The Church is True! I love Tarija, Bolivia!

We didn't get a long email from Sister Cedeno today, but lots of pics with tag lines so here ya go!

IF I don't have time to do my other letter, make sure you write SHOUT OUT TO THE FAMILY AND TO THE WARD.  I got the Christmas cards and letters from the neighborhood Christmas party!  Those were the best the best the BEST. I haven't ever been so happy . UGH!. i loved them..

I'M GREAT. this is a pic of my last day in therapy. yay. it was.. fun. on Friday.

ALSO. we had so much fun with our pajamas... we just LOOOVE that we get to match not only every day.. BUT NOW EVERY NIGHT hahaha They're the best we seriously love them, thank you!! and my CD!! WE  have it on replay so hard core, its so good!

We taught this cute girl, Camila, the discussions before her baptism on Saturday, it was too fun. She is seriously a crack up, i was laughing so hard every lesson!  

I drew her this picture and gave her a CTR ring after her baptism. It was the cutest.

IF IT RAINS ONE MORE TIME... I am soooo done with the rain. its so.. wet. gah.

Also. show this to dad. I'm trying to take more pictures of my food because he always asks about... the food. haha but I only took this one!! I'll take more this week, I promise!! 

I read a little part from your other email. IT'S TRUE.  The letters are the best out of everything. EVEN EMAILS because I can print them and read them and read them and read them. I loooove it.

I keep my stuff in one of the folders you sent me... IT'S FULL I LOVE IT. 

AND ALSO. I WAS LAUGHING SOOOO HARD at this letter from Jonathan.. hahahaha so funny. Thank you so much for that, I've never been so happy.  All of the letters from everyone... I was just stoked.  It was awesome.  I took the pretzel m&m's to the Bishops house to share because they have never even had... pretzels.  They were all gone in an hour. but it was great, thank you so much.

I got DearElders from before i had even left the MTC!!! The district leaders were calling names for letters and it was like ´´CEDENO, CEDENO, CEDENO, CEDENO, CEDENO, CEDENO.....´´ because i had gotten 18 letters hahahaha! Everyone was dying. even though they were from the beginning of November haha thank you!  I loved them!

I LOVE NOTES AND LETTERS. don't worry about big packages!!! I LOVED LOVED LOVED ALL MY NOTES FOR THE WARD.

Mom, you wrote ´´hey Missy´´ at the top of your letter... and I STARTED CRYING because I could just hear your voice and I miss it dearly. uggghhhh. I'm tearing up right now.  You guys will never know how much I miss the 4 of you.  It's.. a lot. I think about you so much. 

So, if you look up the ´´Cemitario Jardin´´ i think is how its spelled. it has a giant angel statue. I can see it from my house. if you get a picture that shows it... across the way there is a yellow building.. that's the building I'm living in. In Senac, Tarija, Bolivia. If you can find it!

Also. the bishops kids started singing ´´Los pollitos dice.. pio pio pio.. cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frio´´ ... and i was laughing so hard!  Dad sang that song to me my entire life!

Tell Char to expect a letter, I'm sending her one later.

This is a pic of Camila and her uncle and the bishop (bishop on the left) i love these people, it was awesome!

 

Thank you for my quote. it is forever in my journal I love it, its so cute!!!

Found a wish bone.  

The Church is true!  I love you all!  

Bye love you!!!

 

Additional Advice to Sisters

TO BRING

pepto bismol. a big bottle

nice scriptures in Spanish that have tabs if you are going to an MTC that isn't Provo. they don't give those to you there. bring your own.

don't bring a pillow! waste of space, you'll have one. but bring a pillow case

don't bring batteries. they sell them here.

GOOD PENS. THESE ONES SUCK.

a nice big roll of duck tape

glue stick

small pencil sharpener

memory card adapter

i brought a ´´smooth trip´´ Travel Gear Power Converter that converts to 50W and 1875W. I got it in Provo! But I sometimes charge my stuff without a converter.. it only makes a difference with some things. I only find out when I unplug something and its BOILING HOT. Then I know that next time.. use the converter haha it just depends on what you're charging.

markers that don't bleed through. like.. crayola.

CLOTHES

no scarves

belts

no bracelets, it just gets sweaty and annoying.

i love my earrings. bring lots.

SIMPLE SHIRTS. not too tight. not too loose.

ADVICE

don't get crazy, they really have everything you need here. maybe not the brand you want... but they have everything.

if Tarija is your first area.. cry tears of joy. its the best place to be born.

The Church is True!  I love you all!

On a first-name basis

OOKAYYY.

So I feel like I haven't written a REAL email for about 22 years. Lets get this show on the road.

SHOUTOUTS. To my Aunt Stacie and her cute family sent me the cutest little notes decorated with snowflakes and all KINDS of whatnot and I hung them up. THANK YOU JENSEN FAMILY. Also, Shout-out to Geno, for writing me! He has made the decision to go on a mission. What a rockstar. And shout out to my Uncle Shawn, it was his birthday Friday!! Hopefully he didn't party too hard. And shout-out to the Barfuss Family... who sent me a package that might not get here till July. Its the thought that counts.

 (I hang up everything I get from my family!)

SOOO. This week... has sucked a little.

First we had CAMBIOS. aka.. transfers. Hermana Blanco and I will be together another transfer!! That's the good news. The rest of the week is the bad news haha

 (P-day is casual.  Sometimes when its over I just put on a skirt :-) )

It all started New Years day. I had some pretty set goals. I was determined to make this the best year of my entire freakin' life.

We went to our first lesson. An old couple who aren't members of a church. We started with a song and began talking about, my man, Joseph Smith. All of a sudden, The man of the couple starts going off about how we are mistaken. How everybody is their own prophet and THEN.. he talks for the rest of the hour. And we are just SITTING THERE.

It got to the point where whenever I would try to but in to say something, he would interrupt me and continue to make us feel...

stupid. I got to the point where I wanted to CRY. But no, his WIFE starts crying! She starts crying and telling him that all she wants to do is learn about Christ and every time she lets someone in to do that, he overrides them.

It was SUCH an uncomfortable situation.. so we got out of there. I hope we can head back there sometime when the man of the house isn't there.

I later found out his name is Jesus. Awesome.

So. Same day.. we leave the lesson. And we decided we needed a BREAK.

We needed to calm down after that one. So we went and sat on the ground in the Plaza. We sat for about... maybe 10 minutes... and then when I stood up..

I couldn't.

I had this SHARP PAIN in my back. The worst part? I knew I had felt that pain before, and I was not looking forward to dealing with that again.

About 2 years ago, I pulled my Sciatic Nerve. Its a nerve that starts in your lower back, goes down your bum, and to your feet. I pulled the left side my first time. And I pulled my left side the second time.

After going home and getting a blessing from my District leaders, I was bed ridden the rest of the day. The NEXT day, we headed to the Clinic.

When I checked in, I gave them my name and waited in the waiting room.

All of a sudden, Hermana Blanco is like ´´HERMANA CEDEÑO THEY'RE CALLING YOU.´´

The nurse had been down the hall yelling ´´NICOLE´´ for like 20 years and I was just sitting there. Because that´s not my name anymore. I guess we´re on a first-name basis now.

Then I go and get X-rays. What more to say about that.. it was really fun.

 (Every single morning before my shot.)

The doctor told me I ALSO have Spina Bifida. Haven't heard that one before. The thing is, I still don't speak Spanish. So I'm not sure what he said about that.. But hopefully it doesn't cause any problems haha

Also, they were freaking out over my X-Rays because my hips look so bad. They wanted to do something for them.. but I told them ´´No´´...

I was a dancer for 8 years, what do you expect? Just leave them haha At least we know they can´t get any worse!!

 (UGH!  Physical Therapy every single day...)

Anyway, Ive had to get a shot a day ever since then. And they don't even try to hide the needle, the nurse just turns around, the shot looks like a freaking Light Saber, and she´s like...

´´Bend Over!´´

Okay just kidding, I don't know what she says, they're always speaking..

Spanish haha duh.

 (Me going to get my shot for the day)

But it really does look like a Light Saber.

I started my first session of Physical Therapy this morning. And I go until next Saturday. Hermana Blanco just sat there and laughed at me all morning. She´s... great.

Other than THAT...

Things are good. We haven't been able to work as much as we have wanted this week because of my little.. accident. But We have some big goals for this transfer. And a lot of the people we are teaching are getting so close to Christ. They are noticing the blessings in their lives and its seriously the most beautiful thing to watch.

   (These little girls can't stop touching my hair. HaaHaa)

Thank you all for your emails and support, I read everyone of them!! I love you all.

The Church is True.

-Hermana Cedeño

p.s... I saw my first flock of Fireflies in my life this week. And I caught one. Like I was in a movie. It was SO cool. So there's that.

Okay, till next week haha