Are we out of the heat yet are we out of the heat yet are we out of the heat?

 

*cue my back-up vocalists screaming "no!"* (Taylor Swift 4eva)

 

Email from Monday, January 26, 2015

Hey There Family and Friends!

I hope this email eventually gets to you because I´ve spent 40 minutes of my 90 waiting for this stupid computer to load and I´m sitting here in tears while everyone else is laughing at their emails. Just my luck.... 

This week was really hard for me because apparently, I have no patience. I was really down on myself this week and I felt like such a failure. Ugh. I know God has trusted me enough to be here but I´m still working on trusting myself that I´m worthy to be doing this work that has eternal consequences for everyone involved. 

My Spanish is improving a lot and I officially dreamed in Spanish. (Technically I had my first Spanish dream during week 3 in Bolivia but it doesn´t count because it was that I was in a lesson and couldn´t understand anyone) but we watched The Testaments in Spanish as an activity at the church and I understood the whole movie. It was so awesome. 

As far as spiritual things, there are so many great experiences that happen in the mission but the one thing that I absolutely LOVE with all of my heart maybe more than anything else is to hear people pray in a first lesson. It is an experience that words can´t describe when you hear someone talk to their Heavenly Father. Sometimes it´s their first time ever praying aloud or they are really nervous or embarrassed but to see them overcome that and talk to their Father, it is incredible. The spirit is always so strong in these short, simple, and completely sincere prayers. Ah I LOVE IT! Another thing that has been on my mind is how perfectly God knows us. He knew I needed to be here in this mission over any other mission and in this area and with this companion. I love that. 

Hna Mejia and I get along really well and we´re starting to get to know each other more. I made her a guide to pray in English and I really want to help her feel more confident in learning English. Her last companion taught her the first verse of Come Thou Fount in English so sometimes she sings it and it´s honestly so precious. She´s incredibly patient with me which I appreciate so much. 

I decided this week that when I have a bad day, I´m just going to spend 2 bolivianos on an ice cream and watch The District 2: Law of Chastity, German....oh my heck, anyone who has seen that knows what I mean, and if you haven´t, go spend 5 minutes laughing your face off. :) 

#justBoliviathings

• I have a mosquito bite the size of a quarter on my arm. I´m pretty sure I learned at Young Women Camp that if it´s bigger than a quarter, you´re going to die so I´m pretty happy that it´s just the exact size of a quarter and I´m still alive
• sometimes we meet very...interesting people and have lessons with them too...like this one lady who answered every question by saying something about her desire to listen to the word of God. Including when my companion asked ¨What do you like about this picture of Jesus Christ?" and she said "I just love it so much because it´s the word of God".....awkward moments are my life here
• also I´ve never seen West Side Story but I´m pretty sure they could do a version of it between the Mormons and the Testigos (Jehovah´s Witnesses) in Santa Cruz, Bolivia... Sometimes they show up at the house of an investigator DURING our lessons and I can´t count how many times I´ve seen someone pull out the pamphlet that we gave them and they have a testigo paper with it.....argh! 

But all in all, everything is well here with me. As far as changes, I´m gaining weight and freckles and my hair is getting lighter and longer. I´m learning and growing each day in testimony and capability but I´m still just as silly and normal as ever. As evidenced by the selfie I took with Hna Mejia when we found a cockroach in my bed, it was her first cockroach so we had to take a picture, right? :)

I love you all and pray for you daily!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Gauger :)