“Though Israel be not yet gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.”

Week Seventeen!

This week was a growing week.  Which is happy code for this week was really, really, really ridiculously hard.  On Tuesday we found out Hermana Witt was going to Lima until Saturday.  We had two options close Chilca for a few days or have a member be my companion for a while.

Obviously I chose the latter, I’m not leaving my investigators.  So with two weeks left in my training, I became a trainer.  But that wasn't the hard part, leading the lesson wasn't hard, the speaking Spanish every second wasn't hard.  It was the changing companions every 12 hours that was hard.

And by Saturday I was so done.  I was so ready to have Hna Witt back, and that was when I got the phone call.  Hna. Witt isn't coming back till Tuesday as in tomorrow Tuesday, I still don’t have a companion.  Today I am staying with the Hermanas of Peñaloza and I think this has been the hardest because I’m not in my area with people I’m comfortable with and I’m not with my companion, who is quite a bit more obedient than some other missionaries, and that is the hardest part.  Being ignored in lessons, getting yelled at for my informe numbers and doing the right thing all by myself when everyone around me is supposed to be doing it too.

But there were some highlights to the week.  We saved the cat and broke a window in the process, oops.  There was a stake relief society activity, where a bunch of Peruvians acted out the Oregon Trail, well not the Oregon Trail but the one for the Mormons.  I don’t remember what it was called but they were doing the story in Daughters of my Kingdom and there was a part about Taiwan and the United States and I got to be the United States it was great.

Then on Sunday the member didn't know they were feeding us so they took us to a restaurant and on the TV Lost was playing it was Season Two and I was like, Hey, I know this show, I've seen every episode.  Angie, my temp companion was like every episode?  This just started and I was just like I know what happens, hahaha, it was great.

After lost was over Warehouse 13 started and I was like man this is awesome, just kidding, it was only slightly cool for a brief worldly moment.

But this week I decided Isaiah is my favorite prophet of antiguidad, and Nephi is my favorite in the book of Mormon and here are some verses I liked.

"Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain, surely for my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God"

"But Behold Zion hath said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me- but he will show he hath not"

This is total.

We went to get Jaime’s marrage peper stuff
and we picked up a hitch hiker and his dead cow.
It was great

When the Olympics come to the middle of nowhere Peru,
yeah they’re ready

This fruit is warehead sour

This fish has a head

The Cat that Enters Without Permission

Week Sixteen!

Well this week was pretty good. The first thing that happened was divisions, and it was hard.  For 24 hours I was with the Hrna Leader. Someone I don’t know and we didn’t really have time to get to know each other or each other’s teaching style.  So we would try to have lessons and take it in completely opposite directions from each other and we didn’t know how to teach in each other’s way.  So that was hard.  But I passed and I get to stay on my mission so yeah, go me.

Yeah and then Rosanny finally got baptized.  Finally. lol, but yeah after she was like I do not care about my mom’s opinion on this I know I need to be baptized and she was.  Her mom was like I will not be there because my son has sports and Rosanny was like I don’t care so we picked her up because her mom won’t take her.   So we pick her up to take her to the church, which took extra time because they closed the main road for drag races, (crazy right) and Rosanny’s mom was sitting out watching the drag races.  So yeah she was there but Satan was holding on till the very end.  We had to baptize her 3 times, because she wasn’t making it under all the way.  It was hard and her mom is like no we need to stop she can’t do it again and were like will you be quiet for like 5 seconds while we do this and so she did and the third time was perfect and it was all good.

 

Then there is this cat whom I assume you have heard about before it enters without permission and one time I hit it with a broom and so it is scared of us.  Well this cat.  THIS CAT, fell through a hole on the roof into a locked room that only the land lord (who is currently in Lima) has access to, and at 2am, TWO IN THE MORNING it started meowing at the top of its lungs non stop in the window that was dividing my head from the room.  So at 6 30 when we can "wake up" we opened the window and it ran from us, because I hit it with a broom once, so it didn’t want us to save it, so we went to the neighbor who also has access to the room via window and she wasn’t tall enough to reach it so Hna Witt tried to grab it and still couldn’t reach.

Finally when we hid and she called it, it jumped into her house.

I really don’t want that cat living here and I am really tired.

Love 

Hermana Peters

Happy Birthday Herman Witt

Week Fifteen!

Well this week was a lot better than most. I don’t know why and I don’t know why I have things to say because I literally talked to you yesterday but I do.

Haydee's Baptism

This week we had a baptism for Ide, which is actually spelled Haydee as we found out. Oops.  It was good and she is so cute.  She put on a baptismal gown and was all embarrassed to walk out but when she did her husband like lite up. It was seriously so cute. 

Haydee, Hma. Witt, Hma. Peters

Haydee's Family

We were supposed to baptize her niece Diana too but her aunt took her away on purpose so that she wouldn't be baptized.  Which is really annoying because her aunt had never had anything to do with her life before so why does she care now?  I know why because of Satan.

But good news on the Rosanny front, She is confident that she will be baptized on this Friday because she is 18 and can make her own decisions and she wants to be baptized I feel like because she knows it’s true and because she knows she needs to be baptized she is getting the confidence to talk to her mom.  Which is awesome.

We also have a young man who was baptized by the elders who were there before us and we were talking to his sister and she’s like I want to be a Mormon and were like well did Henry tell you anything about the church and she was like nope nothing and we were like well now we can punch Henry.  Just kidding but it was a little frustrating because she loves the gospel and we are teaching his mom too and his dad lives in Utah so we were just like wut.

Anyway, we were teaching her and her friend and they had lots of questions and then somehow her friend was like but there are zombies in the United States.  We were trying so hard not to laugh, but really we died.  It was so funny.  We explained to her that it was just a TV show called the walking dead but she was so cute it was so funny.

This Friday was the birthday of Hermana Witt.  And it was a pretty good day, we had a hard time at first, because we lost our baptism, but after we went and saw Jaimes family and they gave us cake and we ate cake and then we went to our pentionista and she gave us cake and we ate cake again and it was good.

I think that was it and it was a good week and today is cool.

Love you 

Hermana Peters

We had a good time on Sunday it was basically like a second p day we had church and then we went to the familia baltzar, with the elders in our ward, and the elders in the other ward, and we ate pachamunca which is made by digging a hole and you put the potatoes in and cover with rocks and then the meat and cover with rocks and then humitas and cover with rocks and then the vegetables and cover with grass and rocks and corn husks and then cover with a tarp and it cooks from the heat of the earth and they filmed everything because there is a TV show called Consuelo in Peru and we are going to be on it tonight at 5, it is the show of their daughter, and they are just a super cool family.  They just threw all the food on tarps and we just ate it with our fingers.  It was cool.

Happy Birthday Chilca!

Week Fourteen!

Well it was another super slow week here in Huancayo and I mean really slow.  The festival Cuazimoto went until Tuesday, Thursday was workers day, and Friday was the anniversary of Chilca.  We really didn't teach many lessons because everyone was at all the festivals or having fun with the families because they didn't work.

 

Remember Rosani?  Yeah she didn't get baptized.  It was the hardest day ever.  She had her interview to see if she was prepared on Friday and we show up and the district leaders are there already and there is the deep sinking feeling in the room with them, Rosani and her mom.  We were just like what is happening?  And it turned out her mom was preventing her from being baptized, and it was so weird because she is 18 years old and she can make her own decisions and so we were just like what in the world, and with the 4 of us the spirit was so strong, and we could see her heart softening at some points and then like 2 seconds later it would just flip and be complete hate from her.  We were like, right now Rosani is making big changes in her life for the better and she needs support and her mom is like yeah I know totally and I want to support her in everything she does because I know that this is really good for her and then we were like Rosani do you want to be baptized, and she was like yes, and we were like okay what day, and she was like the 17th of May and her mom started yelling like no you can’t be baptized.  We were just like what in the world.  So we left them with a prayer and time to think over a date and then on Sunday we taught Rosani about Agency.

But yeah, Ide and Daiana are set for this week. They need 3 assistants to be able to be baptized and they didn't show up at first on Sunday.  So we had a member go and pick them up for us and now they are being baptized on Friday, (The birthday of Hna. Witt) and it is going to be great.

You asked about the people here and family history.  Let me tell you a little something about the church here.  It is brand new right?  Only a few years has it been a full on developed land of the church.  But they don’t want to be brand new.  They want to focus on things like missionary work and family history, and they all focus on that, when really they should be focusing on the basic doctrines of the church. They don’t understand the importance of the Priesthood yet and they want to have everyone doing 300 indexing names a month.  It’s frustrating sometimes because the other day we found a man who has been a member for 5 years and doesn't have the Priesthood because he didn't understand the Atonement, and I’m just like people please, the doctrine of Christ is more important than family history.

You also asked if families lived to close.  Let me tell you a little story.  We went out with a return missionary. Okay not really out. We stood on the corner outside his house and he would stop people and introduce them to us like oh, this is my uncle they live right there, when can these sisters visit you, and we were there for like 15 minutes and got like 10 contacts.  It was crazy.

Anyway, next week will be cooler,

I am sending some photos of Cuazimoto and the Parade for the anniversary of Chilca,

Love you.

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