Getting cold in Jardines

yep - me eating avacados - amazing

June 25 2012

Hola Hola Hola

Como estan?

Things are going good here in Jardines. It is starting to get a little cold. And I hear that this is just the beginning. My companion is using her tights, and she is freezing. I know it’s not as cold as winters in logan or Highland, or the winters that I have heard about in Chile. I hope Cy doesn´t freeze to death.

This past week we had a service project in Villa de Mar. The temple is in this area and it is right next to a big cemetery. It was gorgeous. There were so many flowers, and its not even memorial weekend for them (that’s in November here).

So the service project was great, we started painting a house for a family. But for some reason they mixed all the paint with a ton of water. So we might need to go back and do a lot more coats. We basically painted with water. But it was great fun!! And of course there were some paint fights that broke out in between the elders.... and they got my companion pretty good too. haha

As I said last week most of our progressive investigators have died out, but this past week we also had two great miracles!!

First of all is Jesus... About two weeks ago his grandpa came to us and said that he wanted us to teach his grandson and prepare him for baptism. We thought that was weird because the daughters that we knew were members and when one of the parents is a member and the child is 8, it is the responsibility of the ward. So we didn´t respond to the reference right away. Well this past Wednesday we went by the grandpa’s house in the morning because we had another reference at the same address.  We knocked on the door and Hermana Chavez opened the door and welcomed us in. As we began to talk to her, we realized that the reference was her daughter (Olga)...the mother of Jesus!! (oh and the dad of Jesus isn´t a member either!!) so we came back in the afternoon and met Jesus and Olga. They are great, and Jesus is stellar. He has been attending church for a long time with his grandparents. So we have been prepping him for baptism! His baptism is this Saturday. :) Yay I´m so happy. He is awesome and cant´ wait to be baptized and he is ready.

So for the second miracle. This past Saturday we were visiting all of our investigators and trying to find out who could come to church.  We only had one.... Jesus. So we were kind of bummed because our investigators can´t progress if they don´t come to church. But about ten minutes before church we were talking to some of the members and my companion started getting all excited, and she started telling me about this man, Ramon.  She had contacted him in an old area and invited him to come to church. AND HE WAS THERE IN OUR WARD!! It was awesome. He had attended church before in other areas, and has family that are members. But he recently changed houses, and is living in OUR area now. So we talked to him after church and taught him. And he accepted our invitation for baptism. So we are going to be teaching him this week and hopefully get him a baptism date. :) :) so happy. I know that when we do all we can, the Lord helps out! It’s amazing!

Hermano Navas

This is a picture of Hno Navas. He is a recent convert and has parkinsons. It’s sad, but the best way to cheer up your day is visiting him. I love when he comes to church in his Sunday clothes-- With his converse tennis shoes.

I invite all of you to take the promise of Nephi to heart.  FEAST upon the words of Christ.  Don´t just read to check it off of your list and read your scriptures everyday. But make sure that you are getting something out of it. The scriptures and conference talks are for our benefit not just for fun, or a job for the prophets. It’s for US!

I love you all thanks so much for your love and prayers!!

Keep on Going!!

Love

Hna Sandstrom

Headache update: so I am taking 400 or 800 mg of ibuprofen when I have pain.  I am still doing my neck stretches but no more therapy. It is definitely better than it was in February, March and April. I don´t have them everyday, and usually only in the afternoons or evenings. YEA IMPROVEMENT

MEDIO! AH 9!!!

June 18 2012

Hola Familia mia

¿Como estan? Yo espero que todo esta bien con ustedes. Les Extrano!

CONGRATS mom on your race!! I´m so proud of you!!

Dad - I hope you had a great fathers day!! I love you lots!! Thank you for always being a great example to me and a great leader. Thank you for being strong example and helping me get through the tough times in life.

This past week has been a bit sad. This is the picture of us Sunday night, when we realized we had nobody. Sunday Blues--cured with Inca Cola :) Our investigators have died out and have gone on vacation, and we are praying that they return home soon with their desires ready for baptism. There is still hope. Yola and her sister carmen are coming back from vacation this weekend and yola wants to be baptized. So we just have to keep in contact with her and teach her sister. And for christian and junior there is still hope too, we just have to catch them the evenings they aren´t working. They don´t have a set schedule so its tough. But others’ desires have died out, and we are searching for new people who are ready to commit.

I don´t have tons to say today, But one happy/sad/weird thing is I have completed 9 months in the mission. WOW. I have lots of mixed feelings about this. Time is passing way too fast. But I still have 9 more months to enjoy and work hard. I love Peru and I love Trujillo. Estoy muy feliz en la mision.

So last p day I mentioned how we went to Huanchaco. It was fabulous! I love the beach... I know you are all surprised that I´m happy when I go to Huanchaco. There are these little boat things made of leaves and twigs. The men sit in them to go fish. Its fun to watch.  It was great.

We have been having lots of family home evenings to get the ward more involved and to receive references from their friends. Its really fun and spiritual too. We usually share a video with them and a message. But then we play games that are pretty sweet. One is where you have to talk but can´t show your teeth. And if you do and get caught, you have a punishment. It’s so funny. We are definitely going to play this one when I get home. Here are some pictures from this past week. I’m not going to show pictures of the punishment because its too funny and i need to see your reactions.

We eat bread, jam, yogurt and bland cereal. Every morning and night. Its good, but old. Yum... :(

Oh so a little about my comp. She is from Sanitago Chile and has less then four months left. She is a lot better with her health, we just have to keep her on her medicine. She has been a member her whole life and her parents and grandparents are members. This is rare for South America, obviously a lot more common in Utah, which here is called the fabrica--which means it’s the factory of members and missionaries. :) This picture is of us at the ward relief society birthday party. Mmmm torta

So I just have to say that I am so grateful for my family. I am not only grateful that they are all members, but that they are all active, and actively involved. I am grateful that my parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles are all sealed in the temple. This is such a great example to me! I love that our families have a lot of love, yes- we have our problems everybody does, but we don’t let it get in the way of what is really important. I am so grateful for all of the other family that I have, related or not! And I´m so grateful that I get to share my mission experience with my missionary Holt cousins. It’s the best 18/24 months and we are all out at the same time (Karissa Bosco in Argentina; Ashley Holt in Washington DC; Cy Holt in Chili).  I love it. And I love reading their awesome experiences every week.

oh - 9 months - the middle-  I guess? 

Love you all!!

Hna Sandstrom!


Headache update: 
I'm not pain free but alot better!
Thanks for the prayers!!

at the ward relief society birthday party. 

Mmmm torta

I love the beach

i love the beach

11 Junio 2012

Hola Familia favorita mia -
¿Como Estan?

We went to Huanchaco this past Tuesday for our district and zone meetings. It was great!! The church there is a house and it’s right on the beach, so we went out to the beach and took pictures after. It was sweet! It was very refreshing from the city. 

my zone at the beach

We are headed out there again today to have lunch and stuff for p day.  I love the beach.  Maybe ill ask President if I can go there next summer. (they change this area to hermanas during summer, because its not the greatest place for elders during summer time.)

This past week we were in a lesson with our investigator Julissa, she is 14 years old. Anyway she asked me if I was from Peru, I answered no, and she said Argentina? again no. Then Brasil? No I said, and she said where? Oh Los Esados Unidos. She said -really? Your Spanish is good, but you don´t pronounce your r´s. Haha I guess I need to work on that, but at least she thought I was Latina :)


This past weekend we had stake conference and they were changing the president, so Elder Waddell, of the Quorum of the Seventies, and Elder Godoy came for a couple of days. It was great, I got to talk to Elder Waddell a couple different times. He is so great! The conference was amazing! I loved their talks. They talked a lot about not loosing the vision. Elder Waddell quoted something from elder Bednar that I like. It was awesome. He said that the tree of life is Jesus Christ and that the fruit of the tree of life is the atonement. The atonement is relief, strength, the resurrection, and redemption.

Hermana Montes y yo

As far as teaching and our investigators this past week we were doing great. We had almost 3 baptism dates. They were excited for their baptisms.  They felt that these things were true, They were reading their scriptures and they were praying sincerely. Awesome!!  We were making progress, and felt like we were working really well together and with our investigators. But guess what, then came a work visit. I don´t like these.  Every time my companion leaves my area, things go bad. And that’s what happened again. So many of our investigators are leaving town for fathers day, or don´t want to come to church or can’t come. Its sad. But we are not going to be sad, we are going to get things going again now that Hna Montes is back.

The headaches are getting better. I don´t have them as often, but when I do, they are still as strong. But …we are improving!!

I hope everybody is doing well. I love you all!!! Thanks so much for your love and prayers. I really feel your support. The gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing!!! The atonement is real!! We have the ability to repent everyday. For those sins that are big and horrible. But as well for the small things. The things we know we shouldn´t do. I hope and pray that you call all recognize these things in your life, and make the choice to repent and change, for the better!

a real hamburger
- the best - next to interviews with president 

Love you lots!!

Hna Sandstrom

Saving souls is the work 
the savior has called us to do.

my zone at lunch before our mission wide fast 

the closest i got to branding memorial weekend

I love my leaders

June 4 2012

Hola Familia!!

I am so happy to talk/write to you today!! I had a bunch of pictures I wanted to send you, but i forgot my camera reader so I´ll send them all next week. One is with the paper mache bull that is in one of the streets in my area.  It’s as close as I got to bulls and cows this past weekend. I thought of you guys at the ranch! Hopefully you got time to work in between the rain.

Also thank you mom and Belliston family for you packages!!! You guys are the best and I am so grateful to have the best family ever! Thanks aimee for the pictures they are already on my wall. :)

I forgot to mention that the other week we had multi-zone

conference. It was great! I always love hearing from President and Hermana Turk. They always know right what to say, and its exactly what I need to hear. It was great to see the other Hermanas, especially Hermana Galleguillos. I miss her so so much, but it was so good to hear that things are going good in Casa Grande.

This past week we had Interviews with President Turk and more time to spend with President and Hermana Turk. It was wonderful. Hermana Turk talked a lot about shaking it off and stepping up. It was great. It was just what I needed to hear, and President Talked a lot about Love and Charity. It was great!  He is so inspired. It was fun to see some of my friends and get a major spiritual boost.

So while we were in the office I talked to Hermana and President Turk about my headaches and the massages. Well for the past week I have had a headaches everyday. Yea, not so much improvement :(. So we decided to not continue with the massages, I also had a little parasite bug at

this time too, so we didn´t know if the headaches were related or not.  So we are going to see how things go this week with out the massages.  But I think what stresses me out the most is that I can´t be the missionary that I want to be or that is expected of me. My desire is a lot bigger than my ability right now. President counseled me to take time to rest and to do the exercises the massage therapist gave me.

So we´ll see what happens this next week.

Also our investigators are doing great!! A lot of them came to church this past week and are now progressing.

Yola and her Hermana came to church with us. They are from the desert/mountain area and are here working for a family. It was their first Sunday but they will probably be baptized soon.  Isabel couldn´t come to church because of her difficult work schedule.  But she has the next couple of Sundays off so she can come to church and be confirmed the next week. Prayer for them please!!

I am so happy to be a missionary! I love Peru! I didn´t know why I was called here and didn´t know anything about Peru before the mission, well except that Machu Pichu is here, But I know that I am here because I need to be taught by the members here, my companions here, and my mission president here.  I love spanish. I am still learning everyday.  It’s amazing! I am definitely at the point where my dreams are in spanish, and I wake up and spanish comes out of my mouth, I don´t have to remind my self. :) And my prayers are no longer in Spanglish.

I love my family, You should all be jealous because I have the best family ever, I´m so happy I can be with them for eternity!!!

Love you all LOTS!!!

Hna Sandstrom

Oh this weekend we have stake conference and Elder Waddell from the quorum of seventies is coming.

Here are some photos we took from Hermana Turk's blog