Hola familia!‏

So we are doing great here.  This week has been so busy. I felt like I haven't had much time to think so I apologize if my thoughts are a little all over the place. I had so many happy moments this week.

The reason I am writing late is because President Ardila came to Huancayo and we had a huge meeting with him this morning. Things will be crazy this week because the mission is splitting. We have a big celebration here on Saturday to welcome the new president for the Huancayo mission. We will have a big program and dancing and all sorts of fun stuff. I'm getting ready to meet my third mission president thus far in my mission even though I've only been out three months. I also heard that I might have to make another trip to Lima this week to get an equivalent of a green card. I hope that is not the case but we will see.

Although we understand the importance of this rule, being home on time is the one that we are always so close to breaking. There is just so much to do and so little time and it seems like we are always teaching right down to the very last minute. One night this week we really cut it close. My companion and I both knew what time it was, got out of the lesson as soon as we could and as soon as the family shut the door my companion and I started full out sprinting. We ran three blocks to find a moto and arrived home with only 7 seconds to spare. Not quite the last second but pretty close. 

One of the great highlights of this week was that we taught two good families whose parents were married. This is a huge miracle. We have great hope for baptism with them. The hardest trial to overcome at this time is helping people get to church. Everyone works on Sundays, actually all the time. There are many who are reading the Book of Mormon, praying and progressing in the gospel but have a hard time getting to church and it is keeping them from baptism. My companion and I are making this a focus for this next week to help improve it. This week at church I spoke in church and helped teach primary which was really fun. Peruvian kids are so cute. 

I was stopped by a man in a dark back street this week that asked for money. For some reason I wasn't scared. After we told him we didn't have money on us, the man pulled out a grocery bag full of cocaine. We talked with him for a moment, told him who we were and invited him to come to Christ. As missionaries we invite all people to come unto Christ.

Everyone in their letters asks me about food so I will say a little bit about food. There are a few plates that I love, I don't remember their names at this moment, nor would I know how to spell them but they are pretty great and I want to learn how to make them before I leave Peru. My pensionista also regularly makes papaya, banana smoothie things in the morning that are wonderful. I also ate guinea pig yesterday. I didn't find out until after I ate it what it was because they had it mixed in pretty good but I didn't think it was that great. The people here think it is wonderful and the family that lives below us raises them to eat. I'm already getting sick of white rice. Usually about half of the plate of every meal is rice. I've started mixing it with whatever I can find to make it a little more bearable, ketchup, mustard, strawberry jam anything really.

One of the hardest transitions for me was that everything they drink here is hot. Hot milk, juice, jello, everything is hot. I really do love manzanilla, its a herbal drink and it tastes like drinking flowers. The jello here is clear and is the consistency of hair gel. It actually looks like you are eating hair gel. This week one of the greatest moments of my week was getting a jug of drinking water that was room temperature. I'm pretty sure I drank 12 glasses straight.

My letter wouldn't be complete with out a dog story so here goes. Keep in mind that most of the dogs here are really calm and we just pass them on the street. However there is one that lives with one of our investigators that really doesn't like us. He sees us coming from all the way down the street and starts running and barking at us. We always bring some sort of bribery for him so that we can get into the little path way between two mud walls that leads to their home. This week one of the times we visited this dog was especially mad and we used all our bribery to get to her home and she wasn't there. The dog had sat down in the middle of the three foot walkway and wasn't planning on moving. After a few attempts we decided to say a prayer. The literal words my companion used as she prayed were that the dog would arise and we would pass by without problems. About one minute after the prayer a man who lived in the area rode up on his bike, picked up the dog and we walked past without any problems. God is looking out for us.

This last experience that I had this week is my favorite. We found a guy in Peru that didn't believe in God. My first one that I have come in contact with. We started teaching him and we could feel really quickly that he thought we were young and that his intention was to prove us wrong. Our conversation went very similar to Corihor in the Book of Mormon. He strongly believed in science and when I told him I graduated in science he was a little caught off guard. I bore powerful testimony to him that we have a God who lives and that he is our father. If there is anything in this world that I know it is that God lives. He is real. We decided we wouldn't spend much time with him because we didn't want to argue so we were bold and bore our testimonies and left. During the course of our conversation baptism came up for a brief moment and we invited him to come to one on Saturday at the church. I think the greatest miracle of my mission thus far was turning around to see this man in the church as the baptism was about to start. After the baptism we taught him about the plan of salvation in the church and we could tell that his heart had been softened because he asked sincere questions. He told us that he felt good after the lesson. It was incredible and a huge miracle.

All is well here. I appreciate everyone's letters and emails. Thanks for all your support and prayers. I feel them as I teach more than ever. Have a great week everyone!

Hermana Rhoten

Hola familia! And happy fathers day yesterday to my wonderful father.

This week was great with some unexpected twists. We are still working so hard because there is so much work to be done here. We got fourteen new investigators this week that we feel pretty good about, taught a zillion lessons and in our spare time were able to street contact a hundred people. I lay down in bed every night exhausted but somehow I am blessed with the energy to wake up and do it all over again the next day. 

My pensionista (cook) & one of her daughters

My working hard was interrupted by two things this week. First was I got sick, it had to happen sometime. We were invited over to a members house for lunch one day. The way the house was set up was three separate small buildings, the living area, an outhouse and a cooking hut in that order on a slight hill. The cooking hut had rocks set up with bricks and metal sheets to put the pans on to cook and was surrounded by tons of rotting food. We watched the family move all the animals out of the hut and we were then invited to come and sit down at the table to eat. There was a swarm of flies over the table and all over the food. My companion and I tried our best to get the food down without swallowing a fly or throwing it up. Dad wouldn't have been able to handle it. Needless to say the rest of the day I was pretty worthless. In the middle of my misery I got a call from our zone leaders saying that I had a bus ticket to travel to Lima tonight so that I could meet with immigrations the next day. I knew in the condition I was in that I wouldn't be able to make an 8 hour bus trip so I asked for a priesthood blessing. The blessing was one of the most special blessings I have had in my life. To me, the miracle wasn't in how quickly the sickness went away although that was an incredible miracle in and of itself. The greatest miracle was that although the blessing was in Spanish I understood all of it so clearly. I understood that blessing better than any Spanish that I had thus far on my mission. They finished the blessing I was in awe at what had just been communicated to me.

My companion & I collapsed after a hard working day.

My second interruption was my trip to Lima. It was a quick trip. I rode a bus all night and then the next night rode it all the way back to Huancuyo. In the morning we were picked up and taken to the temple and showered. I then went to the hospital to be with a sister who had just had a surgery so that her companion could shower and get things that she needed. When we got back we spent a lot of time with the mission president and his wife. He is such a wise man and I learned so much from him. He has either been a bishop, or stake president since the year after he was married. We then met with immigrations for about two hours while they examined our teeth, fingerprinted us and took our pictures. There were lots of missionaries there from many different missions. Hermana Johnson and Craig were there and it was awesome to spend some time with them. They were each really struggling adapting to Peru, and I was able to boost them up and help them be more excited for their missions.

Hermana Johnson & Craig in Lima

There was another great miracle that happened in our mission this week. There was an Elder who was known as the most obedient missionary in all the mission who was finishing his mission and heading home. He was on a bus a few hours before me on the same highway alone when the bus was hit by a gas truck. The bus caught on fire and 7 people died. The Elder was sitting in the bottom of the bus where the truck made contact and everyone around him died including the man sitting next to him. The Elder walked out of the bus alive with a small bruise on his face and a bruise on his knee. I was able to see him come back from the hospital while getting checked out to the mission home. The mission president told each of us that he was protected because of his obedience and faithful service on his mission. It was a loud reminder that god always watches over those who are obedient. I made a commitment to be more exactly obedient for the rest of my mission.

food don't ask me what it all is cause I'm not sure chicken & something

Here are some random things about my week and things that are happening on the mission. 

My companion and I have mastered the game of guess this word that I am thinking of but don't know how to express it to you. We would dominate at catch phrase and charades. 

My English class went great! I love teaching. It was different to have people stare at me blankly for once. 

I have been asked for help reaching tall things for the first time in my life. I'm five four and I have never been considered tall in my life.

I had rice and potato or both in every single meal this week.

My aim with small rocks has gotten much better on the mission. It is not super common for people to answer their doors. More likely we knock really loud and they stick their heads out the window to talk to us. More often we throw pebbles at their windows to get their attention.

I stopped a whole volleyball game the other day just because I walked by. It got quiet and i turned around to see everyone staring at me.

Among the many great experiences and things I am learning I am learning to be a dog tamer. There is a dog that belongs to the people who live below us that hates us. This week after slowly trying to befriend it with food it didn't bark at us today!

view from my apartment

Speaking of dogs, I had a crazy dog experience this week. We were walking down an abandoned street to get to the homes of one of our investigators and all of a sudden angry dogs were running and barking at us from all directions. It was like in beauty and the beast when Belle was in the forest and this pack of wolves came. It was terrifying. We picked up rocks and threw as many as we could. I'm pretty sure I kicked some of them and I know my companion smacked one with her Book of Mormon. We avoid that street now.

One thing I have really come to appreciate about the people here is their love of God. When we stop people in the street and ask them if they believe in God I have never heard someone say no. When we ask if we can come to their home and share a message about Jesus Christ they always say yes. In my setting apart blessing it asked me to find the things that people in Peru do in their culture that are better than those that we in the United  States do. I've thought a lot about that since I have been here and the one conclusion I have come to is that  God is more important to these people than he is to others in the world. Everyone here is very well educated in the Bible and I am learning to love the bible more than I already do. I am always so impressed with children off the street who are so young but that I am able to have intelligent conversations with about God. These children were taught by their mothers and are prepared to hear the gospel. I hope that I can learn from their example and develop a culture like that in my home someday.

Well, all is well on this part of the world. Love you all and talk to you next week.

Hermana Rhoten

I'm in Peru!

This keyboard is different but I will try my best to type quickly. I don't have time to write everything about Peru and what has happened the past week because there is just so much. I will just share with you some of my blessings this week and hope that that will suffice.

The first couple days I got here I was in Lima and we were with the mission president for training. I was assigned to open a brand new area in Huancuyo! This also means that I wont be in the Lima Peru East mission anymore, I will be in the new Huancuyo mission when the missions split in two weeks. I felt like I knew that was coming and had been prepared for it. Nothing thus far on my mission has worked out according to plan, I'm just grateful that my Heavenly Father trusts me enough to change my plans and know that I can be flexible enough to handle any of the changes. My new mission contains all the jungle areas, Huanuco, Huancuyo and the highest city in the world Cerro de Pasco. It will definitely be an adventure. The way my area was first described to me was that it is a missionary paradise. They said in this mission we expect about 20 baptisms a week from each area except for mine they expect much more. The people here are amazing and I am so lucky to be serving here. To give you a quick idea we teach up to 10 lessons  a day, everyone we contact on the street is like yea ill come to church and bring my whole family, and the ward here is on fire. I have never seen anything quite like it. We were given 22 referrals yesterday from the ward and we are working so hard. I am so blessed.

My companion is Hermana Soliz and she is from Bolivia. She is beautiful and we get along great. She has been out on the mission for 9 months. As you probably have guessed she doesn't speak English so I am learning the language as fast as I can. There is no other option than to speak Spanish. Everyone here tells me that my Spanish is really good for only being here a week. My companion says I am about the same as her last American companion that had been here 2 months and that I like to talk more than she did. My companion was serving in Lima and as soon as I finished training we got on a bus and traveled for 9 hours to Huancuyo. I am so blessed to have such an awesome companion.

my companion in our apartment

One of the first things I noticed when I got here was how crazy the drivers are. I am grateful for all the crazy drivers in my life that kinda sorta prepared me for Peruvian driving. They tailgate really bad, spin out and tend to speed up when I think they should probably start breaking. We ride taxis or motos when we can. The blessing of this is that we have set up an appointment with every single taxi driver we have met.

The first few days in Huancuyo we were homeless. We stayed with  two other sisters in their apartment. One is from Mexico, the other from Bolivia. They also didn't speak English. We heated up water in little pitchers that plugged into the wall and would use the water to shower out of a bucket. The sisters always insisted that I go first because I am their baby. I am so grateful I got to meet them because they are so sweet.
 

I am blessed to be serving in an area of miracles. Here are two that happened recently that I heard when I first got here. One woman who was being taught was 85 years old. Her grandfather was a part of an indigenous people and she said that she remembered sitting around a big fire as a little girl and her grandpa telling stories. One of the stories was about a white haired man who came to the people. She read the story of Christ coming to the Americas in the Book of Mormon and said it was the same story. She was baptized. Another woman told missionaries about a dream that she had had about a white castle. She said her family was inside and happy but she couldn't enter. The missionaries started to teach her about the temple and she was baptized soon after.

me in my hat....lol

I have come to the conclusion that I might be the only white person with not black hair in the entire city. All the other missionaries in my zone are Latin. I get stared at everywhere I go and they don't try to hide that they are staring at me.The past few days I have been whistled at multiple times, the recipient of cat calls, been blown kisses, and been told that I am beautiful and pretty by random men off the street. When we will be out late or are going to a more scary part of town the sisters would dress me up in a long black trench coat, a hat, leggings and my boots so that as much of my skin and hair is covered as possible. I think I look ridiculous but it definitely helps the staring. I wouldn't normally say this is a good thing but I do have to say that it is awesome when street contacting. I mean the people have stopped whatever they were doing already and have been staring at me the whole way down the street so all I  have to do is smile and start introducing us. When I don't understand what they say, my companion takes over. Its a great system.
 

There are dogs everywhere here. There is always at least one if not five in my sight. Most of them don't bother us but we were attacked by one. I threw a rock at it. I didn't hit it but I startled it enough for us to run. I am so grateful for all the dogs. They have become my lifeline, my tracking system. Most of the dogs stay in the same areas. The only way I ever know where I am going or where I am is by recognizing familiar dogs. For example, I know that the dalmatian is near our pensionista's home and the big white dog means we are almost home. I thank Heavenly Father for them all the time.
 

We have a pensionista that cooks all our food. We just come to her house at certain times and its ready. She is so very sweet and so are her daughters. The one who is my age told me that I look like a Barbie and asked if my hair color is real. The food here is very different but its good. Most of the time I can recognize that there is some sort of potato, meat, and rice but sometimes I don't have the slightest idea what I'm eating or drinking. But i just eat it and its usually really good and none of it has made me sick like I was told to expect. I am super lucky.

I have been blessed to learn to rely on the Spirit more this week. I had an experience teaching a lady who was missing a lot of teeth and I didn't understand a word she said. I was prompted to share thoughts and scriptures even though I didn't know what she said and I found out later from my companion that they were exactly what was needed. I am grateful that I am able to completely rely on the spirit.
 

Sunday was great! I played the piano again because not a single person can play. Everyone was so excited because they don't get to hear the piano very often and everyone told me I played beautifully. We also introduced ourselves in Spanish and bore our testimonies. My companion volunteered us to sing and we sang my favorite hymn, Lead kindly light. She sang the first verse in Spanish and I sang the second in English and then we sang together in Spanish the last one. I think that's the first time I sang a solo since third grade. Never have the words, "I am far from home, lead though me on," hit me so hard as they did then. Oh yea, also I was volunteered to teach English classes for two hours on Wednesday nights for the ward. I have never taught English and I don't know how to teach English but all is well. I have already started writing up a curriculum for it. It will be a wonderful experience.
 

I feel like the luckiest missionary in all the world. I am so blessed everyday and am loving my mission.
 

Con amor,
 

Hermana Rhoten

I'm on my way!‏ I have my visa and I am flying to Peru today!

I am at the mission office right now waiting to be taken to the airport. They said we could email for a few minutes while I am here. I don't know how long I have so I will just start typing.
 

I found out about my visa on Thursday. We were talking to president about one of our investigators and then at the end of the conversation he said "Well, I'm not very good at keeping secrets. I usually don't like to tell missionaries until they absolutely have to know but Sister Rhoten you have travel plans and you leave on Monday."
 

It was really difficult for me to leave this area. I wish I could have been here longer. It was especially hard to say goodbye to my investigators. I will miss Kira's baptism by only six days. We had a really frustrating week this week because we just had so many lessons fall through. I think it was something like 14 lessons that were cancelled which is tough. I found out I was leaving and I was so frustrated because I wanted to leave the area better than I found it. Saturday night I asked Heavenly Father if he was pleased with my work in this area. Then Sunday came and it was amazing. It left me feeling confident in my efforts in this area. It was like God showed me everything I had done in one day. We had everyone we had invited to church come. Kira and all three of her girls, Josie and Sulema (Sulema previously didn't like church so I was amazed that she came), Juanita (Recent convert) and Bro Perkins came for the first time. We also had four less active members come that hadn't been to church in over at least a month each of them. In total we had four investigators, four less actives and four of their children. I bore my testimony during fast and testimony meeting.
 

Josie (the thirteen year old investigator) came up to me after sacrament meeting and told me that she had a surprise for me and invited me to come over after church. When we came over after church she gave me a small gift and a note in an envelope. On the envelope it said "I will miss you always." We followed up with each of them about how they are doing and how they liked church. Sulema said that she liked it much better than before and that she felt calm. Josie had talked about friends she had made and how she was planning to attend girls camp. While we were there I shared with them my favorite chapter in all of the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 17. I was talking about how Christ was telling the people that it was his time to leave but had compassion on the people and decided to stay. I said Christ is kind of a big deal, he could have easily said I love you but sorry I have to go and left but it was so neat to me that he decided to stay. Josie spoke up and said, "Like you should right now. You should be like Christ and stay." I sure will miss her.
 

Juanita told us how she had given her fiance the option to come to church earlier in the week but she thought he had forgotten about it and wasn't going to push him. She said he woke up on Sunday and was the first one ready. She asked him where he was going and he said to church. It warmed my heart. Kira passed her baptismal interview this week and is all set for Saturday. She is so excited for her baptism and hasn't had a cigarette for quite some time now. She was really struggling with that when I came. I am really grateful that God gave me the gift of being able to see the good that he used me to do in this area. 
 

I wish I could write more but I have to go to the airport. Have a great week everyone! Next time you hear from me I will be in Peru.

Con amor,

Hermana Rhoten

No word yet on my visa!

Hola Familia!

This week has been awesome! Last week after I emailed we went to the lighthouse at Windpoint. I love lighthouses and it was beautiful weather that day. We ended up walking along the beach again today because it's just so pretty.

Last week after we emailed we went up to the lighthouse. I love lighthouses. Here are some of the pictures.

No word yet on my visa! I am happy to be in Racine though. I am so grateful I got to serve here before I went to Peru. I love the people in this area so much and I can't imagine not having been able to be with them. We also found out that an apostle is coming to this mission on June 15th! I don't know if I will be here that long but if I am that will be neat.

  This week I have had moments where I have gone through real culture shock. It's just so diverse here and I love it. Every house we go into is different. For example, we visited an older member of the ward named Sister Umhoefer. She was originally from England. We walked into her home and she said "Oh you are just in time for tea, if we were in England it would be customary for me to offer you tea and biscuits."(In a very thick English accent) So she served us herbal tea on a real tea set and biscuits. I felt like I was in England in her home. That same day we went to dinner at the Schapp's home. They are a part member family and we are teaching the husband. She is from the south and has a deep southern accent and fed us some of the best southern BBQ I have ever tasted. When I go over there I feel like I am in the south. Sulema and Josie's family are Mexican and from Texas. When we go over there we speak some Spanish with them and I feel like we aren't in Wisconsin either. Then I come home to Brother and Sister Briggs who have a sure fire Wisconsin accent. I can pick out who is really from Wisconsin pretty easily now if I listen to them talk long enough. It's really neat.

We found palm trees. It's like I'm in Peru? Just kidding.

There is some really neat history here too. We visited a girl named Jennie this week who is about my age. She is living with her boyfriends family in a home that is really old but it has been kept up really well. We were looking for a computer in her house to show her a talk on lds.org and I was admiring the detail in the home. I told her how neat I thought it was and she told us that it used to be a morgue many years ago and that it is supposedly haunted but she doesn't believe it. She also said that this home has secret doors for rooms that hid slaves as part of the underground railroad. We got to see them and that was really cool.

Brother Perkins (the tall, black man who is engaged to Sulema's sister) surprised all of us and said the opening prayer for one of our lessons this week. He hardly ever says anything but Sulema asked him if he wanted to pray and he very slowly agreed. We went over how to pray with him and he said a really simple but powerful prayer. There is nothing quite as sweet as listening to someone pray for the first time. It's just so innocent. He also agreed to have a lesson with us this next week which was huge.

Today we went and walked along the lake! It was really fun.

My companions and I are getting to the point where we read each other well and lessons are getting better. Sister Boone is the master of analogies. She has an analogy for everything and can relate anything to the gospel which helps a lot when we are teaching Josie especially. Sister Caceres has what I refer to as a Spirit meter. I can look at her in a lesson and she will nod her head just slightly and I can sense from her how things are going in a lesson. From her eyes I have enough to know where we need to go next. She is really good at picking out exactly how they are feeling from what we are saying and measuring any influx of the Spirit. I hope that some of their gifts rub off on me while I am with them.

Another one of our investigators that we are teaching is named Kira. She is 23 years old and has three little girls ages 3, 2, and 1. They are so very cute but so busy so we always try to teach her during nap time. She is preparing to be baptized not this week but the week after which is really exciting for our area after not having one for so long. The first time we visited her I thought I was going to die from smoke inhalation in about ten minutes. It is a small home, she lives with three friends who all smoke and buy her cigarettes. But as we sat on the floor and taught her I was so impressed with her faith. When I got here she was having a really difficult time not smoking. I promised her that God would help her stop smoking. And this week she hasn't smoked at all and reported that she hasn't really wanted one either. She moved her baptism date up because it wasn't coming soon enough and is sharing the gospel with everyone she knows. 

Missing lifeguard season

She has really struggled with money lately especially this week. She didn't have enough to buy diapers but her ex husband finally gave her enough for diapers. Kira called us last night and told us that she had seen a girl about our age on the side of the road holding a sign saying that she was broke. She said she felt love for the girl and gave her the three last dollars that she had. There have been moments in my life where I realize what the gospel is all about. Last night was one of those moments. Kira showed me what was really meant by  Mosiah 18:9 "Yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life." It was cool to look back and see that the woman you were teaching has now become such an example to you. I hope I can develop her compassion and love someday.

The message I am teaching is true. It is real. I know that it is. Real miracles are happening everyday.

Con amor,

Hermana Rhoten

Hola from Wisconsin!

Racine, Wisconsin

Lake Michigan

I arrived at about 9am on Tuesday and I was really tired. I finally caught up on sleep and am doing great! When we were flying in I kept thinking that we were getting really close to the water without seeing any land because all I could see was Lake Michigan. But land appeared just in time. I am assigned to the Racine, Wisconsin area. It is the economically poorest area in the mission. We live on the outskirts of Racine with an older couple. Racine has a really neat culture. I was told that it is about 60% African American and that there is also a large Latin population. There is a set of Spanish elders whose area overlaps ours and many of the people we have taught speak Spanish so I have tried to practice it a little bit but we teach the lessons in English. Its been a low area for missionary work and hasn't had any baptisms since February. There have been rumors for awhile that they were going to close this area but they haven't yet. There aren't many places that sister missionaries are allowed to be so we don't knock doors and work mostly through members and one of the main goals is to strengthen the ward because there are so many inactive members. We have a car and I am becoming a professional backer upper.

Hello Lake Michigan!

I am in a trio again! My trainers name is Sister Boone and she is from Ririe, Idaho. What are the odds right? Ririe isn't a very big place. She was surprised I knew right where it was. She has been out on the mission for about a year. My other companion is a visa waiter also but has been here for a month already. Her name is Sister Caceres and is Peruvian! Again what are the odds of that?! She was adopted from Peru when she was little and grew up in Utah. She speaks Spanish/English and is going to Brazil speaking Portuguese. I love them! They are so kind and so patient with me. It has been harder for them to adapt to being in a trio than it was for me but we are making it work.

Sweet Sister Maine and my companions

We try our best to speak our languages as much as we can. I can only imagine what we sound like. In the mornings we sing the same hymn in all three languages and whenever we pray together we pray in our assigned languages. Sister Boone also studied sign language for a few years so she will do that sometimes. I am picking up lots of Portuguese, I can understand almost everything she says because a lot of the verbs are the same just pronounced funny. Sister Caceres will say something in Portuguese and I will reply in Spanish pretty much all day long. She tells me things I say don't make sense but she has a hard time helping me with pronunciation because she will get Spanish and Portuguese confused.

Everyone's Dandelions

My first impressions of Wisconsin were that it is beautiful! It is so green. Dandelions grow everywhere here. Every yard is covered with them and although the people call them a weed and try so hard to get rid of them I think they are pretty. I have seen two deer since I have been here. It is so beautiful that I would consider living here. But then I heard that last winter they got snow up to the top of the door I said never mind. The cheese is pretty dang good. Brother and Sister Briggs (who we live with) have all different kinds and they always offer it to us. My favorite is the mango jalapeno cheese. From what I have been exposed to so far I have realized this area has a mix of Canadian and southern culture. They use words like "beag" instead of "bag" and say things like "Lord knows he gonna need help if he forgets to bring my potato pearls again."

I have had lots of experiences this week so I will just share my favorite. My very first lesson in the field, we were teaching a woman named Sulema and her daughter Josie. They have been teaching them for awhile but they hadn't really progressed. We taught with the spirit and I asked them to be baptized. We talked over their concerns and they accepted for June 29th! My companions said that was the best lesson they have ever had with them. God has more work to do in this area. Sulema and Josie are a testament of why I am needed here at this time.

 

Our humble abode

Later in the week we taught them again. This time we taught Sulema's sister and her fiance Bro. Perkins. Her sister is a recent convert and is very talkative and animated. Bro. Perkins is a very tall, very quiet, black gentlemen who shows little expression so it is funny to see them together. He is very shy and hardly ever makes eye contact. We taught about prophets and prayer and shared a Mormon message about prayer with President Monson in it. The first time it was interrupted of course because Satan always tries to stop it. I swear we always get interrupted in the parts where the spirit is the strongest. We decided to start it over and play it one more time. The spirit was so strong. I shared one of my experiences that I had as a little girl when I prayed. I felt the Spirit projecting through my words with great power. Bro. Perkins made eye contact with me for my entire story and I knew he felt something. We asked Sulema how she felt. She said that she felt good and she felt tingly inside. Her whole countenance had changed and she was smiling. She said she recognized the feeling from five years ago when her sister was visiting with the missionaries. As I heard the prophets voice in that small, dark, humble home I felt the Spirit fill the room with light and recognized again that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet of God and what I was teaching was true. There was too much power to deny it.

My address is 8508 Braun Rd. Racine Wisconsin 83403. You can send letters there. Hope all is well at home!

Con amor,

Hermana Rhoten

The news this week is that I am leaving today to go to the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission!

I talked to my branch president yesterday and he gave me permission to email and do laundry today before I head out. The news this week is that I am leaving today to go to the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission! The travel office told us that Wednesday night our online portals would change if we were getting reassigned. And although we were told Wednesday night we were checking all day. Wednesday we also got a new district so that evening I was with the zone leaders talking to the new district welcoming them to the zone, going over rules, asking questions etc. Members of my zone stuck their heads in and said "Go check your portal!" I hurried to the other room and my flag had changed. I was so excited and a little caught off guard. I have never been anywhere near there. I only had a few seconds so I saw it and hurried back into the room with the new district. I attempted to act composed again but without much success because of the epinephrine and norepinephrine which seemed to be dominating my attempt to be calm and collected.

We went to the travel office on Thursday and got my flight plans. I report to the travel office at 8:30 P.M. tonight. (Monday night) I fly first to Atlanta Georgia which leaves at 1:00 A.M and then to Wisconsin. With the time changes and all I should be there about 9 a.m tomorrow morning. I want to be excited and ready to work when I get there but I have a feeling I will be tired. I will do my best to sleep on the plane.

My Zone

A lot happened this week. It was pretty different because we didn't have a strict schedule since we weren't suppose to be here this week. We still had class for 6 hours every day but we made a lot of our own schedule and helped out other districts a lot. We were investigators for them and watched them try to teach us with their one and two week Spanish which can be entertaining at times. Our Elders were called down to the main office on Monday morning and were asked to participate in an all day service project for most of this week. Moving beds, desks, and other furniture on BYU campus. They are in the process of making an almost separate MTC from the old BYU apartments over there. They told us it will be separate from over here except for devotionals and they will have their own cafeteria and everything. They are expecting an overload of missionaries within the next few weeks that school gets out. The work is growing so fast.

Elder Parsons and Hermana Johnson

Hermana Johnson and Elder Truman

My district is splitting up so fast. Three of our Elders were temporarily assigned to Alabama and left Saturday morning. Two more of our Elders left this morning going to Arizona. I am the odd one out going to Wisconsin. I know that the Lord has a reason he is sending me there and I am excited to find out what it is. Elder Valle and Hermana Johnson have their visas but they don't have travel plans yet so they don't know when they will leave. After today it will just be the two of them. The five of us that were left sang in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. We sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again, and had every hermana in the second oldest district crying.

We got roommates this week! The whole time we have been here its just been my companion(s) and I but on Wednesday we got two new sisters. They are both going to Ukraine and are learning Russian. Their names are Cectpa (pronounced sistra, sorry I cant type my Russian accent) Welling and Gillespie. They are both from Utah. Its so fun to have companionship prayers at night in Russian and Spanish.

We have two class periods a day and during those class periods we always in a way do the same things. One thing we always do is a grammar lesson. The past five class periods we reviewed grammar and we feel like we have it mastered on paper so our teacher decided to have each of us teach our class a separate grammar principle to see if we really understand it. Our teacher was crying from how hard she was laughing at us pretending to make mistakes and asking our "teacher" how to fix them. It was awesome because she is usually so composed.

Hermana Johnson and Hermana Green

Devotionals this week were Elder Gavarrett (seventy) and Shane Littlefield from the missionary department. They both did a really great job. Between our devotional from last night and watching Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration last night I am feeling pumped to just go to work. During Relief Society yesterday we heard from Janice Kapp Perry. She wrote a lot of music/songs for the church and during the middle of her talk she asked all of the sisters to sing a medley of them. We sang A Child's Prayer, Army of Helaman, I love to see the Temple, Love is Spoken Here, I'm trying to be like Jesus, and As sisters in Zion (which she wrote the music for). She said she would never hear those songs sung more to her liking than she did as we sang them. At the end of her talk she told us about new lyrics she had written to As Sisters in Zion music that were going to soon be recorded and published about the announcement of sister missionaries. She told us that we were the first ever who would sing it. It was powerful. All I remember about the words were "The sisters of Zion are called to his labor...and somewhere in the middle singing the angels of heaven are walking beside us."
Also I forgot to mention that I saw Rob and Rinamay at the temple last week. He just had surgery on his shoulder. But it was cool to see them. I know this work is real. Talk to you all from Wisconsin next week!

Hermana Rhoten