When the Circus comes to town...

I love Hermana Wood!

I love the mission! I love it so much.... This week was AWESOME. So many random and cool things going on! 

First off, we started intercambios and I went back to Imperio with Hermana Tunquipa.... she is a recent convert and is from Lima, so cute! It was a little bit of mixed emotions to go back to an area that I didn’t really love, but it was cool! It’s like when you are afraid of something when you are little, then see it again and realize its not scary at all. As I was back in my old area, I realized how very miserable I was when I was there with some trials I went through, but realized in turn how happy the Lord has made me as he has changed me. 

We went to a lady named Carmen, and I walked in and saw here and was AMAZED she was still taking the lessons..... me and Hermana Zamora found her and taught her about the family, but I didn’t think much of it besides the fact that she was one of the only nice people we had taught. I sat down and found out she had read the Book of Mormon twice and was going to get baptized next Saturday! I just cried! I realized that whole metaphor of the field is true, sometimes you plant and sometimes you reap and sometimes it needs time to grow! So that was super cool. 

President also showed up to our district meeting which I was late for haha... he is such an amazing president. I learn so much from him and he just emulates the love of Christ. 

After that Hermana Esquivel came to our area and it was awesome! We are trying to use the Book of Mormon more, and it’s cool because I feel so much more like a missionary! Telling people about it in the streets, etc. 

Miracle... .

Hermana Wood before we left to do an intercambio said "there is a guy named Jorge another hermana visited once. I think you should go and give him a Book of Mormon..." So random. So she looked up his address, and at the end of the night we went over with a Book of Mormon. He came to the door with a cigarette in his hand and told me he had a religion and really didn’t have any interest. I said "that’s okay, I’m just here to give you a book" and talked about what the Book of Mormon was for about a minute and he said "come in." 

It was such a great lesson. The spirit just took over, we testified of how we knew it was true, how it could help him find the answers he was looking for and he started to cry! He said he was praying all night for answers and was mad at god for not giving him any direction.... he said he was confused and didn’t like the church he was attending and wanted to find the truth. So he said he would read what we left and pray about it. It was awesome. The Lord really prepares so many people and if we are humble enough to find the people that are really prepared, miracles happen. So cool! 

Also, we had interviews and got new cell phones and cookies from Hermana Williams. They are the best! 

And.... the CIRCUS came to our area! Right in our dirt field. And it is seriously from the 1930s or earlier... Peru is so cool! We asked them if we could go inside and it was so old and soo cool.... we walk by every night haha... 

And, remember Stalin and Gizelth? They are awesome but moved into the other ward, so other missionaries are visiting them, but we were walking and Stalin pulled over in his moto to talk to us and said that his wife didn’t like the other missionaries and wants us to come... dang. We explained why we couldn’t, but I miss them so much! While we were talking, about 30 policeman on motorcycles pulled up and asked for their IDs haha..... I had to explain that we knew them and we were friends and they let them go.... so funny. 

Pretty much, it’s just another awesome week in the ghetto of Peru. I love my life so much. I have definitely felt how TRUE and POWERFUL the Book of Mormon is this week, so if you aren’t reading it, START. It will change your life and answers and solves every question and problem. 

Love you all, thanks for all you do. Have a good one! 

Hermana Clegg

Intercambios with Hermana Tunquipa

Intercambio with Hermana Esquivel

The CIRCUS!

Pizza pockets and Tacos

canchangas and shampoo... classic peruvian snack

Well... the most exciting thing here is always the food when its yummy! haha... not really, but, there was some good food this week! 

On Tuesday we had the Leadership meeting which was super fun! It’s like 5 hours long with all the zone leaders and sister leaders, it was so cool to learn from President and Hermana Williams of how we can help the missionaries and the mission better. They talked a lot about using the Book of Mormon, so we have been focusing on that and it has been really cool! I have felt how my personal testimony of how everything depends on that book has grown. I love the Book of Mormon! And that is where we ate pizza pockets. yum. 

We then taught bits and pieces of the meeting in our zone meeting, which was really fun! I feel like I have learned so much in this last week, its awesome. 

Besides that, it has just been really hot. I’m glad I’m not in Jaen again, but I’ve been trying to remember all of my tricks at staying cool. 

Also, it was Hermana Wood’s 22nd birthday on Saturday which was WAY FUN. We had tacos and tres leches at night, which was awesome. She is the best! 

One funny thing that happened is we were trying to talk to the people in different ways, so a lady walked by with flowers and I asked " how pretty, what are those flowers for?" and she said for the virgin maria..... haha.... hopefully we can teach her this week. 

The ward is doing awesome though! Lots of new members have been coming with us and I LOVE THEM. They are so cute and so fun. We are still seeing a lot of success with the bishop’s family... they are kind of our only investigators, but they are awesome! It’s cool how the Lord opens people’s hearts in different ways. They have all heard about the gospèl, but never had any interest until the passing of the bishop’s daughter. 

Overall, I’ve just felt very grateful. I feel that the Lord gives us so much, and sometimes here I get frustrated and wonder where the help is, then I pray and remember all the blessings he has given me and it changes literally everything. There is so much good and so many people all around to help and that help us. 

Hopefully you have a great week! 

Love you all! 

Hermana Clegg 

zone meeting

chilling in hermana jessicas house (convert) 

birthday party! 

it's a pretty place

oreos and MILK. YUM

Fun in the SUN

Hermana p day.... so far as a Hermana Leader we have done nothing but PARTY..... that's okay right? 

Hey! so.... I just wrote on Friday, but this week has been awesome! 

Pretty much all that is new is our dueño.... umm..... landlord? got a POOL! so we have been fawning over it and watching them all swim in it.... they are the richest Peruvians I have ever met haha... love them! 

And, I just love the gospel. I bore my testimony yesterday of the JOY that the gospel brings. That really there is nothing greater, nothing sweeter than recognizing and following the spirit, something I'm really trying to do more. 

And... in one of our lessons with the bishops aunt... we are literally teaching all of his family! the Lord prepares them...even in hard ways... anyways... one of their Peruvian dogs, so ugly, was playing by my feet and Hermana Wood was trying to get it to go away and I said "it’s fine!” and she said "don't look at what is in it's mouth!”.... it was a bloody chicken head haha.... 

But! It was an awesome lesson. 

Anyways.... pretty much I hope the year is going as well for you guys, I can say nothing but good about life right now. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY IN PERU. 

Enjoy the little things, see the wonder and feel the love in His spirit. 

Love you all!

Hermana Clegg

The landlord's pool!

Our room! 

my beautiful area....dead dogs....

christmas day... Meet the Mormons and pizza 

Vivan Los Fiesteros.....

Yellow for good luck

January 1, 2016

It means HOORAY FOR THE PARTY LOVERS! 

If this country knows how to do one thing, it’s how to party. I realize I’ve been pretty lame at details these last few days, so I’ll try to fill in today while I have time.

So for Christmas there aren’t a lot of traditions because no one believes in Santa Claus,  so they just eat panatonne at 12 and talk all night, kind of fun. 

Then for new years, they shoot off fireworks.... like everyone at 12. It sounds a lot like the city is being bombed and looks super cool as there are flashes of light everywhere and a huge haze of smoke falls over the city. 

They also burn muñecos..... or giant dolls (scarecrows) to burn all of the bad things and bad luck that they had and start the new year. So there are a ton of stakes with what looks like people burning in all of the streets, kind of creepy and fun. 

Anyhow, so we were up for that last night, love the very loud parties of Peru. 

Also this week we have had a surge of flying grasshoppers in our room and it has been fun to try and catch them and keep them out at night. 

But all in all, I can say this has been the BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION. I don’t think I could ever say there has been a better one. From Monday till today we have seen nothing but miracles and have never worked so hard. 

We are currently teaching a couple called Gizelth and Stalin who just moved here and are SO PREPARED. We taught about the restoration and at the end Gizelth just started to sob, said she felt weird and was confused to why she had never heard of this before. She said "I have been living in a bubble of error!" pretty good way to explain the apostasy. But they are progressing well and have so much desire to know if it’s true. 

Then on Tuesday we helped a less active in a cookie factory of sorts as we tried to get to know her and bag cookies. After that we saw bishop’s brother in the park who we had flagged down to come to church last week, asked how he was and he said" I think this is the time in my life to ask questions" It was hard for him to see his brother lose his daughter, we talked for a while, then gave him a plan of salvation folleto, only to pass by a half hour later and see him still reading. The elders are starting to teach him, the Lord really works in mysterious ways. 

After that, we went to a cita with a contact named Zuni. Turns out, she was 3 days away from having a baptism interview and being baptized when the elders were taken out of her area for a shooting. She literally is ready to be baptized. MIRACLES HAPPEN.

Haha... we left that cita and saw a lady bucketing water that had overflowed from the front of her house into her house and offered to help. A little while into it we realized it wasn’t water... but was sewage. But, she needed lots of help so we just kept bucketing. Turns out, we found out yesterday, someone had dropped a dead pig into the sewer and it had plugged it up and caused the pipe in front of her house to break. She said the city wasn’t helping and wouldn’t come until a truck drove by and saw us... two white girls, trying to help out. They got it all figured out after we left, but definitely the best service project I’ve ever done. 

We went home and rinsed off with clorox haha, then went and taught the bishop’s sister who has also attended church almost all of her life and never been baptized. Pretty much, it was hard to believe all the miracles that happened that day were real! The Lord really does prepare the way! 

We were pretty sore the rest of the week, but it sure feels like summer. Running around, working hard and just so much fun. There really isn’t enough time for all the work we have to do here, I love it so much and love Hermana Wood so much! 

I guess overall I have been amazed at the trust heavenly father has in us to let us help all these people who really need it. STOKED for this next year and the chance as always to repent and be better. 

Hope you all can feel the great joy that comes with service and the gospel. Happy 2016, hopefully it’s the best one yet. 

Hermana Clegg

Our pensions muñeco

                                                                          Fireworks!