A Native Speaker Companion..Woo Hoo!!!!

Okay, this week:

New companion, Hermana Morales, from Cuzco Peru! (And has never been to Macchu Picchu, haha!) She has 7 and a half months, but is basically senior comp, she's so amazing. She teaches great, contacts great, remembers everything, respects the branch president in his calling a ton and knows how to work with the members super well. Basically perfect in every way. On top of that, she's suuuuuper humble. And sweet. And hilarious. We have had so many little adventures this week! Spider killing, throwing tiiiiiiny little pebbles at a menos activa's window who won't come out of her house (so romantic) and getting yelled at by her neighbor, zombie jokes, randomly racing to light posts and corners of streets, knocking doors with a pecan I can't break open that Elder Jensen gave me. It's sooo much fun.

She was telling me a story the other night while waiting at a door. So she and her friend were at the university, and they were walking backwards together, and fell into a  huge hole higher than their heads. They were very famous after that. Well, as she was telling me this story, I thought she knew there was a hole behind her, and that brought up the story. Well, she didn't. And almost fell in. Bah. (That's slang my comp picked up in her only other area, Ascope). Also they end everything with Joven. Ex: They're not their youth! (No hay joven!) I don't know, we just joke around all the time. 

Then we were knocking a dark house the other night, and were commenting, "watch, a dog is going to come out from under the door" (there was a gap of about a foot). As we were saying this, two kittens came out. So my companion chased them around the house to catch them, and held them up. So I acted like Mufasa to pretend to put marks on their foreheads. Ahahaha. As she was trying to catch the second one, she fell and scraped her knee a tiny bit. 

Then the other night we were teaching a 14 year old MA, Keyco. Well, my companion has this cough, and we told Keyco. So Keyco goes and gets this weird bee juice (I really don't know what it is), but it made her throat feel like fire. SO we were saying she'd become a dragon and climb up onto the ceiling. I totally called the ceiling the heavens the other day accidentally. I've been saying the weirdest words with her! I shall create my own language! Muahaha!

Then Saturday, the elders were coming back from Huamachuco (Mom, only us and the elders in Otuzco, 4 in total) We're four. Haha. Well, they had  a baptism, so we ended up planning everything for them. We got to play telephone with a  real phone. No, but really, we were calling SO much! But we had to go set up the font (it's like one of those pools that you put above ground). So we figured that out, and used little metal ladders for the steps to get in. The elders got carsick coming back from Huamachuco, so had to go rest. I got talked into doing the musical numbers (since this transfer started, my voice has gotten really popular with the missionaries. Everyone says I sing well. It all started with Elder Jensen. Then the new hermana Leaders wanted me to sing for them too when they came up for the zone training. So now I sing a ton. Also, we had a goodbye party and a welcome party for the missionaries leaving and going two nights in a row! So much cake. SO much food. How am I not fat after a year in Peru? 

Uhhh, okay the more powerful,

Taught a  lady Carmen yesterday. She was sad, so we hugged her, and promised to pray for her, and promised her that there is refuge in the gospel.

We taught Kati. Her animos are down. (sorry, spanglish, um she's less excited). So we talked to her about the seriousness of the baptismal covenant, and enduring to the end, and how it will affect her future. Any problems with her family now will pass, but she also has to think of her future family. We found out she has a boyfriend who wants to run away with her. (She's won't) To be sure, we're going to teach the law of chastity next time. Once we teach her something, she always understands, and applies it. So that's good. We're going to move her baptism to the 26th. Elder Jensen last night, when I was reporting, promised she'd get to baptism, but that we just need to have confidence that the spirit will be there when we teach and that the words we speak will reach her heart, and it will all work out. Sweet. I love promises.

 

We taught Manuel y Juliana anoche (MA), and my comp did so good with them. It was a completely different lesson than we've had with them before. She really encouraged them, and I think they'll start progressing soon.  They're really looking forward to our visits now. Manuel asked if he could do anything for us. 

We started teaching a reference, Mili, this week. Young 30s, intelligent, really cool. Single. Does what she wants. (That joke has no meaning in enlgish. There's a song called soy solteraa that's popular here. We'll teach her lesson one this week. I'm really excited to see where this goes. It will be good for sure. She's super open minded. :)

Those were the biggest lessons we had this week. 

I'm just happy here. Sometimes, I feel inadequate next to my companion, but she's so humble, and the Spirit always encourages me that it just ends up being a pássing thought. This cambio will be amazing. President Marler thanked me for my unfailing faith today (Do I even have that?), and that he's anxious to see what Hermana Morales and I will do with the area. So much trust from him! Man, missionary work is way over my head. But I love it. It's sooo fun

Love you all. Have a great week!

Hermana Brogan

It Is Transfer Week and Haley Is..........

World! So this week. We've found two new investigators names Carmen who are single moms. Their kids are teens. Teens are fast to understand the doctrine and can help us explain it to their parents. I love it. 

Big news. Cambios are tomorrow. I stay, but I'm getting a new companion. Her name is Hermana Morales. Sounds Latina. :D Por fin! And I hear she's hilarious. So it should be a fun companionship. I'm really excited about it!

Um, last pday we found a guy with a monkey on the road. I took a picture of it. I also took a picture on a llama, but I need a better one. Next pday that they're in the plaza. 

Um, not many people came to church. Both Kati and Consuelo were out of town. But Isabel came. (We're trying to reactivate her so she and her husband can get sealed. She has a baby though and uses that as a reason to not come to church...) But President Marler told me about them, so I figure it's kinda an important focus. We just haven't been able to get inside their house to teach them yet. Edgar is always travelling for work, and Isabel is always 'busy.' Maybe some more prayer will help us get in those doors.

Also, I'm stoked to have a Latina comp so when we're teaching old people, or people who just really don't get my accent, I have someone to help me out. Haha. 

We were eating with the nonmember daughter of the branch president at lucnh last pday (or maybe tuesday...?). I don't know how, but she convinced us to let her feed us. So anyways, this random lady from Trujillo came by and asked the elders to bless her cousin or aunt or someone. The lady who lives in Otuzco's name it Maria. She's super old and hard of hearing. But totally willing to listen. She can't walk- so I don't know how we're going to get her to church. She also can't read. So we'll be reading with her a lot. :) She's cute though. Oh yeah, but this lady came by and dragged the elders over to her house to give her a blessing of health. Then dragged us along too so that we can start teaching her. Well, alright. If you insist on giving us a great investigator, then I suppose it's alright! :P

Then, we were walking to a cita one night on the calle Lima, when my comp realizes outside a MA house, there's a lady we haven't met. Well, she's the menos activa. Her name is Mery. She committed to come to church (and didn't come...). But she had us go meet her 89 year old dad, who's on his sickbed. He's literally skin and bones. So sad. But he lit up when we walked in the room. He can't hear, and can barely see. So we just showed him pictures of Christ, and awkwardly sat there for a bit and sang (even though he can't hear it), and prayed. But it was a cool experience. The Spirit was very strong in that room. Though he's Catholic, and when we showed him a picture of Christ, he started praying to it.... Yeah. Well, our visit comforted Mery too. We'll be visiting her and hopefully convincing her to come to church. 

That's about all for the week.

Hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Brogan

Learning to Swallow Pills

So my week! Well, I got a bit of a fever monday and tuesday, so we didn't do anything as I swallowed big pills as the mission told me to do. Mom, you'd be so proud of my pill swallowing skills I've gained. ;) No, but we missed some citas I was suuuper excited about. So that was kinda sad. (I have a goal of getting edgar, and his MA wife sealed. She actually showed up for the last couple hours of church yesterday! We haven't even gotten to visit them once yet...) But we're going tonight! And to Jenci too!

We tried to visit Amelia this week, and we couldn't even get very far in the lesson. Bah! My comp and I both felt prompted (and didn't follow it, because we both just thought it was our ideas until after the lesson) to tell her she already knows it's true. (She does. I know it.  She has grudges against her son getting married in the temple, and her husband getting baptized while they were separated). But yeah, I'm not giving up on her. I love her too much. 

We watched the Restoration video with Katy to help her get an answer. (I don't know how to spell her name. It might actually be Kati...)  But yeah, she's still looking. She's doing good. And preparing super well for baptism.

I was commenting in english one day about Broccoli saltado I saw on a menu AFTER eating lunch. SO I said, man why didn't we eat that? Healthy. Vegetables. Yum. Then we hear behind me this little boy exclaim, Vegetables! Haha. Yes, you do actually know real english words. 

Also saw random grafitti one a wall that said galletita. Don't want to know why that's really there, but I translated it in my head to little cookie. I thought, how's that as a pet name? My little cookie. It was just a funny random thought. (I think I'm going a bit crazy as a missionary doing all this walking around, haha)

We had an activity to go invite menos activos to church one night. Katy even came to that one. She's not even a member. It cracks me up. But she went with my comp and I in our team. :) It was fun. She's a ball of energy. 

The next day we cleaned our lovely casa capilla in the morning, and the nasty kitchen for a RS activity- to teach the women to make american cookies! (We made it sound SO cool!) It was way fun. Katy came. Juana came (she just sent in her mission papers on Sunday! :D)  Juana and I hung out a lot, since her best friend didn't come. Juana is SO sarcastic. We were going around introducing ourselves, including something we like to do. I was last, and was trying to be funny (I see so much of Dad in me sometimes), and listed a TON of things I like to do. SO Juana interrupts and says, yes Hermana Brogan, we get it. You like ALL the verbs. And then we played "never have I ever", but adapted it to their ability to understand the rules to just "me gusta" So you have 10 fingers, and if you like something too, you keep the finger. If not, you loose a finger. Last one standing wins. Well, Juana had to comment on how I like everything already, so I'll just win. Then she'd say things like, I like "that" for the sake of me not losing a finger. Hahaha. She's funny. 

Sunday, I played the piano like normal for the hymns (with my 6th grade skills, ahha. Thanks for the lessons mom. It's a small blessing for this branch. I'm the first missionary here who can play), gave a talk, did the special musical number, and taught gospel principles. Basically I was church. I spoke on missionary work. Its importanance!

That's about it for the week!

Hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Hermana Brogan

Keep Writing Me Please!!!

*Yep. She's been out 11 months TODAY. 7 to go!!!!!

So this week. Or last six days. I don't know if I mentioned much about Hermana Gutierrez and Hermana Baldeon. But we were up talking with them at night, and Hermana Gutierrez (so much energy!) was just going off talking and said, más mejor, menos peor. I forget the context now. I just remember that was all hilarious.  (btw, she just said more better and less worse.) Also, this joke is kinda requires spanish context,so ask your nearest spanish speaker: We passed by a house looking for a menos activo couple. This little girl in the ward (not their daughter) comes to the door all happy to see us. So we ask, está Deyni? No hay. Okay, está su esposo? She responds, ¿de mí? Haha, NO! De Deyni! The girl is only like 11. Oh Usted form. 

So Huamachuco (the other district) stayed overnight in Otuzco with the elders since Huamachuco is another three hours away, and it was late. So we had a district meeting as a zone. But it wasn't zone training... We did an example of the Spirit which I loved. They placed some boxes really close on the floor and had Elder Larosa walk through them blindfolded, guided by the 'spirit', Elder Rareba. The rest of us were loud voices distracting him. He had to get through the little maze without touching the boxes. And failed. So then, without Elder Larosa knowing, we removed all the boxes after putting him back at the start. Nobody else talked, only Elder Rareba. And he told him to take eight big steps forward. Elder Larosa was hesitant, but did it. It was super cool. We just have to trust the Spirit, even when it seems crazy (Elder Larosa thought the boxes were still there. He took little steps at first.) The wisdom and guidance of the Spirit will never lead us astray. I also realized that sometimes our obstacles are just in our minds. 

Later, the elders went to buy us a curtain for our study room. (We've been without for a month and a half). Well, what they bought wasn't wide enough. Hahaha. So they put it up anyways. Kinda defeats the purpose of a curtain. It cracked me up.   

Norma is still working Sundays. Ugh, I don't know how to help her.  She's SO poor. 

We did companionship inventory on the white board this week, and just drew out a bunch of situations. It was hilarious and got pretty crazy. Eventually I ended up drawing a stick figure drowning in water with a shark and bees above the water with his eyes HUGE, and a  mohawk. Yeah, we're friends. :)

We went to Hermana Ester to talk to her about a relief society activity. And we find the elders there. Elder Jensen is playing Efraín's guitar, and Elder Cogollo is talking with Juana, and Hermana Ester is just sewing like normal. It was so funny. Apparently they were there to talk to Efraín about creating a branch mission plan (which I suggested a little bit back.) Yup, hard work elders. Haha.

We taught Aralita (Leita's daughter) about the Book of Mormon. We go through the intro super slowly, and she still is confused. At the end, she comments that her mom was reading it and commented on how it was really different from "their" Bible. Haha. I told her, YES! It is! And showed her my bible. I reexplained things for a fifth time, and I think she gets it  better than her mom. (BTW, sorry about this spastic space bar....)

We taught Katy, our golden, lesson three yesterday, and I think lesson two during the week. We invited her to baptism for the 19th of September. She's now preparing. I'm pretty sure she's already more active than me. And I'm a missionary. She's so cute. She's full of so much energy, and she's really attached to me. She was clinging onto me after church and teasing me about my bad memory. (Seriously, my memory on the mission just seems to be getting worse.) It was hilarious.   I don't know what I did to have her love me so much. But I don't mind. It's always nice to have a friend. (She's 19 btw)

That's more or less my week. Hope you guys have a good one. Keep writing me please!

Hermana Brogan

Trujillo Temple trip.....

1. My distirct has got to stop teasing me about marriage. We got to the temple, and it just gets worse. Not. Okay. Baaaaaaaaaaah. Okay, just had to rant to someone, so I chose the world. 

2. I got my birthday package! Almost half a month late. Haha. But I LOVED it. Especially the balloons. I tried to choose some favorites to quote, but they just all made me happy. Our room is still a party. But my comp is a clean freak, so I should pop them before she goes too crazy. I wrote all the messages down in my journal and have a pic though, so we should be good. Also- the beach ball! Yes! And the candy, and cards, and everything. I appreciated Becky's card with english, spanish, russian, japanese, and baby. So multilingual. I love it.

3. Intercambios this week. I went with Hermana Blackburn (who is from... dun dun dun... the group of *big breath* Hermanan Favero, Hermana Kennedy, Hermana Waite, Hermana Lofgran, Hermana McGinnis. Who have all had a huge, positive influence on my mission. Hermana Blackburn fits right up there with them. I felt the Spirit so strong during our intercambio. They're almost done. Crazy! I learned so much from her. Hermana South came up too (so it was more like divisions). 7 lessons in our area in 1 day. (Between the two companionships). We found miracle named Katherine, looking for her aunt, Aurora, who is less active. Well, Katherine is from Lima, but is up here until December. She isn't doing anything. So we invite her to our game night that night (pictionary and charades. It was a blast). She comes. WITH her aunt. Woo! Katherine also came to church on Sunday, but by herself. Her aunt works. She's super interested, and is 19 years old. She's super down to earth, and already a great friend. She's super happy and cute. I love it. 

We also passed by this one house on the list, and nobody was home. At dinner that night, I felt impressed to go back. So we do and find Manuel. The ex 2nd counselor in the branch presidency who has now been inactive for three years. He's great, but he won't look us in the eyes. He still believes it all, and I asked him a bunch of hard questions. He just kept saying, I know I know. He's hiding something though. Then on Sunday, we met with him and his wife. We shared the message of the restoration, and I felt prompted to use all of the scriptures of the first vision. Including the part about Satan trying to stop him. Never thought that would happen. So I followed it and explained that Satan is going to fight them, but they just have to have stronger faith. His wife is AMAZING. She's ready to come back- she's just living in Trujillo with her kids and doesn't know where to go to church with them. She was so into the lesson, and really felt the Spirit. The first thing she told us was that she wants to feel closer to God. She'll be a rescue super fast- in the South mission. Haha. But that's cool- we'll work with Manuel.

Then, we came down to Trujillo for interviews and the temple! The assistant's interview was great! We had to teach the first lesson in under 10 minutes. They said we're one of the few who have done it. (They're focusing on concise lessons right now...) It was pretty fun. They asked us what WE thought we should improve. So we say asking more questions, because you were looking bored and flipping through the books. So they accuse us of making fun of their acting! NO! We were serious about our observations. It cracked me up. But they also put a lot of focus on the BoM, and have challenged us to always have a copy with us. 

The interview with President was great. Praying with faith. He also told me that the branch in Otuzco really depends on the missionaries (it does). It would fall apart without us. The assistants told us not to lose our faith (again- hardest area for hermanas in the mission).They also told us that they've heard Otuzco really changes missionaries a TON for the better. What blessings. What hard work I have. I love it though. I wouldn't have it any other way. Seeing areas change, and finding people from the beginning is the best. Being thrown into an area with great investigators would be so weird for me now.

Sister Marler talked about the area book and talked about in 3rd Nephi when Christ tells Nephi, why didn't you write about Samuel the Lamanite? And Nephi says, woops, I'll get on that (I think that's one of the funniest parts in the Book of Mormon). and how we needs to write everything down in our carpetas. Even impressions about future lessons. Yikes. Then she talked about how we need to act by faith and work with the Spirit. And then after that interview I went to the bathroom and had an emotional breakdown- half laughing and half crying with my comp just because I felt so overwhelmed after three interviews. Man, I need more faith. Please let me borrow all of your faith. From everyone who reads this. Thanks.

And on top of that, they want us two gringas to basically completely change Otuzco. Which is our plan. But still, so overwhelming.

Also, we taught with Juana this week, who's preparing for a mission. I made her teach about prophets. She did great. After the lesson she said, Hermana Brogan! I don't know how to teach. I say, NO! You can teach. Really well actually. And she says, No me burla. (Don't bully- or tease- me). She needs self confidence. But she is seriously amazing. I really like her a lot. :)

Aaaaand, the temple. It was amazing. It was so nice to feel the Spirirt. President and wife did the session with us and a zone from Cajamarca. It was amazing. Don't know what to say about it, but that in the Celestial room, I had a great conversation with President. He assured me of the love Heavenly Father has for me, and why He sent me here. What my potential is to become, and what I have become. Hmm... Yeah, I'll leave it at that. But it was an amazing experience. President kinda overwhelms me. He's always looking for a specific answer, and I cannot read his brain. But it's cool. I learn a lot.

The temple was so needed. Being a sister missionary can just be overwhelming- we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the best missionary we can be. Which is great- to a point. The temple helped me back off a little. So that was great.

Mom- I found a nativity set. It's little. 18 soles. So like 6 dollars. I'll probably try to find another one around Christmas. Because I love you that much. :) (Whoo Hoo!!!)

We went to the mall in Trujillo. Because we can do that. I ate pizza and ice cream. American food! (Otuzco is just like you'd imagine not being in America would be like. Not globalized at all. All the food we eat IS peruvian.)But it's great. I'm loving the mission still. I'm getting so old, and people have been asking me even more often how much time I have, Argh! I'm in denial. Still in training. Still in training. I do not want to leave. 

But I miss you all and love you! Hopè everything at home is great! Keep me updated on life!

Love, Hermana Brogan

Teachings Galore.

Okay, so lucky you guys, I typically have about 45 minutes to write home. So even though I'm lazy, it will still probably end up being a decent size letter.

Okay, so we've had a really great week with the work here. But I've been feeling kinda... bored. I don't really know why. Probably because my companion and I have almost nothing to talk about together aside from the gospel. We're working on it. (We're friends, we just really don't have much of anything in common. Haha.) But we went to get her new shoes last week- they were DEAD, holes in the bottom and all. (Just how I like my shoes. But the quality is too good I think for that to happen.) But the girl in the store was AMAZED when we told her we learned Spanish just talking to people here. People always ask us.

Tuesday, we taught Amelia, our dueña. She doesn't really believe it yet, but this is the first real lesson we've had with her. We taught the plan of Salvation. (She needs a more personal connection with the Savior, and it all focuses on the atonement.) She told us she doesn't think anybody can go to the Celestial Kingdom. I explained you really don't have to be perfect- you just have to accept the Savior and try to progress. Heavenly Father is our Father and wants us HOME with Him, more than any earthly parent. She seemed pretty okay with the terrestrial kingdom. Uuuugh. That's okay. We'll go back to the restoration next time we visit her. Poco a poco. She needs a miracle though. En verdad. She's just such a great person, and if she would just let go of her grudge, she'd accept it. I know that part of her already knows it's true.
Later that day, we saw the elders about a block down, so we had a finger gun fight their whole walk down. Things that I start... Well, things I bring from work to the mission. Haha.  (* yep, the things she learned working security in the MTC sure have come in handy in the mission field, huh?)

Wednesday, we had zone training. My companion and I taught about consecration. It ended up being really good. I really felt the Spirit. Hopefully the other missionaries did too. We also heard from the sister leaders about praying with faith. It was really good too!

That afternoon, we taught Marilu about the book of Mormon. Most people can understand us, but she just really struggles with our accents for some reason. And we didn't have Ester with us. So we explained about 50 times that the Book of Mormon isn't the Bible. And finally, Hermana McCally (go companion!), puts her scriptures on the floor, and the water bottle in between to represent the sea. And used her hymnario, as a ship to explain Lehi coming to the Americas. She finally got it. She told us at the end of the lesson, that was the first time she felt good with us over. We explained that that's the Spirit.

At lunch, a funeral procession walked by. With a marching band. Typical Otuzco.

Okay, so we were knocking at Presidente Roger's door, and Wasabi, their puppy comes out. His granddaughter, who's like three, said, No! No lo toque! Comi'o mi caca! Or in other words, don't touch him! He ate my poop. I was cracking up so hard at that one. I love kids.

During companionship inventory, my companion told me I'm a spiritual giant (lies!) and that she sees me as future young women's president. Meaning, general young women's president. Hahahahaha. Yeah, no.

We found this cute old couple the next day. The wife has Parkinson's. They're both super cool though. My companion was sharing a scripture, and he asks, where is it? She says, oh another book called the Book of Mormon. So he goes to his table (not even his bookshelf or anything), and grabs his copy of the Book of Mormon. Well, they've been taught before. That's neat.

Norma told us later that night that she needs to put the Lord first, and is going to try to get work off for church. That's a start for día de reposo. Well, she didn't come this week, but last night we talked about enduring to the end, and how sometimes, we have big obstacles. I always picture it like a really hard long hike. And sometimes you have to climb up a dirt wall. And it's okay if you have to figure it out before tackling it, but never turn back. So we're praying for her. But she's started reading her scriptures and praying regularly again. Yay! We started a competition with her to help her out. Well, she's beating us! Oh to have time to read more. She wasn't reading at all before! Also we all have this cute scripture map to color as we read. I love it.

So Otuzco. I should probably describe it a bit more. We have two crazy guys in the street (harmless). They always say hi to us. One always asks if we have English Bibles. It's weird. But it makes me laugh. This town is ridiculously safe for today's time. I actually feel a little back in time. The little boys in the street play marbles,and the girls play hopscotch. We have a couple little girls who always say Estaaaados Unidos, super enchanted sounding. It cracks me up. I always say, Perú! In response. Walking down  the streets, the people going to and from their charcas always say, buenos días gringas. So I've started saying Buenos días peruano. It's fun. People here are so blunt. I love it. It's kinda addicting though.. Sorry if I accidentally offend anyone when I go home. Barely anybody here has much of an education. So us teaching isn't a natural environment for them. Sometimes it's hard to keep them focused. Also, we always walk by people sorting out their wheat or peeling papas. :)
I followed a prompting to knock a door the other day. Well the mom is 18 with a 1.5 year old. And we asked her where her husband was and she replied. Drunk. Oh great. We've got some work with them. She's really sweet though!

Then we went to go visit Luz, who's AWESOME. We knock her door and call her. Nothing.Walking down the street for five minutes, she calls us and we rush back. So funny. So we explain the restoration. And she summarizes quite nicely, "So what you're saying is that only one church can have the authority, and you believe it's your church?" (Side note- people here say God is uno solo. Meaning, they think whatever church points to God is good, and you'll get into heaven.) So I say YES. She actually understood that there can only be one true church! Well, she understood that's what we were saying. I love her. She's going to read her pamphlet and pray too. So she should start progressing soon.

So that's mas o menos my week. Not much funny stuff going on. The new district leader is a lot calmer as is my companion. So life's calmer.

Love you all. Have a great week!
Hermana Brogan

* sorry no pictures in a while. She says she hasn't found any where to send them from in Otuzco. 
* also, next week she will be writing on Tuesday for those who look for her blog on Mondays. She gets to attend the Trujillo temple on Monday. 

Busy Thursday and a Candlelit Dinner

Okay, probably going to be short- it wasn't too eventful this week.
Last week we hiked another river- I forgot the name. It's in my diary.
But it was really fun! I jumped over a small gap and overshot it, and
almost fell down the slope, but I didn't. Yay. :) Exploring here is
fun!

Can I tell you how normal it is to see donkeys everywhere now? Who
would've though it'd be normal. Also, we asked someone what her
donkey's name is. She said, burrito no más. Well, to us that's funny
because. Mexican food. Yum. To them, little donkey.

On Tuesday, the start of the transfer, my comp and I decided to
completely stop speaking in English (and it's a hard habit to drop. I
still have yet to go a day without a single english word, but I've
gotten pretty close. Only two or three words I think one day in
English...) Well, it's helping my Spanish a TON! I tried to do it with
Hermana Waite, but it really dragged my mood down, so we decided
better not to at that time. Now I can do it much easier! People
understand me, and I'm just a lot more confident now. Things you gotta
do when you don't have Latina comps...

So Elder Jensen, the new DL, arrived Tuesday evening. Right when our
landlady's storeroom was flooded (we live above a store). So we got to
do some service as a district cleaning up the water. It turned out to
be really good. We got to hear Amelia's life story. She has problems
with the church because of the people- to put it vaguely. But we'll
work with her on that.On Thursday (my birthday). Well, let's back up
to branch council over a week ago. Us: So we really want to get Amelia
more comfortable in the church, so we'd like to have an activity.
Council: *looks at board* hey, how about we do an activity on Thursday
for your birthday? Me: NO! I'm proselyting that day and nothing else!
Other people in council: Sounds like a great idea! Elder Cogollo:
*Dances gangam style* Me: fine...

So on Thursday, after inviting ALL of our investigators, none of them
came. But we did have about 25 members there. Almost as many as come
to church. Sweet! I got a cake shoved in my face. Hermana Ester got a
cake for Elder Cogollo too even though his birthday was over a month
ago, because he didn't tell anyone. And we watched mormon messages and
bible videos (including the one that one of my coworkers is in. That was
weird). And we ate arroz chaufa (basically fried rice and hot dogs.
Weird at first, I really like it now. Rhett, you could try it!)

Thursday, the lights went out in all of Otuzco. So we had to be back
in our room by dark. We bought candles and had a candlelit dinner (of
sandwiches) on the balcony with all the stars out. It was actually
super cool until random guys on the street started cat calling us and
we had to go inside. Gosh dang it.

Also, on Thursday, we were in the branch president's house for a few
minutes, and the Elders walk in on US. Por fin! We've done it to them
three tmes already. Haha, I swear Otuzco isn't THAT small. Maybe the
Spirit tells us the same things?

Also, random thing from last Sunday, the elders were walking only two
blocks ahead of us on calle Trujillo, and a mule got loose, so Elder
Cogollo goes and chases it all the way up the hill. I died laughing.

On Saturday, we taught Norma, a rescate, who is now BACK to being
menos activa. Grrr. She's working on Sundays during church. Don't do
that. Have faith, and you'll be fine. But despite our best efforts,
she told us it's necessary. I just don't know how to help her... We'll
figure it out.

Then yesterday, we taught Marilu, a reference from the branch. She's
awesome! We got through the first vision, and she's going to pray,and
receive an answer, and I'm excited. After the spiritual part of the
lesson (aka when we were just about to pray to end), she asks us, do
you beleive in dreams? Well, yes... (but it depends!) So she goes off
to tell us all these crazy dreams she's had including demons, and
Christ and Peter, and some things I don't know those words yet...
Yeah... Just typical Peruvian culture. Otuzco is so small town. The
people here are just completely wonderful. :) They make me laugh a
lot.

Aside from that, still searching and finding. But we are getting some
great people.

Hope all is well back home. Thanks for the birthday emails from those
who I just read today!

Love,
Hermana Brogan