November 30, 2015

hey everyone!!

Another week down, they are seriously starting to fly! Thanksgiving was just a normal day here, but on Wednesday I was on exchanges with a greenga, so we had our own celebration with a piece of Bolivian cake. haha definitely not quite the same, but it made us happy just knowing that we were celebrating the best that we could! 

Also on Wednesday the 70 that is over our mission, Elder Godoy, came to talk to us. it was super super spiritual and super awesome! something that I LOVE that he talked about is our potential in this life. he talked about how every single person has a different potential and that our only goal in life should be to fill that potential that God has given us, we cant compare ourselves to what anyone else is doing because they all have different spheres of potentials to fill. I've been thinking a lot about that and how we really cant judge anyone, because we don't know what potential they have or where they are at on their on track. 

I am loving loving loving Sucre and my area! the people are seriously amazing and so so good to us.  They seriously offer us everything they have, and the majority of the time just the thought of eating anything else makes my stomach turn, but we accept everything because its considered super rude to reject things that people offer, especially when you know that its a sacrifice for them to give it to you. I have learned so much from them and couldn't be more grateful! 

I hope everyone is doing good and enjoying the holidays! the weather here is crazy, one day we are dying of heat and the next day we are Eskimos! haha today I´m not sure if I'm in Bolivia or Utah! I love you all!! 

love,

Hermana Andersen :)

new beginnings!

hey everyone!

holy cow I have gone from complete opposite extremes! my new area is as rural as it gets, so its a big adjustment coming from the city.. but I LOVE it. two transfers ago there were 6 missionaries serving in the part that just us two have now.. haha its HUGE and super overwhelming because my companion goes home this transfer, but President is sending them home 2 weeks early so they can be home for Christmas, so I have 4 weeks to get everything down and get to know everyone! Its super overwhelming but such an adventure!

everyday is such an adventure! if we don't have set appts we say ¨¨lets climb this mountain!¨ haha its awesome becasue we have found all kinds of cool rivers and bridges and also really really amazing people! they wash their clothes in the river and seriously live like pioneers. but I've learned here that the less the people have, the more they are willing to give. they literally don't have anything but they truly live by ´´we just met 2 minutes ago, but whats mine is yours¨ its been such a cool lesson for me and as much as I love the people that I met in the city, the people here have already stolen my heart.

also there are pigs running around EVERYWHERE! hahaha its hilarious and I´d take them any day over the dogs. they are CRAZY here, like seriously so vicious and there is a rabies outbreak haha so thats fun. we've learned to carry little treats to distract them so that we can run past haha. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I have never been more grateful in my whole life for everything i have been blessed with and all the amazing people I have in my life! I love you all!! 

love, 

Hermana Andersen 

New Adventures

hello everyone!

wow what a crazy week! first big news.. transfers! I will be leaving my area, and actually leaving Cochabamba in general! My plane leaves tomorrow morning for Sucre! I am excited but also super nervous, I will be a sister training leader there, which means we are in charge of all the sisters in Sucre, we do splits with all of them and if there are problems they come to us.. haha praying for lots of non-dramatic sisters! the worst worst part about the mission is having to say goodbye to the people that I have come to love so much. its like tearing a piece of my heart out with every goodbye.

Saying bye to Henry and his sweet boys last night.
way too many tears shed!

Noemi and Junior - Junior got to baptize her
and it was super spiritual!

BUT, it has been an amazing last weekend here! Noemi got baptized!! seriously there was so many times during the week that we thought it wasn't going to happen. she was faced with soo many trials and I admire her so much for continuing through. we got to her house on monday night and she just had the saddest face, we asked her what was going on and she told us that her mom had been diagnosed with cancer, that the doctors arent sure what they would be able to do or how long she would live.. she just looked at us with tears streaming down her face and said ¨´hermanas, I am closer to God then I have ever been and I am doing everything right, why are these things happening to me?¨´ It was one of the first times in the mission that I was left 100% without words. we sat there me, my companion, noemi, and junior her boyfriend, and just cried. I think it was the first time in my life that I really understood what it means to ¨mourn with those that mourn¨ because it was about the only thing that we could do in that situation. we ended up sharing a scripture and explaining that the closer we are to God, the harder Satan fights. on top of that she was hospitalized and she almost lost her job. BUT she got baptized and it was a real miracle for us.

I love the mission and I love the experiences that I am having here, the things that I am learning, and the people that I have gotten to know. I love you all and am so grateful for all the love and support! 

love, 

hermana andersen :)

#2 s

another week in Bolivia!

Hello everyone!

its been a pretty normal week here, noemi is doing great and we are planning her baptism for this saturday, so we are super excited and praying super hard that everything will work out! 

My trainer is now my sister training leader, so this week we got to go on splits together which was super awesome to be together again and walk down memory lane for a whole day haha! we also had a super cool experience! we were knocking doors and this lady opened the door and was SO nice and told us to come on in! haha we just kinda stood there a little shocked cause that pretty much never happens. turns out she was one of the first members in Bolivia and has been inactive for awhile now because of some dumb little things. anyways we committed her to come to church and as we were leaving her two dogs escaped. she was serioulsy like distraught and took it as a ¨sign¨ that we were bad luck. haha we looked every where for the dogs and couldnt find them anywhere, so we went on our way and told her we´d keep our eyes out. that night we had a family night with some members and when they opened the door they said ¨come in fast because we found 2 dogs in the street and we don't want them to escape until we found their owners!¨ turns out they were this lady´s dogs and she was SO happy plus she got to know some members! the whole situation was just to perfect to be coincidence! 

the mission is awesome because we see experiences like this almost everyday and its super awesome to see how the Lord works 

lots of love from Bolivia!! I hope everyone is happy and doing well :) 

love,

Hna Andersen :)

#thisishalloween?

hey everyone! 

lots of cultural differences this week! they don't celebrate Halloween here the way we do, but yesterday was a holiday mainly for the Catholics called ¨day of the saints.¨ the people that have loved ones that have died set up these giant tables, with SO MUCH food. like everything that the person might have possibly liked to eat. and the people go from house to house and say catholic prayers for the dead people, the more prayers you say, the more food you get. hahah my companion used to be catholic so she knows all the prayers and I told her to at least get us some food! haha she didn't, but there were lots of people that saw us passing by and would give us a mountain of food and tell us to pray for their loved ones that have died! haha super different but it has been fun to see how they celebrate! 

we are seeing lots of progess in the area, and dreading transfers! haha it seems like they always come right when everything is picking up! Noami is still on date for November 14 and is doing great, she even bore her testimony in Relief Society yesterday! 

I am loving the mission and am more and more grateful everyday for all of the many blessings I have, both at home and here in Bolivia. I love you all and hope everyone is well at home! 

nos vemos pronto! :) 

love, 

Hermana Andersen