Week 10: All Dogs Go to Heaven

Hey fam bam! It’s your Peruvian child coming to you live from the llama capitol of the world! Well this week started off with a bang.. That is we started off the week being homeless ha ha.. After P-day ended at 6 Monday we headed over to dinner and realized we did not have the keys to her [the pensionista’s] house.. and unfortunately that keychain also had our house keys on it too of course so we walked to our land lord’s house who was not home. It was freezing and windy (Yeah if anyone is headed to Peru don’t listen to anyone that says it is always warm) so we went and ate at a chicken restaurant and went to visit this sweet old lady. Then it was time to be in our room so we just sat on the curb outside our door trying to get ahold of anyone. The leaders answered and we told them we were sitting outside on the street and he panicked saying, “There’s a shooting on your street?!” Haha so we reassured him we were safe but homeless. We ended up taking a taxi to California (one of the areas) and spent the night with some other Hermanas. It was way fun! But we were exhausted the next day because we didn’t sleep very well. The next day we were almost in tears so excited to welcome home our pensionista haha… We are so grateful for a cook! We sound so pathetic and spoiled having a cook because I know all the other missions my friends are on have to cook but yeah it sure is a blessing. . There is no time to cook! Especially because we only get 30 minutes. I’m almost positive we dropped about 5 pounds from hardly eating. Anyways, she welcomed us home with gluten-free quinoa banana pancakes.

The rest of the week was great! Something I learned this week was how I need to LISTEN better… There have been a few lessons where I catch myself not really listening but instead thinking of what I need to say next. And it NEVER works out. BUT, when I listen the entire time I am always so amazed at how the spirit fills in where I am weak and words come out of my mouth that I had no idea I even knew. Funny story really quick… about learning the hard way when one does not listen… We were in a lesson with my favorite old lady..okay I don’t pick favorites.. But she really is awesome. Think Audrey Hepburn, but Peruvian. She talks with this very dramatic tone and makes all of the Audrey facial expressions hahaha… Just a sweet tiny lady! Anyways, so we were in a lesson with her and I zoned out for a second.. Literally a split second.. Then next thing I know she was BAWLING talking about death and how “He” died. So I’m just sitting there like, “ohhh shoot…Who died?!” She had a good cry for about 30 minutes then showed us a picture of her and her HUSBAND who we know. I panicked and just thought, “How did we not hear about this til now!!” Then I started to testify about how families are forever and then my companion handed me the photo again and very subtly pointed to the very corner… and I saw the head of her black lab dog. So we quickly began talking about Noah’s ark... and how ALL dogs go to Heaven. I didn’t listen for a split second and missed the word “perro” (dog)..

She REALLY loved her dog! It’s kind of interesting when people actually have PET dogs here because there are just hundreds on the street and they are all just avoided by everyone.. Except for me. I laugh every time I think of when I was in Prague and I went and pet this homeless guy’s dog when I was with Wilson and Ev and Wilson got so grossed out haha! He wouldn’t sit by me because he said I had fleas.. But then he got over it hahaha. Annnd I can already see dad beginning an email telling me not to pet them. Don’t worry Dad.. I’ve already pet all of them! Just kidding I’m being smart I promise.. got my handy dandy hand sanitizer.

This week we had the opportunity to do a temple session with the entire zone and President! It was so SO cool. I cannot wait to show you this beautiful temple someday. I pondered about a lot of things and really felt that I received some great answers as I talked to God. It was also the best day ever because when we were eating in the cafeteria Elder M. (the zone leader) came up to us and gave us a huge package from Hermana Pattillos’s mom and I got 2 letters from Evie and cute little Jessie! Ah it was the best. Everyone loved Jessie’s adorable letter and Evie’s graduation announcement! The McConkies also gave me a sticker of their family picture which I think is so awesome that I may or may not have put it on the back of one of my name tags! So now if I ever have a bad day I can just look at my nametag and think of Evie and my adventures in Slovakia drinking too much hot chocolate, Wilson and my Snapchat face, or Legos with Hyrum and George.

Ok well this is yet again way too long so I’ll end it with what I studied this week! I studied Alma 23 first and really focused on verses 6-8. I like how in verse 6 it says how the Lamanites were converted unto the Lord and never did fall away. Then in verse 8 it says, “Now these are they who were converted unto the Lord.” Like David A. Bednar said in a devotional, a testimony is not enough.. You have to be truly CONVERTED. I remember Dad asking me once, “What would you do if a general authority left the Church?” And I remember thinking that was insane to think, that would never happen, I would question everything. Dad you also then told me how this lady came into your work office once and told you how she was so excited to go to General Conference and how she went on and on about the General Authorities and how perfect they were. You told me how that’s obviously not a bad thing, but what if one fell away.. Not assuming at all that this lady would have taken her name out of the Church or something.. It would be rough for everyone.. But if we are truly converted we don’t have to question or worry, because we are converted unto the Lord and our foundation would be firm and strong! It makes me so sad when people get offended by other members or by a church leader or policies and immediately leave. I think a lot about Kasper Fetzer’s story of when the bishop forgot to unlock the church and completely forgot about their baby’s funeral. And the bishop said, “Well Kasper, I’m assuming from what I’ve done, you want to leave the Church.” And he said back, “Bishop, if this were your church I would leave.. But this is Jesus Christ’s Church and I will never leave.” I am so grateful for his choice that day.. especially because Dad may have not been born in the Church! He was truly converted! Anyways so I am learning more about what it truly means to be converted.

Well, I miss you guys! I think I miss sugared almonds from Scheels more buuuut.. Haha just teasing.. McKinley is HUGE! I LOVE all of the pictures of her and my best buddy Jack Jack. You guys just about kill me with pictures of the cabin. I can almost smell the pine trees from here! I think the thing I miss the most right now is fishing with Dad! I kind of have this bad habit of just going off the days like lunes, martes, miercoles etc. and I don’t look at the date or month.. So the other day Obispo (Bishop) asked what I like to do most this time of year in Utah and then it hit me that it’s June in Utah.. Gahh. So I told him I love fishing and I guess he does too so he is taking us and some other missionaries fishing next P-day! It’s not river fly fishing but I’m stoked. Ok well I love you! Mom and Sarah stop being sick with a cold! Haha hope you feel better… If it makes you feel better the zone just got hit with the plague (stomach flu) which means we will all have it because we see them all the time and I just ran out of my airborn candy chews.. So if this is the end, God be with you till we meet again.

Love,

Flash-Bang (Flaboomba) AKA Hermana EspringHer 

Week 9: Beach Day!

Well, this week was great! Honestly I don’t remember much of it because it went so fast. That’s why the good ole missionary planners are a missionary’s best friend. Seriously, how did I get through life without a planner. Haha just kidding. I’m really happy. It is probably the greatest thing in the world waking up every day knowing what you are supposed to do and serving Heavenly Father every single day. I know it will get hard! I’ve never been more tired in my entire life… But then I’ve also never slept better haha! My comp and I have more than once fallen asleep right in the middle of our prayer on our knees and wake up an hour later because of a charley horse because of kneeling for so long and the light that is still on.

This week we finally played some tennis and it was so much fun! We got up at 5:30 and played at a nearby court with the assistants and our other two hermanas in the area! My serve was actually not too bad but they still crushed us. The two Elders played tennis for Pleasant Grove and Bountiful sooo…yeah we were pretty bad haha. We still get up for soccer and Hermana Pattillo and I are doing a 30 day abs challenge every day to have a 6 pack hahaha.

Well it’s been an interesting week here in Peru! But before we get into all that I want to share with you what I have been studying. This week I decided to study grace. Holy cow! God is so cool. Mosto f what I am going to share comes from a talk by Brad Wilcox called “His Grace is Sufficient.” Please take the time to read it through AT LEAST twice. There is a scripture in 2 Nephi 25:23 that explains we are saved by grace AFTER all we can do. But how do we know when we have done enough? “Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done ‘all we can do’ He is with us every step of the way…Grace is NOT the booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it’s our constant energy source. It’s not the light at the end of the tunnel but the Light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It’s received right here and right now. It’s not a finishing touch, it’s the finisher’s touch.” –B. Wilcox. So everyone receives grace. We will ALL be resurrected because of the gift of grace. So what’s the catch? What’s our part? Brad Wilcox uses an awesome analogy of a mother paying for piano lessons for her child. But I’ll let you read it. [Note from Carly: Brother Wilcox wrote a picture book with this analogy called Practicing for Heaven: The Parable of the Piano Lessons. Here’s a link! (shameless Deseret Book plug)] But in short, when someone first starts to learn piano, do you expect them to be perfect? No. Does Christ expect us to be perfect? No. All He expects is for us to KEEP TRYING. He knows we are going to hit wrong notes, to mess up. But don’t quit, don’t give up. We don’t become professional piano players in one day, week, or even years…it takes a lifetime. Grace is the chance we have to be changed so that one day we will be comfortable in the presence of God. And that is the ultimate goal. “Jesus Christ doesn’t make up the difference. Grace is NOT about filling the gaps. It’s about filling us.” Also another great quote, “A life impacted by Grace, begins to look like Christ’s life.” –Brett Sanders.

So today we went to the beach with the zone and some other missioanries and President! We played soccer, baseball and tossed the football! At the end we made sand castles, the elders raced in the sand, and we all just soaked it in. I absolutely LOVE the ocean! It is still my life goal to live close to it one day. I was sitting down you know just doing some soul searching (haha just kidding) and President came and talked to me and said that I can work for him after the mission in Cali haha! We will see. Very tempting.

The rest of the week was great. The highlight of our week is that we are watching our Pensionista’s house (about 5 minutes away) while she is out of town and we have been able to use her kitchen! We were all excited to cook…then we realized that we don’t know how to so we have been living off avocados. One night we couldn’t go proselyte because of the Peru soccer game so everyone was drunk so we went and bought peanuts and tried to blend peanut butter. It was interesting but good! We forgot salt. We made no-bake cookies and studied scriptures so it was pretty fun. Oh really quick, so we have to feed our pensionista’s fish…We couldn’t find food for them se we called her and asked. She said, “Oh yeah open the fridge it’s in a small bag!” We then grabbed the only small bag we saw which was a bag of chicken liver. We said all we found was liver and she said, “No yeah that’s what they eat.” It was probably the most disturbing thing I have ever seen. I will never look at fish the same again…And all of my Lake Powell fears of fish are true…Because obviously if fish eat liver they will eat toes in the water too!

Anyways… I will have to catch up more next week. But this week was great. We had some of our investigators come to Church and lessons are awesome. Spanish is great. I have a good story to tell next week…haha…Love you guys! Sorry this is everywhere and a little confusing! I kind of blanked on what to say. I love your emails. Keep serving others!

Hurrah for Israel!

Week 8

Greetings from Peru!

         Family, HOW ARE YOU! From your emails you all sound great, Thank you for sending me pictures of my beautiful Utah mountains and the cabin! Dad the house looks beautiful with all of your new flowers! How’s the raspberry garden coming? And I was so excited to hear that the kayaks are out on the lake again!! Thankfully I’ve got the ocean and some distant mountains here… or I would be going crazy.. But then again I get to live in Utah forever pretty much.

            I am writing this and just thinking of a good way to describe everything to you.. It’s crazy to me how fast the weeks go and how much happens in just ONE DAY on a mission! I keep thinking, “What do I tell my family? I JUST talked to them on Monday!” But then I think of my week and look back in my journal and think, “Shoot... what do I NOT tell them so that my letter isn’t equivalent to the last Harry Potter book?!” The struggle is real. Now I understand those returned missionaries who start every conversation with, “When I was a young buck on a mission...” Because these experiences will last a lifetime and there is no way to possibly tell all of it in one email home each week. I can already see myself being one of those moms who, whenever my kids complain or whine about something, I will tell them all about how their mother had to fill a bucket of water each day for the toilet, accidentally brushed my teeth with ants on my toothbrush, closed my eyes every time I ate food because there are black hairs… but I was too hungry to care, etc. Ok I’ll be a cool mom, but if they ever complain about the toilet or something, that’s when I’ll put my foot down.

         Not going to lie.. it’s actually been pretty rad! I feel like a hobo living off the land! I like this experience and wouldn’t want it any other way. Lehi and I now share something in common. As silly as it sounds, one of my favorite verses is in 1 Nephi chapter 2, verse 15.. “And my father dwelt in a tent.” It is such a short verse, yet it has a lot of power behind it. First we have to think about how much time it probably took and how hard it was to engrave writing on gold plates.. so why was it so important to put that one tiny verse in? It shows how much Lehi loves the Lord and this Gospel and how obedient he was. He left the comfort of his home, everything, because the Lord commanded that he do so. I am so grateful for his example! We may leave the comfort of our home but we will be blessed. There is no place better to be than serving our Heavenly Father. I have already seen so many blessings here!

         This week was so much fun! We play futbol (soccer) almost every day either with the district and ward with the assistants, or with our zone. If you look up any picture of Trujillo, Peru and find that picture of the giant yellow cathedral, that’s right next to where we play soccer! Oh! Before I forget, I got my first letter!! From the ONE and ONLY Sydnee Sweet aka the greatest human alive. They were calling names for letters right after soccer and I wasn’t really paying attention because I didn’t think I would get one and then my name was called! Ah it was the BEST! Now I understand why snail mail (llama mail) is so fun. Anyways, so soccer every morning and President wants us to play Tennis this week so that will be fun! I’ll have to remember how haha the last time I played was at the Ranch and before that, was when Evie and I had a class together in Prague! Let’s pray I’m not terrible…oh well.. I’ll just look like a fool haha

         We have a dog! Haha well we call him our dog, but he is a member’s dog that just really loves us for some reason. He follows us everywhere… to people’s homes, he waits outside by the door while we eat dinner, and may or may not have followed us to church.. He looks like a little white fox! Oh, he also followed us into the bakery haha. Anyways besides the point, lessons have been going great! Well one was kind of interesting. We met this guy who is from France, but his step daughter lives here.. He speaks a little Spanish but mostly French. So we taught him and he said he understood it throughout the lesson, but then when we had finished and bore our testimonies he told us that he wasn’t sure why Jesus restored his restaurant on the Earth…. Then with a small game of charades we found out that as we were saying Restauracion (restoration), that means restaurant in French.. He then just argued with us a lot and so we bore our testimonies and thanked him for his time… dang it. But hey, gotta plant these seeds… his heart was just not ready, AND WE DON’T SPEAK FRENCH!! (Ethan where are you with your French?! That’s what you are learning for Tahiti correct?) So anyways that was fun. Right after that though we went and knocked on a door of probably the nicest house in Trujillo. You know, just inspiration… or the fact that they probably had a real working bathroom… just kidding… inspiration..

         Nobody answered for a long time. Right when we decided to give up though, a man opened the door and looked at us startled and apologized saying that he didn’t hear us knock! He said that we could come in and we heard other people so we knew it was ok…. Yeah turned out it was the T.V., not people. Then he started leading us up all of these stairs and Hermana Pattillo and I got super nervous just thinking… shoot… what did we just do! ABORT! ABORT! Then we got to the top floor and were relieved to see the sweetest leady ever holding a little baby. The baby’s name is F. And F. is THE CUTEST, THE CHUBBIEST of CHUBBIES BABY EVER!! We taught them and in the first lesson they told us that they had felt that God had abandoned them and they were searching for an answer and then we showed up on their doorstep! We taught them the entire week and they want to be baptized!! Let me say that again... THEY WANT TO BE BAPTIZED! We had a member come with us also to help after they said that they wanted to be baptized because we were panicking that maybe we said something in Spanish like, “If you get baptized, you get a car, and YOU get a car, and even F. GETS A CAR!” haha so we needed to make sure they understood us. And they do! Ah guys they are wonderful. Also, R. (the husband) has such a powerful prayer. We taught him how to pray and at the end we were practically in tears. Haha our first lesson after they said goodbye we just walked down the street and my companion said, “Don’t freak out, don’t freak out they are probably still outside…. Ok NOW freak out!” We were SOO exited! So we are going to continue teaching and I will keep you updated! I feel like every time we are put down, God always lifts us up or shows us tender mercies to keep us going. Even if it’s just something little like when we go and have appointments but then nobody answers their doors and we are discouraged but then a school of kids begin following us and come and hug us. Those tiny little things really keep us going. J

         Haha the kiddos here love the two blondies in the neighborhood! They always give us flowers or just giggle and follow us. It’s the best! The one thing I am still having a hard time getting use to is all of the kissing on the cheeks! That’s how you greet and say goodbye. Basically I don’t have to put any makeup on because all of the old ladies put their blush and lipstick on me! So I’m good to go! Haha the worst is when the guys try to though. The other day, a man came up to us asking if we were Mormons and said that he wanted to learn more. Then as we were talking to him, 2 of his buddies came over and that’s when we realized that they were most likely drunk. One of the guys shook my hand then tried to kiss me and we flipped out and ran. They did not want to hear anything about the church. Later that night though, we had the opportunity to bring two recent converts to the temple for baptisms! Guys it was SO COOL. Their names are M. and L.! It was a pretty great day.

         My favorite day was Sunday though. It was my first time at church because last week all Peru was voting so no churches were allowed to be open. I think I told you in the last letter about our investigator with two 2 month old twins right? Hermana Pattillo and I found her together so she is really one of my first investigators that I have a strong connection with because she has never been taught by other missionaries. Well we invited her and her husband to church! The sacrament passed and I got a little discouraged thinking they weren’t going to come.. BUT THEN A. (the mom) walked in with her two twins!! She was all by herself. (Well I mean without her husband.. we asked a member to walk over with her) It was the greatest moment ever. I kind of just had that moment of, “Oh! So this is the joy that every missionary feels and talks about!” I just felt this unconditional overwhelming love for this person that I have only known for 2 weeks. Her husband is way interested too and they said that they want to work towards baptism! He had something come up so pray that he comes next week! A. loved church. All of the old ladies were swooning over her sons and helping her with them. It was the best day ever.

         I love you guys!! I hope you have a wonderful week. I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am for you. Not like I didn’t love you before or anything, haha, but I REALLY love you guys!! You guys are pretty chill.. I’m gonna go all missionary on you for a second… because ya know, that’s my full time calling and I hope to keep this awesome calling for eternity.

         Serve someone every single day! There is a reason why we were born in this time and not 500 years ago or whatever.. You showed your exceedingly great faith and good works and made a great impression on our Heavenly Father to be sent here on this Earth at this time. Read the Book of Mormon every day!

Talk to you again in 7 days!!

-- Hermana es-Springer (haha) 

Week 6/7: Hermana Springer's New Groove

Hey Fam,

So I had a thought…Hermana Springer’s New Groove… Has a ring to it, huh? I say we change the blog name to that haha. Dad, my day consists of our regular Emperor’s New Groove quotes… The one struggle thus far is that nobody understands movie quoting like our family does! Haha.

Well the remainder of our days at the empty sea (MTC) were spent playing baseball (we popped the soccer ball). I am experiencing what they call “miserable joy.” I am out in the real world where we are not protected from the four walls! We had a great last day. It was mostly spent sweating with our eyes (not crying, duh…we are missionaries…) We had a testimony meeting and sang “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” Hermana O. taught the last Book of Mormon class which had an interesting beginning haha… She told us to turn to a certain chapter and said, “But before we begin reading, I just want to say that this is my absolute favorite chapter and has really helped me throughout my life… So Elder F., can you begin by reading the description?” Elder F. begins reading and says in a loud, booming voice, “Sexual sin is an abomination.” And before we continued, Hermana O. flipped out and told us that it was the wrong chapter hahaha… So we were pretty concerned. It all worked out.

Then, before our flight (it got switched to the afternoon on Tuesday), we went to the temple! I loved seeing the Lima temple one last time. On the ride back we had to stop the bus because I think an Elder left his companion haha. Not sure what or how that happened, but we were almost late to get to the airport. Then we were put on a plane and the adventure has finally begun!

When we got off the plane, we walked to the front to see President and our mission mom with a bunch of missionaries screaming and holding posters and a huge Peru flag. At first I didn’t know if it was a strike at the airport or something else. There was a lot of love. We basically felt like royalty, shaking hands, hugging, etc… I couldn’t help but quote Megamind in my head, “And I love you, Random Citizen!”

We then got put on a bus which drove us to see our beautiful Trujillo temple! The first thing I heard my mission mom (Hermana Marler) say was, “There is a cemetery RIGHT next to the temple, so it’s super easy to do baptisms for the dead! You just carry them over!” Some of the latinos who had JUST gone through the temple at the MTC and have maybe been converts for about a year looked pretty nervous. Haha! Then she told them she was just kidding (I have actually had someone ask me that once…We do not do that…That’s disgusting.) So basically Hermana Marler and I are already best friends because she has a sense of humor.

The temple is BEAUTIFUL. All temples are, but I am not just saying this because I am serving in Peru. It is the most beautiful temple I have set foot in so far. I hope you can come with me to see it one day. With special permission, we were able to go inside that night with President.

We stayed in the beautiful mission home that night. I had a huge bed to myself…I couldn’t decide if I was at a resort or not. Then the next day I met my companion! Holy cow she is so AWESOME! She is from Washington and her name is Hermana Pattillo. She is an amazing missionary and basically we are best friends already. She reminds me a lot of Lexie AND Evie. The people are so awesome in our first area. We live about five minutes from the ocean so it smells so strongly of sea air and fish. We live on a rooftop apartment so you can kind of see the ocean when the fog is gone. We live right next to a lady who has a rooster… We named him Joey…and let’s just say Joey hasn’t hit puberty yet. So every morning at 4am he starts crowing or whatever they call it, and the first part sounds like a regular rooster, and then it ends with what sounds like a dying rabbit. Or maybe someone is just strangling his neck. I wouldn’t blame them. But he is a good alarm clock! We get up at 6 and play soccer at the church with our zone and district Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday! We are in the ward with all of the assistants of the President, and they are great. One of the elders played soccer for Spain (where he is from). He got paid to play! He is so good! I am learning some fancy footwork from being here in Peru.

This week so far we have had some incredible experiences. We found a family with two twin babies and they want to get baptized! We also got lost one day and accidentally knocked on the wrong door and a girl opened the door. She speaks super fast so as we taught her lesson 1, I had no idea what she said. I can get by with words and know what’s going on, but because they speak so fast I obviously don’t know word for word what they say (“That ain’t what they taught me in the MTC!”). Haha… But really. BUT, side note, the latinos say I have a really good accent! They even told another American missionary that has been out for 14 months that she needs my accent. Haha! Don’t ask how I have one because I still feel like I just sound like a total Gringo… But I’ll give myself a pat on the back.

Anyways, after we taught A. (the girl whose door we thought was a member’s), my companion and I were walking home and I said, “Ok, so I got from that that she has lived everywhere, left her family, and I think she had a bad experience with a church that she went to?” Hermana Pattillo said, “Yeah, so basically she has tried a billion different churches and one of the churches stole all of her money and said that she is going to go to Hell for her sins, and so she hates all churches. When we knocked on her door she was not going to answer but something told her to open it and she said that when she did she saw that we were of some church so she was going to slam the door, but that she couldn’t and for some reason felt peace when we talked to her, so she wants to read the Book of Mormon and come to church.” I just turned to her and said, “Oh ok cool.” HAHA just kidding. I flipped out! I am so excited to continue to teach her! There are no coincidences. I know we were supposed to get lost and knock on her door.

Ok last story and then I will have to continue next week. So on Saturday my companion and I went to visit a member and see if she needed any help… Well yeah she needed help, that is with killing a chicken. So yes, I spent the afternoon seeing the guts and intestines of a chicken… The best part was how she was washing it in a bucket full of blood. In our mission we are not allowed to eat at members’ homes because we will get parasites or super sick. We have a pensionista who cooks for us. So here’s the good part. After the blood bath, cutting off limbs, occasional gagging in the corner, we were getting ready to leave. But then our loving friend told us to wait and that she had something for us. She grabbed two stools for us to sit on and left the room for a little… Then our fears became reality… She presented our dear chicken friend on a platter for us and told us to eat. Though it is a mission rule, it is SO extremely rude to reject food… especially when you are in a home with dirt floors and no roof. It is an honor if they give you food. So what did we do? We ate it. And just said silent prayers that we would throw it up if there was anything bad. So pray I don’t get parasites! Hey at least it wasn’t guinea pig, yet. This lady has a cage of guinea pigs out back so next it might be guinea pig slaughter time.

Ashley captioned this "The best fruit in the entire world." ANYONE KNOW WHAT IT IS??

The people are so humble here… It makes me sick how good we have it back in the States. I love them so much already. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than giving the Gospel to these people. Read the Book of Mormon every day! And serve someone every day! I love you!