"Where in the world are we?"

I love this desert!

Hola!

Oh Whistler how sad. She was the best dog in the world and I will miss her! But she is so much happier and feels at peace. It would be hard to see her suffer more. I know it was the best thing for her.

I can't remember what happened this last week.....nothing too exciting. Yesterday as we were walking in the desert, wind blowing, skirts and hair blowing, sweating, panting. My comp turned to me and said "La mision es HARD CORE." And we died of laughter. Many days we look at each other and ask ourselves "Where in the world are we?" My life is completely different than before. Nothing compares to a mission or Sullana. I love it!
The people here make me so happy. This is my third transfer in Sullana so I know the people pretty well and we have become good friends. We are working with the Ortiz Family (The less actives). They are such an awesome family. They all came to church yesterday! It has been 5 years since they were active. They were all nervous to enter again, but they did it! Their son who is 10 (Franco) will be baptized October 18.

Sarah and Hermana Rivera

I had intercambios with Hermana Rivera this last week! It was great to be back together! This time I could actually talk a little bit more in the lessons....

The mission has changed a few rules. To have a baptism an investigator needs to attend church 3 times and for 3 hours! Also they have to pay tithing or fast offerings before their baptism. These rules also apply to less actives to reactivate them. It is a little bit more than before, but President Rowley assures us that we will baptize more. Just have faith. It is better this way, because the converts are true
                                                                                       converts not just numbers.

 

Also President Rowley wants us to talk to every single family we see in the streets. We report every Sunday how many families we talked to in the week. It is pretty funny because we chase down families, but the church needs more priesthood holders and strong women. 

We have a multizone conference this week in Talara with a few zones and President Rowley. We have them every 3 months. Our president gives us things to study beforehand along with a 5 minute talk we need to prepare. We all fast beforehand to recieve more revelation. I am really excited, but hope I don't get called on to give a talk.....

My comp called me an Avatar this last week. Then she saw a picture of Sam and said wow he is an even bigger Avatar! Yes I tower over the world here. Something that is weird here is people drive ATVs in the streets. There aren't many cars just motos and ATVs. I think it's because the cars can't handle the sand. 

Mom I think you once asked me what I do for exercise. Well I don't do much.....My comp doesn't want to go running. So I try to do push ups and sit ups every morning but end up laying on the ground because I feel dead in the mornings. I am trying. But I am weak sauce. A one minutes plank kind of kills me. 

This is our apartment - It is pretty nice!!

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday on Happiness. How we can find real happiness in this life. It is through obedience to the commandments. It's just that easy! There are a lot of people here who just complain and complain about their problems. They pray a lot and have a lot of faith, but they don't do anything about it! If you want your situation to improve you've got to at least put in your part. Follow the commandments. Don't just pray, but actually come to church and renew your covenants. Lots of people think God is a soft God. Which he is, but he is also just. We have to put in our part.  Dad thanks for your scriptures.

I also stood up to direct the hymns in sacrament meeting as usual but this time the cd player didn't work--I don't know what song we are singing because they have different names. It is a challenge to try and guess the song and tune when I have no clue what hymn it is. Everyone waited for me to start. Haha I just counted to three to the audience and hoped they would help me out.

I love you all!!!!!!!

xoxo

Hermana Stringham