Week 75

January 16, 2017

Hey everyone!

Wow weeks keep going by faster and faster... I can't believe it!  This week was full of miracles.  I feel like I say that every week, but it's really true.

I got news from Hermana Laura that Noemi and Richard are receiving the new missionaries in Moyobamba and have a goal of getting married at the end of January! I'm so happy for them! I wish I knew more, but my communication is kinda limited.

Eloy and Nelida came to church again! We called them an hour before church started to remind them and Eloy told us they weren´t going to go because a family member was coming to visit them. We were quite sad, but then when we got to church they were already there waiting for us! Nelida heard her husband tell us that they weren't going and she told us that she told him “How are we not going to go? We have to go!“   Anyways, they really enjoyed church and are reading their Book of Mormon!

For service this week, we helped Orito.  She is super cute.  She gets sick alot
and has two little kids.  So we helped her wash clothes, helped her cook, and washed her dishes.
It was so cool!

There is a family in the ward that sells fish.  They had a bin full of these snails ...
snails that live in the ocean??  They were so cool that I took a picture!

The biggest miracle of all has to do with our new investigator this week.. his name is Wilder.  We actually had met him when we first got to the area because his entire family are active members.  His niece is a returned missionary and his mom has been a member for over 30 years. He has never been baptized because he has a big problem with alcohol. He basically drinks everyday. When we were talking to his mom a few weeks ago, we asked who else lived in her house, she said, "her two daughters, her niece and „el borracho“, which in English means "the drunk".  That's how bad his addiction is.  Saturday morning we decided to go visit the mom (her name is Nelly) because we wanted to get to know her family a little bit better. We get there and Nelly tells us her son Wilder is sober and she wants us to talk to him, so we did.  She accompanied us and we taught Wilder. We talked a lot about how he needs to stop drinking and we really felt the spirit.  We were super direct and told him about the consequences and blessings he would get from living or not this commandment. He told us he would try to stop drinking and would come to church with us tomorrow. We kinda didn't believe him because so many elders have tried to teach him, but he has never changed. So when sacrament meeting ended yesterday and his mom came up to us to tell us that Wilder was dressed and waiting for us that morning, we were shocked! Apparently,  he thought we were going to pass by his house to walk with him and his family to church, so when his family all left at 7:45 AM he stood there waiting for us. We felt bad because we didn't know he would be waiting for us, we had told him we would wait in the chapel! So we called him and told him we would wait outside the doors of the church building for him. He said he would come! And he came! He hadn't drunk the night before and came to church! What a miracle! We're planning on calling him today to remind him of his goal not to drink and we have an appointment tomorrow! What a miracle! His family is in shock... as are we!

This is the Quiroz Family.... they are amazing!!  They were very strong Catholics until the met
the missionaries and the whole family was baptized.  They are super strong in the church.
They have only been members for three years but it doesn't feel that way!

This is Katy Quiroz.  She has a goal to go on a mission so she's been
accompanying us a lot these past few weeks!

Funny story... we were walking to our pensionista´s house and there was a man crossing the street with his Bijau leaves.. the leaves they use to make juanes. They're giant leaves. Anyways, we were going to go help him carry his leaves when he kneeled down and was like worshipping us? I don't even know.  We were so confused.  We just said “buenos dias“ and kept on walking we had no idea what to do! Hahaha.

So yeah, it was a great week! Excited for another one!

Love you all,

Hermana Gurney

Week 74

January 9, 2017

So this week was great!

We´ve really seen how the Lord is hastening his work!

First, I talked to the zone leaders from Moyobamba and they confirmed that Orlando and Elsa did get married and Elsa did get baptized! I'm so happy for them! I still don't have pictures though...

Remember how last week I talked about things I had forgotten about Iquitos?  I remembered another one! BINGO!! Everyone here sits out on the street playing bingo all day every day.  I don't know what is so enjoyable about bingo that they can play it so much, but they get serious! like don't even try contacting people playing bingo because they won´t pay any attention to you whatsoever... apparently bingo is so intense it needs 100% concentration!

The other thing is aguaje... it's a cool fruit they eat here in the jungle, but mostly in Iquitos.  I saw very few people eat aguaje in Moyobamba and Tarapoto, but in Iquitos EVERYONE is eating it.  I've tried it ... it's not even that good!!

There is a really cool part of my area where the houses are over a little river.

River houses!!

This week in church, there was a lizard! a giant green lizard! I have no idea how it got in the church building, but I saw it during Relief Society and wanted to take a picture but when church ended the lizard was gone :(

This week we had the blessing of finding a super awesome family! Eloy and Nelida. They are super cool! The elders were visiting them a while ago, and gave a health blessing to their granddaughter.  Apparently, the blessing really helped so that opened their hearts and they have started listening to us again!  They came to church yesterday and Eloy said "estoy encantado.. encantadisimo"... literally, he's enchanted hahaha.  He said he wants to keep coming back with all his kids too! Sweet guy! Tomorrow were going to go give them a Book of Mormon so they can start reading!! 

View from a member's backyard!

A cool Peruvian nativity in the Iquitos town square.  They already started to take it down
so I hurried and took a picture!

This week our Bishop also told us a story that really hit me... and I'd like to share it with you guys!

He said he and his wife used to work two jobs to support their family.. they would leave the house at like 8 in the morning and get back at midnight.  It was a busy schedule, but they needed to pay some debts. One day he was coming home and he saw is daughter in the window, waiting for them.  When she saw them, her face lit up and then ran to go to bed so they wouldn't know she was waiting for them! He said he felt so bad that he was hardly spending anytime with his daughter... So he decided to quit his second job to spend time at night with his kids. They still had a lot of debt to pay, but he said that God blessed him! Within a few months of quitting his job, he was able to pay off his debts.. he´s still not sure how but he did! and now he said he has seen how God has blessed him and his family throughout the years.

I really liked that because it reminded me of the importance of spending time with our families! They are the most important thing and not even work should get in the way of that. I love this gospel because it always teaches us the importance of putting our families first!

Hermana Velazquez!!  She is now a sister training leader and was in Iquitos for training.
I was so happy to see her!  (One of us just came out from an
air conditioned room ... the other was sweating out on the streets of Iquitos!)

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Gurney

Week 73

January 2, 2017

Well this week has been kinda CRAZY!!

Monday night Hermana Lazarte and I started planning for the next day ... when the assistants called and told us BOTH that we had transfers!!!  Nine sisters went home last transfer and only four came in, so they had to close areas, and just our luck, they closed Moyobamba! Now there are no sisters in Moyobamba!

I left an extensive note explaining what the new elders need to do for Elsa´s wedding and baptism.  I haven't heard anything yet but I'm praying that everything went well! I´m going to try to write a few people to find out if they know what happened!

So now I am in.. IQUITOS again!  I started my mission here and now I'm ending it here! My area is Moronacocha.  This area has had exclusive elders for almost a year now! The ward is so excited to get sisters! My area is quite different than my first area in Iquitos.  This area is in almost the very center of Iquitos ... Secada was way on the outskirts of town. Needless to say, there are still lots of things I had forgotten about Iquitos when I was here so long ago.

This is Laguna Moronacocha... it is right across the street from our house!
It is so pretty!  I think it is connected to the Amazon ... but I'm not sure!

For transfers we had to fly to Lima first and then go to Iquitos!  So we ate Papa Johns!
We didn't know they even had it at the Lima Airport!!

1. The accent! Everyone in Iquitos has a "charapa" accent.  It's hard to explain but they sing a little bit when they talk. Everyone talked to me about their accent when I was here over a year ago, but I didn't notice it because Iquitos was the first place I heard Spanish, so I didn't know any different!  Also, I didn't speak Spanish, so that made it harder to notice accents haahaha. 

2. The heat! I had forgotten what its like to sweat all day every day... I thought I had just gotten used to it during the mission, but really I was just serving in areas that aren't as hot! 

There are more but I can't remember them right now! hahahah

On our way to Tarapoto from Moyobama.  We stopped on the side of the road because
the sign said "There's bread" ... and it was good bread!

My new companion is Hermana Huaycho (pronounced why-cho), she has 13 months in the mission.  I had actually met her when I was in Tarapoto!  We´re stoked to be working together, even if it is only for six weeks! She´s from Arequipa, Peru, where they're building a temple!  She's praying they will dedicate it after she gets home so she can go to the dedication!  I will be training her as a new Sister Training Leader!

Fun story-

The other day we were walking back home and we were stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to change so we could cross, and while we were waiting, up comes a motokar and the driver shouts "Hermana Gurney!"... I was super confused cause it was only my second day in Iquitos and I had hardly met anyone in the ward, and I didn't think anyone knew my name!  It turns out that is was Mariyeta and Mac- my old investigators from Secada! The husband is a member and the wife isn't, but while we were teaching her, she decided to get baptized! They still had to get married though, and she never got baptized while I was there. We talked for a little bit and they told me they were still going to church every Sunday and they were super excited to see me again! They promised to come to the airport in February to say goodbye! It was quite a tender mercy... because I was quite sad to leave Moyobamba and was really struggling to understand why God would take me away from Moyobamba when everything was going so well over there.... but this visit was just what I needed to encourage myself to keep going! 

With my new companion Hermana Huaycho and Mariyeta and Mac

I´ll send pictures of this cute family! 

Love you tons!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hermana Gurney

Week ... 72? I think? I lost count!

December 26, 2016

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

So this week preparing for Christmas has been very action packed!

First,  my companion went home on Thursday leaving me WITHOUT a companion for a few days! Thankfully, Hermana Lazarte´s companion also went home, so we´ve been two lone wolves out here in Moyo.  It's been a little hard trying to work a lot in both areas, but we´re doing well.  Hopefully, our new companions come soon! :) 

My companion finished her mission!

FHE with Noemi and Richard and another family!

Next... on Friday night we had an activity in the chapel.. it was a chocolatada! (in case you missed my last email that's what everyone does here for Christmas, they eat paneton and hot chocolate and call it a chocolatada).  Noemi called me a few hours before and said that she wouldn't be going to the activity because she's has a fever, but that Richard would come... but it turns out that they both came! Even though they were sick ... they still came! and they really enjoyed it!  They loving coming to church activities, how great is that?

Then, Saturday was CRAZY BUSY!  We went with Orlando and Elsa to the town municipalidad (Mom, I know you told me the word for that yesterday but I forgot) and dropped off all their marriage papers! It's all set... this Friday at 2:00 PM we will be having a wedding in the chapel! We´re super excited :)  After getting back, we went out to work for a little bit and then went over to our pensionista´s house for dinner!  I actually have two pensionistas, one gives us breakfast and lunch and the other gives us dinner. the one who gives us dinner lives in the other branch but they bring us dinner everyday to our apartment.  Due to the fact that Saturday was Christmas Eve, we got permission to go over to her house to eat! and let me tell you.. she is one of the best cooks!  She made pasta salad! Do you know how much I have missed pasta salad?  That stuff doesn't exist here in Peru, but for some reason my pensionista knows how to make it!  It was the best Christmas gift I could have asked for! hahaha. 

Chocolatada with all the missionaries in Moyobama!

Our pensionista, Elizabeth!  She is from the Dominican Republic (cool right?) and is hilarious!!

After eating... we went out to Rioja! (It's a neighboring city.  There is another branch out there.)  We went to the town square and sang Christmas hymns and contacted the people listening to us!  It was a very spiritual experience, you could really feel the Christmas spirit.  I don't have pictures though, just a video which is too big to send in an email. Sorry!!!

In Rioja ... where we have our district meetings!

Then, of course, Sunday I got to talk to you all! It was actually quite the experience... we had two laptops that we borrowed from members and when we went over to a member´s house to use his wifi.  We were only going to bring one laptop, but Hermana Lazarte told me that she felt we should bring the other laptop, just in case...so we did! and it was a good thing too, because the first laptop we were going to bring, didn't have a camera!! We were super blessed that the Spirit guided us in bringing the other laptop with a camera!  :) 

With Analis ... and a cool caterpillar thing in her backyard!

Jhonny driving us home from church.  He works for a taxi company!

Anyways,  I love you all!

Have a super de duper week!

Talk to you next YEAR

Hermana G

urney

Week 71

December 19, 2016

So this week was very.. Christmas-y!

We had a Christmas Zone Conference this week with Presidente and Hermana Li and the assistants.  It was super fun!  We learned a lot about our purpose as a missionary to find, teach, and baptize.  Afterwards, we had a Christmas dinner and watched a slideshow of pictures of Presidente`s family.

With Presidente and Hermana Li!

All the Hermanas in the Moyobama Zone!

 

... And dessert was the Peru classic... Paneton and Hot Chocolate.   Paneton is a like a cake thing, I don't really know how to describe it... hahaha!   I didn't like it at first but now I do. Paneton only comes out at Christmas time because that's the favorite dessert for Christmas down here.  I'm going to try to bring some home so you can try it :) 

This week... ORLANDO`S DIVORCE PAPERS FINALLY CAME IN!!! after MONTHS of waiting... they finally came in!  We`re so happy! Next Friday, they're going to get married and then next Saturday, Elsa will get baptized! We`re super stoked!

Noemi and Richard accepted marriage and we`re going to work on that this week!  We were actually super worried because Richard`s dad came to visit and we thought he might be opposed to the whole idea of baptism and marriage .. but actually he`s totally for it!  His dad`s name is Ricardo and he was actually receiving the missionaries in Chiclayo.  He came to church with is son yesterday! He`s going to stay here in Moyo for a time and so now we have one more investigator in our teaching pool! 

This week.. my companion is going to end her mission! On Thursday, she goes to Iquitos and on Monday she flies home! It's gonna be weird working over here in Moyobamba without her... she knows so much about the members (she served here for seven months).   I don't know what I'm going to do without her expertise! One of the other Hermanas in this zone is also going home so I'm going to be with Hermana Lazarte this week... (their apartment has HOT water!!!)  When I call on Christmas you' ll get to meet her! She's super cute... she just started her mission this transfer and I'm stoked to get to know her more!!

With my companion

With Hermana Arteaga

With Hermana Lazarte ... she will be my companion for a week!!

Love you!!  Merry Christmas!!

Hermana Gurney

Week 70

December 12, 2016

Hello everyone!!  How is December going??  We´re almost halfway through, how crazy is that!!

The month of December is known in Peru as the rainy month. I thought they were joking cause they always tell me it's going to rain a lot this month, but this time they were serious! It has rained literally EVERYDAY this week.. and hard! It has made all the roads super muddy and I have to go out proselyting in my rain boots... which now have holes in them ... so they don't really keep my feet that dry! I'm going to take them to a shoe repairman this week maybe.   (She told me that she has been just filling the holes with superglue and that will keep the water out for a little while!)  Anyways, due to the rain, no one can leave their house (I don't really understand why but it's like an unspoken rule here) so that means more people are in their homes! but also less members that can accompany us! It's been a little difficult.  The good thing is, when it rains, it gets cold! like super cold! I've actually been sleeping with a blanket every night! I think the Lord sent me here in this time to start preparing myself for the freezing cold at home in February! hahaha

This is a cool place in our area called Las Palmeras!  It's so pretty!

So the other day we didn't have any appointments in the afternoon, and we went looking for a few people, but no one was home... so we started knocking on doors.  For about an hour we were knocking on doors and either no one answered, or no one wanted to listen to us.  I was getting a little discouraged, and I almost wanted to give up, but my companion suggested we enter a street that we´ve never gone on before. So we did. We started knocking on doors and a few people told us to come back another day... until we got to one door.  We were going to actually walk past it but I guess it was the Spirit, and I just suggested that we knock on that door. We knock and an old lady answered and she told us to come in! We were a little shocked, because that's not the reaction we usually get hahaha.  She told us to sit down and (wow that felt so good to sit down after walking for so long) and she told us she is a member of the church! She hasn't gone in years because she was sick and couldn't go.   Now she feels better and is super excited to start coming with us again! I know the Lord really leads us to the people He wants us to find!

Noemi and Richard are doing SUPER well. I actually almost cried in our last lesson with them because they told us about all the changes they've made in their lives and how happy they feel! Richard used to drink A TON, and this past week they went to a party where everyone was drinking and Richard said he felt bored... the first time in his life that he was BORED in a party with alcohol.. so he and Noemi left! They said they didn't feel well there.  How cool is that? Noemi said they get so excited Saturday Nights because they get to go to church the next day! They´re a little hesistant about getting married though, but I can see them warming up to the idea. This week were going to teach them with a family that recently got married and baptized to help support them with this decision.

With Noemi and Richard at church!  Such a cute family!

Orlando and Elsa are still waiting for the papers... We don't really know how else to help them except wait! I feel like we should do more but we can't!

Orlando's daughter, Angie, decided to "drive" us home!

Hope you guys are all getting ready for Christmas! I know I am!! Everyone is putting up their Christmas trees and it's putting us all in the fun Christmas spirit.

 

Hope you all remember to take a few minutes in this Christmas season and remember the birth of Jesus Christ! I know he really is our Savior and without him, we could not return to live with our families!

Love you all!

Hermana Gurney

Week 69

December 5, 2016

So this week has been great!

All the Hermana Leaders in Iquitos!

Remember Noemi and Richard? They came to a church activity on Friday night, to church on Sunday (even though they came late :( ) and to the Christmas devotional last night!  The branch is doing such a good job of being their friend and inviting them to literally every activity!  They were going to go to a class about how to strengthen your marriage yesterday in the afternoon, but noemi was feeling sick, so they couldn´t go.  They told us they are thinking about baptism and marriage!  We have a family home evening there tonight with our branch mission leader and hopefully this will really help them progress!

Our Branch President has been really good about inviting people to church, and this week he brought a really cool family with him to church who live in our area!  They´re a young couple and have a little baby and are excited to start listening to our message!  We`re going to go try to find their house today! 

Oh yeah, this week I also got to go to Iquitos!  This time it was only for two days, not a whole week (thankfully!) but it was a great trip!

A cool Peru hat!!

Companions Reunited!!

Lunch after leadership council in Iquitos!

Heading back to the airport in President's car!

These seeds are super cool!  They put them on bracelets everywhere and I
finally found the plant.  Huayruru.. at least I think that is what it is called!

 At our training, we talked a lot about the importance of talking with EVERYONE.  It`s been a little bit of a problem with the mission, that we don't contact many people!  But it was a really good advice that was given- "if we want to baptize people, we need to talk to lots of people, but if we want to baptize few people, we need to talk to few people".  It really hit me, because I haven´t been contacting as much as I should, so this week our goal has been talk to as many people as we can! and it really helps!  We were able to contact into this 18 year old student who has recently moved here to Moyobamba and told us she wants to start going to church again. She said she has gone to tons of churches, but she never felt like she should stay there. She told us she would make time next Sunday to go to church and she hopes she will feel it's right!  She reminds me a little of Joseph Smith and his desires! Her name is Mercedes and we`re super excited to keep working with her this week.

Anyways, that's kinda been my week! I can´t remember if anything else interesting or funny happened! I forgot to bring my journal to internet today so I can't even look through this week to see what happened haha. 

Next week there will be more, I promise :)

Love you all! Happy December!!

Hermana Gurney