{(Peru Chiclayo Mission)}: 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.