El fin se acerca...

Wow, so here I am writing home for the last time... it feels weird.  I dont have that much to say this week besides how happy I am.  This last week has been amazing and we have some great things planned for this week... including the wedding of Yanet and JImmy and Yanet´s baptism all on Saturday!  Lately it has been a bit of that "on a spiritual cloud" feeling, which by the way isnt normal on the mission, and I´m just loving it and enjoying it while I can.  I don´t know if things really are that good or if my love and appreciation for my calling and the work have increased.  Maybe both!  But I want each of you to know how much I love this gospel and my Savior.  I have been privelaged to represent Him for a short time and I am so grateful for the confidence the Lord has placed in me to do His work and for the strength He has given me to be able to do it.  I know the true church of Jesus Christ was restored through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is TRUE! And I just want everyone to know that too! That God cares about us and wants us to be happy and has given us prophets to guide us. I love, love, LOVE this. My faith and testimony have grown so much and I hope to not just be a person of words, but continue throughout my life to progress and apply the gospel principles.  Im sure not perfect and have a long way to go, but I know I can return to live with God someday with my family.  My mission is the BEST thing that´s happened to me.

Love you all! See you soon! (and as my comp always writes home:)

Love from Lima,

Hermana Bledsoe

ps. this photo is of Abiud´s baptism.  He was one of the first people I taught in my first area.  My trainee Hna Avendaño and her trainee baptized him :)  The Lord has sweet timing!

Creo en Cristo

So this week was great! For starters, Yanet and Jimmy are OFICIALLY getting married the 19th of September and Yanet will be baptized on the 20th!  We are so excited for them.  We also had an amazing amount of investigators and less actives come to church yesterday.  Seriously a miracle because church attendance usually is pretty low here.

Wednesday we did divisions with the Hermana Leaders and I got to go (for my last one) to Monterrico with Hermana Lopez from Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She and I go way back because we were in Chaclacayo together so it was cool to catch up and also to go to such a different area than mine for a day.  It´s a very very wealthy part of Lima and they have their work cut out for them there but I met some awesome people there and we were able to teach some great lessons together and I learned a lot.

This week we are continuing to work with Abner and Fernanda who are consistently working on their commitments that we leave them and are progressing (they too arent married yet unfortunately) but we have been trying to help Abner understand the Atonement.  Never before in my mission have I had to really explain SO much about it and why its so important, or better said Ive never really had to help someone believe that He is their Savior and accept the atonement.  Abner didnt think it was fair that one person would take on sins that werent His, but we explained the Plan of Salvation and why.  He still couldnt really accept it but Fernanda told him to accept it because its part of the plan, and she made the good point that yes, He died, but that now He lives.  She´s right!  The Book of Mormon has really helped us teach him this and we invited him to pray about it.  Usually we invite people who believe in Christ to pray about the Book of Mormon but in this case we are inviting someone who truly believes in the Book of Mormon to pray about Christ.  Thanks to the Book of Mormon I too understand better the Plan of Salvation and the role of the atonement.  Thanks to the Book of Mormon I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and can be cleansed and redeemed through His Atonement.  I am so grateful for that knowledge and I hope that Abner can come to understand it better.

I am just loving being here and trying to enjoy every single moment I can before this all ends.  I am so grateful for these experiences and excited for the wonderful moments to come! ... Like Yanet and Jimmy´s wedding! :)

Hasta la proxima!

Hermana Bledsoe

beach fun!

selfie with my comp contacting a surfer :)

Harvesting yucca at the Panduro´s!

divisions in Monterrico with Hna Lopez!

Grandes momentos

Muchos saludos!!  

So another great week here in Cieneguilla.  On Wednesday I officially hit... are you ready for it... 17 MONTHS on the mission! Wow, I never thought this time woud come.  Yesterday church was amazing because we had, for the first time in my whole mission, we had an entire family we are teaching come to church together! They are a couple in their thirties with a 5 year old daughter (the ones I said had never imagined there were prophets in the Americas) named Abner and Fernanda.  They really liked church and actually that day President Boswell came to our ward and spoke and got to meet them. They are really doing their commitments and we are very hopeful! We have to take things a bit slowly with them because they dont really have a religious background (rare in Peru) but this week we will be teaching them the Plan of Salvation and hopefully that will clear up questions or doubts about why Jesus Christ is important.  They are really great and really are trying to understand.

So last week we had a little scare with Yanet and Jimmy because Sunday night we talked to Yanet and she said they were back to their old plan of being married in November. We coudnt believe they had seemed to have gone backwards and forgotten all we had taught about faith and repentance.  On Monday night we talked to them about it and asked if they had consulted the Lord in the matter and they said no, but that they probaby should. We taught them the parable of the ten virgins and it was actually about a wedding so it was perfect for their situation.  We talked about being prepared for when Chirst comes and they realized they shouldnt put off their wedding any longer, but promised to pray about it to get a confirmation from God.  The next day we came back and they obviously had had their answer because they were full-on wedding planning.  This week they will be traveling to where they were each born in order to get their partidas (birth certificates), which is a requirement to be married.  So we are hoping they have a set date by the end of this week.  We found a "mass wedding" (cheaper and less requirements) in Lima on the 20th so we are hoping it will all work out for that date.

We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation with a 19 year od named Gerson.  I just loved how after we drew it a out on a chalkboard and explained it all, he was looking at it and said, "Its not that complicated." We were like YES!! Someone that GETS it!  As Elder Corbridge of the Seventy says, "Life is hard, not the gospel."  I love being a missionary and having these "aha" moments and experiences. Its the BEST!  I love the Savior so much and teaching people His gospel is just so rewarding.

Love you all! Cuidense mucho!

Hermana Bledsoe

Ps- We had a fun p-day with our district at some ruins here in Cieneguilla.  What was more exciting was the members house we went to afterwards and climbed a hill with this great view.

Hna Mendoza, Hna Hazelton, Hna Bledsoe, Hna Villarini

COMPS

Hna Bledsoe

MORE bday cards came... GRACIAS!