{(Peru Chiclayo Mission)}: Week 19: On the Beach! Pimentel, Peru

Lunes, 11 de Agosto de 2014
We went to Chiclayo this p-day to get haircuts and buy needs for cambios. We went to the post office first and while we were inside, a huge commotion happened outside and tons of people started running and ran into stores and shut the doors and blocked things off. Turns out, the police were trying to "keep the peace" in the the town, so they came riding through the city on horse back, threatening people. We were completely confused.
We went and got "haircuts", which consisted of spraying our hair with water, combing it out and just cutting it! It was the scariest thing of my life! My hair looks so short....it feels good, but too short! :( Then we went to Brothers for lunch. Michael is so funny! Then we emailed home on really fast internet! Gotta love that! After emailing, we headed back to Motupe and went out visiting and saying final good-byes.
We visited Nicol and Jovanna, then Geraldine y Tana and the new baby. While heading there, we ran into the Elders saying their goodbyes, too. It is so sad. It is hard to change, but it will be a good change. Gonzalo wasn't home, so we went and visited Clarita and Pascuala. Then I ate my last dinner in Motupe (fried potatoes and cheese and big glass of milk). We went home and I finished packing and we made recuardas.

Martes, 12 de Agosto de 2014
Well we got up like normal and got ready. During study, I finished packing up the last of my stuff. At 8:45am, the Elders came to our cuarto and helped us with my luggage. We then headed to Chiclayo by combi and well the bench we were all sitting on, was definitely not big enough for 4 people, but they made us sit on it anyway...let's just say we all grew a lot closer this final combi ride all together! :)
Once we got to Chiclayo, it was time to find out our cambios (transfers). I was one of the last to find out where I was going. My new area is Pimentel...the beach!!! My companion is Hna Kingsford. She is from Orem, Utah. Well as I was leaving with her, Elder Chavez (buddy from the doctor's office) stopped me and turns out he is my new zone leader! I am super pumped about that!!
We left and got to Pimentel. I went to drop my things at the cuarto (it's huge) and then we went to lunch at our pension. Lucy, my new pensionista is so amazing! She made me feel right at home! After lunch, we went out teaching. We taught Lis (28 yrs) and her mom. They thought I had more time then Hna Kingsford because my Spanish is so good! That made me feel pretty good. Then we taught Danitza (12 yrs) and she is so cute! At first she was hesitant with me, but by the end, she loved me! Then we went and taught Oscar (92 yrs). He is so funny. He doesn't want religion in his life because he only needs God and nothing else, but he continues to say there is something special about the LDS Church. I really hope he can find the truth of what we teach him. During our lesson, he cut off Hna Kingsford and said, "It would be so much easier to understand each other if we spoke the same language." hahahaha Then he offered a closing prayer which was so spiritual!
Then we went and taught 3 little boys named Victor, Emerson y Johao (Je-ow). They are so cute. They are super loving and they ended up loving me. It was fun!! After we ended the lesson with 3 sweet little prayers from all 3 of them (blessing me by name), we went to dinner. Lucy told me my Spanish is really good and that my accent is great and clear. Yay! Then we went home and planned and got ready for bed. It was a long day...fulfilling, but long.
P.S. I found out that we have a maid! How crazy is that?! I am loving Pimentel!

Miercoles, 13 de Agosto de 2014
Well our neighbors have a farm of roosters...so it was loud from 3:00am-until I "woke" up at 6:30am. We walked to the beach (5 min from our cuarto) to do our exercises and walking. It is so beautiful here. This place is amazing! I have a feeling I'm going to be here for a long time.
For breakfast I had yogurt de coconut with cereal and rolls with cheese. Que rico!! (Delicious!)
We went out teaching after studies. We first went to Victoria. She is a less active and her daughter Cecilia has cancer and is always at the doctor, so we stopped by and taught them about faith and how its important to strengthen our faith everyday. Then we went and taught Emparatrise. We were teaching her about the apostasy, when I had a feeling to ask her if she understood the purpose of prophets and who prophets are. She didn't know, so I explained about prophets, and then I explained about the foundation of the Church. I saw a light bulb in her spark. She understood. I am very excited to keep seeing light bulbs turn on in people's minds.
Right now in Pimentel, with no fault to anyone in particular, the mission is not running very smoothly and the people are not completely understanding all that is being taught to them, so I have been doing some cleaning up and trying to reteach and reexplain everything so they can progress and see/feel growth in knowledge and testimony.
For lunch, we had chicken, rice, y peas and apple juice. Dessert was bananas sliced with condensed milk on top!! We then went out teaching, and a lot of the people we were trying to visit weren't home, so we just started knocking doors and came upon one house and the woman (Leni) let us in to talk. She had an accident and broke her hip, but can't get it fixed because they don't have the money, so she works through the pain and uncomfortableness. I feel like a baby now with my tendinitis. She is a really cool woman and wants to progress but she is living with her "esposo", but they aren't married. She can't get baptized until she either moves out or marries him.
We also met a man named Jorge. He and I really hit it off. I am super excited to continue to teach him. At 6 pm, we had clase de Ingles. The only students were Victor, Emerson and Johao. We helped them with their English homework. At 7 pm, we had consejo. I am super excited about this Rama because they are really dedicated and we just got a ward mision lider (Daniel-25 yrs). He is so cool and super dedicated to la obra misional. I see a good future for the work that is going to be happening.
After the meeting, we hurried to the pension to eat dinner (some hot dog stuff, cooked broccoli and bread). Then we went to our cuarto, planned and got ready for bed.
P.S. All day today, I was freezing. It's windy here and we live by the beach, and it's winter here...yeah, it's only 73*, but it's FREEZING!

Jueves, 14 de Agosto de 2014
Today, we had a zone meeting. After the meeting, Elder Chavez came up to me and said, "I need a favor." and then asked me if I would design the t-shirt that they are making for our zona. I said I would help him design it, but I was nervous to actually have my art on the shirt. Elder Chavez is great, and I really enjoyed being at the zone meeting because he and all the other misioneros made me feel very welcome.
We went to lunch (chupe-soup, rice, and baked bananas) and then we went to an activity at the church for all the women in the ward. We learned how to make tortas-cake and helados-ice cream.
Then we went out teaching. We were waiting for a bus to take us to Fonavi (little pueblo outside Pimentel- 5 min drive), but there just wasn't anyone coming, so we decided to go walk to another road to teach another woman. While we were looking for her, a woman (Carmen) called us over to her and she was with an older woman (Celeste Consuelo) and she was crying. So Carmen said, "You both teach the words of God, right? Give this lady consuelo (comfort), so we offered a prayer and taught a small lesson. I know we didn't catch a combi because we needed to comfort her. Right after talking to her, we caught a combi!
We headed to Fonavi and taught a familia of recent converts- Marco (17 yrs) y Clara (25 yrs). They are a beautiful family. We talked and shared about prophets and they were really interested. We also just chatted for a bit about life and Marco is such a good kid. He has good intentions! I learned from him that Robin Williams died....:( que triste.
After that, we went and waited for a combi again, and the one that ended up picking us up didn't charge us to go with them! It was really nice. Then we went to a few other people, but they were busy with things, so we rescheduled and then went to dinner. (cooked broccoli y carrots y bread) Then we went to our cuarto and planned and got ready for a good night's rest.
One really exciting thing that happened today...we got cell phones!! It makes the work a lot easier that way. I can't wait until I have a better knowledge of where things are and who the million and a half investigators are! With time, I will know this area perfectly and also speak Spanish a lot better. Tonight, when we were calling members to help us for tomorrow, one woman told me that my Spanish is really clear...it made me happy to hear her think I have good Spanish. :)

Viernes, 15 de Agosto de 2014
We went to the beach again this morning for stretching and "running". haha Then we headed to Chiclayo (15 min away) for my training exam. At that meeting, I met a Hermana that knows the Santa Cruz familia. Small world! We left and had lunch (rice, meat, potatoes y avocados) and then we went out teaching.
We went to Fonavi again to pick up Daniel (ward mision lider) and Estrellita (13 yrs) to help us teach people. Daniel took pointer at the first 2 lessons because he said he wants to get back his misionero experiences. Well, his lessons were amazing! He first taught Faith in Alma 32 and made an analogy of holding an object in the air and saying "I have faith that it won't fall when I let go, but it will always fall because of the law of gravity. But when we use actions and exercise our faith to hold the phone in the air, we are breaking the law of gravity and are doing the task wanted. We must use our actions and works to receive the miracles we want." Then he taught from 3 Nephi 11: 14-15, about Christ and how he let many people come and touch him and how much love He has for us.
At 5 pm, the Presidente of the Rama met us at a member's house and we went out teaching. At the end of the night, we taught Gabi (member) y Ivan (investigator) about the Atonement. We shared wonderful scriptures that show the mercy of Christ. 2 Nephi 28:32, 2 Nephi 9:10, Alma 34: 14-15. The spirit was so strong the entire time. Ivan has so much faith and desire to be a better person and change his life.
At the end of the lesson, Ivan ran to the kitchen and brought out huge marshmallows that tasted like strawberry banana. And then he came out with swiss cheese and manjar blanco (caramel). It was bien rico! After that, we got dropped off at our pension by Presidente de la Rama. We ate dinner and went to our cuarto and planned.
All day today, Hna Kingsford and I were laughing so hard. We giggle all the time together! I love her. She is very bright and is very deep with her thoughts. I've learned a lot of study skills from her.

Sabado, 16 de Agosto de 2014
We taught Hna Celeste Consuelo and the entire lesson, she was grabbing me and holding and kissing my face. She is so stinkin' cute. She said good bye to us by telling her family that her friends from God were leaving. How cute :)
Then we headed to Fonavi, and we ran into Daniel and his family and they were celebrating a birthday, so they invited us to have peach and nut cake! After that, we taught a woman named Dely. She has so much desire to learn as much as possible. She had a lot of good questions and surprisingly with much help from God, we were able to answer her questions. Then we started walking back to Pimentel (30 min walk) and a member from Fonavi (Alejandro) stopped and picked us up and had us ride in the back of his trailer.
After that we went to Lis, Alicia y Fernando. We taught the first couple principles of the Plan of Salvacion and they ate that right up, but their Grandma didn't. The entire time, she kept asking Hna Kingsford what her name was and kept inviting me to a party in Polmaica where they dance and drink...she is 93 yrs old, and after inviting me, she then says, "If you can't leave, stay the night and then go home in the morning after you rest." haha She kept doing that over and over and over again....she has memory loss. The saddest part was when we were explaining prayer and how it should not be vain repetitions...I gave an analogy of talking with a friend and how we wouldn't want to have the same conversation every single time we talked with them, and Lis then points at her grandma and says, "like her?" Everyone laughed, but it was so sad to me. We tried to leave at 7:15 pm, but Alicia brought out masamora and so we answered questions from Fernando while we ate. It was very spiritual and successful. Hopefully more will come of this family!!
We left and laughed forever as we walked to our pension. We ate sweet potatoes and broccoli and toasted bread for dinner. Then we went home and planned and got ready for bed. While we were getting ready, the woman who owns the downstairs of our cuarto came up, and since we have a huge apartment, they have a room they let families stay in within out cuarto, so we had a woman walk right into our cuarto and go into the room by the living room. It was kinda really weird....

P.S. Saturdays and Sundays we eat with members for lunch, and well today, the member literally gave me half a pan of rice on my plate...after I ate, I felt so sick...I couldn't eat that much at home...nor here...I'm going to die!

Domingo, 17 de Agosto de 2014
To celebrate my first Sunday in Pimentel, I spoke in church about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the importance of using our agency to choose good. After church, we went and ate lunch at a member's home-Shanina and her family. They served us rice and chicken and during our waiting period to eat, I played with the 4 yr old twins, Bryan y Adriano. They love me a lot! They were laughing a lot!
After lunch, we went to Fonavi to start teaching. We picked up Daniel and Estrellita to come with us. We taught a menos activo named Norma. She is so cute. She gave us oranges and then complimented my Spanish. She said the way I speak is clear and delicate "like a song". haha She says that my words "sing" :) and that when I speak, it makes people happy and want to smile.
We then taught a woman named Carla. She has a lot of questions and desire to learn! I hope all goes well with her. When we left Fonavi, we went and taught and helped Mana (an investigator) set up her store out front. She served us cow stomach....how disgusting...yeah I know. It's sooo chewy, but the flavor is good. While we were slowly gagging it down, a drunk man name Edwin came over to us and started telling me that I was a "dream queen" and that I was exactly what he imagined his queen looking like. And then he talked about my eyelashes forever, and how he wanted to have a queen with eyes like mine. hahaha During this time, I talked with him and he asked me how he could change his life...so I told him that he needs to have faith and repent. He then asked me to date his friend...and that's when we left.
We went to dinner and when we got there, the house was decorated because it's the birthday of their dog, Tyra. They had a huge party with lots of treats and cake and they invited a lot of people over for the party. The best part was that they had a plate of dog treats on the table and as a joke, one of the teenagers took the plate around the room to "let people have some". I started joking about how I love eating dog treats and that in the States, we always eat them. Well they looked at me with fear in their eyes...it was funny. Their humor is so much different than in the States! We sang and ate cake. Then we headed home and planned and got ready for bed.
This week was really hectic and confusing but I loved every minute of it!
P.S. There is a North American here. She lives here and her name is Jenna. She went on her mission to Chile and has lived here in Pimentel for 4 months. I met her at church today. She is really cool and really smart!