Hermana Pilar's tamales are the best!!!

1/30/12

Week of Miracles


(the miracles have nothing to do with the tamales, just a great picture of Hermana Sandstrom)


Last week our leaders asked us for a miracle. To choose one of our investigators that we could fast and pray for and that we could possibly baptize this week. Well we thought and prayed about and it came to German.

We decided to visit him and see what we could do to help him. So Hermana Oliveros headed to Salaverry to visit Hermana Sherman, after she left I went with Hermana Jimenez to visit German. He said he wanted to be baptized. Which was great, because last time we got to the interview and he said no.  So we were good. We taught him about Joseph Smith before we left and we planned to return the next day. We returned the next day and he was gone. His daughter had taken him out of town. She does NOT want him to be baptized. So we returned later that night and taught him some more. Hermana Oliveros and I took him to the church for his interview.

calling the zone leaders

 But when we got there, the elders had just left. So we called the zone leaders and they said come to Moche, we’ll interview him here. So we ran out there with German who is 80 years old and blind. It was quite the night.

So the next day was his baptism day --- and we planned to get him early so his daughter couldn´t take him away.  But we weren’t early enough, when we got there he was already gone. We were still full of hope though and we returned an hour later when his other daughter said he would be back. He wasn´t, and still wasn´t an hour after that. Then we encountered his daughter that doesn´t want him baptized. She said that he is an invalid and to leave him alone. But his daughter, Segunda, said she would accompany us later. Perfect. But when it came down to it, his other daughter still hadn´t brought him back. It was a rough, long day.

But I learned something. German has the desire to be baptized and it is his daughter that is standing in the way. If he dies soon, he will not be held responsible for not being baptized. It’s sad, but true. We are full of hope and faith. I learned a lot that day about having faith in the lord and that he has a hand in everything!!!

Another miracle is that we got Nicole to church yesterday and her baptism is COMPLETE!!! YAY!!! Seriously a miracle!

Also our zone was way low on our numbers this week, our goal for baptisms in the zone for January was 12 and we were only at 5. But the zone leaders called last night and said that we had exceeded our goal. Wow, fasting, praying and faith is powerful..

Thanks for all of your prayers this week.  

Hermana Sandstrom

Alma 26:22

ground was broken for this temple
the day Kaylee entered the MTC Sept 14th 

"Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing-unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

don't know the  story behind her including this
but it's a great scripture - and exactly the chapter we were
reading last night in family scriptures :)

First of all THANK YOU HIGHLAND 21ST WARD for the package. I loved it. It was such a surprise and I loved all the notes. 

Okay so this week started out really good but it ended up not so great. We started out spending all last Friday in the clinic with another Hermana and since we were going to be there all night I decided to have them look at me and get my intestine problems all figured out. I had had diarrhea for about two weeks and I was in a lot of pain. So they gave me some pills.  I hope that it was my first and last experience with the Peruvian doctors. They are about 20 years behind. It’s quite funny. 

During the week we were working hard every day. And running into roadblock after roadblock. But we kept doing pushing along doing good. This past Saturday we had two baptisms scheduled, so we worked hard with Dayvi and Nicole all week. And they were ready. 

So the time came for the baptism and Nicole entered the water to set an example for her brother, who was nervous. She came out of the water just glowing. It was awesome! Next was Dayvi and he had a fear of entering the water. Well after an hour of coaxing and trying to convince him. (Hermana Oleveros even entered the water, up to her waist- Haha). And Both Elder Elmer and Huaman trying - Dayvi was not baptized. It was really sad. Hermana Oliveros was pretty devastated. I was too, but I was trying to stay positive for the both of us. 

So the next step was Sunday, we needed Nicole at church, no matter what. We left extra early to help them, well basically wake them up and get them ready. We ended up knocking on their door for about 30 minutes. NOTHING. We went to church without them or any of our other investigators. It was tough. The rest of the day we couldn´t get in contact with any of our investigators. It was really hard. We haven´t even been able to contact Paula or José for over a week now. 

So let’s just say its been rough in Monserrat for the past week. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. 

We are really good at inviting but our purpose from our mission president is to baptize!!!! Which is a great goal. But I have been in the field almost 12 weeks and Nothing. I haven´t seen any fruits of our labors. We invite and people want to listen, but it’s the desire to change and to want to repent that is so difficult. Any advice??

Pray for our area please!! We need to meet new people who want to change and want to repent. It’s been hard.

Thanks so much for your love and prayers. 

Love Hermana Sandstrom 

Awesome Peruvian stuff

Our district's gingerbread cookie making experience :)

CHEESE PUFFS - something my companion says all the time and it just makes me laugh.

January 16, 2012

This week has been pretty good. We have been really busy.

Investigator Updates:

We lost Juana. She won´t answer the door and we havent seen her since one day in the street and she ran from us. So she is not really interested. Sad day. 

But good news - We have really been progressing with Precilla and Josue. They have a baptism date and Precilla (josue´s mom) is really excited. she just wants to be firmly converted before she is baptized. She just needs the faith.

And as well with Jose and Paula. This familiy is awesome. they come to church on their own and they read the book of mormon and have lots of questions, which is perfect. 

WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY!! Nicole and Dayvi are two kids. 11 and 9. Im excited. Its a part member family. Mirim doesn´t want to continue but she wants her kids to be baptized. They passed their interview yesterday so yay! First baptism!! (with me teaching from the beginning)

Also Gerardo. He is awesome. He is 50 years old and is really interested. but his "wife" and daugher don´t like the mormons or want us teaching him. But he still continues to come to church on his own and wants to learn more.  He is afraid of baptism so we need to work on that and he doesn´t want to commit to a church.

So last week we went to visit German and Marta- And after we did the normal kiss on the cheek thing, marta tells me that she has been sick with the flu for about two weeks. wonderful. well by that night i had the flu. its been wonderful....not really. oh well. I´m almost over it. hopefully.

This past week Hermana Oliveros went to visit an area and Hermana Sherman came to split with me.  She is from arizona. It was great fun. We are both really tall gringas here and there were some parts of my areas that we weren´t allowed to visit because of this. but it was great! I learned tons.

Last week was the best p day. I' ll send pictures next week, we are at a different internet place this week and it doesn´t have the same hook ups as the other. But we made gingerbread cookies, and we watched princess and the frog in spanish. haha so funny!!  We also had KFC which is kinda similar to home. But it was so good to just chill. Next week we are going to make peruvian food for lunch. im excited.

Thanks for all the love and prayers!!!

Love ya!

Hermana Sandstrom

Mom get practicing your Spanish, i have so many people i want to introduce you too.  

So this week, please pray for gerardo, precilla, jose, paula, and nicole and dayvi.

THANKS!

(mom note: Kaylee's companion Hermana Oleveros has been wonderful, we learned she is from Lima and has 2 sister and a brother currently serving missions and her parents are waiting for them to all return so they can go -- anyway, she sent us a sweet card this month and I am including an english translation of part of it.  It's great to read her testimony and what she says about Kaylee) 

Dear Sandstrom Family

        Hermana Sandstrom loves you very much and is very happy when she talks about her family.  She is a happy missionary here in Peru.

        She loves the sun and wants to tan herself, I am the opposite and fight against burning myself.

        Despite the challenges that we have with our investigators, we do not lack the spirit and we continue to raise our voices to declare repentance and the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

        I am grateful to the Lord for such an excellent companion – Hermana Sandstrom is hard working and fun.  I know she is prepared to teach the children of God in Peru.   The spirit guides her and she is learning Spanish (she says little by little – but I know she is learning fast).  She is obedient to the Lord and is a good example for me.  I am happy at her side.

       Moses 1:39 is the goal of the Lord and our sights are set on Him.  I know the Lord has not promised that a mission will be easy but he has promised to always be with us.

       I have come to understand that we are not earthly beings in order to learn spiritual experiences rather we are spiritual beings in order to give love, give real service and gain salvation through Christ our Redeemer.  I know He lives and loves us and there is no other name by which we can receive salvation except through Him, The Lord Omnipotent.

       Thank you for the English Book of Mormon, I am reading little by little and it is helping my English.         I love you very much.           

                                Hermana Oleveros 

AMAZING EXPERIENCE

(mom note: the experience Kaylee is talking about below can be found by just scrolling down in this blog to yesterday's post - i did some cutting a pasting from Sis Turks blog and then added some information and comments - or you can go to the mission blog link over on the right side above Kaylee's picture, then go to the jan 4 post (second one down) and jan 9 post.  This has been a great experience for us all!)

From Kaylee

I hope that by now you have all had a chance to see and read Hermana Turks blog!!! WHAT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!!!!

An elder approached me at the leadership training this past week and asked me if I knew a family from Boston named the Saenz. I laughed suspiciously and wondered why. So I said yes and he said Ricardo Saenz is my uncle. I continued to laugh at the connection for quite some time. I was like ‘that’s crazy’. He told me that he talked to his family on Christmas and they told him to look out for an Hermana Sandstrom. Then he said that he only knows the gospel because his uncle Ricardo returned to Columbia to share the gospel with his family. I was then in complete shock. How cool is that!  He said your mom is Tammy right?  Yes, my cousin’s name is Tammy (after your mom). :) So great!

Elder Barinas in the middle next to me

I was blown away when Elder Barinas told me this story. Wow what an amazing influence you have had on people mom!! If the Saenz had not accepted the gospel from you and listened to you who knows what could have happened. Elder Barinas knows the gospel because of his uncle and is now sharing it with many people here in Peru. So cool. It’s like living an Ensign story.

The whole experience has given me such energy. I have been kind of bummed because we haven’t had a lot of success. But I have learned that I don’t need to convert our whole area; just one person. Look what one person can do. I have learned this lesson through out my whole life. Look at my mom’s example. Look at my dad’s example. Look at Lindsay’s life, she impacted so many!!! And look at my grandparents!!             Thanks family!!

This week has been crazy. We have a lot of investigators right now. Its great, but each have their different problems and challenges so it’s tricky managing them all and trying to help each individual one.

We had a miracle this week. We had 8 investigators attend church. What a miracle. (mom note: that was the focus of part of our family's fast yesterday - Kaylee's investigators getting to church.  Isn't the gospel awesome.) It was stake conference and so our meeting was at 10, which made a huge difference!!  I hope we can get them back again next week and help them have the desire to be baptized. I have really learned that desire is everything. 

We received a referral this week from a member and other missionaries- Her name is Paula and she is awesome. She has already been praying and has been reading the Book of Mormon and has lots of questions for us. She knows a lot of members here in Trujillo and wants the happiness and light that they have. Its so cool. Her husband is a very strong catholic, so pray for him. But she is definitely one of the people the lord has prepared for us. She is awesome. She has such a strong desire to learn.

So we almost had a baptism. Juana had her interview this past Saturday and she passed. All she had to do was attend church one more time. and guess what.... she left town Sunday morning.!!!! AHHH:

I’m still on cloud nine with the whole Saenz coincidence, it has really been powerful and such a cool testimony of missionary work.

Much love this week.

H. Sandstrom

My Christmas Stocking - YEA

THANK you gummow, smith and hawkins families!!!!

Thank you Kassie for the package!! I LOVE IT!!!

Thanks Barlows – both Barlow families

for the shirt and donating to the native missionary clothes closet

Sorry we don’t really have tons of time today.  But I did finally get my Christmas Stocking - YEA love it - Gracias