Come and See!

FAMILY! FAMILIA! CÒMO ESTAN??????

How are you all????? How was your week???? Mine was good, but kind of hard. We have been searching and searching for people to teach, but the hard thing is that when we come back to teach them, they are NEVER IN THEIR HOUSES. Bolivians..... We have found some AMAZING PEOPLE! But they are never home. Saturday was one of the hardest days of my mission. We were really excited, because we had a day FULL of appointments with some really great people, but literally every single one of our appointments fell through. We ended up knocking doors and walking from house to house the entire day. I really just wanted to sit down on the curb and cry. I didn`t come on my mission to just walk around on the street. And I have been trying really really hard to be exactly obedient, but we still have no one. That night, we visited my convert, Valeria, who I haven’t seen in awhile. We taught her lesson 3, and seeing her faith and her knowledge of the gospel turned my entire day around. I finally understand that phrase that dad always tells me. HOW GREAT WILL BE YOUR JOY. Yes, we have very few people who are actually progressing. However, Valeria is my light in the darkness. I can find joy in my heart knowing that I have helped someone.

What else is new? Hmmmm.......

- We only have TWO WEEKS LEFT UNTIL CAMBIOS. Wut...... I am seriously nervous. I have no idea where I will be. And I know it will be so hard to leave my first area.

- WE ARE GOING TO UYUNI! Okay, I want you to stop reading this, and go look up photos of Uyuni RIGHT NOW so you will understand just how excited I am. We finally got permission from president to go. He is very proud of our zone, and so he said that we could go. We are going next Monday! I have never been so excited in my whole life. It is about 4 hours away, and it is the coolest place ever. MOM! I may not write you next week on Monday, because we will be traveling all day, but we will probably write on Tuesday. SO DONT FREAK OUT IF YOU DONT HEAR FROM ME. I will be in UYUNI UYUNI UYUNI! But we will write Tuesday... I think......

- KAYLA! I was talking to Valeria about you, and she says that she really wants to meet you. So you have to convince mom to let you come.

- Today I was reading in Jesus the Christ about His disciples. I love His invitation to His disciples to COME AND SEE. This should be all of our goals in life. If we really want to be true disciples of Christ, we need to come and see. We need to look for Him in our lives. We need to see His hand in everything that we do. We need to do our part to learn of Him. So I hope you all Come and See the miracles that He can do in your lives.

- We had service again this week at a school where we helped kids practice their english. It was so fun.

- I realized this week just how much I am going to miss all of the people here. I hope president lets me stay one more transfer.

I feel like I have other stuff to tell you guys, but I cannot remember. This week should be better. I am excited to teach a lady named Lucero this week. She is super cool, and I really think she will get baptized. I learned this week that you just have to keep working even when no one wants to listen to you. It is hard, but that’s just the way it is.

GOODBYE! I AM GOING TO GO EAT SOME SALTEÑAS!

LOVE YOU ALL

HNA ROUTSONG

Our Area

My Convert Noelia

Potosi

Some days are hard

Kayla.... Big Time Rush!

Valerie and Meredi

My life in front of the heater

This is why there are so many drunk people here

Tinkui

Pie de Pina

Kayla... When I feel sad I wear your elephant necklace

 

Sacapuntas!!!

I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT IT IS OCTOBER. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I HAVE 6 DANG MONTHS IN THE MISSION! Wut.......

How are you all?????
My week was great!

- ELECCIONES..... Elections were yesterday, so we were locked in our house for the WHOLE DANG DAY. I thought that I would like the break, but it was soooo boring. I studied most of the day. I slept for a little while, and we watched Ephraim´s Rescue. I was kind of disappointed because we couldn’t go to church, and I wanted to invite so many people.... dang EVO..... But the good part was that we could eat whatever we wanted to! We made fruit salad for breakfast, and then TACOS for lunch! I was happy about that. TACO TIME!

- Nothing too exciting happened this week. We have just been looking for a lot of new people to teach. We don’t really have anyone progressing. It was frustrating this week, because it seemed like every night around 6pm, all of our appointments fell through. I was irritated. I don’t like knocking doors at night. I want to teach people! But it is okay, I think Heavenly Father is just testing my patience and obedience. But we have found some really awesome people this week, so I am happy.

- The weather here is turning really crazy. It will be BLAZING HOT during the morning, but then FREEZING COLD at night. And freaking Potosi is changing me, because I am no longer used to the heat. I die every morning walking in the heat. I look forward to the cold at night. HOW WEIRD. I feel like Kayla hahahah. I don’t know what i am going to do if I get sent to Cochabamba. My comp tells me that it is so dang hot there during the summer. Oh no.... hahahaha

- KYLE! I have a talk for you to read. It is called His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox. I was listening to it one morning, and I thought of you. READ IT!

- I also found a new favorite scripture this morning. Read job 23:10. The Lord knows what it takes for us to be made into GOLD. We need to trust in His plan. We are going to have trials that will mold us into who we need to become, but one day, we will live with Heavenly Father.

- I was learning more about Ephraim Hanks this week. I love that guy. I want to be like him. I was wondering how I could have more power as a missionary, like the power that he had. Then I realized.... exact obedience brings power. I have heard so many sad stories of missionaries here that are being macaneros. I want to be exactly obedient so that I can have power to help these people who I know here. That is what it takes. Faith and obedience.

- I also realized this week how time is flying so fast. I was looking at my pictures from the CCM yesterday (I look so old now!) and realized just how fast time flies. I really need to take advantage of this time. This is the only time that I will ever have in my whole life to dedicate my time to learning every possible thing I can. I want to learn everything!

- Two people I want to tell you about that we found this week that I know will get baptized. Lucero and Nicolas.  They are so cool. Lucero is this single woman who is so nice and kind. I am so excited to see how she progresses. Nicolas is about my age, and is awesome. We gave him a BOM and he told us that he was excited to read it and learn what it had to say. It made me happy.

- Nothing else really to say. I feel a little frustrated because we don’t have anyone progressing. But I need to remember that I am at least planting seeds.

- OCTOBER! What are you all going to do for Halloween aka my FAVORITE HOLIDAY! I hope you all go to a haunted house for me.

- STANLEY IS IN THE CCM! Have you all heard from him? How is he doing?

I love you all! I am looking forward to reading all of your letters!

LOVE

HNA ROUTSONG
Fotos....
Yes. I got to hold a baby lamb.

No. I did not eat that... it was disgusting. They even make brownies out of jello! What the freak is with everyone and jello here? hahahah A really nice lady gave it to us, but it looked like a sponge. NASTY.

Miriam... she wants to come to the USA

Jugo... my favorite!

Potosi is so Hipster

My lunch

Peanut Butter and Jelly!

Talent Show

Talent show

Gringas

Conference

Excito

Typical dinner

Gross!

Held a baby lamb

My kitchen!

Tacos and My desk!

 

 

Ven. Sigueme

HOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

How are you all??? I really don’t even know where to begin with this email. I have so much to tell you! So I am going to pull a Kari again, and do bullet points (as usual...)

- THE RAIN AND HAIL AND THUNDER AND LIGHTNING HERE IS CRAZY. There were about three days this past week where I thought that I was going to either get struck by lightning or drown in the rivers that ran down the street. Literally, the thunder here is awesome. It is the loudest that I have ever heard. And when it rains in Potosi, it POURS. Literally, there was one night when we were walking to the church, and there were literally rivers running down the street! Our area is on a hill.... And then the next day, it hailed like crazy! That picture below is an inch of HAIL! Woah.... it was insane. But yeah... I don’t even want to tell you how cold it got this week. We were wet and cold. And I will admit, it was REALLY hard to work. I was freezing. It  was in my dang rain boots. But we still kept walking. And Heavenly Father always seems to bless us, because we found some really prepared people that I am so excited to continue teaching. So yeah... it was worth it. Even though I felt like my toes were about the fall off....

- GENERAL CONFERENCE! AND I GOT TO WATCH IN ENGLISH! We watched it in a separate room in the chapel, and all the gringos were there. It was a really cool experience, and I learned so dang much! My favorite talks were Utchdorf, Bednar, President Monson, and Jorg Klebingat. I love how Uchtdorf talked about our gaining a testimony being a quest. It reminded me of The Hobbit or something! WE ARE ALL ON A QUEST! Also, Bednar`s was way cool for all the investigators that came. President Monson`s really touched my heart. The one main question that I had was HOW CAN I BE A BETTER MISSIONARY? His message talked about how we can walk as Christ walked. And there was my answer. I can be a better missionary by following in the footsteps of Christ. Would Christ be lazy? Would Christ talk to that person? Would Christ knock one more door? Would Christ be a macanero? Hahahahah NO! Christ is the perfect example. So I am going to pattern my mission after His, and follow Monson`s advice and "walk as Christ walked."  Jorg Klebingat  was also awesome. He gave some serious waska! We can have spiritual confidence by learning to repent fast, taking responsibility for our own progress, and exercising to take care of our bodies!

- So yeah, I hope you all had the opportunity to watch conference and learn something from our living prophet. How cool is it that we can listen to the voice of God through His servants? Pretty dang cool.

- MOM! Please learn how to make arroz con piña! I am going to try, but you know that I am no good at cooking. Look up the recipe! It is so mega good. ALSO, You have to learn to make platano frito. IT IS THE BEST. Those are both Colombian foods. DO IT.

- Oh... so I am going to send you a picture of this weird part of a chicken`s throat that I ate this past week. SO NASTY!  It was in my soup. And it’s not that little red outside part... it is somewhere on the inside. I really am not sure what or where, but my pension told me that it was part of a chicken`s throat.

- Yeah, so remember how I mentioned that I thought it was getting warmer? NOPE. It was freezing this week! What was the temp here, Dad????

- MOM! So I just found out that we are allowed to do insanity for exercise. CAN YOU PLEASE SEND ME SOME OF THE VIDEOS THAT WE HAVE???? I would love you forever.

- Hna Black is cool. She goes running with me in the morning. It is great.

- KYLE AND STANLEY! I have a homework assignment for you. Please read The First and Great Commandment by Holland. It is my new favorite talk, and I want you both to read it. PLEASE???

- WE FOUND A STORE WITH AMERICAN CANDY! We had to restrain ourselves from buying it all, but we did by Fun Dip for conference. I was happy. MOM! CAN YOU PLEASE SEND ME MINT M&M`S!? I would love you forever. MIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTT (did you get that reference, Kay May???)

- Wasn’t it cool that the speakers at conference got to speak in their own languages? I did feel pretty good when the two spanish speakers spoke, and I understood them!

- GRANDMA JANET and GRANDMA DEE??? Did you notice how they prayed for the grandparent`s of the missionaries in the world? I thought that was pretty cool, and I thought of my grandparents that I love so much. I hope you are all doing great.

- Quotes that I liked from Conference....

"Are we prepared to leave our comfort zone and go to a better place?"... because I HATE CHANGE hahaha

"The guilt that accompanies mistake can be washed away." Packer.... I love this because I feel like I make mistakes on my mission every stinking day....

"Seek and you will find. Do your part, and He will give you more light. And it will be glorious. This is your quest." Uchtdorf. This was literally my favorite talk.

"Love can change the world." Oaks.... are we striving to be a little more kind each day??

- One more thing.... We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today with apples and carrots. I felt like I was at home! It was the best. My comp always says that I make her trunky when I talk about all the American food. Hahahah

That is all. I hope you all will apply all the things that you learned from conference into your lives. I LOVE YOU ALL. BE SAFE! AND SEND ME PICTURES!

HNA ROUTSONG                             

It says Tourist don't urinate here hahah!

               

Weird chicken part in my food!! Yuck!

Rain!

1"  of hail!

Jugo de fruta for dinner

Conference

Jugo

Peanut Butter and Jelly!!!

Talent Show!

 

 

If you want to see Miracles just look at your own life:)

HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO AGAIN!

How are you all??? I am doing so good!  I was so excited all week to write you all and tell you about all the awesome things that have happened this week.

So as you can see in my photos, I am with a GRINGA! And it is totally cool. Hna Black is awesome, and we have a lot in common. She is about to end her mission in about 3 months. And I just wrote president, and he told me that is very likely that I will be transferred out of my area in the next cambio.... I was so sad when I read that. I REALLY DONT WANT TO LEAVE POTOSI! Freak.... we will see what happens.....

But anyways, Hna Black is awesome. She wants to run with me in the mornings, and she is a really hard worker. We are trying to be exactly obedient.

We have been knocking a lot of doors this week. We really don’t have very many people progressing, so we have been talking to a lot of people. But it is cool because we have met some really golden people. I am excited to get to know them better.

And something awesome has happened. I really don’t know what it is, but I feel so comfortable all of the sudden. Heavenly Father has worked some miracle inside of me. I don’t feel afraid anymore. And because Hna Black doesn’t know anyone, I have had to lead in all of the lessons. But I could do it! My spanish just started to flow, and I could feel the gift of tongues working within me. I know that it was nothing that I have done. It is all thanks to the Spirit. And I am so excited. I come out of each lesson just feeling great because I am helping these people.

So yeah... it was a great week, even though most of our appointments fell through. We met some great people.

GENERAL CONFERENCE! So we have been really focusing on teaching about prophets this week. I have been studying and preparing lessons all week on how we can really help these people understand the importance of General Conference. And I have felt the Spirit so strong. I have come to really appreciate the opportunity that I have to testify that we have a living prophet today. And I have never been more excited for General Conference in my whole dang life!

HOW ARE YOU PREPARING FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE?

I hope my whole family is preparing questions that they want answered in the sessions. And I hope that you all really try to get everything done so you can watch all of the sessions. I know that you can all receive guidance, because Heavenly Father will be talking directly to YOU through His servants.

MOM! Did you want the Women`s session? If not, go watch it! It was way good. One thing that I learned from President Uchtdorf was that Heavenly Father is constantly showering blessings down upon us. However, sometimes we put up an umbrella and prevent ourselves from receiving these blessings and inspirations. This umbrella can be actions, thoughts, etc.  What is your umbrella? How are you preventing yourself from receiving the shower of blessings that Heavenly Father has for you?

Anywho.... I will stop being all preachy.... but really this week has been amazing and I have learned so much.

I have a question that I would like all of you to respond to. Really, I want to learn more about faith. The scriptures always talk about the faith that can move mountains. How can we have this type of faith? How can we have the faith that creates miracles? I want to increase my faith in the Savior, and I need your advice. AYUDAME POR FAVOR!

One elder told me that if you really want to see miracles, just look at your own life. Really, it is miracle that I am here on the mission. It is a miracle that I can kind of speak spanish.

Look for the miracles that are in your life.

YUP! So Hna Black and I found Reeses here.... but they were like 10 thousand years old and powdery... it was kind of sad. We saw that the only thing that puts us trunky is talking about the food in the US. Hahahah like SLURPEES!

The other photo is a goofy picture of me at the internet place that we are at today.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! I hope you all listen to General Conference.  Really... I am so freaking excited that it is ridiculous. We are going to buy snacks and hopefully get to listen to it in English... if there is internet in the chapel. Tell me what you learn and I`ll write next week!

LOVE

HNA ROUTSONG

P.S. I forgot to tell you that pretty much everyone looks at Hna Black and I funny because we are both tall and have blondish hair. We call our companionship the twin towers bc we literally TOWER over everyone. Hahahahahaha               Our first day together

                                                           The chapel door broke!

                                                                   Llamas everywhere

                                                                We found Reeses!

                                                   Gross things I see everyday!

                                                                Jugo y empanandas for dinner

                                                      Family night

                                                      Waiting to take people to church

                                                                Dobby one of my best friends

Me being goofy at the internet cafe