Another great week!

Haha I`ll start with the monkey! He is a pet of one of the children in the picture. We were in the other sector for the day because Hna Sanchez didn`t have her companion. I don`t know the kids that well. But yeah! It`s completely normal to see people walking around with their pet monkeys on their shoulders. They have leashes and everything. Cool, huh?

Ok. Well, this week was another great week. Great lessons. Great weather- cold enough for a blanket AND pants at night and a jacket during the day!! **mom note: I keep Puerto Maldonado on my weather app.  It was in the 70's last week, 60's at night

Great interview with President Harbertson. Just great :)

There was a great quote that Pte. Harbertson gave us that I was going to send, but I left it in my room. I`ll send it next week. It was something about, in order to become who and what we want to become we have to live every day as if we are already that person. He also talked to us about faith and the different levels of faith that we can have. Most people have a hopefull faith, hoping that what they pray for will happen or that they will meet their goals, etc. But he told us that we should strive for more of an expectant faith. Expecting, not just hoping, that we will see the things we are working for happen. Yes, sometimes Heavenly Father's will or others agency (I`ve talked about that before) gets in the way, but that shouldn`t stop us from having a stronger, firmer faith in the things we are doing. I`m so lucky to have him as my president. I`m convinced he`s going to be an apostle someday.

As for investigators and such, we have three with a baptism date!! One girl has her date for this next Saturday! She told us yesterday that she has a training thing all next weekend so we might have to push it back a week. BUT, we`re "expecting" it to still happen this weekend :)

The other two are a mom and her son. I don`t remember if I`ve told you about them yet or not. But, we`ve only been teaching them for 2-3 weeks. He is only 13 but he knows SO much and has an incredible desire to learn more and do more in the gospel. I call him the Joseph Smith of Puerto. Only 13 but has a desire stronger than most adults (or anybody really) that I know. It`s been a cool experience to teach them. 

We have another investigator that taught me something this week. Before this Saturday he had no interest. No desire to pray, to read, nothing. We only get to talk to him becuase his sister in law is the girl getting baptized this week. But we were just walking by on Saturday and he was sitting outside so we stopped to chat. He said that he wasn`t doing too well because of work and some other things going on right now. Lots of trials. But he was so ready to listen to us. Excited to pray after we talked and he asked about church before we even brought it up. Just reminded me that we are ALWAYS recieving blessing, sometimes disquised as trials. Without whatever he`s going thru right now, he wouldn`t have stopped to listen. He recognized that we were always smiling and happy, and it took this trial for him to realize that he needed something else. He needed what we have. I don`t have much more to tell you about him, but I`ll keep you updated :)

Anyway, running short on time. Again. But I love you all!

Choa!

We weren't prepared for the cold!

I was really wet and cold! The investigator we were visiting brought me a towel to use as a blanket :)

Hna. Ruiz kept saying I looked like a grandma . . .

. . . So I did this! I think it's safe to say I'm the weirder one of the two of us.

This is what happens when it's cold in Puerto

This family is getting baptized in three weeks! Also, notice the coats and cardigans.

Mi amor. Getting baptized this Saturday!!

This is Liz.  She likes to come out with us every now and then. (She's preparing for her mission  . . . in two years) She was sad that she didn't have a plaque (name tag) so Hna. Ruiz let her borrow hers for a little bit.

Niñas

Baby, it's cold outside!

... not really. But the people here seem to think so. It hits 80 and they bring out the soup and hot chocolate for dinner.

This week was FANTASTIC. We taught twice as many lessons as we usually get to. We have an investigator with a baptism date and she is super excited! We have a less active member that is excited to receive the priesthood. He brought two friends to church last week and is always excited and happy to talk to us. And we have a new investigator that is simply incredible. Most people here forget about our appointments or aren´t super excited, but with her it´s completely different. Our first cita (appointment) she was outside waiting for us and wondered why we were five minutes late. The next appointment she pulled out the folleto (pamphlet) that we gave her and it was all marked up and she had tons of questions. Refreshing. I love all of our investigators, but I´ll admit, it´s nice to have just one person who shows genuine interest and remembers all the things we teach and ask her to do.

On top of progressing investigators and menos activos, my new zone is fantastic! The new hermana is latina but she speaks perfect English. It´s nice because I don´t feel weird speaking in Spanish with her (I don´t know why, but it´s harder for me to speak Spanish with North Americans) but she can still help me when I´m desperate. The new elders are super cool too. We all played volleyball and soccer last week (and by we I mean the elders and I, while the other hermanas looked thru their cameras...) It was fun :)

Something that has really hit me this week is just how much I love (and miss) the temple. We have such a beautiful promise that we can all be together forever because of the temple covenants. The whole purpose of me being here is to help families receive the gospel and be sealed in the temple for eternity. The hardest part of the mission isn´t not knowing the language or being apart from you and my life at home for 18 months. It´s when people choose to not do the things that will help them enter the temple someday. I couldn´t be more thankful for the temple and for our family and it literally hurts when we´re trying to get others to the same goal and the only thing stopping them is themselves.

I don´t want to end on a sort of negative note... I love this gospel and I´m so thankful for it in my life. The mission isn´t perfect, but I´m so happy that I´m here. Even if progression is slow sometimes, I love these people. I just love everything! Thanks for everything you do for me, even tho I´m in a different hemisphere right now.

Love you all with all my heart!

I love Puerto this much!

Saying good bye for transfers . . .

Niños . . .

. . . and monos!

The new crew

I forgot my plaque before church . . . went two hours without realizing. I had to wear his extra one for the day.

What's up?

Hello!! 

First of all, for all the bloggers out there, sorry that I missed you last week. It was a little crazy. And sorry in advance for not having pictures this week. The computer I`m on doesn`t have a place for a USB :( didn`t even know that was possible. But whatever.

Let`s see. What to say?? I don`t have much because I got to talk to you yesterday. Most of the things I wanted to say were attached with pictures (like the monkey). 

Really there`s not that much. This week was rough. Lots of walking. Not a lot of teaching. We make appointments with people that don`t really mean anything. If they`re there, great, MAYBE we will teach them. But a lot of the time, and especially this week, they`re not there at all. So yeah, that`s cool...

One fun thing from this week was Hna. Ruiz`s enthusiasm for English phrases. Her favorites that she`s picked up from me are "what`s up" but she says it more like WUZZZUP and "sweet dude." It`s pretty funny.

This is a lame letter. I know. But next week when I can send pictures it`ll be cooler. I promise.

Love you all! Thanks for all you do for me :)

**Mom note: We had a wonderful chat with Amie yesterday for Mother's Day.  We got to Skype with her and all the other kids at the same time - mom heaven! She looks good - very curly hair in all the humidity. She bore her testimony for us in Spanish. Made me cry! - her Spanish is really very good! So proud of her :)