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 :)