Por Pequeños Medios: Feliz dia de gracias.‏

In the Jungle at the top of a waterfall.

Surprise! I get to write you today. It has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, its just because we didn't get to write you on Monday when we were in Tingo Maria. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here but we were telling my pensionista about how we celebrate and she is going to make us a pineapple pie. Close enough right? She is so sweet.

All the sisters of Huanuco! I love Hermana Henderson's face.

Since its Thanksgiving this week we were thinking about things that we are grateful for and I made a list of things I have come to really become grateful for.

I'm really grateful for the ability to learn.

I'm grateful for my companion because we get along so well, she understands my sense of humor and never denies when I say I think we should go buy ice cream out of a tienda.

I'm grateful for my mission and all the wonderful experiences I have had and the people I have met. And that we get to go to the jungle on pday sometimes. :)

I'm grateful that I have teeth. So many people here don't have teeth and I think it would be miserable to not be able to chew.

I'm grateful for prayer and the ability to talk to God.

I'm grateful for the invention of sunscreen, insect repellent, anti itch cream and any modern medicine in general because I probably couldn't function here without these things.

I'm grateful for my family because they are the greatest. My mom sent me a pack of chocolate chip cookie mix awhile back and we finally made it. It was delicious.

But most of all I'm grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me. I'm not sure how he did what he did but I know that he did. And that he love us so much.

A real house

Tingo Maria was beautiful. My eyes really opened up to the world and how beautiful each creation is. I sent a ton of pictures this week from there but I am kinda disappointed because it doesn't really show how pretty it is. We ended up going on a hike and we got to see a bunch of waterfalls. It was so peaceful there. It was a little bit dark inside the actual jungle part but near the waterfalls and stuff it was a little lighter. We ended up being there the entire day Monday and then Tuesday we had a multi-zone conference. I thought it was funny that we talked about stomach problems and how to handle them because everyone in this mission always gets sick from the food. We also talked about just how to be more efficient missionaries and it was really edifying. There are lots of ways that I can be better.

Our area started to pick up this last week and finally had investigators at church. Two of them were a miracle that we found from a prayer. We were tired and a lot of our appointments fell through. We ended up stopping and praying in the street and found this family. We taught them just outside their home but we didn't really feel like they were going to progress. But we invited them to read and pray anyways. We returned another day and asked if they had read and they had so we started talking about that and I forgot to ask them if they had prayed. This little nine year old girl stopped us, looked us straight in the eyes with what seemed like apostolic wisdom and said Oh and I prayed. Its true. We were a little bit taken back. We asked her if she would be baptized and she paused for a long moment. I felt like i knew what was going on. I said are you scared. She said yea. I'm really scared of water. I don't like rivers or taking baths. I told her that before my mission I was a swim teacher and promised her I would be there at her baptism to help her. That seemed to gain her confidence and she agreed to be baptized. On Sunday we went to pick them up to go to church. Her mother was sick but she was all ready with her little brother. They were usually such dirty little kids but they were both all washed up in the best clothing that they had all ready to go. The little girl had a skirt and the boy even had his shirt tucked in. It warmed our hearts.