¨You are awesome, Hermana Park¨

After the conference with Elder Montoya! (I took a sneak peak in my birthday package and picked out a dress to wear early! Thanks!) 

I tried to pretend I got my ears pierced by putting earrings on and my ear almost fell off from pain haha my body is a temple

The pensionista´s cat named Eldera. She was Elder but then they found out she´s a girl and added an a on the end! Eldera!

An hour ago with my sash that says ¨it´s my birthday!¨

This is a fun birthday message that says ¨happy birthday, eat trash, monkey.¨ 

This is my friend Pedro Leon from Tabladita!! 

an investigator gave us cute lizard key chains!! 

Valeria accompanied us on our visits. Who would´ve thought a 13 year old recent convert of 6 months would have the strongest testimony ever? 

THANKS so much to everyone who made my birthday happier! I am really happy today, and I want to make a goal to make every day like my birthday and have this much happiness and excitement :) 

This morning I got sung to, Hna Alvarez made me crepes, I found out that Tarija was split into 2 stakes now, Stake Tarija and Stake Tabladita, and my inebriated friend Pedro from Tabladita, who always yelled at us from across the street that we are his queens and he loves us, cut his hair and stopped drinking! Could this day get any better? 

Friday, we had a conference with Elder Hugo Montoya! He wanted everyone to participate, and when they did, they had to stand, say their name, and an attribute of their mom. 

He spoke about priesthood keys for a few minutes. He asked a few questions about who holds what keys, and all of us sisters on the front row kept quiet. Then he told us about an experience in Sacrament Meeting where the Bishop told the congregation that during the Sacrament prayers, the whole congregation would kneel. He asked us what we would do. SILENCE. So I shot up and awkwardly said ¨how´s everybody doing?¨ (in Spanish of course) Because it´s nervewracking to talk in front of 12 sister missionaries, 100 Elders, a member of the Seventy, and the mission president and his wife! Then I said, ¨I´m Hermana Park! My mom does everything to help someone else and...I would follow the Bishop because he has the keys to preside over the meeting.¨ Then sat down, out of breath, and a little red. I looked over and President Willard looked at me, smiled, gave me a thumbs up, and whispered, ¨You are awesome Hermana Park!¨

Then Elder Montoya talked about a phrase in Preach My Gospel that says ¨no one else can do this¨ No other church has ALL of the truth and restored priesthood to open the doors to the Celestial Kingdom! And no one else could pay the price for our sins so we could return and live with Heavenly Father, except for Jesus Christ! I may only be 20 years old (and 11 hours) but I KNOW that He is real. He lives. He loves us. He suffered for us. Through Him we can find an undescribable joy that is even better than the birthday joy. Please study your scriptures EVERY DAY and today, as a special birthday present for me, find someone who is having a hard time, and help them! That´s all I could wish for..that you could all make someone smile today! 

I love you all! I can feel your love here in Bolivia! You´re all awesome!

Love, 

the new and improved 20 year old 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...)

More than eggs and a bunny

Sometimes old ladies we contact don´t want to talk to us because they´re making lunch, but give us some really yummy cake. We´re not complaining!

And then sometimes people yell at you about how there aren´t prophets and say that they wont talk to us because they believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost ¨us too...¨ So we buy coke. 

 Oh Boliva. Gad is faithfull.

For our activity last week we made cuñape and I found a kitten and Hermana Petroff came back to Santa Cruz 

how to make cuñape! It has a bucket load of cheese that you have to mound and then roll into balls!

more pics with the hermanas when we made cuñape and ate a Pizza Eli´s interminable pizza, which we ate regularly in Tarija!

Family, friends, and fellow cat lovers,

We are finding a ton of new people to teach. We have been using these pass along cards of colors that have questions. We let the person in the street, park, or wherever thay are choose their color. For example, pink says how can I find peace and happiness? Green, how can I learn from my trials? Light blue, how can I have a happy marriage? And we shared one with a random guy named Marcelo. Then he asked if we could come over to read the Bible in English. We said yes, but never brought my English Bible. Sorry! But he´s very interested and asked about tithing, the bishop, how Christ came to the America´s, everything! He came to church yesterday and we were happy to see him. Now we just have to find a way to teach his whole family! This is just one of the many, many miracles we are seeing here.

This week is Easter! It´s interesting to see all of the Catholic traditions. I never understood much about how Easter is more than eggs and a bunny. But it´s about Jesus Christ. Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, ¨Because of the sacrifice of our beloved Redeemer, death has no sting, the grave has no victory, Satan has no last power, and we are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.¨ There are not words to describe my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for letting his only begotten Son, come to Earth and die for me, so I can live again. I have come to understand more about the word Savior. I found this poem I like:

¨Jesus will save you

just as you are;

Jesus will welcome you

back from afar;

Jesus will heal

sin´s pitiful scar:

Just as you are 

come home.¨

-John Runyon

I am so grateful to be preaching His gospel in Trompillo. I hope everyone remembers Christ this week and that all of the women reading this enjoy the women´s session of conference! Come unto Christ.

Love, Hermana Park 

Hi

Emily's "ponderize" scripture for the week and a picture of somewhere in Bolivia

Dear people who haven't forgotten about me,

We're starting into the rainy season here! Luckily it doesn't start until exactly 9 pm, so if we're exactly obedient, we're not in the rain! :) But there has been a TON of lightning. I really thought the world would end last night, but looks like we're still here!

Last week we had a stake activity for only missionaries and investigators and watched Meet the Mormons! It was fun to actually hear the story from Costa Rica in Spanish! I finally know what her voice sounds like! haha Then yesterday there was a conference broadcast from SLC only for Bolivia and Peru! It was really good! Neil A. Andersen spoke and others from the Seventy. It was a great day! :)

We also had a ward party Friday! We all brought salads, and from Hermana Petroff and me was a pretty sad looking fruit salad. Sadly, the chicken and half of the ward didn't get there until 9 pm, and we missed getting to watch the whole ward dance, but next time :) It's really fun how dancing is such a big thing here. I cannot picture having a 7th ward party with everyone dancing to a mariachi band. We'll have to start that up when I get back :)

My ponderize scripture is 1 Thessalonians 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil" I really like this scripture and like to be recognized as a representative of Jesus Christ! I love Bolivia and am so grateful for this opportunity to bring others unto Christ. I really had no clue what the mission would be before I came, but I'm so grateful I am experiencing it! :) Have a great week and take up your cross and follow Christ!

Love,

Hermana Park

5 Months!!

(2 emails from Emily today, the one from last week that didn't quite send before she timed out is also included in this email!)

The girl in Senac who is leaving on a mission today for Columbia 

The Greek pizza they always get

Their micro broke

They played volleyball with the zone last week for P-day, some of the sisters from her CCM group are or were there too.

Week Late Whoops! (10/12/15)

Sometimes you get so caught up in life that times goes by faster than you thought possible! Like when you only have an hour and a half to email and are writing the email address when the computer times out! Whoops! Sorry! Here's the email from last week! :)

Things here are wonderful! Bolivia is the bomb, even though it got REALLY cold again this week. The folks here said the cold came from Argentina. So, thanks Aleesha! And shout out to Aleesha on getting her mission call and Justina for getting her call to basically the prettiest place in the world! The mission really is the most fulfilling thing there is. Its like eating a baconator and getting to the middle with bacon and more bacon. And wow bacon. Maybe its because its before lunch right now or that in my mission we cant eat bacon, but someone eat some bacon for me!

Things are GREAT with Hermana Petroff from Utah! She is so fun and we work really well together! I love her and am grateful for her!

Last night we were walking home and we saw an old man with a stick waving it in the air and hissing. hahaha What can ya do. But thanks mom for sending me mashed potatoes because on a cold night in Tabladita, mashed potatoes are great! :)

I got to have my first exchanges this week with the one and only Hermana McDonald from the mtc. It was so fun and we were able to learn so much from each other! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to learn from the other hermanas in the zone. :)

Update on Diego, his contract ended. He told us he found one in our area. Then found a better price in Senac, not realizing that we can't teach him there anymore. So, that's life. What can you do. Sometimes things don't work out as your planned, but God knows. He has a plan. So everything is okay :)

The mission is beautiful and there are miracles every day! We found a family and the husband has a problem with drinking. He did sooo good then last night he drank. He was so upset than he failed us so we explained the Atonement, and that we are NEVER too far gone. Our Savior will never abandon us. He loves us and will be there to catch us when we fall and help us back up and get us back on the path! Never lose the faith.

 My ponderize scripture this week is Alma 29:14. :) Joy in the successes of others!

I love you all so much!

Love Hermana Park

5 Months!  (10/19/15)

Yesterday in lunch, the members were all talking about this show that they all love here in Bolivia, and we figured it out. Turns out it's Little House on the Prarie. hahaha Who would've thought! haha

We have been trying really hard to get more less active members and just really members back at church. Last week we had 109 people at church because it was cold. It was raining on Saturday night and our investigators said that they didnt know if they could go and take their kids out of it was raining the next day again. So we prayed! Sunday morning brought SUNSHINE. And there were 156 people there. This Sunday the stake president said was the biggest Sunday to know if we would be able to make another stake in Tarija! I'll keep yall updated, but the odds are looking good and the family came. The first time for the mom, and the dad's 7th week at church. :)

Today is 5 months here in the mission, otherwise known as the best place there is to be. So here are 5 fun things that happened this week:

1. a girl was wearing a shirt that said "Be the person your dog thinks you are"

2. our investigator was wearing a jersey that said "Idaho Falls Parks and Rec."

3. Page 31 of the October Liahona has a family home evening in Bolivia! :)

4. I have been working really hard on my Spanish and have seen that Spirit filled my mouth with words to say about the Atonement to our investigator who drank again this weekend.

5. I got to hold a baby black kitten. (Hi Scout)

Things are WONDERFUL. Truly amazing here in Bolivia. I am so grateful every day for this time that I have to be here doing the best thing there is to do for me right now :) I am learning so much and learning more about the life of the Savior. I really thought about the saying What would Jesus do? and really thought about it. Whenever I get upset, discouraged, tired, I think, really, if this was the life of Jesus Christ, what would He do? We can all choose to follow the Savior and His example for us :) For those who have some free time, I'd suggest reading Jesus the Christ. You won't regret it. OH and read your Book of Mormon too. :)

I love you all and so does Jesus Christ!

Love, Hermana Park

Photo: On the roof this very morning with new companion Hermana Petroff

Better Together (speaking in terms of us and Christ)

Hi Mashaal!

Familia Martinez and Friends

Here I am in this internet cafe again, listening to an Elder play Better Together by Jack Johnson on his computer. Oh, now we are going into Banana Pancakes. Update: now we are going into a competition between what Elder can play music louder. Music of the world vs. EFY music. Gotta love emailing as a zone! haha But we can be better together. Us and Christ! :)

The Muslim man from last week is really nice! We were walking down a street and we saw him and he came down from his balcony with a pamphlet, a booklet, and El Coran for us! haha Very kind of him!

I hope Marisa had a happy birthday an in honor of her I saw a random woman wearing a Charlotte, NC shirt the other day!

We had a good week! I am learning so much and things are great here! The ward is so nice and yesterday for lunch the member who signed up to feed us made us shishkabobs. haha! Yum!

We were going to hike the Cristo mountain again because the other hermanas wanted to, but we didn't get permission! haha So I don't know why they let us a few weeks ago and not now, but tender mercy because soccer is more fun! :)

One of our investigators is really great! On Saturday night there were giant parties, loud music and we got worried because he cancelled our appointment that night and we got really scared and he answered and said "Hermanas. I'm not feeling too well." And we started to cry! haha But it was just because he was working outside all day in the hot sun and felt sick! He came to church Sunday! Things are wonderful! 

One thing I have been thinking about is trust. I never really have trusted in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ until now because I've just trusted in my own experience and thought I could do things alone. But sometimes you can't do things alone! Things happen that you can't really control, and that's when trusting God becomes a necessity. But at times it is so hard. The future is unsure and you want things to go your own way. However, things turn out better when we can stop struggling and give all of our will to God. When we can say "Take it. Take all my desires and make them Yours. Aline my will with yours." is when the miracles start to happen. I thought of it as a trust fall. Because we are falling backwards, we can't see where we are going and sometimes we get scared while falling and step back instead of falling all the way. But we need to just fall. Because when we fall is when Christ is there to catch us. And I promise He is ALWAYS there to catch us if we can have faith and hope and just trust Him. Trust is God. Trust in Christ. Trust yourself.

Have a fantastic week all (especially Scout)

Love,

Hermana Park

I forgot to add something! We had this family that was inactive for over a year and we decided to visit them! (I cant remember if I wrote this last week?) And so we went and they LOVED it and we visited them again this week and the husband said that after he told us to leave once because no one was home, REPENTED after because he felt so awful! They came to church yesterday and their friends from their old ward brought them! They are so happy and lovely and so excited to be back in the gospel. Everyone was really proud of Hermana Holden and I for still going back and trying, but it wasn't us! We just follow the Spirit and go where we are told to go! But the Familia Martinez truly is a miracle <3 Never give up on less actives!

Wanderers in a strange land

Hello everyone, but mostly Scout,

I am currently sitting here in a computer cafe listening to Elders sing "Think Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood, so you could say the work here is really progressing. haha

It was a good week! We had an FHE with our investigator and another member and her 2 kids.  We had pizza and he (our investigator) played his guitar and it really felt like we were all just one big really weird family. hahaha It was fun! :)

I hope that Grandpa had a wonderful birthday! I hope Marisa has a great birthday this week too! (And Claudia as well! :)

We were contacting in a park yesterday and a giant dog ran at us. It just wanted to say hi though, because it's not from these parts! The dog's dad and daughter started talking to us, and Spanish was not their first language. They're Muslim and from a country that is in both Africa and Europe?? haha They are here for the daughter to go to school. I dont know - something seems fishy! haha maybe it's just both them and us lacking in Spanish!

We had a zone counsel, which was weird because what is a zone counsel? Our zone leader said he had never laughed so hard he cried in the mission, and Hermana Holden and I just sunk down a little in our chairs because we did at least 3 times this week, one of which was because a dog used her as a bathroom. hahaha

Things here are lovely and I found a new favorite scripture that says, "...Blessed be the name of my God who has been mindful of us wanderers in a strange land." Alma 26

I love you all and pray for you all and really hope that everyone remembers that they never walk alone and are loved and have so much worth because they have a loving Father and Savior who know them perfectly and trust in them and their plan for you. Follow the will of God, even when it doesnt match your own desires.

I love you all. Tell someone how much you love them this week! :)

Love Hermana Park