{(Peru Chiclayo Mission)}: Week 4: "I will do my best on earth, so that I can come find you, and bring you back..."

Martes Abril 29, 2014

P-Day! Today we went to the temple. I didn't use the English head phones and I understood mostly all of what happened! I think it helped that I knew it pretty well in English :) I was still really proud! After the temple we (18 personas) walked to Metros (ghetto Walmart) and it was closed because they were celebrating the working people. So we went next door to "grajes". It is a fair like place with booths, but it is inside a 3 story building. I bought some cool pants there. They are like my genie pants, but better. :) I also got a jersey today, but I ordered it awhile ago with a teacher that works at the CCM because his friend can get them cheap. :) I love bargains! After we bought our pants we walked to the other side of town to Tohus. During all the walking, there were a lot of cat calls, and "hey bonitas" yelled at us. Funny story...while we were walking by some construction guys they started whistling and yelling stuff at us and one of the Elders, Elder Meidell yells back, "Gracias, yo tengo bonita!" The workers laughed and got back to work! It was so funny! Oh, that means, "Thanks, I am beautiful!" At least that is what Meidell said. haha :)
Later, we had a devotional live from Provo. I tried to find Kenzie, but I didn't see her :( Bummer. Well D. Todd Christofferson and his wife spoke! They both did amazing! Sister Christofferson spoke about if you do your part in the field, God will bless you. She also, right at the beginning of her talk, quoted Pres. Hinkley, because she was giving us "motherly advice" because our moms were not here speaking to us. "Please do not do stupid things." Pres. Hinkley Later D. Todd Christofferson spoke, and he walked up to the stand and pulled a box of Cheerios out of nowhere and began talking. He turned the box around and on the back it read, "Trusted...a brand that all mothers trust for their little ones." He then adds, "I think all those who give their time to clean chapels can agree." He is so funny! He then likened it unto us by sharing a quote from David O. McKay, "It is greater to be trusted than loved!" And continued by saying "How many of us can God trust?" He closed by saying "We want God to say 'Well done my good and faithful servant', as we meet Him at the Gates of Heaven." I think it is important that we all, missionary or not, need to work towards that because we should not want to embarrass God by not being a trustworthy servant of God. Oh, he also brought up a point on blessings. He said, "If you think you are in debt to God before your mission, you will be surprised at how in debt you will be after your mission because God showers you with blessings while you serve a mission."
I challenge ya'll to read D&C 112! It is amazing. Also, I know this church is true and I know God loves every single person on earth, because His love is infinite! Sorry for this long in put today! Love you all! Yo se que Jesucristo y dios viven!!!

Miercoles, Abril 30, 2014

Well we finally taught Carlos, and it was okay....haha. He told us we did good but I just keep wanting to be perfect at speaking but....that won't happen at 3 weeks. :( esta bien. We had service today. We helped all those who clean the CCM with their cleaning! It is so much fun. :)
I drew a picture of my maestros today! It is so cute! I'll take a picture of it! After I drew it my friend Hna Guymon shared an AMAZING quote with me about the spirit world. It is so long- so I don't want to write it down again!! (See post Week 4: Spirit World Quote) Lo siento. :) Well tonight I showed my noche maestros the picture of them I drew and Hna Casear said, "I am not that fat." and I said, "get over it, at least I got your hair and thoughts right!" Hna Villanueva laughed so hard at that! ha ha They love me. Not to sound cocky.....ha ha.
After class we had to teach the Latins again. This time we were with some Latin Elders and they taught an amazing lesson, but one of the elders spoke really fast and wouldn't let there be any silence, so it felt rushed, then again, we only have 15 min to teach an entire lesson! Which is so annoying. esta bien. After our lesson tonight I was talking to Hna McGinnis about how I feel "useless" when I can't speak Spanish, so she shared an amazing scripture with me that made me feel good about everything. D&C 50: 16, 24, 40.
P.S. Today I've been here tres semangis! (three weeks)

Jueves, Mayo 1, 2014

Tonight Hna McGinnis and I taught Maria sobre (about) El Evangelio de Jesucristo. (Gospel of Jesus Christ) and it went amazing. She had many questions for us. She wouldn't have had so many questions if she would have just read the chapter we gave her from the Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 11. It was so perfect, but since she didn't read it. We read parts from it and asked her about her baptism and why being baptized like Jesus, would be a good thing for her. We were only suppose to teach for 15 min. We taught for almost 45 min. oops. We had a lot to talk about. Oh awesome thing happened. We committed her to baptism! She wants to learn more, but at least we committed her! :) I am loving teaching even though I can't say much. I am teaching lessons in Spanish and people understand me. Last night one of the teachers told McGinnis and I that we are one of the best companionships at the CCM. How cool is that?! 3 weeks here and we are one of the best compared to the people that have been here for 6 weeks! I love this church and I love the CCM! I would be a mess if I didn't have the CCM or my companion. She is amazing and is always building me up when I feel down about my Spanish! I love her with mi todas corazon! ( my whole heart)

Viernes, Mayo 2, 2014

This morning we practiced teaching less active members and inviting them back to church. After that Hna McGinnis and I were supposed to teach Carlos, but he wasn't here today, so we taught a "less active member" instead. It was nice, because tomorrow we are proselyting!! And we teach less active members.
After teaching we had grammar, but Hno Chavez y Hno Hans got distracted with telling us stories, so we only learned about Spanish for 20 min instead of an hour. ha ha We talked about his (Hno Chavez) proposal to his wife, and Elder Sandholtz asked him when are they going to have a baby and he says, "soon", so we all assume she was pregnant, so we asked when the baby was going to be born, and he said, "9 months." We all busted up because he said it like he was so proud! ha ha And then we asked him if he wanted kids and he said yes and then said, "My wife is getting a little fat, so maybe she is pregnant...." We asked him while laughing why he doesn't know if she is pregnant and his response was perfecto! He said, "I no ask her yet!" hahahahahaha!
Later in the day around 4:45 pm we taught "investigadoros" but they were just teenagers from the community coming to see their future as a missionary. We taught 2 of the girls. The first lesson was bueno, but the second lesson not so much! I am so excited for tomorrow!

Sabado, Mayo 3, 2014

Proselyting!! My companera was Hna Perez. She is from Columbia and her mision is Santa Cruz, Bolivia! :) She is super nice and really funny. She only speaks Spanish so the communication for planning our lesson was a tad bit hard, but it definitely got better. Once we left the CCM and got to our area in Lima Central Mision we got paired up with 3 members. One was an old grandma. Then one who was 18. Her name is Reina, and then there was another who was 17 and her name is Angie. They were so sweet! After we were assigned we started walking toward the first house we were wanting to invite to attend sacrament meeting and institute. We went to 3 houses and no one was there, but thankfully at the fourth house, someone "answered"- really we opened their gate and walked up some steps that had no support under them up to the 3rd floor (the roof) to their house, which was basically open, so we called for her and she invited us in and we talked to her and her non member husband. Come to find out, they really liked hearing me "speak" Spanish and her husband speaks some English so he really liked when I would say English words to him. After that we went to the fifth house and there was no answer but while we were waiting for an answer, across the street there was a woman on the phone and next to her was a little boy who was maybe 2. Well the little boy threw something of his mom's out the window so I ran over and grabbed it and tried to gather it all up for her. When she came down to get it, we started talking to her about the church. We ended up getting her information and left a pamphlet about the Restoration for her with the missionaries phone number in it. I wonder if anything will end up happening with her!? :) We went to a few other people's houses and got them signed up for institute and on our way back to the buses there are these people who drive these carts that have a huge speaker attached to the top to talk through and let people know what they are selling. Well, the lady saw me and she literally followed us around forever just yelling into the speaker about her fruit! It was so funny! Once we got to the buses, my group took a picture on Reina's phone, so I am going to have her email it to me, but afterwards she asked for my email and hugged and kissed me and the old lady that we went with asked for my phone number, so if she calls you, ha ha. Sorry :)
I read some cool stuff in 2 Nephi 26-27 today! I really love when the olden day prophets see prophets in the future! It is late and its been a long day. Goodnight!

Domingo, Mayo 4, 2014

Well yesterday after lunch all the missionaries started our 24 hour fast. I have never in my whole life felt fasting as powerful as I have with this one. My whole being was so sensitive to the spirit.
Today during fast and testimony meeting one of the counselors of the branch presidency got released because he goes home on Tuesday with his wife. So we got a new counselor and his name is Elder Hill. Elder Hill helped write Preach My Gospel and is now serving a mission with his wife. They are quite old to be serving a mission here, but I definitely look up to them and their service. During the sharing of testimonies I had so many things stand out to me. One of the sisters shared a quote from Jeffrey R. Holland, "Start fast, run hard. Make it to the tape. You can rest later." Also, an Elder named Elder Rereba (Texas) he shared something that sent chills through my body. He said maybe while we were in heaven, and when we received our callings, the people going to Peru were nervous and scared to go because they wouldn't be born into the gospel. And while they were worrying we went up to them and promised them, "I will do my best on earth, so that I can come and find you, and bring you back...." It was so simple but the most powerful thing I heard today. That is how I feel here with all the beautiful people. I feel obligated to help them get back to the path which leads us home to God. The food after my fast was so delicious. It always is, but especially today! And all the cooks are so amazing. I love them!
Tonight we watched "17 Miracles" It was so awesome to be able to watch that. It strengthened me so much because if people can give up that much, I can serve a mission for 18 months, easy! Well tonight we also watched another MTC Broadcast, and the best part is, it was given by Richard G. Scott and none of us noticed that the talk is the same one we watched for the Easter Devotional. I started taking the same notes that I took when we watched it the first time. So funny! ha ha! We also had a district meeting and shared our favorite thing about 17 Miracles and then we all shared our "wants in a future spouse". It was funny how different we all are but we all want an eternal family. :)
Ha ha How cheesey :)
Future Spouse:
-Funny- make me laugh/can take a joke
-we can sit in silence without feeling awkward
-doesn't need constant reassurance
-supportive of my dreams/career
-do things for each other because we want to and not because it's "my turn" or "his turn"
-cuddling/kissing/standing together is natural and not weird. Fit nicely together
-loves my family more than me
-sings with me, even if terrible :)
-has competitive side- I want competition
-spontaneous
-loves me and all my flaws/ uniqueness
-wants to live in other places ex. Peru, Canada, etc.
-dedicated in work, school, church, even during hardships
-faith
-speaks another language!

Lunes, Mayo 5, 2014

This morning a bunch of Latinas came into our room to sing Happy Birthday to Hna Garcia and well it was really early...6:00 am. I didn't have to be up for another 30 minutes! Dang it.
In class this morning Hno Hans showed us a video about the Holy Ghost. It was amazing. It is Elder Bednar and it was called "The Spirit" in media portal. He talks about the Holy Ghost and Elder Packer. Watch it! It is awesome! Also, we took the attribute activity in Preach My Gospel pg. 126. Take it. See what you must work on in your life.
After dinner, we (my district) found out it was our teacher's birthday. Hno Ceasar and he was turning 25. So I decorated a card and we all wrote a little message for him and sang Happy Birthday. It was so sweet to see him light up when we acknowledged his birthday. He came up to me later after Hna McGinnis and I taught "Carmen", an investigator, and told me my note was his favorite. It read, "Feliz Cumplianos Fresco (sassy). You are the best teacher. Gracias por everything!" He loved the sassy part, mostly because that is what I always tell him.
Tonight we are saying goodbye to all the Latins and the Avensaros (the oldest group here Norte Americanos) I become an Avensaro tomorrow...crazy. I only have 2 weeks left at the CCM. Time is flying. On Thursday it is my month mark. I have a super funny story about Hna Waite. She is in my district and she always does the funniest things but tonight topped them all. She went with her companionship to go and teach "Carmen" after us, and they were talking to her about repentance and baptism and Hna Kennedy looks over at Waite and sees her fiddling with her Book of Mormon and so she asks her if she wanted to share the scripture and she said yes. She then shares Alma 27:45 in Spanish and it talks about the promised land and sorrows. They had no idea it had nothing to do with their lesson until they looked it up after, and Kennedy shared the story with us and we literally laughed/cried for 5 minutes. Also we just sang "God be with you till we meet again". Super emotional night for everyone.