Week Something or other (*Week 9): Libres en Lima* (*Free in Lima)
Although you didn't get to hear from me yesterday (thanks to literally being in a car for 12 hours), you get to hear from me today! YAY!
Last Pday, we went to Villa Rica and it was by far one of the mejores dias* (*better days) yet. We met up with Hnas Keeler and Cruz (my favorite humans) in their cuarto* (*habitation) and dropped off our stuff before all of our distrito met up at the sisters´ pension for... PIZZA and 3 liter bottles of inca kola! It was pretty fantastic. Our district is tan chevere* (*so sweet). We then bought 3 more bottles of inca kola and started our excursion to Catarata El Leon and took a combi up to the waterfall. We hiked around, adventure-style, again in Sperrys, off the path to see the other side of the carved leon above the catarata* (*waterfall).
In the crossing of the river, I fell tan feo all the way up to my waist, which led me to take off my shoes and become one with the jungle. (If you ever told me that at this time in my life I'd be wandering the jungle barefoot, I never would've believed you antes. But here we are.) We took pictures, told jokes, and drank all the Inca. Upon return to Villa Rica, we did divisiones and Hna Cruz y yo went to visit an AWESOME investigator they have, Jazmin. She agreed to live La Palabra de Sabiduria* (*The Word of Wisdom) and even said it would be easy! She's a super special one. :) Then we went to a Noche de Hogar with a member named Juan Carlos, who made me feel much more confident in my Spanish because he guessed that I'd been here over a year. We watched a video and went for pollo a la brasa* (*grilled chicken)! Despues de returning to our cuarto in Villa Rica, we played human air hockey and cards for a while, while listening to Sons of Provo, and it was hilarious and so entertaining. :)
The next day, we were still in Villa Rica for our reunion de distrito, in which we talked about humildad y orgullo* (*humility and pride), which is a big problem with menos activos aqui en peru* (*less actives here in Peru). This lesson was followed by frac y mas inca kola! Despues, we went back to Oxapampa, and we felt like la muerte* (*death) due to the ride, but we left to contact everywhere. We found a few great people! Then we got to talk with Veronisse and share 2 Nefi 4 and contact more. Then we taught Arletti y Celeste, and taught them all about la fe* (*faith). We also got to teach another investigator, Andrea, la palabra de sabiduria! Buen dia (sin el viaje)* (*Good day, without the trip).
On Wednesday, we got BACK in another taxi to go to La Merced in the morning por entrevistas* (*for interviews) con Presidente Henderson! It was really good and we also got to do practicas con Elder Giles, our district leader. This was the last time we will have entrevistas con presi antes de having a nuevo presidente, so it was un poco triste :(* (*the last interviews with President Henderson before we get a new president, so it was a little sad). However, it was also pretty fantastic to talk to them! We ended up staying there for way longer than anticipated, eating lunch in La Merced and getting back to Oxa at around 4. We went straight to Rosa and basically just shared how much we love her and how much God loves her, porque ella esta pasando por muchas dificultades ahora* (*because she is going through many difficulties now). Then we went to Grace, a menos activo que tenemos, and taught her Mateo 5. Despues, we taught Celeste y Arletti again, this time about repentance. We also got to see Rita today, and taught about the power of la expiacion.
On Jueves, the day began in a terrifying manner. I had a dream that I was being attacked by dark spirits, and I woke up and the feeling remained. I prayed for a long time around 3 am for the feeling to leave, and it finally did, replaced by peace and the ability to fall back asleep. Estoy tan agradecida por el poder de oracion* (*I am so grateful for the power of prayer)! We went and saw Julia, a contact we found a few weeks ago, and talked to her a bit about la restauracion. We challenged her to pray to know if her current church is correct or not, and also to pray about our message. Then we went for Sylvia, a fantastic recien rescatado* (*new member), and she gave us little CTR keychains she made for us! Then we visited Mariella and taught her about profetas y el sacerdocio* (*prophets and priesthood). Then we ended up contacting Delia, a cool viejita* (*old woman) who talked to us for a while about lots of things and invited us later to come help her cut corn with a sickle to help feed her chickens, so we're planning on coming back next week to help! Despues, we visited Nadia and taught the law of chastity. Her baptismal date ? The 30th! We're pretty confident she can reach this goal, and we're also really excited for her. :) Despues, we went to noche de deporte and played volei!
Viernes started visiting Ayde and Julio, a menos activo y investigador que tenemos! We shared the video of Holland's testimony del Libro de Mormon and testified of its veracidad and importancia* (*truthfulness and importance). Then we visited Claudia, our nuevo investigadora- and she had actually done her tarea and read the introduccion del libro de mormon! She had lots of questions and we taught her the Restauracion and answered her the best we could. :) It was fantastic. Then we visited Oscar and Maritza, people we contacted last cambio but couldn't find until now! They are bien dificil porque Oscar doesn't really speak English or Spanish well but prefers English, and his wife speaks no English, so we taught about the Book of Mormon in both english and español, which proved terribly hard. It was really great to see them and teach them however! Then we deviated from plan after feeling like we should go see Rosicela, so we went. She shared how sad she's been lately about her abuelita's illness, and we shared 2 Nefi 2 with her and testified that there is a God who lives and who loves her, and she is never alone. It was really fantastic. Then we taught Noche Misional by sharing the video The Lamb of God (which we watched earlier in companionship study in Italiano for fun, pues, obviamente) and talking about the Expiacion and played games. :)
Sabado tambien fue chevere* (*Saturday was also sweet)! Besides the fact that I got sick, sharp pains in my stomach all day. In the morning, we met a menos activo named Hilda and taught her La Restauracion and got to know her better. Despues we had almuerzo, and i couldn't stomach anything (ha! pun.). The rest of the day was really difficult for me, but mission blessings are real and I was able to work all day. We visited Juan Carlos, a nuevo investigador, a reference from Rosa. We presented ourselves and challenged him to be baptized, and he accepted!!! We're pretty excited to keep visiting him. Then we taught Angela and Jimena, young recent converts, about repentance. Then we visited Eulogio and Clelia and said a prayer with them and presented ourselves. Despues, we visited Celeste y Arletti and read the Libro de Mormon with them! Then we had Clase de Ingles, followed by us going and absolutely crashing at the room. Still super grateful for the energia I had to get me through the day! :)
Domingo was a bit rough. We went to church and were basically burned fuerte in consejo de barrio* (*ward council), which started the day off really duro* (*hard). We did find a fantastic menos activo named Ana and taught her a bit about the Restauracion! Then we ran into a few incredibly difficult contacts who believed in a lot of crazy things, so we had a bit of a hard time again, before teaching Angela y Jimena again about fe. My stomach was also still feeling like la muerte hoy* (*death today). Then we went por Rosa y Veronisse and taught about forgiving others, and, a veces, forgiving ourselves. It was fantastic, and she gave us pancito marmoleada and cifruit! Later, we went to Maruja and taught her about la expiacion, and its healing and strengthening power. :)
Lunes? VIAJE* (*TRAVEL). I left early to go to La Merced, and we went and met the Hermana lideres to leave Hermana Alva with them, and Elder Egan and I left to go to Lima on a bus. 10 hours later, we got to Lima and met up with more misioneros from our mission, got fantastic food complete with dessert, and went straight to bed after A HOT WATER SHOWER! that never happens in Oxa. Thank you, Lima, for existing. :)
Today, we got up early, ate buffet breakfast which was fantastic, and left for migraciones* (*immigration office). I can officially say I'm now completely legal to be proselyting here in Peru. ;) The temple ended up being closed, so we walked to a mall and got SUBWAY, and I got a footlong Italiano Picante sandwich and it felt like America.
Later, we went to a mercado and found MOUNTAIN DEW, so obviously I bought like three of them and some donuts. La vida. :) Then the three of us hermanas went to the beach to look at the ocean and bought ice cream before coming back here and receiving the buena noticia that we COULD write our families this week. I've been really enjoying this brief break and feel very recharged and less sick in my stomach. I love the mission life, regardless of how much traveling it consists of. :)
Con amor y mis oraciones para siempre* (*with love and prayers forever),
Hermana Schmid
(*italic translations by Karissa's mom using google translate)
