November 25, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope you enjoy this time with one another. What a magical time of year. We`ve already moved on to Christmas and as I`m sure you all know I am so entirely excited to already see Christmas trees and decorations up in the homes here. It`s not quite the same in some ways, but so entirely the same in others. I love it. I will miss Thanksgiving, but we`ll just have to make it big next year.

This week we saw many miracles. One of which was the ability that we had to celebrate Claudia`s birthday! This is Claudia Davila. We even got the members involved and we were able to have them come to celebrate with us. One of the members, Sergio, even bought a cake and we decorated it and we all took it over. 


We are really working hard to get the ward members involved in the work. It`s the work of salvation and we won`t always be here. We can`t have new converts if the ward isn`t ready or willing to recieve them. I was so happy to have had the success we did in that home that night. The Lord will only bless a ward in it`s growth if the ward is willing to do something. Hermana Lasike and I have been working hard in this ward and we love the members so much. As missionaries, our role isn`t just for the nonmembers. We have to leave the ward better than we found it. Even if I don`t have much success in the way of baptisms, I can leave a ward better than it was - more strong and ready to help future missionaries. I`m just fine with that.

We have taught this one little old lady a little bit. The lady is a crack up. You just listen to her and can`t help but laugh. She`s just this little chubby thing. We did splits this week and I was with my trainer Hermana Diaz for the day. We went to go visit her and she was telling us these stories about how she used to work a ton and how she had all of these animals. They, of course, eat everything they raise and she was telling us about all these animals they had. Hermana Diaz was like, how did you kill that? because this lady is just so tiny. She just says like it`s not a big thing, with a knife, of course! Then she went on about how she killed it with the knife. When in Peru...

I am definitely grateful for this opportunity that I have been able to have. It is so crazy to think how the time has gone by. I know I`ve learned a lot -- Spanish, more patience, more diligence, more obedience, more doctrine...but I still have got so much more to go. I hope 9 more months is enough for the Lord to shape me so I am who He needs me to be.

I love you all. Keep being good and know how much I love you. Un abrazo!

Con amor,
Hermana Butterfield