May 25, 2015

Hola familia :)

Well it was another good week here in Peru!  Me and my new companion are getting along great!  She is hilarious hahaha.  The only problem is, is that her last companion wasnt too big of a fan of obedience so she has some bad habits formed but I am trying super hard just to be a good example.  Some things I have no control over but i can control what i do right? Oh and she does not like to run....   We do work really well together though.  She is 25 years old and the mission has been kinda hard for her but we are doing some good things in our area :)

This week we didnt teach very many investigators but we taught TONS of less active members!  I really enjoy working with less active members :)  But we are teaching this member who hasnt gone to church in a while.  His name is Arturo and about a month ago he liked to go out driking with his friends every night and really did not like the missionaries coming to his house and was even physically abusing his wife when he came home drunk.  But we have been working really hard with him and now he has stopped drinking completely and he and his family are so much happier!  He also told us that he now wants to go to the temple with his family to get sealed!!!  He also invites us over for dinner at his house sometimes and cooks for us hahah which is a HUGE deal because a month ago he wouldnt even agree to talk to us!  I really love this family so much :)  They have 2 little boys that remind me so much of Hayden and Miles hahaha :)  They are the cutest!  His story really is a miracle...  I cant believe how far hes come :)

We have been trying really hard to find new investigators but in this area its sooo hard!  No one is ever home and when they are they really do not want to talk to us but we are trying to talk to everyone we come in contact with and we have some good references to work with this next week so i am pretty excited about that :)  Good things are around the corner :)

Gosh I can not believe how fast 7 months went by!!!  Its going by too fast!!! In a year from now I will be home and settled and probably working or something at this point!  Gosh its so weird to think about haha, but I am really loving my time here.  It is SUPER hard sometimes but it is so worth it :)

ADDY WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THE NEW BOOK!!!!!  What did i start hahahaha!  Its Randy Shaws fault actually hahaha :)  But you have to save it for me and ill read it as soon as i get home :)

I am so glad that everything is going well at home and that everyone is doing good :)  Keep me updated with Kaely and Katlyn and everything else thats going on please :)

Well, i love you all sooooo much and i love you all even more :)  Have such a good week and i will talk to you next week!

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

May 18, 2015

Buenos tardes familia!!!  Well this week was TRANSFERS!!!!  Hna. Rivera finished her mission today and it was so hard to say goodbye to her!  We were such good friends and i learned so much from her!  I am going to miss her TONS!  But I also got my new companion today!!  Her name is Hermana Pacheco and she is from Mexico!  She was in the MTC with me so i at least got to know her a little there :) She has been on her mission for 6 months and i have only been here for 7 so we are both pretty new and pretty nervous haha but I am really excited for this transfer!  And President Rowley made me senior companion!  I was really surprised at that but i am excited at the same time! I mean there really isnt much of a difference between senior and junior companion but still I feel pretty cool :) 

This week was such a good week!  Hna. Rivera finished her mission working hard haha and a lot of good things happened this week!  This week we found 2 amazing new investigators!  Their names are Fiorela and Diego.  Fiorela is 21 years old and Diego is 16 years old.  They are siblings and they are so amazing!  We invitied them to an activity and to church and they went to both!  And Diego really liked Church.  He made a ton of friends his first week and they invited him to play soccer with them and he was super happy because they just moved here and he hadnt found any friends so he was really greatful :)  They are really excited to keep learning more and want to keep coming to church!  They also they they want to invite their family to listen to us to because they really like how ``family friendly`` we are haha :)  But i am super excited for them and i really hope everything goes well this week!  I am pretty nervous because of our transfers but i am super excited at the same time :)

Dallin!!!!  CONGRATS!  You are an offical doctor now!  That is so cool!  I wish i couldve been there for your graduation and everything but I was there in spirit so that counts right? :)

And Braden!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!  I hope you had a good day too :)  I bet it was so fun to be all together again :)  Soon ill get to be there too haha :)

Mother have fun in Pheonix :)  I bet its hotter here than it is there right now:)

Well that is it for my week.  Gosh time is flying by SOOO super fast!!!  I honestly can not believe it!  But I am loving my mission so much.  I have met such amazing people and i am not sure that i am going to want to come home! I have a good feeling about this transfer :)  

I love you all SOOO MUCH!  You are honestly the best family in the world!  :)  Have such an amazing week and I will talk to you all next week!  :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

Papa!!!
How was the Dominican Republic???  That sounds like such a cool experience!  I want to do something like that when I get home as well!  And dad you have to learn spanish before i get home so we can talk in spanish!  It really isnt that hard after a while haha :)  But really that sounds like such an amazing adventure!  I am glad that you made it home safely though and I am sure that Momma missed you a ton too :)

And Sarah is home??????  I honestly feel like she just left!  Time honestly flies by so fast here that is not even funny!  I feel like I just left and in less than a year I am going to be home!  But really I am so incredibly happy here and things are going soooo good :)  I was also made Senior Companion this transfer so if you have any advice for me let me know!  I was honestly really surprised that President made me Sr. Comp because i havent been out that long and my companion has been out the same amount of time as me but she speaks spanish haha! But it will be a good experience for me im sure :)

I wish you couldve been there for mothers day too...  But it was soo good to be able to see everyone and to get to talk to mom and everything :)  Everyone looks like they are doing so good and that makes me so happy :)

Gosh mission life really is just the greatest :)  It definitly isnt easy but I am really just so happy here :)  I have met some of the most amazing people and have had some of the most amazing experiences and everything is just so good :)

Thank you so much for you email papa.  I miss you soooo much and love you tons!  Give all the kids hugs for me!  Have such a good week and I will talk to you again in just another short week! :)  Love you dad :)

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane :)

May 4, 2015

Happy Monday! :)

Wow another week went by already... Time is going by so fast! And its already May!!  What happened to April??  

Well this week was soooo good!  We taught TONS of lessons this week haha.  Also this week we went on splits with some sisters in our ward.  And honestly I was TERRIFIED!  I mean i speak spanish pretty good but its still kinda nervewrecking to teach without your companion for the first time!  So i was super super nervous but i mean i wasnt gonna tell Hna. Rivera that we werent gonna do it because i was scared haha so i had to buck up and get over it.  But it really was such an amazing experience for me.  So in the lessons that we had, in 2 of them i had to commit to baptism!  So that made me even more nervous. But honestly it went sooo well.  I was being helped out thats for sure :)  I mean i had never spoken that good of spanish yet in my mission!  And all 3 people that I challeneged to baptism acceped!!!!!!!  Yeah it was a pretty good day :)

And yes we had a baptism this week!!!  It went soo well!  I will try to send pictures if i have time :)  But we baptized Anderson!  And his dad attended the baptism!  Hna. Violeta also attended but we are not sure of what she thought about it because she left too fast after it ended! But we have a family home eveneing with her tonight so we will find out :)  We are kind of getting discouraged with Hna. Violeta because she stopped reading her book of mormon, stopped praying, and hasnt come to church in a couple weeks.  We are trying to help her have a spiritual experience so she can know that she needs to be baptized.  We are hoping that tonight she will have one... Because honestly we dont know what else to do!!!  Ugh....  But we are going to keep working with her. 

THIS WEEK IS MOTHERS DAY! I am so excited to get to be able to talk to you all!!! Gosh it feels like just yesterday was Christmas hahha :)  But anyways... I am going to call at 6pm PERUVIAN TIME.  And honestly i dont remember what time that is in Utah haha.  I think its at like 5 or 7 or something like that... But i hope that works for everyone!!  If not... Mother i hope you are connected right now to tell me otherwise haha.  But honestly I am soo excited to talk to you!  :)  

I am not playing my violin as much as i use to but i am still really greatful to have it :)

And honestly i meet super crazy people every single day hahaha :)  but the most interesting person i met this week was probably Hna Filomena haha.  She is a little old lady and she told us that we are literal angels sent to change her life and then just kept talking for about 30 minutes and we were just laughing because we didnt understand hardly ANYTHING of what she said haha.  And no it was not just because my spanish haha :)

And my scripture of the week is Alma 37:35.  Learn wisdom in thy youth :)  Really i was thinking a lot this week about how greatful i am for the oppertunity i had to be raised in the gospel and learn true wisdom in my youth.  I got to share my experiences of learning the gospel in a loving home and how i obtained my testimony.  Gosh i love being a missionary :)

Well that is it for my week, i hope you all have such a good week this week!  I cant wait to talk to you on Sunday!!!!  My companion is super obedient so i really might only get to talk for 30 or 40 minutes but shes talking to her family first so i will find out haha.  I hope it gets to be a little longer!  I love you all and miss you tons!  Have such a good week!

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)