asked him why he wasn't there. He said he had so much work to do. I told him that the Lord had lots of work for him to do. (Wow, I actually can't believe I said that. It was really bold, haha).But honestly, if you have been blessed with the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you have been blessed with the knowledge that God loves you, then why wouldn't you come to church? Why wouldn't you share the knowledge you have? JUST DO IT.   
The Adriazolas. We love them a lot! They are great, just menos activos. Me,Arlette, Hna Padron, Ander and Hna Giovanna. Arlette touched my face that day and asked me if it was real, haha.  

  We knocked a lot of doors a couple of weeks ago and a lot of the people we found are sooo great! One of them is named Veronica. Her dad let us in and as we were talking to her he asked us if we wanted some beer (he was drunk). But Veronica is sooo great! She had a veeerrryyy hard childhood but wants to be a better mother than her mother was. So she stays home and helps her kids and is such a nice person. People here are so nice. :) 

Marcellina, a Cholita, and her sons. I printed these pics off and I am so excited to give them to her.     

Literally, I learned a lot about lots of stuff this week. One of the things I learned was that when we are tempted and tried then we can choose to be strong or we can choose to be weak. We weren't born strong people, we had to choose to be strong and choose to be happy. Everyone has a choice in life. It's great. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Scripture power...keeps me safe from dogs!!‏

Hello ya'all (is that how you spell it)

     So the reason I am writing so late this week is because I was in the Clinica getting an IV. #Bolivianmissionaryproblems Yes. 

The sickness train has finally hit me so I can now check that off the mission bucket list. It started on Thursday with feeling nauseous and wanting to throw up and having other unfortunate side effects. I will spare you all the great details but we finally went to the clinic today because this morning I felt completely awful. They said I was super dehydrated because I haven't been able to keep anything down so they hooked me up to an IV for 3 hours. Later they found out that I had some sort of Bacteria that was making me sick so we got the medicine for that today. Fun stuff. For all of you in the states...DON'T TAKE GOOD, CLEAN, SAFE food for granted. It is a luxury. 

     Anyway, about the heading of this email. The other day a dog came sprinting towards my companion and I from about 3 houses away. He looked like he wanted to kill us. I didn't have time to get a rock from off the ground so I yanked my Book of Mormon out of my bag and held it in the air. I'm sure that dog felt the power of the scriptures because he took off running in the other direction. 

     Something cool about Bolivia is that when we knock on the doors the people inside will be like, "Quien es?" But what are we supposed to say, "Um...strangers. You don't know us." Usually I'll be like, "Las misioneras" and the people will say "Quien?" So I repeat it and they come and open the door because they don't know what we are saying. 

They hang people shaped stuff like this from the light poles all the time to ward off robbers.  
   By the way, I saw something here the other day that seemed like a good idea. One guy was in a car that was full of people. He didn't have any room to sit so to solve the problem they rolled down the back window and he sat on the spare tire (that was attached to the back of the car) and held on to the rack on the top of the car. 

     Anyway, now to tell you about two of our investigators, Luis and Daniela. Luis's mom is a member and she is literally so cool. She reads the scriptures all the time and is so strong in the church. Her son, Luis, is 18 and he is super cool too. I think his interest in the church started when his girlfriend, Daniela, started asking questions. He has also had some hard things happen in his family with his dad so he had a lot of questions about that. Daniela is 19 and she is so so so nice. She has had a hard life with her family but she is the sweetest person ever. Literally, when we first met with her and Luis they walked in thinking that we weren't going to be able to help them but now they are full of life and happy and they are going to be baptized on January 23. They are sooo great. They came (and Luis's mom, Hna. Maria) to visit me when I was in the clinic with my IV. But yeah, that is pretty much all for this week. I love you all and hope you have a great time!!

Love,

Hermana Eaves

What in the world? 2016?‏

Hola everyone! 
    I cannot believe it is 2016. Time is passing sooo fast. I feel like before I know it my mission will be over and I will have to go back to real life with school, callings and (SHUDDER) taxes. Everyone enjoy your time while it lasts! 

Me, Hermana Padron and Jeannette (our pensionista).
 New Year's Eve dinner with Jeanette and her family!   After dinner my companion and I celebrated by going to bed a little bit early, because we were tired (#missionarylife). 

    Let's see...oh! We set a record for number of people in a trufi!  My companion and I were on a trufi (she was in the 2nd seat and I was in the back-sometimes there is only room to sit like that). Anyway, this trufi has MAXIMUM 18 seats (If we are squished) and there were 18 people on this trufi. Well, 4 crazy Bolivian men decided to get on this trufi. They piled on and all had to stand in the aisleway, which is definitely not big enough for 2 people, much less 4. One of them was almost sitting on my companion and all I could do was watch from the back seat. Well, we had to get off of this trufi and I was the last one off. These 4 crazy Bolivians were like "Oh, todavia estan bajando. La gringa." (Translation: They are still getting off. The white girl.) Haha. One of the Menos Activos in our ward calls us (Hna Padron y yo) "Hermana Gringits" and Hermana Chokits" (Sister white girl and Sister Blonde girl). 

     One of the ladies we teach owns a tienda. She was sharpening one of our knives during our lesson. #quemiedo #onlyinBolivia

     The Cholitas were all mad at something so today they blocked off the main highway (which means they lay a bunch of tires and sticks across the road and sit on them so nothing can get past). They do it a lot. Usually on Mondays. They also blocked off a lot of other roads so we had to walk everywhere. Bolivians...they always protest stuff. 

We had a ton of laundry today. But we got it all done in 2 hours. Our apartment is now a laundry and makeshift clothesline obstacle course. 

Our food that we bought for dinner.  We have to start making our own.  Strawberry nesquick, canned peaches, apples, cereal, grapes, ramen...jealous?!?

     Anyway, this week we have been teaching a lot of people about Metas (Goals) because we know that this is the beginning of the new year and a perfect time to change things that have been left unchanged for too long. I have realized over the years that if I make a TON of goals at the beginning of the year then I will never accomplish them. So if ya'll are making goals then only make 1 or 2 and focus on them before making more. Something that coming out on a mission has done for me is made me realize how much I need to improve. There is always something we can mejorar to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. And if we really are His followers then we should want to improve and apply His teachings in our lives. So for everyone this week, make your goals and follow through. I love you all!!! Have a great week! 

Love,
Hermana Eaves

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Hola familia y amigos!

The best present I got for Christmas this year was the chance to talk to my family on Skype! 

I didn't realize how much I really loved my family until I got to see them for the first time in 4 months. For all of you who spent the holiday with your family I hope you enjoyed it and didn't take it for granted. I did think of an analogy to this. I left my family to serve a mission for 18 months. I love and miss them a ton and I know they feel the same about me! This is the same with our Heavenly Father. We lived with him before we came to the earth. We left him to come here for a short time. He loves and misses us sooo much! Luckily, we can talk to our Heavenly Father much more often than once a week! Don't forget to pray to Him!!

     Anyway, other stuff about this week! First, a couple #onlyinBolivia´s:

1. The mailman rode up on his motorcycle and gave us a letter for someone in our ward. It had the church's symbol on it and we were missionaries so I guess he thought it was all bien. Haha.

2. I saw some really good looking grapes on a truck and I bought them. The truck was driving around with a megaphone selling fruit. My companion thought I was crazy but they were the best grapes I have had here. 

3. We went caroling and us Hermanas were in the back of the truck as the Hno driving sped over crazy bumpy dirt roads. It was also raining. But it was great fun!

      Also, we were contacting and we stopped to talk to a lady on the street and we told her we lived on Calle 1 (she was sitting on Calle 3) and she said, "Keep on going then." Haha, shut down...

     Something really cool!!! Our two recent converts gave the prayers in Sacrament meeting! It was tan chevre!!! They gave great prayers and Hna Padron and I were so proud. Edwin has also been asking us about a mission. I am really excited for him and hope he goes!!! I just want to close by saying that I learned a lot this week. One of the things I learned was about the power of the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon changes hearts and I know that all who read it will come closer to Christ. So as a gift for me this Christmas/New Year I want to invite everyone to read the Book of Mormon. Whether you are a religious person or not, I know the Book of Mormon can help you in your life. It has helped me countless times. I hope you all have a great week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love,  

Hermana Eaves

What??? NAVIDAD!!!‏

It is Navidad already??? Where has the time gone??? 

I have almost 4 months in the mission now which is CRAZY to me because it feels like I just got here! So much has happened!!

First of all, we sang as a missionary choir for our stake and it was sooo cool! I love feeling the Spirit through hymns! We are going to sing for a bunch of Policemen in their meeting this Miercoles so that will be cool! Remember that one guy that is usually on drugs that came to our zone meeting once? Yeah, he is always at the chapel and the other day he kissed the stake president on the head...I don't know why he hangs out at the chapel. Maybe he can feel the Spirit there or the members are nice to him. I don't know. 

     We got offered another ride by a stranger. On the same road as last time. Que rado. We said no...

     Also, there was a protest so the main highway to Cochabamba was blocked. We had to go down this super dusty dirt road to get to the Cancha! It was really fun actually. It just took us an hour instead of the usual 10 minutes. 

     We had the coolest devotional for Christmas yesterday. It was given by the Mission President and his wife. There were special musical numbers and testimonies and so much cool stuff! I loved one testimony from a missionary. I am going to write it is Spanish first because that is how she said it and then I will translate. 

       "Esta ano de Navidad yo queria a tener un Navidad como en casa. Yo estaba pensando y tratando a tener esta Navidad como en casa. Pero yo ha realizado que no voy a tener una Navidad como en casa porque no estoy in casa. Estoy in un lugar mejor."

     "This year for Christmas I wanted to have a Christmas like I have at my house. I was thinking about this and trying to have this Christmas be like it is at my house. But I have realized that it isn't going to be a Christmas like I have at my house because I am not in my house. I am in a better place." 

       Honestly, as I was listening to her talk I felt the Spirit so strongly. I know there is no better place I could be for this Christmas that Bolivia, inviting others to learn more about the Savior and to apply His teachings in their lives. This Christmas isn't going to be pretty gifts and lights on the tree. It is going to be all about Christ's gift for us so many years ago and His light that he shared with the world. I hope all of you are taking this time of the year to study the life of Christ in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon so that you can apply His teachings and grow more like Him this Christmas! I love you all so much! Feliz Navidad!

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

We Had A Monsoon!!

Hola everyone, 

It has been another great week!!! Today we were riding in a trufi (a big bus) to Cochabamba (which is 30 minutes away) and a lady got up and started to preach from her Bible to all the people on the trufi. The missionaries I was with told me that she had done it before. She preached for the whole 30 minutes and I have got to say that I admire her courage. She was pretty cool.

     Anyway, another trufi story...we have two types of trufis here, one is the big bus that is easy to stand up in. The other is como un 12 passenger van that they cram a bunch of people into. One time, my companion was bent all the way over and standing on one foot during a 10 minute trufi ride while I was squeezed in between two cholitas with their Awayos full of stuff. It was pretty fun. Plus this week was HOT HOT HOT. Which means we sweat all day. Last night we didn't even hug after companionship prayer because we were so hot. Haha. 

     We have a ton of cute, old Cholitas in our ward. One of them was called up to give the opening prayer and she said, "Hola Hermanos y Hermanas. Voy a orar..." (Translation: "Hi Brothers and Sisters, I'm going to pray.") Then she prayed. Haha. When she started that way I was afraid she thought she was supposed to give a talk. 

     Okay, I have the COOLEST story for you all. Remember that guy who called us last week asking to be baptized? Well, his name is Edwin and he is sooo cool! So first, he called us to be baptized. Then he called us to set up a sita. He accepted wholeheartedly everything we taught. Hermana Padron and I had to clean the baptismal font and the room antes del bautismo and he showed up AN HOUR EARLY and helped us clean and set up. 

 I had to climb inside this hole to close the drain to the baptismal font. Haha

  Bautismo de Edwin!! Edwin, Obispo, Hna Padron y yo

A little information to help you all to see how amazing this is: Bolivians are NEVER on time. At our last baptism, the people getting baptized showed up 30 minutes late and the Bishop showed up an hour late. So him showing up an hour early. He is so cool. The next day he showed up 45 minutes early to church for his confirmation. Hermana Padron said hi to him then had to leave to go get other people and bring them to church. When we came back he was cleaning the sacrament trays. Literally, he is the coolest kid (23 year old). Bishop was confirming him and talking about a full time mission and I felt so happy. I just want to help all these people to go on missions and get sealed in the temple and be happy. It's stuff like this that makes me want to be a missionary forever.
Ander got confirmed this week!!! Finally! Him and Edwin were confirmed yesterday. It was so cool and we were so happy!! 

   This week we are going to focus a lot on finding people because we don't have many to teach. So it's going to be a long week of knocking portas. :) Which is actually really fun. I am loving it here and am soo excited for Christmas! Not for the usual reasons though (presents, family, etc). I am excited for Christmas because we can talk more about the Savior with people who otherwise wouldn't want to listen to us. It is just really cool. 

Anyway, have a good week! I love you all!! 11 days til Christmas!! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Hello!

Hola everyone!! 

Another week has flown by!! Mother, I have not yet been sick. :)

     Okay, so a few of you asked about Ander. He has not yet been confirmed because his parents are menos activos!!! So they are not always at church. I might just go and get them all Sunday morning, haha. They even have a CAR!! Haha. 

    Anyway, we were walking down a dirt road in our area in the middle of no-where and a random guy stopped and asked us if we needed a ride. He was probably just a nice Bolivian man with the best intentions but we told him no. Haha. I also almost got hit by a taxi (not the same day) but luckily I wasn't. 

    My companera asked me if there were cactus in Arizona. When I told her yeah she thought it was so cool (she is from Canada). Haha. 

     I don't know if I have told you this, but Bolivians don't refrigerate meat or dairy products. If you want cold chicken you have to refrigerate it yourself...

     There was a guy that walked by us on the street and asked us if we were searching for hombres. My companera told him, "NO GRACIAS!" and we walked away really fast. Weirdo. 

     Oh boy, church yesterday was so great! I have the funniest stories ever! So our chapel is interesting. There is just a big hallway that is open to the air outside and it is lined with a bunch of doors that lead to the classrooms or the capilla. The doors are all glass paned so you can see out of them. Hermana Padron and I always sit by the door of the capilla so if our investigators walk up we can see them. So anyway, one of the members walked to church (because on Sunday cars weren't allowed to drive-a Bolivian thing) and her three huge dogs followed her to church. The dogs kept trying to get into the door of our chapel (where we have sacrament meeting) and the elderly man finally closed the door. We could still see the dogs though because the door was glass and they were in the hallway thing. THEN the dogs started mating. Hna Padron and I were dying because here we were in sacrament meeting with the dogs mating shamelessly outside the glass door. Well, the elderly door guarder saw this and ran out the door with his hymbook to seperate the dogs. Hna Padron and I are dying as we try not to laugh at the old man chasing three huge dogs down the hall. We would see him run one way with his hymbook and one of the dogs would sprint the other way. IT WAS HILARIOUS!!! I could not stop laughing. This is seriously another #onlyinBolivia moment. Haha! I wish I could say that the man chased the dogs away and we had a peaceful meeting but no, the man had to run out into the hall at least three more times to chase away the dogs. 

     Also, about 5 people in our ward gave their testimonies in Quechua because that is what they speak. It was so cool. I was trying to listen but pretty much all I got was testimoniomanta, iglesiamanta and Jesucristoj.

Noche Foganera (Fireside) with a real fire. It was super cool!! 

     Another cool thing is that Sunday was a day in Bolivia where there were no cars allowed on the road. So we had to walk everywhere. We ended up walking for 2.5 hours to get to all the places we needed to be but it was so cool because there were no cars in the street and all the kids were playing in the road. There were tons of people walking and socializing. It was so cool. 

Cows crossing the intersection. They have more right of way than people do. :)

      Anyway, a super chevre experience from this week was that one morning at 6 AM one of our investigators called us. We called him back when we woke up and he told us that he wanted to be baptized this Saturday. We were both so surprised and told him that he was awesome and he could get baptized on the 12th of December. Haha, he still needs all the lessons. We have lots of cool experiences here on the mission. We have been giving people Christmas messages which has been really cool. It is a great way to talk to new people and share the message that we have of the Savior. I love teaching people and lifting their spirits. We have such a great responsibility como members of this church. We need to help those who are struggling and lift the hearts of those who are sad. I hope you all remember that! Have a great week everyone!!

Love,

Hermana Eaves

Happy Summer......WINTER???

Ya, yo no se what season it is...So I have made it another week without getting sick, though two Elders in our Zone were not so lucky. It has been another great week here in Bolivia!! My companion and I decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving with my mini tree and snowflakes that we cut out. It was pretty great! 

My companion and I talked to a lot of people that only speak Quechua this week. We found a new part of our area and a lot of the people there only speak Quechua. What we do when we find those people is say, "Emenatendeqichu". Which means "none" or "nothing". And then we leave. Haha, we need to go back there with a ward member that can speak Quechua. Haha. 

     Oh, just a few fun money facts about Bolivia. One nm cubed of gas (I have no idea what that is) is only 1.5 Bolivianos and 7 Bolivianos is 1 dollar American. Our taxi driver filled up his tank for ll B's. Que chevre...

     Anyway, sometimes our investigators give us como 50 cookies to finish before the sita is over so I have become a master at sneaking them into my bag. This week I have snuck a total of 30 cookies from 2 different sitas in my bag. Haha, my companera thinks it is hilarious. 

     The trufis here have NO problem with passing other cars on the road. The trufis pass whether or not there is a semi truck barreling towards them in the other lane, whether or not there is a motorcycle in the way and whether or not their passengers are gripping the arms of their companeras and wondering if they are going to die in the back of a Bolivian trufi. 

Some #onlyinBolivias:

 1. I saw another guy bathing in his yard. My companera saw him too. Luckily he had shorts on. 

 2. I saw a Cholita peeing on the side of the road. She looked like she was just squatting there and I thought, "Oh, that little Cholita lady looks triste. We should go talk to her." Then she stood up, wiped herself off with her skirt #notoiletpaper and walked away, leaving a little puddle behind. Haha, it was pretty exciting. 

 3. The other day there were some Cholitas fighting in the street (in Quechua of course). The Cholita would yell something and the drunk Cholito would yell back. Then he yelled something at us and walked away, haha. 

     We had a baptism this week! It was an awesome little boy named Ander. He is 9 and his parents are menos activos but they wanted him to be baptized so we taught him. He is so smart and so great!

  The youth here are so great! I really think that the youth have the most potential to change the world. There are so many youth here that are such good examples for their parents. I love being here. I will miss you all during the holidays but honestly, this work is the work of God and it is more important than I am. I am glad to have a part of it. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,  

Hermana Eaves

Photos

1. Thanksgiving dinner-sausage, papas fritas, onions and tomatoes

2. A sweet bridge in our area. We walk across the trash-filled ravine to get to some of our investigators.