Let's Be Honest . . .

This is going to be a really short email. Not because there`s not a lot to say, but because the space bar on this computer doesn`t work very well, and I`m not patient enough to write it all out like this.

This was a good week. We didn`t find a whole lot of new people, but contacted a couple that I`m excited for. We met one family. He was investigating the church a couple years ago and for some reason that he wasn`t really sure of kind of dropped it. She knew hardly anything about the church but was really interested as we were talking in the street. We have an appointment with them tomorrow! 

I sent a picture of a lady and me. Her name is Juana. She`s less active in the church. She actually left for Lima the day after we met her, but she`s a hoot and a half. She`s super sick and hasn`t done anything but lay in bed for several months. She was super sad when we first got there, but by the end of our visit she was laughing and smiling and having a great time! One of those miracle visits in my mind. One day later and we probably never would have met her. She kept telling us (as she was trying not to cry as we left) how she felt like we were angels sent to visit her.  She couldn`t even remember the last time she smiled.

Sorry this is short. The sector is getting better. We`re happy. The church is true and being a missionary is the greatest job in the world!

Love you all. I`ll make sure I get a good computer next week so that I can write more :)

Chao!

Zoe's 6th Birthday

Angels for Juana

Line Upon Line

Happy Monday!

Well, for starters, opening and closing a sector at the same time is really hard. Hna Hill and I got transfered together so that we could finish her training, which is good, but it`s hard leaving a sector behind not knowing how it`s going to be taken care of. We got to show the elders around one day though, and they seem really sharp. Not too worried, just still a little sad. But, the Lord has a plan for all.

Alamos. Is. Huge. This new sector is bigger than my last two sectors put together. I kind of overshot it one day and told Hna Hill that we didn`t need to take a bus to get somewhere on our second day. We ended up walking for about an hour with the catch phrase "just a little bit further" for the last 40 minutes of it. And that was only about half the sector.  Just to give you an idea. But it`s a great sector with a lot of potential. The hermanas that left didn`t leave us with a lot so we`re kind of starting at ground zero. Again. I`ll be a pro at that by they time I come home. But it`s fun. Stressfull at times, but a cool experience. 

I was SUPER stressed out the first couple days.  I read a talk from Boyd K. Packer from either the April or October 2014 conference. No recuerdo. It`s called 'A Reason for Hope' or something like that. Incredible. There`s one part at the end that I really like:

"(Jesus Christ) is no stranger to His servants. As we move into the future with quiet confidence, His spirit will be with us."

The Reason for Our Hope - By President Boyd K. Packer

That`s kind of the theme for this change. Replace fear with faith and just do the work that I was sent here to do. Doesn`t matter how many hours of the days we spend walking around lost or how badly our feet hurt from walking all day or how many times we get rejected as we contact and try to find people to teach. He is no stranger to us and will guide us if we`re just willing to put in our all. 

We haven`t had a lot of luck finding real solid new people to teach, but that`s okay. A little bit every day. Joseph Smith didn`t restore the church in one week, and we won`t have a super successful sector after one week either. Line upon line. Faith. Diligence. Patience and charity. That`s the plan for now.

I love being a missionary. It`s SO much harder than I ever expected. But it`s so much better than I ever could have imagined also. The Lord takes care of us, and there is no greater privilege than to be here in the middle of His work.

Love you all. Until next week!

Love,

Amie

P-day shenanigans!

Balcon del Diablo.  One of my favorite places in Cusco

Saying "Goodbye" in Ttio

Selfie with another parrot!

First day in the new sector

Cambios . . .

. . . are the worst!

Once upon a time . . . I´m training Hna Hill right now so we weren´t expecting anything for changes. President is moving both of us to another ward in Cusco. Just like Puerto, I may be sitting here in tears again.

So much good happened this week. Jorge and Gloria and their kids are doing SO WELL. Every lesson we teach, they accept like they´ve known it their wholes lives. You can see how much happier they are and they are so excited for their baptism. We won´t be there for that, but I guess that´s not the important part. I couldn´t be happier for them, and the elders that are coming in and taking our place better take care of them! 

I sent a picture of the familia Cuadros. They´re a less active family that I´ve been working with my whole time here. They´re tough. I have said SO many prayers for this family. This past week alone they made incredible progress. I almost cried in our lesson with them last night. The difference that people feel when they can just let go of bitter feelings and put their trust in God is amazing. And that´s what happening with them. They know what´s most important, how to get there, and know they´re willing to do it. They have a goal to get back to the temple as a family again and everything. The two older kids aren´t in the picture, but I love them all so much. 

Everything is just great here right now. Hna Hill is doing wonders. She´s such a stong missionary. I don´t think that she gives herself enough credit, but I´m so proud of her! Training her is easy.

About our class on Wednesday, Hna Hill had to go to Lima, so we had to switch some plans around. It was moved to this next week, but . . now we won´t be doing that. Sorry for both of us. 

In shock. A little sad. Just kidding, a lot sad. But with faith and trust that the Lord knows what He´s doing even if I don´t want it at all. I´ll let you know how Alamos is next week I guess. 

Have a great week! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! It´ll do wonders. Love you all.

These are the kids of the family we are working with.

(the boy and the little girl in front of him)

I'll be honest . . . don't know the other two girls 

Familia Cuadros

You should have seen the sidewalk . . .

Spanish bananagrams :)

CHOOSE HAPPY!

This was a fantastic week! Started with a conference with President and Sister Harbertson. Always good. My favorite part was a Q&A session with Sister Harbertson. She talked a little bit about something that I want to be the theme for pretty much the rest of my life. Choose faith. Choose obedience. Choose charity. Choose faith. Choose HAPPY. With all that, we`re set. Through the good and the hard. I love the scripture in D&C 123:16-17. 

 16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves.

 17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

Even just the smallest thing can make a huge difference. Do all that we can CHEERFULLY, then be still and trust in God to help us with the rest. Especially in the mission field, when we recognize this, we can not only endure to the end, but have joy while doing it. That`s my goal.

In other news, JORGE AND GLORIA HAVE A BAPTISM DATE. January 31, we are having a family baptism! Hna Hill and I are pretty stoked! They`re so great. They came to church and even the kids asked if they could come back every week. The 11 year old wanted his own copy of the Book of Mormon instead of just sharing with his mom. They`re just so happy. And that makes me happy. That`s the whole reason we`re here.

That was the highlight :) Other random news, we had a lesson with a less actieve the other day and he had 3 of his friends there so we taught them too. We asked if we could come back and teach them again sometime too. They agreed and we set up an appointment. Afterwards they told us that it was actually a class that they have that they want us to come to with 12 other people... that`s on Wednesday. We`ll see how it goes. I`ll keep you updated. 

What else? Not much. I`ll be honest, one of us was sick this week (won`t say who so that moms don`t worry), so we were in the house for four days... but all that considered, it was a pretty fantasic week! 

The pictures you`re getting are all from pday, sorry... one from last week and the others all from today. We kind of had a super pday. We got to Moray (the only place we actually planned to go to) and they told us that we had to pay for the ticket that included all of these places. We had to pay, and we weren`t going to waste it, so we had a great, long, Incan ruin filled Monday. No complaints :) minus maybe the sunburn. Esta bien!

Love you all! Have a super duper week!

Chao!

last P-day 

last P-day

Hna Condie & Hna Hill at Moray

Moray

Salineras

tasting Salineras

don't remember the name of this place . . . but it starts with a "ch"

"ch"

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo

¡Feliz Navidad!

I agree, the email after the Skype is a little weird. But it was so fun to see everyone! I realized after we hung up that I didn´t really say any of the things I wanted. Too excited to remember. But that´s alright. We´ll get another go in May :) Love you all!

This was an awesome week! Started with the sister leaders coming! I got to work with Hna Nelson for the day. It was the BEST! Always fun to be with old companions. I got to remember all the little things that I learned with her that I´ve kind of let slide over the last three months. She´s incredible! And she helps me to be more motivated and work harder.

Kind of thinking about it now, this week was actually kind of slow. But still good. It was a lot harder to teach people than I expected it would be with Christmas and everything. Everybody had family over and was doing all the normal Christmas stuff. That meant lots of walking and contacting for us a lot of the time. But there was something really cool about working this week. I think the best gift that we could ever give for Christmas is helping others to learn about Christ. His birth, life, Atonement. Everything. Everything was for us, and the least we can do is accept it and apply it in our own lives, then go and help other people to have the same joy and blessings in their life. It was definitely a Christmas unlike any other, but one that I will probably never forget.

On the topic of people we´re working with, we challenged Jorge and Gloria to get baptized this week! She accepted it quickly and very happily. He is the type that wants to do a lot more investigating fisrt. Still good tho, that´s what we want. I know with prayer and faith and reading and coming to church and all that "investigating", he´ll get his answer. Both were happy and excited. Makes for some happy missionaries!

Sounds like you all had a super vacation! Say hello to everybody for me.

Las amo con todo mi corazón! 

Just a little selfie with a dandelion :)

Hna Nelson came to visit!!

Christmas jammies!

Merry Christmas from Hna Hill and me!

Merry Christmas from our apartment!