Week of change!

Well, in the mission you have so many moments where you feel like you are doing the same thing day in and day out. You have the SAME schedule every day. You get up, you exercise, you study for about 4 hours, you eat lunch, proselyte, eat dinner, proselyte, and return home to plan, and go to bed. Oh but in between that you probably pray 500 times. HAHA! This makes it seem boring but it’s not! There are always people to talk to, people to love, and people to teach. I actually love it!

 But this last week was a bit different! I spent part of it being trained to be a trainer, traveling the 6 hour drive to and from Cusco, and helping my brand new companion start her journey here in Quillabamba. Even though I am in the same place everything has flipped 180! My companion has more energy than the 3 companions I have had!

Meet Hermana Bazo “my daughter”! She is from Lima Peru and loves missionary work! She actually served in Brazil for a few months but became sick, returned home to recover and is now here to start her mission in Cusco Peru! Yay! She is AMAZING! She has almost finished her degree in communications and let me tell you this comes in handy when working with all the people we come in contact with. Or to contact in that matter. We do not let one person pass us by without giving them a card or talking with them. WHAT A BLESSING! She has so much desire to work and with my crazy love for the work we are a perfect match! The Lord has blessed me with her at this time to help the work progress here in Quillabamba!

I want to write a little bit about how the love of a parent for their child is incredibly life changing. From the love I have from my parents, to the love Yessica (my investigator) has for her daughters to learn the gospel, to the love I have for my trainer, to the love that Heavenly Father has for us as His children. I have been able to feel the pressure of being a “parent” so to say as I have helped my companion in her first few days here in the mission Cusco Peru. The anxiety I have had to be the perfect trainer, to teach her everything, and to make sure she knows I love her is overwhelming! I don’t know how parents do it! Now I understand a little bit more! I want everything good for her and to leave our training completely ready to take on the world. Mom and Dad, wow I now understand.

 But I also realized last night that it is the same with our Heavenly Fathers love but 1,000,000 times more powerful. He wants us to succeed. He loves us when we aren’t perfect parents, but we try. He cares about each little thing we are doing. He wants us to know that he loves us. He wants us to become better, to push us at times but in the end to help us understand that this life is one of learning continuously. I love my companion and am excited for our next little bit together. Mom and Dad, thank you for your example as parents. I am truly humbled and blessed to have you. This last week has been a huge realization for me! Thank you for your love.

Well, enjoy the pictures!

My companion and I when we met and also with all the other trainers with their companions.

I was able to see lots of the Hermana’s in my past districts and the

 Hermana leaders I have served with and oh the fun we had!

Here in Quillabamba the last few days they have had what they call “pasa calles” which is when bands from all over Peru come and perform. They dance all over Quillabamba. There is 55 different dances and literally for 3 straight days we have had constant noise! Oh but how fun it has been for me! It is like a 3 day straight parade! We have been able to contact a lot too! YAY!

Also oh the love I have for Hermana Yessica! We are hoping to finish her papers to get married and be baptized this month! Her daughters are amazing and OH I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH! I love this work and can’t take any of my time for granted. Thank you for all of your help and love.

Yes. I wrote something this week.

Shout out to Connor Brown. 

 He followed me to Cali but couldn't find me.  

I was sneaky and got a picture 

by his car without him noticing.  

(disclaimer: that was not Connor's car.  

It was an old mexican man's

 that yelled at us for taking 

a picture by his car.)

Hey everybody.

Yes.  I wrote something this week.  I'm sorry about last week. I know you were all anxiously sitting at all of your computers last Monday waiting in righteous anticipation of my letter. Ha.  Yeah, no, we went to the temple on Tuesday so they just made Tuesday our preparation day instead of Monday.  So my emailing was done on Tuesday instead of Monday.  So yeah, sorry bout that.

Anyways, THE LEONARDO GIRLS ARE GETTING BAPTIZED ON JUNE 7TH AND PRESIDENT CLARK IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZING SUSAN, ELDER AGAZZANI IS BAPTIZING GISELLE AND I'M BAPTIZING ASUSENA!  WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING!  I LOVE THIS FAMILY SO MUCH!  IT'S GOING TO BE THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!  Hermana Leonardo is the only one who isn't sure about being baptized on that day!  I have great faith that she will though because we are bringing President Clark to teach with us again this week!  WE ARE GOING TO DROP A SPIRITUAL BOMB ON HER AND SHE'S GOING TO WANT TO GET BAPTIZED THAT DAY BUT THEN WE'LL SAY "YOU SHOULD GET BAPTIZED ON JUNE 7TH WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS," THEN SHE'LL SAY "OK."  So yeah.  That's exactly how it's going to play out and it's going to be GREAT!  What a great work I have the chance to be a part of!  Then they'll all get sealed a year from now and then that will be the greatest day of my life thus far.  Yeah.  They're pretty much the greatest family I've ever been adopted into. (That is, assuming I wasn't adopted into my first one....)  So yeah that's my biggest news from this past week.

Other than that we did some cool service on Saturday at the Pioneer village here in Selma.  We cleaned a really old church, schoolhouse, and house.  The house reminded me of every scary movie I've ever seen.  It was really freaky cleaning it.  Every time I had to open a door I had my consecrated oil ready to splash whatever dead thing popped out to kill me.  I don't know if that would've done anything but it was extenuating circumstances so we made do with what we had....

So. Yeah.  Keep reading and praying and going to church. You can never ever ever ever ever ever go wrong in life if you continue to do those things and do them with a sincere desire to become converted to the gospel.  I testify of those three things.  I want to quote scripture to verify that my testimony is real and true: by small and simple things come about the big and super awesome stuff like conversion and eternal families and stuff.  (Doctrine and Covenants ## : ## -## ; some additions or changes in the scripture may have occurred.)  Yeah, I'll find that reference right after I finish emailing to be able to actually quote it next time, but you get the general idea.  Do the small things in life and the natural result will be a converted, solid, rooted in Christ YOU.

Anyways, I love you all and have a great week!!

Elder Frame

Photos: 

We got our hair cut by Asusena and Susan!  

They are still learning so elder agazzani got a huge part!

It was so funny!  

I got my hair cut second so it doesn't look too bad.  

I did a couple of mugshots so you can get the full effect!

Super Creepy house we cleaned for service on Saturday.  There was a bunch of creepy dolls and old stuff all over the place.  Basically every single scary movie house you've ever seen was all rolled into one in this house.

Elder Bean and I had to break into our apartment because we left the keys back at the church and we have to conserve miles on our car so we had to figure out how to break in to grab our phone we forgot that morning.

Elder Bean trying to look good while unlocking a window.

Almost in baybee!

WE MADE IT!

WE MADE IT

Victory Pizza Bites.

Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words

The subject is my opt out of writing a lot since I don't have a lot of time left.  Still know I love you all.

Love yall!!

Swedish Festival fighting!  It was pretty cool.

Me killing one of the 

super nerd knight guys 

that are really cool!

#tempselfie

I AM FAMOUS!

Hahahhhahahhahahahahahaha NOT! But this week it was quite the funny story because I was right in the middle of a meeting and one of the sisters leans over and shows me her phone and says… LOOK ITS YOU! What? Haha there is a blogger that emailed and asked for a few pictures of my mission and I said, well you can use any from a blog my Mom is updating… HAHAHA and bam I am on his blog, LDS living, and MormonSUD. WOW! He sent me the blog website! It is of me and abuelita! Haha, anyways random fun fact about this week.

These are the websites with my photo!

http://mormonsud.org/3092/20-fotos-impresionantes-de-misioneros-en-el-mundo

http://www.missiongeek.net/2015/05/20-inspiring-mission-photos/ 

I don’t have a ton of time but as of right now I am without a companion but will soon be getting one! I AM GOING TO TRAIN! I GET TO BE A MOM! In the mission we have a language that we call our trainers mom and dad, and they call us sons and daughters. Random but for instance Hermana Hoskins is my Mom! But now it is my turn! Wahoo! I will be training a Latina and that is all I know at this point! But it is crazy because I will have like 11 months in the same area! WAHOO almost a year in the same area! Training takes 2 transfers, so three months. Wahoo three more months! I enjoy Quilla and am actually really excited! Off to Cusco tomorrow to meet her, and next week you will be able to meet her. I am so excited!

This week for my spiritual tidbit…. Well, it is advice for life. But words are powerful. Always speak kind words. The song comes into my head that my mom would always sing to me… WE ALL SPEAK KIND WORDS TO EACH OTHER with the cute tune to go with it. But as I have been able to be with other Hermana’s and also with my companions I realize that it is vital. Never talk down on others. Be kind in every situation. We do not know what everyone is going through. Be understanding; be thoughtful, and full of charity. When others feel your love they trust you, they want to be around you. I absolutely despise words that cut deep, that degrade or belittle. Look inside yourself and ask if what you say, and the conversations you have you wouldn’t regret?

Words are powerful. Remember our savior. He always said the right thing, with love even if it was to correct, testify, or serve.

I love my work and thank you for all your prayers and support!

Hermana Frame

WE made lasagna this week and it was definitely Peruvian style! Now I know that everything doesn’t come in a can.... hence the blender to blend the tomatoes and onions and wow! The preparation was a lot different.

A few pics with members as Hermana Liza said bye!
 Oh the emotions leaving the members. Luckily it’s not my time! Yay!

The baptism the Hermanas had this weekend was AMAZING! To see a full family in white starting their journey was incredible. I loved every second of it! Funny tidbit is that the Mom is expecting twins next month and the elder baptizing her told me that I need to be ready if something crazy happens like she goes into labor. Oh, the comments I get because they know I am a nurse. It was beautiful night though and to see their commitment TOGETHER was amazing. It is what the gospel is about. Bringing families together, making covenants, and being together forever.

Hermana Liza and I the day she left! 

We got polo’s that day with all our names on them!

 Shout out to uncle JJ for the BRONCOS!

HEY EVERYBODY!

Good-bye Elder Moreno and Elder Kane dinner.                                            Good-bye dinner mug shots

THE LEONARDO KIDS CAME TO ALL THREE HOURS OF CHURCH!  I know that might be elementary for most of you but for an investigator(s) that's a huge chunk of sit-around-and-do-nothing-day!  So they came to all three hours and they are now excited to go to mutual this Wednesday and to participate more!  What the AMAZINGLY AWESOME!  God is helping us out so much! As for their parents they stayed home to work on the house and whatnot.  Daggum.  President Clark offered to come teach Sabbath Day Observance with us either this week or the next so yeah.  He'll come and slap them all in face with the spirit and do some really cool teaching stuff and then they'll all come to church every week!  We've taught them Sabbath Day twice and they are only coming occasionally so we don't really know what we're doing wrong.  President will come and help us though!  YEAH! SO COOL!

Ha we are such a goober family.  We skyped at the Leonardos and they said our family was really "lively and loud."  Elder Agazzani then talked to his family and they were all calmly talking in Spanish and it just further confirmed to the Leonardos that my family was every bit as weird and loud and crazy as I was. Haha FRAME FAMILY FOR LIFE BABEE!

So anyways.  I'll just end with my testimony that what I'm doing out here is the most important work that can be done on this earth at any time.  I'm helping families be sealed into the eternities.  I'm not out here to only baptize.  That's just the gateway ordinance.  I'm out here because every ordinance, all the scriptures, every doctrine we teach, all of it points to the temple and eternal families.  I'm so grateful and humble that I'm being allowed to participate in this great work and it's been the greatest decision of my life to come out here.  Jesus is the Christ.  I'm so humbled to be his representative.  There is no other place in the world I would rather be right now than in Parlier California declaring and testifying of the greatest life the world has ever seen.  I know this work to be the work of God and it is changing eternal destinies.  My experience out here in the mission so far has been by far, the funnest, happiest, craziest, most stressful, life altering, emotional roller coaster I've ever ridden. And I'm enjoying in every single second of it.

Love yall.

Elder Frame

BAJA BLAST IS AMAZING! (with elder Kane)

3 vital

THE BROWNIES WERE A HIT! YAY!

 And of course the chocolate chip cookies. 

Of course they loved them...

 Sugar, sugar, sugar...

 We know how to do it in the USA!

Well, this week we had a great week but it was one of the most stressful! Crazy times including inviting everyone and their dog to the activity that we had. IT WAS AWESOME!   Probably because it was all centered around eating  tons of desserts. You probably won’t recognize a ton of them because they are Peruvian but I can say that it was great! We received lots of references from the members who came.

We decorated in literally the 30 minutes we had… Thanks to my Moms quick balloon birthday stringing balloons we did that and my comp did the letters as they walked in. It was a huge success! 

You can tell by the mess in our room that we had quite the week!

Oh and yes I did make brownies and chocolate chip cookies and they we all asking for the recipe after! Wow! Haha! 

I loved making cookies with members in our rama! 

She loved stirring, adding more flour, 

adding chocolate.... made me miss my two little brothers!

But I sat there that night just grateful for the opportunity I get to be here helping strengthen the ward, create friendships, and help others come to the gospel… even if it means to bribe them first with sweets! Haha no! but it was great!

I want to also say that ATTITTUDE IS EVERYTHING. This week was a little stressful and a lot has happened within our district and my poor companion was pushed to the limit with her fractured ankle (in which 6 shots I have given her to help with the pain), and having the zone leaders gone for the whole week with planning and inviting everyone was crazy but great! I just have a huge testimony of always having a good attitude. Whether I am contacting ornery people, to eating food that looks a little weird, to teaching a whole lesson by myself without notice……. IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE…. I can do hard things… And I can do it with a POSITIVE ATTITUDE. My week was great because I chose each day to wake up and make it the best day of my life. Wow, I love my mission if you can’t tell… Haha!

Also, I want to say something regarding the title of my email…. 3 vitals.

Prayer, reading your Book of Mormon, and going to church. 

Three things that will change your life daily for the good. First, are you praying every day at least twice a day kneeling speaking with your father in heaven? Second, reading the Book of Mormon Daily. I can testify to this. And not only reading but applying it! It has become a habit for me over the last few years and there are miracles. There are answers to questions, comfort, and ways to improve your life on each page. Open it even if it 5 minutes a day. And the last one. GO TO CHURCH! And enjoy it. It is meant to be a time to refuel for the next week to come.  I love that my last companion taught me that we don’t have to endure to “the end”. We endure “to the next Sunday”. Through the sacrament we can continually remember our purpose here on earth, change our hearts as we repent, and come closer to Christ.

I love my mission! It isn’t old news… I say that every week! But family it WAS AWESOME TO SEE YOU! You all look great and please know that I love you with all my heart. Until next week!

Hermana Frame

HELLO EVERYBODY!

Last leadership meeting for our zone before transfers!

TRANSFERS THIS WEEK! I'm staying so yeah, it's not that big of a deal. It's weird though because the next time we have transfers we will be the transfer that decides if you are going to the Modesto mission or if you are going to stay here in the California Fresno mission.  I don't really care which one I go to as long as I can come back for baptisms of people I taught down here in the CFM.  One part of the gearing up for the split was that 3 assistants were called.  One will go to the Modesto mission and the other two will stay.  It's also funny that the 2 new assistants that were called were both my zone leaders. Ha!  So that's pretty cool I guess.

Still working with investigators in all different phases of the path that leads to baptism. Nobody wants to come to church so that's something we're working on currently.  Other than that we have a bunch of people reading the Book of Mormon, praying, attending mutual, and that WANT to be baptized but aren't doing the actions necessary to BE baptized.

I actually related that to our lives.  We may WANT to go to the Celestial Kingdom, we might WANT to become a better person, we may WANT to stay active in the church.  We can have all the correct desires and still be sinning up a storm and going nowhere!  Faith without works is dead.  You gotta DO.  The desires are good but they are not enough.  You can wish for a better car but it's not until you go DO the necessary things like earn the money and go buy the car that you are going to actually fulfill that desire.  So let's DO.  Don't lose those good desires but don't just sit there and wait to be acted upon.  ACT.  God gave us agency and a body to DO things.  Anyways.  I'll step down from my soap box now.

Love you all!

Elder Frame

Happiness and some Chicha

So first of all I had a great week! But short time as usual to fit in all I want to say!

This last week I had such a funny experience, and yes of course it would be one of my “Madi moments”.

 My last companion Hermana Hoskins warned me probably in the first month of my mission that there is a drink here called Chicha that is a drink similar to Chicha-morada. I drink Chicha-morada probably at every meal;  but Chicha is totally different! Chicha is prepared and left out to ferment for a day or for a few days and they sell it on the side of the road in buckets. I have never encountered it and never thought I would.

UNTIL THIS WEEK! HAHAHAHAHA!

 I die just thinking about it! Oh I struggle. But anyways Hermana Liza and I went to a menus activos house and at the end of the lesson we were walking out and she invited us to a drink. I looked at it and was like this is different than usual… but took a drink and then really knew it was not chichi-morada! My companion turned around from talking with her son and immediately asked the Hermana to put the drink in a bag to take with us because we had a “appointment” to be at right now. So as we were in the moto I realized. OH CRUD I JUST DRANK ALCOHOL. Hahahahaha! My companion was dying laughing and yes, I felt a little odd for the next 6 hours and my stomach hurt but no worries I was fine.

 After, I felt so bad. I have repented. But who can honestly say they drank an alcoholic beverage while they were on their mission. Well, in my case drank an alcoholic beverage EVER in my life! Yeah, I just put it in my past and the Lord knows I didn’t mean to!!! Haha!

Anyways, I want to share a few points that as I was studying this week that I really want to share. It is 10 rules for happiness from David O. McKay

1.         Develop yourself by self-discipline.

2.         Joy comes through creation-sorrow through destruction. Every living thing can grow; use the world wisely to realize soul growth.

3.         Do things that are hard to do.

4.         Entertain up building thoughts. What you think about when you do not have to think about shows what you really are.

5.         Do your best this hour, and you will do better the next.

6.         Be true to those who trust you.

7.         Pray for wisdom, courage, and a kind heart.

8.         Give heed to God{s messages through inspiration. If self-indulgence, jealousy, avarice, or worry have deadened your response, pray to the Lord to wipe out these impediments.

9.         True friends enrich life. If you would have a friend, be one.

10.       Faith is the foundation of all things- including happiness.

This has really helped me this week. Happiness is found in living the gospel but these are specific in HOW we find it each day. I want to testify that all of these are about change. Changing your self each day, each hour to become more like Christ. In the mission as I apply each of these points I find myself happier. And who doesn’t want happiness? Everyone deserves to be happy and in my mission I have encountered so much sadness. It sounds cheesy but seriously.

Well, enjoy the pics! I was able to make brownies with Mery-a member that I adore! She is always helping us as missionaries. The brownies were delicious by the way but all the Peruvians freak out because us Americans put so much sugar in everything! Haha our desserts definitely have a lot of sugar in them compared to here!

Also we went to 7 tinajas again for my companion! She loved it and it gets prettier each time I go! Haha!

Oh and I wanted one of the coconuts in the tree outside our building so of course I rounded up all the Hermanas-no elders were there to help so I found a way and WAHOO! I got to drink coconut milk. #GRATEFUL

Well, have a great week! Thank you for all your support!

Hermana Frame