Saturday, December 28, 2013

12/23/13

Feliz Navidad!!!

On saturday, we had another interesting experience with a spider. We have been having issues with those the past few weeks. On saturday we had another one in our apartment. I didnt see it (thank GOODNESS) but the other three sisters saw it. And the two who arent terribly afraid of spiders both screamed and ran too. The other was in a basic panic. And so I was trying to call our zone leaders who are the closest to come, and I called them four times and they didnt answer. I called my district leader two times, nothing. The zone leaders again, and it cut short. The district leaders, and FINALLY they answered. I was in a little bit of a panic, and told him to come as fast as he can, because there was a spider and we couldnt kill it (apparently this spider had big, thick, hairy legs, and was pretty fast). One of the sisters was sobbing and screaming in the background for him to come. We also tried to get ahold of the bishop who lives below us, but no one was there. I RAN past where the spider was to be with my companion (and OUT of the apartment). My loving district leader came RUNNING around the corner, and apparently he missed the part about there being a spider....whoops. So him and his companion were looking for the spider for thirty minutes (because it disappeared, the thing WORSE than finding the spider). And right before the zone leaders came, they found it and killed it. So the zone leaders sent the district leaders home (because its about 11 at night by this time). And my zone leader Elder Gandara (from mexico, served in the jungle for 17 months I think) plasted himself on the floor under the bed searching to find anything more, because the other companion of ours was saying the spider was bigger than the one we killed. So I was kind of making fun of him, because while searching, I could just picture him saying "little spider, where are you???" but in spanish "araƱita, donde estaaas?..., because it is more funny. I was relatively calm, but shaken up. Because I know how big the last spider was that the sisters killed, and that they didnt want to kill this one. They found a hole in the wall, and covered it up so nothing could get in from there too. So we didnt go to sleep until 12 at night.

For christmas, what they do down here, is they celebrate at 12 at night on the 24th of December. And apparently there are lots of FIREWORKS. Lots of paneton (its a  bread thing with gummy fruit in it, I dont like it very much) and they have a big dinner, turkey, chancho (pig), and I dont know what else. So I THINK we are going to our pensionistas house for the 24th. Also, tomorrow we are going to the offices to have a "party" with the mission. 9am-4pm. None of us plan on having too many lessons the next two days, because everyones going to be gone, or not want to receive us (that sentence sounds a little off, sorry). I am a little sad that this is my first and last christmas down here. I will be going home so close to it, but at the same time im excited to spend christmas with you guys next year. Bitter-sweet, but I dont need to worry about it. I only have about 8 transfers left. Its so weird. 4 transfers is six months. two is three, months dont exist. I will definitly be enjoying everything down here. I think it will be the hottest christmas that I will EVER have in my life. Hahahahaha. ;D

Victor is working a lot (the most work he has had in awhile, and also he got it AFTER he was baptized.) Weve been talking to his wife some, but not much the past week. She is out of town for awhile, so that was lessons less than normal. Its been pretty slow the past week, and probably this week as well with christmas. And probably for new years too. That should be interesting, I here that there are MUCH MORE FIREWORKS that for christmas. Latinos like to party. And party means till 3-4 in the morning. We dont have parties in utah....lol.

Thank you family for the christmas tree and ornaments! We have it up on our wall in our apartment, the little decoration that we have for christmas. Thank you so much for all of your sweet notes!!

Have a great week, and I will see you on Wednesday!!!

Love Always and Forever,
Hermana Heather

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

12/16/13

Training is going. Its not that bad. I like it to be honest. I still have practically no idea what im doing, but thats the fun of it all, no? My companion is awesome, and has lots of excitement, which i am feeding off of, especially when our appointments fall through. Which has been a lot lately. Especially with christmas near, i am hoping that is why....

We are all pensioning with the same pensionista. There are 4 companionships. The two from our ward, and then two from another ward  and the elders in the same ward, because their pensionista was crazy. Wanting the north american elder to eat raw egg, of which he is deathly allergic. So yeah....very interesting.

I am pretty sure the wheezing stopped, I used my inhaler for awhile, im not sure if it helped, but yeah. I still have more to use, im glad I have it. It helps when we are hiking up in the mountains. This week we helped clean the top floor of the house of our pensionista, of all of the stuff that she uses for work (she makes clothes, so there were scraps that they sell too) and we got that cleaned. Then on friday we went to jicamarca again, and helped make stairs for the lady to climb. I found out what they do for a bathroom. They dig a whole, and put a toilet on it. And when it is full, they move it. I thought that was so gross.....

Yesterday for lunch, we went rock climbing. Hahaha. It was the only way to get there. I was very grateful that we had our elders with us, because we wouldnt have made it up alive, our shoes are not built for this kind of thing. Very slippery sometimes, and the loose ground doesnt help much either. But it was lots of fun. :)

Yeah, those types of spiders live in the jungle. And there are spiders bigger than that. I have heard lots of stories.  ick. And I do not think i am going to stay calm enough to put anything next to a spider to take a picture. Hahahahaha. But if I do, I will give you a warning. ;)

Thank you for all of your support, it is well received here! i cant believe I have been here for six months! Oh, today, in one year, is the end of a transfer....just thought youd like to know. Hehehe. Yeah, i am a little trunkie....I might be on my way home in one year from now. ;P

Not much happened this week, found a few more spiders, but im getting better at staying calm and just killing them (with raid). Or my companion kills them (better). And for that i am grateful.

I love you all so much! i will email you guys next monday, and we will figure out when we will be calling you. and then talk to you the following wednesday. Love you all so very much! Stay safe! (and warm!)

Love Always,
Hermana Heather

AND

This was sent to Hermana Heather's dad:

My companion is good. A little homesick, and she had a little breakdown last week, but I told her she was doing great, and is still learning. It was her birthday saturday as well, but she said she had a good day. The people who found out about her birthday gave us lots of food. Sweets. Uhg. I felt so sick after that, hahahaha.

Now that im senior companion (wow, i sound OLD!!!) we still do things with the zone. We play soccer!!!!! It is so much fun to play with the elders. Especially one, who was playing professionally in guatamala as goalie. He doesnt play goalie here, because NO ONE scores on him. He just punches them lightly out of the way. He does flips to kick the ball into the goal, and he has so many tricks and things that he does. I think that guatemalans are the BEST soccer players in south america. Because he is not the only guatemalan that we had, we had 4 in the last transfer. And ALL of them were so good. Did you ever play soccer with latinos?? how was it???  I like to play soccer with the elders. Im getting a little better too! Its fun, and they are always yelling/encouraging me to kick it in the goal, and then making fun of the elder who is goalie, that I scored on him. Last week we(hermanas) didnt play, because my comp needed to buy some things, so we couldnt go. Elder C* (the goalie from guatemala) was DEVASTATED that I wasnt going to play. Im a little valuable beause the elders cant really do much to me when playing, lol. So I can get away with a little more, and not worry to much about getting run over.

12/9/13

Hola

This week has definitely been interesting. I got my new companion on Tuesday. Her name is Hna I*, and is from Quito, Ecuador (not one of the suburbs, but Quito itself). She is 19, and turning 20 this saturday the 14 (along with TONS of other people I know. Alex, and Elder in our zone, Hna I*, the sister of an elder etc, lol).

My health is interesting. I started wheezing about two days ago, with my breathing. I now understand what wheezing is. Im using my inhaler some, but im really not sure if it really is helping or not. One thing I trust Hna P* with is my health, but only if I ask her. It really could be because of how humid it is in our apartment, but we are going to keep an eye on it the next few days. My ankles started swelling pretty good again, but im not too worried about it. Im pretty sure its because it is so hot here, and we are walking around a lot. I had a cold last week, but after putting oregano on my feet for two nights, it went away faster than normal. So im good there!

So this past week, with all of our stuff moved in, and everyone, it was interesting. I dont remember which day this happened, but it was last week. I opened my dresser and a bug fell off of the door. I was like, ok, wheres the raid, and a flashlight. So I was looking for this but under the dresser and bed, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye on the ceiling. I looked up, and it was a BIG SPIDER. I screamed the loudest I have ever screamed, and ran OUT of there. My companion was praying and was just finishing when I did that. I was shaking so bad, I was so scared. Hna I* had no idea what happened, and when I finally communicated with her what happened, she looked and was like, "oh look, a big spider." she doesnt like them, but shes not as scared as I am. The other companion of Hna P* went and looked. They ended up spraying it with lots of raid (but it wasnt dying) and then I think they smashed it with a hammer or something. But they verified that it was dead. I was shaking so bad, and Hna P* was scared too, but she didnt see it. The companion of Hna P* (hna w*) said that apparently she doesnt have as much fear of spiders as she thought. I have more than I thought. Lol....... its not the first time we have found big spiders in our apartment. But this week we sealed off all of the spaces in the windows, and cleaned cleaned cleaned the apartment. I feel so much more safe now, more calm.

The elders think it is kind of funny. Our zone leader, Elder G*, served in the jungle, and doesnt have much of a problem with them. He said "have you ever seen a shirt walk?.......yeah, shirts dont walk, it was a spider." I thought it was very funny. But I dont think I would do very well in the jungle, no matter what I told myself. Apparently the spiders are HUGE there. Anyways, this elder said that if I (Hermana Heather) ever called him to come and kill a spider he would.

The christmas devotional was really good. I couldnt concentrate on the messages, but I loved the music. I saw Miss Nudd many times! Its nice to see a familiar face! And thats so cool that the band teacher from Lehi Jr High was in the orchestra! When Elder Rasband and Elder Nelson talked, I got so excited. My love for them grew after the other week. In the video with elder Nelson and the children, did you see the little boy wink at the girl??? everyone was laughing so hard at that!!!!

The "house" that we built was about the size of...... a square, smaller than my room. There were two of these squares, so two squares put together. There was a wall in between the two. Very small. To this day, I have NO idea how they shower, or use the bathroom or anything. They are able to get electricity up there. To cook, they have gas stoves. Like a camping stove (is what they normally are) with a gas tank. And thats most people in general. But all of the stoves are gas.

This past week, we sanded the paint off the walls of a house, so that we could put new paint on it. The paint was blue, and we were all covered in blue afterwards. We were like smurfs. Hahahahaha. We didnt really get much into the painting, but the sanding was pretty fun and entertaining. lol. So thats what we did for service this week.

Love Always,
Hermana Heather

Thursday, December 5, 2013

12/2/13

We moved.  AGAIN! Yep, you heard right. We moved. We are getting new Hermanas in our stake, and apparently we have to live with them. So first off, on friday, we went UP a mountain. It was so stressful, we built a house, basically just four wood walls. It was WAY up. I had a difficult time getting up, but I did. And then after I went straight to my house to pack to go to another area to do an interchange with another sister. So I was with two other gringas in another area. On Saturday, my companion called me saying that the elders just told her that we need to move. THAT DAY. We also had a baptism. So I didnt end up going back to our apartment until 6 at night, and then we dismantled everything and moved it all. We didnt finish getting everything into the new place until 11:30 pm. We only had two sets of elders helping us, it was so last minute. Those poor elders, they are so good. I did help of course, I wont let them take ALL of the credit, just a lot of it ;) hahaha. So right now, our apartment is a disaster, and we are getting the new Hermanas tomorrow. WOOT!.....

That was the end of the week. Ahh, you asked if we got the chance to visit with Elder Nelson (it was something I completely forgot about until right after we finished internet last week). YES! It was just our mission that he talked to. There was Elder Nelson, his wife, Elder Rasband (president of the seventy) AND the President of our Area Seventy. THREE GENERAL AUTHORITIES, WOW!!!!!!! It was so awesome. Apparently their trip to Venezuela was cancelled, so they asked our Area President which mission they should go visit, and he said Lima North. I am pretty sure that there was SO MANY that he could have chosen, and not just in Peru. We were so privileged. We learned a lot, and it was just awesome in general. Like the scriptures arent just story books, they are ANSWER BOOKS. And that we need to work hand in hand, the missionaries and the members. Thats just a little of what we learned, I have so many notes from this conference. It was awesome.

As missionaries, at least only in this zone, we have a service at least once a week. The other week we helped put a roof on a house. Granted I was down low helping load dirt into a wheelbarrow, but I helped nonetheless. We help move people into houses, or whatever they may need. Like building a rock wall in the hills/mountains. In my other area we didnt do anything, no one had things for us to do. But we do our service in this zone as a zone, which I like a lot.

We ride the moto taxis all the time here. They are basically motorcycles, covered so we can sit in the back. There are 3 wheels total. I will have to get a picture, it is kind of hard to explain. They are the fastest and normally cheapest way to get to a short distance, but fast. So those are kind of cool.

One sad note, for sure, one of our zone leaders, Elder Morales-Bac is getting transferred to be assistant to the president. I started crying. He is not an office elder, he is meant to be out in the field. He is such a good leader, and I am very sad to see him go. The president called him this morning to tell him. He is in shock too. He will most likely finish his mission in the office, he leaves in about May.

We dont know anything about transfers, but we are almost POSITIVE that Hna P* and I are going to change. Its just WHO, and where we are going to go. Woot.... :/ I dont want to leave this area. I also dont want to find all of my things in our disaster of an apartment.... because all of our stuff is EVERYWHERE. Hahaha.

I am doing well more or less. Oh, a cool thing that happened yesterday in one of our appointments. The wife of the guy we baptized a few weeks ago, first off, earlier this week she said she was going to assist church with her husband, because he is lonely at church. THEN when we visited them last night, she shut the doors to her store, to spend time with us, and listen. So there were no interruptions. WHAT!?!?! I wanted to scream with joy after that. I was so surprised, because she was most worried about her store, and didnt want to leave it for anything, let alone us. But she did! I feel she is going to be baptized, and very strong in the church. Just a little more time. We are so close, I can feel it....


*They just let us know who is going to change this transfer, Hna P* is going to open the New area, so she is one of the "new hermanas" that we are going to live with, and she is receiving an hermana of the mission, and then I am going to start training, in my area. WOOT! I am actually so excited!!!!!!!!! Hna P* is going to be the Sister leader in our area, she is not excited about that. Ok, thats it for now. Hahaha. Whoo...I feel very shaky and happy and RELIEVED right now. Im glad we dont have to take anything to the offices tomorrow.

Things are going well. The sister I am going to have is coming straight from the MTC, the other that Hna P* is going to have has been in the mission, for I dont know how long. I dont know who she is. I dont recognize the name at least.  We are in the Magnolias Stake. We have been here for almost two full transfers. We opened the area that I am in. Magnolias stake, ward Magnolias :) It is great

Oh, something interesting that happened last week, we felt an earthquake! It was kind of cool Apparently it was from a 5.8 earthquake, hours away from where we are. Its the first time I have EVER felt an earthquake. Im sure its on the internet, if you feel like looking it up ;) lol. It was last monday, around.....1508 hours (just because someone emailed me the time, lol) I think that is about 3:08pm.

Love Always
Hermana Heather