Sunshine in Trujillo

Happy Holidays - love the kids

 Monday Dec 5th 
Okay so today I have tons to write about.

I love you all!!  And you are in my prayers multiple times throughout the day!!

In this holiday season your smile will be your best gift

Thank you so much for all of your prayers for me. I was super homesick last week, but I have felt all of your prayers this week and have been strengthened. Thank you for the thanksgiving notes! I loved them. Our zone leaders are behind on giving us mail. They don’t like to make the extra trip to the office for it so it’s behind a week.  Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get something. :) oh and the dearelders letters are pretty slow. The ones I got three weeks ago were from the middle of October. But I appreciate every one that I get. 

So here is a little more of a description of Trujillo. There are taxi’s everywhere and they are always honking their horns, thinking we need a taxi.  They are just teeny cars and there are tons of little herbie like bugs-- so cool.

our moving crew on our spiral staircase

So this past week I had an incident with a peeping tom in our old house, and because it was not a good environment we had to move houses. All of the elders in our district came to help us move.  We didn’t move too far away but its not in our area--but oh well it will give me more opportunity to walk.  We live on the third floor and go up this spiral staircase multiple times a day. haha I remember when I thought spiral staircases were cool. Remember the one in Midway, with the loft up top. haha.  Now I just get dizzy.

Hermana Oliveros and I  with Maya's game

Also this week amidst the move craziness we had a noche misional (which is a ward mission night). It was supposed to start at 7 but at 745 it was just us and the other elders in our ward. We were going to watch a short movie and play the game that Maya Ewer made for me. THANKS MAYA!

Last week we also went to Salavery (another area) and helped the other Hermanas in our district with their numbers. I got to see the ocean!! First time in South America. We couldn’t go close but just standing and viewing the port from afar was great. The smell of the salt water was very refreshing.

A missionary here was telling me about what their family is doing. They are running the distance from to their home to their mission while they are gone. I thought that might be cool for you guys to do and maybe our other family runners  -maybe Brandi and Lisa could help too.

SO sorry this is so sporadic and disorganized. I keep a list through out the week of things I want to tell you and then I have to hurry so fast to type it all.Fyi - my name here is not Hermana Sandstrom I am Hermana Samstrung. Haha. Its difficult for them to say so I just go along with it :)

In Jesus the Christ read page 242, or the whole book. Its awesome. I’m learning so much!

And a great scripture for future missionaries DC 43:15.

I have learned so much this week. Thank you for you sending me the conference Ensign. I love it. I have read talks from it every day. I love studying it by topic;  Prayer, family, scriptures-- all so great.  We also got to watch/listen to the first presidency{s devotional last night. I loved it. It was so uplifting. I hope this year during the holidays we can all focus more on the Savior and not let presents ruin Christmas. Open your eyes to the wonderfulness around you. It’s really about Christ. Don’t spend Christmas but keep it forever Keep Christmas, Keep Christ!! Oh I loved just hearing the voices of the apostles and prophets. They are truly men of God. This is his church and his doctrine.

Trujillo Sunshine (love it) - check out my sweet tan lines after just a few weeks 

Much LOVE

Hermana Samstrung. :)

Happy yet Homesick

November 28 2011

SO week 2 in Monserate.

Monday is p day as you have noticed and last week we spent the day with our district leader and his companion because my companion wanted a new shirt and to leave our area we have to have our district leader. It was a great day. Our district leader’s companion is North American, so for a couple hours I got to speak English and feel like a normal person. It was a great afternoon. After hours of shopping we finally found her some shirts and headed back to write some letters and chill in the apartment until it was time to work at 6.

Tuesdays are our zone and district conferences (and this is the mail day = best day of the week).  Except this past week we had a district meeting with President Turk and the assistants and our zone leaders. It was a great reunion and we got eat pizza (I have never been so happy to see pizza :) ) The food here is delicious! I love it. Out pensionista is great and its so fun to be with her family everyday. Her husband served his mission in Trujillo and just got done with his mission last December. So he has us go back and find his old investigators and contact less actives. It’s great!  Her son Frank was just baptized yesterday.  He was so excited to be baptized. We have been singing primary songs for days! 

This is also the view from their window every night at dinner. 

It’s so gorgeous!

During our meeting with the Turks I had a fabulous interview with President. It was so great; he is so caring and knowledgeable. I felt really comforted after meeting with him. So here is the honest truth. I have been really homesick this past week. I have never felt this homesick before. I know this is where I’m supposed to be and I know I have work here to do. But being here all alone, in a world where I don’t understand the language and somewhere where I can’t readily access my family is hard. Sometimes we’ll be walking down the street and I’ll have tears running down my checks. As I sat eating my soup for Thanksgiving day, my companion asked what my family was doing right then. Ha. That didn’t help at all!!! I explained what went down on Thanksgiving and the days following. Not fun. Also I realized that not only am I missing Connor being ordained on the 25th but I also won’t get to be there when he does baptisms for the first time. So sad too.

Through all of this though, President Turk challenged me to find comfort scriptures.  Here are some that I have found Alma 34:14, 26:12, 1:25, DC101:38,  and of course my favorites DC68:6, and Philippians 4:13.

So yesterday we had 8 or 9 people tell us that they were coming to church, and when church started we had 0 there. After the opening song an investigator walked in with her son and a member.  We were so happy!! They are awesome. I hope they continue to be receptive.  As we had a lot of our progressive investigators not show up, I again was discouraged. I was missing my life back home, my family, friends, and my everyday life.  But I had a scripture come to my mind as I was praying.  Matt. 10:39. whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Also in this chapter is verse 14, and 19.  They are gems. Shake of the dust of your feet and be not discouraged. It is not you they are rejecting it is the Savior Jesus Christ.

S0 every day I have tried to find a positive quote in my personal study. Some I have found are: we are going to do something extraordinary!, and You are going to save souls (President Kimball). Do you have any ones that you like that you could send me? They’re little motivation pick me ups every time I open my planner.

Another thing president Turk said that I am going to learn in my first three months here is patience and humility. It’s so true. Peru has no time schedule. You make an appointment for 3 but that means that it really doesn’t start until 3:30 or 3:45.

Read in preach my gospel, page 13 from Pres. Harold B Lee and Ezra Taft Benson. What are you doing to be a missionary and help with the missionary efforts in your ward?

I’m trying everyday to be happy and I’m sorry this letter is so sad and discouraging. But I’m trying!!

So this morning I left the house and it smelled like mink....haha....gross....I don’t miss that...,

Also I had cow liver this past week. It was actually pretty good. Also I had this purple corn goo gel stuff that was pretty good.

  

Thanks for all of the love and prayers!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

Hermana Sandstrom

PS Send dear elders! I love getting them. I’ll respond and send letters home once every month or so.

Loving Trujillo

11-21-11

Why is it that I always start to cry when reading your emails? I don’t like it. I have been super homesick these past couple of days. I have been sick-sick, of course. I could feel it coming on in the airport and as I felt crappy I just wanted to be home.

ANYWAYS!!

I’m in TRUJILLO!!

I love it. This is where I am supposed to be and to be spreading the gospel right now. I love the city. I want to take tons of pictures, but we can’t be tourists so I’ll leave it to you guys to take tons of pictures when you come. You’ll be fresh.  I’ve already become used to a lot of the stuff in Trujillo.

Its really a poor area here, but they are living comfortable.

So my first week in trujillo.... well we have no hot water, like we are supposed to. They moved into a new apartment the day before I got here, and its doesn’t have a thermostat yet. I’m stoked about having hot water soon, and the freezing cold showers have not helped with my cold.  And you aren’t supposed to put the toilet paper in the toilet.  It clogs them. We found this out the hard way. hahaha!!  

My spanish is coming along pretty well. Most of the people can understand me and I can participate in lessons. Not completely equal yet, but a lot better than I though it would be. :)

I’m in the Monsaratte area. It’s right in trujillo.

So we started out hard that first night we arrived, we got to go on splits right in my area. Then the next day after more training and meetings with president Turk and his wife, we went to their house for lunch and then it was off to meet our companions. We started off teaching that night. I had no clue what was going on but I bore my testimony and could understand a lot.

I saw a bag of chicken feet in a bag at a house vendor yesterday. haha weird.  And I ate tomatoes, onions and fish all in one meal. and i didn’t die. surprised dad? haha. 

We have pensionistas that cook for us, they are pretty cool. They just returned from serving a mission in trujillo so we are going back to visit a lot of their lost investigators. Its been going great and I’m learning lots.

Hermana Oliveras is my trainer, she is from Mlima.  We will be together for 3 months as part of a new truing program.  i love her so much, and we have already had a lot of success and we work great together. 

We already had a baptism - he is a stellar kid and so excited to be a member of the church.  His grandma is a member and it's just great! (see photo below)

We also had a baptism while i was in the Lima MTC - she was our district's investigator. 

I love you all..

Loves!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Oliveros & I

First baptism in the field

Our MTC baptism - right in the middle

The Hermanas of Laureles Zone are Spectacular.

They are smart, clean, bright, courageous, happy and selfless. says Sister Turk

The Laureles Zone