Jardines!

May 28 2012

Hola Familia!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy anniversary 

Grandma and Grandpa Barker,

 wow 48 years!

Life is going good here in Jardines, I’m getting the hang of things and getting us to our area. The ward and bishop are amazing!! I am so lucky to work with and to get to know them better and work along side them. 

Our biggest focus this week was our ward activity. We only have missionary activities every month and this month was Viaje a Hawaii.  It was a ‘come enjoy the night and do different activities and spend you money’ kind of thing. And then at the end an angel would take them to be judged and depending on how much money they had, they would go to the three kingdoms of glory and sit there without knowing what happened. Then at the end we opened the curtain partition things and we related it to how we spend our time and how this is the time to prepare to meet God. It was great, we had a really good turn out and the ward seemed to like it.

That was our main focus of the week but we got a couple of references from members and they are really great. I really hope they start to progress soon. There is Christian, Yola, and Julissa. 

One thing this past week that I have really learned is that I am really grateful for my time in Casa Grande. The people there are so good! The work is definitely different than the city. Our main challenge here is getting people to come to church, they can’t progress unless they go to church. But the people in Casa Grande go to church all alone. It’s amazing! We could teach a lot more people, because they kept their commitments. So I am learning here to be patient and do everything possible to help them. 

So my headaches are getting a lot better but my doctor said that I still have lots of tension in my neck and shoulders. But they are getting better. Thanks so much for your prayers!!

This week I have realized how happy I am that I am on my mission and that I prayed to receive an answer, even though I was scared what the answer was going to be. And I’m so glad that I followed my answer. The missionary work is amazing! We are seeing miracles in our lives, and in our area. There have been times when I have thought ‘what am I doing here and how did I get to this point in my life?’  But then I think about and I know. It’s because of prayer, and the scriptures, my family, my friends and my leaders. I have such a great support system! Thank you!!

Please look for the miracles in your life!

They are there, EVERYDAY!!! 

Love you all!!

Hna Sandstrom

Hermana Turk (mission pres wife) & Kaylee

Hermanas Montes, Ptherbridge and Gailegios -
the ones involved this last medical transfer

Kaylee with the fish her pensionista was preparing for lunch,
she plucked all the eyes out and had them in a bowl  -  :() weird stuff 

things are better :)

Baptisms before leaving Casa Grande last week.

baptism of Gian Franco

Hermana Santos' baptism

May 20, 2012

Hola Familia Mia

Como esta? I´m still so happy that I got to talk to you and see you this past week.  It’s helped me a lot this week. 

This past week has been a whirlwind. I don´t know where to begin…

My companion - Hermana Montes

So Monday after the baptism of Hna Santos and a few last goodbyes we headed to the Office with all of my stuff. It was so hard to say goodbye to Hna Galleguillos. She is the best and we hope that we get to be companions again.  Well in the office we met with the other Hermanas and made the change.  My new companion is Hermana Montes. She is from Chile, the capital. She has a year in the mission and because of health reasons she has spent her whole mission here in Trujillo. (her health problem is some intestinal issue and that every 10 days or so if she is hospitalized over night) She is great, we were in the same district my first change. 

It’s so weird to be back in the city. I miss my small pueblo of Casa Grande. Its different to back here with a lot more people. And I´m realizing that the people are a lot more stubborn here and its harder to teach and get in houses. But I have to say the ward here is amazing!! The bishop has a passion for missionary work and is very involved. It’s awesome and the ward loves giving references. They are always asking how they can help us. We have an activity this Friday, Viaje a hawaii :) I’m excited. The leaders are all involved and it will be great. 

hanging out in the hospital

So with my companions health problem we ended up going to the doctor this past week and she was hospitalized over night, which means me too. I just sat with her all day and wrote letters and read. It was weird. We had permission to watch Disney channel too.....weird. But anyways it was quite the night.

Also my migraines are getting better. We went to a chiropractor on Tuesday, but that didn´t do anything and it wasn´t what we were looking for. So on Wednesday I started my physical therapy and already I am seeing a difference. Its great! I am still having migraines but they aren´t as often and the amount of time I have them is a lot shorter. So this is good. Improvement. :) It’s weird that I am a missionary, and receiving massages, but it’s a order from my doctor. The therapist said that there are so many knots in my neck that she sees why I am having such strong migraines.  I´m happy we are getting it taken care of. 

Anyways, Its strange being back in the city, and the work is a little different. But I´m excited to work with the ward and find the escogidos (chosen) that are here. I know they/re here, we just have to work with the members to find them. 

I’m so grateful to be here, and to be a missionary. I´m so grateful I received an answer to my prayers. I know that the Lord is listening to my prayers and that He answers our prayers. It may not be when we want but I know that he will ALWAYS answer me. Our Father in Heaven is so loving and filled with so much compassion and mercy for us. It’s truly amazing!! 

Love you all!!! Thanks for all of your prayers!!

Love Hermana Sandstrom 

pictures from Casa Grande with Hna Galleguillos

Mothers Day report

5/14/12

Mom post:

It was so awesome to sykpe with Kaylee for Mother’s Day.  She looked and sounded great!  She found out on Saturday that she was going to be transferred back to the city near the mission office on Monday (see why below).  Because of the transfer, she didn’t get time to write a regular email, so I will give an update on her headaches and summarize our Sunday conversation.

HEADACHES UPDATE

The preventative medication given her by the neurologist was not helping.  Sister Turk got the area medical missionary involved but he didn’t feel like he could do much more than what Kaylee was doing. Sister Turk talked to a local surgeon friend who recommended a Demerol shot – but couldn’t prescribe it since he hadn’t seen her.  So President and Sister Turk went with Kaylee on Thursday to see the neurologist and ask him to prescribe the shot.  The neurologist paid a lot more attention to Kaylee this time (Presidents presence she says) and explored a new idea. (answer to prayers- I believe) He focused on how tight her neck muscles were.  By the time they left, they all felt good about the new direction and suggested treatment of muscle relaxants, physical therapy and neck massages. (I think tension/migraine headaches will be easier to treat and prevent than the previously diagnosed inexplicable migraines.)  So Friday she went in for a cat scan, just to make sure everything was okay and then had some injections in her neck.  She was then to start some physical therapy and neck massages this week.  This is the reason she was transferred back near the mission home.

Here is a note from Sister Turk–on Friday 5/11 

“We just got home from Hermana Sandstrom's procedure of the relaxers injected into the neck muscles.   She did great…  President Turk and I were a little dizzy.  But I did take photos the whole time.  She had her Scan this morning.  Everything was normal.  She had six injections into the muscles of her neck.  She was very brave.  She will spend the night with us.  And then on Tuesday she starts physical therapy and massage.  She will have 7 sessions to start with.  Everything is great.  She will be anxious to fill you in on Sunday.”  

MOTHERS DAY CONVERSATION SUMMARY

She told us more about her procedure on Friday.  She said she was pretty brave as they gave her 6 shots in her neck.  And then her and her companion thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon and night in the mission home with Hermana and President Turk.  She can’t say enough wonderful things about them. 

She said she didn’t have a headache on Saturday and just a dull one on Sunday – so an improvement – yea!  We feel such gratitude.  A tension headache will be easier to treat and control and without the worries of all the different meds they were trying.

She did find out on Sunday that President would be making an emergency transfer for her.  She needs to be close to the mission home for her therapy.  She knows that is what needs to happen because she can’t spend all that time on the bus coming into the city for therapy.  But she was very sad about it.  She has loved being in the country – She has fallen in love with the area and the people there.  She has only been with Hermana Galleguillos for a couple of weeks and has loved working with her.  She is going to work hard to get better quickly and hope to get back to Casa Grande and this companion in the future.

They had two investigators that were close to setting baptismal dates and she was especially sad about missing those.  When they went to share the news both decided they wanted to be baptized before Kaylee left.  So GianFranko was baptized Sunday afternoon and Santos was baptized Monday morning before the transfer.  She was so happy and will send pictures next week.

All in all in was a wonderful conversation.  She glowed with the spirit and her short Spanish conversations with her companion sounded great.  She loves the people of Peru and was even excited about her new pensionista (cook) being famous for cooking guinea pig.  She was ready to try it.  She has found chicken and rice to be great food and she eats it almost every day. 

She sends her love and thanks to everyone – especially for all the prayers in finding a solution to the headaches. 

We are so blessed by her service and grateful for a wonderful valiant daughter.  Thank you all for sharing this experience with us.

--Tammy

Here is just the little bit she did write: (5/14/12)

So I just talked to ya´ll yesterday and i didnt´think we would be able to write because of the transfer. I only have a minute. 

So the baptism of GianFranko was great, we were late, but its all good.

And the baptism of Santos this morning was awesome too.

I´m so so happy that I was able to be there for both of them. They are awesome and it will be fun to hear how they share the gospel with their families.

I was so happy to talk to you guys yesterday. I have the best family ever!!

Love you all tons.

´

Hna Sandstrom

6 days and counting

May 7 2012

Okay Buenos Dias Familia Mia

Como Estan?

I hope everything finds you well and that you have a great time in Cali. So things with Hermana Trujillo were great, and actually tomorrow she will be set apart as a full time missionary and headed off to chile. Fun Stuff. So Tuesday we headed back into Trujillo to get my new Companion Hermana Galleguillos. (Yea with the combo of both of our last names the people have given up and we are now the Hermanas or just the misioneras.) Hermana Galleguillos is from Calema, Chile, its in the northern part. She is great!! I love her. We both feel like we are going to be here in Casa Grande for a long time, so it will be good. She is great, her first companion was Hermana Herrera so its been a good transition.

We have been busy working hard. We had a difficult time tracking down Hermana Santos this week and she still isn´t completely sure about her baptism for this Saturday, so if you could add her to your prayers this week that would be great. She wants to be baptized and loves coming to church, but is nervous about her baptism in the Pentecostal church and that her neighbors are doing witchcraft on her house. It’s an interesting situation.

So remember Gian Frank, well for the last three weeks we have not been able to get a hold of him, we look for him at all different hours of the day and we can´t seem to run into him.  But we have begun to teach his mom and sister; Fabiola and Maria. They have come to church but still want more faith.  But yesterday we had a miracle and finally got a hold of Gian Franko. IT was a miracle and we had a great lesson. He had some good hard questions for us. He said that he was reading in Helaman 14 and in verse 27 it says that the world was dark for 3 days. but in the bible it says only 3 hours. Oh that one had us stumped. So i told him we would research it and find an answer for him. What do you guys think?

He other question was when did the 12 apostles receive the Holy Ghost. another good one. We found the answers this morning.

Good luck!!

Well Saturday we were back in the clinic again and I have been given another list of preventative drugs. But we asked him about the list that you sent and he said well if you want this one we can give it to you. haha. so we have a bunch and are going to start trying them. But yesterday nothing was different, and so far today nothing. But Thanks for your prayers, I know we´ll find the solution.

Love you all lots!!!

6 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hna Sandstrom

Happy Bday Dad

 April 30, 2012

Hola Mi Familia

Happy Birthday Dad

First of All 

Feliz Cumpleanos Papa!!! 

I hope you had a great day in between your meetings and that you enjoyed your steak and that you let mom and the boys spoil you just a little. I thought about you during the day.

Here's to you Dad 

Edwardo

This past week we had the baptism of Edwardo!!! Yay!! It was great! So fun. He was excited and he brought a lot of his friends to his baptism. My favorite part of the baptismal service is when the new converts share their testimony and how they feel, they express their love for the Book of Mormon and for Jesus Christ. This is when I know that I have been an instrument in making a change in somebody´s life. It’s awesome. I love it!  It’s so powerful. His confirmation Sunday was pretty cool too,  His blessing talked a lot about missionary work, which was cool. And how he should share what the missionaries have taught him with other people. I hope he stays strong and endures to the end. 

Edwardo and friends

Another cool thing this week was during church on Sunday we heard that Daniel was getting the priesthood!!! Yea! I´m so excited for him. He´s doing great! Just like President Turk Says, In the Mission Peru Trujillo, we baptize worthy converts. It’s great 

So yesterday Hermana Herrera and I set off for the office in Trujillo. Her mission has come to the End. She had her final interview with the President. It was a hard last couple of days to watch her say goodbye to everybody and to watch her make goals for the future and to think about what is next in life. (Ah scary) It was sad. We have become really close. She is awesome. One of the greatest missionaries. I have learned so much from her. I´m going to miss her tons!!

So she is leaving Trujillo today and heading home tomorrow, and I am back in Casa Grande solo well with the elders.....just kidding. No changes aren´t until Wednesday so we found an Hermana who lives in Trujillo who is preparing for the mission. And guess what, she is from my old ward!!! From Monserrat!! Hermana Trujillo. haha! She is leaving next week for her own mission in Chile (I´m not sure which mission but its the same one as David Archuleta ).  It’s fun to be with her for a couple of days before I get my new companion. I´m nervous for what is coming next. 

There are going to be lots of changes here in our district and zone and in our area.  

My head is still the same not much has changed; just plugging along.

Well My time is up but I love you all and I can´t wait to talk to my family in two weeks!!!!!

Love you all!!    Hna Sandstrom