Week 5: No More Justin Bieber Sing-Alongs in Class

Hola! Aloha! Dobrey Dien! Hi! Mormompa Libronmante Ajllasaqa
Yachachiykuna! Oh whoa weird a cat just walked across my keyboard my
bad… PLOT TWIST that last one is actually Quechua and I didn't know
how to say hello so that says, “The Book Of Mormon.” Don’t hurt
yourself trying to say it... it's not worth it. I have accepted the fact
that if I speak Quechua by the time I get home I will most likely be
the most awkward human being walking around in Utah. Esta Bien.

Ok I cant help but start off by saying CONGRATS to my childhood best
friend Ashley Burton for getting ENGAGED!! AH! It seems like just
yesterday when we were fighting over goldfish in primary.. We use to
ALWAYS talk about our weddings and now you are getting MARRIED! I was
sad at first… But then got kind of selfish thinking about the fact
that now you and almost ALL of my childhood girlfriends get to see me
and my husband sealed in the temple! Because You and Kels are married
and the rest of us are on missions.. This is looking good for the Lake
Powell 2020 prophecy.. I am so glad that we got to go to dinner with
you and meet him! I am grateful for your example and so so excited for
you. I am SO excited for you to go through the temple. I cant wait to
talk to you more about it one day when we can go together! Temple Taco
Tuesday when I get home? Deal.

ALSO, CONGRATS to my Best Friend Camry Hatch for getting her mission
call to Calgary Canada! We LOVE Canada! Our Grandpa Chamberlain served
his mission in Canada and was mission president there so my mom lived
there! They were actually just there last week! I am so proud of you
and so excited. There are some things that you learn on a mission (ALREADY)

that you don’t really learn anywhere else.. That is for a
while at least.. There are things I have learned in these past 5 weeks
that I KNOW if I was just at home right now I would never have
searched for or learned for at least 5 more years. Remember President
Hinckley's advice, “The best antidote I know for worry is work. The
best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is
the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired.” Those words
are what has gotten me through! It is ALL about your attitude and how
you deal with things.. It all depends on you. There is also this great
story.. The wisest man in town was being approached by two young men
who had a bird in their hands.. They wanted to see if he truly was the
wisest man and so they planned to go up to him and say, “ Wise man, we
have a bird in our hands.. Is it alive? Or is it dead?” If the wise
man said ALIVE.. they would squeeze just a little tighter and take the
birds life.. If he said DEAD they would open their hand and let the
bird fly away.. They went to the wise man with this plan and asked..
Is it alive or dead? The wise man looked at them and said, “ That is
entirely up to you.”

YOU choose what you want the outcome to be.. I dk I just like that
little story.. Serve someone every single day and you wont worry about
other stuff! You are going to be a remarkable missionary.. There are
so many people waiting out there that feel empty and are just PRAYING
to find the answer to make them whole. I know people have already
prayed for you to come to their door.

OK.. This week has had its ups and downs for sure! I got the dreaded
fever about Thursday and it knocked me out for a while. It started in
one of our lessons with our investigator and I didn’t even notice when
he started speaking English to me because I was just so out of it!
BUT.. The lesson still went well at the beginning! Our investigator
has been having a hard time with drugs so I used some of my teaching
from my district meeting with the Czech missionaries in Prague about 2
months ago and my companion and I made a little chart/ calendar with
goals for each day to help him prepare for baptism! He also plays
soccer so we applied our lesson to how just like you have to prepare
for a soccer game.. You also need daily substance and need to exercise
faith.. Its kind of hard to explain but it went great.. Laurel and
James, tell the Prague missionaries I love them and miss them! And
thanks for giving me some ideas and letting me be a missionary with
them for a day! Anyways, The lesson went great.. I am no longer
writing questions down but able to say what I want in Spanish which is
WAY fun. It makes me choke up and almost cry every day when I am just
able to answer someone in Spanish.. because I was SO worried about
this language before my mission..

I was sick for a few days and tried to go to class only to fall asleep
with my face in my scriptures.. But I was finally better by Sunday and
was able to give my talk that I prepared about Perserverando Hasta El
Fin (Enduring to the End). It was also my first talk where I did not write the entire thing
down and just read it from the paper but rather jotted down notes and
scriptures and made my brain work on saying what it wanted to say in
English and then said it in Spanish. Sundays are my absolute
favorite! We had a lesson sobre (about) Health by Brother Burton who is our
MTC doctor. He was a heart surgeon and mentored by Russel M Nelson! He
told us about parasites.. Worms.. Missionaries getting bit by dogs
every week here, parasites in the brain.. etc.. The good stuff. I went
and bought my plane ticket home after. HAH just kidding.. But I am
grateful we were taught on how to stay safe. 

We then had a lesson by

Presidente Moore about the priesthood. Just really quick.. I wish you
all could meet President and Hermana Moore.. They are ROCK SOLID.
President use to be in charge of the church education system,
institutes, seminary etc for the entire world before he was called as
the mtc president! So basically his office was right next to Elder
Holland's. He told us this funny story where Preisdent Monson once went
up to him and said, “ I am going to show you something that the 1st
presidency doesn’t even have… “ He then pulled out his fishing
license.. HAHA.. Also, Hermana Moore use to be on the Relief Society
board counsel! That is how she knows Nana Janet because they served
together at the same time! My head hurts after they teach lessons
because you feel like you are on a spiritual high after… You learn so
much! We also watched the Testaments movie and I cried the entire
time… The entire time.. Even when it was happy… I was crying. Haha.
Sunday was also a very bittersweet day.. Our Relief Society leader's
son passed away Friday.. And she is STILL here in PERU serving and was
at church.. But then again I dont think I would want to be anywhere
else.. You have people teaching left and right here about the plan of
salvation and I am so grateful for the knowledge that we can
be together for eternity. So the mtc is probably a pretty comforting
place to remember that… I truly believe that besides the temple there
is not really another place as sacred or spiritual as an mtc.. Maybe I
am wrong.. but there is such a sweet spirit here.

Classes are still going great! We have 3 more and it makes me so sad!
The other day in class I started singing Sorry by Justin Bieber
because I said something wrong in Spanish and my teacher looked all
confused so I said, "Usted Sabe Justin Bieber?" Hermano J.D., “
uhhh No….” Then he turned around and started dancing singing, “ BEBE
BEBE BEBE OHHHH!” HAHA! I died.. 

Then he turned to me and said “Hermana.. Repeat after me… YO!” 

"Yo…." 

“ NESESITO!”

"necesito!" 

“Repentance.” 

"ARREPENTAMIENTOOOOOOO wait what?!" That was the end of

Justin Bieber sing alongs in class.. haha. The rest of the time we
just pretend that all of the Spanish words are Harry Potter spells and
look at someone with our wand ( Pencil) and say “ LA EXPIACION!” etc.

Well I don’t really have much more to say! The mtc still has 4 walls…
and uh.. that’s about it! Haha but I love it! I leave for Trujillo at
2am in the morning Monday.. Don’t ask why.. Because I don’t even know.
Sometimes I think they are trying to kill us. ALSO, just to warn now.
I will not be able to email next week because once I get out in
Trujillo the PDAY is Monday so I will have missed it. So don’t worry I
didn’t get eaten by a demon llama!

I LOVED your emails last week.. I loved hearing about Tennessee's day,
Evie I loved hearing about how President Uchtdorf just tapped you on
the shoulder haha!! I loved all of the wonderful stories.. Dad your
talk made me cry. I will email you all more individually about these
things though.. But if I don’t get to all of you I really just wanted
to say how much I loved them all! Keep sending pictures!! Remember to
study the scriptures every single day. Get that daily substance.
Heavenly Father is the big picture and nothing else.. Remember that
you need to put the big rocks in the jar before the small grains of
sand.. or it cant all fit! ALWAYS follow the promptings of the Holy
Ghost.. A small prompting or a big prompting! You are going to miss it
if you are looking for a certain way for the spirit to prompt you. It
has told me to wait to cross a street..and it has told me to go far
far away on a mission.. Big or small always listen! Remember this
wonderful gospel every single day.. Not just Sundays. There is no
Black GREY and white in the gospel.. It is Black or White.. There is
no Grey area for “ kind of “ obedience or just a little bit of effort.
Just remember why you are on this Earth.. Its because of him J. And I
love it so so much. I cant believe I have the privilege to be here. I
LOVE YOU!

Miscellaneous Photos:

Finding hidden notes in the ceiling.

Sneak attack!

Week 4: Animals, Trash, Goldfish, and the Most Beautiful, Humble People in This Entire World

Ok starting right off with the story of the Week...

Last P-day after we wrote emails my companion and I went to do our
laundry. We grabbed all of our clothes, felt the need to put 2 bags of
detergent in, turned it on and then went and had a nap. When I woke up
I went to get some water.. as I walked out of the room I saw water..
EVERYWHERE. I ran up the stairs literally splashing water everywhere
and found writing on the wall… “ The chamber of secrets has been
open..” … HAHA nah just kidding nothing cool like that just the ENTIRE
laundry room FLOODED. I mean flooded. From our machine. So Dad, Mom,
when you hear in Deseret News that the Peru MTC was destroyed and had
to be remodeled.. That was your kid.

I have 2 WEEKS left until I am thrown out of the safe 4 walls of the
MTC and put on the plane to Trujillo! I love it here at the MTC but I
am kind of ready to peace out. I have loved becoming so close to all
of my teachers and Presidente Moore. It will be weird because I feel
like everyone is family! I feel like I have 10 companeras too haha.
Being sister training leader I do interviews with all of the girls
each week and we have all gotten so close. There were quite a few cry
sessions with the new girls on day 3.. But that is completely normal!
Sometimes I feel inadequate to give them advice because I am still so
new. But I understand how on day 3 it was kind of overwhelming.
Nothing has hit me really hard but day 3 was the longest day in the
world and you kind of panick thinking, “ Is it ALWAYS going to feel
this long?! I cant just get up when I am stressed and leave or drive
up the canyon?!” NOPE. You feel a little bit claustrophobic! But then
the normal routine kicks in and time FLIES BY. Holy cow.. I cant
BELIEVE I have been here for a month already.. I don’t want to ever
count down but seriously.. I cant even say 18 months anymore.. it's 17.
It almost makes me sick how fast it has felt. I feel like I just got
here! Anyways, so I have been trying to help the girls as much as
possible.. I brought a stash of favorite talks, quotes etc that I give
them to read when they feel panic. 

So they are doing well…. Besides an
allergic reaction in the middle of the night and the plague. EVERYONE
is sick. But me and my companion. That’s because I make her take
"Silver” and my daily vitamins with me muahaha. Father like daughter
right Dad? They say this always happens though when a new group comes
in because everyone brings their own bugs.. We have people from the
Dominican Republic, Peru, Chili, and Argentina mostly.. So everyone
brought the stomach flu and a fever. Dad, you thought that I was crazy
for bringing practically an entire suitcase of medicine.. WELL, I have
been supposedly dubbed the doctor.. I have not slept for 2 nights
straight being woken up for help.. I am so tired. But I am ok.

OK, so besides the plague… Guess what we got to do this weekend!
That’s right, we flew to Machu Pichu! And I actually decided that
because Trump is most likely going to be president I am actually going
to stay here and start a Llama farm.. Sound good? All are welcome on
my farm.. Bring my dog though k? Jersey gets a free pass to be the
Llama hearding dog. Ok just kidding.. We actually flew 20 minutes in a
mini van to the Lima East mission and did some real proselyting!

We all met at the church building to meet with the missionaries to go
out with. My companion and I got set up wit the SWEETEST latina
Hermana ever.. She is not a missionary but she is a member of the
church here.. Evie she reminded me SO much of our friend Martina in
Slovakia! She is also the only member of her family and just
incredible.

First off, I didn’t take pictures so I want yall to get a visual of
what I saw.. My first thought was Dorothys line on the wizard of Oz, “
Well.. We aint in Kansas ( UTAH) anymore!” For reals thought. Haha!
There is trash EVERYWHERE.. no roof tops.. You cant really tell what
is a house or not, people selling bags of goldfish and beta fish ( My
favorite part personally) and dogs EVERYWHERE.. Maybe every 5 steps..
I accidentally kicked one and it wanted to kill me. I think it is safe
to say I saw maybe 80-90 dogs. But the best part was the cat park. The
only way I could think of describing this is remember that one book I
loved as a kid where the old man goes off on a journey to find his
wife a cat and he brings home 100 cats and they all end up eating each
other because they ALL want to be her cat? (Kind of a dark story now
that I think of it) WELL, imagine the picture in there of all of the
cats on the hill.. Boom. Peru. It was actually almost scary. I was
scared for my life. Haha jk. 

Anyways, ok so to sum that up.. Animals,
trash, goldfish, and the most beautiful humble people in this entire
world. When we first started out men would tease us by taking their
jackets off and laying them on the ground for us to step on.. We would
always walk around them. Some of the Hermanas had a hard time not
getting offended.. But you seriously have to just keep your head up
and ignore it. It makes me mad too but I try to get over it. I gave my
first book of Mormon to a boy about 16 years old who ran right up to
me and asked if I was teaching about Jesus. He told us how he had a
drug problem and addictions but he wanted so badly to change. I bore
my testimony to him and also gave him a pamphlet with my book of
Mormon. I told him that God loved him and that through his sons
Jesucristos ejamplo we can find happiness and overcome our trials. I
have never felt that pain and sadness in my heart for someone I had
met 5 minutes ago.. You could tell that is soul was good.. He was dead
serious that he wanted to change. He gave us his address and the
Elders are going to be teaching him! 

Then, we met a lady with the
CUTEST boy in the entire world! I die every time I see the latino
kids. They have my whole heart. We taught her and she will also be
taught by the Lima East missionaries! She was wonderful. But, when we
were teaching her a very drunk man came up to us and got all up in my
companions face.. He kept asking her if we believed in Satan or Jesus.
I tried to distract him by seeing a picture of a little girl on his
phone and asked if it was his Hija. He acted like he wanted to shake
my hand and then grabbed my hand SUPER hard and wouldn’t let go.. He
really hurt my hand. It still hurts. But then our friend began to talk
to him and I said a silent prayer and exchanged my hand with my Plan
of Salvation pamphlet. Then he walked away. It made me very sad only
because that picture of his daughter was so cute and I worry for her..
But We love everyone and I wish the best for him.. You kind of just
have to invision everyone as though they are wearing white in heaven..
You remember that they are all your brothers and sisters.. So when
that happens it just makes you sad I think over anything else.

ANYWAYS, so that happened and then we went to visit some inactive
members. I taught a lesson about Faith and we also sang a hymn with
this other woman who during the entire lesson she said that I looked
like Taylor Swift..Hah. After we went to visit people we got stopped
by a Chatholic man who we taught on the sidewalk. He said that he was
Catholic but that he had an open mind. He asked why I was on a
mission and I said because I believe it with my whole (Corazon)
heart. I then showed him a picture of my family and also a picture of
Dad as a missionary and said that I wanted to be with you guys for
eternity and that I love this gospel so much that I left them to give
it to other people like him. Dad, after I taught him all I could think
of was about that one time where I told you maybe 3 days in advance
that I volunteered for you and me to go teach a chatholic school about
Mormons when I was about 16.. I remember how nervous we were! All I
can think of now is, DANG IT! If only I had this missionary training
when Dad and I went and taught at that school! I also realized that
you were actually my very first missionary companion! That was so much
fun teaching. Just wait, when I get home we can go teach a Catholic
school about Mormons.. IN SPANISH. Haha easy. ;)

I LOVED teaching on Saturday. It has made me SO extremely excited to
get to Trujillo! This really is the most important work in the world..
And Peru is SO ready for the gospel! I mean, they say that every time
a missionary knocks on a door in Europe, someone in South America gets
baptized.. HAHA just kidding. Everyone keeps telling us how amazing
the Trujillo mission is.. They also tell us that we will be BRONZE
when we get home.. Which means tan I guess. So make sure to look for a
Latina getting off the plane.

I love hearing about all of your latest achievements! Especially my
favorite baby girl M&M rolling OVER! She is getting strong! I miss her
and Jackson so so much. I miss my nanny kids too. They are going to be
SO big when I see them again! Carly, I am SO proud of you for signing
your first nameplates! That means President Uchtdorf is going to get a
book with YOUR signature in it! Im so very proud. Also, I loved
hearing about how Laurel totally guessed where Ethan was going and how
she even sent Shelli articles about Tahiti before he opened it! Haha!
Also, I am SO EXCITED for the Czech mission! James and Laurel you guys
are incredible. You have worked so hard! That made me cry when I heard
the amazing news. So awesome. Dad I hope your first talk as a stake
high counsel went well! I know you were nervous but I know it was ROCK
SOLID and I wish I could hear you speak. I love all of you guys so
very much. I will have a little bit more time in the mission field
supposedly to email. I LOVE YOU. I pray for you every day. Love
Hermana Springer.

P.S. from Carly: The cat book she's talking about is called Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag. It is indeed a classic (and yes, all the cats end up eating each other). Here's the drawing she was thinking of, I'm guessing, with the hill covered with cats.

Week 3: Officially Part of the Latino Club

Hola Familia!

OK first off, CONGRATS to my cousin and brother ETHAN for getting his
mission call to Tahiti! HOLY COW. I about died when I heard that! I
mean I am kind of mad that you aren’t coming to Peru and that we wont
be able to speak to each other in Spanish but I guess Tahiti is kind
of cool still.. Kind of.

SECOND, I have great news… I am officially apart of the Latino club!
Yes, I can click my fingers together! I have no idea how to describe
that… Or if it is even called clicking your fingers but we will just
roll with it. Am I going to be that annoying person at ever single
party, family gathering etc that clicks my fingers whenever something
is said? Yes, yes I am. Be prepared.

This past week has been great.. And I know I have said that for the
past few times already but it has! My new companion is doing great and
we have so much fun. Our lessons have been going good as well and are
ALL in Spanish.. No more Spanglish for us.. The teachers wont allow it
and just let you sit and suffer until you finally figure it out or
grab your dictionary.

 We have a new investigator named Edison.. Really
it is our teacher… We are trying to help him with a drug problem..
Lets just say it is interesting. Awkward story though.. Our first
lesson with him was a total train wreck at the beginning! When we
first got to his door he wouldn’t open it and his window was open so I
went to the window and poked my head in and said, HOLA STALIN! He
stared at me like I was some crazy person and then my companion nudged
me and said.. Hermana.. Stalin was our last investigator.. This is
Edison! We just bursted out laughing and our teacher let it slide this
time. 

Then, last night we were put on the spot and told that we had to
prepare a lesson last minute for our other investigator Matias. We had
no lesson planned and about 10 minutes to plan one. We were so nervous
that we sat on the benches singing Christmas songs before it was our
turn.. We may have thrown in a country song too.. because I miss
country music haha. Then the other two sisters were done and it was
our turn. We walked up to the door but right before we knocked the
door swung open and our teacher told us that the other Hermanas had
taken too long so we did not have to teach anymore… I got into
character really quick and just said “Matias! Were those Jeahova
witnesses? Oh uhh.. Leera en el libro de Alma, capitulo 32, versiculo
21?” He said, “Oh! Si! Si!” Then he grabbed his pen and started
writing on his hand and without even thinking I just said, “NOOO!”
Honestly I just said that because I was wondering why my teacher was
really writing on his hand and then I realized they were still in
character and staring at me so I just added in all seriousness,
“Matias.. su cuerpo es un Templo…”Then just said, “uh here”and handed
him my cute pink sticky notes… Haha it was interesting. This Saturday
we go out into Lima to do some real teaching! So lets pray I don’t
call anyone by the wrong name or freak out on them randomly.. Wish me
luck.

I hope you liked some of the pictures I sent! I didn’t take much this
week because I look like a lobster.. I forgot the sunscreen playing
soccer the other day.. I have THE WORST tan line in the world.. When I
take off my shoes at the end of the day it looks like I forgot to take
off my white socks.

I LOVE playing soccer with the latinos SO much! I am learning a lot
from them too! I have made a few goals but usually just play defense
because they are way too good.. One of the Elders played for Bolivia..
Like Bolivias SOCCER TEAM.. So whatever goals I have made I am pretty
sure they just let me.

We spend most of our days in class learning Spanish and Doctrine,
playing soccer, and beat boxing.. HAHA! One of the Elders is crazy
good at beat boxing. He can make 5 different sounds with his mouth at
once! So we have regular district rap battles.. Don’t worry it is
always about mission life or something. I just say Boots and Cats the
whole time.. But put it In Spanish so its more like Botas Y Gatos..
Try it.. Its quite entertaining. We also usually end our nightly
meeting playing the game Teradactal.. I taught them that the first day
and they are all obsessed with it haha!

Ok, I don’t have that much time today so I need to end soon. BUT I
will tell about my highlight and lowlight really quick and then end!
The lowlight this week was I started puking all through the night
Thursday.. Whats worse is I am on the top bunk.. I practically slept
in the bathroom. I guess the highlight was I had 10 different toilets
to choose from.. Yay.



My highlight was talking to my beautiful Mama on mothers day! So the
fam is in Canada so I didn’t think that I would be able to get ahold
of them but I ended up being able to skype them! I loved seeing your
beautiful smile Mom. You are the most amazing missionary and I am so
grateful for your amazing example. I hope to be an amazing Mama like
you one day.. I should probably start with my cooking though.. One
day.

Last thing.. I got called as the new Sister Training Leader for the
newbies coming in and my zone! I honestly have no idea why and not
sure what to do.. But the new Amerianos arrived late last night and
are just awesome! They came in around 2am and I helped them unpack so
if you are wondering why my email is so random it is because I am SO
tired..

I love you guys so much. I am so excited for my friends who are about
to go on their missions or who are currently serving.. I don’t know
how to end this email.. But I guess I will just say that I know it is
True.. With all of my heart. READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. Remember to
serve someone every single day. We need to look at others like Christ
would.. We cannot love God without loving his Commandment to love one
another. I love you. I pray for you guys every single day.. I keep
pictures of you guys throughout my scriptures to find randomly during
the day to keep me going :) Yo se que Jesucristo es el salvador..y el
libro de mormon es verdedero. 

Love Hermana Springer

Note from Carly: Ashley said to include this photo, saying that El Inka Envios was great for getting stuff to her quickly in the MTC. So I looked it up. Apparently it's a postal service located in Salt Lake City that delivers packages for missionaries in Peru. They deliver to all the mission homes and to the MTC. I'm guessing some of Ashley's fellow missionaries have successfully received packages from them. If you want more information so you can send Ashley something, here's their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/El-INKA-Envios-235722439789106/timeline  


We provide packaging service for missionary locate in Peru. We deliver to all the mission homes including Iquitos and MTC. 

Week 2: Finding That 1 in 99 Llama

Hey so guess what? The church is True! I say that because my prayers
were answered about the food… A new food company just took over the
kitchen at the MTC so I am pretty stoked.. I was getting sick of my
almonds and popcorn that I brought from home. The food is really good
now actually! I mean my faith was tried when I found a worm in my
salad and a black curly small hair in my rice but I still say thanks
in my prayers before I eat. I am still a happy camper with the drinks
and avocados.. Oh plus the unlimited ice cream.

We are going on week 3! I still haven’t looked up plane tickets to
come home so I think we are all good ;) Jk Mom and Dad. I am loving
the language! It is pretty funny because I would always tell Dad that
I hated Spanish and would never learn it…I was so wrong. Whenever it
gets stressful I just remember that some of my friends had to learn
Russian and German. Yesterday in class my teacher was just teaching us
some of the basics and he said, “Arriba” and before he could finish I
grabbed my water bottle and quietly to my friends I said, “Arriba,
Abajo, Al Centro, Al Dentro.” Aunt Laurel would always say that when we were
little. I then looked up and my teacher had stopped and was staring
down at me.. He said, “Muy bien Hermana Springer.. Now come and teach
the entire class and I will sit in your desk.” So I made all of the
missionaries lift their water bottles and we did it all together about
10 times. And now in the cafeteria we do it too haha. You just hear
everyone's glasses hitting each other. Its pretty funny. So Aunt Laurel
thanks for teaching that to me.. Who knew it would come in handy!

Teaching is going well! I just taught my very first lesson where I
didn’t “Spanglish” it. It was ALL in Spanish. I learned pretty quick
that if you stress too much before you teach and just try to memorize
your entire lesson in Spanish before, NO good comes out of it and the
Spirit is not there helping you teach. So I made sure that I knew and
understood the lessons in English first of all and then just transfer
English to Spanish in my head as I go. You HAVE to know the doctrine
and teaching in your own language. That’s what helped me memorize
Joseph Smiths first vision. I memorized it in ENGLISH first and then
when I get stuck while saying it in Spanish I just think really quick
how it is said in English and then it click and I know what to say. My
grammar is still terrible and I still mess up all of the time but it
is ok. The other night I ended our district meeting prayer by saying,
“En El Libro De Mormon (In the Book of Mormon), Amen.” Instead of, “En El Nombre De
Jesucristo (In the name of Jesus Christ), Amen.” We kneel together when we pray so everyone started
falling to the ground one by one laughing hahaha. They still tease me
about it but Esta Bien. And it is still hard trying NOT to laugh while
ending my prayers now..

Last week we went out into Lima again for our Visas. I didn’t take my
camera but I wish you could have seen it! The capitol is beautiful. It
is a pretty crazy city. Everyone is always honking at each other,
people come straight up to your window trying to sell you sodas etc,
people almost get hit…The little ice cream man riding his Ice Cream
Bike almost died right in front of my eyes. I thought Utah had
terrible drivers…

The end of last week was kind of tough… I want to be truthful in all
of my emails so there ya go. I was in class and they turned on some
music for us to silently listen to as we studied and the piano song, “Waterfall” came on and my heart instantly sank missing my sisters.
THEN you wouldn’t believe this (sisters) but the song “ Never Saw
Blue Like That” came on.. Of course.. Like I didn’t think anyone else
knew about that song but us! I didn’t cry ( Not a baby) but I don’t
know it just threw off my entire day. THEN my companion got injured in soccer and I was at the
doctor with her the entire rest of the day and we missed our classes
and then that night I butchered my lesson because I was so concerned
about other stuff that the Spanish just was not there… I went
COMPLETELY blank. My companion was in a wheelchair and I was carrying
2 bags, 2 sets of big scriptures, our language books, and planning the
lessons. I didn’t really let anyone else know but it was tough when I
just had the attitude of worrying about myself and being so tired..
I felt like everything was being thrown in my face for no good reason.
I said my prayers that night and I remembered again that I needed to
grow up and stop stressing out.

Ashley's caption: She was so mad that I took a picture... HAHAHAHA

The next day an entire group of about 30 little Latina girls came to
the MTC for a field trip with the church! I was walking off the soccer
field with another Hermana (sister) when all of the sudden we heard a
bunch of squeals saying, “ AHHHH! HERMANASSSSS!!!!” They crowded us so
that we couldn’t leave! Then one by one they came up to take pictures
with us. Their moms acted like they were taking pictures with a
celebrity… But no we were just girls in baggy shorts with sweat
dripping down our face wearing a name tag. After each picture they gave
us a hug and a kiss on the cheek. We were finally able to sneak away!
I remember being so down but that lifted me up! These little girls (All wearing the cute young women's medallions) looked up to us as their
examples… And I don’t plan on letting them down because of one bad
day!

Also, that night we listened to a devotional by David A. Bednard
about how to be successful missionaries. He talked about how Elder
Maxwell would always say, “There would be NO atoning sacrifice
without the character of Christ.” David A. Bednard then went on
talking about how Jesus Christ turns OUT when the natural man turns IN
when an opportunity comes to serve someone else. It was never about
him… He would notice whenever someone was in need an was aware at all
times.. For example when the woman touched his robes as he passed her
to become clean and he noticed..
Christ turns out in love and compassion for others. He always serves
FIRST. Dad you taught me that as well many times.. To serve others
FIRST and forget yourself and LOSE yourself in the act of serving
others.You and Mom have always been such great examples of that.
Anyways, I realized that it was the natural man coming out (or woman
I guess) as I was deciding to have a bad day. This mission is not
about me. And that can be applied to the rest of my life! We need to
obtain the mind and character of Jesus Christ.

My companion was in a wheelchair for a few days.. but her books
weren’t as heavy anymore as I applied these teachings. (P.S I am not
complaining that she got hurt.. just tired and felt bad for her and
yeah the whole situation was just hard.)
My companion got better but President said she is not allowed to play
soccer anymore.She is a trooper though! We love being companions.. But
PLOT TWIST.. President asked me to come to his office the other day
and asked If I would be the companion of a different Hermana. He felt that I might be able to boost her up and work with
her in Spanish and having fun. He told me to pray about it. I did and
I went immediately to his office the next day saying that I would do
that. As much as I love my other companion I felt that it was the
right thing to do. We have been companions for 3 days and it is going
SO WELL! She is incredible. She was pretty shy before but now you can
see her personality coming out and she is just great. I just help her
to remember to laugh things off. I want her to succeed. As I have been
focusing on her more than myself I have been learning quicker as well
being more of a teacher and it has also helped to not think of family
as much.. So that saying is true.. That you lose yourself in the act
of just serving. I also just think, “ What if I were to get a report
card at the end of the MTC that depended entirely on if my companion
succeeds or not.. Would I have good grades?” We are doing great and I
love her so much!

Ok, I am going to try my best to reply to emails today.. but If not I
love you so so much. And I love the first emails I got! I get to go to
the Lima temple today so I am SO excited!! I will take a picture and
send it. Well I have to get to work! I've got to prepare to go and find
that 1 in 99 sheep…. Or I guess 1 in 99 Llama.. Because I am in Peru.
The church is Trujillo!!

LOVE, Hermana Springer.