´´Brightly beams our Father`s mercy...``

Do you remember the story that I told last week, about the woman and her kids that we confused as Glady`s? Well, Heavenly Father totally led us to gold that day.

We met with Edit and her mom this week and got to know them a little better before our lesson. They had met with the missionaries some years before, but then one day, as they told us, those missionaries stopped visiting them. Hna Thompson and I imagine that Edit and her family were dropped because they never progressed with the Elders those years before. But now they have so many desires to meet with us and come to church. We are really hopeful that they will progress  and accept the gospel! But time will tell. All we know is that the Spirit came into the lesson that we had with Edit and her mom really strongly, and they felt it. 

Other news of the week!

We had a multi-zone conference with President. I left on such a spiritual high! It is always inspiring to learn from the other members and to hear when Heavenly Father wants from us in our sectors. There is always room to grow and do better. 

My companion and I also received a ton of help from the members this week in our lessons. Usually we have to make calls and kind of beg the members to acompany us, but lately they have been contacting US to ask if they can come to our lessons! We

 are really loving the new organization we have in the ward. The members are so much more motivated to do missionary work, and they are being amazing examples to us. Just this Sunday Hna T and I watched as Hna Rosalia brought in several less active members with her to Sacrament meeting. She had gotten ready super early in the morning so she could go out and help others come to church. 

I love that woman so much.

Our friend Carlos also helped us! He is from a neighboring ward, but he likes to go out with the missionaries in the stake. He is such a star! But we are a little worried for him because he still isnt married. Haha - he`s worried, too! This is a real problem that all of the RM`s have in Peru after their missions. So will you please pray for Carlos that he will find himself a wife? He`d be eternally grateful.

Other miscellanious happenings of the week:

Jheysi and Abraham received their baptismal interviews! They are so ready to be baptized. Their baptismal date is for the the 9th of Octubre! 

I also found a ginormous bug in my shoe one morning as I was putting them on my feet. You can imagine the conversation that my companion and I had:

Me: ``Eeh...Hermana Thompson!

Hna T: ``Yeah?``

Me: ``There is a BUG in my BOOT!``

Hna T: (laughing)

Me:``Please help me!``

Hna T, laughing and shaking the life out of my shoe: ``There is NOT a bug in your shoe!``

Me:``Yes, there IS! Seriously - It is ginormous!``

Hna T, after shaking it some more: ``Ah! There is a HUGE bug in your shoe!``

We left it there in peace for the entire day. The bug is now dead, but I have plans to burn my boots. 

This is all that I can think of right now! I`ll make sure to do better next week.

Love you all!

Hermana Arroyo

A new way to contact

Let me just start out by saying that Hna Thompson is the best. She comes from Summerlin, and she will be ending her mission this change. (We have a promise between each other never to mention it.) She is also so funny and dorky, which always us laughing to tears. Hna Thompson very much might by my soul mate. 

We have had tons of funny experiences together already, but this next one really is the best:

We set out to meet with Gladys and her kids one day to introduce my new companion and share a message. As we climbed up the stairs to her street, I noticed two of Glady's kids having a good time playing on the railing. Catherine, her daughter called out to us, and so we went to them, les damos saludos with kisses and then went off to meet Gladys. The only problem was that no one answered. We knocked really loudly for a good 5 minutes, and then decided to go ask Catherine and her little brother to come help us. They were a little confused when we told them that their mom wasnt home, but they were happy to show us where their mom was. She was visiting with a friend, they told us, so I wasnt too worried when they led us down an unfamiliar street. They ran inside, got their mom, and I was horrified when I realized that ''Catherine'' and her brother werent them afterall. I couldnt find anything to say, so I just watched as Hna Thompson started talking to the woman:

Hna T: ''Good afternoon! We are looking for Gladys. May we speak with her?''

Woman at the door, confused: '' ...Im sorry, but I dont know Gladys.''

Hna T: ''Are you sure? These are Glady's kids, and they brought us here so that we could meet with their mom.''

Woman at the door: ''No - they are MY kids.''

We ended up making the most out of the situation and contacting the woman. I then explained the mistake that we had made, and the woman started to laugh with us. We couldnt have asked for a better ice breaker! We now have an appointment with she and her family. :D

(As a sidenote, Gladys answered the door almost immediately when we returned. We feel like we were ment to meet Edith and her kids, no matter how incredibly embarrazed we were about the situation! haha.)

As far as investigators go, Jheysi and Abraham are progressing! We are meeting with them several times a week. 

We also met with some less active members! I am always blown away by how well Hna Thompson is able to gain the confidence of the members with her personality. Every person has a gift that the other doesnt have, and they can touch someone that others have a hard time doing, and I am seeing this with her! I couldnt be more grateful to be working with Hna T. She has a desire to work hard and to give it her all, which is something that I want to do to. This change is going to be great - I know it!

Hermana Arroyo

''I like to look for rainbows, whenever there is rain...'' :)

Re: I´m getting a gringa!

On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 12:48 PM, Jacqulyn Arroyo <jacqulyn.arroyo@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I...dont even know where to start. 

Carlitos was baptized! We went a little crazy looking for baptism clothes, and Carlos arrived an hour late to his own baptism, but the end goal was met, so we were SO happy. He had all of the support of his parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was so great to see them all come together, and Carlos just beamed! 

Also, we were finally able to meet with his dad! He is always avoiding us, so it was huge that he came to the baptism and attended church this Sunday. We have some plans to gain his trust. :)

After 2-3 months we have a new bishop!! He has served as a counselor in the Mission presidency for 4 years, and was bishop of our ward just before that. So needless to say, everyone was surprised. But we are so excited to be starting a new chapter in this sector. Bishop Quispe´s first Sunday was the beginning of some big changes. He announced to all of the members that this Tuesday he will be holding interviews with everyone who doesnt now have a calling, and every one will be be receiving an assignment. The next announcement was that the ward will now be starting exactly on time, the way the Lord would have it. (Punctuality is a problem here in South America, which doesnt help the ´´Mormon-standard-time´´.) I love his enthusiasm to get the work here rolling! I can already tell that we will be experiencing some great miracles with the missionary work in the near future. 

This weekend we also met with Maricela and Manuel (Maricela was baptized in August) to go out for some pizza. They knew that we would have cambios, so this was a way to say goodbye in the case that one of us leaves. We had a blast! It was a day of eating way too much, but thus is the mission life. We laughed hard and remembered some funny things that had happened to us a while back. We also asked them about their wedding date...haha, it is sometimes fun to make others feel uncomfortable. But only if they are your good friends! We love them both so much. 

Today is also the day of cambios. Hna C and I were so nervous to log on and read our emails from President...but now we feel better to know our assignments. We are both still confused about Hna Chipunavi´s assignment - we dont know if it means that she will train again or become a sister leader, but we will find out more today. As for me, I will be receiving a gringa! Her name is Hna Thompson; we met when I first came to the mission, and so I know that we share the same home town! Everyone is also telling me how much they love her, and that she works hard, so I cant be any happier!

This is all for the week - love you all!

Hermana Arroyo

I´m getting a gringa!

I...dont even know where to start. 

Carlitos was baptized! We went a little crazy looking for baptism clothes, and Carlos arrived an hour late to his own baptism, but the end goal was met, so we were SO happy. He had all of the support of his parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was so great to see them all come together, and Carlos just beamed! 

Also, we were finally able to meet with his dad! He is always avoiding us, so it was huge that he came to the baptism and attended church this Sunday. We have some plans to gain his trust. :)

After 2-3 months we have a new bishop!! He has served as a counselor in the Mission presidency for 4 years, and was bishop of our ward just before that. So needless to say, everyone was surprised. But we are so excited to be starting a new chapter in this sector. Bishop Quispe´s first Sunday was the beginning of some big changes. He announced to all of the members that this Tuesday he will be holding interviews with everyone who doesnt now have a calling, and every one will be be receiving an assignment. The next announcement was that the ward will now be starting exactly on time, the way the Lord would have it. (Punctuality is a problem here in South America, which doesnt help the ´´Mormon-standard-time´´.) I love his enthusiasm to get the work here rolling! I can already tell that we will be experiencing some great miracles with the missionary work in the near future. 

This weekend we also met with Maricela and Manuel (Maricela was baptized in August) to go out for some pizza. They knew that we would have cambios, so this was a way to say goodbye in the case that one of us leaves. We had a blast! It was a day of eating way too much, but thus is the mission life. We laughed hard and remembered some funny things that had happened to us a while back. We also asked them about their wedding date...haha, it is sometimes fun to make others feel uncomfortable. But only if they are your good friends! We love them both so much. 

Today is also the day of cambios. Hna C and I were so nervous to log on and read our emails from President...but now we feel better to know our assignments. We are both still confused about Hna Chipunavi´s assignment - we dont know if it means that she will train again or become a sister leader, but we will find out more today. As for me, I will be receiving a gringa! Her name is Hna Thompson; we met when I first came to the mission, and so I know that we share the same home town! Everyone is also telling me how much they love her, and that she works hard, so I cant be any happier!

This is all for the week - love you all!

Hermana Arroyo