Enfoque en JesuCristo- Focus on Jesus Christ

FAMILY!!!!

Aw I miss you guys tons but yes I am sooooo thrilled for Christmas!! ONE MONTH!!!! Ive tried not to keep count my whole mission but we are in the last month before I get to talk to you and i think its ok now ahahha thanks mom I'm super excited for the packages and I cant wait!!! Im pretty much in dying need of a lot of it ahha. NO WAY that Kanoah is gonna play Chino Hills!!!  Hahah Ill be cheering for Kanoah over here being sad that Im missing the season. btw also realized I'm going to miss most of next season too if not all. SO JEALOUS you guys are going to the beach. Its starting to get hotter and more humid over here. Basically I will never complain about heat again after the mission. 

So this week was a little crazy. I had intercambios with Hna.Vasquez and went to Tacala for a day and a half and wow basically every other area is dirt except ours because we are in the city. After I leave Miraflores I will be in a different world. Then Thursday Hna. Spainhower had to go to Lima to get her visa and the temp. companion i had got sick so we were inside most of the time. However Friday was a great day and we met this amazing new investigator named Jorge! Supposedly we contacted him one time and invited him to the web page and he entered in and talked with a missionary online. Then the Elders of our district contacted him again and he said he wanted them to visit him so they passed along the reference to us. As we met with him for the first time he was just dying to know the truth and he said he prays that God will let him find it, despite his age (he is only 52) ahha. Before I came on the mission I prayed a lot to find the people that were prepared to receive the gospel and God is truly leading me to them. I am amazed to see how much God is blessing me here in Piura. 

So basically mom you hit it right on the head. Many times in the mission, I feel like Im not good enough, like Im not working hard enough or being exactly obedient as I could be and sometimes that really sucks. I want to be the best I can and find all the people and talk with all the member and contact everyone on the street, but it's literally impossible!! or at least it is.. alone. This week I realized a little more about the Atonement. The Atonement doesn't just wipe away our sins. it fills in every hole that we missed, every doctrine we forgot to teach, every almost in made complete. Funny how this a lesson I think all of us learn each day, each study, each year, how to better apply the Atonement. Yet as I read in Moroni 7 there is a promise. 

in verses 29n and 30 it says

 29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.

 30 For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.

I think we all understand strong faith but having a firm mind in every form of godliness was something new to ponder. Hna. Spainhower helped me to see that it means focusing on Christ. Not worrying about if we are worthy enough or the best missionary or if we have the best numbers, Its about focusing on the children of God that we are teaching, the souls we are helping along in the path, whether it be investigators, recent converts, members, our companions or ourselves. its about focusing on Christ and loving as he did. Its about remembering a little child who came into this world because he loved us. Its so simple, and yet its so beautiful. This is my new goal until Christmas, to focus a little more on Christ and keep my mind firm in every form of godliness. I hope you can all take time to think of Christ a little bit more this week and remember what he did for you just because he loves you. I love you all and I pray for you everyday. 

Cuidense mucho y les amo tanto

Hermana Tanuvasa

So this monkey stole my tag....

Jesus was baptized this week!!!

So this week has been soooo fun!! Tuesday, Hna. Spainhower screamed on a bus because well lets just say Peruvian driving is really fun lol. We first died of laughter. Thursday morning I got sick. First time though, here so I think I hold the record for the longest holding gringa in the mish! Saturday, Hna. Spainhower got sick. So then we both died of sickness. And this week, Jesus had his baptismal interview and then his baptism and confirmation. So there we died of happiness. This week I died several times, but I witnessed the rebirth of a new life in someone else. And that caused a rebirth of my conversion within me.  This week I saw a rebirth of my faith. Boy do I always seem to learn so much about faith on the mission. One of my favorite scriptures that I pondered this week is in 

2 Nephi 21:5  

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, andfaithfulness the girdle of his reins."

I was pondering what it means to have faithfulness as the girdle of our reins and how we can even do that. Because a girdle of our loins protects our vital organs, so righteousness protects our vital soul necessary for eternal life.But as I pondered faithfulness as the girdle of our reins I realized it was the faith that guides our actions and every thing we do, in our thoughts words and actions. This scripture in 2 Nephi is actually describing Jesus Christ and he was always filled with faith. We see that in his words in 

Mark 10:27

27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, 

With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things arepossible

Often times I know I lack so much faith, but time and time again the Lord has taken the tiny amount of faith I've had and put it to work with his so that miracles occur, but it requires my amount of faith and constant repentance. Why constant repentance? Because my girdle of righteousness often has holes and tears because it is not perfect, but through the Atonement of Christ, when I repent and put my faith in Christ, he repairs my girdle of my loins and makes firm the reins in my hands. Christ is my Savior and my all and because of Him, I was able to witness a miracle and a new life begin this week. Alleuia!! Oh praise Him!!! ALLELUIA!!!

I love and miss you all and I give gratitude to my Savior as we approach this day of thanks for us Northern Americans. God be with you all and Cuidense!!!

Hermana Tanuvasa

We Love Sister Rasmussen!!!!!

Jesus, Hermano Marcos (ward mission leader) Hermana Spainhower and Kayla

Kayla named this monkey Abu because he tried to steal her mission tag!!!!

We live after the manner of Happiness

So I am doing fabulous. Let me say that I love my companion, I love my area, I love my district, and I love the mission. I finally feel like Piura is more like my home. I am coming to truly love the mission field. The work is going great. This Saturday (officially) Jesus will be getting baptized. He is finally ready and has accepted to give all to the Lord. I am thrilled that he will be the first baptism I will have the privilege of seeing in the mission. (Yes, Kara you still are the first in life lol) We have other inverstigators that are progressing and our lessons are filled with the spirit. We are working hard with Cristian, who is a recent convert who has basically gone inactive as he hasnt been to church in about 2 months, but this Sunday he finally came!! Liz and Christofer, the less actives that we rent from are so kind and teaching them is so fun. You can truly see the testimonies they both have that only need a little bit of help re-kindling. Our ward is kind of struggling in friendshipping, and our priesthood is lacking big time. We are working hard to try and help the members, but old habits die hard. Our district has great goals for the upcoming months and as a zone we have the goal of Un Noche Blanca where we are striving for two baptisms each companionship and one family baptism each ward. Goals truly do help us to put our mind in focus on our purpose. Yeasterday night as we went to go teach Jesus, I turned to Hno. Marcos who is our Ward Mission Leader, who is about 70 years old and the cutest happy man you've just about seen, that we should sing an opening hymn for Jesus. Well, Hno. Marcos is not very great at hearing and thought I said we should start singing right then! Lol so for the fifteen minute walk we took through the park and up the busy streets we sang hymns like The Lord is My Light, Count Your Many Blessings, A Childs Prayer, and many others. Yes, EVERYONE looked at us weirdly, and yes I dont have those songs memorized in spanish so they were in Spanglish, and yes I almost tripped on a rock and died because I wasnt looking where I was walking. But that was one of the most happiest nights I've had here. In this life, we will have MANY difficult moments and many times we may feel the ache to cry, "But why me,Lord?" but I can tell you right now that we can be happy. We can find the happy moments to laugh and sing and just smile, and people will feel the difference and want to follow it. Many times, Hna. Spainhower and Hna. Echegaray and I have knocked a door, just finishing laughing about something and people feel the happiness and smile as they see us. They then are always more inclined to listen to what we have to say. Working to find the ways to be happy is what will truly give us the happiness that God has in store. So find a way to be happy this week, even if everything seems a little rough or your patience is running thin. God will bless you with it because "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have JOY." 

Love you all and cuidense mucho, 

Hermana Tanuvasa

In the Mission home enjpying Sis Rasmussens famous cookies :)

I love Peru!

So this week we finally moved!!!! WHO-HOO!! Thank heavens that that whole sha-bang is officially over. Our room is super big and really cute. We decorated and we are determined to keep it as close to new as possible. This week Jesus was not baptized. His work has conveniently increased and we are finding it hard to find time to teach him. And of course he cant let us know if he is free until super late and we've planned other lessons. We are hoping though that we find sufficient time to teach him and he can be baptized either this week or the next. He reallly really wants to and we know that it will just bless his life like crazy. But we will keep praying and once again (as always) I am learning of the timing of the Lord. In the Liahona I found one of the things I read is that after Adam and Eve had left the garden they were commanded to offer sacrifices unto the Lord. But it says that (after many days, an angel visited them). It was after that they were doing the things that the Lord had commanded, and after some time that the Lord sent an angel to speak to them. We as humans, with our own agency have to do many good things of our own free will , and when God see's that it is good, in his time and in his way, he will give that which is expedient or necessary for our good. 

I am starting to really love it here in Peru. The other day I was walking and I heard the usual basic Peruvian music which is blasted everywhere with the same beat and same instruments in every song, and guess what? .... I actually liked it! Hahah its funny how everyone told me it would take about this long and I refused to believe it, but its true. The mission is hard, but it is so beautiful. I love these people and I love this work. I am eternally grateful to serve my Father in Heaven who has blessed me in sooo many ways and I know that he is caring for each and every one of his children, some of whom I pray and think about everyday. I hope all is well with everyone and that the Lord blesses you according to your needs. 

Cuidense mucho y te amo a cada uno de ustedes 

Love, Hermana Tanuvasa

God is a god of Miracles!

Hello family!!!!

This week was amazing!!!  So Tuesday we found two new investigators and they are really cool, so as we hopefully see more progress in them I will let you know more. Wednesday morning was kinda crazy but in the afternoon all of our appointments fell through. Hna Spainhower told me we should visit Hna. Milagros, a lady in our ward who has helped us soooo much in trying to find a new apartment. So i havent told you guys a ton about that but basically for the last two months we have been diligently searching for an apartment and it has been SOOO HARD! Because we live in the city its hard to find apartments that don't have boys living on the same floor, or a shared bathroom, or an unattached roof, or isnt 4 billion soles $$$$ lolol and every single time we have come close to finding one, something has ALWAYS gone wrong. It's moved me several times to tears as I get frustrated wondering why we cant find one. I tried so hard praying a ton for the Lord to give me faith and to bless us with a room. This has been such a struggle as it has interrupted much of our proselyting time. Well we had to move out by the end of this month and so we were starting to get worried. So Hna. Spainhower and I go to Hna. Milagros house to talk and see if she knows anywhere else. At first she says no, but after some time helping them with her house, she remembers that she wrote down a number. So we called the number and we found out that it was its not too far and so we visit it. Firstof all, its all girls, second its on the second floor, its also big and its cheap!! Then the lady who owns, who was showing it to us, starts crying! I ask her whats wrong and she tells us that she is a member but that her and her husband are not active. She also says that they had been praying for good people to move in to bless their two children, one of which is special. She then says she never imagined that it would be the missionaries that would move in. I cried as I realized how much the Lord had blessed us. He required my patience to try my faith. And from then, he produced a miracle. I know the Lord lives and that he knows the situations of every single one of his children. We have also been praying for less actives to teach as we dont have any. Im sure that the Lord often laughs at my silly impatience and doubt, because he knows everything and has it all figured out. This week, I saw His hand and I know he is watching over us. Little old Piura is truly being watched over. 

I love and miss you all and Im really grateful to have heard from you guys =)

Dont forget God!!

Love, Hermana Tanuvasa