words and wanderlusts: 1 YEAR!

Okay everyone don´t freak out but I hit my year mark last Thursday on the 20th! Remember when I went into the MTC, was nervous out of my mind, and didn´t speak barely any Spanish? Well I do! I´m a long ways away from that person I was a year ago in many ways and I lot of things have happened. It´s definitely been the hardest year of my life but in change I have learned a lot and grown much much more spiritually. Has it gone by fast for you all? I guess looking back it has gone by quickly, and now that I only have less than 6 months (4 transfers) it scares me! In the beginning I didn´t understand that feeling, but now I get nervous thinking that I only have a short time left to completely dedicate myself to the Lord. After all I will never get to do it again in the same way.
We celebrate better than I did for my actual birthday last summer. Gladis (Valeria´s mom-the YSA that is preparing for a mission now), a member in one of our pueblos (towns) made me a cake and after dinner they all sang to me I blew out one white candle. It was fun. Earlier that day we ate we a less active Venezuelan member, Viky, for mediodía and she made us the best Italian food. I was dying. She is one of the few people I´ve met here that actually knows how to cook Italian food (since she lived there). By the end of the day I didn´t want to eat anything for a really long time.
Oh good news! MariCarmen and Juan, the parents of a part-member family we are teaching are about to get married soon! Carmen, their 9 year old already got baptized and they have been waiting almost a year to get their marriage papers. So I will keep you all updated on that, I hope I get to see their baptism while I am here! I´m sure I will. This is the last week of the transfer and Hna Cerna is outta here for sure, and I´ll probably be around 1 or two more transfers after that.
On Friday we had a zone conference with Pres and Sis Deere. It was a good one too and probably my biggest. The mission has grown a lot since I started. It was nice because I got to see the sisters that are in Benidorm right now and catch up on everything that is happening over there right now. Vicente is doing well but still no contact from Miri or Itzayana unfortunately.
That night we stopped by an address in the middle of nowhere for a part-member family we had been trying to contact for a long time and when we finally found the rundown house no one was there so we left a note. As we were walking back to the inner parts of the small town we saw a few people turn a corner with a bike, and I can´t remember who said what first but it was them! Coincidence? No! We set up a return appointment and got their real phone number. I love small little miracles! It shows how aware God is of us and how everything has a plan.
Tons of plans fell through this week and right now I think I have the flu, but Luis Antonio, our Adventist investigator, came to church. We had a lesson with him and Cecilia yesterday night and they still don´t get the whole authority thing. They are fixed on Saturday being the only true Sabbath day. Also last Monday it was Elder Antezana´s bday (an elder from my district) so we went out to a Bolivian restaurant and threw him a bday party afterwards. I´ll attach photos!
Have a good week and love you all!
Hermana Thompson
1. the party throwers: Hna Cerna, elder baker, and me
2. Gladis and Mirian who were the cooks at my 1 year bday dinner
3. our district: Elder Johnson, Hna Cerna, elder baker, me, Elder Adams, Elder Antezana