FAMILY!!! How are you I've missed you dearly. We don´t have much time to email so my grammar and spelling may be awful but we only have one hour and then the computer shuts down. SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS WEEK! On the first day we learned a ton!! and you could feel the spirit so strong in this place. All of the other Hermana's and Elders are so kind and were constantly asking us how we were and if we were adjusting well, there definietly is a lot to adjust to, but the food is actually fantastic and we have desert in 2 meals a day. We are always learning spanish and its crazy how much the spirit works. I honestly have the biggest testimony right now of the spirit bringing back things that we have heard and then giving us the gift of tongues. I remember things from way back to freshman year and I can talk pretty smoothly. The few times we have gone out of the CCM and I've talked to people in spanish they first ask if i know spanish but soon find out that i still am not quite up to speed with how fast they speak. So on the first day here at night we taught these fake investigators and other missionaries came to set up the conversation then we had to talk between ouyrselves and come up with what we wanted to share next. With the woman things were rough and i dont think we really got anywhere but then her husband came in and talked about how it was hard to believe in GOD because of the things he had seen in the Vietnam War. I sat there for a little bit just listening to what other poeple said but the teacher said "what do you think Christ would say if he were here?" I pondered on this and then I finally got up and told him that we couldn't understand what he had been through or what he was going through, only Jesus Christ could and he had given us latter day prophets to give us revelation and help us feel our Saviors love for us. I said that each missionary in that room had chosen to go on a mission because we had felt that love and peace and we wanted everyone to have that in their lives. I ended up crying but the spirit was so storng and I could fell it burning in me. He got kinda choked up to and then later in the week, he came to tell me that I had listened to the spirit even though it was a role play and yet I was able to reach his needs. Several people came up to me after saying it was awesome but I knew that it was the spirit, not me.
So I have to tell you this one experience-on Friday we went to immigration to get our paperwork done for our visas and on the way home Im not sure where our CCM driver went, so we were put in a taxi. As we sat there quietly because we were all tired I was sitting in the passenger seat and I had the prompting to talk to the driver about the church. I was super nervous because I hardly know spanish and I didnt know what to tell him but the spirit was persistent. So instead I asked him if he had seen the missionaries before like us and ever taken them around. He laughed and said yes and then things just went quiet again. I still felt that burning but didnt open my mouth. SO instead he asked me what our "mission" was and i was able to tell him our objective in spanish, "to invite others to come unto Christ". From then on we spent the rest of the car ride which was probably a good 40 minutes talking about the church and what he believed, as he was catholic. It was definietly a struggle and I constantly was asking him to repeat things or reword it so I could understand but man was the spirit powerful. Even though it was a struggle sometimes he would say a sentence and I wouldn't understand it so i would ask him to repeat and I would just pray really hard and some how the spirit spoke to my mind the words that he was saying. We had an amazing conversation and I asked him if he wanted to learn more that he could just go to mormon.org. We gave him a pass along card and before we got out he said "because of this conversation I see that your church is very welcoming to others." I was so thrilled and there were several times that I got choked up and almost cried. Any who it was a reminder to me of how much I have to learn but also how when you desire to serve God and OPEN YOUR MOUTH he will bless you with knowledge understanding and words to say.
My companions are Herman Howell who is the one with short brown straight hair (see picture) and she is the sweetest thing in the whole world. Also I am companions with Hermana Batty who is the cutest version of a life sized polly pocket, the blonde one. Its sometimes hard being a trio but it also a blessing and i think it helps especially if I have a trio in the field. For example our first lesson was not so good and I didnt really feel the spirit but we´ve worked harder and grown closer and our second lesson went much better. We still talk in really slow spanglish yes spanglish but our teachers are awesome and so patient with us. They are the ones we teach. Our morning teacher ins Herman Louyasa who is so spunky and fun and Hermana Chocon who is a little quieter but still an amazing teacher.
There are so many stories to tell you guys and honestly such amazing things have happened here. I can feel the spirit so so strong. Also my district is AMAZING. I am astounded at how spiritually in tune the Elders and Hermanas are. Hermana Louyasa even said that she has never had a district that is so obedient. She also said that our spanish is better than the intermedio group which is only because we study so much. There are three groups of North Americans. Begginners, Intermediates and Advanced. We come in every two weeks and are in for six weeks but the Latinos, we get a new whole group of them every two weeks and there are more of them than us. There is probably only 100 missionaries here. Kinda crazy. But like yesterday we had a goal to speak spanish ALL DAY and we did pretty well. We didnt talk as much as we usually do, but hey we kept our promise. The CCM is small and especially since we get live devotionals on Tuesday from Provo, we see that they are Gigantic but we are strong and we have tons of opportunities to share the gospel outside. The people in Peru are so kind and so open to hearing the gospel.
Finally Sunday was amazing. I cried ALOT but hey what is new.
I hope all is well at hope and Im glad Kai had a fun birthday. Tell him I plan on bringing him home a llama toy lol . I got the boys two handmade ties from this cute mormon shop. (see picture)
Good luck moving this upcoming week and dont be too stressed.
OH also on Sunday we heard an AMAZING devotional from Elder Holland, when is he not amazing, LOL and I wrote a whole two pages on it. I forgot it this week but I will send a picture of my notes next week. When he spoke about opening your mouth I thought of you guys. Look there are so many people out there that need and want the gospel in there life so don't be afraid to just share your testimony Talk to everyone and use your words. Elder Holland used the experience of Joseph Smith and the first vision. he said the Satan cannot take away a life but if he wanted to take away anyones life, it would first be Christ and then Joseph Smith, but since he couldn't do that in the grove that day, he tried to take the next best thing, which was his words. We should never willingly choose to close our mouths and give our words voluntarily to Satan. OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND PREACH HIS GOSPEL BY THE SPIRIT.
Love and Miss you all.
also HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY KEANU!!
LOVE
Hermana Tanuvasa
