Hermana Stone: Peru, Lima North Mission: God Qualifies His Servants

Familia!

First of all, mom your selfie game has always been the best in the family. Pictures are always my favorite part of internet time! It's always fun to see who is wearing my clothes I left this time ;) And Delaney and Rich (heart eye emoji) Yay! haha I can't believe my little girl Corynne had her farewell today! I bet she did great and I'm so happy you were able to go support her for me. The green pictures were so great! I honestly miss it buuuuttt I guess it'll help me appreciate it more when I get home? It is so funny because here if there's a little patch of grass, it is surrounded by a big metal fence so nothing can touch it.

This week was really good. We had a conference with Presidente and 3 other areas. For part of it we had practices for teaching Lesson 1. Presidente sat in on our lesson and I almost peed my pants but lived through it. He is definitely a "tough love" president and told me I have a lot to work on. I've been struggling a little bit with comparing myself to other missionaries. I feel like everyone has a better knowledge of the gospel, of scripture references, are better at Spanish, or are more eloquent in their teaching methods. I felt a huge weight on me and pretty upset. But the Lord always answers our prayers. That same day we were at lunch with a member and our district leader and his companion and we were able to speak IN ENGLISH for a bit. They reminded me that I only have 4 weeks in the field, that God qualifies His servants, and that it will come. It was nice to be reassured and reminded to be patient with myself. They also shared with me several scriptural example of God calling the weak. Joseph Smith was only 14 years old! Ever since that day I have literally felt God helping me: in my conjugations, in being happy even when appointments fall though or people don't keep their committments, in understanding more every day, in leading me to scriptures that are exactly what I need or something that will relate to a lesson later in the day, and with the Holy Ghost comforting me. EVERY SINGLE DAY. I never really understood how cool the Gift of the Holy Ghost was before. We literally have a member of the Godhead with us at all time ready to comfort us, to help us make good decisions, to guide us, as long as we live worthy of it. I had a cool experience with the Holy Ghost I would like to share. We had a lot of appointments on Friday and Hermana Valbuena and I decided to do our first divisions. This was huge for me because I still don't feel confident in my understanding completely and taking charge is a little scary. I was feeling inadequate and unready silently to myself as we were walking down the cerros when I heard a voice in my head say: "You've got this. You can do it" several times. I know that this wasn't my own voice, but the voice of my loving, patient Heavenly Father telling me that He's proud of me and will help me. The divisions turned out fine and once again, God fulfilled His promises.

In response to your questions:

1. What are you doing on Pday? Is it the same each Pday?

Every P day is different. Last week was so fun! We met up with the Santa Isabel zone and played volley and futbol. Everyone is competitive in the sense that we love to trash talk each other zone vs zone (in the most Christlike way possible of course haha) I even made a goal to the surprise and happiness of my zone. We also went to Pizza Raul and of course with our pizza got a mountain of fries because why not? And it wasn't even the Americans that chose it! Today one of the cooking ladies for a set of elders is making our zone a feast. Hopefully we'll have some time to rest too.

2. What is your favorite Peruvian food?

Favorite Peruvian food is hard to say. I love almost everything we eat here. I had some coconut Icecream that was to. die. for. Also they have this thing called papa juancallina (wow spelling is probably wayyy off) that's really good and also fresh fruit juices or tea with every lunch. Yesterday we had something almost like Hawaiian Haystacks that was really good. Then again, we also had something that smelled like a christmas candle with the same consistancy as melted wax that was a little scary. But you have to just smile and swallow haha

3. Scripture of the week?

Scripture of the week: Matt 25:34-40. I've been reading conference talks from that Ensign you sent me (thanks) and there was a talk by Elder Eyring about succoring others. It struck me with this scripture that when we succor others we are literally succoring Christ, because he suffered all things for everyone. When we help someone it is as if we are relieving His pain slightly.

4. Is your acne getting better?

My acne is still bad and I'm using my medicine but I think it's just the stress and food and different climate. It's okay though. I'm not too worried about what I look like- I mean, at least I have all of my teeth ;)

5. How do you do laundry?

There is a member that does all of the missionaries laundry! She is great at getting stains out but I miss the "fresh laundry scent" that does not exist here.

6. Are you happy?

I am happy! I don't want you to think that I'm not, I just like to be completely honest because the moments that are hard, are the moments that I grow and learn from. There are several funny/happy moments this week. For example, I was not understanding something again and finally I got it. (The woman was explaining that her dog got bathed yesterday). I told her that I understood it now and she didn't believe me so she asked me to explain to her what she said. Unfortunately, when I was relating it back to her I confused the word banar with bautizar so I told her that her dog got baptized yesterday. Also, Hermana Valbuena told me all about the "3 cosas que perdemos en la mision" (3 things you lose in your mission): your boyfriend, your figure, and your sense of shame. Love it hahahaha

I am so happy to hear from you guys and I love you!

Your favorite hermana,

Hermana Stone