So right now we are in a strike and we basically risked our lives to
get to this internet. You are welcome. Just kidding. There was just
angry men blocking the road. We are entering a strike and its going
to get crazy. Or that’s what they say. Supposedly the natives are
going to come with their bow and arrows to fight. I hope its not too
serious because we have lots of work this week.
Alright so this week was probably one of the best weeks ever. It was
just fun. I love being a missionary and I love Hermana Aailima and I
love PUERTO! I never thought I would love it so much. I don`t feel so
hot anymore and I just love the warm weather and the people. It’s the
best! Okay so last Pday we had zone pday and it was pretty great.
We decided to make oreo cheese cake balls. One of the elders tried
them and asked us if this is why America has diabetes. Hahaha.
Probably. Anyway as we were sitting in the hall waiting for our
companions in the bathroom a crazy running cat flew by us and turned a
corner where we knew it was a dead end. He kind of skidded around the
corner and hit the wall and just kept going. We knew there was no
way he could get out so we went to look at him and he wasn´t there.
We were so confused!! Me and Hermana Miceli thought that he had jumped
into the ceiling because there was a whole in the ceiling and we were
convinced that was now in the ceiling of the church. We were laughing
about it, and we just couldn´t believe it! It was just so marveling
but then we got a little closer and we realized that one of the glass
panels on the door of the church was missing. Hermana Miceli and I
laughed for a real long time because we had been so gullible. It was
a memorable moment. Oh and to make the cheesecake balls we used the
sun to melt the chocolate and literally it did a really good job. It
was amazing! The sun is so hot here. I don´t really understand why
since I am not as close to it as I was in Puno, but yeah its super
crazy hot. Wednesday we had interviews with Presidente and training
form the assistants It was probably the most amazing training and
interview that I have ever had. I was awesome and gave me so much
energy to keep working! There is so much potential here in Puerto!
So much! Its just up to us to be obedient to Presidents advice and
keep moving forward. It was a great day and after Hermana Harbertson
came with us to an appointment in the pouring rain. We had to walk
through some crazy muddy roads but she was a great sport. I love her
sweet example and even though she doesn´t speak much Spanish you can
just feel the love she has for the people.
Thursday the Hermana leaders came from Cusco! They are the best! We
had a great day and because we were working both in the same sector we
visited a ton of people. they are the greatest! J I left with
Hermana Salas and she is the best teacher and taught me a lot about
how to love the people and how to explain and teach with more clarity.
Man she´s the coolest.
Saturday was the best!
We had a cita with recent converts, Sofia and Milagros. When we got
there they weren´t there so we asked their mom, who isn´t a member, if
we could help her with anything. She said that we could help her make
empanadas!! Oh man she makes the best empanadas in all of peru and we
got to help her. She was so patient. She just let us go for it and
didn´t get mad when we made mistakes. They turned out great and she
gave us each three! Wow they were so great and it was so much fun to
just talk to her and gain a little bit of her trust. She has been
listening to us but doesn´t want to do anything without her husband
who is stubborn and insists that his family listens and not him…
anyways. Rosa is her name and she is the best empanada maker ever.
It’s a good thing that she doesn’t sell them in our sector because if
she did we would buy one every day. After that we had received
permission from our leaders to go buy some things at a store to
prepare us for the strike that is coming because we might not be able
to leave. We ran over to a store in our sector and there was a man
that kind of hunted us down and asked “are you guys Mormons?” I said
yes and he told us that he was a member but wasn`t able to attend
because of work. He was kind of really weird and I got a bad feeling
about him. He didn´t know any of the branches names and asked if we
had a phone number. I said we didn´t and that he could come to the
church at 8 Sunday. We left and did our quick shopping and when we
were checking out he came up to us again. He asked us if he had a
book that he could read and then asked for our names and numbers
again. I told him to just come to the church and we´d give him a
book. At this point I was just really annoyed and just felt like we
should get out of there. He said that he was going to go talk to his
boss to see if he could get time off. He went over to his boss and I
heard them laughing and I just felt like we needed to leave. So he
came back and tried to grab me so that I could talk to his boss and
explain why he wanted to go to church. I definitely wasn´t having any
of that so after I dodged him, I told him that we would check out
first and then I would talk to her. He went back to his shelfing job
and when we had finally checked out I looked at him and he wasn´t
looking at us so we grabbed our huge bags of cereal and yogurt and
calmly walked out the store but when we were out on the street we just
started running/walking to get out of there. We actually turned down a
pretty sketch alley and got pretty lost but it was one of the funniest
things ever. We laughed so much and couldn´t believe that we had just
ditched this “less active”. It sounds like a really non missionary
thing to do but he was giving me a weird feeling and did try to touch
me. So that’s like two very red flags as a missionary. After we
went to the district activity which were the DANZAS!! It was so fun.
I love the traditional dances of peru! Our branch did the best one I
have ever seen. The adults danced and they included a live chicken
and they threw real eggs! It was marvelous!!! It was a great
night! LOTS of investigators came and some even danced! It was
amazing! I´ll try to send a picture!
Something that stuck with me this week is something that we talked
about in our training. We watched a really cool sport clip that you
guys have probably seen but while the player is crossing the field
with a person on the back the coach says, give me your heart, you
promised me your best. I love this saying. I promised the Lord that
I would give my all to him. And we all promise that we will do our
best. We need to give him our heart and keep pushing forward. We
promised him our best.
I love you guys so much and I am so thankful for all the great support!
Love, Hermana Russell
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