I just have some little things to tell ya, no big deal. Oh I'm on my mission...

(Nicole said she'd send another email later but it never came so this is her "Family" email and I thought I'd share it)

Okay. first off I'd just like you to know.. I'm alive. its fine.

The plane I rode here to Tarija was soooo sketchy. As soon as I saw it I turned to Hermana Blanco..

"óur plane looks like a tube of toothpaste"

and when they started DRIVING IT. It sounded so broken I was like ..´´THAT'S IT I'M NOT GOING.´´

It was rough....  

I'm in the middle of freakin' NOWHERE. Mom, these people seriously have nothing.. I've never seen anything like this. its unbelievable. 

 My Mission President and his wife

 My Mission President and his wife and my first companion Sister Blanco.

I GOT MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!! THANK YOU, I'M SO EXCITED TO OPEN IT!
I just have some little things to tell ya, no big deal. oh I'm on my mission... so anyway.

When we were first loading up to leave the Colombia CCM

Them- ´´Okay, lets load the big luggage up first´´

Pacheco- ´´CEDEÑO. CEDENO, YOUR LUGGAGE IS FIRST, WHERES CEDENO´´

rude. They missionaries named my Luggage Patricia and Beatrice. Because they're ginormous. when the elders would walk up to me, I would think they were going to shake my hand and right when they got to me they would lean down, pat Patricia and Beatrice and say ´´Patricia and Beatrice.. I'm going to miss hauling you up stairs and to and from the airport, and on to elevators... etc..´´
#rude.

ALSO!!! I saw people! Ashley, I met Gabriella Lopez! She is absolutely amazing, i love her. But she is Hermana Elise Ellison's companion!! So cool. They are serving in Santa Cruz, and I am nowhere near the city. I'm in the boonies. I'm in that random little square of my mission at the bottom of the country!

AND I SAW ZACK GINES. THE MISSIONARY I WOULD EMAIL THAT WAS IN THE COCHABAMBA mission!!! but our missions combined and now he is in mine!! I was soooo happy to see him, we were like.. freaking out haha look him up on facebook. He was in the big group of boys i always hung out with in Jr. high.. with like Tim, and Parker.. idk if you remember. so cool though. I'll probably never see him again either haha!

Saying good bye to people was.. so hard. I wish you guys knew, I was SO ATTACHED. I just love people too deeply. The other elders that have been in the mission a long time said that we will be surprised how much we DON'T see each other. .. comforting. thanks.

So that was hard. Because A lot of them are serving in the city.. and I'm out her in the wilderness haha rough.. i cried. whatever.

BUT Elder Nigil Bailey is in my ward!!!! BAILEY. FROM COLOMBIA. I see him alll the time, we have a lot of fun, he is the best. I get hardcore LB´s for him whenever I see him. Except for yesterday when Hna. Blanco and I agreed to help teach Gospel Principles Class in church, and 2 seconds before it started, they said they ´´had to go help a member´´ and totally ditched us. good thing i know Spanish.. not. HB.

I'M SO EXCITED TO READ YOUR LETTER FOR THANKSGIVING. I know that's stupid but i don't care. I get really excited about things that have to do with you guys haha

Hermana Blanco and I went the other day to get ice cream with the Young Women, and they all thought all of my friends were very ´´simpatico´´ when they were looking at my pictures. which means they all thought that my friends were hot. They all want me to marry Brendan Smith. And i said ´´LOL´´.

They love.. Jackson, Trevor, Brendan, Christian, Brody.. haha, and Elder Pacheco

It was way funny. also. I want photos of halloween, i didnt know Ashley was a plumber. That's so sick haha!

Also, tell Ellison Green thank you! She wrote me a note that said ´´you can do hard things´´ or something like that at girls camp and its hanging in my room. it makes me feel happy.

I'll write more in a bit, but I wanna cover other things in another letter! I love you!

By the way, I decided to do my laundry last night....  haahaa no big deal....

in bolivia!

I'M HERE.

Okay, talking to the family this morning just rocked my world. I needed that extra boost, I missed you all so much!!!! You are the best. Tell Bella to be good.

I sat between Elder Pacheco and Robison on the plane here.. so that was a ride. #nosleep

I GOT OFF THE PLANE AND I THOUGHT I HAD ACCIDENTALLY GONE TO HAWAII. 

This place is an island without an ocean. The humidity here is absolutely unbelievable. There are palm trees everywhere. The picture I put on instagram forever ago of Santa Cruz Bolivia with the dirt roads and houses.. That's exactly how it is. It is SO unbelievably poor here. Its crazy. I cant wait for a year and a half when Mom and Dad get to experience it themselves. 

It is sooooo hot. I am sweating. My hair wont be down until I get home.

I love you so much and I will talk to you next P-DAY

PS. I LOVE MY PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE

MUAH!

no entiendo

HOLY I CANT EVEN.

First off... Shout out to Blake Harber, Ellison Green and Cameron Scott. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Also, shout out to Ann Flint and Michelle Baires for writing me. You all rock.

I got a new companion a little bit over a week ago!! Her name is Hermana Melissa Jimenez! She is from Guatemala and doesn't speak a lick of english. She has become my very best friend, I don't think I've ever laughed as much as I have in the past week and a half!

It wasn't always like that, the first 3 days... were so hard for me. I was so discouraged when my district got split up and NOBODY in my new district spoke a word of english. I was so quiet, I just wasn't myself. I cried allll the time. Poor Hna. Jimenez thought I was.. crazy haha But I wanted to answer questions correctly, I wanted to be able to pray about things I wanted to pray for, I wanted to be able to bear testimony to my district the way I would in English, but I just WASN'T ABLE TO. The Spanish really got me down. Sitting in class was Emotionally and mentally DRAINING. It was hard to communicate with my companion, hard to plan lecciones.

I just wanted to EXPRESS MYSELF. I just wanted to speak from my heart, but it was impossible if I didn't know how to say it. I was choked up all day every day for THREE DAYS.

I finally hit the point where I NEEDED HELP. I found Elder Skyler Gallagher, an awesome Elder that was in my old district and asked him if he would give me a blessing at the end of the day. He was soo willing and I was so happy he was. 

We met later and before he gave me my blessing. I can honestly say that I have never in my life received a more powerful, more inspired blessing.. EVER. Most of the blessings I have ever received have been ´´healing´´ blessings. But my Comfort Blessing... I was so uplifted, I felt so loved by my Heavenly Father. Elder Gallagher caused a turning point in my MTC experience. He is amazing. Hermana Jimenez received a blessing from him after. He just rocks. Love him.

SINCE THEN. THINGS HAVE BEEN AWESOME. I cannot express my love enough for my companion, Hna. Jimenez. She helps me so much, and we probably laugh a lot more than we should. She came here with almost NOTHING. So I have given her a skirt, a couple shirts, and a pair of my slippers. Whenever we go to the Temple and are able to go to the little Distribution Center, whatever I buy for myself, I buy for her. I got her a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, she was sooo ecstatic. I JUST LOVE HER.

My spanish.. Its insane. I cant believe how well its coming along. I get annoyed with myself all of the time, but then in the middle of class when I realize that 3 weeks ago I could barely say ´´Hola´´ and now I understand everything the teacher says.. its just awesome. I absolutely love it. I cant wait until the day I don't say ´´NO ENTIENDO´´ even once. It'll be great.

The new Elders in my District make fun of me ALL THE TIME BUT I CANT UNDERSTAND THEM. So then I just talk in english the whole class and they get annoyed. But we've come to a conclusion. They teach me Spanish, I teach them English. I'm the best teacher Ever.

Words I've taught my Latino Elders:

''Come at Me''

''Swagger''

''Don Curr''

''Get it?''

''I like chocolate''

So life is great. I'm leaving for BOLIVIA, SANTA CRUZ on Monday night!! What?? Crazy!

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL. Seriously, I don't understand how someone cant just LOOK at this church and know that its something special. The fact that Joseph Smith dedicated and gave his entire LIFE, everything he ever had to this Gospel. He probably had NO idea what this church would look like in 2013. He had no idea that Nicole Cedeno would be talking about ''Joseph Smith'' to the people in Bolivia. That Nicole Cedeno would be studying everything he fought for in another language in order to help save the salvation of souls and help build the Kingdom of God. It just blows my mind.

I am SO fortunate to have the support I have and to be part of a work that is just SO much bigger than I could even Comprehend. I love it here. 

love,

Hna. Cedeño