It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

So this week has flown by.  Time is flying.  And it is kinda freaking me out a little bit because when transfers come it's really likely that Elder Budding leaves Modesto and I get put with somebody that doesn't know the area and I'll have to lead the area!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH! That's in 2 weeks!  I gotta figure out to do this mission thing before then!  I mean, I've been here for about 3 months now, but it's gonna be weird not having Elder Budding being able to help me out when I crash and burn anymore!  Shoot.  I'm actually gonna have to do stuff.  Anyways, here's everything that has happened.

 It has been raining like crazzzzzyy!  We've had flooding and there's been warnings and stuff. At one point, Elder Budding and I prayed to know if we needed to go find the Ark so we could be saved! I've thanked the Lord for putting me in a car many times since the rains have come though!  Haha, no, the rains have been an answer to prayers because California has been in a huge drought for a long time and the rain has been super needed!  God bless California.

Erick is super excited for his baptism and was telling everybody at church about it!  So that's a good sign!

Elizabeth Renteria is as ready as ever for her baptism on the 27th!  Her husband Carlos has started to come try out church!  It's been awesome! He's gonna be converted!  Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh!

So we found a new investigator through visiting less actives!  Her name is Melissa!  She is separating from her less-active husband and she needs something to strengthen her and so we knocked on their door looking for her husband and BOOM!  The Gospel is here to save her life!  She's awesome!  We even brought a member named Brother Sessions to fellowship her!  She showed up to church on Sunday and brought her two kids! That's what I'm talking about!  The Lord is blessing us for following President Clarks mission vision of finding through Less Actives!!!

Christmas is almost here and the He is the Gift video brings the spirit so much in lessons!  I love this time of the year!

Anyway, this has been kind of a random letter and I love you all!

ORAN SIEMPRE!

Elder Frame

So this week I have pictures and words with them!

 In the moto waiting for Wendi! This week we had our first investigator have her interview for baptism! We are planning her baptism for the 27^th! This girl is so awesome! I am sad she isn’t in the picture. But this is us waiting for her at 7 in the morning because it was the only time she could have a lesson before her interview! She is so close! But as we have been teaching her I have been so nervous. I freak out because I want them to be this spiritual giant when they get baptized but in reality they are starting as a little seed and we are helping them nurture that seed… But oh the stress! We are excited to see her be baptized because she was the first one we started teaching when we opened the sector. But oh how funny it is we have lessons in her moto! Oh the things that happen in Peru!

Our water! Yeah so we can buy bottled water and in the big 5 gallon jugs but it’s too much of a hassle for us so we just end up boiling the water and putting in this container… Until we took this picture!!!! OH MY GROSS!! It literally looks like healthy urine. Yeah, well lucky to say I am not sick at all and my GI system is amazing! I really haven’t been sick! SO BLESSED! 

Oh and the one of the water bottle with the funnel and paper towels. My comp was sick of having “floaties” in her water so she did this so she could chug her water. We have filter water bottles but man, the struggle is real here in South America! Haha!

                               

The coconut tree!!! This is in the front part of our capilla-church… Yeah I totally have a coconuts growing right outside our church. Well one elder decided to climb it and break it open… But it isn’t ripe yet! So sad! They will be in a few weeks though! I am so excited because the coconut milk tasted disgusting!!!!

Breakfast this morning for p-day! So for breakfast we had pan con huevos and chocolate con leche- basically a piece of bread with a fried egg and then a chocolate drink. But the chocolate drink is hot and OH MY GOODNESS SO GOOD! It is made from literal bars of chocolate that they melt, put hot milk in with water, and then we put sugar in as we eat it. I love it! But this is a really common breakfast here in Peru. I LOVE IT!!

The last picture is the two of us during comp study! This is literally how it started that day… My comp says “well, I studied about prophets and honestly it is kind of boring…” and then it slowly started to go into a discussion about the dispensations of when the gospel was on the earth, all the different prophets and when they lived and slowly we got into how our gospel has spread to all the different parts of the earth. We also discussed how amazing it was how our country went through all it did so the gospel could be restored when it was! I had one of those lightbulb moments of WOW THIS GOSPEL IS SO AMAZING! Without Christopher Columbus, all the wars we went through, and the leaders of our country I would not be here in Peru preaching the gospel. The people here would have never had the chance. I would not have the gospel. Wow. But if you want to read about what we studied look up 1 Nephi 13: 10-19 and 2 Nephi 10:7-14. It is so cool! Nephi prophesied of so many things that were going to happen!

Anyways! As Christmas is coming closer and closer I love love love love love LOVE LOVE the chance I have to be here and to have the opportunity to share the gospel. Christ is the center of our church and to have the chance to celebrate his birth and life is the reason of the season. I hope you are all having a great Christmas season. Love you all! Until next week!

Hermana Frame

Another Week in Adam-ondi-desto

So, Marilu has moved away.  Yeah.  That's exactly how we heard about it too.  We were gonna start teaching her the new member lessons since we baptized her and all. She didn't show up to church the week after she got the Holy Ghost.  That was weird but we figured she just was out of town or something.   Then she wouldn't answer any of our calls or texts.  So that kind of worried us.  Then we went to her house, cars gone, house empty.  So that kinda worried us.  Asked around the ward if any of them have seen her or talked to her or her kids for the past 5 days.  Nobody.  That made us more worried.  We kept calling her then she finally texted us that she had moved to San Jose and that she found work there and that she was really grateful for us and what the gospel did and was still doing for her.  So yeah.  At least she's still strong and going to church and stuff, BUT SHE MOVED AWAY!  We didn't even get to say Nos Vemos or Hasta Luego or Cuidase!  She just left!  Dang!

Anyway, enough crying.  Here's what’s going on over here in Adam-ondi-desto.

1.  My Spanish is coming along super good!  Elder Bartold and I went to branch council together on Sunday and I was able to understand everything and tell them everything I wanted to!  YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!  Gift of Tongues POWER!  That's what I'm talking about!  Good thing that I've got an all powerful God to help me out right!?

1 1/2.  Also went on exchange with Elder Bartold.  THAT was interesting.  So his Spanish is worse than mine, I didn't have that much confidence in mine either at the time, he didn't know his area at all since it was like the second week of the transfer and I still don't know the area either since it's the city of Modesto which is 200,000 people!  So we went on exchange in his area and ended up knocking doors for 3 hours.  It was actually pretty fun.  Every Spanish person we ran into was an adventure and it was fun to get to know Elder Bartold better!  Poor dude.  His body doesn't like him right now, so it's doing everything possible to make him go to the doctor!  He'll get through it though!  He was an endure to the end runner before the mission too, so he's got it!

2.  Erick says he's 70% ready for baptism.  We told him that's baloney and that he's 100% ready and that we'd prove it to him, so we went over the baptismal questions with him and turns out he's more like 30% ready.  We asked him the Law of Chastity question and he said, "Chastity, what's that?"  Whoops.  We talked over his baptism again and he and we feel more comfortable with the 20th of December.  So we are going to be going over there a lot more to teach him!

3.  Ok, coolest story of them all.  So the Robert and Elizabeth Renteria have the dates for the 27th and we were focusing on solidifying them for that day. We went over Wednesday night and before we even started Elizabeth told us that she knew she needed to be baptized on the 27th and that she had been putting it off too long.  She told us that she wanted to wait for her husband but that she knew that it would take too long for him to accept the gospel for her.  YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH!  It was super amazing!  Her mom was in tears!  Then her and her mom bore their testimonies in church on Sunday on her baptism and on eternal families and we were all temporarily translated!  Their testimonies were super powerful!  Oh man!  I wish all of our other investigators could have been there!  Robert still is struggling with a testimony but with a mom and sister like that (and missionaries like us) he’s gonna be baptized for sure.

4.  So the Pentatonix Christmas album is probably the greatest Christmas album in the world.  Listen to it and be filled.  (BTW, we have permission to listen to any Christmas music after Thanksgiving so don't think I'm all apostate or anything.)

5.  We are also converting to President Clark's mission vision and we are visiting solely less actives to do our finding. We haven't seen much fruit from it yet but we will.  We have faith.

So yeah that's what's going on.  Also, as a Christmas gift President Clark gave us a book to read called Believing Christ.  I've read it twice so far!  It's amazing!  It's about Christ and his Atonement.  The overall theme is you can believe Christ, believe that he's real, believe that he's the savior, believe he was born and died on this earth, believe that he's the son of God, but, do you really believe IN Christ.  Do you believe that he can heal you?  Do you believe his Atonement covers EVERY SINGLE ONE, of your sins, no matter the seriousness?  Because if you don't, you actually don't have enough faith in Christ to be saved.  It's an amazing book!

Love you all!

Elder Frame

Also, disclaimer.  I may have told you that writing handwritten letters is better.  I was lying.  I didn't know that we only have Preparation day to write letters when I said that and our Preparation Days are so crazy, I hardly ever have time to actually write a letter to you all.  So if you sent/ are sending hand written letters, I will love them and cherish them, but I will most likely end up answering you by email.  I love yall!  Stay true!

CHRSTMAS SEASON… or Mango Season Same thing here…

Hey this is a song that is so common in Peru for Christmas!

 It is about going to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus on a donkey! 

We LOVE singing it.

This is going to be short today but I want to share a few things I have learned and loved studying about this week, and then as always enjoy my photos! This last week has been so great! I have been studying so much about the Savior and His Life but also the basic doctrines of the gospel. We were discussing as a companionship how the awesome investigators are the ones that have questions. They really question if the church is true, whether God loves them, why there is suffering, how the gospel can bless their family, where they came from, where they are going… I have always grown up in the gospel and this has been the greatest thing that Heavenly Father can bless me with but I have thought that questioning the gospel is bad. I didn’t want to question it because that was meaning I was having doubts. That meant I wasn’t strong. NO THAT IS COMPLETELY WRONG! We need to ask God. We need to test it. We need to know the church is true. If we are questioning it means you understand the importance of the information and you want to know it is true.  In the introduction to the Book of Mormon it says… “We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, in the name of Christ if it is true. If you ask in faith you will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost.” This book is the keystone of our religion.  It is the guide we have for this mortal life. If we abide by its teaching our lives are filled with purpose and we can become more like Christ. The Book of Mormon speaks of Christ, His Atonement, and love of all mankind. This season, the Christmas season is the reason we celebrate. I love the song O Come All Ye Faithful… It is amazing. Come and Adore Him. Adore Him. Love Him. Want to be around Him, in His presence, and learn of Him. Come and Behold Him, Born the King of Angels. He was born for us. He was born for you and me. I read in a pamphlet we hand out… “As you rely on the Atonement, you will experience joy, peace, and consolation. All that seems unfair in life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the mercy and love of our Heavenly Father.” The message I am able to share on this mission, in Quillabamba Peru specifically is true or it’s not. Ask, seek and knock and it will be given. Oh how I love being a missionary. I LOVE IT WITH ALL MY HEART! This season come “adore” Him, behold Him, and share this light. I hope you are all enjoying this season!

MANGOS! Yum!

Oh and for the title of this week! It is Mango season here! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Mango season…. WOW! I can’t even describe how good they are. We love to buy them from the Mercado each Monday and Thursday completely fresh probably picked that day and eat them. Oh they are so juicy and so yummy! We have probably two a day or more because members love giving them to us. One Hermana would not stop giving them to us!!! I think I ate 5 mangos in one sitting! While you are all eating gingerbread and candy canes I will be eating the Mangos! MMMM…good!!!

They also smash up the mangos and make like a Popsicle like thing and it’s a helado

.

Sorry not a crazy week! I have so many stories, but no time… Goodness me, the struggle! I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season!

Hermana Frame

The doors here! It is so weird. You walk into like a garage and then there is like 4 or 5 bedrooms where families all live in each of those rooms. 

 The chicolac is a chocolate drink that they freeze here in Quillabamba that we love getting when it is hot during the day!!!

 

Elections in Peru this week! It is a law they can’t hold any type of service, drink alcohol, or basically do anything but vote and it was on Sunday so I didn’t have church, it was so weird! And they walk the streets a few days before as advertising or campaigning... weird!!

And our cute decor!

This week has been AWESOME.

I had the honor of cutting the Turkey.  It was awesome.  I had a lot of taste tests.

Foooooooooooooooooood!  Fooooooooooooooooootball!  These are a few of my favorite things.  We had an awesome thanksgiving. 

This is how it went:

Wake up.

Play football as zone from 6:30-8

Go to apartment to eat food in order to get ready for football.

Play football with the YSA ward from 8:30- 12:30

Eat food with YSA ward.

Go to apartment to rest from football and eat leftover food from member dinners for lunch.

Go to the Browns for Thanksgiving dinner at 3:00 to eat food.

Eat food at Browns while playing games until 7:00.

Go to Familia Roja casa for food at 7:30.

Eat food at Roja's until 9:00.

Go home and sleep knowing we've gained double our weight.

 

Apples to Apples fun with everybody!

So yeah.  That was basically our day.  We weren't allowed to proselyte because of family time for everybody else.  It was amazing.  Funny tidbit about the next day.  Our whole zone was walking around like hurt and sore old men hobbling around because we all played so much football on Thanksgiving.  It was worth it.

 Don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but we both are really big into Harry Potter, so we are always going off in British accents to quote some part of the Harry Potter movies.  Ha anyways, Moses Brown the youngest boy in the Brown family had some wizarding garb so we dressed up for an action shot.

 Elder Budding: Wizarding Extraordinaire

CHRISTMAS IS OFFICIALLY HERE!!!!!  My companion hates Christmas music already.  Thanks for all the music mom!  So the “He is the Gift”  video is amazing and we show it as much as possible.  Go and watch it if you haven't already!  It's super sweet!

Hey go and lift somebody.  Serve.  It will bring you so much more satisfaction and joy than you feel right now.  That's a promise.

Les amo mas que saben.

Elder Frame

The Thug Life of Service

Spanish Elder's Swag

All Dogs Go to Heaven- well except for one!

The primary kids in the branch here in Quillabamba.
They had their program this Sunday and it was
so cute and so weird to hear in Spanish! But I loved it!  

So this week I have abnormally came across dogs of all kinds. I love most of them… Yes even the stray ones that are totally gross and disgusting that look like big furry mops that should look white and they are black from not having one bath their whole life. But I love dogs. I always have. We were able to make friends with Dolly-or Dogo who is a member’s dog that goes with us everywhere! Literally I love it. Then there was a puppy I was able to hold and play with in an investigators house that WAS SO CUTE!!! It was so small and black and white- and oh if we could only have dogs in the mission. I would love it! But, I do have to say that I truly believe that every dog on this earth will go to heaven. I do believe that. UNTIL I WAS BIT BY A DOG! Yes, it is true! I was the one person before my mission to think I was the exception. NOPE! We were going to visit a non-member, and someone who lived in the same house as them was just outside the door. We asked her if we could go inside and she allowed us in but meanwhile her small dog did not understand and as we were walking in it bit me! It was being protective I guess! Goodness me. It didn’t even bark or anything! SERIOUSLY! My companion thought I just stubbed my toe or something. So I acted like nothing was wrong because she was already talking to the non-member but I looked at her and said… Make another appointment because we need to go. As we left, I was trying not to swear at the dog as we walked by and not limp as we walked home. Oh my goodness!!! I thought it was so funny because me of all people. Really. Haha! But pray that I don’t get rabies! No, it is an owned dog and we just have to go back to the same house to check and see if the dog is diseased. Like I want to see that dumb dog again. My leg is healing great though. It wasn’t even that bad because the dog was small so that was a blessing! But no worries at all! I have not been affected at all! Just a bruise and some puncture wounds is all…

 

Dolly/dogo my favorite dog in the whole world. 

And no I did not take a pic of the dog that bit me. 

It makes me mad just thinking of the dang dog. 

I know I just said dang. I will repent. HAHA!

Today is December 1! IT IS CHRISTMAS SEASON! Don’t worry I will celebrate with my palm trees, rainy weather, and humidity. Oh it is so weird for me but oh so good! We were introduced to the video this morning of what will be shared this Christmas season by the church and I AM SO EXCITED! They made pass along cards especially for this and we as a companionship are so excited to share the message of Jesus Christ. Watch the video on Christmas.mormon.org! And share it. The message I am getting to share is so special to me. Our church is centered on Jesus Christ and this is what the season is about. You hear it all the time but it is true. I don’t have a lot of time this week. I hope you all have a great kick off to the Christmas season. Eat lots of Christmas treats because here fruit-cake is a big deal… We will see what I think of it.

Love you all!

Hermana Frame

At night here. Not great quality but this is a pic of a wow! I am in Peru moment! Haha!

Me in the alomeda where we walk down every day! Look how green it is here I LOVE IT! 

Me and my comp at dinner for her birthday this week!
 We are eating a Peruvian dish of salchipapas-
basically hot dogs and french fries that are deep fried
with our inka-kola! YUM!

AMAZING!

Marilu and Brandon's baptism.  They had super good fellowshipping
so Elder Budding and I didn't even have to get our feet wet!

So, this week we finally baptized Marilu and Brandon!!  It was such an awesome experience!  I was the pianist. Ha!  It was super awesome!  I also got to be a witness!  Funny story too.  I filled the font too low so it was pretty hard for Marilu to go all the way under and so she had to be baptized twice.  Good thing Elder Budding and I were the witnesses cause then some other dude would have been like "Hey who's the idiots who didn't fill the font enough for her to go completely under!?"  Ha but yeah that was super spiritual! 

Michael Bartold from Spanish Fork Utah!  Craaaaaazzzzyyyyy!

So super crazy!  Transfers happened and guess who the new trainee is?!  Elder Michael Bartold from Spanish Fork Utah, who I went to high school with!  I couldn't believe it!  He apparently got reassigned from Argentina for his knee problems, then ended up getting assigned in our Branch too!  Crazy right!?  It's been super weird seeing somebody from home, but nice at the same time!  It'll be great to serve with an old friend!

Our Trees!  Thanks for the ornaments!

We put our two Christmas trees up this week!  Shoot, I'm so excited for Christmas!  My companion hasn't been too grateful for my Christmas music playing since November one!  Anyways, it was awesome to get the Christmas package and what not!

So the Renterias are all coming along great!  Elizabeth still is struggling with an actual baptismal date and we have no idea why.  She has a calling, pays tithing, lives every commandment, reads, prays, but won't get baptized!  AAAAAAAAA!!  She'll come along though!  Finding has been a lot better!  In the last week we've found 3 new investigators, so that's going to be awesome for our teaching pool!  

Thank you all so much for the prayers and thoughts and letters and whatnot!

Love yall!

Elder Frame

Good ol' Moroni

Me and Elder Budding after the temple today!  Cool short story too.  A man and his wife were going through for their first times for their marriage. Ha it was funny to watch and to remember my first time being weirded out and kinda out of it my first time I went through.

Fresno Temple.  Ha it's the same size as the stake center right across the parking lot