Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from some of the Hermanas in District 107! This was the closest we got to celebrating Valentine's Day as missionaries :)

One More thing! This past Sunday my companion wanted a blessing for comfort since she was having a hard day with missing home and with the language. After her blessing I decided I wanted one too! The blessing was amazing. Elder Jones gave me the blesssing. He said lots of things in the blessing that I could tell came from God. It was exactly what I needed to hear! I love the power of the priesthood and I am so thankful for all of my family and friends at home and here on my mission that respect their priesthood duties so they can help those in any time of need. I love you all so much!

Last Week in the CCM!!!

February 18, 2014 Last Week in the CCM!!! Family and Friends, I can’t believe this is my last P day here at the CCM! It’s an exciting time and also super scary! I feel like I don’t know that much Spanish to go out in the real Peru world haha but I do have faith that God will help me if I am diligent with my studies! Today we are going to Interpol so our Pday is shorter than normal and I haven’t heard good things about going to Interpol. We´ll see how it goes! The weeks seem to blur together here at the CCM. This week was Valentines Day! I received a package from the Roches for Valentines Day! It came the night before Valentines Day so that was perfect timing! Thank the Roches for thinking about me and sending me a package with lots of goodies! That was super nice of them. I’m not sure what the exact plans are for next week. They don’t let us know until the Sunday before we leave but from what I noticed before I will be leaving the CCM really early in the morning on Tuesday. So one week from now I will be in Arequipa! I am excited to go to Arequipa! All of the hermanas that are going to Arequipa will be flying there so we will be at the airport and we will be able to call home! I don’t know how I will be able to call home when I’m at the airport but I will call when I can. I hope it’s not too early in the morning for you at home. But it’s exciting! I just found out our flight plans. We leave the CCM at 4:30 in the morning! Then we go to the airport for Arequipa! So exciting!! One of the Elders here is from Brazil and he has been here for 3 weeks and will be here for another 3 more weeks so he can learn Spanish. Our whole district has gotten really close to him. I think it’s so crazy how we can get to close to people without even being able to talk. But when we were talking with him during lunch I was really touched by his story and I wanted to share it with all of you. He is 25 years old and we asked him what he did before his mission and his story. He was converted when he was 19 years old and started working since then to save up money to go on a mission. He worked at Taco Bell and eventually moved up to a management position. He worked that whole time in order to go on a mission. That would take a lot of faith and dedication to spend so much time preparing and saving money to go on a mission! It makes me realize even more how blessed I am. I know that I have been blessed with an easy life. I don’t have any of the struggles that most of the latinos had before coming on a mission. I didn’t ever have to worry about having food to eat or having a place to live. The difference between the North Americans and the Latinos transition to a mission is completely opposite. As North Americans we have to adjust to live with 6 people in a room and adjust to all the rules and the food. The Latinos have to adjust to having a bed all to them selves, learning how to use a washing machine since they’ve never seen one in their life! It’s sad hearing about how the latinos see a mission as such a blessing and sometimes the North Americans see a mission as a burden and complain about the smallest things. It’s sad to see how spoiled we are to live in North America. I love living in North America but sometimes we just get caught up in things that don’t really matter. The thing that I’ve learned the most from the latinos here is unconditional love. They know what really matters in life. Since they come from nothing they realize that the only thing that matters is family. I love how happy they are allll the time! I have never really heard them complain. They are just so blessed to be here always! I am so thankful to have the life that I do! Thank you Dad for always providing for our family and protecting us throughout our lives. Thank you Mom for always giving us love without reservation. You are wonderful parents! I love you both! We got to go to the temple today and it was super nice and relaxing! I love the temple! Love always, Hermana Flora

Pictures!

District 107

The Arequipa girls!!

Hermana Smith and I at the Lima Temple

Both my CCM Companions. Hermana Smith and Riverin

Hermana Smith and Flat Jayme

2 more weeks

Hello Family!!

Its been another good week here at the CCM! This last Saturday we went out proselyting again! This time was much much better than last time. I think I was expecting to know everything everyone was saying the first time so it was rough not knowing anything but this time I wasnt expecting to know anything so when I caught words and phrases it made me feel so much better! My companion for the day knew English so that was also such a blessing because it made it easier to communicate. When we went out to teach I was with my new companion for the day that knew Spanish and one of the missionaries from Lima and also one of the teachers here at the CCM so there was 4 of us total. We first taught an investigator who is planning on getting baptized on the 14th of Feb! Valentines Day! He is 81 and is so sweet! We taught him about tithing and chastity. He asked me to give the opening prayer and it went pretty well. Well at least I think it did haha The teacher was really good to me while we were tracting! She gave me some advice for talking to people and gave me the confidence to start talking to people in Spanish! She also told me that the 2 most important questions to ask someone is...What is your name and where are you from. When I asked these questions to one guy on the street I noticed a change in his perspective on us as missionaries and was more willing to listen to us. I gave him a folleto.. pamphlet..on the restauration and gave him a little into about our gospel and invited him to church. It was AWESOME! I was so shocked at how well it went! Trust in the Lord and He will help you! I know that to be true! As we walked away I looked back and he was reading through the pamphlet! I dont know why I doubt the Lords ability sometimes. This is HIS work so I should never doubt that the Lord will provide a way!

This week the 2 group of Latinos left and the North American group above us left. They loved the song we sang to the other group (God Be With you Till we meet again): They asked us to sing the song to them as well haha It was sad saying bye to them but I am super excited for the next group because I hear there are 6 latinas coming in that are going to Arequipa!! I cant wait!

 

A scripture that I read this week that was really powerful to me that was about missionary work and teaching with the Spirit was D&C 68:4. You should read it! Its really awesome reading it as a missionary because it shows how powerful we can be when we teach with the spirit! I just love being a missionary! We have so much extra power to teach the people. We also have so much more added responsibility since we are always wearing 2 names on us. 1. our Family name, mine being Flora! and 2. Jesus Christ´s name. SUCH A HUGE RESONSIBILTY! Scary at times but it is a constant reminder that I need to be working hard and being obedient always!

Thank you for all the love and support I have from all of you at home!!

You really are a strength to me!

I love all of you!

 

XOXO,

Hermana Flora

Week 3

February 4, 2013

Family and Friends!!

 

This week has been a wonderful week here at the CMM! Much better than last week. So this past week we had this Stress Management class that ended up being really stressful! haha Our teacher had us go out to the field that we play soccer on and do some sprints. While we were out there we got locked out of the CMM. At first we thought it was a joke to see how we would react but it really wasnt haha I thought it was hilarious. One of the Elders climbed the wall and started yelling for help and then finally someone came and let us in, When we came in one of the fire hydrants went off and there was water spraying everywhere. I was super confused and still wasnt sure if this was real or not. Theres been lots of jokes pulled in the CMM so you never know haha but it was a great experience haha

 

I forgot to tell you about what happened last week when the Latinos left! It was a really sad and emotional day. Our district put together a musical number to sing to them on Sunday the day before they were leaving. The song we chose was, God be with you Til we meet again. All the latinos were crying and is was a very spiritual and wonderful experience. After the song, we all said our goodbyes and it ended very well. But they will definielty be missed.

 

This week I got a new companion. The President of my branch told me out of one of my classes and asked if Hermana Smith and I would be willing to change companions to split up a companionship that wasnt working. I was definielty willing to do it but I was sad to say bye to Hermana Smith. She was really sad as well because we got along sooo well and we never had any problems. Just a few days ago we asked the President why he chose us because there were other girls he could have chosen and we were perfectly fine together. He told us that all of the members prayed about it and felt like we were the ones that could best handle the change so that made us both feel a lot better. As for now, we are both doing much better! I love my new companion! She is awesome! She is from Canada and her first language is French but she knows Englsih really well so theres no problem communicating. She is a little crazy at times and we have lots of fun together. We are a good companionship!

 

Since Ive been here in the CMM we have had a goal to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish before leaving. That has been such a great experience and I have learned so much more. I am in Alma now and I love it! I would encourage you all to read the Book of Mormon as much as you can! It is another Testament of Christ and I know that it is the words of God. I am so happy to be a missionary! I have grown since Ive been here so I look forward to all the growth I will have in these next 18 months! I hope things are going well at home! I love all of you so much and I am so thankful for your support and love!

 

Love always,

Hermana Flora