So not a ton happened this week to be honest! Plus since p-day was last Tuesday and we emailed at the end of the day it's been sort of a short week haha, but anyway, Julten is doing great but we can only visit him on Mondays so we only see him once a week. He is so awesome though and has a great family! We are still continuing to teach him. I think we are going to invite him to baptism if he comes to church this week!
Wednesday morning was awesome because we knew it would be Elder Harper's last District meeting with us so he made it super fun and also super spiritual! He can do that. It's a gift. He's a great guy.
Elder Harper gave me the "best smile" award in District meeting.
I guess I'd better share changes real quick. So Elder Harper se va (he goes), but he is going to Chimbote to be the new ZONE LEADER there! Yep. So we are super excited for him! Elder Ortiz is leaving us.. sadly. He is going to Chimbote as well in a different Zone to be a District Leader. And Elder Stroud is going to train! And my new companion.... is... a Latino!!! Elder Alarcon! Don't know him yet.. he trained Elder Nikols from my group. I've heard he is super cool and a hard worker so I'm very excted! Plus I'm really excited to have a Latino companion because I will constantly be speaking in Spanish and it's really going to help me. It won't be easy.. but it's going to help me a ton! Pero, así es la vida! (But that's life!) Anyway so yeah. Pretty cool huh?
Later that night we went over the baptism questions with Marilu, Magnu and Lucy. And holy cow! They are so ready! Magnu is so so converted and it's so awesome to see where he has come from. But the problem was, and Mom this will help clarify haha, so Elder Valasquez was Elder Harper's old companion and Marilu wanted him to come back to baptize her because she just loves him so much. But he couldn't because of the changes (he is in the office) and so that made her a little sad. (Mom's note: Aracely, Marilu and Magnu's daughter, has been sending me pictures and messages on facebook. She is a cutie, but she only speaks Spanish and I only speak English, so we have to have our messages translated. Sometimes, those messages get quite confusing as Google tries to translate them. On Wednesday, Aracely sent me a message but I had a very hard time understanding what she was saying, but I figured that the family was sad and that the baptisms had been cancelled for that weekend. I just wasn't understanding why, so Cory explained the situation to me.) Also Marilu's papers didn't come.. so we had to wait until today. The papers should be here today and then we are going to figure everything out. The plan is to have the marriage this Friday, baptism Saturday and then Sunday get them all confirmed.... but I'm scared to say that's "in stone" because it's not yet. So I'll let you guys know what happens.
Saturday we taught Ivan and Clarita and it was super sad... they said basically they are so busy they don't have time for this. It wasn't in a rude way and they were honestly sad. They just said they are so busy right now and December is about to get busier. They said they are going to try to read and pray still and come to church when they can. So we are going to continue talking to them and visiting but we have to wait to teach them because right now it would just be wasting our time. But they are so great! I honestly love them so much. I'm sad that they aren't getting baptized yet but I know that one day they will. One day other elders will find them and it will be their time and they will be even more prepared. But for right now we have dropped them.
Me and Elder Harper with Ivan and Clarita. They are so amazing. I'm sad to see them dropped.
We see such great progression in the people then Satan tries to work in and it gets super hard! And sometimes we lose people.. and it's hard and sad when that happens. But there is opposition in all things and it's so amazing to see the joy in people when they are baptized or are doing the right things in life. I will always strive to do my best and lead people for the good.
On Sunday we had church and Fast Sunday, like normal, but after the fast we pigged out! Haha we had a big plate of chaufa at Flors, with jello, and coke, it was a lot haha. Then like 2 hours later we went to Hermana Rosa´s (our next door neighbor who sells snacks) and she gave us pizza and pantecone´s! And wow.. we were stuffed!! We all knew Elder Harper and Elder Ortiz were going so that's why we had that. And we called it a noche de hogar (family home evening or home night) because we opened with a prayer and song haha, but yeah that's really it.
Me with Hermana Rosa and her kids - Jennifer, Junior, Hermana Rosa, me and Lorena.
Pantecone!! It's soooo good. It's fried plateno (banana). You cut it up and fry it once lightly, then take it out and lightly smash it, then fry it again and salt it.
Not too much happened this week. I'm sorry it's short! But this week was amazing and I'm going to miss Elder Harper. He's so powerful and fun and just a stud missionary but he is going on to bigger and better things and me too. I'm still loving it and doing my part to really serve with all my might! I love the people here and I strive to love them more and more each day and have charity and pure love for them. I love you all!! Take care!!!
Me and Any. She is super cute. She is Catty's daughter. Catty is a member and works in Flor's restaurant so Any is always around.
A Peruvian dog. They are super ugly. They are rare to see in Chao because we only have one, but look at his mohawk!
Me and Elder Harper in our custom jerseys and shorts.
The back.
Me and Elder Harper with Magnu, Lucy and Marilu.
