the mission really is life changing hey?

hi dad and family. hows it going? i miss you all very much. this week i'm not going to lie i was a little unfocused. it sucks. i have no idea why. so last night i poured my heart out to god asking for help. i guess its normal to get unfocused once in a while but i don't like it. its incredibly hard to teach with the spirit and its hard to enjoy the mission. so i fasted and have been trying hard to get my focus back and its back. its hard when you are constantly hearing the problems of other people and doing things to satisfy there needs all the time. you literally have no time to think for yourself, at times its overwhelming. but the mission is worth it. its amazing to be able to help others. i was reading in doctrine and covenants section 11. its funny cause i just opened my scriptures and started reading. it was an answer to my prayers. it reminded me why i'm here. as i read i pretended that god was there saying it to me. it helped me remember my purpose and that i have been called to the work. i remembered the promises i will receive when i ask in faith. i asked him in faith to help me get my focus back and i know he definitely helped me with that. with all the new changes in the mission for the way we teach its overwhelming. but thanks to my heavenly father i am super excited for this coming week and  to go out and teach more people. 

                     we have been finding lots of new investigators. its great! we've got about 5 baptisms coming up. one this coming weekend so we are happy that we have a few new families to teach! we have been pushing ourselves to contact more people and had faith that if we really tried to find people we would and that's exactly whats happening. now we are trying to help them come to church, pray, and read their book of mormon. the mission really is life changing hey? definitely nothing i expected. i knew it would be hard but its hard every single day! haha but if it wasn't hard what would i learn? i really am honored to be serving in iquitos though because its such a unique mission. its very different from other missions but i guess every mission has its own thing that makes it unique.

     so we were teaching a new investigator and he is pretty awesome. he is a concerned dad who had psoriasis pretty bad and is suffering other things to. we felt the spirit strongly with him. the president of the mission has really been encouraging the mission to teach the book of mormon the first lesson we teach the investigators. so we were explaining the restoration and blah blah and then we started teaching the book of mormon with the spirit very strong. the whole entire lesson had been super silent but then this group of adults outside started laughing really loud. one woman in particular. and they were speaking vulgar and really were distracting us. i was thinking to myself, i am going to ask them to laugh somewhere else because why do they have to laugh in front of THIS house... but then i thought to myself ok stop letting your latina attitude take place... what would jesus do. so i cancelled my bad thoughts because i knew very well that it was Satan that wanted me to not have the spirit with me and to not teach this man about the book of mormon. so we simply ignored them and kept teaching and it was wonderful and he started crying cause he was so happy we visited him and he's got a lot of problems and has been seeking help. the doctors say that he needs to let go of a lot of stress that he has to help get rid of his psoriasis. and he says that our visit helped him for the first time not feel stress. so ya we were happy about that!

     this saturday we have a baptism! i'm stoked. her name is marcela. she is 13 and is the one i talked about in the last email. she has been going to church for two years and no one knew she wasn't baptized!!!! so she loves us a lot. she always calls us for help and just to tell us how excited she is for her baptism! haha i try and take good care of her cause i only think of how i would want someone to treat vicky if she was the only convert in her family. 

       i just had a funny memory. i remember a long time ago when we were at church in beazer (cardston) and we were in primary singing book of mormon stories and the part that said "FREE!!!" tennyson yelled it out loud and put one arm up and stood up and was all embarrassed!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAAA tell that guy to EMAIL ME!!!!!!!!!!

     i cant believe that its another pday dad! seriously time FLIES! i get sad when i come out of a good lesson and feel like time is going by too fast. sometimes i feel like even 2 years isn't long enough to convert the people that need conversion. which is everybody! when i get home i'm going to keep being a missionary in other ways like always giving the missionaries references. and always going out with them (cause i know i'll miss teaching and i'll miss the mission life a lot!) haha and i'll always feed the missionaries and be nice to them! lol well i gotta run. love ya so much.

       thank you for all you do for me. i love you. thank you for your support. i really hope that one day i can repay you. when i get home i'm going to go to school for a speech pathologist or get into law or medicine. i don't care if its harder than being a missionary i know i can do it even if it is a million years of schooling. xoxoxox

do you think its wise to send more gringas to the jungle?

not gunna lie dad i'm shocked and a little sad that you didn't send me some type of gospel doctrine! hahh that's okay though at least you emailed me! that's so crazy that there is frost on the ground in the morning! WOW!! the word frost.. i cant even picture it. its always so hot here. even when it rains i never put on a sweater cause its so humid and hot still. i can't believe that i left right before summer started and now summer there is over. i know i'll be excited to see snow and BC trees next year. its crazy how fast time flies by. the sister training leader is going home today. well shes flying to lima and then at like 1 am flying to georgia then utah. her name is hna price. i'm a little sad because i remember when i first got here i was supper stressed and wanted to go home and i was so uncomfortable but she made me feel better. she was one of the first sisters here in the jungle. she was telling me how she had an interview with one of the area of the 70s and he was like "so do you think its wise to send more gringas to the jungle?" and hna price was like YES PLEASE! haha so its kinda cool because we really are making history here in the jungle as sister missionaries, being some of the first gringas here. lol but ya so today we are going to the airport to say goodbye to hna price and hna simonson! hna simonson was awesome to. her and i became friends and it was super easy to talk to her and get along. so we definitely wanna say goodbye. its crazy to hear the stories of other missionaries. every single one of them has their own story. they were telling me how time goes by so fast so don't waste it. i agree with that.so the other night at about 5:15 am this super loud voice started talking in a microphone outside. i was soooo mad cause i'm such a light sleeper and already wake up for the slightest thing and i thought they would stop talking but then hna flor (lady that we live with) was like get up girls!! cover all your stuff and go outside now!! and we were like WOAH whats going on! hahh thought we were under attack,,... but then we were told that here was an outbreak of dengue and cholera so they were going in everyone's house in the city to spray this air that smells super strong that kills bugs... so far they have done it twice.... but i guess its necessary so oh well!!

    speaking of hna flor she made me a skirt! its so pretty. i'll send a pic of it. she really loves us alot. its super nice to have her take such good care of us. i'm glad shes our pensionista. 

 

 

    so i'll update you on carlos and espana. we went to pick them up for there interview with the mission president and we get there and espana was all sad and were were like ohhhh no..... and she said her and carlos were fighting and that they weren't gunna go to the interview.. i had to walk away for a few minutes cause i couldn't hold back the tears. so i put myself back together and i was like.. "espana. tell me, who is it that is laughing at you right now because you're not going to the interview?" she responded, satan. and i was like "exactly. right now he thinks he can win. but you are on the lord's side. show him your faith and willingness to come unto christ. i know you are strong and can do this." so she started crying again and we called the elders to come talk to carlos while we talked to espana. so 45 minutes later they were both cheered up and so we called the president and he told us to come fast! we were so happy!!!! it was crazy. we were so relieved and i was thinking to myself... wow... the things a mission can bring you... but they were so glad that they went to their interview. they said they felt sooo good afterwards. and they are so excited to get married and baptized. so we went there on wednesday.. oh and by the way espanas family lives right next door like their house is even connected and carlos and espana live in a bedroom that leads outside and that's it. anyway so we get there and go inside espanas room/house and she was almost in tears and apparently seconds before we got there her brother was beating his girlfriend...i didn't even notice but the girlfriend was standing outside covered in blood . she was standing a little ways away from the door just standing there... so we looked outside and the brother was watching her... she knew that if she left he would probably kill her.my heart sank. espana handed her a towel to wipe her blood. i wanted to protect her and help her somehow. my comp was telling me to stay calm cause apparently it looked like i was mad. i was mad though. and sad. how could someone do that. but we left right away because of mission rules. it wasn't safe there. we told espana to offer a prayer to help calm down her brother. the next day espana told us he had just gotten out of jail for doing the worst of the worst... made us so sad because he was so nice to us and we even had an appointment with him a while ago cause he said he wanted to change his life. it was crazy. all this week we have been listening to people's problems. i get so sick to my stomach about the things i hear that afterwards i cry. one girl that reminds me a lot of vicky that is getting baptized told us about her life.. i couldn't help but think of vicky and how grateful i am to know that right now she has parents who protect her and make her feel good about herself and teach her the truths of the gospel.

      yesterday at church i gave the lesson for the second hour on missionary work. it was awesome cause we felt the spirit so strong and the investigators were crying and espana said that she wants to teach her daughter the gospel so that one day she could go on a mission. i really do love my mission more and more everyday! its so rewarding and exhausting and fun and crazy and sad and happy all at the same time!

      well its been so hot lately! some days the sun is stronger than others! apparently we are in summer now.. i totally agree,. hah there are a lot of fruits that i've been trying out and i love them,! i'll send some pics. well i love you all!!!! i wanted to bring my study journal to share a spiritual thought but i forgot it!!! i've been studying lots mosiah chapter 1-3.. i've studied it in depth. writing all my thoughts and revising each verse carefully. and i can definitely say that its helped me teach better and my testimony on the atonement is stronger than its every been. we are so blessed because jesus christ died for us. because of him es posible para regresar a vivir con dios otro vez. siempre debemos arrepentir de nuestros pecados para que cada dia podemos progresar y ser como cristo. i love this gospel and and eternally grateful for you and mom because you've taught me so much. LOVE YOU ALL

dad! forgot to say that yes i dream in spanish! i dream almost everynight that i'm in a lesson teaching investigators.. almost every night that's what i dream. hahah and you were going to let ten go to school in raymond!!! man that would be sweet i think he would of loved it and all the boys would look up to him and take him in as a friend cause tennyson has the type of spirit where everyone wants to be around him. alot of the boys there don't want to serve missions and i think he could be an example for greater good that will cause some boys to change their minds about a mission. tell that punk to write me!!!!!!!!!!

 

fruit that looks like a zuccini

 suri.. eeeeew

 

the missionaries were in charge of making the ceviche when we couldn't even eat it...!

hey y'all!!! whats up! dad thanks for the email. i think that i am going to warn my investigators about those three specific things that satan will try and do to make it so my investigators are led astray. it has happened... so i think this week has gone by the fastest than any other week in my mission. i'm going to complete three months soon. it seems like yesterday that i almost missed my flight to peru and had only 20 seconds to hug you all.. did i hug brendan?? hahah i was thinking about it and i think i was hugging you all so fast that i forgot to hug him!! LOL!! it used to make me tear up when i thought about it but now i laugh!! so we helped carlos plan a proposal to ask españa to marry him. here in peru people don't really "pop the question"! its more like they talk about marriage and decide then and there if they're going to do it and then they'll tell people what day they're getting married and its not a big deal. its so casual! like what the heck! but españa has always wanted her future husband to propose! sooo we helped him plan it. we had a ward activity on saturday (it was also españas birthday) called "conociendo mi peru" (getting to know peru) and it was so fun! so first people were doing dances. like typical dances. 

and españa did one with the relief society and it was actually awesome cause she taught the relief society how to do the dance. i can picture her as a relief society president one day. and then after the dance she went to change. and when she came back the bishop talked in the microphone and was like " carlos has a few words he would like to say to españa but first we need everyone to be very quiet please" and españa thought he was going to say happy birthday. so the dj put on the song " i don't wanna miss a thing by aerosmith" (i totally suggested that song) and he begun talking and expressing his feelings to her and she clued in and started crying jaajja and then he asked her to spend the rest of ETERNITY with him! it was awesome! so hilarious cause EVERY woman was crying!! lollll. she was so happy and i definitely got everything on film.

 i'm thinking about sending you guys my camera cause there are awesome vids on there that none of these computers will let me send!. but anyway it was awesome. after the dances we ate food. and there were booths with different typical foods from peru. we were in charge of the ceviche. that the almost raw fish with other stuff.. missionaries aren't allowed to eat it. which sucked cause it smelled SO good and EVERYONE was at our booth crowding it trying to get a plate and we had so much ceviche but not enough for everyone. it was gone in such little time. but it was so ironic that the missionaries were in charge of making the ceviche when we couldn't even eat it. españa and another investigator of the elders helped us make it. 

      so the president wrote a letter to the presidency of the church asking if only certain areas could pension all three meals with a pensionista but it was rejected. so ALL the missionaries in south america have to have a pensionista with all three meals cause too many missionaries are getting sick. ,man i am so lucky that i havn't gotten sick ONCE!!! everyone is so surprised. i'm super glad. and now that we have a rule that if we are sick for more than two weeks we get sent home i am more glad that i havn't gotten sick.sooo its sad cause we told our old pensionista that we prayed and made the decision to pension with hna Flor. cause she lives in our house and its much more efficient for us to eat with her. we save so much more time cause we had to walk a little ways to get to our old pensionistas house. and with hna flor we will be able to start our studies on time. the canayo family was so sad that they cried. but they understood our decision and thanked us for the time they were able to serve us. we felt bad but we had to do what we had to do. with all the meeting we have been having on how time is so important and its the lords time we felt it was the right thing to do.

    but hna flor is awesome. shes like our mom. i think i mentioned in a previous email that she has a daughter on a mission to and she takes EXCELLENT care of us. she is making us a skirt right now! i'm so excited for it.shes always checking up on us and finding ways to serve us and calls me "mi hija" i love that she treats us like that! but don't worry mom, you will always be my number one!!

     so there is this 13 year old girl that we thought was baptized cause she goes to seminary attends church every sunday alone and is super awesome! she loves the church and at school she said that she sang battle hymn of the republic and that everyone laughed at her and made fun of her but she didn't care and i felt so bad but i was like " why didn't you choose a different one!" lol  she laughed about the fact that people made fun of her cause she didn't care. shes awesome. so when we found out she wasn't baptized we were surprised. she is in the area of the elders but they cant visit her cause shes a single girl and her parents don't want to be present in the discussions. so we went to visit her....at night....not realizing that it was super dangerous there..... nothing happened. while we were walking on that street this drunk guy came up to us and at first it was hard to tell he was drunk but then all of a sudden he tried hugging me.. i pushed him away and he kept trying but i wouldn't let him and i was like ya okkkk BYEE. and then he took the picture of jesus that we gave him and ripped it and threw it... and the next day the elders (district leader) was like make sure you go there during the day. and we were like oh what why?? we went there last night. and he was like NIGHT!???? WOAH NOOO!!! its dangerous! and he was like please only go there during the day.... we had no idea.but i didn't feel scared at all or unsafe. but now we know for next time. there area is called pampachika and its right by the playa and that's why its so dangerous cause people from all over the place go there to swim and drink and bad things are always happening there apparently.

    anyways!! so the last zone conference we had they asked me to say the closing prayer. and they always say the prayer in english. even the latinos. and i was so excited cause i havn't prayed in english in AGES! so i begun the prayer and let me tell you.. it was soooo awkward. i couldn't talk!! i was making so many mistakes and caught myself speaking spanglish. i wasn't nervous at all but when you are speaking spanish all day every day its weird to all of a sudden say a prayer in english. ahahah

    so can you please print that talk called unleashing the dormant spirit in spanish?? i really wanna photocopy some and give them out. that talk has helped me so so much on my mission and i want my comp and future comp to have one. 

     dad i love my mission. its hard. but so worth it. my testimony is growing each day and my knowledge of the gospel is increasing more and more and more. i am learning more that i thought i ever could. i love helping people. i love that i'm doing this for the lord. thank you and mom so much for raising me. for doing scripture study and prayer with us. i don't think i have realized how important it really is until now. because doing those things really did bring us together and it taught us to be firm and keep our standards high. it taught us to put the lord first. so thank you for supporting me and lana on our missions. i know i'll be sad when i leave peru. i'll miss the people and the way i live right now. it may not be luxurious but i don't even care. i love it and i love that i'm learning. so thanks for supporting me financially and spiritually. i love you all. and hope you continue praying together and doing scripture study and i promise the lord will bless you all. I LOVE YOU MI FAMILIA TAN LINDA TAN BELLA TAN AMOROSO!! xoxoxo

i'm pretty sure there's about 6 ants in my drink!

hello my beautiful awesome amazing cool family! whats up. hah so this week was awseome. we had a confernce with the mission president and his wife. it was awesome!

a few things changed. like if we are sick for more than 3 weeks we get sent home with no exception!! AHH!! so hopefully i never get sick. we were at a family home evening last night and the husband couldn't join us cause he has malaria! there's lots of sicknesses here so that kinda freaked me out. i DO NOT want to go home! yet.... lol. and also the way we plan our day has changed. we can only give half hour lessons and have to fill up our day by the half hour. at first i was like woah woahhhh that's not enough time to walk to the house and teach a lesson! and how in the world can i do that! that's impossible! but then i thought to myself.. ok.. the mission president receives revelation from the lord and when the lord commands us to do something he always prepares a way for us to do it. he will never command us to do something that is impossible to do. so i decided to let my faith grow a little as the president was announcing this.... then as we were planning i got all stressed out... bad idea... being stressed is NOT fun.. so i chilled myself out and this week has been awesome. we have been making more compromisos (commitments) with the investigators and have been teaching more lesson! so its been great! and to my surprise we have been able to teach half hour lessons! yay!

    hah soooo the other day we were talking about ants... there's sooo many ants in everyone's house. every time i drink juice i'm pretty sure there's about 6 ants in my drink. i've learned to not let it bother me... surprising hey?? TO ALL THOSE WHO THOUGHT I WAS HIGH MAINTENANCE... i'm not :) hahahah this mission has been a crazy adventure so far! can't wait to make a slideshow when i get home and present it to everyone and tell stories! like what bren did.. this one time i was drinking my apple cider and i saw a bunch of black things floating around... ants... hahah and to my pensionista (landlady) i was like " ummm there a million ants in my drink" and she was like oops sorry it happens sometimes" then she grabbed my drink and started picking out the ants with her finger! lolll i was like oh my goodness... good ol jungle life.. hhaa then she handed it back to me. and ya i drank it. lolll

    hows things with my bank card? is it on its way? can you ask mom to double check that i will be able to use it in peru? i got the money from western union. thank goodness.. i waited in line for about 2 hours but it was worth it. thanks!! and no one tried to rob me. hah its pretty safe here. safer than i thought it would be.

     so a few days ago it rained HARD(ill send pics) and so i was completely soaked.. we went home and i changed and left my super nice walking shoes out to dry. and when i got home that night i looked in my shoe and a freekin mouse chewed a hole on the inside! thank goodness that it didn't chew through the rubber bottom but i was so mad! seriously i could have strangled the heck out of that dang mouse!!!!! soooo i learned to always have a window open so that the odours of the room and go awaw cause that's what attracts the mice... oh well! lol so the lady and her husband that we live with are awesome. she took my shoes and washed them. so when we were gone they searched our room for the mouse... and when we got back our room was spotless! totally reminded me of what mom does... how she used to clean my room lol it was so nice of her! so we went over to her and thanked her and she started crying saying she was so grateful to god that we lived with her and that we are her daughters and that's why she takes care of us. her daughter is on a mission right now so she adores us! shes awesome though. always is bringing us stuff to eat and drink and she made us this awesome jungle bag! so now i use it on my p days.

     also.... my comp had a meeting so i paired up with this other american missionary.. shes super shy and has about 3 months on her mission. shes having a real hard time with the language.. so we went over to her area to proselite while our comps were in the training meeting... and i was nervous. because i knew i was going to have to take lead in all the lessons and contacting and getting around the city since we would be alone for about 4 hours. but it was awesome! so nice to see my progress! my spanish is pretty good now and now i know that i can do it.. i can teach full lessons and contact and help other people... its that with my companion she likes to take the lead so i never have known my full capacity but now i do :) it was nice to be with the american hermana for a bit.. it was so weird to be with a white girl! and so weird to speak english! but so fun! she was asking me so many questions and how to get better with the language. i felt so bad for her and she kept thanking me for being so patient with her.. shes awseome! anyway so we got to this less actives house and she was super busy and we offered to help so my companion cut the potatoes and guess what i did... gutted and cut up a chicken loll so now i know how to do that! 

 

 

 

   i was studying mosiah 3:19. and king benjamin was preparing the people to take upon them the name of christ and it says: 

 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
i really like this verse. its helped me alot. this week i have been praying for the lord to show me the qualities i need to improve on. and every week he shows me and helps me be better. i'm always scared to pray for this cause a challenge always comes along for me to exercise these qualities. first i get super stressed and discouraged and then i pray for help and then i realize " OHH!! hes trying to show me how to be more humble or submissive or patient or full of love!" then i try to apply those things to the situation and i feel better.

    well i better get going!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL! tell ten i'm gunna kick his butt cause he never writes me!

 

me and hna rodriguez and cutting hair for a relief society activity

carlos y españa!!! and their ADORABLE baby!!!!!

service at carlos and españas house.. building that roof thing.. i forget what its called. it was fun!

so to the left is hna price then i'm on the other end. hna jensen is beside me. hna price is the abuela.. and then hna rodriguez is my mom.. hah get it? cause shes training me... and hna price dies in two weeks... (meaning she goes home) lolll

 

 

 

i'm a pro boxer!!

mom and dad!!! first of all dad, NEVER think that you fill your emails with too much doctrine and not enough personal stuff. its okay! i love reading and studying the doctrine you send me. it helps me so much in my week. it makes me feel like you are here encouraging me. its awesome dad :) wow i'm excited for when i will get to say "dad" again to you. and hug the priesthood!! its soooo forbidden to hug a boy its crazy cause i really do miss hugging you brendan and tennyson. wow i'm kinda sad right now because i forgot to bring my piece of paper that has all the points that i want to talk about. oh well..

     so i will be careful at western union when i go. i'll see if the zone leaders can come with me. they are super tall and big! lol hermana rodriguez (my comp) tells everyone that i'm a pro boxer cause she says i have a temper. but i don't know how she can tell that i have one because i'm always super nice! she was like "i can just see it in your face that you are tough" hahah! i was a little flattered but at the same time i don't want to come off as mean! lol but seriously we have been getting along SO much better! we have been having a lot of fun this week. 

for some reason i break down every thursday... the day where we plan our week and set goals. but after i break down we always talk and have a heart to heart and i feel energized for the rest of the week. the mission will never be easy and i've come to terms with it. but i always think to myself that a year and a half of this will help me learn to withstand anything in life! so many people think that a mission is easy and all we do is preach. that is not the case at all. we are always helping other people in so many ways.. family issues, service, planning activities, meetings, stress, and other personal things and more. it is NOT easy. but i'm so glad its not easy. i love learning and i can feel myself becoming stronger and stronger. i know its good for when i have my future children and husband. the mission is the best thing a person can do for OTHERS and themselves! thank you mom and dad for helping me get to where i am. like lana said in one of her emails, i always bear my testimony that families can be together forever and i find so much comfort knowing that i am sealed to you mom bren ten lana and vix forever and that our family will be together forever as long as we keep the commandments. i know that there is nothing that can make us happier than to keep the commandments. they are there for a reason. its so true that we can feel a sense of peace, belonging, and happiness if we keep the commandments. also, satan has less of a grasp on us. its crazy how much he wants to destroy families.GRR! 

     so about carlos y españa... the baptist missionaries have been spying on us hahah. they go visit them and tell them that they are making a mistake by listening to us and that if carlos goes to their church they will buy him a prosthetic leg. so carlos wanted to go to that church on sunday instead and españa was like.. " NO!!! you know that we have received an answer to our prayers and that THIS is the true church of god!" haha she makes me so proud cause at the beginning she didn't want to listen to us. then they came to church. we told espana that we should always respect other religions and be kind to the other missionaries no matter what because she's got a temper on her and says that she mouths them off sometimes. i couldn't imagine being in the position of carlos... being offered a leg and having to choose... i feel so bad for him and we are praying to figure out what we can do to help him.

       so i'm glad that the boys are going to the gym! my view on going to the gym has changed so much. its so important to stay fit and healthy. and i'm so glad that vicky is having an awesome summer! i remember being her age and going out to beazer to hang out at the farm with all my cousins and grandmas! it was so fun going to the creek on a scorching hot day and running around causing trouble! hahah. well its been pretty hot here but i'm used to it now. its crazy humid and my whole body is constantly wet and i'm always so excited to shower from my garbage can when i get home bahaha! oh man its crazy how much the mission changes you! i seriously never thought i would be able to handle living in the conditions i live in! but it feels normal(for now) i'm grateful for what i have. i'm so grateful for canada. i don't think i'll ever take it for granted again. people always ask me if i have my own car and when i say yes they are in shock. i love the people here. they are super humble and we always find people to teach. Peru is awesome! i'm hoping that i can be in this area long enough to spend christmas here.cant believe that august is halfway over... then it'll be september.. then october! WOAH! then christmas! then 2015!! and then the year countdown will happen but i'll be so sad to leave this place! good thing i still have 16 months here.. hahah i really am enjoying it and am doing excellent. can't wait to speak in spanish with you guys on the phone! me and lana always email back and forth. i love her so much. she's such an awesome misionera. when we get home we plan on living together and waking up at 6 30 every morning to study the gospel then have study together.. haha i'm so glad i will have her so that we can both adapt to the real world together cause i'm sure its going to be hard to get back to the real world. well i love you guys so much and thanks for the support!! love hermana blackmore

 

Hermana Pena and I at the airport to Lima

 

the monkey at one of the less actives that we visit! hahaha hes cool!

this is the familia Canayo. they feed us for our breakfast and supper. luz karen is the young one beside me on the end that reminds me of Leen. shes awesome!!! this family i love so much. if i'm here for christmas i will be with them. i love them ALL!! we get along so well and i'm thankful i get to see them everyday. 

 the other pic of of our district leaders! they are awesome! muy chistoso!

 

hahaha luz karen! she also always comes out with us!

this house is considered pituko.... but only this room was nice. the rest was dirt floor. they are an awesome family. see the big poster in the background? well its so cheesy cause it has quotes on it and a picture of whoever and EVERYONE has these types of pics hung on there house and me and my comp want to get one of us!

it was sunny and then BANG!! RAIN! i'm not even exaggerating when i say that you can shampoo and rinse your hair in this rain. it fell so hard we were soaked! we were out looking for less actives and it just happened :)

my perspective is changing

HEYY FAMILY!!!

    This week has been awesome! we have received many answers to our prayers. the lord is helping our investigators with problems they are having and we teach with the spirit for every lesson. its awesome! and we had a meeting with the bishop yesterday and he was crying because he couldn't believe that so many inactives were coming back to church and people were accepting callings!! he was like "thank you so much!!" tears streaming down... so we haven't even met with half the inactives. we keep finding more and more and rescuing more and more and the lord is really leading us to them. there's a few that we are working with that said they have been waiting for us cause they need help. its been a week full of fun and miracles. my comp and i set a goal to always be happy and find the good in everything and its working. we are always so cheerful. we hit the gym every morning and it helps a lot. we lost an investigator because the leaders said that the investigator is staring at me and always trying to get close to me so we had to pass him to the elders. LOL i'm glad tho because we were very professional with him and clarified who we represent but he still continued to call in inappropriate names so they have to take him from us. its definitely a different world here and i'm going to kill this keyboard!!! the keys don't press well so i'm slamming the keys like a crazy woman haaahhaha.

   so i flew to lima city last tuesday and it was awesome!! got to see some elders in my group at the MTC! and it was COLD!!! it felt so good!!! hhaha AND i had a HOT SHOWER!!!!!! i put it on as hot as i could stand and enjoyed it while it lasted! hahah it was awesome. and it was soo weird being in a modern city! its so developed compared to here and it made me a little trunky haah. but i was glad to fly back to iquitos and carry on with my mission.

    so the members here really are great. they are super nice and take really good care of us! we feel so loved by them. they are always feeding us and giving us stuff and greeting us and all... its awesome. i love them. i feel like a therapist. EVERYONE always tells us ALL there problems with there marriage kids friends past... etc. and they are seeking for help. this week was awesome but overwhelming because everyone was telling us their problems! like lesson after lesson was them spilling all their problems. it caused us to push back a few baptism dates but we were so happy to help them. its crazy how much they trust us!! at the end of the day where everyone was telling us their problems we were EXAUSTED! its crazy how tired you can get from helping people all day. its so rewarding to see the progress tho. i LOVE my mission and i love being here. there are so many little moments and miracles that happen that remind me why I'm here and how much my own life and perspective is changing by being here immersed in the lord's work. like last night we found this awesome family of gold. the mom learned to pray and said the final prayer. it was one of the most heartfelt prayers i've heard here. she spilled her heart out and told the lord that she was so happy we found her and that she has a chance to go to church and repent and be happy. of course i was all teary eyed from feeling the spirit so strong and i was so happy because i knew the lord was pleased that she was talking to him. i could feel it.

    so i was reading my book of mormon and came across a short scripture that made me think alma 39:14.  says something like seek not the riches of the world, because you cannot carry them with you forever. and its so true. glamour and money and name brand clothes don't matter. and a fancy engagement ring don't matter. heck give me a piece of string and i'll tie that around my finger for the rest of my life! hahah the people here are so content with the little that they have and i love it. its so tranquillo.

   dad, when i get home me and lana are going to take you to the gym everyday! alright?? its so fun! i'm training like 5 ppl right now and its hilarious! there's a few members that come with us in the morning and have no idea how to use the machines! LOL its so fun! my comp thought that if she used the bicycle too much she would get super skinny like too skinny and i was like haaha no that won't happen with the amount of food they give us. and i taught her how to use the bench press and she says she feels so cool when she uses it but always makes me spot her with the single bar because shes scared it will fall on her face. its super fun!! well i love you all so much and trust me when i say i am enjoying the mission ALOT! thank you everyone for your support! xoxox

 

ps forgot to say that yes we contact on the street. 100 contacts a week at least is what we do. its fun! we don't go door to door because we have a ton of investigators and less actives that we are visiting. our schedule for this week is pretty much all filled so we are going to do divisions again. :)

to get married you have to have luck... lol

dad! did you get my pics? you didn't say a thing about my pics! wellll i think i have talked a bit about my investigators caros y espana.. ya? they have the cutest baby girl in the whole world and carlos lost a leg in a crash. anyway i remember when we first went to visit carlos and espana. espana always ran away when we came but carlos was happy to see us cause he was super unhappyand discouraged about his leg and thought it was a punishment from god. he had no faith. so we kept visiting with him and he was starting to do better and better. he was understanding our message so good! and then little by little espana would join in on the lessons. shes super cool! muy chistosa! hahah she has a super fun personality.so we started teaching them both and espana started getting super happy when we would come! it made us so happy that she finally would join in on the lessons. she wanted to hear what it was that made carlos change and made him happier. she said she couldnt believe that he was having a change. so yesterday we were there and they were pouring their hearts out telling us how they want us to come everyday and how they love when we are around because theres something "different" about us :) it made us feel so good. and espana was like... guess what..! i'm going to get married!.... we were so happy because we have been talking to them about matrimony and the law of chastity and how they can only be baptized if they get married. its awsome to see their progress!!! makes us feel so good. its crazy because here nobody is married unless you're mormon. they say that to get married you have to have luck... lol huh?

         so my spanish is improving alot. i still have lots to learn and its super super frustrating because i can't understand everything that the people here say. they talk with A LOT of slang. its annoying because i would understand everything if their accents weren't so heavy and if they didn't talk with so much slang. but its okay ill get there.. poco a poco. i LOVE when we are in a lesson and i totally have the spirit with me and i can talk and talk and talk and talk and not have to think about what im going to say. thats the best and when i feel most confident. its amazing how much my testimony is growing. i'm getting a better understanding of the christlike attributes and the things i should do to develop them.

      i'm glad that bren went to that ysa thing! finding a spouse isn't as easy as some people think though.its so important to choose wisely.and that's awesome that you went to grandmas!! i miss it there a lot. some days i wish i could be home. the days that are hard.... the jungle isn't easy and neither is having a companion but its SO worth it. i love it here and i am having so much fun and i love the people. the people here love us sister missionaries so much to. its awesome.so i don't know if i mentioned this but the area we are in hasn't had sister missionaries for almost 2 years so its nice being the first sisters here in a long time because everyone is so excited to see us all the time. haha so how was grans house? does she miss me!! lol it will be so weird coming home and not having rules and not having to be home so early everyday and listening to music and watching music and not having a set schedule! i am collecting missionary planners so that i can use them when i get home. i always want to use one. seriously they are so productive.

   that's so funny that when you got into my car my subs were up loud and you felt like it was giving you a back massage!! hahaha who had it up so loud?? you do know how to turn the bass down right? LOL i bet ten feels so cool driving in it. you didn't give me lanas mail address DAD!!! hahah can i have it please? well i love you lots. thank you once again for your awesome emails. they help me a lot through the hard times in my week. i love you LOTS

    Hermana Blackmore