So this last week for p-day it was district p-day so our district went and bought ingredients for ¨completos,¨ which is typical in Chíle...it´s basically a hot dog on a bun with tomato and avocado and some mayo on top (because latinos love their mayo) and it´s SO GOOD. Dad you should make them sometime. The funny thing was that that day actually was the day that Perú and Chíle were going to determine if a certain part of land and the ocean would belong to Perú or Chíle... haha. And I think by the end of it Perú won? So we were celebrating with Chilean food I guess hahaha. That was fun and then afterwards we went back home and made Alfajores (a typical Peruvian cookie-pastry) with Gabriela which also was really fun. We brought them to our district meeting the next day and they were a hit.
On Tuesday Hermana Avendano had to go to migrations and everyone in the mission knows that when its your turn to go, you basically lose the whole day of work. But it was cool because we went to Lima and I went on exchanges with a sister in her area in Santa Anita. Lima is way hotter in the summer than Chaclacayo because theres like 100 percent humidity and tons of people, movement, cars, etc. so I was sweating up a storm and feeling really grateful to be here in beautiful Chaclacayo during the summer. When we got back that night, Hermana Avendano and I were suuuuper grateful for our area!
We recovered pretty well after the loss of Tuesday and kept working all week and were able to find new investigators and have some really awesome lessons with members. We have a few people that are way close to being baptized so we will see how things go this week! I feel so guided by the Spirit and I am super grateful for all the little successes we´ve been having lately. Last night we were out on a street where beforehand we had received a reference from the Perú MTC and had knocked on the door but the cleaning lady (its a richer area) answered and told us that the ¨senora¨ is only home in the mornings and to come back then, but thats when we study, so havent been able to go. We had come to that street to look for someone else who wasn´t home and I had the thought that we could pass by and at least try to see if this reference happened to be home. We rang the buzzer and when we said who we were the person who answered immediately told us to wait. The woman we were looking for came to the door quickly and invited us in very excitedly. She told us that she had first made contact with missionaries in June of last year and that she lost contact and had wanted them to come back. She recently had met a sister missionary on a bus and was able to pass her info to this sister, and when we came she thought that that missionary she had met had sent us. We had never received the reference from her, we just had the original reference from the MTC for the past few months that in that monment we had decided to contact. It was a really cool moment as we realized that the timing of everything was no coincidence. It was something pretty simple but it really strengthened my testimony of God´s plan for each of us and of listening to the promptings of the Spirit.
I know that this is the Lord´s work and that He loves us so much. I´m grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here and be a part of these small and also great miracles that He is bringing to pass. At times the routine of everything can feel a bit monotonous, but I´ve learned how important it is to llok for the small and simple things because after all, ¨by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.¨ I have also realized how much more converted I am to the gospel. I have had such a gradual, almost undetectable, growth in my personal faith and testimony it reminds me of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 18 that says:
And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
I have learned to interperet that first soul as myself, that if I spend all this time crying repentance to this people and only bring myself unto Christ, my joy will be great. But even greater and more meaningful it will be to bring many more people as well!
And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the akingdom of my Father, how great will be your bjoy if you should bring many csouls unto me!
A missionary´s purpose is to invite everyone to come unto Christ, including themselves. I am very grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary, representing my Savior and helping ALL people come unto Christ. This experience has changed me so much and I hope that I will continue to progress from here on out! Enduring to the End. (BTW, If any of you are considering serving a mission, as Nike says, JUST DO IT! :) You wont regret it!)
Love you all! Cuidense este semana!
Hermana Bledsoe
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