Last night in Puerto

                           Puerto moms!

Julia just picked me up randomly, before the picture. 

Pit stop, sometimes we spend hours in the hospital because my companion has a broken leg. 

                                                     New companions

                      I'm teaching them to take silly pictures!  Slowly but surely :)

WOAH WOAH WOAH 9/8/2014

HOLD THE PHONE! HANG ON A SECOND. NOBODY MOVE. IT`S TRANSFER WEEK?!?!?! And I have a change to CUSCO:( I literally just want to cry right now. I love Puerto and I never want to leave!!! They tell you to put your heart in it and love the people. Then right when everything is going PERFECTLY and you feel like you really have a spot and your companion and you are best friends, He tells you to leave. I`m excited for Cusco. But I`m very surprised right now. And yeah, a little bit sad. I know it`s God`s plan for me to be there and there are going to be amazing things in Cusco too. Just, ahhh, my heart doesn`t want to leave Puerto.

I have so many amazing things to say about this week. But I feel like I`m going to break down and start bawling at the computer if I start talking about all of them. So I`m not gonna do that. But we really saw lots of miracles this week. All the way from just finding people in the street to seeing Yersin`s face when he received the priesthood. Lots of good things are happening in Puerto. Hna. Nelson and her new companion are going to do lots of good here!

So yeah, I`m sure I`ll have lots to say in next week`s email. Today`s going to be hard. But I`m excited to move forward.

Felix Como un Lombriz 9/1/2014

Have I used this title before? Yes or no, doesn`t matter. I`m happy like a worm right now.

Minus the fact that the internet keeps going out and I keep losing everything... this is the choppy/stressed out version of what I wanted to send.

Basically, everything is great! Jhasmina and Yersin got MARRIED!! And he got baptized right after! It was SO good. They`re so happy. And we`re so happy for them. They`re already doing so much for this little branch as a "new" young couple.

President and Sister Harbertson came this week, too. Every time they come it`s like a mini general conference. I`d give you details on that but again, time is cut a little short this week. 

I got the package and I LOVE it. Yall are the best. Thank you :):) 

This is a little request for everybody- friends and family and anyone who reads the blog who feels so inclined :)

I`m doing a little project, and I would love if you could send me stories/TESTIMONIES about how the goepel has blessed or changed your life. Missions. Day to day life. Whatever you want! Just something. And if you could, send each story in it`s own email :) Please and thank you with a cherry on top! And really, everyone. Member, nonmember, friends or strangers. I was going to send out a special email to certain people, but there were WAY to many. I figured this was more affective. 

Thank you for all the support and love. I appreciate everything yall do for me and the work!

xoxo

Amie

More Than Greatful

Hello family!

As for the week, normal week. Meaning it was actually pretty fantastic! It`s amazing to me how the Lord looks out for us and blesses us every single day.

The big topic for the week is still Jhasmina and Yersin. I`ll tell a little bit more I guess. She comes from an LDS family, but they were all inactive up until recently and he started investigating the church when we came to find her. INCREDIBLE family/couple. It took my first 3 transfers here befor anything really happened. They've really changed.  I`ll start with "the talk."

Hna. Nelson and I had a SERIOUS talk with them a little bit ago. We were trying to figure out what they were expecting to happen and if they were really willing to do the things they needed to to change. Before that talk there was no reading or praying going on. He would still leave every Saturday to drink with his friends, and the home in general was just stressful and choatic. Something snapped, and seriously the changes that we`ve seen in them cannot be described. They pray and read together every night. We come over and they`re happy and smiling and excited to talk. Seriously, EVERYTHING is better in their lives now thanks to the gospel and those little things they`re doing. He even called us the other night and asked for a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon while he was sitting outside of work with nothing to do (1, wanted EXTRA reading to do and 2, he carries his Book of Mormon around with him to work. I love it).

Anyway, so they are getting married this Saturday!!!!! Woooooo!!! And he`s getting baptized right after the wedding before the party. I have never seen somebody so happy and excited in my entire life. And to see the change in him, well, in both of them really, is a huge blessing to me. It really shows me how much of a difference the gospel can make in a home. It`s incredible.

So yeah, we are planning and putting together the wedding. Heads up for pictures next week!!

Really this week has helped me to really realize how much I love the gospel. I`ve always loved the gospel, and I`ve always known I`ve loved the gospel, but I`ve actually sat and thought about it this week. It`s perfect. And it`s all here for anybody and everybody who is willing to listen and accept it. I know it`s true and there really isn`t anything greater in the whole world. I`ve been lucky and blessed enough to have had it for my entire life, and I love being a part of sharing it with other people around the world.

Happy and grateful.

Other news we`ve learned recently just to put some things in perspective...

// There are 782 less active members in our branch boundaries alone.

// In the whole mission, there are 5,000 return missionaries. Of those 5,000, 4,500 are less active.

Yeah. We have our work cut out for us here.

No time to rest. Lets go!

Love you all! Thanks for all you do and are!

Fun in Puerto

Hello all! Just another week here in good ol` Puero. Nothing crazy to report. Progress is going well! Jhasmina and Yersin and ready and excited to get married!! I think I`ve told you about them, no?? I hope so. If not, sorry, but we`re super excited for them. Everyone else is doing great. A little too great. But I`m not complaining :)

More than anything, I`ve really been working on goals this week. We make goals every day/week/month as missionaries, but I`m trying really hard to actually set goals that matter. I`ll keep you updated on the progress. I was thinking of something that I could do, and I want to send a letter home to myself with everything that I "accomplished" on my mission. A list of thing I want to do and by the time I get home I`ll have finished. The letter is a sort of "look at all these things you just did" but from the future if that makes sense. So heads up for that and keep it safe for me for the next year. 

Sorry this is a kind of lame letter again... But again and as always, I love you all!

Have a super duper week!!

Pday = get fat day

Yup, get fat day is my favorite!

Amo Maria!

That's an unfortunate name . . .

Puerto before the storm

One Third?!

Holy moly. 6 months gone. Excited for the next year!!!

Don`t have much to say this week. Remember how last week I told you that we went to every single cita that we had and it was incredible?? Weellllllllll, this week was a complete 180º turn... we literally only had one or two lessons every day. But, I learned something. When we have good weeks full of appointments and great things, we`re good. When we have really slow weeks with lots of walking and not a lot of teaching, we`re still good. As long as we`re really trying and doing all we can to serve the Lord we can finish a hard day or a hard week feeling like we`ve done our part.

I feel a little lame because I don`t really have much else to say. We`re still excited and getting ready for the wedding!! That`s the most exciting thing happening right now. Sometimes it`s hard and frustrating, but ALWAYS worth every second. 

KEEP GOING WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON!! (little Spanish treat)

Estoy leyendo también. Quiero leer el Libro de Mormón uno vez cada seis meses. Voy a empanzar mañana otra vez!! Podemos leer juntos :)

xoxox

Just a  really cool wall that I liked!

Hna. Nelson made a new friend

Best pizza in Peru!

Once upon a time we woke up at 6:30. 6:35 we heared the bread cart honking the horn outside our house. Hna Nelson looked at me and kinda yelled "lets go buy bread so we can make french toast!!" So we threw on the closest clothes we had and ran outside, may or may not have chased him down the street. We came back and just had to laugh that we ran down the street looking like this. For bread. To make french toast.   :)

Cloud 9

Ok, seriously and incredible week. I could write a book on all the amazing things that happened. I´m gonna stick to nine tho (see what I did there?!)

1// Alex: so, I was really bad at keeping you updated on him. After that lesson we had with him, we stopped by later that week and found out he got a new job working in the fields so he´s only home for one day every couple weeks or so... But, there were a lot of people off work this weekend for Independence Day so we figured we´d give it a shot to see if he was there. And he was! We were pretty stoked! We hadn´t had a real lesson about the Book of Mormon before this, but we had given him a Book of Mormon. He told us that he was reading every night. He even knew the page number he was on when we asked him where he was. Little miracle, he reads every night after work, but it´s really dark in the cabins where he sleeps. He said he was up late reading and there was a light out of nowhere following the page as he read. Coincidence? I think not. It really is incredible to me how the Lord helps us when we really have a desire to learn and do the things that He has asked us to do.

2// Jasmina y Yersin: Don´t remember how much I´ve told you about this family/couple. Jasmina is a less active member and her husband (even tho they´re not married yet people still say husband or wife here...) is investigating right now. They´ve been working with the missionaries since about February. The past two weeks have been incredible! Something snapped and they´re reading and praying together every night. They´re planning to get married and have his baptism on the 30th of this month!!! We´re pretty stoked about them too!

3// Victor: Victor is new. The president´s wife stopped by our house the on Thursday and asked if we could come meet one of her friend´s, Rene. Rene is a less active memeber that has friends who aren´t members who want our help with something. The couple wasn´t there when we went by their store so we stopped by a little juice bar for a snack. We started talking to this lady, Ana, and her sons, Victor (13) and Junior (19). Follow?? So, we made another appointment with them for Friday, and it was AWESOME. Ana couldn´t come to church on Sunday because of work, but Victor wanted to come really bad. So we stopped by and picked him up and went to church. He got up and bore his testimony about Christ. Oh my gosh. This kid is incredible. After sacrament meeting he came up and asked me if he could serve a mission like the elders one day, with his shirt and tie and plaque and everything. THEN, when the elders asked if anyone could help show them around (they´re both new to the sector) he raised his hand. So he spent the whole day going to citas (appointments) with the elders. Made a few appointments of his own with some of the younger kids. Seriously, words can´t describe how cool this kid is. And remember, we just barely MET him 4 days ago!

(the rest will be short and sweet)

4// The new elders in our sector and pretty amazing. One is being trained right now so I´m not the newby anymore!!

5// We have a flower on our love fern

6// We had ELEVEN of the people we are working with in church yesterday

7// NINE new investigators. And really good ones that we are pretty confident will actually progress. 

8// Literally every single appointment we had actually happened. That´s incredible for a single day. A whole week like that... I´m still shocked that that happened.

9// Reallly I can just sum everything else up in number 9. Everybody is just progressing really well right now. It´s 1,000,000 degrees outside and we never have breaks to just sit and breathe right now, but I have never felt so good.

Really incredible things are happening in Puerto.

As for the Book of Mormon challenge, keep it up! It´ll be one of the first things I ask when I get home :) It really does make a difference. Like you said with sacrafice, 15 minutes everyday can make a huge difference. In all the hustle and bustle, sacraficing a little extra time for the Lord will bring more blessings than we´ll ever be able to explain.

Love you all!

Have a great week :)

Choa!

Our love fern

Sexy dirt lines

¡My companion is cooler than yours!

Lida and Tatiana

Fun at the fair

That one time I ate cow heart . . .

This is sure. It's this nasty worm thing that they wanted me to eat. 

Couldn't make myself do it quite yet . . .

*mom looked it up -In Peru, suri is the name for the larvae, or grub, of Rhynchophorus palmarum, a palm weevil commonly found in the Amazon.