7.18.13

I am here!!! As you probably already figured since it has been two days. ha So I don't know why they are having us email 2 days later but better later than never. I love Bolivia. It is a lot more green than Peru and not as busy either so I like that. I haven't met my trainer yet or actually even done much stuff since we got here. I will meet my trainer today and then find out which area I am going. The past 2 nights we have stayed at a hotel and just hanging out at the mission office and running around doing different errands. My mission pres is in the states right now cause his wife needed surgery so I will meet them probably the next transfer. Anyways the mission address is the same and send things only to that address, including packages. It was great talking to you the other day! I love you all and I will email you on pday which is Monday. Love you! 

Hna Wursten

Letty Called!

On July 16, 2013 Letty called my parents house on her way from the MTC in Peru, to Bolivia.  This is the email my mom sent out about their phone call:

We got to talk to Letty this morning.  She called from the airport using coins so we talked to her for 7 min.  I was really bummed that it wasn't longer.  About 20 minutes later she called again and we talked for 21 min and then got cut off.  About 10 min later she called again and we talked for 13 min so all in all it was a 41 min conversation.  She sounded really good.  And even a little more mature and grown up.......but still Letty.......one of the Hermanas went to sit on her suitcase and fell off and Letty thought that was hilarious.  (Actually, I would have too!)  She's excited and yet a little nervous.  She wishes her Spanish was better so she could communicate better.  I'm sure she'll progress quickly once she has no one to speak English too......     Next time we talk to her will be Christmas.   She probably won't be emailing this week.

Stacy

7.8.13

Hola familia! Nothing too crazy this week just the normal CCM stuff. This is my last week here! It is seriously crazy and kinda terrifying too. But I am excited to get to Bolivia and start teaching. Even though my Spanish is pretty bad. Like seriously. I have improved a lot but there is still jsut so much more to learn and practice. In our lesson last night I kept screwing up and saying the most ridiculous things. haha Hna Faulk and our maestro were cracking up. Esta bien! You live and you learn. But my maestro has told me I have improved a lot so that is nice to hear. But then again I dont know if he is saying it to make me feel better about myself. haha Ok so apparently we have a new mission address and I dont have it yet so I would hold on sending anything to my mission right away until I can let you know. Ok so I leave on Tuesday for Bolivia to be exact. I am not sure of times and stuff yet though. We can call home so Mom I will call your cell phone so make sure you have it with you all day on tuesday. Also I will probably call collect so just a heads up. I dont know how else to do it. It is weird when I tell people my first name, its like I am telling someone something super personal about myself. haha One of the workers in the caefeteria asked me what my real name was today and it was so weird telling him my real name. and he couldnt even pronounce it so its probably a good thing I go by Hermana Wursten here instead of Letty.

 

 HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY MOM!! Sorry I wasnt able to send you a card or anything or call you but I am sure you understand, right? I hope it was great though. 4th of July sounded like it was fun! We didnt get any fireworks or anything but they decorated the cafeteria all american and gave us "american" food. It was so sweet and we all were so grateful!! South Americans are the best. for reals. They are the nicest. We played kickball too to really make it more of an United States day! It was a lot of fun. My throat was a tad sore from screaming during the game. Yeah, I am the annoying girl who gets really into kickball. Today was our last time going to the Temple for a year and a half! I am pretty bummed about that. I love the Temple. Except today I was so so so tired and fell asleep through like half of it. Way to really soak up my last time, huh? I am seriously exhausted all the time. And I get 8 hours of sleep every night! I dont get it. Hna faulk told me I fall asleep like everyday, either during personal study or other stuff. I try not to but I just get SO TIRED! My life is so hard. Kidding, the life of a missionary is the best. It is just a little tiring and my body is not used to not being able to nap. Sounds like ND was a lot of fun! You guys seemed very busy, which isnt surprising to me at all. We got another one of "investigators" committed to baptism! It was an awesome lesson. He was asking us all these questions and we were just testifying and the spirit was totally there. Our teacher said it was a really good lesson. Its always really great when you have lessons like that and it makes me so much more excited to go out into the field. 

Ok well I dont really have much more to say. We go out proselyting this week so I am excited for that. Wish me luck! I am grateful for all the prayers that go my way. I deifnitely need them. I pray for my family every night. I love you all! have a great week and hopefully I can talk to you on Tuesday!

 

Hermana Wursten

7.1.13

Hola! It sounds like you are having a great time in North Dakota. I definitely want to make my own trip to Gackle after I get back. Today was great, like always. On the bus on our way back from the Temple I started talking to the man next to me and I talked to him a little about the church and asked him if he wanted to know more about our church and  that the missionaries could meet with him. Mind you, this was all in Spanish! It was really cool! I couldnt really understand everything he was saying but we gave him a pass along card and I amsure I sounded like a total white girl. but it made me feel more comfortable about going to the mission field! Cause I only have 2 more weeeks left here! Isnt that crazy? Sometimes it freaks me out. I love the CCM. I got the credit card in the mail so you can activate it now! Thank you for that! I would advise anyone to send letters and stuff to my mission home from now on because I dont have much time left here.

 

Ok so Elder Christofferson spoke to us the other day!!! It was so great. He was here in Peru cause they were celebrating the 100th stake in Peru. He did some question and answers. and It was jsut really great to hear from an apostle of the Lord! We all got to shake his hand after. We were supposed to go proslyting again this week but we ddint get to because of Elder Christofferson being here and it was some huge Catholic holiday going on so that would have been a little awkward. I got to meet my mission president and his wife the other day!!! It was such a special moment. All of the new mission presidents for South America (my mission president is new) were here for lunch and we were in our classrooms studying and they pop their heads in and ask what mission we are serving in and when we told them Santa Cruz Bolivia they told us they were our mission presidents so we all went up to him and his wife and shook their hands and gave the wife hugs. And with tears in her eyes the wife say, "we have been waiting to meet you" I instantly got emotional and you could just feel the love. It was amazing. My mission parents!

 

I have been reading the New Testament in my personal study and I love it! Seriously the New Testament is so great. I love reading about Christ. He rocks. I feel like since I have been here my relationship with God hasgrown so mcuh becuase I am relying on him more now than I ever have. And i am doing his work so he is the perfect person to talk to when I am frustrated confused sad upset, etc. seriously every night I am just excited to pray and pour out all my feelings to Heavenly Father because I know he loves me so much and actaully cares about what I have to say. Lately me and Hna Faulk have been trying to practice how to committ people to baptism from any conversation and so far we are doing pretty good. I would just feel more comfortable doing it if I knew Spanish better and could actually say things how I want to say them. Learning a new language is hard, and it can be pretty overwhelming somtimes. I just cant let myself get down about it. I know that if I am doing what God wants me to do he will help me out. So that is comforting.

 

Mom, do you thinkyou could send me a copy of my mission call and also make a small laminated patriarchal blessing for me? It would be really cool to have those things. Also could yousend me some american stamps? They have pouch mail here which is pretty cool and you just need American stamps for it. I will admit I was wrong when I said Iwouldnt need any. haha Our district has beeen playing sand volleyball like everyday for Physical activity and we seriously suck. But its so fun and I love volleyball! We are gradually getting better. Anyways I hopeyou guys are having a great trip! I miss you all and love you so much! The church is true! Seriously though, read the Book of Mormon everyone. Talk to you next week!

 

Hermana Wursten

6.25.13

Hola! Ok so the internet is being crazy slow and to be honest it was probably the most frustrating feeling and I am not having very good missionary feelings right now. Just towards the internet. So if you emailed me and I didnt respond it is probably because I wasnt even able to read it or open any pictures. this last week was really great! Time is flying by now. the first weeek went by so slow and now time is going by too fast! Yes I saw that worldwide broadcast on Sunday! It was AMAZING! I felt the spirit SO strongly and was more proud than ever to be a missionary and part of the amazing work that is going on. I loved all of it. After we had a district meeting about it for like almost 2 hours and we talked so much about such great things. My district is seriously awesome. We have a ton of fun together but also have great spiritual experiences and insights as well. Perfect combo. We somehow got on the topic of family History work and a lot of the Hermanas were talking about how they could feel their ancestors watching over them and what not and it made me think of my ancestors like Grandma Dorminy and Grandma Greene and all these ancestors that I have never been able to meet but know that they love me and are watching over me. Pretty cool to think about.  So this week me and Hna Faulk taught an actual real investigator!!!!! We were really nervous before but it actually went really well! We talked about the Restoration and during I felt the spirit so strongly and I testified of my testimony of Joseph Smith. Hna faulk said that that was when the spirit came into our lesson so that was cool. After our lession our teacher told us that the Lady couldnt understand everything we said but that she felt the spirit and felt that the things we were talking about were true. So that was pretty cool! I used to be really nervous to teach and now I like it more and more! Especially in spanish. No way is my spanish very good but I have felt that I have been progessing more and its so amazing to me to think that I am actually teaching lessons in spanish! My teachers have even told me that i am getting better so I am trying to keep a positive attitude.

Ok Chrissy THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PACKAGE!! Seriously I was so excited, I screamed. haha Its so great to hear from people in the actual real world. I love my family! I wrote you back and should be mailing it soon so get excited for that! Seriously I love being here. I came out on a mission mostly for myself, so I could grow and experience great things but as I have been here I have realized that I am not here for myself at all but here to spread the Gospel to the beautiful people of bolivia! Heavenly Father needs me. Not only does he need me but he needs us ALL!  Missionary work is seriously so awesome! Lately during language study me and Hna Faulk have been reading el Libro De Mormon out loud. It is helping us better with our pronunciations and stuff so that is great. The Templo was great today as usual. After we went to some stores. I bought some things so just as heads up if you see it on the credit card. I bought Ollie and Max cute little ties to wear to church so hopefully I can somehow mail that back or just have to wait until I get back from my mission to give it to them. If Nathan and Owen go to church regularly I will get them ties too. hint hint. I will try and email some more pictures if the internet is being better. Oh, what is the verdict with the Sister missionaries??? Are they going to be in my room or no? anywyas I love you all! If you havent written me yet be a good friend or family member and write me! Letters are da bomb. I miss you!

Hermana Wursten

ps. We got new roommates and they are white. I am so bummed. I miss all the latinos. Over 50 norteamericanos came in on tuesday and most of them were girls. Its insane.

Me and Hermana Faulk with our new hair clips.

6.18.13

HI!!!

Pdays are so awesome. We get to go to the templo every pday which rocks and then we get to walk around a little and shop. We take the buses to the templo and they are so crowded. like seriously. but its really fun/funny. This week was really good. We went out proselyting in actual PERU!!! Seriously I was so nervioso it was insane. I felt like I wanted to cry. I don{t know if it was just nerves or the spirit. haha probably mostly nerves. But it was great! hna faulk and I were together with one of our maestros. Our maestra ended up talking most of the time but it was stil la really cool expericen. People talk SO fast so it was a little discouraging cause I could barely get anything out of what the people were saying. but the people are SO NICE!! seriously, I think I love south america more than North america. The people are so genuine and even if they are not interested or have a different religion they will still listen to you and be nice. It so awesome. It was cool cause then I realized I didnt really have much to be nervous about. One man called us pretty Dolls in spanish. haha so that was flattering. Our maestro thought it was so funny. As we were talking to the people I just felt Gods love for them and its crazy to think that I have never even known the existence of these people but Heavenly Father knows them and loves them so much. I am so grateful to be doing his work here and to be able to show those his love for them. I am literally a representative of Christ, and its so amazing.

We have still been teaching our investigator and its been going pretty well. He agreed to go to church this sunday so that was cool! Hna Faulk seriously speaks spanish so good so she talks all the facts and I just testify and bear my testimony in all out lessons. haha she says I am very good at  testifying because I am sincere and she thinks that it brings the spririt. So that is nice to hear. All of the Latinos here left today. I am so bummed! i loved them all. One random latino Elder confessed his love for me last night which was really weird cause i had never talked to him. He had one of the hermanas translate everything he was saying to me cause I dont speak spanish very well. He just said that he diddnt come ot the mission thinking about girls and then he saw me and just felt really happy and was fine just watching me and not talking to me. haha I seriosly had no idea what to say so I was just like gracias the whole time. It was very flattering but also extremely innapropraite. haha My spelling is so off but im too lazy and have no time to change it so sorry.

Learning spanish is getting a little better. Sometimes I just feel like it will never come but I am just trying to keep a positive attitude! Its muy dificil to learn another language. UMMM I AM CURRENTLY IN AN EARTHQUAKE RIGHT NOW! ok It just ended. hahah ok nvm its still going. That was crazy. Dont worry it wasnt anything too crazy. Dad I am glad you had a great fathers day! I wish I could have been there but I was thinking about you. I love you! the longer i am here the faster time goes by. I am seriously loving it. Sometimes i feel on the verge of crying because I get a little overwhelmed, but most of the time I want to cry is because of the spirit. I am so grateful I get to feel the spirit so much. I don{t know how anything who has felt the spirit of god in their lives can deny it cause every time I feel the spirit I jus tfeel so happy and peaceful and want to feel more of it. the Gospel rocks. I have learned as I have been here more of the importance of the gospel in our lives and actually how simple it is and how much sense it makes. how can anyone deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ?!

I loved my latina roommates. We would always at night talk to eachother and whenver we would learn a new word in spanish we would yell baila!!!! and then dance and shake our hips. haha And then we would do "attitude" and smack our butts. haha Whenever people find out that I am 22 they are always really surprised and are like I thought you were only 19 or 20! I wonder why they think that.... ahha The elders will always joke about how I am sooo old and wise and have experienced so much in life.

during one of our lessons with Alberto, our investigator, I was bearing testimony of why I was sacrificing 18 months of my life for a mission, but instead of saying months I accidentally said monkeys. hahah we all laughed pretty hard. so that kinda killed the spirit a little bit. I write down a list of things to say in my emails everyweek cause I know I will forget them and I wrote down Romans 1:16. I cant remmbmer what it said but It must be a really good scripture if I wrote it down. Thank you so much everyone for all your love and support! I love it here. I am constantly learning and having so much fun. I was nervous that the mission would be all serious and I would never hae fun but I am laughing always and feeling the spririt so much so its the best combination. Half of my district is going to the same mission as me and the other half is going to Guayquil, Ecuador. 

I cant express how much I love being here. It is a lot of work but I know this is where I am supposed to be and I know that Heavenly Father has led me here. I have been able to do some amazing things in my life that I will always be forever grateful for but missionary work is something that is extremely special and amazing. Heavenly Father loves us all so much and His son Jesus Christ died for us so we can be happy and return to our Heavenly Father. this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and it brings so uch joy, happiness, and comfort! I love you all so much! I am forevr grateful for my family and my friends. The backyrad looks great. I cant wait to see it when i get back. I think I left my pictures at home so do you think you could send them to me or email them? also can you email pictures of when I had black hair? some of the hermanas want to see it. I love you and thanks for always writing me! 

Hermana Wursten

p.s. I have had diarrhea for like the past week. Poor hna Faulk has to go everywhere with me so we are constantly in the bathroom. dont worry, its totally normal here. 

6.11.13

HOLA!!!!!!!!!!!! can you believi I have been here almost a week????? sorry if this email has a lot of typos I am rushing to write as much as I can cause I only have an hour and a lot to say! So if you emailed me and I dont email back its not because I dont want to but I am so grateful for your emails! the CCM (MTC) is crazy! It is SO BUSY!!! Seriously I feel like I have no time for anything. I feel like I have been here forever but it feels so weird to think that just last week I was home. Thank you mom I really need those things for me to get to Bolivia (shot and police records). first off, I love my district! they are awesome. We have 11 hermanas (one is a trio) and 4 elders. haha so muchos hermanas. My Companera is awesome as well. Her name is actually Hermana Faulk, not Hermana Call. haha We get along great and both have the desire to be great missionaries and to be obedient. We had companionship inventory on Domingo (sunday) and we were just complimenting eachother the whole time. haha It was great. Espanol es muy dificil, pero esta bien! I am trying my best to just not get discouraged and just do what I can to learn as much and what not. Hna Faulk is very good at spanish so she helps me a lot, which I am so grateful. She took 4 years in high school. sometimes I get down on myself cause I don{t know espanol as well as others but I just have to remember it will be awhile until I totally get it. But I know how to pray in spanish and I can testify!!! So that is a start. em mi cuerto (in my room) its me and hna faulk and then 4 latinas. They are super nice and always help us with spanish. We try to sit with latinos during meals so we can practice and they can teach us new things. Yesterday I accidentaly said a bad word to the elders, good thing I am american so they could excuse it. haha but they all laughed. and the other day hna faulk accidentally told our companeras de cuarto (roommates) she was pregnant. It was pretty funny. My Pday is on Tuesdays. Today we got to go to the temple! It was awesome. they has us use headsets so we could understand and actually feel the spirit instead of trying to learn spanish. I feel like because we are learning a language we don{t get to feel the spirit as much because we are trying so hard to translate and nothing is in english. haha Its fine though I am grateful it is that way. One super spiritual experience I had was on Sunday, we watched the Joseph smith movie, in english, and the whole time I was just trying not to cry, although I wasnt very successful. At the end one of the hermanas said a prayer (the spirit in the room was alrady really strong) and I just started crying so hard. I was trying really hard not to be super obvious but it was comforting once I realized I wasnt the only one crying. I was just so overwhelmed with how grateful I was to be a missionary and to spread the Gospel of Jesucristo that Jose Smith had restored. Never was I more confident in my decision to serve a mission. I will admit, It is a very hard adjustment and I often feel super inadequate but I just have to remind myself that Heavenly father knows my potential and he is going to bless me as long as I continue to stay close to him and be obedient. But yeah, I go through a lot of emotions throughout the day. One moment I will feel the spirit, the next I am frustrated with the language, the next i will just feel really dumb, the next I feel all motivated and excited, the next I am tired, and it goes on and on and on. But I am very happy. Our district we have a lot of fun together. I thought I was the oldest in my district (almost all the girls are 20 and boys 19) but then I found out one of the Hermanas is 27. She is serving as a missionary nurse and a tracting missionary.

 

This email is super long I apologize but there is just so much to say! Oh guess what.. they have VOLLEYBALLL HERE!! YAY. Seriously I was so excited once I saw that. We played the other day and it was really fun, even though my district sucks at volleyball. I was actually one of the better players, surprisingly. The food is awesome! TONS of carbs. rice, potatoes, bread and meat with every meal. and they always have desserts. haha so I am pretty sure i have already gained weight. So far I haven{t gotten sick. Sometimes the food tastes a little questionable but for the most part it is really good. I took some pictures today when we were walking around the town and stuff but I don{t think I have time to send pictures today. It has been a tad chilly the past couple of days here and I have been able to wear my raincoat, which I have gotten mucho compliments on so Mom, it was worth it. 

So we taught out first investigator ayer (yesterday)! It was just one of our maestros (teachers) but he was acting as an investigator and we get to teach him all week. His name is ¨"alberto". we were able to start planning the lección a couple days before and then after  personal study me and Hna faulk both felt prompted we needed to change the approach of our lession. It was so cool though! I told her how I was so grateful that she is worthy of the spirit so we can both be able to know what Padre Celestial (heavenly Father) wants us to teach and say to investigators. We ended up teaching him about La Expiacion (the atonement) and it went pretty good. We steered off a little and talked about the restoration of the gospel and Jose smith but overall it went really good and I felt the spirit as we taught him. I shared a story with him about myself so he could relate a little more. Mind you, this was all in spanish. i did write most of it down but I was able to testify to him in spanish all on my own. It was great. when we went to talk to him he had a picture of black jesus and told us he worships Jesucristo negro. hahah It was hard not to laugh. After the lession he told us we did the best out of all the other companionships that taught him so that was great to hear! Me and hna Faulk were pretty excited.. don{t worry we didnt tell anyone else he said that. We are going to teach him again tonight. We are going to talk about the plan of salvation.

 

Well I should probably go but thank you for all your love and prayers and support and emails! I love you all so much. extraño mi familia (I miss my family). tambien siestas (also naps). I am tired all the time!

 

yo se que el Evangelio De Jesucristo es verdadero. yo se que el Dios es nuestros Padre Celestial. Estoy agredecida ser una misionara para la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los ultimos dias. I know that the chuch of Jesus christ is true. I know that God is our heavenly FAther. I am grateful to be a missionary of the church of Jesus christ of latter day saints. Te amo!!!

 

Please keep me in your prayers and know I am always praying for you.

 

Hermana Wursten