[Due to our family vacation in the mountains, where we could only get Wifi by creeping in someone's backyard, I am VERY late in posting Ashley's last two letters. I apologize profusely and hope that it won't happen again! --Carly]
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| I love my beautiful country!!!! |
Week 14
I survived my first earthquake! We were in a lesson when the
ground started to shake.. So at first we thought the Spirit was just so strong
that it shook the house but then sadly found out it was just an earthquake and
that we aren’t that cool.. haha just kidding. All of Buenos Aires was talking
about it though and everyone got pretty scared because it could cause a sunamee
(sorry Carly..no idea how to spell that but it’s that big wave in the ocean
hehe). Houses have already been washed away a little because the waves came
over the rock wall they built! An earthquake is a very scary thing this close
to the ocean. They have drills for sunamees supposedly and about a year ago
they had to take missionaries out of this area because of the sunamee warnings.
So that’s crazy! But anyways, still alive.. not too worried about that stuff.
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| For Jackson! Look Bud it's a PERUVIAN firetruck!! |
I’ve been kind of stuck as to what I should write this week
(is that correct grammar? It sounds weird. I can’t English.). So I asked
Hermana Pattillo, “How/what would you say to sum up this week?” She just said,
“What?” So I asked her again and she just answered, “Yeah, to sum up the week I
would say ‘What.’” Thanks for the help! Haha but then I thought about this
week.. and yeah she’s right.. WHAT is the perfect word my friends. What is
this? WHAT is she feeding us?? What just happened? Did we just
teach a Jehovah’s Witness? Wait, what did she just ask? Did she really
just ask us to be her daughter-in-law? Hermana Pattillo, WHAT is he
saying?! What is Spanish?! He was speaking Spanish? WHAT?! How
did I get sunburned AGAIN? Basically that sums it up! Should I go on?
[Some random pictures of a parade...]
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| GO UTES!! Haha.. |
Haha but anyways, this week was full of miracles, trials,
tough decisions, and more miracles.. always. We have 5 new investigators! We
keep finding people in the most random ways.. A taxi, buying water, tying our
shoes, petting a day, or them just coming up to us! Sometimes little girls come
running to us and hug us like they have known us for years and then we start
talking to their mothers. This week we sat on the curb teaching a woman named
Anoria and we got our hymn books out and sang, “I Am a Child of God.” As we
sang all of these little kids stopped playing soccer in the street and crowded
around behind us or sat by us and listened. They loved it! That tiny moment
changed my week. I had been a little discouraged because we made the tough
choice of pushing back Teofilo’s baptism.. even though I know it feels right
too, it was hard. He is SO ready.. SO even though we had decided it and even
talked to the APs and other leaders about it and they felt good about a
different date, I still felt like a failure and worried about it. But it’s not
about just throwing someone in a pool of water! It’s the door to the road to
become more like Christ and return to our Heavenly Father. He is doing great.
He is SO excited because we are having family home evening at his house
tonight! He has probably asked a billion times what he should do to prepare,
what he should make, how many chairs etc. We tell him that the missionaries will
take care of all of it.. but he still asks and I don’t think there’s any
stopping him from making his famous fruit salad haha. He loves having the
Church as a big family now. And the whole ward just loves him!
Anyways, the rest of the week was just crazy.. Especially
Sunday.. Oh boy. I love Sundays haha.. You just never know how it’s going to
go. This week we had 5 of our investigators come again! Plus all of their cute
kids! We went to pick up one of our families (Omar and Karina) and we walked to
Church with the little kiddos holding both hands on each side. This Sunday I
learned 2 things. 1. Singles wards are a blessing. 2. I really appreciate my
mom. I think I am still getting used to a family ward after being in a singles
ward for a year and a half… And mom.. how did you survive with 4 little girls?!
You are an angel.. because I was SO exhausted just from one hour trying to
distract 4 kids. We really wanted Omar and Karina to enjoy sacrament meeting.
SO we were distracting the kids with tick tack toe, pictures, food.. Half the
time I was trying to listen to the talks in Spanish while one kid was telling
me it was my turn in tick tack toe, one baby was ripping out my Preach My
Gospel book (need a new one now). Another kid was asking for more water from my
water bottle (then spit it all over his cousin). Oh but it gets better.. then a
random stray dog walked into Sacrament meeting… From there it just went
downhill. BUT on the bright side they had an awesome time at church! The kids
did awesome in Primary and the lessons were PERFECT for the needs of our
investigators. Lydia and Teofilo’s testimonies are so strong. I love watching
and seeing that light inside of them grow! It is so cool.
So anyways.. my two sisters, enjoy the peace and quiet in
singles wards now while you can.. and Mom, teach me your ways.. Well you have
been of course, but WOW you angel you.
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| When you can't find your companion... Look for the nearest puppy.. Haha sorry Hna. Pattillo... |
Well this week I studied a lot on temples. I kind of just
studied a bunch of random stuff this week but then have been three specific
things caught in my head and that I keep thinking about. The first, temples,
like I just said. We have so many beautiful temples in Utah.. We are SO blessed
with one even 5 minutes away from the house! Yet I feel like I hardly
appreciated it much.. I didn’t realize how extremely blessed we are. We have
members who left their businesses, lives, EVERYTHING when the Trujillo temple
was built just to be near it. Some came totally homeless and just got up and
moved.. not knowing the future but knew that they needed the temple. How cool
is it that we get a piece of Heaven literally almost in our backyard in Utah.
We need that piece of Heaven each week or whenever you can. Second, prayer in
families. We should never underestimate the power of prayer. It is ALWAYS a
direct line to calling on the Lord for support. I have really seen the change
of some of our investigators because of family prayer! The change is
incredible! One time we just walked into our investigator’s home and felt that
something was different.. They seemed happier, the whole family united, and
just full of light. We asked them how they were and they told us all about how
they had been praying as a family! And every time we go over the little boys
are so excited to pray that we stay on our knees until all three have said a
prayer. Heavenly Father awaits our daily calls. Prayer is powerful.
Ok and the last thing isn’t really something I learned but
something I want to do! You know how we have the family fitspiration Facebook
page? Well I was thinking we should do something like that but as a group email
each week and share a spiritual experience, a scripture, etc. from our week!
You can add anyone to the email! Maybe just send an email asking who would like
to be put on it. Also, if anyone wants to join it doesn’t have to be a
scripture or something it can be how someone helped them or how anyone in the
fam helped someone else! What do you think?
Well if the rumors are true, you guys are driving up to the
ranch today! I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t homesick thinking of the
family all at the safe haven. Not like you guys even saw me at the ranch…
Lexie, Riley and I are always stuck in mud wih the quads somewhere haha! I
can’t believe this will be Mickey’s first ranch trip! Play lots of tennis for
me, shoot lots of clay pigeons, eat lots of sweetish (Swedish) fish, take
Jackson to go see the old firetruck for me, and be SO SAFE. Please please
please. Have a blast! Tell Greylock hi for me. I love you!
Hermana Springer (Ash)
P.S. I forgot.. Dad, it’s ok that you accidentally went
fishing illegally.. I’ve been living in Peru illegally for 3 months now.. So I
win.
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| HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! [on the 24th] |
WEEK 15
The life of a missionary is a very interesting one. There
are moments of success and pure joy, moments where you laugh until you cry,
moments where you cry until you laugh, moments where it takes all you got just
to drag yourself to bed, moments where you find yourself dressed up like a
clown at activities to try to bring more unity to your ward, moments where you
walk until you no longer can feel your feet, moments of enlightenment and
friendships that go way deeper than just a season.
And that my friends just about sums up our week. To start
out with… LIDIA AND TEOFILIO GOT BAPTIZED! It was so beautiful. We also had a
super cute 14-year-old get baptized at the same time. Lidia was so happy she
threw herself in our arms right afterwards haha. Even though she was still wet
I enjoyed her enthusiasm. Both of them are so awesome. They both came up to us
to ask about how they could pay their tithing the day after they got baptized.
Right after the baptism we had a HUGE ward activity. Our ward mission leader
made us dress up to help keep people excited. It was pretty fun. We played a
bunch of crazy games, like an apple bobbing, newspaper dresses, pie-in-the-face.
(And yes Hna. Pattillo got to mash cake in the bishop’s face!) And a game with
a cuy [guinea pig?]. Overall I think it went really well and we had a lot of
fun… But talk about STRESSFUL! We were so dead by the end of that..
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| Cuy |
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| Elder Arranes with Angie! |
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| 3 new souls on the road to heaven!! |
We have
also made a goal to find all the recent converts who aren’t coming to church
anymore… there is about 37, so we spent two straight days just walking to try
and find them. So far we haven’t managed to get ahold of a single one. Hna.
Pattillo got a fat lip by hugging a little kid who then jumped in her face. “Be
careful…he jumps.” That was her advice. Hna. Norma and her husband are adopting
a super cute little girl! It’s quite a process so they won’t actually get her
until December but we got to see pictures. She is a little chub! She is way
cute though and Hna. Norma’s got that baby glow! It’s super exciting. J
We also decided to be extremely Peruvian and up and move.
Today. So that’s what’s happening in our world today! Love you all. Have a great
week.
Amor siempre,
Hna. Pattillo y Hna. Springer
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| Awesome Zone Leaders and District Leaders came to help! Just found this on my camera..haha |
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| Moving!! |
Things I Have Learned:
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Prayer is powerful
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The scriptures have all of the answers.
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Peanut butter is a very underappreciated food.
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God has a plan for everything.
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You only really need to wash your hair once a
week.. (in the mission)
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Humility is key.
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It’s ok to cry.. but laughing is the best
medicine
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My family is a Pearl beyond price.
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Always be yourself.
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Talk to God like He is your best friend.
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When everyone tries to tell you your mission is
always warm.. They are liars. Don’t listen.
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Sometimes you just got to eat it.
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The Spirit speaks Spanish.
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Be good, people are watching.
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You can have fun while being obedient
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BE PATIENT
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It’s ok to need people
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Always kneel when you pray
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All members are missionaries.
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God doesn’t keep secrets.
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How to bargain for taxis.
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God keeps his promises if you work hard.
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There is instant relief to heartache..prayer.
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Temple light is even more beneficial to your
spirit than sunlight is to your body.
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Toilets that can flush toilet paper are a
luxury.
How to Be a Great Missionary!!: as outlined in the Book of
Alma:
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Teach according to the Spirit 8:4
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Work hard despite circumstances 8:10
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It’s okay to sorrow/be discouraged 8:14
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Obedience 8:18
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Resilience 8:18
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Trust God’s way 8:18&20
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Patience 8:31
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Boldness 9:7
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Courage 10:4
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Listen 10:6
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#1. Establish an understanding as to why you are
there 18:34
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#2. Start simple 18:36
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#3. Use/know the scriptures 18:36
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#4. Relate your message to them 18:37
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OBEY 19:3
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Let the Spirit work 19:6
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PRAY 19:14
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Have faith 19:23
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Don’t quit 19:28-36
The reward: Alma 19:14, 33, 35-36
If you could lift the veil and see
how strong you were before this life, you would be surprised. DyC 29:7
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