Hump Day!

As my family is SO aware, I hit my half way mark! 9 months. That´s insane.

9 months!!

At first I decided that I was going to completely ignore it. Because I never want this to end. I love the mission SO MUCH. It´s the best decision I´ve made in my life, and why would I ever want to pay attention to the fact that I now have less time left to serve? But then I decided to pay attention to the fact that I´ve served the Lord in this beautiful country, I´ve met countless people who have changed my life forever, I´ve never felt this kind of joy, I´ve seen too many amazing things to count, I´ve felt the influence of the Spirit stronger than ever before, I´ve learned and learned, and learned some more, the scriptures have become even more important to me, I´ve made so many friends that will be a part of my life forever, the Atonement has never been more beautiful or sacred to me, Ive had so many opportunities to grow, serve, and love, etc. for NINE MONTHS of my life. And I still have another beautiful nine months ahead of me. It´s a wonderful thing, this halfway mark. I still never want to finish, but I know that eventually, it´s something I need to do. But that´s okay, because I´m living every single moment to its fullest, in the way the Lord wants me to. I´m so incredibley grateful for these 18 months that I have to serve Him. 

This week was awesome.

More than half of the mission went to Cusco, and we got to hear Elder Juan A. Uceda (a member of the Seventy and the Area President) talk to us for about 5 or 6 hours. It was... Incredible, to say the least. I´ve never taken so many notes in my life, and I´m definitely a note taker. I honestly don´t know what I could even say about this conference. It changed my life. And WOW am I grateful for the opportunity us missionaries had to listen to him for 5 or 6 hours. He taught us so much, and he was so guided by the spirit. It was an amazing day.

We also got to eat in the mall in Cusco. That was great. I love Papa John´s. And Burger King. Yes, we ate in the mall twice (we were there for 2 days, so why not?). American food is fatty and nice. I like it.

I get a little crazy when I get to eat American food and we´re going to hear one of the Seventy speak. Also, how in the world is my body so awkward? It´s cool. At least I´m aware of it.

The Hna Capacitadoras like to steal my Minnie when we´re traveling to Cusco.

Me and Hna Fernández in Cusco (it´s cool to have your old comp in the same zone.)

Hna Vitola, another one of my favorite Colombianas, and Hna Hill crazy hair. It happens when I don´t shower cause we´re going to be in a bus for 3 hours on the way to Sicuani. Yeah, there´s no way I´m showering for that.

Also, in our reunion de distrito our district leader asked us to write a list about why our companions are awesome. So we can be more grateful for them, and more united or something. I thought it was fun, because I´m happy with Hna Páez. She´s like my favorite Columniana ever. Here´s a couple reasons why Hna Páez is awesome:

- She loves Maroon 5, Jason Mraz, the same actors I love, Captain America, etc. Way to have a good taste, compi!

- She´s probably the most patient person I´ve met in my life, although she thinks she needs to work on it more.

- She´s always willing to help me, and anyone else, with anything they need.

- She tells me (during our email hour when I ´m asking her... hey what´s your favorite bands again? Aren´t they groups I love too?) "Seriously, right now? We´re emailing our families, I can´t remember bands right now..."

- She LOVES her mission, and the Lord, and hopes to never end her mission. She´s an incredible teacher, missionary, etc.

Basically, I´m lucky. She´s the best. And we FINALLY took a picture together! After ALL of my time in Cusco in the same district, we came to Sicuani together, but had different comps, and now that we´re comps, you´d think we´d have at least one, but we don´t. We´re not entirely sure how that happened.

I love you all and I miss you all SO MUCH. 

I´m not sure I´ve ever been this happy. How is there room for all of this joy and love in my body? I´m not really sure, but I´m loving it. There´s really nothing better than this.

Have a wonderful week!

Hna Hill

Hump Day Love

(Kelly here)

Of course I'm celebrating like crazy right now since Keni is half way done with her mission today. I rounded up people to take pictures of themselves so I could surprise her through email.

One of the things Keni is known for is making faces for pictures. You'll see that many people played along, knowing it would speak to her.

Mum Kelly

 Dad Kendall

 StepMom Valerie

 Brothers (Squatch and HJ)

 Gma Lo-Lo and Gpa Dale

 Gma Myrn

BFF Callie 

 StepBro Justin

 StepBro Ryan

 Cousins Anton and Britney and Baby J

 Uncle Mike

 Another bestie Kayla

 Kendra - a YW's leader - and her cute kids.

HAPPY DAY OF BIRTH!

(Kelly here) ... Keni didn't write a blog post this week, but she did send me this message because it's my birthday today:




Or in Spanish: ¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS! 

You completed another year! Wow that came out Spanish. Grammar is hard in English. Just so you know, Jake helped me realize that I was writing to like everyone except for you every week. Yikes. I´m a sucky hija. 

No blog entry this week. Running out of time, and also nothing happened this week. I was sick in my bed. (DON´T WORRY. I´m okay! Normal stuff.) 

Something funny about spanish that I´m certain you´ll enjoy: 

Llama in Spanish is llama. You only pronounce it differently. it sounds like Yama. It also means a couple other things. My personal favorite, and one that never ceases to make me giggle like a 12 year old....

llama de fuego means flame.... but the first time I read that in the scriptures I was so confused. Because if you don´t know that llama also means flame, you think llama de fuego means 

FIRE LLAMA. 

I hope that made sense, because I´m basically always giggling when it says that in the scriptures. And it says it a fair amount. I love Spanish. It´s a crack up.

Anyway. I hope you have the best birthday EVER and know that I´m sending you all my love and hugs! 

A birthday reminder: In about a week I´m half way done with my mission. I´m sure that´ll make you squeal like a little girl. 

LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH! Te amo y te extraño muchísimo!

4th of July in Sicuani!

This week was a little crazy. First, I packed everything to move literally 5 minutes away. #IHatePacking

Second, I sweat for the first time in my whole mission. It was hot. Not going to lie, I didn´t miss the whole sweating thing.

Third, It was INDEPENDENCE DAY! Which pretty much just meant that we worked while wearing red, white, and blue. We went to Chumo (a part of our sector that has 90% cows and sheep and 10% people. I love Chumo.), there was snow in the mountains, we took a lot of pics, and then later that day we went to a funeral of  member that neither of us knew. Odd 4th of July, but it was really great too. It was nice to be a support for the family of that member who died, and there was SNOW in the mountains! 

4th of July in Sicuani. There was snow in the mountains :) 

Fourth, I love my comp. She´s so great. We were in the same district in Cusco, so it´s fun to reminisce... (someone... How do you spell that? I used to know.) She´s from Columbia, so there went the Argentina pattern, but I´m  just happy I still have a latina companion :) Latinas are the best.

My Colombiana compañera celebrating the 4th of July with me. She´s a sweetheart. 

Fifth, me and our district leader spent about 5 minutes trying to remember what a power converter was called. And actually, I´m still not sure that power converter is the right word.

Sixth, I studied the crap out of April´s conference issue. And I found a quote that I LOVE.

"I am here because I desire with all my heart to follow my Master, Jesus Christ. I yearn to do all that He asks of me in this great cause. I hunger to be edified by the Holy Spirit and hear the voice of God as He speaks through His ordained servants. I am here to become a better -woman- , to be lifted by the inspiring examples of my brothers and sisters in Christ, and to learn how to more effectively minister to those in need. In short, I am here because I love my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. This is why -I am- willing to make sacrifices and not just declarations to follow the Savior."  - Dieter F. Uchtdorf (On Being Genuine - April 2015 General Conference)

It´s so true. This is why I´m here. I´m here to invite others to come unto Christ. And sometimes, I´m not going to see the fruits of my work here. Who knows if I ever will. Occassionally that bums me out a little bit. But if I leave it all in the mission field. If I work so hard, and continue to improve and get to the point where I´m so used up that I´m the woman God wants me to be, it doesn´t really matter if I see the fruits. Because I´ll know that I did my best and that God is pleased with me. And that´s what really matters. I yearn and strive to be who our Heavenly Father wants me to be. So I´ll do whatever He asks of me. I´m willing to make the sacrifices. They might not be easy, but hey. I´ll have the Lord on my side. 

It really can´t get much better than this.

I love you all so much!

Happy 4th, happy birthday to my little brother Justin, and have a great week!

Hna Hill

Saying goodbye last week to Annel and Alejandra. Two of my favorite people ever :)

And the niños, who refused to believe I was leaving.

My pensionista Carmen, her family, me and my comp, and the elders. 

I found a tiny little frog. And I picked it up. And then tried to kiss it.

Gotta find my prince charming somehow, right? Why not a tiny frog in Chumo? #ILoveChumo

#Cha-cha-cha-Changes

I´m leaving Rosaspata. To go to Vilcanota (another ward in Sicuani). I´m kinda hoping that this isn´t a pattern. 

And yet another comp that I only had one change with. I´m going to miss Hna Fernández a lot! Even though we´ll still be in the same zone!

I don´t remember if I´ve mentioned her before or not, but Hna Paez is going to be my new companion! She´s the best. She was in my district in Cusco the whole time I was there, and came to Sicuani with me too. And now she´s my new comp! I´m really looking forward to it :)

I´m not really feeling like writing a lot. I´m going to miss my comp and our investigators and ward, pensionista, etc. Although I´m also looking forward to going to Vilcanota!

Love you all SO MUCH!

Hna Hill

I LOVE to See the Temple

As you know, there´s not a temple in my mission. Which breaks my heart. But yesterday they dedicated the second temple in Peru! Woohoo for Trujillo!

We got to watch the broadcast, but when we were in the Stake Center waiting for it to start, they told us that for some technical reason, Sicuani wasn´t going to get any of the three transmissions. #cuethecryingmissionaries 

Since we can´t go to the temple during our missions, that wasn´t something we wanted to hear. So the Zone Leaders called the Asistentes and Presidente about a million times to ask if we could travel to Cusco to watch at least one of the three transmissions. And we got permission! WOO! So we packed our whole zone on one of the buses, traveled to Cusco for three hours, ate lunch with one of the pensionistas over there, watched the third and final transmission, and then traveled back to Sicuani. #AdventureIsOutThere!

Part of Zona Sicuani, in Cusco!

And the day before we got to watch the celebración cultural. I love Peru. I love it so much.

And I also got to see Hna Wight when I was in Cusco. I love and miss that woman.

Hna Wight and I hugging it out.

Things that amazed me this week:

- The faith and preparation for the temple that we saw in our members, less actives, etc.

- Peru and its culture.

- To see 20 young adults (our zone) doing anything we could to be in an extension of the temple. You can´t imagine the joy when we were actually able to attend.

- How much faith my comp has. I love her, she´s the best.

- The chance I have to share this gospel with Peru! 

- That on FATHER´S DAY we dedicated one new temple. There´s another temple on the earth. What better gift could we give to our Father in Heaven on Father´s Day?

Speaking of Father´s Day, it´s really a pity that all of you don´t have MY dad. I love that man. I remember that the first time I went through the temple, that day a woman asked my dad if she could use his hands in a painting she was doing of Christ. She said he had perfect Christ hands. She was more right than she could have known. My dad is always serving others, and always being the example that us kids need him to be. Happy Father´s Day, Pops :) I love and miss you!

I love the rest of you too :) Have a great week!

Hna Hill

Hna Ugarte: another Argentina that I love. She´s one of the Hna Lideres in Sicuani.

Hna Fernández and our pension´s daughter Leandra, and their neighbor´s little kid Bryan. Those kids are hilarious. #goofingoffinastakeactivity

Comp selfies. 

Alejandra - Basically my favorite person ever.

She´s this super super tiny little old lady that we teach. And I´m pretty sure she knows more about the gospel than I do. The only reason she´s less active is because her knees are really bad and she can´t... subir... the stairs at the church without help. We´re trying to get the ward on board with that.

I forgot my Agenda.

So basically that means I forgot everything I wrote down that I wanted to send home....

Bien hecho, Hna Hill. 

Here´s what I remember:

I still hate that little kid voice that sells fruit. And actually, he sells masamorra con arroz con leche. #nothankyou

I went to Lima! FINALLY. I´m legal! WOOO! Everyone, have a spontaneous dance party. Right now.

It was long, and I just wanted to work in my sector, but I guess being legal is kinda important. 

When we were sitting, for hours and hours, in migraciones we met a man from Buenos Aires, Argentina and his accent was crazy thick. But I could understand him! And the latinas who were with us couldn´t! WOO! I love being able to understand. It was hard for me at the beginning, so I fought to understand, and now I don´t have problems. The gift of tongues is awesome. 

I LOVE being a missionary. Our ward is so incredible. They´re wonderful people. And I love all of the people we´re working with! I could talk about them for hours, so just know that I love them.

Also, my comp is in Machu Picchu without me today. And that makes me sad. I was supposed to go with her, but couldn´t because I didn´t get my carnet until two or three days ago. Que triste. But I get to hang out with the Hna Lideres, and they´re awesome.

There´s an upside to everything :)

Love you all so much!

Hna Hill

(Kelly here) The orange she spoke about last week, that was "as big as her head." Well, almost.