Its a beautiful rideeeeeeeee!

The Hermana with the Red headband is Marisa's Latina companion :)

I absolutely love being on a mission well because its such a beautiful ride! I was so happy to see all of your happy faces on skype yesterday. I woke up supahhhh trunky this morning but its all good. I am going back to work and forgetting myself. This week was a rollercoaster. As I have told you on skype, one of our family investigators told us that they no longer wanted us to come to their house and teach them anymore. After they closed their doors in our faces, we cried for a good two hours. But it was only because we had truly felt the Godly sorrow for them....we have grown to love their family so much and to have to no longer visit them just broke my heart...I have never felt something like that before in my life. I mean I have been heartbroken before in my life, but this was much hurtful...painful because their souls are on the line. But its fine. We did our part and planted the seeds in their hearts. They knew that the things we were teaching are true, but they were not ready to change. 

So last night after we talked on skype, I went to see my companion in the other room and she was bawling...talking to her family. When I went in to comfort her, she was saying how much of a wonderful companion I am. And of course I refused that it was true. It was such a blessing to be able to talk to our families. It made us so content with our decision to be here. Then we talked during dinner how much time in the mission we would have next time we skype. I will have 9 months! That is half of my mission! On Christmas I will exactly make 9 months! And I bet you that my spanish will be super better. I know it because I have God helping me. To be honest the whole time that we were talking last night, I had such a hard time speaking complete English. I had many urges to say certain words in spanish.....it made me feel so silly. My thoughts are all in spanish, well so far its beginning to be because I am making it a better effort to do so. So I am sorry if my English has gone terrible. jajaja. I have been so blessed to be here in Bolivia. We learn new things everyday of how to be better daughters of God and how to be more patient....I learn more of the doctrine and of course Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish...more spanish stuff, after we talked to our families my companion told me that she told her brothers about me and how my spanish abilities are pretty good... (not to brag but really she keeps telling me). This week I have been taking the intiative to begin the lessons with our investigators and to be more involved in the lessons. Her brother said that majority of North Americans never begin lessons or talk in lessons at 2 months in the mission...I am a miracle! lol. It made me so happy because I am really working hard and God is blessing me to be able to do these things. Its not easy but its really possible with faith and hard work.

In two weeks I will make three months.......and in one more month I will be done with training. I am sooooo freaked out about that. The time goes by so fast. I have seen how the life of missionaries is completely different from the norms. My companion and I have moved our investigator´s baptism date on week later because of some things which have come up. It was strange because...well not strange but incredible how the spirit really guides us. When we were teaching my companion had the strongest impression of something which could hold our investigator from being baptized this week. It was so specific and clear in her mind of what it was. The next day I had the same impression while I was studying. But the thing is that it is so quiet, still, and its THERE. When my companion later told me about her impression, I was so surprised because I had the exact same impression. Then that very day when we taught him a lesson, he had told us what he has commited...and it was EXACTLY what the spirit told us. It was a miracle...it was the spirit. We are so grateful that we have the spirit with us during our lessons, in our days, and in our lives. I have learned that you constantly have to be REALLY sensitive to the spirit and to CHOOSE to act upon its promptings. Its not easy but as you continue to follow the promptings it will become easier to recognize it and to follow it...thereon blessings follow. 

Tonight we have a special Noche de Hogar (FHE) at the mission home with our mission president. Can you believe that? My companion told me that he NEVER invites missionaries for that. But he invited us! We are bringing our investigators to come with us and to enjoy what we have prepared for them. I am pretty excited and nervous because well....president Dyer will see how we teach as a companionship and well...my spanish capabilities. But there is something that I constantly remember when I start to be afraid. Its the scripture that PERFECT LOVE CASTETH OUT FEAR. I can testify that with the perfect love of our Savior, I am able to do these things which I am actually really scared of doing. Relying on the spirit and trusting in the Lord to help you.....really helps you. 

I am constantly culture shocked everyday. I am still learning to understand the culture here. We would be teaching a lesson to a Cholita and while we are teaching her baby would start crying...then she´ll lift up her shirt and start breastfeeding her baby in front of us.......during the lesson.....lol its awkward but its normal here. Oh Bolivia.......how much I love you and do understand you sometimes...lol

A special shout out to KAYLA AFOA and JOSIE HOOD! I wished I could have been there are your farewells. I bet you have both rocked it at the podium. You will love the mission. Enjoy every moment you have...because we only have 18 months to dedicate every minute of our time to the Lord. It will be hard but it will be a wonderful blessing to you and your family. Thank you both for your friendship, sisterhood, love, and EVERYTHING. Muchas gracias por todos. Disfruten la comida de Hawaii ahora....you will miss the food at home. TRUST. lol I told my family they can not send me photos of food. I will literally cry. I love you both. You are beautiful daughters of God! We are truly instruments in His hands. Mucho mucho amor para ustedes!

Back to my family.....It saddens me to hear about grandma reaching stage 4...but I know that it is all God´s will...and that we do have the true gospel to strengthen us and to give us the joy that we need in this life and the life to come in the eternities! Mom and dad go to the temple please! And read that scripture I gave you last night! Please send all my love to the ward, the people in Hawaii, our friends, EVERYONE. I will write a letter to the ward and send it to you sometime. 

Feliz Día de madres a todas madres en el barrio y en Hawaii tambien. Dios esta allí para nosotros....siempre. Para siempre......Oren siempre, lean el Libro de Mormón......express your love to others often....ahhh I love you all so much. This is the best thing I could ever do in my life. To serve the Lord....and to witness miracles..to be a representative of Jesucristo. Les quiero mucho, mi familia! Disfruten cada momento juntos!

Con mucho amor, 
Hermana Santeco

:) Abrazos!

Milagros de nuestro Señor

I am deeply touched from all of your emails. Unfortunately I did not receive an email from Jesse.. :( is it from your email address or his, mom? Your emails bring me so much joy and motivation to continue to work...harder..haha. So this week was pretty busy. We had las manos Mormonas que ayudan, Mormon helping hands. It was hard work. At first we were going to paint trees (I have no idea why we would paint trees), but instead we just weeded and did some gardening. I ran into Élder Johnston there! Tell April that! He recognized me right away. I had to take a little time to realize that it was him. He is doing great. 

It was really cool to see all the many Bolivians get together and do some service. It was hard service. Afterwards our ward had lunch, but there wasn´t enough for everyone, so the sister missionaries, we ate really little. But its okay.

I had my first intercambio this past friday! I was sooooooo nervous. I was freaking out when I found out that I had to leave my house and sleep somewhere else for a day...then having to get to know new people and a new area....but really it was just a day. I was just overreacting. hahaha but it so turned out to be really great. It was a great experience. My companion for the day was Hermana Flores from Peru. She has a month and a half left in her mission. She is such an amazing missionary. I swear, because I was with her, my spanish has improved mostly because with her, I refused to speak any English. She pushed me to teach in our lessons and it helped tremendously for me to really rely on the spirit to guide me through the lesson. We also had another service project as a zone. We cleaned a yard of some family in Tiquipaya (our zone area). It was HUGE. We cleaned for 4 hours straight. I have never raked so hard with such a tiny bolivian rake....but really, I worked so hard. My body aches from all the service. 

We had many miracles this week. It was fast sunday, and we were fasting for our investigators that they would be able to progress and to have the desire to change their lives. We have investigators, but our usual problem is that they NEVER go to church. It was a problem because before they can be baptized they need to go to church three times. We fasted and we prayed with so much faith. Yesterday, 3 out of 5 of our investigators came into the chapel one by one. It brought me and my companion so much joy. Then we see a less active family that we teach often walk in too. I started to cry. It was just incredible how miracles can happen so quickly at once when you really do your best in this work. So far, our investigators are really progressing. They show so much desire to change their lives. In fact one of them tried to come to a baptismal service with us this past saturday but he was late. And we told him, its okay next time you will see how baptisms are...at your own baptism. And he said, "Yup, I can bet on that". He really sees that the Book of Mormon is changing his life eversince he started reading it. Its really a miracle. Then another investigator, he is so good at keeping his promises to do the things we invite him to do. He plans on coming to church again next sunday, then the 17 of May, we have him date to be baptized. 

It brings me so much joy! 

So there is this young boy named Fernando. He is in the photos I have sent a week or two ago of me and Hna Esperanza, the Cholita and her nephew on the mountain. He is 12 years old. He ALWAYS accompanies us in our lessons and helps us to find people to teach and he is only 12 years old! I showed him a picture of our family and said that Jesse was his age. Then we was like, "He is so tall! So big". Then I realized that Jesse is still growing...I can not believe that he is taller than dad! Dad are you shrinking? hahaha jokes. But anyways, we invited Fernando´s cousin to the baptismal service and we were calling him but he was not picking up. His cousin is a golden investigator by the way. So we ask Fernando to go to his cousin´s house to see if he was there because we were at our house and it was a trufi ride away. Finding trufis is hard at times. So Fernando goes and it so happens that his other cousin starts telling him that missionaries are bad..and she started to call us really bad things. Fernando defended us and went home because our investigator was not home. Fernando was crying so hard. He called us and we could not understand what he was saying, so we promised to visit him at his house after the service. After the service, we had such a hard time to find a trufi to go to his house. We were waiting for 20 minutes and just about to give up, but at the very last minute a trufi comes our way and we reach his house. He tells us what happens and just cries and cries. Then who knows what happened but my companion, Fernando, and I were crying. We were expressing how grateful we were for his sacrifice to help us. We told him not only did he defend us, but he defend Jesus Christ. I have never met such a young boy with such a big heart. Hes only 12! Tell Jesse about him! Tell everyone about him! He is such a great example. I have learned so much from him. He always talks to me in Spanish and he knows I can not understand everything, yet he still talks to me. hahaha. I am helping him with his English homework. I gave him a English Book of Mormon and told him that if he read it completely, he could receive the gift of tongues. Because I know he can. I have seen it happen, because the BOM is so powerful and God is willing to bless him. 

Last night we taught a family that is preparing to be sealed in the temple this month. We talked about eternal families. I carry a picture of our family in my scriptures. So I showed it to them and said, "This is my family..." and then the following words....I just cried. So much because the spirit was so strong. I know right there and even now that our family is eternal. I expressed how much our Heavenly Father loves us that He blesses our families through His gospel. He made it possible to receive joy here on earth and the life after. I saw their family as God did. Their family, every family is special to God. This I really know to be true. 

I hope Stef is doing fine. Tell her to email me! Tell her not to be down on herself. God understands her. He is blessing her. I know it. Tell her I love her and that I miss her! And that I am proud that she can ride a bike! hahahaha that's my bebot!

This morning at 2am my companion woke me up crying. She had really bad stomach pains and was constanting walking back to her bed and the bathroom to throw up.......it was 2am and my mind was shut off from spanish. Bad...i know but I did my best. She told me to call the zone leaders and so I did and they were pretty shut off from speaking period, and she was crying and I was like WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?! Then I woke up the mother of the family in our house to help us. She took us to the Clinic to get her checked and from my understanding she had food poisoning. Everyday we eat or drink something really WEIRD. Mostly drink something weird. I can eat. It's the drinks. They make drinks out of peanuts, or it will not have enough flavor...last night we drank or more like chugged down this jelly drink made out of this reddish fruit. It was really gross but we had to drink it all. I think it was what made my companion sink. She believes that too. When the mother of our house realized it might be the food, she looked at me and said, "are you okay?!" and i was like yeah......hahaha I can handle food here now. Its like nothing. I think I have adjusted well so far. I told my companion that I will make us saimin with eggs and spam. She thinks I can cook....bahahahha but really its just the simple things we eat at home. Speaking of which we have a new pensionista for lunch and it happens to be a guy who is a chef! His food is soooo rico!!! so good! I promise you I almost cried eating it because it was really almost just like home. He made a broccoli soup....it was to die for!!!!!

I can not believe that I get to skype with you guys this sunday! I am stoking! I do not even know what we will be talking about because I bet I will be screaming for the first 5 minutes. We will have 5 to 10 minutes this saturday to talk on the phone to figure out what time I will be calling on Sunday. 5 to 10 minutes aint enough for me but it will have to do. I lie....i think we only have 40 minutes to talk on skype.. :( but itll be worth it! Ill let you know the real facts. It is hard to really understand what is going on when I'm still learning the language. lol

I am hoping that we will have three or 5 baptisms this month...I am hoping sooooo hard. Thank you to our ward members for being so supportive of the mission that I am serving. It touches my heart to know that they are donating money towards the mission. Tell the ward that I love them and miss them! And a biggggg MAHALO. un GRAN MUCHAS GRACIAS! Ah I miss hawaii and the beaches and such. I saw a church video that had parts of BYUH in it and I had to rewind to see it again. TRUNKY. Wahhh.

But sunday! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY! I get to see all your smiling faces! I am soooo excited. I love you allllll soooooo much!!!!!!! See you on sunday!!!!!

Con MUCHO amor y abrazos,

Hermana Santeco :)

PS: Fotos from last week´s hike to the waterfall and my scripture covers!

Dos Meses en la Misión? Que?!?!?!

ALOHAAAAAAA!!!!

Ahhhhhh I can not believe that in two weeks I will be able to see you guys on Skype!

 I have to warn you though that I am going to cry. I miss you guys choke!!! I miss saying choke! My spanish has improved little and little each day. But when I do get tired of speaking it I have to be honest that I just speak english to my companion even if she can not even understand me. Jajajaja.

This week was roughhhhhhh. But what week isn´t? So last pday I took a nap and had a pretty bad experience of not being able to wake up or move.......long story short, but I had a dream that a young boy ran in front of me and all of a sudden I just knew I had to wake up. So I did. When I woke up, my eyes were open, but then I felt like something was entering into my body.....and I could not move or speak. All I could hear was my companion outside of the door talking to someone and that I needed to call out for her. But I couldn´t. Then I fell asleep again because I was really tired, and well I woke up again. And the SAME THING HAPPENED again. I could feel something enter into my body! I am dead serious. I could not move or speak but my eyes were opened.....then I fell asleep. Woke up and the same thing. But after 10 minutes of trying to move, I finally was able to move. The whole time I was praying for whatever was inside of me to leave. My compañera finally came into the room and I told her what had happened. The next day I got a blessing from our zone leaders because well that night I barely slept..I am so much better but I still feel that the "evil spirits" that satan has are still attacking me because I am here doing something they do not want me to do. Just pray for my protección please...jajaja but really I am okay. Never again will that happen. I was told it can be common on the mission for satan to attack your dreams, but we do have the autoridad to send those spirits away in the name of our savior.

What else happened? So we have been teaching and teaching and have not have much success. So we made it a goal to be more specific in our prayers that we will be able to have fecha baptimals and people who are prepared for His word to find us or for us to find them. We had miracles because of that prayer. A young boy found us and has been really good at keeping commitments in his progression. He came to a baptismal service with us this saturday and so far he liked it. But then last night we found out of the possibilities of what may cause him to decide to change his mind about learning more, but we are praying hard that we will perform a miracle with him. We also have a young girl who we are teaching. She is so prepared to be baptized but her father makes it difficult for us to have her come to church and for us to teach her. Getting permission from her father is hard...but we KNOW that we can perform a miracle with her too. She came to the baptism with us too and she kept saying how beautiful it was to her. It made me SOOOO happy.

I was able to participate in lessons. Yes, I CAN TEACH. Well kind of. It is coming. Its the language barrier that keeps me from trying but when I do try, I can feel the spirit working through me. Last night we taught an investigator who needed to hear what I needed to say about how Perfect Love really Does Cast out Fear. I realized so much that because I have the perfect love from our savior with me, I have no reason to fear. She cried when we were teaching her. And when I said, "Como representantes de Jesucristo, le prometemos que Dios le bendicirá si usted guardará sus mandimientos y Él nos bendicirá con las cosas que necesitamos. Dios le ama mucho. Su amor es perfecto. Con eso amor, no necesitamos tener miedra." Ahhhhh it was so powerful. I love when those kinds of things happen.

Today we hiked up a mountain to see a waterfall. It was FREEZING cold. It was a water fall in Hawaii but the water below was like a huge puddle. The elders asked me how are the waterfalls are in Hawaii and I said that we can jump from the top to the bottom and that here we can too but if we do, we will die....they laughed so hard. Its freezing cold here in the mornings and nights that sometimes I can see the smoke from my breath.

Yesterday our lunch appointment with a miembro fell through again..like last sunday. So.....we made sandwiches. We always make sure we have food in our house incase for these kinds of things. I told my compañera that I can make saimin with eggs and such. She was excited. jajajaja. I think I can cook. She thinks I can cook. But really all I make is spam and saimin.

que más?....oh mother! Happy Birthday!!! This saturday is your birthday and I wish I could be there with you all! Have a laie chop suey birthday please! For me! I miss the food at home soooooo much. I swear I crave everything all the time. Pandas, bbq, a real legit burger. But its all good. I showed my snacks to the elders once and they almost cried because its been so long since they ate chex mix and slim jims.

Gabriel, you letter made me cry so much. You have became a spiritual giant. I am so proud of you. Remember that you have something so special. You have the priesthood. You have the authority to act in the name of our savior. That is so sacred and precious. Something that will bring so many miracles and blessings to our family and future posteridad. I watched the elders perform the baptisms this past weekend and I was so happy to see that our gospel does have the proper authority to bring others unto Christ. As missionaries, we do have the power of God with us. We have the authority to promise blessings to our investigators even if it does seem crazy...for instance, if we were teaching a lesson about tithing we can promise that they will never lack food or things they need as long as they are faithful in paying a full tithing. We can promise them that God will take care of them because we are like Christ and God will take of them!

Yesterday many people nevah like sign up for feeding us hungry missionaries and one of the ladies said, "Do you want Jesus´s in your home! Do you wanna feed Jesus?". Jajajajajaja. For real though, please feed me. Everyone is losing weight here while I feel like I am always eating. I am ALWAYS hungry.

Entonces, I feel that this week has gone by so fast. Oh and the mountain trip! It was so UP UP UP UP. We are going again this week. We go every week. Lots of cows and goats. The photos that Elder Johnston has probably might be one of the areas that only elders go to. I am not sure. I have not seen him yet either. But I know I will! Oh and I always make butterflies out of paper origami. People love it. They will know me for the butterflies because I always pass them out and they will say "que Lindo!".

Well I just wanna bear my testimony.......muchisimos gracias por todos. Estoy tanta agradecida que podemos estar en Bolivia. Tenemos milagros por que Dios es con nosotros. Dios me dijo que yo puedo hacerlo...puedo ser misionera poderoso si yo hablo. Its all about opening your mouth. Por favor oren cada dia, cada noche. Oran por mi protección y que yo hablaré. I can not wait to hear from you next week. The following week I will get to see your smiling faces! and AHHH!!! You got a car! I want to drive! I miss driving! Thanks for getting fishes and saying that my fish decided to go to heaven. It makes death a lot less painful...but its all good. We have the gospel!!!!!

I love you all sooooo much! Please continue to "Come unto Christ". Mi objectivo como misionera es a invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo. We are all His children and He is depending on all of us to help build His kingdom on earth. Gabe, always remember your experience with the iron rod. The iron rod is the BOM, the teachings of the profetas.....one sweet day we will receive that hug from Jesus, our savior. I always read about the tree of life and imagine myself searching for it as I am holding onto the barro de hierro.

Be safe. Take care. Les amo mucho. Les quiero mucho. Tenga un buen semana!

Hasta luego!

Hermana Santeco

some photos are from one of the elders. but here is the chapel we go to, and our Zone!!!!!

Oh!!! one more thing I was also able to invite someone to be baptized for the first time and it was a real person! it wasnt just a fake investigator for practice. and he said yes! my first invitation to be baptized, he said yes!!!! :)

¡Feliz Pascua!

Since it was Easter, I missed you guys more than ever. Here they do not really do egg hunts and such, but I was lucky to be invited to a member´s house who had us search for eggs. A buscar huevos fue muy divertido! pero esta diferente sin mi familia. It was my companion's first time searching for eggs. But here are some photos of yesterday´s easter experience.

It is soooo funny how people mistaken me as a Latina. They would ask where I am from and then assume I am from Guatemala or something. I met this one sister last week and I said, "Hola, comó esta?" and she was like "Bien. Mucho gusto" Then she saw that I was speaking in English to one of the other sisters and she was like "usted sabe ingles?" (you know english?) and I said, "sí....yo hablo ingles". She said, "pero su español es perfecto!".....how on earth can you think my spanish is perfect from the simple frase of how are you in spanish? jajajajajajaja. I was flattered to be honest, but really my spanish is alright. It is improving a little more and more each day. But when days are long and my mind is shut off, I can not understand anything. Its funny how I can understand my companion, but when I talk with the people here, I can not understand them..she told me herself that she could not understand the people here the first time she came as well. It is normal to not understand....and that I am learning to accept. I am reminding myself that this is only my second or third week and that it is okay that I can not be completely fluent in the language. Its just like line by line and precept by precept. It takes time...lots of time and patience.

One night my companion and I were talking before bed and I was sharing with her about the story mom told me in Jack in the Box before I left Hawaii. The one that lolo shared with us. It so happens that my companion knows that story! She is the only person that I have met that knows it! The one about the two boys in the premortal existence! It made me so happy.

So we are going up a MOUNTAIN this THURSDAY. A MOUNTAIN. WALKING. No trufi to take us up......I am about to die (joking of course). The people that live up there speak quechua....entonces...we have a person to come with us and to translate for us. Its pretty cool! We walked past a woman a couple days ago and we asked how she was...then we realized she was speaking Quechua....so we were like okay..have a great day, we can not understand you sorry, chao! jajajaja.

I do not like PDAYS. It is trunky days for me. Homesickness suck, but the investigators that we teach make up all the difference. Yesterday our appointment with a member for lunch fell through, but thank goodness I have spam! I made spam for lunch with my companion and she loved it! It was just like home......I could have cried eating it. We also had eggs and bread, it was so ONO.

When we have extra time, my companion and I watch movies and eat icecream. Church movies of course. jajaja. I miss watching movies with you guys. But otherwise, we eat icecream everyday for "inspiración". Helado cada dia por inspiración" jajaja.

Many of the kids here ask me, "Usted es china?" Yes I am chinese....hahaha I was asked that three times yesterday. It was so precious. They would say, "Mira una china!" Look a chinese! Then they will tell me about the Korean dramas they love to watch.

We taught this guys this week and he is poco loco. He loves the bible. So much that he will not accept the Libro de Mormón. He will not look at it, read it, nor touch it. He would not even listen. He refuses to do anything with it. It is so sad. Teaching him was hard because he wanted to teach us more than we could teach him. He also went online and saw things about our church that were really bad and false. It broke my heart. But so it goes...

My companion and I were eating dinner one night and she totally scared me about McDonalds in Mexico. She told me that one guy in McDs was sitting by the statue of Ronald McDonald and said, "Siento cansado" and then the statue replies "Yo tambien"...and they caught it on camera! Ahhhhhh...that night she was laughing so hard at how I reacted. I am SOOOO GLAD there are not McDs here. I refuse to go to McDs with the Ronald Statue.

I taught about the tree of life to kids this week. It made me appreciate the Book of Mormon because it really contains the plan of salvation. Study that story! 1 Nefí 8,11,12. Study it as a family. You will love it.

I really felt the spirit when I realized that the gospel can really help you in your life. I look back and see how the church has raised me up to the person I am. Also you, too mom and dad. But those teachers, leaders, that we had in our youth, helped us and shaped us into the people we are.

We had an activity in one of the wards in our area and we were able to have a family to come, a family who are our investigators! It was a miracle.

We had training last week with all the missionaries in Cochabamba and they had all the greenies introduce themselves in front of everyone. When I did, presidente Dyer asked me to repeat where I was from three times....then everyone realized I said Hawaii...and they all yelled, Aloha. hahahaha.

We eat fry chicken and french fries everyday. I love it....like really I do. Its meant to be...for me to be here. Its MEANT TO BE. God is so good to me and my stomach.

There are so many dogs here.....its like in one area where there are actually more cows and dogs than there are people. Every house here has at least 3 dogs. If not 3, probably 10.

I started a trend. Buttons on your watch. Hermana Hansen´s watch broke so she sewed a button on it too and showed it to me. Oh and I have an ugly tan on my feet....from my flats. apparently all the sisters get it. I am gonna have to tan my feet when I get home.

Thank you for sending me pictures of the silly things at home. It makes me laugh. I showed the others of the photo of me and Kayla at the beach. They laughed so hard and asked me "When did you go to the beach?" and I said "I dont remember"....but it so happens that I am wearing that exact shirt right now so I said "probably not too long ago." hahahahaha

I am going to be a pro-jay walker here. I miss order of laws when it comes to driving. I miss driving!

But anyways, that is my week. Yo quiero decirles que les amo mucho. Cada dia tenemos milagros porque Dios esta con nosotros siempre. Esta Iglesia es muy bonita...la iglesia contiene la plenitud del Evangelio de Jesucristo...como el Libro de Mormón. I make two months this saturday....two months away from home!? It goes by so fast. Estoy muy agradecida que yo puedo servir mi salvador y mi Dios. El nos conoce perfectamente y personalmente. El nos quiere a sentir su amor por medio oraciones, su espíritu, estudio escritura y los convenios. Por favor oren siempre a nuestro padre celestial por ayuda y su espíritu. I think of you all often and well as my savior Jesus Christ.

I hope Jesse can go to Baptisms for the dead soon! That makes me so happy to know that you are all doing wonderful! And as for my dead fish...tofu.......its okay. I know he is in better hands. hahaha. but really though. Thank you for taking care of him.

I love you all soooooo much. Pray always as a family on your knees and also personally. Read the scriptures together! I promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ that He will pour upon you many blessings.

I love you.

Les amo mucho.

Until next time, hasta luego,

Hermana Santeco

xoxo

this boy is adorable. his name is jeremy and he is 4 yrs old. his mom is our investigator.

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