Hermana and the Llamas: Tut tut, it looks like rain

Well,this week was full of Little surprises.

First of all, I´m sick. I lasted almost 3 months in Peru without getting sick. It´s just the flu (I think) so I´ll be fine soon, but all I want to do is sleep. Which we don´t seem to get a lot of here… I wake up at least 6 times every night. Not sure why. Maybe it´s because I haven´t had a real pillow the whole time in Peru. They are supposed to give them to each missionary when they come into themission, but for some reason Hna. Rasmussen and I didn´t. Entonces, the sister training leaders are coming tom,orrow for division andn they´ll give me one. POR FIN!!

The new Elders in our area have gotten sick at least three times in two weeks. Also, they have fleas in the blankets that the Zone Leaders gave them haha. It´s Elder Valdivia´s first month in the field and he already has sad stories to tell. Every time they are sick, they come knocking on our pensionista´s door and she calls us down to take care of them. They say “Estoy mal. Ayudame” which means “i´m sick. Help me.” So we analyze the problem, and give them manzanilla, pills, or eyedrops, and they chill in Hna. Glor´s living room on the couch until they feel better. Haha… they don´t have their moms here, so they resort to the only females they know will be willing to help them. Babies.

Mondays we get to call the other zones, and I don´t know why I didn’t earlier, but I called Hna. Rasmussen who is 10 hours away in Juliaca. BEST hour of my week. I love her and haven´t seen her since we parted ways in the terminal in Cusco. She´s rocking it. No surprise there.

One of the biggest surprises of the week…. YONY IS A MEMBER!!! We contacted him the week I got here, and we taught him, but had to give him to the elders cuz we could never find members to come with us to teach him. Yeah… he´s been baptized already. He had a baptismal date for this Saturday, but needless to say, that isn´t gunna happen.

We have been going to a little college to help Brithny´s dad with his English classes. The first class, I walked in and he said “what do you know about romeo and Juliet?” I said “um… not much.” Then he said “Oh, well i´d like you to talk to my students about that book for an hour”……….Um… I´m pretty sure I sparknoted that entire term of 11^th grade English , so all I got is “There´s a guy and a girl and they both die at the end and romeo fights a guy I think, and um… there´s a monk who sells drugs. True Love, the end. I ended up helping them pronounce words like Three, tree, and free, for the entire class. Much more useful than Shakespeare, I think.

RANDOM

1—It is very difficult to find/shop for UNO here. Every time I walk into a store and ask “tiene UNO?” they say “uno de que?” ugh… I´m just a misunderstood gringo trying to find a card game in peru.

2—Lilly continues to be my favorite name. We have a new investigator named lilly (remember super old Lilly in Houston? The best) She has been investigating the church for YEARS and really wants to be baptized, but her “husband” (not married) Didn´t want to get married quite yet. (it´s only been 7 years and 2 kids later… but nopè. Not long enough to be sure haha) We had an AMAZING lesson with him yesterday and we can tell he´s changing and even said he wants to get married. We´re planning to set a date for their wedding in October, and we might not be in Sicuani for the wedding, but sometimes other missionaries get to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It´s fine.

3—A member told me I should have stayed home and gotten married instead of serving a mission. I really don´t understand that logic. It´s 18 months of my life that I am dedicating to the Lord, and in the process, learning how to be a better wife and mother and person in general. If I hadn´t come on my mission, I would have been AWFUL! I would have no idea what to teach my kids, and my temper was OUT OF CONTROL (sorry family). I would not trade this experience for anything. Also, I´ll only be 21 when I get home, sooooo I have another year until I´m an old maid (by Utah standards anyway haha)

4—A little downsyndrome boy named William ran up to us the other day while his dad was with him (we see him everywhere, but he never comes up to us), and he hugged us and wouldn´t let go. His Dad came over to us, and we set up an appointment. That little boy is so close to the spirit, it´s nuts. This family has great potential. We met his wife because he wasn´t home when we had the appointment, so we taught her, and at the end of the lesson, she told us that she doesn´t understand very much Spanish… sooo… for 30 minutes, we were rambling and she didn´t understand any of it. She´s super nice though. We just need to find someone that speaks quechua haha.

5—I have a dream journal, and they are all super weird. The weirdest one this week was that I was in a huge house searching for a shower, but I couldn´t find one. Our entire Zone was in a movie room watching a movie. I never found a shower, but I did find a room full of fridges of Café rio. I was super disappointed when I woke up. I really miss Café Rio.

Well, I´m still trucking along. Not gunna lie, this week wasn´t my favorite, but not all of them can be the favorite. Gotta have trials to recognize the blessings.

I love you ALL! write me :) send pictures of Jennie´s wedding cuz I wasn´t there and i think pictures are almost as good haha. I LOVE YOU ALL! (again)

Love, Hermana Allred

1-- Waving to the gringo train (note the little kid in the corner)

2-- new elders at a FHE at the Bishop´s house

3-- Sicuani

1-- Abish trying to escape nursery as usual

2-- Miguel my Sacrament meeting buddy who likes to draw on all of my books

3-- Elder Lehman trying to ride a tiny broken bike

1-- Wiky and Abish, the bishop´s kids.

2-- sicuani

3-- Jackie and Carlitos (cousins.) Carlitos is severely handicapped and I love him, and he loves me. He always calls me "TIA" (aunt) and hugs my head haha. He´s the best.