Hello!

Sister Hansen and I at a Mother's Day activity.

So this has been a great week! I have put off writing this email because I never know what to say, haha! Anyway, we had a very interesting lesson this week with an abuelo. He started off the lesson talking about how he had diarrhea (a common topic here in Bolivia-but not a common way to start lessons). Then he talked about how males have Adam's apples because Adam ate an apple (the forbidden fruit) in the garden of Eden. Sounds pretty reasonable. He then told us a story about how he was camping and he went out into the woods to go to the bathroom and while he was doing his business he saw a dark shadow that he told us was Satan. He told us that he hit the shadow with his hand and it electrocuted him. Hmm. But he came to church! So we were happy about that. 

     This week I learned a lot about having love for others. My companion has love for everyone! She is practicing her English and the other day she told me "I love you! Much much much!" She is the best. She has taught me so much about offering service to others and being excited about everything! I love that about her! We are excited and happy when we talk to people and we offer service. If you ever want to be a missionary then just serve others. You will say more by your example than by anything you say. I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

It's still summer here...I am losing hope for winter.

Hello everyone! 

I hope you had a great week! Yes, it is still summer here. It's only cold in the mornings when we study but all day long it's super hot. #sunblockformonths 

This is a selfie I took with a drunk man passed out on the sidewalk. Enjoy.     

This week we went to teach one of our investigators, who is about 80 years old. He asked me where I was from and when I said "Arizona" he said "They have beautiful women in Arizona". I just love being hit on by old married men. 

It's freezing in the church building because there is no heating. Me and Hna Gutierrez

     I learned a lot this week from investigators. One teenage girl named Mariel was talking to us. She said "I earn pretty well (money) and I have friends that don't make as much but they are happier than me. Poor people are happy because even if they only have rice and egg (really poor people in Bolivia eat rice and eggs) they are happy because they have something to eat. But for people like me, if we have rice and egg we think 'how can we eat rice and egg?'" I was thinking about that and it's so true. When we have a lot of stuff we often are less grateful for the little things. And when we are less grateful, we are less happy. So here is a challenge for the week: notice the little things. Be grateful to have running water, to have a shower curtain, to have a house with flooring and not just dirt. There are people here in Bolivia who would give anything to have what you have (they would even give anything to be able to visit the United States). I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

PS Sorry this is so short, I didn't have lots of time. 

"It's a beautiful day in Bolivia" -Cholito Roberts

¡Hola a todos! ¿Como estan?

So we had cambios this last Sunday and my companion, Hna King, went to Sucre! Where I was born in the mission! I am happy for her! And I finally have a latina companion! Her name is Hna Gutierrez and she is so nice! She is a really hard worker too! 

So just a funny Spanish mistake I made. In a lesson, a lady asked us if we wanted to go to war and I, thinking she meant "Is there going to be a war (like it says in Revelations in the Bible"), enthusiastically nodded my head yes. Haha! She was rather angered by the fact that I wanted to go to war and when I realized what she had actually asked I had to explain that I had heard the question wrong and that I actually did not want to go to war...haha! 

     A funny conversation that we had while searching for a referral:

Me- "Hello, we are looking for someone named Maria. Someone told us she sells fruit here on this corner (they were selling fruit)." 

The lady- "Nope, we don't know anyone by that name". 

My companion- "Well, we are missionaries and we would like to talk to you about the gospel.  What is your name?"

The lady- "Umm...Delia". 

Us- "Mmhmm, okay." 

She then gave us a fake phone number and a fake address. Haha. Bolivians.

We found cows this week!  

     Something cool about Latin countries is that it isn't offensive to say that someone is fat. Literally, all the time, people will say "Oh, she's a gordita (fat)" to describe someone. For example, if I wanted to describe someone in the ward I could say, "La alta gordita" (the tall overweight woman) and it isn't even offensive! Isn't that great! Latinos are the best! So if someone tells you "You look fatter than you were before" it's not offensive. You just agree and laugh about it. I love that. 

     Anyway, this week I have felt a great love for the Book of Mormon. I know that it is truly another witness of Jesus Christ because I have read it and as I continue to read I feel my testimony of Christ grow stronger. I know that studying both the Bible and the Book of Mormon will help us to grow closer to Christ. This week I read in Alma 24 (you can read it here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/24?lang=eng ) about a people that lived in the Americas before Christ came to the earth. They were so converted to the gospel that they were willing to die for what they believed. I think that story is amazing! I really want to keep growing my testimony until I have that kind of faith! Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

The rats effects still linger.....

So the rat left us lots of surprises (poop, half eaten candy, holes in bags) and this week we have been finding them all. Hna King and I were waiting for a member one day and Hna King pulls out a candy from her bag and offers it to me. We both look at it at the same time (she had pulled it out without looking at it) and it had a huge chunk missing from the wrapper and a chunk of the candy missing too. Haha. We almost died laughing. She ended up eating it anyway. #dontjudge #wegetdesperate Also, today I pulled my bag of popcorn off the shelf and popcorn kernels went everywhere. Haha, evil rat. 
    Here are some pictures of my zone after futbol.

     We also almost got pooped on by a bird. We knocked on a door and were waiting for someone to open it so we could contact them and I felt something wet splash onto my foot. I looked down to see a fresh bird poo an inch from my shoe. Luckily, it missed. 

My district in Alamos before cambios.

     We were talking about weaknesses this week and I really liked what someone said. One Elder said that "Through our weaknesses we can do great things." I like it better in Spanish "Por medio de una debilidad, se puede realizar cosas grandes." So if you have weaknesses, don't get down on yourself. Just be humble, ask God for help and continue trying to improve every day! We can improve, that is the hope we have through the Atonement of Christ. Christ suffered for everything and He knows our weaknesses. We just have to trust in Him and move forward. 

Me, with a member, Luciana, in the area of the capacitadores.

This is Camilo and I.  He reminds me of Matix so much.  I love him.

Me and Luciana.

     Also, I just want to tell you all about a miracle that happened. One day we contacted a lady who was selling fruit on a street corner. She ended up not being very interested so we went on our way. As we left, I saw a boy sitting on the corner smoking with his friends. He had tattoos and looked rather intimidating but I had a feeling that we should contact him. I ignored it though and we continued on. I could not get him out of my head the whole day though. That night I prayed and told Heavenly Father that if He would give me another chance, then I would talk to that boy. Now fast forward 5 weeks. My companion and I were going to a sita and I saw him sitting on a curb. We walked past him and I felt the Spirit telling me that I needed to talk to him. We knocked on the door of a member but the Spirit was so strong that I told Hna King "We need to go talk to him". We told the member that we would be back and we ran to him, gave him a folleto, talked a little and planned a day to meet him. His name is Rodrigo and he is really cool. I know that we can see miracles in our lives but we need to act when the time comes! Keep on sharing the gospel with everyone! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

We caught a rat!

Yes, I am serious. At the beginning of this week we began to discover holes in our bags of oats and in my bag of walnuts. We also found mouse poop in our kitchen cabinet. Haha! We set up some homemade traps and hoped we would catch the bandit. We also put all our food in plastic containers. After a few nights we didn't catch it and it couldn't eat our food so we sort of forgot about it. One night though, Hermana King had a dream that there was a rat in our apartment and it was eating her chocolate (from a package she received). So she woke me up at 11:30 PM and we went on a rat hunt under her bed and in the kitchen but didn't find anything. We went to sleep and the next morning we just figured that she had been dreaming because she didn't really remember it. Haha! This morning, we had just started personal study when I heard my companion shriek from the bedroom "HNA EAVES!!!!" I went in and she showed me that our little rat friend had chewed off a part of her journal! Haha!

 We died laughing! She then discovered that the rat had eaten parts of her chocolate too. 

She was mad but we also thought it was hilarious! So we went on a rat hunt! We searched every part of our apartment and had almost given up when I found it in a random pipe under our stairs. I screamed (classic) and the mouse ran zippity quick into the kitchen.
 
So we went in the kitchen, slammed the door and after a lot of chasing and a lot of screaming, we caught that little mouse.

 It was so cute that we couldn't kill it so we took it for a little walk and let it go in a field by our house. Haha! It was surely an adventure. But my companion and I are now professional mouse hunters so if you ever need help...

      Anyway, our miracle for the week was that one of our invesitgators came to church for 25 minutes! WOOOHOOO! It was the first time she came to an LDS church meeting. We were really happy about that. 

A couple weeks ago, our mission President gave us an activity to do where we read and ponderize(meditate) on a scripture throughout the day. We have a different scripture every day. Here are some of the scriptures I liked: 

Ether 12:27 

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Alma 7:11-13 

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictionsand temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

I love that through Christ we can overcome anything! Keep on trying, keep on going! You can do it! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love,
Hermana Eaves

A drunk man bought us popsicles

Yes, it is true. We were sitting on a curb talking to a lady named Rosa (more on that later) and he walked by, shook our hands, asked if we were married to Rosa's sons, left and then came back with popsicles. A little weird...But we were okay with it...free popsicles. 

     We contacted a lot this week. It was great fun! Like always, we contacted some strange people. We talked to this one guy in English. He had lived in the states for 24 years so he could speak pretty well. He knew all the swear words pretty well too. Haha.

     We talked to a lady at a park and she seemed pretty interested. After the lesson she pointed to a guy sitting on a bench a ways away and said "You should go talk to him!" Okay. We went over to talk to him and it turns out he was sitting there studying English for his class! How cool! Thank you lady at the park! He said he is going to come to our English class!  

     But we contacted really nice people too! We passed a woman named Rosa on the street. She was sitting on the curb and looked like she had been crying. We passed her then said "Should we talk to her?" We pretended to buy something in a tienda then went back to where she was and started talking to her. She told us she had four kids but two of them lived in Brazil (they are older). She said she misses them a lot. I shared Alma 7:11-13 with her (to read it online go here  https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/7?lang=spa ) and told her that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love her a LOT and that Christ suffered all of her pain and sorrow. I don't think I have ever felt so much love for a person before. I didn't even know this lady named Rosa but I loved her and I wanted her to be happy! That is what I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It makes people happy! I am grateful to be here and teach people about happiness. 

Love,

Hermana Eaves

Another Week!

 
  Wow, it was another week of contacting. We had some funny and crazy and awkward experiences. We had contacted a lady named Carmen before and we went back for our sita. Well, we knocked the door and a lady walks up to the other side:

Through the closed door...

Carmen: "Who is it?"

Us: "The missionaries, we're looking for Carmen". 

*opens door*

Carmen: "Yes, what is it?"

Us: "Hola, we came by the other day but you were cooking..." 

Carmen interrupts: "Carmen isn't here".
We just looked at her like, You are totally Carmen and you are telling us that she isn't here. We then said "Okay, goodbye" and left Carmen, that isn't actually Carmen. 

   We knocked another door and the lady that answered said, "Sorry, I was just about to leave". We said, "Can we give you a folleto really fast?" She said, "Actually, my mom is a little sick, so no". We were like, umm, "Okay, goodbye then." We can't give her a folleto because her mom is sick? Usually people make up better excuses than that. Haha. 

     Some really cool things happened this semana. One happened in Consejo de Barrio yesterday (Ward council). Someone brough up the name of a member of the ward and said "This sister's grandchildren aren't coming because they don't have clothes or shoes to wear to church". Instantly the members that were in this meeting began offering assistance. About 5 people raised their hands and said things like "I have some clothes to give them" and "I could buy some shoes". It was amazing to see their charity and love for a member of the ward that they probably don't even know that well. I want to be like the humble people of Bolivia; willing to give up some of what I have for people who have less. 

     Hna King and I had a crazy experience this week. We had contacted a guy (we can call him Carlos) earlier that seemed pretty nice and went back to his house to teach him. He had invited his friend (he can be Juan Carlos for the story). Well we went in and talked for a bit but when we wanted to begin the lesson, Juan Carlos (who told us he had studied the Bible for 34 years) began completely attacking everything we believed. He attacked everything from the name of the pamphlet "The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" to Joseph Smith to missionaries. He would not stop talking so we just sat there in silence for about 30 minutes as he attacked everything. It was such a crazy experience though because the more he attacked Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, the more I felt the Spirit of God testifying to me that these things were true, that Jesus Christ really did restore His church through Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon really was another testament of Jesus Christ. I felt SOO STRONGLY that these things were true. Finally, he asked a question and gave us room to talk and I told him "If this was a question of knowledge of the Bible then I would loose. I am only 19 years old and I don't know a lot, but I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know he was called to restore the church of Jesus Christ in it's fullness. I know that Jesus Christ came to the Americas and I have read every verse and every word of the Book of Mormon and I know it is true. I know that families can be together. I know that we lived with God before this life and I know we will live with Him again. I know these things because I have read and studied and prayed about them." He didn't really take me seriously, in fact he sort of laughed at me after I said that, but I do know without a doubt that what I said was true. I am happy that I know these things. I am glad to be a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ. Even when the Juan Carlos's of the world laugh at our testimonies, we MUST NOT stop bearing them. Anyway, that was my week! I hope you guys have a great one! Love you all! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Hey!

We knocked a LOT of doors this week! When I got to this area we had 6 investigators (3 of which we have since dropped because they lost interest). So we have been doing a lot of contacting, which means a LOT of sunscreen because in Bolivia we are still in summer (Sadly, I learned that summer lasts all year round here). Knocking doors is actually pretty fun. There is no other time in my life that I can knock on the doors of random strangers and talk about the gospel. We knocked one door and then Hna King says "Oh no, RUN!" and starts sprinting away. So we run around the corner (in skirts-picture it) and she told me that they knocked that door once and the people were REALLY MEAN. So we just door bell ditched a house. Also, we were knocking doors and accidentally knocked on the door or one of our 3 investigators. Haha, we just had a lesson with her. We knocked another door and the lady opened it about 3 inches and didn't say a word. She just glared at us. Haha, we were like, "Um, we wanted to give you a folleto (pamphlet)" and she stuck out her hand. She didn't say anything. So awkward. Then we mentioned that we do service and her whole countenance changed. She came out the door and was smiling and we planned a day to come back and do service in her garden. Honestly, she was probably thinking "SCORE. A free landscaping company." Haha. 

     We were talking to a 13 year old about the plan of salvation the other day and he asked about repentance. Then he says, "I don't have many sins, I just lie". Haha! 

     By the way, my typhoid only lasted one day. I think it was so mellow because I got the vaccine. Luckily. 

We played paintball today in our zone. And had a barbeque. It was fun.    

    Anyway, Bolivia is great. The mission is awesome! I love contacting. Even though our feet hurt and we are exhausted at the end of the day, it is more than worth it because people are hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Have a great week! 

Love,

Hermana Eaves

New Area, Typhoid and Conference. Doesn't that sound exciting?

It's been another long week! I think that is because SOOO much has happened! It's all been so exciting. We had cambios on Martes. (Transfers on Tuesday) and I went to Alamos (the next zone over) with Hna King, from Idaho. She is so nice! 

The area is so different though! Whereas Quillacollo is all dust and cobblestone streets, Alamos is concrete and asphalt. Our apartment is sort of falling apart (as in cracks in the ceiling, the flooring is coming up and water leakages) but that's Bolivia. 



It's a big apartment and it has all that we need (except for a toilet seat). Haha.

 We need to find a bunch of new people to teach because they recently had a few baptisms so all the investigators are recent converts. But it is exciting to learn a new area and new people! 

     Also, this week, I did get Typhoid Fever. How? Well, probably from the outside of a fruit that had been washed off with dirty water or something. I did get the vaccine for Typhoid before my mission so I think that made this a lot more mild. 


On Friday, I woke up and was normal but during study time was suuuuper cold and shaking (from cold). Later, I took a tiny nap because I didn't feel too good. I woke up with a really high fever. Hna Hansen (mission president's wife) sent us to the Clinica, where they gave me a shot in my back to take down my fever (the 600 mg of Ibuprofen I took weren't doing it). Then they took my blood and I gave samples, all that fun stuff. Then they told me I had typhoid and I am taking 3 different pills now to handle it. It was so fun! I love typhoid! You can be happy and grateful in every circumstance! It actually hasn't been that bad. It was only bad on Friday. 

     GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was so cool! I always love General Conference! We watched it in English with the other missionaries in our zone that speak English. 



Some of my favorite talks were:

     Women's Conference: Linda K. Burton. I liked her question "What comes next for willing hands to do?" 

     Saturday Afternoon: Mervyn B. Arnold "GO TO THE RESCUE!" I love this because sometimes we, as missionaries, feel like we are going to rescue the menos activos all by ourselves. We need your help!

     Saturday Morning: Thomas S. Monson (I always love his talks)

                                Dieter F. Uchtdorf     I love the stories he shares and that he speaks from his heart. :)"Obedience is the process by which we discover what we are really made of." 

Anyway, it was a great week! Go back and watch conference! lds.org I love you all! 

Love, Hermana Eaves