Week 73

Last pday, cerca de plaza vea. when the wind comes, the skirts get malcriadas!! haha it was too funny...

 Family home evening in which the husband kept rambling on and on. and on. it was hilarious. and cristofer with his family, whose less active that we´ve been visiting. they sell ground-up cinammon adn spices onm the streets in a stroller.

 

 On an intercambio, me fui al alcero Y hna. manwill estaba trabajando en mi area del carmen con la hna. farley. fue chevere!!

 A family that we´ve been visiting. i noticed that her daughter´s flip-flops had the word vienna and I had to snap a pic!! crazy coinsidence, no??

my companion for 2 days!! ahh she´s so awesome,

1. after our noche misisonal

giving service to our investigators, family with gladis, delmi, and delmys.

 Helped the aunt of the recent convert jorge armando to bag up her bread that she sells on the streets. it was fun!

 haha we used some of the nose strips that maura sent me for my bday last night. a little girl time, you could say:)

 Hey happy almost October!! I honestly cannot believe how crazy fast and scary time is just SLIPPING by!! its craaaazy. this week was JAM-PACKED!! here´s some of the highlights:

Last pday, as a district we just enjoyed walking around and roaming centro for a bit after internet. there´s some cool shops that are in town, so I bought a little somethin for hunter´s bday. it was chill. took some pics on the board-walk by the beach, it was suuuper windy. and bought amazing tres leches de CHOCOLATE at plaza vea, a super market. 

We had intercambios with the hnas. asignadas over our area. i went to el alcero with hna. mathis and hna. farley came to work in my area with hna. manwill. its always fun and interesting to see a different point of view and see how other missionaries work and teach. had a little miracle with a grandmother of a recent convert that normally despises the missionaries. talked a bit about family search with my booklet that im working on getting done. it was great!! and it was beautiful to run on the boardwalk of a beach in her area. although its filthy and filled with trash, lol its still pretty to see the ocean! 

And when i got back to my area, hna. manwill told me that she had to head off for Ecuador the very next day for her visa. haha crazyyyy!! so hna. Roxana, remember her?? nuestra alma rescate pues!! was my companion for the 2 days that my companion that was traveling. it reminded me of how training was, patience and love. haha except at least they´ve got a little under their belt from the mtc! it was a total blast though. she´s actually been thinking about serving a mission, so it was great cause this gave her a real-deal hands-on experience and taste of mission life!! 

We had fun opportunities to give service with some investigators, painting the window frame and bagging bread. and I loved her beautiful and pure testimony that she shared with all. it was really awesome working with her! poor thing could n´t really sleep both nights cause she´s not used to sleeping so early and there was a 15th bday fiesta in the neighborhood. with a band. classic Peruvians. but it was really wonderful!! I'm so grateful for her desires to serve the Lord. 

Speaking of almas rescates, mirtha came with us to visit a less-active in the ward!! it was so awesome!! a now active member to help a lost sheep in the pasture. I just love hermana mirtha, she´s wonderful! and received her patriarchal blessing yesterday!! isn´t that just incredible?!?! 

We taught delmi, the dad/husband of the family that we´ve been visiting and have been helping with painting their house. he´s actually been reading the Book of Mormon and when he read with us he was like narrating it. I had to try reallyl hard not to crack up laughing !! and when he said that its hard to find the time to read is, we works as a taxi driver, i said to always have it in your taxi!! i shared that mom always has the scriptures in the van for McKay, grant, adn rex to read in between and on the way to different activities!! 

Eduardo´s doing really well!! almost 1 month ya and has been keeping the word of wisdom!! and he´s preparing to go to the temple in November with the ward!!! 

I completed my goal of reading ALL of the general conference talks from April in Spanish, in preparation to watch all of it this time (next week) in Spanish!! it took months, but I got it done!! we saw the women´s conference yesterday and it was so wonderful, I´m SO excited for conference time again!! its the BEST!!! 

Also im trudging along my way in the book of mormon, in alma 22 with my goal of finishing...well yeah...before you know when:) i absolutely LOVE el libro de mormon!! esta cambiando mi vida, de verdad!!! 

Love you all more than you´ll ever know, your in my prayers always!!!

Week 72

 The 1st picture is the family jimenez, that I´ll be going to their sealing!! they´re the GREATEST!! and the 2nd is with 2 recent converts that also went to the fhe at the family jimenez´s house

This week was a blast!! I´m gonna flip thru the pages of my planner and give yáll the hilights of these past 7 days! ready? set, go!

We met a reference from the elders and it turns out that her son´s conviviente enamorada was taught by missionaries before in trujillo!! crazy, right? but she´s kinda spacey when we teach her, so we´ll see what happens..but it was awesome to meet and teach the mom, her son, and the girlfriend!! 

Juan carlos, converso reciente, is doing good!! he´s been getting lots of  blood exams and transfers of blood cause he´s anemic, but he´s been better these days! came to the baptism and baby shower on saturday! and we´re gonna help him out with his family search, he´s really into it. looking for relatives and everything. 

We were in a trio on wednesday with hna. tulumba cause her companion went to trujillo for a leadership mtng. with elder uceda who came to talk to all the mission. so I worked with her and my companion went on a split with roxana. ahhh I haven´t even told you all about hermanita roxanita yet!! she´s fabulous. was less-active, but we visited her, taught her all the basics from pmg over again and now she´s the rs secretary and has been thinking about going on a mission!! it was so precious, she called us like 5 times saturday morning, but we didn´t answer cause we were studying and after we ended, we stopped by at her house to see what happened and she called cause she wanted to know how to fast. isn´t that so cute? I love hermanita roxanita!!! 

Delmi, gladis, and delmys. a family of investigators that we´ve been teaching for awhile, but now a whole lotta progress just yet. buuut saturday we helped em out with sanding and painting the gate slash door to their house and they´re more attentive when we´re teaching them.the parents have been living together for 32 years and not married. haha nadie esta casado!! de verdad. I don´t get why. 

So thursday all day we had a meeting slash devotional that was amazing with elder uceda and his wife!! he´s the president of the noroeste area, in the seventy. it was my very 1st time ever hearing a talk from him and it was wonderful!! so many incredible insights and things to improve on and focus more on. his wife talked to us and asked us what our mothers told us to be or do in the mission. like obedience, be a good companion, serve with all your heart, etc. that type of advice. I raised my hand and said service with a smile! haha thats such an ann boody advice right there!! 

Then in the night, all the ward leaders from ward council came and we had a great meeting all together. all the sister missionaries were invited to sit up front by the pulpit and I ended up sitting RIGHT next to elder uceda!! haha our bishop in the congregation kept giving me smiles. it was hilarious. and our ward, especially our ward, el carmen that I always rave about were invited by prez. uceda to come up to the púlpit. as the example for the stake to follow, how we work together as a ward with all the leaders and everything. he said well look, your ward has 12 missionaries! he pointed at my companion and I and said here we have 10 missionaries, then pointed to elder boekweg and elder oyarzo and said here´s your 2 more. haha poderoso, no?? 

Have been looking thru the ward directory with what less-actives from the ward we can help to come back and found an awesome 14 year old young man named piero!! he´s wonderful and we have a fhe with him tonight at the stake presidents house. 

Had a great lesson about the plan of salvation and family history work carmelita and mamma alicia came with us too!! 

Saturday night sergio and ericka, 2 investigators, came with us to the baptisms, 2 in our ward and 2 in pensacola and it was wonderful!! then we went to kelly and helmo´s baby shower. 

Phew. awesome and jam-packed week!!! love you all very much and hope you have a wonderful day and week!! ive been praying for hunter with the house and aunt elizabeth for her health. 

 This is what the small gym looks like that my comp and I discovered and work out at. then the days that we run, we do other workouts in front of my pensioniesta´s house

 Last pday was elder nelson´s birthday and he LOVES oreo cookies, so we made a yummy milkshake with the 2 packets of oreos that mom sent for my bday. then we all went for a bike ride.

 Did some service for our family of investigators saturday morning. sanding and painting!!

 Us in the kitchen helping to prepare ahi de gallina. TONS of potatoes!! it was so legit, they had a clown entertainer and everything!! kelly and helmo, she´s expecting a baby boy in a couple of weeks,

Week 71

 My companion is hilarious. I have one transfer more in the mission than her and last monday I completed 16 months in the mission. she wrote me a cute letter, but got confused and wrote everything with the number of 14 cause she has 14 months. it was hilarious.

a cute old couple hat we met on wednesday, his wife´s blind, so he helps her walk around town. married 70ish years. the CUTEST!!!

 A missionary´s best friend are post-its so you can just imagine our joy to be opening up a fresh new pack!!

A bunch of school kids that kept  saying hi and hello. haha presh,.

A of our investigatoes, mirko and amada after teachign them about the book of mormon. rosita, who had been serving as a woonderful ward missionary, always accompanying us and now its her turn!! she´s on her way today to mexico to serve her mission!!!

 Classic women from the chacra, farm. and all the electricity went out one afternoon so we ate dinner by the candle-light.

 I just have to tell you all how hilarious and wonderful my companion is. de verdad, ella es super chistosa Y una de mis amigas mas especiales aki en la mision. she cracks me up all the time!!

Have I ever explained how peruvian dogs sometimes remain me of dobby from harry potter?? so nasty.

 Off to mexico!! man our ward´s gonna miss her!!!

 My heart is just so full of gratitude right now. for this opportunity and sacred time to serve, for my Savior, and for these people that I have the privelege of teaching and strengthening their testimonies. this week was just simply wonderful and I´ll try to remember all the little things that were so wonderful.

So I´ll tell you all about the greatest and happiest news in the whole wide world....

Well in the current slash my favorite ward here in chimbote, el carmen.....these members are incredible and I love their desires for righteousness. One family in particular, has really impacted me. Familia Jimenez. Nelly is an alma rescate, her husband is a recent convert of a few months and they have 2 kids. We always feel such a special spirit whenever we visit them and have such great love for them. and we´ve been helping them prepare to be sealed as a family.  We´re helping them prepare to be sealed as a family in November.

We had interviews this weeka and I asked if there was any way possible that I could be there at their sealing, in the Lima templo. Justo its just a few days of when the transfer ends and when my group will all be shipped home from Lima anyway. November 22nd will mark the 1st year as a member for Alejandro, the husband, so thats the soonest that they can all enter the temple and be sealed for the eternities. 

And he said YES!!! so the plan is that I´ll head from chimbote to trujillo for the despidida and everything with my group thats going home, but will serve for a few days longer in a trio or something until I need to fly from trujillo to lima for the ward temple trip on the 22nd. be there with them for the entire day, THREE temple sealings and a bunch of members entering for the 1st time, then after everything, the ward wants to take me to the airport in Lima to head back to the states. our pensioniesta will be my temporary companion during the time in Lima.

Can you believe it?? I still, barely can. seriously. a TEMPLE SEALING!!! it´ll be my very 1st one to see, let alone in SPANISH!!! and of course mamma alicia and I will do more temple work before the sealing too. 

Honestly, folks, it really doesn´t get much better than this. ive been just bouncing off the walls with pure joy since I got the ok, haha prez. marler called his personal secretary during our interview and everything to make sure that he´s change my flight. ha said that it would be a perfect way to finish a wonderul mission. 

The family jimenez  doesn´t know yet, Im gonna tell em at our fhe tonight. so stinkin excited...!!! 

Well that brings me to the favor part. the mission and especially our ward are stressing a lot on the importance of family history work and bringing our own family names to the temple. i recently filled out this handy-dandy booklet, but familysearch.org doesn´t have all the info that I need. MOM, pleaseee call Ann Louise today and ask her to put on familysearch.org ALL the information that she has so that I can see what family names I can print off to take to the Lima temple!!!!

Please and thank you. love you all so very much!!

Week 70

such a blast!!!!!!!!

such a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Had a killer week! honestly, I don`t know if it could get any better than this bliss!!

Last pday, my companion and I went on another adventure on borrowed bikes por los patos and found this cool cerro. it was awesome!! 

Doing some construction work for a member, its been fun. 

All teh testimonies shared yesterday were all so pure, i felt the spirit so strong!! 

Sorry this is short, trying to catch up on my inbox to email everyone back. 

Love you all loads and please tell aunt elizabeth god be with you till we meet again:) 

bday and 2 investigators

one of my favorite dishes here, picante con leche!! sooo tasty. rosita, que va a salir por su mision en algunos dias ya

 Who says keeping the word of wisdom can`t be fun, right? we visited a less-active member, I saw alcohol and asked if he`d like to break the bottles to celebrate that he`s not gonna drink anymore. it was AWESOMEEE!!!

 Got your awesome bday package this week, thankya sooo much!!!!!

Hey hunt-can you please fb message trianne these pics too?? idk how often she checks her email

 What hna. martinez sent for my bday. 22 sweets all numbered. aaaaand some members from my old ward wrote me too!!