looking like summer :)

Oct 29, 2012
Hola familia

Como estan? Estoy muy bien.  This past week has been pretty good… just another great week in the mission.

This week we have been working hard with Hna Rosa. She is agreat hermana that I met contacting with a different Hermana missionary and she wanted to let this dog back into his house. Well little did we know that we would find Hna Rosa. She told us that she has listened to a lot of different churches before but that she just didn’t feel any reason to join them. But its been so great to teach her. She loves to read, she says that every night after she gets her kids in bed she will just read the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon for an hour!! Its great and she always has a lot of questions for us (which missionaries love).  She was the one that we waited for her to come to conference, (remember when Hna langi and I were praying. Yep her :) ) So she came to church again with us yesterday and it was great, I’m hoping that she wants to keep coming and that she can get a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Did you know that the Book of Mormon is the best book ever! It is the keystone to our religion. So as a mission we are reading the Book of Mormon before Christmas. I love this book! One of the ‘Preach my Gospel’ activities invites us to mark every reference to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. It’s incredible. Every chapter testifies of them. They are one in purpose. As I pray and study I have found the solutions to the problems of our investigators. Its incredible. It’s seriously a magical book. How’s your Book of Mormon reading going? What did you learn from your study today? How can you apply it to your life? When was the last time that you applied the promise in Moroni 10? Ask again; I know your testimony will only grow stronger!

I hope you all had a wonderful week and that you could feel our Saviors love so strong and that you could feel my love from half way around the world.

I love you familia mia. And I can’t wait to be with your forever! The plan of salvation is such a blessing.

Until next week!

Love Hna Sandstrom

Finally some pictures.  I got to see my mom (trainer) before she went home. This is me with her and her other daughter (trainee). It's starting to look a lot like summer here!  TAN LINES!!

llena de gozo

October 22, 2012

Hola Familia Mia

¿Como estan? Estoy muy bien. ¿Sabes que? Estoy llena de gozo. Lee Alma 26 y 29! :)

(How are you? I am very good. Do you know what? I am full of joy.  Read Alma 26 and 29? :)

This past week has been pretty great!  I have so much to tell you. I don’t even know where to begin. But first of all I can’t tell you how happy I am that I am a missionary.  It is so fulfilling. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else right now.

We have been working with one girl named Johana. She is reference from Hna Maribeñ (:) ) She is great, when she lived in Chiclayo she went to church with her aunts and her cousins. Her mom, Maria, was baptized about 1 year ago but was never confirmed. Johana has been wanting to get baptized for a while, but they went out of two for a while and it was hard to get ahold of them. But we finally got a hold of Johana at the end of last week.  She really wanted to be baptized, but was nervous to talk to her mom about it. So when we finally got ahold of her mom, Maria we were determined to get her permission. The family of her daughter’s dad wants to baptize her in the catholic church in December or November, but she doesn’t want to commit a sin by baptizing her in both churches. So it was quite the job to help her understand. But in the end… she gave permission because she knew it was what her daughter wanted. So her baptism date was set for the 20th.  :)

So Mercy and Maribel. They are golden. I am so happy. They had quite a few challenges this past week. The dad of Mercy called quite a few times to try and discourage Mercy from getting baptized. As Maribel was telling us about the phone calls. Mercy exclaimed, “Satanas en Accion” (Satan in action) It was so funny. But as we shared how to put our complete trust in god, he will provide the way. The spirit was so strong. I was so happy as Maribel told us that no matter what happens, they were getting baptized Saturday. :) :)

So this meant a White Afternoon. With All three of them getting baptized together.  President Turk was able to baptize them. He had come teaching with us before and they wanted him to do it.

(this photo came from Hna Turk's blog and you can read 

more of her take on the baptism at 

terryandjanetturk.blogspot.com -Saturday Oct 20 post) 

Also this week we had some interesting things taking place in our ward. They made the announcement last Sunday that they would be changing the limits in three wards. (Jardines, Mochica and Primavera) So yesterday they took three wards and made two. A small part of our ward is now apart of Jardines, my old area. And we have combined wards with Mochica. Their ward was pretty small, so it will all be better. But it has really hit hard to some of the members who have been a part of primavera for 40 years.

Well this week has been fabulous! There are definitely hard times in the mission, but then there are moments that you will never forget. It is definitely worth all of the hard moments!!! I am so grateful to be here in Peru, where I have met so many people that have changed my life. I know that I have been called of God to represent him. To say and do what he himself would say and do. My words, my voice, my acts, and my doctrine are his doctrine! I am so happy to be apart of this great and marvelous work!! I am filled with JOY to be here and to share my testimony every day!

I know God Lives and that he loves me!

Dear family, I will be thinking about you a lot this week. How our lives have been changed, but what we do now and in the future will forever change us.  It is our choice whether we will be an eternal family. I pray everyday that we can all make the correct choices to fulfill our part of God’s Promise.  I love you lots and I am so HAPPY that we can be together FOREVER!!!  I know that this gospel is everything, and I hope that it is for you in your life!

Love you tons!!

Hna Sandstrom

Sorry no photos again. We keep coming to the same internet place that won’t let me attach. Maybe soon :)

Staying in Primavera

October 15, 2012

I'm staying in Primavera - Wahoo!

Hola Familia!

Yo estoy tan feliz a ver los fotos de ustedes en Elba. Todo los ninos estan creciendo tan rapido. No puedo reconocerles! 

I hope the calf sale went well and that the weather holds out for you. Its spring here and some days it feels like summer and other days its cold again.

This past week has been pretty great! 

Last Monday we went to these little gift shops in our area that have touristy stuff.  And my companion had her head poked under the bags and guitars hanging off the roof, so I was just standing there looking at people. Well two guys walked up to us and as normal asked if I was from Peru. And I responded normal, No, I’m from the states. They were two guys from Columbia. They were asking when I was headed there.  I said I´m not I’m just here for 18 months then I’m going back home. The one guys asked if I could take him with me and I told him no.  Haha, Then he asked me to marry him!!!! It was SOOOO FUNNY!! My companion just started laughing so hard, from the inside of the cart. I just kept telling him no, and he asked why not. I was laughing and before I could respond; Hna Langi pulled me in the cart with her. The guy keeps talking and says. Come back, we could have babies, the same color as my companion (She’s from Tonga so she brown) But we just started laughing and by the time we came out they were gone. But oh it was great!

So tomorrow is ‘changes’ and Hna Langi and I are staying together. It’s going to be her last change. It will be fun. She is funny. So one thing that I have learned is that she is from the states yes, but all her family is from Tonga. They weren’t raised there, but I have learned a lot about the culture of Tonga, and a lot of the traditions that they still keep. One thing that is for sure, is that they eat A LOT! And it’s showing on me. So horrible. I was doing good, loosing weight in the mission, but it looks like that has stopped now that I’m with hna Langi. Maybe after she leaves :P

 And the best part for last!! MARIBEL AND MERCY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks so much for your prayers. This past week at district meeting we learned how powerful the Holy Ghost is in the conversion process. We decided we needed to teach them about the Holy Ghost. They have been feeling the Holy Ghost, but they just thought that it was us as missionaries. But as we began to point it out to them that this was the Holy Ghost and that they could receive this gift the spirit in the room was just incredible. Seriously it was one of the most amazing experiences of my mission. And as I asked Hna Maribel what she was willing to do to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, She said Bautizarnos (Get Baptized). And mercy says YES! Those were the best words ever. Hna Langi and I didn’t know what to say. We couldn’t move. So yea, this Saturday is their baptism! It’s going to be the best day!

Thanks for everything y’all. I’m happy and I love being able to teach this wonderful message everyday!!! There is NOTHING better!!! 

Love you all

Hna Sandstrom

Wonderful Conference

October 8, 2012

Hey family!!

How are you? I hope you have had a wonderful week. It has been great here!! I felt like we just had Christmas! Isn´t conference the best?  I got to watch it in English with the other North Americans in our zone. We all brought food to share and it was just great! Didn´t you just love the announcement about the temples! Go PERU!! Also about the missionaries.--Crazy!!! I’m happy about it. I bet there will be a lot more girls leaving on missions. Its awesome. But then I realized that Connor can leave for his mission even sooner. -just not too soon. Stop growing up, I swear my brothers have doubled in size since I left. 

Anyway, I loved conference. Every talk was great! I have so many things that I want to apply to my life. Funny story though. We have a dvd that we watch every Sunday night, and its a talk that Elder Holland gave when he was at the MTC last year. Well during conference he gave a lot of that talk again. It was really funny. But its an awesome talk! 

So this past week has also be awesome because we are receiving a little more help from our ward. Which is great. There are two sisters Julia and Fiorella, they are from Trujillo but their family lives in Tumbes, which  is really close to Ecuador. But Julia loves working with the missionaries. She is waiting for school to start so she can go with us all the time. Its great, she even contacts people and teaches with us. We are having family home evening with them tonight and a new investigator. Its awesome. 

I hope we can encourage her a little more to leave on a mission next year! :)

Also so Sunday afternoon we had a miracle happen. God is so great, He makes me laugh at how He helps us remember to turn to Him. So before the last session of conference, we went to look for an investigator, Rosa to go with us. We called her before and her sister said that she wasn´t there, but we went to look for her anyways. When we got to the door her sister answered and said she still wasn´t back yet. So after she closed the door we just sat there against the house and I asked Hermana Langi now what? She said lets just wait ten minutes and if she doesn´t come back we´ll go to conference; but say a prayer. So we both closed our eyes and said a prayer in our hearts. As we opened our eyes a man was standing outside the door. He knocked and asked for the same Hermana Rosa. We just laughed silently and waited to see what would happen.  And the same sister came to the door, but she didn´t see us (some people here tend to lie to us when they don´t want the missionaries to visit their family.) But she said that she would go check to see if her sister was there..... AND SHE WAS!!! It was so funny. She saw us standing there (kind of in awe about what just happened) Then she said she was almost ready and she just needed to grab her kids!!  God is great, he is so mindful of us and will answer small prayers and big ones too!!

So this past week my companion had a meeting and I got to see Hna Cornelio there. It was fun to see her, and she brought great noticias from Chimbote! Hna Pilar and Hno Roger are doing great! Hno Roger got the priesthood and he is passing the sacrament and has a calling in the Young Mens, also. They are both attending Institute! I was so so happy to hear about this! 

I hope you all had a wonderful week, Its crazy to think that a year ago I was sitting in the MTC listening to conference with lots of other missionaries. And now I´m in another world. But I love this other world. I love it more and more every day! I can´t believe that next conference I will be with my awesome family! 

Love you all!! 

Hna Sandstrom

oh and my head is still doing better!! YAY

(mom note: still no photos this week and sadly she had transferred a bunch of her chimbote ones onto the computer from her card so she could load them onto a thumb drive and the computer crashed and lost them all - hopefully a companion has some she can copy, sad event)

Improvement!!

yes this is an old photo, but i miss not putting
a photo with her letters :) 

October 1, 2012

Hola Familia Mia!!

Como estan? Les Amo MUCHO!! 

So I´m really sorry that it’s another photo-less week, but we keep changing internet places.  I think its the new camera card that I am using, so Ill trade back to the other one.  And next week I promise to send pictures. 

Life is going good. Our investigators are doing okay. They aren´t really progressing though, its sad. Maribel and her daughter Mercy are still coming to church every week and they even came to the relief society broadcast. But the sad part is, is that they just don´t see the need to be baptized. They just see it as another good church, just like the Catholics. But I don´t know how many more times we can teach them about the apostasy and the need for a restoration. So I don’t know. When we were with President Turk he just said to keep them coming and eventually they will understand the authority, and feel the need to be baptized. It’s just sad, because I love them so much. Also right now Maribel´s mom and her nephew are here from the sierra... which is the desert. They always classify people if they are from the sierra or the selva (jungle). But they are a hoot. Bryon is 10 and he loves the church. But the really sad part is that there isn´t a branch out there, or missionaries. But we always are laughing so hard with them. Hna Andrea thinks that he looks a lot like Connor. It’s so funny. When she saw the picture of my family that I have taped in my Book of Mormon. She said that’s Bryon. Haha. (They are kind of similar, but not tons) But now he is my Peruvian brother. 

This past week we had a pretty cool experience. We contacted this guy, Gustavo a couple weeks ago. He is surfer, and has traveled all over surfing on different beaches. He has been to the states and he teaches English here in the center. He doesn’t live in our area which is a bummer, but he asked if we could come and talk to his English class. We didn´t think our leaders would give us permission but they did!!! So on Friday we headed out to try and teach a lesson in English. Ha That was a lot harder than I thought it would be!!! It’s not hard for me to talk to my comp in English because she is North American. But when I try to speak English to Latinos; Its so hard!!! I couldn´t speak to Hna Cornelio, and I had a really hard time in the class. But Back to the class, it was fun. They were just beginners but some of their English was pretty good. But who knows if I´ll be able to teach in English when I get home. Haha, Hna Langi and I just talk Spanglish all the time because we both understand it. 

I am loving my comp! She is the best! We are always laughing and having a great time. We are working hard and looking for the chosen ones in our area.  This past week it has been the festival of Spring here. And it’s been crazy! So every year during the spring they have a parade right through our area; and it starts at 11 in the morning. Well our ward starts church at 10 and there were about 12 people there. They were all out saving their spots. I guess there are a bunch of royalty that comes. Like Miss America and such. It was funny. But later in the afternoon before we had a fireside about missionary work, we passed by and it was still going on. Its nothing like the parades in the states but it was fun to see a bunch of tribal dances and costumes. Happy Spring! 

So probably the best part of this week is that MY HEADACHES ARE GETTING BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So I decided that the only option that I had left was to try the pills mom had sent me again. AND THEY ARE WORKING!!! It’s seriously been such a miracle. I am not resting as much and we are working hard! It’s been great!! Thanks so much for all of your loves and prayers!!! I really feel them everyday! 

I love this work with all of my Peruvian heart!! I love testifying of my Savior Jesus Christ and of this amazing gospel that I have the blessing to be apart of. This church is true! I love you all so much! I am so grateful that I have the greatest support system. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be with them for forever!!! How incredible of a blessing is that??? 

I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and that he was willing to be an instrument in the hands of God. I have learned so much about the apostasy this past week and how we needed a restoration for the same gospel of Jesus Christ to be restored. It is amazing how God has everything planned out! 

Stay strong!! I know that all things are possible through Jesus Christ and our faith we put in him. 

Love you tons! 

Hna Sandstrom