Week 18 Cha Cha Changes... December 14, 2014

Banana splits at our mission Christmas Party

I've been transferred! Let's rewind a week first...
The last week in Morropon we decided we would work super hard to meet our goals even though there would be 3 days without a lot of work. It was good!

My sister leader Hermana Vasquez came to Morropon to do a split with me. It was kind of like a final test before I ended my training. AND HOLY IT WAS SO FUN! I really surprised myself! It's fun to lead everything and fly solo (of course not completely solo) for a little while. We even met with Maria and Julio and taught them about the Book of Mormon which they are super interested in. After that time with Hermana Vasquez I really knew that I was ready to be done with training.

My first and second companions in the mission

Maria and Julio are still super awesome but they are still struggling in finding time to say their prayers and read the Book of Mormon. The other night my companion and I were out knocking doors before our lesson with them. Across the street I noticed Maria pushing her baby in a stroller and was a little bit worried because we needed to visit them! So my comp and I may or may not have secretly followed her around until we knew she would be in her house for our lesson. It was the best lesson! President even came and bore his testimony about Joseph Smith and shared his conversion story. One thing with Maria and Julio is that they are always telling us that they want to investigate every religion before deciding on one. That's when President stepped in and basically said, "Well why waste time searching for an answer when you could just ask someone who knows everything?" Say your prayers people! God knows all!

Later on in the week we went to the Christmas party! I'm convinced President Rasmussen and his wife are the greatest mission presidents out there.

Hermana Ingram and Hermana Spainhower with President Rasmussen

The Rasmussens threw the most amazing Christmas Party!! Soooooo much fun! Eight hours of games, a devotional, treats, and we even watched "It's a Wonderful Life"! The are absolute angels for doing that for us!

The next day we were told to stay in Piura to help with the noche blanca. It was such a cool sight to see so many baptisms all at once. Also I have to say I may have cracked a smile to see how terrified some of the people were of the water. I remember those days when I was scared to put my head underwater too (: They sure faced their fears like champs ready to follow Christ!

That night we missed the bus to Morropon and had to stay with Hermana Shumway and Hermana Thomas. We spent the night eating top ramen and watching Johnny Lingo. I sure do love those two. In the morning we made it back just in time for church. I was exhausted. Later that night I was informed that I needed to go back to Piura and leave in 45 minutes. When I hung up the phone and saw everything that I needed to pack and knew I couldn't say goodbye to anyone I was a little stressed... a little (: But threw it all into a moto, then into a bus, then into a taxi, and then into my new room! Probably a highlight of the week is that I got to stay in President's house last night! HOT SHOWER!!!

White elephant gift exchange for the district. Hermana Shumway gave away chicken feet and HOLY COW they smelled so bad!

So anyway my new area is right in the city, its called Miguel Grau and I've only heard good things! My new comp is Hermana Arce and this is her very last transfer. She is from Paraguay, super sweet and awesome. My room on the other hand.... Yikes... Our new room is disgusting and we have a huge bug problem. There are tiny fruit flies EVERYWHERE! Off to go buy bleach and bug killer.
LOVE YOU ALL
MERRY CHRISTMAS
counting down the days until I get to see my family's faces!!!!!

Top:More photos from the party...Hermana Spainhower and ? (Hannah didn't caption this one)
Bottom: We aren't exactly used to air conditioning...

Funerals in Peru

Week 17 December 7, 2015

Not too much happened this past week. Most of the time was spent just trying to find new investigators and get lessons, It has been a bit discouraging because it seems like no one will really listen to us. But yesterday we found some amazing new investigators, Maria and Julio. When we found them they told us how they were in the middle of the catholic church and the Jehovahs Witnesses and looking for the truth. LOOKING FOR THE TRUTH!? That was music to my ears. That has never happened to me on my mission. So we sat down with them and they had a lot of questions, let me say that again.. A Lot Of Questions. It was kind of hard because I wanted to just try and focus on one part instead of teaching a little of the restoration, the Book of Mormon, the plan of salvation, the commanments etc. It was all over the place. But either way they are super interested. For the first time in my mission I was asked the polygamy question, I just told them I would really like my husband to myself and then let my companion explain the rest (: I am so excited for these new investigators! They are like the light at the end of a dark tunnel! The moment of truth is whether or not they actually kept commitments. We will see tonight!

So the Elders had an Investigator come to church yesterday (Miracle!) It was an interesting fast and testimony meeting to say the least... During the third hour the elders were upstairs in a classroom teaching their investigator, little did they know that the door to that classroom is completely broken. So for 45 minutes there were trapped inside. Of course I had to run outside and take a picture of them. Finally president had to get the other brethren upstairs and they broke down the door, at the same time, Hermano Cristian (the snake) started asking me what color my eyes were and calling them beautiful. Next thing I knew pres pulled him into a classroom and chastized him for a bit about not flirting with the missionaries or any girls who are 20 years younger than him for that matter. Later, President informed me that Hermano Cristian had told him that I was the one starting it.... Oh boy church is always fun

Elder Godoy and his wife (photo courtesy of Pres Rasmussen)

A general authority from the seventy came, Elder Godoy. He was an AMAZING speaker. At one point in his visit he had all of the missionaries (about 100 of us) sing "I Hope They Call me on a mission" in Spanish and in English at the same time. It was one of my absolute favorite moments in my mission. Some time before he came we had heard that he would be choosing 3 elders and 1 hermana to have personal interviews with. When the meeting ended my mission president walked up to me and said "Hermana Ingram Elder Godoy has selected you for an interview" So first interview with a general authority! For some reason I had a feeling that he would choose me for an interview. I don't know if you could really call it an interview.  He first asked me my favorite part of the mission, I said seeing progression in myself. He asked me my least favorite part. I said feeling inadequate. Then he asked me what he could do for me in my mission. I kind of panicked a little and thought "What do I ask a General Authority to do for me?" So I just asked, "What's your number one advice?" and he said "find yourself" and that was the end of it. Now I am still trying to find myself (:

This is my last week in training! YAY! time is flying, I love all of you so much!
-Hermana Ingram

It's mango season in Morropon and we have about 30 mangos in our room...and I don't even like mangos. Oops!

 Under a mango tree

Week 16 Feliz Dia de Gracias! November 30, 2015

We found real, fake Christmas trees!...so a picture was necessary.

Wow I have truly come to realize that the branch and the members are the base for missionary work!! Update on the last sacrament meeting.. One of the teachers forgot to man the door during the passing of the sacrament so a few stray dogs strolled on in... President was pretty mad and tried to chase them out, it was quite the scene him running around with his arms spread out trying to heard them out the door. The person who had been assigned a talk for sacrament meeting bailed last minute so the two counselors to the pres (the Elders) did a quick rock paper scissors to see who had to cover and give a talk on the spot. During the president's talk he asked a hypothetical question like "And why is it important to repent everyday?" But before he could answer his own question the members started chiming in "Its because of this! or No this!" I think they forgot that there are no discussions during the first meeting... Then to top it off, one of the members who is a bit of a snake said the closing prayer, at the end he closed with "In the name of the father, of the son and the holy ghost" a little bit on the catholic side, he's been a member for years and years so it's surprising to me that he still says catholic prayers. This is just to help you get a small idea of what we are working with here, so our base right now is like the consistency of my Thanksgiving mashed potatoes... not very strong and supportive.

Since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday there was no way I was going to miss out. So we cancelled the pensionista and whipped up this Dia de Gracias in an hour and a half. I have to say, the mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls were actually delicious! The corn...well, my comp sure liked it!

Earlier this week we went out knocking doors and found a lady to go and teach. She lives in a more sketchy part of town next to all of the borrachos (drunk guys) It was kind of funny walking to her house for our appointment one night. All of the neighbors were out sitting in their plastic chairs and started yelling "Gringa!(white girl) What are you doing here? Turn around go back! There are borrachos!!" But we needed to go to that appointment so we dodged the drunk guys and made it safely in her house. When we sat down with her we just started talking with her to try and get a feel for what her needs might be. During the conversation she reached down to her leg and unwrapped a dirty rag from off her calf, underneath was this massive flesh wound. It was oozing a lot of liquid and was really deep. Her skin on that part of her leg was completely black. She told us that she has had it for 7 months and no doctors have been able to help her. She said it started out as a pimple (a motivational horror story for all of you pimple poppers out there, (Uncle Shane.. mom..) and then she had basically picked at it and it turned into what it is now. It honestly looks like rotting flesh to me. It was super sad though because you could tell that it causes her a lot of pain and she feels helpless at this point. We had an awesome lesson with her though and the spirit was so strong she cried the whole time. What's frustrating is that we haven't been able to get a second visit with her! We have gone to her house everyday and she either isn't home or she has her son answer the door to tell us that she's too busy. That's a common scenario with a lot of investigators, it's like we teach them once and then the next thing you know they have fallen off of planet earth! I'll be honest, there really hasn't been a lot of progression here! Super frustrating, but we'll just keep on working!

Hermana Ingram

If I get a disease in Peru, it will probably be from all of the puppies I play with.

My FAVORITE family in Peru!!! (my pensionista Juanita, Alan her husband, their 3 kids Angela, Leah, and Sami, and her younger sister Yajaida)

A random little girl I asked to be in my picture ;)

Our Thanksgiving feast.

Week 15 The Glamorous Life of a Missionary November 23, 2015

Dont worry Im not coming home (; Just flying to lima to pickup my visa!

So a lot of things happened this week but I don't know... I just don't really feel like writing them all. Sometimes I write them out and then erase them because I don't think anyone is going to want to read it, ( I-(Hannah's mom- tried to assure her that we are extremely interested in everything she has to say) For example my area is on the downhill.. the whole zone came to help us Saturday night to recruit people to come to church, 20 missionaries and nothing happened, my pensionista found 8 dead giant rats in her living room under rice sacks... we had a lesson with Isaura and Jorge and everything with them completely fell apart. It's super sad because Helen wants this so bad for herself and her family but we can't force them on the correct path. My companion just sat on the curb after the lesson and cried and I realized how mentally and emotionally draining being a missionary is. I saw an owl sitting on a sidewalk this morning and it was so pretty, when I got closer I saw that someone had tortured it and jabbed its eyes out, it was sitting there bleeding and helpless, people kept poking it to see if it was alive and it was, it was so sad to see it made me cry. Also I have gained like 10 pounds so I'm fat. But don't worry, I'm staying positive!

Subway exists in Lima! Best meal ever and it was COLD in Lima...a great break from the scorching hot sun in Piura.

We cleaned the Capilla on Saturday, The glamorous life of a missionary..

Finally got around to taking pictures of my apartment! The white building is ours, also pictured is a typical tacky mototaxi

Here you can see our kitchen. We really have one of the nicest rooms in the mission I think. Also, my chocolate no-bake cookies are a huge hit and I'm sure I'll be making them my whole mission. (In my ugly PJ dress)

Selfie stick picture out our window because there was a parade below.

And snuck a pic during planning ;)

Squished in a combo with our whole zone on the way to th ebig soccer tournament with 8-ish different zones and president! Best Activity Ever!!! (Sadly I spaced taking more pics....and we lost the final game to a PK in over-time)

My favorite Hermanas ever! Hermana Thomas and Hermana Shumway.

Week 14 November 16, 2015

My companion gave me a tour of the Catholic church today. It was pretty intense...they love their statues.

This whole week was spent walking hours on end going to appointments only to find that everyone "didn't have time" There was a straight two days where every single one of our appointments fell through. Near the end of the second day I sat down on a curb in frustration. I asked my companion what we were doing wrong and explained the pressure I felt to get a baptism by Dec 12th (the goal for our zone). She pretty much just laid into me, "Is that why you came to Peru? To baptize people? What good did baptism ever do for Raul? Or Estrella? (Converts of a year who are completely inactive). Then she continued on with a lecture until I just said "okay okay you're right, lets go knock doors" She really made me think about why I am here. I guess if all I did on my mission was learn to be obedient, or patient, or how to work hard, or even to help someone through a hard day... when all is said and done I don't think I would have any regrets. For now I'll just keep working and learning.

Package from home!!! In front of my front door with my almond butter. I was so happy to get that!

Update on the comp:
I love my little fireball Latina companion Hermana Apeña! I taught her how to say "I am chubby" Now When we are walking down the streets in the hot sun I can say "Hermana Apeña, what are you?" and my comp can respond with "I am chubby, wait hermana Ingram is it chooby or chubby?" ¨"Its chubby Hermana Apeña, good job" I get a kick out of it.

We found some awesome new investigators the other day while knocking doors. A family of four. They were really eager to have us in their home. The mom was really awesome and has a super strong testimony of the power of prayer. Some of her relatives are Mormon and they have really impacted her life. I can see a lot of potential in her especially. At the end of the lesson we had the dad offer the closing prayer. After some pressure he reluctantly agreed. In his prayer he thanked God for "sending two of your virgins to our home" My companion and I both were holding back from laughing. We're missionaries! But I guess if you want to put it that way...

Yesterday I gave my first talk during church! It was a breeze, the topic was missionary work so it can't get any easier than that. I wrote it all out the night before and had my comp correct grammatical errors and then I was set! It was pretty fun to stand in front of the Branch and in a round about way tell them that it was their responsibility to help us with the work. Members are so crucial and we really need more activity from them. 

Yesterday My comp and I got locked out of our apartment, bad news. The owner of the building was out of town and there was no place for us to go! So we went and got the president to help. Yesterday I learned how to open locked doors with a plastic soda bottle... Interesting..

Lunch on a good day....I need more ideas for food!

Miss you all so much! If someone could please send me a cafe rio pork salad that would be great! (;
Hermana Ingram

Week 13 November 9, 2015

Hola everyone!
By the time Monday comes around I can hardly remember what happened, It feels like a blur! I do however remember my companion receiving quite a few phone calls at odd times (6am, 10pm) With weird guys named Fernando or Jose asking for me. "Is Hermana Inga (they never get my name right, its always either inga or ingrid) there? I just want to talk to her "My companion thinks it's hilarious but I'm thinking we are going to have to stop putting our number on our pass along cards or something..
I also remember eating with the pensionista in Chulucanas and the mountain of rice.. how could I forget? I also remember the pensions face of death when the LATINO elders said they couldn't finish their plate. Haha my companion and I are champions!

My district

Last night we visited with one of my favorite families. Hermano Jorge and Hermana Isaura and their two kids Helen (the little girl who has always wanted to be baptized) and their little boy who everyone just calls Chiquitin (a common nickname for little kids).
In order for anyone to really understand the situation I have to cover some background info: so as short as possible, this family lives next door to Pres Huertas and his wife Hermana Ide. Hermana Ide is Hermana Isauras Aunt. Missionaries have tried working with this family for years and years without any luck.
After the first couple of weeks in this area my companion and I stopped visiting them. The biggest reason being that Elder Cruz had informed us about the time he tried to get them ready for baptism and how close to impossible it is. But lately I've been having some strong feelings for this family. So yesterday I told my comp that we needed to visit them. Immediately before we stepped into their house I told my comp that I wanted to be very direct and straightforward. Right after I said the opening prayer I looked over at her and she asked .."So why haven't you been baptized?" They kind of just sat there and stared for what felt like 5 minutes. My companion looked at me to say something. I felt inclined to tell them how much I loved them and how special their family was to me. Then I testified of Jesus Christ and his love for them and how he was the perfect example. I told them of the numberless blessings available to them if they just followed his example. I told them about my own family and how unbelievably blessed we are because we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. Then I told them again of the blessings that are available to them only through baptism. Then I asked them if they would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. They looked at me and kind of half nodded. Hermano Jorge then proceeded to explain that of course he wants all of those things but he can't commit because he doesn't think he can just get up and change his life. He kept repeating little by little, little by little. To be a little more brief. He told us about all of the things that are keeping them from being baptized. He has had a drinking problem for a good part of his life. So we took care of that by helping him set weekly goals and committing him to say "No I need to spend time with my family" anytime his work buddies want to take him to a party. We promised him that if he prayed for help he would receive it. You can tell that this is something he really wants to change and obviously his family wants it as well. Throughout the whole process his kids were patting him on the back and telling him he could do it. Also another fairly large road block... Isaura and Jorge aren't married.. extremely normal, marriage hardly exists here. We addressed that as well and told them how easily we could help them get married if they just have the desire. During the lesson my companion was talking about baptism and how we can be clean from our sins. Then Helen wrote a note and passed it to her mom who after reading it passed it to me. It said ..."Mami, I want to be baptized so I can be clean from my sins"... If that doesn't totally rip your heart out then you don't have one.. So after asking several times we finally committed their family to a baptismal date of December 12th... The word commit might be a little on the strong side... At the end of the lesson we spent 30 minutes alone just getting Hermano Jorge to say the closing prayer. There we all were kneeling on their dirt floor just coaching him. It is extremely important that he prays right then and there, because you know that if an investigator doesn't pray then, they definitely won't be praying later. So we were determined. Finally after his entire family was getting a little impatient with him and our knees were in some pain he reluctantly gave a less than half hearted prayer. But it was good, it's progress, and we'll take what we can get!
More than anything Hermano Jorge is afraid. He's afraid of all of the changes he will have to make in order to be baptized. I really feel that with a ton of hard work and continuous reassurance we could get him on his feet and heading towards the right path. Without Hermano Jorge on board we won't be able to baptize Isaura and Helen.. who both know our message to be true and have known for a long time. It truly would be an absolute miracle if we were able to get Hermano Jorge prepared for baptism by December 12th. But I guess miracles happen everyday!

In the words of Hermana Rasmussen- Chow babies!
-Hermana Ingram

Mastering the self-timer ;)

Week 12 November 2, 2015

There have been a lot of zapos (toads) in the street at night. I've been told that it's because El Nino is on it's way.

Weeks are flying by!

This week was a little bit interesting, I have once again learned more and more about our struggling branch here in Morropon. Yesterday at church the 4 of us missionaries talked to the Branch President and turned the third hour of church into a little bit of a branch inventory. Elder Cruz did a really good job of chastening them with love. We asked them to name all of the problems in the branch and then right there we figured out solutions to the problems. At one point the meeting went a little bit off topic when some members brought up gossip and drama from four years ago. We then just had to tell them they needed to get over the past and focus on what's important now. Something I learned this week is that Latins here LOVE gossip. In Spanish its called Chisme. People here are constantly making up gossip about other people and spreading it around. They do this because when they know that someone else's name is being talked about they also know that for that moment their name is safe. It's really horrible actually, more often than not they target missionaries too. I hope I'm never the victim of gossip here. Hermana Shumway told me to never get comfortable, don't ever do anything that could easily be twisted into something that it's not. After the meeting with the branch I didn't feel that it even worked. We can talk to them all we want but it's their decision whether they want to act on it or not. I truly believe that this area hasn't seen a baptism in almost a year because we aren't meant to bring a new convert to this branch. It's not what it needs to be. The investigator we brought to church doesn't want to come back because she didn't have a very pleasant experience the first time. We had to sit her down and tell her that that wasn't normal. I am scared to even bring investigators to church now. I feel pretty overwhelmed with the branch! I have yet to find a real solution to their many problems!

Yesterday was Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead), so I thought I would also go and celebrate.

I can't say that we have any truly progressing investigators... it's sad because the only reason they don't progress is that they don't keep commitments!! We drill it into them to just read this chapter in the Book of Mormon and ask Heavenly Father a simple question. I don't know why but it's impossible for them to do that much. They are very very lazy. We constantly are reminding people to read and to pray but nothing... The other day we taught a girl named Rosa, we showed her the restoration video and taught her lesson 1. It was pretty cool because afterwards she had this amazed look on her face and told us that she has been having all of the same questions as Joseph Smith about why there are so many different churches. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Yesterday I saw her on the streets and asked her if she had started reading and of course she had a frequently used excuse that "I didn't have time" so we drilled it into her that it was extremely important to keep the commitment. Now we just have to wait and see...

Elder Cruz is getting transferred. I'm sad because he was the only other person in Morropon who could speak English and he carried the mission work here.

The other day my comp and I went out contacting, and for the first time in my mission someone refused to talk to me. I walked up to this lady and started introducing us to her and she wouldn't even look at me, she looked at my companion and said "I don't want to talk to her because she's from a different country" I was pretty shocked and just stood there while my comp talked to her. Later my companion noticed I was a little upset and she told me to never forget that because I'm set apart in this calling that I have power and Authority, regardless of the language. Immediately after we were invited into a home and we put it into play. We taught two very catholic people with power and authority, telling them that we knew without question that this was the only true church of Jesus Christ. I love being straightforward with people... And I love that my companion knows her stuff (: She knows everything about the catholic church because she was a strong catholic growing up.

I caught a lizard just as we were going into a house for a visit so I put it in my scripture case.  Sadly he was squished...there he died on top of his salvation.

Every Friday night we have a branch activity, this week we had La Vos (the voice). In Peru they have their own production of La Vos Peru and the people are absolutely obsessed with it. It's on every single television, one of the member's daughters was actually on it a few weeks ago. So we made it an activity. Sadly the few members who were there made me sing because they wanted to hear a song in English. I had to sing Ed Sheeran thinking out loud and I'm proud to say all of the judges turned around for me. At the end of every activity the same little 4 yr old girl (our pensionista's daughter) volunteers for the prayer. I didn't notice it until my comp pointed it out but this entire time she has been saying one of the catholic memorized prayers. Oops.

Until next week! Chow!
-Hermana Ingram

Little kids are always wanting to talk to me (it's good Spanish practice) so this little girl named Melina started talking to us about her school etc. She also was reluctant to let me ride her bike. My companion thought it was hilarious.