Baptisms and Beauty

July 16, 2012

Hola familia!

Yo espero que todo esta bien, y estoy orando para ustedes siempre!!

This past week has been great and even though we have had some rocks being thrown at us (not literally) we have not let that slow us down. 

I have great news! We have three baptisms this next week. Yea MIRACLES!!

So the first one is that Lesley and Carla are getting baptized, they passed their interviews yea. On our way walking to church yesterday with them there was a big parade going on. (The other one in the photo is Francine.) Back to Lesley and Carla; they are awesome and so ready to be baptized. They love young womens. (But sadly due to church policy I can’t continue to translate those legal documents for their mom.. sad day) But their baptism is set for this Saturday. :)

Another thing that happened this week was that Walter committed and is moving forward. So A little about Walter; he is living with Maria and they have an 11 year old son Miguel (Miguel was baptized a few months ago). Well Walter has not wanted anything to with the church for a long time. But about two months ago he changed his mind. He and his wife had an interview with the bishop and he said bishop what do I need to do to be baptized. And when the bishop said get married he said okay and set a goal, and they started right then and there to live the law of chastity. But the last couple of weeks he has started to push it back. Then yesterday he had another meeting with the bishop and agreed to get married this Friday and then be baptized Sunday!! It’s awesome!! 

Then there is Francine. She is awesome too. But her mom and brother (her brother is preparing for the mission right now) are discouraging her. She is 9 and has read doctrine and covenants and a lot of the Book of Mormon. It’s awesome. In a lesson this past week, we were talking about the word of wisdom and she was like hey doctrine and covenants section 89 it talks about this..... We were shocked, even members don’t know where exactly. haha We are really struggling to get ahold of her mom though; she is always sleeping.

The other night when we were in the clinic (for my headaches… – update coming) this old man started talking to me in English. Nobody else could understand, I was the only North American.  He was asking me about Joseph Smith and telling me he has a Book of Mormon in English and Spanish.  Then he asked where he could find the church, and I told him where there was one downtown. But he wanted to know where I would be.  haha. I just laughed and told him in Chimbote. Then my companion said Nuevo Chimbote. (NO!! she didn’t get what was going on) She told him where the our capilla is. she really didn’t understand much of it but understood that he was asking for directions to the church. haha Then he asked me out for Chinese food-- So funny. He kept saying no problem in his Spanish accent. My comp didn’t like that.   I just laughed and told him no. But it was very funny!!

So today we went to this awesome place called, Caleta Colorado , such a great hike and so so pretty!! It was very refreshing and relaxing. We were the only one there.

Abrazos y Besos (hugs and kisses)

Hna Sandstrom

My headaches have been pretty bad and we have spent lots of time in the clinic with different doctors doing different tests. It looks like I’m heading to Trujillo tomorrow with Hna Shearman (a split with one of my favorite North American hermanas) to have more shots in my neck..... I’ll be gone 2 days and my comp and I can’t both leave with 3 baptisms this week.

Hna Sheridan - on interchange

all these following photos are at Caleta Colorado - so Beautiful

Hermana Shearman & I after our hike