TEMBLORES! (Earthquakes!)

Hello Family! 

This week was crazy! First of all, we had transfers. I am still here in Tahuantinsuyo (Hermana Llerena got transfered to my old area in San Felipe!) and am here with Hermana Zapata, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED AN ARGENTINA COMPANION! haha It's so funny because everyone we visit always tells her that she's so tall and doesn't sound like argentine. Bueno.... that's what so many months in a different country does to you. She is almost 22 and is really fun and really tranquila. She makes me get up early on Saturdays to go play soccer with the elders but it's okay because she's as bad as I am. She did folklore dance and is kind of a hippie. We get along great. 

Also, we had 3 temblores (earthquakes) this week!! The scariest one was at 10:45 pm the other night. We had just gone to bed when all of the sudden we felt the ground move and what sounded like thunder. Zapata grabbed my hand and we ran down three flights of stairs to the outside of our building, barefoot and in pajamas! It was fine at the end but we were both a little anxious that we couldn't sleep for another hour. Someone also dumped a bucket of water on us from their roof and ran away laughing. I'm trying to get used to speaking all Spanish again now that my comp doesn't  speak English, and we're just still looking for God's chosen people! 

I had a great birthday. Yuri y Yoyi came and took us to breakfast (which was a miracle, because  our lunch fell through but we were still full) and at night, we had a Family Home Evening with two of our investigators and Graciela and Jair. Graciela bought me a cake and we sang happy  birthday and they even bought me some little gifts. I love her so much and she is like our mom here. Stefy also brought me Dunkin Donuts, gerber daisies and balloons. It was a good day and a good week. Sorry there's not much time! Hasta luego,

Hermana Stone

Weird stuff is going on here with the weather and these earthquakes!!

Thanks for the Flowers Mom :)

With Graciela and Jair (our converts) and Ricardo and Lisbet (our investigators) We did a FHE and they bought me a cake and little gifts!

My first companion that's taller than me!

Adventurous Week!

Familia!

Wow this week was something else. It was so crazy busy and full of adventure and spiritual experiences that it will be hard to put it all into a letter haha! So I guess I'll just give you the highlights. First of all this week we have been looking for a ton of new people because the people that we have right now just aren't progressing like we'd like them to. Looking for nuevos is always fun. You meet every kind of people. We talked to a family that was put in a mental hospital for the devils that possessed their bodies, my companion almost got smacked by a broom (style mulan) by an old woman acting out how she dealt with her son when he came home drunk. We also met a completely racist man who wouldn't even let us finish because he thinks that we're trying to take over the world or something. 

We also had some other interesting experiences. One of our sisters under our care got appendicitis and had to be operated. We visited her, found members to bring them food, to go on divisions for the night so her companion could come sleep at our house and to work with us. We also had a special capacitación with Elder Godoy from the Seventy. It was so so so special. He shared his personal conversion story and in one part (while describing the first missionary lessons he received) he recited the first vision in Portugese, his native tongue. I didn't understand a word of what he said, but with the Spirit, and also following along reciting it in my mind in Spanish, it was one of the strongest spiritual experiences I have ever had in my whole life. We also had a meeting afterwards with the zone leaders and hermana capacitadoras with him and Presidente. It was something I will never forget. Finally, this week my companion and I also went to the temple. We worked on Monday to be able to goon Friday. It was so beautiful and a good happy birthday and goodbye with Hermana Llerena :,) 

Finally, one of the funniest experiences I had was waiting outside of the door for an investigator to come out. We were standing there talking when all of the sudden we see a big ball of fur running down the stairs to trample us. Little did we know, IT WAS A SHEEP! It scared the crap out of me and we both died laughing. We've also been drinking boiled water all week because we finished all of our big bottles, it's like camping :-) It was a good week! I hope you guys have a good one too!! 

Love always,

Hermana Stone

con hermana salguero y hermana workman

10/17/16

Family! 

I am so glad to see that you made it through two birthdays and a wedding! Please tell Kenna that she looked BEAUTIFUL. This week has been really good! We were able to help build and paint part of a house, do some visits with the other sisters, learn how to cook lemon pie (in honor of Maddies birthday!) and teach the gospel! It was also funny to realize that my companion is the only one who understands my jokes and when a little  old lady (who was all dressed up in her catholic robe for the Señor de Los Milagros fiesta) told us that we walk a LOT and if we would accept "some help" for a new pair of shoes! It was so sweet and we just laughed and laughed- they might be ugly, but they're comfortable!! 

We were able to find some new people and we are still luchando for the people that we are teaching who are facing some oposition and trials. Something that we have really been trying to help them understand is how to overcome their trials and opposition themselves with the Lord's help- through prayer, scripture study and church activity. You wouldn't believe how simple but HOW IMPORTANT it is. Elder Nelson said: "We need to pray from our hearts. Polite recitations of past and upcoming activities, punctuated with some requests for blessings, cannot constitute the kind of communing with God that brings enduring power." Although it is important to talk with God, it is so important to seek  His power and his will. I hope we can all have His guidance this week as we earnestly pray and seek the answers through personal meditation and scripture study. Stay sweet!

Early morning hike this morning

This is why the lady wants to give us shoes haha

Enjoying american food and ccm memories

We bought matching pj's

10/10/16

Familia!

This week was very, interesting. It was actually kind of a hard week, one of the hardest that I've had in a long time. While pondering about my time and the hard periods I've passed through during my mission, I have noticed that what I was feeling this week is a whole different story than what I have gone through before. At the beginning of my mission I would feel sad for myself- that I can't speak Spanish, that I don't like the food, that I don't know the lessons, that there's a lot of dirt... haha but this last week we had to leave a family we have been working with for a long time because they are not willing to change, even though they KNOW that what we have been teaching is true. We were also supposed to have a baptism this last Saturday but it fell through and now the man is not answering our calls (and told us that he wasn't going to show up to his baptism with a text!) due to family problems from people who reject the church. Another woman we have been teaching with her son can not get married without her husbands consent and every thing seemed to pile on top of us at once. I have a little paper above my desk that says "Do you love me? Then feed my sheep". I remember starting to cry, feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, as I have let a lot of people down- including myself, the Lord, and my mission president. I prayed that through the atonement, I could feel better to be able to leave and have the Spirit, because I didn't feel like I wanted to leave to work that afternoon and my mind just felt very... heavy. After the prayer (and changing my clothes to be in happier colors- I put on the brightest skirt and sweater I have!) I felt complete relief from what I was feeling before. I felt the approval of the Lord and the peace of mind that even though I was still upset, I didn't feel weighed down or guilty. 

But the week wasn't all bad- it was funny because hermana Llerena and I always roll our eyes secretly and laugh about how the people here are so proud of macchu picchu and la cultura peruana. We were eating lunch and hearing another story/debate about who built macchu picchu. We started talking about how it was probably the lamanites and the hermano that we were eating with said that he thought it was the Gadianton robbers that lived in the woods. We said that it would've been impossible because they were lazy and didn't work. He said "no, todos los ociosos se fueron a norte america!" or all of the lazy ancient people went to north america. Then he looked at me and went red when he realized that I understood and was listening. We all just laughed and shook our heads. We also had interviews and room checks with Presidente and Hermana Godfrey, she gave us yoga mats and pilates workouts to do. I love yoga! and haven't done it since college. I am definitely not as flexible as I was before.... haha There was another man we talked to who asked if my companion was from Brasil. We asked why and he said "because she is also struggling to learn spanish right?" we laughed so hard because she has just had too much time with a gringa!! All of my poorly worded phrases have rubbed off on her hahaha I hope you have a good week and send me tons of pictures from Kennas wedding!! :,) 

Love always,

Savannah

When we were locked out of our room I climbed out the window to let us in until I got scared of falling and we just asked for the spare key haha

Choose Wisely

Familia!

I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed conference as much as I did. It is always so fun to hear the choir (and be the only one in the congregation singing along in English) and receive so much spiritual strength to prepare us for the next six months. My companion and I decided to do and extend the challenge to our conversos and investigators to prepare personal questions before the conference and then listen with the Spirit to receive the answers. I kid you not, I received an answer to every question on my list except one, and I think that just might be because we arrived half an hour late to one of the sessions! I know that these men (and women, who I actually enjoyed their talks this time!!) are called and inspired by God,our Father. 

This week was really good. We were able to find a lot of new people, paint another house, endure fiestas outside our house Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night (you would think they'd get tired of the same music/drinking/and friends but no!) We found a place that sells mas o menos real tacos Mexicanos, ate (and hid) liver (again), hit my 16 month mark, and brought a bunch of people to conference. We had 8 investigators there!! One of them actually fell asleep during the session but it was nice and warm in the chapel and after lunch. But I think the rest of them enjoyed it. 

This morning in my personal studies I was reflecting on a talk I read from Conference of 2014 called "Choose Wisely" and about the theme of the plan of Salvation in the talks of both President Monson and Elder Uchtdorf. Our purpose on the earth is to progress and to learn. To prepare to return and become like God. Yes, He gives us the opportunities to work, to go to college, to play sports, learn piano, develop our talents... but these are just on the side to our ultimate goal to return to our heavenly home. In the talk from 2014 it said "You can get caught up in endless loops of triviality that waste your time and degrade your potential". Every day that the Lord gives us, as a missionary, as a student, parent, teacher or in whatever circumstance we are currently in, is a chance to reach our potential. "Our daily conduct and choices should be consistent with our goals" Elder Cook later said. As I was following my study in Doctrine and Covenants I read a scripture in section 98:19-20. In this part the Lord says that he is unhappy with some members of the church for their pride, their covetousness, and in Spanish, "malas costumbres". In English it says "wicked ways" but the Spanish version has a  little bit of a different meaning."Malas costumbres" are bad habits that we don't want to change or, what can be the waste of time. Even if we are avoiding major sin and are "good people", we should find the way to improve. The "good people" will be those who miss the fine line between the Terrestrial and Celestial kingdoms. I hope that we can all use wisely our time and work towards our goals!

I love you guys,

Hermana Stone