Back to Chiclayo!

Hermana Favero didn't send a long email this week but here are a few things she shared with me.  I got the pics from Google Earth.  

I'm back in Chiclayo in an area called Fredrico Villa Real in the Latina zone and I am a sister leader!!!!!!!

It's nothing like Jaen lol. It's almost the center of Chiclayo. We have Tottus (mall) in our area and it's all really nice and paved! Look it up on google earth. The chapel is on the corner of Garcilazo de la Vega and 7 de Enero. Or you can look up the big mall thing I told you about a few months back. We live like a street away from it haha. 

So we have zones,  like Jaen is a zone and La Victoria is a zone. Latina is the zone I'm in right now. The zones are named after the stakes.

My companion is Hna Gonzales!! Another Latina finally!!! She is from Bolivia!! 

Oh the trip was awful!! 6 hours of just sitting! They had movies playing and I had to force myself to not watch! And I can't sleep on buses haha my stomach hurt like none other too! The good thing was that we were in the really nice part of the bus and we had AC! haha and the view was amazing!

My comp has been out the same time as me!! we are gonna be going home together.

On our house, the cream part is where we go in to eat. It's our pensionista's house but we live on the corner on the third floor. The whole thing is her house though.

Chapel in Hermana Favero's new area 

shopping mall, apparently they sell everything here

Hermana Favero's new home.  Top floor 

Transfer Time!

Hermana Favero didn't have time to send an email because she is being transferred today.  She said she has a 6 hour bus ride ahead of her along with two other Elders.  She didn't have a chance to tell me where she is going but she sent lots of pics!

Hermana Tomlinson's visit

Some friends from the ward

Celebrating Hermana Kennedy's bday and saying goodbye to those being transferred. 

I'm pretty sure that's egg on their heads

Last time together as a district

Saying goodbye to Flor and her family

Helping decorate cupcakes

Flor's Baptism!!

Familia!
This week was so good!  So many feel-good moments for sure!

1.  My biggest challenge-um again...I don't think anything was more challenging than normal.  The mission is starting to just feel really good and accomplishing!

2.  My biggest concern this week was something that I think was not a concern for Hna Brogan.  I've been worried that once Flor was baptized the ward wouldn't step in like they should.  I haven't had the best of luck in the past with this and so I was kinda scared but in the end everything turned out great! 

3.  Biggest success....Hna Flor is a member!!!!  We made sure the baptismal service was as beautiful as possible for her with really good talks, a musical number by the missionaries and lots of members there.  She was so nervous and excited and we were by her side the whole time.  Her husband and his two girls were able to be there too, which helped!  When she came out of the water, she was all worried if she did it wrong or not.  So sweet! At the end, she shared her testimony and it was so powerful!  She didn't stand there and just thank everyone for being there but really bore a strong testimony about the church and The Book of Mormon.  She is now getting herself ready to go to the temple and be sealed to her husband. I'm so grateful I was able to see her all the way through the conversion process unto the waters of baptism.  This is why I'm out here!

4.  My favorite person this week was probably Hna Doris, our pensionista.  There's not really a specific reason, I just love her a lot!  She is one of the people I'll miss most when I leave this place!

5.  My most significant tender mercy was definitely after Flor's baptism.  Her husband turns to me and whispers, "You have one sin less today"  It's not doctrine but it made me feel super good inside.  It really helped me know that all I do makes a real difference. 

6.  Something I'm looking forward to this week is finding out if I'll be transferred or not.  Saturday they let us know and if I'll be leaving, I head out on Monday around 1 my time.  I love it here and I would be sad to leave a lot of people but I feel like it's time for another change.

7.  A goal of mine for this week is to take as many random pictures as I can, while staying focused on the work of course.  I want lots of pictures when I get home to share with everyone!

8.  Scripture with the biggest impact this week was probably Mosiah 18:8-9.  I was reminded a lot this week of the covenants I've made with God and I am so grateful I have! I'm so happy I have the knowledge I have! 

Flor

Jaen

Beautiful Jaen,  Beautiful Hna Favero

random pics

I knew in that very moment that God is pleased with me...

Familia!  This week was full of spiritual ups!  I love it when I have good things to tell you guys!  I'll explain it all in the questions/answers.

1.  My biggest challenge this week...hmmm this week wasn't really bad in that way.  Of course we had our hard days but all in all we had a really good week.

2.  My biggest concern this week was definitely if the sacrifice I've given so far in the mission has been acceptable to my Heavenly Father.  See #8

3.  My favorite people this week were Pres and Hna Williams.  They came up for a zone conference and we had interviews with both of them.  I'm so grateful that we have that time one on one with them.  With Pres Williams we talked about the family, how we are selling our house and just how far I've come.  I absolutely love my interviews with him.  I'm always so uplifted afterward. My interview with Hna Williams was very much needed!  She reminds me so much of mommy and when we talk we just talk about everything!  I told her about my hard times, my successes, my worries and everything in between.  Our 15 minute interview probably ended up being like 25 minutes.  She's the best! 

5.  My most significant tender mercy this week was when Hna Williams came with us to a lesson.  We were the last ones to have interviews with her and President went with the Elders to their lesson so Hna Williams tagged along with us.  Her Spanish is still shakey but she is so amazingly full of the Spirit that it doesn't even matter.  Our investigator really felt that what she was saying had meaning and it helped us with her a lot.  It also gave us some time to get to know her a little bit better.  She got mugged here in Jaen.  Don't worry....they didn't get away with anything.  She also went back to the hotel and told President all about our lesson and told him that we taught perfectly.  The next day, President congratulated us and made me feel very accomplished.  

6.  What I'm looking forward to this week is Hna Flor's baptism for sure!  She has come such a long way!  She will be such an amazing member of the church and I'm so grateful for the priviledge of being able to teach her!

7.  A goal I have for this week is to write down all the new words I learn throughout the day in my planner.  I've gotten to the point where I'm kinda boring with my vocab.  I need more words to use!

8.  The scripture with the biggest impact this week was the Book of Ruth.  I decided to read it cuz it had been a while since I had read the story.  I was reading with my concern (see #2) in mind.  When I got to chapter 2, I was definitely answered by God.

Ruth and Naomi, her mother in law, had lost their husbands so Naomi wanted Ruth to go back to her family where she is from to maybe start over and have a family.  Ruth, being a convert to the gospel and a daughter in law who loved her mother in law, refused to leave her side.  They went back to where Naomi was from and Ruth began working for a man named Boaz.  Her job was to glean ears of corn in his fields.  She worked very hard and was diligent in her reaping.  Boaz was very pleased with her hard work.  She was confused as to why he was so kind to her and treated her so well.  

In verse 11-12 I really felt a strong warmth about me.  It says...
I knew in that very moment that God is pleased with me.  He is so happy that I have left everything to work with his children among people I do not know. 

I also now have a stronger testimony of the scriptures!  They really do answer questions! 

5 More Months!

Hey you guys!!! So on Mother's Day, I'll be skyping around 5 Peru time so be ready!! I'm sooo excited to talk to you guys!!!!

So just to let you know, Ashlee going home affected me more than I thought it would as well! I'm not even there and it hit me hard! And now Austin is home!! Crazy!!  haha I just can't wait till its my turn!

 

I am soooo proud of Kaitlyn!!! I'm sooo happy you won!!!! You're gonna be an amazing pres!!!!

 

So this week was full of emotions! The mission is really hard sometimes but I've gotta keep pushing on to bring souls unto Christ!!!

Question time!

 1. My biggest challenge this week has probably been my own thoughts. Settling down to the last 5 months of my mission has really taken a tole on me. There are days when I'm super motivated and days when I just feel like I can't go anymore. The little things keep me going however. Like the really spirit filled lessons, mission night activities,and people who show up to church! I know that as I keep my head toward the eternal goal of our Heavenly Father, I can make it though! 

2. My biggest concern this week has been our numbers. When your comp is sick, you can't really do much. I know that numbers aren't everything but that's the way president knows if we are working hard or now. This week I'm planning on working my booty off to find more of God´s children to teach! 

3. our biggest success had to be getting through a lesson about the Sabbath Day with an Adventista family. Adventistas are some of the hardest people to teach in my opinion because they think similarly to us but very differently at the same time. They believe that the Sabbath Day is Saturday. They are stuck in the Old Testament times when it comes to that subject. The husband of the family asked about why we keep Sunday as the Sabbath Day. We taught them with the Bible a lot and they ended up just staying quiet and humble about what we said. We invited them to ponder and pray about it to know if it's true along side the restoration and they accepted the commitment. We see lots of potential in them!! 

4. My favorite person this week has got to be Flor! she is seriously an angel sent from heaven! She is such a blessing for Hna brogan and I. I can't wait to tell you guys about her more on Sunday!!

5. My mot significant tender mercy was probably being able to change rooms. Our last room was really not good for missionaries or the dignity of our calling like it says in the missionary handbook. There was mold growing everywhere on the walls and we had bugs like crazy every night.

6. Something I'm looking forward to for this next week is definitely talking to you all!!! Make sure you have lots of questions for me so we have lots to talk about!!! 

7. A goal I have for this next week and the rest of the mission is to really start getting my booty in shape to look and feel the best I can when I get home!! I cant wait for family pics!!! 

8. Scripture of the week...Alma 6:6 

We as a distrct decided it would be a good idea to fast for the people we have been teaching who have baptism dates. This fast Sunday was the hardest one for me. I know that Satan was tempting me so much because of the reason we were fasting. Now I know without a shadow of a doubt that when we fast, and we keep our eyes and hearts in the purpose of the fast, we will overcome the temptations of the evil one. Luke 4:1-12

 

I love you guys soooo much and I cannot wait to see you all on Sunday!! Pray it will work well so we can have a good time just talking!    

                                          Con mucho amor!!  

Chinese Food

Hey everyone!!! 

 

Sorry for not writing last week! I really just wanted to make sure I could talk to mommy for her birthday. These last couple of weeks have been kind of crazy! Mostly last week actually, this week has been kinda boring. Maybe I can express it all best by answering the questions...

1. Biggest challenge...hmmm well our numbers were a big challenge these last couple of weeks.. por ejemplo... on the 18th the elders had a baptism and of course we were told the day of about it lol Elder Miranda asked me if I would talk on the Holy Ghost so I had to get all of that together throughout the day, on top of that, the zone leaders called me to the stake center to sign some papers and then we had to go to the doctor for Hna Brogan and her weird bump thing on her shoulder lol so long story short, we didn't have the numbers we wanted that day :P Here in the mission, just like at work or school, when you have a low day, the rest of the week is even tougher lol. That's why you gotta be diligent all the time! 

2. Biggest concern... so this one is pretty funny! so apparently the members here in Peru don't really know how to keep the Sabbath Day holy... last Sunday, the elders wanted Chinese food for Elder Nordhoff's birthday so our pensionista , her family(which is also the bishops family) us and the elders went to a Chinese place to eat for lunch! So yeah we were big time sinners last Sunday :P In or defense, if we hadn't gone, we wouldn't have eaten so I didn't know what to do :P oops lol

3. Biggest success..last Sunday we had 6 investigators at church! That's more than I have ever had at church in my whole mission! Then this week we had two. Less but still great! Also we have a baptism set for the 16th for Hna Flor! I'll explain more about her on Mother's Day! 

We are really seeing blessings in our area and people are really starting to progress! 

4. My favorite person this week... I'm gonna be boring on this one this week. Everyone here is sooo amazing! I'm very happy to be here in Sunny Jaen still even though its soooooo stinkin hot!!! 

 

Soooo I'm out of time this week so I'll send the rest next week. I love you all soooo much! Thank you for all of your support and putting up with my stinky emails haha just a little over 5 months to go! 

  Con mucho amor! Hna Favero

Precious Water!

This week has been alright. It was really hard not to think about prom though! Everyday, I was thinking of what you guys would have been doing and Friday and Saturday were the worst! I hope it was a magical experience for the both of you! You both looked soooooo amazing!!! 

 OK on to the questions! 

1. My biggest challenge this week was probably not being able to be there for Kaitlyn and Kendra to help them get ready for prom! That was one of the things I was most excited to experience as the older sister! However, the blessing of being out here in the mission is priceless! I wouldn't change it for the world! I'm just grateful they still have one more year left of high school! 

2. My biggest concern this week was the fact that we have been without running water for a few weeks now. Here in Jaen its rainy season and when it rains, the pipes get flooded with dirty water so they have to cut the water supply to clean it out. We only get water for an hour or two randomly. When we do have water, we take advantage of the time, shower, fill up some buckets so we can flush the toilet and wash our hands, and clean around the room a bit. But it's really difficult as a missionary with our strict schedule. It's one of those times here where the leaders of the church are really pushing food storage. Because of the rain, there are also times where transportation can't get in or out of Jaen so the price of everything has gone up. It's not super bad but it's one of those faith building times in life for sure.  

3. My biggest success...

           COMPLETING 1 YEAR IN THE MISSION!!!

                   !!!MISSION POSSIBLE!!!

4. My favorite person this week was Lucia. She is a 16 year old girl who is like the smartest person I have ever met!!!! She has sooo much knowledge about religion and she understands everything we teach her the first time we teach it! Hopefully we will be able to get her and her family to baptism and on to life eternal! 

5. My most significant tender mercy this week was definitely when I got a letter from Hna Rochette! She told me that the Suares family (Diego and Luz) finally got baptized!!! When I read that my my heart grew and I had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders! They are the couple of investigators who had been listening to missionaries for around 10 years and we found them again (Hna Meneses and I) and we were working super hard on them! She said that they are the strongest recent converts in the ward right now! Sooo happy!! I'm so grateful that I was a part of them getting the blessings of the gospel! 

6. Something I am looking forward to for this next week is teaching all of the cool new people we have found! Because of our new contact goal, we have been finding soo many new investigators! They will all be really fun to teach! 

7. A goal I have set for this next week... well we have kind of been slacking on inviting people to baptism lately and that's one of the most important things we can do as missionaries. We have lots of new people right now and now we need to get them to baptism. They wont change if we don't invite them! 

8. Scripture of the week! 

     Alma 56&57

 The story about the stripling warriors is one of my favorite Book of Mormon stories! They were so valiant in defending their liberty and their country with dignity! They remembered what their mothers had taught them and they never doubted the Lord! 

         They are examples to follow!!! 

Well I'm out of time for this week! I hope you all have an amazing week and know that you are all in my prayers!!! I love you all soooo much!!!  

1 year for these Hermanas! 

Precious water