Otro Testamento de Jesucristo

Heyyyyyyyalll!

Good to hear from you all!  Life in Lima is pretty good, Spring is FINALLY here and it´s starting to get a little warmer.  Crazy, right? ...Spring in October?  I know.  The sun here is really strong so I´m bracing myself for that.

I wish I had a ton of cool things to share, but we had a week that wasn´t too noteworthy. Last P-day was pretty chill and we found this really cool park, Parque de los Anillos (literally translates to Park of the Rings) right next to our house that is beautiful, well-kept, and FREE to enter.  They have alpacas there and a pond and it´s super pretty.  Hermana Sassetti and I run every morning and we´ve started to go running there.  Other than that, we´re still not seeing a ton of the fruits of our labors, but we´re just pressing forward and trying to stay positive.

Something that I realized this week is the real converting power of the Book of Mormon.  I always knew, but my testimony of it is growing stronger and stronger.  Especially here in South America we have the opportunity to show people that God loves all of HIs children in all parts of the world is really cool.  When we contact and mention this, we get a lot more of their attention.  It´s the best when we leave commitments with people and they say that they HAVE read from the Book of Mormon and even better when they say they have a testimony of it!! I love this book and this gospel!

I´d be lying if I said I didn´t miss you guys a TON but I love hearing from you and knowing you´re doing well.  Don´t worry, I´m not getting trunky haha.  I still have less than a year left and I´m enjoying the experience.  

Les quiero bastante! Cuidense muuucho!

Hermana Bledsoe

Lo sé, lo vivo, me encanta :)

Holaholaholaaaa!

So good to hear from yall! Congrats on the reassignment Sister Bledsoe!  When I first saw the email I thought you were going to Farmington, Utah hahaha... New Mexico will be SWEET!  I´m so excited for you!  Itll be so cool to get to be in the states for a bit.. I know from experience that by spending time as a missionary in your own country first it gives you a better perspective of the role of missionaries in another foreign country.  It sounds weird but I promise you´ll understand later!  

Also, it was cool to hear about the Cabo trip and all the cool things you guys did.  I´m looking forward to one day when I can come with because I´ll finally be able to speak to the people there more than "Hola" and "Como estas?" Haha.  Maybe the next one can be a year from now? :) Haha. And I know that by doing small acts of service like giving a soccer ball to kids in the barrios (I know what that is now too!) makes a big difference.  It´s amazing how much understanding you gain in the mission, especially after just 4 months here in Perú.  Well done fam!

This week went pretty well, we have been contacting a lot more and have been having some successes with that. We also got three people to commit to a baptismal date this week, but unfortunately none of them came to church this Sunday. On Wednesday we had interviews with President Ardila and mine went really well.  He gave me a lot of encouragement and told me that I´m doing a good job and I really needed to hear that!  The whole interview was really guided by the Spirit and I left more energized and determined to work hard.  He really is like my dad here in the mission and it was great to have the opportunity to talk for a little bit.  Btw, I told him about your recent missionary experience, Dad!

We have been inviting people (and by that I mean every person we talk to) to the four main sessions of General Conference, but just a few could make it Sunday morning.  The rule in the mission is that we have to bring an investigator or a less-active to be able to attend the sessions-- except the Sunday morning session.  So I really only got to see that session yesterday in the morning.  It was kind of a bummer because we had had a bunch of people who told us they would go Saturday, but they all fell through for one reason or another.  However, I learned a lot from the talks in the session that I DID get to see and especially was touched and motivated by President Monson´s talk.  I feel more strongly now the importance of teaching the Plan of Salvation because it´s so important to keep an eternal perspective when we are faced with trials or when we have to make big decisions.  If more people understood that the Gospel is salvation and not just a pretty message, I think they would choose to act and keep their commitments.  So we will see how that goes!  I feel a lot more motivated now to help everyone I meet understand these truths that I have known my whole life and have guided me throughout it.

Yesterday we had an interesting experience contacting.  We stopped by to visit a less active sister who sells fruit at a stand in one of the marketplaces by Lupita´s house and as we started to visit with her, an older, homeless gentleman that we always pass and greet on the way to Lupita´s asked me to "preach something" to him and I went right into the Plan of Salvation right there in the street.  We talked for about 30 minutes and we were able to explain almost all of the plan in between his long commentaries (Peruvians talk a LOT). He showed me a bunch of scriptures in the Bible and I realized he knows it very well. He went on to tell us he has been homeless for 40 years and wants a place to live. I don´t really know where this came from, but I promised him, as a servant of God, that if he keeps His commandments he will be blessed and find somewhere and live.  The man (his name is Ricardo) thanked me for coming here from the United States to bring the word of God to him and to the people here.  I told him my companion came from far away too, but he just kept on talking to me, haha.  He said that he could feel that I was sent from God because I preached with His power and authority and with His words.  I thought of the talks I heard that day in Conference and I thanked Heavenly Father silently for giving me the ability to teach in such a manner,  It really wan´t me, but the Spirit working through me to touch the heart of this (kinda crazy, but sober) homeless man.  I feel so blessed to be able to be here right now sharing this Gospel and for these experiences and I know that each one of His children is so precious to Him.

This Gospel is true! Sigan adelante!

Les quiero!

Hermana Bledsoe

Pics:

Last p-day we played volleyball (futbol is now prohibited in the mission!) as a zone outside and our hands got all dirty.  Hermana Ocampo and I!

Hermana Sassetti in our matching Perú soccer jerseys (personalized!) :)

6 meses completadas!! Just Pics This Week-- due to limited internet time

pollo milanesa con palta, ensalada, arroz, y limónada :)

from our temple trip this week!

Six month selfie!

Ser Mormón es ser feliz!

Wow, first of all congrats to Sadie for making it into the choir for the General Relief Society Broadcast! I will definitely be looking for you from here in Perú!  Glad to hear from you guys at home too and that things are going well there!

So this week has been just a whirlwind of WORK!  We are just rushing to appointments all the time and receiving a lot of references... the trick is helping them to actually progress! Haha.  The people of my cerro are so humble and awesome and totally worth hiking a ton to visit.  A lot people believe our message and want to be baptized, but a lot of what is holding people back is keeping the commandments.  One of the things is that almost every couple lives together without being married, and we have yet to get another couple to show their faith and make that step like Yessica and Edgar.  But we have faith and are hoping to see this testimony and belief reflected in their actions.

Speaking of Yessica and Edgar, we are now teaching Yessica´s older sister (who is 21 years old) Viki, who is amazing! She told us that she has seen such a great change in her sister and her brother-in-law and wants to change as well.  In our first lesson, we shared a beautiful moment with her as we asked her to be baptized and she responded in tears, "SI."  I felt prompted to set a date during all of the hugs and tears and she has agreed to set the goal of October 12!  I am so happy for her and also really happy to see that the Gospel really has changed the lives of Edgar and Yessica for the better.

I have really felt with this calling and more responsibilty of being a senior companion and trainer the hand of the Lord in all that I do and am so grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow as a missionary and as a person.  I´m a lot more bold and have learned to follow the Spirit more than ever... it´s hard to describe everything rapidly in the limited time I have, but I´m definitely counting my blessings! :)

Love yall! Cuidense muuucho!

Hermana Bledsoe

With the Fernandez-Baca family gettin´ready for the wedding!

 The Sisters of Zone San Luis (It´s weird to write that in English!)

 Juanes!  It´s weird but good! It´s rice with some chicken wrapped in like a palm tree leaf thingy...haha

 We went to a baptism that our district leader had... all of us with their convert, Kenny.

Everyone gathered around to eat Juanes in P-day (a typical dish from the provinces)!

Fe en cada paso.

So I sent some pics from last Monday when we went to La Punta in Callao for P-Day! It was way fun/exhausting.  I love my zone!

Tuesday was CAMBIOS! And Hermana Pardo got switched out of the area and I am... TRAINING!! And freaking out... Haha.  It´s such a huge responsibility being senior companion and a trainer, and I´m learning a lot.

My new companion is Hermana Sassetti from Santa Fe, Argentina. She has a strong Argentinian accent so sometimes I can´t understand her, but she is really focused and has a lot of enthusiasm!  She turned 20 this week so Hermana Lupita made her a huge chocolate cake and we had to scarf peices of it down really quickly between appointments... she learned as I did that birthdays in the mission are quite different!  We are still scaling our cerro every day and Hermana Sassetti is getting used to that and all of the changes in culture coming from Argentina.

Elisama still hasn´t talked to her mom about getting permission, but we have asked our bishop if he would visit their family because the mom is only there at night past 9 and we can´t be out late.  Hopefully we can all come together and make this baptism happen this week!  We did, however, go with her and her cousin, Jhordy, to visit the temple and she LOVED it! It was a really sweet experience and motivated her more to get the courage to talk to her mom about joining the church... so we´ll see what happens this week!

I´m learning more and more how much missionaries are needed- to teach the gospel, visit less actives, and help build up the church wherever we are serving.  People really appreciate when we visit them and I´m grateful for the opportunity that I have every day to help fulfill a need of someone who is going through a hard time or needs more of the Spirit in their life. Just enjoying every second!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Bledsoe :)

Only some of the stairs we scale every day...my legs are hard as rocks after 6 weeks! Haha.

 typical plaque pic

 Atop of the cerro again

  my comp and a menos activo!

 We found a ton of plátanos (bananas) and had to take a pic!  Such a gringo thing to do :)

 LA PLAYA! :)

 Playing in a boat.

 La Punta!

 Some of our zone who all went to La Punta!

 Da beach! So pretty and peaceful.

 Everyone smushed in a bus on the way home!

 Mi Lima en la nochecita :)

Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortaclece.

Hey yall!

First of all, I´m glad to finally hear from you Sadie and how you´re enjoying the MTC!  Where are you living?  Where is your classroom? I actually miss it there a bit, it´s an amazing place and the Spirit is abundant when you´re in tune with it.  Your companionship sounds a lot like mine was with Hermana Weller... she was the crier and I was the one whipping out the Spanish.  So if you and I were mission companions, we would rock it! Haha. We would just have to speak Sportuguese :)  I was always the only Hermana in my district not crying when we had testimony meetings, and it kinda bothered me because I knew I was feeling the Spirit, it just doesn´t always manifest itself in that way.  After about 5 months now, I cry all the freaking time! Haha.  

So this week was the last week before transfers and so we´ve been continuing working hard to finish it off.  We have a handful of investigators that attend church every week, but have different challenges keeping them from being baptized.  One of them is Elisama, a sixteen year old girl whose cousin is a recent convert in our ward.  She comes to church every Sunday and all of the youth activities. She studies English a lot and loves to talk with me in English!  But I try not to do that too much because Hermana Pardo gets annoyed... haha. Elisama´s mom is super Catholic and we are working on getting her permission so that she can be baptized this Saturday!

We also ran into Carlos the other day... it was the first time we´d seen him since my birthday and I was a bit nervous.  Turns out that he wants us to come back and teach him again and that he wants to be baptized!  He just doesn´t want to be pressured into quitting smoking.  We´ve had only one lesson with him since, and we taught him about how the power of the Atonement can help him do all things (Phillipians 4:13) through its enabling power, or grace.  It was amazing to hear in the closing prayer when he asked for strength to improve. He knows that this is the truth and we are praying for him to be able to leave this behind for good.

Hermana Lupita, our pensionista, went out of town this last week, so her husband Alejandro has been cooking for us.  It´s kinda funny because right now they´re like our parents... when mom´s gone we can eat whatever we want and we watch church movies like 17 Miracles during our meals hahaha. 

Not much else exciting has been happening.  The mission gave everyone these messenger bags that make us look like Jehovahs Witnesses, but that has actually given us more opportunities to talk to people because they come up to us and ask if we´re "Testigos." Hahaha. We put in a lot of work this transfer and taught a total of about 90 lessons total to investigators and about 30 to less actives because they´re super important too, I´ve learned.  This work is amazing and I´m so glad to be a part of it!

Ciao!

Hermana Bledsoe

Little news today!!

Enjoy the pics! I´m well and having a great time!