Monday, March 27, 2017

So I have no time to write this week sorry! But the most interesting thing is I've got a new companion!!!
Her name is Hermana Mamán and she is from Argentina! Corientes, Argentina. But she was born in Buenos Aires. Super cool! She is the sweetest person ever and she has spent the first 6 months of her mission in Tarija. This is her first time in Santa Cruz! We have been getting along great and I think  this cambio is gonna be great.
I decorated my new agenda and its really cute!
hna Cluff is actually now with hna Maman's last companion in Tarija. We switched! I think hna Cluff is really liking her new area too. It sounds perfect for her.
Anyways, we've got some really great investigators.  I'm really excited for and the bishop and the ward have been incredibly helpful and awesome lately. We had a Relief Society activity this week and the General Women's Conference and its all been super fun.
That's all really have time right now
Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Love and Luck from Bolivia
<3 Hermana Brown

(Hermana Café/Hermana Brownie)

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Alright, so not much happened this week.
But here are a few short and interesting things:
Trial Witnesses:
So we were walking just to another appointment and I had taken the long way because I was guiding us (to practice knowing the area) and that was the way I knew, and in the street one of our investigators who we haven't seen him or his family in a while after we got a phone call saying they couldn't make it to one of our appointments, walks up to us he starts talking to us all serious and stuff (hes a bit hard to understand so I didn't understand everything immediately and confirmed what I understood with my companion later) that basically the wife left with the kids about crazy claims to him being an abusive husband,  but the guy, he is seriously always been super nice and really a spiritual guy. So he was asking us basically to be witnesses in a trial for him. But 1) we are definitely not allowed to do that and B) even if we could testify we would not hold any convincing testimony because we only visited with them like 3 times. Anyways, that was just something interesting that happened.
Decapitation:
So a few days ago we were leaving the house in the morning and discovered not one but TWO decapitated bird heads on our patio on our third floor apartment that no cat could have really gotten to. The bodies were nowhere to be seen, only one splat of blood as evidence. So that was a pretty horrifying start to our day. They are still there. I don't think either of us knows how to deal with them. But that's pretty exciting.
Completing My Training:
So Wednesday's the day, we've got INTER CAMBIOS. or transfers in English (I think?) I finish my training and most likely I'm going to stay here and Hermana Cluff will leave. I might also train who knows? I'm kinda nervous but I know whatever the Lord asks of me, He will provide a way for me to accomplish it. So we find out all that info tomorrow. I'm not sure if my Spanish is strong enough yet or if I can answer people's questions well enough yet, but I know I have seen a lot of miracles here already and I know that with the Lords help I can do it. Also last  week I hit 4 MONTHS in my mission! This next Sunday will be 3 months in Bolivia. So that's pretty crazy.
I've also been studying in Mosiah in my Book of Mormon and in Genesis in my Bible and the stories of King Benjamin and Zeniff and Joseph(and his techicolor dream coat) are all super great! I love the Scriptures!
I hope everyone will take this challenge to read their scriptures this week! I promise for each day you do, your day will be more successful and happy!
Good Luck!
Love and Luck from Bolivia
<3 Hermana Brown


P.S. Here are some photos from Starbucks and Johnny rockets a few weeks ago and also a pic of us trying to take a picture in a mor´tor taxi. A taxi that's a motorcycle driven and very small and exciting to ride in. Oh,




also horses just on the side of the street in the middle of town.​

Monday, March 13, 2017

6 Baptism Dates!!

Alright, so here's the last two weeks news since I didn't have time last week.
CARNAVAL EVENTS
We literally just stayed in the house all 3 days. BUT I got all my personal projects done! Which was great! Including hemming pants and shirts making a hymn number reference in my little hymnario and organizing all my stuff. We also deep cleaned the house till it was sparkling!" We watched a lot of church movies and MOANA which I think is tied with Tangled to be my favorite princess movie now. I also hung up the primary sign they sent me and I love it!!!  It was a fun time. Me and H Cluff made crepes and chocolate chip pancakes and stir fry and a member brought us pizza and soda which was so nice! It was fun but it was really great to get outside and working again too.



Baptisms
The other misieras in our ward baptized a beautiful young family this Friday and it was amazing. Also me and H Cluff have 6 PEOPLE WITH baptismal dates!! A family of a taxista who we had lost our phone in his taxi  but he miraculously brought it back to us and happened to be in our area and so we started teaching him and his wife and daughter and they have been to church 2 times now and have a baptism date and they are just pretty great so far. The wife actually bore her testimony on fast Sunday haaha. There have been a lot of miracles this week and last and me and hermana Cluff are really motivated to work super hard this last week before cambios where H Cluff will probably leave and I will finish my training!
Quien Soy?
So to practice contacting people and to speak Spanish more conversationally me and H Cluff started doing this game while we walk where one person has to answer questions as a character and the other person has to figure out who they are. So QUIEN SOY? (who am i) and its been really fun and good practice!
I have improved a lot in my Spanish and that alone is a miracle in itself.
Chipiu
An honorary mention to my new favorite snack(they are like fried banana chips?) They are really good and a while back we had fresh ones made by a member mom and we were walking on a hot day past this house and this mom runs out brandishing a bag of her fresh chipiu triumphantly and gave it to us out of nowhere and then she was gone as quick as she came. It was a beautiful miracle and tender mercy. It was also delicious.
Also a pic of a house that reminds me of Indiana Jones.
okay here are some pics and stuff I hope everyone has a great week!
LOVE AND LUCK FROM BOLIVIA

-Hermana Brown

Monday, March 6, 2017

Good Shoes

We heard a lot of opinions and warnings about carnaval, and from our third floor apartment we heard a LOT of fiestas but the street was pretty calm mostly. We saw one car completely covered in mud though. People will do that to their car apparently so that the paint people throw will wash off.
All that we have to cook is a blender, a George Foreman panini thing (which we use as our toaster) a pot a pan a spatula and a stove top hot plates thing--oh and a water boiler thing.
We bought waterproofing spray and I used that on my new shoes so they will stay nice longer. They are good shoes.

Our district leader called us later that day and told us we were on the front page of lds.org! I'm glad you saw it cuz I wanted to tell you about it. That's embarrassing that it was up on the projector in Gospel Doctrine, the pics ...alright..,. but that's still cool- yes the other hermanas from the ccm are sitting behind us, I believe

South America's cool, but very different. My favorite things  I actually really like are yogurt and chocolate cereal (all the yogurt is drinkable kind like danimals?) and selling licenses aren't really a thing so people sell homeade food in the street or in front of their front gates all the time and me and my companion have our favorite Emapanda Lady that sells in front of the local school everyday and she is our friend now and the last two times shes given us a free extra emanada when we buy our usual two (with cheese and sugar which sounds weird but is really good). I  love our pencenista!  Her and her family are very kind and she makes the best food! I love how recently we've had a lot of rain.

Life sounds so exciting at home!!! You can do whatever you want any day really! I mean, its exciting here too but we basically know what everyday is gonna be like. ha ha. I'm TRYING to speak Spanish ha ha. At first it felt really really lonely but Ive gotten more accustomed since a couple moths ago and its really cool to be involved in a culture that's so different and its fun to learn how to make jokes in a different language. Me and this other hermana in the other area in our ward have this joke where we always ask each other "quiere luchar?" ("you want to fight?) es un chiste no mas. ha ha I miss Harvey and Trixie a lot too!