Hola Familia! Feliz Lunes!

This is the purse I bought last week!! Isn't it so cute?

  We are going to visit an old city of Incan ruins today. I'm so excited. I'm feeling adventuros and excited to go hiking. 

This week was so funny. Starting out with a funny story. We walked into a family home evening with a recent convert and smelled gasoline. As we walked through the hallway and there was a bunch of tools and what looked like used to be a wooden broom but we didn't really take much notice. During the middle of our lesson two 12 year old boys run in with their homemade firearms and started fighting.  Basically they had cut up the broom and dipped it in gasoline so as they smacked them against each other the flames were huge. We were a little worried about the fabric couch and wood furniture but in Peru fire in homes isn't a big deal since everything is made out of concrete and bricks or dirt. Later they came in with a homemade blow torch out of sunscreen. Silly kids. Picture of them is attached. We did end up getting them to read some scriptures with us in the end.

This is the family with the homemade firearms. haha so funny

Our ward really starting to trust us and love us. Its starting to show in our numbers. We have two that are progressing towards baptism which isn't much but its a huge deal for this area who didn't have anyone the entire last cambio. My companions and I are happy. They are so funny, we laugh all the time. I wonder what will happen with this cambio in two weeks because they will both finish their training. 

We went to hulhuas last week and they have the coolest homemade stuff there. They are famous for their blankets and things. These are the machines they use and these are alpaca stuffed animals out of alpaca.

more of looking at cool stuff last week

I've decided that the most talented people in the world are the people who sleep on combis. They are just amazing. The drivers are crazy and there are tons of speed bumps and music and bags of dead chickens and I just don't understand how they do it! Some people even sleep standing up. We beat our record this week and got 40 people in a 17 passenger van. I don't think I have ever been so uncomfortable in a van. 

Happy Agriculture Day everyone! If you didn't know it was Peruvian agriculture day its okay, I didn't either until I saw everyone parading and marching around in vegetable costumes on Saturday. I was surprised at their grand appreciation for them because if you were to ask me how many servings of vegetables I ate this week I would say three and two of them were servings of onions. I love these people! 

This is a grave. Their grave stones are always very bright colors. If you pass graveyards they are all rainbow.

I have learned on my mission that the Lord really does prepare people when he knows that they will have an opportunity to hear the gospel. A woman we are teaching who is separated from her husband was invited to go drinking with her family and went home and got all ready makeup and everything but then decided to stay home for the evening. The next day we taught her the word of wisdom and she told us the story and said that's why I felt like I shouldn't got with them. The night she prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon is true she said she felt a calmness she hadn't felt in a long time. She slept for the first night in a month and has slept every night since then even with all the stress she has experienced. I know that the Lord must prepare these people in order to recognize his hand or the spirit when we come. 

There are dogs everywhere. always

I can't deny the many small miracles that we experience as missionaries. If our message wasn't true I think our experience would be much more ordinary. But it is true. People receive answers to prayers when we invite them to pray, receive the specific blessings that we promise them and experience real changes in their lives. How great is Heavenly Father's work that we are apart of! 

Hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Rhoten 1