Two Whitney Houstons in a tranquil little town....

WHATS UP FELLAS!!!

 This is the greenest most beautiful lush open spaces you will ever see!

 This is our precious Analia.  How I love her!

 Ok see this baby?  See how she is looking at me?  All crazy and cross eyed?  This is how most people look at me when I try speaking long fluent Castellano.  Its ok everyone, Im about used to it.  When all is said and done, Im obsessed with her and this baby is completely obsessed with me, mostly pulling my hair!

 And yes....I did.....I ate the goat.  I looked it eyeball to eyeball (oh thank you for making this possible Limans) and I said, Im sorry, but Im starving, and Im going to have to eat you.  The End.

 So much mission is consumed with loving all the little ninos.  Perfect work.

Hermana Quintana celebrated the new year by covering my face with this.  You can see my excitement about the whole celebration as Im falling asleep.

I HAD SUUUUCHHH AN AMAZING WEEK. IM SO THANKFUL. 

Bueno. Analia is gettin baptizedl!!!!!!!!! OUR FIRST BAPTISM--We were soooo scared if her parents were gonna allow it.. so we prayed like crazy. When we asked her dad... SOMEHOW HE WAS SUPER NICE AND laid back about it. He signed the papers!! YAY!!!! Analia was soooo happy! I cant even tell you the joy that I felt. I felt Dios thanking me and HQ over and over again. The more I learn about baptism... the more I realize how special it is. This sweet little girl is about to make a covenant with Jesus. Shes going to live her life for him. Shes gonna have the most wonderful gift in the world and thats the gift of the Holy Ghost. Family, I can honestly say with my whole heart that I love Analia so much. I want this for her more than anything. Heavenly Father loves her so much. We cry with her, We laugh with her, We help her.

The date for her baptism is this Saturday!! :D Fam... please pray for Analia that she might be able to learn and understand the things we need to teach and make sure she understands before her baptism. And there wont be any complications.  I love my Analia. 

Que mas.. OH!! I went on divisiones on Wednesday and Thursday! SAN PEDRO!! (about 1 hour north from Lima)... right by Rosario) I went with Hermana Rogerson. Shes from UTAH!! Shes 21 and she played soccer at Western Wyoming college. :) Shes one transfer ahead of me.... and folks... SHE IS FLUENT IN CASTELLANO. Like I couldnt believe it. She motivated me to reallllllllllllllly study and learn the language the best I can cada dia. She told me to start thinking in spanish.  EVEN WHEN I SING IN MY MIND I TRANSLATE IT TO CASTELLANO. YOU COULD SAY IM PRETTY MUCH A GENIUS(although I suspect this has always been the case). I was talking to her about how my friend (BROOKE L) got called to this mission. She said that when she first arrived.. there were only 20 hermanas.. and now there 50.. and before we know it were gonna have 100!!! :) I was telling her that for the longest time I felt like the hermanas in this mission were gonna do something amazing. She told me shes felt the same way too. :)  I dont know what God has in store for this mission... but something tells me that its gonna be BIG. And God needs the coolest hermanas in the world to be in this mission. HAHAHAHA. :)

I wanna tell you guys a story. So when we were in San Pedro, we visited with a woman named COCA (uhh dont know how to spell it.. but isnt that legit. Coca.) and shes super catholic. Hermana Rogerson and her comp reeeeaaallly want her her to join the church. Man let me tell ya, Coca is a tough little nugget. But Hermana Rogerson was really good at listening and taking everything slow. There was a point in the lesson when she told us that she cant join our church because she doesnt wanna ruin the relationship she has with God. And then she recited one of her prayers. Im gonna say it now. I felt the spirit in her prayer, because you could feel her honest and beautiful heart. I felt God was so happy with her. I was so impressed with her spirituality. God works in so many ways. Que increible. After her prayer... the words in my mind kept repeating, My gospel is for all, it is a message of perfect hope. And I got thinking... this woman is trying her best. This woman wants God in her life just as much as I do. I wanted to sooo badly shout with all my joy and say, COCA!! YOURE THE PERFECT PERSON TO PARTAKE OF THIS GOSPEL!! This gospel is an opportunity for ALL to learn MORE about our Savior and to make these convenants with God thats going to blow our minds because ONLY the spirit confirms to us that this is true. Coca would love her life even more if she had a taste of whats MORE in La Iglesia de Jesucristo.  I just wanna say... to all those Christians out there... YOU ROCK. KEEP IT UP. We all want Jesus. We all need Jesus. We all love him from deep in our soul.  And the gospel of Jesus Christ is there for you and will give you sooooo much. This is a gospel of receiving and giving. AND A GOSPEL OF LOVE. I cant even explain it. I know its true with all my heart. I know it. I know Joseph Smith saw Padre Celestial and Jesucristo. God gave this revelation to a little boy who was 14. I am working with kids around this age, and can I just say, there is somthing sacred about this age.  Its between childhood and adulthood and these amazing souls are especially open and ready to reach for Dios.  Gods looking out for each and every one of us. The plan of salvation is something that makes peoples eyes pop.. and ponder about it. NEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED KNOWING WHO YOU ARE(HIS) WHERE YOU CAME FROM AND WHERE YOU ARE GOING.  IT TRULY CHANGES YOUR MOTIVATION AND PEACE LEVEL. Thats whats so beautiful about our church. Theres just so many things I love about this church. I LOVE BEING A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS!!

The night I slept in San Pedro.. I had an image in my mind as I fell asleep. It was a clear picture of Jesus pointing us to go to this house. I KNOW THIS HOUSE. Well, its not a house... more like a little hut. :) But anyways.. this house belongs to a little old lady Maria. Shes a less active and feels so bad shes hasnt been to church for 10 years. She has about 10 little grandchildren who are always playing in their pool. Guys, its like a bunch of little dark, big eyed Lukes laughing like crazy alllll the time. And then Jesus points to these kids. And then I WOKE UP COMPLETELY STARTLED.

WOW. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Me and HQ NEED to do something with those kids. When me and HQ finally reunited (WE MISSED EACH OTHER LIKE CRAZY. EVEN THOUGH WE WERE APART FOR A DAY. HAHAHA) I told her about my little inspiration. SO HQ came up with the most incredible plan. We bought a tons of candies and little bags and bows and brought it to Marias. Maria LOVES crafts and loves giving. She said that every time she went to church she would give something to all the little ninos. So thats what we did. We helped her make goody bags for all the kids that come to church. :) Maria was sooo happy! And then all of her grandchildren came in. HOLY SMOKES. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I stared at them. I stared in their sweet, innocent eyes.. and I felt the strongest impression to invite all these kids to church the next day. OF COURSE THEY SAID YES!!! :) And then we asked them if they know who Jesus is. NONE of them knew. So we HQ decided that we should sing to them Soy un hijo de Dios (I am a child of God). Guys.. I could not hold back the tears. Their eyes didnt leave our eyes and they  listened and smiled. After we left, I realized that these kids need the gospel just as much as adults and teenagers do. And God wants me and HQ to lead them to the waters of baptism and lead them to a life full of love. :)

So THEY ALL CAME TO CHURCH!! I WOULD TELL YOU ALL OF THEIR NAMES.. BUT I ONLY REMEMBERED THE TWO SIMPLEST NAMES, BIANCA AND MICHELLE.  Somehow the word got around that we had gift bags for after church because WE HAD 44 PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! ISNT THAT AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And PRIMARY WAS OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! We taught about prayer and we got EACH of the kids to say a prayer!! My favorite was Michelles. She prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for the missionaries and to help us when were teaching them and that they could understand. AHHHHHHHHHH. MY HEART IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE. I LOVE THESE LITTLE ANGELS SO MUCH! Fam.. please pray that the parents of these little ninos (who we dont know..but i hear they dont like the church) that theyre hearts will be open to our message... and that all of their families will feel the spirit and truth and peace and connection this gospel brings. :)

SO YA. My life kinda rocks. Another thing learned from San Pedro- Its wayy easy. Its easy to get members to come with us in lessons, they actually have a chapel, they have a lot of members, its a big city and everything is nicer. 

And ya know what.. theres no where else Id rather be than in Lima. Me and HQ were talking about it.. Last night and we both agreed that we like the challenges. It requires us to rise above and overcome them. It requires us to think outside of the box and ask, What can we do to get people to church? Or what can we do to get the less actives to come back to the gospel? These are the questions that only Lima asks. In our zone meeting the other day I came to conclusion that our district (Barredero) is the district that rarely gets baptisms. And its weird because Buenos Aires North is a veeeerrry high rating baptism mission. Which makes me feel honored that God trusts me and HQ to serve in the smallest place, that only has one supermeracado , that doesnt even have a capilla(chapel), that has less than 20 active members, that has more countryside than any other area... and trusts us to work and love and find and bring others unto Christ. I know it can be hard... but I wouldnt change it for anything. I love this little town with all of my heart. Lima has eternally stolen my heart. I reaallly hope I dont get called to the capital anytime soon!  Lima is so humble! AND MIGHT I ADD... SOOOOOO FUNNY. I cant explain it... but I realized when I was in San Pedro.. that the people in Lima re soo much quicker to laugh and be humorous. Every one has more personality and every one is HILARIOUS... except for me, I cant even make hilarious jokes yet, because I cant say all the words that would make it funny, cuz I cant speak the language fluently enough-------YET. My comp is a scream. She has the funniest humor. And shes a fireball just like me. Two Whitney Houstons serving in a tiny little tranquil town.  I love God. I LOVE YOU!Yaaa. Thats about it.


ps  Mom, please put this adorable little exerpt from the one and only Tom Setzers letter he just sent me on my blog.  I want everyone to know what an amazing instrument Tom really is...He said somthing in this letter that has really struck me and may others as well.

[Recently Ive been thinking a lot on how we often say that God has work for us to do no matter where we go. Although I was honorably excused from serving a full time proselyting mission, Ive found many other ways to serve God and my fellow man right where I am, be it in Ephraim, Springville or anywhere else in the world. IN the story of Jesus giving a blind man his sight, He says, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him John 9:3. In much the same way, I feel the reason why I have Asperger syndrome is because I am an instrument in God's hands, and He has a specific work for me to do.

CARRY ON CARRY ON CARRY ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!