That one time we almost had a baptism

Once upon a time, we had a baptism. oh wait. ALMOST. She was in her baptism clothes and everything, but 2 hours after it was supposed to start, her family came and decided they didn{t want her to be baptized this week. They were upset and i felt like I was in a spanish soap opera, but the good news is, we got pictures. so it{s almost like it happened haha. She will be baptized this week if everything goes smoothly. 

I just want to share some things from my journal because my brain is a little bit fried. This has been a rough week. There were miracles this week, but huge trials as well. 

24 de Julio 2013

Today we had 2 miracles (big ones) and a lot of tiny miracles.... Ambrosia accepted her baptismal date for the 3rd of August (she didn{t come to church so we had to change it to next week). She is so funny. She always repeats our prayers and almost always takes over the prayer and finishes it for us. She knelt dpown behind the chair when the elders came to give her a blessing. I love her so much. She has so many problems in her life and I know living the gospel will bless her life so much. I am so excited to watch her progress. 

We also had a little adventure today. There is a little old lady that lives really far away (we got permission to visit her) and she only speaks quechua. I thought we were just going to talk to her daughter who lives down the street from us, but i{m pretty sure something important got lost in translation cuz there I was with her daughter, my companion, and 20 other people, squished into a van meant for 6. It smelt like death, and there was a lady in my face breastfeeding her baby. It{s fine. It{s peru.

 Anyways, we waited in the smelly van forever, and finally set off for who jknows where... no one spoke spanish on the bus, only quechua. (at least I hope it was Quechua, or I really need to work on my Spanish). We got dropped off in the middle of nowhere. The daugher showed us the way to her mom{s house. She jetted off into a little stream and says "cuidado". she was forever ahead of me, and I could barely see cuz i forgot my glasses. I just started laughing cuz I looked back and hna. inga is wearing ballet flats and keeps trying to only step on rocks, and I{m trudging through the mud in my boots. THANK you Uncle Marc and Aunt Echo for knocking some sense into me. Boots are a good idea. 

When I catch up to her daughter, she picks up a mug she found in the middle of the stream COVERED in dirt, and says something along the lines of "oooh. a little cup. It{s mine now." Once again, all I can do is laugh. When we finally arrive at her house, some adorable dirty children run up to me, and the first thing they say is "There{s spiders everywhere".... awesome. I feel like freaking Ron Weasley in the forbidden forrest. I HATE spiders. But I braved it anyway. 

We walked through the door to her yard, and the first thing I see is about 30 little piles of poop drying on a table. Not entirely sure what they{re for, but it smelled really good.ha. joke. I had no idea what was going on the entire lesson. She only speaks quechua, and i BARELY speak spanish, so it was a fun time. I mostly just kept the kids distracted with pass along cards. The room was filled with animal skins (not sure what kind.) and our only light was a 100 year old lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Luckily we didn{t need to read anything, cuz she doesn{t understand spanish. I just kept laughing to myself and thinking about how i{ll never get an experience like this ever again. At the end of the lesson, Hna. Inga told me she is getting baptized on August 3rd. OKAY! I don{t know how that happened, but i{ll be there and i{m really excited about it. 

As we were leaving, her daughter told us that she always hides from us when she knows we{re coming. That{s why she didn{t tell her we were coming haha. As we walked down the street in the middle of nowhere peru, waiting for the bus, i swear i{ve never been happier. Everything was perfect in that moment. Then her daughter took a few steps to the side of the road to pee. haha. I knew that peace couldn{t last forever. But I love it. Everything about this country. The people, the weird smells, the tanneries and coffin stores that are just on the side of the road like it{s just a grocery store or something. haha. It{s so different here, and I LOVE IT

Ahhh i{m almost out of time, but one last funny story.

yesterday we went to visit an investigator who lives with a member, but he wasn{t home. We were about to leave when I asked if we could do anything for her. I didn{t understand anything she said except "fruita" and she did a little hand motion, so I just naively assumed she asked us to wash or cut some fruit. I only knew I was very very wrong when we walked into her house and the next think i know, she is dropping her skirt half way down her bum and hands hna. Inga a bottle of peruvian Icy Hot. I turn to hna. inga and she said she needed us to "frota" her lower back... which does NOT mean fruit. it means rub. So there we were in the middle of Peru, massinging the butt of an old lady, getting our feet pecked into nubs by chickens, listening to the radio in Quechua and talking about the gospel. I will NEVER forget the difference between fruita and frota ever again. I also won{t forget how grateful she was to have someone visit her and help her with her pain. She lives alone and no one ever visits her. We{re going to visit once a week from now on. 

I{m out of time, but I LOV EYOU ALL! 

Bebe hace frio a fuera

The time is starting to pass so much faster. We went to Cusco this week and I LOVED IT! Two of the elders had their cameras stolen, and another elder had his backpack stolen out of the chapel with his personal journal from the mission and his tracting shoes, and honestly, i´d rather have my camera stolen. that´s heartbreaking. But he got transferred to Puerto (the jungle where it´s WARM), so that´s a nice tradeoff. I saw HERMANA ROUTSON from my District in the MTC. Oh my lanta I´ve never been so happy to see a person in my life. It felt like a little piece of home.

We have been seeing a lot of progress in Sicuani, Edwin and Yovanna still need to get married (like everyone else here haha). We´re teaching them about eternal marriage and they really want to be sealed in the temple, so August is a possiblity. Keep your fingers crossed. Miriam Barrientos (the niece of the other Miriam Barrientos) wants to be baptized this sunday because it is the 1 year anniversary of the baptism of her parents, but her parents won´t give her permission. BOOOOO. We´re going to talk to them this tuesday. Esmeralda is 11 years old and she´s getting baptized this saturday is everything goes according to plan. Her parents gave her permission, but they´re always traveling, so we haven´t gotten their signature yet. 

We have an investigator that was going to be baptized in March, but she left to Juliaca for some reason, and She couldn´t find missionaries there, so guess who started teaching her.... Jehovah´s Witnesses. She just got back and told us she´s going to be baptized in their church. We were trying to teach her, but she kept saying that everything they taught was exactly the same, and she felt that their church was right because they didn´t care if she got baptized now, or in 10 years. WHAT! We´re trying to save your soul. If you wait 10 years, you might die, THEN WHAT!? ugh... I´m sorry. I just calmly shared a scripture with her, and told her we´re going to end with a prayer and come back sunday after church. Her parents are members as well as her sister, and she was starting to confuse them. Her sister said she never got an answer to her prayer, so I shared D and C 6:22-23 (READ IT). That shut her up. Perfect. 

I had an experience this week that really opened my eyes. I´m at the point where I actually understand almost everything people say, so I can actually understand their challenges. A lady (also named miriam) we´re teaching had her husband die about a month ago, and her daughter died about a year ago. She lives off of bread and water, and holy... I wish I could explain how I felt in that moment. I thought about all the times I complained about how freaking good I had it, and how ridiculous I was. I whined about the most insignificant things. I FEEL SO BAD. When I walked out of that lesson, I just cried and cried. Our lives in the States are SO easy. I wish everyone could see what I see every day. The challenges that people have... it´s unreal. 

I had the lovely opportunity to teach the primary class this week cuz all the adults were gone with their children (they have parades almost every week and the church is ALWAYS empty when this happens on sundays.) Holy. I don´t want children.. haha joke. I want 6. Butttt, My patience was tested. When we got out of class, we walked into the nursery to find ALL of the children throwing legos into the hallway because guess what.. their teacher just left. No one was watching them. IN THE NURSERY. I might have yelled a little bit. And i made them clean it up. I feel bad, but man... these kids are NUTS. I think it stems from emotional neglect.

Well, I´m out of time. I´m safe, THANK YOU for sending letters. I love you all. I´m printing them all off and I´ll send you letters in August when I actually have money haha. 

Love, Hermana Allred

Milagros

Holy flip. This week blew my mind. It´s like overnight, I stopped worrying about the language, investigators popped up out of NOWHERE, and my companion and I are getting along great. Holy. MILAGROS!!!

Hermana Inga and I decided to fast every saturday cuz we need all the help we can get. This sunday, we had NINE investigators at church. That is UNHEARD of. They were from 7 different families. They all came by themselves too! We didn´t have to pick any of them up. MILAGRO. 

When I got set apart, the stake president said "the children of peru are beautiful, and their parents will open their homes to you". Let me tell you how true that is. I like all the little ninos here, and we have 6 kids that are all friends that follow us around. They ALL came to church this sunday without their parents, and they loved every minute. they told their parents about it and they FINALLY are letting us teach them. The heart of the parents are their children. It is incredible how loving these kids are despite their difficult family circumstances. They are my heart and I LOVE every single one of them.

Miriam Barrientos is a recent convert (april). She is helping us convert all her friends from school haha. She has given us probably 8 references this month, and they´re all progressing. MILAGRO. I love her so much. She comes with us to activities, lessons, and church. She´s a miracle. We´re working with all her brothers to get them converted too haha. She was literally sent from God. 

Jony... holy. I was playing soccer or something with one of our investigators and their kids, and he walked past us as we were walking away and stopped US to ask if we could teach him about Jesus. um... YES. Absolutely. He is a chef at a chinese restaurant, and it´s so easy to teach him cuz he soaks in everything we say. MIRACLE. He came to the elders´ baptism this saturday, LOVED it, and was helping us TEACH another investigator haha. He knows so much about the bible and wow... he is a blessing. He studies lots of religions, so I hope he gets an answer that this is the ONLY true church on the face of the earth. 

Man. I loved this week. We had a recital with the missionaries in the zone and so many people showed up. We have sports every wednesday and friday, and SO MANY investigators showed up. Man... the blessings that are coming our way are incredible, and I am so thankful to be a part of this work. IT IS AMAZING! Like I´ve said before, anyone who wants to serve a mission, DO IT! no joke. It is the best thing you will ever do. 

oh and if you email me pictures, I can print them off here. sooo if you have pictures of us together, SEND THEM TO ME! I love getting pictures.

2-- new planner! 6 weeks down

Picture 3-- My favorite cookies! they´re like mint oreos. I eat so many of them cuz they´re so cheap. like 10 cents a package.

Picture 4-- Miriam Barrientos. My favorite person in Sicuani.

1-- investigator Ayde and her son.

Picture 1-- Our best friend Chavo. The neighborhood dog (one of 1,000). He likes to jump on me and get his fur all over my clothes. It´s a good time.

Picture 2-- This llama was being carried from a truck to be KILLED AND SKINNED! Saddest thing I´ve ever seen. He had no idea. 

Change

This week has tried me in ways I never imagined. My companion and I have been having a rough time the whole time we´ve been here with teaching and being open, and we had a really really rough week, but we FINALLY talked about all our issues and we´re a million times better. 

The moral of this week is Patience. Living with a stranger is HARD. Learning a new language is way hard. trying to preach the gospel to people who don´t want to hear it is even harder. especially with the other two factors included haha. It´s hard to feel 100% alone, yet feel like you are NEVER alone. I think only missionaries understand that concept haha. It´s hard to feel like there´s no one to talk to in English. guess what. God speaks english. Him and I have gotten pretty close this week. 

Our new mission president is GREAT! I got the chance to talk to his wife for a while last week during a break and she told me the following story about her daughter.

"My daughter served her mission in the Chezk Republic. The day she left the MTC, she called from the airport to tell us she wasn´t feeling well. She flew to New York, where she again called to tell us she felt awful. She thought it would go away, but on the flight to her mission, she passed out. when she woke up, she couldn´t walk off the plane. They quickly escorted her to the hospital. Her apendix had burst. she couldn´t speak with the doctors, and her companion met her there and she couldn´t communicate with her either. She was completely alone in a foreign country and she was in the most pain of her life. It was in that moment that she learned to turn vertical. God speaks her language and can take all of her pain away. She carried that habit of prayer with her throughout the rest of her mission, and life."

Wise words, eh? it couldn´t have been more perfect timing. Prayer is the ONLY thing that makes this mission possible. It´s how I got here, It´s how I stay here, and it´s the way I´ll come home and know what the heck I am going to do after. The atonement isn´t juts for sin. It heals broken hearts. It comforts us when we´re alone. It takes away EVERY pain of this life. We just have to ask. 

I was flipping through my prompting journal from the MTC for some inspiraton, and I came across this "The second you start feeling like your old self again, get on your knees and pray. there is no time to waste here. Love everyone. Be humble. Be reverent. Be patient. PRAY HARD. Repent often. Love openly. Be respectful. Be still and know he is God" 

I put myself in my place haha. I don´t have time to havce contention with my companion. I don´t have time to think "woe to me. business is bad" FORGET myself and get to work.

pictures:

1-- these kids follow me around everywhere. Xiomara, Melissa, Sheylark, and Christian. They love me and touch my hair and face all the time. One day while I was talking to them, their mom said "oh so you´re the beautiful gringita they keep talking about. They want to come to your church" um... OKAY! done deal. We started teaching her and she´s very prepared. she asked us to baptize her kids, but they´re not 8 yet. she was very relieved that we didn´t believe kids need baptism. 

2-- the old lady on the stairs that doesn´t speak quechua. We love her so much. She thanks us for 5 minutes every time we bring her food. 

3-- The mom in this family is inactive and we´re working on getting their family sealed in the temple. LOVE this family. (Cerillos)

Nessa Lou: I saw your twin! None of the peruvians here look like you except her. so cool. MISS YOU.

Rick: I sent you a letter! hope you get it soon. I need your email!!! hopefully you see this on the blog. 

John 15:18 "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you" haha. perfect for missionary work.

I love you all SO much and know that I´m working super hard, trying my hardest to be 100% obedient, and not coming home until October 21 of next year. 

FLIP I LOVE YOU ALLL!!!

Sicuani and a dying gringo

Whoof this week was a rollercoaster. I can´t even think of all the things that have happened... time is moving so slowly, but so fast at the same time. I apologize if i repeat anything from last week. I don´t remember what I said.

We went to Raqchi last P day. SO COOL! I didn´t understand a word the tour guide said, but it was cool anyway. The USB port isn´t working, so I´ll try to send pictures next week.

Funny moments:

1-- We were about to contact a lady sitting on the curb, when all of a sudden, she stands up, pulls up her tights, and walks away with her puddle behind her.... NEVER TRUST A PUDDLE IN PERU!!!

2-- Apparently our landline has texting. My companion texts the leaders at night to report the numbers and it never gets less strange. it´s a pretty big phone.

3-- My spanish... man. it´s rough haha. My first mistake was when we were teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I said "el tracero punto es..." which means the butt point.... I meant Tercero punto, which means third point. The lady was nice and didn´t laugh at me. The next mistake was when we were teaching the plan of salvation. I said "es como una mapa" which means it´s like a booger... instead of a map. OOPS! I do know this, YOU SHOULD PICK THE PLAN OF SALVATION! HAHHAHAHAHAHA! i jest. 

Other stuff:

There is an 80 something year old woman without a name, and who only speaks quechua, that lives on the top of these GIANT stairs that we have to climb every day, and she chews on coco leaves to dull her hunger pains and to warm her up, and we always stop to say hello. The other day, we decided to bring her food as often as we can cuz her son is a drunk and wastes all their money on beer. I´ve never seen someone so grateful in all my life. She only knows how to say "gracias señorita", which is enough. I love her so much. 

We found a FAMILY who is so prepared. They have been searching for a church to join for a long time, and the mom owns a dance studio for teenagers and adults WITHOUT ALCOHOL! (miracle) The parent are actually married too which is incredible. She literally said ¨"We really need to be baptized"... UM WHAT!? that´s only a missionary´s dream.

Our new president got here this weekend, and our Zone is close enough that we get to go to Cusco to meet him tomorrow. WHOOT! I´m excited.

I found the best bakery in all of Sicuani. you can get 5 huge roll things for 1 sol, which is like 50 cents. I go there quite often. I think i´m getting fat. Don´t care. Everyone here drinks this awesome hot chocolate with day old bread, and I think I´m in love with it. I want it ALL the time. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we have a lady that cooks all our meals. It´s nice not having to worry about grocery shopping and cooking while we´re here. Cooking is the last thing I want to do on a particularly difficult day. Which we tend to have a couple times a week.

The work is hard, the people are usually nice, the food is questionable, but I am happy most days. This is the Lord´s work, and I am soooo happy to be a part of it.

Sister Conlee: I got your letter and I´ll be sending you a letter today! I miss you all. Tell the girls I love them and I hope Brennen heals quickly.

Aunt Amber: I got your letter that you sent back in April haha. It sent to the Peru address, and let me tell you.. I needed it at the exact moment that I got it. You have no idea how much I needed that letter. I love you and I´ll be writing you today as well.

Dad and Jennie: HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!!! sorry I forgot until just now, but I love you both and hope they were the best days ever. 

I haven´t gotten any other letters since I´ve been here cuz they take a few weeks. I´m sorry to anyone I haven´t written back. I lose track of who I´ve responded to. I LOVE YOU ALL

I´m super bummed the pictures aren´t working... I got some good ones. 

Love, Hermana Allred