Las Brisas - Week 11

Our pensionista's doggie - we are doggie sitting!

October 26, 2015

Well this week was a blur, and also the space bar on this computer is super crazy so sorry if I am lacking spaces in this post!

So I'll explain about the borrachos, beans, birthdays and blessings that happened this week. 

SO first, los borrachos. The Drunks. SO like weeks ago we were teaching someone in the street (Nilo- where he works) and some borracho came up and started jabbering away. Yeah well It was the same guy again. So one night we were outside someones house waiting for them and this guy crossed the street to talk to us. He started asking us where we lived before this life and we told him that we lived with Heavenly Father and then he asked some other question and started telling us that we were pretty but we need to learn what we are saying and teaching. We tried to end the conversation but he just kept going and going and then he started pointing down the street saying "that's where I live, you need to come visit me" But then he said "But not for me, you need to visit my son. He needs to get married, you need to marry him" WHHAAT. SO then I was like No thanks I'm good. He kept saying "He needs to get married, I want grandkids..." Oh no... SO then we referred him and his son to the the church and practically ran away! Dang Borrachos. 

Our chili dawgs!

Here beans aren't super common so people get pretty excited when there are beans for a meal. SO we went over to a members house saturday to cook for them, but they wanted to eat american food. Really we don't have special food in the US, its pretty much all from other countries. But we thought about it and we decided to make chili cheese dogs! And we made them with fréjoles! We made the chili and cut up some almost cheese (real yummy cheese here is hard to find and kinda expensive) The members, Bryan and Sisi, were super excited about the chili with beans! Hahaha but it was all good and yummy! 

This week Hermana Correa had her 23rd birthday. Birthdays here are a little different, and a little messy. So after we sing the birthday person takes a bite out of the whole cake, but normally what happens is when they are about to bite the cake someone just shoves their face in it. Also if it is your birthday you can expect to have eggs smashed on your head and if you are lucky you get a bag of flour to top it all off! Hermana Correa was lucky. But birthdays are fun!

And blessings. We have so many blessings in our lives that we don't even realize. And there are so many blessings that our Heavenly  Father has in store for us, all we really need to do it ask with faith and then act on our faith doing the things that have been asked of us from our Heavenly Father. Here in the mission I have seen so many blessings in my life and in the lives of others. Sometimes we thing that it is hard to act, to keep the commandments and do the things that we should. But really its simple have faith and act on your faith. If we have fear recognize it and replace it with faith. If we have fear we don't have faith, if we have faith we don't have fear. This week we had so many blessings. We found 4 new investigators who are open to hearing this gospel and we have been able to work with more and more people. Faith and action are the keys that everyone possesses to open the doors of heaven to receive every blessing the God has in store for us. 

  

Besos y Abrazos!!

With Love from Lima,

Hermana Scarlett

Las Brisas - Week 10

I'm going to be a crazy cat lady
when I go up!!

October 19, 2015

Well this week was great as always. And I'm serious when I say all the weeks are great. They are hard and there are tough times during the week but at the end of the day its what I learned from the hard times that are important. And at the end of the day I don't remember all the things that made me a little agitated or frustrated, I remember all the tiny milagros (miracles) that I saw, all the people that I talked to and all the fun times and funnny things that happened. So yeah there are no bad days here, tough moments a veces (at times), but never a bad day!

This week was a little jumbled up cause one of the hermanas in the trio that lives kinda with us has been having health problems so we have been helping her a lot. One of the hermanas has been with us so we are in a trio when she was at the doctor. But it was fun.

We are working a lot with Carmen and the thing is with her, she knows everything is true, she has a testimony and wants to be baptized but she has to wait for her not-husband to finish getting divorced so they can get married. And here that takes a long while. But we are trying to get in touch her son because her grandson (Enzo) is suuuper interested in the church. He is only 9 but he is the dang cutest. We gave him one of those picture books with alll the stories from the book of mormon in it and he is always reading it and is always asking us if he can pray and is always excited for sundays cause he wants to go to church. Hes a little golden boy. 

Hermanas are awesome party planners!

Also this week we had intercambios. I was with Hermana Bruns in our sector. It was cool and it helped me a lot with just having to know where people lived and being able to explain who people are and what their story is to another person, because its most likely that that is what is going to happen this cambio (transfer). But I feel good about it. 

Also today one of the girls from the ward is leaving for her mission! Antonela Chavez! She is just the funnest person that there ever was. She is going to the Sao Palo Interlagos mission so she might see Justine or Mykenna in the CTM! Also yesterday was the birthday of Ximena (She is waiting for her mission papers) and she is just the greatest. We had a Noche de Hogar with them and then we all went around the room and shared our wishes for her for her birthday. Haha but it is funny cause whenever I speak they always take a video of me! Que pena! But the ward here is suuper great and close knit and always willing to help us out. 

Ahhh yeah I love Peru, I love the Mission, i love this ward, I love this gospel! I wish you all could just be here with me and see and experience all the thing that I see and experience every day. I've come to the conclusion that it is just about impossible to share all my feelings and experiences and just all that is happening here with you all! But I try! Just know that there are miracles in this mission, this gospel is true and that Jesus is the Christ. God is our loving Father in Heaven and He has a plan for us and that we can live with Him otra vez (once again) and have eternal families! That's my goal and what I am working toward every day. For me and for the people I am serving here in Lima !

Fire extinguisher should be here, held securely
in place by this belt nailed into the box....

Besos y Abrazos!

With love form Lima!
Hermana Scarlett

Las Brisas - Week 9

October 12, 2015

Hmmm this week. 

Well we are working with a new investigator, Lilia. She is a fun little lady. She really likes to talk, but that's fun. The people here are always talking and will tell you their whole life story and all of their problems and whats going on with their dog, and neighbors, and chisme (gossip), and everything in between if you let them. Its fun, I learn new things every day. But yeah, Lilia is great and wants to learn more about the church, yay! 

SO we are working more with contacting and in our zone meeting wednesday we had like 5 minutes to go out in the street and contact. SO we went and we talked to this lady and she was real sweet and was just talkin talkin talkin! SO we told he about the church and got her datos (digits, phone number) but then she started talking about her son (after she asked how old I was..) and she kept saying that ¨El es muy Churrrro¨, ¨´Churrrrisimo!¨ haha Churro is a food and it also means like reaaly good looking or handsome. She was really trying to set me up with her son! Que pena (How embarrassing)...

Also I learned a thing or two from a reeealy less active member we found this week. First I learned that we (as members) need to always remember that people are watching us. People notice our actions, good and bad. This man stopped going to church because he saw members not living in accordance to their baptismal covenants and not living in a Christlike way. I saw this as an invitation for us members to always strive to be better and strive to be a Christlike example. Also the second thing I learned from him was about all the secret combinations of the united states.... he was a bit anti-United States. It was funny cause he pulled out a dollar bill with all kinds of notes and things circled and dotted lines and a national geographic magazine about mysteries or something like that. He told me all about Obama and the Masons and a bunch of other stuff. That was a fun time. 

Also this week was super for Luis! He went to a JAS (Young Single Adult) dance and made some friends, went to church, and we had a suuuper great noche de hogar with them and a bunch of members from the ward. OH man its great for him, he needed support and friends from the church, so so important! Also his mom, Elizabeth, she is doing great also. But seriously I can't express how important it is to have support from the members. Really if investigators don't have the support and fellowship from the members its super hard for them to stay active cause they are really stepping into a new world and its scary. But the members here have been great. 

Also this sunday was the Primary program and it was just too dang cute!  And just like home, there was the little rascals that shouted the words and it was just too good. Also 3 of our investigators were at church, some menos activos, and like 2 new people that are intrested was just there, so were gonna follow up with them this week! 

Yeah this church is true y´all! Learn it, live it, love it. It will change your lives! 

With love from Lima

con mucho amor

-Hermana Scarlett

Las Brisas - Week 8

October 5, 2015

Service this week - helping out with maintenance at a local
home for special needs kids - LOVED IT!!

This week was interesting, well really every week is interesting, but good, always great! 

We were able to meet with one of our investigators that we haven't seen in a while. Actually I've never met her, but I did this week! Her name is Ximena and she is 14 and is so stinkin sweet and so sincere. We taught her the first lesson and she just wanted to read everything and understand it all. It was great. But she doesn't have much time cause she is in school all the time and has exams and stuff. But we are gonna try and talk to her parents (they are always pretty busy) and include them in the lessons this week. 

Also we are focusing a lot more on contacting. SO the other day we were walking and this guy just walked up to us and was like "Hey what state are you from?" Haha I responded "Soy de Peru!" hahe he believed me. Yeah but his name is Chad and he is from Colorado and has lived in Lima for 4 years AND DOESN'T SPEAK ANY SPANISH! I don't understand. But yeah he came over here and married a peruvian but now they are divorced and she lives in the US with his son and he lives here and he doesn't really work so I don't understand why he is here or what he is doing. Haha it was interesting. But yeah he doesn't live in our sector so we passed the reference along. 

Yeah so we are working lot with our recent converts and reactivating some menos activos (less active members). I love working with them and seeing and hearing how their testimonies are growing and how they are setting an even firmer foundation for themselves and for their families. Its little but that is the way we learn and grow the most over time. 

Some interesting and unexpected service. So the toilets here are always a mystery. Sometimes there is not toilet paper (almost always if you rent like in  church building) or sometimes there is no seat, or sometimes they are super backed up (the toilets here don't have lots of sucky power) but people continue to use them anyway. So we went to the capillia and we went to the bathroom where we saw H. Norma (the rs pres) mopping up from a toilet that had over flown a bit. SO we grab some brooms and mops and help her out and so we are all finished. Then she flushed the toilet that had overflown - thinking it would just all go down. NO. It was gushing so much water and the handle got stuck down so it kept going and going and water was everywhere. And the waster was not clean! There were chunks (if ya know what I mean) coming out of the toilet too! SO she went and turned some lever under the sink that she thought was to turn off the water but instead she turned on the baptismal font! Haha so there was water with little surprises everywhere, and we were frantically sweeping it to keep it from going into the hall while she was hitting the toilet with the broom handle to flip the flusher thing back up! It was a wild time. Hahah but eventually we got it all cleaned up and duck taped the door shut so no one else could use it!

Random guy on a horse in Lima......

Also some other Service- this was more expected- We went to a school for children with special needs that didn't have parents and helped with the maintenance. The elders were painting a gate and we were in this little garden area pruning some plants and painting a wall behind the garden. Hahaha so we are working and then I realize that the garden we were working in was like the little shrine area of some Virgin! Hahaha it was really funny, but it looked really good when we were done and we even contacted a few people while we were there. Yeah so then we left and began working in the Lords garden! 

Also General Conference fue lo maximo (was the best)!! Oh man, so great! I keep going for my journal to read my notes over and over cause I wasn't ready for it to be over! But you should all take a look at the conference talks. I would need a whole day to tell you all the things I lovwed from conference and all the things I learned, but I don't have time so I'll just say one little thing. 

Something that really impacted me was the emphasis on the "simple and beautiful truths of this Gospel" When we have a strong foundation in these truths everything else will fall into place when we continue to live this Gospel and act on our Faith. I know that Jesus is the Christ. HE lives. We have a Heavenly Father who lives and loves us so much. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God written specifically for us today. The Book of Mormon was translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith through the power of God and there are Prophets here on the earth today working through the power of God. I love this Gospel and the Happiness, peace and comfort it gives me. Its true and its real and it is for every child of God. 

Love you all and you are in my prayers! 

-With Love from LIma 

Herman Scarlett

Dog on the roof of the apartment building across from ours.
I think he is a werewolf.....

Las Brisas - Week 7

September 28, 2015

I'm not sure if I'm gonna do a play by play of every day cause there is just so much and it takes forrrever to write! 

So I'll just talk about some of the things that happened. Ya

Las Hermanas on a very little bus!

We are teaching this lady named Carmen right now. She is the mom of Willy. We visit her a lot and she always wants to listen and has good questions. She already knows a lot cause she is an old investigator and has family in the church. The only thing is she lives with her Boyfriend and he works all day so we haven't really had time to talk to him and she hasn't either. But she is great, super sweet. She also has a little grandson- Ansel (I think its spelled differently but that's how it is pronounced) and he is so stinkin cuuute! He is in 4th grade and one day he was just watching us talk with Carmen and we invited him over and he read some scriptures with us and then we taught him how to pray and he said the closing prayer. And then our next visit he told us about how he went to church during the week and what he learned, and that he taught his brother how to pray too! HE is the sweetest. SO we are gonna try and talk to his parents too!

We met with our other investigator, Luis, a few times this week too. Its been a while since we talked to him cause he is always working or in school or with his dad. But we talked to him about his baptism and he wants to be baptized! Also him mom (Elizabeth) is so sweet and supportive of him. Also she was telling us how she is never going to forget us and we will always have a specail place in her heart. That was tender. They are great

Johnny is our other investigator. He has such a strong testimony and is ready for baptism, the only thing is that he wants to share it with his family, but he doesnt live with them so were trying to figure out his fecha (date) with him. Yeah but he is pretty solid and soooo sincere about everything. Hes super.. Just gotta work out the logistics with him. 

Ok so for the funny awkward moments of the week....

1. so there is a plentitude of creepy guys here and sometimes they walk by and like say things under their breath at me. SO yesterday we were walking and this guy walked by and I thought i heard him say "Gringa" so I was like yep you're right. Hashah but then my comp was like nooo he was saying liiinda (pretty)! Ok awkward.

2. We were visiting with Katy an someone knocked on the door and she opened it and it was the testigos! We made eyecontact and it was awkward and they talked to katy for a minute and then they left. They are everywhere here...

3. Hahah Hermana Linares really likes beyonce and sometimes she sings the songs but she doesn't say real words. But then I figured out she was singing DIVA: (A diva is a female version of a hussler) haha i died laughing, and then I taught her reallly how to sing it. Straight thuggin it in the streets of Lima. 

Ok now for my little spiritual moment!
I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON! Woot woot! I was just readin readin readin and then I turned the page and there was no more words. I just kinda looked at it for a minute and then started to crrryy. I didn't want it to be over! But now I'm going to start it in Spanish. You guys need to read it. Its a pretty good book. Seriously. But now I'm gonna start reading it in SPanish. Yall it is soo sooo true and so perfect. I have such a strong ttestimony of that and I just want everyone to read it and feel and know how perfect it is for every single person. I love the Book of Mormon. 

Yeah well I love you all so much and you are in my prayers!
With Love from Lima 

-Hermana Scarlett

These are pictures of some historic old buildings in part of LIma - they are super cool!

KFC in a fancy building :)

Las Brisas - Week 6

September 21, 2015

Monday: P-Day! Hollah. SO this pday was just my comp and I and the hermanas that live next to us and a member (Jackie-she is like 23 and super funny) went to a mall in Jesus Maria and it was so nice! Inside the mall it was HUUUGGEE, like 5 floors above the entrance and 3 floors below, but It was not as spread out so I think they built up and down for space. But everything inside was so clean and shiny and there was american things! We ate at TGI Fridays and i had a yummy delicious cheeseburger. Then we went to Forever 21! Yeah they have that here (mom you would be so proud of me- i only got one thing I NEEDED (a sweater..))  Then we did normal pday things like cleaning and shopping. That evening a lot of our citas (appointments) fell through, but we had a noche de hogar with one of the families in the barrio. They have 2 daughters and they ar like 11 and 15 and are so funny and are always talking to me and asking questions about english! But the NH was great and they want to have another one and invite alll of our investigators to it! 

Tuesday: We had lots of studying (as always), we visited with a few people and then we had a cita with our Investigator Nilo. I figured out what he does! He is a Huachiman (like a guard or watchman) for these weird dirt things they have here. I'll take a picture and send it next week. But yeah so we always teach him in the street where he works and so we taught him the Plan of Salvation! So good! He always has a lot of questions which is great and I can understand him so much better now so I can help answer his questions. But its a little difficult cause he does not live in our sector (area) and is in a boundries for another barrio (ward or congregation) and hasn't gone to church yet. Poco a pocca con el! (Little by little with him!)

Wednesday: I had my first intercambio! (exchanges - two sets of missionary switch companions for 24-36 hours) I went with Hermana Mackey (she is going home tuesday). She is so stinkin funny! We had to wait in her room for like an hour or 2 because we had no power and they were fixing it. But it was good cause I just need some time to talk to someone (in english) and ask questions and yeah, it was good I dont know how to explain it haha. Yeah so we visited a few people in her sector and while we were waiting for someone this mom and her son came up to us and told us to be careful cause there was a thief out (it was like 7 and dark). So they left and then we saw the police come with their lights and then the mom and the son running from that directions so we booked it out of that area. Also apparently there was an earthquake in chile (8.5?) and there was supposed to be a tsunami in Lima that night. Haha we were right on the coast, no tsunami! 

Thursday: We were going back to my sector in a taxi and I had all my stuff sitting on my lap and the door of the taxi flew open! It was a little rinky dink thing and I thought I was gonna diiie! But I slammed it shut real quick. That was fun. That day we had an appointment with Carmen and Willy (Carmen is the mom of willy- a recent convert, but not super recent) Carmen is so sweet and pretty much has a testimony, but she lives with her novio (boyfriend) so that is a little tricky. But she is the sweetest and just wants peace and love and all good things in her life, for her family, and for the whole wide world! THIS GOSPEL CAN DO THAT FOR YOOUUU! Yeah shes great. Then we went to IRU (the institute building) and did some historia familiar. We also got to star in a little video some member is making about institute and historia familiar. It was fun but I know I looked a little rough so I will be ok if i never get to see the completed video. 

Friday: We had a cita with Johnny- he is our investigator and his baptism date is for this Saturday! He is great cause he actually reads the folletos (pamphlets) that we give him and then he can pretty much explain to us what they are about! He's great, but sometimes he has a hard time with the dia de reposo (Day of Rest or Sabbath Day) because he can't just leave his work, so he is working to change it so he can. Then we went to the capillia (chapel/church building) and did some service. We ended up cleaning the church. I mopped all the floors and then outside.. the concrete here is a little funny cause its really smooth and a little slick. But it was shining when I was done! Then the RS had made picarones for everyone (they are kinda like fried doughnut things) they are sooooo goood!! Then we had our Missionary correlation meeting and planned for our people that we are teaching. 

Saturaday- Working and walking. We met with a less active family (Family Benavidez) and talked with them. They are the sweetest little family ever and they're daughters are so fun! Every time we go to visit with them it always turns into a little testimony meeting and the spirit is always so strong! But then they don't go to church. But they travel alot and have weird work scheduals or something. Ahhhh, sometimes that is just the most frustrating thing ever. We also had a noche de hogar with a member and Johnny. It was good and he shared about how he felt for his baptism (He said he knew it was the right thing to do and was ready!) Yeahhh! 

Sunday: We had ward conference - So good! Then for the second hour We had to teach the gospel principles class! I was nervous at first but then I just decided not to be nervous and go for it. But it was fun and good, and also I had taught that lesson before! (It was developing your talents). After church we had lunch with Hermana Flor, and also it was her birthday so it was lots of fun! After that we had our studies, and visited a few people, but no one had time so we just got citas for the proximo semana (next week) and then we had a noche de hogar with H. Flor! Haha she is they best and she always makes sure to personally invite a bunch of people! Also this night I made some real yummy food, but it was a little tricky! I wanted to make like those empanada thingies from girls camp (biscuit dough with chocolate chips, little caramels, marshmallows, bananas inside and then fried) but we didn't have any of those ingredients! SO I improvised! I made flour dough stuff and mushed it around with my hands until it was mushy gushy and then I cut up a chocolate bar (no choco chips here) and then we forgot regular bananas but we had baby bananas so I used those, then I couldn't find caramels so I bought some alfajores and "peeled" them and used the duce de leche (but it turns out you can just buy dulce de leche by itself..) and then we had marshmallows but I forgot to use them. But yeah i swaddled the goodies in the dough and fried em up and they were delicious! 

Oh yeah HAPPY ALMOST DAY OF YOUR BIRTH MOTHER DEAREST! I LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF MY CORAZÓN!!!! 

OK yeah I'm almost out of time, I hope you enjoyed my novel. 

Happy Birthday Mamacita!

Love you all so much! The church is so so so true and this Gospel is for everyone cause Christ lived and died for every single son and daughter of God. The Book of Mormon is my favorite book ever and has changed my life so much for the better. Read it. Learn from it. Love it!

Hugs and kisses por todos!
With Love from Lima 

-Hermana Scarlett

Las Brisas - Week 5

September 14, 2015

This week was an interesting one...

Monday: For pday we had an activity with all the hermanas (sister missionaries) in the mission (there is maybe like 50 hermanas and 150 elders) It was fun, we played games and ate food and I got to see Hermana Anderson and catch up with her! I love her guts! Then we were supposed to eat surri as a zone but we ended up not doing it cause the only surri they could find was fresh out of a cocoon and had wings. Hard pass on that one. But the elders tried to make no bake cookies but added to much milk so we all just ate gooey brown chocolaty globs, It was pretty good! We had a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with a family from the ward and they invited two friends that they thought would be interested in the gospel. SO we did a little lesson on the Restoration with the video and now we have appointments with them later this week! Then after that we went to a panaderia (bakery/grocery) to get some food and there was this creepy guy there and he just kept telling us how he was looking for a wife.... so we just invited him to church and told him there were all kinds of people there and left real quick! 

Tuesday- Not much happened Tuesday. We met with Luis (the son of Elizabeth) its hard to meet with him because he is in class all day or with his dad in the night. But we talked with him just for a bit cause he had t o leave for his classes. Then we met with Segundo. OK so I'm pretty sure I was misinformed.... He has ANEMIA not >LEUKEMIA. I feel much better now. I just kept thinking that he was going to die any moment or something. But no he's doing just fine. Then we had our English classes at 7, those are always fun. I taught my companion the skittles game so now we play that game all the time (but with peruvian m&ms) so we played it after the class and had a good laugh. 

Wednesday: We met with this little grandma names Rosa. She can't really go to church much anymore because she can't walk well. That's tough because you have to walk to church cause a lot of people don't have cars. So if they are older a lot of them just can't go. Yeah she is sweet, we read her a story from the Liahona and just talked with her for a bit. We had a meeting with our investigator NiIlo (the one that works in his car) He is funny, cause before we started teaching him he said his family was catholic but they didn't really attend church, but they are catholic. But then all of a sudden when we are teaching him, he is super catholic, but he is also reading all the folletos (pamphlets) and he always has tons of questions and is wanting to learn more, but then he always says yeah but I'm catholic. We'll see about that... yeah but while we were teaching him some drunk guy came up to us and started talking about the united states and Joseph Smith and was pointing at me and saying who knows what. SO we just gave him the restoration folleto and he teetered away. 

Thursday was really interesting. It involved an old naked lady, and some poop in the streets. But they are not related. SO we went with H. Norma (The rs president) to visit a family that was less active. We went to their house and found out that just the grandma (Estella) lived there alone. And so they are talking talking talking, and I am trying to understand the conversation and then next thing I know they tell me that we are gonna give her a bath. Um Whaaattt... Yeah so we gave her a bath... And then we cleaned her room cause there was dirt and mud all over the floor and spiders on the ceiling so we cleaned a bit. Then after her bath I was helping her and I was thinking this is so bizarre. But then I was helping her clean/dry her feet kinda reluctantly cause they were a bit gross, but then I thought about Christ and how he washed the feet of his disciples and How for these 18 months I am a representative of Christ. SO I forgot myself, remembered Christ, and got to work. She really was a sweet little grandma. SO peruvian, with little braids, and a little colorful hat and big magnifying glasses. 

After that we were walking in the street and I saw some child using the bathroom in the street! What!!!! There is a ton of caca (poop) in the streets from the dogs, but now I'm really questioning everything... 

Friday, we visited with Johnny and it turns out that he doesn't need to get married because him and the mujer (woman) are totally separate and independent, not living together! We had been telling him that he has to get married with her! Hahah that was funny, we were all confused cause he wasn't really sure why he needed to marry her (other than marriage is a commandment!) Yeah so his baptism date is for this weekend now! Friday we also visited with a member who has some family that are not members and we were trying to find out where they lived. Anyways we got their direction and then her little son came out and he is just the cutest little thing I ever did see. He had a bottle of stuff (like a syrup bottle) AND IT IS THIS STUFF KINDA LIKE SYRUP, HONEY, AND CHOCOLATE, AND HE WAS JUST STRAIGHT CHUGGIN IT FROM THE BOTTLE. TOOOOOO FUNNY. 

Saturday most of our appointments fell through: we had one meeting with Elisa and Jose Manuel (he's the one that sang during a lesson) anyways they have so much love for Peru and they always ask if we have visited Cuzco yet or Arequipa, or Iquitos, or a bunch of places in Lima and we always tell them no - we can leave the mission boundaries. Haha so Jose said the opening prayer and he prayed that we would visit... and started to list alllll the different cool parts of Peru. And he called us "the one from North America" and "the one from Colombia" also they call me Hermana Gringa...(Sister American in slang) Those appointments are always interesting with them. But yeah Elisa still can't go to church cause she is a little sickly. They also don't have money so its a little tricky with them cause they always ask if we can help them and there really isn't anything we can do for them money wise. Yeah so then we were in the institute building and did historia familiar and then we went home. 

Sundays are always good. We had church and then after that we had lunch with a member, Hermano Chileano - we had these stuffed peppers, rice and beans. Its always exciting when we have beans cause people don't normally eat them here much. He told us the peppers were spicy, especially the tops, so to be careful. But I was eating it and it just tasted normal to me, maybe just a liiitle bit spicy. SO Then I figured he must have been mistaken so I popped the top in my mouth. I ate it and swallowed it and nothing happened. But then something did happen. My mouth was buuuurining! It was so hot it felt cold. I said a little prayer that I wouldn't die and then ate some rice and potatoes real quick to help. It helped a bit, and somehow I survived. Haha but it was good! Also they have this dessert here called turron (I'm not sure how to spell it) but it is so yummy. all the food here is yummy. After lunch we visited with Jananthy, she is a recent convert. And we helped her with a project for her daughter's class. It was fun and she is so funny and her little daughter is a nut! Yeah then after that not a lot of people had time so we just had a few short visits and got some appointments for this next week. 

This week I made it to 3 Nephi and have been studying the teachings of Christ to the people of the Americas! If everyone could just read the Book of Mormon that would be just great, cause this book helps me in literally every part of my life. It was a little intimidating to first pick it up and start reading, but now I never want to put it down and I'm getting a little sad - I'm almost finished reading it. This book is the truest book in the history of forever and I don't really know how to express how much it has helped and changed me. This church is true y'all!  Lo quiero mucchisimo! (I love it so very much!!!!!)

With Love from Lima 

Hermana Scarlett