Christmas

Well Christmas has come and gone but it was a blast while it was here.

December 22: we had a multizone pday (aka, 100 missionaries at the same chapel trying to claim court space to play soccer, volleyball and capture the flag all at the same time) It was super fun :)

December 23: we had a ward activity and everybody sang Christmas songs and ate fruit cake and turkey. They asked my companion and I to sing as well so we sang Oh Come all ye Faithful in spanish and english.`

December 24: Christmas Eve. In the morning we went over to a members house and helped them set up and decorate their Christmas tree. There and three sisters and their mom in this family and it was very special to spend time with them. We weren't able to visit to many people but all the missionaries in Huanuco got together, wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon and then went to the Plaza and sang Christmas songs and handed them out to people walking by that were interested. It was a very special experience. We also got up at midnight for 10 minutes to watch the fireworks. 

December 25: Christmas!!! In the morning we opened presents between the two of us (well, four of us, our neighbors were there too). We were able to eat lunch with some members and then we skyped our families! It was so nice to see my family and talk to them for the first time in almost 8 months. I could not have asked for a better Christmas present.

Also, this week we held a turtle.

I love the people here. They have become part of my family. I truly know that this is the work of God. I know He loves us and that is why He sent His Son. I am so grateful for the greatest gift ever given. I know that Christ lives.

I love you all!!!!

Love; Hermana White

Also, packages are getting through now

Also, next time I write... I'll be 20

When You Look In The Mirror

When you look in the mirror

what comes into view,

When you stare at the wall

and you looks at you?

A blemish? a spot?

wrinkles? and age line?

When you looks at you

ah the imperfections you'll find

You pull out your make up

and try to erase

and cover up the things

you don't like on your face

But you are so much more

than a few creams and liners

look through God's eyes

and you'll see something finer

When you see a wrinkle

He sees a laugh

a sign you've had joy

and smiled in the past

When you see a freckle

He sees the sun

A time when you've ran outside

and played with someone

When you see a scratch

He sees an adventure

A memory that, in your mind

you should treasure

When we see imperfections

He sees our lives

There's so much more to see 

When we look through His eyes

So when you look in the mirror

and you looks at you

try to see yourself

from God's point of view

Pre-Christmas Week

This week has been an incredible pre-Christmas week. First of all, let me just tell you all that I love Christmas. It is never quiet in our room, there is always someone singing a Christmas song and it's just the best. 

Anyway, this week we did divisions with the Hermana Leaders. I was able to spend the day in my area with Hermana Cushcagua from Columbia. She actually came with me into the mission so it was fun to work with her and see how far we've both come.

Me and Hermana Goyzueta

The 19th was Hermana Goyzueta's birthday (the Hermana's live right next to us so it's four of us instead of just two). Hermana Petersen and I rushed out of the house in the morning and hid so that we could throw eggs at her. We all succesfully got covered in yoke. That same night we had a Christmas/birthday party with our pensions family. Our pension made a ton of food and we did a gift exchange with them. It's so fun to still have a family to celebrate Christmas with.

Yesterday we did not have P-Day because we had a multizone meeting for Christmas. There were five zones there. We all started out in the chapel and President and Hermana Hendersen talked to us about Christmas. They really focused in on the atonement and how Christ suffered for our sins but also our pains and sufferings. A group of us missionaries sang "What child is this" in spanish. It was definitely a fantastic way to spiritually welcome in the Christmas season. We then all went into the cultural hall and did a white elepahant gift exchange with everyone (I got toothpaste!) and each zone did a skit. Ours was pretty cool. It was called Huancayalipsis and it was about the last 7 transfers and the end of the mission Peru, Huancayo. President Hendersen surprised us all with a flu shot... yay. It was a blast.

I am so excited for Christmas and to see everyone on Friday!!!! I love you all and I am so glad that you made it to Utah safely.

See you soon

Hermana White

Also, Happy Birthday Abby!!!!!

Trip To The Mountains

Hey everyone! I'm writing a little late because we hiked a mountain this morning. There's a cross in Huanuco up on a mountain and our zone got up early this morning and hiked it.... it was a blast, definitely worth losing a precious hour of sleep and getting up at 5:30.

Last monday we went and bought and assembled our fake Christmas tree. It's like 85 degrees outside all the time so it doesn't feel like Christmas outside.... but in our room it's a different story. We make paper snowflakes all the time... we've also taught some our less actives how to make snowflakes as we talked to them about Christmas and individual worth.

We've had some very spiritual experiences this week. Our district leader set a goal with us that we would find 1 new investigator every day. We've been really pushing ourselves hard this week and there was one day when we were walking and we passed the house of a less active. Her mom who is not a member was outside and normally we would say hi and just pass because she hasn't really wanted anything in the past but we felt that we should go say hi. We talked to her as well as the person she was talking to. Her friend, Guillerma, talked to us about how she had some things in the past that she wanted to forget and we told her how she could find peace in this life... she started crying. It was very special for us to show this woman how we could help her. We visited her one other time this week and we're really excited to work more with her. 

Other highlights of the week: a drunk man kissed my hand, my companion pet a sheep....That's all I can think of.

I love you all! I hope you're all getting in the Christmas spirit (12 days of Christmas starts today... unless you're Irish, they start the 12 days of Christmas on Christmas)

I can't wait to talk to you!!!!!

Love, Hermana White

Hermana Petersen and I are... staying together!!!!

Hermana Petersen and I are... staying together!!!! Six more weeks! I haven't had a companion two transfers in a row since my own trainer and we are stoked! 

This week we have been trying to get in the Christmas spirit. Christmas is very different here and so making it feel like Christmas, even in our room, is a bit difficult. We have decorated our room with snowflakes and we found a stocking in a pile of boxes that we finally cleaned out the other day. Also we taught our recent convert Leoncia and her family how to make paper snowflakes.... it had never occured to me that some people had never heard of a paper snowflake before

This is my first time staying in an area for longer than two transfers and I can really see how the people in the ward and the area start to become a part of your family. You just love them so much.

Yesterday we got to watch the first part of the Christmas devotional (we have to be in our room at nine and due to time differences the devotional started at 8 here) but what we heard was good. I absolutely love Christmas music, it's one of the things that touches me the most this time of year and the music in the devotional was beautiful :) Never underestimate the MoTab.

Other than this we've just been working. We don't have very many progressing investigators right now but we're really working on finding people.

I love you all! I hope your Christmas season has been off to a great start :)

Love,

Hermana White

Happy Thanksgiving

Don't worry everyone, we have water now.

This week has been super interesting and sad and happy all at the same time. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was with the sister leaders becuse my companion decided to abandon me and go to Lima to do paperwork so she could stay in the country.... so I was in a different area teaching different people. I really know that we are called to certain areas because I felt like I just couldn't help these people the way the other sisters could. I really missed the people I was working with. Wednesday night my companion finally got back!!!! 

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We live right next to the sister leaders (Hermana McReynolds and Hermana Goyzueta) who are both from America so we celebrated Thanksgiving with orange soda floats and oreas and pringles and 9:30 at night. What made it special was all gathering in a circle to say a prayer of gratitude before giving ourselves diabetes. I really know Heavenly Father listens and loves us.

Saturday morning Hermana McReynolds left us. She finished her mission and should be home on Wednesday. It's sad to see a missionary leave to go home but it's also so cool to see that they know that their mission here is over and that the next step is at home. We also had a baptism! Leoncia is a sister who's been waiting to be baptized for so long but couldn't because she wasn't married. Two weeks ago she got married and Saturday she got baptized! The elders in our ward were teaching a girl named Selva (her name means jungle, cool right) and she got baptized as well. It was an incredibly special experience and we hope to work with her husband so that they can go to the temple and really be an eternal family.

Sunday was a day of miracle and cake. First we had the primary program. I love listening to the kids sing songs that really testify of simple truths. Our recent convert also blessed the sacrament for the first time and a member that goes with us a lot received her mission call to Argentina. We were also given cake three times by the bishopbric and the primary and different times throughout the day... it was a good day.

Transfers are tomorrow, we'll find out who's going and who's staying. Because I'm training my companion still we'll more than likely stay together. I love this area and the members and my companion so that's what I'm praying for.

I love you all so much!!! Welcome to the Christmas season!!!!

Love, Hermana White

Bucket baths and coffee masks

This week has been quite the adventure. On Monday our zone did a scavenger hunt around Huanuco. Hermana Petersen and I got some pretty cool pictures including one with an entire possey of police men..... gringas get privileges :)

We then had a zone meeting at night so we didn't go out proselyting at all. The zone leaders really focused a lot on goal setting a goal acheiving. This is something that I really enjoy doing (now). Our time in the mission and during our whole life is so short. If we don't set goals for ourslves we won't be able to accomplish just about anything.

Tuesday morning we woke up to no water. The bottom floor (we live on the third floor) had water so we got a bucket and our trash can and went downstairs, filled them with water and then showered with cold, bucket water. We've done this all week besides saturday, somehow we had water on saturday. We also did divisions with the sister leaders so Hermana Petersen stayed in our area and I went to the sisters area to work. I definitely know why we're called to certain areas. It's very different teaching investigators that aren't yours.

Water Bucket Showers

Wednesday, my companion woke up with a rash and one of the sister leaders woke up sick. We had no signal so I went with the healthy sister leader at 7:30 in the morning to call the health secretary. After finally finding signal we went and bought medicine then we picked up our breakfast.... after bucket showering.... again we finally started the day at about 9. This week has just been crazy.

Water Bucker Line

Thursday, no one had water. There was a hose in a park outside of our room and a line of people waiting to get water. On the bottom floor there was a little water so we were up a little late filling up water buckets just in case. We also found out that Hermana Montero (the sister leaders third companion) was getting emergency transfered out, which was super sad. We said goodbye to her friday morning.

Friday, there is a sister in our ward who we recently reactivated.... her name's Gladis and she's crazy and I love her. Friday night we went to visit her and she told us that there is an old lady in the ward who is really, really sick so we said we'd go visit her with Gladis. Then, Gladis said she was going to cure her. She had a bottle of her friends breast milk in the fridge and she was going to rub it on the older lady's stomach. My companion and I about lost it and then Gladis said that she had a needle and was going to give her a shot! All my companion said was "Maybe we should call some priesthood." We got the elders to go over and give Theodosia (the older lady) a blessing. Then Gladis worked her breastmilk voodoo. Gladis is crazy but I love her.

Saturday the sister leaders (who are our neighbors) told us they had coffee in their room.... to put on your face so we made coffee masks.

Coffee Masks

Sunday was Sunday. Sundays are the best.

This morning my companion ditched me and went to Lima for three days to do paperwork for her Peruvian ID so I'll be in a trio until Wednesday.

I love you all!!!! Church is true

Love, Hermana White

Not Much To Write

I'm not really quite sure what to write this week due to the fact that I wrote about the multizone conference last week. So I figure that I'll just let you all know that my companion is hilarious and that we're having a blast and working hard. We love coming home at night feeling exhausted because it means that we worked hard.

It has been a little hard lately because one of my favorite times of the year is the holiday season. Especially Thanksgiving. I really love having everybody together to eat traditional Thankgiving food. It's been a little difficult being away from home but I also realize that I'm so blessed. If I didn't love you all I wouldn't miss you. I'm so grateful for each and every single one of you.

I love you all and hope your week goes fantastic!

Love Hermana White

Multizona

Well, I would just like to let you all know that la mitad de mi mision... ya se fue. Today I reach nine months here in Peru.... so I think I'll eat cake.

This week has been full of a lot of hard work and mud and miracles. It has rained almost every single day this week and a lot of our area is up in the hills (hence the mud). We've gone hiking just about every single day... in church shoes. We've felt pretty awesome.

The miracles? Where do they come from? They come from the hard work. We've been struggling in this area with investigators that can actually progress and helping people to do so because ALL of the new investigators that we've found over the past month have been unmarried women that are living with their boyfriend who doesn't want to get married. It's been rough but the other day we were hiking down a hill and we passed a girl. We felt prompted to contact her and then thought nothing of it but we had a date to go back and see her. Yesterday we went back to her house and she wasn't there but we found ourselves asking if we could come in and we found a family so prepared to receive the gospel... and they're married!!!! (we made sure like seven times). When we left we said a prayer of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for guiding us in our efforts here. I love the mission.

Oh, yesterday we didn't write because we had a multizone conference. Like half the mission was there so that was pretty cool. It's fun to see the other missionaries in the mission.

Also, we have added something new to our daily routine: we now rub shampoo on our legs because it works better than repelent. Thanks Peru!

I love you all and I hope you all look for the small, daily miracles that occur. Find something everyday to be grateful for this month!

Love,

Hermana Blanca

Quidditch

This week has been a blast. I am loving training but with Sister Petersen there is almost nothing that I have to do. She came in ready to work and ready to be obedient so I kindof just have to show her around the mission a little. One of the more difficult things for her is the Spanish but I have really witnessed the gift of tongues in her. She can get her point accross and in the lessons she can teach and understand with almost no problem. 

Last monday we played games in the chapel with our zone. We're not allowed to play soccer with the elders but one of the elders had us all bring a broom.... and we played quidditch. 

They're not the same thing. That was super fun. Also, I found out that I am not good at the game called Signs. Just so everybody knows.

Nothing super out of the blue happened this week. There was Halloween and a member gave us cupcakes but other than that we visited people like we normally do. 

It's really weird that it's November because the climate doesn't change here. Other than that... I love you all. The church is true no matter what. I love you all!!!!

Love, Hermana White

My Crazy Week

So this last week we had tranfers. President calls people to train that have to travel on mondays instead of tuesday so that they can travel on tuesday. I live in Huanuco right now so I am about 6 hours from Huancayo.  At 10 at night on monday I got a call from President Henderson to train a new sister.

 Tuesday morning I met the other missionaries that were training from Huanuco at the terminal so that we could travel together... turns out I was the only sister out of six missionaries that were training so I have to travel to Huancayo with two elders: Elder Checkets and Elder Lechuga. We made it to Tarma, a city about two hours outside of Huancayo just fine and then, about half an hour out of tarma our driver lost control of the car and we crashed coming around a turn into the guard rail. I am so grateful for seatbelts. Elder Checkets said that we were lucky to be alive so we said a prayer and then Elder Lechuga and I were hurting so we got blessings. It was actually a very cool experience because Elder Checkets just finished his training but was still able to give a blessing in Spanish. After an adventure we finaly made it to Huancayo at about 10 at night. I spent the night at President's house.

In the morning, before the training meeting, I talked with the new sisters that were coming in. There were two gringas and 4 latinas in the group that came in. When I asked one of the gringas where she was from she said Riverton Utah... turns out she's from the same ward as Sarah and Chris.

At the training meeting I'm pretty sure I made a fool of myself when she was called as my companion. So I'm a mom now :) My companion is Sister Petersen and I love her. I'm super excited for this transfer and the opportunity to teach Spanish and train my comp.

On the way home Hermana Petersen and I were the last people to climb into the bus. Guess who we saw when we climbed in: Elder Checketts and his son and Elder Lechuga and his son. My first words were: We're gonna die. We made it to Huanuco just fine. My poor comp, she's been eaten alive by mosquitos but she loves to work and she doesn't complain. She's probably the most chill person I've ever met.

That's all for this week. I love you all!!!!!

Love, Hermana White

Zoe Hastings

Many of you may have read or heard news about a tragedy to a young woman named Zoe Hastings. Zoe was suddenly taken from this life to the next a week ago. Tara served with Zoe on the Dallas Texas East Stake Youth Council. We contacted her mission president to relay the news. These are Tara's comments about the experience and Zoe.

So this morning I got a call from President Henderson. He said that he had received an email from you about Zoe Hastings. I wasn't quite sure how to feel since the last time someone passed away that was close to me it was grandpa. I knew Zoe from youth committee and she has always been a good friend. There was a group of us in the stake that were pretty close and we would hang out a lot. I'm not sure why Zoe had to go when she did but I do know that our Heavenly Father did not need her here any more. Someone else on the other side needs her more. I'm so grateful for the time that I had to know Zoe. Thank you for letting President know before internet.

I was really hoping for a call from President Henderson today because he calls the trainers on monday. I really want to train. Ususally he calls in the afternoon though so it was weird when I got the impression to take the phone out of my bag at 8 this morning because I had the feeling that President Henderson was going to call. Sure enough I said "dear Heavenly Father" to start my personal study prayer and the phone rang. I was not sure how to take the news and I'm pretty sure that my companion thinks that I'm crazy because all I said was "I'm going to brush my teeth" I was doing fine until internet... like 5 minutes ago. It sounds like the funeral was beautiful. She deserves that. 

Liahona?

This week was a blast. Monday for pday we got all the hermanas together and we made tacos! After rice and chicken and potatoes for eight months now tacos were super welcome. We went and played sports with the elders afterwards. We can't play futbol with them, that's a rule, but one elder brought a frisbee to the mission and we started a game of ultimate :)

The highlight of the week was a huge service project. All of the members and missionaries here in huanuco (there's two stakes) got together to clean the river. I have never seen more trash in my life. We all met together in the morning and they gave us our "helping hands" vests. We sang a song, said a prayer and then off to the river we went. We spent a good 3 or 4 hours cleaning up trash. People also came by to interview us and the governor of Huanuco took a picture with us. We're pretty famous here now :) The church publicity people here also interviewed us. Can anybody say Liahona? :) I really felt so special to be a part of the project. Everybody pitched in..... and if they couldn't come they sent food. I love Peru :)

 

That same day it rained.... actually poured. We went to the church to teach our english class and no one showed up. We had a couple of minutes before we had to be at the pension to eat dinner so we played in the rain. It was super funny because the elders got caught in the rain by the chapel as well and one elder ran under the shelter of the chapel while the other elder looked like a little kid with his giant smile and just stood in the rain and got soaked. I love this area.

Our area is really focusing on family history. We had some training for the missionaries and then training for the stake on how to keep people going to church by focusing on the temple and helping them with their family history. I'm really excited to start focusing on and working with this. It's making me excited to work on my own family history.

I hope you all are focusing on what you learned from conference and rereading or relistening to the different talks. Remember to ponderize!

Love, Hermana White


oh vosotros que os embarcais en el servicio de Dios mirad que le servais con todo su corazon, alma, mente y fuerza para que aparezcais sin culpa ante Dios en el ultimo dia

DyC 4:2

(the scripture I'm ponderizing) My goal is to memorize all of DyC 4. I really hope I got all of that right

Ponderize

So I'm pretty sure that this is everyones new favorite word.  I encourage you all to find a scripture every week and ponderize it. 

This week has been terrible and fantastic both at the same time.

Just about every appointment that we've had this week has fallen through and when we went to knock doors just about no one was home. It's been pretty rough but I've been blessed with a companion that is very upbeat and deffinitely a blessing to me.

We did have a baptism this week! The missionaries have been working with the Gamarra family for about 6 months now. The kids have been baptized one by one and we just baptized the youngest baptizeable child in the family: Dietmar. I've learned a lot in other areas about how to get people from the ward to come to baptisms and support the new member and this area has had a problem with that but we really worked with the ward this week and were able to have about 25 people show up. (the elders literally only wanted to set up 10 chairs when we were setting up which really made me quite sad but it was a good turnout). We love this family so much. The mom has already asked to pay tithing and she's not even baptized yet (she needs to get married first).

Also, in this area we've got two rooms right next to eachother in our apartment place. We have one room and another companionship has the other room. This week we helped one companionship move in and the other move out. With the new companionship we've gone running in the mornings (yes, it's ok to be shocked) and Hermana Patiño, who's Columbian is going to teach us to dance!!! I'm super excited!!!!

Conference this week was awesome! The gringos always have the opportunity to watch it in english and it's almost better than Christmas! I always learn so much from conference but in the mission it's like I just learn so much more. 

I love you all so much and I hope you really apply what you've learned and not just brush it off to the side. Pray for the prophet and the new apostles. Prayer really works.

Love, Hermana White

When President Comes To Town

So first of all if any of you have ever seen the movie The Best Two Years that is the most accurate movie of the mission I've ever seen. Especially the part where they get a short notice that their mission president is coming to visit and they freak out. So instead of four elders if you could just picture four hermanas with short notice that their mission president is coming to there room to check it it'd be fairly accurate. We didn't have to flip any pictures over or anything like that so no se precupe pero it was quite the frenzy.

So yea, President Henderson and his wife came to Huanuco this week. We had false alarm room checks and then actual room checks. We also had interviews with President Henderson and practicas with the assistants to the president. It was really funny. We were leaving our room to go to our interviews and we were the most nervous people you'd ever seen because of the practicas. Everything went well. Our practice was awesome and the assistants had nothing bad to say about it and then talking to President Henderson is always great. You just leave feeling refreshed and ready to take on the next three months of the mission. I was able to talk to him about past companions, the area here and I asked him how I could really live this time in the mission to it's fullest. He's such a wise person and you can really just feel the spirit when you talk to him. I feel so priviledged to be a missionary serving in this mission at this time.

Also we had women's conference!!!! It's basically like Christmas. Hermana Henderson came to pick us up from our room so we didn't have to spend our pasaje to get to the stake center. Hermana Henderson is the greatest. She is so funny and driving to the stake center was a blast. First of all you need to know that driving on the roads here is intense, I can't even compare it to anything. So us four missionaries are in a real car with Hermana Henderson basically in awe that she can manouver the roads. We then got to watch conference in English which was nice. I love conference so much. I'm super excited for this Liahona to come out so that I can read these talks over and over again. I especially liked the first talk on divine nature.

I'm super excited for conference this weekend! Please pray for the prophet and the apostles. They really do need all the strength they can get.

I love you all so much!!!!

Love Hermana White

Oh also! There are these cute little kids in our ward that call me Hermana Blanca. It's adorable!!! Also, please excuse my english I'm pretty sure a lot of it is not gramatically correct.

PS. My sister leader got permission to go into the mall today so that we could find shoes my size

It may not be on the mountain hight.....

Or it might be.

So, like I mentioned last week, there's a giant mountain in our area with stairs that go all the way up it. We counted them and one flight (yes there are multiple) was 300 stairs long. By the time I leave this area I'll be able to do squats for years. Anyway. One of the days this week we got to the top of those stairs and then another flight and we thought.... well, we might as well just climb to the top. We ran out of stairs and started hiking up the dirt paths which aren't really paths. We made it to the top and the wind was incredibly strong but it was incredible to just look out and see all of huanuco. It was beautiful.

One of the things my companion and I really enjoy is door contacting. In the states I'm sure that we'd have a lot more doors slammed in our faces but here everyone just wants to talk about their family and their house and how busy they are and the tragedy that happened to their chickens. It's super easy to talk and share stuff about the gospel with them. This is a grand blessing for me because we all know how much Tara loves talking to strangers. Hermana White, however, loves it :)

There isn't too much to write about this week. Just know that I love you all, I pray for you every day and I'm having the time of my life.

Also, there are mosquitos again.... which is fun :)

Love, Hermana White

Stairs

Well, we had transfers this past week. My zone in Huancayo pretty much stayed the same... except for me :) I had cambios. I'm currently serving in Huanuco in an area called Pedro Puelles. The climate here is perfect although there is a lot of wind, like a lot (I had to pull a marylin monroe the other day with my skirt) and there's a lot of dirt also which means that we have to shower twice a day. The ward is fantastic, a lot smaller than the ward in Huancayo, but awesome. The biship is only 32 years old and really works with us. Also, there is a giant hill in my area with stairs that go all the way up it. My thighs have never been so strong in my life. I love this area!

Also, my companion. Her name is Hermana Trujillo. She's got three months in the mission, is bilingual and from spanish fork, UT. The first this she asked me was: Hey, is Kenny White your cousin? Also she went to Brockbank elementary for kindergarten just like I did. We're basically best friends.

This week my comp has pretty much been showing me the area. Yesterday, for PDay we left early with our zone and two other zones all packed on one bus to go a place called 5 lagunas. when we were about 20 minutes away our bus broke down and so we just started walking. Some people walked faster than others and some people had thrown up the night before (yea, it was terrible) so they walked slower so we were all scattered along the road. The bus got fixed like 45 minutes later and came and picked us all up. It made me think about the parable in the bible about the workers that all received the same amount of pay. Some had walked farther and some hadn't walked very far at all but we all got picked up by the bus and we all made it to the same place. It really only mattered that we were heading in the right direction. The area was beautiful that we went to.The area here just reminds me of Utah. It's beautiful.

I love you all!!! I promise I'll be able to write on monday next week!

Love, Hermana White

The homecoming pics look fantastic! It looks like everyone had a super fun time! I love that everyone went together. There really is strength in numbers.

Also, mom, to answer your question. I think the song you're looking for is come thou fount and you can use the words of oh my father

Well...

This week was full of surprises.... well the weekend at least.

Thursday we were studying and we heard voices outside of our window. When we peaked through the curtain we saw a couple that was basically eating eachother. We closed the curtain super fast and since our study time was over we went up to our pension to do some service for our pensions daughter's babyshower. Our pension was washing dishes at the moment and we told her about the story. She went over to the window to look and then tossed her dishwater out the window... three times. We love Hermana Mary :)

Friday all was good. Lessons were going well and it was just a great day. We finished with a lesson in the chapel. The chapels here have a locked fence around them and you can only get in or out with a key. We were finshing up the lesson and the Elders came and told us to just close the chapel when we were done and they were going to leave the door open for us. After the lesson we closed the chapel and went to the gate.... and, of course, it was locked. We were locked inside the chapel at 9 at night with a member and his investigator girlfriend. The Elders had to come rescue us Luckily they're pretty nice guys.

Saturday my comp went out to our little patio, wash area place and I heard a scream.... so did our pension's husband from upstairs. There was a rat!!! Hermano Carlos came down and killed the rat with two poles. It was actually quite impressive but I never want to see a rat again.

Sunday was good. Sunday's are always good :) Actually now that I think about it Sunday was awesome. We've been working with some recent converts that have become a little inactive because they don't really have a firm testimony in the Book of Mormon. They both came to church!!! The second sunday in a row.

We find out transfers tomorrow night. Anything could happen I'll let you know next week :)

I love you all!!!!

Love, Hermana White

p.s.

I have a secret admirer in CTR 7 in the Kaufman ward. :)

We also made cookies with a member.

Out Of The Blue

So this week was one full of surprises.

Monday

A member in our ward has been waiting for his mission call and he's been going out with us to appointments. We've become really good friends with his family and monday morning we got a call that he got his call!!! Him and his family wanted us to be there with them and it being PDay we were able to go:) He's going to the Peru, Piura mission. 

Also, we dressed up :)

Tuesday .... I don't remember. I'm pretty sure we walked a lot and in our area, walked a lot of the time means hiked.

Wednesday was pretty normal...except not. In the morning we had an "emergency meeting." with the missionaries in our stake. Turns out we've got a stake ward coucil this coming sunday and they asked the missionaries to do a skit demonstrating a bad ward council. I get to play the role of...... the primary presdent (go figure, right)

Thursday we had our district meeting. My district leader surprised me the night before with a call "hey can you teach english tomorrow?" Yea, surprise. It was fun though :) I'm the only gringa in the zone (again) and one of two gringos out of ten people in our district so there are a lot of people that need to learn English. I realized how much I really enjoy teaching :)

Friday and Saturday, I would like you all to know that I have never had a hangover (never had a reason to) or a migraine but I could hardly help friday in lessons and I was bed ridden most of saturday because I could not move my head. I've never had a reason to use the word excrutiating before either. It was terrible. Luckily it died down at about 6. I woke up and said "I'm hungry" My companion basically said "there's my companion!" Yea, siempre hungry. Luckily I got better because we had a baptism at 7. Abelardo!!!! He's friends with basically all the young men in our ward and finally got baptised. He's been attending seminary and church and everything but couldn't get baptised because he didn't have the missionary lessons. We finally finished them this week. He shared his testimony after his baptism and all he could say was "I'm so happy"

Sunday: Eh, normal

I love you all. Don't worry my head is all better now. We have no idea why it hurt so bad but I got a blessing from my pensionista's husband so everything's ok now. Oh, also, thank you uncle Richard for the oil... it's come in handy multiple times already.

Love, Hermana White

Oh,...Hi President

This week Nain and Alex were baptized!!!!! It was beautiful. They were so ready and we finally got the ward to work with us. There was an off key musical number, the relief society president brought a small gift and the Elders Quorum president decided to sing a solo half in english and his welcome to Hermano Alex. It was awesome! Nain and Alex shared their testimonies and Nain started crying. It was so beautiful.

Also, while we were taking photos we looked over and President Henderson and his wife walked in. He never goes to baptisms, he just doesn't have time, but we found out from one of the asistants that he came specifically for the baptism... and he congratulated the bishop for the way the baptism went. I'd say we did good.

My comp has been doing a lot better. She's got a wrap around her torso to help and we've been able to get a ton of work done. It's so nice to come back to our room and feel exhausted but like we've worked hard.

Also, I'd like to let you know, that if you look for little miracles they're all around you. The other day we were looking for an old investigator that was left in the binder from other sisters that were in this area before us. We walked and we walked and we walked like little pioneer children and we still could not find this house. It was hot, we were walking on dirt road and we were just about on the point to give up... actually we did give up. We were waiting for the combi to come take us back to our room when I said, " Hey, can we go stand in the shade, I'm going to return to my house red instead of white" We started walking to the shade... but there were pigs, giant pigs, in this spot so we moved towards another spot of shade and lo and behold, there was the house, right in front of our faces. I testify that if you put in the work and work until you have used all your mortal, human strength, in these moments something else, something greater than you will help you out.

Also, on a less spiritual note. The entire month of August people have been celebrating Santiago. Basically they dance through the streets and drink a lot. But the music is cool :)

I love you all!!!!

Please continue to send your prayers Southward.... we need all the spiritual strength we can get

Love, Hermana White

In My Room

My comp fell down the stairs last sunday... so there's really not much to report today.... because I was basically in our room all week. As missionaries we always have a companion with us and when one of us is down we have to find two sisters to accompany us: one to stay in the room and one to go out with the healthy one. A few days we were able to find two sisters in our ward or in the wards surrounding us for a couple of hours but it was extremely difficult. In the couple hours that I was able to go out however we got a lot of work done. Also in the time that I was in our room with my comp I was able to read... alot... of Jesus the Christ. It's a fantastic book.

News for this coming week: Nain and Alex are getting baptized!!!!! We finally got the ward to work with us on a baptism so this Saturday should be super beautiful.

Also, I got the package :) I have never been so happy to see peanut butter in my life.

I love you all, please pray for my comp. Her back still hurts... and now she's going crazy from being stuck inside all week. 

Love, Hermana White

Tacos

Last Pday our district got together and we made tacos! You'd think living in Texas I'd know a little bit about tacos (but we're so spoiled in the US that we can just buy packets of taco seasoning). Luckily there's a sister from Uruguay in our district who'd made tacos before. We made the meat with oregano and onions and tomatoes and it was the best taco meat I've ever tasted. Also, we know how to make tortillas now :)

Tuesday my companion and I had 8 lessons with a member. Erik is waiting for his mission call and is probably the most excited future missionary I've ever seen. He participated in lessons and everything. He was exhausted by the end of the day. It's cool to see that I was super tired at the beginning of the mission and now I can walk for a whole day straight and.... nope, I'm still exhausted. I'm just used to it.

Hermana Pizzuri and I have had problems with working with our ward. There's just not a good connection between us and the ward members. We took the bishop and his wife out to dinner... and immediately the next day we saw a difference. The bishop asked us to help him push his car and actually let us borrow the keys to the chapel. (and then he asked us the speak in church).

Now our Sunday adventure. We went and visited a recent convert and her recently reactivated husband. They're really great friends with the missionaries and have goals for the temple and everything! Anyway, we were leaving and my comp fell down the stairs. I called the elders (one of them is a gringo and I'm pretty sure an Eagle scout because he first told me to just tell my comp to drink some water) they told her to take some ibuprofen and rest until the next day. We had a lesson with Alex and Nain that we really needed to go to because they have a baptism date so we had to find divisions within a half hour. We called one sister who is preparing to leave on her mission to stay with my comp in our room and then we had the hardest time finding someone to do divisions with me. We called everyone and then we said, well lets call Diana one more time. We were able to do divisions and succesfully teach Nain and Alex. They're so awesome :)

I love you all :)

Love, Hermana White

PS: 6 months!!!!

Cambios - Part 2

Well, it's that time again... we've had cambios in the mission. Since I killed my old companion I knew that I was going to be staying in my area. My new companion has only two cambios left in the mission...it seems I'm destined to be with people who are dying. I'm just going to end up killing everyone. 

My new companion is Hermana Pizzuri. She's from Iquitos, Peru (the deep jungle... like where they eat pirhanas). Fun fact, in her family there are 8 kids and she's the ony girl. Basically it's destiny.

I don't think I realize how much spanish i've learned in the mission but right now as I'm writing this, I realize that I am living with someone from the amazon jungle... and we communicate just fine. The gift of tongues is real everyone.

In other news, we're teaching a family that just kindof showed up at church one day. They're a young family with a 6 month old baby. The husband (Alex), his mom was a member but she passed away about two years ago and left some books on the shelf....the wife (Nain) and Alex decided to read them one day and then decided that they needed to go to church. We had our first lesson with them and Alex asked us what a person needs to do to be baptized. Well, we can help with that :) They accepted a baptism date right there and now we're just going to be finishing the other lessons and helping them progress. Gah! It's so awesome.

Well, everything's good, my comp's awesome, I pray for you every day.

I love you all!!!

Love, Hermana White