December 29, 2014

Hola Family!!!!  It was soooooo good to talk to you on Christmas!!! But youre right it went WAY too fast.  It honestly felt like 5 minutes.... But we get to talk again in just 5 short months so thats okay :)

Im glad this week has been good for you all! It sounds like it was pretty eventful hahaha! Gosh my brothers are hilarious haha.  Still the same as they always are :) 

And Mother I can not believe that youre going to India hahaha!  I dont think i could ever picture you in india so you better send me some pictures for proof :)

Well this week was pretty good.  Except I finally got sick for the first time.... It was awful!  And it was in the middle of the night so i didnt get any sleep so ive been exhausted since then haha.  I think i mustve gotten food poisioning or something.  Im pretty sure it was from the duck I ate on Christmas Eve.  And I decided its really hard to eat things that youve seen alive just hours before.... But besides being sick this week was really good :) We didnt teach that many people on Christmas because my companions Skyping wouldnt work.  I felt really bad for her.  We tried to get it to work for a long time but it just wouldnt.  But, the next day we tried again and it worked so that was good :) This week was just super busy with all sorts of stuff.  Actaully today right after this we are heading back to Piura for my 5 week training thing.  Im not really sure what its all about but i am pretty excited for the 5 hour bus ride.  Maybe Ill get to catch up on some sleep :) 

We did have a really cool experience this week though!!  So we were in a part of our area called Satilite and ALL of our appointments fell through so we were pretty disappointed.  But we were talking about what we should do and we remembered this family  that we hadnt visitied in a while so we decided just to go and invite them to church the next morning.  Their names are Carlos and Neli and they have an 8 year old son. When we got there they were all home which is a miracle!! And they even invited us in which is another miracle! So we went in and started teaching about the restoration and the spirit throughout the lesson was SO STRONG!  I recited the first vision by memory in spanish and it just so great.  After the lesson Carlos started talking about how when we come he just feels so peaceful and theres just this feeling in his heart.  He also said that he feels like God is with us and that we really are his messengers.  It was such a great moment!!! I have lots of hope for them.. Except theres on problem.. THEYRE NOT MARRIED! But that is such a common thing here.  Carlos is still married to someone else and she doesnt want to get a divorce.  But anything is possible with the Lord so Im hoping everything will work out :)

Oh and it is SO FLIPPIN HOT HERE.  Im moving to antarctica when i get home.  I am literally sweating all the time.  I thought Christmas was supposed to be cold... Send me some Utach weather down here please haha.  It wouldnt be so bad but its like this all year round.  Wish me luck..... 

So i havent got any cards yet but I think ill get them all today in Piura and im super excited! :)  Im glad people still remember me! It feels like ive been gone for forever.....  Hopefully things start speeding up soon haha.  And yes my shoes are great :)  I think my feet are just always going to hurt because we are always walking but my shoes are just fine :)  My favorites are the black and grey ones :)  Actually I have lots of favorites because i wear a different pair of shoes everyday haha :) 

It sounded like Chritmas was so good for everyone!  It was good to see everyone for just a little bit.  Next Christmas Ill get to talk to all of you so im really excited for that :)  It was hard being away for Christmas but it was so good at the same time.  It was definitly very different but in the best way :)  What better way to spend christmas than talking about Christ right?  I wish I couldve been there for all the festivities though!  

Thanks for everything Momma, i think about you all the time and miss you too.  Sometimes I wonder if im really supposed to be here but I know I am.  Soon enough we´ll be back to shopping and arguing and laughing again just like we use to hahaha :)  I cant wait for that day but right now i know that i need to be here.  Spanish is coming along slowly but I know itll come at somepoint.  I just hope Im becoming the person the Lord wants me to be.  Im trying so hard to do everything right and just work my hardest.  I hope its enough.  

Well,  I miss you all tons!  Mom, try to keep dad in line haha watching AFV with him was my favorite, i can still picture it :)  Stay safe family, i dont know whatd id do if anything happened to any of you! I miss and love you SOO MUCH.  You dont even know.  Talk to you next week!
Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell 

December 22, 2014

Hey Fam!! Wow its almost Christmas!! Gosh I cant explain how excited i am to talk to you!!! Im so looking forward to that you have no idea!! So yes I did get your package! Thank you SOOOO much!!! Everyday I wake up so excited to open the next thing so its like Christmas everyday and its so great :) 

Dad you are hilarous hahahhaha.  I can totally picture that whole conversation.  I lauged out loud when I read it haha :) 

And I cant believe that so many people are home! I really cant believe that Cam is already home! Thats super crazy! And Abbey too! Im sure she did amazing... Yeah missions are definitly hard.. Im starting to figure that out haha. 

Okay so Christmas and Skype. Thank you so much for making me an account! Thatll make my life so much easier.  So I am calling on December 25th at 3:00 in the afternoon MY TIME.  I dont know what time it is there.. Probably 1 or 2.. Look it up so we can be on at the same time :) And yeah make sure were friends on there or something so ill know whats going on :) but im super excited to talk to you guys! I might be really sad kinda... Christmas time has been kinda hard on me here but Im surviving :)

So my week... Wow it was crazy haha. We taught lots of lessons!!!  People are really so great here.  When were out teaching lessons i couldnt be happier.  So we had a lesson with Elvis this week and he brought this ´´ girlfriend´´ (i dont know what they are haha).  We asked him to because she is the only reason why he doesnt want to get baptized.  So we were teaching about the restoration and so we decided to show them the restoration video and it went SO WELL!  She started crying during it and the spirit was so strong throughout the whole lesson!  She just kept saying how peaceful she felt and everything.  We have another lesson with them tomorrow and were going to ask them both to be baptized! Im super excited!  Also yesterday Elvis came to church!  Thats a really big deal for him because he own a really nice hotel and for him to leave for 3 hours is a really thing so it was amazing!  i hope things go good tomorrow!  Okay so the best part of my week was wednesday night.  Every wednesday night is ´´commandment night´´ for the ward.  So for this activity our Mission Leader picked us up in his little mototaxi and then we somehow fit like 3 other people in it and we literally drove for 20 minutes out to the middle of nowhere haha.  It was just like driving out to the south hills at home! The drive there was so fun haha.  Then when we got there they had a fire going and we sat around it and had some spiritual thoughts and it was awesome.  It was like those family home evening things we use to do with the Berrys Copes and Freis!  I loved it.  It was so great.
Well besides a lot of teaching there was really nothing else exciting haha but things here are going pretty good.  I love my companion.  Shes great.  Its hard for us to communicate sometimes but we usually work it out haha.  I just hope the language comes at somepoint because I feel like im at a standstill! Its pretty frustuating but ill pick it up at somepoint im sure haha.

Well I love you all so much.  I think about you everyday.  I miss you TONS!  Ive been the happiest and the sadest ive been in my whole life out here haha but it all evens out :)  I cant wait to talk to you!  Chistmas cant come fast enough!!  Itll be a good day im sure :)  Well i love you all so much.  Have an amazing Christmas and Ill talk to you in a couple days! LOVE YOU!!!
Love,

Hermana Mitchell 

December 15, 2014

Mother!!! Gosh ive been dying to hear from you all week!  That is hilarious about dad hahaha he is such a goof! I love it :)  And it sounds like everyone is doing good! Gosh I miss you all so much! This has definitly been one of the hardest weeks so far with christmas coming up and trying to get use to everything here but it has been good.  And I cant believe that Lauren is already looking for luggage and everything! That is soooo crazy! She´ll love it.  It really is such an amazing experience.

So about my apartment hahahah.  Its actually not too bad.  Its about the size of my room though.  We kinda have a kitchen thing and a room and a bathroom.  Its just like living in a box hahah but its good.  I like it and my area is sweet so its all good.  My companion is awesome.  Shes from honduras and she has been a member pretty much her whole life.  I couldnt tell if she said whole life or almost whole life because she only speaks spanish haha but for a while.  And no i havent seen Cole yet.  They sent me super far away hahaha so i dont see anyone!  Except one elder in Tumbes knows Nate!! His name is Elder Mulford and he use to live in Santa Clara and is like best friends with the Brooks.  And yes we teach lessons every single day hahaha its good but i dont really understand much of whats going on.  I can get the general idea but i never understand full lessons at all... But i talk and teach a little so its good :)

Yeah I feel alright... Ive been kinda sad this week but its been good.  I just have moments but after Christmas i think itll be better.  And speaking of.. Yes we get to call christmas day, well skype haha.  But I dont have a skype account so do you think you could possibly have someone make me one??? And im not sure what time yet.  We will figure all that out this week then ill let you know.  I cant wait to talk to you either.  I think itll be the saddest happiest day of my mission so far hahah.  

I think Tys doing good haha.  I didnt hear from him this week but im sure hes doing great.  He had his baptism this week so i was really anxious to hear from him but thats okay. Hopefully next week :) And i cant believe cams already basically home!! Thats crazy!!! Thats super exciting.  Tell me how he does :)

Ive gotten a couple card from people!  Gosh our ward is so great! Ive written them thank you notes too but theres nowhere here to send things!  When we go to Tumbes next week ill see if theres a place i can send some letters.  And im sure ill get your package during our Mulitzone conference this week! Im super excited :):)

So my week was pretty crazy haha.  We have so many people were teaching!  This week we taught an investigator named Hna. Lizeth and she has a baptismal date!  But she was supposed to come to church this week but shes pregnant and was sick so she didnt so we have to push the date back!  We were really disappointed about that but were working with her.  She´ll get there :)  We also have another progressing investigator named Elvis.  Hes sweet! He owns this hotel in a place called Zorritos which is in our area but its about 20 minutes away.  So he wants to get baptized but he has a girlfriend who he wants to marry but doesnt want to marry civily because he thinks civil marriage is just a was for the government to get money from them hahaha.  He just wants to go straight to the temple so were trying to talk him into and i think he´ll come around.  Actually today for pday our whole zone went to his hotel and played on the beach and stuff! It was way fun :)  I think he enjoyed having a lot of people there too so it was good :)

Well thats it for my week.  Gosh I miss you so much mom.  I think about you and home all the time.  I hope this gets a little bit easier soon.  Im sure it will.  I really do love it here and everything i just miss you guys!! But only 16 more months left right? :)  Thank you so much for you emails mother.  They make my whole week.  And I dont think i need anything else :)  Well actally if you could send me some pictures of some pinterest workouts or something that would be great :)  Its hard to know what to do in the mornings haha.
I hope you have a great week and I hope the familys doing good.  Im glad to hear aubree is coming home sooner! Thatll be so good!  Well I miss you and love you TONS!  Ill talk to you next week! Merry almost Christmas!! 

Love, Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell

December 8, 2014

Mother!!! Yes i got all your emails :)  And yes i am in piura!!! Well actually no im not hahaha.  So my area is freakin amazing!  You know how i said i always wanted a beach house? Well guess what?  I totally have one hahaha.  Well sorta.  So my area is called La Cruz.  It isnt even in Piura.  Its about five hours away in Tumbes.  Look it up! its so sweet!  So from our apartment we have such a good view of the beach! I love it so much!  The other day when we were going to one of our lessons we had to walk along the beach to get there.  I loved it :)  Our area is the only one that is that close to the beach.  But really i was so blessed to be put here.  Its perfect and i think ill be here a while so im pretty happy about it :)  Im in the farthest area away from the mission home so i dont get to go back for the christmas reunion or anything but thats okay :)

So my companion is Hermana Valle!! She is from Honduras and no she does not speak any english at all hahaha.  But thats okay.  We can communicate pretty well and i can already tell ive learned a ton just in a week!  I cant understand people most of the time and when they ask me questions im super confused but i usually figure it out :)  Hna.  Valle is super patient and super nice to me.  Yeah ive been pretty blessed here so far.  This week was really hard but so amazing.  We had tons of lessons!!  But first i want to tell you about our mission leader hahaha.  He is hilarious!!!   So he owns a mototaxi which is baically a motorcycle with a cab attached to the back to take people around.  Anyways he always takes us around for free when he sees us and he thinks he knows how to speak english.  But his english is putting  ´tion´ on the end of everything haha.  So sister is ´hermanation´ and its just super funny.  

Our lessons have been going so good! We always have somone to teach and everyone here is so nice.  Yes everyone is super poor too.  We teach on dirtfloors or we sit on these ghetto chairs they have and the houses are so small and not put together well at all.  But i wouldnt want it any other way.  I already love the people here so much.  They just laugh at me when i try to speak but thats fine haha.  Okay so the other day we were at Hermana Carmens house, shes a less active memeber,  and we asked her son whos about 7 probably to give the closing prayer and this is what he said, ´´Please bless Hermana Mitchell to talk a little bit better because right now she talks kinda bad´´ hahaha we were all laughing so hard during the prayer! Hes so cute! His name is David.  He reminds me SO MUCH of Hayden its not even funny hahaha. All the little kids here are so adorable.  I love them.  They all want to teach me how to speak spanish too so i have some pretty good teachers :)

Our pensionista is super awesome too.  So this is pretty much how food here goes.  No breakfast except for yogurt or milk sometimes, a HUGE lunch, and then no dinner except yesterday we had mango for dinner.  No the members do not feed us haha.  Only on saturdays and sundays when we dont eat with our pensionista but honestly they give us enough at lunch for like 4 people... And guess what else, so since were on the coast the big thing here is fishing,,, so guess what we eat all the time,,, fish... i hate fish hahahaha but i suffer through it :)

Another cool thing.. I HAVE A BAPTISM ALREADY!  Her name is Hermana Lizeth and shes 3 months pregnant.  Hna. Valle has only been teaching her for like a week before i got there so technically ive been apart of the whole process :) Im super excited!!! Shes getting baptized on the 27th of december!  Were hoping to have two that day actally but Hno. Gerson is being lame but we will straighten him out :) Weve taught a ton of other people too and theyre all so great but i dont remember any of their names because theyre all kinda funny hahah :)

The language is coming slowly but surely hahahaha.  I cant really understand much or speak much but Hna. Valle makes me plan lessons and teach anyways hahah. And we talk to TONS of people in the streets.  Each lesson i have to explain something or bear my testimony or something.  She never just lets me sit there even if i have no idea what im talking about hahaha.  But its good :)  I hope i learn super fast :)  I thought id be way nervous to just walk up and talk to people but actually its really fun! Everyone is way nice and always gives us there address and tells us to come to their house so its way good :)  And if i run out of things to say Hna. Valle helps me out so its all going pretty good :) 

And in La Cruz its not a ward, its a branch.  And we dont have a church... So our meetings are held in this tiny little ´´chapel house´´.  Technically i havent been to church yet because yesterday in Tumbes it was elections so we werent aloud to hold meetings so next week ill tell you more about what church is like :)

So some information about christmas.. I dont really know whats going on but i do know that I can only Skype for 45 minutes max... And only one person... So thats no fun.  Hopefully well get more information about that soon.  Also another important thing.  If your going to send packages to me you first need to write ´´Chad Alvin Rowley´´ or president chad alvin rowley on the very first line and then my name after.  I guess its so they can pick it up at the post office or something.  Just keep that in mind :)  if youve sent something and you didnt im sure itll be okay.  I dont really know much about anything yet haha :)

Well, thats about it for my week.  Its SUPER hot here.  I am sweating literally all day everyday and no one has fans or AC or anything close to that so yeah its gonna be a rough summer here hahaha but itll be good :)  Yes i miss you TONS mother.  For some reason the morninigs are super hard for me and all i can think about is home, but once we get out and about i am a ton better so im sure ill get use to it and figure everything out in a few week or so :)  I really do love it here already though.  Im learning so much everyday and its really so amazing to see how much the Lord blesses missionaries.  Im glad you guys had a good thanksgiving! That sounds so fun! And it sounds like a ton of people were there so thats even better!  Gosh i cant believe its almost been 2 months since i left! Hey only 16 more left :)  CRAZY!!! I want to make every second count :)

Well I love all of you!  I pray for you everyday and think about you ALL THE TIME!  Im glad to hear everyone is doing good :)  I cant wait to talk to you on Christmas!!! I hope you all have an amazing week!  Pray for my language skills to improve because i need all the help i can get hahahah.  I love you so much! Have such a good week! Ill talk to you next week! :)

December 4, 2014

Good afternoon,

Sister Mitchell arrived safely to the mission.

Attached is a card from her and a photo with her new companion.

If there are any questions or concerns, you can contact us at this email address.


Thank you!

Dear Brother & Sister Mitchell,

    We are so happy to have Sister Mitchell serving in the Peru Piura Mission! She arrived eager to go to work and we are impressed with her enthusiasm and desire to serve our Heavenly Father as a missionary. After meeting her at the airport we had a luncheon at the Mission Home followed by a devotional and an interview. The following day was a morning of training and the assigning of her trainer/companion. Trainers are chosen for their obedience, patience, dedication and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. We know that as these two missionaries study, pray and work together they will be blessed and guided in their service and find joy in teaching and sharing the gospel message. We are attaching a photo of your missionary with her new companion and us.

     We are grateful to you for sharing your daughter with us. We know that thru hard work, obedience and prayer Sister Mitchell will find joy in serving the Lord and the beautiful people of peru. Please encourage her to share her experiences with you and your family. Write her weekly and express your love, support and confidence in her. You will witness miraculous changes in her as she learns to serve and love those with whom she works. 

     We know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy and peace to all who will follow Him. We are grateful to be a part of this great work and to serve with the wonderful young Elders and Sisters of our mission.

                       Sincerely, 

                         

                        President & Sister Rowley

                        Peru Piura Mission

Hey! I am in Piura! It's super hot here. It feels like Santa Clara in the middle of summer so that's fun, haha. Well, I don't have much time now but I'll write on Monday! I love you!

Love, Hermana Mitchell

p.s. I am safe and happy :)

November 26, 2014

Momma!!!

I am doing so good! I cant believe this is my last week here! That is so crazy! My CCM time has gone by so fast.  Im super scared to leave but im way excited at the same time.  This time next week i will be in Piura!  We leaveyway early in the morning on plane so it should only take an hour and then i dont exactly know what will happen so itll definitly be an adventure after that......

 Im suuuupppppeeeeerrrrr sad i cant help put up christmas stuff hahahhaha.  But dads super good at it so we just have to leave it to the master.  Good job dad! Im sure it looks amazing as always! :)

 Thats crazy about the Shipps.. Ive been thinking about them a ton this week! I know a lot of people here have too.  I really hope everything goes good for them! Keep me updated!

So tomorrow is thanksgiving and usually they dont do anything for the american missionaries but this year presidente is making it special for us so im pretty excited about that :)  Im not exactly sure whats going on but our zone leaders say it should be way sweet so yeah im way excited haha.  All i know is that we get to watch a movie or something and maybe well get to eat something other than chicken and rice hahahah :)

So my week..... okay i need to start out with the funny story first. you guys probably wont get it because im really bad at writing emails and telling stories but whatever.  So anyways we had to take district pictures with the CCM president and his wife this week and so we all gathered in the front of the CCM and took the picture and thought everything was great and whatnot.  But like 2 hours later Presidente comes into our district and tells us that we all need to go meet in Hermana Gonzalas office (his wife) to talk.  So all 10 of us are crammed in this little office and she gets all serious and tells us something is wrong with our picture.  She is like dead serious so we have no idea whats going on.  So she pulls up the picture and in the back row 2 of our elders are just making the stupidest faces ever.  Like i wish i could describe them.  We are all trying so hard not to laugh.  And then she zooms in on them! So then we all just lose it and were all laughing and shes still super serious and now she hates us and wont give us our pictures but thats okay.  One of the elders was Elder Sampson so that makes it even better hahaha.  It might not sound that funny but it was probably the funniest thing that has happened to me here so far haha.

The rest of my week was actually super lame.  Well not lame.  Just the same as every other week.  Spanish is super hard!! They have so many rules!! I feel like i am a ton better than when i came but i still feel like i know nothing. People can kinda understand me but im still not the best at pronunciation. I am going to be so lost next week haha.  I am going to need some major help.  I am praying that my first comapanion is a latina so im forced to learn it haha.  I mean i can understand so well now.  When we went through the temple today i could pick up everything but speaking it is a whole different story.  But ill pick it up right? There hasnt been a missionary that hasnt learned their language has there...? hahaha

So there are only 24 other english speaking sisters here!! How crazy is that! And probably about 60 elders give or take... and right now theres only 8 latinas and maybe 20 latinos? This CCM is super tiny!! You get to know EVERYONE super well so when people leave or when its your turn to leave its so sad! Im going to be way sad to leave! But thats okay.... Im really so excited to finally be out there!

Im so glad you got to talk to the Coxs! Will you please send me Sarahs email??? That would be so great!

Im so jealous about your thanksgiving! It will be my first one not home! Thats going to be so weird haha.  I hope you guys have a good time! It doesnt even feel like thanksgiving here.  It just feels like summer or some hot season like that because its always hot. 

Oh and mother if you could send me that lotion grandma gave me, those little spanish CTR rings, a zip up hoodie, and like a spanish plan of salvation card or one of those puzzle things like nate had that would be super awesome.  If not thats fine too :) Thanks momma!!

Well I am running out of time but i love you guys so much!! I wont be able to talk to you next week because i have to skip a pday because ill be in PIURA! But i think my pday will be in a week from monday? Maybe? I honestly have no idea.  I think you should hear from my mission president thought.  Or maybe me.  I have no idea whats going on haha. Wish me luck...  But i love you guys and i miss you! Have such an amazing thanksgiving! I think about all of you all the time!!

Love, Hermana Mitchell

November 19, 2014

MOTHER! Japan sounds like it was amazing!!! I am so happy for you guys!!  I love the pictures! Keep sending them :)

This week was super crazy!! But i loved it! :)  My spanish is coming along! Very slowly but i can definitly see myself improving! I can talk lots in our lessons now and its super fun :)

It was one of our elders birthdays this week so me and Hna. C made him a cake out of oreos and nutella hahaha.  It was super funny but tured out pretty awesome.  Our district is just so great and so fun.  Im gonna miss them all so much when we leave! And yeah i leave the CCM in less than 2 weeks now.  HOW CRAZY IS THAT!!!!!  Im super excited but super nervous. 

Okay now for the best part of my week... WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE!!! It was the best thing thats ever happened to me hahahaha.  We were just sitting in class and all of a sudden everything just started shaking really hard and our teacher is this little inteligent peruvian guy who is super awesome and he was just like ´´oh, an earthquake´´ and then started laughing and then told us to go outside in the safe circle and it was just super awesome hahaha.  It was a 5.8 i guess.  I dont know how strong thats supposed to be but it felt pretty strong to me!

On sunday Elder Evans from the first quorm of the 70 came and talked to us and it was AMAZING!  It was probably the most spiritual day ive had here so far and thats pretty hard to be because EVERY DAY IS SUPER SPIRITUAL.  I love it so much :)  But he like talked about my mission a ton! He just got to Lima from Piura the night before and he said to take a picture of the city and the paved roads because you probably wont be seeing those for about 17 months haha.  He said when were walking home in the dust to think about what he said hahaha.  He also said that the mission president and his wife are super amazing.  Im SO EXCITED to finally be there soon! Gosh time is already going by so fast!  Im almost been here for a month!!

Also this week a bunch of my favorite elders and sisters left!! I was so sad!  I cried a lot actually so now im scared for what ill be like when i leave!! I really have gotten so close to everyone here and its so hard when they leave! I already decided that im going to all of the elders homecomings! Okay probably not but maybe hahaha.

Todays pday was the best one yet!! For some reason the temple today was just super amazing.  I am finally understanding everything in spanish so its so great to go and understand it in a different language! Hey parents when you come to pick me up we have to go to a temple session in the Lima Temple!! Like for real.  :)  We also went to Garajes and Tottus and I bought some stuff i needed.  They have those little clementines here and they are super cheap and just really good so i bought some of those and some coke zero :)  I reallly love p days :)

Well that is all for my week this week! I wish i could send you pictures! I will when i get to Piura thought. 

And Mother, next week i will buy a couple of those nativity sets! They are all so cool and pretty inexpensive so i will get a couple and send them when I get to Piura.  I hope theyll get there before christmas and i hope they dont break!!! And the skirt and shirt fit perfectly! Thank you SO MUCH.  I had stuff i wanted you to send me but i forgot what haha. Ill think about it and tell you next week :) OH YEAH! Could you send that oil and some more pictures of president monson and those little CTR rings possibly? Thatd be great :)  Oh and if you find my scripture marker refils those too. I might have them but i couldve left them home haha. 

I hope you guys have an amazing week! I love you and miss you all so much!  Be good :)

Love, Hermana Mitchell

November 12, 2014

MOTHER!!! That is so crazy that youre in japan!!! That sounds so cool!  I loved your pictures. Dads still a dork and i love it!!! :)  How did meeting dads mission president go? A crazy coincidence happened with this other hermana today.  We were at the temple and randomly this guy who doesnt speak any english comes up and asks for a Sister Mendlove and she was with us.  He went on to tell us that he was one of her dads companions!! Crazy right?? He served in southern peru i think.  I just thought that was super cool :)

Thats so crazy about the race! Way to go amber!!! Im super jealous.  That sounds like a race id actually train for hahaha :)

So last week was the only week we could send pictures! Which makes me so sad! We technically werent supposed to because theyve never let anyone but the guy who was monitoring us said we could so i think it was just kind of a miracle that we even could that one day which i am super greatful for.  We can defintily still recieve pictures though so send as many as you would like :)

I am doing so great! My room is pretty much like a college dorm room.  It has 3 sets of bunk beds and 6 closets.  Were not allowed to take pictures in the room or i wouldve sent one. Ill try and sneak one though :)  There are 5 other girls in my room and i love them all so much! Most are from utah but one is from hawaii and one is from rhode island.  Theyre just the greatest.  Im going to cry so hard when i leave here and dont get to see them anymore.  They are all going to Cusco besides me and my companion.  The showers are alright.  Theyre just like showers in stalls but they work :)  The laundry system is pretty good too.  They just have a bunch of washers and dryers to use so it goes pretty good.  My clothes arent destroyed yet :) Yes i see mckenzi all the time! Shes in my zone so every prep time and physical activity we have together.  And yes i got your package!! Thank you so much!!! Im so glad i brought so many clothes actually.  You go through them so fast!!! Thank you so much really! And tell grandpa the pine nuts made my whole day! It reminded me so much of home :) Ill try to write them a little note and tell them but just tell them again for me :)

Tyler is doing great! He says he probably has a baptism coming up!! And he might get to be the one to baptize her!! So cool right???? Gosh i love that boy! Im super excited for him :) 

So this week was pretty much just like last week haha.  They dont ever differ too much.  I had class all day every day haha :)  We are continuing to teach our ´´investigators´´  and im getting lots better at it! I can teach a whole lesson in spanish pretty much now! Its super rough sounding but at least i can get some points across haha :)  Gosh i just love peru :)

I wish i could read brittons blog! I for sure will once i leave the MTC but i cant while were here which i dont enjoy... So is he doing better? I put his name in the temple today. 

We get to go to the temple every week and it was temple was so good today.  Its so cool listening to it all in spanish. We have the option of listening to it with a headset in english but its funner in spanish. I can pretty much understand everything too!  When you guys come pick me up we should stop by in lima and do a session :)

So they have this place called the temple store and they have nativity sets!!!! They have so many different ones though!!  Should i just buy a couple different ones and send to you? Theyre all so cool but i dont know which one i like the most! Theyre not too expensive either.  Maybe like 40 soles which is like 15 bucks? It just might be hard to send them to you but i could probably figure it out :) Just let me know!!

Well that is pretty much it down here.  The CCM is such an amazing place.  I love it SO MUCH!!  Oh and a member of the first quorm of the 70 is coming on sunday! Im really excited for that.  I actually joined the CCM chior for it too so thatll be fun i think :)  I am having such amazing experiences here. I LOVE IT.  Im gonna miss it but im so excited to get to Piura! Im half way through my time here so its coming soooo fast!!!

I love you and miss you so much!!! Keep me updated with everyone because my brothers arent the best at writing me emails hahaha :)

Talk to you next week! Love you tons!

Love, Hermana Mitchell

November 5, 2014

I cant believe youre going to Japan as im writing you!!! So crazy! Have so much fun. I hope its not as crazy as peru is hahaha :) and McKenzi just got here and so ill get it from her tonight! Im so excited!!!

Well this week went by soooo fast! I cant believe im already email you again! I honestly love it here so much.  Its so cool! and i tried sending pictures but im not sure if it worked or not but i hope it did!

Classes are going good.  I still suck at spanish but its okay i guess haha.  Im pretty good at gospel stuff but thats about it.  This week we also went to interpol and migrations and it was CRAZY! The drivers here are terrifying! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! But it was super fun too because we didnt die :) We sat at migrations forever just doing nothing for like 5 hours then we finally just went in and signed a paper and it was over in like 2 minutes so that was pretty stupid but its all an adventure :)  At interpol the next day we sat in the freezing cold then this lady checked our teeth which was weird.  Then we just had to give fingerpints and stuff so i felt kinda cool :)

I love my district and my teachers! My teachers only speak spanish so i can now understand most spanish things but i just cant say any haha.  Thats really it for class. its pretty boring.  We are also teaching a lot! Which is awful because i cant speak spanish haha but im slowly getting better.

The food is actually really good! Its kinda weird how good it is haha.  Me and my companion have to run everyday because of how much they give us! Weve started asking for a lot less though but then they look at us funny and still give us a ton haha.

Today was also Pday! I love pday!!!! We went to this place called Grajes which is just a bunch of garages with people selling stuff haha.  I got 3 soccer jerseys for 60 soles which is about 20 bucks! I was pretty happy about that :) We also went to tottus which is like target and i bought some fingernail polish remover becasue i forgot it haha.  The buses are awesome! I think that its my favorite part of this whole thing so far haha :)

So i woke up with a fever this morning and was feeling awful but im already over it! Im a blessed missionary :)

I feel awful about Britton.  Ill put his name in the temple next week.  Keep me updated.  I cant believe that happened at sadies! I bet those girls feel so bad.  Miracles can happen though.  Ill for sure be praying for one this week. 

Im glad you went to see Wendy! How are they doing??  And yes please send Tys stuff as soon as possible! Thanks momma youre the best :)

I also cant believe that Mae is getting chubby! SEND ME PICTURES!!! I miss you all so much! Ill try and send pictures at the end. 

I miss shadow and ender too.  Get him undepressed for me haha :)

Sorry its so short! Ill try and do more exciting things this week!

First Week

MOTHER!! and family :)  First off yes I do miss you more than anything! But I love it here!! The CCM is so great and crazy all at the same time haha :) also this keyboard is super weird so sorry if i type super weird things and dont use good grammar or capitals haha :)

Yes that sounds exactly like Dad! haha that made me laugh super hard in a room full of people so that was great haha.  Also say hi to Dallin and Sam for me when they come! I miss everyone SOO much!

 

So my week.... it was honestly the LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE.  The days are sooo long! The first day was the worst.  So we got to the CCM at about 3am and they let us sleep in until 6:30.. How nice is that? hahaha 6:30 really is sleeping in here too.  We usually get up around 5:30 or 6 because breakfast is at 6:45 and we have to be completely ready! Theyre super strict here too... But its so good at the same time.  I am ALWAYS tired.  Literally always haha but thats okay :)

We got here and my companion is Hermana Christianson!! My friend from EFY! How great is that??? We work so well together.  We both want to work super hard and want to learn the language so its good. :) Shes way funny and crazy. The other girls in my room are Hermana Hill, Russell, Love, and Cooper.  I love all of them! We get along so great! And i was also made the room leader for the room so I guess thats pretty cool :) Me and my companion run everyday! Youd be proud of me mother :) except for when I play soccer with the elders which is SO FUN! I scored a goal yesterday so i felt pretty cool :)

 

My district is amazing! And guess what? Elder sampson is in my district! So I see him everyday! It makes things so much easier and kinda feels not everything is so different.  My district is so great thought.  Theres 8 elders then theres me and my companion haha so we are very out numbered.  But theyre already like my home away from home so I love it.  I get made fun of on the daily though haha.

 

The next couple days were spanish spanish and MORE SPANISH.  Spanish is super hard haha but I feel like im coming along okay for only being here for a week! Hopefully Ill keep getting better  :)

My teachers are so awesome too! They are Hermana Dinierio, Hermano Gronaldos, and Hermano Huitta (i call him hermano blanco because its pronouced white and he thinks it super funny) They are some of the coolest people I have ever met.  They make being in class all day pretty bareable haha :)

I also taught my first lesson in spanish!! His name was Jorge (but its really not because hes actually just a teacher) and we taught him about the book of mormon! We teach a new investigator tonight too! Its crazy how fast theyre making us do things! I already know how to pray and bear my testimony in spanish too! I feel pretty cool about that :)

 

Sunday was probably one of the best days of the week.  We watched church movies and listened to talks and just kinda got to hang out which is weird because were ALWAYS busy!  But busy is good :)

 

The food actually isnt as bad as i thought.  But im still not too fond... for breakfast all i have is yogurt and then chicken and rice every other meal.  They have these fruits called granadias, look them up cause theyre super weird haha :)

 

Today is Pday and we got to go to the temple!! It was so cool but also all in spanish hahah! The temple is tiny so it was just so different than what im use too.  K so Peru is crazy!  To go to the temple you walk out the doors and go to the street and wait for a tiny little bus full of a million people to pick you up then they cram you all inside of it and drive at a million miles per hour! It was they craziest thing ever but probably the funnest thing ive done so  far! I bought a new set of spaish scriptures because i didnt have one and then some soap at Tottos, which is like the target of peru but more ghetto haha :)  They have this temple store that sells some cool stuff that im gonna send home as soon as i can but if you have any requests for anything you want just let me know.  They sell ties and jewlery and bags and some other cool stuff.

 

And about what to send with Kenzie.. If you could send my watch and those CTR rings thatd be awesome.  Also my hand sanatizers and Tys nametag too! Those are both in my purse but I dont remember where i left that.... Im sure its around somewhere :)

And yes if you could send that package that I got ready before I left to Ty that would be awesome.  Also if you could send him back his SIM card too that would be great.  Its in that binder of letters in one of the letter envelopes.  It shouldnt be too hard to find i dont think. 

 

I hope you guys had a good week.  I miss you all so much!  I was a little homesick the first day but honestly I love it here.  Everyone has been so nice and all the other Hermanas knows what its like so its all been amazing.  Its so good to hear from you too! I hope this week goes by fast so i can talk to you again! Its crazy that its only been a week becasue it feels like its been months! But they say thats usually how it is then the rest of the week fly by so we will just have to see i guess.  I love you guys! I am running out of time and i still have a few more emails to write so ill talk to you next week!

LOVE YOU! MISS YOU!
Love,

Hermana Mitchell 

I MADE IT!!!

Wednesday October 22, 2014

Family!! I made it to peru! I am safe and alive but i literally only have 2 minutes to write to you :(
I miss you guys so much but Peru is awesome! its cold here haha.
I love you guys and miss you so much! My first real pday will be next wednesday so I will write you a longer email then!
I LOVE YOU!

Love,
Hermana Mitchell

October 21, 2014

Leaving for Peru!

October 20, 2014

Getting set apart as a sister missionary.

Saying Goodbye...

October 19, 2014

Lauren's farewell talk given in the Santa Clara 1st Ward.

August 2, 2014

Receiving her endowments in the St. George Temple. 

June 26, 2014

 Called to serve in the Piura Peru mission, Spanish speaking.