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