Hot ice cream 9-22-14

Well, here we are in the end of September and it's STILL FREEZING COLD. Just imagine. I am going to go from blistering, sweltering, suffocating heat to winter in Logan, UT in December. It will be so welcome. If I could tan, I would come back like a California Girl. I am just going to get there in the darkness of winter with a face riddled with freckles. Thanks, Perú.

Anyway, I tried to convince Hermana Kim to buy ice cream with me the other day and she just looked at me as if I were one of the crazy people we taught this week. I suggested hot ice cream and she just shook her head and walked away.

Hermana Kim y Hermana Hewitt

In total we taught about 13 new investigators this week, though we could only count ten because at least three were just a little off their rockers. Or a lot. Well, one sister was listening semi-intently as we taught her about the Restoration and when I asked her a question to help her focus she started yelling about how in one ear she was hearing the word of God and in the other ear she was listening to Satan trapping the hearts of her neighbors (they were playing loud salsa music). She then firmly told us that what we were saying was all well and good, but she simply did not wish to repent at this time. Maybe later, she mused. Well...alright.

Another gentleman was sitting outside his house with his wolf and when I contacted him he said we could come back later after the game was over. So we returned with a sister from the ward. When he opened the door she looked at me like WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! We took a seat and he remained standing behind his chair. He told us he didn't have shoes on...so we said we could wait. When he came and we said the prayer, we began to teach and very quickly he began to discuss the two World Wars and the influence of China and gypsies and economic theory. We tried to bring the subject back into play and he grumbled about how he would be able to explain this to a man, but yeah well we're just a couple women.

The moment I mentioned the word "prophet" he perked up and said, "THAT'S IT! Prophets are basically like gypsies! You DO know what I'm talking about!"

It all went downhill from there. Anyway. We didn't count him as a nuevo investigador.

However! We did find a wonderful new family! It was so beautiful. Here's what I wrote to Presidente. A while back we contacted a family as we were searching for a dirección desconocida. We tried to set up several appointments but all of them fell through until finally we were able to visit the mom and two of her three kids on Tuesday. When they invited us in, we found out that the night before, exactly the night that the dad had gone far away to work, their car had been stolen and they were being ransomed for 3,000 soles. They were all really sad and worried and scared. We taught them a little bit about the priesthood and how it had been restored, and the elders came and gave the mom and her son a blessing. Instantly they were calmer. We set up another appointment but knew that we shouldn't teach them without their dad. His work schedule has him at home for only one week before leaving for a month or two. Well, the next appointment fell through, but we decided to stop by yesterday night to see how they were doing. Without hesitation they invited us in and there was the dad! WHAT!!! He had come back for the car incident. And guess what? They had gotten the car back without any troubles. So we taught them the Restoration and all 5 members of the family accepted to be baptized! The dad left this morning for Huancayo again but we are finding a meetinghouse in his area and he is excited to read in the Book of Mormon and pray and hear from the missionaries there!

So they're awesome. And we're just loving life here in San Diego Dos. Also we had a work visit with Hermana Aliaga and I didn't almost kill her like all the rest. Success! 

ALSO one of the members bought us ROOTBEER and it was a good day.

Quote of the Week:

"Ah I hate Lord of the Rings! It's so booooring. Like when that one guy gets there...Randall? Grandalf? I don't know. That bearded guy. It's just so dumb." - Cinthia, a very opinionated ward member who accompanied us

Well...make good choices. Say sincere prayers. Serve and love one another. LIKE I LOVE YOU.

Hermana Hewitt

"If it's not fun, it's not the Gospel!" 9-15-14

President Archibald is a GENIUS! That was the line of his letter to us this week. Goodness, he is so great. I love President and Sister Archibald!

We really did have a lot of fun this week. Hermana Kim and I decided to make a new commandment for ourselves: Thou shalt not enter thy house in the nighttime without having contacted ten people. So we contacted up a storm and have started already to see the fruits of our labor! In the five days since we set that rule we've made 56 contacts. Not all accept, of course, and that's a whole different story, but there are a lot of possibilities here. There are a lot of prepared families!

I think the biggest struggle with investigators in this area is keeping their commitments. We have taught some seriously hardcore lessons in which the Spirit was so strong, using the scriptures and examples and parables and relating the commitments specifically to the investigator. You know, we teach people, not lessons. But then they don't show up to church, or we go back and find out they didn't read or pray after we left! So that's pretty frustrating. Therefore we are working on finding new ways to teach and invite and verify commitments. Will you pray for us to receive inspiration on that?

I'm really grateful for priesthood power. A ward member came with us to visit a less active sister on Tuesday and her aunt, who she was very close to, had just passed away. He instantly offered to give her a blessing and it was beautiful! Men, always be worthy, ready, and willing to use your priesthood authority to bless God's children.

We talked about why we should never go swimming as missionaries. D&C 61:14.

 14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.

Also, a recently reactivated sister who accompanied us on Thursday taught us some phrases in Quechua. 

MANANKANCHO: There's nobody here.

HAKU RIPUNA: Let's go!

IMAYNAN KASIANKI: Hello. How are you?

PANKANKI: Who are you?

Ah también. Hermana Kim asked me to cut her hair this week, so I did. It's pretty darn cute. I was living vicariously through her as I cut it short (missing my short short hair but accepting the fact that I would probably receive hate mail in Spanish if I did that here), and if she hadn't started to throw a fit I would have cut it shorter. Anyway, we were eating lunch later on and she just couldn't get the length of her hair out of her head. She sometimes calls me Hermana Hedwig...I don't really know why that started...but she stopped to look up from our game of Uno and simply said, "What a shame, Hedwig. What a shame."

She loves me.

On Friday we were knocking doors in the morning and as we passed a certain house, she began to explain to me in English, "In this house lives a señor..." I gave her the word in English. "Gentleman." She smiled and said, "Sí. A gentle señor."

Also we sang some good old My Chemical Romance walking to an appointment in the afternoon. Hermana Kim got really into it and started whisper-yelling, "WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY MY FATHER TOOK ME INTO THE CITY TO SEE A MARCHING BAND..."

We ate some delicious soup with weird meat in it. She asked what it was and I said I thought it was the fat. She grimaced and said, "Of what, MONSTER?"

Also, we contacted a man while we were standing waiting to make copies in a corner store. He was really nice! He asked where we were from and I said I was from Cajamarca, a part of Perú where a lot of gringos live. He didn't believe me and I told him the truth. We invited him to church and he said, "Look, I would love to, but I would just go and debate with all of your doctrines." I asked him what doctrines and he started to tell us that we didn't believe in Jesus Christ and God having the same purpose. I explained very simply the Godhead and he was like...Oh! Alright! Great! And without too much hesitation he made another joke about Cajamarca and slowly walked away laughing. We discussed later the how clear it was that the Spirit had testified to him of the truth of what we said and he was kinda stunned. Never forget your testimony!

Also, yesterday was real trunky in church. Everything was about eternal marriage and the family. I took notes and cried. It was just so darn sweet. NONETHELESS. I'm going to come home and hash out that epic feat of finding my exaltation in just a little less than FOUR months, and UNTIL then, I am STILL CONTACTING FAMILIES so that they can figure out theirs.

I am really happy.

One more thing! We started out our district P-day early today and spent three hours hiking around in the clouds. I'll send some pictures. It was the adventure of a lifetime. HARD because we got lost and the hills here are extraordinarily steep and lacking in trails, but so much fun! Our district is very close and I feel so blessed.

 The journey up Ensenada Mountain begins.

 Feeling pretty accomplished!

 Our district (minus Hermana Kim...she was taking the picture. There weren't exactly a ton of other people up there)

My attitude about weekly planning

The sun came out for the first morning in months this week! Then it went back into hiding.

I love you all! Make good choices!

Hermana Hewitt

*Pictures "We don't take no for an answer" 9-8-14

Happy P-day everybody!

I found my Doppelgänger on a wall this week…

doppelgänger |ˈdäpəlˌgaNGər| nounan apparition or double of a living person

This week we were in search of revelation. When I arrived at my new area I found that there were no progressing investigators; in fact, our area had not seen investigators in sacrament meeting for weeks! Having left Pro with several progressing, I was excited to get some new life in San Diego.

Welcome to San Diego (I don't know why this is written in English)

Then we both almost died of a stomach infection. So we went out and worked and drank a LOT of Bismutol and (hahaha did I mention that Hermana Kim thinks Limp Bizkit is Limp Bisquick?) used some of Granny Mary's magical essential oils to help out with the headaches and found some new investigators. 

Hermana Kim and I are CONSTANTLY laughing!

And also we almost got robbed by a couple lost sheep (I had originally typed in creepers...just so you all know. I am working on my charity. I was once taught that there is indeed a white-out/delete key for life, and that is repentance.) when we were contacting in exactly the area the Lord had directed us to. 

Guess what that means?

There MUST be families there! 

2 Nephi 2:11. For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.

Therefore, I decided that it was better to be obedient to God than Satan and we marched back into that place with three YSA members of the ward (all of which are preparing to serve missions, two of which are tall and somewhat intimidating if you ignore the glasses and the conservative ties) and an army of angels. We taught a bunch of people and indeed found more families to teach this week! 

One of my favorite finding ideas is to offer help with English homework. We have tried to teach English classes but sometimes they just end up being ward activities or utter failures. However, almost every Peruvian child has to take some sort of English course in elementary school. 

So we had gone out with a member and she mentioned some old investigators who had gone to church but hadn't been visited in awhile. We knocked their door and the mom came out. She was so sweet! But she didn't have a lot of time and her angry mother-in-law was there and she didn't want troubles. We talked to her for a minute in the doorway, made an appointment, and were about to leave when she asked if I could help her little son with a project. So we entered their house and they presented us with a play farm. She handed me a sheet of paper with a few sentences about "the chicken" scribbled on it. Our new little friend needed to practice his pronunciation so he could present the chicken. Here are the sentences:

"The chicken is yellow."

"The chicken is beautiful."

"The chicken is delicious."

"The chicken drinks water."

"The chicken plays with me."

Look, I don't know what they are trying to teach these kids. Are chickens friends, or food? Or both? Does that mean we should eat our friends? My awful companion started to crack jokes all the time! I found a post-it note in my agenda from Wednesday that says: "Felices 14 meses en la misión. The chicken is yellow, drinks water, and is freaking delicious if it's roasted! #joytotheworld"

That's why we are best friends.

These are cookies from the chicken project. Mine was missing an eye. They were delicious, just like the chicken.

Also, we had some less-than-favorable experiences that left us giggling. Lots of people who just don't need us (see Alma 5:51). 

 51 And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea, crieth unto me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people—Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven.

And a whole lot who personified 2 Nephi 29:3.

 3 And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.

I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON.

I also really love being a missionary. I cried on that 14-month mark because I realized how much I don't ever want to leave Perú. I'm going to be trunky for the mission when I get home. 

Last day with Hermana do Santos

But don't worry! The Lord has His due time for everything and I will cheerfully accept His will, even when it means I have to return to the real world. And I will give you all a big abrazo. :) 

I love you!

Hermana Hewitt

Quote of the Week goes to a short conversation between Elder McAllister, Elder Payne, and I:

E. McAllister: "So Elder Payne, did you play sports in high school?"

E. Payne: "I played 2 years of football...and soccer...they cut me from the basketball team. I was too slow."

Hna Hewitt: "What?! But you played soccer!"

E. Payne: (awkward silence) "I was the goalie."

Oh…

We had a conference with Bishop Davies and I was reunited with my favorite Australian New Zealander, Hermana Hooper. Elder Urmston decided to adorn our photo.

Welcome to San Diego! 9-1-14… pics

Well everybody, President finally got fed up with me and decided to send me away to San Diego. Not even home to Logan...just to San Diego.

aren'tyougladit'snotalcatraz?

My favorite thing ever is to show people the photo I have in my scriptures of the San Diego temple and say LOOK! This is where I'm going to get married! In San Diego!

And then they start racking their brains to remember where in this Lima suburb they have seen such a building.

Yeah so San Diego is part of the Zona Prolima. Literally next door neighbors with Los Olivos. Also literally the LAST ZONE I EVER WANTED TO GO TO. I have made jokes about it my entire mission. "Hehehe just as long as they don't send me to Prolima!"

So everybody got a real good laugh when my picture showed up there in transfers. Good stuff. 

My companion is a riot! Hermana Kim. My second companion from México! But she's from Merida, which is in the south. She said it's by Cancun... pretty sure we are going to have a companionship reunion at HER house.

HOLY COW our zone leader just said we only have ten minutes...sohohooo I will tell you all the details later. Ah man I am frustrated now! It's alright.

Anyway so we have EIGHT missionaries in our ward! Our zone leaders (Elder McAllister and Elder Quenta), our district leader (Elder Hernandez and his comp, Elder Poma), us two sisters, and Elder Payne, who is training Elder Gillies (AKA the guy who sings "Joy of Life" from the 2013 EFY album. He is so funny. Still working on the whole missionary distance thing, but he'll get there). There are 5 brand spanking new missionaries in our zone! And there is not a single missionary in my zone with whom I have shared a zone during my whole mission. So I have felt a little homesick from time to time, but then again I am so excited to have all these new friends!

Los Olivos District - the "old crew" before transfer

Alright so Hermana Kim speaks pretty good English, and she also likes to hashtag everything. Here are our hashtags of the week:

#jewifiable (Malea Moody will know why this is funny...)

#gringa (a taxi drove by and simply said "gringa" into his speakerphone)

#fatricia (to keep us from eating too much)

#storytime (companionship inventory)

#corazonserrano (the most popular and annoying musical artist in Perú)

Also, we had the worst night ever on Saturday. There was a crazy dance party going on ACROSS THE STREET from ONE in the morning to EIGHT in the morning. We slept very little. And the three times I did fall asleep, I had nightmares about Hannibal Lecter. Also we both got food poisoning. So that's fun.

Also, Hermana Do Santos is now senior companion in Pro! YAY.

I wish I had more time to write but unfortunately it escapes me. I love you all! I'll update you more and send the tons of photos I had prepared next week!

Street painting that "showed up overnight"

Hermana Hewitt

Letter to the Pres… 8-25-14

Alright, so I told you all that this was going to be an AWESOME email! Well, we were planning the baptism of a family of four, who we had to leave about a month ago because they weren't progressing at all, and then suddenly came and said they were ready. So to explain simply without having to rewrite everything, I copied and pasted part of my letter to President Archibald. I invite you to be understanding of the short time I have to write. :)

"This week was a bit of an intense one. We had everything planned for the baptism on Saturday, all the ward had been invited, the ward council made plans for baptismal clothing...everything. And we went to check up on the family and it turns out they didn't let us in the house. The dad went and talked to the bishop and said that they just have too many problems that they need to resolve and so on and so forth. President, we did everything in our power to help them, but in the end they used their agency to not accept. Try as we might, we cannot and should not force anyone to use that agency wisely. It's contrary to the Plan of Salvation. All we can do is teach them accurately and thoroughly and invite them to accept the gospel. I was so sure that they were going to make it to Saturday but the Lord found a way to correct me through the scriptures. I read on Friday night Moroni 6:1-3, which explains that no one should be accepted for baptism who does not have a broken heart and contrite spirit. The Lord prepares His children in His timetable, and we need to be attentive to His instructions so that we might act accordingly to that master plan. It's a lesson I had learned before, but am learning again in a new light. 

"On a brighter note, we do have two investigators who ARE very prepared! In sacrament meeting yesterday we had Paul, Sandra, Lurfia, and José. Lurfia has been devouring the Book of Mormon and when we visited her this week she was so excited to tell us about it. "He estado leyendo en su Libro...y ME ENCANTA! Siento tranquilidad y paz al leerlo, y siento que me levanto con diferentes ánimos. A veces me doy cuenta que estoy todavía despierta a la una de la mañana simplemente por qué no puedo dejar de leer!" 
"I have been reading in your book ... and I LOVE IT! I feel peace and quiet when I read, and I feel that I lifted with a different Spirit. Sometimes I realize that I am still awake at one in the morning just because I can't stop reading!" (google translator)
She also knows a lot of the members of the Relief Society and loved church. She is preparing to be baptized the 13th.

"José is the son of a less active who we had been trying to visit with for awhile...he is 23 and phenomenal! He had heard from the missionaries and even attended church several times when his dad was baptized about 4 years back, but he told us himself that he didn't take it seriously at that time and had never tried sincerely to receive an answer about Joseph Smith. We taught him the first lesson and invited him to read, pray, and attend church, as well as to be baptized the 13th of September. He accepted right away and promised to read 1 Nephi 1 that night. When we called him the next evening between visits, he said he had read 3 chapters in the Book of Mormon and the entire brochure about the Restoration and had watched the Joseph Smith movie and had prayed and felt like he felt totally different and so happy. Before we could respond he said, "That must be the answer I'm looking for!" We confirmed that, and he has continued to read and is marking the things he learns and excitedly preparing to be baptized and then go serve a mission. Our great YSA organization yesterday invited him to their activity and everything has just fallen into place. The Lord DOES prepare His children!

"It's been interesting to see how the things my companion and I study connect much better recently. We were preparing this morning to teach the Plan of Salvation with the principle of eternal marriage from Lesson 5 and Hermana Do Santos had been studying the Fall of Adam and Eve. She explained what she had learned about the necessity of the Fall so that we could come to earth and learn how to choose between good and evil, as well as how the Atonement allows us to become like gods. This tied directly into my study of D&C 132, which explains that in order to receive the fulness of the exalted state, we must be sealed and then stay true to our covenants. That is very well explained in Mosiah 3:19 - our eternal spirits are housed in temporal bodies which are prone to weakness; in order to perfect those bodies we have to strengthen our spirits in order to control those carnal desires so that we may be prepared to make and keep those glorifying covenants. It is only made possible in and through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

So there you go. An inside scoop of the letters missionaries write to their mission presidents on Monday. Well, at least those I write. Usually I'm a bit more organized, but I do write a novel most of the time. Thankfully Elder Larsen isn't here in Los Olivos to make fun of me anymore!

All in all, I am a happy camper.

When I came to the mission field (just barely over a year ago) I started reading a clean, $2.50 copy of the Book of Mormon with one question in mind: "How can I more fully place my trust in God?" I found many, many answers as I read that little book from cover to cover. And you know what? I am happy because I understand so much more thoroughly now how to put my trust in my Heavenly Father. 

I have become so grateful for my trials, so grateful for those opportunities I am given to hold on tight and exercise my faith. I am so thankful for the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here I see in-depth what life is like without it, and it makes me want even more to open my mouth and invite others to come unto the Savior. 

We are SO blessed!

Remember that, and be thankful.

I love you and pray for you! 

Hermana Hewitt