Dear Family and Friends,
I can not believe A) that
it is almost mid December??!! and B) that I leave for Bolivia in 3 days.
I am excited to be out of the CCM because I feel like a prisoner who
never sees the light of day, and if i stayed here i would become obese
because all we do is sit on our butts for 15 hours a day and eat three
square meals of starch and carbs. However, I am really nervous to be
with my companion and no one else in 3 days in Bolivia since I can not
speak Spanish haha. I can say the most basic of the basic and understand
like 50%, more if it is gospel context. it is so frustrating. There is
SO MUCH to get done here! Learn the language, learn the lessons (but no
memorizing, just know them so well we can put them in our own words),
strengthen our own testimonies in order to be able to genuinely testify,
read the Book of Mormon again, etc. But it is okay because i am
progressing and i want to get to that point where i am actually lost in
others.
Besides these struggles i am very happy here. my latina companion
is Hermana Lezcano from Argentina where they pronounce the ll as sh (in
bogota it is j, in bolivia it is y, so everyone just sounds different
all the time ha). She is an amazing convert, the only one in her family
(like many of the incredible latin americans here). she finally opened
up one night and told me about the domestic abuse and drugs etc in her
home. she likes being here instead because of the spirit she can feel in
contrast. A lot of these girls have similar conversion stories of going
against their parents will and breaking up with long time boyfriends
etc etc in order to be baptized and go on a mission. they are such huge
examples to me.
My favorite latina hermana is a 21 year old from El Salvador,
Hermana Lopez. we became quick friends although she knows virtually no
English, and we find ways to communicate with my sketch spanish haha,
and we have the exact same humor so that makes it easy to find ways to
bond. She is also the only member in her family.
A couple days ago we went out to proselyte and my companion and i
ended up talking to this man for like 20 minutes in a park. then at the
end BAM my companion just asked him to get baptized hahaha. we are
supposed to invite for baptism preparation in the first lesson and this
was just street proselyting, but she did it anyways. And he said he
would (although he was being very polite haha) and she could literally
not contain her excitement all the way back to the CCM hahaha.
Well, today was our last day going to the Bogota temple!! If I ever
get to go again it will be in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Also, last week we
got to go on a real field trip! to this giant salt mine with a catholic
cathedral carved in the middle. it was SO AWESOME. i was in awe. and i
really felt it was a holy place. there were crosses for the various
steps jesus took on his way to crucifixion and then an open slab at the
end representing his triumphant resurrection. i will send pics!
love you all. Pray for my companion in Bolivia to be able to tolerate my "spanish" haha.
love, hermana bingham
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