December 28, 2015

Momma!

Wow it was sooooo great to be able to talk to you guys this week!  I cant believe that christmas is OVER!  Next christmas i will be home by a fire....  That is sooo crazy to think about!  But i am so happy that everyone is doing well.  Brade, Nate and Dallin are the same as ever, sarcasm and all :)  But i love it.  I wouldn't have it be any different! :)  

The rest of my Christmas went super well.  We had one lesson and then for the rest of the day we went and knocked doors and contacted in the street :)  Everyone was super nice to us but no one let us in, but hey we tried :)

The rest of the week went super well!  We found 4 new investigators and we have lots that are progressing.

This week we taught Alex and he never stops surprising me!  In many ways i guess haha.  He is 18 and has a big word of wisdom problem.  So we decided to talk to him about it and teach what things we should and should not do.  While teaching it we found out that he was an alcoholic, addicted to marijuanna, smokes at least 1 pack of cigarettes a day and sometimes likes to do crack cocaine.... So we have a lot to work with.  But he so wants to stop doing all of it.  It is just so hard because all of his friends and his family do all of that too.  It just made me so sad because he is a kid so young and has so much potential and if he keeps going on this path it will lead him no where..  So we made goals with him and gave him pretty much every ones number in the ward so if he needs someone to talk to or anything he has someone to call.  The good thing is is that the ward has already taken him in and he is starting to make friends.  We are not sure what else we can do for him.  We are just praying that everything goes well and that he can resist tempation.  We make it seem so easy to give things up but i know it will probably be the hardest thing he ever does.  I wish there was more we could do...

We also have a baptism this Saturday!  His name is Jose Fransisco.  He is 15 years old and one of the most spiritual people i have ever met.  He is so excited for his baptism and is so prepared :)  I can't wait until Saturday!  We are hoping that we can also start working with his siblings and his parents.  His mom is a less active and his dad has never had the missionary lessons.  We hope that his baptism will be a good oppertunity to talk to them both :)

So also we decided that we have the best zone leaders EVER.  So the day after chistmas we had a zone meeting and they asked us about all the packages we got and what not.  Well serpost is being stupid so neither of us had anything.  But we weren't sad about it or anything.  So anyways the next morning we had a package downstairs that said our names on it.  We were super confused haha.  But inside it said ``we heard you had nothing to open on christmas.  we hope that this makes your christmas a little better until your packages come. thank you for all the work you do.  your secret santas``  of course it was in Spanish, but inside was a bunch of christmas decorations and candy and other random stuff.  It was really something so simple that they did but it honestly made our Christmas so much better.  We now have a goal to do little acts of service because we now know how much of an impact they make.  We have some pretty good missionaries out here in Piura :)

So today for pday we had a district activity!  we played the game of life and decorated christmas cookies haha!  It was sooo funny!  It was us and 2 companionships of elders and 2 young men from our ward.  we just played and laughed and had fun :)  

Hey mother!  I too want to be commited to running the marathon!! SIGN ME UP!  I will start training here!  Probably wont go on runs super long but i think i could do 3 miles a day maybe :)  but i am in! 

Also the pictures you sent are adorable!  Thank you so much! :)

Did you guys get to talk to Ty?  How is he doing?  I miss that kid :)

Well that is it for my week.  Thank you guys so much for everything!!!!  Have a happy new year!  Dont do anything too crazy!  AND GIVE REFERENCES TO THE MISSONARIES!  Pray for missionary oppertunities, make a new friend, share something on facebook.  Its the little things that bring to pass GRAND THINGS! 

Love you all tons! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

-Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

December 21, 2015

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wow, its already christmas AGAIN?  This year went by sooo fast!  Crazy haha.!  But i am so excited to be able to talk to you on christmas! :)  For the last time.... that is just so crazy to me...

So anyways for my week... wow...  i dont think i have had a week like this in all of my mission.  It was sooooooo busy!!  Like i dont even know where to start!  I loved it!  I guess ill start with the Familia Velasquez.  They are the greatest :)  We are actually going to use skype at their house so you'll get to meet them :)  So in their family there is Carlos, Orlando, Brenda, Felix, Jorge, and Pablo (brendas son) and Kira (cousin).  Carlos and Brenda are both converts of less than a month!  This week we were able to teach Pablo and Orlando and put baptimsal dates on both of them!  And yesterday we were able to teach Kira and she came to church!  Felix is interested and comes to church but the problem with him is that he cant hear... hes deaf.  But we are trying to teach him throgh drawings and hand motions haha but we will see how it goes!  We might have to learn sign language!  Thatll be fun :)  Jorge isnt interested yet.. but we will keep working with him :) Carlos is already preparing to go on a mission and is our assistant ward mission leader and brenda is just super happy and is in the relief society presidency :)

Next there is Jose Fransisco.  He is 15 years old.  Honestly i have never met a young kid with the faith that he has.  The other day he was talking to us about his experience and how he got his testimony of the book of mormon.  He also has a baptimsal date for the 2nd of January.  He is soo ready :) we just have to teach him all the lessons now!  

Then theres the Familia Caseres....  Or in other words.. the eternal investigators.  They have been being taught for 2 years now but havent got baptized.  And its not that they dont want to, but they cant.  So the dad has another wife but they have been separated for 20 years but the other wife doesnt want to sign the divorce papers so they cant get married. The plan is to marry them TONIGHT.  But we dont know if the papers have gone through or what has happened so honestly we are just hoping for a miralce....  A very HUGE miracle.  But nothing is impossible :) they are supposed to get baptized the 26th...  Its stressing me out.

There are so many more people we taught this week but i dont think i could mention all of them!  We have 6 people here with baptismal dates and we were able to find 6 more new investigators as well!  I LOVE this area and my companion is amazing.  Honestly she is probably my hero.  We have had a lot of time to tallk this week and I have learned so much from her.  She is a convert of barely over a year!  And i think she is the most perfect person i have met in every way.  But yeah we get along great :)  I am sooooo happy i get to be with her for christmas! :)

So SKYPE!  We are planning on talking in like the morning if thats okay... the rest of the day will be crazy so thats what works out best for us.  We were thinking around 10 or 11 PERU TIME.  I dont know what time will be for you guys.  Hopefully not too early...

That day in the afternoon we have a coulpe lessons set up and a dinner with the sisters in our zone! :)  So i think it should be a good day :)

And no i have not seen cole recently... they sent him up to Tumbes!  those dirtbags hahaha!  But hopefully i will see him before i leave! 

Well everything here is going so well.  I love my mission.  I am super sad that its coming to an end!  It honestly has gone by soooo fast.  I cant believe it... Oh yeah and i can not believe that R.J. is getting baptized!!!!!!!!  That is honestly sooo crazy! But that makes me so happy for Karen.  I bet she is soooo happy! :)  And that is so cool Britton is baptizing him!  that makes me so happy :)

Well, that is it for my week.  I am soooo excited to see you all on Christmas!  It doesnt really feel like christmas here because its like 100 degress and im sweating to death haha but i love it all the same :)  I hope you all have such a good week and christmas eve and everything!  I will see you all on FRIDAY! :)  Love you tons! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

December 14, 2015

MOTHER!!!

Okay this week was CRAZY!  It also sounded like you all had a good week so that makes me super happy :)

Okay so i dont even know where to start haha.  Okay well first off I GOT TRANSFERED!!!  I am now again in Piura!! :)  It was soo sad to leave my area and Hermana Lang but I am soooo happy to be here!  And my new companion is Hermana Sandison!  She is honestly the GREATEST!  I love her so much already!  She is from Twin Falls Idaho :)  She is a convert and the only member in her family!  She was also Miss Twinn Falls haha :) I can tell its going to be a great transfer.  She is just always so happy and we get along so well and i am just super happy to be here.  My area is called Los Ficus.  I just got here a little bit ago but I can already tell i will love it here :)  

So my last week in Sullana...  It was super sad!  I love that area and the people there and everything....  We taught Camila, the 14 year old investigator and we put a baptimsal date and she accepted!  Her parents arent members but her mom was sooo excited for her!  i am going to ask permisison to go back to her baptism.  

Also this week we had a christmas party in the mission house!  It was SOO FUN!  We played games and ate good food and watched Its a Wonderful Life and stayed there until 9pm haha!  It was just so good to get to spend time there with President and Hermana Rasmussen and just to get to be with the zone and everything :)  Oh i also got the first of my packages momma! :)  And for some reason i felt like i should open it so i did and i saw the oil in there so i got to give it to president! :)  He was SOOO happy! haha it was super funny to watch :)  He said ¨hermana mitchell.... can i give you a hug?¨ and of course i said yes haha :)  Then he was talking about how cool he felt and that he was going to go raise the dead hahaha :)  I love that guy :)  Him and Hermana Rasmussen are literally like our parents out here.  I can not wait for you to meet them! :)

I CAN NOT BELIEVE ABOUT LINCOLNS MISSION CALL!!  I have literally been thinking about it allll week!  I am soooo happy for him!  He is going to be the best missionary ever! :)

And about Christmas... I didnt realize how close it was!!  I will be able to talk at whatever time so just tell me what time is best for you and i can make it work.... I am guessing earlier is better right?  LIke the morning?  I can do that :)

Also i loooked at the itinerary and it is perfect!  The hotel is honestly in the perfect location haha so we are good :)  It is also a really nice one....  So thats good.  Maybe i will get to have my first hot shower in 18 months!!! :)  I have been looking forward to that :)

Everything here is just so good :)  I am happy, i am healthy, i love everything and time is going by way too fast...  We also have a couple baptisms coming up in this area as well so i am super excited about that!  Gosh... i dont want to come home...  This place has changed my life and i am not sure how i am going to be able to leave....  I get super stressed and often cry when i think about it...  But i am excited as well :)  I just have 3 transfers left! CRAZY!

Well that it is for my week.  It was super crazy haha so next week hopfully my thoughts will be more organized!  Thank you for everything you all doo! :)  I hope you have such a good week! Love you all soooo much! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

December 7, 2015

Momma!

Okay i laughed so hard while reading your email hahaha!  I wish i would have been there to see Hayden haha but i can honestly just picture it in my head hahah!  Gosh i love those kids :)  Also i am SOO down for going to new york every year! :)

So this week was really good :)  On Friday we had a special meeting with Elder Godoy from the 70.  It was honestly amazing.  It helped me out so much.  I have been pretty discouraged because we arent teaching as much as i would like too.  I went in to the meeting with a couple of questions and left with all of them answered.  It was so great. He was super funny and told us about his conversion story and just helped us to get encouraged and keep going.

Also this week we got a new investigator that i LOVE.  Her name is candy.  And also her boyfriend Ronald!  She is honestly SOOO nice!  She invited us in and had lots of questions and really understood and accepted everything we taught her.  Ronald had been to our church before also!  The problem is is.... well theyre not married.  And to get married here in Peru is SUPER hard and SUPER expensive.  But we are going to keep working with her. 

Also this week we taught Sonia and gave her a baptismal date!  She is doing so well and is reading and praying and progressing! :)  I am hoping we will be able to teach the rest of her family as well :)

Also for the meeting with Elder Godoy i got to play my violin!  Okay but it was super stressful for me... So this is what happened.  So the other day my bag broke, and when it did i guess our cell phone fell out and so yeah we lost our cell phone.... So the day before the meeting at like 7 am someone came knocking at our door.  So it wound up being the zone leaders at our door hahaha. They literally had to come to our room because there was no other way to contact us. oops.  So they came and first were just joking around and bugging me about losing our phone.  But then they asked me if i could play the NEXT day.  In front of a general authority!  I of course said yes but like.. i was stressed.  But we got to practice a little and it actually turned out really well for the very little time we had.  But it was fun :) 

Also i have to help out the young women in our ward with a musical number.  I have had TONS of opportunities to play my violin here and i love it :)

And transfers are NEXT WEEK!  I think i am going to leave this area...  I am ready to but its a pretty bitter sweet feeling.  But im not sure so i will let you know what happens with that next week. 

Christmas decorations and everything here are super funny.  Most people have trees and lights and snowmen and then its like 100 degrees outside hahaha.  But they are very festive.  They all like to drink too so thats fun :)  But everyone has been decorating!  I will try to take some pictures of decorations .

Oh yeah!  Me and sister rasmussen talked about you the other day momma :)  She is super excited to meet you! :)  Also let me know what hotels he has planned for Piura because some are super far away from everything....  so just let me know when you find out :)

Well that is it for my week.  I love you all soooo much and have such a good week!  

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

November 23, 2015

Momma!

Wow it sounds like it was quite a week for all of you.....  But i laughed a lot while i read your email hahaha!  I want pictures from the blessing too!!!!! PLEASE!

Well as far as my week..... #danguepart2.  Yeah we think i have dangue again...  I have been sick since thursday...  So pretty much this is how my week went.  Monday and Tuesday were normal working days.  Wednesday my companion had to go to Lima so I went and spent wednesday in Piura.  Thursday morning i got sick....  I tried to go out in the morning with the sister i was with in Piura but then all of a sudden i got a fever and felt super nauseaus so we went to a members house and thats when i started throwing up so we just went back to the room and i slept for a little.  Then just more of being sick and throwing up and then we went and picked up my companion from the airport.  The next day we got back to sullana and i was feeling a little better but then thats when all my stuff got robbed so that whole day we were calling people trying to get that all figured out because my drivers licence, all my money, my debit cards, and pretty much everything i needed was there so we didnt get much done when we got back.  That night i was up throwing up all night again and saturday was the same.  We got out to teach a few lessons then we had the adult session of conference.  I then again stayed up the whole night throwing up.  Then the next day was the regular session of general conference and President and Hermana Rasmussen were there.  Afterwards they came up to me and asked if i was doing okay and then president just told me to go get some rest.  This is literally like my first time every being really sick on my mission so i am not really sure how to handle it....  So that brings us to today.  I felt good this morning  but a few hours ago i got nauseaus again and now i am not sure what to do with myself.....  Life kinda sucks sometimes.  Hermana Rasmussen is taking tabs on my now haha so if i dont get better soon she wants me to go get some tests done.  But i REALLLY do not want to do that so i am trying to keep myself healthy. 

But for thanksgiving my district is making TACOS!  Fitting right haha?  They dont celebrate that here so my district is just going to go big and do something :)

My companion is doing super good!  She has taken really good care of me this week so i am super thankful for her.  And we are really just best friends.  We already have lots of trips planned together for after the mission :)  And she speaks spanish well.  She understands everything and really just tries her hardest so its great :)

And about money.... Well i have less than 3 dollars for the rest of this month...  But my companion is taking care of me.  We were talking about that too.  You could just contact her mom and send me money through her card.  I think that would be the easiest for now haha.  I still cant believe i was robbed.... Peru is ghetto like that sometimes haha :)

Also i cant believe its almost CHRISTMAS!  Gosh where has the time gone....?  I am super excited to see you all though!  Everyone is going to be so different.... But i am just so excited :)

Well, that is it for my lame week.  I will try to make this week more excitign haha.  Thanks for everything family! LOVE YOU! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

November 9, 2015

Buenas Tardes!

Okay first off i am SUPER jealous you got to meet David Archuleta....  Hes pretty much famous to all of the world down here haha!  That sounds way fun!  And i can just picture Addys face to that makes me super happy :)  I hope you all had fun!  

So this week was better!  I finally feel goodish haha!  I dont know what happened these last couple weeks but it was not fun..  So this week was good!  A MIRACLE happened yesterday.  So we have this convert named Gianella who was baptized like 2 months ago.  So this week, her mother came to church!  Her mom is WAY against the church but decided to come to see what her daughter was doing there and she liked it!  She now wants us to come visit her and answer all of her questions.  That will be so good but there are also a couple problems with that.  First, she is super tough and when she doesnt agree with something she just lets you know.  And Hermana Langs spanish isnt quite perfect yet so i might pretty much be alone in the lesson.  Second, she still doesnt know her daughter was baptized.  So we have to continue to keep that a secret.  Which is super hard to do when shes coming to church and everyone knows that shes a member!  We are going to try and talk to Gianella and tell her to just tell her mom so were not all stressed out...

Also, well the other day we talked to this guy on the street, but he pretty much was just flirting with us so we just invited him to church like we do with all the other guys who are just being stupid and left.  But this one actually came to church!  It was super funny when he walked in.  But he didnt pay any attention.  He just sat there and tried to talk to me the WHOLE time and it was super annoying.  I am glad that he doesnt live in our area so we wont have to teach him.  But we will see what happens with that.  He said he is coming back next week too....  

So we are still teaching Carlos and he is still frusrutating me.  If i didnt love the kid so much he wouldnt make me so mad!  Honestly he knows its all true but he keeps telling us that his things are more important than God and that he wants to do things his way and not Gods way and I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!  He really does help us out a lot though and i know that he really knows what to do.  I dont know if he just doenst want to or what... But we will see what happens.  

We did find a couple new investigators this week so that was fun :)  I hope that they progress!  We are also going to have a baptism soon!  Marilyn will get baptized this month!  She just wants time to plan her after party haha!  She likes parties i guess :)  But we are making plans for that so itll be good! :)

Well thats about it for teaching this week.  I am hoping this next week will be even better :)

As far as your questions mother...  I honestly dont know how to answer any of them...  I dont know if you should call church travel or president...  I think itll all go through church travel anyways so maybe just call them?  I doubt president would know anything.  All i know is when i have about 3 months left they will send me an email asking if my parents are coming to get me.  But thats all iknow.  And president and sister rasmussen know you are coming.  I have talked to them about it before and a lot of missionaries do it so yeah its fine.  

Also about college.  I dont know how to do anything about that either.  Its kinda stressing me out.  I think i wrote down all my stuff on a piece of paper and put it with all the paperwork though.  But other than that if its not there i have no idea....  So yeah i am pretty lost on that tooo... uh oh.... 

Well, over all it has been a good week!  I am loving my mission and time is passing by way too fast! I hope you all have such a good week!  I love you all tons! Until next week!

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

November 2, 2015

Momma!

Wow that is sooo cool that Elder Holland was there!  Last night i actually listened to a talk of his haha!  He is SUCH a good speaker!

And ellie is just the cutest!  Gosh they are all growing up and i miss them TONS!  

Also have fun at David Archuleta!  SEND ME PICTURES!

Well this week was transfers!  SURPRISE!  Me and my companion are both staying here :)  I am soooo happy about that! :)  I will have 6 more weeks here and then i will probably be transferred.....  TO MY LAST AREA!  Thats kinda freakin me out but whatever haha :)  But this week was a good week!  I forgot my agenda that had my whole week in it so i might forget stuff but ill see if i can remember it all haha :)

So this week we taught Carlos, and honestly this guy is FRUSTRUATING ME!  He really is the best haha but he is definilty a teenager.....  He use to be talking a lot about going on a mission and everything but now he decided that its not worth his time and that he has to finish studying and that he has so many other things he could be doing.  We tried talking to him about putting God over the world and things like that but he is not budging.  He is a big thinker and likes to use logics over the spirit and what he should really do.  We have another lesson with him tonight so we will keep trying to help him. Actually the talk i listened from Elder Holland is exactly what i need to share with him.  So tell Elder Holland thanks for inspiring me haha! :) Anyways...  Hes the best and super funny but super stubborn too...  Also he might be coming to the US to visit in August so that will be fun haha :)

Also this week we found 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS!  And they are sooooo cool!  The first ones names are Karla and Karla haha.  They are a mother and daughter.  We contacted the mom last week and honestly she didnt really want to listen to us.  But i was not giving up so i just kept asking if we could visit her specific days and finally she said yes haha :)  So we went and talked to her and honestly it was such a good first lesson!  The spirit was sooooo strong.  So a big problem here with the Catholics is beliving in the saints and the virgin mary and their our father prayer thing, but she didnt believe in ANY of those and said she has been looking for a religion like ours!  I almost started crying in the lesson when she said that haha!  Its moments like that that make missonary work the best :)  I LOVE IT HERE!

Our other investigator is named Isumi.  She is a 17 year old.  She just had her first kid and her mom is actually a member!  She doesnt know much about the church though.  Hoestly we think she just wants to talk to us because she needs something from the US but then she asked lots of questions so we decided to give her another chance.  We will see how things go with her this week :)

Also this week our district had a little Halloween party!  It was super funny haha!  Our district leader found a pinata and we just went and talked and it was super fun :)  Halloween is super scary here so it was nice to just be in the church for the night instead of outside with all the drunk people haha.  We are actually having a problem with this same drunk guy that keeps following us around.  The other day we had to have our district leader come and save us from him but i mean we will be okay :)  Hes an old guy and i think we could take him haha :)

We are progressing with our less actives, the ward is great, and we are happy!  I am so happy i get to stay with Hermana Lang!  We get along so well and we are already planning the trips we are going to go on together when she gets home haha!  :)  

I have felt a little better this week.  Yesterday i actually felt horrible all day but i feel better now :)  everyone has been telling me its dangue because i have been having skin rashes and other symptoms of it but i honestly do not want to go to the doctor because i already know exactly what they will tell me to do...  And i feel really good today so I think i will be fine :)  I refuse to stay indoorssss!  I get so boared and there are too many people to teach!  

Well, that is about it for my week!  Thanks for everything family! I love you all SO MUCH!  Hope you had a good Halloween!  Talk to you next week! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

I wanted to write you to thank you. It has been such a blessing to have your daughter a part of our daughter's life, as her trainer. Obviously, sending off a missionary is tough and knowing they got wherever, but you know they are taken care of. I know they are always in the Lord's hands and have many that love them and watch over them. But a trainer is that mentor that teaches them "it's ok to put their feet in the water". Hermana (Katie)  Lang has a huge heart and lots of feelings, but writing those feelings is not her strong point. Her letters don't give a lot of detail, but what they do say is how much she loves your daughter. They work, they teach, they laugh and they even get sick together:( 

I'm Jo Dee, Katie's mom, and wanted to email you. I know Hermana Mitchell will be home in 5-6 months and we would love to come to her homecoming. I know that seems a little presumptuous, but we would love to meet her and thank her, if that's alright. I converted to the church as a teenager and grew up in AZ. We live in So Cal and have 6 children, although there's only 1 left at home. We love missionaries and the wonderful experience that it is to serve the Lord, like no other. My oldest daughter served in Louisiana, just after Katrina, my son in Houston, TX, my other daughters served at the same time because of age change, one in Cusco, Peru and the other in Hawaii. I can't tell you how proud I am that each of my children wanted to serve missions. (Katie actually thought she'd go to school and get married. haha)

I have a degree in education and taught 5/6 grade until my first child was born. I've been at home since. I've served mainly in primary and YW and currently teach the Beehives. 

Katie told me that you are the nurse to the prophet and go fishing with him. What a fun story and I can only imagine that wonderful experience and the stories he must tell:)

Thanks again and Happy Fall!

xo Jo Dee

October 26, 2015

Momma!!!!  How the heck are you???  :)  I have been looking forward to getting this email from you alllll week! :)  

As far as my week, well it has been good and bad.  I will start with the good parts :)  We went to our 5 week training this week and it was sooo good!  Can i just say that i LOVE President and Hermana Rasmussen?  Honestly they are so hilarous and yeah i just love them :)  In 2 weeks we are going to spend our pday making cookies with Hermana Rasmussen  so that will be fun :)  We also have been teaching our investigators and have contacted some others with such good potnetial!   I am super excited for this next week :)  We taught Angel this week but he was sick so he couldnt come to church.  But he has been reading and is still super excited for everything :)  And thats about the only cool lesson we had because at the end of this week.. Me and my companion got sick....  I honestly dont know what we had. I am actually still sick but its alright.  I just had a horrible headache and my whole body hurt and i just felt so sick.  I speant one whole night throwing up.  But i am feelign a little bit better.  I felt well enough to go play soccer with the zone this morning but i am really regretting it now... 

Another hard thing i had to do was... Well i had to ask for an int erview with President.  And dont  get scared haha i didnt do anything wrong..  But one of the companions i had a couple transfers ago was really not doing good things.  I honestly didnt want to talk to him but i couldnt push aside the feeling so I had to go tell him.  It was super hard for me.   He did know most of what i told him though but I also told him things he did not know.   I know it was the right thing to do but i have been stressing about it.  But other  than that everything is good here :)

Now i will try to answer your questions momma :) Up to this week i was feelig great!  I am not sure what happened to me....  And i have been stuggling with sleep for awhile.  I am ALWAYS exhausted but when its time to go to bed i just dont sleep well.  Sometimes i do, but other times not at all.  But i still am feeling good so its okay :)

I live in an apartment thats ubove a members house.  I like it :)  its super small and has  a million spiders in it but its pretty cozy.  And we do have a pensionista and she cooks really good and healthy t oo.  She also washes our clothes for us.  And my shoes and clothes are champs so far :)

And about the travel plans.  everything sounds good!  I would like another day in Piura to be able to head to Tumbes...  but if not thats totally fine.  I already know which famililes i want to visit and everything and it shouldnt take too long i dont think.  So whatever works for you guys. 

And yes i am pretty sure i will be with Hermana Lang for at least one more transfer :)  Transfers are actually next week!  But yeah im sure we will stay together.  :)

And also i got your package!!!!  The stuff in it didnt last long because i like sharing haha.  And some people here have never had poptarts or any of the other stuff so of course i had to share the love right?  But thank youSOOO much!  You are the best momma :)

Well that is it for my week!  I love you all soooo much! Have such a good week!  

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

October 12, 2015

Good afternoon!!!!

Hows it going???  Wow this week went by so fast...  Time is just going by super fast!  But I am loving every second that I am here :)

So this week was another good week of teaching and learning!  We have been so busy everyday and I always forget what we have done but i will try to remember!

This week we found such a good new investigator!  Her name is Sonia.  She was a reference of some girl in a different ward so we went and visited her.  She is a single mom with 4 kids and she is just looking for something to help her get a long.  She is very worried about her 14 year old son and he was in our lesson as well :)  We taught them about the restoration and they paid so much attention during the lessson.  The spirt was sooo strong!  She is so excited to learn more and to pray and do anything it takes to find more peace in her life.  We have another lesson with her tomorrow so i am super excited for that! :)

We also broke through a barrier with Angel this week!  He finally opened up and told us all his problems and doubts and everything!  It was honestly a miracle...  We also got the chance to meet his sister who is a member yesterday!  She is also working super hard with him.  Yesterday he said that he knows he will be baptized but he just wants to really feel like its the right choice beforehand.  We will definitly continue to help him with that :)

We are still teaching Karla but she is going downhill.....  I am super worried about her.  She just doesnt do what she needs to do.  She isnt reading the book of mormon or coming to church and wants us to come to her house every night but i am at the point where we honestly dont have time for that.  I am super stressed about it but i dont know what else we can do to help her.....  Pray I guess..

I am still loving training!  Hermana Lang is just so ready to meet all of our goals and meet new people and just do everything so it really helps me out a ton :)

Oh and the YSA group in our ward had a party for my birthday this week and cracked a bunch of eggs on my head so that was fun hahaha!  I think i have some pictures of the aftermath that ill send if i have time :)

And the best part of my week....  wow its too hard just to pick one!  But it was probably the multizone conference we had!  It was AMAZING!  We talked about the faith to see miracles and the mission is now making a bunch of miracle movies so go to Presidents blog to see them!  

The worst part...?  there is no bad part of the mission mama haha!  :)  i am just super happy with everything right now :)

Thanks for everything family!  I love you all TONS and i will talk to you all next week!  Be safe, have fun!  

Love

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

October 5, 2015

Family!  Wow Aubree are you kidding me!!!!  Sub-3 marathon! That is sooo cool! Maybe thatll be me someday..... yeah probably not!  But congrats sis! :)

This week was a good week!  My birthday was sooo good!  We went to general conference, investigators came!, we got to watch one of the sessions in English, and it was all so good :)  One of my investigators invited me over for dinner and treats and all sorts of good stuff!  It was so fun! :)  They are the family i am hoping to get baptized soon so we will see :)

This week was a slower week working wise because it was soo hectic...  We had a bunch of meetings and general conference so our numbers were a little down but we definiltly worked.  Me and Hermana Lang get along super well haha she is so funny!  And she is super motivated to work and it helps me out a ton.  Her spanish gets better everyday and she is really improving!  So everything is going super well right now!  

So this week we had a big meeting about El Niño...  Im not sure if youve heard anything about it but i guess its supposed to be a pretty big thing.  We have to prepare emergency back packs and do a bunch of stuff to be ready.  I guess its just a ton of rain that comes and floods and destroys everything.  Im pretty excited for it :)  but i guess we will see what happens..

General Conference was sooo good!  I got to watch all of the sessions, most of them in english!  And I loved every second of it!  The talks were SOOO good and I learned so much!  I hope all of you got to watch it too!  And i am already excited for the next one in 6 months!

All my investigators are doing super good!  Angel (who invited me over for my birthday) is progressing sooo much and it makes me sooo happy!  He started taking his Book of Mormon to work with him and he is now in like chapter 11 or something!  He came to general conference and loved it and now we just need to see what happens this week!  I love this family and hope soooo bad that they get baptized!  

Well, that is about it for my week!  Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!  I am going to try to respond back to everyone but sorry if i dont have enough time!  Thanks for everything and have such a good week!  Love you all TONS! :)

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell

September 28. 2015

MOMMA!  I am sooo glad you got my package!  I was super worried about it.  Did everything get there okay?  I sure hope so!  

This week was SO GOOD!  I love Hermana Lang!  I am sure you already know about her haha and who does Sam know that knows her?  I didnt understand that part?  But yeah she is so ready to learn and work and everything!  I was praying SO HARD about the sister i was going to train but I know that Heavenly Father answered my prayers :)

This week we definitly did some work!  Even though i was in Piura most of the week we still found lots of people to teach.  One experience we had this week was super cool.  So we went to find a future investigator that i had contacted last week, so we went to her house and her and her daughter was there.  So it turns out that her daughter lived in Utah for 2 years and got baptized there!  She told us how much she wanted to get back to the church and how she also wanted to help her mom get baptized also.  She told us experiences of going to general conference and how strong the spirit was.  It was such a cool experience!  We are definitly being blessed here in Sullana :)  We also taught Angel this week and he came to church!  And we saw him on the street the other day reading his book of mormon!  I dont think i had ever been happier in my life then i was in that moment :)  

Well i had kinda a short week so i dont have much to write about.  But i am happy and everything is going sooooo well!  I cant believe how blessed I am.  This morning actually i was reading in Alma chaper 5 and honestly it hit my like never before.  If you havent read that chaper in a while i invite you all to read it again.  Its amazing!  It really made me think about my life and the things i am doing now...  

I am so happy everyone is doing good and everyone is happy!  I am glad Swiss Days went well too!  I am going to miss helping out with shirts next year but thats alright.  :)

Thanks for everything!  I hope everyone has a good week and enjoys general conference! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

September 21, 2015

Momma!!!

Okay so things are crazy right now so sorry if this email is pretty short....  I will try and get as much information as i can in haha!

Well right now i am in Piura!  I will be reciving my new companion on wednesday but until then i have to wait here haha! I am super nervous but super excited!  I hope that i can help her and she can help me at the same time!  Yes i will be staying in Sullana! :)  The ward and the area are so amazing so i am excited to be staying there for a while :)

This week was super busy!  We did a lot of saying good bye with Hna. Shill.  That is what we did most of the week haha! And we did not have our baptism...  Hna Karla got sick and has to have an operation.  We are planning the baptism in a couple weeks.  Also this week a man gave us free honey!  Which made me so happy haha!  I love the people here :)

Yes i play my violin all the time haha!  I love it :)  I got put in charge of the ward choir for our ward conference so that should be fun.....  wish me luck haha!  All the young single adults are singing so i dont think we will get anything done in practices but whatever :)

Sorry i dont have much time to write!  But next week i will for sure give you an update of everything that is going on!  Wish me luck with my new companion!  Pray for me please!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Love you all so much!  Have such a great week! :

September 14, 2015

Hello family!  Well this pday was super crazy so i dont have much time haha but i will try to type as fast as i can!

And i am so flippin jealous that you got to go to Disneyland!!!!  And HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDY!!!!  I can not believe that girl is 12 years old haha! Time flies by sooooo fast!

My week was SOO GOOD!  We found 8 new investigators this week and they are alll so amazing!  We challenged about half of them to baptism and they all said yes!  We just now need to get them specific dates!  The work is definitly moving forward here in Sullana and i love it!
So this week we taught Hna. Angel and his sister and his 2 nieces.  Okay and his nieces remind me SO much of addy and hope!  its not even funny!  the older one is 11 and the younger is 8.  They both have the same personalities as addy and hope and it makes me so happy whenever i am around them haha!  The older is named estrella and she just wants to get baptized as soon as possible! She is so great!  She brought her little sister to church this week and it was just them 2!  They came alone and it was so cute!  I am not sure why Angel didnt come but we will find out this week.  So we are working hard with them and their family.

We are pretty bummed because Karla didnt come to church this week so she will not be able to get baptized saturday.  But we are going to meet with her tonight and see how she feels about the next week.... I hope everything works out okay with her.  

Everything is going well with our converts and hopefully soon we will have even more!  Carlos is now planning on going on a mission!  He is getting ready to go to mission prep and everything!  She is the funniest person ive ever met and is so excited about everything :)

And today is Hna. Shills last pday!  This transfer went by SOOO fast!  I dont know where the time went!  I am super scared to train but i know itll all go well.  I am in a good area to be training :)  Oh and mother if you havent sent my package i would like to add some things if thats okay :)  not many things but... more peanut butter haha, vinalla tootsie rolls, and music on a USB.  Music from les mis, disney, and joesph and the dream coat :)  and other good appropriate music as well :) Oh and that consecrated oil for president if you still have it! And also other yummy treats you can find! :)

Well, that is is for my week! I will try and send some pics right now!  I love you all tons and have such a good week! :)

September 7, 2015

Mother!  Okay I literally died laughing at your story with Addy hahahah!  Poor girl!  But it made for some good laughs right! :)  Gosh i love you guys haha!  And Addy is going to be 12 years old!  That is SOOO crazy!  They are all growing up soo fast and i cant believe it!  Where has the time gone..?

Well, this week was AWESOME!  So we had surprise interviews with President this week!  And my interview went so well.  He is so motivated and wants to see baptisms and has some really good ideas on how to help us.  But also in my interveiw he told me to be getting ready to train a new missionary!  Woohoo!  I am super nervous hahah!  Especially because now they are having north american train other north americans!  I cant train someone who doesnt speak spanish!  I mean i speak it well but not perfectly!  So yeah i am pretty stressed.  Only 2 more weeks until transfers!  AHHH!

Also this week we taught one of our new investigators named Cynthia.  She is honestly so amazing!  Since we have started teaching her she has been praying and keeping up with commitments and doing everything.  We also found something interesting about her husband yesterday that i actually need some help with (dad, this is where you come in haha).  Her husband is a Mason.  And they had TONS  of questions about Joesph Smith with the Masons and honestly I just keep thinking about National Treasure and didnt know how to respond haha.  I know that he was a Mason but nothing else about it.  So, Father, if you have any information for me that would be super helpful so i can know what to tell them or anything that could help me.  He said nothing but good things about Joesph Smith though.  I guess they have like a brothership thing and he believes everything we teach about him.... So i guess we will have to see what happens haha! 

Also a MIRACLE happened this week!  So Carlos got baptized a few weeks ago right?  So he got his school scedule and has classes every sunday at 8:40.  I am not sure if i metioned this earlier or not about his schedule... But anyways.  Every week he has been having to just come for sacrament meeting and having to leave super fast afterwards.  Well, this sunday in the afternoon he called us and told us that his class got changed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He can now attend all 3 hours of church from now on!!!!!!!!  We have honestly been praying for this and he has too.  He was so happy and knows now for sure that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.  

We have been finding and teaching a lot this week.  It has been fun to get to know the ward better and be able to connect with them.  Because honestly we cant do ANYTHING if the ward and the members arent involved.  We are so blessed here to have such great members!

Today for Pday we went to the beach with President and hermana rasmussen!  It was soooo fun hahaha!  They are honestly like our parents out here.  They are so loving and nice and do fun things with us and i love it!  I have honestly never been happier :)

Honestly i can t think of anything else i need momma haha!  I sometimes think of stuff throughout the weeks but i forget!  I will think about it this week and write some things down so i wont forget them :)  And yes i see Cole somtimes :)  its super funny because everyone knows were friends and the assistents see him all the time and give me updates as to what hes doing haha!  Its funny :)  and yeah i have been talking to Lauren!  She is doing so good!  She has 2 more weeks left int he MTC before shes offf :)  And yes i got your last package!  THank you OSOOO much!  There is NO peanut butter where i am at so i have been enjoying that TONS!  Gosh i miss american food!  There is a big lack of creativity here haaha :)

Well, that is it for my week.  I love you all SOOOO much!  I hope you have such a good week this week!  

Love,
Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

August 31, 2015

Momma,

So this week we found some amazing new investigators!  We found a family!  Well almost a complete family haha, the mom said she would join us the next time we teach.  So about 2 weeks ago this guy came up to us and asked us why we were here and everything (we get that a lot since we are two white girls together haha).  But we talked to him and asked if we could visit him one day and he said yes.  But inbetween us taking to him and actually having a lesson with him, he went to our baptism and went to church!  Then finally we had a lesson with him haha!  And it went SOOO well!  Our ward mission leader who got home from his mission about 8 months ago came with us and we taught the restoration.  This spirit was SO strong and also he introduced us to his sister and nieces who were all really interested.  They accepted coming to church this sunday and reading the book of mormon and they are just super nice!  Gosh i love being a missionary!  I have been praying SO HARD that they will progress.  We have another lesson with them tomorrow so we will see what happened in their prayers also!

And to answer your question mother... SO MANY PEOPLE.  We are teaching tons of people everyday!  I cant keep track anymore!  This area is progressing like crazy and we cant keep up haha!  But yes i have been trying to write in my journal more haha.  I slacked off for a little in my other area but i repented and am doing better.

And... ELDER BEDNAR!  Wow we had such an amazing meeting with him!!! It was just our mission and he didnt hardly talk at all... It was like a conversation hahaha!  It was so amazing!  He asked us what we have learned and just kept going with the questions.  He talked a lot about listening to whats not being said and also talked a lot about the principle of agency.  I wish i could write down everything i learned but it would take forever haha!   I did take notes though so in 8 months ill fill you all in haha.  But it was amazing and the spirit was SO STONG!  It was super weird hearing someone speak in english and let alone use words like stupid and dumb and things like that hahah!  I laughed super hard.  Hes a funny guy! 

This next week should be good as well.  We have interviews and have to go to Piura on thursday so itll be a super busy week to make up for that time were going to miss!

Well i love you all SOOO much!  This week go share the gospel with someone!  There are so many people out there that dont understand what theyre missing out on!  This gospel CHANGES lives!  

Thanks for everything family!  I  love you all TONS! 

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell  

August 24, 2015

Hello!  Wow what another week i had!  I dont even know where to start!  With the best parts i guess haha!  

So last week I talked about our investigator Carlos who looked stuff up onlne about Joesph Smith.  Well, last Monday we had a Family Home Evening with him and another family and watched the video about the life of Joesph Smith.  The spirit was SO strong!  So we had another lesson with him a few days later and he walked in and sat down and said ¨I want to be baptized on Saturday¨ and we were like for real????  And he was dead serious!  I guess he went home and prayed about everything and got an answer and wanted to be baptized.  So this saturday WE HAD ANOTHER BAPTISM!  It was a surpise baptism haha which i decided are the best type! He was super happy afterwards and it was jsut so good!  I will send some pictures of the baptism!

The rest of this week was super busy.  We have been finding and teaching people like crazy.  We have TONS of investigators and we keep finding more.  Its hard to find time to teach everyone.  I love having these types of problems haha!  Door knocking has been pretty good.  Its not very fun...  But we are meeting some pretty amazing people.  We have been reciving SO many blessings and seeing SO many miracles.  I really love being a missionary!  

So this week we have our conference with Elder Bednar!!!  I am SO EXCITED!  It is in Piura so we only have to travel for like 40 minutes and he will only be with us for a couple hours but i cant wait!  It is this friday!  Thats about the only change of schedule we have for this week.  The rest of this week is work work and more work!  

Well, that is it for my week.  I am loving my area, i love my companion!  and i love this work!  The church is SO TRUE!  I love you all so much!  Have such a good week! 

August 17, 2015

Family!  Wowowow what a week I had!  I can officially say that i love Sullana! And that i am super exhausted haha!  I am so happy in my area and the way things are going right now!  Gosh i have so many things to tell you about this week i dont even know where to start!  Well I guess i will start with the best parts haha. 

So this week we had 2 baptisms!  So the first one went very smoothly.  Her name is Ana and she is amazing!  She is about 38 years old and is so happy to be a part of the church!  But the second one was CRAZY!  So this is what happened.  First off her name is Hna. Gianella and she is 19 years old.  She has been investigating the church for 6 months and has wanted to get baptized since day 1 but the problem is, is her family.  They are not fans of the church and want really nothing to do with it.  And for Gianella this was a problem because she REALLY wanted her family at the baptism. So what happened is, well she was supposed to get baptized on Saturday with the other sister, but she talked to her parents and they said no...  So we went and talked to her on saturday because she was really sad and just told her that its okay to wait and that she could keep coming to church and little by little get her family more use to the idea.  So at the end of the lesson we bore our testimonies and the spirit was so strong and then she said ¨my parents are never going to get use to the idea, and I know this is true and I want to get baptized, so can i get baptized tomorrow?¨  We were honestly so surprised when she said that.  And since she is 19 years old she didnt need her parents permisson.  So we called the district leader and the same day she was interviewed and got baptized on sunday!  She the told us after the baptism that her parents dont know that she was getting baptized so we are going to have to help her tell them...  But its all good and she is super happy :)

Also this week we taught a lot of our investigators.  One of them is named Carlos.  Carlos is another teenager that has so many desires to do good.  But this week, he told us that he asked his dad if he could be baptized, and his dad said he wanted to know everything about the church first.  So what did they do?  They went to google.....  WHY DO PEOPLE DO THAT!  He learned so many false things about the church and joesph smith and everything and now he is filled with doubts and questions.  His dad finally said he could be baptized but now with all his doubts, he doesnt want to.  We have another lesson with him tonight.  

Another lesson we had was with Hno. Josue.  He is a recent convert and he is 16 years old.  He is such a good kid but during our lesson this week he told us about the problems hes been having and that he fell back into temptation for the first time in forever!  He had a problem with drugs and drinking before his baptism and this last week he fell back into bad habits. He was so sad about it and went and talked to the bishop and is now trying to fix things.  He cried during our lesson and the spirit was SO STRONG! 

In our area right now we have about 4 investigators with baptism dates and we are hoping to put at least 2 or 3 more this week!

Oh!  Okay so something else new...  President Rasmussen decided to change a couple things here  in the mission.  And from now on, from 6-8 pm we are only to be knocking on doors.  for 2 hours straight we have to door knock!  Its super hard becasue in these hours we have our best lessons! We now have to have divisons with members almost everyday so we can teach and door knock.  It is definitly going to test our faith but we are excited for the challange!

Things with my companion are going so good!  She really is the best!  I am so sad that she is going home soon!  This has been such a good transfer so far!  

I have not gotten the package yet momma but since im not in Piura things will get to me slower haha.  But hopfully when we go to Piura to see Elder Bednar it will be there! :) And speaking of, have you talked to Lynne yet?  He comes on the 28th of August!  

Well, that is it for my week.  I hope you are all doing well and everyones happy!  I love you all SO MUCH and miss you TONS!  Have such a good week and i wll talk to you all next week! :)

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)