Ummmmm. Hi!

Happy Monday :)

This has been a good week! Lots to do, not enough time to do it all. I need about 50 hours a day and more than just 18 months to do it all! But, it`s all good. Great things are happening in Puerto Maldonado right now. Where to even start?! For one, we have a lot more members helping out right now than we have had in the past. The members really have NO IDEA how much they help! It makes me want to be so much better when I get back to help the missionaries out. The progress is so much faster when our investigators or less actives have somebody besides us to confide in. 

I`m glad you have time to read! I was thinking this week and I`m giving EVERYBODY a challenge! Read the Book of Mormon either before the end of the year or before I get home (depending on how ambitious you are). Don`t worry. I did all the math for yall.

End of the year : 24 weeks of reading 22 pages and then you`ll have 3 pages for the last baby week.

End of my mission: 55 weeks of reading 9 pages and 2 weeks of reading 10 pages.

Piece of cake. No excuses!! :)

In all honestly tho, I`ve learned and seen so much how the Book of Mormon really does strengthen people and families. And I want that kind of strength for all of you. Especially right now :)

So, funny story first. We went to visit a new family the other day with a member from our branch who`s leaving for his mission next week. We didn`t actually get to teach them because they were working, but we helped out and chatted. So we`re sitting there cracking and peeling these weird nut things with them and they offer some to us to try. How to describe them, I don`t really know. They were kind of like really hard, condensed dirt. No flavor. It literally tasted like I was eating dirt. After we all took the first bite, Josè (the member with us) and I looked at each other with the same face and he says (in English) "what doesn`t kill you makes you stronger." I almost choked. Between the situation and his English it was really funny. Maybe you had to be there?? I don`t know, but I laugh every time I think about it.

Other notable news, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this week. The talk itself wasn`t that exciting, nothing out of the ordinary. BUT, the exciting part, we went to visit a family that we`ve been working really hard with later that night and the husband pointed out how good my Spanish was!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!! It`s especially great because this same guy pointed out to me how terrible my Spanish was and said he thought I didn`t really have a right to be talking to him on my first day here. So that made me feel really good :)

Anyway, so yeah, another great week over, looking forward to the next! And again, nothing crazy out of the ordinary happened, but we can see the hands of the Lord in everything we do. Even in the little things. Well, ESPECIALLY in the little things. Progress is slow in Puerto, but it`s happening. And it`s really cool to be a part of all of it.

Have another fantastic week! I`m praying for y'all and everything.  Start the Book of Mormon ;)

Love you all!!

Amie

ps- My computer freaked out and something weird happened with all my pictures... 

Don`t worry. Heads up for LOTS of GREAT pictures next week.

Clifhanger, boaconstrictors :)

Happy JULY!

First of all, I can`t believe it`s already July!!! 

This week I hit my five month mark.

What?

I feel like I got here yesterday. It`s cool to look back every month and see the things I`ve learned.

As for this week, pretty normal. I do have one cool story for yàll this week. So we`re teaching this 17 year old kid named Alex. He`s a hoot and a half. He wants to be a rapper. Doesn`t go to school and his job is rapping on the streets near the plaza with his friends.You can assume he doesn`t have a whole lot of direccion in his life right now. But he loves talking to us and the lessons are always good. We got to talk to him about the Restoration about two weeks ago but didn`t have time to explain the Book of Mormon. We finally found him again this week and chatted for a bit, got him a Book of Mormon and all that jazz. We couldn`t actually sit and have a lesson with him because we couldn`t be alone with him and there was nobody else there. BUT, we came back the next day. The first five minutes went something like this...

Us: Hey Alex, how`s it going?
Alex: Good. Really good!

**small talk**

Us: So did you get the chance to read?
Alex: Yeah! (He read the title page, introduction, AND all the testimonies after one day!!) But I have a question. If I want to get baptized, what do I need to do??? Also, am I allowed to serve a mission like you guys?! 

Yup. Needless to say, it was a great lesson. He`s reading and loving it! We`re loving it! Hopefully I can keep sending good news about him :)

What else? Really nothing else crazy is happening. It still amazes me how incredible the gospel is and no matter how much studying and reading I do, there`s ALWAYS more to learn. And it`s always something that just blows my mind.

The church is true. The gospel is amazing! Learning every day. Loving every day.

Love you all!
Amie

Little Miracles

I´ve learned something in my mission recently. Before coming I had somewhat of an idea that the mission is full of all these crazy things happening every day. That I would see these huge miracles and things happen that are indescribable. Yeah, we have some moments like this every now and then, but I´ve learned that a miracle isn´t always a "movie moment" that´s going to be brought up in General Conference. Sometimes the greatest and most important miracles are just the little ones. For example, we had our district conference this weekend (like stake conference, but we don´t have a stake here...) and we had a less active member show up. We found him randomly one day after contacting his sister who isn´t a member. He´s been inactive for about fifteen years. He told us the day we met him about two months ago that he would like to come back to church, but hasn´t come to sacrament meeting or anything. We haven´t been able to stop by their house for about two weeks, but I was standing in the church hallway yesterday and he walks in. (side note, the conference was in a different chapel and everything, but he still found it) Without any reminder or invitation (I know, slacking on my part) he still came to church that morning, figured out where to go when nobody was in our chapel, AND he was super excited to be there. Someone might say it was just a guy coming to church. I call it a miracle.

Other examples...

// Members asking to come help us in a slightly dysfunctional branch

// Somebody stopping US on the street to talk to us

// A compliment and thank you from the people you´re woking with

And many others.

It´s easy to shug things off and not realize that they really are little tender mercies from the Lord. His hands are in everything, we just need to step back and realize really just how incredible every little detail of our lives is.

In other news, the president and his wife came this week. Instead of having our meeting in a chapel, we spent the day in the middle of the Amazon. It´s fine. My life is really cool.

Also, this weekend was cold again. Whipped out the cardigan AND the straightener (that caused a lot of comotion with the members at church...)

Life is good. We´re working hard. I love Hna. Nelson!! Everyday has a good amount of laughs and jokes.

Overall, the gospel is incredible. I love the mission more and more everyday! I can´t even imagine my life without it. I thought I was cool before, had things kind of figured out, but no. I´m so grateful for everything I´m learning. About myself, about the gospel, about our Savior, everything. 

As for things at home, sounds to me like things are looking up! Praying for Blackfoot and everything else! Say hello to the grandmas and the aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and everybody.

Love you all! Have a great 4th of July!

Amie

                                                    Happy Birthday!

                                   What's a birthday without a little cake fight?

            In the jungle . . .

                                                     The Amazon

                                  Proof . . . Of cool weather and straight hair :)

Still In Puerto!!

Okie dokie! Welp, I`m still in Puerto! Hna Ruiz is a sister leader in Abancay and I`m here with Hna Nelson. She`s a hoot and a half. It`s gonna be a great transfer!! 

Now, before I forget, sorry I made you freak out about being sick . . . Feeling great now! Feliz como un lumbrice (happy like a worm, it`s a phase here). I`ll keep you updated if anything drastic happens.

Oh, and I got the letters!!!! Thank you for the lovin`. Heads up for real responses in a month or so... :)

Now for the exciting stuff. I`ll start with the "I live in crazy Peru" then end on a more uplifting note again. 

So, we were in a lesson the other day with this lady. Her name`s Y,  and she`s a little bit crazy. But it`s all good. Teaching her is always exciting. After this lesson she offered us a drink. I forget the name, but it`s made from purple corn. Usually it`s really good!!! She handed it to us and it smelled a little sketchy . . . we asked if it had alcohol. She was very adamant that it didn`t. So,we drank it because it`s rude not to after you accept here. Aaaand, lets just say I have my doubts it was 100% alcohol free. Nothing crazy happened, but we felt really weird for the rest of the night.

So that`s cool.

Now. For the cool missionary story. We went to an appointment but she wasn`t there. BUT, her neice was. We chatted for just a little bit. It started with "my aunt`s not here, I`m Catholic, that`s nice but leave." Nothing super unusual. But we asked if we could say a prayer together before we left. After the prayer we all opened our eyes and she had tears running down her face and now she`s meeting with the elders (she doesn`t live in our sector :/). It`s just so cool to me how many people there are out there who are READY for the gospel. They`re hearts, they`re minds, everything. Sometimes they don`t know they`re ready, but they are. All it takes is a little prayer and the power of the Holy Ghost to completely change someone`s heart and perspective. Missionary work it hard, but it`s worth it. There are a lot of disappointments, but there are so many sweet moments like this that make up for it. And when we focus on those and the importance of sharing the gospel, the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, miracles happen. 

                                                 Pizza for Hermana Ruiz last day

                               

                                         Splits with the other sisters are always great!

                                            Hermana Nelson meets Pepe :)

                                                       Jungle woman!

                                            Lemons the size of my head!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

Welp. Training is officially over!!!! I´m staying in Puerto... My letter from the president says that I´m staying with Hna Ruiz, but hers says that she´s leaving. Soooo, not exactly sure what´s going on with that. Sorry I can´t tell you right now what´s happening. Whatever happens, I´m looking forward to it!

I got the package!!!! Thank you times a million! The peanut butter and jerky, genius. All of it made me smile. Yáll are the best :)

Okie dokie. This week. Was crazy. I have a mountain of photos that I want to send but can´t becasue of time. I´ll start with the story behind the foot pictures. So I´ve had this thing on my foot for about two weeks. Did´nt really think anything of it, just an irritated bug bite or blister or something from my shoes. But someone saw it the other day and FREAKED out. Then got everybody else in the vicinity to check it out then they all started freaking out. They were all yelling at me inSpanish so I started freaking out. Basically, from what I understand, there was some sort of insect living inside me and using my body as a host for its babies. So that´s cool. They call it "pique." I don´t have a computer to look it up, but if yall want to, there ya go. But anyway, Hna Ruiz had Hna Julia (our landlord) look at it, and she said she´s fixed things like this a lot. So we performed a little surgery in her living room. And by surgery I mean she stuck a needle in my ankle and just started ripping my skin off. It was not a fun experience... But, it´s gone now. I think?? Now I just have a huge hole in my foot. It´s fine. I live in Peru. This is my life.

Before

After

So I was posing for a picture at the same time that Hna Julia poured a lidfull of alcohol into my open wound! Hna Ruiz just happened to get the reaction...

So that´s my Peru story for the week. On a more missionary note, we had a baptism this Saturday! Sadly, his mom wasn´t baptized with him. But we´re working with her still. But the baptism was good :) The next day he was confirmed and received the priesthood.  

We have a new investigator as of this week too. She´s an older lady with 5 kids, one of them has depression. SUPER humble. Going through a lot of hard things right now. But she´s so ready for the gospel. It´s cool to see how the Lord prepares people and out of nowhere really helps us find them. We were just walking past her store one day and waved hello and decided to stop to chat. I´ll definitely keep you posted on her. Her name´s Flor.

Everything else is pretty normal. I really wish I could tell you more about this next change. But, it´ll just make next week just that more exciting!

This is Papa Gabriel. He lives down the street from us. I wanted to take a picture with him for Father´s Day. He wasn´t smiling for the picture so I told him I wanted a big smile, with teeth!! He kind of groaned at me and said, alright, let me go get them... I laughed SO hard!! 

Can you feel the love tonight?

Ahmm-ee-eh

Apparently this is how you pronounce my name. I wrote out my email for A and some other members of the ward and none of them could say Amie normally. And the spelling really threw them off. Haha I thought it was funny. Also, it was hard for them to believe that my full name is Amie Condie. Here, where they have four or five names, it took me a good five minutes to make them believe me.

Anyway, cooler, more important things! 

I know, I´m lame, but I was sick again this week so I don´t have a lot of crazy stories (spoiler: I´m feeling better now tho, it´s all good). We did have one random, fun experience. Nothing crazy spiritual or anything, but still fun. We were walking around the plaza the other day because we needed money and this American couple walks by and stops us. "Hi sisters, how are you?" I was a little confused at first. Because of the English and the fact they called us sisters and knew who we were and were all friendly and whatnot. Turns out he is the architect for the temple in Trujillo. Don´t know what they were doing clear down yonder in Puerto, but it was fun to see them and talk to them for a little bit. We didn´t have a lot of time because we were running late, but it´s all good. It was a nice little treat.

Other news for this week. My "Joseph Smith" investigator and his mom are getting baptized this Saturday!!! I could go on and on about him and his stories, but I´ll just stick with one for today. We were talking about prophets earlier this week, specifically Thomas S. Monson. At the start of the lesson I asked him if he remembered when we talked about José Smith and other prophets and if he could name some of the other prophets he knew about. I was expecting Joseph Smith, Noah, Moses. Prophets like this. He goes off about George Albert Smith and Wilford Woodruf. I was caught SO off gaurd and asked him where he heard about these men. He whips out the book for Sunday School and says that he´s read almost all of it. We all just had to laugh for a little bit. The kid really knows his stuff and LOVES this gospel. Again, only 13 but he is so strong and his desire to grow in this gospel is inspiring.

As for his mother tho, she called us this morning and said she couldn´t get baptized this week. We don´t know exactly why yet, we are going to meet with her later today. Again, sometimes agency mixed with Satan and his influences are somewhat discouraging. BUT, we´re working on it. Faith and patience, yeah? Hopefully next week I can write and say that we had two baptisms, not just one :) 

What else? Sounds like life at home is good and progressing. Congrats to Taylor and Sarah!!! I definitely want pictures of houses and the new life in Utah if possible :)

Love you all. Overally, life is good. LAST WEEK OF THIS CAMBIO! Who knows what´ll come next. But I´m loving the work and happy to be here!

 ´MERICA! This is one of our investigator´s daughter. She had a page of those stick on earrings. Since I was wearing my red and white stripes I picked the blue circles with stars in honor of our flag. They didn't appreciate it as much as I did... but I hope you do :)

That one time I picked a coconut for breakfast.

After a casual game of volleyball in the street :)

So there´s a little story with this little fellow. It´s completely normal for woman here to just reach in their shirts and pull out money or photos or keys or food or whatever else they might need. We were in the middle of a lesson with an older lady and she randomly let out a little scream. After that she reaches in her shirt and just pulls out this chicken. Sometimes when things like that happen I just have to laugh and remind mylsef that I live in Peru...

Danny & Michael

So I picked up two new amigos this week. I call them Danny (I got chiillllls, they´re multipyin´) and Michael (FEVER in the morning, fever all thru the night). They´re great. Really. The first day I was sick wasn´t too bad. The second day we called the elders and asked for a blessing so that I could be healthy for the baptism the next day. I felt better, but not 100%. We worked thru all of it until yesterday. I was trying SO hard to push thru until pday, but my body just gave out and we had to stay home and sleep all day yesterday after church :/ But I´m feeling betterish. 

Don´t have a lot of great stories from this week because of my cold. BUT, we did have the baptism!!! We talked to her Thursday and she told us that she prayed and felt dumb for even considering pushing it back a week. Thank goodness for the power of prayer and the Holy Ghost, right? It was a beautiful baptism. She was just glowing!

I feel lame for not having more to say, but really this week is kind of a blur to me... But all is well. Two more weeks of training then who knows what!!

Oh yeah! And we all get one more hour for interent now! Not for email tho. For Family Search! So if you have anything that you can send me (pictures, stories, dates and names if you can find them) that would be great :)

I love you all. I love hearing about home. I´m glad everything with the house is working out and things are happening. Thanks for everything you do for me :)

xoxox

"A" before the baptism!

We visited the "Eiffel Tower of Puerto" for pday last week.  Gives Paris a run for its money . . .

This is "R" and her new puppy. He didn't have a name so we started calling him Pinky because he kind of looks like the rat from Pinky and the Brain.  We came back the next day and the kids on the street were calling him Pinky too.  Haha it stuck!