we have been keeping rules to a tee

hey dad! don't worry about it! i know you would never forget about me haha. so when an area is small every once in a while they take out the missionaries and put two new ones in there. so that's what happened. but its ok! the area was very very very small. so the way we don't lose the investigators is that we have a binder with registers and everyone's files and every time we teach someone we write it in the file so the next sisters can see what we have taught. but i left a letter for them expressing my love for the area and how some of the investigators are. so that helps. tarapoto is very pretty. i don't think anything tops fort st james though. i think my hometown is super gorgeous! and i'm proud of it :) i'm glad that you're home safe though cause i know the roads get super nasty in BC. how was mom's bday???? i hope it was fun. i know i told you that i wouldn't come home if you died. haha that sounds bad but yesterday we did a family home evening in someone's house and a ton of members showed up and we taught them about temples to try and motivate them to go get sealed in the temple. and something i said was that one thing that made me feel at peace with being on a mission was knowing i am sealed to you guys for eternity and no matter what happens i know i'll see you guys again and there is nothing that can separate us as long as we are keeping the commandments.

    this week we worked super hard to try and find new people and seriously dad we have been keeping rules to a tee and we have been seeing miracles. we've got lots of people progressing and are seeing the promise come true that elder grow made to the mission. that if we work with the members and the references from them we will baptize people. its awesome. i couldn't imagine being home right now. i love my mission so much and it makes so much sense to be here. i know that the lord is with me every step of the way. its amazing to know that even when things get extremely hard he is there with me every step of the way. i can't wait for ten to go on a mission. i can see him as future zone leader for sure! i hope vix goes too. its the best thing i've ever done for myself and future family. well i love you all lots!!!!!!! CTR ALWAYS!!!!!

 

goodbye iquitos!

 

 

more iquitos. and amazon rivah!

 

new compy. new area. hna resanovich :)

 

 

me in my new home. its tiny!! hope this pic doesn't look all stretched out. hahah

 

 

 

hna blackmore pack your bags...

dad! so last monday was changes and it was CRAZY. so we thought that hna child was going to get a change and i would stay. so we met together with the zone and got ready to hear the changes and the zone leaders always make it so intense. so we all stand up and they eliminate people and when i was the last one standing i was like WHATTTTT. "hna blackmore pack your bags... cause your going to Tarapoto!" i was like WHAT NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i put my face in my hands and i was like you're joking right!!.... and everyone was like WHAT! haha but tarapoto is where everyone wants to go. but i was just thinking about magali and gerardo(the fam that is getting baptized and super awesome) and so i was like there is no way my comp is staying either. so when she was the last one standing everyone was shocked.... "hna child, you're going to tarapoto" AHHH!"!!!!!! it was crazy. i have spent 7 months in iquitos and i felt sick to my stomach just thinking about flying away from it! but its what the lord wanted. so hna child and i cried together and went to magalis house and said bye and she was bawling and saying that maybe the lord did it cause he wanted them to prove that they would stay strong in the gospel even when we weren't there. but hearing her and her hubby's testimony made me feel peace in my heart. we went to say bye to people all that day and were super super sad. but excited to go deeper into the jungle. soooo we packed all our stuff and went to the airport. i fell in love with the morona cocha area SO fast. i don't even know how. we worked so hard there and loved it so much and found lots of awesome families to teach but it was our time to go. i was super sad to part from hna child but i'm super glad she's still in my zone. so we packed our stuff and headed to the airport. all i could think was how much i was going to miss iquitos and i had so many mixed emotions. it was incredible to fly over the jungle and amazon river and see SOOOOO much jungle. but i kneww when we were getting close to tarapoto cause mountains started to come in sight. so we landed and our comps were there waiting for us. so my comp's name is hna resanovich from argentina. she's cool! teaching me a lot. before this change i prayed that my next comp would be one that would teach me christ like attributes. i'm super grateful for her and the way she is. i'm learning to love her a lot. its cool though cause we both have the same trainers! lollll

     well i miss you all a lot and want you to know i'm doing great. i was sad my first day here. my second day was better and i'm not going to lie i fell in love with the branch. the branch has about 125 active members but hasn't been made into a ward yet for a few reasons... but its ok. we are working on making it stronger. i love the work of the lord. he really is with us every step of the way. i am so grateful for jesus christ and that everyday i can apply the atonement. i can't wait to see him again. i get sad every time a month goes by. can you believe i already have 7 months???? i love you all but feel like i should serve a mission for the rest of my life cause you learn sooooooo much. have a great week and i love you all. be careful on the icy roads and i'll try not to melt over here. its hot but not as humid as iquitos. xoxoxoox

i had the impression to ask him if he was a member

    so hello everyone!!! hows it going? this week was sooo awesome for me. me and my comp were walking outside in the POURING rain just absolutely drenched from head to toe and we were having fun skipping along on our way home to change into dry clothes and this guy on a moto stops and asks us for directions that happened to be in my old area so i told him how to get there and then i had the impression to ask him if he was a member ( i was thinking to myself of how funny the scene was in the middle of the road and the rain pouring SO hard) and so i asked him. he hesitated a bit and said yes but i'm not assisting. and he had his head down and looked real sad. and we asked him why. he has said he had done something bad and wrecked his family and that he should stop going to church cause he was a bad person and needed to pay for what he did. we ended up having a lesson on the street. and we told him that especially at this time of his life he should go to church and talk to the bishop. we promised him that if he did his testimony on the atonement would grow. this guy was desperate for help, for someone to help him know what to do. i felt so bad for him dad. he was a return missionary and i started crying. but i don't think he could tell cause it was raining so hard. he looked at our name tags and said, well i'll probably never see you again but i'll never forget you guys. and he left. and it was so clear that the lord put him in our path. it was a really neat experience. now i'm going to tell you about a family that i didn't mention before cause i had such high hopes for them and couldn't bear the thought of having to tell you guys that we stopped teaching them cause they stopped progressing or something.

      so a day before i came into the morona cocha area my comp had felt an impression to knock on this family's door. so she did. they went in and taught but they were super hurried so nothing really happened and they left. so when i came into the area she told me we had a cita with this family. so we went and we taught them the restoration and they were SO intelligent.( mom dad and two kids) they love god and wanted to know more. we invited them to a baptism but she had told us that she was already baptized in the catholic church. so the next time we came we explained the authority/priesthood. the spirit was strong. we invited them to a baptism again but they said they thought it would be making fun of god if they got baptized again. but they came to church and loved it. they were asking questions like no other and i was so proud to call them my investigators! they wanted to know more and more and more. and my love for them grew so incredibly much. they are married so that's perfect. they are so worried about the spiritual welfare of their family. they acted like church members who weren't baptized. so after working with them for 6 weeks... last night we finally got a baptism date with them! we were at their house last night and the mom and dad were in tears just bearing their testimonies about the church and saying how they just wanted to go to the temple right away to be sealed. they havn't missed a single sunday of church since we found them. they are so excited to pay tithing and keep the word of wisdom and fast and keep all the commandments. they read the book of mormon everyday and pray everyday together and the wife was like wow i know our lives are going to change because now we have this gospel. she called us her "muñeca angeles" (angel dolls). i love that woman. i would go back to iquitos for her in a heartbeat if i got the chance. they are intelligent and remember everything we teach them. i feel sooooo blessed to have met them. i'll never forget them and there is no doubt in my mind that the lord was preparing them for us. everything that happened at church or in lessons with them or when we coordinated to get her a priesthood blessing was just an answer to all their prayers. it was so obvious that the lord wanted them to join his church. its so cool how he guided us through all of this. it makes me sooo happy and last night i couldn't sleep cause i was just so happy. the dad is someone i can see as a future mission president and her a president's wife. i love all of iquitos and the people here. this church is so true!!!! well we have changes today so i guess next week i'll let you know what happens!! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

this is that wonderful family that is getting baptized!!!

fun in the rain!

another family we are teaching!! they are AWESOME! the kids are so cute. the little girl always runs up to us and hugs us when she sees us. her name is si si :)

the missionaries in our ward! there awesome! they work in the offices. its awesome cause they keep us up to date with stuff loll

i learn new things everyday

hey dad ! wow be careful on those roads. its crazy to think that the roads are super bad there and here its crazy hot. did duke make it home safe? did he have a good vacation? you'll have to keep me updated on the jerusalem thing cause that's super interesting ! i'm super glad that vicky is practicing her guitar! if she keeps it up she will be a pro!! she can teach me when i get home.

    so funny story. me and my comp got a call from the offices and they were like you and hermana have an emergency interview with the president. and we were soo nervous like ohhh no what did we do or we thought we had emergency changes or something!! so we go in and the elders were like ok just step into his office and sit down please. so we did and the elders were looking at us from the door and the presidents chair was turned the other way to the wall and i look at my comp and say this is scarrryyyy. and then all of a sudden the chair turns around and it was elder overstreet (zone leader who just went home yesterday) and they allllll burst out laughing!!!!! and we were like WOW ELDERS we were so nervous!!!! why would you do that! and they thought they were soooooooo funny hahahah it was funny i guess. but they knew we wouldn't get mad at them hahah so i bet mom is pumped to go to nicaragua eh? my comp makes fun of me cause i always say eh but now she's starting to say it loll.. so i'm super happy in my area. its superrr small but we work well together and its nice cause i feel like hna child really understands me and she is superrrrrrr nice and positive. i havn't seen her upset once. but i'm loving the mission. i can't believe its 2015. the year we go home. its sad!! cause elder overstreet left last night and instead of wishing i was him it made me sad. i felt bad for him cause he LOVED his mission. he wasn't trunky at all and did NOT want to go home. i bet its going to be the weirdest feeling to go home. i love my mission a lot. i always have nightmares that i'm home and in one dream i was home and i was freaking out and i called my mission president and i was like NOO I NEED TO COME BACK NOW I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HOME!!! hahaha but it really is great. i learn new things everyday and have learned that i have so much to be thankful for. yesterday i filmed a little bit of the area to show you all when i get home. welll i love you all. be good!!!! choose the right!