Family and Friends!! 4.9.14 Wow. Today has been a long day! At Atlanta I met up with lots of missioanries and a lot of them were going to Arequipa so I am excited to see them in 6 weeks! It was a long travel to get to Arequipa but I am just so thankful that I am here FINALLY! I thought I was going to be in Lima for a few days but I came strait here in Arequipa! I met my mission president and his wife at the airport with my new companion! My president and his wife are great and I love my new companion! She is the cutest latina. She made me the sweetest note and was jumping up and down when she saw me. I was soooo tired at the time but her excitment made me so happy. She is from Panama! her name is Hermana Bazan. She understands English but doesnt speak too much so that is a blessing. We are both helping each other out with learning Spanish and English. My new area is Graficos. My companion works hard and I am really happy that she is a hard worker because I know she will train me well! She has been out since Jan. 2 so she JUST finished her training! I wouldnt have been her trainer if I didnt come to Arequipa at this time! We met our pinchinista )she makes us food!= SO NICE! When I got to her house she made a welcome sign for me! It was so cute! 4.10.14 We set our first baptismal date today! His name is Hermano Evelio and he is around 80 years old. He is very receptive to the gospel. I didnt do much, my companion is awesome. I just try to understand as much as I can and then bear my testimony at the end. My companion is very supportive and she helps me out a lot. She gives me the confidence to try and speak. She is a great example to me. One more thing! Our pinchinesta gave us chicken noodle soup today for lunch and dinner and my poor companion had a whole chicken leg with the foot and claws on it! I almost died haha she ate the whole thing, Im so glad that wasnt in my soup! haha But I´m pretty sure I had an eyeball in my soup but I just didnt think about it haha 4.11.14 Sometimes it is hard to focus when everyone is speaking Spanish because I cant understand everything and if I can understand I dont know what to say or I am just too nervous to try and speak. The end of the night was much better because I was able to open up and be myself. I spoke the best I could and my companion helped me, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be! I love how my companion is friends with lots of the members and the inactives here in the area. Everywhere we go she knows someone! She has a really good relationship with the members and this makes the work easier because the members can trust us and give us referrals. They also treat us really well :) The weather here in Arequipa is muy bueno! Its very similar to the weather in California! I love it!! I showed my companion pictures of my family today and she loves Donny haha she tells the members, ¨Look! Its my future husband!¨Haha shes crazy, I love it. The days seem superrrr long. We get lots of things done and I love that! It is hard at times to be in a complete Spanish environment and not be able to understand or speak everything I want, but I am out here because I know this church is true and that makes me happy. I couldn´t do this if I didnt know that this gospel was true. I had a good experience tonight. I was thinking to myself during one of the lessons...not focusing haha..and I was saying to myself Ï wish I could understand what they are saying!¨Then I heard a small and simple voice in my head say,¨Listen.¨The holy ghost was teaching me at this moment. So I stopped and listened sincerely. Wow. I started to understand a lot more! Not everything, but much more. The gift of tounges is given when we have faith and act upon this faith in love for others. 4.12.14 Happy One year anniversary to Melina and Adam!! :) I love you both! 4.13.14 Arequipa: Gets more beautiful everyday! The weather is perfect! The latinos think it is cold haha but its probably only around 60'65 degrees when they think its freezing. Perfect! We live on top of a large hill overlooking the city. It is sooo pretty at night to look at the city lights. The food is really good! They eat MUCHO!!! I dont understand how they can eat so much food! Today for lunch we had soup, in a HUGE bowl and I was stuffedddd and then they came out with more food!!! I was going to explode haha mucho rice! but thankfully they understood that we were full and could only eat a little more. Tonight was SUPER good!! I taught my first lesson with my companions help. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a partial member family. The father is an investigator and has a baptismal date for the end of this month! They are an awesome family! In the lesson I used the object lesson that Jessica gave me! I revized it a little because it was in english, but they loved it! Thanks Jessica Ñ= I am excited to use it many times in my mission! Of course the lesson wasnt perfect and my companion helped me with explaining things that I couldnt but other than that it went really well! Ñ= Here in Peru there are many things that I could complain about because it is very very different than America, but I never let myself even think about it! There is no place I would rather be! And there are soooo many more things to be excited about because I am a missionary here in Peru! I LOVE IT! The culture is very different but I am getting use to the change. Jenelle told me before leaving that David said in his mission something of the sort..The sooner I become comfortable with the uncomfortable, the sooner I will be comfortable. This has been very true with me here in Arequipa. There are many things that make me uncomfortable, the culture, speaking Spanish, not understanding people, the food...well basically everything! haha but I just think to myself, Become comfortable with the uncomfortable! It helps :) I have also lerned to just laugh at things and not let things bother me. There is no need for me to scared because I have the Lord on my side. I absolutley love being a missionary! It isnt easy but it is worth it. Every minute! I love love love it! Thank you for all the support you give me and everyone in the ward and my friends too! I love you all! :) Love always, Hermana Flora