Wow

This week has definitely been one of the longest and hardest of my life, but I´ve also seen some great tender mercies as well. I felt good when we arrived and when I found out who my comp was the next day, but as soon as we got to our apartment that afternoon, it just hit me that I was all alone with my comp, who I can´t even always understand. But, I just sort of pushed it aside and the day was a little exhausting but overall not bad.

The next day, however, this homesickness and loneliness hit me like never before. I´m not exaggerating when I say I was on the verge of tears for most of the afternoon.  Same with the next day.  It took everything I had to not just sit on the curb and sob. I wouldn´t have gone home given the chance, but 18 months had never seemed so long. But then we were teaching this girl, and I was thinking about home when I realized that this wasn´t just some random girl I´d just met, but rather an investigator who I had the chance to help. And that I was going to be here for at least three more months (most likely) and this was someone I was going to come to love. And as soon as I realized that, I felt great. I became engaged in the lesson, and the rest of the afternoon was great.

This depression, mixed with hours like the one I just described, lasted for about 3 days. I literally could barely control it, and it freaked me out. But on Saturday I told the Lord I really needed His Spirit and help, and I really did want to be here and do His will. And that day was great. We taught at least seven lessons and found three golden investigators. And I mean golden, super prepared. It was such an answer to my prayer. I´m still a little lonely and homesick, but I have been genuinely happy the past three days, and I already love the people we teach. I wish I could share more about them and all the tender mercies we've seen.

Anyway, I´m telling you all this because I don´t want to sugercoat what it´s like here, or think I´m just sharing the nice stuff. This is hard, but it´s also great.  I miss you all like crazy, but I know this is where I´m supposed to be, and I know there is a pure joy that comes from sharing the gospel.

President Hansen said that if I was obedient, I would experience joy in my mission unlike I've ever felt before. And I could feel that it was a real promise and blessing, not just something he says to all the missionaries in passing.  I´ve kind of been holding on to that this week :)

Elder Bednar also came to our mission last week, and I just missed him. bummer

I’m serving in Tiquipaya, a little city on the outskirts of Cochabamba.  My trainer is from Colombia and she’s only been out for three months, so she just finished her training.  She’s a hard worker and I really like her and, thank goodness, I can understand her Spanish about 75% of the time.

There’s an hermana who has a blog http://brinleyinbolivia.blogspot.com/  Her first three months were in my area, so I’m teaching some of the same people and you can probably find more details because it’s the same apartment and everything.

I’ll tell you more about Bolivia and the culture next week but I don’t have much more time.

We played ultimate frisbee at a park for pday.

I love you all!

Love Hermana Rupp

I made it to Bolivia!

Today, or rather the last two days, were probably the longest of my life, but we made it and I'm at the mission home now. We left at 5pm Monday, and got to Cochabamba at 9 this morning. I'm basically running on no sleep, but I feel pretty good and excited.  Let's hope that feeling lasts haha. I've got to go, but I love you and I hope you have a good week!

Family!

This week has been really good. I´m not really sure about my travel plans. I believe I head out either late Monday night or possibly early Tuesday morning. We don´t actually find out until Sunday night, so I´m not really sure.  I´m pretty bummed that my whole district is leaving to Chiclayo except for one Elder.

So last week when we were shopping on p-day, I placed my first Book of Mormon! Two, actually, and we talked for at least 5 minutes about the gospel. The only problem was that we don´t actually know the address for the Church, or the telephone number. So basically I ask this woman if she wants to learn more or come to Church, she says yes and asks for the address, and then I tell her I have no idea where it is haha. Sweet. ¨Wanna come to church?¨ ¨Sure.¨ ¨Great, I have no idea where it is.¨ More or less what happened haha.  I think I told her what general direction it´s in.

Anyway, I really love and miss you guys, but I´m happy to be here! The longer I´m here, the more I realize that this really isn't a sacrifice. Especially when you compare this to what others have done, like the early Saints. And especially when you think about the Savior.  No matter what I do, this doesn't even come close to repaying Him and our Heavenly Father. And this is actually going to benefit my whole life, so I´m really even more indebted than ever for this opportunity to serve. Hopefully I´m this optimistic when I leave the cushy CCM, and enter the field haha.

Love you all, hope you have a great week!

Love Hermana Rupp

Familia!

A couple funny things I forgot to share last time:

I play soccer with the Latinos, and I asked one of them how to say a word, and instead he taught me the D-word! It’s “demons” in English, so it´s not a literal translation. I didn´t find out until I said it in class and my teacher told me haha. Well played Elder, well played.

The other day our investigator told us that his dad was unfaithful to his mother, and my comp didn’t know what he was saying, so she just smiled and told him very nice haha. It was so hard not to laugh.

Some responses:

We eat inside, and you can´t bring any food out (although you can buy food on p-day and eat it in your rooms), but they have little tables in a lot of places outside for studying.

The temperature is kind of chilly, and, every once in a while, actually cold. There´s rarely ever sun, and it gets pretty gloomy and depressing after a while. I´m excited to leave and see the sun again haha. It´s very humid. If something gets wet, it most likely won´t dry all the way unless the sun happens to come out.

All the missionaries sleep in the same building (dorms), but there are separate hallways for Elders and Hermanas.

When we shop we take a public bus to the Temple, and then we just walk to whatever store we want (as a district). We usually go to a grocery store or to these little garages where they’re super cramped, but sell a lot of stuff.  It’s fun. Today my comps and I placed 2 Books of Mormon, and it was sweet! Hopefully they actually read them haha.

Peru is cramped, and there are so many houses stuck in tiny little spaces. By the CCM and the Temple it is fairly green.  All the medians between the roads are just grass and trees. The area I went tracting in, however, was just packed with people, and you couldn´t see any kind of mountains or vegetation, just buildings and grey sky.  It´s crazy how many people are in Lima.

Hey family!

So there´s some kinda funny rules here at the CCM. You can´t sit next to any Elders at meals, you can´t take pictures except on P-day (and they can only be outside), and you can´t send letters from here. But they´re super chill about other stuff, like not making you play half-field soccer. Some people really dislike it here and want to leave, but I like it. I genuinely enjoy being here, and I feel super grateful.
So on our first pday we left for the temple at like 6:30 in the morning, and then you get to go shopping for about 2 hours after. The Temple is about a 5 min drive away, so you walk outside of the CCM, and then catch a public bus as they pass by. Sometimes you get pretty lucky and it´s decently roomy, but other times it is insanely crowded and the motor sounds like it belongs on a lawn mower haha. The Temple has been closed for the past two weeks, which is a bummer, so we get free time until around 10, and then we go shopping. We have time do laundry, email and pretty much whatever we want until 5 that night. Leaving the CCM is super fun.
My teachers are two Peruvians, and they´re super funny.
Our latina roommates left, and they moved our trio into our own, separate room. We were super bummed we weren´t getting more, but then we realized we now have our own bathroom in our room. So it´s sad, but... the bathroom helps us cope :)
The food here is good, at least I think, but there´s not much variety. Meat, rice, and bread every single day. Almost every single meal. I eat more here than I ever have in my life, especially the bread. I think i´ve gained three pounds, but it´s a good thing. Of course, if this trend continues in the mission field I may have a problem haha.
This Saturday we get to go proselyting in Lima, and I´m way excited. I may be in Caleb´s mission, but we´ll have to see. I´ll let you know how it goes.
Overall, I love being in the MTC, and I have yet to have a bad day here. I get more out of the scriptures than I ever have before, and being here just feels so right. I´m a little stressed because I have the option of leaving my district and finishing up the last two weeks with a latino district, and I don´t know what to do. It would mean a new comp and new schedule... we´ll see.
I love you all, and have a great week.