Easter, Women's Conference and Cambios=one crazy week

Hello everyone! 

     So this week was crazy! Hermana Cicotte and I were looking forward to the Women's Conference the whole week!!! On Saturday, we had to be in the mission home at 4 PM and Quillacollo (our area) is the farthest away so we left our house at 2:50, took a trufi and got there right on time. :) 

We had some games, like "Simon says" and watched a slideshow of our pictures. It was really fun. We then had REAL. MEXICAN. FOOD. You do NOT understand how AMAZING that is until you have eaten rice for 7 months. It was real Mexican food with real guacamole and salsa and beans and LETTUCE (which is ONLY allowed in the mission home) and CHEESE (not the goat cheese that the Cholita's make, actual CHEDDAR CHEESE). I ate three. They were that good. I managed to fit in some homemade Texas sheet cake. After being in Bolivia for 7 months I can eat like a dragon. :)

     Hna Cicotte saved my life. I almost was run over by a giant truck (you would think it would have stopped for a blonde girl crossing the road) but my companion pulled me out of the way. She's the best. 

     So we had a lesson with an elderly Cholita menos activa the other day. A conversation:

Cholita "Donde esta su pueblo?"

Me "Las Estados Unidos" 

Cholita "Que?"

ME "Un poquito mas arriba de Mexico" 

Cholita "Que?"

Me "Un poquito mas arriba de la Paz"

Cholita "ohhh"

Haha, you can Google translate that. La Paz is in Bolivia. Saying that the US "is a bit above La Paz" is sort of a lie but you gotta teach what the people understand and that Cholita understood La Paz. 

     One Menos Activo told us "I don't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon." We asked him if he was praying and he said "no". We asked him if he was reading the Book of Mormon and he said "No". And we asked him if he was coming to church, also "No". Well, of course he doesn't have a testimony. Testimonies are like treasures. We can't just sit around and hope they fall into our laps. Treasures take work and time. We need to WORK and FIGHT for testimonies. If anyone wants a testimony of the Book of Mormon then read it, pray and go to church. Your testimony will come as you act on your faith. 

People in Bolivia are very faithful. Pretty much everyone here believes in God. 

Instead of presents under the tree at Christmastime, they have nativity scenes. For Easter, there is no Easter bunny or plastic eggs. The humble Bolivian people remember Christ and His Atonement. This week we have been sharing the scripture 3 Nephi 11:14-15 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/11?lang=eng). It talks about how Christ, when he came to the people on the American continent, invited all of them to come unto Him and feel the marks so that they could know without doubt that He suffered and died for them. He loves us!! Isn't that amazing!!! I just want to be a missionary forever so that I can share that message with the world! He lives! And because He lives, we too will live again. It's amazing. I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Another week has flown by!

Wow, another great HOT week in Bolivia! Summer is still going strong. 

Surprise!  Bolivia isn't actually a jungle, like I assumed before I got here.  Haha!  Bolivia has really pretty views.

Here's a funny story:

     We were getting out of a trufi and Hermana Cicotte couldn't open the door. An old Cholita lady behind us says, "Come papa, papa mote. Da fuerza." (It wasn't really correct Spanish but the translation is : "Eat potaotes and corn (a type of corn). They will make you strong.") Haha. Maybe instead of exercises in the morning I should just eat potatoes. Haha! 

      Some #onlyinBolivias:

          -They cut grass with an edger (mom, tell that to the boys whenever they complain about mowing the lawn)

         -This country is BYOTP-Bring Your Own Toilet Paper. If you ask to use someone's bathroom you had better have toilet paper in your bag because Bolivians don't like to share toilet paper. Haha! 

         -A marijuana shaped air freshener (no wonder that trufi smelled a little funny).

         -Bolivians celebrate a holiday called "Dia del Mar". It's where they all remember that the Chileans "stole their ocean" and talk bad about them. Fun. They also have a day where they celebrate all the dogs and tie bells around their necks. Good times.

Well, we cleaned a school.  These are all the members that showed up to help.  Haha!

One more funny story:

    My companion wrote me this note during church, "The guy behind us just pulled a hair off your shirt, looked at it in awe, played with it for a while then gave it to me." Hahahaha! The perks of being blonde in Bolivia. 

Some cool stuff happened and some frustrating stuff happened. 

     One really cool thing was that the man blessing the Sacrament in church began to cry. I was listening to him and just felt that I always take the Sacrament for granted. Could you imagine one week without the Sacrament's cleansing power? I can't. It is such a privilege to have time every week to remember the Savior and 

His Atonement. I hope all of you take time each day to think about the Savior and to try to live as He did. 

     The frustrating part of this week was that two recent converts (not any of the ones baptized when I was here) got offended by someone in the ward so they decided to not come to church anymore. Ugh! I am so sad for them because they have the gospel in their lives and they have all the blessings just waiting for them but they let a petty argument take the blessings. It also made me think about charity. Even if people treat us wrongly and say mean things about us, even when we have arguments, we still need to LOVE! Charity is the key word. If you have problems with someone then love them! If you feel like you can't love them then pray really hard and fast for Christ-like love. If we have love for others and choose to not be offended then we can change the world! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

PS Happy Easter!!! Remember the reason for the season. Though the Easter bunny comes to bring you gifts remember that the greatest gift was the gift of God's Only Begotten Son! John 3:16

"My son is single...Can you marry a Bolivian?"

Hello, Hello. 

It's been a great week here in good 'ol Bolivia. I hope you are all doing well! 

     So this week went by SUPER fast. I am still in Villa Moderna, Quillacollo with Hna Cicotte (cambios are soon so we will see if I stay or not). Anyway, we have had some fun stories:

1. We were walking through Barrio Esmerelda and all of our citas had fallen through. We saw a guy carrying a table on his head (normal). He almost fell over so we offered our assistance. We helped him carry the table to his house. He let us in and gave us some Tampico Citrus Flavored juice (imagine the taste and color of Sunny D). And everytime we would stop drinking for more than 15 seconds to talk he would say "Sirvense, sirvense" ("Drink it, drink it"). I was like "Is he trying to drug us or something?" But really he just wanted us to finish fast so we could help him bring all the chairs for the table too. He was a strange man though. These are some of the things he said to us in the course of our "service":

     "My son is single...can you marry a Bolivian?" (If anyone is interested I will hook you up-for those of you who like crazy father-in-laws).

     "Do they have chica(a very strong alcohol made from corn) in the US? What about chicherias (bars)?" 

     "I don't drink alcohol." (See statement above and judge the truthfulness of that).

     "You are beautiful...I like girls." (This he said as he shook our hands. Yup, we aren't going back to our return appointment). 

Anyway, we also went and visited a Menos Activo yesterday. His name is Beto Adriazola and his son is our convert, Ander. Beto just doesn't come to church!!! So we were joking around with him and told him that the flood (it rained a TON when we were there and flooded his new exercise room-luckily no permanent damage) happened because he didn't come to church yesterday. He also had to go check on his sauna when it was raining and we told him "Watch out for lightning, God knows how to aim." Haha, hopefully he will come to church next week. 

 

Okay, one more funny story. Today Hna Cicotte and I were walking down the street and we saw a Hindu clothing store. We stopped and were like "A Hindu clothing store? In Bolivia?" We decided to go in and check it out. There was actually a member of the church working there. She was really nice. But her boss was a strange man that only spoke Italian. So he was just talking to us and we would nod like we understood. It was cool. 

I put on a crazy outfit with a headband and made us pancakes this morning. Hna Cicotte called me the "Domesticated Lamanite" 

We are getting creative with our dinner ideas (we only have 30 minutes so we have to eat fast).

Anyway, Bianca was confirmed yesterday. It was such a HAPPY day! I love Bianca! She was at the chapel before we even got there (rare) and looked so beautiful and radiant. She was confirmed and just so happy! Man, I love bringing these people the gospel. Even if I had only baptized one person on my mission it would have been worth it because that person would have the Spirit and the gospel and a faithful, happy, forever family. I love my mission. I love representing Jesus Christ everyday! I love the chances I have to change and teach and be taught! This is the best! I love you all, have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Machetes y Mojadas

Hey!! 

 So guess what???? BIANCA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!

Por fin!!! Apparently she has been through about 5 sets of missionaries and she finally was baptized! Man, it was a miracle. (To explain the heading, mojada means "Wet". Haha, because Bianca was wet.) Anyway, to explain how this all went down, Friday night at 8:30 was the programmed day and time for her Entrevista (Interview). (To be baptized into the church, a person needs to have an interview with our District Leader-a missionary-to assure that they are ready for baptism). Anyway, her interview was planned for that day. The Elders knew about it, we knew about it. The only problem was that Bianca did not know. And she was not answering her phone. We were trying to contact her all day, leaving notes at her cuarto, asking her sister's to call her. It was 7 PM and we still had not gotten ahold of her. We were up in a part of our area called Takata Norte and we were waiting for a trufi. We were planning to take a trufi to Bianca's cuarto to search her out. Two trufis passed by but they were full. We were getting tired of waiting and a little frustrated. Bianca called right as a trufi pulled up. Apparently she wasn't in her cuarto! She was going to her sister's house! So we said "Lo siento", closed the door of the trufi and went to her sisters house. We showed up right when she did. She told us she had left her phone in her cuarto and had just seen our missed calls. (This was 7:30 PM). Then she told us she had started working Sundays so she wasn't going to be able to come to church. PROBLEM? I think so. So we went into her sister's house and taught a great lesson about Dia De Reposo (I think that translates Keep the Sabbath Day Holy in English) and promised her many blessings if she kept the Sabbath Day Holy and stopped working. We said she could tell her boss that she would work one more week while the boss found other people to come in. She said she would. We headed to the Entrevista at 8 PM and she passed. So on Sunday we fasted for her to be able to tell her boss that she could only work that Sunday (yesterday) and no more. BUT GUESS WHAT? She came to church!!!! She walked in and we were so happy! It was AMAZING! She told her boss that she couldn't work Sundays and she came to church! AHH! Then she was baptized and so many people from the ward came! Man, it was amazing! She was nervous but she came out of the water so happy! It was a great day!

     Now to explain the other part of the subtitle: Machete. I chopped down a tree with a machete.

Yup. My first time chopping a tree down with a machete. For future reference, an axe would have been way easier. I think me and an Elder chopped at that tree with our machetes for 2 hours. But if anyone wants to get me a present when I come home next year I would be fine with a machete. They are very useful. The Cholitas here carry them around all the time. 

    Anyway, it was a great week! I love you all! 

Love, 

Hermana Eaves

Mormones estaban aqui

Hola a todos! 

This week was a LOOOONG week. I think it is because we worked hard. It seems like forever since I last wrote. 

     Primero to explain the subject title. Hna Cicotte and I were in a trufi and the window was fogging up because it had been raining and was a little cold outside. We wrote "Mormones estaban aqui" in the window (Mormons were here). We felt clever. We should have written our phone number on the window too and gotten some new investigators. Haha, just kidding. 

     Just a little Spanish mistake. We were in a Zone Meeting and my companion accidentally read 2 Nefi 9:28 ("O that cunning plan of the evil one!  O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men!......) instead of 2 Nefi 9:18. ("But behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world...their joy shall be full forever") When she started we were all like, "What??" Look it up, it's pretty funny. 

My zone after paintball. It was a great way to release anger at the other missionaries in our zone. Haha! Just kidding! We played PAINTBALL for P-Day. It was soo much fun! I had never played before and I have some pretty gnarly bruises. But it was so much fun!! I loved it. It would be really cool to be a paint-balling pro one day. Haha, only kidding. But I do hope to play again when I am here. 

We did some service and I climbed up in a Pakai tree. Hna Cicotte was scared I was going to fall.

Eating my giant Pakai that I found in the tree!

Chopping weeds....Bolivian style!

     Something awkward from this week. Hna Cicotte and I were walking down the street one day, just normally, and I look over and see a young couple just kissing in a doorstep. The boy was a MENOS ACTIVO in our ward. I was like, hey, I know him. And so we waved and said hi. The poor young man. So the moral of this story is for all the young men out there: DON'T KISS GIRLS. The awkward sister missionaries might walk by...Also, if you are kissing girls you had better be ACTIVE. Haha.

     Anyway, it has been raining most of this week. When it rains here, the drains become full and then they start to overflow so the rain water on the ground is also mixed with sewer water. One of our investigators told us that her and two other mom's lifted 40 kids from the school over the dirty water so that the kids wouldn't have wet shoes all day when they were in school. I thought that was a really cool story. Just one of the little acts of kindness that people don't really know about. 

     Okay, here is a SUPER CHEVRE story. We went to teach Bianca, who is an investigator that we have been teaching for a long time. Her two sisters are baptized but she isn't yet. So we went to teach her and try to find what was holding her back from being baptized (she has all the lessons). I said, "We know you want to wait a little to be baptized." And she said, "Actually, I have been thinking and I want to get baptized this week." WHAT?? We just sat there in shock and then were so excited. So she is going to be baptized this Sunday. We are SOOO excited for her!! 

     Man, it has been a long week but also a great week. We are really excited for Bianca! I love you guys and hope you are all anxiously engaged in good causes. We can't do everything but we can do lots to help the world be a little better! Keep smiling!

Love, 

Hermana Eaves               

A great view of Bolivia!

Another week has come and gone...

Wow....in four days I will cumplir (don't know if there is a word for that in English...wait, yeah, I will COMPLETE) 6 MONTHS in the MISSION! How crazy is that?? Time is passing so fast and I know that it will only start passing faster!  These shoes have walked a lot of miles...... (Yes, we have the same shoes, ha!)

     So this week, a guy rode past us on a bike and shouted (as he rode by) "Hello babies! I love you! God bless you!" Now that's what I call a drive by...haha! 

     Also, we were on a trufi (definition: a big van with no seatbelts that stops when you stick out your hand to let you get on and stand in between 3 Cholitas as it careens down the road #noseatbelts) and we heard something metal fall off the outside of the trufi and clatter to the road. The driver stopped to go and grab this chunk of his trufi that had come off and we continued down the road...haha! #onyinBolivia

      Another trufi went over the median on the highway because he wanted to turn but there wasn't a road there. So he just decided that the median looked like a good place to turn. Haha. 

In case you are wondering what missionary work in Bolivia looks like... (I'm pretty sure that Cholita said she lived around here somewhere #noaddresses)

We went to do service and we both forgot our nametags, haha! We felt so weird without them. 

   Anyway, this week was CRAZY because it was elections in Bolivia and they were a BIG deal. There was some riots in La Paz where they burned stuff so our President told us that if we didn't have FIXED/SURE sitas on Friday or Saturday then we had to be at home. Friday we were at home for an hour and Saturday ALL of our sitas fell through so we were in casa a LOT. We also weren't allowed to contact people on the streets or knock doors. So that was crazy. Sunday was the day where everyone had to vote and President had us stay at home ALL DAY. We couldn't leave at all. So we slept,read scriptures, read the Liahona, got a little desperate and watched the District. By the end of the day we just felt tired and bored from being inside all day long. It was crazy. And we still don't even know the results of the election! 

     I saw something this week that made me very happy. We were riding in a trufi (wow, lots of trufi stories this week, lucky you guys) and I see this man ahead of the trufi on a bicycle (people just ride their bikes through the road here). He looked like he was picking something up off the road. We passed him and when I looked back I saw him place two little (alive) baby chicks in some bushes. He had saved them from being run over!!! Then he just continued on riding his bike. How nice though. Couldn't we all do a few more kind deeds throughout our days? There is someone out there that you will encounter during your day that needs a kind word or a smile or an act of service. It doesn't have to be big, it can be 30 seconds or less. But let us all be a little kinder this week. Just like it made me really happy to see a random Bolivian man pick up some chicks (haha) off the road, other people will be happy when we serve them or when they see us serving others. So do an act of service this week! It will be great! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Eaves