Viva Potosi!!

MAMASITA! I´m on top of the world! So you´ll never guess where I am.... POTOSI: Yup. We got our new companions last Thursday. I was talking with all of my friends, and was all... Yeah, I wanna go to Potosi way bad, but not during the winter. Bahahaha BIENVENIDOS POTOSI! My trainer (my mama) is so amazing. She is perfect for me. Her name is Hna Torres from Peru. She only has 3 weeks left before she goes home! So I´ll have two trainers. Interestante.  This internet is wayyyyyy slow.

I´m gonna do bullet points so I can go faster....
- My house is pretty ghetto.
- I washed my own clothes today!
- There is dog poop all over the street.
- It is normal to see a dead dog.
- We got to hike a mountain for P-day! Look up Cerro Rico on the internet. We took a bus halfway up with 30 missionaries... We lost two coming back down...
- The first photo is my comp.
- I miss the CCM and all of my friends... I had bad withdrawals the first couple days bc I became so close to them.

- I hardly ever know what’s going on... I just follow my trainer.

- An elder asked me today how long I had been out bc my spanish. I told him 5 days, and he was surprised at how good my spanish was. BOOYAH.
- I don’t think I´ll get to write everyone today. Please forward my email to everyone, and could you send it to Steph as well?
- It is absolutely FREEZING here. I sleep with leggings, wool socks, sweats, a long sleeve t-shirt, my Oregon hoodie, 5 comforters, and cling to one of those hot water bottles. It’s all good.
- This experience is so humbling. So many people have very little. It kills me. Their houses are so tiny.
- My pensionista is the best. She is teaching me Quechua and I´m teaching her English. She makes good food. It is mostly rice. Oh... and no cuenos (dont know how to spell that) yet.... Her family is THE BEST. I love her kids so much. We talk about movies and music and play chess.
- The kids here are amazing. They are the sweetest things ever. I love talking to them more than anyone else.
- Cholitas are everywhere.
- My zone is so cool. We had so much fun today hiking Cerro Rico.
- I got to go to the Cochabamba temple the night before I left! It is beautiful. I may not get to go back for 6 months. They say that once you are sent to Potosi, you stay in Potosi.
- Dad, I´m in the Andes right now! How crazy is that???
- Kayla! How are you? Is it summer yet???
- Kyle! How is being home!? Are you bored yet????
- My spanish is slowly progressing. I get most frustrated when I have something that I want to say, but I cannot say it in Spanish.
- Sorry my letters are always so scatterbrained. I get so excited to write you guys that my thoughts become loco.
- Mom! I love and miss you!
- Can you send me another SD card? I need one.

Mamasita! I am doing great. I have moments where I want to break down and cry, but they go away fast. I am freezing here, but it will all be okay. The worst part is washing my face at night. The water is FREEZING. Our shower is decent. It is pretty warm. I love it here. It is the craziest place that I have ever seen. Please send your package to the mission office. Look up the address online. And they say it shouldn’t weigh more than 4 pounds. Look up pictures of Potosi! I am in an area called San Martin.  Hills upon hills upon hills. And the air is super thin. President thanks me over and over again for being born in a high elevation  because  not very many hermanas can start  here because it is so hard. Don’t worry about me. I will be okay. Don’t send candy or food. I have plenty of food here. Send more wool socks.  And maybe another pair of thick leggings. They call leggings here cholita panties. HAHAHA Oh! Send me another long sleeve shirt. I am going to try to find some boots here.
You wanna know what’s so funny? My favorite thing that I brought with me?? Those stupid forty dollar freaking tights. Side note... all the missionaries here say freaking and fetch about a million times a day. Hahahaha
Oh! We got to see snow today! My favorite thing was having snowball fights with latinos who have never seen snow. So hilarious.
Did I tell you the crazy story about my journey to Bolivia???
We left the CCM at 7 pm last Monday. I was so sad. I cried, I´ll admit it. It was hard. We had a flight to La Paz that didn’t land until about 2 am. I thought of Grandma and Dad and Kirk the whole time I was in La Paz. Our next flight to Cochabamba didn’t leave until 7 am that Tuesday, so the church paid for us to have this weird hotel thingy in the airport. Everyone in my group was sick, so I let them all sleep while I watched their luggage with E. Noriega and Hma Webb. Those two are my best buds. We finally made it to Cochabamba at 8 am, and went right to the mission home, which is crazy nice. We had interviews and helped Hma Dyer out with some things, and finally got to go to the hotel and sleep at 5 pm. I went over 24 hours without sleep. Loco. It was so fun though. I had a blast with E. Noriega and Hna Webb.
Hm... What else can I tell you guys? Right now we pretty much teach less active members. We are teaching two young girls tonight who are less active. They are so cute. They love asking me about the states. I am also teaching some of the members English. It is fun.
How is everyone? I always have so much to say that I never get to read your letters. Dang gina....
My comp thought it was so weird that I didn’t know how to wash clothes by hand. She is so sweet and helped me. This really is a third world country and I sometimes have crazy culture shock. It is loco.
Please don’t forget to write Steph for me! I feel bad that I never get to write her.
Hey, so you should look up how high potosi is. No one can ever tell me, and I am curious.
Mom... I dont think you´d like Potosi. At all. I laugh every time I am in a crazy situation, because I think about how you would react.
I haven’t eaten all day. We haven’t had any time. I am STARVING. Oh geez. I have about 10 more minutes to write. What do you want to know? There are these crazy Bolivians next to me speaking very loud spanish while they play World of Warcraft. BAHAHA
I am doing good. I really was struggling my first days here. I was cold. I didnt understand anything. I am in this crazy place.  And I didn’t know everyone. And I really missed my friends. I was so surprised at how close I got to all of them.
But the past two days have been good. I am adjusting.  I am really learning how to remain positive in crappy situations.
OH! Did I tell you that I had to give a talk in spanish my last Sunday at the CCM? It was wild.
My house. It is pretty big. The kitchen is ghetto. We only use it to heat water. I have to go outside to get to my kitchen and my bathroom. We had to move our desks into our room because we were so cold while we were studying. We have a little space heater in there. The doors are all so much shorter than me. I have to duck through every one. It is safe mama. We have to pass through 5 doors, two of which require a key, to get to our house. So dont worry. The shower has such terrible water pressure. I makes me think of that Seinfeld episode.
Everyone just stares at me because I am so different than them. My companion laughs every time.
I have so many pictures that I want to send you and I can never choose which one. I wish you could just be here and see it! The mission has a huge learning curve... and sometimes it really stresses me out. I cannot wait until I am no longer new. I hate not being able to speak to others because everyone here is amazing. Okay, this is my last email. I love you!!! I’ll write next week if I dont freeze to death!

 

 

 

Bob Esponja!

MAMASITA!

Oh man... crazy.... I have SO MUCH to say, but I honestly cannot remember what has happened in the last 10 days. I have a Bolivian companion! Her name is Hma LLanos, and she is from Cochabama! I love her. She is the cutest thing ever. She is very quiet, but an awesome missionary. I had a hard time connecting with her for the first couple days, because I can only talk about so much in spanish, but we are really close now.

I GET TO SKYPE YOU GUYS AT 4:30 ON SATURDAY! That's 4:30. 4:30 Colombian time... For 30 minutes... Dont you dare forget. Hahaha...like mom would forget....

Hm.... we went proselyting today! It was my second time. It was awesome, but hard. We went to a more difficult area, and lots of people were rushing to work, so they didnt want to talk. I loved having a companion who spoke spanish, because I still have trouble understanding people on the street. They speak so fast and so quiet, and I am so much taller than them. Ugh. But it's all good. We had a lot of success. One old lady came up to me, telling me how beautiful I was. She was the cutest thing. She was talking for like 15 minutes about all her problems. My heart broke for her. I felt prompted to give her a LDM, and she said of course she would read it. I really hope she does!

Hm... Oh! I have some spanish words for you guys that I learned:

Muertos Caminandos

Bob Esponja Pantalones Cuadrados

Patricio

Calamardo

Al infinito a mas alla!

Look them up! My roommates taught me them bahahaha

OH! I have a cool experience to share with you guys. Hma Webb and I actually got to leave this week and teach the lady that we met on the street! Presidente said that normally people dont do that, but he let us! We drove about 40 minutes away in the CRAZY Bogota traffic to her house. Her name is Maria Luz Espinosa. We got to see some crazy parts of Bogota. It was cool. She is the sweetest lady, and she talked with us for like an hour. We honestly couldnt understand very much of what she was saying, but luckily one of the teachers came with us. It was awesome. We taught her about the LDM and invited her to be baptized. She said that we wanted to, but needed more time and more lessons. So no baptismal date, but she was still interested! I said the prayer, and felt the spirit in the room so strongly. And Hma Webb told her a story, and we all started tearing up. We did the swap with the elders in the area. They came when we were leaving and taught her more. She was so sad to say goodbye, and told us she would email us. I hope she gets baptized! She was so concerned with all the problems in the world. Cool cool experience.

So did I mention that I only have about 4 days left in the CCM? Uh....oh buddy. It is very bitter sweet. I am definitely excited to get to go out and do what I’ve been practicing, but I am also very very nervous. I need more espanol! And also I am going to miss all my friends here SO MUCH. They are my family. I have never had more fun in my life. It is going to be hard to say goodbye.

Hm... So I am in a district now with all latinos. I was very frustrating at first, because none of them would speak slow! But I understand more and more every day. And they all help. It’s great. And I am teaching them english as well. It is hilarious when they try to speak English. They are all cool.

At the beginning of this week, I felt like my brain was going to explode with all the Spanish. There was a day when I literally thought over and over in my head... I DONT WANT TO DO THIS.... But its all good now. It was just one of those bad days. But I love it again. I am learning to remain positive. Positivity is something that everyone needs more of in this world. And it has helped me so much when I have wanted to give up.

I'm going to send this one off, and read some of your letters. GET ONLINE!

LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!

Did I mention how excited I am for Saturday? Mom....no crying. I don’t want to cry in front of all my missionary friends here. Hahahahaha Mama... I'm sorry to do this to you, but I need some things.... Send them to Bolivia if you can. I need more of those little sockey things. Tan preferably. I also need those little flags that I put in my scriptures! I am lost without them! And colored sharpie pens. POR FAVOR! Let's see... Have I told you guys about gym time? It is my favorite. I get to run! I only run every other day, because my ankles start to ache. Yesterday I taught like 6 other missionaries P90X abs. it was so fun. Hahaha

Food. The usual. Lots and lots of rice and meat. But now I have a hma that takes the majority of my meat so I dont have to eat it. Booyah. We had hawaiian pizza the other day. Oh my lanta. The greatest thing ever. Seriously. They have dang good bbq sauce here, too. So that was pretty much the greatest day ever. BBQ pineapple pizza. Yes.

OH! When you put this on my blog, tell my friend Emily Blackhurst that I saw our friend Greg on an old devotional the other day! It was hilarious. Its always cool to see a familiar face.

Mama... you need to make a list of all the things we are going to talk about! Have questions! Are you guys going to put it on Keiths big tv? Bahahahaha

Kayla!  How are you? I am so excited to see you on Saturday. Is it summer there yet?? I am losing track of the days.... Its a time warp here...

Kyle! Good luck with your track meet! You will be a boss like always. When is it? Tomorrow?

DAD! I love you! How are you? Are you excited for Kyles track meet?

KEITH! Whats up? I think about you a lot. You kind of know how it is in a foreign CCM. Its crazy.

RHIANNON! I miss your food. I want apple dippers.

EMI! I hope mom is doing the ultimate tuck for you!

Love you all so so so much! I cannot wait to see you all on Saturday. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MAMA! Remember. 4:30 Bogota Time. You better have some good stories for me!

Hma Routsong

 

Bogota City

Mamasita!

Oh my gosh. I have SO MUCH TO SAY. I really really dont know how I''m going to say everything.
First of all.... we went proselyting for the first time ever on Saturday! Oh my lanta, was it a crazy experience. The city of Bogota is loco. We were really successful, but it is hard stepping out of your comfort zone to talk to everyone in a language that you dont know. I did have an awesome experience.  I felt this SUPER DISTINCT feeling that I needed to talk to a woman and her grandson, so we followed her but lost her. I was bummed. We went and talked to some other people, and when I turned around, there she was right in front of me! She is a golden investigator. She was super excited to hear what we had to say. I gave her a Liahona with a picture of the temple on it, and she was so excited. She wanted to go inside, and was asking all these questions about it. I actually understood what she was saying! We taught her for a couple minutes, and then she had to go. I am sad that I do not get to teach her, but I pray that she gets really good missionaries. It was the coolest experience of my life.

Second cool experience that literally happened 5 minutes ago.  We were just about to go and write our emails when presidente pulls us out in the hall. Remember that woman that we met through the fence?  Our first contact? Did I tell you about that? Well she was here tonight, getting ready to be taught by the missionaries, and she wanted to say hi! So we went to talk to her. The full time missionaries who were supposed to teach her didnt show up! So presidente gave us permission to go teach her at her house sometime this week!  Holy Hannah. So COOL! These two experiences really have proved to me that Heavenly Father prepares people for us to meet. It is an amazing thing. I dont even feel like I do anything.

Hm.... OH! We went on a Bogota City tour today! It was amazing. Seeing Bogota in real life is unreal. We went to an Aztec Gold museum, some tiendas, and then got to ride this crazy train thing up to the top of the mountains! There is a catholic church at the top that we got to go visit. It is BEAUTIFUL here. I wish you could see it. Oh my goodness. I took lots of pictures for you guys. We went to some shops at the top, and I got you guys some things. But I probably won’t send them now.  Yeah, our city tour was amazing. We almost wrecked in our van about a million times. The driving is completely nuts here. But I got to see so much of Bogota.

KAYLA! How was your birthday? What did you end up doing????? I cannot believe you are so old now. Tell me all about it!

KYLE! I have been thinking a lot about you this past week. I loved the scripture that you sent me in your email. Now I have one for you. 2 Nefi 22. Read it carefully. It is one of my favorite scriptures when I am feeling discouraged or down. Tell me what you think about it.

MAMA! Did Stanley ever get his mission call?

DAD! I wish you could see Bogota. It is incredible. So beautiful and you would absolutely love it. I told my roommates about your Brazil poop shoe experience. They all laughed.

KEITH! Today was my first time ever going to the bathroom and not flushing my toilet paper down the toilet. I thought you’d want to know. hahahahah It is way crazy. We can flush it here in the CCM, but I used the bathroom in dowtown Bogota. I dont know why, but I felt like telling you that.

RHIANNON! How are finals? Are you having my niece yet? Bahahahahaha How is work? When are you guys finished?

OH! I just found out like 30 minutes ago where my new companion is from! We all get latino companions tomorrow, which will be awesome. I cannot wait to learn more spanish. I am sad that my district will be split, but I am excited to learn more. MY NEW COMPANION IS FROM BOLIVIA! I am the only sister who will have a Bolivian companion. I am STOKED.

MOM! Did you send me your skype name so I can call you? I dont remember if you did. Please send it to me again in a separate account.

KAYLA! Two things: Remember how I told you that One Direction was here? Well our driver that drove us to the temple told us that he was the one that drove them from the airport! So we saw the van that One Direction was in. Crazy, huh?  Also. There are nuns everywhere here.  I think of you and Tiff every single time I see one, and start cracking up.

MERNZ. I really really  really miss you. I was thinking about you today, and how much I miss your cookies.
STEPH! How is the MTC? I absolutely never have time to read your emails (or anyone else's for that matter).
We got sandwiches and doritos for dinner! We were so excited. For dinners, they always try to give us some variety of american food. They do a pretty good job at replicating it, but sometimes they fail. The spaghetti they make is NASTY. It makes me feel sick for days. But today was good! Last week they gave us the BEST pineapple pizza ever. I loved it. 

I don’t think I am gaining too much weight. I run every other day. It is the best. I have a few running buddies here... Hma Crawford and Elder Figueroa. It is cool. 

Hm... I always forget all the things that I want to tell you guys. It stinks. I know I am forgetting something. 
How is everyone there? I absolutely love getting pictures from you guys. It is the best, so keep them coming! How is the family? How is grandma? When do you guys leave for Utah? I cannot wait to see your faces. I was out of my mind excited when I heard that you would be in Utah together. How is Kyle? I think about him a lot. How is Julie? 
We are cheating and going over time... no one is here. The CCM is literally EMPTY. THere are 19 Nortes here. That's it! Drastically different from the MTC, I'm sure. Every day I am still amazed at how fortunate I am that I was sent to this CCM. It is the best place for me. It is like my own family. I miss you guys, but I have a new family here.
Oh! Tell Emilee that I took a picture of the minion taxis. I will send it if I have time. They are hilarious. 
Did you look up pictures of Bogota and see how crazy it is? We saw people everywhere sleeping on the streets. So sad. Look up a picture of the temple, too! 
Is Mother’s Day this Sunday? If it is, then FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE! I love you so much. Thank you for all that you do for me. You are the best example to me. 
Advice for everyone: Remember to read the Book of Mormon every single day. There is power that comes to your life when you read it. Even if it’s  just a few verses a day. READ IT! I get an hour every morning to read. I’m hoping to finish in English this week and start with spanish.

I LOVE YOU! I MAY be able to send one more real quick. 

Amor, Hma Routsong

 

One Direction, Hormigas, Panic Attacks, and Investigadores

Mi mamasita!!!!!!
Oh geez. It feels like forever since I've written you! 10 whole days! I only have an hour to write today, so this will be pretty hectic and scatterbrained as I figure out all the things that I want to tell you guys.

Okay. First thing is for Kayla. KAYLA. Imma make you real jealous right now. We were literally 5 blocks away from the One Direction Bogota concert. Did you hear about it???? We were outside at like 6 pm, and heard all of these screaming girls. During out silent Libro de Mormon study, all we could here was One Direction music and thousands of screaming girls. It was REALLY hard to focus. I wanted to write you and tell you! It was hilarious. Maestro Herrera kept saying THEY ARE FOR CHICAS!~Bahahahah So yeah, Im in Bogota, studying LDM and listening to One Direction live. I thought you would like to hear that. 

OH! And KAYLA! HAPPY FREAKING BIRTHDAY! I know its tomorrow, so youll have to forgive me. What are you going to do????? Eat lots of salted caramel icecream for me. I cannot believe you are going to be 16! Wow.

Speaking of birthdays. I AM TWENTY TWO YEARS old. Uhhhhhh what?

So yes, I have a funny story about my birthday. The previous day we listened to this talk about being more selfless, and so I thought that my birthday would be the perfect day. And it was even better because NO ONE remembered. It was a really cool experience because on the day that was dedicated to me, I wasnt thinking about myself. It is not my 18 months, it is the Lord's 18 months. I had to keep reminding myself that it was my birthday. It was a normal day... until right before dinner when my district and I were studying outside. Some guys in my district were singing Feeling 22, and I started laughing to myself. Then, Hma Morey jumps up and goes HERMANA! IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY! Everyone freaked out. Pretty much I got sang Happy Birthday to for the rest of the night by EVERYONE. It was funny. They all wrote me a card. It was sweet. Hma Dyer came in with a letter for me, and I read that and the stuff in my package that you sent in my suitcase. Okay, I havent cried because I miss you guys until that moment. I was SO grateful that she let you guys email me and print them off. It made my WHOLE DAY. Seriously. I felt so loved. Thank you so much. Oh. Today is pday, and the entire CCM sang to me during lunch in THREE different languages. It was cool. I love this group of latinos just as much as I love the last one. We even had icecream cake! Not as good as the one that Keith and Rhiannon always get me, but still pretty dang good. It was definitely a different birthday, but I will never forget it. 

Hm..... OH! Dad. One night for dinner, they had these really giant croissant sandwiches with jelly inside. They were good EXCEPT...they left them out all day. So literally you would tear open this croissant, and there would be ants INSIDE. Sick nasty. However,everyone was yelling EAT IT! So yeah, I ate a croissant jelly hormiga sandwich. I ate a LIVE ant. How is that for some craziness. So now we always check for ants in our food. Definitely different than the MTC in Provo! 

OH! Hma Webb and I got our first REAL contact! We were walking around outside (inside the fence, mama) and said hi to a lady on the other side. She called us over and started talking (in really fast spanish). We were so excited and got to know her a little bit and even got her phone number! It made my whole life. I love sharing this gospel with the people of South America. We get to legitimately leave the CCM and go proselyting TOMORROW! Ah, its gonna be awesome. 

Elder Wadel of the 70 came and spoke to us one day this week! It was awesome. We got to listen in English, which was nice. Although I probably didnt need it. I am getting dang good at understanding what everyone says. Yeahh. Sweet. 

I am getting better at speaking, too. The different verb conjugations are finally starting to click in my head. It is awesome. It is still frustrating, but it is getting better.

The CCM is hard, and yet it is the MOST FUN ever. I LOVE everyone in my district. They are the coolest. 

When I say hard, I mean hard. I had my first panic attack in my life last week. It was a really hard day. Being a perfectionist is impossible on the mission. Your brain will explode. My brain exploded, and it was sad. But Heavenly Father blesses me even more. I just need to understand that I am not going to be perfect ever. Everything came so easy before, but now it is hard work to be translating spanish 24-7 and trying to do your best each minute. Dont worry, mom. I am fine now. It was a good learning experience for me. Plus, I am learning to talk about my feelings. Gross, but really good for me. I stink at talking about myself. 

Another thing that is being tried on my mission? MY BLADDER. Oh geez. Sweet mercy, it's hard. But I am getting better at the whole mind over body thing. If you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, you have to take your companion. And I dont like to do that. Its all good. TODO BIEN! 

Did I tell you about the CUTEST group of little Colombian young women girls that Hma Webb and I talked to for about 30 minutes outside temple? Oh my lanta. I loved them so much. They talked SO FAST! But they were telling us about how they wanted to go on missions when they were old enough. They wanted to be facebook friends. So if you get random colombian friend requests from them on my facebook, add them. They were showing us Colombian pesos, and I showed them all the pictures on the quarters. They loved the Colorado quarter. So we traded. They were so stinking cute. I am so excited to meet the kids of Bolivia.

Hm... OH! Did I tell you that the ONLY bugs that they have here (other than ants) are BEASTS. Yup. My least favorite things on the planet. And they are EVERYWHERE. And they are bigger than the ones in Colorado. I'm learning to deal with them.

Hm.... I am forgetting all the things that I wanted to say.....

This gospel is so cool. I am learning so much, and I feel the Spirit constantly. It is amazing. My favorite days are temple days. I always have amazing experiences in the Celestial Room. Please remember how much Heavenly Father loves and cares for you. He answers my prayers every single day... even the littlest ones. Its fantastic. 

Mom! I got your package! It was amazing, because I got it on the day that has been the hardest one Ive had. I didnt get to tell you before you sent it that my camera is working fine now. SORRY! But I really appreciate the cord. I dont have to borrow one now. And my birthday package: I shared the chocolate with my district and EVERONE LOVED IT! Mmmmmm...... 

Mom! Did you freak out when you got my email about mother's day? You shouldve seen my district when they told us. We FREAKED OUT! I am so excited. By then, I will be with my new latin companion. It will be cool. Did you find out my skype email and password? I NEED IT! Please send it to my by this Tuesday (my next PDAY!) 

 

BIRTHDAYS! 

Happy Birthday to:

RHIANNON!
STEPHANIE FERWEDA!
KAY MAY!
EMILY NASH! 

Sorry if I forgot one.... I dont have my list with me. But I LOVE YOU ALL!

Okay, I'm gonna try to send more pictures now. I'll write once more before I get off. 

LOVE YOU MAMA
Hermana Routsong