Humility.....

Hellooo...today was crazy. We woke up at 2 to leave for Colca, which was INSANELY beautiful. I encourage you to look up pictures. We didnt get to see the Condores take flight but I was fine with it. My whole zone squished in a tiny bus made for little peruvian people so that was comfortable, and headed for the freezing cold. It was quite the day. half our zone ended up getting sick and throwing up but it was a good day. I had to wear a beanie for most of the day so they didnt know I was american. haha apparently there is like a tribe or something here of fair skinned people with blond hair that speak ketchua (dont know how to spell that) so im guessing thats what they thought i was. It was beautiful but I never wish to get sent to that area haha. But When I get to see new beautiful places like this it just reassures me of how much our Heavenly Father loves us. 

anyways, this week was so great and so full of adventures. I got my first hair cut in the mission and I was freaking out but it ended well haha also hermana Andia and I got manicures last pday because it was her birthday this week and its super cheap here. so besides my acne I was feelin pretty fresh haha. On Wednesdays our zone contacts in different areas in our zone. So this week we headed to Horacio. I dont even understand how people live there. It was the poorest part of Peru I have seen yet. A humbling experience. I had made Hermana Andia a "Happy birthday" hat earlier that day and she had in her hand while we were contacting (thank goodness) because there is an insane amount of dogs in this area. So after about an hour of contacting we went to knock on one last door and this big dog came up to us with like five other little dogs. Its really normal here. So this dog was really calm at first and was just standing by us then it started to growl and proceeded to attack us haha it tore up the hat I had made for Hermana Andia into pieces. So my first instict was to pick up rocks and start throwing it at the dog haha after that it backed off and we were able to get away with only a few things tore up haha. it was quite and adventure and I now have a fear of all dogs. But dont worry. Another crazy thing here is how many drunk people there are at all hours of the day. But thats not even the crazy part haha they all speak perfect english. Its the weirdest thing haha. Peru is an adventure!!

Its getting difficult for me to speak english but my spanish still sucks super bad so right now i feel like i dont have a language haha its a blessing but its horrible. I tried talking to an American today in Colca and it ended up being horrible spanglish. This is what I get for being the only American in my district haha. I cant wait for my spanish to be fluent. the day will come!! :) 

I am learning more and more every week about humility. Sometimes God makes you feel weak. there are times in your life when you are going to feel helpless. But through this we get the chance to really challange our Faith and really strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father. through our weaknesses we can become so much stronger. I SO know this to be true. A quote that kept coming to my mind this week that is in our house is "I never said it was going to be easy. I only said it will  be worth it" I know its all worth it. so worth it. 

A scripture that I loved this week was Alma 26:12 Yea, I know that I am nothing ; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things ; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. 

"In the depth of winter we find within us an invincible summer"

"For the love of the son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow, and gladens every heart"

I know that we are all going to go through hard times and have challanges in our lives but I encourage you to put your trust in our Heavenly Father. I promise He will carry you through. Every time.

I love you all SO MUCH. talk to you next week!

xoxox 

HH

 Hermana Andia's Birthday

 Colca

 Colca canyon

HELLOO.....

HELLOO...

Another week of rain, rice and....idk what else. This week flew by so fast. Its weird because my days are super duper long but the weeks go by fast. Alot happened this week. Last pday was freezing and raining so hermana Andia chilled in our room...pretty exciting. Our ceiling is starting to give away to the rain sooo thats been fun haha I worry to much about it. Anyways, this week we had interviews with our president. I love that man. I feel so blessed to have Presidente and Hermana Zobrist! The whole interview was in spanish so I hope I impressed him with my spanish. Its really easy for me to understand "gringo spanish" haha. On wednesday we had divisones (i legit dont know what they are called in english) but its where I have a different companion for 24 hours. So i was incharge of puerta verde for a day and i loved it. I was super nervous at first because all of the lessons for that day were in my hands but it went super good! I was with hermana Rivera from Chile and we got along great. She knows how to work hard and it gave me the motivation to work harder and be better. During divisiones I had a super cool experience. We had a lesson with Isabel and Ronaldo but when we got to Isabels house she was in tears because she couldnt find Ronaldo and his cell phone was off. So for an hour we were searching for Ronaldo at every internet garage haha because thats where he always is. But during all this I had the strongest feeling we needed to pray but I was kind of putting it off because honestly Isabel scares me a little haha But finally I got the guts to speak up and literally two minutes after we ended our prayer Ronaldo called us. It was so cool. It strengthened my testimony so much and I know Isabels as well. In another lesson this week with Amanda (shes like 85) shes kind of a little alot crazy and so half way through the lesson (about the 10 commandments) she asked us if we wanted some Chicha which is the most disgusting drink ever. I hate it so much but people drink it here like water so we couldnt say no so she poured us both a tall glass of Chicha. So me thinking im being smart took the biggest gulp ever so I could get it over with faster and right before I did this I thought I could smell alcohol which was super weird...well it ended up being a "different" kind of Chicha which had a frickin ton of alcohol in it ....yeah...I drank alcohol on my mission. Hermana Andia and I were freaking out. So while she was getting her Bible we hid the rest behind her couch, so awful. I guess it happens a lot here because it wasnt the first time its happened to Hermana Andia! Pretty funny. Yesterday was a holiday here called Carnival. It's basically just a giant party and people trash each other with water balloons and paint and foam. I dont get it at all but hermana Andia and I got trashed pretty bad in the street. I was super mad because we had a lot to get done yesterday and no time to shower again we had foam and eggs all up in our hair haha but yeah. anyways, this week was great! I love you all so much!

xoxo HH 

Hey......

So we were suppose to leave for Culca this morning at 2 so me and Andia were sleeping at a members home that lives around the chapel because our house is so far away and its dangerous to take taxi´s at that hour. so here i am asleep on a couch that is made for a small child and our zone leaders called and said the bus that we were going to take broke down so they were searching for a new bus...then at like one they decided we werent going. so we called a taxi and headed back to our house...so yeah were not going anymore hah. Anyways...

This week was good. its been raining for like two weeks straight and yesterday was FREEZING. I decided i dont deal with the cold well hah i hate it. our card board ceiling is by some miracle holding up. our shower on the other hand....cold showers are never fun and i dont think im ever going to get used to them haha I have to give myself a pep talk every morning before i get in but oh well. I feel like I dont have alot to tell about this week. last p day hermana andia and i went on a little adventure (ill send pics) so that was fun. we went to this old church thing in the middle of arequipa (i think) that you could climb to the top and over look all of arequipa. then we took this ghetto tiny bus through the back roads (on accident) and ended up in the plaza de armas were i bought the coolest llama ring ever (you know i was in love) and this llama fur jacket thing that everyone thinks is hidious but i love it. so that was a pretty exciting pday. Eating with the members is going good....People are so serious about food here. you could have a two hour long conversation with anyone here about food. One thing I can not handle though is la mazamorra. People have it like with every meal. I dont even know how to get it down haha its horrible. 

One thing that ive been thinking alot about this week is the fact that we are all brothers and sisters (obvisouly i know) but its sometimes really crazy to think about. when you are teaching someone who wants nothing to do with you and the gospel and your just thinking like hey you believed in this at one point in your life or you wouldn't be here. or that you could have known them before this life. its weird to think that you could have pormised people before that you would find them here. You just want everyone to accept this gospel so bad because you know the blessings that come from it. Especially when i think about my family and the people i love. You sometimes just want things so bad for people but after you do all you can its really up to them...during a lesson this week we were reading in Revelation and we came accross 21:4 and me and my companion were in instant tears. idk why it hit me so hard and i feel like im just babbling a little in this letter but its been on my mind constantly this week. I feel so blessed to have the family i do and live in the circumstances i do. Anyways..I hope everyone has a great week. I love you all so much!

xoxo

HH

Push through the hard times......

Bueno...this week was so fast. faster than the last. Last pday was horrible haha Hermana Andia didnt have any money. Like literally 15 cents and so we couldnt do anything and we couldnt even take the bus back home so we had to walk. So we just chilled in our cuarto. Pretty exciting. This whole week actually we walked everywhere because yeah...no money. But thankfully its a new month so yeah were good now haha. We met our new zone this week. Theres only one other americano so yeah I didnt speak enligsh once this entire week. Its a blessing i think? It rained the entire week. Hermana Andia thought my Hunter boots were hilarious and laughed at them for a solid five minutes but once we were outside and it was pouring she wasnt laughing anymore. I was very grateful for them because Arequipa literally flooded yesterday. The streets were rivers and there were cars stuck everywhere haha. Last night after our final appointment I was walking in the street (because there were no buses due to the rain) with my boots and water up to my knees with my umbrella and a homeade empanada. haha I was pretty happy. When we got home our room was flooded and im pretty sure our ceiling is going to cave in because there is a giant puddle right above my bed. But whatever. Luckily my companion loves pringles and so we have a bunch of empty pringle cans around our room catching the water! Its an adventure! This week was the baptism of Isabel. We didnt think it was going to happen because on Wednesday we did a fake interview with her to prepare her for her actual interview which led us to find out some stuff about her. (question number four if you know what i mean) but in verdad it was a really spiritual interview. I could tell that she really wanted to take care of things and really had the desire to change. She just didnt know if God could really forgive her for what she had done. BUT after three more interviews she was cleared to be baptized on saturday. It was awesome. You hear people say all the time that people glow after they are baptized. But en verdad she was really glowing. i cant even tell you the change i have seen in her. Her son, Ronoldo, shared his testimony at her baptism and it was awesome. He was the first convert in their family (13 years old) and in his testimony he said that he hopes his sister will be baptized someday. (were working on her, shes very stubborn) but im just so happy for them. It was an awesome week! there is ups and downs to every week but you just have to push through the hard times....there is a quote that i really loved from a talk i read last week "Fighting through darkness, and despair and pleading for the light is what opened this dispensation. it is what keeps it going, and it is what will keep you going."  I really liked that.

Anyways, i think thats all! Thank you everyone for your love and support! Have a good week! 

xoxo HH 

 Isabel's baptism day! 

We had to rearrange our room to I didn't get dripped on all night from the leak in our ceiling.

Just Chill....

This week went by so fast. I feel like it was just Pday yesterday! Last Pday was cool. we had a bonfire with our zone and ate rice (storie of my life) Ill send some pictures...This week was great. Im a Little sad because there is now only two americanos in my zone and Elder malloy is now in the misión office (he was my homie) but im excited to meet our new zone! Im sitting here trying to even remember what happened this week....haha

ISABEL is amazing. We still have been Reading the Book of Mormon with her family everyday and we taught her about the law of tithing on saturday which i was super nervous for because i know she doesnt have money. I mean they dont even own two pairs of pants. but on Sunday she was at the chapel with her tithing. I was so happy i couldnt stop smiling! she asked if she could change her baptism date for the 10th of march because that is her birthday but we talked to her about it and decided to make it a goal to get the the temple on the 10th of march to do baptisms with Ronaldo! so we are still on for saturday! im just so happy and excited for her and her family I cant stop smiling about it! the change that i have seen in her in the last two weeks is amazing. Ronaldo passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday which was really cool as well.

Thursday I had lunch at the misión home and got to talk to presidente. Hes so cool. I feel like i easily have the best misión president ever. They have a bunch of picture books of his family at lake Powell and their cabin so obvisouly i thought about our family! His assistants told hermana andia that my spanish was really good...which she of course didnt tell me until today but that made my whole week haha nothing beats a compliment about my spanish! We arent going to have a pensionista this month i guess so we are eating with the members (pray for my stomach) haha. Im actually fine with it because i dont know how many more hot dogs i can eat for breakfast haha.

one thing i learned this week is to just chill...haha i get super up tight because peruvians are lazy and hard to work with sometimes. like you can NEVER depend on them. So i just need to be like the peruvians and chill out. I dont get latins and i probably never will haha me and my compañera have so many differences but thats just part of the misión. like she always has to walk infront of me (i dont get it) and today she told me that all of my clothes are fading... like i think she was trying to insult me but idk...the other day i told her she looked alot younger in a foto and it offened her so much...haha i dont get it. but its whatever! anyways this week was great!

one scripture I loved this week was Ether 12:6. Sometimes it takes the really hard weeks to appreciate the good and see the blessings in your life. i really am so so so blessed. I love you all so much!

xoxox

HH

This is just a little something Kinzie shared with me today while we were emailing:

I just wanted to share a Little bit of what I studied this week with you....I was Reading in 1 Nephi 7 verses 17-18. i loved it because it talks about how nephi prayed to have the strength to break the bands from laman and lamuel but in verse 18 it says that the bands were "loosed." God didn't give him exactly what he prayed for but he did help him! I was thinking about when we pray for things diilgently and think like "what the heck, why hasnt he helped me or why hasnt he given this to me?" but sometimes we just need to take a step back and look and what he has done. Sometimes we look past the things that he does give us. idk i really liked this. You could apply it to many different things, anything.

 This is the first day I have been able to wear reg clothes. First day to wear jeans, it was awesome.

 All of the homes and buildings behind the field are my area.

My zone.

Kinzie said it has rained for 3 days this week. They have a giant hole in the roof of their bedroom :(

Much Better Week....

ayyyy familia,

Hermana Andia and I are still laughing at the bus ride on the way to internet this morning. It was something like the movie fast and furious but in a bus...haha he didnt even stop to let us off it was sort of like a tuck and roll. hahaha. Peruvians....Anyways this week was SO much better holy moly. Hermana Andia and I agreed that we dont ever want to repeat last week haha. This week flew by for me! This week is the first transfer I have in the field but I obviously wont be going anywhere (probably for like 6 months) but our zone is changing a little and its sort of sad! I love all of the elders we are with! our zone leader is finishing his mission on tuesday so we are having a big bon fire tonight in some ghetto field I guess? Im excited about it. Our pensionista told us she is moving in Febrero so we are on the hunt for a new pensionista! im sort of sad about it because they are like my family here! que mas que mas...We started reading the book of mormon every day with all of Ranaldos family! and Isabel (ranaldos mom) has a baptismal date for the 31st! its amazing. Im just so excited for her! we have seen such a big change in their family just this week! at first it was hard to get them all together to read and participate but now they are ready every day at 6:30 with their libros! I love it! they ask questions and are just way into it! I think eventually we will get the whole family to commit! 

For part of my "training" here we have to watch the district videos (again) and I just laugh everytime because a mission in South America is NOTHING like the videos haha.....You wake every morning to the sound of dogs fighting outside your window and a lady walking down the street screaming "tamale tamale" and then you sit up and hit your head on your ceiling and risk your life climbing down the most ghetto bunk bed youve ever seen. then your companion starts rapidly talking in spanish at 6:30 in the morning and youre just so confused because just five minutes ago you were dreaming in english....haha idk its just hilarious! Another funny thing that happened this week (well i think its funny) was Andia and I went to take a picture in the cemetary this week because theyre super cool here and we were making a card for the elder that is leaving this week because he is (dying) in the misison field. anyway we took the picture and left the cemetary...well first off you should know that latinos believe in ghosts like crazy. my companion talks about them all the time. Ill probably see a few on my mission... haha but after we left my companion started freaking out and made us go back and apologize to all of the tombs (idk how to spell that) that were in our pictures and ever since then every night she prays that we will be safe and that no spirits will follow us. haha its funny for me but its really serious for her. well yeah, this week was great. idk what else to say haha! i love everyone so much and appreciate all the prayers and love! i know i say that every week but I really am so grateful! 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

xoxo 

HH 

 They just built this bridge in our area and i thought it was cool because it actually looks nice.

 My life everyday on the bus!

My comp thinks there is a ghost in the pic in the window under me. IDK

U.S.A.

I am trying to think of a way right now to put my week into (positive) words haha. This week was just....so hard. I dont even know. It all started on Tuesday when my companera decided she wanted to make food from her country (Bolivia) which i felt obligated to eat of course but every time I think about it I get sick. Tuesday and Wednesday I thought I was for sure dying. I dont think I have ever been that sick in my whole life. Im pretty sure it was from her food. BUT it does not matter how sick you are when you are a gringa. We were still out working. Wednesday was the same. and Thursday I woke up with a cold haha. Friday and Saturday I had no voice but on Saturday night I taught my first English class here. LOL. five people showed up but I think it went well. People here want to learn english SO bad. my companera is getting pretty good at english and wants to extend here misión so she can learn more. Sunday me and hermana Andia got to church a Little early because we couldnt get macarena to get out of bed. No she is not getting baptized this week. We dont really know what to do with her because every Saturday she promises she will attend church but every sunday morning when we show up at her house we cant get her to come. We told her we cant continue teaching her until she comes to church so we will see what happens. But anyay we got to church a Little early on Sunday and the obispo asked Hermana Andia to speak in sacrament meeting but she decided she didnt want to sooo ya. I had to. I sounded like a man because of my voice and the whole thing was a blure but hermana andia said she understood about half so i mean thats good.

I decided my least favorite words in spanish that come out of my companions mouth are ´¨como dijo hermana Holt" which means "like my companion said"..and then she repeats everything i just said but in better spanish. haha i hate it.

well sunday night after church we taught two lessons and then my companion decided she was tired of my spanish and she couldnt teach anymore. so we went back to our cuarto and sat in the dark while my companion layed on her bed frustrated with me. I think I can say that is the lonliest I have ever felt in my life. I had no idea what to do. SPANISH IS SO FRUSTRATING.

I knew coming on a misión was going to be so challanging. but it challanges you in ways you never even thought of haha. There is times when you feel like Heavenly Father kind of just left you alone. But its a chance to really put your faith in him and have the faith that he will carry you through. because I KNOW He will.

This week is going to be better. its a chance to start over and work harder and be better. Im so grateful for all of your prayers and love. I love all of you so much!

xoxox

HH