Take His Yoke Upon You

February 24 2016

I've started reading the New Testament on my own just recently.  I read in Matt. 11 the other day verses 28-30, "Take my yoke upon you...".  that has always been one of my favorite scriptures, even though I couldn't tell you the reference at the time.  Someone explained it once while quoting, "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it."  They explained that, "yes, He did say it would be easy, if we take His yoke upon us because His yoke is easy."  If we "yoke" ourselves with the Savior our burdens will be lighter because He will help us carry them.  But I think its more than Him carrying our burdens, it means we carry some of His burdens as well, doing His work.  A lot like you and your sister and all of the missionaries around the world.  If we focus more on the things of the Gospel than the things of the world our burdens will be lightened. They may not change, but we will have the strength to endure them with grace.

I saw a profound video on facebook last night.  It depicted a man getting a haircut and as he was leaving the barber told him he didn't believe in God because he didn't understand why a loving God would allow so much suffering in the world.  The man didn't know how to respond, so he left.  As he was going out the door he saw a man standing outside the barbershop.  He was a young guy with long hair, t-shirt, jeans, listening to his headphones.  The man had an epiphany!  He went back into the barbershop, bringing the young man with him.  He approached his barber and said, " I don't believe in Barbers!"  The barber didn't get it.  So the man explained, "I don't believe in barbers because this man has such long hair."  The barber replied, "He only has long hair because he doesn't come to me."  The man replied, "Exactly!  The reason there is so much suffering in the world is because people don't come to God.  If they would come to Him there wouldn't be so much suffering throughout the world."

Of course, that doesn't mean we won't have hard things to deal with, but If we turn to Him, if we 'Yoke' our lives to His, the hard things will be easier and we will be able to see the things we need to learn in each situation.  On top of that... If we never have the hard times we will never appreciate the good!  Opposition in all things, right? 2 N 2:11-14 For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things....

Check out the link below for a good explanation about taking His 'Yoke' upon us:

https://www.lds.org/new-era/2012/10/take-my-yoke-upon-you?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

Brielle - Wednesday 24 Feb 2016

February 24, 2016

So we went to visit Fran the old man and he is alive and well. And there was water. So they helped him bathe and we cleaned his house. The branch attempted a Cosecha. That is when the members come and we go visit other people like less actives. It didn´t work well because they didn´t announce it but they tried. We did it to invite people to the Stake conference in VNavarrete so that we could get more people coming. 

Found a quote I liked. I know it isn´t easy. It´s discouraging at times, sure, Aren´t you glad it isn´t beautiful all the time? Those valleys of discouragement make more beutiful the peaks of achievement. and that is from Pte. Gordon B. Hinckley and it made me smile. 

Sunday we met up at the church at 8 but didn´t end up leaving until like 9 and then we got there 15 mins before the conference began. It was strnage becasue I didn´t recognize any of the faces except the missionaries pte and hermana Castillo and the temple pte and his wife. They talked about how the temple is important and we need to use it as often as possible. Then we came home and had a good lesson with Wiliam. I think he is understanding the importance of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Then we had an awesome lesson with a lady named Sori She was listening real intently and it all made sense to her. We hope that she reads and that the next lesson will be a good one too. 

Monday we had intercambios and I went to Navarrete with hna Nauca and that was good I was able to meet the Stake Presidente and his family they are really sweet people. We talked a lot and it was good I have gone on intercambios with her 2 other times.

Yesterday we had a good talk with Presidente Javier the Branch presidente and he knows that the members aren´t doing anything how they should and doesn´t know what he should do so we are going to help him ad hopefully get Presidente Castillo to come and do a capacitation to help them out. They need a bit of a jump start. Then to finish the night off we got ICE CREAM. It was good. Hna Palmer has 5 months in the mission! We also had interviews and that is always fun. I told Presidente about the house and he was all WOW... just WOW. It was funny.

Anyways love you all!! Be GOOD!

Look what I found!!! 

Todo Bien!!!

Hermana Buchanan

Baylee - Busy, busy busy week!!‏

February 22 2016

Hola Mi Familia y Mis Amigos!

How are we all doing?? How is life back home? I hope you are all finding happiness and blessings in your lovely lives LOL :) Sorry that was a little chessy, but it is true! Heres what happened this week, this crzy busy, chock-full week!

- First off, FRANCISCO! LOL He was a big fous this week! Monday, we cut our Pday short to go visit him to fill out his baptismal sheet. Guess what??!! He has 20 kids!!! How crazy is that...Anyway LOL Tuesday he then had his baptismal interview, and he passed! We visited with him Wed and Thurs and then Friday, he was baptized! The bptism was relly great. We had to wait for a lot of things, like there was tons of opposition. But about an hour late, we started, and Francisco was able to be cleansed completely and start his new life in Christ. When he cme out of the water, he was smiling so wide! He was just the happiest little 80 year old man I have ever seen! LOL but he doesnt look a day over 70. Sunday, Francisco was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of LAtter Day Saints, and he told us he just felt such a peace in hi heart. It was a good day :) 

- Ok, Tuesday, our Zone had a multi zone conference with Piura CEntral. It was a great conference! We learned a lot. Presidente showed us the new standards for the area of South America North West. Lots of the standards fosuc in on the Priesthood because we need the Priesthood in order for the cChurch to grow. One of the big things was increasing the neumber of young men leaving on a mission. We need more! Every single one of you that are preparing or couold be preparing need to get going nd get out there! Dont delay! Another anwesome thing from the conference was that Presidente invited a few of the recent converts from our zones to come and talk with us. They shared their conversion stories and then answered questions. tht was something I had never expereienced before and it ws pretty neat!

- After the conference, Hna. Carrera and I began Intercambios with Hn. Ramirez and Hna. Tiñini. Hna. Tiñini came to our area with me and we had a good time. LOL We found a new investigator and I decided to be a little more direct with him because h was the head of the family. It worked so well! I have now decidd that being direct is much more effective, and it is my new goal to mbe more direct with all of our investigators!

- Wed Hna. Carrera dn I taught one of our recent converts, Joel. We taught him about the importance of serving a mission! We sang Called to Serve t start, we read D&C 4, and I was able to share my experience with Hno. Francisco back in Talara. It was a great lesson. Joel is so great and really needs top serve  mission! He is 21, so he is right there ready for it!

- Thursday was an awesome day! We had a Sisters Training meeting with all of the Hermanas in the mission! You can probably imagine how different a meeting with all the Hermanas is than with the Elders. The mission ws home ws made up all pretty, and we sang beautiful songs, and it was so much more tranquil! We learned some fantastic stuff! WE started off the meeting by watching a music video from the BYU womens acapella group Noteworthy, one I hadnt seen yet, and it was beautiful! They sang Amazing Grace! I definitely recommend it! I was asked to lead the msic, so I got to stand in front of all those lovely sisters and listen ot the magnificent chorus as we belted ourt As sisters in Zion, I LKnow that my REdeemer Lives, and Carry On. It ws awesome! Hna. Rasmussen had a few friends there visiting, one tht had been there before and who I had met in Talara,.. Her name is Bev and she taught a class out being Bold. We are not here in the mission to be visiting teachers, we are here to be missionaries, so we cant just be their friends nd check up on them. we need to teach repentance and baptize cnverts. We need to use our time to the max and we cant do that if we are timid. It was a great class! 

- Friday, Hna. Carrera and I held a mini- CCM here in our ward. We taught the members how tp teach the new Como Comenzar a Bautizar and did pracitces with them. LOL it was so funny to watch them trying to do it. It reminds me of how I was bck in my first lessons in the CCM!! 

- Saturday was a crazy day! We hd almost all of the Zone here in our area. We had an invasion! LOL a Mormon invasion. We sent out all of the missionaries with members and we knocked on al of the doors in ourarea and talked to everyone. It was a little stressful, but it was so sucessful! We now had 5 more investigators with a baptismal date and tons of references to follow up on. Afterward, we all joined back up at the capilla and had some refreshments and belted out Carry On, our mission song. It was a good time!

- Last night, Hn. carrera and I had a few assignments to fulfill. We had to fill up 100 water balloons and make brownies for the zone! LOL you can imagine what we did today! LOL it was sooo fun! We went to the stake center. Getting there was such a big event because Hna. Carrera nd I had to bring the giant wash bin filled with the balloons as well as the brownies and even more we had to bring our dirty cltohes over to Hna. Lilianas! It was an adventure alright! At the stake center, we started off by playing volleyball! I was pretty darn happy about that. MY team won :) Nest we played some soccer, of course! LOL my tem also won but that was because we had Elder Elizalde and he played on one of the most famous club soccer teams in Argentina before the mission. Following the sports came the water! We had over 700 water balloons and we just kind attacked each other. we tried to do teams, but it kind of ended up being everyone against everyone. A lot more against us Hna.s Especially Hna. Tiñini because she ran and showed her fear LOL The Elders cornered her and just beat her with the balloons. I got to giant buckets of water thrown on me and tons of balloons. The Elders made sure that my hair was soaking! But it was so great! We shared the brownies and took some photos, and then Elder Elizalde, Elder Harris, and a member and I were playing a little bit of volleyball. As I turned to pass a shanked ball, Elder MAchaca and his ´son´ Elder Almond launched two more ovreflowing buckets of water into my face, of which I inhaled! LOL I felt like I was drowningg! Elder Elizalde, like the good District leader he is, immediately checked to make sure I was ok even though he laughing so hard, as were everyne else. I am still dripping!! It was a real fun time! Afterward was als fun because out little district of 6 stayed behind and cleaned the hallways that were soaked. We laughed and it was wonderful! :)

- Oh ya funny story, this morning we were woken up at 4:30 AM be the rain beating down on the roof, water coming in to our apartment! We had to get out of bed and put buckets under the pts that were dripping! Rain like that just doesnt happen in Piura! it is crazy and right now it is so hot and humid!!

Well tht was my week! Super busy with lots of  big activities! :) I know that i learned a ton this week! :) Hasta la proxima semana!

-- 

<<< HERMANA BUCHANAN >>>

~ ~ ~ PERU PIURA MISSION ~ ~ ~

Baylee - February 15, 2016

February 15 2016

Hola Mi Familia y Mis Amigos!

How is everyone this week? My week here was pretty good. Heres what happened here in Perú!

- Tuesday it rained! LOL that may not seem like something bitg, but it doesnt rain here in Piura. It rained a bunch! People were all very unhappy that day LOL. Hna. Lucy had agreed to accompny us on our appointments, but she didnt want to leave her house in the rain LOL we had to convince her to leave the secuirty of her house.

- Tuesday afternoon, we had an appointment with a younger guy named Nine. When he let us in, his four friends joined us in the lesson! LOL we were excited to teach so many people. And then, they all really felt something. Each one of them accepted baptism and another visit! A littele miracle that came from just one person! Their names are Nine, Jorge, Hector, and Bryan. 

- Also on Tuesday, we held our first English class at the church in the evening. There werent a whole lot of people, but we did get a few. LOL I feel so weird teaching English...I guess I will get used to it!

- Wed we had Intercambios with the Hna.s in Sechura, a little beachside town about an hour and  half away. I went there with Hna. Ortiz. We had a good time! LOL Hna. Ortiz is definitely one of my good friends here in the mission. We found a whole family while knocking on doors! They were so ready to hear the message, the dad most of all! It was such a cool experience!

- Thursday, Hna. Carrera and I went to our first visit with a Young Woman that came to church last week. Her name is Nicol an she i only 14, but she understands and really wants to join the church. She made the comment that she felt something so different the church when she came, something happy and peaceful that she had never felt before. That is truly what we share with people, happiness, peace, hope. I love that I have this opportunity to share these wonderful blessings! Nicol is already progressing so well and she has a bapismal date for Mrch 26h.

- Thursday we also did Indexing with one of our Recent Converts, Hno. Joel. I love Indexing! I didnt want to leave! :) Do some indexing, people! Save some souls! 

- Friday, Bishop Cordova and Hna. Lucy accompanied us. it was the first time that I went proselyting with a couple, and it was so fun LOL! We lauhghd a ton, and the time just flew by. 

- Friday we had a lesson with an Hno. that was being taught by the Elders before, and came to church to find us,and really want to be bptized. He was like a glden investigatr. But we learned one of the reasons he wants to be a member is to find a wife LOL and she is really well educated so he is hard to teach...But we are working with him to help him feel the Spirit. 

- Saturday we taught a lesson with 3 sisters and their littles kids. At first, it was hard because they were super distracted with the kids. But as we taught, I felt the Spirit kind of slowly fill the room. The kids got quieter, the ladies paid better attention, and in the end the lady that offered the prayer really felt something special, I could see it in her eyes. Tht was a little testament to me of the real power of the Holy Ghost and this message. This is the truth! 

- Yesterday the other ward the uses our chapel had their ward conference, so our ward had a weird schedule. We had our meetings at 3 PM! So Hn. Carrera and I had a morning as if it was any other day! We went and visited a less active and then a recent convert in the morning. The recent Convert is names Arturo and he is about 50 years old. He is so awesome! So funny and loves tehis Gospel. We taught about Family Hisotry work and he truly understands the importance and want to find all the dates for his parents and grandparents and everyne! After the lesson, he said he ws going to give us Ceviche de Pota, which is so good! We thought he was kiding, but no here had really made Ceviche de Pota for us! His son had also made us a full on lunch with rice and chicken and everything! LOL It was so silly and fun! LOL but right afterwqard, Hna. Carrera and I had oto edn over the a less active members house for our scheduled lunch appointment....two lunches! LOL I was soooooo fulll...

- Recently, I have been working more and more on my lack of patience...Something I rad in Preach my Gospel is that ´patience is the ability to do the will of the Lord and acept things in His time.´ also a few relly good scriptures I wanted to share are in Mosiah 23:21-22, Romans 5:3-5, and Psalms 46:10. Some really good scriptures that I think w can all benefit from!

Well, thats about it! A good week! So many little blesings, blessing here and blessing at home. Estoy tan agradecida por mi Salvador y su amor a mi, especialmente en los momentos más difíciles. Él está con nosotros, siempre. Mientras todos los desafíos, Él está con nosotros Él siemptre van a cargarnos y protegernos. Yo le amo a mi Salvador! :)

Cuídense! Hasta la próxima semana!! 

-- 

<<< HERMANA BUCHANAN >>>

~ ~ ~ PERU PIURA MISSION ~ ~ ~

Brielle - jueves 18 feb 2016

February 18 2016

Yesterday was a long day and we are still recovering and so we are writing today.

We have had a good week. Thursday we were at a lesson and it looked like rain and then it started to rain so we just sat closer to the house so we wouldn´t get super wet the lady left and went into her house so my and hna Palmer sang the first verse of each himno we knew so we got to 49. It was a good way to waste time. We didn´t have an umbrella so we were waiting for a pass so get to the house and get the umbrella. Then we had a lesson with a youth who is an investigator and she actually was listening and learning other times when her mom who is a member and if her friend is there she gets embarassed and stops listening and is worried about what they think. So it was cool to see the Spirit touch her and see her actually understanding. 

Friday we had our normal service project. Every morning we the elders and us go to an old man´s house named Fran and the Elders get him out of his bed and help him take a bath. Me and hermana palmer wait outside and then we sweep the floor. Well we got there and he was still sleeping and then there also isn´t any water. There was a little in a bucket so we were going to use that and it was needed because he was laying in his own urine in his bed. This man has no strength in th first place to get himself out of bed he has a bucket by the side of his bed as a toilet. He lives alone people give him food everyso often but we don´t know how often anyways the elders went to help him into the chair so they could bathe him and he couldn´t move the left side of his body. Not at all. Then my first aid class knowledge kicked in and I remember what Aimee Binning told us to help us recognize a stroke. Get them to smile and if they can´t it could be a stroke. He couldn´t smile and his mouth on the left side was drooping down. I was this man needs to get to a hospital. We called the only member with a truck and he was out in his campo far away. We called the man´s son and he didn´t answer. We called the office so that I could know the word for stroke in Spanish and the assistant told us to call 911 but there is no 911 in Sabaneta. We eventually got someone with a truck there were 3 men. 2 who were drunk and the let us know that and the one who was driving was not drunk thankfully. They had to dress him in his sunday best to take him to the hospital I was all just put some pants on him and go. They left the house to ask the neighbors for a belt. We as a district of americans were a bit annoyed with them but they finally got him to the hospital. We have heard that he is back at home probably alone. We will pass by tomorrow and we will see.

Saturday we had a lesson with Wendy a contact that we made that had met with the sisters before but they never came back and she had a friend over and we talked for a long time. The friend is really intersted so we got a reference. It was a good lesson.

Sunday we went to Wiliam´s house and he needs a lot more time to prepare for baptism. He needs to understand the Plan of Salvation better. He needs to understand the need for the Atonement and how the plan was this way from the very beginning. It is amazing. 

Monday we had a lesson with Wendy and we talked more about the plan of Salvation. She understands it but still asks but why? why do we have to suffer? I am sure we all ask that question but then we know that it is to gain experience so we can be prepared for eternal life. There is a purpose for all things.

Tuesday morning we had a service at the branch pres house and we jsut sat there and we ended up sweeping the floor and sitting some more because we are sisters and so the elders helped make cement so they can make a wall in the back of the house. 

WEdnesday we went to Santiago. I went into the doctors so I could ask a question about my numb foot. and then we went to the grocery store and then we went and had lunch at wendy´s is was really good. And then we went to PriceSmart to wait for the guy who makes the scripture covers so hna Palmer could order her´s and then we met up with other missionaries there since it was lunch time. and then we went o calle del sol and then we went to the office and I finally wrote my testimony in a Book of Mormon for the doctor who helped me when I was in the hosptial in Santiago and then we went to go write and the internet center was full of missionaries so we decided we´d go home and we´d write the next day since it was 4:30 and we had a 2 hour ride home still. We got back at 6:50 and then we swang by the internet center to see what time it opens and then we went to the church for the activity. 

Today we woke up dead we are beat from our travels. We planned and had lunch and came to write we have a full day of lessons and a meeting. I love this work with all my heart. It is hard but it is all worth it every single part of it.

I am learning more and more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and my love for Him grows and grows. Always seek to learn more and understnad it.

I love you all!! 

-- 

Todo Bien!!!

Hermana Buchanan

Hidden Mickey!!!

Brielle - February 10 2016

February 10 2016

The hermanas from my group hna seenaraine, Bauyon, me, Malabi, and Jennings. Love these girls.

They went home. It made me a little sad. More I wasn´t focusing on the fact that I wasn´t going home I was just happy for them that they finished and that none of the got sent home. There aren´t many groups like that anymore. We finished strong. Even if we didn't finish all together. 

The power was out so after we planned we roasted marshmellows

Baylee - February 8 2016

February 8 2016

Hola Mi Familia y Mis Amigos! :)

¿Cómo Están? Espero que todo está bien! :) LOL This week has been a pretty good week here in the mission. Here is what happened...

- Last Monday night, we had a FHE with the Bishop and his family and a few people they invited. Hna. Carrera and I showed a new movie we had gotten from the Zone Leaders called On the Way Home. I had never seen it before, but it was awesome! I is about a fmily that lost the wyoungest daughter and has a whole lot of problems, but then one of the other daughters friends shares the Gospel, they meet the missionaries, and are eventually baptized, changing their lives forever. It was a really spiritual night tht we shared in Bishops home! I definitely recommend the movie! 

- Tuesday, Hna. Carrera and I did our first Intercambios! Hna. Carrera went with Hna Tinini in CAtacaos, and I brought Hna. Ramirez here to Ramón Castilla. Hna. Ramirez is great! She has 16 months in the mission, so I know I learned a lot more from here than she could learn from me, but we had a good time! LOL We taught a lesson to three kids, 9, 10, and 12 years old! It was an awesome lesson though becuse they are so receptive and really love Jesus. They all agreed that it was so important to do what Jesus did, like be baptized by immersion by someone with the Priesthood when we are atthe age where we can understand and consciously make the decision. It was pretty neat! With Hna. Ramirez, we also taught a recente conert named Joel. We taught him about thebasics, praying, reading the acriptures, attending church. But Hna. Rmairez taught me to make the lesson more personal, to share personal experiences, to pply the idesa more directly to the person. I was able to share my epereicen with 2 Nephi 4 and I felt the spirit more than I had before. That was way cool!

- Wednesday night, Hna. Carrera and I got called into a meeting with the Zone Leaders, PResidente Rasmussen, and the Castilla Stake President. At first, I was way worried LOL but we ended up talking about how we, as leaders here in Castilla, can help the work progress in the whole Stake. We ultimately decided to start with our area, Ramón Castilla. We are going to do a Mormon invasion february 20th. That basically means that all the missionaries in the zone are going to come to our area for an afternoon, and all the members are going o come, and we are going to attack to area. Visit less actives, knock on doors, contact in the streets. EVERYTHING! Should be pretty neat!

-This week we also had our first District meeting. Our district is great! Hna. CArrera and I, the Zone leaders Elder Machaca and Elder Clawson, and Elder Elizalde and Elder Osmond. The absolute best part of that meeting came when Elder Osmond, the comp of the District Leader, shared his thought from the mission manual. He read from the section about leaders. Then he made a hysterial comment....¨We are all leaders here. Well, you are all leaders. I am just junior companion! Without respnsibility!¨ LOL he said it in such a way that we could help but laugh! LOL and Hna. Carrera and I have been bringing it up to each other all throughout the week and we still laugh every time! But its true that our district has a lot a leaders, so we have been asked to set the standard. We need to work harder than ever, jut like always ;D

- Thusrday afternoon, we had a zone service project! We all went to Catacaos nd cleaned the market! Wow...it wsa so so sooooo dirty! Like no one had cleaned it in years. We dedicated a good 2 hours with 22 misssionaries and a bunch of others sweeping up all the trash and dirt and gunk. But it felt good to serve, and we talked to a lot people who were super confused why North Americans were sweeping the mrket floor! LOL Good opportunities.

- Friday night we had a Noche Misional. Hna. Carrera and I were put in charge of mking the treats...Microwave Brownies! LOL our Ward Mission Leader Hno Buenaventura bought the supplies and we made the brownies in our room. There ended up being more than 100!!!! LOL we made such a mess in our kitchen! I actually ended up burning my fingers because I was trying to do it all super fast and I dropped one of the brownies from the microwave and the nuked chocolatey goo felll on my fingers. But I am ok, it was more funny than anything LOL. The Noche Misional was a music night. Hno. Buenadventura asked me to teach a little of how to read music, specifically the Hymns, and than listen to people sing and find their part for the chior they wnat to put together. LOL They think I am some msic genius or something since I know how to read notes and play the piano a little. LOL but it was good fun. At the end, the guilted me into a singing a little solo, so I sang a verse of The Lord is my Light in Spanish. And then they attacked the Brownies LOL thaey had ever had the before and they loved them!

- There is a new iniciative in our mission called Como Comenzar a Bautizar. From Preach my Gospel we have Como Comenzar a Enseñar, but now we have received steps to follow to teach The REstoration, invite people to be baptized nd plan abaptismal date all in 15 minutes. Its a new method for when we are knocking on doors and enter houses for the first time. it haelps us discern see the people we are teaching have realy interest or are just there to listen or be our friends. Hna. Carrera nd I used this three times this week, and it really worked. We found out on ldy really didnt want it and we ùt a baptismal date with two other people, all in the first lesson! It is a little difficult, but its also super effective!

- At church yesterday, we witnessed a little bit of a miracle. We had a quite a few investigators at the meetings, and one of them was a investigaor who had been listening to the Elders before. It was the first time we met him because we had been by his house and couldnt ever find him at home. He seemed nice enough, but then during sacrament meeting, when it was time for the congregation to get up and bear their testimonies since it was fast anf testimony meeting, the man, Ronaldo, got up. He bore his testimony right there in front of all the members, and he has only listened to lesson 1! He tlked about how ihe knows this is Gods holy church and how he wants to be baptized, that he cant wait to one day call all of them brother or sister. All of this and it was the first day we met him! Bishop was gesturing to us signs of water, baptism, all of it! Like Ronaldo is a golden investigator! Hna. Carera nd I are going to work real hard with him, and he is going to enter the waters of baptism, I know it! :)

- Well I heard a story yesterday that is really intersting. I guess in a little town near where Hna. Carrera lives, the people are super super Catholic. A companionship of missionaries got sent there, and the peple abused them . Spit on them, hit them, threw things at them, everything. These missionaries called the mission president to tell him, and the president told them to ¨shake the dust from their shoes¨and leave immediately. In the fllowing week after this experience, there was a huge earthquake. All of that little town was destroyed and the only survivors were a teacher and a bunch of kids who were in one of those safety circles. A week after flat out rejecting the Gospel. tehe people were destroyed...I dont know if that is a true story, but it is a good lesson the learn. The Gospel will go forth, and if people are nwilling to accept it, there will be conseqiuences. Interesting, no? 

- Today Hna. Carrera and I went on a run...with our bags  of dirty clothes! LOL we ran to Hna. Lilianas to drop of the clothes then kept running. People gave us the weirdest looks LOL. Also, this morning Hna. Carrera and I made popcorn and brownies and then we went and watched The Best Two Years with our Dirstrict! It wsa a good time :)

Well, theres my week! Everyday just kind of seems to slip by, without even being noticed! I hope ll is well at home! Be good! Love you all! :)

-- 

<<< HERMANA BUCHANAN >>>

~ ~ ~ PERU PIURA MISSION ~ ~ ~

Brielle - wednesday 3 FEB 2016‏

February 3 2016

Well Febrero is here! And it is still hot here. :)

Anyways so last week after we wrote we had a ward activity!! WE HAD A WARD ACTIVITY!!! That was something big for me because in Villa Olga they kind of refused to do ward activities. Basically told us NO.

Here is Sabaneta there are a lot of investigators and we don't know much about the members. Meaning we don't know where the active members live or where the less active members live. I would like to work on that so that we can work together a little bit more. My comp and her trainer white washed this area. Meaning the two of the them came here without knowing anything about the area and they sure helped it come alive. So there is a lot of work to do. 

We have a few investigators that are close to having baptisms they just need to continue to learn and grow a little more and gain their own testimonies. 

We have an investigator who we were going to visit like last thursday and in the morning we get a call from him asking us to pray for him and his little girl because she was really sick and they took her to Santiago to a good hospital and then in the afternoon we got a call from one of his friends telling us that his daughter had died. We were shocked. This poor guy is not married and his little girl is his life. She was 8 years old. And Hermana Palmer said she was the sweetest thing. So if you could pray for Papo, that would be awesome.

So with a new place I have to explain why I have a colored leg and a thing on my arm. And it is crazy to thing almost a year ago I got hit. Time sure flies by when you're busy. 

Bueno I forgot my other agenda so I don't have much to say today and yeah, but I do know this. que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera en la tierra y que es la misma que Jesucristo establicio cuando el estaba en la tierra. Yo se que Cristo Vive. Yo se que cuando nosotros buscamos la ayuda del Senor en toda de las cosas que vamos hacer el va a ayudar nos y vamos a tener la fuerza a vencer cualquier prueba. 

Love you guys be strong.

-- 

Todo Bien!!!

Hermana Buchanan

Baylee - First reall week in Ramòn Castilla!

February 1 2016

Hola Mi Familia y Mis Amigos! :)

How are we all doing this week?? The life keeps flying by, no? Here is what happened this first week here in Ramòn Castilla!

- My comp, Hna. Carrera, is absolutely fantstic! We are already like the best of friends! We get up at 6 AM and go running together, we make each other breakfast LOL, we have a similar sense of humor, we both really want to work hard. I am so glad to be her companioin during this big change. 

- we have been knocking on a TON of doors lately in our new area because we are starting from almost zero. Just from knocking on hundreds of doors, we found 8 new people that are interested, and they are all wonderful! The missioin goal for new investigators each week is 5, so we were pretty ecstatic to have 8! And almost all of them are really wonderful. We found a family, we a mom and her 5 kids that her really interested in those ^Mormons^ LOL We are helping a lot of new people here!

- Thuersday morning, we went to our first Leaders Meeting at the mission home. We learned so much! There was a discusssion about our responsiblities as leaders in the mission. It made me laugh a little tha District Leaders have the responsiblity of takin care of the other missionaries, but ESPECIALLY the hermanas! LOL As sister leaders, we get to take care of the other hermanas in our zones and we help teach the zone through example. There is a lot of things to do! The meeting was a lot of fun too because we got to see so many of the other wonderful missionaries! Not too much Presidente and Hna. Rasmussen! 

- Also on TH we got to go to our first Ward Council in the Ramòn Castilla Ward. I love the members here!! They are so loving and supportive and really want to help us i this work. We are so blessed to be here with such wonderful people opening this area as newbies! 

- Friday morning we had our first Zone meeting. Zona Castilla is a lot bigger than Talara! And Hna. CArrera and I had a part in the program, we had to teach! LOL The silly thing is That here in the mission, I dont get nervuos about that stuff like I  did back home. It is a great change! We had a good time, and I really like my new Zone! :)

- Friday afternood, we experienced what could almost be called perfect lesson! We were actually looking for a recent convert who apparently doesnt live at his address. We found a mom, her four daughters and son and baby granddaughter. They let us in, and we had a good friendly conversation, and began with a prayer. Then Hna. Carrera and I worked together so perfectly, truly, we did a perfect Ping Pong with the principles of the lesson, we asked questions, we made sure they understood. And what was even better was that the Spirit entered the room. Even with the noises coming from outside and the baby being fussy, the Spirit came in. The mom and two of the daughters paid special attention. They really understood and felt something. At the end of the lesson, I took the opportunity to invite them to be baptized if they learned for themselves that our message was true. One of the daughters gave a clear yes. She was so intenselt interested. The mom agreed a little hestiantly too. And the other kids agreed to pray about it. We finished the lesson with the mom praying, and we planned to return another day, everything! That was a lesson I will never forget, almost perect! :)

- Here in Ramòn Castilla, we eat lunch with members Saturdays and _Sundays. So this week we ate with two families, really great families! The opnly bad thing about eating with members is they serve rice...Of course rice is the norm here, but our Pensionista Hna. Malena asked us what we wanted. So with her, we arent eating rice. We eat lots of veggies and lots of chicken! It is totally cool by me, but with they members they serve HUGE portions of rice! On Sunday we had rice AND noodles! LOL It is all really good but SO MUCH! LOL

- Our church meetings here in Ramòn Castilla start at 8:20 AM and are backwards, starting with Relief Society, then Sunday School,. then Sacrament Meeting. Since it was the 5 th Sunday, we were combined for Relief Society andElders Quorum. The lesson was fantastic!! Hno. Alan shared a lesson about the importance of the Sabbath Day, and he specifically pulled out two words from the sacrament prayers, Bless and Sanctify. There are some really cool meanings attached to those words adn it really put the sacrament into a different perspective! The meetings were all really great! I love this Ward! :)

- Today, Hna. Carrera and I did some DEEEEEEEPPP Cleaning of our apartment because I am pretty sure those Elders never cleaned...LOL It took all morning. At 1 PM, We came over here to a mall clled Open Plaza and ate at Chilis!!! LOL There is a Chilis here in Piura! Lots of missionaries were there so we sat with a bunch of other Hermanas and chatted. It was great! I relly liked Talara, but the benefits of Piura are huge! :) 

Well, that is my week! We are working hard everyday! I love you all! Yo sè que este Evangelio es la verdad, sin dudas! Estamos andando en el sendero del Señor y tenemos que permanecer aquí! Cierto, Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador y nos ama con un amor infinito! Sean fiel, todos! Les extraño mucho, pero sè que yo tengo que estar aquí sirviendo el Señor. Les amo muchismo!! :) Hasta la próxima semana! 

-- 

<<< HERMANA BUCHANAN >>>

~ ~ ~ PERU PIURA MISSION ~ ~ ~