I Got My Pictures Back!

So one of my friends here was so nice as to spend like 2 hours recuperating my 700 photos for me. I was so happy. So I finally have my pictures from the infamous mina de Cerro Rico! I will try to attach as many as I can.

What is new with all of you? I hope that you all had a great week!

My week was awesome! I really don’t even remember what I did actually. The days are starting to move a lot faster. It is crazy that it is already pday again. Hna Francia and I have just been working hard. We have been focusing on finding new people to teach. We found a lot of old investigators this past week. We also had kioskos! We stand in a market with this big banner, and contact all afternoon. It was my first time. I felt like a salesman! But it was fun. I liked it. And we found some cool new people to teach.

Hm..... Honestly cannot remember much of this week. It went by like a blur. I am exhausted every single night.

OH! I convinced my comp to go running with me in the morning! We go every other morning.... for 10  minutes.... hahaha. That is all she can handle. But I am happy about it!

We have been working with a girl named Valeria. Her baptismal date is the 13 of September. She is a sweetheart, and I am so excited for her. Her faith is incredible. We also have another little boy who is preparing for his baptism. He is so cute. We watched a video about Jesus Christ, and he was so captivated by it! He literally was asking a million questions. I have never seen an 8 year old so interested in churchy things.

OH! I will share one thing I learned from my scripture study. I was reading in a manual about Ether. Sometimes we have doubts, but Ether had no doubts whatsoever. We need to work to have the faith of Ether. We need to believe that Heavenly Father can literally do EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING for us. He can move mountains for us. He can help me learn spanish. He can change people´s lives. He is all powerful. We need to believe. It is so hard for me sometimes. And sometimes I get really scared....especially when I have to teach sunday school in spanish.... but when I learn to have the faith of Ether, He can help me.

Did that all make sense? I hope so. So I want you all to work on having more faith in the Lord this week, because He really can and will do anything for us. We can walk on water with this type of faith.

I love you all so much. Never let your faith diminish. Always trust in the Lord and His plan for each of us. If He can help me, He can help you.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hna Routsong

 

Only the True Hipsters Live in Potosi

MAMASITA! FAMILIA!

How are you all???? I am doing great! This week has been really good! REALLY COLD! But really good! It SNOWED YESTERDAY! Yup. We were proselyting in the snow. I never thought that I would be proselyting in the snow in SOUTH AMERICA! It is crazy. But everyone here says that after it snows, then it starts to get warm. So hopefully this week is warmer!

Enough about the weather.... WE HAD A BAPTISM! Yup. Her name is Ruth Ilafaya, and she is truly incredible. Her baptism was very special, and I will never forget the testimony that she bore. She will always be one of my favorite people.

We actually didn’t think her baptism would happen..... she was 2 hours late! She had to travel that day, and had troubles on the way back in her bus. It was bad... everyone was waiting in the chapel. But they were all very nice, and waited for her to arrive. Our ward is so great. They are all very supportive. Any how, she showed up and all went smoothly after that.  It was a great day. I wish you could meet Ruth. She has such a strong testimony, and we only met her like 4 weeks ago!

What else is new?

Oh,Yesterday.  I ate so much that I literally wanted to throw up. And you all know me, I HATE THROWING UP. But when we eat with the members, they always give us literally MOUNTAINS OF FOOD. It was a mountain of pasta. I am still recovering today. Hahahahaha

Hm..... Oh. I started reading Jesus the Christ today! Man, that book is way cool. I hope you all have read it. It is truly amazing, and i am so looking forward to learning more about my Savior.

I also have been studying a lot about putting on the whole armour of God for one of my investigators.  It is in Ephesians 6. You should all read it again, and really think about how you can all have more power to combat the powers of Satan when you have these things in your life. It helped me to teach just how important prayer, the scriptures, and faith are in our lives. I was especially thinking of Kayla as I read these verses.

How are all of you? I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT EMI IS IN KINDERGARTEN! That blows my whole mind. How does she like it???

STEPHANIE FERWEDA! There is an elder in my zone who knows who Krispy Kreme is. We have been quoting it ever since. It makes me miss you and Lysje. YOU ARE THE BADDEST OF THEM ALL!

Kayla. How is school? Is it pwning you? Are you going to seminary?

Mom. Are you sad that Emi is in school? Or is it nice to have the mornings to work?

Dad. What classes are you teaching this year? How is the team doing?

COACH KYLE! How is the coaching going? How are your papers? Keith and Rhiannon! What's up? How is BYU? When do classes start again?

I am going to send this one off, and read yours! I love you all!

1.Hipsters with Ariel

2. Daphne

3. Ruth's Baptism

4. Ruth

5. Goofing around

 

CHIAVENA! I'm probably gonna have green hair by the time I get home.......

FAMILY! I´m here! POTOSI FOR LIFE! Yup. I didn´t get transferred... and I was so so happy. I´ll be in Potosi for about 2 more months. And I didn´t even get a new companion! Which I am also way happy about, bc I love Hna Francia. She is so great. So yeah. I think I´ll die in Potosi. I´ll be here forever. But that´s okay, because we are working with some cool families.

I always write in lists because I hate typing so much...

- It is finally getting warm here! It feels like spring. But it also is starting to rain more....

- We found an awesome lady in our ward that has a washing machine! So today was the first day of my mission that I didn´t have to wash my garments. I was happy.

- Yesterday, for our cambios, we had a fiesta de cereales! A CEREAL PARTY! It reminded me of all my cereal parties with Steph and Jefe. It was way fun. We ate cereal with yogurt, ICECREAM, and milk. It was way fun. I was so nervous for cambios, but it all turned out okay. I had SO MUCH ENERGY after because I ate so much cereal because I was so nervous! hahahaha

- I GOT ALL MY PICTURES BACK! I had to pay 50 bs for them, but it´s all good. So I will try to send pictures of THE MINE!

- I HAVE MY OWN PORO! So my comp and I are going to start making maté in the mornings for breakfast.

- WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY! Her name is Ruth. She is amazing. I love her so much. She is 19 years old, and 3 months pregnant. She has been so prepared by the Lord. I didn´t even have to do anything. She already had so much faith. We are really excited.

- I wanted to share something that I learned in companionship study. So my companion and I are always searching for scriptures about the pure in heart. It says in the scriptures that the pure in heart shall see Heavenly Father. Well we found in a church manual something that has changed my life forever. I understand what it means now! If you have a pure heart, and are doing all that Heavenly Father wants you to do, you can see the face of God every single day. You don´t have to wait until the next life. If you truly have a pure heart, you will see the face of God in all things. I can see the face of my Heavenly Father in my investigators and the people here. Only those who are truly looking and have a clean heart can see the beauty of Heavenly Father all around them. Cool, huh?????

- We are teaching this awesome family, la familia Mitchel. The mom is a less active member, and only the son is active. The rest of the family hasn´t been baptized. Right now, we are focusing on teaching their teenage son, Raphael. He is way cool. This family is so amazing, I wish you guys could meet them. Their dad is deaf, and they are learning sign language so that they can communicate them. He was struck by lightning! So after his accident, their family really became close, and they are such a strong family. They do everything together. They remind me of the goal that I had before my mission.... I want to help families to be together forever. I want to help this family to be together forever.

- Today, we just had a free pday. We did´t have any plans with our zone, but we ended up eating lunch with some elders. It was fun. We also bought a BUNCH of oatmeal and cereal to eat. MOM. You should look for CHIAVENA in the States. Mom. It is SO GOOD. It is oatmeal with chia. It is my favorite breakfast now. I eat it with yogurt, raisins, bananas, and oranges. IT IS SO GOOD. My companion and I are obsessed with it. I´ll probably start sprouting green hairs eventually, but I DON¨T CARE! I LOVE IT! Yeah... it´s weird... I eat chia pets for breakfast.... but you gotta try it.....

I really don´t remember what else happened this week. It went by so fast! OH! I hit my 4-month mark! Can you believe that??????????? I have been gone for FOUR WHOLE MONTHS! It is so so bizarre.

How is the family doing? How is my mama doing??? I hope everyone is doing okay! I am doing great. I am healthy... thanks to chiavena! Hahahahahahahah

The first picture is of my zone. About 5 of them will be leaving tomorrow thanks to transfers.

The second picture is from Dia de Bolivia! It is like their 4th of July. There were parades and everything. It was cool.

So yeah. Mom and dad, you can breathe. I wasn´t transferred. Absolutely NOTHING changed, and that is cool with me. I love my ward.

I´m gonna send this one off so I can read some of your letters!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hna Routsong or as everyone here says "Hna Zoutsong".... weird.....

1. My Zone
2. Dia de Bolivia
3. Rodrigo! One of my good friends
4. Belen she wants to be a missionary
5. Relief Society Activity
6. Bumblebee in Potosi!
7. Cereal Party for Cambios

El Tio

FAMILIA! How are you all??????????

I had a great week. I hope you all did, too! This week, we have been working a lot with families. We met a sweet girl named Ruth. She is amazing. Truly amazing. We have been teaching her every day this week, and her faith is truly amazing. She told us how she had been praying for a change in her life, and when we showed up at her house, she knew that we were there to help her change. She is 18 and is married and expecting a baby. I love her so much. She came to church, too! Her baptism is for the 15th of AGO. But she already has the strongest testimony that I have ever seen.

We have also been working with a less active family in our ward. The familia Rojas. The parents are great and strong in the church, but their daughters have had some problems in the past with other members, so they stopped going. When we first met them, they barely said two words to us. But we have been reading the Book of Mormon every day with them as a family. Over the past month, I have seen such a change in them. It is amazing. We had set a date for them to come back to church. That date was this past Sunday. AND THEY CAME! It brought such great joy to my heart to see their whole family sitting in church together. That is really why I am here. To help families be together forever. The only way we can be together forever as a family is through this church.

So I learned from this experience the great power that the Book of Mormon has, especially when you read it with your family. I hope you are all still reading together and praying together. I know that the Book of Mormon can change live.

Anyways, today was also a great day. We toured the MINE! It was incredible, and the coolest thing ever. I HAD the coolest pictures, but this stupid computer deleted them all..... I am going to try and get that member to recuperate them again. It was a sad moment. I wanted you guys to see The Tio!

So the mine is crazy. I SAW THE TIO. They worship this devil statue whom they call Tio (uncle in Spanish), and it is so crazy. There is probably a picture of it on the internet. They bring him alcohol and cigarettes so that he will bless them with luck in the mine. Eventhough they worship the devil, I have such respect for these men. We met a 75-year-old man in there who has been working for 25 years in the mine. It would be the worst job ever. You work all alone. It is so dark and smells so bad. You work for 13 or more hours a day. And it is so tiny in there. I had to crouch down the entire time. And you have to walk in water the whole time. Nasty. The old man was just working away in this little cave. It was incredible. So sad. The mine is crazy. Hopefully next Monday I will be able to send you photos!

What else???

- Oh! It is getting warmer here! I am way way happy about that.

- I HAD A DREAM THAT RHIANNON WAS PREGNANT! Is it true??????

- Mom. My hands are fine. I sleep with one of those hot water bottles at night, and a couple times I spilled hot water on my hands. It´s all good. I just have some burn marks.

 

- This Sunday is cambios. I honestly don´t know where I will be next time I write you. I could stay here for another transfer, I could leave. I could have a new companion. I could be a trainer! Oh gosh..... I am SO NOT READY TO TRAIN. I am still a noob! But I finish my training this week, and you can train right after your own training.... oh my lanta....... We shall see. I don´t want a new companion yet, and I don´t want to leave Potosi yet. I LOVE my ward and I LOVE my companion! Yikes... we´ll find out Sunday night.....

- We have been going to seminary a couple times a week bc investigators sometimes come. One of our investigators went this past Friday! Her name is Miriam, and she is so cool. Can you actually believe that I miss seminary when I go? Crazy...

Yeah... so other than losing all my pictures, life is way good. I am definitely getting more comfortable with mission life. I absolutely love my ward.

My companion and I have been practicing the lessons more. She swears on her life that I am going to train someone this next transfer.... holy... I am so not ready......

I´ll let you guys know this next Monday!

How are you all? Is summer over yet? When does school start?

I´m going to send this one off, and read your letters. I LOVE YOU!

Hna Routsong