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!!