Changes......

Can you believe its already changes...we didn't have them obviously but i can't believe how fast this change flew by. I only have 4 left....lame.

This week was great, like always! We did an activity of Karaoke this week with our ward. It turned out really bad, but it was worth the effort haha. We got the opportunity to talk in church yesterday. I talked about the temple that is going to be built here in Arequipa. They haven't even started yet and arent planning to anytime soon. They told us missionaries that it is going to take a miracle to build the temple here. It sort of broke my heart. The members just aren't showing that they want it. I really talked about the importance of paying tithing and being a dedicated member. Almost no one pays tithing here. Its such a blessing to have the opportunity to pay tithing and recieve such big blessings. They are missing out. We have big plans to help our ward. 

On Friday we had a cool experience contacting. We almost NEVER door knock because it just doesn't work and is usually a waste of time. But on Friday we had an hour of NOTHIng. We couldn't think of anything to do. So we said a prayer and started knocking. I felt impressed to knock on one house we saw so, the first door we knocked on a young lady answered. She looked really stressed and was a mess. We started talking to her, telling her who we were and she started to really open up to us telling us that her daughter has cancer and has been in the hospital for 6 months. She said she is just ready to give up and wishes He would just take her daughter. We started to teach about the plan of salvation. How families can be together Forever. The spirit was really strong and we were able to get another appointment. It was a really neat experiene for us both. Its amazing the people God puts in your path. The people he leads you to if you listen to the spirit!

Another cool thing that happened this week...remember Julio in Moquegua. Who I worked SO hard for and we all prayed for him...well he got baptized last week. My old comp called and told me! i was so happy for him. She said he all of a sudden just had a big change of heart. It just goes to show you that sometimes you don't see the results of your hard work until later. But that He always answers our prayers. just sometimes a little later in His time.

cooooool stuff. 

anyways, dont have too much to say! LOVE you all!!! 

talk to you next week.

HH

The view from the mission office.

The house where we go to wash clothes. This little boy was trying to hide from us.

Why I came on a Mission.....

Well this week was great and super fast! 

Last pday we didnt do anything too exciting. we ate at chilis. so thats kind of exciting i guess haha. This week was leadership council in the mission home. A lot of listening and talking and french toast. Its the best haha...every conference I just realize that president is getting crazier and crazier but i love him!

This week i had a really cool experience. On thursday night we did an activity for all of the future missionaries in our ward, just to get them exctied and thinking. Well i was praying and trying to figure out what I could share with them. And when I got there i still didnt know. But when I got up to talk I thought to share my reason for coming on the mission. Honestly, I didnt know why i exactly came on the mission. i just knew i wanted to..I remember having my first interview with president and him asking me the same question. And i remember saying...well i never wanted to come on a mission...well on Thursday I realized why i came. I remember my senior year of high school, I was going through a lot of changes. I needed a change of heart. And I remember the first time that I felt the atonement in my life. The first time I felt the love of Christ and my Heavenly Father and just remember how good i felt. That is exactly why I came on the mission. To help people feel exactly the way that i felt. To feel that love. To me, the change I had my senior year of high school was the biggest change in my life. It changed the course of my life, and my decisions and its something we can all feel. We can all apply the atonement in our lives every single day. That love he has for us is free. 

It was really such a cool experience for me that night, to realize what sparked in me to come on a mission.

Anyways, I dont have much to share with you guys this week. Im happy, the mission is great and I love you all. Talk to you guys sooN! 

HH

"we do not suddenly become what we do not participate in becoming."

One year.....what i've learned.

Can you believe i've been in crazy Peru for a whole year now? Me either...haha so fast the time! This week was really great! We are working hard and getting better every week. I love this work! This week was busy like always so I have lots of good stuff to tell you guys. 

Last p-day we carved pumpkins, the elders searched for hours to find pumpkins, haha it was a lot of fun! On Wednesday we went to the office to work and the elders all left us and went to lunch, so we thought it would be a good idea to pull a prank on them...so we took all of their chairs and saran wrapped them together and left for lunch. Well, when we got back they had locked us out of all of the rooms and locked all of our stuff in the display cases with price tags on them and we had to pay to get them out...it was pretty funny. I'll send pictures haha. You have to keep the mission fun or you go crazy. 

On thursday I went to Mollendo for divisions. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It looks a little like Hawaii. All green and right on the ocean. I was with hermana Moon, she has 4 weeks in the mission, so it was so much fun to be with her and talk and help her out. Shes adorable. I love helping the girls out in their areas! 

Halloween was nothing special, no one wanted to talk to us that day so we walked around for hours. We made some funny videos scaring people though. But the elders did get us wayyyy to good. There is a pair of elders that live on the same street as us and some how they got into our room (we still dont know how) and hung this giant mannequin from our ceiling. So when we got back to our room at 9:30 we walked in and just started sreaming. Menlove was behind me swearing and I was legit peeing my pants. We didn't want to go back into our room for the rest of the night haha. Sneakkkyyy elders. We´ve also started a series of the walking dead here in Peru. It's hilarious. On Sundays there is an incredible amount of drunk people in the streets and they all look like straight zombies. So we decided to start our own walking dead series haha. I'll send pics some time. 

Anyways, I was reflecting alot on the past year here in Perú. What an INCREDIBLE year. The best year of my life! I just wanted to share somethings that Ive learned in my year here in Perú:

•  Always leave a little Chicha in your cup so they think youre sitll working on it and dont refill it. 
• Just clapping at the dogs in the street doesn't scare them away, you better keep some rocks in your pocket.
• If you think you are safe from the dogs on the roof, your wrong! They have no fear of heights.
• When you get sent to a new area, you know you're getting the top bunk and the broken drawers.
• If you have an appointment at 2 you should probably leave at 2:30 to get there on time. 
• Try to keep it down to two breads a day, the carbs add up real fast.
• If you get in a taxi and are scared for your life, its probably because he's been drinking or he doesnt even have a license. 
• Always keep emergency toilet paper in your backpack and a good supply in your bathroom. You never know when the chicken and rice is going to hit you wrong. 
• Be nice to people, but not too nice. They open up real fast and youll hear things only the bishop should...

Me and menlove were laughing pretty hard when we thought about these haha. If you guys only knew...but ive also learned alot of spiritual things too...

• I've learned to spend time on my knees. To really put my trust in my Heavenly father and have learned to feel of his love and his strength.
• I've learned that the book of Mormon has answers to ALL of your questions. 
• I've learned that my Savior not only suffered for my sins, but for my sadnesses too. 
• I've learned that I'm very weak, but with the power of the atonement everything is possible. 
• I've learned to forget myself and to love other people no matter the big differences we might have. Whether it be culture, language, beliefs....
• I've learned to be fearless. Never doubting the power of my own testimony.
• Most of all i've learned of the undenying love my Heavenly father has for me.

I love the mission. I can't believe how much I have learned in one year. I can't wait to see what more is to come!

I love you all. Talk to you sooN!

HH 

Halloween with the Elders.

Pranks at the mission office, HAHA

The Elders got us back!!

Work at the mission office.

Happy Missionaries

Mollendo

Hermana Moon

I love it.....life is BEAUTIFUL!

This week was pretty much the best week ever! I have so much to tell you all. Last pday we dyed my hair...I actually really have brown hair now. I dont know how i like it but whatever haha. On Wednesday and Thursday we did divions with our sisters from mollendo. I got to be with Hermana Escobar, from California and we had a great day together. it was fun getting to know her and helping her out! 

The best part of this week was that we met all of the mission goals this week and completed our monthly goals too. it was the best feeling in the world. we got the most lessons I've had in my whole mission, had a baptism and 2 rescues. It was an amazing feeling last night to finish the week like that! So yeah, Luis got baptzied last night. Hes 20 and shared the sweetest testimony after his baptism yesterday. I have some pictures to send. We rescued his cousin Marco yesterday, which is like the funniest kid ever. When we teach their family it feels like a big black family from the broncs haha. we love them so much! we are working hard to get them all active and baptized so that they can go to the temple in December with our ward! 

After the baptism yesterday morning we went to get in a taxi to head to stake conference and we started talking with our taxi driver to find out that he is a less active, and has been for many years. So we invited him to stake conference thinking that he would say no, and said "ya know, you guys are helping me remember all of the good things about the church, i think its time to go back" so he walked into stake conference with us and stayed for the whole 2 hours. It was super cool haha. i love little miracles like that in the mission!

I wish I could express to you all how happy I am in the mission right now. I LOVE IT. I crave having super spiritual lessons and teaching and helping  people. Its just such an amazing experience. I love my brothers and sisters here. But I couldnt do it without all of your love and support, so thank you. Im crazy blessed!

Life is beautiful!!! Have the best week ever!

HH 

Luis's baptism

Us and Luis 

Conference!

Hard Work......

 This week was great, so great. We had a lot of good lessons this week and found some new investigators. I am of course still loving my time with Hermana Menlove. We just laugh like crazy together.  

On tuesday we went to Mollendo, like 2 hours from here for a zone conference. Because I dont know if I told you guys this but they changed a bunch of things in the mission this last change. They got rid of 6 zones and put them together. So now our zones are huge and we don't get together like ever. President doesn't want unity in the mission he wants hard work. So once a month we get together for zone conference. The ride to Mollendo was so horrible haha. It is a very windie road and we went in a small convey which was driving SO insane. We had to stop a couple of times to let the elders throw up haha. We all felt horrible by the time we got there. BUT it was a great conference. I got to talk about family history. Something we are focusing a lot on in the mission. We are really helping our ward here (in alveline caceres) with their family history. We made a deal with president that if we got all our rescues and converts to fill out their my family book, that he would pay for them to go to the temple. So we are working hard with them, its super neat! Anyways, on the way back from the zone conference I took a pill to help with the road sickness which knocked me out for the rest of the day haha so funny. 

The Lord is really blessing us and we can sure see His hand in everyday. We found a new family this week that was basically put into our hands. We were sooo stoked! We were going to visit a less active when a little girl opened the door (theres like 20 people that live in every house here) and so we asked if we could share a message with her. She let us in and we ended up teaching her whole family. They were awesome, we are having a family night with them this week! 

Im SO grateful to be here. I love my mission. Thanks for everything! 

love you all!!

HH 

With President and Hermana Zobrist

Goofing off....

Our zone in Mollendo

Hermana Menlove; our room.

I dyed my hair.....

I love the mission.....

HEYY everyone,

Well this week was the best ever! I really didn't want to come back to Arequipa, but i'm super happy to be here. I LOVE my new area. Its so great. We are a little out of the city so its nice. There is still fields and hills. Being with Menlove is like the best thing ever! We just laugh all day long together and have super spiritual experiences. I am going to enjoy our time together so much. Plus we teach really well together so its been great!

We were running every direction this week. Monday I got here a little late and so we went to dinner then had a couple of family nights. On Tuesday we went and picked up the new group of missionaries that just came with the office and pres and took them on a tour and trained them and ate lunch. It was super fun! On Wednesday we were at the office all morning and then slept at the mission home with all of the other leaders in the mission and had a conference (we had to talk and I was so nervous haha) and ate dinner together. On thursday we finished our training and then headed back to our area to work! We had some GREAT lessons this week. We are teaching the cutest couple Erica and David that have 2 little kids. We had the most powerful lesson with them, we were able to share our testimonies about eternal families. It was amazing. Please keep them in your prayers. We are also teaching the greatest young man, Luis. He's progressing great. He's getting baptized in two weeks and is the best. So eager to learn and grow and change! So those are just a few people we are visiting. This ward is great!  I'm excited to work hard with the members. I LOVE the mission. Its the best to be able to serve people with all of your might and strength. I'm so grateful for this opportunity. 

I'll share a funny experience with you all...well i have lots haha. Yesterday we went to pick up the cutest less active for church and so we were walking to church and she had her little boy and I was walking behind them when I heard a growl, so i turned around and there was this big black dog growling at me, so i picked up a rock and went to throw it at it and it started to growl even more and then bark and then took of running straight for me so I took off running and ran right past my comp and the less active with this dog chasing me behind me screaming. They were just starring at me like what the heck is going on. Don't worry nothing happened. Just scared the crap out of me haha. I hate dogs here. 

Another funny thing is that me and menlove have been SO exhausted this week so we've been sleep walking and talking almost every night haha. I usually wake up and well be up talking or doing something its hilarious because menlove never remenbers it in the morning haha. 

Anyways, I love you all! I love the misson, and i LOVE my Savior.

Thanks for everything, talk to you all soon! 

HH 

---

 All the new girls, us and Hermana Zobrist (Presidents wife) at the new temple site.

 Messing around....

 Hermana Menlove, Hermana Anderson, and I. We are all from the same group and now all of us are Sister Leaders now. :)

 My new area.

Making smores over candle light in our room. 

Cambios.......

HEYYY....Im emailing early this morning because....I have changes. Im going back to Arequipa...boooo haha no it's good. I just LOVE Moquegua. This whole week 

was just super great! I origanally got called to open up a new área in Arequipa with Hermana Sánchez (my best latin friend) so i was super stoked because I knew it was going to be hard and we were going to work hard. THEN on Saturday pres called and changed my changes.. SO now I am going to an área called Hunter...and I am one of the new misión nurses...LOL right?? guess who my comp is...Hermana MENLOVE..just my BFF. I'm super stoked/nervous/sad. I don't know how i feel. It will be weird living with a North American but I know my time that I do have left in the misión is going to FLY! This change will be really different but I'm excited to see what happens.

Wasn't conference the best?! I loved that they talked a lot about being a true disiple of Christ. It made me think a lot about what I am doing...am I being a true disiple of Christ?..and If I am like Larry R. Lawrence said...What is keeping me from progressing. What more can I do? I want to challange you all again just like Elder Lawrence did...to get on your knees and ask what more is keeping you from progressing. I promise that you will have a great spiritual experience, because I did. It will be cool :)

My adorable (hija) comp put her first baptismal date this week. I was so proud haha. Im sad I am leaving before his baptism (linco) but I know he will be such a blessing to the church. He's an AMAZING person. He went to all of conference and He even came to my farewell party last night. It was cool.

I will FOREVER remember my time here in Moquegua. Most of all I will remmeber the people that I met here. They had a big impact on me and who I am. I love Moquegua because it gave me the opportunity to change and grow SO much. I'm grateful for the hard times, beacause they shaped me. It's really hard for me to leave BUT i know I will see all of my brothers and sisters here again..thats the most beautiful part of the misión!

I really enjoyed my time with Hermana Alvarez, I love that in the misión you end up having best friends from different parts of the world. ( I have alot from Bolivia haha) I can honestly say that she is one of my dearest friends. We have shed a few tears. Im just so proud of how much she has grown in just this short time that we had together. Shes an amazing missionary!

Well, I am excited for this new change, a new chance to set new goals and to work harder. I love you all SO MUCH. have the best week ever!

xoxoxox

Quiero compartir mi testimonio con ustedes.. estoy muy agradecida por los desafíos que tenemos en la vida, por los milagros. Se que hay un Dios. Un Dios de milagros. que el es nuestro amoroso padre celestial y que el nos ama. se que El tiene un plan por cada uno de nosotros. y que el solo quiere que nosotros podemos volver y vivir en su presencia. Se que su hijo Jesucristo es nuestro salvador. que el murió, y tres días después el recesito. El vive. Y por medio de su expiación. por todo lo que el sufrió por nosotros. podemos ser perfeccionados. Se que el libro de mormón es verdadero y que cambia vidas. SE que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los últimos días es verdadera. la única iglesia en la tierra que tiene la autoridad de Dios. Amo mi padre celestial y mi hermano Jesucristo. amo cada uno de ustedes!

HH
Translated:
"I want to share my testimony with you. I am very grateful for the challenges we have in life, miracles. I know there is a God . A God of miracles . That is our loving Heavenly Father who loves us . I know He has a plan for each of us and that we can just want to go back and live in his presence. I know his son Jesus Christ is our savior . He died , and three days later He was resercted. He lives. And through His atonement. for all that he suffered for us. we can be perfected. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it changes lives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. The only church on earth that has the authority of God. I love my Heavenly Father and my brother Jesus Christ. I love every one of you!"

My heart is full today with love for my family and this brave missionary. Kinzie looks AMAZING, so HAPPY and has that glow that we all strive to have. I couldn't be more proud of her and the experiences she is having. I just smiled through my tears this morning as we emailed and I could just feel her love and excitement for her mission. She is a blessing to our family and inspires me to be a better person everyday. Thank you for all the love and support, all the prayers you say on her behalf. The gospel is such a gift!! 

Her HAPPY Mom, Heather :)

 On the radio in Moquegua....i'm famous! 

 We got permission to eat Ceviche as a zone....it is SO good!!

 My beloved Moquegua :)

]

 I think we were trying to make a heart. ha

 My farewell party last night. I love my ward.

 My Bishop and his family.

 Transfers are so fun trying to fit everything back into your suitcase....NOT!

 This morning with Falvia..my custest Little girl EVER! She drew me some pics to take with me...

With my pensionista and her husband this morning.