Hola!

Hola familia!

It’s been a really great week! It’s super nice to have a companion that

has lots of energy and excitement for the work.  We are doing great.

I hope all is well at home and that the girls are enjoying school J

Hermana Minaya is the best and it’s so great to have such a great

companion.

I think this week we witnessed a miracle We have been working with a

menos activo named Cynthia.  She has been coming to church for about 5

months now but hasn´t had time for the lessons.  She even has a

calling in the ward and is in our consejo de barrio.  No one really

knows that she has been inactive, or they have forgotten, so its been

really hard to visit her.  But as a zone we have been praying

invidually for each companionship and the people that they are working

with.  Cynthia´s name is on the list and I know that everyone has been

praying for her.  It was an awesome feeling to finish all the lessons

Tuesday with her and finally achieve this rescue.  I was so happy and

grateful because I know that the Lord has answered the  prayers of the

missionaries here in Bellavista.  Cynthia is an awesome faithful

member and has plans to go through the temple in February.  I am so

grateful to witness such a great miracle.  WE also met our goals for

the month of August and its such a good feeling.  We are excited for

the month of September because we are going to have even more success!

Last Monday we had a noche de hogar with a family in our ward.  We

invited a less active member and our investigator Juana.   IT was

super great.  The family Rojas is the best and not just because they

are named Jesus and Miracle..  WE had a great lesson and then we

played games and in Peru they are really serious about punishments for

losing.  They have all kinds of punishments from dancing the chicken

like dance or yelling something riduclous from the window.  I was

unfortunate to lose and was punished accordingly.  I won´t tell you

guys what I had to do but you can trust that it was hilarious and now

on facebook…. J  I told Jesus that I wasn´t coming back for a family

home evening!  Haha but it was great and Juana is progressing super

bien!  The ward is supporting us so much and even though we have a lot

of work to do in teaching the lessons but I know that she will be

baptized soon.

OH this week we visited Ilaria!  It was a short lesson because she

didn´t have a lot of time (we visit her in her store).  While we were

teaching two teenager boys came in and were making lots of noise and I

suppose just doing dumb teenager things.  Later they left and were

just outside the small store still making lots of noise.  I guess they

were friends of hers or something like that.   Anyways at the end of

the lesson she would not pray and kept saying that she would pray

later and that I should say it.  We´ve heard say it before so it was

super frustrating and we both knew that she didn´t want to say because

of the teenagers outside.  I think she was a little ashamed or

embarrassed.  We kept persisting and she kept saying no…. ah it was

super annoying J  but after a really long time I asked the teenagers

if they wanted to join us because we were going to pray.  They said

yes and quieted down and entered they small store and I offered the

prayer.   It was a good moment and later I was happy that I invited

them to pray for us.  I think it helped Ilaria know that we are proud

members and that we shouldn´t be embarrassed to pray. J and maybe it

left an impression on the teenagers or at least ilaria.

One last fun thing we did this week!  Our menos activo Johanna (sister

to Cynthia) is going to have a baby in September so Saturday morning

we went to their house and helped make empanadas!  We made 200 little

empanadas and oh my hands hurt so bad from rolling out the dough but

it was so much fun.  The familia Segura is the best.  Only Johana is

inactive now and we love helping them.  Hermana Charro is the mom and

she was in the kitched all day Saturday.  The party started at 6 and

at 8 she was showering and getting ready.  We returned again in the

night to help decorate the cake and they night before we were there

making alfajores.  Don´t worry I have all the recipes! J  Anyways it

was  super great to help them an dI know that Hermana Charro was super

grateful.  The poor thing was super tired after.  Also it should be

noted that they call a baby shower….baby shower and that it started 3

hours late and Bombomcito made an appearance J We never went to the

party because we had to be in our room but we heard it was success J

haha oh  I love peru!

Anyways that was my week.  J  haha Love you all so much and I want you

guys to know that I don´t even miss you one little bit J  jk.. But

don´t worry about me.  HErmana Minaya and I are super great and I am

loving the mission. It’s the best thing ever,  I hope my hermanitas

think really hard about the mission because it blesses your life in

more ways than I ever thought.  Thanks for the love and the support!

Con Amor, Hermana Russell

 1. ALFAJORES

2. waiting for a combi and hermana minaya makes me hold everything....

just kididng we did it for the picture.

3.  we met our goals for August!

4. because we weren´t cold enough we decided to buy ice cream

5. helping Hermana Charro and Amik make empanadas

6. we are ready to go pro....