The Birth and (Almost) Death in Huancayo

Week Thirteen!

Well, this week was a slow work week too, but a lot of fun things happened because of it.  First of all Cledi (Jime (the taxi Drivers) wife) HAD HER BABY ON FRIDAY.  It was born with darker skin than me and it is the hairiest little alien I have ever seen.  Anyway, it was fun because Monday was Kim’s (her daughter) birthday.  So we went over on Monday with cake and were like where is the baby, and she is like, IN MY BELLY.  So we ate cake.  Wednesday we went over because that is the only day Jime isn’t taxi driving and is available for us to visit and there was still no baby.  So on Saturday when we called to remind her of church on Sunday she’s like "I can’t go I have a baby" so on Sunday we went and saw it and it was cool. They are such an awesome family.

This week was also hard because our Pentionista was getting her house redone right, and the painters put paint thinner in a water bottle and left it out.  Her 17 year old son walks in like "oh I’m thirsty" and drinks it. (all this was happening while we were teaching for the evening) and so she makes him drink water and someone else makes him drink milk, and he starts throwing up and then he walks to his mom and is like "I feel better" and then fell over and like died.  So we show up at 8 30 for dinner and no one answers so we're like "oh she probably fell asleep" because that happens sometimes so we got back to our apartment and drank Dr. Pepper and ate Pringles and our phone rings and she’s like "I’m at the hospital Rodolpho died I’m so sorry I didn’t make you food I will have breakfast ready in the morning" and were like what.  So we go the next day for breakfast and are like "don’t make us lunch go to the hospital we will live" and she’s like okay, okay.  She gets a phone call while we are at breakfast and her ex-husband is like "they won’t let me in, wait what did you say to me" and then in the words of our pentionista "then you could hear him punching the guy" like complete Spanish soap opera status.   We felt bad but we laughed really hard.  We got Chinese food for lunch, yum, and Rodolpho lived, he had an internal cleansing and a colonoscopy and went home that night and was at school the next day (because Peruvians are crazy lol)

We were visiting Ide and she told us that her niece Diana (little orphan who is the cutest thing) wants to be baptized, too.  But we haven’t seen her because she’s always at school when we go over.  So we go over and like every day that Diana’s grandma is in town she reads the book of Mormon to her and she is so ready to be baptized and she is seriously the cutest thing.  So we taught her what she needs to know before baptism and she and Ide have a fecha for the 9th of May. YAY

This Saturday we are going to baptize Rosani, who is paralyzed down half her body.  We visited her last Saturday and she was having doubts again because her family is whispering little falsehoods into her ear and we were just like, how do you feel when you picture your baptism?  And she’s like happiness and peace and then we were like "how do you feel when you think about waiting for it?  And she’s just like kind of gross.  We were like that is the Spirit telling you that you need to be baptized.  She thought for a minute and sat up straight, and was like, Saturday, I’m getting baptized on Saturday, I have been waiting for things my whole life, I am not waiting for this, and I was just like so happy because she is so amazing and I have seen how the gospel has blessed her.

On Saturday we were told to go to the stake center to pick up our mini missionary.  A mini missionary is usually someone that is 17 or 18 and preparing to serve a mission and it’s through the church offices and all official and we get one prepared female ready for a mission and have a normal day.  But we show up and there is like the entire stakes young men and they hand us a list of people (not in our area) to go visit. We’re like what... and then they give us four, FOUR, 13 year old boys.  FOUR! and we were like, okay we cannot do this.  We were literally babysitting, and so we were like we have baptism worthy appointments and this is ridiculous so we took them to our appointments and gave them candy when they were good, which was only once, because they would literally start wrestling during our appointments. I am never having kids.

Well, one of our slow days we were walking and all of our appointments cancelled and we were contacting in the street (which is not helpful, please always give references to the missionaries).  There is a festival right now called Cuasimoto. (We are going today WHOOTWHOTT) anyway there was a cotton candy guy down a few streets and Hna. Witt really wanted candy so we started walking towards him, and then he got on his bike and started pedaling away. So obviously we start running and we run like 9 blocks to the end of our area and don’t catch him and we can’t cross out of our area, so Hna. Witt stops a kid on a bike and gives him money to go buy her candy, he was nice and did, but it was funny.

Anyway, that was it 

Love you

Hermana Peters

Ancient Incan Place with Hermana Witt

Politics, Pishtacos, and what is happening out there?

Week Twelve!

Well this week was a rough one, it seemed like every appointment we had canceled and it was rough, but things happen.

It’s voting season here in Huancayo, so people are showing their support through t shirts and parades.  Fun fact, the flag for the region of Junin is a rainbow flag.  So you can imagine my surprise when half the city of Huancayo paraded down the street waving rainbow flags.  It was pretty funny.

So whenever we are street contacting there are two kinds of people the people that really love me and want me to speak English and the ones who look really terrified of me.  You’re probably wondering why people are scared of me like really I don’t bite well there is a thing people really love having at birthday parties here they are clowns scary right?  Well yeah, while at a birthday party of a ward member we were watching this clown entertain like 50 kids.  Then he told every one of them to stay away from gringos because they are pishtacos.  Yeah, I thought he said fish tacos and I’m just like yum, I wish I had some but no, pishtaco.  A pishtaco is a person who steals organs.

...

.

..

Right!

So half the people in Peru think I’m going to steal their organs and eat them or something, I don’t know.  But like adults are scared of me because of this and I’m just like Jesus said Thou Shalt not Kill so here come to church.

Yeah, anyway since it was a really slow week, we didn't teach many people but the people we did teach could not understand my accent and it made me upset so we got pizza, and it was good real pizza, and it was nice

Yeah.  I wish I had something spiritual to share this week but I don’t really.  Easter was a big deal. Like how we get half a week off for Thanksgiving, they get off for Easter and they make huge murals out of flowers and drink a lot like too much (Like there is a beer company that can only produce enough for the city of Huancayo these weeks when usually they produce for the whole South American continent).  So yeah, they make a paper mache Jesus and parade him around in a glass coffin like snow white and its really interesting because it is really Catholic based so there is a lot of crosses and Jesus death which makes me appreciate the church because what was really important is what is really beautiful Christ lived again and so can we and that is why the resurrection is so beautiful.

Anyway that is really it.

Love you

Hermana Peters

That One Week

Week Eleven!

Well, This week started out really slow with not much too say, I feel kind of bad for my future kids reading my mission journal because it is not that entertaining the past two weeks.

Hermana Witt was sick this week, which is a lot harder than me being sick, because when I’m sick she can talk, but when she is sick I try and talk, and have probably said some false things without even realizing it.

We haven’t had any ridiculously awesome stories with investigators this week, but we have one really amazing new convert.

She was baptized right before I came in and her name is Keith (Kate). She was in a relationship with an abusive man before her baptism, but they weren’t legally married, so when she learned the Law of Chastity she took the opportunity to leave him.  And she was so happy, even though she was raising her two kids (one and a half and three years old) on her own. Then this past two weeks, her ex stopped paying child support and she had to move and look for a job and it has been really hard.  

Then yesterday we had an appointment with Maura, and we were like Keith lives nearby now, let’s take her.  Which makes little to no sense because they have nothing in common, but we were both sick, so it somehow made sense. ANYWAY, we knocked on her door and she seemed a little off, so we kept asking how she was and she just broke down crying.  It turned out earlier that day she was really stressed out and her kid wasn’t listening to her and she went to move him and set him down too hard, and after he wasn’t moving his knee and she was so upset because she thought she broke it and it was so hard on her.

I walked into her house and just hugged her for a while (thank you Lord for making me an awesome hug giver) but I felt like there was nothing else I could do and Hermana Witt felt like there was nothing she could do because she thinks she’s a really bad comforter, which is false.  But anyway, I remembered one time, when I was really, really little, like 4 or 5, and Dad got really mad and threw my Barbie airplane across the room, and I was so scared because he was so mad, and then I´m like, how did I remember that so long after, after so long of not thinking about it and so I told it to Keith, and told her how I don’t remember it ever because I know my dad loves me and that is really all that matters, her kid won’t remember that in a year or two maybe even a day if you just keep showing him how much you love him.  I said all that in Spanish, (with help from Hna. Witt of course) but it was so awesome, and she just hugged me again for a long time, and I knew it was what she needed to hear.  It was the first time I felt like I was doing more than just saying the little sentences I have memorized in my head and it was helpful.

Anyway, our neighbors cat (Bartholomew we still call him) entered our apartment without permission, so now we keep a blanket under our door to keep him out, it has worked so far.

I don’t know if I have told you about Rosani. One day she walked into church and we went and talked to her. She showed up by herself because she was paralyzed on the left side of her body and she tried to kill herself, and she was really upset, and when she was dying basically, she had a dream that she needed to go to church. So that Sunday she got up, got in the cab and said take me to the church and assuming, the cabbie had taken 1000000534759867390475978 missionaries to the church before, took her to ours.  We talked to her and provided her with some comfort and she really liked church.  When teaching her in her home a week or so later, Hna. Witt and I both had this feeling that if she had a priesthood blessing she could be healed.  So this week we got her a blessing from the Elders and she isn’t healed yet, but you can see little by little her legs moving more and it is just amazing, and her mom is so happy, because since she started going to church every Sunday, she is so much happier, and she is, she is so smiley, and always is petting my hair telling me how gringa I am.  She is so sweet.

Which reminds me of another lady in the ward.  I don’t know her name, but she is a little old lady, the grandma of one of the girls we go out teaching with, and every time she sees me she comes up and kisses my cheek and calls me her gringita linda (cute little white girl).  She is just the cutest old woman.

Anyway.

Times almost up,

Love you

Hermana Peters

I HAD CUYI

Week Ten!

Yes it is official, I ate a guinea pig, but that is not all, I did not just eat the guinea pig, they brought it out alive, and they killed and skinned it right before me and cleaned and cooked it and it was really delicious.

That was kind of the highlight of my week, it was sort of a slow week.  I had a cold and was not completely with it.  But I am much better now.

We started teaching commandment lessons with some of our investigators who want to be baptized and it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.  So that is cool.

General Conference was this weekend, unlike the USA we don’t get it on the TV, we all gathered in the stake center to watch it via satellite transmission.  The first session we didn't get in English, which was sad because Elder Holland was speaking and his translator isn't as passionate as he is so we just saw his finger pointing and were like AHHHHHHHHHH.  That session we had Ide and Diana with us and when the last speaker (I don’t remember who) was like "maybe you came with missionaries" she was like "ahhh he’s talking to me", it was so cool.

The other sessions we got in English though.  It was so good.  Over the 4 sessions we had 9 investigators show up and they all loved it.  It was so awesome.  I really loved Elder Bednar’s talk.

Bartholomew

Last night we found a cat on our roof, it was whining and cold, so we brought it in for a night and gave it a box.  It’s pretty cute, but we can’t have pets so this morning we put it back on the roof.  It was fun while it lasted.  We named it Bartholomew.

So since I have like a lot more time I decided I’m actually going to answer some of your questions this week.  FINALLY RIGHT?

P Days.

Usually we don’t do much on P Days, we will go to the store or meet at a capilla or field with missionaries and play soccer and just chat.  They’re not the most entertaining days ever, mostly just a good relaxing time.

Food.

Lots of Chicken and rice.  But I’m not complaining, I love chicken and rice.  It’s all good.  I finally had cuyi which was good.  I tried some soup made with cow stomach which doesn't taste bad, it is made of 3 parts kind of, a really rubber part, a really slimy part, and a really spongy part.  It was weird but it tasted fine.  Other than that, chicken and rice, and lots of potatoes.  But I can avoid them just enough.

Love you,

Hermana Peters

Oh I forgot.

We aren't technically allowed to eat outside of the pentionista, except for Sunday lunch we eat with the members but people love us and if they have made us food and offer it to us we aren't allowed to say no.  So it depends on where were go for the day some members always feed us bread or cake or something others don’t give us anything.

People always give me hot-dogs because that’s what white people like to eat is hot-dogs and its gross I hate hot dogs.  When I say I like sandwiches they are like oh a piece of bread with French fries and hot dogs and I’m like please, no.

Apparently I was made for Peru food.

The Bird and the Baptism!

 The Bird and the Baptism!

The Parrot Attacking

Holding the Landlords Parrot

Injury Resulting from Parrot Attack

The Well

Preparing for a baptism, 
Filling the font

The Bucket

Success!

Oops, the one that got away.

Baptism Day!

Baptism Day

Baptism Day

Another Week in Huancayo

Week Nine!

Hello again,

This week was pretty good, I spent all day crying because of Spanish, but I feel like that was my wall and ever since then things have been awesome. Hna Witt is awesome at comforting no matter what she says. But yeah this week is awesome.

I taught Jime and his family again, (the Taxi Driver) and it was so awesome, He didn't read the assigned chapter so we read it with him and the Spirit was so strong. It was 3 Nephi Chapter 11 which I love giving people because it’s like, look it’s a history of when your ancestors saw Jesus Christ. I love it. Anyway we committed them to go to church and Jime works, which is annoying but we picked up his wife and daughter and went with them. It was okay, but the third hour was about how to be a good member missionary and we are just like, are you serious, so we distracted them with pictures the whole time.

We taught Ide again (the cute lady with the cute little old mom) and we committed her to baptism. She is so excited about the gospel and, we went back Thursday to curl her niece’s hair, it is the saddest story. Her mom didn't want her so she was a literal Cinderella child for her mom, and when her grandma found out (the cute old lady) she took her back to live with them, but they don’t have enough money to by her clothes (which she only has one set of) or anything, so we talked to the R.S. president about getting her some clothes and it’s a work in progress, so we went over on Thursday and curled her hair for our service project and made her all cute for school, because she is the sweetest thing. And Ide gave us knitted hats and I almost cried because they have like nothing and they’re giving us things

And we talked to Kieterson and Tatiana who are two people that got lost in transfers (do your paper work kids) but went to church so we met them, and they are cool and we put them with a baptismal date too. They are really cool kids. They are studying civil engineering and are about our age so it’s just fun. Kieterson really loves the Gospel and is just so ready to be baptized. Tatiana has some doubts but I think if Kieterson joins she will be more receptive. It’s really awesome.

So our landlord has a bird on the roof and we wanted to hold it right so we asked him about it and he’s just like, yeah cover your arm and it will be perfect. So one day we went up to hold it, and I had Hna. Witt go first (because she is the senior companion,) and it was cool, it just walked all over her, and onto her back. So I’m like yeah I can do this. So I put my arm out and it climbed on and it started biting my sleeve, and I’m like no get it off now, and while I was trying to get it off it somehow found the inch of skin I had exposed and bit it, HARD. I was marked for like 3 days! It was the worst.

Then WE HAD A BAPTISM! I was kind of down about it because it was like, no it doesn't count, her family are members and we aren't teaching her, but I snapped out of it, like HEY she would not have been baptized if it wasn't for us. So the night before we went to fill the font, but the church was out of water.... so we went the next morning to fill the font and it was all fine and dandy until the water STOPPED! COMPLETELY OUT OF WATER! So we ran around trying all the sinks and they were all out of water so we were running around trying to figure out what to do. and we hear this water draining in this thing underground so we open it and we see the water so we take our buckets but we couldn't reach, so we had to take the rags from the cleaning closet and tie them together and sink the buckets down, fill them, and run them to the font, it took until 10 until we had the font filled. It was awesome.

So we got all these recent convert names from the bishop to visit and ask some questions, and we met a guy named Hugo and he was so sweet but menos activo, so we talked to him and were like, hey God loves you go to church and we just talked with him for a bit and he’s just like I’m glad you guys stopped by sometimes I get sad so it’s nice to talk to someone, and guess what. HE WENT TO CHURCH it was so awesome.

There is more but I can’t remember, maybe I will remember to tell you next week,

Love you,

Hermana Peters

Just remembered

WE GOT HOT WATER THIS WEEK

It was so nice to have my first hot shower in like a month, and I had my two month anniversary the same day as our baptism, it was cute.

Oh yeah, we had a lesson with this cute old man in the ward who has grand kids and great grand kids. He was so cute but he took us to the middle of no where, still our area-ish apparently  but it was in a field and we sat on the hill with them sitting around us, exactly how you were picturing teaching in Peru would be and it was so sweet, and the man was baptized in the early 70s but I forgot to ask if he knew Shorten or Shauklus.