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.

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Pretty sneaky Satan

 This week was national friendship day and Derly, the member of the ward who makes us lunch every day, made us a cake topped with a chocolate banana and sister missionary figurines that Hermana Higham sent her. 

Us with the chocolate bananas we helped her make! It`s like Disney Land!

 I dropped my pen and it fell into the paws of this angry puppy but Hermana Undurraga saved the day with her big stick to hit my pen back out!

Los Olivos is the best. I LOVE it here! So what I forgot to add is that Hermana Undurraga is my adorable companion from Ecuador and she has been here for almost 4 months and is wonderful! I am learning a lot fom her and am really grateful to be her companion. 

Ana Maria came to church yesterday and all of the members were so excited to see her! We have been having a daily contact with her every day, whether it be an actual lesson, reading the Book of Mormon for 10 minutes with her, or just an encouraging note, but we have seen that she is gaining a testimony of the church. She is still preparing for her baptism on August 6th, or the 4th of July here, and all the sisters in the ward want to have a big baptismal service for her! The ward is really great, but we are praying that her kids don`t influence her decision and make her doubt what she has felt.

We are visiting the Rivera Family and last night the mom sat in on the lesson, for the first time in a couple months! Her husband, Nelson, was so excited to tell us that he prayed, because it`s really hard for him to not only remember, but also to really understand the importance of praying. Also, we found a new family, David and Veronica, and they were so excited to hear our message...and then Veronica had to go inside and leave the lesson on their patio and we explained to them that since we didn`t have a member to accompany us, we couldn`t be left alone with David. We didnt make the guidelines. Aaaaand David got super offended, so we`re praying that everything blows over so they can find the truth they are looking for. The ways I have been able to see Satan interfere with the work are incredible. He REALLY doesn`t want these people to know the truth and receive these blessings. But the gospel has more power than Satan and the light always overpowers darkness.

I hope everyone can look for the blessings they receive every day! For example, waiting for Isabel to come out of her house for a lesson, we were looking at the stars and all of the sudden all the lights in the neighborhood went out! We heard everyone within the block scream, because losing power is bad, but we were happy to be able to see the more stars, even if it only lasted for 1 minute. There are tender mercies every day when one can literally hear ¨Now you can see even more stars because I love you.¨ Our Heavenly Father, our God, loves each and every one of us. Even when we don`t feel worthy of that love, it`s still there. Look for it and enjoy it. Like the brand Tommy Bajamas says, make life one long weekend.

The church is true.

Hermana Park

PS They passed out flyers in church yesterday and everyone is really excited that there`s a Spanish quad now.

https://www.lds.org/church/news/printed-version-of-spanish-scriptures-now-available?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_FR_15-7-2016_dCN_fCNWS_xLIDyC-3_

Así es la vida

Our companion exchange with Hermana Canales and all she wanted was fries. That is an offer that I can´t refuse.

one of our investigators Elfi! 

Hermana activity at some historical museum and the lady yelled at me for eating cookies.

SUUUUUUNNNNNNN 

We got WAY excited about the salt water taffy and I tore the bag open without realizing it was a ziploc! haha 

from our special vip room we ate lunch in because Magui fed all the Taxi drivers and they decided to watch a movie! 

This week I learned that the Atonement covers disappointments. 

What a fun way to start an email! haha But Leonardo all of the sudden had to MOVE, then right after we got a message from our cute investigator Mariana telling us to never return for no reason. But one of my favorite phrases is Así es la vida, or that´s life! But what I also learned is that how can I testify or teach something that I have never experienced. After all of this, we got on a bus to go to an appointment and I decided to sit by a woman named Katharine. I started up the conversation and our small talk turned into how she has blamed God for some things that have happened lately. She cried and I was able to bear her my witness that He loves her because He put me on that bus in that moment. I was surprised that the words of comfort spilling out of my mouth! We both ended smiling and I committed her to trust in Christ and His Atonement. His Atonement is infinite and perfect. I´m thankful for all the things that led me here. :) Bolivia is a land full of hard working people that I love. 

Leonardo came to church again yesterday and his been telling everyone about his baptism this Saturday. I have no idea what´s going to happen but the ward mission leader Manuel is SET on baptizing him. If Heavenly Father wants it to happen, it will. We were able to teach the younger brother and cousin on Mariela and Valeria yesterday. They are both 9 and just mesmerized by the Book of Mormon. They love primary too! Sebastian and Jesús! 

We are also teaching other people. It´s not like there´s no one. haha but I´ll talk about them all next week! :)

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

Hermana Park

God is love

IT POURRRRRRRRED Thursday. Rain is fun especially when you are COMPLETELY soaked :) 

My pensionista Magui almost made me cry when she brought out chocolate cupcakes with chocolate mousse inside. My first Bolivian cupcake. She also made some canned tuna for us. The only fish we can eat!

I hope everyone had a happy Easter and all the ladies out there LOVED women's session as much as I did. I may or may not have cried during More Holiness Give Me.. But it was amazing! Every talk was on love and service. I´m so excited for General Conference this weekend.

The Easter traditions are VERY interesting. Starting Friday, none of the Catholics can leave their houses. This is part of their observance of Christ dying. They only came out around 4:00 to follow around a cross and re-enact Christ dying on the cross. All we saw were 3 teenage boys on crosses in the park, and walked a bit faster. Hardly anyone was outside (or inside...) of their houses this weekend. Everyone kind of disappeared.

As a result of Easter yesterday, no one was home. So we walked for at least 6 hours straight. We sat down on a curb to call a referral, then kept going! We had one lesson yesterday, but it was a beautiful lesson with Edith :) At the end of the day we were walking home and saw a tall, skinny man with long hair and a guitar. He gave us a thumbs up, then asked if we were Jehovah´s Witnesses or Mormons. He introduced himself as being from Chile and told us he´s visited every church and loves that we're spreading the word. He kept pointing at us, at his heart, then up and told is that GOD IS LOVE. 

Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

A man mistook the name Hermana for Amor yesterday and called me amor (or love) Park. I want to develop such a deep love that my name becomes Love. I love this work and especially all the people that God has trusted to my care :) We are working towards getting a family married and baptized so they can seal all their 7 children together in the temple in Cochabamba soon. I love Bolivia and Heavenly Father for giving me this beautiful opportunity to be here :) God is love, so go love someone today :)

WITH MUCH LOVE,

Hermana Park 

Last photo caption: Well, it was time for me to chop off more than 12 inches. I donated it, so that made me feel better. It´s so weird to have short hair for the first time since I was 4. (You can decide for yourself if this picture is real by looking at the date Friday...)

9

FINALLY got reunited with Hermana Newbold in our intercambio! :)

We walked outside for 10 seconds to grab our lunch through the gate from our pensionista and got blasted with water balloons from a car! haha 

Happy Valentine´s Day. We got dumped on just walking home from church! haha

One thing I am coming to understand is the concept of time. These 2 weeks since I have emailed, 3 days locked up inside, and more importantly 9 months of my mission have flown by ridiculously fast. It makes me think of interstellar and how we can change the concept of time. On some planets, 1 hour is 7 years  to us. That would mean that my 9 months have been like 10 seconds. 

As I have put on my Hermana Park nametag, I have seen so many miracles. Here is 1 example from church yesterday. I only have about 5 minutes to practice before playing for Sacrament Meeting in my ward. And yesterday I didn´t have time to practice all 4 of the songs, and so when the 3rd song came,and everyone stood up for interlude, I said a little prayer and relaxed my hands. I thought okay. I don´t know the tune of this song, but I will just count it out like I did in band. 4/4. And I started playing, AND IT CAME. I played the song almost perfectly and realized that I had heard it one time. There are 1 million better piano players in the world, and without more practice I would never make it as an organ player in Sacrament meeting in the USA. But Heavenly Father KNOWS us all perfectly and individually. He knows our talents, our weaknesses, our fears, and He helps us. Because He loves us. 

Life is beautiful and thinking about reaching the halfway mark makes me really grateful for the 5 companions, 3 areas, a couple tears, a few laughs, and 9 months I have grown and changed to become a better disciple of Christ. 

I love you all and hope Valentine´s Day was full of LOVE. Because I love love :) 

Love, Hermana Park

PS.  Shout out to my cousin David, who was on the Today Show!

misiòn de los milagros

A bittersweet day to hear that Hermana H. who was my companion in the mtc and one of my best friends, is being transfered to California for her health. But I´m really happy that she will still be able to serve! 

This week we went to Santa Cruz for a leadership council. While we were on the plane, there was a tour group from France and I couldn´t even talk to the 2 cute girls next to me. In the conference we talked about how the new goal for the mission is that every companionship has to baptize 1 family every month! We are working hard to reach the goal here in Tabladita and are seeing miracles! Roxanna and Jonny have decided to get married this month, fingers crossed, that it´s before transfers. Haha but that´s selfish of me and I´m just happy that they can get married so that they can enter the waters of baptism, as a family, with their 8 year old daughter Mariam. 

It´s beautiful here and we are getting more heat! I love having a hot South American winter/summer! I fall more in love with Bolivia, the people, and culture here every day. The best decision I have ever made happened almost 1 year ago when I went to the Bishop to start my mission papers! 

Thanks for all the love and support! It is a wonderful feeling to be here serving the Lord and knowing my loved ones are protected! I LOVE YOU ALL! Stay safe and enjoy the blessing that Heavenly Father has given us to be on the earth, in January, or 2016, where ever you are! :)

Love, 

Hermana Park