February...WHAT?

This week…. Hm….. We had a good week. IT IS FEBRUARY EVERYONE. Just if you didn’t know. I am freaking out a little bit. Where did January go? But we had a good week.. you will see through the pics. Sorry I feel lazy. But just two things today.

Well, you are all due for a Madi moment. I was laughing at myself last night in bed with this one. Well, we found a less active named Graciela and she is the mom of one of the young women in our ward. We went to visit her family and then we found her when she actually was extremely welcoming, and told us up front she was a member. We had a lesson with her and from then on out she has goals to go to the temple, be happier, and just get back to church. Which is AWESOME!

But anyways we were in a lesson last night and we were talking about the differences from here and the United States. I then piped up and said… Yeah, I remember looking up pictures on google about Cusco Peru and what the people looked like and the Panai (Pen-eye) people. The missionaries here in the mission call all of the women that dress traditionally with their huge bright skirts and cute little top hats panai´s. Well, last night I said it like it was nothing. My companion nudged me and said…. Hermana Frame stop talking. I was like what? I caught on after I seen their family looking at me like I was crazy.

 That night before we went to bed I asked my companion what happened and she explained that here in Peru they do not call them panai…. Panai is what the men say in quechua when they call them “sisters” in church, but the funniest thing is that only MEN use that word. Haha!  I am in my last part of my mission and still don’t catch on to words I use. Hopefully she wasn’t offended as Graciela is a “panai” in my mind. Haha!

Here is part of a talk that I read this morning that one of my companions got from a BYU devotional given in Idaho years ago. It really spoke to me this morning.

“Brothers and sisters, I would like to suggest to you today that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in 1820 because that’s the only time it could have survived. There is a more pointed question that needs to be asked. Why were you born when you were born? Why weren’t you born in 911, or 1215? Is it because some computer in the cosmos blipped and you came out now? I don’t buy that. I believe you were born in this dispensation, with the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today, because you were somebody before you got here. If you had any idea of who you were before you got here, the hair would stand up on the back of your neck. Joseph Smith said on one occasion, “If I were to tell you who I am, you’d slay me for blasphemy.” Wisely he never told anybody who he was, but he knew. On one occasion, President McKay, president of the Church, several years before his death, on a Sunday evening, didn’t have anything to do, so he took his wife, and said “Let’s go to a fireside.” They went down to a stake center. There were lots of cars in the parking lot so he walks in and their stake president was speaking to a group of young people your age. Eight hundred of them. (Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has disavowed this event and the doctrine therein.) President McKay and his wife walked in. The stake president about swallowed his tie. Walked down to about the eighth row. He said, “Don’t get excited. I want to hear what you have to say.” The president continued with his talk. About halfway through his talk, he stopped and said, “You know, young people, I feel impressed to tell you that before the world was, before the world was, in that war in heaven, each of you in this room served as captains and generals in the Lord’s army.” And then he went on with his talk. It had nothing to do with what he was talking about. As he finished his talk, he looked down at President McKay and noticed President McKay was drilling him with his eyes. His heart stopped. He sat down and thought, “Boy, what have I said?” The closing prayer ended. He jumped up and ran down to President McKay. Looked up to President McKay – everybody looked up to President McKay, he’s a great big guy – and he said, “You know, President McKay, I got a little carried away in my talk tonight. Did I say anything that was inappropriate?” He said, “No, you didn’t say anything that was inappropriate, you were just inaccurate.” “Well, what did I say?” He said, “There were no captains here tonight. They were all generals.” And he said, “Don’t you ever forget it.” And he turned around and walked out.

I have a testimony of that, brothers and sisters. If you were to know who you were before you got here, it would scare you. You know what that means? It means we don’t have the right to do all the dumb stuff a lot of the other young people in the world are doing, fooling around with drugs and alcohol and premarital sex and all that dumb stuff. We don’t have the right. Why? Because we know too much. Why? Because we’re here because we were somebody before we came here and the Lord has sent us here to accomplish some great task. And that task is to take now and export the reality of the fact that the gospel has been restored.”

I know that this gospel has been restored and that we are in the truth. I know that I am here because I need to spread this message. As do all of you. What are you doing to help this work move forward. I have a strong testimony of WHY the gospel was restored and WHY I am here right now in the twentieth century. I have a duty to help others find the truth, to recognize why they came right now, and to help them live better lives. I know Joseph Smith restored the gospel. He did not organize his own church. It is Christ´s church. I am so privileged to be here now helping others find out why as well.

Well, have a great week! Talk with you all soon!

Hermana Frame

Pics

My companion walked out of our pension yesterday with the face of, I am going to puke. AND SHE DID! HAHA! I was laughing so hard as she was throwing up. Our pension made her eat so much… poor thing! She is still not used to it and has been in the mission for how long? Haha!

 All the sisters in our zone! Go Puno Central!

 Hermana Miceli and I had a good idea to make candy posters for our companions! It turned out a huge success. They were laughing so hard!

 I got a call last week right before our district meeting and my distict leader Elder Lundell said “someone” had dislocated his shoulder and needed me to put it back in. Yep, it was him. Haha! So we tried a few things but it wasn’t going back in so he was in the hospital till 10 at night and he called me to tell me how it went and let’s just say he was definitely drugged up. HAHA! Told me “love you!” at the end of the phone call and I just died laughing. We gave him a hard time the next day… it was hilarious.

AND we brought a cake for him… He turned 2 years old. . . no but he completed 2 years in the mission and we celebrated!

 Condor! Super pretty view of Puno!

 We love our small Inca colas! It is only 1 sol! Like 30 cents!

 I had to take a picture of our stake patriarch when we were in a combie together! Haha!

Reading the Book of Mormon with Samuel.

 Studying away on our favorite Sabbath day. My companion obviously got bored…

 Our calendar for Graciela! We are helping her make covenants. Take the sacrament first and then get her to the temple! We are excited!

We visited a few Hermanas this week to give them a little bit of a restart… They in turn gave us treats! Yum! We love all the Hermanas here in Puno. It will be hard to leave them…