Peru!! January 21, 2013

 

Hola!!!

 

How are things? Any exciting news? Any new marriages? New things I should know about? I hope your week was amazing and super full of happiness, gratitude and fun activities! Let me know! I would love to hear about all of your lives :)

As for me...it is still mind boggling that I am actually living in PERU!!! And I am serving a mission, something that I have looked foward to my entire life. It´s actually happening! And I love it!!! :) Sometimes, I just observe my surroundings and think to myself how blessed I am to have this incredible opportunity to be here and share this wonderful Gospel with the rest of my family (that live here in Peru :) Really...its amazing! And its flying by waaaaay too fast! Haha

This week was a good one! Every week, we set certain goals to be able to work for havng to do with our investigators, or people who have the desire to learn about the church. This week, my companions and I worked super hard to reach them, and ended up doing even better than what we planned. We also have been praying specifically for the things we need in our area, and the things that our investigators need. Heavenly Father blessed us SO much. When we are specific with the things we ask, he blesses us with exactly the things that we asked for. We contacted a lot of people, had a lot of different lessons and this week flew! But it was good. :)

This upcoming monday we have transfers! Also...I finish my training!!! The first 12 weeks of being the the mission field is training. Learning how to teach the people, according to needs and well...for me...studying the language as well..ahahah. BUT this week I am done!! Woot! :) Also...transfers could mean that I change locations, companions or even that I might be training a new missionary! We shall see. We find out on Saturday so I will let you all know :) Also...this Saturday we have a baptism! Jorge Mendoza. I will tell you more about him...with pictures next week!

We are going to visit a place called Huaca today! Im not 100% sure what it is...but I think it is a historical site here in Peru, so I will have pictures of that next week. :)

Attached are some pictures of my companions and I, and a few others that are in our zone (our area) I just love them all bunches!!! :) Anyways, that is just about all for now, next week I will have more exciting information! Haha

I love you all and I pray for each and every one of you daily :) Stay faithful and turn to Heavenly Father for every challenge that you have. He understands and He loves you.

Con muchisimo amor siempre!!
Hermana Elisheva Ali :)

Guinea Pig!! January 14, 2013

Hola !!!

How are things in your part of the world? I hope your week was fantastic! Full of exciting adventures, fun activities and happiness. :)

I can officially say that I have eaten something super different! Roasted Guinea Pig! Aka...CUY :D It was super tasty too! Haha. Luckily my stomach is at the point where I am able to experiment with different kinds of food! Woot!

Ok, so this week seems to have flown by in a whirlwind! Im not even 100% sure what happened. Well, first things first, we have a new companion! Her name is Hermana Perez. She is from Huancayo Peru and is only here temporally until she gets her visa. She was actually called to serve in the Columbia, Bogota Sur mission! Shes great! She has the biggest smile and a super good attitude too! All three of us get along super well and we are super excited to be able to teach together!

This week we basically have just been contacting and teaching as many people as possible. Not only is it wonderful opportunities to find new investigators, but it is also a great opportunity for my spanish to improve! I feel like its definitely coming along well. Something that I learned in the past couple of weeks is how important it is to serve other people. I have been striving to look for opportuities to serve, and praying only for other people. Because of that, Heavenly Father has really blessed me in my own abilities as well, especially with spanish. He works in mysterious ways, but he really does answer prayers. I love it!

Something that really stood out to me this week is the importance also of listening to the spirit. We have been teaching two sisters, Linda and Gypsy. We found Linda knocking doors, and Gypsy when we helped her with her groceries. We hadnt seen them for about a week, but we felt like we should go and visit them...so we did. :) Haha

When we went and stopped by, They told us that they had been praying for something to happen, or some sign that Heavenly Father really was there and listened. Because we listened to the spirit, their prayer was answered. How cool is that?? :)

I love it! I know Heavenly Father listens. Pray to him personally, and daily, he will answer :)

I love you all and pray for you daily! Until next week!

Con mucho amor siempre,

Hermana Elisheva Ali :)

5 months already!!! January 7, 2013

Hola !!!

I cant believe I have already been on my mission for 5 months!!! Time is flying by! Ah! I hope that you all had a wonderful New Years!!! Anything terribly exciting happen in NYC with the big ball drop? I also hope that you set goals that are realistic, attainable, and that will help you achieve important things that will help you grow and change :) As for Peru, New Years is basically the same activities as Christmas. The custom is to stay up until all hours of the night, eat a ton of food and have fiestas until the wee hours of the morning. Also, Peru REALLY loves fireworks. Hahaha. New Years eve, and the night following as well, the sky was filled with light the entire night and the sound was insane! However, I was able to sleep nice and peacefully :)

Haha. Ok So I have some exciting news!! My companion Hermana Sanchez and I are getting a third companion! We dont know anything about her yet, not even her name or where she is from, but we are headed to the mission office tomorrow to pick her up! She is brand new so Hermana Sanchez will be training both her and I all in one! Im almost done though, so thats a bit less stress on her :)

Ok so I received three packages last week and had a mini Christmas!! ( as you can see from the pictures) Thank you SO MUCH Mom, Alison and Alyssa!! :) All of the gifts are being thoroughly enjoyed, both my my companion and I :D Thank you thank you thank you!!

Ok, so I have failed to mention a couple of funny things that are custom in Peru. First of all, there are dogs everywhere!!! Haha its great. When they are friendly :) Also, I love it. In Latin culture, there is no such thing as being fat and people simply refer to overweight people as ¨Gorditos¨. That being said, we have a dog that we live with--Dana who is a big ol white dog who is rather gordita. SHe is the best :) However, her and I, when we are together have developed the term ¨Gringitas gorditas¨ basically signifying chubby white people. hahahahaha. I love it!

This past week has been great!! We have found a lot of people who are interested in learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who really are looking to change their lives for the better. We have been working with members of the church a lot and teaching their friends and family and it is the best! We are meeting new people, and getting to know the members of our ward even better!

Spanish is coming along great!! I can understand just about everything that is said! Talking as well is getting a lot better. I am able to communicate (almost all the time) what I want to, and when I dont have the words, the spirit takes over and speaks to the hearts of those who are listening and they always end up understanding! The Holy Ghost really is so powerful in the way that we are able to receive answers to prayers from our Father in Heaven and the way we are able to recognize truth. The peaceful feelings, and the joy and happiness that we feel when we do something good, when we recognize something is true, and when something is from Heavenly Father is indescribable and so wonderful!

Heavenly Father has blessed us with the ability to recognize the Holy Ghost as a way to answer prayers and I know that it is real. I challenge you all to pay attention to the feelings that come after you pray...they are from the Holy Ghost :)

I love you all and hope your week is wonderful!

Con mucho amor siempre,

Hermana Ali :)

Feliz Ano Nuevo!!! Monday, December 31, 2012

Hoooooooooooooola !!! :)

I hope that all of your Christmas´s were beautifully wonderful and full of happiness!! Mine was great! We had dinner with our zone, turkey, potatoes, chicha morada ( my new favorite drink made from purple corn) and some sort of interesting pasta salad. It was a grand old time. Also...Christmas here is super different than the states! They eat dinner at 11 or 12 at night, and stay up to watch fireworks and have parties until about 6am! Haha. Also, Dec 24 is big for them here, hardly anything happened on Dec 25! Very different but way fun! Im thinking we should implement this practice in the US :) Haha

Anyways, this week was a good one! We worked really hard this week to find new investigators, worked with members, contacted, and had a lot of really good lessons! It was a good one. My companion and I are really good! I am learning a lot from her and her from me and we are a good team :) I love the members of our ward as well. They love missionaries! Haha and because of it, we ate a whole lot this past week of holidays. Also...today, for New Years, we are scheduled for 3 dinners! Ah! Haha but its ok :)

Ok! This week we had the baptism of one of my new favorite people, Javier Calderon. He is 91 years old and has the biggest testimony and desire to follow Christ ever! He is just so wondeful :) He was baptized on Sunday morning with the help of three brethren!! Haha. It was a beautiful experience. When he emerged from the water, he had the BIGGEST smile on his face and the spirit was so strong it completely filled the room. You literally could not deny it. We had been praying this whole week for him to be able to be baptized and I know that our prayers were answered. Heavenly Father really does listen and He loves His children so much! :)

I dont have too much more time, but I wish you all the best New Years ever! Being a missionary and having the opportunity to work with goals has really helped me to understand the importance of setting goals, and doing all you can to be able to accomplish them. Rely on the Lord with your goals, he will help you :)

I love you all and pray for you daily! :)

Con mucho amor siempre!!
Hermana Ali :)

PS...I will attach photos next week!! :)