Ants Ants EVERYWHERE!

Helloooo everyone! 

         One transfer down in Sullana! I’m still here with Hermana Callizaya :) I’m grateful for the transfer we had and we´re ready to work even harder this transfer.

         This week was suuuuper busy. We were in Piura every stinking day! Wednesday I got to see Hermana Arce!! :) We were here in Sullana in an exchange and it was the best ever. I’ve missed her! We had lots of fun :) She’s one of the funniest people I know! One bummer though was that I totally got us lost haha. I knew it would happen sooner or later. But I preferred later :( I don’t know what happened but we ended up not arriving to an appointment because smarty pants Hermana Roper had no idea where we were... In my defense it was dark! And all the streets look the same! It was a good time though :)

         Then Friday we had another exchange and I was in Micaela Bastidas with Hermana Millano from Salt Lake. Once again, SO fun! She is so great! We had a blast. And the best part: She does hair! And she brought all her haircuttin stuff here! So of course I asked her to fix the horrible haircut I got here haha. Gotta love the perks of bein a sister training leader ;) It was a good time though, and I learned so much from her. 

         Our investigators are also doing great. What’s sometimes a bummer is that with exchanges sometimes I miss out on lessons, and it’s hard to know how they’re doing. We just end up trying to fill each other in on what’s going on in the area when the other ones away. This week Jesus and Moises came to church with their mom!! Yay!! And she loved it! :) Okay... She was almost sleeping in Relief Society, but, let’s be honest, the lesson was a little dull Sunday haha. Even Hermana Callizaya was a little sleepy, so we´ll cut Hermana Luz a break ;) It was so great to see her there though with her sons :) SO great! Tonight we´re gonna try to set a baptismal date with her :) 

         We also found a new investigator this week. Her name’s Claudia. She is 21 I think. Her husband just died 4 months ago. He was with another girl in a hotel and ended up shooting himself. Claudia´s sad, but she’s more hurt than anything. She said she’s forgiven him now because he died, but she’s really hurting that he would do that to her. She is now left with her two kids and just needs peace. That’s what she told us she wants. She is loving everything though, especially the Plan of Salvation. She is so anxious to know more! Lessons with her are a little crazy cause her family isn’t as accepting, but she’s super great. It’s sad to see how hurt she is, but we know all she needs is the gospel :)

         Reyneri also got baptized yesterday. I felt the Spirit SO strong! She came out of the water and just hugged her mom and it was just great. It’s great to see how her decision to be baptized is changing her mom as well.

         Funny story about the baptism. Well, we decided it´s not a baptism without cake, so we bought one. Well we set it in the kitchen and went to do something for only like 5 minutes, no lie. Well we come back and there were ants EVERYWHERE! They’re fast little buggers, sheesh! We didn’t know what to do. It was a huge cake. So we decided a little protein couldn’t hurt and served the cake anyway... Yep. That’s how we roll. And not one person noticed. That’s what I’m talkin about haha! I swear it’s impossible to have a baptism without something happening... But what’s important is that Reyneri is happy and that one more person entered into the waters of baptism :)

         Yesterday I also really loved testimony meeting. One RM was sharing his testimony and I loved it. He said, "I started my mission believing something, and came home knowing." It’s so true! A testimony isn’t gained in one day. It’s something that we have to strengthen every single day, and then one day we´ll look back and realize we not only believe, but we KNOW. I know God loves us. I know we have the truth. And I know there are so many people out there waiting to find what we have. I’m so grateful for the mission because I not only believe now, I know. :) 

         Hope you all have a great week! I am beyond excited to see you all Sunday!!! :D See you soon! :)

Love,

Hermana Roper  

I'm Killing The Mosquitoes!

Well hello there everyone :) 

It was a GREAT week! Wanna know why? Yeah? Okay :) Moises and Jesus accepted a baptismal date!! Can I get woot woot?! Oh yeah :) Moises accepted first and then when Jesus found out he was like, well I wanna be baptized too :) Jesus was adorable. He told us that when we come to his house it’s like there’s two angels with him and that when we´re there he can’t help but smile cause we make him happy :) Told you all I´m an angel, and you never believed me ;) It was great though.

Reyneri, another investigator, is getting baptized this coming Sunday so that should be great. What’s really great is that her mom is inactive, but since we´ve been teaching her daughter she has SO many desires to go back to church. She’s really excited and has promised to come back because she realizes something is missing in her life. It will be a great day :)

I’ve never told you about Ana I don’t think... Maybe. But this week with her was so great. She’s gotta be like 40 and is single living with her mom who’s really sick. Right now she’s taking care of two nephews as well and one is about to turn 8 so we’ve been teaching him. We were secretly really teaching her though haha. But now she knows she’s an investigator :) She really appears like a sarcastic, "I could care less", type of person, but she really opened up this week. Her whole entire family is members. Seriously. ALL of them! She’s grown up with the church. This week we challenged her to baptism though and she said no. She said she has a lot of anger against her dad who was a member but then was an alcoholic. She said she can’t ask God to forgive her when she can’t forgive her dad. She said that her dream was to grow up, get married, and have kids, but since her dad left she is here with her mom. She just started sobbing and was like, I don’t know what I’m gonna do when my mom dies. She is super sad, but we´re really trying to help her. Pray for her! She’s one of the strongest people I’ve met. She doesn’t like to show that she’s sad, but we now know the whole story and she just needs a lot of help. 

It was really cool cause we were in a lesson with her and read the scripture D&C 6:22-23. We were tryin to help her recognize that God IS answering her prayers. She read it and everything just went silent. She was just staring at the verses. Something I’ve learned in the mission is that when there’s silence the Holy Ghost can really work with a person, and that’s just what happened. She looked up and was like, "You just gave me my answer. That silence just answered my prayers. I’ve been waiting so long for an answer, and now I have it." The spirit was SO strong! She has her answer, but she just needs to do something about it. 

Lots of amazing things are happening here in Sullana. We have a new bishop, and are really working more with the ward. I’m starting to love it here like I loved it in Piura, which I never thought would happen, let’s be honest haha. But it’ ss been a great week. 

Okay funny story! So the mosquitos here have gotten worse this week and Saturday night I forgot to use repellent. I wake up Sunday morning and Hermana Callizaya is like, "How´d you sleep?" And I tell her that I slept great and she goes, "Oh really? Cause you were killing mosquitos all night in your sleep." haha! She said I was walking around our room clapping my hands in the air and she was like, "Hermana Roper, what are you doing??" And I told her "Hermana calm down. I’m killing them. I’m killing the mosquitos!!!" And then I clapped my hands in the air again and said, "Yep. Got 2 that time." Then I climbed back in my bed and went to sleep lol. What the heck?? I know I sleep talk, but seriously? Hermana Callizaya was a little freaked out but I honestly remember nothing! If one day she wakes up and I’m not there she knows why...

Anyway, it’s been a great week. You’re right, mom. Last year at this time our family became an eternal family, and it’s a week I´ll NEVER forget. I realize, now, more than ever, how amazing it is that my family is eternal. I am so grateful! I KNOW families are eternal. I KNOW God´s plan is perfect, and He wants us to be happy. Sometimes I think we get too involved in worldly worries, when really we just need to realize how amazing life really is. We´re here to be happy! We need to enjoy EVERY minute. One thing that alllll the money in the world can’t ever buy is time. The time we have here is so important. I’m so grateful for the life I have. I love you all so much! And.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW, HAIDYN! Love you so much sissy :) You’re growing up too fast. Hope you have the best day. I´ll be thinking of you all day I’m sure :) 

           Have a great week everyone! 

Love,

Hermana Roper 

We Remember Him Every Day :)

Hola Familia :)

         Another week in Sullana! It’s been a good, but super crazy busy week. I’m lovin Sullana more every day :) Easter was good here…. Just like any other day haha. Yes they celebrate here… BIG time. They’re big time Catholics so it’s crazy! It was so hard to even find anyone to teach all weekend cause they were all inside watching Jesus movies! One guy asked Hermana Callizaya why us Mormons don’t do anything special for Easter and why we don’t remember him and what he did for us and she was like, “Us Mormons remember Him every day. We don’t need a special weekend to remember what He did for us.” That’s right! It’s true though. We should remember Him every day. I’m glad you all had a great Easter though J Everyone looks so great!

         This week, like  I said, was  a crazy one. We had two exchanges and guess what? I survived! The first one was with Hermana Stringham from Salt Lake. She is hilarious! Also a blog stalker haha. Just like you Mom! But sooo funny. She reminds me a lot of me when I first started the mission… Just stressed about the language. But it DOES come. We had a lot of fun, and of course it’s always fun to vent in English J We ended up going back to the room early though because it was like nobody has ever seen two Americans or something! Everyone was staring… And it was dark… And the men in motos are creepers… So we were smarties and headed back to the room haha.

         The second exchange was with Hermana Cisneros from Ecuador an that was good too. Oh! Speaking of Ecuador… I’m going to Ecuador Friday and Saturday for my visa! They just told me last night J That was random… Yep.

         Anyway…. Our investigators are good. The buggers just won’t come to church! Moises came, but doesn’t want to accept a baptismal date. He just says he wants to get baptized, but not right now. What the heck?? Oh! We finally got to teach their mom again and she loves it. I don’t see how this family isn’t baptized already. Seriously.,. She is the sweetest! She said she has a lot of faith and now all that’s left is to choose a religion.

         We also have a new investigator Reyneri. She’s a cutie. She’s 12 and her mom is a member. She should be getting baptized here in two weeks-ish.

         One bummer of the week: Ricardo’s mom. Seriously. We had one of those missionary experiences like Elder Holland talked about in Conference except I didn’t walk away with potatoes in my hair. So she’s the one that wont let him get baptized. Well Saturday night we didn’t have any credit on our phone to call people and the closest place to get some is at the bus station. She works in a little snack shack there and we had been talking to her every once in a while until she sent us a text and asked us to stop. Well, we decided to go back. She let us have it! She pretty much told us that Ricardo won’t be baptized till he’s 25 and if he does she’s kicking him out. She had Hermana Callizaya in tears and then I just had to smile and tell her, “Thank you for letting Ricardo come to church. We know he’s who he is because he’s had a mom like you as an example.” That’s proof I’ve changed! Ooooo I wanted to tell her some other not very nice things… But I’m a missionary. I’m a representative of Jesus Christ. And I couldn’t. And it was so hard. We don’t know what to do now. She said if we or he insists to be baptized she won’t let him attend church. We also can’t go teach him anymore… So that was seriously a bummer. We’ve been quite bummed about that.

         Sorry this letter is so short. This computer wouldn’t work and AHHH. I had to switch computers like three times. I promise pictures and a longer letter next week! J Love you all so much!

Love,

Hermana Roper  

Exact Obedience!

Hola Familia! :) 

         Okay first of all, LOVE the pics haha! You all kill me! Haidyn is so different though sheesh. She’s growing up too fast! Stop it. Pleeeease? Love you all though :) 

         This week was a good one :) I can’t believe April is already half way over. Time is flying, and I still feel so lost here in Sullana! Oh I also got the package you sent, and LOVED it! Loved it all :) My companion did too :) I shared everything with her.... Except the sour patch kids. Mom, you should know by now I don’t share my sour patch kids ;) But really. Thanks so much! 

         This week we’ve been working hard. We have a lot of great investigators, but it seems like they’ve all just hit a wall and don’t want to commit to baptism. It’s frustrating! Jesus and Moises were doing great till their mom said she thought it was all too fast. Now they say they want to be baptized in October. Ummm. NO. But the good news is that we got to talk with their mom and teach them all. We gave her a Book of Mormon and assigned her to read the intro. Well, God is amazing, and instead of reading the intro she flipped open to Alma 32 and LOVED it. She was so impressed and said it really got her curious. Since that day, when we arrive at their house, she is ready with our seats, her Book of Mormon, and ready to learn :) If we can get her to church I know she’ll love it. That’s our goal this week. 

         We also have a lesson with Ricardo’s mom tonight. AHHH! We’re not really sure what we’re gonna say, but our plan is to go in focusing on her and not just asking permission for her son to be baptized. If she can apply it to her life, and feel the spirit she’s going to let him get baptized. Hope everything works out tonight. Psh. Who am I kidding? God has a plan :) 

         We also have Denis who committed to baptism May 3^rd. Yay! 

This week we found a new investigator, Conrado, who too came to church yesterday. He’s great! When we found him he was so sad. He’s 60 somethin and when we found him and started talking to him, he just started crying and said he was to the point he just didn’t want to live anymore. I just wanted to hug him! (Too bad he’s a man and that’s against the rules or I would have...) He came to church yesterday though and loved it. 

         This week we also had Zone Conference in Talara. I just love President Rowley! (In a not weird way.) Hermana Callizaya was like, "I wish I could carry him around on a keychain and have him tell me what to do." Seriously! Love listening to him speak. This conference really focused on the Book of Mormon and Family History. (Everyone should fill out one of those booklets!) There’s one thing I loved that he said though. He looked at us all and said, "Do you have a testimony?" We were all lookin at him like, "Well, duh, President. We’re missionaries...." and then he goes "What time do you wake up in the morning? Do you exercise every day? What time do you go to bed?" Then we we’re all lookin around avoiding eye contact haha and he says, "Thats how you show it. That’s how you show you have a testimony. Through obedience in your mission and in your life you show you have a testimony. Every day from 6:30 to 10:30 you show it." He’s great huh? It really got us thinking. Exact obedience :)

         We also had our first exchanges this week, and I survived. Yay! Tomorrow I’ll be here in Sullana though with an American that just got here that knows no spanish... That should be interesting. Oh! And did I mention I’m still lost? We’ll definitely be carrying the map around all day.... 

         Okay now for some funnies :) First of all, one member, Zully, is my favorite. She is so strong! Her mom passed away two years ago from cancer. One of the strongest people I’ve met. She’s 18 and also hilarious. She leaves with us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Well Friday we were headed to an appointment and there was a newborn kitty that was homeless and crying and sad...... So we took it with us. It’s against the rules for us to have a pet, gosh darn it, so we started knocking door by door asking if someone wanted it. Okay now for the funny part. Zully knew a word in English, but didn’t know what it meant.... Boobs. lol. I tried explaining, but it didn’t make a difference. That’s what she decided to name the kitten. We went door to door and she would knock and say, "Quiere Boobs?" which is "Do you want Boobs?" I was dying laughing! Then she goes on to give the kitten a last name.... Another English word she knew.... Please. Boobs Please. She named the kitten Boobs Please! Haha! I know I totally shouldn’t laugh, but wow. SO funny! When people try to talk in English here it is the funniest! I’m totally immature.... But whatever. 

         Another funny story that happened yesterday. There’s a ton of construction here in Sullana because of water problems. All the streets are torn up and it’s awful. We were headed to an appointment and the street was soooo torn up. It was hard for us to even get to the house! So we start talking (as we’re arriving at the house) and say, "Wow. If there was a drunk walking around here he’d fall for sure!" then step inside the door to see drunks. Lots of them. And they just looked at us like, "Yep. We heard that." SO awkward! They left pretty quick haha. And they didn’t even fall in a hole! Proved us wrong. So funny though. Our faces were soooo red. 

         Our ward here is all reading the Book of Mormon together too before December. I thought it’d be neat if we all do it. We can all read the Book of Mormon before I get home. That means you all have 7 and a half months to do it :) We can do it! I finished the Book of Mormon today so I’mm starting tomorrow again :) Pleeease do it :) 15 minutes every day! Yeah? Okay :) Also... Remember to go to the temple every month!! :)

         Thank you for everything. Really. Love you all so much! Hope you all have a great week, and a great Easter! LOVE YOU!

Love,

Hermana Roper