Hmm... What happened this week?

Not much more than working :)

Our ward had a talent show. Us missionaries sang "Hallelujah" in Spanish. We may or may not have angelic voices. We also did a couple of short sketches and our ward did a bunch of stuff and it was probably the most fun talent show of my life.

Last Monday a lot of us went to a dinosaur park. In like the boonies of Cusco. I`m not sure why it`s there, but it was super fun. We`re also fairly certain there are Incan ruins underneath it. Somebody should go excavate that. Hermana Wight (who is basically the ballerina-from-Washington me) and I had more fun than anyone there. Including a 6 year old. Hna Wight is one of the Hnas who lives in our apartment right now. We chat it up a lot because I think she`s hilarious. (is that vanity if I just said she`s the same person as i am?)

One of our investigators wants to get baptized! We haven`t given her a date yet, but she`s on her way. We asked her the other day if she believed that the church was true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, etc and she said that she was certain! I`m basically beyond thrilled. Hna Condie and I contacted their family in the street, and they`re slowly, but surely progressing! 

Not much else. I`m just so thrilled to be here. I LOVE being a missionary.

Love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Hna Hill

Oh. I also hit exactly 1/3 of my mission this week and I`m not entirely sure what to think about that. 

(Kelly here)

Keni wrote a quick little message to me that read:

Sorry I don`t have time. Again. I`m the worst. I feel like you guys don`t quite understand, too, so that makes it worse. LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

(Kelly here - I had asked her about her companion and the typhoid, and what it really meant for her)

Also - typhoid is an infection that you get if you eat something really bad. Like poop or somehting. Not contagious.

And I haven`t been really sick, just days here and there. Oh, except I had parasites for like 3 months. They`re gone now. DON`T freak out and call the mission office or anything, yeah? Parasites happen sometimes in 3rd world countries and I just had to take two pills after dinner and they were gone.

Love you!

Keni

(Kelly here - last time)

Sigh. Kids! "DON'T freak out" ... yeah right! :) But I'm not freaking out. I just don't know why I couldn't know these things as they're happening (so I could properly worry like a Mum should). Hahaha. But seriously. Double sigh.

Still Don`t Have My Peruvian ID

You know, the one that means I can legally stay in the country for a year and a half. I went to Lima for two days. I don`t really like going to Lima. I missed my mission and my companion and my sector, and it was also really hot.

Things I learned in Lima:

I have absolutely no idea how to use a cell phone anymore. They gave me one so they could call and check up on me when I was sitting alone in migrations for HOURS. Cell phones are hard, man. And all I had to do was hit a speed dial if I needed help. I struggle with technology.

Even though (apparently) Lima is cooling down, it`s crazy hot. And humid. Cusco has been cold almost the entire time I`ve been here, and it just keeps getting colder. So that shocked my system :) I slept without any kind of blanket or sheet or anything.

Even though Lima Este, Iquitos, and Cusco are missions in the same country, they`re very very different. It`s funny how that works.

I`m improving more with my Spanish than I thought I was! And getting progressively worse with my English.

Apparently my shoulders are misshaped? I don`t think so, but the guy who took my pictures for the Interpol thing photoshopped the crap out of them. 

I also really love airplanes! Until there`s turbulence. (How do you spell that?) And then I get crazy sick.

That was pretty much the most eventful thing that happened this week. When I got home, Hna Gonzalez 2 and I worked. No one really had any time, like at all, so we have about a dozen citas scheduled for this week, and I`m really looking forward to it :) After a couple of slow weeks it`s great to just work really hard.

We had a study assignment from the Hna Leaders today, and it was to study our patriarchal blessings and write down the promised blessings that are included in it. I knew there were blessings in it, but I didn`t realize how many until today. And they`re all based on my faith and diligence and obedience. It`s incredible how much we can be blessed if we`re living faithfully! I encourage you to do the same with your patriarchal blessing. It turned a somewhat crappy day into a calm, beautiful, and peaceful day. Patriarchal blessings are so amazing.

I LOVE being a missionary :) And I`m so happy to be back in my sector working DURO!

Con TODO mi amor, (Kelly here. Apparently, that means "with all my love") (Good to know).

Hna Hill

OH! And happy birthday to the very best step-mom around - Valerie! I`m so lucky you`re my other mom! 

The Second Gonzalez

Is awesome! And sick. Since she`s been sick, and we`ve been in and out of the hospital all week, we haven`t actually worked in our sector. We`ve been in the house, and the hospital. But that`s given us plenty of time to get to know each other better!

Hna Gonzalez is currently struggling with her thumbs up thing.

We`ve been in and out of the hospital all week because the medicine they`re giving her for her typhoid is through an IV. So when we`re sitting in the freezing cold hospital, I taught her how to play Farkle (one of my favorite games EVER) and how to say "Get back, witch!" and "I`m not a witch, I`m your wife!" and if you don`t know what movie that`s from, I`m ashamed.

....

It`s from the Princess Bride. One of my favorite movies ever. I`ve now converted her to being a fan, and she hasn`t even seen it. She informed me that it`s now at the top of her list.

(Courtesy: The Google)

So now we go around all day long saying get back witch, and I`m not a witch, i`m your wife back and forth. It`s the best. I was really missing quoting movies, because it`s just not the same in Spanish. Generally they change it up a little bit, and even if they didn`t, my Spanish isn`t good enough to get it spot on. Now I figured it out! I just have to teach her the quotes :) 

She also has incredible faith. As we`ve chatted for a week, I`ve seen her testimony, and wow do I want to be like her! When we chat about investigators, less actives, other mission experiences, etc. I can see just how firm her foundation is in the gospel and it`s awesome. I`m excited to see her teach, because I`m sure I have a butt load to learn from her.

Hnas Hill and Gonzalez

Also, First González? IS ENGAGED. And she didn`t send me an email. Someone fly to Buenos Aires and kick her butt for me, yeah? I miss her. Every time I change a companion, it`s sad, but I`m also really lucky with my next one.

Everyone`s betting my next comp is going to be another Argentina. I`m starting to think the same. Especially because sometimes I talk more like I`m from Argentina than Peru. And I know almost more about their culture than the culture in Peru. Who would`ve guessed I came to Peru and will come home speaking like I`m from Argentina?

Love you all bunches and bunches and hope that you have the best week ever :) Next week I`m sure I`ll have more to write about, like investigators or something. Oh, and happy birthday yesterday to my cute cousin Noah! Stop growing up, kid.

Hna Hill

Hna Borja, Elder Blancarte, and me. These two are a crack up.

 I saw Hna Love! From my district in the CCM. I love that girl to death.

I Can`t Use "Cha-cha-cha-changes!" For a 3rd or 4th Time, Can I?

Hna González is leaving me. Well :) She`s going home. Tomorrow. At least we can hang out more today! We`re going to go have lunch with our whole district because her, and one of the Zone Leaders are finishing their missions today. I`m pretty excited, it`s going to be fun, but then sad too. Who wants to bet there`ll be cake and then I`ll gain another 400 pounds? :)

My new comp, who I haven`t met yet, is ANOTHER Hna González! She`s from Argentina as well. I`m starting to think maybe all of my latina companions will be Argentina and a González.

And I`m staying in Alamos :) I`m thrilled. I just want to get things up and moving again in our sector. And I`ve heard that González 2 is a hard worker, so I`m a happy camper.

In other news: I lost my USB last Monday. Well, I say lost. I`m pretty sure I forgot it in the internet place and the guy in charge kept it and is lying. But luckily I never erased any of my pictures, I`m just missing ones from Hnas Condie and Gonzàlez. And ones from home. Oh well. I bought another one today.

And I also found my dad`s doppleganger. Last Monday the Familia Guarrielo had our whole district over for pizza and the niece saw my agenda and was like "uhhh... Who is on your agenda with you??" It`s me and my daddy! "It totally looks like Ricardo!" 

So we took a photo like the one on my agenda. And now he`s always like "Ciao hijita, be safe, get home on time, etc." and one time was like "well, makes sense that she`s pretty, because she looks like me!" Who would guess that I`d find my dad`s doppleganger in Peru? Especially because his mom is from Uruguay and his dad is from Argentina and he was born in Chile. The world is a funny place.

Conference was the BOMB. I loved every minute of it. Well, Saturday was hard to catch all of it, but Sunday? I cried a lot. From joy and the spirit, don`t worry :) Saturday morning we watched it in Spanish, because we couldn`t find anywhere to watch in English, and it was so difficult. I understand the Spanish perfectly, that wasn`t the problem. You could just also hear the English in the back ground, and that confused my brain to no end. It was so hard to focus on only one language when I can understand both without trying. So while I understood the words, I only got the gist of the talks, and not really all of it. And then in the afternoon we watched it on the internet with the Haslers, but it cut out a lot and we missed whole talks. But Sunday we had no problem and I`m just eternally grateful that I got to watch conference at all. I. LOVE. CONFERENCE.

I may have done happy dances all week long. Which made Hna Gonzàlez laugh her head off. Apparently I have no dance skills.

I love being a missionary. So much. I really am so very happy to be here :) Wouldn`t change anything.

Love you all! Go watch conference if you haven`t already!

Hna Hill

A hat that`s made from llama fur that I`m pretty sure makes me look really attractive.

Our district and the Fam Guarrielo

Me and Ricardo Guarrielo, my Chilean dad (and 'Merican Dad and Keni)

Nosotras, the Rhoades - a senior missionary couple that teaches our english classes - they`re amazing, and Elder Largent photobombing. He`s tall.

Nosotras, and Elder Nicholls. He was my first Zone Leader and is going to be for a third of my mission. 

(Wow. I`m spending a third of my mission in Cusco!!)

Ricardo and Rosa Guarrielo, the Johnsons, and Nosotras. The Johnsons are amazing as well! They`re in charge of Family History in the mission and the Guarrielos are LOVING doing their Family History.

I Love My Foot.

Remember how I almost broke my pinky toe? But then I didn`t, I`m just a klutz. It`s perfect ahora but the way.

This week my big toe (on the same foot) may or may not have gotten an infection and I had an ingrown toenail. No big deal to me until we had to go visit Dr Carrasco and then he had me sit on the... rolling bed table thing... dosed my foot with some pretty uneffective anesthesia, and cut my toe open and removed part of my nail that was digging pretty deep into my toe. No wonder it hurt :) 

On the bright side, (I`m almost six feet tall... haha. nope. Name that song...) it didn`t hurt that bad, I could just feel it pretty well because the anesthesia couldn`t affect the infection. Cool stuff. He gave me 5 different shots, but I didn`t even know until after it was over. I only felt the first one and the cutting of the toenail and such. Also on the bright side, since I`m panicky with needles and doctors, I really wanted a blessing, and then there were Elders right outside waiting to talk to the doctor about one of their backs! I`m so eternally grateful for the priesthood.

Hna Gonzàlez took some pretty nasty photos of my toe being injected with anesthesia and being cut, but I`ll save you from those. They`re pretty sick.

And then, thanks to the elephant sized dose of anesthesia, I couldn`t feel my foot or walk all day. It was a boring Tuesday.

Then the Hna Leaders came to visit (and because I worked with Hna Hunter all day I remembered what my height feels like in the states!) and it was awesome.

We had a great couple of FHEs and we`re slowly starting to find people. I love it.

Also this week, we had interviews and a training with President Harbertson. It was absolutely amazing. I was so spiritually charged and now I`m just ready to take on the world.

We have the best mission president and wife around. Sorry to the rest of you :)

Hna Yeshica, my favorite lady ever. She washes our clothes for us, helps us find things when addresses are crazy, we have FHE with her family once a week, etc. She`s INCREDIBLE. And when Hna Condie and I were transferred to Alamos and we couldn`t find anyone to wash our clothes, she was totally willing to wash them for free every month before she knew that we have that included in our money each month. She`s kind of like my Peruvian mom and I love her.

Hna Borja. One of the Hnas in our district. I love her to death. And she started her mission one change after I did, so I`ll be able to see her the whole time I`m here!

That one time after a FHE with the Familia Mandujano and they let me dress up like Elsa. #dreamcometrue

And Hna Gonzàlez dressed up like Anna. We dressed up like other things too, but those pictures are embarrassing so you can`t see them.

Plus, I loved being Elsa. How fun is that??

I`m happy. I`m safe. My toe is now doing well ;) and I`m THRILLED to be a missionary. There really isn`t anything better I could be doing right now. This really is the Lord`s work. And I love it.

Love and miss you all! Hugs.

And more hugs than anyone else to my Daddy. Cause it`s his birthday on Jueves. And he`s pretty much my favorite person in the world. Love you Pops :)

Hna Hill

Hiking`s My Favorite

Also - Finding. 

I love it. I really do :) While it`s fantastic to actually have investigators, I also love starting at the beginning with new investigators. Actually, I prefer a mix of the two, but I`m just thrilled to be here :) The people are amazing, as always. There`s humor, the Holy Ghost, the gospel, I live in CUSCO PERU, I`m in the work of the Lord, I have the authority to teach the gospel, etc. It`s just the best.

This week we worked with The Johnsons a couple of times :) They`re the greatest. They`re the mission Family History specialists. When I grow up`, I want to be like the Johsons. They`re so sweet, and funny too. And they love the gospel, which is always something I`m a fan of.

Nosotros and Hna Johnson

Last PDay we had our Zone Meeting-PDay again and it was awesome. Our Zone Meeting made all of us so excited to work harder with new and different ideas. There`s also a new iniciative coming out soon. Keep your heads up. #GraciasAQueÈlVive or... Uhhh... English... Something like #BecauseHeLives  maybe? That would make more sense than the literal translation. 

Remember how I said Elder Nicholls is an awesome Zone Leader because he doesn`t just plan soccer every Zone PDay? He gets more cool points, cause we went on another hike last week! It was awesome. Why am I such a fan of caves? I don`t really understand it, but there you go.

Caves. I love them.

Our district leader, Elder Calle. He`s hilarious. And can we just appreciate how awkward pictures are with Hnas and Élderes?

I live in this country! So. Gorgeous.

More missionaries. Most of them are in my district. I love them.

 

I don`t know how, but this happened with my agenda like 4 times in 10 minutes. So I had Hna Gonzàlez take a picture the last time.

Happy birthday yesterday to my amazing grandma Myrna and on Wednesday to my mission-mom Hna Condie! You guys are awesome. 

I love and miss you all bunches and bunches. Write me some things sometime, yeah?

Hna Hill

To Pops

(Kendall here)

The kid who is in Peru has the ability to make her old man cry from 4000+ miles away. I commented on the fact she is wearing her DMB/Guster/Ben Folds concert t-shirt in some of her pics, and she sent me this reply:

Hey Pops smile emoticon Love and miss you BUNCHES. Sorry my emails are sill so short. I`ll respond better next week smile emoticon I love wearing that concert tshirt from BNL, Guster, and Ben Folds Five because people are always like "whaaat?" and then I explain the beauty of BNL, and Guster, and how awesome it was to go to that concert with my dad for his birthday. Even if I did spend 60 dolares on two concert tshirts. Not one single regret with that money. It was well spent. That picture of us sticking our tongues out at that concert is on the front of my agenda this change smile emoticon In a lesson with one of our brand-spanking-new investigators, we were talking about how much our Father in Heaven loves us, and our families here, etc. It was our first lesson, so we were just getting to know her. She was talking about her dad and how much she loves him, how similar they are, etc and started to cry a little bit. I then started to cry a little bit and shared about how cool you are, and how you`re one of my favorite people in the whole world, showed her that picture on my agenda etc. and we talked about how if you, and her dad, are that awesome, and that loving and amazing, can you imagine what our Father in Heaven is like? Cause He is perfect. It`s hard to imagine when we have dads as awesome as you guys smile emoticon Just wanted to share that with you. Love and miss you bunches and bunches and a some oodles thrown in there too.

Keni

This is the pic she is referring to. It makes me feel all sorts of good that she can use our relationship in teaching people about the gospel.