Peru CCM Tercera Semana.....notice the shoes.......

Today has been crazy.....While I was waiting to hear from Aushlynn, I found out that there were two earthquakes yesterday evening in Peru that were rated 7.6. Umm.... not my favorite thing to hear about the country that my daughter is living in. Makes me a little uncomfortable. Aushlynn confirmed to me that she was fine. In fact...she did not even know that there was a earthquake let alone two of them. Good news!
Here is her letter from this week.

Hola!
This week not a lot has gone on! It’s pretty much same old same old…Long classes that just drag on and more chicken and rice for meals. On Wednesdays they attempt to make American food and well…. At least they try.
We just got back from the temple! Seriously I feel the spirit so strongly in that temple it’s crazy. We also went to the grocery store and I bought some sweet socks and more coke! The withdrawal charge to get soles is crazy so I just took out a bunch of money so I don’t have to keep doing that!
I haven’t really felt like I am in Peru! We are enclosed in these walls and I just think I’m in like California or something. When we do go outside the walls it is a change of scenery but I don’t know it doesn’t feel like Peru besides the driving…… now that is wicked scary. There are seriously no rules on the roads here.
My Spanish is progressing, but seriously I felt like I haven’t learned all I need to here yet. Hopefully I can cram lots of things in my last two weeks. Holy snikes it’s almost been 1 month! It’s seriously flown by so fast. I don’t even remember the first days here. The days just all seem to mesh here. It’s been wild. This week everyone, at least in my district, has been just exhausted. I think everything is
starting to take its toll lol. How we count days here is Wednesday is pday…. Then just make it to Sunday (sacrament is in English) and then two days till pday.
During physical activity I and Hermana Robinson play ultimate football with all the Elders. It’s just like ultimate Frisbee but with a football. Its super fun and we both score lots. The Elders are pretty
impressed with our skills. I tried to Aqib Talib pick someone and ended up jamming my middle finger pretty bad two days ago and it’s still swollen and bruised. I have a doctor’s appointment soon….. so I will know more next week.
We had a really spiritual testimony meeting with all the English people last Sunday and it was so powerful. Seriously missionaries have the most powerful testimonies. I bore mine which was kind of awkward but I seriously was forced up there by prompting and afterwards one of the Elders came up to me and thanked me and said it was exactly what he needed to hear that day so that was super cool.
Well that is pretty much it here at the CCM this week. I love you all back home and hope you are all safe and enjoying the cold! I’m definitely not missing that. I’m praying every day for you!
Hermana Brown




Once again....notice the shoes...haha. Love that she is wearing them!



Aushlynn informed us that she will get a Thanksgiving dinner at the CCM! She is hoping that it is not a turkey dinner as she is not a fan of turkey..........we are praying that they will serve her ham! Haha. Also, this last week Hermana Brown was made a Sister Leader, so that is kinda exciting! We are super glad to hear from her...We are happy to hear that she is safe and it seems that Missionary work and her are going hand in hand.

Peru CCM Part Deuce...



Sorry I am a little late posting this....my little's have kept me super busy this week. She is doing awesome!  She even received the package that I sent to her.....she did forget her camera charger after all and I had good reason to send one to her.  I have a problem with sending a not full package.....it goes against all I stand for....so she was a lucky girl and received lots of love from home.  It only took 3 days shipping and $63 to get it to her! Anyway...... here is what Aushlynn had to say about week two in the CCM.

 

Hola from beautiful Lima, Peru!

Oh wait… I'm enclosed in these things called walls that are like 10 feet tall but its esta bien! This week I felt like the days just dragged on but as I look back it went by so fast.

We just got back from the temple and it was so awesome! It’s so cool that even though it is in Spanish the spirit is always the same! That is a little tender mercy.

The food here is same ole same ole. Pretty bland and the juice here keeps getting less flavorful! Yikes. I’ve been eating some pretty weird food here which probably comes as a surprise but when in Peru you just got to try everything.

The classes this week seemed to just drag on for hours. We taught a lot of lessons this week to our investigators and the first few were kinda rough but as we learn more Spanish the spirit just picks up where we leave off and it’s so nice.

Physical activity is my most favorite time of day because we actually get to play outside and not sit in a boring classroom. We usually play volleyball but this week we mostly played football. All the boys are pretty impressed that I could actually throw or catch a ball they threw. I and an Elder McKamey made a great team! We also worked out on a Peruvian gym lol it’s more like a playground but its whatever.

I love Sundays here. We just got to our regular Sunday meetings and then watch movies all day it was so nice. We got to even watch Meet the Mormons which was like the real world. The food is always better on Sundays as well because all the higher up people eat lunch and dinner there lol.

All my snacks that I brought are the hype here at the CCM! Everyone wants my food. It’s crazy. I got really close to some of the Latinas that just left yesterday. They all thought I was either Barbie or a princess. That’s what everyone calls me here lol. Also some of the Latinos got my email from other people so I’m kind of scared to see what I get. The boys in my district told me a couple days ago that some of the Latinos really admired me and thought I was the prettiest girl they had ever seen, hah I’m all the hype here and its whatever.

The new American missionaries got here today so hopefully I will get a chance to meet them and give them some advice on the CCM even though I don’t know much myself.

Oh also did I mention someone told someone that I sing and I had to sing in sacrament with one other sister. It went well but curse whoever said anything ha ha.

Well that was pretty much my week. I was missing mom a lot this week but I know I’m where I’m supposed to be! I love you all.

 

Love, Hermana Brown

Aushlynn was asked what the highlight of her week was and she said this: Probably testimony meeting Sunday night! I feel like our district got so much closer and hearing others testimonies definitely strengthens mine.

Hermana Brown and her District at the CCM. They get to visit the temple once a week on their P-Day. What a blessing! Also, notice the icky brown missionary shoes that I insisted that she take that she told me she would never wear! Already wearing them on week two! HAHA!  Mom's know best!

Hermana Brown and Sisters from her District in front of the Lima Peru Temple.

Getting Ready for lights out after a long day of studying.

Hermana Brown and her Selfies!

Poor Elder McKinney....it looks like he was just trying to find a peaceful spot to rest and relax....instead Hermana Brown and Hermana Moffeit interrupted his zen.

 

Hermana Brown and her CCM companion Hermana Pay in front of the Lima Peru Temple.

It was a Ball..........

It was a Ball......a Bingham Ball that is!  Madison had her first formal dance this last weekend.  She had a fun time preparing for it.  Before Aushlynn left for her mission, she and Madison went an picked out her dress.  Aushlynn even made the down payment on it.....I was supposed to pay her back....but that girl owes me so much money.......I might put the money in her account later....if and when I feel any guilt...haha!

For the day date...they went to the Aquarium. They had a fun time and we all know that a turtle picture makes any blog post better!



My sister Jana came down and helped Madi with her hair.....good thing because it was rebraided and styled like five times......I just do not have the patience or the braiding skills for that kind of stuff!

We had bought Madi a pair of heels for the dance, but she decided that they were just not that comfortable to walk in.  She went with a more stylish choice of her new maroon vans!

She ended up looking AMAZING! Wow! when did my baby girl grow up?

Madi is a real ham, we went a had a small photoshoot in the front yard before the dance.  The kids across the street kept telling her how pretty her dress was!

This is Madi and her date Caleb.  He is so funny. He was so nervous for the date.  I think that it was his first one.  He did tell us something funny and I want to write it here so I will always remember it. He said "Guess how I got to school yesterday?  I had a Uber driver pick me up in a BMW!" How funny is that.  I need to have Madi take Uber home from school every day! haha

Here is a picture of her group.  They had dinner at Sadie's house and had a lovely time.

 

After dinner they headed up to the State Capitol Building where the dance was held.  Madi was glad that she choose to wear her vans because so many girls were taking off their shoes because their feet were killing them.

Selfie at the dance!

After the dance they went to Lexi's house and watched a movie.  One major crisis was that Toni, Sadie's date ended up with the wrong Jacket after the dance.....OOPS!

Peru CCM

It has been a long NINE days!  I have been waiting to hear from Aushlynn about her adventures so far in Peru and she did not disappoint.  She is a excellent communicator!  I guess all those years of her being on social media has really paid off for me.

This is what she had to say!

Hola from the CCM in beautiful Lima, Peru.

Holy cow I have tons to write you about this week it has been totally wild. Well first we got here at like 4:30 in the morning! I was so exhausted. You know me I'm used to going to bed at like 9:30!

We got all our bags here safe and got into our dorms! My companion is Hermana Pay! I met her over Instagram and we chatted before we even got here! Its been a blast having her be my companion. The other Hermanas in my room are Hermana Wager and Hermana TiaTia… Hermana Robinson and Hermana Moffiet! They are all a riot. I’m pretty sure we are the loudest group of sisters here! My kind of people.

Okay let me just start on the food. The breakfast is usually pretty disgusting like eggs that are just too eggy and mystery meat. So I usually just eat a piece of toast. Lunch is usually pretty good but you got to make sure you only eat the chicken because the other meats just scream GIVE ME DIAHREA!! The water is really nasty so I haven’t been drinking that much water but the juice they have is alright. The lemonade is the best so when that is an option it is like the best day ever. Also sometimes they serve soft serve ice cream and its muy Bueno!!!

I have a top bunk in my room and I’m so scared im going roll off but it hasn’t happened yet so I’ll keep you posted on that. The classes and work are good but sooooooo long. Its like breakfast.. class… dinner… class. I absolutely love my district though. There are 6 boys and us girls and they are the bomb! We all get along so well. The boys are Elder Westbrook and Shumate. Elder Brown and Stringham and Elder Perry and Elder Mckinney. Physical activity is the best! I usually play volleyball and its really fun! I also sometimes play Ping-Pong! The mission president here at the CCM challenged me and I beat him!! Yeah everyone was cheering me on! Either of us is very good so it was a fair win! We took a trip to Interpol on Monday! (International police to do passport and visa stuff) Okay the driving here is insane I don’t know how we haven’t crashed yet. Everyone just does their own thing it is quite scary. When we got there, their were stray cats everywhere it was gross and lots and lots of bugs! There were also just random piles of dirt everywhere that looked like mountains lol.  They took us to a little hut and I finally got a COKE!!! Wow that hit the spot let me tell you. Also yesterday we got vending machines and it was the best day of our lives! So I don’t really know a whole lot of Spanish yet so we just talk in a Pedro voice from napoleon dynamite and hope its coming out Spanish! I can bear my testimony and say a prayer so that’s cool. Me and Hermana Robinson have the best ones! So my blonde hair really sticks out here! I am the only blonde one here. People are always touching my hair. Also I wore my pink skirt yesterday and it was seriously the talk of the CCM haha.

So I have not gotten sick here yet but everyone else in my room has gotten really sick! I have been greatly blessed haha. Also I tried a granadilla. Look it up it’s a fruit. It looks like fish eyes! I mustered up the courage just yesterday.

So pretty much everyone here that is American loves you mom! They have all been using my medicine cabinet! They all thank you!

So we got to go to the temple today! It was all in Spanish but they gave us English headsets! Its such a beautiful temple!

The showers here are actually decent and they have hot water!!!

I miss you guys all so much but.. here is not so bad! Hope you all are having a wonderful week.

Love Hermana Brown

We also received two pictures from her.  I guess the fact that she did not take her camera charger did not doom me this week.  I am going to get that in the mail to her by the end of the week by the way!

Hermana Brown and her CCM companion Hermana Pay.  They are the only two missionaries in the CCM that are heading to the Piura Peru mission.  I am guessing that there will be more come in at the 2 weeks to go mark that already know the language.

Hermana Brown...I am not sure of how she acquired the ties.....I hope that she did not beat up a couple of the Elders...I am sure there is a story....

On the way to Peru....

Well, it happened.......Aushlynn was set apart as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She is now officially Hermana Brown. I could not be anymore proud of her. We put her on a plane yesterday and she headed for Peru.  I am not a fan of the airport drop offs.  They are HARD! 



 It was a emotional goodbye.  It was so hard to say goodbye for 18 months.



After she said goodbye......she turned and rolled thru security and did not look back...

Here is a picture of her plane flying over the house.....and yes.... I did track her flights all the way to Peru....I am a committed Missionary Momma after all!

 A good Samaritan texted me a few pictures of her from the airport with the group of Missionary's that she flew to Peru with. 





This is a picture with a Elder Horman.  It turns out that she went to 6th grade with him.  Mr. Batt's class. It is such a small world.

It was a long night for me.  I could not sleep much.  I did get a short email from her this morning. I was so glad to get it.

Hey mommy! Sorry flights were crazy and we didnt get in until 3:30. Just emailing you a short email and will email next week. The mtc is very different but good different. The food for breakfast was just kinda blah so good thing I dont really eat breakfast and I have my snacks. Lugging all my bags was a REAL STRUGGLE but the elders helped me! They are somewhat nice lol they like to tease me but whatever. We showered this morning and it was blazing hot. I didnt think I was going to get that but at least its better than freezing cold. They let us sleep in until 7 but I am still so tired. I didnt sleep a wink on the plane and from SLC to ATL I had to run to catch our flight it was crazy. Sorry I didn't call when we got to lima we had to go through customs and I just didnt have time! Hope all is well back home! Thank you for the letters in my bag they were great. Well I will email you more next week and hopefully get some pictures! Love you guys!

Hermana Brown

This is one last picture of all my kids together for 18 months.

 P.S. Aushlynn did tell me that she was skipping winter for 2 years...Guess what...... it is snowing today.  I guess that she left at the perfect time.  Enjoy the 90's Aushlynn!