I'm not in Santa Cruz anymore!

Well I’m not in Santa Cruz anymore! I was transferred to Tarija, which is a different apartamiento than Santa Cruz.   It’s at the very bottom of Bolivia—by the Argentina border.  (Tarija is 14-15 hours away from Santa Cruz!  It resembles Argentina more than it does the rest of Bolivia.) It looks just like Utah, with mountains and real houses and cars!  It was really hard to leave Santa Cruz after a year there, it honestly felt like leaving home all over again, but I’m learning to love Tarija too! It was sooo hard to leave Hermana Garcia.  We got to the point of being sisters and so it was sad to leave her.  But she’s here in Tarjia too, so I’ll get to see her sometimes. The members here are sooo great and my new companion, Hermana Duckardt, is really awesome too! She’s from Argentina and we live with two other latinas.

Yesterday in church we had a menos activo go to church for the first time in years! He’s an RM and his wife recently came back to activity and their daughter is eight years old so he has goals with the bishop that he will be able to baptize her.  In consejo de barrio, the bishop made plans to help him make friends through fishing trips and playing football, so he feels comfortable with the  ward.  It was awesome, I was super impressed.  They are so great, so nice and a really wonderful family!

We don’t have any investigators, but we have a lot of plans this week to find people and get to work.  It can only get better! I know that as we give it all we have, the Lord will lead us to the people He has prepared for us.   It rains here A LOT—even more than Santa Cruz, but that’s ok, there’s pizza!!!

I’m so grateful to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ.  There is nothing better than being a missionary.  I`m so grateful for the gospel, because it is designed perfectly to help us become like our Father in Heaven.  I know my Savior lives and that my Father in Heaven hears my prayers.  I’m so grateful for the both of them. 

I love you all and I hope you have the best week!

Hermana Willes