I'm Still Here in Sullana!

Hello there family :) 

         Guess who’s gonna have 6 months in Sullana?! Meeeee! I’m still shocked! Eeeeveryone was pretty much packin my bags for me and telling me bye haha. Suckers! I’m still here ;) I’m super excited about it though :) Its suuuuper unusual in the mission that a missionary is in two areas in a row 6 months. One year in two areas haha love it :)

         I’m still here with Hermana Rivera as well, which I’m excited about. We have lots of fun together :) We’re also motivating each other to diet. We were thinking no more cookie dough, or Inca kola, or chocolate.... And then I received your package mom haha. LOVED it though! Made my whole week :) We are doing the 18 weeks to sexy sister missionary diet though lol. It should be six months to sexy, but I kinda blew that one by two months so now its the 18 weeks to sexy sister missionary diet. We started today.... We'll see if we make it through the week haha.

         This week was crazy busy with intercambios. Everyone has been going to Lima for their visa and we had to change everything around and ended up doing three intercambios this week. Crazy? YES. I love intercambios though. I always learn so much more from the other sisters. This week I was with Hermana Celis from Chile and Hermana Stringham again :) She’s the greatest! We spent most of the time laughing. She is hilarious! She will still be here in Sullana... Training! I’m excited for her! I wanted to train again :( Maybe my last two transfers...

         This week we have seen miracles though. Guess who has a baptismal date?! SANDRA! She is finally done with Joel and is getting baptized next week! She was supposed to get baptized this Thursday but didn’t come to church... Dang. But it’s all good. We’re really trying to work with Luz but she just doesn’t want to accept a date. She said she will be baptized but doesn’t know when. Come on, Hermana Luz! Get baptized already! God has a plan though. 

         Karin and Jimmy are also getting married :) I guess in the mission they’re doing a huge free wedding :) What are the chances of that? We’re so excited! They’ve never done something like this, but it’s so great. I’m not sure when the wedding will be. They all came to the activity this week. It was so great to see them at the church :) They don’t even have money for a moto on Sundays so they sell corn on the cob on Saturdays to make money to come to church. How awesome is that? I’ve learned with them that if someone really wants to change and come to church, they will find a way to do it.

         Her sister-in-law Miriam, though, is struggling. Her husband doesn’t want to get married. We went Sunday to pick them up for church and he had come home drunk the night before and beaten her soooo bad! It was awful. So she’s taking her kids to live with her mom. She wants to get baptized though so we'll see what happens this week. It was so sad to see her Sunday though. We ended up finding a way to take all her boys to church Sunday though. Hermana Rivera and I looked like moms with all our little kids around us Sunday haha. There were six of them! All of Karin’s kids and Miriam’s lol. And to top it all off, we got there late and had to sit in the very front row.... It was quite the sight...

         Sunday in church though, I learned something :) No basta saberlo, sino hacerlo :) A guy was giving his talk and I just loved what he said. It’s not enough for us to know something, but to do it. It’s so true! We can know it all, but until we actually do something, it means absolutely nothing. Knowing something and doing it are two different things. We can know we need to read the scriptures, or we can actually do it. We can know we need to go to church, or we can actually do it. We can know we need to be like Christ, or we can actually do it. We need to just do it! 

         Okay no embarrassment this week but I have another Peruvian belief! It’s a good one! Okay, so we’re with Mariel (Who is doing great by the way) and her baby (Who is adorable by the way) got the hiccups. She then says, "If you cut out a piece of newspaper, wet it with your spit, and stick it on your forehead, the hiccups go away." HAHAHA seriously?! Then my companion agrees with her! Like, seriously people?! She didn’t have any newspaper though so her poor baby was stuck with the hiccups... Ahhh man. So funny though lol

         Also today is Independence Day here. Guess what that means? Even more drunks than usual! We went out running this morning and there were already drunks on the street whistling and saying things I still don’t understand after a year here in Peru... Tonight should be interesting ;)

         Anyway, love you all so much! Time is going to fast and I'll be with you all before I know it! 3 more transfers ahhhh! How did 18 months turn into just 18 weeks SO fast? So crazy. Hope you all enjoy your week! Chowww :)

Love,

Hermana Roper