Its a Good Day to have a Good Day!

CAMBIOOOOSSSSSSS! I AM GOING TO ARGENTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Psych..... nope. I am still here, with my kid. Hahahah

NO! But I am super happy that we didnt have cambios. I love my area. I love my ward. I love my comp. So it´s all good. We have a lot of work to do, and we have a baptism in about 2 weeks that we need to prepare for. One of my favorite people here, Barinina. We are meeting with her every day, and she is even going out with us to teach during the day. She is so great. 

We had a baptism this past Saturday! His name is Josè. He is the bishop`s nephew, and he is really cool. Really quiet. But he has such strong desires to be a member of this church. It was a really cool experience with his baptism. 

We have been having a lot of success! We have been studying really hard, and trying to improve each and every day. We are struggling to find new investigators, so if any of you have any ideas that you used on your missions, hit me up! We are still trying to find the perfect way for this area. It is a little different than Potosi. There arent very many people on the streets. So we knock doors to talk to people. But that is okay. We are beginning to start working with the members, and we are having success. 

Nothing really to report. We are just chugging along. Hna Parry is halfway done with her training. In 6 weeks, I will most likely be in another area. I will be really sad to leave, but at the same time I am excited to see where I will go. But that is really far away, so we will talk about that in 6 weeks. But man, does time fly on the mission! 

I wanted to tell you all that this week, I have felt the joy of spreading the gospel more than I ever have in my whole life. Each night, I have gone to bed, thinking how blessed I am for being here, spreading God`s love with the people in Las Cuadras. I have felt God`s love for me so much. It is hard sometimes, because I get really down on myself easily when things dont go as planned. I have found that I am really hard on myself. I struggle sometimes with feeling super inadequate. But this week, I really felt God`s love for me. I felt with my whole heart that this message is true, and that I need to work as hard as I can to bring people to the truth. I know He loves me, and He is proud of me. So I have to keep working hard to make sure that I bring people to the truth, and that I can end my mission, knowing that I did all that I could. 

Other things that happened this week.....

- We bought the BIG DADDY ROLLO DE QUESO for cambios. It was so good....

- Our pension actually let us have pb and jelly sandwiches for lunch. I felt like I was at home again hahaha

- Did I tell you all that we are now teaching english classes to get more investigators? It is super fun. And it is hilarious to hear all the latinos speak in their accents. 

Yup... no really cool stories. Just the same old stuff. But it´s always a good day to have a good day. Hope you all are doing great! Enjoy watching the two worst teams play in the Superbowl! I am actually glad I am not there to watch it.... hehehehe 

LOVE YOU! KYLE I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! I BET YOU GO TO ARGENTINA OR COLOMBIA! YOU BETTER SEND ME LOTS OF VIDEOS AND PICTURES!

Hna Routsong 

Family night with the Claros Family

My district

My district

This is Barina I love her

Peanut butter and Jelly for lunch

I hate coke

Baptism

Figs

Katie with her rollo de queso

rollo de queso

We bought the giant rollo de queso

lunch with Bariana

 

The greatest single lesson we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and His children obey, they will always be right.

WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHATS UP?! ¿QUE ESTÂ PASANDO CON USTEDES?!

 

I had a really great week this week. I dont know why, but the days and weeks are now flying by. It is sad, and exciting at the same time because we are seeing the progress of so many people in this area. We have several really cool people progressing! We have a baptism this Saturday! His name is Josè. He is the bishop`s nephew. We really just met him, but he has been coming to church for a long time, and finally decided to talk with the missionaries. So we taught him all the lessons, had his interview, and now we are just going to go over a few things this week and he will get baptized this Saturday! 

We also have been working really hard with a sweet girl named Barinia. She is so great. She lives with her uncles who are members. She has been going through a lot of problems in her life, and has decided that the church is what she needs for her life to change. She went out and taught with us one day. It was super fun. She is really an amazing person, and I really feel this special connection with her. Like we met before this life. I really think that that is true. 

Others things to mention (IN BULLETS!)

- There are fig trees EVERYWHERE here. Have you ever just eaten a fig? I hadnt until now.... and it is the BEST THING EVER. Go eat some fig. It is my life right now. 

- We had 8 investigators at church this week! It was the coolest feeling sitting there as I watched some of my favorite people walk in. We had invited this little cholita to come to church, but we were almost POSITIVE that she would forget because she is really old. We walked into the the church, and there she sat, near the front. I cannot describe the joy that filled my heart as I saw there there. She told me, I BEAT YOU! Hahahahah It just proved to me that you never know who will accept or reject this message, so you have to talk to EVERYONE. 

- We have the coolest ward mission leader. He just got called, and he works so hard already. I honestly have never really had a ward mission leader in my entire mission, and when we met with him, I wasnt really sure what he even did! But his job is so important, and it makes my life a little less stressful. I am really excited to work with him and help this ward. 

- We eat lunch with my pension`s family. All their kids talk about is Mario, Left for Dead, LOTR, Minecraft, and all sorts of other things that remind me of you guys. It is way fun. 

Yup. It was another great week. I hope that you are all doing great! Keep working hard, and remember that I love you all! 

CHEDDY 

Foto..... I got the package from Uncle Bob! Can you tell him thank you?! I shared the chocolate with my pensionista and their family. They loved it. 

The lady that gave us a mountain of food!

Mountain of food!

The mountain of food... yes it has chuno

An experience I will never forget!

I had to eat it... I felt sick all week!

Christmas tree is still up

The relief society president

One of my favorite dishes

I shared my package from uncle Bob

Empanadas with Barinia

Teeny Bopper

This is our mode of transportation

Ecco.... we drank this a lot in Potosi

Yuck sheep cheese!
 

BBQ with our Pension

Our wish was chocolate chip cookies

It gets cold when I study

Mandarinas

Saltena

 

"There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire and souls to save. Are we doing all we should?

ITS A MONDAY! I got nothin´goin´ on! I´m so dang clear!

How is everyone doing?! Did you all have a great week?! Our week here in Las Cuadras was awesome! It was one of the greatest weeks of my mission. I dont even know why, but I really just felt super happy all week. I wanted to share an experience that my comp and I had..... 

I truly feel like the Lord is hastening His work. This week, I really felt that. I felt an anxiety that I had never felt before like I needed to do better and be better. I wanted to tell you about an experience that I had that proved to me that He is hastening His work. Hna Parry and I were doing 12 Semanas, and as we watched the videos of the planning sessions and the study sessions, I had a thought come to my head... ¨Why are we not doing it as they do it?¨I discussed this with Hna Parry, and her and I both decided that we were doing our study sessions and planning sessions wrong. I had done it the same way with all of my companions. In our comp study, we always spent a majority of the time sharing what we had both learned. That is always really good to do, and I always learn more, but why were the elders in The District spending more time planning and talking about their lessons and investigators? So we switched it up this week. We decided to spend more time planning lessons and talking about our investigator`s needs, and only share our studies for about 5 to 10 minutes. I have really noticed a change in our studies and our lessons. We are more prepared, we receive more revelation as to what they need, and we are seeing more success. We also decided to start planning more in the manner of PME. We are using the carpeta de area more, we are searching through future investigators, and we are really trying to focus on the people and what they need. I have a gained a true testimony of 12 Semanas, The District, and The Area Book. Heavenly Father gave us these tools for a reason, so why aren't we using them more efficiently!? I hope that I can begin to follow the plan that Heavenly Father has for this work, because I know He is hastening it. I have felt His spirit tell me, ¨Hermana Routsong, do more! Follow my plan! We have work to do!¨I hope that I can fulfill what He wants from me. 

I shared this with my president. It was one of the coolest revelations that I have received in the mission. I know that Heavenly Father wants more from me. He wants me to be a better missionary. He wants me to follow HIs plan in Preach my Gospel. 

We have so many people to teach. This past Sunday, I was feeling a little anxiety because we have so much to do during church. We have so many people to talk to, and so much to do! My head was spinning a little bit, but it is a good feeling. I love having a lot of work to do. Once the elders left our ward and put us incharge of everything, we have been super busy. But we are really working with a lot of cool people, and are seeing their progress.

- I come home at night, and as I think about the day, I really just feel this overwhelming joy. Why? Sometimes I ask myself that. But each night this week, I just felt this really cool feeling that we are doing good things. That we are helping people. I really don't know if I have ever been happier in my whole mission. 

- Now that we eat dinner in our house, we have more time to do the area book, which is great. And we also get to eat whatever we want! So I have been making salads. YES SALADS. What I haven't had for about 9 months now! Wooooo! 

- It is so cool to start to see the progress that my comp is making. MI HIJA! I really want her to be the best missionary that she can be. Way better than me. It is hard, but I know that I have to be the example 24-7. I can really see her growing and wanting to be better. 

- We have been teaching this girl who is 15. Her name is Barinia. She lives with her aunt and uncle who are members. She wants to be baptized SO BAD. She comes to church every week. We are really excited to see her progress. She says that she knows it is all true. She reminds me of Kayla. 

We are really having a great time here. My comp feels like my best friend. Today, we went to the zone activity, and played catch. We both loved it. It reminded me of all those times that I played with Steph, Emily, and Dpiiipo. It was super fun. 

Hope you all have a great week! The Lord is hastening His work. What are YOU doing to help? 

Love

Hermana Routsong

Foto.... One day, all of our appts fell through. It was sad. But then we found 20 bolivianos in the street, so we were happy. We have big plans for this 20 bs.... THE GIANT ROLLO DE QUESO! Pictures to come....... get excited......... 

Don't make fun of my granny jammies

We get to cook our own dinners!

temple

We were happy.... Gushers

My comps first intercambio

intercambios

Dana and David

Noche de Hogar with this sweet family

I have an obsession with Watermelon

Look what we found

Making pizza

Mama Teresa with her veggie pizza

Pizza night

Walking to a zone activity

We played catch today

The missionaries in our zone made about 300 sandwiches

 

 

Is It Really 2015?

I remember opening my call last year and thinking to myself..... "Man, 2015 is so far away........" AND NOW IT`S 2015?! Crazy weird....

How was your New Years Eve? What did you guys do?! A tradition here is to shoot fireworks off at midnight, eat 12 grapes, pack your suitcases like you are going on a trip (but then dont actually go), count fake money, and EAT EAT EAT EAT. Hahahahah it was funny. We didnt get to see any traditions, because we had to be in the house at nine thirty, but it was funny to hear all of the stories. We did hear all the fireworks at night. I couldnt see any of them, though! No Martinellis sadly hehehehehe 

This week was a great week. We really saw success in our member lessons. We met this really sweet lady in our ward who always lets us teach lessons at her house when we have no other place to go. So we have about 2 or 3 lessons each week with her. I love hearing her bear her testimony each week of the Book of Mormon and the gospel. I think it really helps our investigators, too. 

Hmmm..... so we have several people that we are preparing for baptism. I am really excited. One of them is Josè. He is the bishop´s nephew, and we really just met him this past week when he told us that he wanted to be baptized tomorrow if he could! It was a miracle. I actually felt really bad telling him that we had to take it a little slow and make sure that he knew the basics of all the lessons. If he could, he would already have been baptized by now! So we have been teaching him the lessons each day, preparing him. He came to church this Sunday. It is really cool to see a person truly want to change their lives to come closer to Christ. 

We have a lot of other great people, too. I wish that you could all meet them. 

What else is new in the lives of the two gringas????

- We got our new pensionista this week! Her name is Naida, and she is AWESOME. She makes the best food, and she calls herself part-American.  We eat lots of really good food. Yesterday for lunch, we had PIZZA. I have never had a pension that has served us pizza for lunch. She wants to come and visit us when her family comes to the states in a year or two. I feel so at home in her house every day at lunch. It is cool. 

- My companion and I got to teach the entire lesson for District Meeting this past Tuesday. As I look back on it, I really think it is a true miracle that I can now teach a bunch of elders for an hour in SPANISH. BOOYAH!

- We celebrated New Years Eve dinner with one of our favorite investigators. They made us this crazy bbq. It was fun. 

- We found this new lady who is super super cool. Her name is Carla. We taught her the Restoration this week, and then came back two days later to see if she had prayed about it. She told us that she knew it was all true. It still surprises me when people actually come through with the commitments that we give them! I have been really focusing on the Restoration this week, and how I can teach it better. I really feel my testimony increasing as I teach it more, and see how it changes people´s lives. COOL.

- I love being a trainer because I get to see my companion progress and learn and become better than me. Its a good feeling. 

I hope that you are all doing great! Have a great week, and we will see you all soon. 

HERMANA ROUTSONG

Food from la Paz

Pizza for lunch!

We found this mega good ice cream place

Our last lunch with our old Pension

New Years Eve...tons of food

Weekly planning with Icecream

I love this monkey

Cool Grafitti

Majadito... made with llama

Lunch with Allison

We get to cook dinner for ourselves!

We went to the super market and I bought Broccoli!

Dr Pepper in Bolivia?