Week 31 March 14, 2016

Zone meeting! Lots of Hermanas with a photo bomb from zone leaders. Dionicio (Cali), Sandison (Twin Falls), Brown (South Jordan), Dorado (Puno), Sepulveda (Mapleton), Signs (Coloroado), Thomas (Ogden)

7 months! 

A good but very hard week. We worked super hard and how many inverstigators came to church yesterday? Ninguno... It was super disappointing when so many people told us for sure they were going to come, even going around to pick them up didn't work.

The good news is we found a new family! _ and _, (mother and daughter). _ has two kids, _ and _. So yes _ is a member, I'm sure you could guess by the names... But _ and _ are not yet baptized! We still haven't had the opportunity to sit down and teach them due to the fact that they have other problems that need attention first. This little family was previously living in _ (on the border of Chile) but moved very quickly and secretly to _ as they were experiencing extortion. What that means is that they have been receiving countless threats such as "if you don't pay this certain amount of money by this date I will kill your 2 kids and your mom"... She showed us the threats on her phone and lets just say I censored it. Terrifying right? So they moved to _. While living there, They left as a family for a day at the beach. Coming home later that night they walked into a completely empty house. Everything had been robbed. It was very sad when both of these women were sobbing as Hna _ said, "My children had nothing but the swimsuits on their bodies." Can you even imagine these trials? So from there we have been helping them in service related ways. Its been such a blessing to have Hna Dorado here just in time. They bonded to her within the first 5 minutes because she is from the southern part of Peru as well. Perfect timing! I know its definitely not a coincidence!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Shumway (Orem) and Hermana Vasquez (Cali). SO SAD! These two are amazing missionaries!!

Hna Bobbio has also been experiencing some hard trials. I got a call from her sobbing as she told me her little grandson Emilio, 3 yrs old, has a brain tumor. She asked us to tell the whole ward so that we could pray for him. (portion removed to maintain privacy) Emilio's dad, Harold, who isn't a member but someone who we are really good friends with, also called me crying. He told me he didn't know what to do and that he was scared. I honestly don't feel adequate to help someone in a situation like that! I told him we were praying for him and that Heavenly Father hears his prayers. I feel so sad for their family.

Hermana Dorado and I! She's from Puno! How cool to think that I've visited her home town.

But on a brighter side we have a lot of investigators that are progressing! We just need to get them to church!! I can't reiterate it enough, the importance of going church! We are literally battling against age old traditions and a culture that tells you to work or go out and drink and watch soccer on Sundays. It is so hard!! But not impossible..

Fun fact: As my comp and I were walking the dusty hot streets we talked about what each city in Peru is known for... Lima, the capitol. Trujillo, the flowers. Arequipa, famous volcanoes. As we got to Piura the both of us paused, looked at eachother, said "chifles" in unison, and then busted up laughing at how sad but true it is. Chifles are fried banana chips... and that's what Piura is known for. Also THE HEAT. Don't take cold for granted!!

Miss everyone sooooo much
Hermana Ingram

PERU: Niños playing with burning garbage