Ten transfers down, two to go!

Hey everyone! Hope all is well with you guys and that everything is great! You guys are all in my prayers! Ok first to you guys, and then I’ll tell you about changes!
First I want to start off and say thanks to my family for praying and fasting for my health 🙂 I think that is the only reason I can still work! Thank you so much, and don’t worry, all will be fine in the end! 🙂 Ok… Christina and Vicente are TOO CUTE! I really hope you liked those photos, I want to send photos to you guys (maybe I’ll try today) but it’s kind of hard because it’s so slow here to send photos, but I’ll try! I really think that Royer will get baptized; I just want to baptize his parents too! And I really like that thought about the Mormon life, because it’s so TRUE! But sounds like everything is great with you guys and I am so grateful for all you guys do! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
So… today is transfer day. I was nervous for this day. If you can’t tell by the title of my email, but I only have two transfers left, so if I don’t have a change I’m most likely going to finish my mission in Quilla, but if not, I just get to finish in another place. And to be honest, I really don’t want to leave at all. I love Quillabamba just as much as I love Puno and I really want to finish my mission here. So I came to the internet, with fear waiting to see that email that says where I go. I opened up to find…. NOTHING! I’m staying here! I’m here til the end! I almost want to cry for joy! Quillabamba, we’re in this till the end! AH! Sorry I’m just so happy! I’m staying another change with my daughter, Hermana Tango, and I can’t wait to see what happens next with us together! WOOT WOOT!
But now to our week. So yeah I’m still sick, but that will not keep me down! I’m in it until the end! The members are concerned so they bought me this weird drink (Zrii) that is made in Utah (You have no idea how surprised I was to look at that bottle and think “A little piece of home to help me!” I was so happy ha-ha) that is supposed to help me feel better, so we’ll see how that goes! I’m willing to try anything now! But anyways, this week Kristina and Vicente got baptized! They were too cute! They bore their testimonies (Kristina’s was in Quechua!) and they are so strong! We had a little party for them afterwards and they were dancing together and it was so cute! Kristina went up to one of the members that helps out a lot here and asked him to dance and he was so embarrassed but he went and danced with her. I took a photo and every time I see it I just laugh and laugh ha-ha. The sister leaders came this week and it was super fun, I love it when they come, they always give me something that I need to do to help our companionship, which I’ll come to in a minute. But we had a scary experience this week… Are you ready? So we’re the new seminary teachers and one night, me and my comp were waiting in the chapel for the jovenes (kids?) to come and there was a member with us in the chapel and he had passed by the room we were in and started talking with us when someone walked by the window. Now let me explain a bit of the background story. So there’s this guy. Let’s call him… Phil, that’s crazy. His friends overdosed him and he hasn’t been the same since. But he started coming to our branch, without us knowing his story. Well…. he grew fond of a certain sister (we won’t say which) and started to follow her. Well before we went to the chapel we ran into Phil and just said ‘hi’ and quickly walked away. He’s always following the sisters, looking for the one sister he’s fond of. So we left fast, thinking he wouldn’t be able to follow us. So we’re seated there, in the chapel and someone walks by. As a half joke the three of us are like “Ha-ha it’s Phil, he’s looking for his favorite sister ha-ha” but the member we were with knew that we were slightly scared of him, so after laughing he said “Ok, I’m going to go look and see who it is” and as he walked by the window I opened it said “Who is it?” and the member said “It’s Phil, shut the window” and we got so scared. We got to the point of shutting the window, turning off the lights, shutting the door, and then barring it shut with our hands. Yeah, we got a little freaked out ha-ha. But then the member came back and knocked on the door, told us to grab our stuff and go the District President’s office. Because Phil was waiting outside that very window for us (Yeah I had the music from Psycho playing in my head ha-ha) so we ran down to the office. Then he started waiting outside that window for us. The member got so sick of this that he went outside to go kick him out. Literally. But Phil had luck and left before that happened ha-ha. So it all ended well. Until yesterday, when he came to the branch. And the one sister he looks for was so scared. She was grabbing on to this cute old lady at her side ha-ha. But anyways, after the meeting, something happened (we don’t know details) all we know is that something happened to a child where they ended up screaming and running away from Phil. The zone leaders go to the same chapel as us so they were there and I went up to them and told them everything about Phil and what had just happened with the kid. To which they then went and talk to Phil, which then ended with him trying to run out of the chapel, with members wanting to call police, and him almost fighting with members and the elders on his way out. The elders then called the assistants to the president and told them what had happened, to which one elder said (to the poor sister that Phil was following) that she needs to buy Mace ha-ha. So it all ended ok, everyone is still alive and we’re all going to live! But that was an adventure! Literally! But all is well, don’t you worry! Now for my thought!
So this week the sister leaders talked to us about unity in our companionships, and it was so good! And I could tell you everything about how to help our companionships, but I’m going to change it. Because this just doesn’t apply to missionaries, but to all of us in our different companionships (like marriage…), but they talked about the fact that we need to do all things in unity, we can’t have one person saying one thing and the other person saying another thing. We also need to divide the time when teaching, it should never be just one person, but there should be equality. Then they did a test to see how well we knew our companions and how we need to talk and listen equally with our companions. And I was thinking a lot how the mission helps us to be prepared to be married and to work in jobs where you have companions, because really that is all so true! And I just loved everything that they shared with us! Anyways, love you all so much! I’ll be writing you guys next week from… QUILLABAMBA! WOOT WOOT!
LOVE!
Hermana Irvine

La Senorita de los Anilos

After a long and crazy day/week, here I am to tell you all about the fun we had this week 🙂 But first to you guys!

Oh mom those comments about the Health of my Penchinista KILLED ME!!!!! I’m going to tell her ha-ha. Trek sounded so cute and fun! Sorry about the flat tire, but at least it didn’t turn out like last time. I was so scared of that. Literally. But all is well! And it doesn’t sound like your trek was quite as hard as it was before where we got lost and walked a million more miles to get to where we needed to! And the women’s pull, it wasn’t up that hill again was it? THAT WAS THE DEATH! Or in Spanish, la muerte. But no we didn’t do Square dancing. Teach me? You took the carts through the water? CHEVERE! Trek sounds awesome! I want to go again! I shall anxiously await the snail mail letter! Super excited about the zip line! And mom I’m sorry but… I actually feel relived knowing that you weren’t on a four wheeler ha-ha sorry, but you can get on one when I get home ha-ha. But that’s not cool about the zip line accident. But I’m glad she’s ok. Dude Zach… please gain some weight/fat? Please? Do you want to know what would happen to you down here in Peru? They would give you a meal that is all fried in oil and then they’d probably fry it a second time just for the extra fat. So, get some fat! (Why is Adele playing right now? We could have had it all, rolling in the deep! Sorry that is a distraction…) Amanda, just wanted to tell you I love you guys so much and I pray for you guys all the time! LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Ok mom, that story about Martin’s Cove kills me. I really wish I could have been there for that. Zach told me that story too and I almost died. Wow. That is truly amazing! But sounds like all is well with you guys, LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! (Oh my gosh, would someone just turn off the music?!?!?!) Sorry… this place is way too distracting. BACK TO THIS!

So for those of you who didn’t understand the title of my email, it means “The Little Lady of the Rings” You know, like “The Lord of the Rings”? And it’s because…. I bought wedding rings 🙂 YES! But I got some bad news. Only one couple got married, but that is OK! The other couple (Ana and Percy) had a few more problems with their paperwork, but they still have a goal to get married, once we have all the papers in our hands again, so give it two weeks! I’m just scared, because next week is transfers and… I don’t want to leave. At all. But it’s in the hands of the Lord so we’ll see. But yes, this morning, cute little Kristina and Vicente got married! They are so cute! And small! They were so happy! Last night I had terrible dreams of all the things that could happen between yesterday and today, and none of them came true! WOOT WOOT! I’m still sick, we don’t really know what we’re going to do, but I think I might make a secret doctor visit without the elders knowing, because when they took me to a doctor, the pills made me worse. And I almost passed out. So….. Yeah top secret doctor visit. We’ll see what happens with that. Tomorrow our cute couple that got married today will get baptized 🙂 This week their cute grandson admitted to us, crying, that he wanted to get baptized with them, but… he can’t be yet. He’s 8 but he needs more time, lessons, and permission from his parents, but he is super smart and reads the Book of Mormon all the time. But we talked to him and got him all calmed down for a different day, his name is Royer, and is super cute. He comes every week. But yeah, that was my week briefly, but to my thought!

So this week I was still really sick, I got to the point where I called the elders crying telling them I needed to go the doctor, and in my head I was thinking “Yep I’m sick of this. I hate my life right now; just get me out of this.” Normal, right? Well a few days later, we went to go visit some people and we had some members with us and in the end I was laughing in the road watching one of them try to jump on the back of an old guy’s motorcycle, which was really funny. Really, it was ha-ha. But in that moment I took a step back and I really looked at my life. I looked at it as if I was watching a movie and I thought “Dang. I want a life like this…. Oh. It is mine.” And I started laughing even more in that moment. At myself. But I realized that, we can’t know the ups if we don’t know the downs. A few days before I was saying I hated life, and now I was saying I loved life. And I thought “I think I would rather to love life, with all its downs, than to hate life with all its ups.” So after that, I made the goal to always love life. Even when I’m crying over the phone to elders saying “Do something, NOW!” or when I’m laughing at the smallest things, because “Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy” right? So chose today to have joy, don’t wait for the little things to come along and only have joy in those moments, but have it in EVERY moment and I can promise there will be so much more happiness in your life 🙂 LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Hope you all have a great week!

LOVE!

Hermana Earbean

“Fight today and tomorrow we go home!”

Hey everyone it’s great to hear from you all, I hope all is great with you guys! First I’ll talk about you guys then me and it’s going to be really fast!

Thanks for praying for my penchinista and her family! This past week she went to Cusco to see the doctor and can I tell you the weirdest part? So turns out it’s not cancer, it’s just a really bad inflammation. But there’s a cure for it. She needs to have a child. She needs to give birth. First off… that’s a cure? Second off, let me explain. She’s 38 and isn’t married. And she needs to have the baby now or never. So her options are get married now (basically in less than a month) or break the law of chastity. So second off….. WHAT THE FREAK?! What is she supposed to do now? We’re looking for a husband for her, but it’s getting a little weird. What are your opinions on this: 1.just live with it and possibly have more problems in the future, or 2. break the law of chastity for your health? Yep…… Ok with Ana and Percy, it wasn’t them that didn’t want to give us the paperwork, it was the city or the…. how do you say that…. the people that have the legal paperwork for Ana didn’t want to give us her paperwork, because we’re Mormons. But we have more problems, we’ll get to that. A sound like Timp was fun! Why did a miracle of dad going to Timp have to happen when I wasn’t there to witness it! Freaking. I’ll just tie him up and make him go. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! No we didn’t do a whole lot, we had an activity and I wore the colors of our flag, but that was it. …Pulpy? Why the heck Pulpy? Dude Zach if I were you, I would look for a new name…kidding. Stadium of fire? Dang you guys are branching out a bit! I kind of want to go, but I want to hear everyone’s point of view of it before! And I’m excited about the canyon! I can’t wait to see it! And I hope Trek was fine, I was really nervous, but I don’t think anything happened… right? And Good luck with Girl’s Camp! Ok to my week really fast!

So this week I got really sick, I was throwing up, and it’s to the point where the ZL’s are a little worried and said that if I’m not doing better by tonight, I have to go to the doctor tomorrow…. yay…but I don’t think it’s that bad. But everyone thinks I have “Typhoid” or “Malaria” or something I don’t even know, but I doubt it. I highly doubt it. Everyone just likes to blow it out of proportion. We have a new Branch President who is really picking everything up and is using us to our fullest power! We’re working super hard with the branch now! But we do have a slight problem, Ana has problems with her birth certificate and we have to fix that before tomorrow at 3:30. So… wish us luck with that. I think we can do, it’s going to be hard, but it’ll be possible! But I’m going really fast, because I really don’t feel good and I still got to buy some medicine that will help that I should have bought early this morning but still haven’t had time to do…. so sorry, but next week will be better! But for the spiritual thought has to do with my title. This week has been hard all around for me and another sister. So we have a new motto: “Fight today and tomorrow we go home!” and we say it every morning. Why? Because it basically means, put all we can into it today and just keep doing that and day by day we’re going to accomplish the little things, and everything will be ok 🙂 LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

LOVE!!!! Hermana Irvine

Two sister missionaries, both alike in spirit, in fair Quillabamba where we lay our scene

Ok I’m going to explain my week as if it were a play (and therefore, the title of the email being a line from Romeo and Juliet, just changed haha). so….

PART I: Everything going as planned.
So last Sunday these two cute old people came to church and they were so cute, they live out in the fields and only come when they can, so we just thought they were less actives and had a plan to visit them. Ann and Percy came too, and they are doing great. Brisa was saying bye to people because she was leaving this week and inviting them to her farewell party and everything was great and going as planned. A lady in our ward (who lives right about our penchinista) was also planning the birthday party of her little girl (she was turning one) and it was great. Monday the sisters left for Cusco (visa stuff) and we were in the apartment alone for a few days, and Presdient was coming this week. Everything was all ready to go. We also told the elders to go look for the paperwork for Ana so she could be married. We also were trying to figure out how to get everything to work out with Percy, because he works out in the Jungle and wouldn’t be coming back for a bit. But everything was great!

PART II:WHAT THE CRAP???????
So it all started with a phone call, which went like this “Hey sisters, so we went to the place to look for Ana’s paperwork, and they told us she’s full of crap. She knows where her paperwork is. She’s just lying to you and trying to rob you of your money. So…. drop her.” …. wait what????? TALK ABOUT WEIRD!!!!! So… we planned to drop her and run! Then we went to lunch and Brisa’s dad was getting super mad at her for leaving on a mission and leaving him here while he’s so old (he’s not) and telling her he would come to the airport and stop her from going. So she was getting a little scared and we told her to forget it all and just go! Then we went with the crazy old Ricardito to visit the old people who came to church Sunday. (FUNNY STORY!! We knocked on the door and their grandson opened the door and said “Oh one minute” and left. His little brother (that’s like two years old) then opens the door… naked! And Ricardito looks at him and says “Oh hello Adam.” I DIED!!!!! It was soo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways…) So we’re talking to them and they tell us they aren’t members. …. Wait what???? And then they tell us that they’ve been investigating since October but didn’t get baptized because…. they weren’t married. They then pull out everything you need for great big wedding where hundreds of people will get married and the next day to go put them in for the wedding and they’re going to get married and baptized OFFICIALLY the 21st of July!!!!!!!!! Talk about cool! Then that night is the farewell for Brisa. We call our penchinista (her mother) to figure out what we needed to do for her. She tells us that Brisa isn’t going tonight. …. Wait what???? So we run over there and we talk to her for an hour! Tears and all! Turns out she doesn’t want to leave and hasn’t wanted to for awhile now. So we all knelt down to pray, with her, and we are all crying at this point (yes… I cried. But we’re not talking about this!) and in the middle of the prayer it just goes silent. And then Brisa continues and says “I can feel you hugging me right now and I know I’ll be ok..” and I just started crying even harder in this prayer, but the spirit was there so stong!!!!!! I felt like she needed to leave!!!! But only time would tell us what she would decide to do, she’d have until Sunday to figure out what she wanted, and we all prayed for her every day and night. We also helped with the birthday for the one year old. Dude. I have never seen a bigger party. There were at least 30 or 40 people there! And the worst part… there was… a… clown. I wanted to kill him!!!!!!! And I think he knew. But we kept our distance. We only went to the party, because that’s where our dinner was. And once we had it, we left. So it all ended well. Also president came and we went out into the jungle to just learn more about missionary work in a fun way (with games) and then we got to hear some inspiring words which we’ll get to in a minute. So now we’re all chilling in this weird limbo what the heck is going to happen and what are we going to do, so let’s go on to…

PART III: All’s well that end well!!! For somethings….

So we went to visit Ana with plans on dropping them, when… Percy answers the door. Wait what? We thought he was in the jungle! And then tells us to come in and sit down. All normal, until he pulled out the knife. KIDDING! No turns out they got all their paperwork together and are going to get married too!!!!! He also had his baptism interview and he passed!!!!!! He’s a great guy, so now we’re going to work more with them and help them! Turns out they didn’t want to give us the paperwork because we’re “Mormons”. Wow right? So they are all ready to go!!!!! Our cute old people are as cute as ever! Cute story about them, they had questions about the temple and the man (Vicente) has Bronchitis and it’s bad. So they’re asking us questions and he says “We have just one more… Let’s say that during the year of waiting for us to enter the temple, I die. Can we still be sealed for eternity?” and I looked at him and said “Yes you can.” and his wife immediately looks at him and he looked at her and said nothing. Just looked. I almost cried!!!!! They already have the goal to be together for all time and eternity!!!!!! So cute!!!! We were also working with Brisa every day, she even had an interview with one of the mission councilors and Sunday morning we get a phone call that… they have a surprise for us. We were fasting and part of our fast was that Brisa would do what she needed to do. So we go to church and Brisa stand to bear her testimony and starts talking about the missionary work and we’re all smiles and everything and we have our fingers crossed!!! Even our penchinista was so happy!!!!!!!! And then Brisa gave her answer about the mission! She said…. I’m not going. …. WAIT WHAT???? We almost all cried. Everything is canceled for her, we don’t really know what’s going to happen next, but we do know that everything will be ok and that maybe this really is what the Lord wants. Just keep her in your prayers right now. But that was my crazy week. Hope you all liked it!!!!!!!

So here’s the thought of the week! So with President he was talking about our point of view., Everything depends on how we see it. And this is something that I really have been applying this week. I could look at my week and say “Dang. This week was crazy. I hate it.” or I can look at it and say “Dang this week was crazy!!!! I’m just glad that it’s all working out!” We just need to look at it with positivity not with negativity. He told us a story about the Olympics a few years back (many years back) about some bobsledders. One of the bobsleds for another team weren’t working and needed to be repaired. But they had nothing. But one guy, from Italy, told his team to go over there and fix it. And they did. And in the end, that team won, not the guy who helped. And it happened again to him. And in the end he said “They didn’t win because I fixed their sleds. They won because they can race faster.” Cool right??? We should look at the good in people and not focus how it was really due to us that they can be who they are, everyone has their natural talents. But anyways, that’s all!!! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Hermana Irvine