The Bus People

You know how we're just plugging along thru life trying not to look stupid? Most of the time I do a pretty good job...but I have my moments. Have you ever said anything stupid and then those who heard it will never let you live it down?  Yeah......Well, I said something stupid ONCE in my life and I am not sure that I will ever live it down.

It was back when I was a senior in high school. It was just right before my high school graduation. Now, I was a hard worker as a kid. I had had a job since I was a sophomore in high school.  I was rolling in the dough if you know what I mean.  Anyway, I had just accepted a job to be a summer sub working at Pepperidge Farm.  They paid really good, $11 an hour and that was back in 1990! The only problem with the job is that it started 2 weeks before I graduated. Lucky for me I was scheduled to work the night owl shift. I started work around 10:00 pm and got off around 7:00 am.  I then booked it to school and put in my time there and then came home to sleep.  Easy Peasy!  I was young!  I could handle a little fatigue!

Well, I guess that you could say I was a little tired and the hours I was putting in were starting to get to me.  Not only was I working full -time and going to school full-time, but I was dreaming I was working too.  You see I worked on the cookie line and all my hours of sleep I was dreaming I was cupping cookies. Cookies coming at me so fast and I was nowhere good enough to pick them all up when I first started. AUGH! It was a nightmare! If you have ever worked there you will know of my dilemma.

Anyway, after school I went down to my room and started my dreaming shift. I don't know what I was dreaming this time, but I bolted out of bed and ran up the stairs and burst into the kitchen and YELLED...." Are The Bus People Here???" My family burst out laughing. They were like what are you taking about. I was like the "The Bus People...when are they going to be here?" This went on for a little while..... my family were idiots...of course they should know what I was taking about! THE FREAKING BUS PEOPLE!! Have you ever had that wake up moment and you know that what you have been saying was crazy......well, at some point in time I had that realization! Man, what can you do at that point?  I just hurried back down the stairs and went back to bed.

I am pretty sure at the time of my outburst we were having a family reunion with all my family on both my parents sides because everybody seems to know about this little incident of mine. I will never in this lifetime live this down.....whenever I see my family they think they are so smart and mention the bus people.....they are so very clever! GIVE A GIRL A BREAK!  I WAS TIRED! Well, now you know the story of the Bus People...

Anyway I gotta go...my bus just pulled up out front!

It turns out that the Bus People are real!  There is even a book about them!

 Also, there is a movie about Bus People.  This looks freaking terrifying......I think I will skip it!

The indignity..

Today.... I had to endure being STABBED in the arm and my blood being sucked from me......and standing on a scale in front of someone....THE HUMANITY! Two of my most unfav things in the entire world.

Kendall informed me.....well reminded me a few weeks ago that we had to get our annual health screening done. UGH!  Now, its not a requirement.....but if you do get it done they give you a $100 gift card per person and an $1500 dollar discount on our health insurance premiums for the year. Who wants to have to pay an extra $1500 in health insurance???......so you see... they pretty much force us to get it done!  Anyway when he reminded me about it,  I told him to schedule my appointment for 2 weeks out.....you know.... so I could lose weight and get healthy in that amount of time. Haha! I have good intentions, but life seems to just gets in the way. I should have just had him schedule the appointment for the next day because all that I have accomplished is being stressed out knowing I have to be stabbed in the arm!

I had to start fasting last night.  I KNOW!!!....They are depriving me of food too! I usually can not eat without a problem....especially in the morning....but the minute that I can't have food is when I want it....you know.....like fast Sunday! I barely survived the night and woke up starving to death.... and Stressed out that I am getting a needle to the arm today. I guess that you could say the silver lining in all this is Kendall is going to watch my crazies for a half hour today.....you know a little break for my sanity!

My appointment was for 8:15 this morning. I arrived at 7:55. I played my Pandora LDS hymns on the way over...you know to relax me so I would be calm. (its a nice feature to have unlimited data on my phone.....you know unlike my kids who have to suffer with 2 GB...their parents suck and are so unfair!) I was the only one in the parking lot until 30 seconds before they opened and an old man pulled up.  I jumped out of the car....no way was he butting in before me....I just needed to get this over with.

I got checked in and the guy called me back. He told me to remove my shoes and jacket and jump on the scale.  First of all he stayed in the room while I took my jacket and flip flops off...Jeez....a little privacy please.  I then verified with him that I should just stand on the scale and not actually jump on it like he asked.  I mean you never know.....maybe he did want me to jump up and down on it.....but my knees bug me and I was not really wanting to jump around this morning if I did not have to. Good News! I was 3lbs lighter here than on my home scale.  WOOT!  Also, he measured me and guess what folks....I GREW TALLER! I am now a tall 5' 3"......no more 5" 2 1/2" for me. Life has been good to me!  Good thing I stretched nice and tall! He informed me that he just rounded up.....PPPHHHHHEEEEWWWW!! Deflated. In other good news....my blood pressure is thru the roof!  Put your hands up "thru the roof" Party!!! I am not sure he meant it in a party sort of way!  he says I must have white coat syndrome......I think I have I'm going to be stabbed in the arm with a needle syndrome.

I was such a big girl when it came to being stabbed.  I did not even let out a whimper.  I took it in the arm like a Mother! He took 2 vials of blood....why they need so much anyway? He put a cotton ball on my arm and ripped off a piece of white tape to cover it up and told me to leave it on for 30 minutes. What?? No cool band-aid. How unfun is that. I will probably keep it on half the day to be safe and you know get sympathy. You know what?? I did not even receive a sticker, token or sucker upon leaving......they just sucked my blood  and dignity and I received no prize.....LAME!

Here is my battle wound...I am sure it will be a bruise tomorrow...that how it rolls for me.

Five...count them...1 2 3 4 5 months on Sunday...no way!

Can you believe that this girl has been serving as a missionary in Peru for FIVE months on Sunday???  Also, as of today she has served 148 days. Another number fact for all of you that are counting (I'm sure its quite a few) only 39 more days until she calls us for Mother's Day!!! EEKKKK!!! What a blessed holiday this has been for the past 4 years! So excited! Only 13 more months to go, we are nearing the 1/3 completed mark folks. This week has been super great because I received three pictures of my favorite missionary during the week.  I know....I was greatly blessed this week! The heavens were shining down on me even though it kept snowing on me here in Utah.

 

Here is her letter this week:

 

Hey guys! 

 

Ha Ha, well this week has been awesome! I sadly didn't get to have my baptism because the girl told us she is moving to Tumbes right after she was done with her baptism interview..... what the crap... Hermana Brown cried only a little bit. The work is just a crazy roller coaster here in Angamos. The people here are smart and so they really understand what we are teaching them and ask a lot of questions which is cool. It’s kind of like a States mission here. Yes we are still getting doors slammed in our faces every single day but hey the people we are teaching will be really strong in the church once they convert. Yes I say once they convert because they will one day. 

 

This week we had exchanges with our sister leaders. I am not too nervous to do these anymore because my Spanish has progressed a lot. It was really fun and I learned a lot from Hermana Orellana. We had lessons and found a family to teach which is awesome! They are really receptive too! I’m excited to keep teaching them. I asked Hermana Orellana how many baptisms she had and she said she didn’t know. How do you not know like really? She said they aren’t my baptisms anyways they are the lords. None of us really have baptisms because it was the Holy Spirit that testified of our words. It could of been any of the missionaries that taught them. I liked that a lot and kind of changed my whole aspect of baptisms. Even if I wasn’t able to have a baptism that I would still be happy because I spent every day furthering the work by talking to everyone I could and introducing people to the church of Jesus Christ.

 

So yes it was Women’s conference! Hermana Ana is so awesome! She said that we could go with her to the conference. We had an investigator lined up to to go with us but last minute she told us she couldn’t go anymore! Hermana Rasmussen invited us over to the mission home and we got to watch it in English! President also put it in Spanish for Hermana Ana! I loved it! It was all about service! What better to hear about when serving a mission no? It was good to understand everything too lol. I can testify that when we serve others that we receive bigger blessings in our lives and that when serving you forget that you’re even serving because you grow to have great love for the people. 

 

So it was Easter this Sunday! Ha ha I didn’t see a single colored egg or I didn’t eat one piece of candy... that’s weird lol. Here they celebrate Easter for 3 days! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! You would think this would be a few great contacting days, but nope... haha everyone was actually kind of mean and we got doors slammed in our faces but whatever :) We had a dinner at the Silvas house with all the missionaries and they put on a cute little devotional about Easter! It was awesome! We after ate chicken and fries with Inca cola... ha ha... no I still don’t like Inca Cola :)

 

Yes it was Presidente’s birthday!!! He does like eggs so no we didn’t smash eggs on his head ha ha... ( I’m hoping if I tell people I don’t like eggs that they will be that nice when it’s my birthday ) We had yummy grilled cheese and Hermana Rasmussen’s famous lemon cake! SO GOOD! It was fun to celebrate and get to talk to other missionaries and stuff. 

 

For P day today we got pedicures with Hermana Ana! She is the best seriously! She has become a really big influence in my life here on the mission. She has taught me countless things but most of all how to love and serve others! She is seriously amazing! I love her so much!! Also we went to Cactacous and tried to buy a bag and well I didn’t buy one but I did order one that will be ready next week. I thought it would be cooler to have one that actually had what I wanted on it and so it’s going to have my name and my mission and the Piura Vida sign! It’s going to be awesome! :) Now we are here in the mission home making cookies with members here in the ward and Hermana Rasmussen! We seriously have the best mission Presidents! I can’t complain about the air conditioning either :) We have a family home evening later tonight with all the missionaries in our district at the mission home and are watching a world wide choir? It should be a blast :) 

 

Well that’s pretty much all from me this week! Hope you all had a great Easter :) Remember to continue to serve your neighbors and you will be greatly blessed. love you all. 

 

Hermana brown

Picture sent to me from President Rasmussen. I knew it would be worth my while to friend him on facebook!!  I have seen may pictures posted of my favorite missionary on his mission page, but this was my first to get personally from him. SWEET! I believe this was Easter Sunday and also President Rasmussen's Birthday!

Hermana Ana sent me this picture on P-day!  She is such a sweetheart. Aushlynn and her companion live in one of their apartments.  They have also been called to serve as Mission Presidents in July for another Peru mission.  They are gonna be awesome. She took the missionaries to get pedicures on Monday.  LUCKY! I have not got one since before she left!

I received this picture from Hermana Ana after Women's Conference.  It was such a tender mercy to receive. To know that me and my daughter were doing the same thing at the same time was awesome.  It has been a tradition for me and the girls to go downtown to conference for awhile, so it was fun to continue the tradition....well sort of!

Here are some of the crazy animals that you can find running around Peru.  Madi is sure that the dogs are going to haunt her dreams! Haha! I don't know, but I would guess those are going to be around a long time before they are purchased!

The people on the bus!  Jimmy was so excited to see this picture of Hermana Brown and her companion and another set of sister missionaries.  That boy loves busses and he LOVES to see Aushlynn on a bus.  It makes his day!

Hermana Brown says that this is the meal that she sees 5 out of 7 days in the week. I am forbidden from making chicken, rice and beans when she returns home. She is grateful for a meal and also for the hands that prepared it...but she wishes for a little variety. I think it looks super tasty!

Peruvian sandal's....she say they are super comfortable.

The Sun of Satan......

It seems like my girl might be melting.... well she did want to serve somewhere warm. Haha! I told Aushlynn that I was going to work on sending her a package. I asked what she wanted. She told me she really wants letters from ward members, family and friends and especially letters from those who have served missions with stories or scriptures that helped them thru the hard and trying times on a mission. She also wants pictures from you for her picture wall. Oh yeah...she also wants me to send her a Cafe Rio chicken salad. Not sure how well that will mail. Haha. She is probably gonna have to wait for the salad, but if you would be willing to write her a letter and bring a picture by......I would be forever in your debt. Think about it! I am going to be sending it in a few weeks so please help a Sista out. You could also email it to me and I could print the letter and the picture for you. My email is kmdaam@msn.com. Plus...you will make her photo wall and that's pretty cool right??

Anyway here is her week!

Mommy! Daddy!

Well I don’t even know where to start with this week. This week was so not what we were hoping for... First... the sun decided to kick it up a few notches I swear. The people here said that it never gets this hot and that it was very strange!! I only got one word for this... SATAN!! I got burned and re-burned every single day with reapplying sunscreen every 3 hours!! I have literally sweated from every pour in my body! When I get back I’ll be so brown I will look Peruvian! We try and eat popsicles to cool us down but man the sun is soooo strong here. I’m sweating buckets just writing you guys ha ha! 

Second... our investigators are okay. This week we weren’t able to visit a lot of them. They were never home! We literally walked around in the sun everyday knocking doors and re-knocking doors we knocked the previous day! This area is very difficult. I feel like I am doing so much to just even get one person to teach or to even listen! It’s been a frustrating week. Every night I literally fell asleep at my bed side saying my prayers. I hope this week is a little better. We had a lesson with our investigator Emily last night and as of now we have taught her everything we got. She is moving to Tumbes in a week and a half so last night we asked if she would be baptized this Saturday and she said she would pray about it and call us!!! OH I WANT THIS BAPTISM SO BAD!! She is soooo ready. 

Okay enough of my whining about my crappy week. Here are some funny stories that happened this week. First... we were getting ready for bed one night and we hear screaming from Hermana Ana on the first floor! We have a window that we can look all the way down and see.. so...we look and the bishop and Hermana Ana have brooms and they said there is a rat! Okay I start to freak out. Then... it gets away and literally climbs to the third floor... like up the wall!!!! WHAT THE CRAP!! I am now screaming bloody murder! It’s in our room now at this point!! We couldn’t find it though. Hermana was like we will just find it tomorrow. Ya I didn’t sleep that whole night. Bishop killed it the next day but it was HUGE!!! 

Also…another story is we were in an investigators house and we met her husband for the first time. When he spoke me and Hermana Sandison could not understand him for the life of us. He spoke so fast. I am not even totally sure it was Spanish either haha oh Peru. You just got to laugh at those situations because if you don’t you’ll cry. Also it was stake conference and we got there a little late so we had to go into this room and watch it on this like 15 in TV that was really fuzzy. I am trying to concentrate so hard because I want know what they are saying but it was literally like the nursery in there. Babies were screaming and throwing food and running around hahaha oh my gosh I’m in Peru.

Okay... The food... I don’t think I can even look at chicken or rice again. Literally eating the same thing day in and day out. Hermana and I just look at each other and cry a little inside! We had dinner this Sunday with members and our whole district. Now I must be gaining weight here because the people don’t think I am like a girl or something... they think I can eat these ginormous portions of food. Literally I have never seen a plate with more food on it. Of course the elders ate theirs so I absolutely have to eat it all... Remember when Dyllon said the members quote was you ain’t leavin till your heavin. I WAS HEAVING!!! I barely finished without launching it everywhere! Then we had a dinner at night time and I looked at it for like a good 5 minutes... and slowly ate away...... I almost died of eating too much last night. I look forward to the times when we are not eating.

Today for P-day we are going out to eat as a district and then playing spoons at a members house. Also Presidente has invited us to the mission home this Friday to watch the Tabernacle Choir this Friday. I am excited for that.

Haha anyways I made it out of that week alive somehow! Praying for each of you every day! 

Love you guys!

Hermana brown

 Aushlynn and her companion Hermana Sandison.

 Peruvian face masks...lol....they actually kinda stung our faces.

 Happy Birthday Madi girl!!! Feliz Cumpleanos!!! Hermana Ana and Aushlynn.

So...I stepped on this guy's tail. I didn't think I had to watch where I was walking here in Angamos...but I guess I do! Lol.... he was hissing at us! He was not a fan of having his picture taken.

 Hahaha it was windy...but the sunset was awesome!

 I love Peru! My hair is getting super long!

 Hermana Sandison loves braiding Aushlynn's hair. I am sure the favor is not reciprocated.....poor girl has the braiding skills of her mother.

 Three liter Coke...Dad would love Peru! It's seriously so big! I wanna buy one before I leave and see if I can drink it all. Kendall is praying this comes to the USA!

 My photo wall is up and going. I need more Photos!

 Charolette.......Wilber is dead!!:((( Hahahaha....what the heck is this??? The whole pig hooves and all!

Cool wall art that she and her companion stumbled upon.

Happy 16th Birthday Madi

 It is hard to believe that this girl is 192 months old! You would have thought that I would have lost all my baby weight by now.....but give me a break it has not been that long! I will start worrying after she turns 200 months old! Haha! All kidding aside can you believe that she is 16. I was looking at her Facebook and realized she is 33 in Facebook years. She has aged well. Wasn't she so cute as a baby!

Our caboose was a surprise born in the year 2000. How lucky is that??? She will always know how old she is by the year. It will come in handy believe me! I can never remember how old I am and have to do the math or ask Kendall how old I am.

When Madi was born I did not have a baby....I had a boss! She demands a lot from me! Like dragging me around the mall for 2 solid days looking for the perfect pants. She demands perfection in the wardrobe!

Here is Madi and her bestie Sadey. Sadey has been a replacement for Aushlynn. She is the other sister that Madi never had. It seems her and Madi do everything together.....they might be connected at the hip. The other day Dyllon came home and said....where are the girls.......I was like.... well...
Aushlynn is in Peru.....and he was no.....I mean Madi and Sadey. Everyone expects to see them together. Thanks for being such a awesome friend Sadey!

Here is Madi....well....being Madi! She had gotten a pair of pants for Christmas and the tag was bugging her. So naturally she whipped her pants down the the middle of the room and bit the tag off. She is super resourceful like that! Good thing she is always prepared with a pair of spanks under her pants!

She is such a fun girl. She has a crazy personality! She is a ham and loves to perform for the camera!

She has super human strength too! She actually has a few challenges in her life that she handles like a pro. Life is never fair and she just takes the punches and rolls with it!

Aushlynn wanted to make sure that Madi got some special birthday wishes from Peru. We are all excited to see her birthday present from Aushlynn when it arrives!

Nope Madi did not get this car for her birthday. Maybe in her dreams......She is gonna have to drive the Honda just like her siblings...it is a rite of passage in our family!

We took Madi to the Bonsai for dinner. We had a pretty good chef that put on a okay show. Avery lost his eyebrows.....again....sigh. We really need to work on the happy birthday song as a family...our performance was embarrassing. I guess it is pretty hard to sing with the gong and Dyllon and Avery on tambourines. We'll work on it for the next birthday.

 Madi insisted on balloons for her birthday. She is the boss so we made it happen.

 Madi's cake.....she wanted funfetti. I have a confession...I went to two stores and both were out of funfetti cake...what the heck...I substituted rainbow chip...don't tell her she will never know. The frosting is funfetti though...I pulled thru on half of the cake.

Happy Birthday Madi. Sweet 16 and never been kissed...at least I don't think so......

Brian Regan

For my birthday I received tickets to attend the Brian Regan comedy show. I have wanted to see him live forever. I was a little concerned I need to find a date to go with me because Kendall has been a sicko ...FOREVER! Kendall was feeling better so we headed out around 6:00. We took the Traks train....OK when did the train get so scary? I swear the two people in front of us had a chance meeting on the train. They talked for a few stops before one had to get off. After she got off he turned to his friend and said "we used to be in jail together...it was great to see her!" You don't get better friends then the ones you bond with in jail!

We decided to get dinner at the arena. Kendall had a taco salad. I opted for Chick-fil-A. Did you know that it will set you back $12 for a chicken sandwich, waffle chips and a small lemonade? I thought it was expensive in South Jordan...I guess it's a real bargain at the resturant!

Here is a picture right before the show started. This is the best picture from the lot. We were clearly ready to hear some jokes.

Brian Regan has some great jokes...we were laughing the whole time. I love that he can take everyday boring stuff and make it funny. I also love that you don't have to worry what he is going to say. He keeps it clean. He is FAVORITE comedian!

Cheapskates

Cheapskates is a school dance that I really like. This is the first year they have had this dance at Bingham..... in the very least it is the first time I have ever heard about it. The idea is to have a date and dance for as cheap as possible.  Me likey.......easy on my wallet or somebody elses.

For the day date the kids went to Boondocks.... I know sounds expensive right....well it really was FREE...because Mason's dad was able to get tickets for free thru his work! Cool!

The kids need to have some type of theme and matching attire so they tye dyed some shirts. I think they turned out pretty cool. We used a coupon to buy the tye dye so it was done on the El cheapo.

Pictures were taken by Me and Mason's mom. We need to read up on our professional picture posses for next time.  At least we tried.....right! Here we have Madison and Wyatt, Sadey and Mason and last but not least Kayla and Levi.

A little dab will do yah...or ah dab it!

Here we have just the girls...the just boys picture turned out blurry.

Madi and Wyatt

The kids went to Chick-fil-A for dinner and then headed to the dance at the high school. They had a fun night. Food, good friends and fun...who could ask for more??

Livin' life with a Sandybum!

Sorry that I am a little late posting this week. We have had the GOMBU at our house this week. Yay us! :0(  Aushlynn should be thankful that she is in Peru and is missing out on all it has to offer us.  It got so bad that Kendall, yes you read that right...Kendall went to the doctor.  He has not been to one of those in years...maybe even a decade.  Anyway, enough about poor us......Aushlynn is doing awesome.  Here is what she has to say this week!

 

Daddy! Mommy! 

 

Wow this week was AMAZING!!!! Okay so I’m pretty much been spoiled in this area and now I am being spoiled with the best companion ever! Seriously I love her so much! In such a short time we have become like sisters! She is going to UVU when she returns home so she will be so close! Literally every day is a party with her! Also, she is so spiritual it’s crazy. I feel the spirit more than I have in a long time. She will definitely be a lifelong friend!!

 

This week with our investigators was so good! They are all progressing well. We have 7 with a baptism date and I’m praying that they just make it through the Mormon process lol. Their dates range from the 26 of this month to the 16 of April so YEEE!!

 

I had a really spiritual experience this week where I got to explain the part about Joseph Smith and say the first vision! Now I really don’t like saying the first vision because I feel like I am so not powerful enough to say it. Any who.... I just taught with as much conviction as I could muster up with my Spanish not being perfect and at the end the girl just looked at me with tears in her eyes and said I believe! Like whoa..... Then I asked her if she would follow the example of Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood and she said yes! Most spiritual experience I have had yet here on the mission. I felt so good afterwards! I feel like god gives us trial after trial and in between he gives us these little spiritual experiences that make it all worth it.

 

We had zone meeting this week with all the new people that had come and stayed in our zone this week! There was a few new people. We all got to introduce our companions and afterwards we had some really spiritual thoughts by our zone leaders. It was a really good meeting. Our zone is awesome! It’s the biggest in the mission. So the members we live with are just my favorite!! Last night she knocked on our door and she had pizza!! She is the BEST!!!

 

So this past Sunday I had to give my first talk in church. I was SOOOO NERVOUS! All week I just didn’t sleep very well. Haha I think this is the first talk I had to write all by myself. I was so wishing my dad was there to help write it haha. I had to talk about my struggles on the mission with the language but how I am able to overcome it. Now I thought to myself hahaha I haven’t overcame anything lol. The language is still a struggle for me and probably will be most of my mission. I talked about how I knew that if I just opened my mouth and testified of the things of the church that the spirit would testify to them it was true even though my Spanish wasn’t perfect! It went really well. Lots of people told me I did a good job afterwards. We have a really sweet ward. 

 

We had ward council this past Sunday and let me just say.... Dad I am so sorry you have to sit though these. LOL BORING! I’ve decided that everyone should just be born into the church so we don’t have to fill out tons and tons of paperwork for them haha. Also... the bishop asked Hermana Sandison to give the prayer to start the meeting and he said Hermana Sandybum will you give the opening prayer! Hahaha us gringos were laughing so hard! 

 

This morning for p-day we just played soccer with lots of elders. It was fun. We were the only Hermanas. It was so so hot though. I scored a goal!! Haha it was sweet.. I don’t even know how I did it but I totally made this elder dance out of his shoes and nicked it in lol. All the elders were going crazy lol. Now don’t anybody think that I am coming back a master at soccer because you’ll be dissapointed! Yeah that’s pretty much all this week!

 

Love you all!!

Hermana brown 

Hermama Brown and Hermana Sandybum.....I mean Hermana Sandison. Such a funny story! I hope when I get to meet her someday I call her by her correct name! Haha!

Selfie Saturday!  I like the shirt...Umbrellas.....That way her shirt will stay dry when it rains...right??

Cha...Cha....Change...

Big Changes in Piura....well kinda. I will let Aush tell you.

Hola Mommy and Daddy!

Haha well yes transfers were this week and yes I am staying where I am and yes I got a new companion!!! Her name is Hermana Sandison from Twin Falls Idaho!!! I AM SO STOKED! She is literally the best! I am going to have so much fun with her! She is a recent convert for only 1 year! Her testimony is SO STRONG!! She is the only member in her family! I have a lot of respect for her!! She has been here for 8 months! She lived in Ecuador for 3 years so her Spanish is really good! She is very focused on the work and I know with her we can get these investigators baptized!!! She is always so funny and we get a long really well!

As for Hermana Martinez... she got transferred to Tacala. She is now with a Hermana from her group in the CCM! She is very excited. Her area is very poor but she is excited. My last few days with her were bittersweet! I’ve learned a lot of things with her and feel like I have grown as a person and my testimony has been strengthened tremendously! It was time for a change though and I am ready for new experiences. Also I am not mad that I have someone to talk to about things I miss in the US  ha ha.

My investigators are still progressing slowly but I am hoping this week to just re amp everything and just get them to baptism! I am so ready to see them all be baptized! I am not leaving Angamos without baptisms! I think I will only be here this transfer and leave so I am planning on working so so hard!!

This week it rained and rained and rained. Oh also did I mentioned it rained? Now.... People back home.... it wasn’t as bad as the rain we get in the United States. It’s just your typical rainstorms but.... here in Peru there is no such thing as a sewer system so..... all the water piles up in the streets and makes rivers and lakes in the roads. I am blessed in this area to actually have roads. The people in the surrounding areas their roads are only dirt and they are trudging in mud up to their knees! Man it’s been awful here the last few days! It rained the hardest this last Friday and Hermana Martinez and I were walking home and the entire city of Angamos lost power!!! It was seriously pitch black! I was so scared ha ha! It came back on after like 10 minutes! 

I am definitely giving my $20 umbrella its use! Also when it rains we don’t have water. Yes I went without water for 2 days :)))))) I smelled pretty bad. The only good thing about the rain is that it cools down everything at night.

My foot from the cut I got last week is healing fine. I used the antibiotics and it’s going to be okay. It’s going to leave a scar though.

Also we moved to the 3rd floor of the Bishops house! It’s not as nice but it is still one of the nicest in the mission. Why am I being so blessed!?? The other night though there was a BAT!!! Yes a Bat!! It comes every night. It’s pretty scary. We close all the windows but there is a part that doesn’t have windows and it just flies right through. Yikes!!

Well that’s pretty much it for this week! I hope to tell you more about my companion and the investigators next week! 

Love you

Hermana Brown

I know that Aush will miss Hermana Martinez. I am sure that they will be friends for life. Thanks for being such an amazing trainer for our girl!

It's rainin......no its sprinklin.......not it's rainin.....no its sprinklin.....ow....you poked my heart! Blessed rain. It least it makes the nights cooler!

The Wiseman built his house upon the rock and the rains came tumbling down! So glad this girl is on the 3rd floor...hope she does not float away!

Hermana Brown, Xmenia and Herman Martinez

I am looking forward to hearing about Aushlynn's adventures with her new companion Hermana Sandison.....I am sure they are gonna be an awesome team!

Owies!!! Oh my baby......

So it was good to hear from this girl this week. It turns out that she might be accident prone like her brother. She sent quite a few pictures from the beach....I find myself being super jealous of where she is at. Here is what she has to say this week.

Hola Everyone!!

Well this week was better than the few bad weeks we had been having but it wasn’t an amazing week! I feel like a lot happened this week so I’ll just get down to business! This week was VERY VERY VERY HOT! Wow who would have guessed? When they said Piura was the city of eternal heat they weren’t kidding! I even have the sun burn to prove it. OUCH! Also it rained a lot a lot this week. When it rains here the water stays in the streets for days! I feel bad for the areas that don’t have road and it’s just dirt because then it is just mud everywhere. 

This week we did a lot of knocking doors and contacting. By the end of the week we found 3 new people that we are teaching and they seem very promising. As for are other investigators,  we have literally taught every lesson and they come to the church every Sunday but they just won’t commit to baptism!!!!!! I just need to get them in the font ha ha. I am just so baptism hungry as Hermana Martinez says!!! It’s true! I have such great love for these people and I know how important baptism is for them and how happy it can make them to have the holy spirit be a constant companion for them. Life of a missionary I guess. 

We also had splits with the sister leaders this week. I stayed in my area and  Hermana Gutierrez came and stayed the day and night with me in Angamos. I have been nervous the whole week leading up to this because it’s my final inspection on how well I know the area how well my training has been and how well my studying is going. Also the Hermana doesn’t speak a sprinkle of English :)  That is a sarcastic smiley.... I was beyond nervous. I actually surprised myself at how well I was able to communicate with her and all the people we talked to that day. For once I was the captain now. Hermana Gutierrez said she was impressed with how well I did that day with everything! A huge weight lifted off my shoulders! She just reassured me that I am here for a purpose and that I can do hard things that I think will be impossible! My training will be done after this transfer. Now for my Spanish I know it’s not perfect but I can communicate with the people here and I’m getting to the point where I can understand a lot of what is being said to me. Now there is still those people that I am like is that even Spanish? Hahaha but you just got to laugh and go with it. 

Also an experience this week we had is there is this man that sits outside this store that we buy waters and such every week. Well he always has questions for us... mind that he is very very very catholic. He always asks us questions like what tribe are you or you believe this and this and this that are totally false. Hermana Martinez gets really frustrated with this guy and the other day he said I have a question and we said no we don’t need to talk to you. The man said no just one question and it was about the Priesthood and we start to explain and he butts in and said false false this this and this and I whipped out a contacting card and slammed it on the table and said look if you have questions here on the web page you can ask them and there is people to answer your questions here. Have a good day and walked away. I swear my best Spanish comes out when I just testify and defend our church. Ha ha well enough of that. I hope to not run into him again. 

Also this week I had a bit of an accident. I was walked down the stairs of our apartment and they finished the tile the day before and mind you lots of people have been walking on this floor all day! Well I stepped off the last step and my foot went right through the tile! At first I didn’t think it was a big deal and wanted to keep walking but then I looked down and there was a lot a lot of blood. The Bishops wife helped me clean it up, but it was very deep like maybe need stiches deep. I really didn’t want go to a sketchy clinic so I just keep it clean and covered and hopefully it will heal :( 

So this week for p-day we had plans to go to the mountains but they fell through. So we went to Paita! I was so wishing to go to the mountains but the next best thing is the beach. We went with a couple Elders and Sisters in Paita. Hermana Pay was there. It was fun to play on the beach and explore Paita. There was a ton of bugs though.... ugh! 

Well anyways.... this week is transfers so I don’t know what will happen but I am guessing I will stay here and get a new companion or me and Hermana Martinez will stay one more transfer because of baptisms. 

Hope all is well back home!!

Love Hermana brown

Oh my heart...this is how she took every picture from age ten to sixteen. Haha! Memories!

 I wish I was frolicking in the ocean behind her...sigh

Hermana Brown and Hermana Martinez

The group of missionaries that she went to Piata beach with.

This is the tile that she fell through. Of all the luck!

OK this looks like it hurts really bad. So swollen. Oh my baby..... and I forgot to remind her that she has a round of Antibotics in her medications.

Sunset from my apartment. This is the real sunset picture that I wanted to show you guys! The sunsets here are incredible!!!

So one night we got out of a lesson at 9:15 and it was pouring rain!!!! We had to book it home! Yeah we were drenched!!!