Thanks again for another great email and pictures! Emma you looked so pretty in your dress! I love your dress. That's a great color on you. It reminds me a lot of my senior prom dress :) I always LOVED school dances and I am glad you could go to prom.
Ok so I know you all want to know! I am still with Hna Guzman. We have 5 more weeks together. Which I am very grateful for. She knows the area so well and the people here adore her. She is very good at focusing on people and not lessons. I am trying my best to learn from her so when she leaves I can do my best to carry on the work we are doing here in Independencia. We also have two new missionaries in our zone. One is an elder from South Jordan, and one from Colombia. The truth is, it was fun to see how much I have improved these past 6 weeks when talking to the new elder. It's hard to see progress when we are measuring it day by day, but I have realized that the Lord is truly with me every day as I work hard.
Thank you for your prayers for S. We met with her mom this week. Haha Hna Guzman compared it to talking to the father of Lamoni. I couldn't understand all that was being said because her mom was talking super fast, but I could see the spirit working through Hna Guzman. S has permissionn from her dad to be baptized so the truth is she can be baptized. She just wants her mom to agree as well to the baptsm. When we left after talking to her, she had softened her heart a bit, but we are stil praying daily that she will accept the baptism. However, S passed her interview and has a date set for May. She has a very strong testimony. We also have a date set for another investigator named C. He is 18 years old. We are also having problems with his parents, but he is old enough to be baptized without permission. He is the boyfriend to one of the girls in the ward so he has a lot of support from her family. The truth is, there are a lot of youth who don't have the family support in the church. When they hear that all of my family is members, they are usually shocked. We are very blessed.
Overall, I am adjusting really well. I will admit it has been so so hard. And there are still some days where I question what I am doing. But then we go to work and I feel the spirit so strongly that I cannot deny that I am in the service of the Lord. We did splits again this week. I went with a girl in the ward named S. She leaves in 2 days for her mission to Guatemala. She is super nervous and she asked me if I was nervous before I left. I told her, the truth is, I am still nervous cada dia. Sometimes I feel like no one is listening to my words. But I remember the story in Mosiah about Abinadi. He stood as a witness of God, even when every one around him wanted to kill him for his beliefs. But because of his testimony, he was able to reach the heart of Alma. We dont always know who we are helping or how our testimony will help them. But if we dont share it, then there is no chance. I am trying to remember this when I have fear to talk or bear my testimony.
The leader of our zone knew I have had a bit of trouble finding the courage to speak. So he has given me a challenge that I need to personally contact at least 8 people a day on the street. He told me he was going to check up with me at the end of the week. Well yesterday because one of our lessons fell through while we were doing divisions, Solmyra and I decided to go to the park and contact. We contacted over 20 people. She was super nervous so it was fun to do it together and help her. When I reported back to Elder Nelson that I had in fact reached my goal every day and even contacted 20 people that night, he was very pleased. He told me that the secret to being happy in the mission is fulfilling our goals. Its the truth. I am most happy when I am being completely obedient to the tasks I have been given.
So even though the language has been hard, I havent had a problem enjoying the food. They serve us soo much here. Im scared I have gained a few pounds, but every time I tell the people I want to eat less, they say I need to enjoy the mission. Also its completely normal here to call someone fat. Its part of how they describe people.
Its starting to get chilly here. The nights are colder. But the mission has provided us with blankets. I think today we are going to buy jackets. My watch that we bought me broke. So I only have the only that you guys gave me for Christmas. I love the watch, but I am worried to wear it on the streets sometimes. So I am going to buy another. We didn't have warm water at all this week. So I have been taking cold showers. ALSO they had to shut off the water one day.and of course it was right during my shower. Luckily we had buckets of water in the bathroom. So i ended up washing out my shampoo like I was a pioneer. Each day is filled with so many different adventures.
I love you guys so much and thank you for your examples! Its so nice knowing I have my own little support system back home. All my love from Peru!
Hna Vernon
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| Hermana Juhl. She was the only gringa besides me but she was transferred. I will miss her. |
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| Our Zone before transfers. |
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| My new mission bag. |
