Week 48: April 24, 2017: Fun to see their reaction to hearing 2 white girls speaking Spanish.

Hi Mom and Dad!

Thanks for taking time to email me and send me those
pictures and everything even though I'm sure you're super busy and
having tons of fun! I'm sure that it will be a trip you will remember
and love! I think that I would love it! We should go when I get home
;) it sounds like you are having tons of fun and those pictures were
really cool! I'm sure it was super sad and humbling to see how they
live and I bet that it makes you grateful for what you have. I have
felt that way here and it's not even like I'm in a super poor area.
Make sure that you keep taking pictures because I would love to see
the rest of your trip. It's a good thing that you're both runners
because I'm sure that it would be a lot more difficult if you weren't
athletic.

That was a cute picture of Jason and Malery at prom! I'm sure that
they had a fun time! Did they end up going to a beach house after prom
or what? Malery's dress is so cute! I'm sure that Rachel is having tons
of fun being with Dana and Halle!

This week was good! We found a new investigator on Tuesday and she is
now on date to be baptized May 2nd! She has met with missionaries
before but something happened before she got baptized and completely
lost contact with the church. After teaching her on Tuesday, she
committed to quit smoking (and now hasn't smoked for the past 6 days!)
and pretty much asked to be baptized! It was pretty sweet and she has
such a strong testimony already. She has been super sick from quitting
smoking cold turkey and has been throwing up but still said that
nothing would keep her from coming to church, so she came! Things are
going super well with her.

The M family is still doing super well! And so are N and her
brother! We should be having some baptisms this weekend so please keep
all of them in your prayers!!!

We got to plant some flowers this week for a member, which was super
fun! The member family is the Andrade's and they are the best! They do
so much for the missionaries. They took us out to dinner this week and
they do our laundry so that we don't spend all of our money on that.
And this week we were in the middle of our area and didn't have many
miles (the zone gives us a certain number of miles we are allowed to
drive). So we just went to their house and did our studies on their
porch. They're so sweet! They're less actives who just got sealed a
couple months ago and are coming back to church! And one of them just
got her patriarchal blessing on Sunday! They're doing great!

Things are going super well here though and I've loved being able to
speak Spanish everyday! I still have a TON to learn and some people
are easier to understand than others but I'm just grateful for this
opportunity that I have to learn Spanish and share the gospel with a
wider variety of people too. Plus, it's kinda fun to see their
reaction to hearing 2 white girls speaking Spanish. We were trying a potential
the other day and a teenager pulled up and was talking on the phone to
the person inside the house in Spanish but was talking to us in
English cause he didn't know we know Spanish him and then the lady
opens the door and we start talking to her in spanish and it was super
funny to see his reaction.

We had a training for visitor center sisters this week so I got to go to independence a couple times this week and get trained by some
people from SLC. It was super cool and Ill share with you a quote that I really liked that he shared from Elder Bednar. I loved it because it
reminded me that I have to continually set goals and make plans to and change what I'm doing in order to accomplish my vision. It's like what
they say, there's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. Heavenly Father wants us to grow and reach our full
potential but we can't do that unless we are repenting and becoming better every day.

Love you all lots and I hope that you're all doing super well! Have
fun on the rest of your trip and keep me posted :)

Week 47: April 17, 2017: Things have been going well!

Ya I don't have much time to write today because we were playing

volleyball and football all day but it was way fun!!

We are still teaching the M family and they are doing really well!

They are still progressing really well towards their baptism on the

29th and we had a great lesson with them last night! We fasted with

them yesterday for their baptism and then broke the fast and had a

lesson with them last night. It went super well! It was really cool to

see how the lessons and talks that were given at church were exactly

what they needed to hear. They have such a strong testimony of the

priesthood and said that they are even more excited about their

baptism after the fast.

We are teaching a couple young teenagers as well who are doing really

well! They came to church yesterday and loved it and have been going

to mutual and read the Book of Mormon and pray together every day!

Things have been going well!

Thanks for all your emails and sorry that I haven't been able to send

a quality email in a while. I hope that you have fun in Peru this

week! 

I love and miss you all lots, you're the best!!

Week 46: April 10, 2017: We have been so busy and it's the best!

Hola!

So we didn't end up having the wedding for C and S this week

cause things kinda took a turn for the worst and they are now going to

stay with their original Christian religion and not get married or

meet with us and they are planning on moving to Florida. C told us

that when she started calling her family and friends about the

wedding, they all thought she was crazy and it kinda got to her head.

It was rough to see how quickly they ended up changing their minds

about everything. I often think about how Satan will always try and

tempt us or give us trials to distract us when we are about to do

something good.

We did end up getting to go to a wedding this week though! There is a

young couple in our ward who got married this weekend and our member

dinner appointment was going to be there so she just said to meet her

there. We pretty much just had to dine and dash so I was only there

for about 30 min but man it was a party. I guess the reception ended

up going for like 5.5 hours...And the music was so good...

We had an amazing lesson with the M family and they are still

progressing really well! Right before we went into our lesson, we

talked about doing a Book of Mormon read in third Nephi. That was what

they wanted to do! So we read chapter 12 with them and they loved it.

They are excited to be baptized and have been reading more and more

from the Book of Mormon.

We had to go to the hospital a couple times this week but dont worry,

not for any of our health issues. There was a lady here from out of

town to come to the hospital in our area and our bishop asked up to go

and visit her. We went to go visit her on thursday but they were

puttting her feeding tube in so we came back later that day and got to

talk to her mom and she updated us on the situation. Turns out she was

in a lesbian relationship that was falling apart and decided to shoot

herself in their home. It was so sad! We finally did get to meet her

on Saturday and I was amazed with how well she was doing and how well

she was handling the situation. She was so funny and it was such a

great experience!

We had zone training this week and interviews this week as well! Both

those went pretty well. We have been so busy and it's the best!

Thanks for everything! You're the best :) 

I love and miss you all lots

WEEK 45: April 3, 2017: This week was super crazy but super good!

Hola,

This week was super crazy but super good! We have so many good things

going on in our area right now! I don't have too much time to write

today because I was playing sports but I'll try and say lots of

information with what little time that I have.

We hopefully will have a wedding for C and S this Friday but

we still have a lot of work to do for it so stay tuned for next week!

We did get to go running with C on Saturday morning and he was so

confident that he would beat us in a race but died like a lap in haha

It was great to finally get to run again though and I got to do like 4

miles! I felt awful but it was the best.

We got to go visit liberty jail between sessions with another family

that is investigating the church and they are now on date to be

baptized on April 29th! I am so excited and they are so prepared. We

have been teaching them (well the other sisters were...) for the past

3 or 4 months. They are so sweet. We have been really busy lately and

have been super blessed.

I got to watch general conference in Spanish because we watched it

with investigators so I'll definitely have to go back and reread them

to get more out of them but the spirit was so strong and I learned so

much! It was so perfect for our investigators as well.

I hope that you are all doing well! I will write more next week :)

Love you all lots! Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! I

had a good day and we had lunch with a member family and then got

shakes from sonic on the way home so I guess you could say things got

a little crazy ;) but I love you all so much and really appreciate all

the support you have shown me! Love, Erin

Liberty Jail