The good fight

Family and Friends!! This week has been a lot different than normal. We had divisions, leader meetings, choir practice, and an all day activity with the stake of Umacollo. The highlight of the week was probably the Stake activity in Umacollo. It was called, Un dia como misionera, one day as a missionary! It was for all the Young Women in the Stake of Umacollo. They asked 8 hermanas to come and help out with this activity since there were only 2 sisters in the whole stake. It started at 8am and ended at 5pm. We got separated into groups and each missioanry went with either two or three young women. In my group there were three jovenes, 13, 16, and 18. They were the sweetest. We started the day off with personal study, companion study, and then District Meeting. Then we got some names and left to go visit! The girls were super nervous and asking me what they should do and say. The first 2 doors we knocked on denied us, but with persistence we got into the house of a member, Jasmine, who is less active. At first the girls were really nervous but once we started teaching and talking with the hermana they started opening up and the lesson was super good! After, we came back for lunch and ate as a Stake. The girls were still excited about the work that they asked me if we could go out and pass out the rest of the folletos, pamphlets, while the rest of the girls were still eating. We left for 10 minutes and the girls were trying so hard to pass out the folletos to the people they found in the street. It was super cute seeing their determination. It reminded me of the spirit that I had when I first came to the mission. I loved this activity. At the end, we had an inventory and talked about all the qualities that we all had. I didnt realize how much they looked up to me until this moment. Then at the very end of the meeting there was a testimony meeting. All of the three girls got up and bore their testimonies about how they loved going out and look forward to serving a mission in the future! It was great. After the activity we came back to our area and visited Denielson. He is 16 years old and he is golden! He had many good questions. Hermana Waldron asked him what he had learned while we was on divisions. He remembered basically everything about the lesson, which was the Restoration. He then said, your church is true because it has the priesthood! He then asked a bunch of good questions. For example, he asked if he could get baptized twice. Hermana Waldron then explained that it is important to get baptized with the correct authority. Denielson then said, I need to get baptized! WOW! We were both dying inside with excitment. We then invited him to pray so that he could recieve an answer from God and feel secure about his decision. He accepted to prepare for the 28th of March. Yayy! Its been a great week. The best part of the mission is teaching someone and having them understand and want to change because of it. As missionaries we are here to invite them to come unto Christ. We arent obligating people to come unto Christ, just inviting. But the best part of the mission has been when people have accepted and felt this great joy that we feel. If only everyone accepted what we have to teach. He peleado le buena batalla, he acabado la carrera, he guardado la fe. 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Keep up the good fight!! Love always, Hermana Flora

Cambios

Friends!! Today we have changes. Basically half of the whole zone is leaving and were going to be getting all new people in the zone. I'm really excited because Hermana Bourque is coming to the zone!! Hermana Bourque (mi hija!). I'm super excited to see her today when she comes! This week has been another great week here in Peru. We keep seeing more and more miracles. This week as a mission we have been working more on asking for References from everyone, EVERYONE. I feel like we had been asking like crazy but it has turned out to be great! I don't know why we never had been asking like this before. It's really the best. We've gotten some new references from the members and we can tell that they are more excited to help us out. One of the miracles that we saw this week was when we were in Consejo de Barrio, Ward counsel. It was definitely the best ward counsel that I've ever been in here in Peru. There weren't many people but we still had counsel. All of the members were participating and coming up with ideas to help us in the work. We are seeing more progress with the help from the members. Our new Mission Leader has also been helping out a ton, it's been a huge blessing! This is the last transfer of Hermana Waldron. I can't believe that we now only have 5 more weeks together. Its super sad, but were going to make sure that she ends her mission working harder than ever. Hope all is going well at home, Love you all! Hermana Flora

Converts

Family and Friends!! This has been a crazy busy week. We went on 2 divisions this week back to back and then had 2 baptisms back to back. It was such a fulfilling week. Narcy and Ariana got baptized Friday evening. We finished divisions right before lunch, went and ate, then got ready for the baptism. When we got to the font the water had all poured out! We frantically ran around trying to fill the font back up. We grabbed buckets and filled them up trying to fill the font up as soon as possible so we could heat up the water. We got the font filled pretty fast so we went over to the heater but it wasn't working at all! We called some people to come and help us. By the time we got the heater to work it was 15 minutes before the baptism was supposed to start. But thankfully the water seemed to heat up faster than expected. It wasn't warm by the time of the baptism but it wasn't deathly freezing. Nancy got baptized first by Elder Rosado. She had the biggest smile on her face and was so happy to be getting baptized. It was the sweetest thing. Then her sister, Ariana, got baptized by Elder Taylor. They were both so happy, even though they were freezing. During their testimonies Narcy shared that she was praying the night before to know if what she was doing was right. She said that she felt really good about it and when she woke up that morning she was filled with excitement. Erika, the mom of Narcy and Ariana, thanked us for helping out with the baptism and making it the most perfect day ever. She was probably the happiest one out of the three of them. She's a member but is recently coming back to church. It's as if the whole family is coming into the church. Erika was really happy to see her daughters get baptized. I know that they are going to be great converts and be able to help others come unto Christ as well! Saturday evening was the baptism of Max. Since we had problems with heating the water with the baptism before, we made sure to get there really early. We just happened to get there a little too early...haha The water was now TOO hot. It was probably the same as a hot tub! As he got in he said he was going to get cooked! haha The last baptism was too cold and now this one was too hot. The next one will be perfect! Anyways, other than the hot water, it went super well. Max was a little nervous before but the look on his face after getting baptized was priceless. His smile was bigger than I've ever seen. He was filled with joy. It was such a good day. Mosiah, the one that baptized Max, has been a HUGE help this week. He is now our new mission leader! Its the best! He thinks of everything and has been helping us with the baptism plans and with support from the members. Its been UNREAL how much he's been helping us. We're excited to work with him in the work of Salvation. This week has been crazy! We were dead tired by the end of Sunday, but it was all worth it. It was a miracle week. We were able to see 3 converts get baptized this week. It was the best experience. I love you all! Love always, Hermana Flora Family and Friends!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Family and Friends!! Happy Valentines Day, Dia del Amor! Love for Christ!! Hope it well for all of you! As for us, its been an interesting week. We did a Sister´s activity the day before Valentines day so I could meet all the girls that we are in charge of and to have a good time together to celebrate Valentines Day! We focused on the worth that we have as daughters of God and talked about the love of Christ. We made cookies and did activities as companions so they could have a better relationship with their companions. It turned out to be a fun activity. At the end we gave them a little gift that was a small mirror and a note that told them to look in the mirror and see the beautiful daughter of God that they were and to let the light of Christ shine through their acceptance. It turned out being a good activity! I love all the girls and I look forward to spending more time with them and being the best help that I can be. But when the activity was over there was a companionship that was having lots of troubles so we talked with them after in the mission home for about an hour or so trying to help them solve their problems. Then when they felt a little better President Zobrist came back. He talked to me and Hermana Waldron to see how things were going. The highlight of my week was when he told me that he has seen a new light in me since putting me as Sister Leader. He said that I am showing more love and taking things more seriously, in a good way. He said that he sees me as a good sister. I was really happy to hear that since I was really worried and nervous to be in charge of a group of girls. Its nice to feel that President has confidence in me. Another crazy thing that happened this week was that we received another sister in the zone from an emergency transfer. She is new to the mission and has been having lots of problems and has desires to go home. She's now moved into a trio with two other girls in our zone. We have been really nervous about her and giving her lots of love and checking up on her since she is very unstable right now. We have been praying and fasting for her so we hope that she will love her new companions and her new area and want to stay here with us in this great work. This week I have really felt the role of being a Sister Leader. Its been stressful since we have a whole group of sisters that we have to worry about on top of our area. But its been a blessing because I know that I am trying to be a better missionary because of it. This week we will be seeing the baptism of Max! We also have a great activity planned with the missionaries in the Stake. We are doing an International Buffet and all cooking something from our country. For the United States we are planning on making pancakes! We hope to have many investigators there and less actives as well. The best would be new investigators that want to learn more. This week has been super interesting since I feel like the focus had been on our other assignment as Sister Leader, but it is a calling that I know that Lord has given me and I am happy to have it! As a mission we have really been pushing the importance of the Book of Mormon. As a mission we've been teaching and preaching more about the Book of Mormon that the whole mission ran out of Book of Mormons! haha so hopefully we get more books so we can pass them out to our investigators this week. I hope you all have a great week and remember to read the Book of Mormon. Remember that God loves you! Love always, Hermana Flora

ITS POURING

February 9, 2015 MIRACLES!! Family and Friends!! This week has been the biggest miracle ever. I look back at this week and cant even believe that it even happened. Our first week here in Zamacola we had been working hard together and sort of started over in the area since Hermana Waldrons other companion was super sick and had bad knees so she couldn't walk too much, so when I got here we went out to work and worked hard! This week we were able to see some of the blessings of our hard work. We have been putting our faith in the Lord and pushing ourselves to work to the hardest of our abilities. I am thankful that the Lord has been trusting us with His children here in Zamacola. We have been able to meet and have lessons with people that are really ready to hear about the gospel. At the beginning of this we didn't have anyone that was preparing for baptism. By the end of this week we were able to help 4 people put dates down to get baptized! We now have 3 people that are getting prepared to get baptized the 21st of Feb and another the 28th of Feb. It really is a miracle! Im super happy to help these people come unto baptism. The first 2 people that accepted baptism were 2 sisters. Nancy (17) and Ariana (11). There mom (Erika) is a member but less active for about 15 years and wants to come back and see her daughters get baptized. We had a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with them on Tuesday and talked about the convenio of baptism and how important it is and the younger sister Ariana seemed more excited than Nancy but by the end of the lesson after explaining to Nancy that we all make mistakes after baptism, she was more excited to get baptized. She thought that we had to be PERFECT after baptism. But I asked her if she thought that we were perfect? And of course were not, so then she felt more excited to get baptized! They're preparing to get baptized the same day (just as her mom did with her sister) for the 21st of Feb! The next person is Max (16). His brother just got baptized 2 months ago and he has been interested in the church and wanted to take a different path in his life. Our second lesson with him we invited him to baptism for the 21st of Feb and he accepted. His brother was SUPER excited and I know that he will receive lots of support from his family since his brother is a member and his brothers wife and all her family are members. We eventually hope to get him on a mission! The last person this week we invited to baptism was Luis. He just showed up at church 3 weeks ago with his girlfriend, Daniela, who is a member from another city. They came again this Sunday and we set up a time to visit with them after church. We asked them what there goals were with our visits and Daniela told us that she wants him to get baptized! Then Luis said that he wants to learn more. He said he doesn't want to get baptized by force but wants to know more about baptism so we taught him the Gospel of Christ which includes baptism. After better explaining what baptism is, we invited him to prepare for baptism for the 28th of Feb and then he asked, ¨How can I prepare for baptism?¨ What a good question! We confirmed to him and let him know that we will be here to help him and also gave him some reading in the Book of Mormon and invited him to pray about it so he can receive an answer too! I really cant believe the miracles we've seen but its true! Thanks for all your prayers and your love. We are doing great here and working hard. We have a lot of good things going here in Zamacola! I love you all! Hermana Flora

MIRACLES!! :) Family and Friends!! This week has been the biggest miracle ever. I look back at this week and can't even believe that it even happened. Our first week here in Zamacola we had been working hard together and sort of started over in the area since Hermana Waldron's other companion was super sick and had bad knees so she couldn't walk too much, so when I got here we went out to work and worked hard! This week we were able to see some of the blessings of our hard work. We have been putting our faith in the Lord and pushing ourselves to work to the hardest of our abilities. I am thankful that the Lord has been trusting us with His children here in Zamacola. We have been able to meet and have lessons with people that are really ready to hear about the gospel. At the beginning of this we didn't have anyone that was preparing for baptism. By the end of this week we were able to help 4 people put dates down to get baptized! We now have 3 people that are getting prepared to get baptized the 21st of Feb and another the 28th of Feb. It really is a miracle! I'm super happy to help these people come unto baptism. The first 2 people that accepted baptism were 2 sisters. Narcy (17) and Ariana (11). Their mom (Erika) is a member but less active for about 15 years and wants to come back and see her daughters get baptized. We had a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with them on Tuesday and talked about the convenio of baptism and how important it is and the younger sister Ariana seemed more excited than Narcy but by the end of the lesson after explaining to Narcy that we all make mistakes after baptism, she was more excited to get baptized. She thought that we had to be PERFECT after baptism. But I asked her if she thought that we were perfect? And of course we're not, so then she felt more excited to get baptized! They're preparing to get baptized the same day (just as her mom did with her sister) for the 21st of Feb! The next person is Max (16). His brother just got baptized 2 months ago and he has been interested in the church and wanted to take a different path in his life. Our second lesson with him we invited him to baptism for the 21st of Feb and he accepted. His brother was SUPER excited and I know that he will recieve lots of support from his family since his brother is a member and his brother's wife and all her family are members. We eventually hope to get him on a mission! The last person this week we invited to baptism was Luis. He just showed up at church 3 weeks ago with his girlfriend, Daniela, who is a member from another city. They came again this Sunday and we set up a time to visit with them after church. We asked them what their goals were with our visits and Daniela told us that she wants him to get baptized! Then Luis said that he wants to learn more. He said he doesn't want to get baptized by force but wants to know more about baptism so we taught him the Gospel of Christ which includes baptism. After better explaining what baptism is, we invited him to prepare for baptism for the 28th of Feb and then he asked, ¨How can I prepare for baptism?¨ What a good question! We confirmed to him and let him know that we will be here to help him and also gave him some scriptures to read in the Book of Mormon and invited him to pray about it so he can recieve an answer too! I really can't believe the miracles we've seen but it's true! Thanks for all your prayers and your love. We are doing great here and working hard. We have a lot of good things going on here in Zamacola! I love you all! Hermana Flora

Because of Him

Family and Friends!! With this week being fast Sunday we put our faith to the test and as always we were able to see many blessings. Fasting has always been a struggle for me since I love food and its super hard to go away from water while we are walking all day and night teaching people. But when we put our trust in the Lord He will never let us down. As a mission we put a goal to get 10 new investigators every week. The week had been coming to a close and we only had 3 new investigators and it was Saturday night...what do we do?...We had been working hard and diligent the whole week but we weren't seeing any results...I was a little bummed but we continued working with a smile on our faces :) Sunday came along and a member came up to us and invited us to show a video during the baptism of her daughter that afternoon. We got a video together which was called....Because of Him. (You should all watch it by the way, only 3 minutes and its the best). At the end of the baptism we showed the video and shared our testimonies after. After the member family came up to us and told us they wanted to introduce us to their friends that weren't members. There were SO MANY! They all seemed super interested and wanted to learn more and come to church. Hermana Waldron and I were both just so excited! Blessings come, Sunday night came along and we reached our goal of 10 new investigators! We were both so surprised!! Thanks to the members we were able to work together in a team and see miracles happen. I can testify that Fasting brings blessings. It is a huge trial of our faith but its a way that the Lord can bless us. I love you all! Have a good week and know that God loves you. Watch the video Because of Him!