Week 61 Earn Your Pillow!! October 10, 2016

Found my BFF at leadership council! (photo courtesy of President and Sister Rasmussen)

Hermana Sandison used to have a phrase on her wall that said:

"Earn your pillow!"

Which means work your butt off until you feel so exhausted that you know you truly earned your pillow that day. This week was unbelievably busy. Back to back to back to back appointments and responsibilities. We didn't even have enough time to visit everyone we needed to visit. Needless to say, I'm EXHAUSTED!

Hermana Sepulveda and me!

We have been working so hard with Toni that sometimes I feel like I keep telling myself "Ok Jesus take the wheel because we have done all that we can at this point." I have never wanted something so bad in my mission than to see Toni get baptized! His dilemma this week was that his parents don't support him and think he needs more time investigating. So we thought of the only solution; teach his parents! They both came to church yesterday and sat and listened to the members bear their testimonies. Later on in the day we went to Toni's house and sat down with his other 3 siblings and both of his parents. The first thing his mom said was, "Ok before we start with the message I just have a question. Why should I believe in your church?" That's what I like to hear Juli! (; We told her why and at the conclusion of the lesson the entire family agreed to be baptized if they felt that this is the true church... (it's only a matter of time) (:

Before we closed Toni's dad broke down, tears began streaming down his cheeks. He choked out through his sobs how grateful he was that we found Toni and that we are changing his life. His wife was also in tears and kept hitting her husbands knee and saying, "calm down Jesus, calm down."
He explained to us how good he felt in church that morning and how badly he wanted to go up to the pulpit and share his feelings.

I know as missionaries we aren't changing Toni's life. We are merely sharing a message. Miracles happen when people are taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit bears witness of these truths. They change. When all is sad and done I am always left amazed at our Savior and His Atonement and the power that it can have in our lives. I don't take credit for any success we have I just thank my Father in Heaven for letting me enjoy the ride. Being a missionary is awesome.

14 months in the mission tomorrow!!! Only 4 months left, how crazy.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Ingram

Those from my CCM group at leadership council! With Elder Meier as the new AP. (I called it!) (:

My reaction when Elder Norman said, "Reverse Polygamy"

We were made fun of for taking this picture...Elders...

With Juan Pablo! The cutest little Colombian!

My, "I hate flying kites" face

The elders were pretty successful in flying their garbage bag kite. I think they found their inner Peruvian kid...

My kite flying consisted of 1% flying the kite and the other 99% untangling the knots.. 

Los Surfistas!

Week 60 Saying Goodbye to Hermana Martinez October 3, 2016

Floyd featured in my classic puppy picture

And transfers are here! But first...

I knew this week would be a little bit on the slow side when my comp packed her suitcases on Tuesday haha.

Hermana Martinez was sitting at her desk casually gazing out the window when she says, "Normally you want to see birds flying but instead you see plastic bags..." I look out the window and sure enough there was a flock of plastic bags taking flight. Me: "Hey the white one almost looks like a dove!".... Just so you get an idea of Peru and their major garbage problem.

People are so insistent on giving you their food and beverages that Hermana Martinez decided to get crafty... She hates milk. The other night in a family home evening a member tried to give her some warm milk so with quick thinking and not a bit of shame she yells, "MILK GIVES ME DIARRHEA!" That lady booked that milk out of there so fast and left me in tears on the couch. Hey you gotta do what you've gotta do I guess.

Hermana Martinez with our investigator Claudia!

And yet another transfer has come and gone and leaves me taping my eyes open and telling myself, "DON'T BLINK DON'T BLINK!" It's a definite missionary cliche but time really does fly!!
Now I am down to just 3 transfers left out of thirteen. My time with Hermana Martinez was one for the books. She is a favorite no doubt. In the beginning I felt pretty blind as to why in the world was I leaving Tumbes after just 6 weeks?! But there is no way I would trade my time with Hermana Martinez. I know I needed to be with her and learn from her. Another amazing friend made out here!

Dropping off Hermana Martinez at the bus stop :( So sad!

My new comp is Hermana Sepulveda!!! I'm super excited! She is from Mapleton (Utah), just next door. Last week I saw her at the mission home and we were talking about how fun it would be to be comps! Well here we are (:

Not too long ago my companion and I were doing our weekly planning. We sat at out desks and meticulously wrote down the names of each person we were teaching. Some of those names we had little knowledge about, maybe a visit or two. Others we have been teaching for longer periods of time. We prayed for those individuals. We discussed what their needs may be. What they are struggling with. We used our resources to find possible solutions. We planned who could befriend them and make them feel more loved. As we sat at our less than comfortable card table-desks and pored our hearts and minds over those hand-written names I turned to Hermana Martinez and asked her, "What if they knew? What if these people knew that 2 sister missionaries in a Harry Potter closet were writing their own name down, they were praying for them, they were wanting to help them overcome their trials? What would they do if they knew?"

As the two of us sat there and thought about it, a very distinct thought, that did not originate from me, came to mind.

"If only you knew."

We truly have a Father in Heaven who loves us. He knows us by name. He watches over us individually. He hears our prayers. He tirelessly assesses our current needs, time and time again. He is aware of our pain and our sorrows. He "customizes our mortal experiences to help us grow into our very best selves." He has great plans for us, even if we are completely blind to the bright future ahead. Often it is comforting to know that "God's plans for your life far exceed the circumstances of your day." This is especially comforting to me as I step in yet another pile of dog poop and my skirt gets caught in a moto as it begins to drive away.... *sigh* I'm grateful to know that behind the scenes our loving Heavenly Father is planning big things for us. He, just as a father and his children, ultimately wants our happiness, because "men are that they might have joy"

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Ingram

Just practicing my French short conversation with Floyd (named by Hna Martinez after Pink Floyd. She's a big rock music fan. Who knew?)

So the mission manual says you can't play sports competitively...Oops! I needed to win that foozball game against Luisaac!

Conference in the native tongue (:

Hermana Martinez when I made her wash her stinky feet... "No! Don't take pictures! You're going to put them on your blog!" (: How did she know?

Week 59 Greetings from the Northern Peruvian Desert! September 26, 2016

Our best imitation of that American gothic painting. (Explanation: Poor Hna Susanna had a little accident when she left the sink on all night and flooded the house. Dirt floor to MUD floor!

Greetings from the Northern Peruvian Desert!

Today I got to crunch on crushed ice. That's a really big deal.

Talara mornings have proved to be colder than I would have thought and the normal cold shower just crossed the tolerable line. So every night my comp and I fill two pots of water and put them on the stove. We also fill a big tub of water in the shower. In the morning we boil that water, then add it to the tub. cold + hot = warm. Voila! The most perfect cup shower ever (:

Happy 21st Birthday to Elder Hanvey!

Claudia is one of our awesome investigators. She is 19 years old and has been taking the missionary lessons for some time now. Before this transfer she has never made it out to church and we weren't exactly sure how to help her commit to coming. So in our first appointment we talked in detail about why we go to church. Her dilemma has always been that she doesn't have time to take three hours out of her studies. Right then and there we promised her that if she went to church and didn't study on Sunday she would pass her Chemistry exam that week. She did it. (then the angels started scattering around trying to make it happen). God has made us a promise that if we put Him first, everything WILL work out!

"I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

Well Claudia went and checked her results. She was the ONLY student in her entire class to pass her test. She comes to church now frequently. Unfortunately she is facing all sorts of opposition and we have had to postpone her baptism. :( It's a waiting game!

Can you believe that Hermana Rasmussen has 7 grandchildren? 

Well I wish I had more time! I am so happy to be a missionary! There is nothing else I would rather be doing than learning about my Savior and His Atonement in this third world country. There is nothing quite like it. I miss you all!

Con mucho amor
Hermana Ingram

She hates cats, but at the same time I feel like she loves them as she constantly goes out of her way to torture them (:

The district on a stroll in Piura. Photo courtesy of Elder Wilde

This lady is always asking me how I got my hair color the way it is..."Because every time I bleach my hair it just turns orange!" Me thinking..."Well your hair also is naturally jet black..."

With Sidney! The cutest returned missionary (Ecuador) and then the elders...

Week 58 Mas Enfermedades September 20, 2016

Talara's very own Book of Mormon delivery service!

Well due to reason #4 on my list of reasons why I feel unmotivated to write a weekly email I'm going to try and keep this extra short as the room continues to spin around me.

These past two days I have been more sick than ever on my mission. I was glued to my bed the entire p day yesterday (writing this on a Tuesday) and that's when you know a missionary is really sick. (; I've been feeling pretty miserable and called Hermana Rasmussen the other day to ask her if she would speak at my funeral. Ok, Ok I'm over exaggerating. Being sick on a mission makes you extra homesick. All I wanted was to lay in my mom's giant comfy bed and watch all of the best movies while she fed me tapioca pudding and catered to my every need. Aren't moms the best? But instead I was locked away in my Harry Potter closet while covered in my own sweat beads. But through this miserable yet relatively short experience I learned something. I initially thought I would be better off left to wallow in my self-pity and stress about looming deadlines and responsibilities. But then things changed, when I allowed others to serve me. I can hear an echo of my moms voice saying, "It's okay to not be okay." We are all beggars, we all need help sometimes! We talk so much about serving others but can you imagine if all of the "others" refused our service? Normally I might just grin and bear it but this time I allowed others to step in and lighten the load. The members, missionaries and my companion really helped to make my Harry Potter closet feel more like a home away from home (a continent away). I think allowing yourself to be humble enough to admit you're not okay and welcome the service of others is an acquired skill. And as we allow others to serve us we are helping them even more than they are helping us and I figured out an equation: Helping others help themselves by helping you.

Home sweet home! I like to call our house the upside down torta (cake) because of it's tiers. The tiny little open window on the top floor is where we live!

We have so many progressing investigators! I wish I had time to talk about each of them. I'm sure they will get baptized soon but are facing a little bit of opposition.

My favorite thing that Hna Martinez said this week, *walks up to an unusually large group of cats sunbathing with a full water bottle in her hand* "Do you know what this is? This is water.... Do you remember me?" and then proceeds to dump water and chase all of the cats. She is my entertainment.

Until next week,
Con mucho amor
Hermana Ingram

Goofy faces before things get serious in branch council

Hermana Martinez only has 2 weeks left! :(

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Week 57 Week 3 in The Holy Land September 12, 2016

Week 3 in The Holy Land

The other day Hermana Martinez and I were with a member out on the street when a man on a motorcycle pulled up to talk to us.
Hermana Martinez whispers to me, "Hey, look at his necklace? Does it look satanic?" *craning my neck to see what's on his necklace*
Me: "Hey hermano what does your necklace mean?"
The guy: "Oh this? I don't know I found it on the beach one day but every time I lose it, it always shows up under my bed. One time I lost it in Lima and it was under my pillow when I got home!"
You could hear crickets chirping as the three of us stared at him and then looked at each other thinking... "hmmmm how weird..."

Every Friday night we have Ward Mission Night! Every other ward mission night is Noche de Cine (movie night). This Friday we put on Big Hero 6 and handed out popcorn to everyone that came. It was awesome! So many people show up since the closest movie theatre is 2 hours away. Well during the movie Luisaac (our ward mission leader) noticed a ruffle/dent in the dividing curtain at the back of the room. He peeked back and was pretty surprised to discover a drunk man completely passed out! I had to go and take a look for myself, sure enough there he was. I ran and grabbed the Elders and told them they needed to get the drunk guy out. I have never seen anything so funny until they grabbed him by his ankles and wrists and carried him out of the church. Everyone was enjoying the movie so much that no one even noticed him stagger in and then pass out! Go Peru! Always keeping it interesting.

My Best Friend!! (photos don't really go with the this week's letter)

Homeboy Toni is doing great! (homeboy because he talks like a total gangster) He reads the Book of Mormon diligently! As we sat down with him in our lesson he told us how good he feels. "I don't know Hermanas, every time I read this book I feel happier. I don't yell at my little brothers anymore. I feel like I'm changing." You should have seen our faces, my smile was stretched as far wide as it could go! It's the happiest feeling when you see the changes being made in the people you are teaching. That's exactly how I felt the first time I read the Book of Mormon. I feel like it changed me! It made the me I was into me version 2.0, new and improved. Is it a coincidence that The Book of Mormon improves anyone's life just by reading it? Of course not! But it is absolutely amazing.

My favorite investigators are the Colombians. Before you learn a 2nd language you probably might not be able to tell the difference in accents. Now that I speak Spanish I can generally tell where someone is from just by hearing their accents. The differences are distinct between Argentina and Chile, Peru and Ecuador, Spain and Mexico, and now I get to hear the greatest Colombian accents. The best way I could describe it: If the United States was a Spanish speaking country the Colombians would be from Boston! We might ask "how are you?" and they would say "hahwahya?" They cut off and squish together all of the words and form one big giant blob of a sentence. Hermana Martinez and I LOVE the Colombians and their super entertaining accent. (: (p.ss the Colombians are refugees that escaped terrorism in their country, they are basically members but cannot get baptized until Hermana Angela gets divorced and then married to her husband- which would mean a trip to Colombia)

My companion has a love/hate relationship with cats. She talks to every cat we see on the street. Lately she takes her toy water gun out with us and squirts all of the cats. Oh Hermana Martinez.

Con mucho amor!
Hermana Ingram

You know you're getting old in the mission when more and more people from your CCM group start showing up to leadership council!

The Tumbes girls

With my compi 

Pleasant surprise!!! Was able to see Hermana Sandison in Piura! I love her!!

I hope you all enjoy this picture of the lovely blonde Hermana Martinez as much as I do.

Week 56 A Week of Infermedades September 5, 2016

Lobitos

Week 2 in Talara

Fun fact: with the way that the "r" is pronounced in Spanish it actually sounds more like Talada than Talara.

In response to last week. Thanks to well prepared hermanas that had been in Talara previously we had emergency shower water. It lasted until our water turned back on.

As an hermana leader we frequently check up on how our hermanas are doing. Lately 1 companionship has been sick. My companion told them it was because they weren't eating healthy or exercising. They called us one night and said "We wanted to start our diet and buy veggies but then we got robbed and are out of money" when my comp hung up she looked at me and said, "Everything is out to get you when you re on a diet." Amen!

So occasionally I log onto this email feeling extra unmotivated to write a weekly email. These are usually the reasons why: 1) It wasn't the most ideal week 2) Internet is bad 3) I'm not getting along with my companion 4) I am sick

Well the good news is, we get to cancel out reason number 3! Hermana Martinez is the greatest!

Week 2 was a week of enfermedades! (sicknesses) First I got strep throat. I've had strep throat so many times that when I saw the white spots on my throat I thought "Okay somebody needs to give me a shot of penicillin..." How miraculous it was when the area mission doctor showed up to Talara the very next day! I've been on antibiotics for 5 days now. Yesterday I was having some really weird viral symptoms and had shortness of breath, exhaustion, headaches, chills, etc. I told the member we would be eating with that I was really sick and couldn't eat a lot. She said, "Ok I will just make you a little soup and nothing else." Well "de todos maneras" I was still served the montaña de arroz and chicken along with a big bowl of soup. What part of sick and no appetite don't you understand... Luckily I was nicer than that and started eating anyway. Then I felt my stomach start to clench and ran out the front door in the middle of the meal. I started doing the pre-vomit cough but shoved the upcoming food back down to my stomach. That was when the lady really got the idea and let me take the rest of the food home.

Note: Peruvians are very helpful people! Almost too helpful. If you ask a stranger for directions they will literally drop everything they are doing and walk with you to your destination. The problem is that even when they have no idea either they will still walk aimlessly for you and then tell you "this is the place" when in reality it's on the other side of town. When I told people I was sick they literally tried doing everything to help me. They made me put on winter coats, they gave me like 600 different pills (which had I taken them all I would probably be in clinica Teresa right now in a coma) all fans were turned off, I wasn't allowed to drink cold beverages, and worst of all... They said I needed to eat rice. That is when I put my foot down folks. NO ARROZ!!

I love these people and that is one thing I would want to apply from this culture. Be more helpful. Be willing to drop anything and go to someone in their time of need. But on the other hand I would also want to say "well, I have no idea where that park is but maybe the other guy does..."

Toni is our awesome investigator! He is 16 yrs old and just moved here from Lima. The kid has had a rough adolescence. He told us a story of when he went out with his friends and the only thing he remembers is waking up to someone dragging him to an ambulance. He overdosed on hard drugs. While Toni drifted in and out of consciousness the only thing he can clearly remember is hearing a voice clearly tell him to stop what he was doing or he would ruin his entire life. Toni wants to get baptized but doesn't feel worthy for God or His love right now. That's a lie! Only Satan in his misery would want any of us to feel like we aren't loved or wanted by our Heavenly Father! When I look at him during our lessons I feel like Heavenly Father lends me his eyes for a moment. I feel like I can see through His eyes and see all of His love for Toni. I feel that it's Gods way of helping me bear a very sincere testimony that God does indeed love him. More than he can possibly imagine! I know that rings true for everyone. God loves each and every one of us! He knows everything that we don't want anyone else to know about us and loves us still. Pretty amazing. God's love is without a doubt the driving force behind missionary work.
During our lesson hermano Rosalez (who has also had a very rough background) said, "Hermana Ingram, where did you come from?" "The United States" "Hermana Martinez where did you come from?" "Ica" "see Toni? God loves you so much he sent you two missionaries from far away places to help you in this very moment, I know they are here for a reason"

Well I had really awesome pics this week from the beach! But go Peruvian Internet... no me deja enviarlos.... all of you with Google Fiber I hope you stop what you're doing and start counting your blessings! (*photos added a week later)

Con mucho amor
Hermana Ingram

Well, it's not electric... 

Had to sacrifice my clean water to save the eel...

Sun burnt with a borrowed sun hat...happy camper

Baseball on the beach! (until Elder Obrien threw the only baseball in the entire country of Peru straight into the ocean)

Week 55 Week 1 in Talara-The Holy Land August 29, 2016

Good old Talara at 6 am after our morning hike...by hike I mean stroll through the park for Utahns

Week 1 In Talara- The Holy Land

My very first morning in Talara we woke up at 5 am to go running on the beach. I am now 100% Pro Pavement. I may even start a movement. We ran by several petrified dead dogs and 1 giant bloated sea lion. Next time you find yourself running on the beach watch out for ocean-kill.

Tender Mercies of Talara - It's COLD
Well, either it's really cold or I've just been here too long... The only time we bake in heat is at midday and early afternoon. Other than that there is a nice cool ocean breeze that feels like mother natures A/C and I am soooo grateful!

Each day here has mostly consisted of me trying to memorize the names of streets, members, investigators, their houses, etc. Transfers are always an adjustment. We live in a Harry Potter closet but I'm not complaining because we are teaching a Colombian family of 5 in their one room home that is even smaller. Last night we came home to find that we have no water! Our neighbors said that it will be about a week before we will have water again... the last time I went a week without a shower was on Kilimanjaro. And thanks but no thanks I don't want to go back to that, especially after knowing what my hair is capable of... this may be a small bump in this week's road.

Hermana Martinez is great and she even speaks English!
Hermana Martinez plays the piano each week at church. Yesterday we walked into church 2 minutes late and she walked straight up to the piano and began to play a prelude until the meeting started. The first counselor motioned to me and asked if I would direct the hymns so I said yes. As I went and sat on the stand while Hna Martinez played a prelude I immediately noticed something was not right. Everyone was looking at us like "what on earth is wrong with the hermanas." Little did we know that THE MEETING HAD ALREADY STARTED. It was hilarious! It took everything in me to keep a straight face while directing the first hymn. Great first day in my new branch (;

On Saturday my comp and I did a special musical number for a baptism. We sang Nearer My God To Thee on the ukulele and it was so fun!

Max was baptized! (the elder's investigator)

The other day we were walking down a street when a little homeless-looking girl ran up to us and told us that she has a Book of Mormon that she reads every single night before going to bed. Pleasantly surprised, we went back to her home the next night. Upon entering their house I was in complete shock, I could not believe their living conditions. It was a shack and absolutely disgusting. It smelled like something was fermenting and there was clutter everywhere. 15 people live inside that tiny, nasty home! We sat down with the little girl Nicol and her adult-sister Lucero. Nicol was wearing tattered, filthy clothing and her hair looked like she had taken scissors to it herself. But she had the cutest little smile and smiley eyes. Her older sisters were all extremely overweight and it seemed like they had just stopped caring. Clothes were merely something to cover skin and there is no point in washing them if they will just get dirty again. Shoes were optional and hair unkempt turned into mats. They told us that their mom used to take them to our church when they were young but around 6 years ago she left home and never returned. As we sat and taught them tears streamed down Lucero's face. Just by looking in her eyes you could see that there was a lot of hurt inside of her. We helped her pray for the first time in years. I am amazed at how truly blessed I have been in my life. Sometimes I can't help but wonder why? Why do differences in circumstance vary so greatly? I don't know. But I do know that to whom much is given much is expected!

I miss you all so much!
Shout out to Pam for sending me 6 months of letters!

Con mucho amor
Hermana Ingram

Mayday, mayday!! Dean Ingram, we need some serious help on the grill...

Elder Obrien playing some catch...it's therapeutic for the Elders (:

"Hold up the puppy so I can take a picture of him" Luisaac, "Okay but I don't want to be in the picture"....oops