Monday, December 29, 2014

i really felt the meaning of Christmas this year

dad! it was great to talk to you guys. i thought i would get all trunky and miss you guys a lot but it made me more happy to be on a mission. i know this is where i'm supposed to be. its so great being here. its funny how you said "squirrel" cause me and my comp are always so happy and talk about sooo much stuff and we ALWAYS get distracted so when we catch ourselves getting distracted we say "squirrel"!!!!! hahahaha and then we laugh. i think that this year for Christmas is the most i've felt thankful for jesus. usually i'm a little more focused on presents and getting a nice new iphone or traveling but it was nice cause i really felt the meaning of Christmas this year. i wouldn't trade this Christmas i had for anything. i am so blessed to have been with my comp. she is AWESOME. sooo kind and FUN and bubbly. so it was a great Christmas. i loved it a lot. i know that next Christmas i want to plan something with the family so that we can all feel the true meaning of it and remember why it is that we celebrate it.  so i'm glad you read lucas 2. that's great that mom is going to nicaragua! i know she really wants to go see her family. and that's so cool that vicky is going too!! 
   well i love you guys a lot. i pray for you all the time and hope the best for you all. don't forget the importance of enduring to the end!! i will write more next week!
 
pday with the zone!!!
the sistas!
pday pt 2
 
the tower we went to climb to see the jungle!!
 
on our way to climb! my companion was so scared it was funny... but i made her do it
 
made it to the top 
 
 
 
there was a runway for airplanes that we could see
 
my zoneeee
 
 
our break we took from conference with the president and he took us all out to eat
 
 
 
gotta love how im always drenched in humidity in these pictures
 
one of our investigators put this pic of us in her house and says she likes it there cause we are part of her family. she is so great!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, December 15, 2014

it followed us to church...

hey dad! what's up. i really do miss hna rodriguez. i'm sitting by her right now actually cause we are at the internet and she filled me in on everyone. buttttttttttt HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! i miss you so much! hna child loves her dad so much too so we always talk about you guys! hahahah i'm always bragging about you and she brags about hers. its great!!!!! its fun being with her. people like taking pictures of us when we walk down the streets cause we are gringa. its been very interesting. people ALWAYS stare. its really funny how rare it is to see gringos here lol.
      so you're right about how lucky we are to live in canada and be able to provide for ourselves. everyday of my mission i think of how blessed we are to have the things we have. seriously i have never been so grateful for the things i have. being in iquitos has been a huge eye opener for me. when i can, i definitely want to donate money or clothes to the needy. i would love to go work in an orphanage for a while or something to help the poor people. i love them so much and i hate to see them suffer. i want to do all i can to help them.
     so there is this dog that has been following us for the past 5 days!!! its soo funny! it just saw us one day and jumped on us and was sooo happy and we saw that it only had 3 legs!!! we felt soooo bad for it! 

it loves us sooo much and everyone always laughs at us when they see its always following us! hahahahah! it waits for us to get out of lessons and justfollows us. we had to take a motocar to the centro one day and it ran so fast trying to catch up to us! it runs incredibly fast for being a 3 legged dog!! we named him skip. orr... eskeep. hahahaha the elders were like .. you guys seriously named it?
we dont wanna touch skip cause he's homeless and we don't want a disease. but we love him anyway cause he's soo jolly and happy even tho he doesn't have a leg. he's the only dog i like here in peru and the other dogs always try and attack him its so mean and we always stand up for him loll

 it followed us to church and came in and just chilled then followed us out and everyone was laughing at us lol. skip's pretty awesome though. soooo that sucks i won't get to talk to lan but just be ready by the phone all day on christmas just in case i call. i'm not sure when i'll call. soooo do you know if my bank card is on its way?? i hope so! we always go buy fruits and veggies but its expensive! and i'm out of money now. sooo there are lots of zones in iquitos. and like 5 stakes. its pretty big. i just took a moto to my new house. i love the new house! its way nicer than my old one and easier to keep clean. and we have a view of the jungle and river! BEAUTIFUL! i'll show you it when we skype. its literally super close to us so i can't wait to show you. so we woke up in the middle of the night two nights ago cause we heard like a weird sound as if someone was shaking a moracca and we got up and it was a flippin huge grass hopper!! it was SUCH a loud sound! so i killed it.... only in the jungle... hahaha well i want you all to know that i love this gospel. i am so grateful that god is a fair god so all nations kindreds and tongues will hear the gospel and have the chance to accept it in their lives. i get so sad when someone rejects it because i know its the only way to our salvation. i have gotten braver with being a little more direct and not sugar coating things because this is the true church and it WILL bless and help people who apply it to their lives!! love you all.. happy birthday my handsome father i love you all!!!!! XOXOX

Monday, December 8, 2014

this week i have felt so incredibly grateful to be a missionary


DAD!!!!!! ok so i got transferred! but its soo awesome cause i got to stay in iquitos!! i love iquitos so much like i don't ever wanna leave it so i was soooo happy. AND get this.. my comp is gringa!!!! and so beautiful!! everyone was sooo surprised when they found out we were put together cause we are gringa hahaha it doesn't happen much on the mission. but she is so awesome dad. we work sooooo hard together i love it. she is SO positive and soo bubbly and happy all the time. its sooo great. we have a blast and have so much in common. i would love to go see her when i get home next december. maybe for new years or something. we will see. 
but my new area is beautiful dad! i will send some pics. you can see the jungle and the river growing. its sooo awesome. 
LOVE IT. we get lots of people starring at us cause we are two gringas walking the streets. its super funny. so yes we have the dadiva cards as well. we were talking about how amazing it was that the church is really putting out. this week i have felt so incredibly grateful to be a missionary. like this week was awesome. i feel like i want to be a missionary forever dad. i know i'll be sad when its all over... like every time we walk out of a lesson we are like WOW this church is SO true! and we have been feeling the spirit a lot. its great. i feel so honoured to be part of the lord's work. so one missionary here has her brother on a mission and so when they skype they use google cause apparently it doesn't cost money like skype does and you can do three way. i would love that! so walking the streets in my new area i saw one of my old investigators and she started bawling cause she was sad i left and i felt so sad! like you really grow close to the people  and learn to love them soo much!
   we found this family that was super ready to hear the gospel. never in my whole mission have i found a family like this one. they were married first of all which is rare here and super in love and they stayed up till 2 am reading the BOM they said and went to church that sunday and loved it. they were participating in the classes and we visited them after and they said that they loved how while we were taking the sacrament they closed the door and everyone was quiet. they have been receiving so many answers to their prayers. the only thing that sucks is that the dad traveled today for a month for work! but he was so sad and is taking his pamphlets and book of mormon and said he is going to call us when he has time so we can teach him over the phone. so pumped! sooo next lesson we are going to talk about baptism. we invited them to get baptized but they said that they were baptized already in the catholic church so i wanna explain really well the priesthood and the way jesus christ was baptized. but yeah i'm loving life right now. so we get to skype very soon! wow!! well i love you all!!!!!

Monday, December 1, 2014

they are those special socks...

dad! real nice you are! so concerned!! haha wellll to be honest all my socks have holes in them. they are those special socks... like they only go around your toes and heels. they are cheap. i bought mine at the ardenes outlet in PG. and that's pretty much all i need. everything else i need is heavy like spitz haahah so i will have to wait till december to eat those loll. so dad thank you so much for sending me my bank card! you're the best dad in the world. sooo that's crazy that lana had a change! man its so cool how we are both on missions and both can relate each other. i'm so glad she's on a mission too cause when we get home we can talk about it whenever we want and understand each other. so dad i have changes today! but i don't know if i'll have a change! i hope i get to stay for ONE more change so i can be here during xmas!! did you hear that chavo del ocho died! soo sad. everyone in peru was sad lol. so for sunday school we had to teach about the 12 tribes. that was hard for me in spanish. i figured i needed to study it more so dad maybe in your next email you can give me a little lesson on that??? 
    dad how's ten with preparing for a mission? i worry about him a lot. now that i know what a mission is like i pray every single night for ten so that he can prepare for his mission and go on one. did you guys watch that video yet? make sure ten is there when you watch it. its a promise from elder grow that if we work with the less actives and converts and ALWAYS ask for references we will be successful with our baptisms. so me and my comp have been working hard with that and its so true. we have 5 dates set and i feel that we will have more this week. that's another reason i wanna be here another change! its so awesome. i love the people here more and more everyday of my mission. sorry i don't have much to write and i will send pics next week and tell you if i have a new comp! dad be safe in the bush please. not going to lie i worry about you. i hope vix is choosing the right and being a good example for her friends!