SHOWSTOPPERS!

Wow what a week it has been! If you are anyone who knows me well you know I have a BEAUTIFUL voice! JK but you know I will sing shamelessly even though it is horrible. So we had our Stake choir show and we sang in the choir for the hymn part no biggie but then they told us we need to have another song and all the instruments came on out. Honestly I wasn't sure if we were in the Mormon church or the Baptist church but it was fun; HOWEVER, our ward didn't have anything prepared so they decided to have us sing The Little Drummer Boy with two women from the ward singing the first verse and me and my cmop singing the second verse in Spanish and the ward singing the rum pa pum pum part. Everything seemed fine and dandy but in the Spanish version there are words the whole time and there isn't time for the rum pa pum pum so we were already messing those up then I messed up the words in English not that anyone would have known but my companion starts laughing then I elbow her and apparently it looked really funny so everyone starts laughing and she is laughing so hard and then they mess up the rum pa pum pum as I am trying to sing and they literally shut the curtains on us. No second chances hahaha. I was laughed off the dang stage. There goes that singing career we all expected from me. 

BUT I did redeem myself a little in our mission talent show. So of course every other zone was BORING and either did a Nativity scene or sang a hymn but we got a lil creative and sang the 12 days of Christmas with mission terms instead of the original.

Okay so it went like this 

"En el primer dia de los translados la mision me dio"

or on the first day of transfers the mission gave to me

1. Un apoyo que no llego

apoyo is the name of our money here so basically we are saying we haven't received our money yet

2. dos pow-pows

here "pow pow" is something people say to there kids like dont do that

3. tres boches

when we get in trouble we say someone gave us a boche

4. cuatro minutos menos

because here in the DR the phones have minutes it isn't unlimited like in the states

5. cinco referencias

like when people give us new references for people to teach

6. seis enfermadades

six sicknesses because just about everyone has had stomach probs in this mish

7. siete dias sin luz

seven days without light because you never know when you may or may not have it

8. ocho pollos fritos

eight fried chickens because here people LOVE their chicken

9. nueve dias sin agua

nine days without water lol holla at the bucket showers

10. diez fechas caidas

ten fallen dates for baptism because the mission is tough

11. once rudas leenas

eleven full rudas which are the taxis here where there are no laws about how many people you can get into them! (see pics)

12. doce primeras semanas

the first 12 weeks which is a program you do in the first two transfers of your mission to learn the ropes

I hope you all enjoyed our Christmas/mission song as much as we did! 

SHOUTOUT to the Capitola ward for sending me the sweetest lil Christmas package. You are all amazing! Don't have much to say but I love you all and hope you are having the BEST holiday season!

All the love,

Hermana Bossard xoxoxo

 

 

we found some pigs that are probably going to be eaten by the time you all read this :(

 

i got to hold a HEDGEHOG hahaha

we also saw monkeys and parrots and fish and cats and dogs hahaha

 

we went to this self serve froyo  place called sweet frog that they have in the states! (not half as good as yogurtland)

20 Funny and FABULOUS

Wow TWENTY. Can you believe that? That is a two not a one. WOW SOY UNA VIEJA! I am an old woman lol. Can I just say I had the BEST birthday of my WHOLE DANG LIFE?!!!! I could feel so much of my Heavenly Father's love! Like just so many things lined up in such an inspired way to make some miracles happen! Also SHOUTOUT to my mom, the BEST mom in the world because she has been emailing my comp and I got a SURPRISE Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. It was like I never left the states. They even had music in English! Wow! It was awesome. Then I got to go share the most beautiful message on the planet. What more could I ask for? Oh maybe a night full of pizza and dominoes with some members and then another birthday party with a traditional Dominican desert the next night oh and a BUNCH of love in my emails. Honestly I thought this was going to be the hardest birthday ever but honestly it was the BEST of my life. 

Well tranfers were this week and I was so nervous about where I would be going since I had three transfers so drum roll PLEASE.................................................. I AM STAYING IN LA UNION WITH HERMANA VAN WOERKOM. What a DREAM come true because I thought I wouldn't know my comp or the area or any of the members for Christmas but I get to stay. Wow I am SO dang happy. Can we just take a minute to talk about the power of prayer? I have been praying to stay obviously. The members have been praying for me to stay. Even my investigators were praying for it! Obviously no one wants me to go hahaha. SO many prayers were answered and I know without them I would be gone. I totally thought I was gone but I am here. Our zone is called Cien Fuegos and me and Hna Van woerkom like to call ourselves ``Las Bomberas`` de Cien Fuegos or the firefighters. Gosh we have too much dang fun. The mission has a lot of heartbreak but it has so many beautoful moments. Wow I am so excited to get at least six more weeks here with my BFF companion. Heavenly Father listens to us and ANSWERS our prayers. He loves us SO much.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/your-four-minutes?lang=eng

My companion had a copy of this talk that she shared with me and boy is it so true. The time is NOW! This past six months have flown by and I know life is the same way. It just flies by. We need to take advantage of every moment. I would STRONGLY encourage all of you to read this. I love you all so much and I can`t wait to see your faces in a YEAR what?!!

All the LOVE,

Hermana Bossard xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

 

 

 

 

I fell and ate it SUPER hard in the street in front of a bunch of people one day and this is my battle wound...just a little embarrassing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating my birthday with my zone

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Win Some LOSE MORE

Wow you ever just have one of those weeks where you can feel the adversary working so dang hard on you and those around you? Boy oh boy have I am this was one of them. We had two investigators with dates fall through. UGH such HEARTBREAK. Let me tell you I never thought I would cry so much in the streets of the DR. As if me and my white companion dont already stand out enough here I am a hot mess crying over these people I hardly even know. Crazy how attached you can get to people when you see them progress and you see them come unto Christ until they don't anymore. 

We had one woman tell us I know this church is the TRUE church. I know Jose Smith was a prophet. I know the Plan of Salvation is real. I know everything you have taught me is true. I know Jose Smith received revelations. I know the Word of Wisdom is inspired by God BUT I am not going to give up coffee. We were like wait wait wait we can work on it we can change your date so you can work on it. She goes nope I am not even going to try. UGH SHE KNOWS IT IS WHAT HEAVENLY FATHER WANTS BUT WON'T CHANGE. Sometimes I want to be like Noah from the Notebook (yes the Nicholas Sparks book/movie) when he is like "just GET IN THE WATER get in the water" and then he goes "sorry i am sorry but could you just get in the water?" Like seriously just LIVE IT. Ugh you know it is true. DO IT. URGGHHH.

Then we had ANOTHER girl tell us that she knows it is all true. She has no problems with word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing. NO PROBLEMS but she doesn't want to go to church. She told us she knows it all IS TRUE! AHHHHH. 

I guess this is how Heavenly Father feels with me when I sin. I know this church is true. I know what I have to do to receive all the blessings He has prepared for me and sometimes I don't live in accordance with these things. Sometimes I don't follow His will. If I were him I would be pretty darn frustrated with me, but He loves us so dang much and knows our faults our problems. He knows how to help us and he always does. I love this gospel and the blessings it brings into my life. 

I would like to finish by quoting Mr. Slinger from  "Lily's Purple Plastic Purse" one of my favorite books "Today was hard. Tomorrow will be better."

All the love,

Hermana Bossard xoxoxo

FINDING FINDING FINDING

Wow what a week full of BLESSINGS? I must be doing something right haha. I cannot believe how fast this transfer is going for starters. Only two more weeks. We are already in DECEMBER people. I  almost have six months here in the DR! CRAZY!!!!! Hope everyone had the happiest of Thanksgivings. I hope you all appreciated it since that is what it is all about family and giving thanks... maybe with a little bit of football. We ended up having turkey. YUM.I ended up cutting it because no one knew how. Boy that was interesting. They didn't have a carving board so it was a bit of a struggle. Not the prettiest job but I got the job done. and oh my my did it taste GOOD!

I love the quote by Gabby Douglas who won the olympics in gymnastics that says "All the glory goes up to God and the blessings fall down on me." Or something like that but i love it because truly when we are humble we receive SO many blessings. When we are willing to do the things God asks of us, we can see the miracles in our lives. Sometimes the mission is so dang hard. Sometimes I just want to give up. The other day I had one of those moments BIG TIME. We had a member with us for some lessons and almost ALL of them fell. I was feeling DOWN. We were walking around trying to contact and no one would listen to us when finally we start talking to this one women. She let us in to teach her and as we started to teach her her husband walks in and boom we have a new FAMILY to teach. This was one of THREE families we found this week. WOW the church is true and Heavenly Father really does bless us.

I love the mission because there is so much craziness going on in the world from what I have heard but this message is a message of JOY a message of LOVE and a message of truths. Really this gospel can bless our lives more than we can even imagine. We have a kingdom to inherit but we really do have to be worthy of it. We have to do everything possible to qualify for this glory. I love the song "Dig a lil Deeper" from Disney's the Princess and the Frog because sometimes we have got to dig a lil deeper to find what we really need in this life. Read our scriptures a little more. Pray a little more fervently. GO TO CHURCH even when we want to sleep in. By small and simple things great things are brought to pass. Serioualy I can see the blessings of this gospel in my life and as a representative of Christ I can promise each of you these blessings. I love you all so dang much but more importantly you have a Heavenly Father who loves you more than you know!

All the love,

Hermana Bossard xoxo

Me cutting the turkey!!!

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE my companion!!!

DR bugs...ugh!

 

we did Secret Santa and this is my gift that I gave Elder Simonis

Elder Monetecinos rocking a Santa Cruz Oneill shirt that he bought in CHILE SHOUTOUT

 

I got Dominoes for my present because the Domincans LOVE Dominioes I am official now

GRACIAS GRACIAS GRACIAS

I am going to assume that since most of you are from California you know that gracias means thank you but for those who don't NOW YOU DO! You're welcome haha. Wow it is SO weird to be in a coutry that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Fortunately a member did invite us over tomorrow to have Turkey which is unheard of here so obviously the church is true! Just another testimony strengthener. Also today for p-day our zone had a lil somethin for Thanksgiving. It was super fun. We made pumpkin cake because we couldn't find pie crust to make pumpkin pie and let me tell you it was not easy. We were going around Santiago like crazy to find the pumpkin! We finally went to Bravo which is like the Whole Foods of the DR. YUM! Same place I found SC products. SHOUTOUT! But it was super hectic there and smelt like Thanksgiving and was so totally worth it! I love the DR but nothing can replace America haha. It is weird because I never felt like as Americans we have traditions but now that I am not surrounded by the culture I see how awesome our country real is. I have a new found appreciation! 

My companion is SO awesome. Let me tell ya a lil something about what a blessing this companionship is in my life. We have soooooo much fun and are laughing all the freaking time. Honoestly I LOVE HER! I am so grateful for the inspiration our mission president recieves from our Heavenly Father because I KNOW we are meant to be here together. The Spirit is SO dang strong in our lessons. I wish I could put the Spirit in a bag and send it to each and every one of you because it is so amazing. We are working so hard and we are seeing some success. Slow and steady wins the race yeah haha. I never realized how blessed I was when I was aninvestigator taking the lessons.

We have an investigator who is doing EVERYTHING right. She is reading the Book of Mormon. She is going to Church including activities and participating in her classes. She is praying. She attended her BF's baptism. She said she can feel something different there but she just does not feel like she has recieved her answer. It is so dang frustrating when you see someone doing everything they need to to recieve an answer and they just don't feel it. I know she will recieve her answer in the Lord's time. It is a test of her pacience and also a test of mine because I want her to get her answer so bad! But it makes me think of when I took the lessons and honestly I could feel that it was true so easily. I don't know how but I just knew this was the right thing for me to do. I feel so blessed. I think a huge part of that was for all the examples I had around me. Thank you so much to those of you who have helped me so much on my path. I love you all so much and in the Thanksgiving Spirit I would like to give thanks to each and every one of you. I appreciate you all so much. I know you are all so dang awesome! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the love,

Hermana Bossard xoxoxo

i am learning how to cook and i made the chicken for this sandwich woo!

"I am not a cellphone but I activate with Christ"

I look happy

I do not look happy