Feliz Navidad de Peru

Querido Familiar,

 

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!! WOOOOOOWWWW!!!1 we are having a fun christmas in Peru that is FOR SURE! especially this past week. the best kind of christmas presents EVER!  

well.... i am one happy hermana gonzales. This has been an outstanding week! full of Miracles!  we had our Baptism! TWO!  Sheila and Delia, mother and daughter, FINALLY baptised! and on their way to salvation. AL FIN! after lots of opposition, after lots of tears, they made it into the water and they are the most clean people on earth! THe baptism was beautiful. Hna Sheila gave her testimony first, and she just cried. she cried and she was so full of the spirit. its interesting to watch people feel the Holy Ghost so profoundly for the first time. you could tell she felt something she never had before. she thanked her mom for taking this journey with her, and they hugged in front of everyone. there wasnt a dry pruvian eye. or american eye for that matter. our Menos Activos that we just "rescued" were there, and you bet they were crying too. We were all seeing the Obra De Salvasion in accion! THIS is what the profet was talking, about, THIS is what God had in mind when he revealed the age change, the work of salvation seminar to our living profet. and it is REAL! AND the spirit of the Huanchaco Temple is among us. yes, its a strong spirit, and yes there is opposition in all things, but days like this, make it all worth it. Heavenly Father is truly aware of His children. And He TRULY does love us. 

ALSO, because of this baptism, our consejo de barrio is going good. our ward is amazing! for this baptism we tried to use OTHER members. it seems like we use the same ones every time for the program, so we made extra effort to use different ward members to get them involved, and it was even more beautiful! I LOVE EL BOSQUE! yo amo este Barrio. es lo MAXIMO!

 

Plaza de Armas: EXITO! this week we had our big christmas concert in the bit Plaza. we were supposed to have it for two days, but... turns out there was a strike going on in the plaza on friday. peruvians trying to have more civil security. more safety. too many deaths. from crazy drivers, and robbers. so all the taxis, bus drivers, comvis, motos, anything with wheels, all didnt drive for a day. and a lot of people went to the plaza, stood in this over pass, and threw rocks at all the taxis or cars that were still driving. so if we went that day, we would probably get a rock to the face.... un poco peligroso. so we had the concert just one day. any way, over  250 missionaries and a program of chrismas songs. hymns, solos, hna downs and i did our duet! we arranged Venid y adoremos (o come let us adore him) and it was in english and spanish. it was SO SWEET! i felt good about it all. the TRUE spirit of christmas was there. and it was powerful . we sure do have a lot of talent in our mission. which leads me to my next point, El Show de Talentos is going great! i just spent  4 hours listening to a lot of talent. Hna Marler said i only have 1 hr and 10 monutes. we will see how this goes. but you can expect a GREAT show! I LOVE THIS ASSIGNMENT! 

 

 

 

 

 

something funny:  this last sunday, sitting in church, wating for the sacrament bread to come to me, i look up from my prayer to partake of the holy sacrament and find myself eathing PANETON! not bread..... the sweet, cakey, peruvian christmas treat. PANETON!!! wha??? like is that sacreligous? i couldnt help but  laugh. i was dying. so was my companion. but to everyoe else its normal.... good old peru

since the show got canceled one night, we got to participate in our ward talent show too! lots of music, guitar, and christmas hymns in spanish. i love the holidays. we arranged a way in a manger and silent night and put them together in a cool song. wish i could attach videos. 

 

we dedccorated our room for christmas. we wanted to hang snowflakes from the celing. but didnt have any sting,. so we used dental floss. 

this week, i had a tender mercy moment, when heavenly Father blessed me with joy. we were contacting someone, and we got a long so well she gave us free peruvian snow cones ( not like american snow cones. they use different flavored jams instead of syrup) and the kids near by were playing this sweet jumprope game. except it wasnt exactly a jump rope. idk how to explain it but i learned a new game! and i had a snow cone, and these kids thought we were so funny with our american accents, and it was just perfect. i love peru. i love the people. ilove having summer for christmas, I LOVE BEING  A MISSIONARY! 

 

AND THE BEST PART!!! 

 

got my CHRISTMAS PACKAGE FROM MY FAMILY!!!!!!!! 

 

it was SO FUN to open! after the plaza de armas, we all got our packages, and went home. we came home with two other sisters whos area was too far away, so the five of us all celebrated christmas a little early and opened our packages in our jamies, one at a time and laughed and cried, and ate moms fudge. mine was the best, i opened it up and immediately our room was filled with the SMELL of christmas! thats right! MOM YOU ARE SO SMART! and you know i love the smell of pine cones and clove. YUMMY! muy package was awesome! everything i could ever want or need,. a piece of the simko home at christmas time all wrapped up in a box. im saving my letters to read for christmas day. but it was so fun to open! and i didnt realize how wierd chocolate christmas oranges were until i tried to explain it to my native comp. lol we are so wierd. hit a chocolate ball on the desk, open it up and it looks like a brown pealed orange. YUM! and you can expect one every year in your stocking. lol 

 

 

 

life is good. i am so blessed, and i love reminding people why we REALLY celebrate. and where would we be with out the saviors birth. we would be nothing. and what joy we have. what reason we truly have to celebrate. we celebrate that the savior made salvation possible. thats the real reason. thats what its all about. and i hope that each and every one of you come to know your savior and redeemer a little more personally this season. He is your advicate. And he completes us. he truly does. I love my savior, i love this work. i am so blessed. thank you for your love and prayers. 

 

Merry Christmas

Feliz Navidad

con amor

Hna Gonzales

 

 

Peruvian Christmas Spirit

LAST WEEK OF THIS TRANSFER! 

so that means we wait around all sunday for THE CALL!!! 

guess who got changed... for christmas... NO ONE! i get one more transfer with my two best friends, in good ol El Bosque, with my ward family, and i get to be here for CHRISTMAS! it as an answer to prayers. i am so so happy. sniff sniff. happy sis Gonzales

 

we are also having a 2 baptisms this weekend SO EVEN MORE MERRY CHRISTMAS! and this baptism is  A MIRACLE! Delia, and her teenage daughter Sheila. we had a lot of opposition with them, including the moms bible group TRYING to bible bash with us to prove us wrong. obviously, this is not of the spirit so we did not participate. but it was EXTREMELY uncomfortable, and it truly is a miracle that they are finally being baptised. i am SO PLEASED! 

 

also, this week, President called me. he asked me to plan the Christmas Talent show for all the missionaries in Trujillo and Casagrande! ! WHAT THE!!!! but here is the catch.... i only have 2 pdays to plan it all. i have to fill one hour worth of talent. . . . but i am up for the challenge. so far we have a percussion group, and another group playing the spoons! AND slam poetry IN SPANISH! never heard of it before but it will be great. AND a break dancer. i got to pull some strings to let some people in. this is gonna be SWEET! and im having so much fun getting to know a ton of missionaries. it will be fun to see them shine. 

 

also, got a sweet birthday package from mike this week. yes, still love him. he is still wonderful. 

 

we helped our recent converts mom decorate her house for christmas. she is one of those who hates christmas because it is a sad time for her. so we are trying to make it a happy time. we invited some members to bring decorations, and we baught a few, and shared the primera navidad de la bibla con todo, shared testimonies, and after, decoraged, it was a blast! and i think it will be a memorable, happy christmas for them.

 

we have been inviting everyone to the show in the Plaza de Armas this Friday and Saturday! over 2000 peruvians go. we reciever ober 1500 revferences! WOOW! and hna downs and i will be doing a duet on the guitar BOTH days. also, hna marler )presidetns wife= asked me to sing a descant for the the number with ALL the missionaries. SO SWEET! i am LOVING PERUVIAN CHRISTMAS! we have had TONS of Paneton, and tried Cuzco hot chocolate for the first time. ok second time, the first time, i thought it was just a normal candy bar, and ate it. made me sick. too much sugar. turns out, yuoure supposed to melt hte bar in a pot of boiling water that serves 20 people..... no wonder i got sick. 

 

the spirit of christmas is just as strong here as it is in the states. i love helping people remember why we REALLY celebrate christmas. if it werent for the savior, if he were never born, we would not have salvation .we would not have a way to return to our father in heaven, he really is the only way. with out him, we are hopeless. we are nothing. i have been reading a book called Believing Christ by Steven E Robinson. i would recommend it to everyone!!!! i think ill make it a tradition to read every christmas. PResident gave it to me to read. and it truly has been eye opening on who our savior is. how he SAVES.and WHY he is called our SAVior. 

 

my life is rich. i am so blessed. WE are so blessed. and i am loving the christmas season. i fall more and more in love with peru every day!

Merry chrismas to all, pray with all the energy of your hear. repent every day, and never do anything WITH OUT the spirit. and you WILL see a differenc eint eh quality of your life. I PROMISE!

 

este es la verdad. este es el amor de dios. les quiero mucho

 

con mucho amor y cariño,

Hna Gonzales

 

 

Why is everyone always sick?

dearest everyone.

I JUST WANT A NORMAL WEEK WHERE NO ONE GETS SICK OR PRACTICALLY DIES!!!! is it even possible? Poor hna FLores really took a dive in her health this week two. we were sitting in the back of the chappel for the training, and i look over and her eyes are blood shot, and she was clammy and shacky, and looked like she was about to pass out, so we went out side, and she collapsed! hna downs was up front taking pix, and she saw through the window and came running out! next thing i know the APs, random sisters, members and a paramedic were all around us. we obviously took her to the clinic. we were in the clinic for a whole day doing tests of all sorts. while we were there, we taught the plan of salvation to everyone in the waiting room. that was fun. i used my little laminated pictures. and the elders handed out folletos (pamflets) to everyone as well. well, eventually, it turns out she has 3 pollips on her liver. (or something like that). she is fine now. we just have to take it easy. poor thing. if she passes out again, she will have an operation . like hna downs.,  LOCO CRAZY! my poor campanions. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG! am i working then too hard? am i not taking good enough care of them? like whats going on..... not cool. satan is working on this companionship AND IM NOT OK WITH IT! not cool satan, not cool. 

any ways. if you are wondering why your favorite trio{s numbers are terrible, that is why. the poor health of my girls. mi hermanas. we are trying our best. but nevertheless, we had miracles this week. because NOTHING stops the work of God. Nothing  and no one can stop His work. not even fainting hermanas. 
Remember Shayla, how her mom would not give her permission to be baptised, yet shayla STILL kept coming to church. well, her mom, the stubborn woman, CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN! with her family AGAIN! and this time WITHOUT the members picking her up. she came all on her own! AH! i cried tears of joy to my father in heaven. we were talking to her later, and she told us that two times when she prayed cause she was sad, we showed up knocking on her door. and she said that is NOT a cooincedense. she also said, one time she was in the kitchen cooking when we showed up, but didnt know it was us. she said, that who ever it, sounded like jesus. sounded like CHRIST! she felt something through the walls of her home, when we came in. and because of that, she keeps having us over to teach. she is very prepared, but we wouldnt have known it if we didnt stick to her daughter. i cant tel you how many times we taught the daughter, and felt like it was in vain. it wanst in vain. we extended a baptismal date for the 21. she is a little hesetant. she has ¨baptisms for the dead¨mixed up with normal baptism. and that is her doubt. a good doubt. cause now we can prepare her for the temple! two birds with one stone. awesome! we hope to baptise her and her daughter the same day. she does not have a husband, and her other daughter is six. so the six year old will be preparing for baptism in the coming years. WOO HOO!

 

this week we also had Elder Grow come do a training. he is part of the 70. adn he is very nice. and his wife is even sweeter.

LOVED chazy´s letter from the field. he makes me so proud. and i love hearing his growing experiences. yes chaz. good adivece. at times, just be still and know that He is God.

in other news, we got another pench AGIAN! ugggg what is up with this pench stuff. food was good.

 

i FINALLY GOT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGED FROM MY FAMILY! WOOOOOWWW!!!!!

you guys are the BEST! i took a video of me opening it. but i cannot send it through email cause ldsmail is filtered. you{ll have to wait another 11 months to see it,. but you can imagine my reaction to the PEANUT BUTTER! ok SO GOOD! and my native comp tried it for the first time. she loves it too. we put it on everything. i had a pb and j sandwich for breakfast today. felt like home. NUDE NO SHO SOCKS! i was SO DESPERATE for more. came in perfect timeing. and the CD music. perfect. comps are also very grateful for those. and it was so hard not to eat all the chocolate all at once. im savering it. saving the mnms for last. thank you. and hair spray, the step tracker, bracelet, beef jerkey. all things i totally MISS!!!! thank you thank you THANK YOU! vbest birthday EVER! i am so blessed. but my fav, were the pix. they were beautiful. i hung a few up on my wall. i miss fall in utah. so beautiful. and chazzy kissing my mom ont he cheek after the temple. mel t my heart. so cute!

thank you

 

had another good day at the beach this week as well. but this time, for service. and our investigator came to THAT TOO! EXITO! woow. got a little bit of a farmers tan and a little burn on the back of my neck. which is wierd, cause im like latina, and i never burn. but not as latina as the peruvians here. so..... ouch. i hurt. but have a great sister missionary tan. woow.

 

Loderup family, thank you for the letter/talk. i recieved the talk by holland [cast not away thy confidence[ it is a really awesome talk. i have marked it up quite a bit and i would recommend it to EVERYONE! it talks about opposition in ALL things. and how to be prepared for it. SO GOOD!

 

ALSO, this weeks scripture that touched my heart,

please look up D&C 98:1-3 god is truly aware of us. he hears EVERY PRAYER! EVERY SINGLE ONE!

 

i love you all,. missing you extra this christmas season. but life is good.

 

Zone Conference

Thank you!



 

Miracles Exist!

Dearest ALL. yes all of you: 

what a good week. what a happy sister missionary i am. we were two this week. like i told you,  my comp, my bff got HERNIAS! and was in and out of the hospital, and bed ridden. but good news! 

she is BACK! we are back to the tres! woow! BUT by a miracle. heres what happened. 

so, hna downs told me last week, that if things went bad at her last doctor appointment, she would be flying home monday! i got so scared! she has too many talents to go home. her spirit and testimony is too strong to not be used here in the field! i wont lie, i was pretty sad and discouraged FOR her!  she is my best friend, and my favorite companion. (we already have a lot of plans for post mission.... so dont worry, you will ALL meet her!) 

so when we got back to the area, i called up elder brown, our awesome district leader and asked him if we could do a zone fast for hna downs. (she had no idea). after a few phone calls, the zone leaders did a conference call with everyone in the zone, and we did a zone fast for our hna downs. they asked me to say it. i told them that i would need all the faith i could get. 

we all knelt, where ever we were, and started a fast together.   i called hna downs that night to check up on how the appointment went. she said it went REALLY WELL! and that she would be STAYING! and i KNEW it was cause we were fasting! i said "hna downs! the whole zone was fasting for you today!" there was silence on the other end of the phone. then through a choked voice i heard "thats why it went so well. i had a miracle today. the doctor poked where my hernia was and it hurt really bad. i actually screemed. but the second time, the pain was gone! it was wierd, confusing. but it was just GONE! and now i know why!" our fast brought a miracle! its amazing! and now she is here with us again. im excited for the rest of the zone to hear her experience. they will be so excited! 

also, another miracle, we have this investigator Sheila who is SO PREPARED! She has been to church every week for a month and a half WITH our menos activo familia that we are rescuing. (JUST LIKE YOU PROMISED! ) however, sheilas mom wont give permision for her baptism. 

but this sunday, her mom, AND THE WHOLE FAMILY  came to church! FOR 3 HOURS! IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!!!!! now i can see why she couldt be baptised yet. God is waiting for teh whole family to be baptised to gether. (or something like that) its all in His control. i have to remember that its not MY mission, baptisms dont happen in MY time, its all in GODS time. cause this is HIS mission. i am simply on the forefront fighing and doing my part. i cant see the whole perspective. but He can.

in other news, there was an earthquake in lima, so wheather in trujillo was wierd, 

also, our looking for a new pensionista AGAIN! becuase, (ok this is the sad part), her son, who is on a mission in Chili, is coming home early! this poor mother is so discouraged. she is so worried for her son. he was not adjusting well to chili. he was really struggling with missionary life, weather, food, companions, the whole thing. he fell into depression (like many missioaries do) and did not come out. his parents have been communicating with his mission president a lot this week thru skype, and came to the decision that he would be coming home. his parents are kind of disappointed, and his girlfriend, Gabi, as well.it is heart breaking. but then, this after noon at lunch, we found Mama Cicilia crying in the kitchen! found out that her son RAN AWAY in chili and they are all looking for him now! he snuck out in the night or early morning, and havent seen him all day! this poor mother! she is trying so hard to keep peace. she is very prayerful and very emotional. its kinda hard to hold a mother as she cries. i just want to fix it and promise that everything will be alright. my heart broke for her. 

also this week, i introduced my bolivian companion to french toast and pancakes. she LOVES them! and i didnt realize how much i missed maple syrup. felt like home (shout out to cheri evans for sending me the flavoring! youre THE BEST!)  

 

it was a good week!!! 

thats the latest and greatest. 

con amor, 

until next week, 

hermana gonzales

PS totally forgot it was thanksgiving until a fellow gringo wished me happy thanksgiving! WHAT THE? and how does one explain "black friday" to a latino,

"esperamos afuera de las puertas de una tienda, en la madrugada, y comprar cosas como locos!"

ya.... strange..... i know. 

but i would like to share some things i am grateful for. 

shoes

clean clothes and underwear

carpet or tile floors

a bed

a roof made of anything other than mud or grass or tarp

a full stomach every night i go to sleep

the gospal, and the hope it brings 

spanish, but mostly english

but most of all i am most grateful for my elder brother Jesucristo. el es mi salvador y redentor. 

el me ama. y le ama tambien. i am grateful for sharing this message with los demas. i love being a missionary. i love it and hate it. its the best and hardest thing i have ever done. but i have seen the lord hand more in the last six months than i have in my whole life. and for this, i am truly grateful. 

con amor, 

suyo por siempre, 

Hermana Gonzales 

 

 

Yes, I'm 20 and still pretend I'm Harry Potter. What's it to ya?

Cutting grass with a machete. This is really how they do it! I have not seen a single lawn mower yet. They use tools. #peru New talents every day, right?

More service. Washing clothes like a pro. Ok mostly making the Peruvians laugh at my lack of skill...but it's fine. Poco a poco (little by little).

Fond this 1.5 year old and 3 year old brother crying, ALL ALONE, in their living quarters. I cannot call it a house because there is no roof. They live with cuy, chickens, and goat. And she was diaperless, shoeless, with a shirt tied around her with a rope for clothes. NOT EVEN 2 YEARS OLD! I promise NEVER to leave my children home alone. I will take care of my children. Broke my heart. Thank you mom for loving me and not abandoning me EVER!