Hola! Finally I can email! I've been in Bolivia for a
week now! On Monday night at 7:00-ish we left the Bogota MTC and had a long night of
traveling through till the next day; we arrived safe and sound except for our
luggage...
There are three of us girls together; me, Hermana J. and Hermana B,
and I`m so glad I had them to travel with. From Tuesday night until
Thursday we were staying at a hotel. On Wednesday we went around going
from place to place getting all the immigration stuff done and signing papers,
showing our passports, and that kind of a thing. Then on Thursday we
gathered with all the missionaries at the mission office. There we
finally got our luggage, which we had been waiting three days for! and we got
our companions, and then left to our areas. My companion is a North
American. Her name is Hermana M. from Bountiful Utah. She`s really
great, and her Spanish is really good. She`s a really hard worker, and a
really good missionary. I feel so overwhelmed to learn everything.
Not going to lie, these past few days have been really, really hard. It’s
a new place, new culture, new food, new language, new people, new lifestyle,
new everything. And there is so much to learn, about the investigators
and the members and the lessons and of course the language. So it’s been
a lot to take on at once.
Here`s a little about Bolivia. It’s definitely the
poorest country in South America. The living conditions are so... I can`t
even describe it. Our area it’s really dirty. Everywhere there`s
sand or dirt roads. And it is SO HOT! I`m a hot mess all the time,
ha-ha. We also walk so much. So much. And there are lots of
bugs, but so far we haven’t found many in our house. I have about 20
mosquito bites so far though. We`re living with a member, but we have a
separate living space. We`re in this room that has two beds, two
dressers, two desks, a little tiny kitchen and a small bathroom, and that’s
it. but it’s actually really nice. The family that we live with is
really nice. Last night when we got home they invited us in and we were
singing Christmas songs with them. Also, the lady that makes our lunch
for us every day is super nice - Hermana J. So far the food has been
pretty good. But we have no food at our apartment. We`ve literally
been eating saltine crackers for dinner. There`s a lot of rice and
bread. And really good fruit! We were given some mangoes from
an investigator`s mango tree.
So right now we are teaching two investigators, and a lot of
less active families. I want to tell you all about them, but I don`t have
time. All I can say that it’s been amazing to actually be teaching and
testifying to real people. One of the investigadoras, Hermana J. lives
out in this jungley area, and she wants to get baptized, and as soon as she
gets married to her boyfriend, who is a member, then we can get her baptized,
so I`m really excited for her. And the other people we`ve been teaching
are all so great.
So for Christmas, at first we didn`t have anything to
decorate with, but then an investigator gave us some Christmas lights and bows,
and then another gave us a little Charlie Brown like Christmas tree, so that
was so nice. And the Hermana J. gave us some Christmas cookies too.
The members are the best! Yesterday there was this stake activity with
lots of music, and all the missionaries sang “O Noche Santa”. Then this
morning all of the Hermanas went to the president`s house and we had a
breakfast with Hermana Zambrano and we had a gift exchange. I`m saving my
gift and the package to open on Christmas.
Anyway, so it’s been crazy busy, every day filled with
lessons or contacting or visiting and planning and praying and reading, and all
these things. there is just so much to do. Today we can finally go
shopping for food and do our laundry and everything. Thank goodness for
P-days!
Also, if you guys want, you can send me a letter through dearelder.com, and then they will print those
out so I can have more time to read them.
Anyway, Love you all. Feliz Navidad!
Here are some my most recent pictures since I arrived in Bolivia:
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| The four us that just arrived in Bolivia |
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| On top of the Hotel building with the city on the background. |
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| With one my Latino Sister missionaries |
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| Nice tropical vegetation |
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| Ready to go out to work. |
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NOTE: In order to protect their privacy the names of my companions, members and investigators will be omitted and their name tags obfuscated.
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© Jennifer Tijerino and Mission Adventures in Bolivia - 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material and posted photographs without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jennifer Tijerino and Mission Adventures in Bolivia with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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