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!

its impossible to have the spirit when there is contention

dad!!! SO I JUST READ LANAS EMAIL CAUSE she sends me a copy of it to every week and i know exactly how she feels with being sad to leave her area!!! AHH! me and lammy are totally on the same page. i think that i will get changed next monday. so i'm prepping my heart and soul cause i have become SO close with the people here! seriously dad everyone on the streets know us and they are always so happy to see us and i can't believe that the time is ending. why!!! :( My comp and i have been through so much. yeah we have our arguments that feel like will never get resolved but we always have inventory when one of us is upset and fix everything cause its impossible to have the spirit when there is contention. and we ALWAYS resolve things. she has become a super good friend of mine. one thing i love about her is that she's loyal. i can trust her with my life. she is a great person and i'm grateful that she trained me. out of all her companions she has been with me the longest so its safe to say that i know her the best out of all the sisters and i am so proud to say that. i will remember her always. i will never forget the time we were working so hard to help one of our converts before their baptism and we were at the mission office super sad and we went into a room and hugged and bawled together praying that god would help us. its amazing how god answers ALL our prayers. he may not answer in the way we want him to and we may not recognize the answer but he answers cause he loves us.

      so last monday the zone got together at the house of the stake president and guess what i ate!!!.......... CROCODILE! at first i didn't wanna but then i was like meh why not... and i ate like 2 big pieces. it was DELICIOUS i have to say that its better then chicken. its yummy. it made me think about arlan cause on his mission they eat a lot of that! haha. and this tuesday we are going to eat turtle.. lolll when i first got here on my mission i was not open to eating new things,. and now i'm like mehh what the heck why not. lol i've chilled out a bit with a lot of things.

        so this week we found a couple.. super awesome. they are about in their 70s and the wife recently lost her leg to diabetes and she got an injection in her neck for medicine and it made her go deaf. i felt so bad dad :( and they cant go back to the doctor cause they can't afford it. there are so many sick and afflicted people. i just want to help them all. but like you told me the best way to help them is teach them that jesus christ can lift all their burdens. this week i've been trying to be more direct and blunt with the people explaining how it is that jesus christ can help them but they MUST do their part. we only have one life to live and we will be sad if we don't do all we can to serve others and come unto christ. i feel like a year and a half is not long at all. everybody deserves an invitation to hear the gospel and sometimes i'm walking down the street thinking "wow there are so many people and they ALL need an invite to hear our message" that's why its so important to work hard and not waste a minute of  my mission cause it really is the time of the lord. i made a covenant with him to serve him completely for a year and a half. what an honor. thanks mom and dad for supporting me. it the best experience i've ever had. i love helping others come unto christ. he is my saviour and redeemer of the world. because of him, i am saved.  words cannot describe how much joy the atonement gives me.

      me and my companion were walking and i felt a strong impression to turn right on this road, i stopped....and i know its bad but i doubted the impression thinking it was my own thought. my comp asked what i was thinking and i told her and she was like well we better go. so we did. immediately my eyes were drawn to this home. we went in to discover that there was a daughter and mother living there. inactives. she had served a mission and they left the church years ago for a few reasons. we taught them and the next lesson we had with them we went there and she showed us pics of her mission and with that we gained her trust. she has a testimony of the church and we let her share it. then i was talking and told her that the ward needs her. that god needs her. as representatives of jesus christ we expressed the love he has for her and for the second time on my mission i cried in a lesson. but a big part of it dad was because she reminds me of Leen. i feel such a strong love for her and i'm glad she reminded me of leen cause i really miss her a lot and pray for her all the time. 

     well i invite you to watch that video for family home evening today please!!!!!! don't forget! hows vix and ten?? they never reply me those geeks!  i love you all soooo much!

there is nowhere better i could be

dadd!! thank you for your email. its exactly what i need. i love printing them off and pondering them,... sooooo we've got a few baptism dates set but they didn't come to church this sunday so we had to push it back. i cant believe i've been in this area for almost 6 months! i know it so well now, like the back of my hand! and everyone on the streets know us and i took lots of pics this week so ill put captions on each of them so you can put some on the blog.

        this week my comp got herpes!! its nuts! like one day she showed me her tummy and was like hmmm looks like i'm getting a little rash on my belly hey? and i was like oh yeah hmm. then day two it was bubbling and spreading! and i was like ya that's not normal. so we called the district leader and he called the zone leaders and the silly zone leaders were like "yeah its from the heat to put lots of water on it and shower 3 times a day" AHHAHA 3 times a day! i was so frustrated cause they didn't believe us about how bad these rashes were! and they were spreading FAST! soooo day three my comp was in a lot of pain and i explained that i didn't think that the store bought medicine would do any good for whatever it was that she had. and we were a little frustrated cause the zone leaders weren't taking this seriously sooo i called then and i was like "elder, her skin is bubbling and turning colors and it has spread to her back, what are we going to do to solution this?" and he started laughing. and i was like "elder please call the medical and make an appointment." so he did haha and then the sister leaders saw it and were so surprised! i felt so bad for her!! so yeah she went to the doc and got a ton of medicines and one of her herpes spots popped and is getting better. but yeah apparently its common to get here in the jungle.. hahaha JUNGLE LIFE! apparently i'm lucky cause i havn't been sick yet....

           all the missionaries here in iquitos went to this huge catholic school and we cleaned it and painted it and cultivated around it with machetes! it was super fun but they don't have lawn mowers here. now i can say i've cultivated grass with a huge machete lollll dad i drank coke.... its not a good taste but i was so thirsty and sometimes there's nothing else to drink hahah totally reminded me of you. at least i know i'll never be addicted to it cause i don't like it! lolll

      so a couple nights ago i woke up at 2:02am cause a flippin dog was barking SO loud. so i took out my earplugs and looked out the window to yell at it but nope it didn't stop. so i was thinking it would stop... half hour later i decided to get up and study Jesus the Christ. i read that for a few hours. i like the part where it talks about the people selling stuff in the temple and doing bad things and disrespecting heavenly father's home. i imagine what it would have been like to see jesus casting the people out. that book helps me imagine what he was like. my testimony on the atonement has increased a lot. 

      i have another assignment for you guys now that you've read alma 5. look up the video called something like "the atonement and missionary work" watch it. it doesn't only apply to missionaries. it applies to every member of the church with or without a calling. it's amazing. when i'm discouraged or feel like giving up i watch it and i feel soooo much better.

         i know that there is nowhere better i could be right now than on my mission. we are literally studying all day long. we talk of christ we worship christ and we preach of christ. i love it. its such a great way to help myself be a better person. thank you for supporting me through this year and a half.the best year and a half of my life!!

 

 

tacos!!!! and my zone

my comp's happy one year :)

 

 

this one's for you dad. don't worry i still think its gross

 

 

we went to Nanay and see in the distance the water that's redish?? that's the amazon river.. WOOT! now i can say i've seen it. all the flippin guys were trying to get us to go on their boat and we were like NO WE ARE NOT ALLOWED LEAVE US ALONE!!!

 

me and my comp at the amazon river!

 

 

this is where we went and where the houses float on water. the chaucheros work here too! its amazing the things they can carry on their backs! they are like ants! look up what a chauchero is. i bet their backs are wrecked. they work SO hard dad. i admire them for it. the elders brought us here and its super poor. we stood on the bridge and just talked and looked at the scenery and it made me appreciate canada so much. seriously i'm so grateful to have a home.

 

 

when the river rises the houses float cause they are built on huge logs

 

 

this house is lopsided cause that's how it happened to settle onto the ground when the river went down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

hahah rainy day. first time i ever wrapped myself in my sheets. its way to hot to EVER do  that! lol zoom up on the preach my gospel :)

 

carlos and españa :) this is a street that we commonly are proselyting on. all the streets basically look look like this. i  LOVE PERU!!! :)

 

 

the children that ALWAYS run to us and hug us when they see us!!! soo cute! they are always just playing on the street so when we pass they are always like " HERMANAS!!!" hahah love the jungle life :)

me and my favorite temple!! AHH ONE DAY! haha

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!