Week 20 Letter

Monday, October 31, 2016

Wow! Holy speedy this week. I can't believe that it is already Monday. Super crazy. Today we are going to the mission home to have Pday with the zone and President. So that should be fun. Last pday, I made banana bread!!!! bien rico. Super tasty. And then cookies too. haha. Hermana Soto and our pensionista Hermana Margarita love me. And what can I say, I like being loved. ;) But that was fun. 

Ya, this week; Super great. We had tons of lessons and found more investigators and have more on date. Lots of work. It is so great! Yesterday we had a record high in the ward of 6 investigators in the church. So that was a huge miracle. Lots of walking around to collect people, but that is quite alright. Also, yesterday was our primary program and it was so wonderful. All the kids had all their parts memorized, matching ties and matching flower crowns. So great. Children really bring a Spirit to our meeting. People always said that, and I thought they were crazy. Kids bring a special spirit, but I wouldn’t have necessarily said kids bring "the" Spirit. But yesterday, a miracle in its own happened. We taught and rescued a less active woman. She has a 7 year old granddaughter that she has been bringing to the church. Her granddaughters name is Illari. She wants her nonmember mom to come to church so bad, but she has a lot of work. She is policia. Yesterday, she got called into work and couldn’t come last minute to the program to watch Illari. So Illari was really sad. But then, during the opening hymn, at the piano, I heard Illari yell out "mommy" and sure enough her mom KAarla came!! And she super felt the spirit and it was so great. She has had a lot of hardships in her life, but she wants to continue meeting with us. So awesome. So yeah, Lee children, you are awesome. 

  

What else happened this week....HAPPPPPPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so sad that it doesn’t exist here but I took this pic just for you guys. ;) 

Have the BEST WEEK EVER! I love you all and am praying like crazy for y'all. 

Hermana Lee

p.s. THANKS FOR YOUR HALLOWEEN CARD FAMLEE! 

Also, think of me every time you eat a grape without 4 seeds, or a cutie mandarin without 3 seeds in every slice and a bunch of other food without seeds. I really took for granted Americanized fruit. I don’t care what chemicals are used. I prefer to eat my fruit without seeds. And fish without the head/entirety and I prefer not to eat intestines. But that’s a whole other story. hahaha

 So, I am a GIANT here.  haha

Week 19 Letter

Monday, October 24, 2016

What a week of miracles! Alan was baptized! It has been a long 3 months of working with him. We found him in our area book without an address and phone number, but we felt that we needed to teach him. So, we experienced many miracles of finding his phone number, him finally answering his phone, finding his house, finally having a lesson, and after lots of prayers, finally keeping commitments, and then FINALLY coming to church and then being baptized. I have really seen what true intentions are, and what it looks like to have a real desire. I have really seen the blessings of the atonement through Alan, because he was a very troubled man. Many times he lost hope, his family lost hope, and even at times...lots of times we felt discouraged. But the atonement never fails. This last week he has been beaming. And I will never forget his joy the night of his baptism dressed in white, wet and cold, and then in a newly trimmed suit. His is great. SO great. 

This week we had an awesome service project. Thank you mom and dad for teaching me how to work hard and thank you dad for making me go out and get wood with you and work with you and work when I am tired and sick. Because that morning, I woke up close to death. And then a quick and easy service project turned into me using a bajillion year old machete equal to a butter knife to chop a bunch of plants, mini trees, plywood and then a tree. Yup. A tree. 4 hours of nonstop chopping. The best solution for sickness is to work. I was so grateful because missionary work isn’t physically hard or draining. I ran a ton before the mission and so walking all day, every day is no problem. But I really missed working, working. My shoulder sure payed for it though. The last couple of days icy hot has been my best friend-  haha. 

All is so good here! I LOVE YOU! 

Hermana Lee

Think of me when you eat honey....I MISS IT SO MUCH! I will seriously crave honey. 

Think of me again (because I forgot to say something last week) when you drink lemonade...I miss that too. 

Week 18 Letter

Monday, October 17, 2016

Hola Famlee! 

This week FLEW. Like I don't even know how. Crazy. 

This week, we had a super great week with lessons!!! The more work we have, the faster time flies I feel like. Anyways, we have a baptism this weekend, but there is a lot of opposition, so keep Alan in your prayers. Last week we had interviews with our president. He is super great. My interview was literally 5 minutes. Maybe less. But it was really powerful. You don't need a lot of time to learn a lot. But he had me pray in English, and I think that was the hardest thing I have ever done in my mission....haha. Not. But yeah, he told me that half of it was Spanish and the other half really bad English, and that I have a slight accent....I’ve been here 4 months and I can't speak English...I can think it in my head, no? And read in my head in English. But saying them is super hard and different. My mouth always feels so weird when I speak in English. So I guess that is good news. 

I had intercambios this week with a Hermana from Mexico. I went to her area. That was super great. But I broke rules and drank fresh strawberry juice. Wow, big deal no? But we really can’t eat strawberries because you can’t clean them for reals. But we weren't going to tell this crying lady that we couldn't drink her juice (people genuinely get offended that we can’t eat their food). But I am still alive and not sick soooo that must mean that I can eat strawberries now right? Ya, no kidding. I should obey ALL of the rules, right? haha. 

Spanish soap operas are soooooo real! And they are all the same. A crying lady and a man in a hospital bed. Or a crying lady in her super big house with 2 crying men. Yup. Everyone watches them, and I can't help but think of psych. I know I have problems. 

Also, last pday we traveled 45 minutes to get some drink from Argentina for my comp. A store with a bunch of imported goods. AND I SAW HALLOWEEN STUFF. Miracles. ;) But then I also saw sandbackles and I might have said a little prayer of gratitude that I don’t have to make any this year. ;) 

Spiritual thought, I studied integrity this morning. Super great. But I really think that integrity is when our actions match our beliefs. We can believe in eternal life, and in God, and in happiness, but do your everyday every minute actions reflect our beliefs? Or integrity from a worldy standpoint is the same. When our actions match our beliefs. But when we change our beliefs to match our actions, its rationalization. And when we change our actions to match our beliefs, it's repentance. So really, integrity = repentance. :D 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! 

Week 17 Letter

Monday, Oct 10, 2016

*megamind voice* Ollo!!!!

How have y'all been? This week FLEW by. For reals. So I will try my best to relate to you my week.  So, first of all, my favorite things to eat here: Saltines with strawberry jam, cereal in strawberry yogurt, and bananas. Yup. I am literally like a 5 year old. I get excited over all of these things. 

Anyways, this week, MIRACLE: Eternal Investigator/Amigo of the bishop, Alan Quiespe Centurion came to church. Wow. He has been an investigator since before I got here and only went to church one other time with some other Elder. But he has been way more serious about the gospel and is on date for the 22nd. So pray for him like crazy. He also is now reading the Book of Mormon every day and is super excited about the church, super excited. His wife is a new member but they are separated and live in difference wards. They are working to try to fix things. They have a 2 year old son. Last week, we felt really strongly that Alan needed an interview with the bishop. And before we pitched the idea, Alan asked us for an interview. It was so good because in the lesson, sometimes he has shame because the bishop comes with us and they are friends and he doesn’t want to open up a whole bunch. But he had an interview and things are so much better and he is more and more excited and the bishop has more faith and confidence in us so that is super good. But Alan, yes, a lot of progress with him as we have taught so much about the atonement, eternal families, and about the spirit. 

We are also working with a new family, Mireai and Yerson. They have super real intentions and really want a real answer. But they aren't married like everybody else so we are working on that. All of our other people are great, but progression is hard, so we are re-evaluating some things so that we can make use of the Lords time better. 

I have studied a lot about agency this week, because with one of our investigators, agency has been brought up a bunch and not gonna lie, sometimes I wish she didn't have agency. But that is a horrible thought and I am working on patience. Anyways, Today I read a talk by Elder Christofferson from Oct 2014 "Free Forever to Act for Themselves." So good. He started off by talking about King Henry V from a story by William Shakespeare. Henry said "Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject’s soul is his own." While Shakespeare didn't resolve this phrase, Elder Christofferson talked more about it. He said "It is God's will that we be free men and women enabled to rise to our full potential both temporally and spiritually...We can choose to become the kind of person that we will, and with God's help, that can be even as He is." Pretty deep, no? He talked a lot about how God is a God of justice. I think that as humans, we really like the idea of justice (I am not talking politically because I am a missionary right now). We want God to be just, and for bad people to receive their consequences. But then, when it comes down to us and our personal lives and sins, we want mercy. We blame other people, we rationalize, we want exceptions, and we want mercy. But God has to be a God of Justice, or else there would cease to be a God. We cannot change reality. We can think and believe what we want to believe, but like there is still gravity, there are laws and principles of truth. So while we want justice for others, and mercy for us, what is to be done? Well, God doesn't walk crooked paths. When does mercy step in? Elder Christofferson said "Christ died not to save indiscriminately, but to offer repentance." Boom. just like that there can be both justice and mercy. Repentance. Repentance is a self-willed change, in other words a choice of agency. We can receive the blessings of the atonement when we fully repent with a sincere heart, which till entails the consequences. We are saved by grace after ALL that we can do. But we don't have to reach a certain point or minimum capacity before God will step in. Divine help is ALWAYS available, every hour of every day. So long story short, repent and choose mercy. 

Try explaining that in Spanish in Comp Study...haha. 

Anyways, I LOVE YOU ALL! 

THINK OF ME WHEN you drink cold milk. Or milk other than evaporated milk...

p.s. this is my uper epic filtered water bottle that turns my nasty brown or green water to nasty clear water. 

I sent this pic to Ali, so she sent the next one.

Week 16 Letter

Monday, October 3, 2016

Hey! Well, I kicked October in the head! But if we are being honest, more like I kicked it in the knees, or even the ankles. With all the rice I’m eating  I don’t think I can kick very high anymore...But that is okay. So this weekend was transfers...and wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiit......Hermana Soto and I are staying in Esperanza!!!! We are so happy. I guess President Marble likes the idea of splitting up companionships after their 12 week training...but miracles are happening here and we are turning things around in this area and so we are so excited  to stay together here. Ya, I'm done with training, so that’s cool. More proselyting time! But if we are being honest, we still got the same amount of time because we would go out to teach then come back and do studies...but never came back for studies....haha.

Our president really likes the idea of having family home evenings and mission nights in our ward, so this week we had a ton of lessons of hermanamiento which was awesome. I don’t remember the English word for hermanamiento...it’s like when the members of the ward become friends with the investigator or menos actico...friendshipper? Ya, no recuerdo. But ya, it is so great when we have members love the people we bring to church. We have 2 investigators that are getting ready for baptism, but have a lot to work on, so we are working a lot with them, and so is our bishop. He is awesome. We have a couple families we are working with too. but it is so hard to get any real progression because no one is married nor have the money to get married. soooooooooo ya. but like i said before, we are really trying to turn this area around. We had a great meeting with our stake president who is super ambitious in missionary work. He and our mission president aren’t super big in finding and teaching less actives, which is a little sad. But we are working on developing a new plan with all of our new rules and teaching suggestions and guidelines from our leaders. 

Conference was so good, no?  I absolutely loved it.  I really enjoyed Elder Christofferson's talk. Pretty dang straight and to the point. God loves us, and always will, but doesn't and never will tolerate sin. And as Elder Renlund said, we should "choose repentance." Always. cada dia. Also, I really appreciated Elder Bednar's talk. It has been a new experience learning to receive revelation in Spanish, and learning to "know" Jesus Christ as a missionary. Way different than I thought it would be. But I have had so many experiences that I am so grateful for. 

I really have nothing else to say. I could write out all my notes, or share an experience from all of our lessons, or give you a highlight from every day, but, I don’t really want to...so ya. I still love you all though! I should clarify, I don’t want to because i forgot my journal and i don’t really remember anything except conference. haha. 

THINK OF ME EVERY TIME YOU don’t see all the dead dogs on the streets, and then smell all the dead dogs on the streets...and then all the burning dead dogs....haha 

Love, Hermana Lee

Week 15 Letter

Monday, September 26, 2016

Miracles in the hope!  (My area is Esperanza/hope) So let me just share with you the fun miracles that happened this week:

MONDAY: We went to the beach for Pday!!!! The salty ocean is seriously one of my favorite things ever. So pretty! And we went to a store close to the beach and found regular white bread!!!!!!!! 

TUESDAY: It rained! Lightly for about 13 seconds, but nonetheless, rain!!!! Which NEVER happens. And who knew, rain smells bad here too. 

WEDNESDAY: My comp specifically prayed for safety from bad people and then...I am safe...hahaha. So many stories, but for another time. Also, we had time to study language...first time for a very long time. haha.  

THURSDAY: We had family home evening but our Plan A lesson wasn’t going to work, so we ran down the street to a bodega (little shop that is seriously every other house), bought water and saltines and did dad's living water object lesson. We didn't have salty potato chips so we used saltines and made people eat them super fast so they needed water. haha. It was a hit. 

FRIDAY: After so much stupid David Archuleta, My comp put in a new USB and Josh Turner came on with a song called Me and God. Thank you Josh Turner! Also, Amazing Grace is about grace!!! Not about nature...I didn't know that. Whenever I heard that song before, I thought of the scene of in Maverick, where they sing Amazing Grace up in nature....hahahahaha. 

SATURDAY: Women’s conference in...wait for iiiiiit! English! So instead of understanding 80-85% I understood about 98%!!! I am not sure I ever really understood English 100% and now my English is toast....Also, I am pretty sure President Uchtdorf has an accent...right? But I didn't hear it...Sad!

SUNDAY: Alejandor was baptized, confirmed and ordained a Priest!!!!!! This is such a huge miracle. We have worked so hard with him. He had so many doubts and didnt ever feel the spirit, but with faith, patience, hard work on all of our parts, he now has such a strong testimony and wants to serve a mission!!!!! He beams with joy and excitement. 

We have worked so hard to spend as much time as we can teaching, and it is wonderful. Maybe I don’t get Spanish study time, but I get to practice so much when teaching...and living life because no one here speaks English. haha. But being a missionary is so great. Teaching with the Spirit is so great, but you really have to learn to listen to the Spirit!!! Patience has always been hard for me, y'all know that, but I have learned to work on that a lot. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! 

So, think of me every time a car is in reverse and a stupid ringtone type of song doesn’t play....that will be the death of me I swear. Every car plays the same song. Not like a beeping that trucks have, this stupid song of ringtones. 

Also, spiritual thought  -

When things are hard, I always go to the scriptures, no? Well, I LOVE this little pep talk found in 2 Nephi 1:20-23ish

"be MEN, and be DETERMINED in one MIND and in one HEART, UNITED in ALL things, that ye may not come down into CAPTIVITY." 

I always think of dad when he tells us: "Man up." yup. We could all use a little more determination, unity, brains, heart and some more manning up. 

 This is Ali sticking out her stomach and saying she is thinking of Shauna.  Haha.  But look at how light her hair is getting.

Week 14 Letter

Monday, September 19, 2016

Wow! Another Week has flown by and I have nothing to tell y'all!   No okay. So, we have a baptism Sunday and I am praying so hard that it happens because Alejandro is so ready but there is always opposition, no? But we have had a lot of great lessons with him and his friend Oscor. We also have another new investigator Viviana who is progressing like crazy, the other day we fasted with her. She is divorced and has a daughter who has 3 years . And it’s a sticky situation with her ex but she just left it all so that she could change her life. She is so awesome. Ahhhh the work is awesome. Lots of lessons this week. 

I had to fly back to Lima for immigrations so that was fun. No actually it was fun. I flew back with 2 Hermana Clark who was a training sister with me in the CCM and it was so good to see her. It was such a great day to just look at the progress that we have made. Also, it was so nice to be able to just say whatever I wanted. Even if I didn’t know the word in Spanish. I shouldn’t say that. Hermana Soto and I had super fun conversations and talk a lot. But, I felt more like Ali for a day. A good little reminder that I can be Ali and Hermana Lee at the same time. But yeah. I bought some American candy in the Lima airport to bring back to my comp who has never had a Twix or skittles or M&Ms.  She loves me, and hey, I like being loved. ;) I taught her the Skittles game and she was done after about 5 skittles. I think that the ability to eat a ton of skittles, sugar or sweets without a sugar crash is a gift. A gift I am so fortunate to have.  But candy was nice because it has been a really long time. haha. Also, funny story, Hermana Soto was raving and raving ab out this cake that is here during Christmas time, and little shops are starting to get them now. So she found one and bought it. I was so exciting right, it was fruitcake. FRUITCAKE. And she doesn't even eat the little fruit pieces, she picks them out. hahaha. 

Thanks for all your letters! I love you all! 

Pics: Skittles, motor taxis which are the main form of transportation and my best friend Gordis. He is so gross. He has a lame tongue that hangs out. But he follows us everywhere. His owners are a less active familia that we are working with.

THINK OF ME WHEN YOU EAT SOUR CREAM. I for sure miss that. 

Hermana Lee

Mom,

I was sick. But not like throw up or cold or fever.  A ton of pain in my stomach for almost 3 weeks and this week I finally told my pensionista and comp because I really couldn’t eat one day. So she gave me some natural drinks and after a couple of days of not eating very much I feel fine today. But I guess a lot of missionaries have problems with their appendices. One missionary just had his taken out the other day. So, I hope one day that isn’t me. hahahaha. But I am fine. There are no sick days on the mission. haha.

I miss Krispy Kreme. I went to Lima this week for immigrations and in the Lima airport there is American candy, so I splurged. I really needed America. haha.  A day. Lots of sitting. But I got to go with a couple other missionaries. 2 from my group in the MTC and it was SOOOOOO GOOOD to see them again.  

Um, I’m fat, haha. No all is well. We had an awesome training with our president last week. He is so great. A lot of missionaries don’t like him because he is way different than the old one. He is more into the handbook and expects more and has higher goals and standards and changed a lot of things so that we have more proselyting time. But I really think that he is inspired of God and will turn this mission around! He isn’t like the super loving grandpa that the other president was like. And he isn’t into a bunch of reunions with missionaries and other stuff. But I really think that he is what this mission needs. He served here in my area and zone as a missionary, so he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES my area and is so happy that me and Hermana Soto are the first sisters in this rough area. And he is super happy with our work, even when we feel discouraged sometimes.   I also ate a hamburger and Hermana Marble made brownies so that made my life. 

Love ya!