On PAUSE

Whelp everyone, if you're not sitting down for this I would recommend that you do so. Keep arms and legs inside at all times and enjoy this crazy roller coaster called my life. So once upon a time I got sent to the wonderful land of California and was received with open arms and I slowly started to love my new California mission more and more. The missionaries were great, I was meeting so many new wonderful people, and I was enjoying the luxuries of a state side mission. But as time kept going on, my sickness was improving but it was not going away. I knew that if I didn't get better soon I would have to be sent home... so me being my stubborn self I LIED. I put on a show pretending that I was completely healthy and that all was well. But as time went on I began to realize how hard this acting stuff is. There were definitely ups and downs. Some days I wouldn't feel as sick and I thought to myself "I can do this!" But then there were down days where I didn't feel as well and I wondered "can I do this?" Time kept going on and I eventually had to send my cute companion hermana vega home and received my oh so incredible companion hermana Lopez. We started our transfer out right with a leaking tire and bonded 3 hours at pep boys. Woot woot! As the week went on I became pretty sick and had to spend a lot of time in doors and I had plenty of time to think about my whole situation and I started to be honest with myself. I couldn't spend nine months like this. I couldn't do that to my companions and the areas definitely deserved more than that. They deserved someone who could give it all their energy and strength. I started to humble myself... Yet again... And I prayed for direction and help. As I talked with my angel of a companion, read my scriptures, and general conference talks, I got the answer that I needed to start being honest with my leaders, starting with my mission president. That night, me and hermana Lopez made a vow to be honest (like we raised our arms and made an oath and everything haha). We saw him at a baptism on Saturday and I confessed everything and got myself out of the big lying hole that I had made. President Henrie has this one face, where he just stares at you, smiles, and just listens, and that's the face that I got, the typical Henrie face. He told me he would pray about my situation and get back to me. IT FELT LIKE A THOUSAND BRICKS WERE LIFTED OFF ME. A little advice for all of you, BE HONEST. Don't dig yourself into a big hole of lies! Haha. Anyways, so time kept going on, me and hna Lopez kept having a HOOT. I was in the best district in the whole world. My zone and district leaders had no idea what was going on in my life yet they were helping us in a million ways. They deserve an award or something because they helped in more ways than they know! I was just enjoying my time with my amazing companion and my incredible zone. Then on Monday morning we received the phone call I knew was coming. I was being sent home and it was my last day. Words cannot describe the heart wrenching pain that those words create in a missionary. Floods or memories and emotions ran through me. Yet through all of it, I felt peace. Heavenly Father played a HUGE part in that. I knew that I had him and my savior by my side and that I was following his plan and not mine. That last days was hard, many tears were shed, but I felt PEACE. Looking back on those 9 months, I could see all the incredible moments that helped me change and grow closer to my savior. And there were times where I looked back and thought, why did I get sent to California if I was just going to get sent home anyways? Then I realized that I NEEDED that Great California San Fernando mission. I NEEDED the missionaries there. The missionaries in that mission are absolutely incredible. They are SO loving and I felt like we were one big family. They gave me, "hermana Bolivia", the love I needed. THEY CHANGED MY LIFE. And I am so grateful for the experiences I had there and in Bolivia. It has sure been hard, but I have grown so close to my savior. HE LIVES. His atonement is so REAL. And although the experiences, both good and bad, have been quite the roller coaster ride, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Through all this crazy I have grown closer to my savior. He is my brother and best friend and I know that I am not alone in all of this. I am home now from my mission, but it's not the end, it's just on PAUSE. Heavenly Father needs me at home, for what reason I don't know, but I know that I am meant to be here. I am on pause and I am doing all that I can to get back out into the mission field. I'm going to doctors and doing many tests to figure this out, but as soon as we do I am jumping back out there with my mission family. My life is completely in His hands, he is the potter and I am the clay. HE LIVES. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us more than we can ever imagine and when we COMPLETELY submit to their will and trust in them, they help us reach our great potential. We sometimes don't know why things happen, but They do. They see the whole picture and all They want for us is to be HAPPY. I invite you all to submit to HIS will and enjoy the great blessings that come from it. Thank you all for your love and support! I have been able to feel your prayers and have been lifted up in my trials. I love you all and would love to see you while I'm on Pause.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Higham

Hey Ya'll <-- My Tennessee Companion

Hoooooollllaaaaaaaaaa. Soooooooooooooo life is getting pretty fun! So once upon a time my companion is leaving me on TUESDAY and I will be getting another companion! And also, fun news, you would think I would just stay in the area right? NOPE. I'm getting transferred AGAIN. Which is like fine and I'll go where He wants me to go, but this whole packing and unpacking thing is getting old because I just have so much STUFF. I swear I'm like Grandma Downs who just can't get rid of anything... And I just keep getting more and more stuff. So I'm just going to send some stuff home so I don't have to deal with it till I get home but YOU CAN'T OPEN IT. It may have presents inside that you all can't have till I give them to you all and see your faces when you get the wicked awesome Bolivian things. Heh heh heh. So they do transfers a little differently here in California and they give you a heads up a few days earlier but they dont tell you where you're going or who you're going to be with. So right now I just know that i'm transferring. It's awesome that I get to meet more people and have more areas and such but the longest I've ever been in an area is 4ish months so this transfer I'm hoping to stay for a loooooong time. But I'm excited. I've gotten used to change and switching around places so it's not really phasing me at all haha. The only bad part is I'm scared to get close to people and just get switched really fast again so I'm trying to just love people and open up even if it will just make the goodbye harder. 

This week was a good week! Just lots of knocking doors, lots of service for our cute little old folks friends, and lots of trying to keep Hermana sane hahahaha. Sending home companions is fun. They pretty much just go insane and you just sit back and watch the madness. With our old people friends this past week we helped them make bracelets and it was super fun. They would try to do it themselves because they're so independent but then all the beads would fall and they would accept our help. So cute. Haha. 

While we were knocking on doors this past week we were able to find some realy cool people. They were really super interested in having us come back but it was cool hearing what they believe in. There was this one guy who was buddhist/native american tribe beliefs and we were like WHOA what is that? "It's a pulse. It's a heartbeat. It's LIFE. It's the flowers the sky..." and he just went off on this poetic rant and it was brilliant. I was like GIVE THIS GUY AN AWARD. There's lots of buddhists here and they always get scared when we come to their door because they don't speak very good English so they just slowly close the door as they speak Korean or something haha. What a life.

Welp, that's pretty much it for the week! We weren't able to have any lessons this last week but we have had a good week. It's just been fun being with Hermana Vega. We've been having a hoot and have met some pretty fun people. It's going to be weird being surrounded by complete strangers again this week in a new area and zone but it will be fun. People just can't keep track of me and I can barely keep track of myself. One second I'm over there, the other second over here. KEEP UP. hahaha. 

I definitely know that I'm not alone in the work. There's no way I would be able to get switched this many times and do all of the things I am doing without His divine help. I know that I have Him and angels surrounding me and that's how I have the strength to keep going. I love it out here in the mission and I wouldn't trade any of the experiences I've had for anything. Heavenly Father is teaching me so many things and is molding me into the person I have the potential to become. Although I may not like it at times, I know that if I submit to him, I will continue progressing. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!! Let me know if there's anything I can do for you all! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Higham

Do you see that big black thing? It's a DOG. The biggest dog bear I have ever seen!

We went to a place called Humble Bee and it was delicious. It was Hermana Vega's favorite place so we had to go before she left!

I'm Cold

Wowzers what a week!! Hahaha just kidding it was pretty normal. But still good! Me and Hermana Vega just have a hoot all of the time which is good because we have like nothing to do all of the time. Just knocking doors and such. BUT we have found more service opportunities so that has been fun! We went to the thrift store again, we went to some other place... that's actually a different church... and we handed out food so that was fun! They even pushed me through the line and forced me to get food... which I ended up giving away because as much as I loved expired food items my stomach would probably die haha. We also went to this old folks home and it is probably my favorite place on the planet. We get to walk peoples dogs, we call out BINGO, we help with other activities, and we just talk to the hilarious old people. A lot of them are jews so they are pretty funny. They always say "Are you going to try to convert me? Because it's probably not going to work because I'm Jewish!" And then they just laugh for a good 5 minutes hahaha. They are also pretty innapropriate too haha silly old people. It's been a hoot.

We were actually able to have lessons this past week!! We were able to meet with this one family and I see lots of potential in them! We were only able to meet with the mom and her 10 year old son but they are just the cutest things! The 10 year old loves learning about Jesus and even prayed for us, we can't even get grown adults to pray so it was awesome! They are just a nice cute family so we're excited to be seeing them more! 

So something fun happened yesterday. So we went to go visit this less active because her husband has just recently died so we got there and she let us in and everything was great.. but then someone came to the door and she let them in and in our minds we were like "yeah, cool, more people to teach!" but then more kept coming.. and more.. and more... then all of a sudden we were surrounded my catholics.. about to do a prayer. So the less actives husband was creemated... or however you spell it... and so they bring out his box, light some candles, and before we know it we're sitting through 20 minutes of Catholic prayers. Hahahahaha it was super awkward but also kinda fun. Then they asked us to offer a prayer... so I volunteered Hermana Vega and so we said a prayer... and then we left. Fun times! haha

Another fun story, so once upon a time we were knocking doors and we found an old man who was an  English member and we chatted with him for a while and he told us his wife was sick so being super kind sister missionaries we made them cookies and delivered them yesterday and they let us in and they were the cutest old couple I have ever met in my entire life! They're super old but just still so in love hahaha. They would always just made jokes or remarks to each other and then she would just wink at him hahaha it was super cute! Their names are Jackie and Bob Sharp. And Jackie went on dates with President Monson when they were younger. And Pres Monson wrote her a note and may have called her an "attractive girl" in that note. Oooolala! haha. But also, So they had a picture on their wall and all of a sudden Hermana Vega goes 'THAT PICTURE WAS IN AN ENSIGN' so Bob Sharp was in an Ensign before. The story was written about his friend but he was in there too so that was pretty fun. It's almost like I met a celebrity but cooler. Hahaha. But for reals they were super cute and we're so going back just to talk with them more because they're just so silly and cute. 

Well, that's pretty much it for the week! Hermana Vega goes home next Wednesday so that's crazy! We've got a week left so we're gunna work SO HARD. I'm pumped! Haha. I'm doing well out here in California. This past week it really hit me that I'm not going back to Bolivia so that was hard... but it's great here and I love it. I have already met so many people that have changed my life and I know that I'm here for a reason. Bolvia is definitely not California, but California is also not Bolivia. Some day I'll go back to Bolivia and just party with all my Bolivians. But my cute area in Bolivia is still in good hands so I'm super happy about that. And Paola got baptized last week so yayyyyyyy! So things are rough and my life is weird but I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I'm PROUD TO BE A MISSIONARY! I love you all and hope you have a great week! Hasta luego! 

Con mucho amor

Hermana Higham

We got frozen yogurt and my selfie game is so strong!

Also, in attempt to hold my dress down to not show my sacred underwear, I look like a demon, enjoy. Hahahahaha