My first kiss went a little like this
Monday! I got to spend my P-day with Hna Barrera. It was so nice very relaxing. My knee started acting up more than usual…
Tuesday! We had a nice lesson with the golden convert. I mean who shows up to church on conference Sunday at 7 am when it doesn’t start ‘til 11 am and waits the entire time. If I’m doing the math right that’s 6 hours! But we talked about every member a missionary 1x and she prayed at the end, “please help me to be a great missionary when I turn 19.” Mission accomplished. I’m coming home. Just kidding. Gotta do it again. I want 100 A.’s.
Remember the boy who named a parakeet after me? Yeah we had a lesson with him, his brother and his non-member mother. We were talking about family history when in walks a nun. The mom practices every religion under the sun. Made things interesting for sure.
Wednesday: A whole mix of ups and downs. Numbers in the mission have been down lately so we got a bit of a push in zone meeting especially for contacting. For some reason, believe it or not, I love contacting. I know it doesn’t necessarily have high success rates, but I think it makes a difference in our attitude and shows the Lord we are willing and ready. But my companion hates it. If I want to do it, I’m basically on my own, but now we have to so it’s been a process. We were getting some in the afternoon, getting all pumped up (for me it’s like an adrenaline rush) get on the bus, ready to contact everyone. We get on, literally everyone is asleep.
We helped A. with her family history. She signed up for a mission prep class, accompanied us to a lesson and introduced herself as a future missionary.
A man told me I speak beautiful Spanish. Check. Yeah!
Thursday: Intercambio [changing companions for the day]. Much needed. It was great. Hermana Lawrence came to me, which means I was in charge. You know Siri would be real helpful on the mish. I am still so incredibly directionally impaired. But I did it. She was great. I learned a lot from her. It was a good day. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Friday: A little rough. I worked really hard to plan the day with Hermana Lawrence but Hna Roca wasn’t as excited about executing it. We have gotten to the point where we really don’t have anyone to teach at all. And so I’m trying to do everything I know to get somewhere. That was basically Friday. Walking.
Saturday: We are literally at the point where we have no one to teach. Nobody is home. We spend the whole day walking and walking.
We did have one miracle. We have been looking for this one refence since the beginning and we finally found him yesterday. It was so random. We were like let’s just try his doorbell, why not. So we did and he comes running out. We had a lesson with him and invited him to baptism and he was like oh yeah sure. Let me ask my priest first…bueno… We’ll see what happens there. But everyday has to end. SO that’s good.
Sunday: I don’t think I’ve ever felt so dead, so physically, mentally, emotionally drained.
We had a lesson with a less active and I’ve never been in a house like that. I’ve been in small houses, dirty houses, sad houses, but this one, my oh my. I had to keep finding ways to fidget because I was afraid a cockroach would climb up my leg or a fly would lay eggs in my hair. And when I get so exhausted, Spanish turns to Chinese and I have no idea what anyone is saying. So I sat there and tried to put together a storyline. I should keep a book of things I hear, like apparently his ex-girlfriend is strawberry like lettuce. Not sure what that means…but wow. This guy was so broken. It’s amazing what the Atonement can do. If we let it. It’s already all there, the price has already been paid. It’s on hold at the store, all we got to do is get off our bums and go to the store and pick it up and it’ll change our lives. I’ve seen it and I’ve felt it. How often people just harden their hearts against it and turn their backs on what they know. It makes me sad.
We went to a member’s house for dinner. It was very strange but very generous. Her dad (non-member) was there and I’m pretty sure he retold the entire New Testament. And when he finished that he moved on to the Old Testament. I’ve never heard someone talk so much. Something about Peru, PEOPLE NEVER STOP TALKING. It is ridiculous. One person could talk for 40 minutes no problem. Don’t even get me started on Relief Society. My word. It’s so different.
I had my first kiss as well. I was shaking this man’s hand and he started getting closer and I didn’t realize what was happening til it was too late so that was fun.
If you want to have nightmares, look up these Peruvian Inca dogs. It’s literally the scariest thing I’ve seen. But they have them here. Also, I don’t know if I told you but all dogs wear clothes here, all of them. It’s so weird.
Side track, sorry. This week has been a little rough. Numbers have been especially down for us. I’m learning to just do as much as I can in the situation. “Keep your face towards the Son and the shadows of discouragement will fall behind you.”
I love you all! Thank you for your support. Be happy!
Love,
Hermana Anderson
Mosiah 24:15 submit cheerfully with patience
