Game On!

i’m still alive!! but yeah, i’m constantly sweating. it’s the norm. i wake up with sweat rolling down my head, literally it’s so hot. my face is sweaty, my arms are sweaty - is this too much info? it's so bad. love it!! luckily we eat lunch at 1pm, so we aren’t outside for the hottest parts of the day. also, i’m literally the hungriest sister missionary there ever was. i don’t know what’s come over me, but i am STARVING! we were walking to dinner one night, literally on our way, and i was like “hey breakfast tomorrow is coming up soon!!” thought of the day. i just laugh at myself. :)

so, yogurt is one of my new most favorite things ever. it’s super liquidy here, something you’d drink - like milk. kind of like a melted milk shake? right now i have a bottle of that and a bag of granola in the house (constantly snacking, but it’s healthy right?). i’m enjoying ALL the food from our pensionistas (we don’t cook for ourselves!). the weirdest dinner i’ve had was a block of cheese and some cooked banana slices and bread. FANTASTIC. the second weirdest was one night we just ate like 5 lbs of chocolate cake and that was it. i was like “what the literal freak....welp, okay sweet.” i haven’t eaten any rice since i’ve been here; i just tell them i don't want any and no one's offended and it’s fabulous. :) we drink juice and smoothies with every meal because our pensionistas have blenders!!!!! and there are no bugs floating in them :) mostly.

our sister leaders told me i’m never really going to be able to eat healthily on my mission, which made me want to cry. i’ll show them, right? jk all we eat is potatoes!!

last monday we had FHE [Family Home Evening] with the nube family (and like half the ward) in this little house. they live near water, so all the houses around there are raised up on stilts and you have to climb up!! it was so fun. that night was one of the first that i started getting better at spanish in normal conversations. i just talked to people and cracked jokes!! as in made everyone laugh in a language i dont know - how i have no idea - but laughter is the same in every language!!

funny story: i can’t really tell, but i think my comp [companion], hermana mucha, has called me a “papa seca” more than once. which means "dry potato." i always just miss it, but i’m pretty sure that’s what’s going down! idk what that means but i’m interested, and game on (i’ll call you weird stuff in english).

my biggest challenge right now is learning how to live with another person 24/7, because my comp and i are very different. love and service and patience are so important here! i’m trying to be more teachable, and i’m realizing hermana mucha has much more experience than me and i should listen to her, hahah.

i love our sister leader!! her name is hna [hermana] jackson, and she's from highland, utah. her comp has only been out for 7 weeks, but she’s an awesome light too - seriously love her! they always ask me how i’m doing, and it’s so nice to be able to joke around in english. :)

hahah okay, so at the CCM everyone received their perú ID (it’s like a residency card), but for some reason they didn’t have one for me! they told me they’d send it to me later. but we got a call last week saying i need to FLY to lima to pick it up!! so this friday, the 28th, i’m going back. i’m spending the day and possibly one night with hermana snyder (who’s AMERICAN, YES). my comp will stay with hermana jackson, our sister leader.

SO sorry about the picture situation; last week i ran out of time, and so far we've only had p-day libre [one day free], so we haven’t had any activities to take pics at. i promise to send more soon!! here are a couple of our house.

we gave out our first BOM [Book of Mormon] this week! we committed our investigator, rita, to read and pray, and she already has one church attendance. YES!!! how do i even express this, it makes me so happy that people are coming to know christ’s doctrine through the work we’re doing!

on sunday we had a blitz and my comp and i got split, so i went out teaching with an older woman who was a member in an area i didn’t know! terrifying right? but it was amazing! i didn’t realize how much of a lesson i can actually teach on my own, bc when i teach with hermana mucha she does most of the talking. it’s fine, but yeah apparently i know spanish. :)

i love you all and hope you have a fabulous week!! “peace i leave with you, my peace i give unto you, not as the world giveth give i unto you. let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” john 14:27

hermana wood