Carnival time

Hola,

This weekend is going to be Carnaval, which is this huge celebration that lasts 3 days. We are not allowed to leave the house for 4 days starting Saturday since it’s dangerous because people throw water balloons full of water or paint, and everyone gets drunk, and it’s basically just a huge party, and we can’t leave our place under any circumstances.  Not even Sunday for church or Monday for p-day.  So next week I will not be able to write.

But anyway this past week was pretty good.  Last Monday was Hermana C´s birthday, so we got permission to go into the city, and there we got gelato and went shopping, and it was super fun.  Things with my companion have been really good.  The first week was a little rough, but I prayed and prayed to be able to be patient and to love her, and after that it became easier and easier and now I just love her! She´s 27, but she is really petite so she doesn’t seem like it, we get along and things are going well now.

This past weekend our pensionista had to have surgery, so we´ve been helping her out a lot.  I absolutely just love her, and sometimes I wish we lived with their family, because they are just so great. 

I also just love Hermana Juana and her family.  We still continue to visit them, and now that they are married and Juana is baptized, I can see how much joy there is in their family, and that makes me so happy.

It’s been a little hard this week because we´ve had to drop some investigadores, but we´ve found new ones too, so that is good.

Anyway, other things have happened this week that make me realize that heaven father answers prayers, and that he has put people in our path for a reason, and nothing is coincidental.

I love this work, and this gospel.

Until two weeks from now, 

Love Hermana Tijerino

With her companion and the Mission President's wife.

With her companion in their apartment.

With the Mission President, her companion and two other sister missionaries.

At a zone conference with her companion and another sister missionary.

At the same zone conference with some of the Latino sister missionaries and the Mission President' wife.

With sister J's little girls

Their first baptism.

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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 - 2014. 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.

Happy valentine's from Bolivia to all.

February 17, 2014

Hola!

This week was so amazing.  At the start of the week I was a little depressed for some reason.  But after the events that happened, everything changed.  First, on Wednesday, Hermana Juana was married! We went and helped her get ready, and then we went to the registro civil (I don’t know what that is in English) and we were able to see her get married.  And then afterward we went back to her house for a dinner with her family and friends in the ward.  It was a lot of fun, and it was so nice to see her so happy.  It’s crazy to think that this wedding has been in the works for a long time, at least since I got here in December, and finally she got married this week.  And the whole ceremony only lasted 7 minutes.  So much waiting and preparing for just 7 minutes! Anyway, it was so good, because finally on Saturday, she was able to get baptized.  That was a really beautiful experience too.  At the beginning of the day I was really stressed to make sure we had everything ready, the clothes, the talks, the music, the whole program, and to make sure the font was clean and filled and everything.  Everything turned out fine and the program went really well.  Juana was baptized, and like proud parents my companion and I watched from the side as she was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  

Afterward we asked how she felt and she said it was this indescribable feeling, and she felt relieved of all her sins, and totally pure and clean.  She bore her testimony afterward, and shared how she first came to know the missionaries.  She had moved in with her boyfriend, and he was at work, and she was at home alone and just felt so completely alone.  She cried and prayed for help and comfort.  And then the missionaries came knocking.  They taught her the first discussion, and she knew that Heavenly Father had answered her prayers and sent her these angels.   From then on she took the missionary discussions from many different missionaries, and shared how much the gospel has blessed her life.  I feel so blessed and lucky to be the one with her to see her get baptized.  It was really a beautiful experience.  Also to see the priesthood put their hands on her head and bestow her with the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  She and her husband have the goal to go the temple in a year, and want to serve a couples mission when their kids are grown up.  They are such an amazing family.

We also have this other investigator named M.  She is 15 and is such a sweetheart and has the strong desire to get baptized.  We just have to get permission from her parents, which is a little difficult because they don’t live here, but she´s going to hopefully get the permission from her uncle here.  I really hope so, because she is also just so amazing. I don’t know her very well, but I already just love her so much.

I know that this gospel is true with all my heart and I know that the gospel blesses families and allows us to be with our families forever.  And I´m so grateful to be here to share this message with others. 

Thank you all for your love and support

Con amor, 

Hermana Tijerino

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February 10, 2014

Hola!

This week was pretty good, although it had its up and downs.  I don’t know why it is literally so hard for this wedding to take place! Everything was all ready for Hermana Juana to get married on Friday and baptized on Saturday, but something happened with the abogado (lawyer) and she couldn’t get married on Friday. She called Thursday night to tell us it’s going to be this Wednesday instead, and she´ll get baptized this Saturday.  I was really disappointed, but I’m going to pray really hard for everything to be able to go through this week. She is so great and I just love her and her family so much.  When we were at her house this week, we washed her clothes, and I got into a soap fight with her two little girls, and it was so fun. 

Also, my new companion arrived last Monday.  Her name is Hermana M., and she is from Peru, not Bolivia like I thought.  She has like 10 months in her mission.  She´s really nice and sweet, but it’s a little hard because I’ve been taught to do things a certain way, and she does things differently, so it’s hard sometimes (to agree with her) estar de acuerdo con ella, but we´re getting there.  I´ve been surprised how much I am able to speak Spanish.  I’ve had to take on a lot of responsibility showing her around and introducing her to people, and somehow I’ve been able to do it.  I think the gift of tongues is really coming.  And I think I can do a lot more than I think I can. 

Anyway, since this week is Valentine’s day, I just want to express my love that I have for this gospel.  I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for the plan he has for me and for the opportunity I have to be here sharing the gospel with these amazing people.  I have learned so much how the gospel is centered around families, and I am so grateful for my family and for the blessings I have received from being raised in the gospel.  I love the people here, and I want these blessings of the gospel for them.  Sometimes it is really hard, because people don’t follow through with their commitments, but when we do the things the Lord asks, he blesses us.  The things that are the most simple sometimes are the hardest, but the most rewarding. Seguir adelante!  I love you all, my family, friends, and leaders, and thank you for your examples. 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Tijerino

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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 - 2014. 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.

Well I have completed my first transfer!

February 03, 2014

Hola,

Yes, I have completed my first transfer! 

This week was cambios, or transfers, and we were anxiously awaiting the call on Wednesday night, both hoping that neither of us would change, but my companion Hermana M. was informed that was leaving.  Yesterday morning she left for Cobija and since then I have been with the other Hermanas in our area, and my new companion is going to arrive this afternoon.  She`s from Bolivia and she`s been out on her mission for a while, not sure for how long, but she is waiting for her visa to go to somewhere else. 

Anyway, so things have been pretty good.  I’m just stressing out a little because now I have all these responsibilities of showing my companion the area that I am still getting to know, and I have to be able to introduce her to all the investigators and everyone, and it’s a lot of do, especially in another language!  But I know that God answers prayers. I was praying to have a little more time with Hermana M., because I didn’t feel like I was ready for her to leave.  And she was supposed to leave Thursday, but then her flight got changed to Sunday morning, so we got a few more days for her to teach me everything I need to know.  I am so grateful for that.  And in other ways Heavenly Father has answered my prayers and I know he is aware of me and looking out for me.  I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity I have to share it.  And the baptism for Hermana Juana got changed to this week, so this Saturday we will have her baptism combined with the other hermanas because they have a baptism as well.  So that will be exciting!  

Also this past week we made empanadas with a family, and it was really fun.  And yesterday I stayed the night was the other hermanas, so it was like a little sleepover, and it was fun, these girls are so sweet.  Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and prayers.  

Love, Hermana Tijerino

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January 27, 2014

Hola hola!

This week has been really good and I´ve had many adventures!

First, on Tuesday we moved rooms.  We´re living with members, but in a separate house, and they`ve been working on finishing the upstairs, so we moved up there, and they are going to make some renovation to the room we were in and the other hermanas are going to live there.  Anyway, the elders in our zone came and helped us move all our furniture and stuff, and it was raining really hard and this made it into quite an adventure.  

Then, other things that happened this week.  We`ve been working a lot with Hermana Juana, because she is going to get married this Friday and baptized this Saturday.  So excited!  She was the first person I taught.  

This week we made Cuñapé (I think thats how its spelled) with the Familia V. (recent converts) and we made frito, or sopapilla with the familia of Hermana Juana.  I love her family.  They have three little girls and are so cute. They live out in a junglely area, and live life so simply.  They don’t have cell phones or really any kind of electronics.  They don’t have a lot, but they have their family and the gospel, and that is all they need to be happy.

Anyway, also for the first time I had to wear my coat! Two nights ago I also had to sleep with two blankets cuz it was so cold! Quite a change from how hot it’s been. 

This week also another less active family came to church and it made me so happy!

I love the people and I love serving them and it brings me so much joy! My companion and I have had a lot of laughs this week and I’ve been really happy.

Love you all,

Hermana Tijerino

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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.