Dear family,
Sorry in advance, nothing happened this week. We just worked normally. But we are waiting to hear about transfers, so that is the excitement here. Heydee, Hna Clariza's daughter, is getting baptized Tuesday. Her adoption papers finally came through, so tomorrow when Hna Alfredo gets home from work, we are going to have her baptism. She just turned 9 last week, but since she's nine she is a baptism for the mission. She is the first investigator that told me that the Book of Mormon was written in Reformed Egyptian. I didn't even know that until the mission. Other than her we are struggling a little bit with the investigators, mostly in getting them to church. They all commit in the week, but then Sunday rolls around and they don't come, and the ones who we go to get aren't there or tell us they can't come.
Tuesday when we were studying we got a phone call. It was a girl who said she had been attending institute classes and wanted to receive the discussions. We have district meeting Tuesdays at 9:30, and when we got to the church, she was there waiting for us. So we taught her. She says she knows the church is true, but her family is against her associating with the church, and if she got baptized she would have to break up with her boyfriend. But we have to teach her in the church, and she didn't come to the next appointment. A counselor in the stake presidency teaches the institute class she attends, and later told us he wanted to be in her lessons, if possible.
Hmm, today is Memorial Day. We will probably celebrate by going to Burger King. It's so good to eat real food. And they have an ice machine, so I almost always get a drink, just to get the ice because there aren't very many fridge/freezers.
We haven't had water these past few days. We were reading the missionary handbook, and it says, bathe daily if possible, but seeing as it is impossible, we didn't bathe. This morning there was a little water in the sink faucet, so we took advantage and washed our hair in the sink and washed up the best we could with that.
Umm, what else? An hermana returned home from the Arequipa mission, and she has been helping us some. She started with Roland Fuller, and they were in the same first zone in Puno. She showed me a few pictures that he was in. He hasn't changed at all. They fed us yesterday. They gave us so much food, I could barely walk after-to start, fruit, then soup, then rice, meat and potatos, then herbal tea, then more fruit.
That's all I can think of to write. I hope everyone has a good week. Thanks for your love and support,
Sarah
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Dear Family,
This week was pretty boring, probably about the same speed as your's but more spiritual. Here are the highlights of the week:
Hilary's birthday- this week was the birthday of a little girl in the ward who got baptized 6 months ago. Her grandma gt baptized too, and traveled to Trujillo, so now she is the only member in her household. Hna Clariza bought a cake for Heydee, her daughter, and Hilary because they're friends. Hilary couldn't come to eat the cake at the pension, so we took it to her. When we got there, her mom, who has a broken leg, and she were crying. Her mom was asking forgiveness because she didn't have money to buy a cake or candy or anything, and she felt really bad that she couldn't celebrate her daughter's birthday. When she grew up she didn't even know when her birthday was, and she had to find food to eat in the street, so she wanted to be able to give her kids something better. Her husband didn't remember the birthday of his daughter and was out drinking. Hna Garrison and I started crying too, but we brought out the cake and cheered things up with the cake and a game. The only thing that marred the party was when the dad arrived home drunk. It was a learning experience for us.
No lights- Sunday there wasn't electricity in all Huancayo all day. You couldn't really tell in the morning and afternoon, but we couldn't go out to work in the night because there were no street lights, and therefore it was dangerous. But we still managed to teach a lesson and play with the fire from the candle. The problem was that there wasn't water either, so we couldn't bathe Sunday, and today there was only water in the sink, not the shower, so we had to improvise with the sink water and a bucket. I am really looking forward to a long, hot shower.
Fellow countryman- A guy from the U.S. showed up at church yesterday (but the other ward). He doesn't know a word of Spanish. We were shocked to see and hear his good Idahoan accent. He apparently met and married a Peruvian while in the US. They now live in Alaska. He gave us a reference, well really his wife gave us the reference, her sobrina or little sister or something. We really didn't talk that much, but I hear he is from IF, Idaho. If I knew his last name, I would ask dad if he knows him, but I don't know.
That's about it. Thanks for the postcards, but was it a joke sending a postcard of the testing center? Next week are cambios. We are pretty sure that one of us will be transfered. There are rumors that they are opening Bolivia back up for North Americans, so if that is true, Hna Garrison could get sent there seeing that it is her original assignment. Thanks for all your love and support.
Your favorite daughter,
Sarah Afton
This week was pretty boring, probably about the same speed as your's but more spiritual. Here are the highlights of the week:
Hilary's birthday- this week was the birthday of a little girl in the ward who got baptized 6 months ago. Her grandma gt baptized too, and traveled to Trujillo, so now she is the only member in her household. Hna Clariza bought a cake for Heydee, her daughter, and Hilary because they're friends. Hilary couldn't come to eat the cake at the pension, so we took it to her. When we got there, her mom, who has a broken leg, and she were crying. Her mom was asking forgiveness because she didn't have money to buy a cake or candy or anything, and she felt really bad that she couldn't celebrate her daughter's birthday. When she grew up she didn't even know when her birthday was, and she had to find food to eat in the street, so she wanted to be able to give her kids something better. Her husband didn't remember the birthday of his daughter and was out drinking. Hna Garrison and I started crying too, but we brought out the cake and cheered things up with the cake and a game. The only thing that marred the party was when the dad arrived home drunk. It was a learning experience for us.
No lights- Sunday there wasn't electricity in all Huancayo all day. You couldn't really tell in the morning and afternoon, but we couldn't go out to work in the night because there were no street lights, and therefore it was dangerous. But we still managed to teach a lesson and play with the fire from the candle. The problem was that there wasn't water either, so we couldn't bathe Sunday, and today there was only water in the sink, not the shower, so we had to improvise with the sink water and a bucket. I am really looking forward to a long, hot shower.
Fellow countryman- A guy from the U.S. showed up at church yesterday (but the other ward). He doesn't know a word of Spanish. We were shocked to see and hear his good Idahoan accent. He apparently met and married a Peruvian while in the US. They now live in Alaska. He gave us a reference, well really his wife gave us the reference, her sobrina or little sister or something. We really didn't talk that much, but I hear he is from IF, Idaho. If I knew his last name, I would ask dad if he knows him, but I don't know.
That's about it. Thanks for the postcards, but was it a joke sending a postcard of the testing center? Next week are cambios. We are pretty sure that one of us will be transfered. There are rumors that they are opening Bolivia back up for North Americans, so if that is true, Hna Garrison could get sent there seeing that it is her original assignment. Thanks for all your love and support.
Your favorite daughter,
Sarah Afton
Monday, May 11, 2009
For the benefit of those with whom I did not talk yesterday, I will write a short letter, and then I will send pictures.
It was great to talk to everyone, but now it's back to work. Hna Garrison did a conference call with her family, so everyone talked to her. I don't know if our sarcastic family would be able to pull it off though. PS. I got Emily's letter. It pretty much didn't say anything.
Saturday we killed and ate Janet and the other chicken. I made a movie of the slaughtering of Janet, and then I helped in the killing of the fat chicken. Now I know how to kill and prepare a chicken to be eaten over a hot stone oven. When we killed the other chicken, I was in charge of holding it, and after they slit its neck, it got really restless and sprayed blood all over me. I had to walk home from breakfast looking like a murderer. The pachamanca didn't turn out that well due to a too cold stone oven, and the fact that someone forgot to put sugar in the humitas, which are like sweet tamales. I ate Janet's leg and thigh. It was disappointingly tough, or maybe I just didn't enjoy it because I knew it was my pet chicken that I bought and raised. Please see the attached pictures.
We had multi-zone conference and interviews, and everything went well. But we missed two afternoons of proselyting, and the afternoons are when we get the most done. I was wondering if maybe we aren't good sister missionaries because the sisters in the other zone wore matching outfits for the interviews and the conference. My district leader assured me that he would make fun of us if we did wear matching outfits, so I felt better.
That's about it. I'm sending pictures of the pachamanca and p-day last week. We went to a trout farm, and it was pretty. Love you all lots and thanks for everything,
Sarah
It was great to talk to everyone, but now it's back to work. Hna Garrison did a conference call with her family, so everyone talked to her. I don't know if our sarcastic family would be able to pull it off though. PS. I got Emily's letter. It pretty much didn't say anything.
Saturday we killed and ate Janet and the other chicken. I made a movie of the slaughtering of Janet, and then I helped in the killing of the fat chicken. Now I know how to kill and prepare a chicken to be eaten over a hot stone oven. When we killed the other chicken, I was in charge of holding it, and after they slit its neck, it got really restless and sprayed blood all over me. I had to walk home from breakfast looking like a murderer. The pachamanca didn't turn out that well due to a too cold stone oven, and the fact that someone forgot to put sugar in the humitas, which are like sweet tamales. I ate Janet's leg and thigh. It was disappointingly tough, or maybe I just didn't enjoy it because I knew it was my pet chicken that I bought and raised. Please see the attached pictures.
We had multi-zone conference and interviews, and everything went well. But we missed two afternoons of proselyting, and the afternoons are when we get the most done. I was wondering if maybe we aren't good sister missionaries because the sisters in the other zone wore matching outfits for the interviews and the conference. My district leader assured me that he would make fun of us if we did wear matching outfits, so I felt better.
That's about it. I'm sending pictures of the pachamanca and p-day last week. We went to a trout farm, and it was pretty. Love you all lots and thanks for everything,
Sarah
Monday, May 4, 2009
Dear family,
Thanks for your email mom. Not a single letter from North America arrived this week, so we are all anxious to read our emails. It might have something to do with the swine flu. But if they aren't letting in any mail from the US, Peru is going to suffer. I don't know if you heard this, but Hna Clariza told us that today there were two confirmed cases in Lima. In the United States if it spreads fast, it worries me that it is in Peru because everyone lives really close together and there is no hygiene. But, I'm not really worried. Everyone just keeps joking about it. The missionaries here are suffering though because our money for this month hasn't arrived, so nobody has money, and we can't pay our pensionistas. We are going to die of hunger while the rest of the world has the flu.
Other than that, things are the same here. We are having trouble getting our investigators to church. We had 5 with a baptismal date, and they all committed to come to church, but none came, so four of them lost their baptismal date due to lack of asistencia. This week was a holiday, dia del trabajador, or in English, the day when instead of working everyone drinks. I saw more beer this week than any other day in my mission, and there were a lot of drunks laying in the streets Saturday and Sunday. That part I don't mind, but sometimes I think they are dead. The holiday was convenient for us because in the night we were able to do a lot of street contacts, and even though (or maybe because) it was raining, 7 people accepted appointments.
For pday last week we went to Play Land Park, which is just fair rides. We had to go in the afternoon, so there weren't many people, but we did enjoy the carros chocones. Being in Peru, there aren't any sort of safety restrictions. Those bumper cars were the fastest I've ever been in. Harold, Hna Clariza's six year old was with me, and I had to hold him in because every time we crashed he flew forward. A kid did fall out of one of the cars, but they just stopped the cars for a minute and carried him off. We escaped with bruised legs. Hna Garrison and I also went on the ferris wheel where the carts flip upside down. Everyone was surprised that we would dare enter that ride (we were the only ones), but it was super fun. The only scary part was that the ride might break, but it didn't. And we had cotton candy, which was heavenly. Today we are going to go somewhere to have a picnic and play. The elders wanted to play frisbee, but frisbees don't exist in Peru, so we are going to play softball. It's okay though because I was a little scared for my knee.
Thanks for the pictures. I am proud to have two cute nieces. But my companion and I were wondering about Joanna's hair.
Don't worry about my end date, it will be in August. It's just that Pres. Leyva is Peruvian, so these sorts of things don't get done very quickly.
Hna Garrison wants to know the names of the BYU dance girls in case she knows them. She took ballet classes at BYU.
I'm excited to talk to you this weekend. Did you remember? When I started my mission, I though that my second mothers day was so far away, and I would be almost done with my mission when it rolled around. I was right, but I'm excited. Thanks for your love and support,
Sarah
Thanks for your email mom. Not a single letter from North America arrived this week, so we are all anxious to read our emails. It might have something to do with the swine flu. But if they aren't letting in any mail from the US, Peru is going to suffer. I don't know if you heard this, but Hna Clariza told us that today there were two confirmed cases in Lima. In the United States if it spreads fast, it worries me that it is in Peru because everyone lives really close together and there is no hygiene. But, I'm not really worried. Everyone just keeps joking about it. The missionaries here are suffering though because our money for this month hasn't arrived, so nobody has money, and we can't pay our pensionistas. We are going to die of hunger while the rest of the world has the flu.
Other than that, things are the same here. We are having trouble getting our investigators to church. We had 5 with a baptismal date, and they all committed to come to church, but none came, so four of them lost their baptismal date due to lack of asistencia. This week was a holiday, dia del trabajador, or in English, the day when instead of working everyone drinks. I saw more beer this week than any other day in my mission, and there were a lot of drunks laying in the streets Saturday and Sunday. That part I don't mind, but sometimes I think they are dead. The holiday was convenient for us because in the night we were able to do a lot of street contacts, and even though (or maybe because) it was raining, 7 people accepted appointments.
For pday last week we went to Play Land Park, which is just fair rides. We had to go in the afternoon, so there weren't many people, but we did enjoy the carros chocones. Being in Peru, there aren't any sort of safety restrictions. Those bumper cars were the fastest I've ever been in. Harold, Hna Clariza's six year old was with me, and I had to hold him in because every time we crashed he flew forward. A kid did fall out of one of the cars, but they just stopped the cars for a minute and carried him off. We escaped with bruised legs. Hna Garrison and I also went on the ferris wheel where the carts flip upside down. Everyone was surprised that we would dare enter that ride (we were the only ones), but it was super fun. The only scary part was that the ride might break, but it didn't. And we had cotton candy, which was heavenly. Today we are going to go somewhere to have a picnic and play. The elders wanted to play frisbee, but frisbees don't exist in Peru, so we are going to play softball. It's okay though because I was a little scared for my knee.
Thanks for the pictures. I am proud to have two cute nieces. But my companion and I were wondering about Joanna's hair.
Don't worry about my end date, it will be in August. It's just that Pres. Leyva is Peruvian, so these sorts of things don't get done very quickly.
Hna Garrison wants to know the names of the BYU dance girls in case she knows them. She took ballet classes at BYU.
I'm excited to talk to you this weekend. Did you remember? When I started my mission, I though that my second mothers day was so far away, and I would be almost done with my mission when it rolled around. I was right, but I'm excited. Thanks for your love and support,
Sarah
Dear Family,
Thanks for all your love and support. Things keep moving along here. It was another pretty boring week. We had some good experiences to break up the routine, and some not quite so good experiences. One of the funnier things that happened involves a grandma who called out to us in the street. So we went to talk to her. She was chewing coca leaves, which is against the word of wisdom for having some narcotic substances, but it's really common here. What is not common is that she was dipping them in some sort of powder, and eating the powder. I'm not sure what it was, but when we finished talking, she was high. But her daughter was really interested, and accepted a return visit. Today we are planning on going to a carnival type thing where they have fair rides. I'm excited about it.
We have been working hard and focusing a lot on being constant in finding new investigators. We had a baptism planned for this week, but the guy didn't come to church, so he can't be baptized yet. Our goal for the month of May is five, and we are going to reach it thanks to three sisters (YW) who are going to get baptized.
We also had a good change of heart experience. We went to visit a family of 4 YSA girls. One of them was there, so we taught her. She was with a guy that was her boyfriend, I think. We were teaching about the Book of Mormon, and they weren't really paying attention, and were kind of making fun of the situation, but we just kept going. After we taught and read the introduction, we were going to leave 3 Nephi 11 for them to read. The guy said he actually had a Book of Mormon, but had never been interested enough to open it, but now he was kind of interested. We were getting ready to go, and he asked if we could read the chapter right then. So we did.
We've also run into some anti-Mormon sentiment this week, but you just take it as you go. After a conversation in which a guy told us to find a church that was holy, we had a really good lesson with a 19 year old single mother that wants to change her life. I guess there is opposition in all things, but we know who is going to win in the end.
The people who are ending at the same time as me got their "trunky" letters, but I didn't get one, so I'm going to ask Pres. Leyva when we have interviews if everything is scheduled for me to end in August.
Thanks for the picture and thanks for looking into the Spanish minor for me. It sounds like a lot more work than I want to do. If I decide to go for a Spanish minor, I'll just wait till I get home to sign up. If I really want to get a minor, I'm only 5 credits away from a chemistry minor. but they are 5 hard credits, so I've been avoiding it. Maybe my last semester I could take those classes so that I won't risk losing my scholarship if I get a bad grade.
Oh, we were going to make the pachamanca this week, but Hno Alfredo isn't going to be home until the next week, so Janet the chicken was saved for another week. Her chicken friend has gotten way bigger than her, but they both eat a ton. I'm disappointed because supposedly she was supposed to lay eggs, but no one has seen an egg. Hna Clariza said we'll see if eggs were forming when we open her up. Isn't that a lovely thought?
Love you all lots,
Sarah
Thanks for all your love and support. Things keep moving along here. It was another pretty boring week. We had some good experiences to break up the routine, and some not quite so good experiences. One of the funnier things that happened involves a grandma who called out to us in the street. So we went to talk to her. She was chewing coca leaves, which is against the word of wisdom for having some narcotic substances, but it's really common here. What is not common is that she was dipping them in some sort of powder, and eating the powder. I'm not sure what it was, but when we finished talking, she was high. But her daughter was really interested, and accepted a return visit. Today we are planning on going to a carnival type thing where they have fair rides. I'm excited about it.
We have been working hard and focusing a lot on being constant in finding new investigators. We had a baptism planned for this week, but the guy didn't come to church, so he can't be baptized yet. Our goal for the month of May is five, and we are going to reach it thanks to three sisters (YW) who are going to get baptized.
We also had a good change of heart experience. We went to visit a family of 4 YSA girls. One of them was there, so we taught her. She was with a guy that was her boyfriend, I think. We were teaching about the Book of Mormon, and they weren't really paying attention, and were kind of making fun of the situation, but we just kept going. After we taught and read the introduction, we were going to leave 3 Nephi 11 for them to read. The guy said he actually had a Book of Mormon, but had never been interested enough to open it, but now he was kind of interested. We were getting ready to go, and he asked if we could read the chapter right then. So we did.
We've also run into some anti-Mormon sentiment this week, but you just take it as you go. After a conversation in which a guy told us to find a church that was holy, we had a really good lesson with a 19 year old single mother that wants to change her life. I guess there is opposition in all things, but we know who is going to win in the end.
The people who are ending at the same time as me got their "trunky" letters, but I didn't get one, so I'm going to ask Pres. Leyva when we have interviews if everything is scheduled for me to end in August.
Thanks for the picture and thanks for looking into the Spanish minor for me. It sounds like a lot more work than I want to do. If I decide to go for a Spanish minor, I'll just wait till I get home to sign up. If I really want to get a minor, I'm only 5 credits away from a chemistry minor. but they are 5 hard credits, so I've been avoiding it. Maybe my last semester I could take those classes so that I won't risk losing my scholarship if I get a bad grade.
Oh, we were going to make the pachamanca this week, but Hno Alfredo isn't going to be home until the next week, so Janet the chicken was saved for another week. Her chicken friend has gotten way bigger than her, but they both eat a ton. I'm disappointed because supposedly she was supposed to lay eggs, but no one has seen an egg. Hna Clariza said we'll see if eggs were forming when we open her up. Isn't that a lovely thought?
Love you all lots,
Sarah
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