Un Regalo de Dios

{A gift from God}

Transfers are this week and Hermana Pastillo and I are staying together in Jaihuayco, Cochabamba! This really is a gift from God. We have been working so hard and so well together! In one transfer more we are going to see so many more miracles!


{The fight is daily}




{seeing her old companion Hermana Cardoza}

This week, every morning I woke up with new giant bug bites on my legs or hands, so I finally decided to take off all the sheets and blankets from my bed and shake them out. When I did, a nice quarter-sized spider went crawling away.=)  Solved that, but I still itch all over!

Other than that we had a baptism this week! Our investigator Nataly got baptized by her brother who served a mission in Chile. She is an amazing single mother we have been teaching for a while, and she is already acting like a member. She is going to be such a strength for her family too!

We were supposed to have two baptisms, but the night of the baptismal interview he texted us and told us he wouldn't be able to make it. Then we passed by his house and he told us he didn't think he was going to be baptized. That shocked us a ton, but when we asked why he said he didn't feel like he could live in harmony with the rules of the church. But we immediately knew that was just the adversary working with him. We talked with him for a while about the atonement and that nobody is perfect, but that we need to do our best when we know the will of God. We told him the best thing to do was pray to know a specific date in which he should get baptized. Then Sunday came and he pulled us aside after sacrament meeting that he prayed about a date and he got an answer that he should be baptized October 7!

I know God has a plan for everyone! I know God has his timetable, and we just have to be willing to follow it. Now that Jerardo has chosen his baptismal date for himself, he will be more confident in his decision to get baptized. 

I absolutely love the mission, I can't wait for General Conference, and to find more people! I know they are waiting for me. I just need to be brave enough to go find them=)


{Playing Ironman & Batman with this little boy's toys}

Fun Facts:

-In Bolivia the Day of Love and Friendship (AKA Valentines Day) is on September 21. The way they celebrate is how we celebrate Halloween. They dress up how people dress up for Día de los Muertos (which is a little different than Halloween) and they go marching in the streets, they buy lots of presents and sweets for their boyfriends or girlfriends.

-If you don't have a smartphone here, you have the same little brick phone, and therefore the same ringtone. So when one cellphone starts ringing, everyone starts looking to see if it is theirs haha!

-- Don't count the days, make the days count!

~Hermana Madsen