March 27, 2012

 Hey!!

HOLA FROM CASA GRANDA PERU!!!!

I am now an hour and a half away from Trujillo with my new companion Hermana Herrera. She is the best!! This is her last change, and she is a wonderful missionary. She is so sweet, but has this spunk to her that is awesome!! I love Her so much.

Casa Grande is beautiful!! It’s this small little pueblo in the middle of the sugar cane fields; its surrounded. I love it. The factory is right in the middle of town and the majority of the men in the city work in the factory. I love this town. My area is one of the best areas in the mission and we are going to continue in the paths of those before us. I am replacing Hermana Sheridan who is in my same group.

Leaving Monserrat was so so hard, especially leaving some of the members, most Hermana Fidencia. She is always willing to help us. I love her.

So mom I have been thinking lots about your talk you have to give on Helaman 5:12 and how important and strong a foundation is and what is our foundation. Every day we are teaching about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is based on five important pillars:  Prophets, Apostles, Revelation, Priesthood, and the scriptures. These 5 things have helped me so much to have a strong foundation in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a living prophet on the earth today, who loves us and is here to help us, same with the Apostles. They are called of God!! Also my strong foundation has come from having the priesthood in my home while growing up. I watched my dad use his authority to bless my mom, my siblings and myself. The priesthood is key to having a strong foundation in Jesus Christ. It is not the Church of Christ without the authority. Also Revelation. It is amazing that we can receive revelation directly from God. Through the prophet and apostles we can receive direction from God. Also we as missionaries are entitled to receive revelation for our area and for our investigators. This happened yesterday as we were studying for an difficult investigator and we both received revelation for the same person, about the same principle during our personal study. It was cool!!! The last pillar is that we have the scriptures. We have the Book of Mormon!! It is another testament of Jesus Christ. We can feast from its pages every day and learn, and change our lives. We can read and pray about its message and gain a testimony of our very own!!

So I have to say that I have never been this happy in my life. And even though I have a goose egg on my head, blisters on my face, a constant pounding headache, a million mosquito bites, and glasses still on my face, and with wonderful cat calls from the fi-fis (homosexuals). I have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!! I have been so so blessed in my life; with wonderful parents, and siblings, and a lot of other family. I know my Savior lives and loves me. I know that through the atonement we can be forgiven. I am so happy to be serving a mission at this time in my life, to share the gospel and happiness with those here in the middle of nowhere.

I love you all so much!!!

Love Hermana Sandstrom