Hola Guess What? I am opening a new area in Huanuco and I am training again.

Indira's farewell party- She left for her mission in Kitos Peru this week. I love her and she will be a great missionary. She helped us out a ton in my time in Huancayo.

Man I have tons to write about this week. You already got the news that I am training again, this time an American! And we are opening up a new area in Huanuco. We arrived yesterday after being in a van for about 8 hours. Huanuco is the most north city we have in the mission and we are closer to the jungle. It's not like being in the jungle but it is greener than Huancayo and very hot and humid and has palm trees. Its weird though because we are in a valley surrounded by mountains.

This was at a friend's house. Typical Peru.

I was like where in the world am I? I arrived and within the first fifteen minutes we got attacked by mosquitoes. I sent a picture of my leg before we could get to the repellent. Others got it worse than me, I was pretty lucky. As we were finding out where our pensionista lived it started to pour rain and I started to feel right at home like I was in Huancayo again. We got soaked and there were rivers of water running down the streets, it was actually kind of hard to cross. There is a lot more mud here than in Huancayo.

Welcome to Huanuco. My leg after 15 minutes of waiting for our suitcases. Looks like insect repellent is necessary.

My companion is great too! Her name is Hermana Krupp and she is from California but her dad is from Germany and her mom is Danish. Her and her brother were born in the U.S. She studied Spanish at school so her Spanish is pretty good but is still getting the hang of trying to explain things in Spanish but I know that she will pick it up really quickly. I will have to be careful because it is really tempting to speak in English a lot since I know that she speaks it. :) 

We got here yesterday and we found out that we have a place to live but they are finishing building it and it won't be done for a few days. So right now we are sleeping on the tile floor in the Huanuco central sisters apartment. I didn't mind it at all because even with the rain it was still about 80 degrees in our apartment at 10:30 last night when we were ready to go to bed and the tile floor was coldish. I slept fine without a blanket on top of me. Our room is really nice though and we will be doing great once it is finished. It is in the upstairs part of my pensionista's house. My pensionista is so awesome! She has wanted to give pension for a long time but wasn't allowed to because there had always been elders and she has a 16 year old daughter. She is so very excited that we are here and can't stop smiling. She treats us so good but gives us a ton of food. I am going to have to talk to her about that. 

They don't use taxis here. Everything is in motos. Putting our suitcases on to take us to the room. So funny.

Our ward will be shared with our zone leaders and since it will have four missionaries that shows me that it is a hard working ward. Everyone that I have met has proved my assumption correct. Every ward member we have met has given us at least 2 references and the ward has already given us a list of members ready to help us from the Relief Society and Young Women's. They are excited to have sisters.

This is the view from the window of the other sisters apartment

 

 I am really excited to be here but sweating hot as I am writing this. I was sad to leave my area in Huancayo. I will miss it and I heard that there were a lot of people crying at church when they heard that I had left. That's what happens when you are in an area for a long time. This week in Huancayo was successful but a little weird. We had three holidays in a row which can only mean one thing. Everyone is drunk. There were people passed out all over the streets. We had Halloween which was so fun! There were little kids everywhere all dressed up. We bought candy just to bribe them to take pictures with us. They are so cute. The next day was their Day of the Dead celebration. It's where they go visit the grave sites of their family to celebrate them. Really it's just more drinking. But they do make awesome bread and the favorite food of their family member and all get together. The next day was the Day of the Living. Haha. And really that day is just an excuse to not work and get over their hangovers. 

Other Halloween pics of some kids I know

On Halloween we bought candy just for the sake of bribing little kids to take pictures with us in their costumes. They are so cute! She was my favorite. Blanco nieve. Snow White.

One awesome highlight of this week was that we finally got Johnson to accept a date to be baptized! Hermana Soliz and I had taught him for so long and we dropped him for awhile because he always said he would be baptized but wouldn't accept a date. Hermana Alpaca and I prayed and prepared well so that we would be able to answer to his needs. And we did. I think I taught with more power and authority in that lesson than in any other lesson in my mission and he accepted for the 17th. I won't be there but I am excited about his decision to be baptized and I know he will make a great member.

I know that this is the work of the Lord and that he his helping us. I feel his spirit speaking though me as I teach. I know my Savior lives.

Have a great week!

Hermana Rhoten

The activity was a big success! We felt like cave men.

This week was a good week but was really busy as always. Our area is doing awesome. Our zone leaders called us and said we have the highest numbers in the zone. I don't know how it is doing so well but it is. It doesn't make any sense to me. We have transfers this week a little bit early. They will be on Sunday if I am training or Monday if not, or I could be here and finish Hermana Alpacas training. Who knows. But if I do have a change I might not write on Monday so be prepared for that. 

Our activity was a success this week too! We had a lunch planned but their idea of a lunch for a ward activity in Peru is bringing about 40 whole cooked chickens and boiled potatoes for everyone. We tore up the chicken with our hands and put it with potatoes on a plate and ate it with our hands. They didn't bring any silverware or napkins or anything. We felt like cave men. But it was good. The activity was a big success for our ward. I felt bad because the other wards didn't have as good of a turnout. We ended up receiving 40 references this week from the activity and church. We have lots of work to do this week! 

We had a crazy storm on Sunday but it was still a good Sunday. My companion and I gave talks and I did it without a paper like I like to talk. This time for the first time. Spanish is starting to really feel natural and I felt the Spirit work though me again as I was speaking. The teacher for Relief Society didn't come so I taught that lesson too about how to find peace in the last minute. It was so good. There were a few people crying. 

 A baptism

I ended up talking to President about what to do about this guy that is interested in me. He wrote me a love note and gave me a bracelet this week. I have just been avoiding him for the past few weeks because I didn't want to make a big scene about it. I don't know if that means I have a bigger chance of being transferred or not, maybe. I wouldn't be upset because it would mean I wouldn't have to do as much.

We found an awesome family this week. They were just from a street contact and brought their entire family to church on Sunday. We had an appointment with them and the mother would hardly let us get started talking. She sat us down and said..I have some questions for you. I have been to tons of churches and I have never felt like I felt in your church. Why? And I want to know what I need to do to return to live with God again. We usually don't like to teach too much at once but we ended up teaching them about the restoration and the plan of salvation the first time we met with them because they were just asking all these golden questions. She told us that it was like she had a hunger to learn more and that she couldn't wait until it was Sunday again. They also came to one of the baptisms we had this week. We have great hopes for her and for all of her family. I know that God really has prepared people here for us. My testimony is strengthened of God every day. I know that he is real and is helping us.

We spent about 1000 soles on pads for all the sisters in the mission. Long story. It was hilarious buying all of it though. I wish i had a picture of the cart.

Have a great week!

Love 

Hermana Rhoten

Our area is doing awesome right now.

Sorry that for some reason my letter didn't send last week. I can't find it and really don't know what happened. Bummer. I'm doing a lot better this week. Our area is doing awesome right now. I had been feeling really discouraged for a few weeks because I have been in this area a long time and have really wanted to see a change in this time that I have been here. This week the Lord really let me see that the ward is changing and that the effort we are putting in is doing something. We had ten investigators and all of the recent converts that have been baptized in my time here at church yesterday, and had more lessons, references, and new investigators than we have had in months. The bishop is super happy and we had our first ward council without contention yesterday! Yay! We are preparing to have three or possibly four baptisms this week also. Its really a miracle when you think about it. An American who is learning Spanish and the shyest Peruvian girl working together and being successful. I guess its because its not our work.

This pretty much describes my companion and I. She likes to look gothicy and I'm just me.

We are also planning an activity for the three wards for this Saturday. Its like a mini MTC for members where we are going to train them in different classes and then help them go out and proselyte with us. PresidentHenderson is going to come and speak at it too as the ¨president of the mini MTC. They kind of put the activity a lot on my shoulders because I have done things like this before and I feel like I am using my activity planning skills. We printed fake mission calls yesterday and passed them out to members and it looks like we should have a good turnout because everyone is working together. 

This is Hermana Dula at her house. She has a really really nice house for here. A member family that we love.

I didn't really take many pictures this week

Other highlights or just things that happened this week were...

Finding out that that chewy stuff that my pensionista sometimes mixes into dishes is cow stomach. Awesome. I really didn't like it that much at first but I have realized that I have gotten used to it. Its just really really chewy. Like gum or something. 

My rediscovery of my love for Abinadi and his teaching style. If you haven't read those chapters of Mosiah recently you should go back and read them. They are so awesome.

I realized that shoulders are a lot stronger than I thought. We got to carry jugs of water on our shoulders like women in the old testament from the church to the five blocks or so to our house. No water is clean in this mission so we get jugs of drinkable water and carried them on our shoulders. I kinda wish I had a picture of it.

A random three year old girl on the street grabbing my leg and refusing to let go. I miss children with my whole heart. I didn't get my fill of them with swim lessons this year. I guess its worth it though to teach the gospel.

We also got followed by three drunk men this week. I think that has to be a record somewhere. And there is a less active member in our ward that has a crush on me I think. The problem is that he has been sending us all sorts of food to our pensionista and the other hermanas don't want him to stop. They think its great. But we should probably talk with him this week. But on the bright side he has been coming to church every time I invite him. We are trying to talk the bishop into giving him a calling, he is a good guy and I think if he had a calling he would fulfill it well.

I have more to write but I am running out of time this week so it will have to be good enough. Just know we are doing good and really feeling God's love this week. Love you all! Have a great week.

Hermana Rhoten

     

 I am not sure why but for some reason or another Miranda's email didn't come through last week but her pictures did :)

 

Fishing and trout. Our fishing poles were literally a tube and a line inside it.

These are from last Monday during p day. I wasn't feeling super good in these pictures but it was fun.

My stomach infection lasted all through this week but we went to the clinic and I got some new medicine that seems to be helping. It might have been the same one but it was a lot worse this time.

Hola familia! What an awesome conference week!

 Conference is the most exciting thing as a missionary. Its like Christmas. Maybe even better than Christmas. This conference was really great for me and for our investigators. The best part was that they set up a little room in the back of the church with conference in English for all the gringo missionaries. I could understand it all! I felt like this conference was one of the most direct conferences I have heard and missionary work was talked about a lot. It is a great time to be a missionary! I want to testify of the words of the leaders of the church with experiences I had this week.

Lena's baptism

"Ask God for direction, then go and do as the spirit prompts you... Find the great joy that comes from acting in faith." M. Russell Ballard

We had a day this week where everything fell through. Plan A, B, C, D and really we didn't know what to do. We had set a goal to find new people to teach but didn't know where to go. We stopped on a street corner where there was no one around and I prayed out loud that we would know where to find who we needed to go to find who we needed to. I finished praying and a street name came to my mind Jose Olaya. It wasn't anywhere close to where we were but we started walking. Once we got there we started knocking doors and ended up teaching a young woman in her doorway and when we finished she pleaded that we would come back and talk to her family this next week. 

Waiting in the rain for the bishop to come with keys before the baptism.

"We wake up every morning to a new day. Each of us has challenges sometimes physical, emotional...The challenges we face will be for our ultimate good." Richard L Maynes

Sunday morning I woke up to a new day with my own challenge. I was throwing up like crazy and have a stomach infection. The perks of serving a mission in a third world country. I was so very miserably sick. I asked for a blessing and my district leader came over and gave me one. In the blessing he told me that I wouldn't be healed right away but that my body would function properly enough so that I could go to conference and hear the prophet speak and receive the revelation I needed at this time. I was throwing up getting dressed into my skirt and about 1 minute before I walked out of the door to leave for the conference. But as soon as we left I had control of my body again enough to listen to conference. It increased my faith and the faith of those who had seen me to see the miracle that occurred. And don't worry mom its getting better, I take my medication everyday.

Me on pday. Sorry I'm always wearing the same thing. I don't have many options for pday.

pday fotos with the hermanas

"God expects us to use all the gifts he has provided. Live by faith, hold fast to hope and lift one another" Jeffery R. Holland

This week we were on divisions, I was with another gringa in her area. We were contacting in the street and came to a house that looked kind of crazy and we were a little scared to approach it but we felt to go forward and we began introducing ourselves to a little old lady sitting outside. She told us that she couldn't understand us very well because she spoke Quechua. I started to speak to her in Quechua, everything that I had practiced with my pensionista. I was able to remember things that I hadn't practiced in awhile enough to complete the contact, introducing ourselves as missionaries, ask for her name, and where she lived. She told me a bunch of things I didn't understand but I understood the word sad jumbled in and could see it on her face. I hugged her with all my strength and said we would see her soon. 

My city....

"No person has ever lived free of suffering and sorrow. Difficulties allow us to change our lives for the better. Our purpose is to persevere and endure but to also become spiritually refined." Thomas. S Monson

This week was really tough for my companion. She was really very homesick and she is very very shy. I found out that before her mission she worked in an internet place and was on the computer for 7 months so she was going through withdrawals. She always talked about her family and pday. One day she was just so sad and started to cry. I asked her if she knew why she was here. She said she just wanted to but didn't know why. I told her that we should kneel down together and pray and ask God why he wanted her to be here and what we should do. Her half of the prayer was so very sweet. She felt the love of the Lord and somehow stood up from that prayer ready to go forward. I know that the Lord gives us trials to help with our development.

I testify of all the words of the leaders of the church. I know that they are true. Either from my own experience or from the spirit I felt so powerfully as they spoke them. I know they are called of the Lord because of the revelation I received. 

Have a good week! 

Con amor,

Hermana Rhoten

Hola! Mexico city better watch out!

I had been trying to be patient all week to check my email to know where Marissa is going on her mission. It was really tough. Last week my mom sent me an email during the same time that I was online and said she had her call but wasn't there to open it. That only made it worse. Mexico city better watch out! And mom and dad too because we are going to be talking in Spanish together when we get back. That's so awesome. I'm so very proud of her and excited for the experiences that she will have there.

We ride vans a lot. They smoosh you in there. I wish you could see how many people are really in this van. Its crazy. 

 Well this week was crazy for us with transfers. Hermana Soliz and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Really though. We had all the new missionaries and the trainers staying with us, made tons of trips to the office and just trying to get everything ready. I didn't have transfers but Hermana Soliz left to Huanuco. I am about ready to change my mission call to mission Camino real (my areas name). But the big news is that I am training! I was a little bit terrified when I got the phone call from president. I was like Hermana Soliz is here you can talk to her, but he said he wanted to talk to me. I was nervous about my Spanish but I have found that this week I am doing fine and I know this area well so I am comfortable with it. 

My companion is Hermana Alpaca from Arequipa Peru. I couldn't think of a better last name for a Peruvian. She is so little! I became a giant overnight. I really love her already, she is so good, and so obedient. She will learn quickly. The only thing is that she is scared to talk so I have been doing all the talking this week. I know that she will get over that with time. Especially just talking to people in the street. In this mission we go up to everyone in the street introduce ourselves and tell them we are here to baptize them. Its the truth but when you first arrive on the mission it takes some adjustment. She has a strong testimony and I know that I will learn a lot from her. By some miracle we have a baptism on Friday and she is so excited about it. 

My little companion and I.

Wednesday we were in training all day together and I really learned a lot during that time. I made a lot of goals of things I plan to improve. We had pizza that day from pizza hut. It was the greatest. Thursday we were out on the streets. The first thing we did together was talk about what is important to us in missionary work. One thing that is really important to me is that we teach people like people because they are real people. I try to treat every conversation like I am having a heart to heart with a friend and share scriptures that actually apply to them. We have had a lot of those lessons this week and one thing about our companionship is that we gain confidence really quickly with other people. Something that is really important to her is that we help less active families, which we have a ton of. This week we called every single one and tried to make an appointment with them. In my opinion less active lessons are the hardest lessons but I have seen lots of miracles this week and hearts soften as we have talked with them and reminded them of the covenants they made at baptism. We had three of them at church this week at that was really special. 

Foto from pday...We were playing volleyball out in the country in a big field.

Pics from pday typical Peru. This woman dresses how every old women dresses here. The skirt hat hair in two long braids with the fabric sac on her shoulders is really typical to see on the streets.

Yes those are cows in the street near our home. Its pretty common to see that too.

I know God lives and loves each of us. Have a good week! Love you all!

Hermana Rhoten

Hola familia! This week was crazy. Really crazy.

at the fish hatchery

We are getting ready for transfers this week. We find out Tuesday night if we have them. Hermana Soliz and I have been here for the same amount of time about four months so we are guessing one of us will go. She is feeling like it is her so I might stay here for another transfer and be with another companion. But really no one knows. We have been getting the house ready for lots of people and we had another missionary stay with us last night. We also had dinner with the president and his wife last night! We had chicken alfredo and strawberry shortcake. We usually aren't allowed to eat strawberries as a mission rule but Hermana Henderson knows how to clean them well enough so that we can eat them. It was wonderful to have a meal without potatoes and rice. I'm sure when I get home from my mission it will be a long time before I will want to eat anything with potatoes and rice. 

preparing for cambios....more beds still to come

more preparing for cambios, putting beds together

Last week for pday we went to another city about 30 minutes away and ended up visiting a fish hatchery in the rain. I learned that the word for trout in Spanish is trucha. All I really wanted to do there was go fishing but we did try to catch some with our hands. 

at the fish hatchery last week

I finally tried the South American soccer capris. they are super comfortable. I might have to buy some before I finish my mission. They are super popular here (these are Hermana Procells).

We have been teaching a woman who has been participating as a Jehovah's Witness. She has told us that she has been so happy with each visit that we have had with her. She felt like the Book of Mormon is true and felt the spirit really strongly at church. But we hit a trial this week when she told us that she has also been meeting with Jehovah's Witness missionaries and that they asked her to be baptized on the exact same day as us. It was crazy. Now she isn't sure what to do. We pleaded with her that she would just pray and ask God if the church was true. I know that if she prays will real intent she will receive an answer. She has a lot of faith.

I had divisions with Hermana Gale this week! It was really fun. If being a white girl in Huancayo isn't fun enough try being two white girls in Huancayo. We are realizing that our Spanish is better than we think it is and we had some really great lessons together. We got stopped and asked questions by a lot of people and it made contacting really easy.

sheep being herded in the street

Before I explain to you the next story of our crazy activity I need to explain something. The church here is a church of converts. A questions that is normal to ask for the members is when were you baptized. They all have a date and names of missionaries who baptized them. As such there are a few things that they are still learning how to do and how the church is to be run. With that being said I hope you find this as humorous as we did. So this week we had a ward activity that was to be a karaoke night. There were only about 10 people there when the activity was to start, almost all of them were young men and women and about half were investigators. The bishop had invited the patriarch to share a message before we started. He was all dressed up and ready to share a message about families for 15 minutes. He ended up talking for 55 minutes about how the man isn't without the woman and the woman without the man, procreation and all sorts of things. I felt bad for the young men and women that were there because they were so bored and felt so awkward. Anyways he finally finished. Then the bishops wife got up and said I hope we all came to learn and apply what we learned today because if we know things and don't apply them, greater will be your condemnation. 

part of the festivities

costumes of the dances

people in my ward after they danced

If that wasn't enough we started the karaoke and the Elders closest to our area came in and said they had a problem. We were like okay whats the problem. They said we found out that our  our investigator who is supposed to be baptized this week is a heavy drug dealer and he is here with his drunk friend. Awesome. That's just great. They said that he says he cant leave because there are people who want to kill him. I don't really know how the elders took care of that one but we left because it was almost time to be home. We walked home laughing in the pouring rain just soaked and my companion said what more can happen.... For future reference don't ever say that. Its like a magic word or something. We got home, turned on the lights and the power went out. It was a crazy day.

our little home

I learned a lot from the scriptures this week. Especially from King Benjamin and his example to his people as well as the things that he taught them. I learned what it really is like to be a servant of the Lord. I hope that each of you know that I love my Heavenly Father. I love him so much. I hope that I can continue to serve him with all my heart might mind and strength.

Have a great week everyone! I hope to hear about Rissa's call soon!

Hermana Rhoten