Wally and a trio...

Hola Family and Friends,

Our Zone getting together for a game of Wally.

Another take of the zone,

So this week there were super super cambios.  Last Monday the other hermanas in our area Belen, got a call from the zone leaders telling them there were cambios de emergencia, and they BOTH would be leaving.  That came as a shock to all of us.  So, they packed up their things that morning all ready to leave to other areas.  Now this means that Hermana L and I would be getting all of their area in addition to ours! But just wait; there is more that happens later.  We all went to our zone activity to play Wally, which is indoor volleyball kind of like racquetball where you can use the walls.  We played for hours with all the elders and hermanas in our zone, and it was so much fun! I want to see if they have that at home, because it was soooo fun.  Anyway, after the activity and after lunch we went back to the house to help hermanas J and C finish packing and get ready to leave.  Just before the elders were going to come pick them up, the President called Hermana C, and told her that there´s been some more changes, and she would be staying with Hermana L and I.  Now that is how I came to be in a trio.  And let me tell you, it is really really hard.  One thing that’s been really good is our lessons.  We´ve had some really really good lessons this week.  Especially one we had with our investigadora named Paola.  She´s 16 and her step family are members that are coming back to church.  We had a lesson with her and her step sister Thursday night, and we invited her to pray to ask if the Book of Mormon is true, and in that moment when she said her prayer, she was filled with tears, and expressed one of the most sincere beautiful prayers I´ve heard.  After that we helped her to recognize that she received an answer from the spirit, and she said she knows the Book of Mormon is true (because before she had a lot of doubts about it). We invited her to be baptized, and she accepted.  We all bore our testimonies, and it was such a spiritual experience for all of us. What made it even sweeter was that their power had gone out, so we were giving this lesson under candlelight outside.  So amazing.  

Also yesterday we did a fast with an investigadora whose mom is really sick and having a hard time. It was really amazing to fast for such a specific purpose, and for a person that’s really special.  Also yesterday we taught a new family that we recently found, and had an amazing lesson with them.  So things are going really well as far as our investigadores and lessons and things, but it’s been really hard to have two Latinas as companions.  Hermana Land I were getting along really well and becoming good friends, but now that this other Hermana joined us, she just completely took over.  She is one of those people with a really strong personality.  I´ve had been feeling a lot like a third wheel lately, so that’s kind of hard.  This is my trial for this week.  But I think the Lord is giving me this opportunity to develop my patience and love.  So even though it’s hard, I am grateful for my trials.  Thanks for all your prayers; I will need them this week!

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 - 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.

Updates from Equipetrol

June 9, 2014

Hola hola!

So I have lots to tell about this week! On Monday we had a super actividad con 4 zonas.  We had a huge group of missionaries and we all went to this big beautiful park to play sports.  There were games of soccer, basketball, volleyball, and ultimate Frisbee.  I played volleyball most of the time, and ultimate Frisbee.  It was super fun to be with all these missionaries, and to just be having fun together.

Then Tuesday and Wednesday were my last days there in Jardin, which we spent teaching investigators, spending time with members, and making cake!  Then we got the call Wednesday night that I would be leaving the next day to the area Belen, in la estaca Equipetrol.  So I was up late packing, and the next day my zone leaders took me to my new area.  I met my new companion Hermana Lopez.  She is from Guatemala; she is 21 years old, and so short.  Ha-ha, I´ve always been with a short companion, and she told me she´s always been with a tall companion, ha-ha.  Anyway, she really nice and funny, and I think we will get along well.

I arrived at the house and to the joyful surprise that we live with two other Hermanas, one of them being Hermana Judd! My companion from the CCM, and one of my best friends I´ve met here on the mission, So that made me really happy. Anyway, so that day we didn’t have any appointments, so after lunch we made brownies with our pensionista and with the other Hermanas. 

On Friday it was a super good day.  Practically all of the people we wanted to visit were home, and we were able to have a lot of really good lessons.  I feel like my companion and I teach really well together.  Also I feel like I have so much more confidence in my Spanish, and in my teaching. 

Anyway, I feel super blessed to have come here at this time, because we had a baptism this Saturday.  It was a young boy whose parents were less active but are now coming back to church.  It was really nice, and there were a lot of people.  Also all of the baptisms I had in my other ward we did absolutely everything to get the baptism ready, from filling up the agua to cleaning the chapel to arranging the refreshment and everything-  but here the ward took care of everything, and all we had to do was show up.  It was so nice.  Also, not only did we just have a baptism, but we have two more for this Saturday.  Also, two jovenes whose mom is a member but less active that is coming back to church.  So I´m really excited for them.  Please pray for them, Alejandra y Jorge, and their mom is Lidia.  Thank you. 

Yesterday it was a bit overwhelming to come to a new ward, especially because it is so much bigger than my other ward, but it seems really great. 

Anyway, I feel really good about being in this area.  I will miss Jardin so much, because it really became my home, and there are so many people I love there, but I will never forget them, nor all the experiences I had and all the things I learned.  I really feel so grateful for all the adventures I´ve had here on the mission so far, and I´m excited for my upcoming adventures.

Love you all,

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Tijerino

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June 16, 2014

Hola,

This week was really good.  My companion and I worked really hard and had a ton of lessons and a lot of great experiences, and best of all we had the baptism of Alejandra (18) y Jorge (15).  They are both so amazing.  Their family has been through a lot.  The mom, a member, married a non-member, and he never let them go to church and wouldn’t let the kids get baptized.  About 2 months ago the parents separated, which of course was really hard, but also meant that now the kids were able to get baptized.  After their baptism, the mom bore her testimony about how she´s been waiting for such a long time for this day, and I felt so blessed to be able to be a part of it. 

I am still struggling to get to know this area and all the people because it is at least twice, if not three times the size of my last area.  But I really love it and all the people here and my companion.  We laugh a lot and we also feel the spirit in every lesson.  So generally it’s been going well.  Thank you for all your prayers.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Tijerino

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June 23, 2014

Hola! Hola,

This week was another pretty good week.  My companion and I get along really well.  She likes a lot of American music and movies, so we have a lot to talk about.  She also likes practicing her English with me, so that’s nice too.  My other companion never wanted to talk in English.  (It’s a rule that the Latinos have to learn English).  So anyway, we are becoming good friends, and we laugh a lot.  She thinks I’m hilarious.  We also teach really well together.  We have a lot of investigators, and recent converts that we´re teaching.

I´m getting to know this area and bit more and more every day.  This area is actually a bit warmer than my other area, so it’s not been too cold. But now is the big news.  This morning the other hermanas here in Belen, got a call that they have cambios de emergencia (emergency transfers) and they are both leaving.  And we are now going to get their area.  So in one day our area just doubled in size, and just when I was getting to know my area which already so big, it is now HUGE! So this week is getting been rough and we´re going to have to work super hard to get to know all the people in their area too.  I will need your prayers this week! Also my comp has been in this area for over 6 months, so for sure after this cambio she´ll be transferred, and I’ll have to train my new companion and we´ll be the only hermanas here, so that will be hard.  I guess I still have 3 weeks to get to know EVERYTHING.  Ha-ha-ha, well wish me luck! Yesterday there was a leadership training meeting that we went to in the stake and it made me realize how we are all so important in this work, and that this work is bigger than we could imagine. 

Anyway, besides that I feel really happy.  I´m excited every day to go out and work, and my Spanish has improved so much, and I generally feel a lot more confident and happy.  There are still challenges, but I feel so grateful and blessed to be here. The members in this ward are so amazing and do so much to help us.  They bring investigadores to church and give us references, and have noches de hogares with us, and are really super great. 

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 - 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.

May 5 to June 2 Updates

 I have not updated Jennifer's blog for the past four weeks and these posting are the posting from her letters from those four week. I hope you enjoy reading this blog and please when you get a chance write Jennifer a note, she would love to hear from you all.

Thanks,

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June 2, 2014

Hola,

So this week was pretty fun, full of lots of activities.  Monday the hermanas of the mission planned a surprise activity for Hermana Zambrano, because here "El dia de la Madres" is the 27^th of May, so we put together a really nice activity for her on Monday.  Then on Tuesday my companion and I wrote notes for all the moms in the ward that we visited our less active and investigator moms too, and we bought chocolate from Hermana Yulissa to deliver to all of them.  Then we also made a cake for Hermana Miriam, ‘cuz we are always at her house and she always feeds us and gives us things, and is like a second mom to us.  

Then on Wednesday we had a multi-zone conference with the President, and it was really good and I learned a lot of things, especially about the atonement of Christ. Then on Thursday we had an activity with the relief society to make cinnamon rolls, so Hermana Nelson taught everyone to make them, and they turned out super, super delicious.  Then on Friday all the missionaries in the stake put on a noche de talentos, so we presented some skits and songs and other talents, and it was fun and turned out really well.  

So those were the activities of the week, and today we have a big activity with another zone, so hopefully that should be fun too.  I honestly love all the people here, all the members and our converts and the less actives and investigators we are teaching, but since I have been in this area my whole mission, I am feeling ready for a change.  This week are cambios (transfers) so I guess I´ll see if I get transferred to a new area.  

Also, the weather here is crazy.  It starting to get warmer again, but then a random rainstorm came on Saturday, so it is starting to get colder and now it’s just kind of in between.  They say that it will start getting colder though. It’s so weird to think that its June now!  I will be completing 7 months this week.  Crazy! Love you all

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Tijerino

With the Latino sisters

With the American Sisters

Real Bolivian BBQ with M.

Zone meeting

Sisters at Zone Meeting

Sister J. and her girls.

In my room during a very cold day.

M. Baptism

M. Baptism.

Celebrating Mother's Day with Sister Z.

Investigator family.

M. Baptism.

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May 26, 2014

HOLA!

Ok so lots happened this week.  First I have to start out with my adventure last Monday.  We decided to do intercambios with the other Hermanas, so Hermana Nelson and I went to the Centro y La Plaza to go shopping, so we went and ate empanadas and went shopping and bought a bunch of cute souvenirs and got ice cream and it was super fun and nice to be able to talk in English for a change.  Anyway so when it was time to leave, we got in the bus and went on our way.  But what we didn’t know was that we took the bus going in the wrong direction! So after about half an hour we looked out the window and had no idea where we were, so we got off and got a taxi and told him where we needed to go, and we said we were lejisimo! We were like 45 minutes away from home, and we needed to be home in 15 minutes… so we called our companions and told them we got lost, but we were on our way home.  The taxi driver was really nice and told us places we were passing by, including the airport… ha-ha we were so far away! Anyway we made it home safe and sound though, just a little late.  Man we had some good laughs though.  

Then Tuesday was a really good day and we some really good lessons, and felt the spirit a lot.  But that night I got really sick, so Wednesday morning we had to go to the hospital again.  We were there for a while, but we walked over to the offices to wait for my results, and the Elders gave me a blessing, which was really nice.  Then we went back and finally saw the doctor and said that I have another stomach infection.  So awesome.  I got some more antibiotics and that was it.  So then we went home and I was able to sleep for a while, cuz I hadn’t been able to sleep the night before.  Last time I was sick I felt really alone, and so this time I prayed that I wouldn’t feel so alone, and on Thursday Hermana Zambrano called to see how I was doing and told me that the president had been praying for me and expressed how much they cared about me, and in that moment I knew that I was not alone.  She called a little later again to invite me to have lunch with her, so she took my companion and I to a little restaurant and we had a good time with her.  She is seriously such a loving and sincere person, and like a mom to all of us missionaries.  Anyway, then that night the frio came.  It dropped so many degrees and since then it’s been super, super cold.  We´ve had to sleep with all the layers we have.  The difference between the cold here and the cold at home is that it’s basically the same amount of cold, but here its humid and really rainy and windy, so the cold enters into your body.  And there is no such thing as heaters or indoor heating, so even in the house its cold.  So anyway, it’s kind of exciting in a way to be all bundled up in coats and scarves and mittens and everything.  And I was playing Christmas songs at our pensionista´s house, and for just a moment it felt like Christmas.  

Anyway, then this Saturday M. was baptized, and everything turned out really well.  I just felt so bad because the water was probably FREEZING.  Anyway, she is just such an amazing example to me, because none of her family lives here, so she literally came by herself in a taxi to her own baptism, with no one else there to support her, except us of course, and all the members, especially the young women.  But it is also such a blessing to have the support of the bishop and the leaders of the young women, and all of the ward really that welcomed her so openly and lovingly, and made sure that she knew that they are all her family.  That is one thing that I love about this church, is that we are all family.   I feel so blessed to be a part of that, and to have been a part of sharing the gospel with M. and bringing her unto the Lord.  

One thing I was reading in the scriptures in Alma 26 is something I was able to apply to my life here on the mission.  Despite all the afflictions that the missionaries faced, there joy was full to be able to bring souls unto Christ.  And I was thinking about how sick I had been this week, and the times before, and even though it was awful, it was all worth it even just to see M. being baptized, to be able to bring a soul back to Heavenly Father.  It is all worth it. 

 Love, Hermana Tijerino

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May 19, 2014

Hola, 

This week has been pretty good.  We've been focused on getting M. ready for her baptism which initially we were going to have this Saturday.  She just turned 16 last weekend, and we just finished teaching her all the lessons, but it’s been a little difficult because she hasn’t had much schooling, so she learns very slowly.  But she has a lot of desire to follow Jesus Christ and get baptized.  So please pray that everything can go well for her baptism this week.  

Also, this week we had an activity with the Relief society, and we made chocolate cake balls that turned out super yummy. 

Yesterday at church Hna. Yulissa gave a lesson in relief society about how the greatest gift we can give to our children is our testimony and knowledge of the Gospel.  It made me reflect on how much I've learned from my parents from their faithful examples of always having prayer and reading the scriptures a big part of the home, and their unfailing efforts to always go to church.  I also remember seeing my mom on her knees every night, and reading her scriptures before going to bed.  Her example means a lot to me now, and more than anything on the mission I have learned the importance of doing the small things, the primary answers we like to say, of praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church.  I know the kind of family I want to have, which is a family centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday we found this less active guy that is starting to go back to church, but in a different ward (because he should be going to our ward) and he let us in and we talked for a while and he shared some experiences he had on his mission.  And he told us that the mission we'll never forget not because it was fun or easy, but because it’s hard.  And the hard times we will remember because those are the experiences that we learn from, and that is definitely true.  And other things he said was really insightful, and made me realize reflect on other things.

I know this gospel is true, but I know that it isn’t always easy to live it, but with God, all is possible.

Love, Hermana Tijerino

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May 12, 2014

Hola,

This week I was pretty sick and I went to the hospital and they found out that I have an intestinal infection and they gave me antibiotics since I just finished taking them and I’m feeling a lot better now.  Because of this we couldn´t work a lot this week and that was a little hard to be stuck at home.  However, yesterday I felt a lot better, and we had 6 investigators come to church, so that was super good.  Then of course as it was mother’s day yesterday I got to talk to my family, so that was really good as well.  

This week I learned about trials.  Going through this sickness was really hard for me because I was having a lot of stomach pain, and I felt just so sick, and really so alone.  But our pensionista and my companion took really good care of me, and I got a blessing from some hermanos in the ward, and a lot of people were asking about me seeing how I was doing and I knew they all really cared about me.  I knew that through it all, Heavenly Father was always there looking out for me and that he was listening to my prayers, and he never leaves us alone.

As far as our investigadores, we´re working a lot with la Hermana M. for her baptism and with the Familia Y., they all came to church yesterday and are progressing a lot, but they just have to get married before they can get baptized.

Anyway I don’t have too much else to report from this week.

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 - 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.