Un-BOLIVIA-ble Adventures: And I am Grateful Love is Spoken Here

Email from Monday, February 2, 2015

FAMILYYYYYYYY!

I feel like it´s been years since I was last here writing you but I guess it´s only been a week. Warning ya now, this email might be full of spelling errors because this keyboard is broken. Oh Bolivia, siempre hay algo :)

But this week was really good! I´m feeling a lot better and motivated this week because I think I discovered the source of all my problems and I´m so grateful that Heavenly Father shows us our weaknesses so that they can become strengths. It´s so helpful. I´m excited to see the miracles come to pass this week.

This week, I finished 1 Nephi in Spanish and now I´m starting the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi....hahaha....it´s actually making more sense in Spanish because I have to really study and compare in my English scriptures and I´m learning so much. I studied 2 Nephi 4 this week and it pretty much was the greatest thing ever. 10/10 would recommend. (Actually all of the Book of Mormon is 10/10 and I recommend it every single day to all people everywhere ;))

This week, I reached a new level in my Spanish abilities because I have now adapted certain Bolivian phrases or ways of saying things and people have noticed how much my Spanish has improved. I´ve noticed too that I´m more willing to try to explain things differently rather than using the same old memorized words. But I still have a ton of embarrassing Spanish moments including...when I said ¨me gusta su caballo" to a little girl....caballo is horse... .I meant to say hair which is "cabello"...oops. nimodo. :)

I´ve also seen the Spirit work in marvelous ways to have me say something different than what I planned. Like this week, I started to share a story but then the spirit totally took over and I ended up sharing the experience of my family´s various attempts at morning scripture study and how I can´t remember learning anything at all from the Book of Mormon when Dad woke us all up at 6am and made us come sit on the couch and read BUT I do remember how determined my parents were to have this habit in our family and to this day, that memory remains with me. I shared that with a family that´s been struggling lately to incorporate the gospel teachings in their homes. It made me really grateful for all the lessons my parents taught me even when that wasn´t exactly their intent. :)

This weekend was our stake conference and we had Elder Carlos Soliz from the Seventy. And I got to shake his hand afterwards. That makes 2 stake conferences in a row that I had a Seventy present and I got to meet him! It was about The Work of Salvation and Traditions of a Latter-Day Saint and I honestly cried during it because a lady spoke that has 2 sons on missions right now and she said ¨the new MTC is the home¨ and it hit me so hard because Dad said that EXACT same thing when he spoke in our stake conference in August. I´m so glad that I was blessed to be raised in an awesome MTC with the best teachers I could ever ask for and that I now have the chance to teach other people how to teach their children the gospel so that they can shape the future of their family for generations.

#justBoliviathings

dead things-I don´t know why but there´s just always dead animals...I´ll send a picture, don´t worry.
anyone who knows me knows that I´m always lying when I say I like dogs but here my dislike has grown into a full blown hatred of them. I have to admit it...I hate dogs-sorry dog lovers.
jello-every one is obsessed with jello and I´ve actually acquired a liking of it now.

I don´t usually share specific details of people that we´re teaching because I could spend hours describing them or experiences I´ve had with them and it wouldn´t do justice to them and I could never express how great they are or how much they mean to me. It´s been such a gift of the spirit that I can sincerely feel a portion of the Savior´s love for every person that we teach . I love the mission so much and I can´t express enough gratitude for the privilege it is to be here and give my all to the Lord so that He can help me reach my full divine potential and become the person He wants.

I love you all more than I love the fact that I can buy fresh warm bread on every other street corner! Have a great week and go out with the missionaries for an hour or two this week! :)

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Gauger

Hermana Mejia. She´s a doll! :)

Our first Sunday together.

Hermanassss. Hna Crandall is the other giant american here and Hna Cabaña is still here with me. They live in the room above us and serve in our ward too. It´s such a blast. :)