We finally got moved
into our new apartment on Friday and we are starting to feel a little
bit more settled in now that we have met our ward. The ward and bishop
are awesome. We are excited to really start working now. Things were a
little slow this week because we really didn't have much to work with. We
didn't have an area book, we didn't know any members except our
pensionista, or our area, or really even where our limits were. The zone
leaders were running around like crazy people so we just started taking
things into our own hands. We started contacting the whole world to
find people to start teaching near my pensionista's house. We met a lot
of great people and taught some great lessons.
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| Last pday we had a water balloon fight. It was so fun since it was so
hot. Hermana Procell is in my zone! For those of you who don't know her
she was one of my companions in the MTC. |
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| My companion and I |
One of the lessons we had this week was with our
pensionista's husband. She was an inactive member for a long time and
married a non member. When she started to go back to church her daughter
decided to be baptized too. This week we started talking to him over
dinner and we ended up teaching him a lesson. My pensionista's daughter
shared her testimony and told her father how much it would mean to her
if they could be sealed as a family in the temple. We asked him to pray
at the end of the lesson and he did. My pensionista cried because it was
the first time that he had ever prayed in their home. He accepted a
baptism date for the end of this month. He works as a truck driver back
and forth from the jungle which is only two hours away bringing fruit to
Huanuco. There are always boxes of fruit laying around the house and we
eat a ton of mangoes, papaya, bananas and pineapple. Its the best!
About half of our area is on the side of the
mountain.
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| The view from the top of my area |
There are just houses made out of dirt, rocks and metal roofs
covering the hillside. It is a good workout everyday right at the
hottest part of the day because we aren't allowed to go up the mountain
after six at night. I honestly don't know how people live up there
because there aren't roads that go up there or really even pathways to
get up there. Its like hiking and making our own trail climbing up and
down the rocks.
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| This is my companion climbing when we were returning from an appointment. My area is on the side of a mountain. |
My companion is so awesome and we are getting along
great. She is a little frustrated this week because a lot of people
aren't able to understand her but that will come with time. I know that
she will make an incredible missionary.
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| It's a good thing that most of my area looks like this or I would
probably be gaining a ton of weight from all the food that my
pensionista is giving me. There are stairs like this about one fourth of
the way up and the rest is a hike. |
I'm starting to really get used to the smell of
sunscreen and mosquito repellent in the mornings. Our room always smells
like girls camp. I now have over 100 mosquito bites. I reached the one
hundred mark on Friday and then lost count. There are so many mosquitoes. I
take good care of them though and wash them twice a day and put itch
cream on them so that I won't wake up in the middle of the night itching
them, I always carry insect repellent with me because it sweats off
through out the day.
I remember after a long day just looking down at my
mosquito bite covered, sunburned, and very tired body and I just had to
laugh. I looked pathetic. But its okay. I have realized that my love for
the people here has outgrown any physical impairment that I am
experiencing. I have learned it is in the moments that you go forward
that the Lord blesses you. And if I would have decided to not go up the
mountain I would have missed a really beautiful experience.
The day before we had went up the mountain
contacting and met a little girl who had a birthday was the next day. We
decided to return and take up balloons to her on her birthday because
my companion happened to have some. We climbed up the mountain and blew
up balloons for the little children there.
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| Balloon birthday girl. She is the one with the white balloon. |
They kind of weren't sure what
to do with them at first because I don't know if they had ever seen
them. We showed them how to play with them and left down the mountain a
little ways and started teaching a woman sitting near the side of the
cliff making thread out of sheep wool. We sat down next to her in the
dirt and started to teach her a very simple lesson.
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| One of our investigators. If you look closely you will see that there is a little pig sitting next to her. |
As we did I realized
that there were lots of people who started to watch us out of their
houses and slowly one by one they came out and started to gather around
to listen to what we had to say. By the end of the lesson we had quite a
group of children and mothers. We showed them pictures and taught them
about Jesus Christ, that he loved them and he was a way they could
return back to God after this life. It was a beautiful moment sitting on
the side of the mountain. I wish I could have had it on film. We
promised that we would come back this next week and teach them more.
I am so happy to be here in Peru teaching such
beautiful and humble people about Jesus Christ. I don't think there is a
better message in all of the world than the one that we get to share
everyday.
Have a great week everyone!
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