its time to grow up

i still am in awe that i am in bolivia. its insane. but anyways, my companion is from ecuador. her name is hermana donoso. she is the sweetest person ever. i know i said that about all my companions but this time i really mean it. she is so patient with me. my first are is the linde 2 area. its on a hill. like really...a hill. i walk so much that i feel pretty tired at the end of the day but its a good tired. 

being here, i have witnessed so many different miracles everyday. my first day when we were looking through our binder of records of our investigators and such, i had a strong impression to tell my companion that we should go and see this person. so when we went, we happened to run into the person´s cousin!

we didnt have to look for him. god brought him to us. another miracle is about the cars we ride. its like a taxi but a van called a truffe. its so cheap....7 bs is about 1 dollar in the usa. its 1 bs the most a trip. but anyways, one night we were waiting for the truffe to come and we have been waiting for 20 minutes. it was really dark. so i turn to my companion and say podemos orar? can we pray? so we prayed and lo and behold the truffe comes down the hill towards us right after we have said amen. the same thing happened last night as well. 

the people here are so humble. we have been teaching kids who were recently baptized or who are our investigadores. most of them live in really rough conditions. one of the families we teach, the daughter who is 12 years old cooks for her brothers everyday. her mother left them, so they only have their father. another family has their mom only and their father is in jail. they are always hungry so i would bring snacks for them.

i was able to go to the temple last week and we will be going this wednesday. its really beautiful here. its really a culture shock for sure though. its funny because everyone i meet here thinks i can speak spanish but when they realize that i dont theyll ask me where i am from and then when i say i am from hawaii they start getting so excited. its a blessing to be from hawaii.

what else...my spanish is getting better slowly. i can understand better each day because the people speak really slow here hahaha. but i still have to practice speaking the language. my ward is pretty awesome. its a lot of imformation to take in for my first week but i know that it will come. i am actually pretty patient here...its strange. its probably because i have been praying to be patient and its working. 

what i did learn is that i should never ignore a prompting from the spirit...and it brings miracles.

as for the large photo of me...bahahahahaha thats creepy. it brings me so much joy to hear about gabriel and jesse exercising the priesthood. its just such a joy to know that they hold it and use it to bless everyone.

mom, travel safe. dont get sick! i have gotten a little sick but my companion takes good care of me that i have gotten better quickly. its gets pretty cold at night. at least i am not in potosi haha.

in the ccm, they said if they get my letters, they forward it with the missionaries who are coming here. its okay. it will come when i need it most. i know it will. my faith has grown tremendously and continues to do so each day. i love being a missionary. more than i did in the ccm. the ccm made me more stressed but here...so far so good. 

today i am going shopping with my companion to get our nails done and stuff...haha since its so cheap and its a nice treat. i also order legit scripture cases for 30 bucks us dollars. ill show you them next time. 

i love you guys so much. continue to pray for me please. i hope to hear from you soon. its almost may! i swear i am never homesick. but when i do email you guys i do get homesick just a tad bit. being here makes me realize that i really need to grow up and be independent with finding a way around here and taking responsibility of my own choices. i keep telling myself its time to grow up rissy. haha

by the way this keyboard is missing the capitalize key...that is why everything is lower case....oh bolivia. 

but until then,

abrazos y besos,
con mucho amor,

les amo mucho,

hermana santeco

oh i forgot to mention that we were lucky to have a washing machine and dryer in our home. and we have two pensionistas to feed us two meals a day. mucha comida aqui....mucha....i am surprised that i can eat everything. its custom to each everything on your plate. so far so good.

Arrived in Bolivia!!!

Apr 8

Hey Family,

I am in Bolivia!!! In Cochabamba! It is so unreal...and a blessing
indeed. I have met the mission president and his wife. Their home is
just across from the temple. I totally wanna be a mission president
wife one day. Who would have wished such a thing? Me!
They are just so loving and welcoming. Its beautiful here. The
mountains are incredible. I wish you could all see it. I just wanted
to email you to let you know that I am safe. Pdays are on mondays. I
love you all so much. I am so ready to work!

Love,
Hermana Santeco

Last Pday at the CCM

Familia y amigos!!!!

I don't know where exactly to start because there is so much to say, but first thing first is that I have been putting grandma's name in the temple every time I go. I actually put Sister Soh's name in just this Tuesday. I felt prompted to do so. Please extend my love to them. And as for grandma as well. Ah it just hurts my heart, but because of the plan of salvation, I gain comfort from our trials.

So I have a latin companion. Her name is Hermana Bedoya. She is from Colombia and serving the Bogota Norte Mission. She is the only member in her family and apparently she left her mom living by herself. So it was a huge sacrifice. Most of the latin missionaries here have lived hard lives. It just makes me feel so sad. But they are so in tune with the spirit. I want to be like that. With my new companion, I am really learning how to be patient. Like REALLY patient. She takes 3 showers a day. THREE. and she just likes to take her time you know? And if you know me, I can get ready pretty fast. She also likes to wake up at 5:30 everyday....I had such a hard time being patient, but I have gotten better. She always thanks me for my patience. I also made a new friend, Hermana Ferrusca! She is from Mexico. I need a photo with her. I had no time to take pictures. But seriously she is the sweetest. I love her so much I told her she can marry Gabriel so we could be sisters. By the way Gabe, there are two sisters here who want to marry you because they love asian boys. One of them is from Bolivia. She is gorgeous. I approve. 

The second day with a latin companion, I kind of had a break down...a melt down. I was in a district full of Latins and I could not understand anything they were saying. They were talking SOOOOO FAST. Then when my companion asked if I understood, I just broke into tears. I talked it out with Hermana Dyer and she helped me so much to relieve of my stress. I also had a blessing from President Dyer. They told me what I was feeling is normal. It feel overwhelmed and frustrated. But seriously, I was torned. When President Dyer gave me a blessing, it was incredible. He was once a patriarch, and so when he gave me the blessing, I really felt like I was receiving another patriachal blessing. It was the BEST blessing I had thus far, besides the ones dad gives me. The next day, he came up to me and asked if I noticed something special in my blessing. I said, "I noticed a lot of things...." and he said, "I had a strong impression to say in your blessing that after you learn the language you will be teaching it in your future". He said that..He said he felt that! It gave me so much hope and appreciation for the priesthood authority where we can receive messages from our Heavenly Father. Can you believe that? I have the blessing in store to be teaching the language! 

I have gotten better at speaking. I see improvement each day. My district is awesome. They always pray for me to be able to understand them and to be able to speak the things of my heart. Once we were watching a video and it was in English. Then they all looked at me saying, "No entiendo." They wanted me to translate and I was like uhhhhh "Eso!" (That). Then I realized that their spanish subtitles were frozen hahahaha. Even one elder said, "It's not fair for you to not understand us...but we here for you". His english is really rusty. But really they are so encouraging. They make me pray in spanish so I can practice more. They make me read and say that I am improving. I am so blessed to have a district that is so patient with me. I taught them individually lessons and they all said they have felt the spirit even though I speak slow. I am sooooo happy.

We went prostelyting yesterday. It was hard because people are so hardhearted here. Most of them are catholic or Jehovah Witnesses. But then there were a few people that were really prepared to hear the gospel in their lives. 

Can you believe that this is my last pday? I don't know when my next pday will be in the field. I am honestly really nervous, but so excited to go because I can finally teach REAL investigators. This past sunday I learned something really sweet that I love to keep in mind. It is that we have help from the other side..our ancestors are praying for us. Ancestors of people here who don't have the gospel are praying that their family will receive the word of God. I also learned that we can ask for help from our ancestors...our angels to help us. I prayed for grandpa and lolo and lola to be with me and seriously I am not kidding that I could feel them with me while I taught. It was so comforting. Try it! I promise you can feel them with you.

I got Marvelyn's letter from dearElder, but I didn't get yours yet :( entonces...I will ask if they could forward it to me when it gets here. I want your letters! One day I was craving everything. BBQ, Pizza Hut, Mom's cooking, taco bell, jack in the box, pandas....it was depressing. When I come home we better eat everything and I mean it even if I am getting fat here...

Oh! So I was able to escort my companion through the temple on tuesday. I thought I would only escort my future daughters. I guess not! It was such a blessing and priviledge to be there for her. It was a beautiful experience.

General conference is here! So excited! I love hearing all the words from the Prophet and apostles. I have learned that you show the spirit that you are ready to learn when you write things down. And that is why I always write things down. I want to be ready for the people who are waiting for me in Bolivia. I can testify you that the spirit really guides through love and patience. I want to become more like our Savior. I am so happy to hear that you are feeling so blessed at home while I am gone. I can not believe I have been out for a month and a half already. It freaks me out. 

My next email will be from BOLIVIA!!!!!!!!! 

Yo quiero compartir mi testimonio...se que Dios nos da su amor para que podamos recordar su hijo, Jesucristo. Se que mi familia es eterna. Mi familia es una gran bendición en mi vida. Les amo mucho. Yo necesito tener paciencia y todos los atributos de Cristo. Se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadera. José Smith es un profeta de Dios. Yo estoy muy agradecida por todas las cosas que yo aprendí en mi vida. Se que aprenderé mas. Muchas gracias por sus oraciones para mi. Les amo mucho.

Siempre con amor,

Hermana Santeco

A Day Out :)

First off......CONGRATULATIONS to Josie for getting called to Japan!!!! You have know idea how happy I am for her! I am screaming in the computer lab. hahahahaha

Today was pretty awesome. We went to the temple and out on a little adventure. We went to a gold museum and then to some church on a mountain. It was quite a walk. We were on top of the world.

Can you believe it? I am getting a Latin Companion tomorrow! It was so sad to say bye to the last group last night, but new ones are surely coming tonight and tomorrow. It was funny because one of the elders who can barely speak english kept telling me, "I am a baby, fat and ugly". And I was like "Who taught you that?!" Apparently he did not understand me. 

It has been really tough here. The language is tough as usual but I know that I can do it. We no longer have grammar classes or language study in the CCM. Not until we are out in the field. I am really working hard on keeping myself patient. I realized that I have so much to work so much harder than I already do. 

And also...Gabriel!!! I love the color! I am so happy to see pictures of you all. How was prom?! Tell me everything! As far as your letters, they have not gotten here yet...:( but if they do I will let you know. I look forward to getting them! 

I prayed in English outloud during our room prayer last night and it was so weird because I have not said a prayer in English for a long time...that I took long to think of what to say.

I grow to love the gospel more and more. Even if I do not know all the answers to life questions. 

The sisters here are stressed as I am. One of them actually talks in her sleep. She literally recites D&C 4 in her sleep and sometimes the baptismal invitation. Its hilarious. I am not gonna mention her name....hahahaha But she is awesome. The sisters are awesome because they keep me sane and we are all going through the same thing of course. We are all struggling but staying faithful in our calling.

I love laughing with the sisters here. I manage to make them laugh here and there. Its great. I am going to work harder this week. All my classes are ALL in SPANISH. NO ENGLISH. Its getting real...and its only the CCM.

Next Pday is next week Friday. 10 days again....It will be my last Pday here at the CCM until I leave to Bolivia! Can you believe it!!!!! Two weeks and I am out to work. Its scary but its amazing. I love it. I love it sooooo much. I love you guys so much too. I can not wait to really lose myself in the work! Please tell me how you are all doing and I am sorry if I do not respond to all your questions because I only have so little time to be on here. I love you. Les amo mucho. Be safe. Take care always.

Siempre,

Hermana Santeco

Alma 26:12

The Struggle is just as real as the Gospel is

Aloha my family!

How are you all doing? I was meaning to ask how Gabriel is doing with Prom and everything. How is his ASL? I am so happy to hear Jesse's great news. I pray for him often before I go to bed. I pray for all of you. I am so happy to know Jesse is receiving the sacerdocio (priesthood) and memorized the articles of faith!!!! Speaking of ASL, I have been teaching a few of the sisters some signs. I even met an elder here who does Colombian sign language. It was pretty neat. 

10 days go by so fast. Can you believe that I will be getting a Latin compañera this next wednesday?! I am freaking out because my spanish is still a struggle..I even struggle speaking english now. I can not remember how to spell investigadores in English.....My time here is going by so fast. I cannot even imagine myself in Bolivia. This week we were able to go to the temple again. I love it so much! 8 of the Elders here were able to get endowed all at the same time during our session. It was so precious.

A group of primary kids came to the CCM and sang to us. It was SOOOOOO PRECIOUS. It made all of the sisters cry because it was EXACTLY what we needed. They sang I hope they call me on a mission in spanish. It was so adorable. The children are beautiful here. They helped us remember our purpose. 

I am seriously trying to accept the fact that I am the only Asian here. Everyone here keeps trying to understand how on earth is it possible for me to be from North America. Oh here is a joke that my teacher had to say in front of our whole district. So he was telling one of the elders that he saw that he was sleeping during the session, and then he was like, "Well when Hermana Santeco sleeps, you can't tell if she is sleeping because of her eyes"...... -______- The fact that everyone in my district is white besides one elder and the brazilians, its different. I miss diversity. 

We talked about how the CCM is so much like the celestial kingdom and when we leave to the field, we go to the terrestial kingdom...the real world. But really though. To be inside these gates all day.......its kind of suffocating. 

To be honest, this week has been REAL HARD. Its frustrating when I would be teaching and I can not understand what the investigador is saying. Therefore I would not know how to respond. Besides I do not know how to respond in spanish either...but I know it will come. I have learned that when the adversity gets tougher, I need to work harder. We watched a video of missionaries who were teaching a family that eventually got sealed in the temple. It was so heart warming to know that I would be changing lives. They taught me that even that you know that you can not speak your mission language, all you really want to do is help your investigadores. We also watched 17 Miracles. Such an awesome movie. It inspired me to pray harder and believe that God will answer my prayers (Moroni 10:3 to 5). One night a FAT mosquito (mosquitoes here are huge and ugly) was swarming around me while I was sleeping. So I hid under my covers and prayed to God (Please take this mosquito away from me so I can sleep and get some rest for tomorrow so I can teach well). Then it went away.....it WENT AWAY! Little miracles do happen in my day :).

So I totally thought that I wouldn't see a Polynesian for 18 months but guess what. There is an elder here who is from Salt Lake, Utah. His name is Elder Nuusa! He's Samoan and he totally gets me when it comes to talking about home. We crack some jokes like "Mahana you ugly" that no one else here understands. 

Driving here is crazy. The people here don't drive normal. They kind of drive how people do in the Philippines. Two lanes made into 4 lanes. Tail gating the whole way. We went out to prostelyte yesterday. It was hard....but a good experience. We had one of the teachers come with me and my compañera Hermana Wingate. We got 4 referrals. We contacted about 15 people. We went up to one lady and we asked her what her name was and she was like, "Why do you need my name?! You don't need to know my name!" and she walked away.......hahaha it was so strange. We know that Jesus Christ got rejected by many as well so we were able to take it. Hermana Wingate and I got a new compañera to join us as a trio. Her name is Hermana Alves. She is from Brazil! She is such a sweetheart. She is learning spanish so fast. We teach really well as a trio. They have been so kind to me.

The weather here is so cool. Its always about 20 degrees celesius. I eat tons of food. I always eat ALL of food now and sometimes go for seconds. I never ate so much bread before until I got here. I eat it everyday. 

This week is so hard because I can not seem to speak as fast as I wish I could. The teachers here could see that I have been struggling. Today one of our teachers had me act as an investigador in front of the class. She shared with me a scripture, Alma 26:26-27. If you read it I think you would know why I bawled in front of the whole district. After prostelyting and being rejected by many people because they either were not patient enough with my lack of skill to speak spanish or who just cold hearted was so heart breaking. I had one man read two paragraphs of the B.O.M introduction and after he read it for a few seconds he got up and just walked away. My teacher was telling me about this scripture and was expressing to me that God loves me so much and wants me to be patient with myself. That He knows that I am struggling, but doesn't want me to lose hope. 

One of the sisters here learned how to speak English from reading the ENTIRE Book of Mormon in English. A missionary promised here that if she read the BOM in english, that she would receive the gift of tongues. It was really inspiring to know that. She is the sweetest too. One day I was having a hard time with one of my companions (we are okay now) that I broke into tears. She came up to me and hugged me and told me that she is sad when she sees me sad. I just love how all the missionaries here have the love of Christ. 

I had to say the prayer in spanish in Sacrament. It was nerve wrecking. I never felt so nervous to pray.....but I did it. 

Since this week has been pretty rough, we had a stress management class. It was pretty interesting because they made us run and hop in skirts. I have no idea why. Sometimes they make us do things with no reason....its funny though. 

I got my first letter a couple days ago! I was sooooo HAPPY! It was from Sister Brown. It brightened up my day sooooo much. 

So.....my bag is breaking. Its frustrating how everything I have is breaking. If you can hold off in sending me the package until I realize what else I need, that would be great. I can be patient.

My next Pday is tuesday. I will be going on a field trip to go sight seeing in Colombia! So excited!  Then I will have a Latin Compañera....ahhhhh!

This mission is so hard.  But I know I can do this. I love you all so much. I miss you terribly.

Oro todas los dias que ustedes puedan sentir el amor de Dios. Yo se que Jesucristo les ama. Les amo mucho. 

Siempre con amor,

Hermana Santeco

Deuteronomy 31;6-7

I miss food from home

Pday is here again! All the Latin Americans left and it was so bittersweet to see them all leave. But more are coming tonight and tomorrow. The sisters are so amazing here although I could only understand so little of what they said. On my birthday, President and Hermana Dyer made a birthday sign for me and placed it on our room door and classroom door. I seriously forgot it was my birthday. I woke up forgetting it until I saw the sign. Thank you family for the videos for my birthday. I loved them a lot. Happy birthday, Jesse!!! I wish I was there to celebrate it. President Dyer and Hermana Dyer also got me a spanish temple recommend holder :). It was a good day. One of the Latina Hermanas wrote me such a sweet note and gave me two pairs of earrings. It was adorable. When she left she cried so much telling me all these things in spanish.....all I got was, "I love you. You have the light of Christ within you". hahaha But I just felt so much love from all of them. One of the hermanas learned how to sing a birthday song in English and she sang it to me. Last night she sang it again and literally broke down in tears because we knew that we would not see each other again for awhile.

I have been so exhausted that this past sunday, I literally was falling asleep during class. It was terrible and embarassing. Even in the temple.....most of us are so tired that we have a hard time staying awake. Oh which reminds me, WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE THIS MORNING! It was amazing as usual. We were also given a special tour to see the bridal room, sealing rooms, family sealing waiting areas, and baptismal font. It was incredible and absolutely beautiful....the spirit is so strong in the temple. It really is. I have honestly have been having a hard time keeping the spirit with me because of my constant doubt in myself....but from lots of struggle I found that I need not to have confidence in myself...but to have faith and confidence in Christ. One of my favorite things I have learned this past weekend is that during our deep doctrine lesson on sunday, President Dyer was telling me how we sometimes wonder where did the Lord appear in the temple. Then he made us all realize that He has been in all of the rooms...ALL OF THEM because this is His house. So today when I went to the temple, I looked at every inch of it as if He was there and that really made the experience a lot special. Family you have to watch a CES devotional called Christ and his Blueprint for us sometime! I think that is what it is called.

My companion and I have our ups and downs when it comes to teaching, but we are getting better as we go through the days. We learned how to teach with the spirit and to not just teach lessons,  but teach people. Yesterday we taught an acting investigator who told us that he no longer wanted any more lessons from us..and it was devastating. We made the effort to pray for each other while we teach and from that we found that to be really helpful in the ability to teach in unity.

I have been here for two weeks now and in two more weeks I will be having an Latina compañera! Ahhhhh it scares me so much but I could not be anymore excited. When the Latin Americans left last night, I have felt it to be just as if I were leaving my mission in 18 months and just feeling so sad to leave people that you love so much. Since time is going by so fast the maestro was like "Are you ready for more intense spanish?" Then I yelled out loud, "Bring it on!!!" Everyone laughed....hahaha

This language is so difficult......but its coming I know it is. An elder who was in the CCM 11 months ago came yesterday and shared his experience with the language. He is gringo...(foreign) from California and his spanish is INCREDIBLE. He sounds like a native speaker. He inspired us to really pray and work hard to get the language. He said we have to expect to not understand ANYTHING for awhile when we go to the field because the language has different accents in different countries in South America.

I still can not believe that I am here. I am so tired. I miss napping and I miss you all. But I know that I am here for a special purpose. 

Did you know you can get more than one patriarchal blessing? But that is only if your blessings are completely fulfilled then you can get another. I thought that was really cool.

Unfortunately I could not meet with those people I met on the plane and asked me to come to their house here in Bogota. But I sent the address to the mission here so they can teach them. I am also planning to email them today hopefully.

We went prostelyting the first time last week Saturday. It was SCARY, but so rewarding. Mi compañera and I had a hard time finding people to talk to because they either did not believe in God or just was not interested. But one of the guys was actually reading the pamphlet we gave him. I also gave flowers to this homeless woman. I am striving to develop the Christlike attributes of Charity and patience. I have to really humble myself. I honestly wish I have memorized all those scripture masteries in seminary...that would have helped a lot. 

It's really cold here...well for someone like me because I am from Hawaii. Its like 60 degrees. The food is alright. I have adjusted yet I miss food from home. That is why I am eating all my snacks right now hahaha. I have stepped on the scale and I think that I have not gained yet....thank goodness. We will see how that goes. 

It was so funny in the temple today because people quickly assume that I am south American and that I can speak spanish already. The temple president shook my hand and started to speak to me in spanish and asked if I spoke English since all the other people around me were white and obviously American. 

Yo se que mi familia es eterna. Estoy muy feliz de ser misionera. Mi Redentor vive y nos ama. Continue to pray and study the scriptures as a family. God will give you muchas bendiciones for your efforts. He will. Yo lo se porque Dios nos bendice  con el Evangelio y la expiación. My next Pday is next friday. 10 days to wait for my next email. Paciencia is a virtue.....haha 

Les quiero mucho.

Siempre con amor,

Hermana Santeco

oh and the sisters always tell me how much they love my smile....and they describe it with the hand gestures of slanting their eyes with their fingers....hahahaha One of the sisters in the temple was excited to meet me because she heard about me from another sister. She did the same thing with her eyes. But they do love my smile they said. 

First Week and BIRTHDAY

How are you all? I miss you all so much. The mission is the hardest thing that I have ever done, but it is the best feeling ever. It's the best opportunity to really serve the Lord 24/7. The language is hard but it will come. I'm slowly getting better at understanding the language when I read and hear it but speaking it is another story.

The first day was honestly really rough because it was a lot to take in. Satan was able to attack my hope in becoming a successful missionary. My first night here, I kept doubting myself  whether I would be able to do this and at the same time I missed you all very much. The food here is different. It took a lot of adjusting. It will make your stomach really upset for a few days but now I'm okay. My first day I set my alarm clock wrong, my watch latch broke off, my purse strap ripped, and it was just really hard. During classes and devotionals the spirit was so strong. We read the Book of Mormon as a district in english and spanish. They had all of us kneel down in prayer and ask God if it was true and if Joseph Smith really restored the gospel. I prayed for these things, but also for the answer if I could really do this. I cried so much. I felt the spirit tell me that I could do this. I know that its true. I had to pray for a happy and positive attitude and the comfort of the spirit.

My compañera is Hermana Wingate. She is absolutely awesome. We are best friends already. We first had a hard time to teach because  we had to try to teach in spanish. But now we are working harder in using the language. We are getting better at being obedient and teaching. The teachers here are amazing. They love us so much and have done so much for us to become effective missionaries. They aren't afraid to tell me that I need to speak louder. My voice is to soft...as you all know. I love my compañera. I love her so much! I've only been here for almost 2 weeks and it honestly feels like forever but in a good way. Everyone here looks so familiar as if I have known these people in the pre-mortal life. It's a really good feeling. Time also goes so fast that I forget what I have done throughout the day. This work really requires all of your heart, might, mind, and strength...that by the end of the day, you are EXHAUSTED. We wake up at 6:30am and sleep at 10:30pm, but we actually wake up at 6 to shower and beat the other girls to the bathroom.

I am the only Asian in this whole MTC (CCM). Everyone is either white or Latino. The sisters here from north america love talking about our families. We were talking about the chores that we do at home. They all said how they had to do their own laundry, they have dish washers, and dryers. Here at the MTC they are so kind to do our laundry. But anyways I told the sisters how I did the laundry for the whole family of 6...and that we hung dry our clothes and didn't have a dishwasher. They were like "Why do you do everyone's laundry? Like why would you do that?" I told them it was because I wanted to....I love you guys! I am so grateful for the way you have raised me to be selfless and hardworking.

I was able to sew a button on my watch to latch it around my wrist. Today we went to the Bogota temple. It is so beautiful! It is huge! But not like home..the spirit is the same though. It really is. Doing the whole session in spanish was hard, but really nice.

Sundays we have deep doctrine studies with President Dyer. It is so DEEP and amazing because we really get to really study the scriptures and understand how incredible and perfect the plan of salvation is. Being here makes me want to become better more and more. I wished I prepared more before I came instead of spending time on Netflix. Yet I am so grateful that I was able to work with Hermana Hurst. She prepared me so much. I am sooooooooooooo grateful! The hermanas that are Latin American heard me pray last night and was so surprised how well I was able to pray in their language. I still have to practice though. The Latinas are amazing and so loving. They have strong testimonies. They come from all different countries in South America and Central America. They love that I am from Hawaii. I lent out two of my umbrellas to the sisters because they didn't have any and when I gave them to them to borrow they were so happy that they hugged me. 

 

President Dyer shows so much love for us. He was telling us north americans about how lucky we are to be north americans. The latin americans are so humble and blessed from the Lord differently. One of the elders here, his mom has past away two weeks before he came here. She appeared to him in a dream and asked him to do her work in the temple. 

Time is limited to contact home because we need to be really focused on the work. The schedule changes so my next pday is next Tuesday I believe because the latin americans leave the CCM on wednesday and new missionaries come in that night. 

Funny story. As my compañera and I were teaching, a bird flew into our closed window and died.....after that we couldn't focus on teaching. hahahahaha. My compañera keeps me happy. She is so much like me. We laugh all the time and cry together. lol The food is nothing like home but Im getting used to it. I actually like it now. They celebrated my birthday today during lunch since its PDAY and they give us our cameras on P-Day.

Thank you for your prayers and all of your love. I miss you so much. I love the gospel more and more each day. I pray for you all so often and think of you too. Please continue to be strong in the gospel and let me know how grandma is. I love you!

Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Redentor. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero. No puedo decir mucho....because my spanish is rusty. hahahaha

Love you love you love you love you!!!!!!

Siempre,

Hermana Santeco 

ps: i spent 8 dollars on the worst parfait in the world in LA at the airport......it was disgusting....never get a parfait from a random store....lol

I forgot to add that a really nice elder made a little cake out of a cookie for me during lunch on my birthday hahaha. Elders here do hand hugs when we had to say bye. It was so awkward. Love you!!!