Week 51

August 1, 2016

This week was a week of miracles... literally!!

One day, all our appointments had fallen though and we had no plans for the next hour and a half. So we decided to go knocking on doors. So we knocked every single door on this one street and no one wanted anything! We were a little disappointment so we decided to pray to ask where to go. We were standing outside Anita (the older but really active lady)´s house and we prayed. When we finished, we still couldn't think of a good place to go ...  when Anita´s grandson and his family showed up! We had never met them before so we presented ourselves and they let us share a message with them! Well, the grandson did, ... his wife went inside to do something and came out right when we finished teaching him.  Anyways it was a really cool moment to see how God had guided us ... to stay right where we were!!

Our Zone with our new Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Li

The Sisters with Sister Li

We started teaching a girl named Charito.  She moved to Tarapoto a few months ago to start working as a nanny for a less active´s family and to study.  She´s really cute and went once to church with the woman she works for!  She received an answer this week and said she feels like the church is true! She´s been reading her Book of Mormon and we´re super blessed to have met her.  She couldn't come to church this past Sunday.  We don't really know why though... we´re going to visit her tomorrow to see what happened!

Veronica and Segundo are these super cool less actives that have started coming to church. They have a strong testimony.   They just don't go to church sometimes because Segundo doesn't get out of work Saturday night until like 6 or 7 in the morning.  He says he doesn't want to go to church if he's just going to be sleeping the whole time. But they're progressing!  Segundo had told us that he wanted us to teach his mom, but she lives really far away.... like halfway up the mountain, and doesn't have an address. So Friday morning we decided to go looking, and legit right when we decided to start walking up, Veronica and Segundo show up in their Motokar... and they happened to be going to his mom´s house! So he took us up in his motokar and we were able to find her house! It was a great blessing.

FHE with Mercedes and her daughters ... it is a little blurry but it's all I got!!

Our zone leaders asked us to all fast and pray so that every companionship in our zone could find a family to teach that has desires to progress in the gospel. So we did ... and it was so great!  The day we fasted, we met so many new people with so many desires to know the truth! We especially met this awesome family- Charles and Jani. Jani came to church yesterday! She got there late because she had entered into a different church, and they had told her that the church she was looking for was a little bit further away, so she came walking with her two year old son and 10 year old niece and came into church right after the sacrament! It was a miracle that she made it! We found them Saturday morning... when we went looking for a contact. We didn't have any plans and so we started looking for some contacts and references, and because of that we found them! Charles is also excited to come to church. he couldn't come yesterday because he had some other commitment but has promised to come with his wife next Sunday! It's going to be great! They have lots of problems as a couple but I know the gospel is going to help them so much!

That was my awesome week! 

Fun fact... the 28th was Independence Day of Peru

WHOOOOOOOOOOO

They all went on vacation this weekend and ate lots of juanes again (but not as much as on San Juan) and the new president spoke too!

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Gurney

Week 50!

July 25, 2016

So this week was great, we finally met President Li!!  and... he´s shorter than President Gomez! hahahahaha

It's funny because one of the assistants is like six feet!  They´re super awesome! They told us their conversion story and it's super crazy!

Sister Li crew up Catholic and read the Bible a lot.  She always felt confused because the bible talks about prophets and apostles!  She asked her pastors but they never gave her a good reason. She also asked them why they baptize babies... if Jesus gave the perfect example and was baptized as an adult, why do they baptize babies?  She said for a while she went to church with her husband just out of habit, but she never really enjoyed it. One day they just decided to stop going to church. For about six more months, she still had those same doubts about prophets and apostles. Lots of missionaries from other churches showed up at her door and the first thing she asked them was if they had apostles and prophets. Each one said no, so she closed the door in their face! 

Then one day two sister missionaries showed up and asked for "Maritza".   Hermana Li´s first name is Marizta and got excited, but they were looking for a different Martiza.  As the sister were walking away, Hermana Li called them back and asked them what church they're from... they said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She asked them if they have apostles and prophets, they said, "yes!" She asked them if they baptize babies ...  they said "No".  She told them to come in! She then called her husband and told him to hurry home from work to listen to the missionaries! hahaha He got work off early that day to listen to them!

The best part- President Li´s work wouldn't let him take anymore days off early, and would get home from work at 10 pm! The missionaries received special permission from their mission president to teach them at 10pm! Crazy, no! Anyways, they were baptized! What an awesome story! 

They are a very sweet couple and we´re excited to get to know them more!

I have been here so long ... I am running out of places to take pictures! 

Besides meeting President and Sister Li, nothing else really new happened this week! We taught a lot, we walked a lot, and we sweated a lot! but it was awesome!

Happy Pioneer Day!! I'm so grateful to have pioneer ancestors who were strong and accepted this gospel so that I could have the chance to live it!

Love you tons! Talk to you next week!
Hermana Gurney

Week Something

July 18, 2016

THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...TRANSFERS!!!

and... I'm still in Tarapoto with Hna Velazquez! Crazy right? We still don't believe it either. Looks like the new President just forgot about us! hahahahaha   It's really unheard of for two people to be together four changes, but here we are!

It also means I will have spent half my mission in Tarapoto!     

So what even happened this week?

 

First ...  Mercedes- have I even talked about her?  She's awesome!   She lives super far away and has been less active for sometime but has recently started coming to church.   She now has a calling and we´re super happy to see her progress! She came to church yesterday without a reminder call from us! We were so proud of her! She's been reading her scriptures for the past few weeks too!   She gave us her new Book of Mormon so we could write her a note inside! It felt weird writing in someones scriptures, but thats what she wanted!

With Mercedes and her children!

I finally took a picture with Estrella- whose name means star in English ... and let me tell you ... she is a star!  She is our pensionist´s niece and is around four years old.  She just does whatever she wants! It's hilarious. She comes over by herself every morning to buy gum and candy from our pensionista´s store for breakfast.  We always just see her playing shoeless in the street with her mom nowhere insight.  We kinda worry about her but she always gives us hugs when she sees us so I took a picture with her.

with Estrella

We met a cool new couple this week named Geiner and Isabel.  Their kids are friends with a less active we taught and the kids told us to visit their parents, so we did!  This couple is awesome! They want to change their lives and are looking for a church.  They promised they would come yesterday but then some family member got sick so they went to see her instead!  We´re going to help them out this week so they can come to church next week! 

So... things are going cool down here! I don't have many pictures, sorry! I'll try to take more this week!

Love you all!

Hermana Gurney

Week 48

July 11, 2016

So this week was the last week of the transfer! Tonight we might get a call and I might go somewhere else! Who knows!!

A cool river we came across the other day!

So this week was super busy! Our leaders went to Iquitos for leadership council and came back with a bunch of new ideas of how to help us be more efficient! They changed the way to count contacts, so now it only counts as a contact if we get their address and we intend to visit them! People who don't want any additional contact ...  don't count! It's super good ... because now these numbers are really going to reflect the number of people we are finding that want to know more about the gospel, instead of just people we talk to! We are super excited to be better about our contacts!

With Rafaela ... one of the first people baptized in Tarapoto!

This week we went to visit a couple older women in our ward.  They walk to church every Sunday, even though they're like 80 years old! They are the cutest! They both prayed for God to take them away in our lessons, and then thanked us a lot for the visit!  When we gave them a picture of Jesus,  they both kissed the picture!  They talked about how much they want their families to come to church with them and how it makes them sad that they don't.   It was sad to see them sad!  I'm glad we were able to help them feel better! We took pictures with them so I'll send those! 

With Anita!!

Remember that guy Piere who got his mission call a while ago to Colombia? He leaves today!! I remember when he got his call, I thought,  "Where will I be when he leaves?" and here I am, still in Tarapoto!  We went to his house yesterday for the last time and it was actually kinda sad! It made me think back to when I left on my mission! He is super excited and I'm sure he will be a great missionary.  

Saying goodbye to Piere!

Erika came to church again!  We went to visit her the other day and she was doing her Personal Progress (a program for the young women in our church) ... how awesome! She's not even a member and she's doing it! haha Her parents still haven't come to church but I have the faith they'll come next week! We´re going to bring President and his family to visit them and we feel that will be a great strength for them! 

Happy Fourth of July!

Holding a baby parrot!

So yeah, that was my week! It was great!Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Love you all!!

Hermana Gurney

Week 47

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

I found a nice scripture that talks about the Fourth of July so I thought I'd share it with you all! 

Ether 2:12
"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things 

which we have written."

LOVE IT!

Gaston & Aleyda & Family ... They are the best - a wonderful example of humble obedience!

Our Pensionista - Janeth and her daughter, Angely

So this week went by super fast! What happened?

This past week in Branch Council our Branch President says "Okay everyone .. first order of business - we need a birthday party for the primary EVERY MONTH!" and he talked about the details of this party for about five minutes and everyone was just like "okay"... I guess he forgot that there isn't a Primary President right now! She was released last Sunday! hahaha. So apparently there´s going to be a primary birthday party this Wednesday.. but we don't know who´s organizing it! hahaha

This past Wednesday was another holiday in Peru (or probably just the jungle, I don't know) but it was San Pablo and San Pedro´s day, and no one had school! They didn't do any cool celebrations like San Juan, but pretty much everyone was in their home sleeping! 

A baby chick hatching!

With Chelsy ..such a cute little boy!

Felipe and Sara are doing awesome! They started reading their scriptures! They were all ready to come to church yesterday and then Felipe´s brother called and said that his mom is really sick and they needed him in the hospital, so they went to see his mom.  BUT  Erika, their niece came to church! She even accepted a baptismal date for the end of July so we´re excited to help her progress towards that goal!

Raul, didn't get his baptismal permission slip signed, he´s a little sad, but I know it's in God´s plan and everything will work out soon!

That's pretty much all that's going on! We´re just happy to see how much people are coming closer to Christ!

Love you all! Happy Fourth of July!

Hermana Gurney

Week 46

June 27, 2016

So this week was.... SAN JUAN!!!!

The jungle has it's own holiday on the 24 of June called San Juan, where they celebrate San Juan el Bautista, or John the Baptist.

Basically what happens ... on the 23rd they all spend the whole day making juanes. I'll send you a picture of juanes, but it's just chicken, rice, an egg, and an olive wrapped up in a giant leaf. Usually it's in a ball shape so it looks like John the Baptist´s head.  It's a little harder to make them that way, so the juanes we were given are just like square tamales. Everyone LOVES juanes here, but honestly, they're not that good! hahaha. Anyways, then the 24th they pack up all their juanes, buy their soda, and go spend the day at the river or lake or somewhere outside of Tarapoto! 

Branch council .. someone brought juanes and papas rellenas

Juanes!

Elena and Edelia were making juanes when we showed up to visit them!

So basically when we went to go work on Friday... no one was home!! We walked around for about three hours with NO appointments.  It was rough, but at least that night we were able to go to a meeting with President Gomez to say our goodbyes!

This Tuesday, President Gomez ends his mission! It's a sad week.. but on that same day our new president, President Li comes.  He looks pretty awesome! He and his wife are converts that were found by sister missionaries, so apparently they have a lot of love for us sisters! I don't know when we´ll get to meet him though... I'll let you know when I do!

Also, the good (but also kinda bad thing) about San Juan is that everyone hands out juanes! We were given seven juanes! We took a picture... but in the picture there are only four because our pensionista made us each eat one at lunch (the ones that she made) and then we accidentally lost the other one.  It was funny cause they all gave us juanes but sad because we couldn't eat any of them.. we took the picture and then threw them out!  (Just a little note ... the missionaries have strict rules about what we can eat!)  We would have given them back out but they had gone bad by the time we took the picture!

Our Juanes!

So Felipe and Sara are still awesome.  They didn't come to church yesterday though, mainly because it rained and they were a little lazy. :(  We had a really nice lesson with them yesterday where we really felt the spirit and they promised to come to church next Sunday!

Raul´s birthday is today and he said he´s going to ask his parents for his baptismal permission today.  He said he's going to say it's the only thing he wants for his birthday! We´re praying that it works and he can get baptized soon! That's really the only thing he wants!  So sweet!

So yeah, that was my week... happy San Juan!!!

Love you all!! Hope you are enjoying your summer! 

Hermana Gurney

Week 45

June 20, 2016

So this week was fun! Nothing really strange happened like losing water, but it was still awesome!

First off... HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! 

I hope all the fathers out there had a great day and were spoiled by their families!  It is also Father's day out here in Peru, but we didn't really do anything special! Most people just went out to eat as a family!

In terms of missionary work...

We decided to stop visiting Meli and her family for sometime.. we were kinda stuck in a rut... they said they hadn't received an answer but then told us they felt peace when they prayed ... and that was their answer.  It just repeated like that every lesson. We even prayed with them in the lesson to have them feel the Spirit, but they didn't recognize it. So we´re going to stop visiting them for sometime and give them a little space.  I think it will really help them notice the absence of the Spirit. 

In terms of Felipe and Sara, the kids didn't come to church because the mom got sick.  The kids did tell us they prayed and felt that the church was true and accepted a baptismal date for the 16 of July! We´re going to work really hard for that date.  They might not be able to be baptized that day if their parents don't start coming to church, but I know we can really help them this week!

Cute kids climbing the trees!

We got locked out of the church!!

We did service this week with Cesaria.  She is an elderly lady in the ward ... who is awesome. (The funny part is that her name literally means c-section!)  She had us clean her doors, which were actually really full of dirt, so we wiped off the dirt with a rag and then she handed us petroleum to wipe on the doors "to make it shine!"   I just really hope no one takes a match over there soon!!! We also swept up her dirt floors and then she told us "Wow, there's so much dirt!" and we just laughed cause, of course there's dirt... its a dirt floor! hahahaha. She really is the sweetest, I keep meaning to take a picture with her but always forget!!

Raiza downloaded her scriptures on her tablet and has been reading them like that and it's so cute! She showed us where she is and how she´s been marking it ... we were just so happy!

This week was also the soccer game between Peru and Colombia and literally EVERYONE was watching it. EVERYONE! We walked past a house and we could look in, see the score, and then keep going! We were well updated! They even set up a projector in the town square where people got together and watched the game! It was funny! I took a picture! It was awesome, until Peru lost :(

Photo of town square ... sorry it is blurry!

So yeah, that was my week! pretty good!! I hope everything is going super well back home!!

Miss you all!!

Hermana Gurney