we were just so glad...

DAD!!! no gospel doctrine in your email what the heck!! haha that's ok to be honest i really enjoyed all the info you gave me! so the sister training leaders aren't like district leaders. basically they help the sister with personal things that they need. like medical things. they help us figure out ways to get along if we don't get along. they do work visits with us to to help us improve on anything we may need to improve on! they are awesome! so that's super awesome that brendan is having fun. gran told me he basically lives with dillon. i think its awesome that brendan has a cousin there. i really miss katlyn. and her kids. they are such well behaved boys. i know aunt tekla was grateful for the time she got to spend with them before they came to earth.  thank you so much for ordering me a new bank card!! i guess i'll get it in about 2 months hahaha i'll probably get transferred and be in moyobamba or pucalpa by the time it gets to iquitos and then the mission office will have to send it to me. lollll jungle life...... LOVE IT. so i heard taylor swift came out with new songs!! hahaha elder workinger in my district told me about it cause he was all stoked about it and knew i love her too. haha so we were ranting about it for a while. 

     so this week we tried hard to keep the rules to a TEE! it was awesome dad cause we saw a huge improvement in our area. we didn't have investigators progressing for a bit and we were bummed out and the ZL were annoying us cause they thought that we weren't seeing improvement cause we were not getting along and we were like dude... we are like bff and get along better than in the world.. but its all good. they are just trying to help us :) so anyway we fasted and prayed duraso.(hard) and ya we found an investigator that had been looking for the truth. she came to church with us and is reading her scriptures and has a real desire to follow christ so we "saco la fecha por su bautizmo" and ya she is so excited!!.

     so we have been working a lot with españa. shes a little bit discouraged ( like we all get sometimes) and so we went there and sang a hymn with her and she started bawling. i was glad cause that means she felt the spirit and she wanted to feel god's love. we sang "i need thee every hour". we felt so good. then the district leader came and gave carlos a blessing of comfort. it was super nice. a good experience. we went home and i prayed with hermana rodriguez and we were both in tears after cause we were just so glad that heavenly father had been answering our prayers and that we could feel his love and presence. so its been a good week, 

      a little story. we got home and there were cops everywhere around our house and we look over and there is this guy laying on the floor and people everywhere and i definitely thought he was killed or something but we asked and he had fallen off the dump truck. here the dump trucks are super tall and big and the garbage guys ride on top. he wasn't dead but he was super hurt and unconscious. it was sad.

        this week we have been using alma 5 a lot. i was studying it one day and it made me think... A LOT. i imagined myself in an interview with jesus christ and him asking me all the questions in alma 5

 27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

   i love this verse. this mission is teaching me a lot about my own salvation. all day constantly we are talking about the gospel. i am learning so much about how i need to change or be in order to inherit the kingdom of god. so when i have an interview with my saviour i want to be able to go into it knowing that it'll be a good interview and i will be able to pass it. maybe for FHE today you guys can read alma 5 and tell everyone to imagine they are going into an interview with jesus christ. explain that one day we will be judged and we must do all we can to stand blameless before god.

    well i love you all and hope you have an excellent week. 

    con mucho amor, 

           tu hija hermana blackmore

 

 

 

 

 

in preach my gospel it says to not get discouraged

hey dad. so i tried going to scotia bank and i talked to everyone and tried other banks but they say my card won’t work cause it’s not a visa or credit. LAME! and i went to the mission office to see if one of the missionaries who work there could help me so we tried logging into my account online and it didn’t let me on! we tried calling all the numbers from rbc but NOTHING! like the numbers didn’t even work. I’m bummed out. but ya the card has to have the visa sign on it or credit or something like that. but thanks for sending me money... i could reallllly use it right now! if i get changed to moyobamba or tarapoto i think I’ll need to buy a blanket cause apparently it gets cold there at night . here we don’t sleep with anything. maybe a bed sheet if it rains all night,

      man they totally don’t celebrate halloween here!! i was kinda bummed! and apparently its like that for xmas too! hahah thats one thing i love about canada is that we celebrate the holidays! like we go all out. but that’s alright. I’m still loving the mission. seriously i know i always say this but time flies sooooo fast. i almost have as much time on the mission that my comp did when she started training me and now she’s got a year on her mission! ahhhhh and i feel like she goes home so soon. crazy.

      so we have a bunch of new investigators one is progressing alot and wants to get baptized but we are having a hard time with helping our other investigators progress. so we are asking ourselves what we are doing wrong? we are doing all we can to be COMPLETELY obedient. we are praying hard and are fasting and asking for miracles and checking up on the investigators and they say they’ll come to church but they end up not coming.... it makes me sad. but in preach my gospel it says to not get discouraged because that’ll make the spirit go away and we will be weaken our faith that way. so I’m trying to keep myself up there. 

      so we don’t ever have time changes here! It’s the same all year around! hahaa its funny cause i asked someone if there is a winter here and they were like yeah its right now! and then i ask someone else and they are like oh its summer right now! and then the next day it rains and I’m like hey what season is it...and they say winter.. so I’ve learned not to ask anyone cause there actually aren’t seasons here lollll....

           so I’m  super excited to get to talk to you guys in december! its so soon. wow. i can just hear your voices in my head. maybe you can make me a skype and send me the username and password cause i can’t remember mine! hahah   so remember when we creeped hermana benyos blog before my mission? well she’s the new sister leader and i stayed with her the other night and we had a blast! She’s supeeer cool! hahah. she totally uplifted me and helped me feel better about a few things. but anyway i love you all lots !! XOXOXO

now i understand why its so important for us to prepare for missions from the day we are born

hey dad! so i was a little frustrated last week.. i went to the bank and my card didn't work. i'm going to try a different place today.. ugh i still beat myself up for losing my card. the lady at the bank was saying that my card has to be visa or mastercard for it to work in this country and i was like uhhh no cause i have used it in lima before! and i started getting impatient and talking all fast in spanish ahhaha and my comp was like nudging me reminding me whos name i'm wearing on my plaque... man..... its hard to be patient sometimes but good thing i'm learning how to be patient on my mission haha. what's eloba? like aliens?? give me details! hahah its funny how a missionary is literally in a different world than the rest of everyone else! its going to be crazy when i get home again.. it'll be super weird i already know it. so how's everyone? this week a scripture that has been stuck in my head is helaman 5:12. it talks about how we should build our foundation on jesus christ so that way satan's winds and storms won't be able to drag us down. its so very true. each time we miss a day of reading our BOM or praying or miss a sunday, that grasp on the iron rod weakens therefore making it slightly easier for satan to tempt us. i want to regresar en la presencia de dios otra vez, junto con mi familia. estoy bien agradecida que tu y mama estan casado en el templo. me hace sentir paz en mi corazon en los momentos cuando estoy extrañando mi familia. so thank you for everything you have done for the family dad. i think you're the perfect dad for me.

              how's ten with preparing for his mission? its crazy cause now i understand why its so important for us to prepare for missions from the day we are born. i love my mission. i love iquitos. and i didn't get changed and everyone was very surprised. i'm sure this next cambio one of us is going! but we will see.

     so two nights ago i had a dream.. lol i had gotten home from my mission and i was talking to mom in english. (i was controlling everything i was saying in the dream it was kinda cool) and then mom was responding in spanish like always, and then i was like WOAHH OK... i'm sorry mom but from now on i'm going to speak spanish. so i started telling her about my investigators and how they were progressing before i got home... then i went over to lana and started talking with her in spanish and it was just so awesome cause my spanish was perfect. and then when i woke up i started telling my comp about it and that whole day as i spoke spanish i felt so fluent.... its weird how your thoughts change to spanish. when i get home i'm going to speak only spanish to mom and lots with you too dad :) and only spanish with abuela and abuelo and Lana and brendan. and i'm going to pretend i can't understand brendan if he talks to me in english.. hahaa and i'm going to marry someone who speaks spanish (not a latino tho) lol 

    well i hope all is well.. i don't know what to do about my card.... i'll see if it works today. what a pain in the butt!! love u all!

cutest monkey i've seen

i love monkeys

if we truly have given all our heart to the lord would we be perfect?

dad! that's awesome that you had the sister missionaries over for dinner. make sure to always help them and give them references!! tell them to go to kate's house! and make sure that the sister missionaries are always fed and aren't thirsty!!!!!! hahah so hows the snow coming along? man i miss snow. its just always hot here. it never stops. so lana completed 5 months eh?!!! WOW! TIME FLIES :( but thats okay... so i have a plan.. i know its suuuper far awway but i'm gunna say it anyway. sooo when me and lana get home we can spend the first sunday there and then we should go down to grans for christmas and that way me and lana can load our stuff in the truck and move it back. of course i expect to spend that whole month with you guys though!! haha just a thought so that everyone can put that in their agendas lol

    alright so this week was pretty good. we were walking and this man stopped us and was asking a bunch of questions. so we planned to visit him and he said his mom was super sick. so let's just say his name is juan..so we went to juans and man i felt so bad. their house is super small and we taught a lesson on their bed cause there was nowhere else to teach. and i realized it was made of straw ;( he offered us the little food that he had left. his mom is nearly dying so the member we came with gave her a blessing. they were so grateful that we were there. juan kept saying that he was so grateful that god sent him "angels". we invited him to a baptism and he was like YES! i will do whatever it takes to follow christ. i know god is looking for me so i have to do what it takes. so we were like awesome! and invited him to church and to pray sobre la iglesia y preguntar dios si jose smith realmente fue un profeta de dios (about the church and ask God if Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God). hahah sorry its sometimes easier to explain in spanish. but ya it was a real blessing to be able to find him. 

    so my spanish is coming along great. only 2 more months and i'll be able to speak it with you guys! so excited for that! mom will be proud! hopefully i don't have much of a peruvian accent! but if i do that's okay.....how's ten with his mission prep? tell him to read his scriptures like crazy and study the preach my gospel cause he will be so grateful that he did! i hope he gets called somewhere spanish speaking. that would be soo awesome. today after the internet we have cambios!!! i think my comp is leaving and i'm staying. but it's funny cause "cambios" are like.. the talk of the week for missionaries and we all opinionate on who we think is staying or going or training. lolll it's fun. our world really is soo small!!!

             we had interviews with the president this week. he's great. he asked me something that made me think all week long. he said ¨"do you feel like you have given all your heart to the lord?" and man it's hard... cause what does that really mean?? we aren't perfect.. if we truly have given all our heart to the lord would we be perfect? i know i always have something to improve on.i can always be a little more humble or charitable.my zone leader once reminded me that the mission is like the refiners fire- the lord uses it to melt away imperfections and flaws. and it's so true.. he's pretty smart ;) the lord works with us and helps us receive revelation to become better. i love the mission because we are always in tune with the spirit and more vulnerable to what god is trying to show us.

    well i hope you have a great week. i may test out my bank card this week or the week after. i'm good for money for a while i just wanted to make sure it worked.. love you all!

service is the key to a happy and righteous life

hello family :) ok so the week of conference we didn't get to watch it because it was elections in iquitos and so its a law that there are no meetings allowed to happen the day before elections and the day of and the day after. so we proselyted all weekend and yeah.. so yesterday and saturday we got to listen. and it was awesome!!! the gringos were so excited cause we got to listen to it in english in our own little gringo room! i'm so glad to cause its hard to take notes while they talk in spanish. the zone leader was saying how conference is awesome cause its like a little piece of america with just the gringos in the room speaking english lol. so it was awesome. i agree with lana about the joseph smith talk! blew my mind. before conference i wrote down all my questions and concerns that i had about life and all of them were responded. it was super sweet. i'm glad because now i feel more tranquila. i loved all the talks but one that stood out to me was Jorg Klebingats. he was amazing and blunt! i laughed how at the beginning he was like "my intentions aren't to offend anyone" then he was like "alright number one....what would you do if you had an interview with jesus christ right now.." then he laid down the law. it was awesome! i loved it so much.i like how he said to become good at repenting cause if we do that we will come to understand the atonement better and learn to accept jesus christ as our saviour.

     Elder Holland's was amazing too i wanted to go out and serve as soon as he was done speaking. "we retain a remission of our sins by serving others" its so true. service is the key to a happy and righteous life.

     so its kinda funny how lana mentioned that whenever her investigators see her family pics they drool all over brendan. that's exactly what they do here to! every time they ask to see a pic i prepare myself. hahaha they ask if he's single and if hes an RM and its funny cause my comp is always like "he's waiting for me" hahahaha then they get all sad!  but then she says just joking. but seriously every single person has drooled over brendan! its so funny. 

         so i'm still enjoying the mission. i wonder if lana got changed. we have cambios next monday and i have a little feeling that i'm going to train someone this next cambio cuase theres 13 new hermanas coming. and one of the sister leaders is leaving and i bet my comp now will be the new sister leader. we´will see! oh ya before i forget... i went to go test out my bank card and it wouldn't work! can you tell mom to please go to the bank and tell them to make sure i can use it in peru? ughhh. haha i beat myself up over losing my bank card in Lima MTC!!! 

          so i'm glad to hear that tennyson takes care of my car and that you're going to put a new stereo in it and not taking out my subs! hahah i love my subs! there is a way to adjust the audio on the stereo but its kinda weird to do it and really annoying cause sometimes it doesn't work. so how's the weather? any snow that's actually stuck to the ground? well i love you all lots!

   hermana blackmore

 

ps man the dogs last night were so annoying. one barked at the air for 3 hours straight. i was so tempted to run outside to make it be quiet but that's against the rules so i just opened the window and yelled and it but that made it worse. so now i'm tired!! LOL

 

 

 

 

yep i held this mono. reminds me of ?????????????!!

 

this pics funny cause our motocar ran outta gas on the way to conference so we hopped in another one and he pushed the motocar that ran outta gas with his foot to the gas station.. only in iquitos... lol

our zone leaders pensionita. she loves us!!

 

 

 

 

its the pure love of christ

DAD! hahah you're totally right!  i didn't think of that but i will be more careful! but you know me... always expressing myself!  can't believe there's 1000 hits. now i feel bad.  anyway i miss you guys lots! how is everything! that's crazy that the lake is super low. well this week has been awesome! this week we have had the goal to find lots of new investigators by going out with the members and asking people for references and we have been seeing miracles. like reference after reference! and we have been contacting lots and people have been accepting citas.

   so its  kinda funny cause we were having a meeting with our district leaders and we were talking about my first days here and how it was so funny to them cause i never ate anything and i always looked too uncomfortable and i was crying everyday! lol and we were laughing so hard at the stories the elders were telling about my first days here. its awesome cause i love my mission so much. its SO fun and i feel like time is going by way too fast! so there's not too much that's new. i still wake up and when i go outside i can't believe i'm on a mission in peru iquitos, the most remote place in peru. LOVE IT! haha 

    so i have been studying a lot this week about charity cause i feel like its something that i have lacked a lot in my life. in moroni 7 it talks perfectly about what charity is. its the pure love of christ. i have been praying for the lord to please help me with that and test me so that i could prove to myself that i am improving with that quality. so i have been trying to treat my companion with lots of love no matter the things she may do that i don't agree with. it has made me love her more. well i don't have that much time to write this week so i will write more next week. love u all!!

when we get together as a zone we talk charapa!

hey family! thanks dad for that email. it really does help me spiritually. every week i am enjoying my mission more and more and more and more! its so amazing to be on a mission. seriously its the best because i know that there is nothing better that i can be doing. it will be crazy when its all over. my knowledge of the scriptures is growing more and more and i love  that. all i can think about is how i can help my future investigators with that knowledge and my future children. i want to be like you. i remember when we would read scriptures as a family and you would explain each verse with detail because you had studied them before. i want to do that with my children. and i feel like it will be weird getting back to canada one day and having more resources! i feel like i've been here long enough that i'm super used to it and i'll feel so foreign when i get back to canada! hahah it'll be weird walking into a grocery store and finding absolutely everything i need. it will be weird speaking english! i make so many grammar mistakes  when i speak and write english cause i'm always talking in spanish and writing in spanish. not sure if you can tell but i can! hahah or when i write something in english i double check it cause it looks wrong but i can't remember if its right or wrong so i get a second opinion from another american hahahahaha LIFE...... eh dad? hahahah LIFE! 

        so last saturday we had a baptism. my first! it was awesome. Marcela was super happy. her mom cried and was super happy for her daughter. marcela went all out for her baptism. lol bought a white dress, got her hair done, bought nails, so much food too. hahah and that's not normal here. its normal in canada but here its not cause it costs a lot to do that. the baptism was a little unorganized and i was getting super frustrated trying to figure it out while it was all happening. the man who was supposed to baptize her ditched for another meeting so the bishop had to scramble for clothes to baptize her and the lady who was supposed to speak didn't show up cause she was apparently sick. i don't get it!!!! its so normal to do that here and apparently its normal for baptisms to be a gong show! i was trying to stay calm the whole time so that the spirit could stay. hahah but oh well what can you do. and of course it started 45 minutes later than the normal time. but here they say that peru never progresses because everyone's always late! LOL. crazy peeps.

this is marcela. the one that got baptized this saturday!! she told me that she was writing vicky on facebook haha

 

 

 

         so when we were serving drinks afterwards i was scooping the juice with the cups and noticed a ton of ants! hahah i was like OH NO!! so every time i was scooping the drinks i tried dodging the ants. didn't work too well but no one seemed to care! jungle life.....hahaha i definitely love it here despite all the things i never thought i would get used to in my life! this jungle mission really is one of a kind. but i would still rather have this type of life than a city life! i really don't like the city. 

             so i forgot my sheet that has all the points of things that i wanted to write about but oh well. so my companion flew to lima to do stuff for her visa cause she's still illegal here hahah then they flew her to chili to get her out of the country for a bit so she can be legal for another amount of time. i was so jealous! how cool would it have been to be there! especially cause that's where you served! i was a little jealous of her. well while she was gone the sister leader came and stayed with me. her name is hermana gutierrez. she's awesome! she finishes the next cambio and is from argentina. she taught me a lot! she's seriously great. knows a lot. and told me that at the beginning of her mission she knew hardly nothing and it was always frustrating to teach. she was super patient with me and we did lesson practices so that i can learn a few things from her. i really enjoyed my stay with her. 

      well dad how's the weather there? you gotta tell me when you get the first snowfall! its been crazy hot here. i almost die everyday. i'm used to it now and now i can't believe that when i get home there will be snow and coldness! me and lana are NOT going to be used to it! hahaha well dad how's my car! last night i was thinking about how much i miss driving stick! lol well i love you all so much toodles!!

 

so we did a little fundraiser for the wedding of carlos and españa this wednesday and the elders wrote this on the sign! hahahah que chistoso! here they talk so charapa! (slang) for example they'll say... el posho es muy rico si di?? like the "di" its not even a word but they say it after they say si.. or sometimes in place of "si?" they say "di?" hahaha its horrible! so when we get together as a zone we talk charapa! hahaha like when they say jueves they say "feves" or fe=fue or fue=fe or enfermo=enfuermo.. the accent is not pretty!! hahahahaha i can't wait to show you guys when we talk on the phone!