August 18, 2014

Welp, here it is folks! the last email. Aren`t you glad you won`t have me harassing you via email every week?

This is a lot harder than I thought. It`s hard thinking of leaving these people that I have worked with and have loved so much. I know there is a time for everything, however, and I look forward to seeing your faces as well, in the airport, waiting for me, with balloons, nephews, simply lemonade and a bag of Sunchips. hehe. 

 Monday we had a p-day with all of the sister missionaries from two of the three zones here in Chimbote. We made pancakes. Hermana Skirvin and I found pancake mix and maple syrup so we did that. It was fun.

This last week reconfirmed to me of the love the Lord has for each and everyone of us and how he knows each one of us so perfectly. We were able to have some good successes, to meet and help new people, and to have  some really good talks. 

Camila has decided that she wants to be baptized. For sure this time. please keep her in your prayers as she has not a lot of support from those in her family. The plan is for her to be baptized this Friday and confirmed on Sunday. It will be a small reunion but we are happy with her decision. 

We also were able to go to the baptism of a young man that has been investigating the church for quite a while. He`s very cool, but I think he also lacks family support.

I had to give the lesson in gospel principals with not a whole lot of prep time. It was on the word of wisdom and I won`t lie  I was a bit nervous because we had an investigator that was visiting for the first time. We had met the night before and let`s be honest that`s not probably the first thing she was expecting to learn about. It ended up really good though and she actually seemed to have a great experience -- minus when her and Camila went to the bathroom - her phone fell in the toilet and now doesn`t work  ....   dang.  Other story though. Her and Camila clicked really well and I am happy for that.

My ward is progressing really well. They were awesome when I got here, but there is always room to grow and they are blossoming. Sometimes having the right people in the right calling makes all the difference.

I don`t really know what else to write...I feel so strange to know this stage is coming to an end, but I am grateful to know there are always more plans in the Lord`s time table. I look forward to seeing you all soon. Make good choices, know I love you, I pray for you. Read your scriptures, say your  prayers, go to church, don`t do drugs. 

Love Hermana Butterfield

August 11, 2014

Well hello there, all! Just so you all know today I complete 16 months in Peru. Kinda crazy! 

This last week was pretty good. We had zone training and the zone leaders asked me to give a short training 20-30 minutes on some things relating to obedience. I think they had me do it because if anyone got mad, well, they can´t be mad at me too much longer haha. No, but it actually went really well. I was happy to do it and I got good feed backs. My zone leader said that I had had the correct people read the correct things. Who knew? Kinda cool.

There was also a stake talent show. We were going to do a skit, but there just wasn´t time. It was really fun though. The Elders did a skit about chewing gum that every one liked. 

A cool thing that happened as well, we got a new ward mission leader. He is the husband of our pensionista. He´s a good guy. He´s been through a lot and recently received the ability to have a calling again. This will be great for him to remember the importance of the basics and get involved again. He loves the mission work so I think this is perfect for him.

Super funny. Our bishop is a gem. On Friday he called and asked if I had ever seen the movie The Ring. When I said yes he said, you have seven days...well you have a few more than that, but not by much. haha so funny.

Segundo Goicochea received the Priesthood yesterday! Wahoo! He should be blessing the sacrament next week.

It´s been really sad to think of leaving these people behind. Really this week it has been hitting me that there is a good chance that I will never see any of them again in person and it hurts a bit. I am grateful for this time that I have had to love and grow and serve the people here. I do love them so much and I know that I was supposed to be here for them to touch my life forever. 

I love you all so much. I hope you´ve all had a great week and that you all know how much you mean to me. Thanks for your love and support.

Love,

Hermana Butterfield

August 4, 2014

Happy birthday to Ana, Chrissy, and Sara this week! How great is it that we get to share a birthday month? Love you all lots!

 Wow ! Another week. Let`s be honest, it ended really good.

We had multi zone this week which was really good. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and our message that is so unique and special for the world. It is so unique and it is so special. We are so blessed to know that not ALL roads lead to God and His kingdom. We know exactly what we need to do, and we know that even if we mess up, theirs someone so perfect that makes up the difference.

The stress of this time winding down is starting to hit me pretty hard. Is it too gross if I tell you all I threw up for the first time this week because of it? I woke up at like 1 in the morning and my mind was going nuts. my stomach was dizzy and stressed too apparently haha. I`m good though. I actually have a cold now though...not related...but kind of a bummer haha. 

We went and visited the Bishop`s wife on Friday night with some goodies and then  went and helped her Saturday morning. She had their 3rd son a few weeks ago. He`s really cute and it was a good chance to get to know her a bit better and to help her out. Very good people.

This Saturday Segundo and Consuelo were baptized! I was super happy. The baptism went really well. Some interesting things happened though. Our ward mission leader had gone in the morning to clean and fill up the font. The awkward moment was when they go to get in and the water has gone down and it only went up to their knees. It was an interesting experience getting Consuelo to just sit in the water and go back. It worked out though. Their nephew had come in from Trujillo to do the ordinance. Pretty cool. Super cool too that the leaders had come to the baptism to support them. All of the high priests came to do a musical number as well. It was...pretty funny. Who knew that Far, Far Away on Judea`s Plain was such a great baptismal hymn? WHAT?! oh Peru. I will miss your  quirkiness haha. But the best part was when they got up to bare their testimonies. Such a sweet spirit present. The Bishop also shared a few words which was great. He`s awesome. When he speaks he actually reminds me of dad a bit. He just makes things so personal. Very cool.                 

Well, I hope you all had a fabulous week. I sure love you and know how much you deserve it. Read, pray, go to church. It`s true.

Love,

Hermana Butterfield

July 28, 2014

Happy birthday, Brisbane! I thought of you all day yesterday. I can´t believe you´re two years old now. Let´s go to ice cream soon okay?

Let´s see. Biggest news of the week: Segundo and Consuelo Goicochea passed their baptism interviews this week and will be getting baptized on Saturday! After months they are doing it! To think that they have had missionaries for years trying to help them and that I have had the privilege to work with them as well makes me so happy. I´m happy that I will be able to end seeing them make these sacred covenants. He originally chose the 29th of August. That´s cool. I kind of like that date a bit, but I told him I wouldn´t be here and he said, no you have to be here and so now they will be baptized the 2nd of August at 3:00 pm and his family is coming in from Trujillo for it. It will be a very special day for all.

Another very special thing happened yesterday. Last week Bishop called to talk about some things since we hadn´t gone to church. I was talking with him while H. Skirvin was resting and he told me that an elderly man had come to church and had asked if I was there. When I wasn´t there he asked the Bishop for our address and our wonderful Bishop said that he couldn´t give it to him, but that I should be here the next week. He cautioned me to be very careful. He was concerned because he looked like a man ¨from the street¨and just didn´t want anything bad to happen. I had a few people from Bellamar go through my head and the person that matched the description would have been puzzling. But I was right. I don´t know if you ever remember me talking about the Rebasa family, but Hermano Rebasa has been inactive forever. Hermana Lasike and I worked with him a lot and although he never reactivated, a very beautiful friendship developed with me and his little wife. We even started to work with his son and I received a small package with a letter and a note from Hermanas Lasike and Evans telling me that his son had reactivated. A very special moment for me. Anyway. Yesterday in church Hermano Rebasa came. He said he told me before I left Bellamar that he was going to come see me before I returned to the states and he couldn't fail his promise so I was able to chat with him for a moment and he gave me a lot of chocolate. Even better, i got him to stay for sacrament meeting in the other ward with his granddaughter. I love that family and I was grateful to see him again.

I have read and re read the talk becoming perfect in Christ by Gerrit W. Gong of the seventy. I love it and I invite you to read it. It is a talk for young adults, but it is so relevant to all of us and the love Christ has for us.

I hope you´re all doing well. Be happy. Love life. Read your scriptures. Pray.

Love

Hermana Butterfield

July 28, 2014

Happy birthday, Brisbane! I thought of you all day yesterday. I can´t believe you´re two years old now.

Let´s go to ice cream soon ok?

Let´s see. Biggest news of the week: Segundo and Consuelo Goicochea passed their baptism interviews this week and will be getting baptized on Saturday! After months they are doing it! To think that they have had missionaries for years trying to help them and that I have had the privilege to work with them as well makes me so happy. I´m happy that I will be able to end seeing them make these sacred covenants. He originally chose the 29th of August. That´s cool. I kind of like that date a bit, but I told him I wouldn´t be here and he said, no you have to be here and so now they will be baptized the 2nd of August at 3:00 pm and his family is coming in from Trujillo for it. It will be a very special day for all.

Another very special thing happened yesterday. Last week Bishop called to talk about some things since we hadn´t gone to church. I was talking with him while H. Skirvin was resting and he told me that an elderly man had come to church and had asked if I was there. When I wasn´t there he asked the Bishop for our address and our wonderful Bishop said that he couldn´t give it to him, but that I should be here the next week. He cautioned me to be very careful. He was concerned because he looked like a man ¨from the street¨and just didn´t want anything bad to happen. I had a few people from Bellamar go through my head and the person that matched the description would have been puzzling. But I was right. I don´t know if you ever remember me talking about the Rebasa family, but Hermano Rebasa has been inactive forever. Hermana Lasike and I worked with him a lot and although he never reactivated, a very beautiful friendship developed with me and his little wife. We even started to work with his son and I received a small package with a letter and a note from Hermanas Lasike and Evans telling me that his son had reactivated. A very special moment for me. Anyway. Yesterday in church Hermano Rebasa came. He said he told me before I left Bellamar that he was going to come see me before I returned to the states and he couldn't fail his promise. So I was able to chat with him for a moment and he gave me a lot of chocolate. Nice. i got him to stay for sacrament meeting in the other ward with his granddaughter. I love that family and I was grateful to see him again.

I have read and re read the talk becoming perfect in Christ by Gerrit W. Gong of the seventy. I love it and I invite you to read it. It is a talk for young adults, but it is so relevant to all of us and the love Christ has for us.

I hope you´re all doing well. Be happy. Love life. Read your scriptures. Pray.

Love 

Hermana Butterfield 

July 21, 2014

This last week was pretty good. Tuesday we had to be a the bus terminal at 6:30 in the morning so we could see everyone off that was leaving Chimbote and take Hermana Taylor since she was sending her companion off. We went back to our area, ate breakfast, got ready and went back to the terminal to help all of the missionaries coming into Chimbote get to the  church building. Long morning but always good. Our zone leader also asked that I go buy poster board and stuff to make a happy birthday sign for President Marler. Did it. Didn`t turn out super awesome, but I did it. 

Our meetings that we normally have Tuesday were moved to Wednesday. When things get switched up the week always seems to go a bit differently which is pretty nice sometimes. 

Thursday morning we went to play soccer. We play soccer about 3 times every week which is really fun. It really helps my companion and to be honest it helps me a lot too even though she`s good at soccer and I`m terrible at it haha. It`s fun though and I`m improving a tinge. This last week, however, somehow collided with one of the young men that always comes to play. I hit the ground pretty hard and I'm a bit bruised up but I'm fine. Poor kid felt so bad and what do you do in situations like that? You try to make sure the person is okay and help them up but when he tried all the elders started yelling "Don`t touch her! What are you doing?!" Poor guy!

We had interchanges again. Always fun. I went this time with Hermana Childers to Chimbote Chimbote and Hermana Mathis stayed with Hermana Skirvin. it was a good thing. I always like working with the Hermana leaders. Hermana Childers is actually cousins with Chris Childers. remember him? She`s from Idaho Falls and we are in the same group haha

Then Saturday Hermana Skirvin wasn`t feeling super great and that night threw up twice and couldn`t keep anything down.  We went to the clinic Sunday morning instead of church and she got an iv.  She slept pretty much all day yesterday and the elders came to give her a blessing last night.  She`s doing better today. Not 100% but a bit better.

Times going kinda quick and I`m pretty excited to see you all. How long are you guys going to even be in Peru with me? One week? 

love you all.

love,

hermana butterfield

July 14, 2014

Well, it`s been another week. I survived changes and I will be ending here in Gedeon in Chimbote with Hermana Skirvin. This will be my fifth change in this ward making it the longest time I have in an area. Four changes in Los Jardines in Trujillo. Three changes in Bellamar in Chimbote. And now five in Gedeon. I`m happy to be ending here with so many people that I have come to love and consider family and close friends. I can`t quite believe I`m on my last change and I`m hoping that I can just finish off how I should.

Super bummer about changes -- Elder Cortez, our zone leader got changed to Trujillo. He finishes with me so he got changed on our last transfer. So sad. He`s definitely become a good friend and we have been saying since we got here four changes ago that we were going to ¨die¨ here in Chimbote Buenos Aires together. Nope. I will be the only one in this zone that finishes this change. Here come all of the trunky jokes straight to me....bah.

This week was actually really rough for me so I`m hoping that this next week can be better. One good thing that happened though is that Saturday morning we went to clean the church with Segundo Goicochea. He`s one of our investigators and he really wanted to help clean the church and let me tell you what, he understands the importance of where he worships. He and his inactive daughters took more care in cleaning our assigned area than our most active members all with enthusiasm and care. He`s a great guy. We`re going to try to work with he and his wife to get there date moved up.

Sunday was good. We had ward counsel like usual, but it ran over quite a bit because the first counselor of the stake presidency came and I`m hoping that the semi-training that he did will be beneficial. Our ward is really good, but the counsel lacks some umph in getting things done. Then we got permission from Hermana Editta to go have lunch at another family`s house. It was good...really oily, but it was good and I love the family so it was lovely. Just so you know, carbrito is not lamb like I always thought...it`s goat. I love goat. Who knew? I found out as of yesterday. hehe

"Many times we await instant solutions for difficulties, forgetting that frequently it`s necessary to put in practice the celestial virtue of patience." That might not be a direct quote, but it`s close. It`s something I have to remember and learn to put in practice more. It`s been the theme of this last week.

I love you all! It looks like you had a really fun, hot weekend. Save me some huckleberries please. I`d love some good pancakes or crepes when I get home.

Love,

Hermana Butterfield

P.S. That is definitely Heather`s child. She is beautiful. 

July 7, 2014

Hello!

Well it´s been another week here in Chimbote, Peru. I´ve seen lots of miracles and I have felt the Lord´s hand and love some much. It looks like you received miracles on your side of the equator as well. There is always something to be grateful for that´s for sure. 

A pattern I´ve noticed throughout my mission and I guess life, is that almost always just before something wonderful happens, the adversary does all he can to discourage you so you won´t take those steps forward to witness miracles. Usually our hardest moments happen so we can´t witness such spectacular things. I try really hard when I´m having a very bad day or moment to think that I have to keep going, because if I don´t, I´m going to miss out on something wonderful. This last change has had it´s ups and downs, nothing to bad, but I have been so blessed to see the Lord´s hand especially in this last week and I know it´s after the trial of our faith that the miracles come.

Camila passed her interview a couple of weeks ago and we have had some awesome lessons since with her and her mom. Her mom wants to be baptized as well and so we have a partial family to work with. Love that.

The Goicocheas chose a date! It´s kind of far away so we are going to work on that, but they chose a date. Another family. Love that too.

I was able to do interchanges with one of my great friends from the mission, Hermana Mathis. She´s from Reno and she is great! We had a lot of fun and we saw a lot of miracles. I got to celebrate part of the 4th of July with her which was great because she shares my love of holidays. We went and played soccer in the morning and then made pancakes for breakfast. We got one of the members to track down root beer - not an easy task - and he also got us Dr pepper since there was only one can of root beer. He also got us Pringles which we hadn´t asked for, but. he got them because they´re American. So we made root beer - Dr pepper floats and since the zone leaders had to come fix our shower due to a lack of hot water for a couple of days we shared the tradition. They thought we were crazy, but they seemed to like them. Then when Skirvin came back we had some awesome lessons and then had a ward activity - movie night. So we got to eat some popcorn and watch a cute Disney movie - The Rise of the Guardians - it´s one to buy if you haven´t yet. It´s definitely on my list. In the end, a super good fourth. Much better than last year where we didn´t do one thing haha.

I sure am happy I have a loving family. I´m happy you had a safe weekend and that you´re doing well. I love you lots!

Love, Hermana Butterfield

June 30, 2014

Hello family! Happy fourth of July this weekend. Eat some good food and enjoy being outside for me and don´t get too burned. 

The picture is from last Monday. We went to the beach with the Marler's to play baseball and build sandcastles. It was really a fun time. They are so great. We were there as a zone and we got to be there with my old zone -- not that anyone there now was with me when I was there.  Always fun to see good friends though. 

This week was really pretty good. We´ve been having good success with Camila and now her family as well. I know we will see good things come from all the time we have spent there. They are good people and we have had a lot of really good lessons and experiences with them this week.

The Familia Goicochea also had a good experience at the temple. Segundo and Consuelo normally have come to church to bring their daughter Anasofia, but since they got in at four in the morning she wasn´t feeling very well and they came without her! So cool. We are going to have a lesson with them on Wednesday with the bishop. I think we are going to invite them to be baptized again. I feel good about it.

I had to give a talk on Sunday on scripture study. I got really good remarks and comments so I think it went well. I felt really pretty good about it. I was really happy because I actually hadn´t written anything down. I had some ideas and personal experiences and the idea I wanted to get across and it really just flowed out. The bishop called me last night to tell me I hit it right on. He also called to say how happy he was because Luis, a YSA new convert had remarked to him how powerful our lesson had been with Camila that day. Made me feel very good and happy. 

My focus this change really has been the members. I can feel their love now so much more and I really hope that the efforts that have been made will pay off. If anything I am happy with it and I feel so happy here in my ward. 

There was a scripture I really loved in Deuteronomy 4:9. at this moment I can´t remember for the life of me what it says, but it was good enough that I wrote it down. Look it up hehe

Things are good here. I´m happy and working hard. I´m staying focused and loving these fabulous people. 16 months sure has been an interesting time, but it´s a good kind of interesting.

Be good, stay strong, love love love

love, Hermana Butterfield

June 23, 2014

We´re in the last full week of June. Whoa. That´s kinda crazy. I hope that you´re all doing well and that your week was great.

This week was really pretty calm. It was really fun because on Friday we were able to go out proselyting with Hermana Marler for a couple of hours. The coolest part was that she was able to accompany us for a lesson with the Goicochea family. We had planned on teaching them about tithing and fasting because it was something they still needed and they had had questions, but when we went to start I felt like temples was something we should talk about. Our ward has their temple trip this week and I knew that Consuelo was looking at going to accompany her daughter Ana Sofia and just to see the temple and it´s grounds. Come to find out that Segundo, the dad, was also wanting to go and was going to talk to the bishop. It looks like they will be going. Although they won´t be able to enter, they want to go to see it. We asked the ward council to say lots of prayers so that it could be a good spiritual experience for them. We explained that a lot of times people feel that baptism is all that missionaries want people to do. I told them that that wasn´t my goal for them, but them being able to go to the temple to make covenants there was my purpose. They seemed to get it this time. I am really praying that when they come back next week they will be more prepared to make decisions.

Camila also accepted to have her baptismal interview! She accepted a date as well, but sometimes it´s hard to see if she really wants it, or if she is just saying things. We´ll see how her interview goes. We also asked ward counsel for their prayers.

We just keep working trying to find support from the members. We are gaining their confidence slowly, but surely. We may not be seeing fruits yet, but at least hopefully the ward can feel strengthened.

Saturday night there was a stake activity that we went to help at. We basically, as missionaries, took turns teaching parts of the plan of salvation. It was an activity for family history work and a lot of people left really excited about that work. Pretty cool.

All is going well here. We just keep plugging along. I hope you are all doing well. Love you lots!

Love,
Hermana Butterfield

June 16, 2014

Hello!

I hope your father`s day was great! It sounds like it was a good day.

I love the pictures of my nephews. How cute are they? How cool about the tricycle. It`s a nice one too...thanks Carol! It`s so crazy how big they are. They seem like happy chillens....are they? Sometimes I watch kids here and as cute as they are I cringe and hope that my nephews are a bit better behaved haha

Things continue here in the good old ward Gedeon. Hermana Skirvin and I keep working hard. We are trying to gain trust and confidence with the members. I made some little cards for father`s day and we took them to a couple of the men in the ward to wish them a buen dia. We have been visiting a lot of families as well and are hoping that it pays off. We were able to find a few more people this week as well which was great. I`m really hoping that we can get them to progress. 

We talked with Camila about the gospel of Jesus Christ again. We went over faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. We invited her to be baptized again. I asked her if she still had desires to be baptized and she said yes, but that she felt like there was still more she needed to know. We`ve taught her everything! Bah! So we went over the baptismal interview  questions. There are a few things we can go back over, but when she realized that she actually knows a lot I think it helped her. I am really hoping and praying that we can get her to progress. 

The familia Goicochea (Segundo and Consuelo) will hopefully start to progress soon as well. They have almost everything, they just don`t want to commit to baptism yet....grrr. I think we are going to invite our ward counsel to pray and fast with us to get them involved and feel the  importance. Hopefully we can see some progress there.

Isaac had an interview with the Bishop this week and he blessed the water in sacrament meeting yesterday. So cool. I love my job.

So crazy story of the week; Hermana Skirvin and I were walking down the road the other day. To one side is the road and to the other there is a big tall ¨wall¨ (actually the side of houses, but it looks and acts more like a great big wall). Anyway, we`re walking and we hear this loud crashing noise behind us. Not an abnormal noise, I thought it was a  guy with his cart  and he had moved something and it was just the things on his cart moving. I glanced around and there is a car speeding towards us. I push Hermana Skirvin and we went running. A lady had been driving and must have been going too fast because she hit this parked car and it went up over the curb fast and spinning hit the wall, bounced off and went back into the street all crashed up. It seemed like everyone was OK and we were just fine. freaked me out for a couple seconds, but everyone was alright. Poor lady that was driving. We still don`t know what actually happened. We didn`t stick around afterwards...we aren`t supposed to. But we`re fine. It was just kind of crazy. Then later that day we saw another accident just in front of us and then that night there was a tremor that was big enough it woke me up. I have been thanking my heavenly father a lot these days for keeping us safe. I know we are definitely watched over and protected.

Well, I love you all so much. Please be good, stay strong, and don`t be easily offended. Love, have patience, read the scriptures, pray, and grow. 

 

Love Hermana Butterfield

June 9, 2014

Another week! Before you think I didn`t remember -- HAPPY FATHER`S DAY on Sunday to Dad, Kyle, and Jake. Thanks for being such good dads to some pretty important people in my life. I`m sad I can`t call, but I`ll be thinking of you and maybe we can arrange something in a couple months hehe

So my new companion is....AWESOME! I love her. Her name is Sister Skirvin. She`s from Alpine, Utah. She actually is from California and her and her sisters´s (she`s a triplet) birth mom is Mexican so everyone expects her to be Latina, but she`s from the States. She has 13 months in the mission. She`s really quiet and she has struggled with the language a bit, but I`m just having a blast with her. She`s a sweet heart. She is passing through some tough things right now, though and I think it would be nice to keep her and I in your prayers. Please do that for me? 

I had a few reality checks this week. My trunky name tag came...I still can`t wear it, but it`s here. I quickly placed it at the bottom of one of my drawers so I don`t have to look at it haha. Right after that, an Elder from the office called to ask me about some things because he was buying our flight tickets...I gave him your cell number dad because I don`t know what the plans are. Hopefully he got a hold of you. President Marler also has called a couple of times to see how my companion and I are doing haha...it`s been interesting, but hopefully that is all behind now and I can just focus. 

We spent the week really trying to get to know more members and ¨gain favor in their eyes¨. I talked to President about that and I just felt like it was necessary. I told him maybe our indicators would be a bit lower, but it`s important that the members feel our love and support and what better time to do it than when you have a new companion. It has been fun visiting more members and I just love them more and more all the time.

Isaac received the Aaronic Priesthood and Jose gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I hear every so often that the Davila family is one of the strongest families back in Bellamar. Things like that just get me. It makes me so happy and I just want to keep feeling that. It`s interesting the love we gain for people here. They just become a part of you and your experience.

We`ve had a rough while trying to find people to teach. Please send some prayers so that we can find people who want to learn and will find happiness with this message, because truthfully, it is the only message that speaks peace to our spirits. The Lord only gives spiritual commandments -- they are never temporal. He knows us so perfectly and I love Him for that.

I love you all so much. Keep being strong. Keep being good. Make good decisions. Go to church.

Love Hermana Butterfield

June 2, 2014

Happy birthday to Kim this week! I hope it is a special day for you!

Well family, we are in June. Here in Peru it doesn`t feel much like it. It should be cooling down, but it`s not. I mentioned how the mosquitoes were bad? The ants aren`t much better and Hermana Ascencio and I have had to have a few battles with them to be able to sleep at night. They like to join us, but more than anything they like to eat while we sleep and we have all the lovely white itchy bumps all over us the next day. They`re cute.

This last week flew by. Honestly, we really didn`t have a ton of success as far as proselyting goes, but we did have our Noche de Tortas activity and it was a huge success. There were 22 people there as invited guests and about 135 assisted. That is about as many, if not more, as we have in church on Sundays! It was a ton of work, but it payed off. The members had a lot of fun and the Bishop was really pleased. It gave a good impression also of the church and how much we value the family as they were able to play, compete, and enjoy time together. Even our recent convert Isaac who is 73 was there with his son enjoying it. I have never seen him smile and laugh so much. We can normally only be out until, at the latest, 9:30, but we got permission to be out until 9:40. We were eeking to getting in by 9:45 I think. It was all kind of crazy. After, our pensionista brought us dinner and cake to our room -- we hadn`t eaten since about 1. We were tired, but it was a fun way to finish this change. 

Last night we received our changes. Hermana Ascencio will go to Casa Grande, Chiclin -- interestingly that at one point this was going to be one of my areas, but for some reason I never got sent there. I will stay here and I will be working with an Hermana Skirvin. I don`t know here super well, but she is a good girl. She`s from Utah, I think, and has to have a year or so on her mission. It`s likely that she will ¨kill me¨ here in this ward. It`ll be fun to work with someone else who has time on the mission and to learn from her and have new experiences.

One of my zone leaders, Elder Cortez, finishes at the same time as me and his companion, Elder Guerra, likes to remind us a lot of how much time we have left. It`s obnoxious, but I feel like this change will be fun and I feel like I`m starting fresh -- I just can`t go back to not speaking any Spanish and not understanding anything. That was the worst haha.

Well, I love you all. Keep being good, keep working hard, keep being strong and firm in the faith. Share the Gospel in every chance you get.

Love Hermana Butterfield

May 26, 2014

Hello all. 

Well, I´m sitting here and I just realized that tomorrow I hit my 15 months in the mission. We will receive changes next week and then I have 2 changes left. A little overwhelming, but I am just so grateful that for now I still have this time to enjoy serving the Lord in his wonderful work. 

This last Saturday was Isaac´s baptism! After working with him for so long it was such a joy to see him baptized. He asked that the Bishop baptize him and to be honest I couldn´t have thought of anyone better to do it. Our Bishop is awesome and I have loved working with him. We were happy to see quite a few of our members there and especially those of the high priest group in which he will participate. Such a joy to see and such a wonderful experience to see growth in not just one person, but to see an impact on those of his quorum.

We also had interview´s with President Marler on Wednesday. So good. I love that man and his wife and I am so grateful to them and who they are. They are so strong. I didn´t say anything because I feel strange, but their grandson who is 3 passed away on Easter Sunday. Hermana Marler actually went home for a bit to be with their family. I was so impressed to sit with her on Wednesday and listen to her testimony of the Savior and faith. Please hug my nephews for me and let them know how much I love them. It´s interesting the things we pass through in our time on our missions -- and really in our lives. I just love talking with President and I always feel so much better after conversing with him. They truly have taken on the role of parents here in the mission and they love their children.

We are still trying to get things organized for our noche de tortas this Friday. I´m crossing my fingers that everything turns out well and that the members invite their friends and neighbors. It should be really fun and it will be fun to do just before changes.

Funny story of the week: We were with a recent convert, Pedro Pablo. He´s somewhat crazy but always such a treat to talk with him. He was talking about the other missionaries of other churches that come to try to visit him. He talked about the Jehovah´s witnesses and the Catholics -- the two other churches here that are super popular. Anyway, he said he wanted to say to the Catholic missionaries -- If you want me to pray to a MAN, to the pope, to Satan? Just keep walking. Oh shoot. Somewhat really inappropriate, but I almost fell off my chair when he said that. It was so hard not to laugh. I think it´s funnier in Spanish, but it was a funny moment.

Well things are all good here. I hope you´re all doing well and loving life and staying firm. Remember there are always a lot of things to do, but when we put the Savior first, He is who blesses and edifies us the most.

Love you so much!

Love, Hermana Butterfield

May 19, 2014

Well hello, all!

I`m a little shocked that we are now over halfway through May. Can you believe it? whew....So strange.

So this week was a lot better than the last week. It`s always interesting to see the things the Lord likes to teach us and the way he teaches us. But we were able to see a bit more success this week which is always such a blessing.

It was kind of fun because on Wednesday a family of a missionary that served here about 8 years ago came and we were able to eat lunch with them. It was the missionary , his wife, and his in laws. He`s the only one who speaks Spanish so kind of interesting, but  very good kind people and it was fun to see them and share part of their experience.

We are so excited because this week Isaac is getting baptized. FINALLY! He was going to be baptized a couple of months ago, but it didn`t happened. We got back in  contact with in him and he has progressed even better and he is excited for this Saturday as am I. He will have his interview on Wednesday evening. Lots of prayers please.

Camila  still isn`t wanting to make the decision to be baptized. She wants to, but there are a few things holding her back. It`s so hard because I know she knows it`s true, but she just won`t make the decision. As bad as this is it`s even harder because we have changes in two weeks and it`s so hard to leave an area when you have worked so hard with some people and you don`t get to see them make these covenants, however, I understand the Lord has his timing.

We have been trying to plan an activity for our ward to get references. It`ll be in  two weeks just before changes  --- noche de tortas. Translation - cake night. It`ll be just a chance to come play games and have a good competition and they win cakes. I`ve never done one, but I`ve heard a lot of good things. They are normal here and so I`m excited to see how it turns out.

It`s returned to be hot. It had been a bit  cooler for a couple of days, but it has been pretty hot and it just isn`t very fun. We are ready for a cool down and to not have mosquitos again....

 Things are going well here. I hope everyone is well and happy and seeing the tender mercies of the Lord. Have a wonderful  week !

Hermana Butterfield

May 12, 2014

Hello again!

I hope you all had a great Mother´s day weekend. Yesterday was such a miracle. I am so grateful that I was able to see and talk with a few of you yesterday. What a blessing to have family that is so supportive and whom I can feel love and support. Thank you for all you do and for who you are. 

This last monday we got to go to the beach! So fun. Although we couldn´t go anywhere near the water, it was so beautiful to see. We played some volleyball, ate lunch, took pictures, and I just loved to be there, away from the busy stuff. We live so close to the coast, but we never get to see the ocean and I really do miss seeing the things in nature. God is such a great artist and I do still enjoy seeing his sunsets.

Speaking of miracles. Our District leader on Tuesday called and asked if we could assist the baptism that they had that night. They asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. This isn´t the miracle... Camila came to the baptism. Normally we give an English class Tuesday nights and she had come expecting that. This was the second baptism she had been to. When I was giving my talk she told my companion that she wanted to be baptized! So cool. Now it is just a matter of when. She even talked to the Bishop which is gold. We need for our investigators to have that confidence in the Bishop to stay solid after we leave. She talked to him about so questions and things so that was great.

Isaac also seems to be progressing very well. He still has his baptisimal date and we are hoping to see him be baptized next weekend. He seems excited and I am praying that is sticks this time. We had a great lesson with him this week. We had invited a brother to come with us and he bore his testimony and his story. It had nothing to do with what we had talked about, but it was so perfect for what Isaac needed to hear. Thank you Holy Ghost.

We (my companion and I) had the opportunity to help in our zone training this last wednesday. We were asked to do a demonstration of our companionship study. Interesting. But it went really well and a few of our companions said that they were able to feel the Spirit and could learn a few new things and remember a few things that they had been forgetting to apply. Pretty cool. We were kind of nervous because we really didn´t know what to expect. There really werent guidelines -- just do your normal study...ok. They also did a stress management training. Pretty cool. There´s a guide and everything. I wish I could have had it earlier, but there are a lot of really good things in it. The best part is that one of the sisters that was doing the training had really been struggling and had been ready to go home, but the Marler´s worked really hard with her and she is doing so well and is loving the work. It´s interesting how the adversary works so hard to destroy, many times, some of the lord´s strongest and most valient youth. 

This week was a bit rough. We did a LOT of walking around and I had been feeling pretty spent and a bit frustrated. I am grateful for the things that the Lord teaches us and I know we will move forward because this is His work.

I love you all so much. I hope you have had a fabulous week and I am excited to hear from you soon.

Love, Hermana Butterfield

P.S. My Bishop sends his regaurds and says thank you for being brave and allowing me to be where I am. He´s awesome and loves the work.

May 5, 2014

Hello all!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo. Sadly, I live in Peru and this is a Mexican holiday. Oh well. Please eat some nachos for me. 

Also, Happy birthday to JAKE this week. I hope you can enjoy it. I send my love and well wishes and a big hug.

I am looking forward to Mother`s day! Wahoo! I can`t believe how quickly the time has passed since Christmas. I really don`t know if I will be able to use Skype or not. If I do, I may have to use the account that Anna has, but it is a real possibility that it will be a phone call this time. The internet really is not super good here and I would rather be able to have a good clear conversation. I was thinking about calling about 6:00 my time, so about 4 your time. So if you could all be really around 3:30 - 4 o'clock I`d be super happy. Just have Skype up and be near the phone and I will see what I can do. I`m just so excited! (:

Well, I feel like this week flew by. The time has changed I think. I think when the Lord says he`s hastening his work, he really has just changed time so he can come sooner, because it just doesn`t seem real.

We did an activity as a stake. We, as missionaries in my zone, were in charge of it. It was ¨a trip to Hawaii¨ we related it to the plan of salvation. I wouldn`t mind doing another activity like it, but a bit more well organized haha. The Elder`s in my zone are awesome, but as much as they ask for advice and ideas, they don`t like to take it. Oh well. We had a good turn out and a lot of our investigators came which was awesome.

Our investigator Isaac has his baptisimal date again! Lots of prayers please. He had a date before, but he was discouraged by his family members. I have faith that he will continue to progress. 24 of May. Lots and lots of prayers.

Also, Camila is doing really well. We had talked with her mom before, but she really didn`t show much interest, but as she has seem how happy Camila is, she has shown more interest. She came to church last week and the activity on Friday. Hopefully we can get them both really involved. Camila wants to start indexing and we are going to go with Jose (our recent convert) on Wednesday for him to teach her how to do it. Very cool.

Anyway, the church is true. I hope you know that I know that. I felt it so strongly yesterday as I sat in Sacrament meeting. The Savior lives. He loves us. He wants the best for us. He just asks that we have faith.

I love you all so much. I`m excited to talk on Sunday. MAKE it a good one!

Love Hermana Butterfield

April 28, 2014

Hello all!

Fun story, last Monday we did a BBQ as a zone. Ok it was potentially the worst BBQ ever and I decided cooking with other missionaries is just a really  bad idea, however, it was the birthday of Elder Cortez and he wanted a BBQ...he`s from Argentina. Anyway, since it was his birthday there was cake and the tradition in Peru is the first bite is taken directly from the cake which usually means someone pushes their face in the cake a bit but not a whole lot. Anyway , one of the hermanas got a bit too excited and shoved the cake in his face. It turned into a huge cake war. There was cake everywhere. It was a funny experience.

                    

Things are going well here. We are seeing quite a few miracles and I see the  Lord`s hand every day. We have a few investigators that are progressing really  quite well and I am anxious to see how they progress in the next week or so. We have been struggling to find new people to teach, but we have a found a few that really seem to be good and that seem like they will progress. 

We had a lot of success with our investigators with some activities that the different organizations in the ward had planned this last week. They were able to participate and they had a really good time. On Friday the Relief Society did a rice and potato festival -- I live in Peru, it`s a big deal. We prepared a dish with Camila and one of the YSA in our ward and it turned out pretty good. Camila seemed to enjoy it and she invited her mom, grandma, and cousin to the activity. How cool ! On Sundays, we normally have to call Camila to remind her or wake her up -- she called us and her mom came as well! This girl just needs to get baptized all ready. Hopefully this month. Also, an investigator that we hadn`t had contact with in a while showed up out of the blue. He hadn`t been keeping his commitments so we didn`t go for a while to see what would happen. One of the YSA from our ward got in contact with him and invited him to an activity as well. He had a good time and the next day he was at church in a white shirt and tie and loved it. It was his second time at church and he seems to meld well with them. He called us last night to ask when he could be baptized! That was a new experience for me. We will see how he progresses. He has the desire, but he has to complete his commitments first.

I know this is the Lord`s work. I see his hand every day. I know in the moments most difficult, he is there for us. I know we can find peace in his word  and strength in faith. I love you all so much. I hope you have a fabulous week and you can recognize the tender mercies of the lord.

Love Hermana Butterfield

April 21, 2014

Happy Easter everyone! I´m sad to admit that I definitely thought that it was next Sunday, I´m not sure why, but it sounds like it was a fun day and that you had a fun time....minus the ants in the Easter eggs. I hope that we were all able to take some time to contemplate the importance of this day and what we really celebrate. I clearly had forgotten what day it was, but we had been able to share a lot about the resurrection of Christ a lot in the last week as Peruvians celebrate the entire week -- we´ll get to that later. It truly is remarkable the blessings we receive and I don´t think before I recognized truly the importance and divinity of what occurred.

As I said before, Peruvians celebrate the entire week -- semana santa -- the holy week. It´s a huge Catholic tradition that is celebrated and as there are parts very beautiful, the majority use it as an excuse to get extremely intoxicated, so I guess holidays are pretty much the same here as they are at home haha. My companion was missing home a lot. It´s hard for those that are from here and they are living so close to their culture and their family and they can´t participate. Please send prayers her way. I know she struggles at times, but she will complete her six month mark this week, so that is really exciting.

We´ve been able to come in contact with some new investigators in this last week and are excited to see how others are progressing. Camila, the young woman who we have been teaching went away for semana santa, but when we called her at 7:20 am Sunday morning to wake her up for church she was already awake and getting ready! MIRACLE! She´s 18 and studies and 8 o'clock church is hard for her. She has a testimony though and we can see it growing all the time. She told us that the other day a man came to her house concerned for her well being. He said he had noticed the two young women coming to her house and was concerned that she was listening to us. That we believe in another book and all sorts of things. She said he was so persistent that she wanted to hit him. She asked if he had read the Book of Mormon and when he said no she asked him how it was he could judge and discount it if he had never read it? That she had read it and knows it´s the word of God. She then excused herself and went back inside her house. WHAT?! Girl´s got guts. I was so happy to hear this. We are working to get her friends in the ward. She´s a bit shy, but we feel at this point that´s what she needs to progress. Prayers please, the YSA is a bit dry in fellow-shipping.  Jose was also able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood this week. So fun. He´s awesome!

We received our changes last night. Hermana Ascencio and I will stay here together in Gedeon in Chimbote. I predicted almost every change within our zone correctly. I´m getting really good at it. haha I guess it comes with time...

Hey congrats to Melinda Harper on her mission call! How exciting is that! I am so happy for her and I know there is no greater thing she could be doing. Just like everyone that serves a mission there are sacrifices, but those things that we leave for this short time will still be there when we return, and even better, we should be even more prepared to do them better. I am so happy for her. Send her my love. Anyone have her email address?

Well, love you all lots. Things are good here down south and progressing smoothly. I hope you are all well and healthy and happy!

Love Hermana Butterfield

April 14, 2014

We`re halfway through April! What?!

Jose was baptized on Saturday. So cool. Possibly one of the people most prepared that I have met. His family came, and although I`m not sure how much they truly support him, they came. He was so happy and content and it was such a joy to listen to him bare his testimony. He`s 21 and he just loves the gospel. Then he came on Sunday, of course, and was confirmed. His friend, Luis, who is a recent convert as well is who introduced him to the gospel was able to baptize and confirm him. 

Luis, the recent convert, was able to go on splits with one of our zone leaders this week in our area and he was in heaven. Luis and Jose are both going to mission prep and they both are just so enthusiastic about the work.

Things are going well here. The weather is changing and getting cold and windier. Normally I would be in heaven, but cold weather is more enjoyable with jeans and hot chocolate haha.

The area authorities put out a challenge and invitation. They invited every family to begin, today, to read the book of mormon from the beginning for 15 minutes everyday together until the end of the year. Also, for every individual to do the same. Maybe that could be a good challenge to have as well. So I`m going to challenge you all to do the same.

Love you so much. I hope all is going well

love, hermana butterfield

April 7, 2014

Hello all! Wasn´t conference awesome? I loved it!

I´m happy to hear that you were all able to make it for Grandma Beth´s funeral. Wish I could have been there to see everyone together. Please send my love to all.

Well, we have things to be grateful for. We were able to have investigators in conference which was awesome and we are so happy for that. Jose is also going to be baptized this Saturday! He truly has been a golden investigator and we have enjoyed working with him, even though really I don´t think we did anything. Everything just clicked with him. We called him on Saturday night to remind him about conference but he couldn´t answer his phone because he was in Priesthood session. He had even asked permission to get Saturday off so he could attend, but wasn´t able to. It´s always amazing to me how prepared some people are. The kid wants to serve a mission and is attending mission prep for the Stake. What a gem. He passed his baptismal interview with flying colors and as we had passed over the questions to help him get ready I loved listening to his testimony. He feels it. 

In regards to conference. As always it was fun to hear them talk about family and the importance of our strengthening our homes and relationships. I was definitely struck by how we were taught to be careful in our words with all, especially those we love. Sometimes I think we get so comfortable that we forget that maybe it´s them that we should have more caution in how we speak. 

I also loved Elder Uchtdorf´s talk -- he talked about living a life of gratitude, right? I forgot my notes...oops. But I'm sure it was him who talked about it. Today as we were driving to use internet I see a guy with a shirt that said, ¨what did I do to deserve God¨. So often we say what did I do to deserve this? but really we have been blessed with so much and we have to remember the Lord and our blessing through everything.

I am so grateful to be here serving the people of Peru. Many times we pass through things that we don´t understand, but we have to have faith that it is all for our benefit and learning and that it will help us in the long run. I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each and every one of us and I am so grateful to know that HE will NEVER abandon us and many times although we might feel forgotten, it is actually him that is carrying us through it all.  I love you all so much! Please take care of one another -- we´re family after all.

Love Hermana Butterfield