Shut Up & Serve!

Hola Familia :)

         Welp. My training is DONE! Hardest 12 weeks of my life, but I wouldn’t trade em for anything. I’ve learned SO much! I’m now being transferred today. I honestly never saw this comin. Neither did Hermana Rios! We were both thinking she would be leaving La Cruz since she’s been here 4.5 months, but we got the call last night that I’m the one leaving. She was starting to organize her stuff and I was just gettin ready for bed and writin in my jounal when the zone leaders called. That’s when the panic set in haha. I’m proud to say I packed allllll my stuff in ONE hour! Awesome, I know :) I’m leaving Tumbes today at 5 and headed to Piura. I’ll be staying at the mission home tonight and find out tomorrow where I’m going. Adventure time! 

         I am SO sad to leave though. I don’t feel like I’ve had enough time with these amazing people! They’ve been more than welcoming to me and really made me feel wanted here. I’ll always be grateful for every single one of them! I never thought it would be so hard to leave an area. I can’t imagine how hard it will be for Hermana Rios after her 6 months here. We are both so attached to these people. I know this happened for a reason though :) Hermana Rios is needed here and I’m needed somewhere else. God has it all planned out :)

         This week was good though! We had zone conference and one thing I learned is that there is ALWAYS more we can do. President Rowley feels like there’s a sense of relaxation in the mission, that we’re all okay with being "good enough" and he wants that to change. This month our goal for baptisms as a mission was 108 and we had 71. He was happy with this, and said we should be happy too, but to also remember the goal was 108 and that there’s always more we can do. This is true in every aspect of our lives! Always more to do and improve :)

         I also loved conference... Well, what I understood anyway haha.  It was all in Spanish. Gotta love it ;) I loved the comparison from President Monson. I’ve also decided I want to be a tree. There’s always awesome comparisons of trees! Like in Alma, our faith is compared to a seed springing into a tree of everlasting life and now this comparison from President Monson haha. Who would’ve thought trees could be so awesome? But really... We all have difficulties. Every single one of us! Even the prophet! (Pretty much I cried when he was talking about his wife. Cutest thing ever!!!) But like a tree, we will always come out stronger in the end. Also, every single trial is specific for each one of us! 

         One thing I got out of this weekend wasn’t even from conference. It was from Darrell Gardner! Remember his saying, "Pain is temporary; pride is forever. Shut up and run"? Pretty much we were driving back to Tumbes for another session of conference and I was bummed. I just wanted to watch it in English, or even better, be watching it with all of you. I was just thinking, "Why do I have to be here for 14 more months?" That’s when Gardner’s nice lil voice popped in my head haha. "Pain is temporary; God is eternal. Shut up and serve." Sometimes it seems so hard, but then I’m reminded on days like today that I ONLY have 14 months. That’s nothin! I only have 14 months to enjoy Peru and these people. I’m definitely reminded of this today because it is so hard to have to leave the people I’ve come to love here in La Cruz. Gonna shut up and serve :) 

         Funny story of the week: I didn’t get peed on this week, but Hermana Rios straight up got attacked by a chicken haha! We were reading scriptures with the Ibanez family and it just took off flyin at her face. She screams, falls off her seat, and it just kept goin at it! She has the biggest fear of chickens too, which didn’t help haha but seriously the funniest thing I’ve seen! I don’t know why, but animals just don’t like her lol. Time is up though! Thank you for EVERYTHING! I hope you have a great week :) I LOVE YOU ALL! :)

Love,

Hermana Roper