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!
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Jugetes (toys) that Sierra sent home from Peru!  |
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| Sierra crutching around on her bum foot |
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| this is a picture of our week: we bought and received fruit I crutched all over Peru We read Jesus the Christ |
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| Hna Reid y Hna Dodson |
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| giant avocados from Violetta |
So sorry to hear about your loss. I don't know how people can go through such grief and pain without the Gospel. I know my hope in Christ is the only thing that kept me going during my loss. "Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings"...continue to spread that peace!!
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