Ana Maria and the 4th missionary

Ana Maria is the cutest! Oswaldo baptized her! He`s leaving to Panama for his mission next week!

 After the baptism, the ward had a huge Bolivian party and they all wanted to take pics of us with the food and flags and interesting objects to mash up yuka! 

And the activity with the Elders was a hit and we all got matching shirts!​

This week was wondeful! Ana Maria got baptized and everyone just loves her. Through the curtains in the font we all heard, ¨ahh! the water is so cold! Can we reschedule this for during the day?¨ She has had her own beauty salon for more than 30 years, so I`m putting my trust in her and letting her TRIM my hair in an hour! But she was prepared to be baptized. She is currently in 2nd Nephi 2 and reads the Book of Mormon whenever she has free time. Yesterday when the ward gave her a the sign of fellowship and welcome to the ward in Sacrament Meeting she waved and yelled "thanks!" We love her so much.

One of our investigators, Isabel, gave us cute white shirts and told us we are her best friends. She wants to be baptized, but something happens every Sunday and she can't come to church. With the R. Family yesterday, who are the BEST but have the really complicated situation of the wife being married to another man. We went with Belen (19) and her cousin Joselyn (20) who came to church for the 2nd time yesterday because she went inactive right after she got baptized when she was 10. They helped the family more than we culd have imagined when Belen started talking about how she didnt know where she`d be without having had the gospel her whole life and Joselyn said that she messed up by distancing herself from the church. It was a powerful lesson and the family, Nelson, Francis, Nagely, and Lucero all committed to come to church and the Meet the Mormons activity we`re having Friday!

If you have the chance to get a hold of the talk "The 4th Missionary," read it. I read it again this week and noticed that these almost 15 months (eek) I have been holding just a tiny part of me back and not giving my ALL to the Lord. His will is higher than my will and His plan will be infinitely better than mine. I feel a peace that I have never felt before. I want to challenge everyone to give just a bit more to Him this week. Go the extra mile because Heavenly Father has entrusted each one of us opportunities to do so. He can count on me and I wont let Him down again.

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.

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The world needs sister missionaries and you too!

 Here are all the sisters I live with! You`ll notice my former companion Hermana Petroff, Hermana Cabrera and Hermana Aquino who were in my zone in Tarija, and Hermana Canales who was in my zone in Trompillo (who some of you sweet folks sent letters to!) 

It`s actually surprising to see a tree or bush that is not cut in the shape of an animal.

This was from our sister activity last Monday where we got makeup demonstrated on us from some members in Guaracal as they taught us how to do our own makeup. I said ¨Oh, but I mean, just a little mascara maybe. I like my freckles. Something natural please.¨ Just to please the ladies. But they made me a little heavier on the eyes than I'm used to, my call is always for less makeup and enjoying the skin your in! 

After hearing a whole spiel yesterday in church about how the sisters in Los Olivos should focus on marriage and not have the goal to go on a mission, it came to my mind that the world needs more sister missionaries. We`re not going to downplay the Elders because they are wonderful tools in God's hands! But sisters know how to love. They cry with you. They comfort you. They understand your challenges. They pray for you. They pray with you. If Heavenly Father didn`t want sister missionaries, He wouldn`t have lowered the age. And He wouldn`t have told me I needed to be here.

Ana Maria is going to get baptized next week! (Said Hermana Park with all the faith she has.) So we`re finishing up her training to be completely converted. Artemio came to church yesterday and everyone was SO WELCOMING. They were fighting for who would be the one to go with him to class. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, but is still working to be able to get over his fear of failing God after knowing Him. And we met Hortencia yesterday and the member we were with said that we were here to share a message with her and because she so strongly felt that we needed to. Hortencia cried and told us she had gone to one of our churches and only entered in the doorway when she realized she confused it with another church and said she should`ve entered and we bore testimony that this is her second chance and she accepted to be baptized on September 4th.

The Secretary to Presidente called with what we thought we heard - that Hermana Undurraga had transfers. We almost cried and she yelled, ¨¿QUÈ?¨ But it was tramites, or immigrations! We were the only sister missionaries there at the immigration office, and we took advantage of the 4 hours to talk to 8 people ranging from people from Bolivia to Brazil to Chile to Missouri! Share our testimonies. Give them something to read, be it the Articles of Faith or a pamphlet to increase their faith. And note down their information because no one was from our area. That is something SO EASY that can be done in a plane, in the street, in Green Belt, I dont know where it will be, but God does :) And if you PRAY and then go for it, He will guide you. Because it`s a bit hard for God to use us as His hands if we don`t leave our room. Here`s my challenge, that if all you have to take is your smile and some kind words, GO and be what God wants you and has planned for you to be.

Hermana Park

I love roller coasters!

Foto del Consejo de Hermanas!! Zona Guasalquivir

Well ladies and gentlemen, the time came early this transfer and the angel of emergency transfers fell upon me.

Here's a little history of my mission. The hermanas can only go to Santa Cruz or Tarija. There are many other areas that are small that only Elders go to. In the past these areas have been open to hermanas, but have been closed for about a year. Also, my ward in Tabladita is the only one in my zone with 2 sets of hermanas and 1 set of Elders. All others are 1 and 1. So I knew that they'd be bound to close up an  area, but I thought it would've been in the last transfer. So, they re-opened an area for hermanas in Bermejo, and this morning my companion, Hermana Padilla, went to Bermejo! Along with another sister from Santa Cruz, my first trainer Hermana Rivera (who only has a transfer and a half left of her mission!), and another hermana from our zone. And they closed the other zone of the hermanas, and Hermana Paz is in Senac now. Confusing enough? haha So my new companion is Hermana Petroff from Layton, Utah. She has 7 months in the mission and has been in Tabladita for 2 weeks. So we're going to split her area with the Elders and see a whole lot more miracles! :)So if that wasn't enough for you, Hermana Petroff and Hermana Paz were the sister leaders for the zone. Which means they go to Santa Cruz for meetings with Presidente and the zone leaders and have day long transfers with the other hermanas of the zone. But since Hermana Paz is going to be finishing up the training for Hermana Rivera, Hermana Petroff is still the hermana leader. And since I am her companion,  that makes me the other.

I remember when Meghan Hintze emailed me and told me I would love my mission but to hold on because it's a roller coaster! And was that not the truest thing I have ever heard! HahaI really enjoyed conference yesterday with the new Apostles who talked about how the Lord qualifies whom He calls. I am not at all qualified to be in charge of the hermanas in my zone, but I know that my calling is from the Lord Jesus Christ and I am ready and willing to do it! It's going to be crazy, but I found a scripture I really like in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7,9 "Know thou, my (daughter), that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. Therefore, hold on."We also had a GREAT lesson this week with our investigator Diego. The hermanas in my area have been teaching him for a long time, and so I was persistent to keep him. So we've been working hard. But things were getting hard. So I asked a friend on a mission in Chile for suggestions and he told me that we should have the lessons in the church. So we did. We went to the church instead of his room, and we went into the area with the font and opened the doors. When we opened the doors to the font that was the strongest I have ever felt the Spirit in my life! We left the room to get the TV and came back and Diego was just looking at himself in the mirror of the font. We watched the Restoration video with an Hermana from the ward and the Bishop. We have watched this video with him before, he has seen it over 5 times already, but this time was different. The Spirit was so strong that there was no way to deny it. During his closing prayer we kneeled, like always, and had him pray specifically, like always. But this was the first time he didn't ask to know if this was the correct church but he prayed and asked to help him be baptized in this church one day. This is why I'm here. This makes everything worth it.

I LOVE my mission. There are hard times, but I'm holding on. I am keeping my arms and legs securely fastened inside of the vehicle and experiencing a lot of loops, but it's actually really fun and I wouldn't trade this for anything! Hurrah for Israel.
Love, Hermana Park

P.S. We went to get ice cream last Monday and there were giant (tall) guys and that's just really rare to see here in Tarija! And being who I am, I decided to leave middle school and asked one of the guys where they were from. They were the basketball team for Bolivia!  There was one from the Virgin Islands, one from Serbia, and one named Howard from Charlotte, North Carolina! Who would've thought I would meet the Bolivian basketball team. haha Who even knew they had one!

For General conference..we actually weren't able to watch the Saturday sessionin English, and only saw the last few talks in the morning session because the connection wasn't working on lds.org, but luckily byutv.org worked! But we watched Sunday in English in the kitchen with 17 missionaries! haha it was SO GOOD. I love the new apostles already. And SHOUT OUT BYUI KIM B! hahaha Hermana Quackenbush and I were SO HAPPY to see our old President in conference!

Tango gozo en mi alma

Helllooo what an extremely quick week this was!

This week is the 6 de Agosto! Like the 4th of July here! They are having a huge stake festival and fingers crossed we get to go for at least lunch, because, well, our pentionista will be there. hahaha And she's from Paraguay so her food isn't Bolivian and it's good though! I just pretend my really creamy mashed potatoes were made with butter, not mayo! hahahahha Holy - is mayo a thing here. hahaha

Oh, so we found the band. Have yet to see them march. But I did march down the street to the beat because I'm just really a band geek at heart. But they're a bunch of elementary school kids!! And we figured out I heard her wrong when she said the band is with the "catolicos"... she said "collegio", or the school. hahahahahahahhaha hey! Its close! haha

Things here are really good! Getting better everyday! The hike was so fun and I hope that everyone looked up that Cristo Te Ama mountain in Tabladita in Tarija, Bolivia because the fact that we made it to the top is really impressive. hahaha It was really fun! The members are really nice! On the day of Steven's wedding I bought a big chocolate cake (40 Bolivianos or like 6 dollars!!) And we celebrated. We also made tacos one night, just for fun. hahahha Things are wonderful. I love it! I've never known that this gospel is more true.

I hope everyone remembers how loved they are and that they truly never are alone because Christ has felt everything and Heavenly Father knows and loves us perfectly. Don't forget to pray!!

Love,

Hermana Park!

http://www.boliviabella.com/independence-day.html



This is an excerpt from a letter to Aunt Peggy with a little bit of Hermana Park's daily schedule:

Wake up! Companion and personal prayer. Do exercise! We started running around the neighborhood this week! So that has been fun! Get ready for the day!
8 am Personal study!
9 am Companion study!
10 am We either go out to an appointment and come back and do language
study, or do "12 Weeks", which is a program where we watch videos and
read scriptures and practice teaching for the first 12 weeks of the
mission!
1pm Lunch at the pentionistas! She is a member from the ward and is
from Paraguay! so the food is a little different than other Bolivian
food, but its good!
2pm-9 pm Go to appointments, visit people, contact on the street!
Sometime in there we come back to the apartment and make a sandwich or
something if we have some free time! Then be back by 9 unless we are
in an appointment, then back by 9:30!
9-10:30 pm Plan for the next day, get ready for bed! Make another
sandwich! haha have companion and personal prayer, then in bed and
lights out by 10:30!!

Things here are good! We have a progressing investigator named
Vicente! He's around 50 I think and is loving going to church and
activities! So that's really special! Everything here is great! It's
basically the same as there! Same truth! We always have references,
but its hard to find them. "Maria Sanchez" is hard to find because
everyone here is Maria. hahahaha!

Emergency Transfers!

                                            Getting on the plane on the tarmac, woo hoo!

QUITE THE WEEK.

We had emergency transfers on Friday morning!! I was eating breakfast and we got the call that I was going to Tabladita and so I hurried and packed everything up and said goodbye to my Hermana Rivera and hello to my new companion, Hermana Holden, from Utah! She is almost done with her mission so very fluent in Spanish. So that is VERY HELPFUL. She is very sweet and patient with me, because she's been in my shoes! Also, my new area is beautiful! It's in the mountains and today we are actually hiking the Cristo montaña. which sounds like Christa Montaño. haha

Also, my new apartment has hot water, woohoo!, and I live with another companionship...HERMANA HIGHAM so what a party that is. hahahaha We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches last night and it was the best thing ever. The little things. 

There is a marching band we can hear at nights sometimes in Tabladita and she said she thinks it has something to do with the Catholic church! Sure is no Rachmaninov! haha

For pioneer day they had a big stake activity, that we couldn't go to, but we got to see a video! And every ward dressed up like cowboys, or pioneers, and danced around. It's bigger here than in Idaho!

haha

Everything here is great! It was sad to see my Senac ward on Sunday since we are in the same building! I miss them!! But excited to be here in Tabladita!! Life is great! It's warming up! I am perfecting my scrambled eggs. Really, things are too good to be true.

Thanks everyone for allll of the love and support! You all are the bomb.edu. Read your scriptures. Especially in Moroni 7 where there is a good part about deciding if something is from God or not. Very interesting! I love you all! Someone reading this go eat chic-fil-a!

hahaha

With all my love,

Hermana Park

Sister Park Featured in Sister Missionary Video

As Emily previously mentioned, she was able to be apart of a Temple Square, Sister Missionary Meet-up in March. Today they released the video that was made that day. It's so fun to see her cute face and see her energy and excitement for her mission! (She talks at 1:20)

We heard from her briefly last Wednesday, the day she entered the MTC to let us know she made it safely and will be posting her emails as the come weekly...stay tuned! 

Sister Missionary Meet-up!!

My parents and I made a road trip out of it, and drove to Salt Lake! I got to the temple around 11:00 and met up with the other girls! We were all going to different places and only 3 girls were called to serve in America!

We chatted, made a video (still isn't done??), talked to the sister missionaries, and all became friends. It was such an amazing day meeting all these girls preparing to serve the Lord! I loved going. I cannot wait for my mission