More up and down . . .

Hello Family!

This was another one of those "up and down" weeks. One day great, the next with nothing, rain, sun, the whole shabang. I´m going to kind of pick up where you left off your email, Mom. 

I wouldn´t say this was a bad week, but I caught myself complaining about people not doing the things they said they would be doing (members and non-members), being stressed about the progress (or lack thereof) of some people, normal companion things, so on and so forth. Yesterday I was trying to figure out why things weren´t going the way I wanted them to go. Then it clicked. It doesn´t really matter how I want things to go.  If I´m working with only that in mind, we´re going nowhere. Since Hna Mendez got here I started just doing things my way. That´s where the impatience, stress and frustration come from. But, when I´m doing things the way the LORD wants me to do them, things are better. Not perfect, there´s always something that won´t go the way we plan, but we can still feel that peace and that progress when we are focused on Him, His plan, His will, and HIS wisdom, not our own. So, that´s my goal for this week. Let go of how I want things to be and just do what the Lord needs from me. From there, I´m hoping that things will get better again.

Also, I have a very humbling experince that is worth sharing from last night. We went to visit a family (investigators) that we´re working with. This family has NOTHING. Richard (the dad) recently lost his job, they just went thru a traumatic day when their two-year-old son went missing for almost 24 hours, she´s been sick, the kids are all over the place. Just crazy for them right now. We had an AWESOME lesson on the Book of Mormon, and afterwards they invited us to stay for dinner. I was a little hestiant, knowing that they didn´t have much food to give, but we stayed. She turned a barrel upside down and covered it with paper from her daughter´s notebook to make a tablecloth and handed us each a package of crackers and a cup of mate (herbal tea type of drink). She then apologized for the lack of elegance but asked if there was anything more she could give us. I just wanted to cry and hug her forever. Even after being here for over a year, I love these little moments that help me to realize how blessed I am to be working with such humble and wonderful people. And from there, these moments that help me understand better the type of person I want to be when I come back. Not focused on how nice my things are but really how I can serve others with what I have to offer and serve God by just focusing on the little things that will keep me close to Him.

We´re starting our visits again this week! It´s kind of a love-hate relationship, this whole sister leader thing. It´s so fun to visit all the sisters and go to the meetings with President, but it´s stressful when I can´t just work in my sector. Luckily, we switched around a little bit and all the sisters we visit are close enough that Hna Mendez or I can stay here while the other is away instead of both of us having to leave for a couple days at a time to travel! 

Love you all! Keep up the good work with all the crazy stuff you´re doing! If y'all set up everything for google chat (that´s what it´s called, right?) and just tell me what I need to do to use it the week before I´m sure that´s fine :) Have a super week!

Amie

Just a compi pic :)

I love Puno because you can just stop and buy hot chocolate and whatever these Little cake things are at every corner when it´s freezing outside!

More animal pictures! Pardon my face, I was kind of holding a gross rat.

 

Once upon a time it starting raining like crazy and we got stuck inside for a little bit while the end of the world was happening outside. 

This is Marleni. She sells clothes out in the big market in Puno. She was a little in distress because all her clothes were getting ruined from the rain/hail and couldn´t really do anything because her leg is broken. We took some pictures to help cheer her up :)

"Never do anything that you´ll regret afterwards. And don´t regret it for not doing it." 

Some good words of wisdom.

Because I"m HAPPY!

Hna Hill used to always sing that. It´s from a movie that came out since I´ve been gone, but don´t remember what . . . but it´s apropiate for right now.

The truth, there´s not too much to report from this week. Half the week we were in Cusco and the other half we were walking around while EVERY single one of our appointments fell through . . . but that´s ok. Always something to learn and something to be happy for. Like maybe the fact that my brother just got ENGAGED or my sister is having a BABY any day now or my other sister is getting ready for her MISSION! Or maybe that I have a GREAT new companion and this week (even though we didn´t get to do a lot together work wise) was superb. I´m hoping I finish with three changes with her and not with one more transfer somewhere else. 

Her name is Hna Mendez. She´s from Argentina. Which means she talks with a "sh" istead of a "y" with double Ls and Ys. That was fun to get used to. She´s 23. Her birthday is June 5 (another round of eggs next change!). She´s a NUT but she knows why she´s here and works hard. She´s the perfect balance between hard work and having fun. Safe to say there´s a lot of reason for me to be happy right now. When it comes down to it, your companion makes all the difference in your mission. At least for me.

Like I said, not much to report this week. Just that things are good and only getting better. I´m glad yall are safe and happy and that everything is working out! Sorry it´s kind of short again, I´ll think of something more interesting to include for next week´s letter.

Les amo!

Amie

Consilio with my new companion!

Alberto, Susana, Hna Condie, and Condie! They just got a new kitten, and after much thought, they decided to name her Condie :) Not a fan of cats, but I kind of took a liking to this one.

Usually Peruvians don´t smile when we take pictures. I yelled, "uno, dos, CONDIE" and this is how it turned out. One of my favorite pictures from my mission :)

Just playing in the snow on our way to Cusco

Happy Changes!!

Well, it´s that time of year again . . . Hna Valverde has a change to Cusco :( One change together. I´ll be honest, she wasn´t one of my easiest campanions, but she was one of my favorites. I´ve learned SO much from her, and I´m sad to say goodbye already. Now, after only having one change as a sister leader, I get to train Hna Mendez to be a sister leader with me! Should be interesting . . . We lived together when I was in Cusco, so I already know her. So that helps. She´s . . crazy. Haha, should be a fun transfer!

This was a kind of an "all over the place" week. Tuesday we had an activity in the church from 2:00 until about 7:00. Then Hna Valverde and I had to travel that night to Juliaca to do our last splits. That´s where the pictures from my toe come from. I was playing soccer a couple weeks ago and had a little accident with my toe. I didn´t think it was a big deal. Just a bruise and it would go away eventually. I showed Hna Rodriguez, the girl in the picture, and she freaked out. She said that she had the same thing. She said there was a bunch of dried blood under my nail and if I didn´t get it out it would get infected. Long story short, she conviced me to let her tear my nail off so that she could clean it out . . . so now I only have nine and a half nails until it grows back. So, that´s cool. 

Thursday was normal. Friday NOBODY was home. Everybody goes up the hill to repent and worship Christ for Easter. Which meant no teaching and lots of walking for us.

Saturday and Sunday, of course, we got to watch conference!! Woo!! Best three weekends of the whole mission. I´m kind of on the same page with you, Mom. No matter what happens, we have the truth. And nothing will ever change that. When people try to make us feel weak, we find strength in the truths that we know. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because Christ came to earth and atoned for each of us, we too can overcome anything and everything that Satan throws our way. We have the authority of God to support us and a prophet to guide us. What else do we need? Just the personal conversion that we know this is true. Once we have that, keep going and never stop. It´s definitely not easy and there will be suprises every day, but we know what we have to do. So, lets do it! I´m feeling a little invincable right now. I know I´m not perfect and training a new sister in a sector that I don´t know TOO well will be hard and maybe everything´s not going according to plan exactly how I want it to when it comes to the people we´re teaching, but I know I can do it. I can do it becasue I have the Lord on my side! And, He´ll always be there when I need that extra boost.

Sounds like  yall are doing GREAT at home! Makes me happy :) Missions. Babies. Weddings. Nothing too exciting, but I´m glad you´re happy! I´ll talk to President Harbertson about BYU and all that jazz.

Love you all! 

Amie

 I love Peruvians. I told this lady that we were teaching that I had a little headache. She (just like 99%of all Peruvians) is convinced that if you lick these leaves and stick them on your face that you will be healed. It also helps with stomach cramps and other body pain . . .? I don´t know. But we sat for an hour or so with these nice leaves covering our faces.

Just helping a member in our ward put her store together :)

Don´t let her face fool you. She was REALLY enjoying herself during this whole process.

*stop here if you don't like yucky stuff . . . not sure I agree with the idea of uncovering the toe like this to prevent infection but I'm just the mom . . . we'll see what happens . . .

Before

During

After

I"m Not Old Yet!

Hello all!

This was another good week. Kind of all over the place, but good. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal. Just, ya know, working and stuff. Yes, Wednesday night I got eggs thrown all over me. It was all fun and games until we went home and there was no water at home . . . The lady we live with wasn´t too happy, but we begged her to let us use a little bit of water so I could clean up. Other than that though it was a good birthday :) Just a normal day in the missionary world, but I wouldn´t really want it any other way. Also, before I forget, thanks for all the birthday messages. I´m sorry I don´t have time to respond to everyone... But I love you all!

Thursday morning I headed off to CUSCO! Just had to get some papers signed and whatnot, but it was fun. I got to see my pension and Hna Hill and the other hermanas whom I lived with! It was just a week of parties. I don´t think I´ve eaten so much cake in my whole life . . . but no complaints :) It was fun. Came back Saturday night and just started working again.

I honestly don´t have that much to report this week, so I thought I´d share a little thought I had this morning during my personal study. I read the talk from President Uchtdorf from the Women´s Conference from last October about living the gospel joyfully. With that, I read a scripture in Alma 27 the other day about being "seekers of happiness" (also, I recommend the whole chapter). They both stuck out to me. And both talk about being obedient. If we want true joy in our lives, we have to live the gospel. And not only live it to check it off and say that we´re doing it, but really learn it and live it and make the commandments and the counsels we get from the prophets things that we WANT to do, not only HAVE to do. The Lord knows what´s best for us. If we can just make His law our desires, and really SEEK to be happy, this joy that everybody always talks about in the church becomes something real to each of us. Even when the hard comes, we can still have that hope and strength that He has to offer us. But it all depends on us first.

Living the Gospel Joyful - By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Alma 27

Anyway, nothing too deep. Just a little thought to start this next week and almost new transfer (how did that happen again???)

Hope everyone´s happy and doing well and enjoying Honduras still.

xoxo,

Amie

Just because I like us :)

Happy Birthday #1

 Happy Birthday #1

 Happy Birthday #2

Happy Birthday #2

 Happy Birthday #3

Happy Birthday #3

3/23 Up Hill Both Ways

Hello to HONDURAS! That`s so fun. Start planning another trip so that I can come too :) Sounds like yall are having the time of your lives.

As for me, this has been a crazy week. The title can be interpretted literally and figuratively. For starters, we went on our first sister leader divisions! *missionary spilts It was so fun. It just so happened that the girls I was going to visit all stayed in their own sectors while Hna Valverde stayed in Los Incas with the others. I took for granted how flat our sector is... pure hills in the other girls` sectors. My legs were burning all week. But it was a really cool expirence. I`m tired out of my mind, but I learned a lot. I feel like I`m a sister leader more so that I can learn from them, not the other way around. I`m very blessed to be in charge of the girls that I`m in charge of. No drama. No problems. Just working hard and keeping my job easy :)

For the figurative part of uphill both ways, this was a HARD week in our sector. Satan is working hard with us right now. From people spitting on us and calling me stupid to our investigators with baptism dates dropping like flies, it was a little rough for us. Vicki, I`m 99% sure I told you about her last week, dropped off the grid randomly yesterday. I wasn`t there all week for the lessons with her, but Hna Valverde told me that she was doing great. Excited and preparing for the 28th. All of a sudden she`s mad at us and doesn`t want to talk to us, making up excuses so that she doesn`t have to talk to us. We`re a little confused, but we`ll work it out. Maybe she won`t get baptised next Saturday, but someday. 

Just lots of other random things popping up out of the blue this week. BUT, lets talk about the good things! :)

We went on splits with the primary kids and the young women this week. They both had "be a missionary for a day" activities. It was really cool! The two primary girls that we were with (sending picture) taught the whole lesson. Hna Valverde and I didn`t say a single word. The power of the testimony of a child is incredible. We visited an investigor that we are teaching.  I`m pretty sure that they taught her about prayer WAY better than we could have. Brought tears to everyone`s eyes. 

Luzmila came to church yesterday!!! The less active sister I told you about a couple weeks ago. COMPLETELY turning her life around. She`s not drinking, she`s working more, helping her son with his school work and everything. It`s only been what, two weeks? It`s amazing how the gospel can change someonès life around when they`re willing. I`m so grateful to be able to see it working in her and all the people we`re working with! 

So, hard week, but again, just trying to focus on the good. Some days it`s harder than others, but the good is always there.

Oh! One more thing before I go. I get to go to Cusco this week!!! My ID expired, so I have to go to renew it. I get to go one day after my birthday :) :) Excited to go visit people AND I`ll probably get my package!

Love you all! That`s for all the support. Have fun in Honduras :)

Amie

After divisions with the hermanas. All but two are here. We took them out for pizza so they could de-stress a little bit.

Divisions with the primary kids :)

These kids were following us with their tires. I turned around and started a race between the two of them. We ran about a quater mile with their tires :) I gave them stickers before we left. Instead of just taking one, they each took a whole sheet... I might need more stickers.