Hola mi amado amigos y familia.
I HAD A GREAT WEEK. IT WAS SO HARD BUT SO SO GOOD.
Lunes we had to spend alot of time inside because of Hermana Miranda´s ankle. One of the Elders in our District fell and hurt is ankle too while playing sports with the district this week, so we pretty much decided as a district to not play sports together since its too dangerous for us haha.
We had a pretty average week at the beginning. Lunes, Martes, Miércoles, Jueves. Taught lots of lessons and contacted a bunch. Our investigator, Maria de los Ángeles, who was supposed to get baptized this week is having trouble getting permission from her parents. We´re talking with her Mom again today to hopefully set the fecha. So we're praying alot for her because Maria has been coming to church for a year and is so ready to be baptized.
We had Divisiones with the Hermanas Lideres Viernes and that was an awesome experience. I learned A TON that day. One of the Hermana Lideres has a guitar and apparently the while mission knows I can sing ( I don't know know how that happens but everyone asks me to sing and its like the first thing people say when they meet me. Hermana Howe I heard you sing really really beautifullly)
So that was way fun. The rest of the day I was split off with Hermana Narveres, one of the Hermana Lideres. We contacted I don't know how many people. It was crazy. And really fun! She let me do alot of the talking. Which was scary but I did it. I've found you just sort of have to speak honestly. Justopen your mouth and hope Spanish, understandable Spanish, comes out. The Spirit is 100% doing all of the talking and understanding most of the time. When I don't rely on the Spirit, I definitely see a difference. THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS REAL. With Hermana Naveres I also taught a lesson and that was one of the times I felt most comfortable teaching the Plan de Salvation. ( For some reason that lección is so hard for me to teach but its getting alot easier) It was a super good day.
Sábado. BAPTISM.
You read that right. We had a baptism. Cute little 8 year old Anghelo was baptized. It didnt count as an Investigator Baptism but we taught him all the lessons and I think helped reactivate his mom so it was still an amazing day..
This family is one of my favorites. Such cute kids. Abby who is 6 taught me songs with hand games in Spanish and that was way fun. Now everytime she sees me she makes sure I remember them. She also always wonders why I almost always have a band-aid on my finger. ( If you were around me this past year you know that this is a thing. I get cut so easily). The baptism was so beautiful. Me and Hermana Miranda sang "Cuando me Bautice" and it was really good :)
Then Domingo.
Fam. God is truly preparing the hearts of the people here. Like wow. We had a Miracle at church. Marco. Marco had taken the first two lessons with other Hermanas. He then moved.
He then showed up to church all by himself. No member or missionary. He just knew that he needed to go to church because he fully believed this is the true church (Which is true yo sé que la Iglesia ge Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días es la Iglesia verdadera en la tierra). SO Mosíah introduced us to him and we just started asking him how he felt about the church. He told us all about how he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet and this is the Church of Christ. We taught him el Evangelio de Jesucristo and challenged him to be Baptized on 12 de August. And he accepted and hes really excited. He gave the último oración and it was a real conversation with God. You could feel his testimony in the prayer. It was beautiful.
We have two baptisms set for the 12 de August :)
Mariana y Marco :)
I love these people.
And I love this gospel.
Yall are great. Keep being amazing :)
Until we meet again next Pday.
Hermana Howe❤
Ps
Just wanted to let you all know. I listened to Christmas mucis while writing this, Is it too early to be excited for Christmas?
Fotos :)
1-Me and Abby. I love this little girl.
2-ANGHELO. The first person I ever challenged for Baptism all baptized
3-The volcano Chachani Its probably my favorite SO PRETTY (you can also see all the Peruvian flags that every single house had for the Independence day of Peru this week)
HOLA my beloved friends and family!!!!!
This week was a crazy roller coaster full of hurt ankles, earthquakes, different companions, and new foods.
It all started Monday playing soccer with our district. Within the first 4 minutes of playing, Hermana Miranda fell and hurt her ankle. Like really bad. And so we spent all of that P-day resting (And watching Charly IN ENGLISH which was awesome). That night there was an earthquake too and that was a very new experience for me. I was just sitting there studying and suddenly the whole house started shaking. It was crazy. SO yeah that Monday was fun.
The next day Hermana Miranda wasn't allowed to walk. So I went out with one of the Hermanas in the trio in our ward, Hermana Torres. Honestly that day was the hardest day of my whole mission. I got lost a little because Hermana Torres didn't know the area and I'm still new to this. I also had to do alot of talking because Hermana Torres decided that she would help with my training and say almost nothing and have me do all the talking. I'm almost to the point where I can do that but I felt really thrown in to it and IT WAS SO HARD. And alot of our appointments fell through that day which was also frustrating. But that day I realized I cannot do this alone. I need the Lord´s help with every step. Because with out him, I could not do this. Not ever.
The next couple of days Hermana Miranda could kind of walk so we walked really slow to appointments and contacted people. We also had interviews with President Johnson which were WAY GOOD. He helped me remember that I can do this!
We almost had a baptism this week too. Which was crazy and kind of a long story but she couldn't get her parents approval so that didn't happen :( but its ok because God has a plan.
Maria de los Ángeles might be getting baptized this week. We really don't know. Its been difficult but we´ll see what happens. She really wants to be baptized and has been investigating the church for a year now.
The rest of the week was better. Alot of our investigators are progressing very well and they´re all really great.
The other Hermanas in the ward had a baptism this week and we went to that and I just love the Spirit at Baptisms. Its so beautiful. I can´t wait to help someone make the decision to make that covenant with God.
Lastly yesterday for lunch, the Chavez family who we live with, had all the Hermanas over and we had RABBIT. Which was a new experience. Saturday night they were cleaning it and it was so gross and after seeing that I didn't know if I could eat it the next day. But I did. And it tastes just like chicken so it wasn't bad.
One thing I learned this week that I´d like to share is that the word Repent in.. Greek? (oops forgot the language) in a different language denotes a change of heart or a conversion. SO repenting isn't just oh I'm sorry. Its a real change. It require alot of work.
So thats my week.
I hope yall are doing awesome!
I love yall and I love this work even when its hard :)
Until next P-day
Hermana Howe <3
HOLA MY BEAUTIFUL FAM.
I am still happy and HEALTHY. All the members here are so shocked when I tell them I don't feel sick at all because apparently for most North Americans are so so sick most of the time. So that's been a great great blessing!
Also the food here. SO GOOD. Lots of arroz and papas and PAN.SOO GOOD. But its all really good.
Right now I´m serving in one of the best wards. They have been such a great blessing and both of our investigators with baptism dates both were references from the ward. The two investigators with baptism dates are Mariana and Maria de los Angeles. Maria de los Angeles will hopefully be getting baptized at the end of this month which is great!
I love all the people here!!! They're all so extremely open and most are so prepared for this gospel its incredible.
We had so many amazing experiences teaching. Hermana Miranda is teaching me so much. Yeah half the time she has to repeat herself because I don´t understand but Im learning alot and also teaching her English which is way fun!
There are 5 Hermanas in our area because we just got a new Hermana transfered into our are into a trio with the other Hermanas. Theyre really great and Ive learned alot from them too.
Last Monday for P-day we went to the Plaza de Armas and it was way cool!! Its in the center of Arequipa. Such cool architecture and they have these markets with all this cool Peruvian stuff. It was so cool. I´m gonna get some way cool stuff there. It was a super fun day. Super sad that I cant figure out how to get my pictures on to these computers because its so beautiful here and I took so many pictures at the Plaza de Armas. I´ll figure it out and send lots of photos soon.
So the weather here during the day is so nice. Sunny and warm. Its so great. But once 6:00 hits. I'M FROZEN. Its soooooo cold. I was not expecting it to get that cold but the night time is freezing. Walking to appointments and we do most of our teaching on the front porches of peoples houses we just sit there FROZEN teaching the gospel.
I'm LOVING it here. So many awesome and cool experiences!!
I love this work. LIKE ALOT. Yeah its incredibly hard
but its also incredibly worth it.
THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE.
God loves us all.
I love yáll
Hermana Howe <3
HOLAAAAAA!!
I´m still alive, HEALTHY and happy!!!
Seriously you could not wipe the smile off of my face. I LOVE THIS PLACE. This area is so so pretty!! So many mountains and volcanos. Way pretty. The sunsets are so so pretty. The people are all so kind and wonderful. Since me and Hermana Miranda both knew nothing about the area and knew no one in the ward except the family that we live with (Who are super great and make the BEST food) We spent the first night out with one of the members Mosíah who introduced us to a bunch of members and helped us figure out all the streets and everything. We´ve had a member go to almost every single lesson with us. Which has been an AWESOME blessing. They all have super strong testimonies. I am still a lost little puppy with Spanish but I´m learning more and more everyday and it´s getting alot better. We were at the ward mission leaders house and their 4 year old son said a prayer and I was like I pray like a 2 year old because It was such an amazing prayer. SO my language skills are at like the level of a 2 year old but its okay. I´m getting better.
Speaking of dogs, they are everywhere. On the roads, in every single house, on the roofs of houses. Dogs Taxis and Buses that barely stop when someone wants to get off. That´s what you see everywhere you turn. One night we were out going to an appointment and on one of the streets every single house had like 3 dogs on top of it. And like 15 dogs were barking at us from the roof. It was so loud and Hermana Miranda still continued to try and contact this family in the middle of the street even though you couldn't hear anything over the dogs barking. We have like 10 people who we are teaching the lessons to and we have one with a baptism date! We have 4 others committed to be baptized they just don't have dates yet. We have been working non stop for the past week and its been a blast! I've gotten way good at the Restoration lesson because we teach it to almost everyone we see. The people here are really amazing. Lots of them have been so prepared. Their hearts are ready and open.
One of my favorite stories from this week happened yesterday. Now we have defintely had alot of miracles but this one really shows that God can answer prayers.
We invited so many people to church and we were even picking up some of them to take them. The only one who didnt fall through and not come to church with us was Anhgelo, who is an 8 year old boy of a very less active family that we´re helping prepare for his baptism (His baptism doesn´t count as a convert baptism but We got permission to help him prepare for his baptism. He´s super adorable so its fun teaching him!)
So all of the other people didnt come to church, so me and Hermana Miranda still prayed that somone would come to church and be ready to taught.
One of the Young Woman, Natali, in ward came and found us after sacrament meeting was like HEY so there is this old investigator of the church who just came into young womens and hasnt been baptized yet but shes super interested in taking the lessons again. You need to talk to her.
So we did and we have an appointment for tomorrow. She said shes really thought about Baptism!
MIRACLE.
Ive had so many oppurtinites to sing and share my talents. So thats been really awesome.
My spanish is better when Im singing haha.
Its been a super great week and so much has happened! I love being a missionary and I feel God´s love for all of these people. I love having the oppurtunity to be a missionary.
God loves yall and so do I <3
Until next P-Day
Hermana Howe<3
PS
My apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes in this. Spelling in English is getting ROUGH also the spanish keyboard is no help haha love yall <3
HOLA MI AMIGOS Y FAMILIA.
LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE AND ITS NOT OVER YET:
but first short recap of the CCM this week.
So hard to say goodbye but the field is great!
We had classes and everything else.
It was pretty normal. On Sunday I sang a solo in Church "Savior Redeemer of My Soul/Called to Serve" and it was so fun and I love being able to share my testimony through song.
I was then invited to sing it again that night for the whole CCM which was also great. The CCM was such a great experience and I'm so grateful for all I learned there.
BUT NOW SINCE THIS MORNING IVE BEEN IN THE CAMPO DE MISSIONAL (Mission Field)
We had to get up at 4 am this morning to fly here, which was CRAZY.
But we did it!!
Arequipa is so so pretty. Wow. Defintely not in the United States anymore.
We went to the Temple site where they are building the temple and its in such a great place. So so pretty. It'll be amazing when its finished.
Presidente y Hermana Johnson are such amazing people like wow.
Love them already!
My first compañera is Hermana Miranda! Shes from Chile and is so amazing!
She speaks almost no English so that has been an adventure. Ive understood alot of what has been said today which is good!
But I do get lost in the Spanish alot but I got this.
My area is right here in Arequipa. Its a little big but we can do this.
Its very very pretty and I cant wait to continue to talk to these amazing people in my sad broken Spanish.
Wow I love this gospel and all that it brings.
Missions are hard but as someone said in the CCM
"I've never been so happy to be so tired"
And I couldn't of said it better.
Until next PDAY. Lots of adventures and tears before then.
I love this gospel and I love all of yall!
God Loves you and so do I.
Hermana Howe <3
