And the miracles just don't stop coming

The cake her companions made her for her Sweet 16 (months)

I can honestly say that Friday was the best day I have had here in Bolivia and that Presidente Rodriguez is the best. I`ll tell you why later.

We were doing a little daily contact with Jorge Z. and his 6 year old daughter because he wanted to tell us about what he read in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. He said, ¨So I was reading in my Bible and there`s a part that talks about Christ`s other sheep.¨ We flipped open to John 10:16 and he said, ¨So that refers to us right? And that`s why we have the Book of Mormon. I think that Christ really loved these people and so that`s why after His resurrection He came here and established His church.¨ By this point, Hna Cayambe and I were just speechless. We gave him the Book of Mormon 2 weeks ago and he understands it better than I did when I came on the mission. We are literally just the instruments in God`s hands in these people`s lives. This is why I LOVE being a missionary. I have seen the conversions of so many loved ones. And can`t wait to see more.

We had a lesson with Teresa A. who had completely shut herself out of the gospel for the comment on her son of color. (being on the other side now and being one of the few whites I get many comments, but I love the skin I`m in.) But we were able to have a powerful lesson on the temple and that she needs to make some plans and goals to get there. We`re being the tools so the Spirit can creep into her heart, little by little.

We had a wonderful conference with Presidente on the Holy Ghost. One thing I LOVED was when he said that when we receive a prompting and we`re not sure if it`s from the Holy Ghost or we made it up, if it`s good - DO IT. We`ll receive the blessings just by being our own agents and acting and not being acted upon. Then one sweet Hermana shared an experience about trusting in the Lord and waiting for the family they went to bring to church and waiting and waiting and they finally left. She said, ¨and this family is getting baptized this weekend.¨ My heart sank and I mouthed across the room ¨WHO??¨ Because these are the Trompillo hermanas. My wonderful area where I was from January to July. Long story short, Hermana Alvarez and I got permission to go to a double baptism and see our 7 investigators enter into a convenant with God. We crashed a baptism in Trompillo Friday night of The Familia D.: Eduardo finally stopped drinking, and him and Betty got married, and their other 2 children Leo and Diana all got baptized. If that didnt make us cry enough, the family that made me cry the most when I got transfers got baptized too. Maria Lenny and her daughter Laura and son Pablo. We got there early and when they all showed up everyone was crying. Happy tears. We worked hard. Gave our all. The hermanas that are there now too.  And the Lord is incredible and converted them. Some plant the seed and others harvest it. But we can all enjoy the fruits of the harvest.

The Church is incredibly true. I love that this black nametag gives me a front row seat to the conversion of these precious children of God. My brothers and sisters. And oh do I love them. Go watch conference with questions and I promise the Lord will answer them, like He answered mine Saturday night in the women`s session. Especially when the cute Utah girl choir didnt know that they were singing the favorite hymn, How Firm a Foundation, of a missionary in Bolivia. I`ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Hermana Park

This week will be different

August 6th is the Bolivia Independence day and skirts, a flag, and wind don`t mix!

Bolivian Sunset

Today we are going to play volleyball and eat pizza with the Elders! Sounds out of the ordinary? Because it is! President Willard cut off pretty much all contact between Elders and Hermanas a couple of years ago, but our new mission president, President Rodriguez said that he has made a higher law. The law of Moses was strict! Then Christ came and the old rules were erased. The only guidelines we have now is the fancy little white booklet we have (missionary handbook.) The mission is changing so much. Besides the fact that soon we`ll have our training on HOW TO WEAR PANTS, HATS, AND SUNGLASSES. That will be a great transition! But I`m not complaining because the mosquitoes here think my blood is an all you can eat breakfast buffet sometimes.

One of the old rules was also no English classes! So this Thursday will be my very first English class, and I'm actually pretty nervous! But there are so many people who are dying to learn and how selfish could I be to keep that from them!

Ana Maria is getting baptized this Saturday! She is just the cutest and we really love her so much. She started reading the Book of Mormon and is in 1 Nephi 21 and says that she has to reread it all because she`s forgetful! haha Her kids are completely against it and say, ¨Mom. Grandpa and grandma were Catholic and they`re watching you from heaven and will be mad when you switch religions.¨  Quite on the contrary, I think her parents will shout for joy because they`re waiting for her to do their work in the temple.

We have been finding so many new people to teach, but we need some FAMILIES. So we`re going to get better at finding families! One of the women we taught, Yirene, told us the 2nd lesson that she had a dream that I was an angel and inviting her to pray. That`s a great dream because she doesn`t want to pray in front of us.

I just really love it here and am SO HAPPY to be serving the Lord. I have never been happier, even when it is 3 pm, really hot and windy, and I'm coated in dirt. :) Life is beautiful and the church is true.

View on Flipagram

The Book of Mormon

Maria L. and her daughter Laura (14) and her 2 sons Pablo (9) and Matías (5) after church yesterday. They LOVE the Book of Mormon and we´re planning for their baptism at the end of this month!

Ice cream marshmallows with Luana and Franchesco!

President and Sister Rodriguez and their son! 

We went bowling with the hermanas! SO FUN! I got 2 strikes with a new move I call not trying and being spazzy. (there´s a video..)

 bowling with Hna Alvarez!

Betty D. and her 3 kids and 1 grand-daughter. As soon as the wedding bells ring, Betty, Leonel, and Diana will be baptized. It all just depends on when Eduardo can get work off so they can go to the court house!

Sandra, who we visit often to cheer her spirit!

¨¡HOLA!¨ was the first word yelled, quite loudly, as President and Sister Rodriguez burst into our conference! The conference was AMAZING. I am a witness of the power of callings. He wasn´t called to take President Willard´s place. He is a continuation of the work that was already being done. He is bursting with ideas, and it´s amazing that they are working. Both he and his wife were converted young by receiving a Book of Mormon. I made the comment of how we should start giving out the Book and he yelled. ¨YES! LET´S FILL SANTA CRUZ WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON!¨ 

On the way home, we chatted up the taxi driver and he said he wanted to read. So we made him wait outside the gate and we bolted up the 3 flights of stairs to give him the opportunity to read his very own Book of Mormon. That same day we gave one to a man on the bus and a night guard. The next day, the bus driver and his daughter. Another day, a man in the park. Then with 3 more investigators we found to teach in their homes. They all have the sincere desire to read the Book and know if it´s true. We gave them to other missionaries as a referral. Like President said, we know how many seeds 1 apple has, but we dont know how many apples 1 seed can produce.

In other news, Jesús S. is going to get baptized this Saturday! He´s 9 and wants to keep coming to church and reading his Book of Mormon like his older sisters, Mariela and Valeria, do. He is SO EXCITED! There are transfers Wednesday! Yikes. We´ll see what happens. 

Oh also, today I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. It is amazing. It´s true in English and it´s true in Spanish. I started reading it in November just by reading a chapter a day. How easy is that! So everyone reading this email wherever you are, member of the church or not. I invite you to read the Book of Mormon again. If you are already reading it, GREAT! KEEP GOING! If not, today is a great day to start :) The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love the Book of Mormon and I love Jesus Christ of whom the Book testifies. 

Love, Hermana Park

¨And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.¨

Hermana Huber and I this morning! 

Foooouuuurrrrth of July!

Soup, hot sauce, and lemonade. The great start to every Bolivian lunch.

The sun came out, we listened to the 4th of July cd from the MoTab (thanks mom!) during exercises this morning, and I´m still a missionary, so that makes this 4th of July a whoooole lot better than the previous one on my first Saturday in freezing Tarija. 

We have found a lot of new people to teach based on our obedience this week. Yay! Sometimes I feel like we are just dragging the same people like a bag of rocks, teaching, insisting, and not seeing results. So this was a week of finding :) We have seen a lot of miracles this week. We have been able to teach friends of members, part member families, and just whoever Heavenly Father wanted to put in our path! It also helped that it started getting warmer Tuesday. That´s why Santa Cruz is great. It gets extremely cold, but only lasts a few days :)

We were visiting with the member Sandra yesterday, the one I talked a bit about last week, and she is just completely hopeless. Yesterday we gave her He Will Put You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home from Gen Conf to read and as I testified to her that she is not too far away to be rescued I felt as if I were saying it to myself. I pondered back on my short 20 years of life and thought, why didn´t I realize how simple it is sooner? He is inviting us to come to Him, to partake of the happiness of the gospel and the relief of repentance. Why are we so stubborn to get comfortable where we are, sitting there, pouting like the younger Hna Park when she wanted a Baconator? GET UP and find Christ! Because only through the knowledge of His gospel and Atonement, can we be set free. Free from our pains. Free from our worries. Free from our past. Free to start over. 

I am very proud to be an American, a missionary, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints :)

I hope everyone has a fun, safe 4th of July! Light a sparkler for me! 

Love, Hermana Park

#HALLELUJAH FOR NEW LIFE

With Hermana Huber!

Gardenia´s baptism!

 I was a little more than excited to eat KFC

From our zone activity last week when we ate KFC and ice cream! :)

Welcome back eastern time zone. Happy Bolivian Father´s Day this Saturday the 19th. I am done counting how many months I´ve been in the mission because it makes me nauseous. 

This week Gardenia got baptized! It´s sure handy that her boyfriend got baptized in July! ¨But if you dont get baptized, we arent getting married.¨ haha but dont worry! We checked that she has real intent! haha She´s cute. This same day I had to play the piano for the Stake Relief Society bday party and by heaven's grace I got to play Called to Serve! haha

One fun part of the mission are transfers! We didn´t have any, but my Hermana McDonald is in Tabladita now and she gave me an update that my drunk, but harmless, friend Dumbo, real name Pedro Leon, hasn´t drunk for 2 weeks and he wants to come to church. He can have new life through Christ! Just like we all can! Christ died so we might be. But the good news is that HE LIVES. I am so grateful to know that He died for me. and for you. Because He loves us :)

Watch here to find out how you and all those whom you have loved, can have new life throught Christ. Have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Arrepientense

Hermana Orozco made me arepe from Colombia!

The Cesari Family made us salteñas. They got baptized last year and are so cute! This was our intent on a picture that almost didn't happen because my 10 second timer is fast and I tripped over a chair. 

This week I have learned what truly is repentance...after hearing "We Are Never Getting Back Together." Satan knows my weaknesses.

Yesterday we had stake conference! We had some big names there. President and Hermana Willard, President Jensen from the Cochabamba temple, and Elder Lizano from the Seventy. It was a little ways to get there being in the 6th ring, but surprisingly many of our investigators came! YAY! It was so good. They all touched on keeping the Sabbath Day holy and repentance. One of the speakers talked about divorce. He said that the solution for problems in a marriage is not separation, rather repentance. Why is repentance so bad? Why do we treat that word like a swear word? A mí, me encanta el arrepentimiento. A new opportunity to START OVER. All thanks to the Atonement of Christ. I CANNOT believe that we are in March, so close to Easter and General Conference! I want to think more about Jesus Christ. About how he lives. Hallelujah, He lives!

Have a happy spring and enjoy the sun! We´re going into fall here now! I love you all :)

Love, Hermana Park

Zone meeting pictures from Hna Secce!  Hermana Huber and Hermana Canales weren't there because they went to Tarija to check out hospitals!  The other Hermana is Hermana Basualdo who did a mini mission and leaves on Wednesday for her mission in Colombia!  So here are the hermanas in our zone, and then our district. We've got some good space going between the zone leader and me because we wouldn't want to break any rules!

(Salteñas have little cubes of potato, shredded chicken (chicken is better than beef) with part of a hard boiled egg, some spices, and an olive.)

The 411 on everything Santa Cruz

Hermana activity of making crepes and skits with our 2 zones

elevator pic

 Salteñas and coke is the blood of Bolivia

 I went running in the morning with Hna Huber and came back to this! Happy 9 months! Hermana Orozco, Secce, and Canales made if for me :)

The hermanas in my apartment :)

Sorry my emails haven´t been coming through! hope this one makes it!

Here´s to all who have been reading my lame journal entry emails and who want to know what I´m actually doing!

SANTA CRUZ is wonderful. I actually really love it, even if it´s humid! Here are some fun facts:

1. We have hipermaxi. It´s a little smaller than Walmart, but way bigger than anything in Tarija. I was in shock entering in. haha

2. Rav 4´s in blue must have been on sale here. 

3. Everyone talks about how we don´t have a sea because Chile stole it from us. (Thanks Chile.)

4. I have no idea where they come from, but there are horse and buggies driven by teenage boys. 

5. Because Santa Cruz is flat, it´s very windy. The fun part is that the clouds move very fast! It´s fun to look up because there´s always a different cloud. That must be how the time moves so fast here! 

6. We live pretty close to a circus and e v e r y night at 9:15 they play the same Bruno Mars song from 2010. 

7. It is comprised by 8 rings. We are in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. So the ward has a little more money. Our ward mission leader bought us all BURGER KING in correlación and WE ATE THE LETTUCE. I will never take lettuce for granted again! Also he and his wife took us home, and I wore a seatbelt for the first time in 9 months. It was a beautiful moment.

We got a call Saturday morning saying that the baptism we had planned for Yolanda and her son Antonio had to be rescheduled for this Saturday because yesterday was elections. The law here is that you can´t have meetings of any kind election day. So better safe than sorry, we couldn´t have a ¨meeting¨ Saturday night. That also means no church yesterday. So we were on lock down yesterday. That will have been 4 days of February locked in!

Late news, carnaval was fun! We studied all morning, lunch, ¨personal projects¨ for 4 hours of writing a letter, reading conference talks, etc. at 5 dinner. Then read the missionary handbook for an hour, made goals. Watched the missionary transmision from January for 2 hours. Then planned for the next day. That was what we did for 3 days. Then did it again yesterday.

Everything here is wonderful! Hermana Orozco from Colombia says hello to all. We are working with so many families to get them baptized and Yolanda and Antonio will be baptized this Saturday sí o sí. (That is a phrase here that means for sure! But directly translated is yes or yes!)

I love you all and hope everyone is nourishing their spirits by praying and reading the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY and not being a Sunday Mormon, but every day of the week :) You are all wonderful and Christ knows you all individually and is waiting with arm outstretched to bring you into His fold. Follow Him! It´s tough, but worth it.

Love,

Hermana Park