Monday, June 30, 2014

Week 11: Just the three of us: Hna Reid, Myself & my Crutches

Lunes, 16 de Junio de 2014

     P Day!  Well we woke up at 6:00 am because we had to be to Chiclayo at 8/9 am for a mission "goodbye" to all those going home tonight.  We went running, but we didn't run by the house of the creep-mister.  After we got ready, we ate, cleaned the cuarto and then headed to the paradero (place where the buses wait for people to take them on long drives).  It's a 7 minute walk from our cuarto.  When we got there, we forgot something and went back to the cuarto, then went back to the paradero, and realized that that I forgot my healthcard so we ran back to the cuarto and then when we finally got back to the paradero, the elders from Olmos were there waiting for us. ( Elder Robbins y Elder Cruz).  We headed to the mission home in Chiclayo.  When we got there, we talked to a bunch of people and I met my mission family (my trainer's trainer and her trainee y so on)  I saw a bunch of my CCM family! :)  I've missed them.  During the reunion, we talked to the personal secretary because I need to go to the doctor because my foot had been hurting, but my appointment he made for me was for 7 pm so...that meant we will have to spend the night in Chiclayo because Motupe is 2 hours away and the buses don't travel that late... we obviously didn't have the right items for staying the night, so we left the goodbye party and went shopping to buy necessities.  We went to tottus and then to the modelo (a huge outdoor shack place)  It has a bunch of stores with so many random items inside each and every store.  During this shopping, we went to lunch at El Boom, and then continued to shop and emailed.  So I have been using old computers and old systems, so when I used the really fancy nice computers today, the computer did something 'crazy', so I called the worker over and he looked at me like I was dumb for not knowing how to use certain things.  After emailing, we did more shopping and found a lot of fun items.
     At 6:30 pm, we went to the doctor but we had to leave to go and print off my receipt that shows my appt. is paid for, so when we went to print it off my email, we had to wait an hour before I could get it.  So at 7:45 pm, I finally was able to get in to see the doctor, but they sent me on a wild goose chase in the hospital, and I was limping everywhere, and my foot was killing me!  When  we got to the doctor, we went to the far room to get "signed in", then they sent us to the receptionist by the front door, and she sent us upstairs (keep in mind that I have a bad foot during all of this)- we get upstairs and they tell us to go back to the first room we were in...I limp back there and they hand me a note to take to this doctor.  He signs it and sends us to the other doctor.  We wait to get into that doctor.  And once we got in, the doctor looked/touched my foot, and he said I needed an x-ray, so I had my first x-ray today.  Then we talked to the doctor again, and he told me "You have a stress fracture."  He wrote a note "Number 1: rest and use crutches for two semanas 2:  take these pills at breakfast, lunch and dinner.  He signed it and sent me on my way.   And lucky me, I go back in two weeks!!  haha  I love wild goose chases!
     We left the appt. at 8:45 pm and met up with the Hnas in Chiclayo that we were going to stay with. (Hna Ccalli, Hna Yaulli, y Hna Tomlinson)  We went to their pension for dinner (rolls, scrambled eggs and avocados), and then we headed to their cuarto and Hna Ccalli gave us pjs and her bed to sleep in!  How sweet!!!  We talked forever tonight about all our areas!  It was so fun!


Martes, 17 de Junio de 2014

     Well basically, I looked really "good" today because we had nothing to get ready with and we had to wear the same outfit from yesterday.  The best part was that we had to go to the mission home to get instructions from Hna. Risso to find crutches.  Turns out that because it was transfers today, every one was at the mission home, so they all saw us unshowered and disgusting!  haha
     For breakfast I ate bread and caramel with hot chocolate!  After breakfast, we headed to the mission home and everyone was so concerned for me.  We finally found Hna Risso at 10:00 am and she gave us money to go buy crutches.  So...it's official, I have crutches and it sucks.  It hurts! haha  And I have to use them for 2 weeks!  yay  :p  Best part about being on crutches is that my pensionista feels bad for me so she gave me bananas y peanut butter leche popsicles at lunch!  (my favorite!)
     The entire way from Chiclayo to Motupe, and the entire walk from our cuarto to the pension, every single person stopped me to ask me what happened, and then proceeds to prescribe me with their advice of what to do with my foot.  heehee
     I seriously hate crutches!  All day today, they were digging into my underarms and it hurt!  But a couple of beautiful/funny things happened that made it all worth it.  We visited Clarita (16 years) y Clara (the mom) and we taught them about the Atonement by watching the Lamb of God.  They loved it so much and the spirit was crazy there and you knew that they were feeling it too!  Near the end of the lesson, the dad (Jose) came in and he started asking us questions and somehow we started talking about the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom.  Come to find out, Clara y Jose are not married, so we told them about "a big massive wedding" happening next week and they said they would think about it.  The wedding is thrown by the church and they just marry tons of people for cheap, so it is nice for them.
     After our lesson, we started to leave and Hna Reid had a panic attack when she saw this dog that "has rabbies", and I lost it laughing so hard!  I made everyone around us start laughing because I was laughing so hard!
     After that, we taught a young lady named Yajaira (16 years) and she is so awesome.  Her spirit is so strong and her desire to have faith is amazing.  We taught her about faith and repentance and the spirit was so strong the entire lesson.  She shared an amazing experience with us about her praying.  She told us that she was having a bad day and asked for help and she said that the overwhelming peace and love that she felt was amazing and she said she knew God was there for her!  She is going to do amazing works!!
     After that, we slowly headed to English class, which was okay today.  There was not a lot of focus or a set schedule/lesson plan so it was kinda messy.
     After we "hurried" in the moto to our pension to eat dinner.  We ate dinner super fast so we could be home by 9:30 pm.  We got to our door at 9:29!!  And my body hurt.  I am going to have a lot of down time for 2 weeks.  I am going to get really bored....

Miercoles, 18 de Junio  de 2014

     We slept in until 6:30 am :) and skipped exercises because we had to be ready to head to Lambayeque. We got ready and went to breakfast and the sweet  Elders of Motupe met us there to give me a blessing. The Priesthood blessing from the Elders had such a strong power and spirit about it!  I was so grateful for them today.
     During breakfast, I read a poem from my mom about missionary work vs. Christ's life....and I realized that I really needed that focus again on how a mission is a lot like the Atonement of Christ and that being on a mission, we have to live a very, very small portion of it.  With my foot being bad, I got feeling down and complaining, until I read the poem, and realized that I have it easy.  Here is the poem:

The alarm bell rings at 6:30,
I stumble to my feet
I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets
A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?

It seems like just a second ago
I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such
When it’s time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven’t accomplished much

“We have a super day planned,”
My comp. says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
“Yeah, if anyone lets us in.”

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to
Face another day of humidity and heat
It’s 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through
My champion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate “air Box”
We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet

It’s past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I’m not sure what to say

“Oh, Father” I begin, “What happened to us today?
I thought we’d teach somebody, but everyone was away
My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we’d have knocked every street”

“Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it’s very hard to see”

“Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn’t your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back”

“And what about my family: They don’t have much to say
I’m sick of not hearing from home day after day after day
Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I’m sorry but that’s on my mind”

“My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?”
The way he rides his bicycle, I don’t think he can see
Now you have it, I can’t go on, I don’t know what to do
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you”

My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead
Sleep start to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day

I’m standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice
A man walks to wards me and says, “My name is Jesus Christ”
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet
“Arise,” He states, “Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak”

My attention’s towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, “Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you’re going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I’ve felt the same as you”

“I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
I know you don’t like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn’t equipped with 21 speeds”

“I understand you don’t like sweating, in fact it’s something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don’t like your companion- you’d rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth”

“It’s hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back”

“Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It’s hard not to hear from home when your family’s not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

“We have a lot in common, but there’s a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me”
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed
My companion let out a groan, “6:30 already, no way!”
I sat up and said, “Come on, I’ll even carry your scriptures today!”

No matter what we go through,
when we feel we can’t take more
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He’s been there before
By Elder Troy Whittle

Texas Houston Mission

     After breakfast, we headed to Lambayeque.   Because I'm crippled, for the first time since being away from home in Utah, I got to ride in the FRONT SEAT!  It was awesome!  But I realized when you sit in the front, you see all the crazy driving!  (Don't take advantage of having traffic laws!)  Also, on the car ride, someone was traveling with us with LIVE tied up turkeys!!  Freaking HUGE turkeys were tied up like dead animals, but they were alive because they kept "complaining" in their chicken voices!  The entire car ride consisted of screaming turkeys and the driver laying on the horn for NO reason!  haha  And the entire time, he kept looking at me asking me if I had my seat belt on...I don't know why he didn't trust that I wouldn't keep it on  after I put it on in the first place!
     Once we got to the meeting, EVERYONE was like, "Hermana...que paso?"  And basically I stood out like crazy today and since we had transfers yesterday, we, as a zone,  introduced ourselves and everyone went up the front of the room.  When it was my turn, I had to stay in place and introduce myself.  Everyone was so nice and I made a bunch of friends, so bonus for having crutches!  haha
     After the meeting, we went to lunch (tortilla tacos)  They have tortillas here!  but my mom makes them better!  And then we headed home to Motupe and arrived at 3:45 pm and we rested until 5:00pm for my swollen foot. bleh.
     I read in Jesus the Christ and in Chapter 30, on page 536, there is a parable that talks about the importancia of the garment and the endowment.  And on page 543 note #6, it gives a better explanation and I loved one part of it a lot.  It says, "the wedding garment, freely given in the palace, yet we must SEEK it, ASK it, and PUT it on!"
     After rest, we went out to teach this woman named Yolanda, but she wasn't home, so we contacted her neighbor.  She was so awesome.  Her name is Genara.  She is about 50 yrs and she has taken in 3 kids because no one wanted them and she also cares for her 85 yr old mother who can't walk.  She has so much TRUE love and I look up to her.  The love that radiates from her was beautiful.  She told us that she is not interested in religion right now, but she wants to hear more of our message.  Hopefully she realilzes that the LDS church is for her.
     After we taught her, we went to a meeting with the ward mission leader and then to a meeting with the ward council.
     After that, we went to dinner (fruit, shampoo y muffins) and then we planned and got ready for bed.  I am so sore and tired.  Hopefully I sleep well..haha...
     Oh, P.S., everytime I show anyone a picture of my family, someone always tells me my dad looks like someone famous, but they can't think of who...haha.  He gets it in the USA and now in Peru!!

Jueves, 19 de Junio de 2014

     One year mark for Hna Reid!  She said the time has flown by!  haha  We visited a woman named Filomena this morning.  She has a lot of faith and desire to have God in her life and today when we invited her to pray at the end of our lesson, she got emotional in her prayer.  It was beautiful.  On our way out of her work in the marcado, everyone and their dog were saying, "Hermana, que paso?  Soak your foot in something hot!" and "Doctors don't know anything, come over to my house and I'll fix you."  It is funny to have everyone so concerned about me. One lady tried to get me to go to a 'bone setter!  What?!  Crazy!!
    After that, we had study and lunch.  On our way to lunch, a very kind man in a moto stopped and gave is a free ride to our pension, because he felt sorry for me.  It was so sweet and we invited him to church, and as we were walking away, he called to us and asked us to visit him and his family.  We are super excited and he seriously has so much love and service in his heart.  He will make an amazing member!
     After lunch, we headed to meet a member with Ana Carlos (pensionista's daughter).  When we got there, the Elders were there!!  It was kinda awkward.  The elders ended up leaving, and so we talked with Eugenia y her son Gerado (28 yrs).  Let's just say the entire time Gerado was really coming on to us...he kept saying we were so beautiful and well we share the same birthday (Oct. 20) and he decided since I'm turning 20 we can date and move to the USA.
     After we taught them, we visited some really cool teenage girls.  Then we taught Pascuala, Ruth, Keiko (she apparently isn't a member) y Jon.  I love teaching them.  It is just hard teaching kids that want the gospel, but the parents won't allow it or won't take time to meet with us to give permission.
     After that, we headed to the church for choir practice, but the power had been out in Motupe since 3pm and it was 7:20pm at this point, so there was about 10 of us sitting in the dark chapel trying to sing.  During this time, we were talking to the Elders about Gerado and they told us that people are always asking the edlers who likes who out of Hna Reid and I, and who is going to marry who.  People here don't understand missions/rules of the missions here.  It's so funny.
     We decided to just leave and head out in the black city (power out) to visit Cristina.  We ended up going to her house and of course, she wasn't home, so we finally found a moto after sitting on the pitch black road forever and he took us to our pension.  We ate dinner by candle light.  That was fun.  haha  We ate hard bread crackers, cheese, some deep fried bread thing and a sweet bread.   For our drink, it was shampoo (corn y cinnamon y oatmeal)  Then on our way back to the cuarto, the power came back on and we could hear everyone celebrating from inside their homes!  I was giggling, especially when I looked inside one of the homes and there was a kid (14 yrs) dancing and singing his heart out.  It reminded me of the part in the movie Hitch when the fat guy is dancing and Will Smith tells him to stop dancing.
     We made it home, planned and got ready for bed with time to spare.  Ahh...I almost forgot about a tender mercy from God.  When we were at the home of Eugenia, I leaned over to Hna Reid and told her we needed to go to the marcado sometime today to buy fruit for our long weekly planning, and right before we left her house, Eugenia runs into her house and brings out a big bag of FRUIT!  God lives!  And we have fruit for tomorrow!

Viernes, 20 de Junio de 2014

     I studied in Jesus the Christ, Chapters 32 y 33.  In chapter 32 it talked about the 10 virgins and I never realized that all 10 virgins were good Christians.  They were all bueno personas...they just were not all prepared.
     Today was a long day....why you ask...oh because I crutched my not so little bottom around all day long. I am completely exhausted, not to mention it was about 90* outside.  We had weekly planning and luckily for us we had fruit to munch on during it. :)  When we finally got  teaching, we visited Clarita (16 yrs old, loves us more than the elders), and she accepted a baptism date!  Saturday 28 de Junio!  Hopefully it sticks as long as she attends church!  She has grown so much since we first met her with the elders.  After we taught her, the member we taught her with is an older woman named Modesta and she bought us cookies!! She is so funny because she is so quiet and when she does talk, she never stops!  We asked her to bare her testimony at each lesson and she would talk for a good 15 minutes!! Anyways, back to the cookies- since I couldn't hold the cookie in my hand while we walked, I had it hanging out of my mouth (stuck on my lip) like my daddy.  I couldn't help but smile! haha
     On our way back to our pension in a moto, Hna Modesta almost jumped right out of the moto about 4 times.  After the second time, I held her arm, because I don't have the body to help her if she did end up jumping! haha  Crazy grandma!
     We had fruit and smoothies, popsicles (chocolate y bananas) to take home to our cuarto.  Nothing too exciting happened today, but it was draining.

Sabado 21 de Junio de 2014

     I Studied Chapter 33 in Jesus the Christ.  We all have a Holy friendship with Jesus!
     This morning when we went teaching, we stopped by the familia Vela (the family of the man that pretended to be rude and fought us about Joseph Smith)- well his wife was home so we taught her a lesson and in the middle of the lesson, she started talking about how she could cure acne....so she runs into the other room and comes back with this watery paste, which turns out to be what is left over after cleaning rice (dirty rice water paste), and she just starts rubbing it on Hna Reid's face.  I lost it.  My laughing stopped when she decided to rub dirty rice water on my face too...so the rest of the time with her, we have this yellow-ly gunk on our faces.  About ten minutes later, her husband Ezicial enters the house, doesn't question our gunk covered faces and proceeds to say, "What is your message?", so I share a scripture with him. (2 Nephi 28:32) and I say that Jesus is always there for us.  After I finish bearing my testimony, he says, "My turn." He takes my scriptures and proceeds to dissect the verse word by word.  He is so smart and he drives me completely nuts because he is a member who has so much faith but will not come to church and stop selling beer and drinking.....
     Later when we were talking to Yajaira, we met some women sitting on the corner, super concerned about my foot.  So we contacted them/taught them a lesson and they wanted to see pictures of our families, so we showed them.  And EVERY SINGLE one of them said..."Oh!!! Your dad? Man! He is handsome!" Oh!!  Your mom?  Oh!!  She is gorgeous!  Your sisters?  What beautiful dolls!!  You?  You are gorgeous...you should be married, not here!"  haha  But let me tell you, they would not drop the topic of my handsome father!
     After that, we could get back to the church topic again and we closed with a prayer and I crutched to the church for the last choir practice.  I lead the singing sitting down because of my bum foot.  haha  After practice, Elder Coons sneaked me some chocolate chip cookies for Hna Reid and I!!  Before we could eat them, we had to go and teach Katerin, but she wasn't home, but her family was, so we taught her family. Her Grandpa came and joined us and told us that in 2001 some missionaries baptized his daughter, but he didn't get baptized even though he wanted to. (we think it might have been a marriage thing)  But he wants us to baptize him, so we are going to figure out when we can and what we need to do to get him baptized. Everyone in that household is so faithful, so without a doubt, the entire house was filled with the spirit during our lesson.
     We left and went to dinner (potato soup, popcorn, milk and the chocolate chip cookies from the elders). I miss Paradise Bakery cookies.

Domingo, 22 Junio, 2014

     Today was ward conference and I lead the choir and when I told the choir to stand, 2 old men on the front row by my seat made me sit to lead...super awkward, because I was on a chair between the sacrament table and the pulpit.  Anyways the 2 men (not in the choir) stood up and I kept ordering them to sit down, but they wouldn't so I was leading the choir while saying sit down over and over again.  It was so funny.  The choir did an ok job.  Practice helped a little but...not that much.
     After church, I studied Chapter 34 in Jesus the Christ!  Read it! haha  After studying we went teaching. We went to a less active member named Sandra and she said  she was "busy" so we used the excuse of "I really need to sit down" card.  haha  She let us in and the entire time she talked about how amazing my eyelashes were, and that they look like doll eyelashes.  She didn't believe me that they were real and so she pulled on them!!!
     After we taught a bunch more people and I crutched a ton, we went to dinner at Maruja's house because her 30 year old daughter was having a birthday.  We ate lasagna and cake!  We then went to our pension for our other dinner. (fruit and tea and really gross bread haha)  And we were given HUGE avocados from this lady (Violetta) that we taught.  Even though we ate 2 dinners, I didn't feel sick.  God was blessing us.
     This week, we had amazing numbers even though we had a hard week and a lot of struggles.  I know we were able to reach our goals because of God.  He blessed our hard work and dedication, even though I was hurting.  This church is true and I love my Savior with all my heart!!!  With the help of Him,  all I've experienced in the last 2 months has been awesome.  He has taken so many burdens off my shoulders and blessed me.  The language is hard, and slowly but surely it is coming.  I love the mission and I love the beautiful people of Peru.  I'm staying!


Jugetes (toys) that Sierra sent home from Peru!


Sierra's x-rays of her broken foot
 
Sierra crutching around on her bum foot

this is a picture of our week:
we bought and received fruit
I crutched all over Peru
 We read Jesus the Christ

Hna Reid y Hna Dodson

giant avocados from Violetta

 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Week 10: "I love bananas!"

Lunes, Junio 9, 2014

     Well, we woke up really early to get ready to head to Chiclayo.  The "bus" ride there was interesting because everyone on it was male and they looked at us like they have never seen a woman before....haha.. We finally arrived at the Mission Office and got the paper work for Hna Reid and headed to inmigracions. Once we got there, we waited for 30 minutes and got in but once we got in we ended up having the wrong paperwork and not enough copies of another, so we returned to the mission office, got the right things and waited again.... we finally finished her papers and went shopping.  I found a lot of fun things that I sent home today! :) In Chiclayo, us white people don't get as much attention.  I love it!  I feel normal again.  haha
     We went to lunch at El Boom (The Boom!)  I got a hamburger and fries, and then Hna Reid and I shared a caramel cake.  It had coconut on top.  It was so yummy.  The hamburger not so much, but the fries were SO AMAZING!
     After lunch, we headed to Lambayeque (city right outside of Chiclayo) to do emailing and meet up with two Hnas that we were going to do divisions with, because we are staying the night in Lambayeque for a meeting of zona in the morning.  What ended up happening was that we met up with hermanas, dropped our stuff off at their cuarto and well, they decided that we would all teach together instead of doing divisions...so then it ended up being really weird going around town as 4 missionaries.  We ended up "teaching" this woman, actually we ended up just having a conversation with her and Hna Reid and I tried to share a message but the other hermanas took over and continued to conversate.
     Then we left and went to a home of a beautiful family to have a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening). Well, we got there at 7:00 pm but the family was not there except for the mother.  We ended up waiting to have FHE at 8:00 pm.   We shared a message and ate food until 8:30 pm.  We ate popcorn and juice.  We then went to dinner.  We ate arroz con leche (rice with milk) and toast.  It was so yummy.
     After dinner, we went back to their cuarto and planned.  After planning, the hermanas did nothing to help us know what to do with our things and where we were sleeping.  Well, we figured it out.  I guess we will see what happens because they gave us a dirty pillow and mattress (pretty sure it has dead bodies in it!) that we get to share....good thing Hna Reid and I love each other!
     Today was interesting.  I definitely miss Motupe!

Martes, Junio 10, 2014

     Well, I've never slept as bad as I did last night. haha  Not to mention I woke up with a swollen, mucus filled eye!  So that was good. haha  Hopefully everyone won't make a huge deal of it! NOT!  Everyone stared at it!  Well other than that, this morning was pretty bad.  Why?  Oh because the Hnas we stayed with gave us both 5 minutes to shower, not each, but 5 minutes total!  Then we went late to breakfast.  Breakfast was really good - a bunch of whole fruit on a plate and hot milk.  Then we had personal study.  I studied Jesus the Christ and read in Chapters 23-24 and I found some really interesting things in it, like, Jesus went on a temporary retirement to prepare his apostles for his death and resurrection.  I thought that was cool.  I also learned that we need to have the belief  like children, but act/think like adults (smartly) haha.
     We left after studies to get eye drops that Hna Risso told me to get for my eye from the pharmacy.  After we got the eye drops, we headed to our reunions (zone and district meetings)  After, we had lunch and headed back to Motupe.  Since both elders in Motupe are not from Utah like Hna Reid y I, they made fun of our sayings and words that we use like 'butting' in line and 'sluffing' class...haha.
     P.S. Got my package today!  All the Jesus stickers made me smile!
     Well, after we returned to Motupe, we stopped by our pension to let Hna Crisalina know that we were eating lasagna at a member's house tonight, and she gave us 2 ice cream popsicles that she makes that are made with leche y 'peanut butter' y chocolate.  After we ate those, we left and dropped off all our unneeded items at our cuarto and then headed back to the pension to meet a member there, and while we were waiting, Hna Crisalina gave us another popsicle thing and also a hard boiled egg.  I seriously love her with my whole heart!  She is always giving us so much.  Hna Reid and I think that today she wanted to fill us up so we don't want to eat the other dinner tonight.  haha.  Jealousy issues! :)
     After we ate, we went teaching, and at 8 pm we went to teach English.  That was so fun.  Their accents are so adorable.  We started with 2 guys, and they kept asking me to translate Spanish for them into English and they were all love song lyrics!  It was really funny.  By the end of the class, we had 6 people!  It was great and they are doing so well with English!  I am really excited to help them learn!
     After class, we went to dinner at Hna Maruja's house for lasagna.  It had eggs in it but it was really yummy, and we had a jello dessert.  We had to run home to be home on time, and once home, we planned and got ready for bed and laughed about my experience in English class.  The 2 guys (Luis y Franklin) asked me what the " F-word" meant.  I told them that it is a really bad word and don't say that.  Also, to end the class, we pray in English and I offered it.  I struggled so bad! Yay!  That means that my Spanish is really affecting me.
     Oh, funny story.  While we were teaching today, we went to a menos active's house and her dad was there.....with the front door wide open and him sitting in a rocking chair in the dark with an old radio (silent) sitting in his lap...we were so confused and little afraid to enter the house...haha.  We entered and were fine, but it was just a strange/awkward moment. :)

Miercoles, Junio 11, 2014

     It was so nice to be back in Motupe today.  I missed my bed, my pensionista and the people.  Everywhere we go we know someone and people are always yelling to us.
     Today at lunch, we were served cold soup (cold soy milk).  Not once since being here in Peru has anyone served cold milk.  I like it hot but for how hot it is outside, it was nice to drink it cold!  I love the soy milk here.  I don't think I will like milk in the States after drinking soya for a year and a half.  haha  I am just going to have to grow a soy bean plant so I can make myself a nice glass of soya everyday!
     We started teaching right after language study.  We visited Anyela (the woman who gave us the yummy fruit).  After we taught her, she brought us mini Ritz crackers and soda.  I had Sprite.  I hate soda.  haha Then we went and taught Pascuala y Ruth y their member friend, Keiko y a little boy named Jon.  They were so cute today and the funniest/saddest thing happened when they asked when someone new was going to replace Hna Reid.  How sad.  At least they wanted to keep me there.  No se why, because all we do is make funny faces at them and draw and sing.  But Hna Reid talks with them in SPANISH (the language I pretend to know) and she sings AMAZING, so no se why they want to keep me?  Oh well, I am glad someone here loves me. :)
     After visiting them, we went and visited these newly baptized children, Jesus y Julia because their mommy feels like her children are terrible people and 'badly created', so she wanted us to talk to them about responsibility.  These kids are 9 y 11 years old.
     After that, we went to the church for a meeting, but no one showed up so we called the elders and they told us to meet them at our pension to go to their pension for a Birthday dinner for Elder Coons' 20th Birthday.  When we got to their pension the table was set with HUGE bowls of masamora (super sweet) and arroz con leche and orange soda.  Basically, I wanted to die.  Everything was sooo sweet and then they fed us huge slices of jello cake.  After we ate, we smashed eggs on Elder Coons' head and my egg exploded back onto me, so that was good.  Then we dumped flour on his head.  After we cleaned up a bit, we left to head to a house of a member to eat more cake!  After we arrived at the street, we were trying to decide if we should just go get cake tomorrow, because we were going to throw up rainbows...we were laughing so hard about everything, and the fact that we were laughing so hard and speaking English, it looked like we were on drugs!
     On our walk back to our cuarto, we passed this guy who was whistling a song.  He stopped walking, faced us and he did the loudest cat call whistle at us and then just awkwardly walked away....what?!  And then as we walked a bit more a huge group of people (men) called out, "I love you!" and I turned to Hna Reid and said, "they love us."  And as she was finishing her sentence to me, the only word I heard was "yum", so I just busted up laughing!  We are always laughing and joking together.  Anyways, I feel super sick from all the sweet things we ate today, so....goodnight.

Jueves, Junio 12, 2014

     Today, we found a menos activo named Fabian (22 yrs) and he is less active because he is working full time to save up to serve a mission.  He is so cool.  His spirit and desire to serve is crazy strong.  We are going to try and reactivate him and help him get to the point to serve a mission.  After we taught him, we met the Elders at the member's house (Hna Maruja) who had the cake for us.  We ate cake (it was heaven) and drank soda.  After, while we were walking to our cuarto, a drunk guy started talking to us.  And this was the conversation:
    Hna Reid: "Buenos dias"
    drunk guy: "Buenos dias, oh wait its afternoon...buenas tardes."
    Hna Reid: "No, it's still dias."
    drunk guy: "And her? (pointing at me)
    Hna Reid:  "What?"
    drunk guy: "She is beautiful.  She brings me pleasure.  She is so pretty.  You need to take care of her."
    Hna Reid: "Okay, I'll take care of her.  Don't worry."
I was so confused the whole time!  haha
     We went to lunch and afterwards we went teaching again, and today was the start of the World Cup....Everyone in the whole city of Motupe was watching the first game.  It wasn't as difficult to get people to listen to our message, which is great, but everyone in town was in their houses all day...the town was empty.  After teaching, we went to help the ward with choir practice.  I lead the music while Hna Reid plays the piano.  They are sounding a lot better now then they did before we started practicing 2 times a week. Oh, but before practice, when we were walking to practice, a moto drove really fast passed us and someone inside yelled something at me and threw an orange at me.  Turns out it was Elder Coons...and he yelled, "You're late!"  What a sassy boy.  haha
     After practice, we (us and the elders) walked together until we had to go separate ways.  It's so fun having 4 gringos here because we all speak English and we all stand out like crazy! haha
     We had hot milk (with milo) and chicken potato sandwiches for dinner.  After dinner, we went across the street to buy dessert (croissant filled with caramel) and treats for planning in the morning.

Viernes, Junio 13, 2014

     I studied Jesus the Christ today.  It is Chapter 27, and it has so many amazing parables in it!  We had planificacion semenal from 10am-2pm...longest, yet most rewarding times here on the mission.
     Today, we went to many homes and no one was ever "home" because there was a game on today- they were home, but pretending to be gone.  It was a blessing that most people were not home because we met so many fantastic people as we walked a certain path.  We went to visit Cristina but she wasn't home, so we decided to go and visit a less active family down the road, and when we got there the only people there were Jaraldin (the eldest daughter) and her friend Yajaira.  So we were talking to them and started teaching about praying and I bore my testimony about God always being there for me, especially now that I'm on a mission and trying to speak a language I don't know.  Right after I shared that, Yajaira started asking how to pray to have a testimony like me.  And then she told us that the Elders have met with her but she didn't trust them, but she trusts us, even though we had only met her 30 minutes ago .  After we finished teaching them, we started to head to this woman's house and on our way, we just happened to run into Cristina and she told us to go to her house to teach her so we did, and we asked her how reading of the Book of Mormon is going, and she said she was in 2 Nephi!  We were so happy and so we just read a chapter with her and answered her questions.  After reading, she sat there in silence and the spirit radiating from her was beautiful!
     After that, we went to visit a less active young woman and while walking we started talking to this young woman and she was so cool and I can't wait to talk to her more, because she has a great spirit about her. And cool thing is, is that 4 years ago 3 people in her family got baptized into the church.  So that is going to help us out when it comes to teaching because she is in a household that has the gospel.
     We then went to dinner which was fruit salad, smoothie y little bread cookies.  I love my pensionista! Seriously!  Oh funny thing.  Today we were craving bananas so we bought 6 each.  haha  Don't worry, they were bite size bananas- they are so cute.  You can fit 3 mini bananas in 1 big banana.  The bananas are SO good!  The fruit is AMAZING and so FRESH!

Sabado, Junio 14, 2014

     Bought some more bananas.  I have never craved bananas as much as I do here.  It's probably because they are crazy fresh here.  We went to the mercado and saw bananas so we asked how much they were and the man said some thing about a dozen, but we only wanted 2, so we asked "how much for two?" and he said, "50 sentimos for 3", so we asked "how much for 4?" and he tells us "50 sentimos" (which is 15 cents in USA), so we bought 2 each!  I love bananas!
     Tonight was amazing.  We taught the girl that has family baptized in the church.  Her name is Katerin and she is 18 years old.  Yesterday when we saw her on the street, we had the feeling to talk to her and today she told us that she had the feeling to talk to us, but she heard us speaking English, so she was nervous, but when we started talking to her in Spanish, she felt relieved!  And during our lesson, the spirit was so strong! And at the end of the lesson, I taught her the guidelines of praying and her prayer was so beautiful.  She has so much potential!  We also visited Alex to give him a Book of Mormon.  While we were there, a parade came through.  They call them "Pase Calle" (street passing).  It was so cute.  The floats had children dressed up as princesses and super heroes, and they were throwing candy at everyone.  The funny thing about here, is that you just follow the parade so you can get candy and see the people.  So basically, everyone is in the parades!
     Anyways, we were about to teach Alex when a buddy of his walks into his store, so we invite him to join us and Alex got a little jealous.  I think he likes that most of the time, its always about him, but this time, he had to share his throne.  haha  Afterwards, we visited Jesus y Julia and apparently we are annoying the grandma that lives with them, so she is going to build a back door so we can knock on that and only "bug" Jesus y Julia y their mom. So....here we are the hippies that have to use the 'back door'....awkward...
     We also visited a woman named Socorro.  We have been visiting her since we got here to Motupe.  She is a menos activo and basically every visit goes like this.  "Can we come in and share a small message with you?"  " I am sooo busy....okay, come in."  We start to talk about her week...she complains about not having time to do anything...we pray and then she continues to complain, so we tell her if she comes back to church, God will bless her, but she ignores us and continues to complain about, "No time!" for 45 minutes!
     So Socorro was her happy self today- so that was good.

Domingo, Junio 15, 2014

     At church today we had 4 investigadores attend!  It is so exciting when they start making progress.  And this week, because it was Father's Day, a lot of our investigadores were out of town but next Sunday should be better.  After church, we had lunch and then started teaching.  The man from the other day that told Hna Reid to take care of me, found us again....and once again he yelled to her to take care of me. haha  Men....
     At 5 pm, we had choir practice but we got stranded in Salitral (a little town out of Motupe about a 30 minute walk), so we speed walked to the church and we were 20 minutes late but when we got there, no one was there.  Lucky us.  Everyone showed up at 5:30 pm and we practiced, and they are getting better and better everyday!  After practice, we started teaching again.  We went to a family we found who has one member and we taught them a couple days ago.  The father of the household is Hugo and he is really interested in the gospel.
     The best thing happened today! The Elders said that they have been visiting the member in that family for awhile and no one in the family has wanted to listen to their message until we came and taught them and apparently the Elders taught them the day after us and the dad started listening to the lessons.  How awesome is that?!  Our spirits touched his heart so much that he now has interest in the church.  After we visited them, we visited a recent convert Fiorella and she asked me to give her a massage because I 'studied' physical therapy.  I gave her one!  haha :)
     After, we headed to the pension, but on the way, this guy was walking 'with' us, so I started contacting him and then he started to tell us how he watches us run every day and proceed to invite us into his house (which he described as, I live alone-top floor-wanna come in?)  We told him "No" and went to shake his hand and he pulled  me in for a kiss, but I pulled away so fast.  He is such a snake.  We fled very quickly!
     We ate dinner (soft boiled eggs, tomatoes, french fries y 4 desserts each)  Our pensionista loves us!
     Oh my gosh- funniest thing happened at church today.  One woman said she was sick, so someone ran and grabbed medicine and right after she took it, many other women were saying that they had pain and felt sick, too, so there was a bunch of drugs being handed out in Relief Society.  We run a drug dealership out of our casicapilla- no big deal.  Us Mormons run the town. :)
     Today, we found out there are cambios (transfers) and we were thinking that Elder Coons would be leaving because he has been here in Motupe for 3 cambios, but we found out tonight that ALL FOUR OF US GRINGOS ARE STAYING IN MOTUPE!!  When we got the call, we ran around and screamed for 8 minutes!  We love these Elders so much!  Looks like we are stuck together for 8 weeks!  This is going to be awesome!  We had cambios early because we are getting a new mission president at the end of the month, so we have to make sure everything is set in place for him so he doesn't have to worry about it, and be overwhelmed.


in front of our cuarto inside the apt. building

Happy Father's Day!  I love you a lot!

saying goodbye to some missionaries





our district leader Elder Robbins is leaving

My Mission Family
Rama Manti:
Elder Pawnkalilikane,Elder Sandholtz, Elder Meidell, Elder White Bull
Hna. Olivas, Hna. Blackburn, Hna. Waite, Hna. Favero, Hna. Guymon, Hna. GivensHna. Payton, Hna. Kennedy
 Hna. McGinnis, Hna. Dodson, Hna. Klingler, Hna. Wease, Hna. Kuhn, Hna. Juhl, Hna. Lofgren
Hna. Gonzalez, Pdte. Gonzalez

Rama Abundancia:
Elder Garcia, Elder Espinoza, Elder Floreano, Elder Puma, Elder Montoya, Elder Cruz
Elder Espinel, Elder Jeria, Elder Morgan, Elder Macias
Hna. Venancio, Hna. Lucano, Hna. Vara, Hna. Quispe, Hna. Sequeria, Hna. Brito
Hna. Sosa, Hna. Garcia, Hna. Toscano, Hna. Guzman, Hna. Paez
Hna. Gonzlez, Pdte. Gonzalez

Rama Zarahenla:
Elder Castillo, Elder Reina, Elder Barrenechea, Elder Melgar, Elder Calle,  Elder Calle
Elder Sanchez, Elder Amaya,  Elder Webb
Hna. Molina, Hna. Haro, Hna. Gonzales, Hna. Daza, Hna. Barzola, Hna. Acosta
Hna. Alacron, Hna. Gilvonio, Hna. Salinas, Hna. Ruiz, Hna. Sofan, Hna. Rodriguez
Hna. Gonzalez, Pdte. Gonzalez


Monday, June 16, 2014

Week 9: "I saw a pig the size of a freaking pony!"


Lunes, Junio 2, 2014

      P-Day:  we got up and went running and got ready for the day.  After, we ate breakfast (sweet potatoes y eggs) yes....I eat eggs.  They taste good here! :)  haha  After, we studied and I read Jesus the Christ. Everytime I read that, I gain a stronger love for my Savior.  I never realized how hard His life was. Especially when Satan was tempting him.  I love my Savior.
     After studies, we cleaned our cuarto (room), and went to the cemetery and the Catholic Church.  At the cemetery, we met a man there and he was really nice.  He works there and he was telling us that he hates that people go to the cemetery and pray to their dead.  So we talked to him a little bit about death and he wants to learn more.  We then left to head back to the cuarto to rest and go to lunch.  After we went back to our cuarto to rest, before emailing and during that time we decorated our planners.  We finally went to emails at 3:30-4:00pm and we found a place with okay internet connection!
     After we were walking around town and kept getting stopped by people because we are gringas!  One group was some teenage girls about Jenna's age (13-14 yrs) and another was an old man.  This old man had no teeth.  He was so cute.  The entire time he was talking, I had no idea what he was saying/gumming at us. As he was speaking, my heart was smiling and I was thinking, "How in the world am I suppose to understand Spanish, let alone someone that speaks Spanish with no teeth."  At that point, I giggled under my breath, and then the old guy walked away and the only thing I understood was that he thought we were pretty.
     We then went back to our cuarto, rested a bit and then got ready to head to our first cita, and on our way our pensionista stopped us and served us picarones (fried donut things).  She gave us each 4 and kept putting more on our plates as we ate.  We ended up eating 6-8...no se...haha.
     We then got to the house of Cristina and we taught her about profetas and how we need to follow them. She seriously loves all the things about Joseph Smith!  I hope all goes well for her!  I have high hopes.
     Then we ate dinner (chicken noodle soup y hot leche con milo) on a HOT day!  Not the best idea....I am so hot all the time. bleh.
     Today was a good day.

Martes, Junio 3, 2014                                                                                                         Olmos, Peru

     We woke up at 6:00 am so we could go running and be ready by 7:30 am to eat at 7:45 am and then be at the bus/car at 8:00am.  For breakfast, we had dried banana sandwiches, potatoes (mashed and shaped like eggs) and a drink called shampoo.  It was so good!  My pensionista is the best!
     We got to Lambayeque at 9:30 am but the church was locked so we had to wait outside until 10:00am (until the zone leaders got there to let us in)  Then we had our district/zone meetings.
     After that, we had lunch and I went on my second intercambio. (missionary splits)  I am in Olmos with Hna Brito (USA).  Once we finally arrived in Olmos (2 1/2 hour drive), we went to her cuarto to drop off my things.  We then headed out to start teaching.  As we walked to the first cita, I saw a pig the size of a pony!  A freakin' pony!  It was HUGE!  I wanted to ride it  haha
     Our first cita was with a woman who is elderly and is strong Catholic, but she knows our church is true but has to stay Catholic because "her mom is".  We taught her from the Bible that we pray only to God in the name of Jesus (John 14:13-14).  She said she would pray that way which is awesome because she is starting to act.
     After, we walked up this mountain to a familia and after the lesson they fed us cold sandy rice.  It was interesting.  But they are very humble and sweet!  They liked me so much, they wanted me to come back on Friday and Saturday to teach them! :)  Bummer that I can't.
     It got dark and the part of town we were in didn't have lights so they walked us to the main part of town. :)  And then we went to dinner.  We had tuna, onions/tomatoes in oil and salt, and a huge  plate of dried bananas and herbal tea with brown sugar.  After we ate, we went with her pensionista's son (Hne Bryan) to teach a family.  He is so funny and the entire time we were with him, we would communicate through facial expressions.  It was so funny!  We asked this family to get married on June 25 during the mass wedding and they accepted.  Now we need them to go through the temple! :)
     Afterwards we went to the their chapel building, it is so nice.  It is nicer than our building at home.  We went to help/watch some ward members practice a dance for a talent show coming up and when I walked in, all the kids ran up to me and were yelling, "Habla Ingles!"  So I just started saying random things in English!  They loved it!
     After we helped for a bit, we headed back to the cuarto, did some planning, and got ready for bed, and as she was showing me how the shower works, the head fell off and the entire shower thing fell off the wall! So no showers.  Oh well.  A little dirt never hurt anyone.  We just laughed about it forever, at least I did, because I get to go home tomorrow to a nice unbroken/hot shower. :)
     Well the cuarto here in Olmos is LIME GREEN.  It reminds me of my room, but like more crazy. Anyways, we taught a lot of people about temples today, and I started missing attending but then I realized I can go a lot when I go back to Bountiful and that I get to live with my family forever, because my parents chose to get sealed.  I am grateful for the beautiful gift from Heavenly Father to be sealed together for all time and eternity.  I hope to help people here make it to the temple so they too, can be with their family forever!  I know the church is true.  Love ya'll.

Miercoles, Junio 4, 2014

     I woke up at 6:30 am and worked out a bit and as I was washing my face, my companion called and said she was sick all night throwing up and that she wasn't up to travel so we had to go back to Motupe instead of the other way around.  We did our studies and then headed to Motupe at 11:00am and got there around 12 noon.  We all talked for a bit until 12:30 pm and then we walked them to the terminal to get them back to Olmos.  Then we studied, and then went to lunch.  We had chicha.  It's a corn juice made from purple corn. And for breakfast, I had this tea called echo. (it tastes like the smell of wet coffee grounds)  It was gross! Since Hna Reid was sick, we went back to the cuarto so she could rest and I could study language.
     At 4 pm we taught Ruth y Pascuala about the Book of Mormon.  We are hoping for a baptism for them, but first we need to get mama's permission.  On our way back from los cocos, we  met this young lady (17 yrs).  Her name is Julie and her baby boy is Bradley.  We were just contacting her when she invited us to teach her right then.  We talked about forever families and about prayer.  We told her any time she feels alone, God is always there and at the end of the lesson, she prayed and thanked us for giving her the love of God and the knowledge that God is always there.  After, we were walking down Emiliano Nino and my comp started feeling nauseous, so we sat down and about 3 minutes after sitting down, an older woman walks to our side and we start talking to her.  She was asking about missions and the church. She told us "This is where I live, so just stop by and teach me anytime."  Her name is Rita and she is such a sweet lady. First of all, she told me I was gorgeous and second she complimented my Spanish!  Either she is a good brown noser, like me, or she really means it!  Lets stick with the second!  hahaha
     After, we contacted a few others who were sort of interested.  And then we went to corciacion y consejo de bamo (ward council).  That lasted from 7-9:10 pm.  Well longer but we left early to go eat dinner and plan.
     Today was a long day, uneventful, but a good day.  Bipolar.  haha  I love it here in Motupe.  I love the people and all the members here and their willingness to help all the missionaries with anything.  I don't want to leave Motupe.  I will stay here for the rest of my mission!
     I forgot a story from Martes.  We had to go to the bathroom during the meetings so we headed to the girl's bathroom, but it was locked and at that moment, our elders from Motupe walk out of the boy's bathroom and told us to go in the boy's bathroom and that they would stand guard.  And when we walked out of the bathroom, the Elders were trying to break into the girl's bathroom!  It looked really bad!! :)  We love our Elders of Motupe.
P.S.  They got in!  haha

Jueves, Junio 5, 2014 

      Well, no water this morning.  Thankfully when we got back from running, the owners figured out the problem and we had water!!  For breakfast, we had soy milk (hot) and the best cheese in the world on rolls. :)  After breakfast, I studied personally, Jesus the Christ.  I read Chapters 16-17.  Both were so amazing.  In chapter 17 it says, "the capacity to be grateful is a blessing, for the possession of which we should be further grateful."  I never had thought to thank my Heavenly Father for the capability to give/feel thanks!  It also says, " 'so let it be', is the literal signification of 'Amen'".  I love that.  Let it be.  Let God take it from there. We must ask for the things we are in need of to show God we know He is the giver of all and then let it be. I love Jesus the Christ!  I have never felt so close to my Savior!
     After study, we went teaching and we taught  a recent convert and his non member family.  His name is Cristian.  He is such a strong kid.(15 almost 16 yrs)  His spirit is so strong. :)  I love seeing the excitement in the new members because they radiate the light of Christ.
     After, we  went to lunch and Hna Crisalina served us a chinese dish:  arroz, eggs, veggies y beef of some sort, and we drank pineapple/mango juice.  It was so good!  And at every meal, they make me a new type of hot sauce because they found out I like it!  I am going to ask for the recipes because this hot sauce you can't find in North America.  I lucked out here in Motupe.  I have a really nice cuarto and the best pensionista in town!
     After lunch, we went teaching in Salitral and met a large family that has 3 less active members in it   Anyways, during the lesson the family basically tried to talk me into dating/marrying/bringing their son Julio back to the U.S. with me.  I said no...so don't stress, but I have to say he was really nice/cute.  haha
     After they tried to hook us up, the son was excited to attend church again, until he found out he would attend a different class than us.  Then he didn't have interest.  Here it is hard to distinguish people who really want to hear about the gospel or only want to spend time with gringas.
     We then had to head back to Centro Motupe to the capilla to help the ward with their singing again. Seriously...bless their hearts.  When we finally finished we headed to dinner at 8:15 pm (potatoes y cheese y shampoo).
     We found out it is Ana's birthday tomorrow. (the daughter of our pensionista), so we went shopping to get a little chocolate "cake" and obsesion "cookies" and mogul candies, so we can make a tiny little birthday cake.  Hopefully she likes it! :)

Viernes, Junio 6, 2014

     Today we left the apartment to go running and we were running down an empty road when a cart bike came down the road, and when he got closer to us, he literally started pedaling faster with his bike pointed at us.  Point of this story is her, apparently hitting people/threatening people with your cart full of bread makes people want to buy it. Obviously.  The U.S. should start that practice!
     After we had breakfast and we took the "cake" to Ana, and we made her a cute card and cut out a picture of Jesus, too.  She loved it!  She was so excited to show everyone them. haha
     We had study after that, and I was reading a bit in Jesus the Christ, Chapters 18-19.  Read them!  After our studies, we had weekly planning (~4 hours) and after we had lunch and went straight to a service activity.  We helped build houses, because there was a fire that destroyed many homes, which actually turned into watching the Elders work, which turned into "go find the Elders from Olmos that are getting dropped off in Motupe to help", which turned into an hour wait because this guy at the bus stop kept telling us "patience, hermanas, patience...the mormons are coming."  And while we were waiting, this man came up to us and said, "Hola Elders." (very common here to be called Elder :) And he kept talking to us about how "rich" North America is, and how we should marry someone from Peru, and so on....He was weird.  We finally gave up waiting and left....and ended up finding out that the Elders were dropped off at the building sight...we were super annoyed because we wasted teaching time that we didn't need to be wasting.
     After we changed our work clothes into our skirts, we met up with a member named Edita (19 yrs old) to help us teach.  We taught 5 lessons today and they were all good.  Nothing too exciting happened...haha.
   Oh, minor detail here...they set off fireworks all day long.  The favorite time to set them off is at 1-2:00 pm, because that makes so much sense.  Also, they have parades every other day for really random reasons.  I love it, but its random.
     Well, we ate dinner at 8:45pm, arroz con leche, "donut" banana sandwich, and the best cake I've ever eaten!  The food here is so much better than the U.S. haha
     Tonight there is a huge party for all the teenagers at the school yard, which is right by our cuarto.  It is pretty rowdy and loud, so lets see how I sleep tonight.  I am so exhausted from today even though nothing crazy happened.  I think the crazy "goose chase" we had for the Elders of Olmos (Elder Robbins, our district leader, and Elder Cruz) was so ridiculous...bleh. haha

Sabado, Junio 7, 2014

     Well, I slept great!  I didn't even hear the party at all.  Basically, I lucked out getting the pension y cuarto that I did!
     Well, we taught this woman named Filomena and she looks like a Peruvian Katie Tingey, so it was pretty cool.  Anyway, she has so much faith and love for God y Jesus and wants to have a religion, so hopefully she will choose the LDS Faith.
     After, we went and taught Pascuala y Ruth (Root) and all their buddies came over and listened to our lesson.  And then we went to lunch, which was really funny because Hna Reid and I got different food.  She got this pasta dish and I got a stir fry rice dish.  We think she didn't get rice because the past couple times we had rice, she always leaves quite a bit of rice on her plate, because she gets really full. haha :)  Oh well.  At least I got the good food! :)
     Oh, funny story.  This morning the Elders sent us a message on the phone, and we asked them a question about the sleeping arrangements for P-Day and they sent us a message that said, "The Elders have room"....haha.  And so in response, we told them what page the law of chastity was on in the Missionary hand guide.  They thought it was so funny!
     There was a baptism at 3-5 pm.  They didn't start until 3:30 and it didn't end until 5:15.  It was beautiful to watch Elder Coons baptize the 9 yr old boy.  After the baptism, they served the corn drink (tastes like the smell of wet dirt) and cake!  I love cake here!!
     We taught a couple lessons to some contacts and our last cita tonight was with Luhanna. (15 yrs old) She was an investigador de the Elders and they gave her all the lessons but she wouldn't get baptized.  So we have been teaching her, hoping she will get her thoughts together and realize what she needs to do.  But every time we teach her, she knows every lesson inside and out but won't get baptized.  We might have to drop her if she doesn't make up her mind.
     We had fruit and tea for dinner.  And on the fruit, she put condensed milk!  It's so good!

Domingo, Junio 8, 2014 (2 month mark)

     We had freshly fried french fries and eggs for breakfast, with milo (best hot chocolate milk).  Church felt longer today than usual, because when I understand everything, the time goes by slowly but when I don't understand, my brain is trying to put pieces together which keeps my brain occupied.  haha  Oh well, I'm making progress obviously.
     We went teaching after lunch and we visited a reference of a contact.  Her name is Anyela and she was really interested in our message but we didn't have a whole lot of time, but she is so sweet and gave us inca cola, a fruit called mamei y ritz crackers.  It was do good!  After we stopped by a couple houses but they weren't home so we went to visit Alex (the less active) and he is seriously so nice to me.  He is one of the only people here that actually talks to me more than my companion.  He is just really patient with me and my poor/bad Spanish.  He is always complementing my Spanish, too! :)  I hope we can "save" him (get him active again- that's what they call it in missionary terms)
     After, we had ward choir practice at 5:00pm which means 5:45pm.  haha  Time/utas doesn't mean a thing here.  It drives me nuts.  Hopefully, I don't come home and still have the mind set of going late to things because nothing starts on time.  I guess we will see.  haha
     After a marvelous practice, we visited a few recent converts y menos activos.  We taught 2 young boys named Bryan y Rudy.  They are really cool and are always asking us "how do you say______ in English?" haha
     After that we went contacting in the park by the Catholic Church and found many people who were truly interested but lived in other parts of Peru. :(  Hopefully the other missionaries will find them and teach them! Then we went to dinner at 8:30 pm.
     We went home and started planning.  Well, it went super long because tomorrow is P-Day and my comp needs to be to Chiclayo by 8:30 am, meaning we need to leave at 6:00ish and then because we have a meeting Tuesday in Chiclayo, we are going to stay the night so we don't waste time or money traveling.  It's going to be a long day....fun....but long.

Our bunks. I'm on the top bunk
Hermana Reid in our cuarto (room)
Hermana Reid 

Cemetery
"This is in the cemetary.  It's a little castle
thing that has a statue in a casket of a 
little dead Jesus.  I'ts kinda intense."

"I love Jesus the Christ"  Hna Dodson

Birthday Cake  we made for Ana
(oohh...so cute!)


Monday, June 9, 2014

Week 8: Motupe, Peru

May 29

We ended intercambios (missionary splits). Everyone I feel is ready for the gospel in Jayanca. When we got back to Motupe we found this contact named Cristina. She was really interested in the Book of Mormon, so we gave her one and she seriously loves it!  I have a good feeling about her.

Mayo 30

We met with Alex, a less active member that we found on accident because we asked him where an address was and so he helped us and so we have been teaching him a lot, and this last week he started praying again, and he says he feels good about it.  
We also taught Pascuala and Ruth(root) and they are so cute.

Mayo 31

We met with a newly baptized man named Anderson, and his brother apparently has got some witchcraft done on him, so he was asking us to help him get rid of the evil spirit.  It was intense.  But we told him we didn't have the authority and that we would talk to the elders.  Cristina wants to learn more and wants to get baptized!!!! yayayy!

Junio 1

Testimony meeting here is intense.  People literally get up as people are speaking still and they stand there waiting for them to finish. hahaha Maybe next time I will have a chance to share my testimony hahaha. Later that night we practiced singing with the ward members for a ward conference and well.. that was the longest 2 hrs of my life. hahahaha They seriously cant sing to save their life. hahahahaha I would sing the note and have them follow my lead and they struggled.  hahahahahahaha.. I love them. 
I read chapt 12-14 in Jesus the Christ and I love my Savior.



My companion Hna. Reid and I hiking to a sacred cross





girls in the district

my district in front of the cross

me looking out to motuope

 norte amricans folding the USA flag.. hahaha

ugly dogs here

"I live in Motupe and travel to Chiclayo (2 hour ride)
every week for one day, for meetings."

Cemetary

Catholic Church