April 11, 2016

Dear Family,

Wow, I have been thinking about writing this email since my first pday in the mission field.  I honestly can not believe that it is here...  I remember sitting at the computer and thinking that I was going to be here for forever, and honeslty right now... I would like that to be true. 

Honestly these last 18 have been the hardest, greatest, funnest, most trying months of my life.  I have laughed, cried, been sick so many days that i can't even count, and have learned so much through it all.  My mission really has meant the world to me.  I will forever be grateful for these last 18 months here I have had in Peru. 

Some of the greatest memories of my life I have made here.  I have seen so many miracles and have seen how this gospel has changed so many lives.  I remeber my first baptism, the first door shut in my face, the first time I saw an investigator gain a testimony, and sooo many other firsts.  Every experience I have had here, good and bad, have changed my life for the better.  

Before my mission I believed a lot of things.  I believed in the church, the Book of Mormon, and all the doctrine.  But, I coundnt say that I knew all these things were true.  But now I can say with NO DOUBT, that I KNOW the church is true.  I know the book of mormon is true.  I know we have a living prophet and I know God and Jesus Christ live, and they love us SO MUCH.  I have seen how these simple doctrines can literally CHANGE LIVES.  I have seen destroyed families unite.  I have seen people who were at there lowest, get lifted higher.  I have seen and iIam a witness of the truthfulness of this gospel.  There is nothing else that can have such an influence on mankind. Gosh, I dont know where I would be if I would have never made the decision to serve a mission...  

This last week has been a rough one.  Work wise it was good, but I am just full of so many mixed feelings!  We are making progress with Alan, and we found a couple new investigators with amazing potential.  I still havent wrapped my head around the fact that the next time I will talk to you all, it will be in person. Its also hard for me to think that next week I wont be writing you from a ghetto internet cafe haha :) I hope you are all ready to have me back in the USA hahaha :)  I am going to need LOTS of help adjusting....  I always promised myself that I wouldnt be a weird returned missionary, and I will try my hardest not to be, but I think it just might happen... 

I just want to thank all of you the love and support I have recieved these last 18 months.  Really, i dont know what I would do without all of you.  And I just want all of you to know that really, I know this church is true.  I doesnt matter what we are going through, what we have done, where we are in the world... Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us.  He always has and always will.  He is ALWAYS here for us whenever we need him.  

And my feelings about preparing to come home... Honestly I dont even know how to describe how I am feeling.  I really just dont want to do it haha.  Dont take that the wrong way, i am SOOO excited to see you all, i just dont know how i am going to leave all this behind.  I mean this is where I have really gained my testimony.  I have speant the saddest, hardest, most painful days of my life here.  But I have also speant the happiest, funnest, most spiritual days of my life here.  Its like leaving a little part of me behind.  I will always love this place and these people.  They have made me into the person I am.  Mostly I am just feeling stressed..  I feel like I am about to jump into a world that I dont even know anymore.  I wont have a companion, i wont have as many rules, i wont have my set study times, i wont have daily and weekly planning sessions, and i dont know what i am going to do.  But I know it needs to happen, and weather i am ready or not... it will.  But on the other hand I am super excited to see all the people I have missed so much.  I am excited to see how everyone has changed and how different everything is.  It is just a big mixture of feelings.  I will try to explain a little more when I see you momma :)

Well, I love you all so much.  And I guess I will see you all soon in the USA...  Thank you all so much again.  Have an amazing week.  See you soon!

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

April 4, 2016

Hola Familia!
Wow 2 WEEKS!  I honestly can not believe it!  That is so crazy to me... Its coming too fast!!!!!  But I am super excited!
This week has been a good week!  Lots of learning and growing thats for sure! :)

First off i want to share what impacted me a ton in my studies this week!  So I was reading in Alma chapter 24.  In this chapter it is talking about the Anti-Nephi-Lehites.  This was just after they burried their wepons and converted to the Lord.  They made a convenant that they would never take up their wepons again.  It goes on to tell that the wicked people then got angry with them and came to battle with them, but they still would not take their wepons and many of them died.  It was verses 26 and 27 that really caught my attention.  They say: 

  26 And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved.

27 And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people.

When I was reading these verses I stopped and thought about EVERYTHING that was going on around the world.  About what happened in Brussels, about all the wars, natural disasters, and really all that we see these days.  Sometimes we see these things that happen and ask why.  We may think that things like this dont need to happen.  But sometimes i also think that we forget about Who is really in charge.  We forget that God has a plan and it is a PERFECT plan.  Sometimes, like in the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehites, that plan will affect us in ways that we really dont particularly enjoy or in ways that, for lack of a better phrase, really suck.  But what we can also see from this story, is that God works in MANY ways for the salvation of his people.  Many are affected in harmful ways by these types of disasters, but there are also many who are affected in ways that bring their salvations.  There are family members, friends, and even strangers who hear of these stories or who are affected by the event themselves that are touched by the spirit and are brought to the truth.  I learned this week that really all we need to do is TRUST IN GOD.  When we ask why, we just have to remember and have FAITH that He knows why.  The Book of Mormon really is amazing :)

I also LOVED General Conference this weekend!  It was sooo amazing! :)  All the talks, the music, and really everything was amazing :)  But the talk that really touched me was Elder Hollands.  I am pretty sure that talk was written just for me haha.  These last few weeks i have been SOOO stressed about going home.  It still is hard for me to really wrap my head around the fact that in a few weeks, i wont be here anymore.  I wont be a missionary, i wont be in Peru, my life will be completely different.  But during Elder Hollands talk I really just felt such peace.  Hes right, after spiritual experieces, we have to come back to earth.  But I loved what he said about not giving up and understanding that it will be hard.  I just hope that I can take all i learned in these last 18 months and do something good with it at home.  I just hope that I can be patient with myself haha :)   

Anyways haha about my week!  We were not able to find Alan this week which i was super sad about....  But we were able to talk to him a little and he is doing good!  We are hoping to have a few lessons with him again this week.

This week we taught a bunch of less actives which i really enjoyed.  We were able to find a few new ones and we got to hear their stories and answer a lot of their questions.  We focused a lot in teaching about following the Profet and General Conference.  There were actually a lot that showed up!  I hope that they felt the spirit and heard something they needed to hear :) 

We are hoping that this next week goes a little smoother.  We have a lot of trainings and interviews this week so i am sure itll go by fast!  :)

I love you all SOOO much!  I can not believe that I am only going to write you one more time after this!  CRAZY!  Have a great week!  Share the Gospel with someone :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)        

March 28, 2016

Another monday!  Wow this has been a crazy week for me in all forms...

So starting out with Dresden.  That is crazy!  I actually found out on Friday i think.  So we were in a lesson and the ZLs sent me a text asking if i knew an Elder Empy from Santa Clara.  I responded and said yes and then they sent another text that said to call them right away.  So i called them and told me everything that they had heard.  I was kinda in shock.  My mind just went racing back to 1st grade when we were best friends.  Riding bikes to school, his Spiderman birthday party, being at Ray and Dorthys house almost everyday after school.  I was super gald to hear that he was okay though.  Hes a champ and can make it through anything though :)

And about Hna. Langs nephew...  This is the first i have heard about it.  I honestly started crying when I read that.  She loved that little boy sooo much.  She would talk about him all the time.  It honestly breaks my heart...  I am sure she is  having a really hard time.  I just wish she wasnt so far away!  I will try to get in contact with her as soon as possible.  

This week work wise was just alright.  Nothing too spectacular.  Alan came to church again and is reading his Book of Mormon!  He also accepted a baptismal date!  We are now just working on him getting married...

So Sunday the bishop put us in charge of doing an activity for Easter.  So we had to hurry and get everything done before Thursday.  We decided just to play soccer and volleyball and see how that turned out.  It actually was super fun haha.  All the Elders from our district showed up to help also.  They brought an american football and tried to teach people how to throw it.  We all played soccer and there were a ton of people that showed up!  I was super impressed :)  It was probably the best activity i have had in my whole mission haha :)

Womans Conference was great also!  I loved it!  A ton about service :)  I loved all of the talks and really i just love General Conferece.  I am super excited for next week! :)

Sorry my thoughts are super scrambled this week haha.  But thats about all that happened this last week.  I am hoping for a more exciting week next week! :)  Love you all soo much! Have a great week!! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

March 21, 2016

Buenas Tardes familia!

Whats up???  How is everyone doing???  It sounds like it was another good week in the USA :)

It was a pretty good week here too :)  I mean not the best week I have ever had but it was way better than last week haha.  Sometimes it takes a little bit after transfers to ajust and everything but things are definitly looking up :)

So this week we had another lesson with Alan!  Actually we had 2 :)  He really is so awesome haha.  He likes to make fun of me a lot but I am pretty use to that by now :)  But he is SO prepared!  The only problem with him is that.... hes not married.  That is ALWAYS a problem and its SO HARD to talk them into getting married sometimes but we are hoping that itll work.  So on Saturday we taught him about the Book of Mormon.  What it was, where it came from, why we need it, and really focused on him gaining a testimony of it and how he could do that.  He had lots of questions but by the end of the lesson he understood and was really anxious to start reading it.  We also invited him to church and he went!!!  He could only go for sacrament meeting because he works in a mototaxi and had to go pick something up or something but he really enjoyed it and he actually knows a lot more people in the ward than he thought he did.  Everyone was super nice to him and he wants to come back next week and bring his family! :)  Yesterday we were able to teach him again after church and we taught the Plan of Salvation.  He was SUPER interested and learned a ton.  At the end he told us how greatful he was to have us there.  The bishop came to that lesson with us and so they were able to meet and talk so it was good :)  We will see how things go with him this week :)

This week we also had an assignment from the bishop to go visit a sister that hadnt gone to church in awhile.  Her name is Grace.  She is honestly the greatest.  But she is having sooo many problems with her husband and its soo sad.  He really just is kinda a bad guy.  They have 3 kids and were sealed in the temple but he is just kinda living his life like he wants to.  We had a FHE with her and her 2 boys and it was sooo good.  Her kids are ADORABLE!  We watched the new Easter video from the church and we asked her 8 year old what his favorite part was and he started to cry!  He just talked about how beautiful it was and how sad it was that Jesus had to die for us.  I think it was one of the cutest things i have ever seen.  And Sunday they went to church!  So i think i was a success :)  We have another FHE with her today :)

We also saw a TON of blessings at church yesterday.  So we have been having A TON of problems these last few weeks in finding new investigators.  We honestly tried everything but had no results.  But yesterday at church there were like 5 people that came with friends of family members and we were able to meet them and schedule lessons with them.  It really was an answer to our prayers.  We now have a bunch of new potentials set up for this week so i am super excited about that :)  We will see how it goes! :)

Me and my compaion are doing good :)  Sometimes its just kinda hard adjusting to a new companion.  Espesically going from one from the US to a Latina.  Everything is just sooo different.  But everything is going a lot better now :)  She really is great.  She comes from a little town in the south of Peru.  But really she is super nice.  She just gets sick sometimes haha but thats okay :)  I am trying my hardest to be patient but I am learning a lot from her :)

Well, that is it for my week!  Please share the new easter video!! PLEASE!!  #ALELUYA :)

Love you all so much! See you in 4 WEEKS! :)

Love,
Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

March 14, 2016

Happy Monday!!! :)

ONLY 5 MORE WEEKS!  Oh my gosh i am sooooo stressed out haha you dont even know! 

Anyways....  This week was rough haha. First off my companion.  Actually she is really great :)  She is super nice and patient and we have been getting along really well.  She is pretty shy in group settings so its hard to talk to other missionaries haha but shes fun :) The only thing is, is she is kind of lazy, which is kinda frusturating.  I am always having to drag her out the door... But other than that everythings good.  She is not why it has been a rough week.  For some reason this week NO ONE HAS BEEN HOME!  It was kinda ridiculous!  We went around to everyone we had appointments with, all our investigators, less actives, converts, and NO ONE WAS HOME!  It was actully super weird.  It was kind of discouraging but thats okay.  We did do a lot of walking :)

We did find a new investigator yesterday and he is awesome!  His name is Alan.  He lives pretty close to us and drive a mototaxi.  Thats how we got to know him.  We were able to teach him about the restoration yesterday and we could really see that it got him thinking.  It was awesome :)  He is super anxious to read the Book of Mormon and really wants to know the truth.  We have very high hopes for him.

I was also SUPER frustrated at our ward this week.  So once a transfer we do an ´´invasion´´ where all the missionaries from one stake go to one ward and we all go out looking for references and less actives.  Finally it was our ward's turn.  So usually there are a bunch of ward members to come help out because the other missionaries dont know the area.  Butttttt, NO ONE FROM OUR WARD SHOWED UP!  Only the bishop was there and about 24 missionaries that had no idea where to go.  So pretty much they went out on their own and we got nothing done.  Invasions are such good oppertunities to find new people but we wasted ours!  I was soooooo frustruated.  Yesterday in Sacrament meeting the bishop pretty much burned everyone but it doesnt help.  Without members, missionary work is sooo hard.  I wish they would understand that!  But i guess we just have to have patience right?

Also the new Easter iniative came out!  #ALELUYA  Go on lds.org and share it with EVERYONE!  It is such a good oppertunity to have missionary experiences so do it! Please :)  

In my studies this week i was reading in Mosiah and I came across some things that really inspired me.  I was reading in King Benjamins speech and he tells us what we need to do to have real happiness.  And the thing is, its all soooo simple!  We just have to help others and be obedient.  I especially liked Mosiah 4: 11-12.  If you get some time go read it :)

Well, that is about it for my week.  I am hoping that this week will go a lot better.  I only have 5 more of them so i got to make the best of it right?  :)  Also mother, here are some things you could start getting to bring here!  

Nerf footballs (american footballs dont exist here)

BYU stuff (shirts, a couple ties)

Candy (for some reason they really liked the pixi stix haha, and tooties rolls)

-Utah stuff (magnets, key chains, tshirts, some other cheesy gas station stuff haha)

Also some things Hermana Rasmussen has asked for are

Vanilla

Baking Soda

Guacamole seasoning in packets

Love you all tons!  Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Mitchell :)

March 6, 2016

Hello!

First off, mother that video of Kaden is hilarious haha!  I will take what i can get :)

Well first things first...  I HAD TRANSFERS!  Well kind of.  I am staying in my area in Los Ficus but i got a new companion!  Hna. Sandison went to Angamos (my old area!) and I am now with Hermana Nicho!  She is from Mokewa Peru!  I have only been with her for a few hours today but she seems awesome!!!  It is nice to have another Latina companion too!  But that means I will struggle with a few English words again at the end of this transfer haha but thats okay :)  Today has been a pretty chill day of just getting to know eachother!  I can not believe that this is my last transfer!  I have a good feeling about it though :)  She actually started her mission out in Argentina but had to go home because of medical reasons then got reassigned here.  She is the oldest of 4 siblings and they are all members as well.  She only has about 4 weeks in this mission. We are still sister leaders so I am excited to finish my mission that way! 

This last week with Hermana Sandison was fun though.  We had a few meetings and mostly she just went around saying goodbye to people.  So i do not have tons to report for this week haha.  She was pretty sad to leave but it was time i think.  I love her to death and know we are going to be friends forever!  I am now super excited to learn new stuff from Hermana Nicho! 

Okay this week it rained SUPER HARD!  We were in a lesson and it started raining and by the time we left there were rivers in the roads!  I have pictures but i forgot my camera!  I will send them next week!  So we had to take off our shoes and walk through the water.  Then we went out and tried to teach people but they were all trying to get water out of their houses or save their houses so we tried to help out for a little then we were advised to just go wait it out for a little in our room....  so after that it was kinda boring haha but the rain was CRAZY!  They say that until April it will be pretty rainy here so i am pretty excited.  I LOVE THE RAIN! :)

This week we have our Leadership Counsel and Zone Meeting.  It is my last of the two... which makes me super sad.  I CANT BELIEVE ITS ALMOST OVER!  

I am going to be honest mother... i have not been the best journal writer... but i have tried!  Haha i always put it as a goal.....  But i havent been horrible either :)

Also Hermana Rasmussen has some things she would like you to bring too if thats okay.  So far all she has told is:  Good vanilla and baking soda (for baking obviously haha)  the ingredients here are not the best for making cookies i guess haha :)

Alright well thats about it for my week.  Next week I will have a lot more to report!  I am glad everyone is doing good at home!  Tell me how grandmas party goes!  Love you all tons! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

February 29, 2016

Buenos Dias!

How are you all??  Things are still pretty good here in Peru :)  Its REALLY hot, like always haha but i love it :)

It was another good week!  There are sooo many goood things happening here! :)

We have been really focusing on working with the members this week and it has turned our really well!  The stake we are in has the goal of 50 lessons with member every week for every missionary.... so sometimes it gets pretty crazy trying to find members everyday!  But its been working out okay so far :)

This week we found such a golden investigator!  His name is Gean Karlo.  He is only 14 years old but honestly acts like he is 20.  About 2 years ago he was taught by the missionaries and still remembers a lot.  He actually lives right in front of our room haha.  So the first time we talked with him he was sooo excited.  He is such a spiritual young kid.  He accepted a baptismal date the first lesson! :)  His mom is also super supportive.  She actually went with us to a baptism of our district and loved it!  She also would like to be baptized but shes not married...... But we are going to try and help her out with that :)  The second time we had gone to visit Gean, he had read the book of mormon and understood all that he had read!  We also found out that one of his best friends is a member and so we had him go with us to the lesson too and it helped us out a lot!  We have really high hopes for him :)

This week we also did intercambios!  I was with Hermana Spainhower!  She went to college at dixie so it was so fun to talk about St. George and the people we knew haha!  It was a really fun day.  A thing i love about the mission is that i really feel like i am making life long friends.  There are soooo many great sisters here and it will be soo fun to get together with them someday!

I found out some bad news as well this week.  My favorite convert from my second area, Hermano Victor, passed away.  It was such a surprise too.  I talked to my old bishop from that ward and thats how i found out.  I was pretty shocked.  But it was interesting because just a few days before i was talking to someone about the Plan of Salvation and death actually.  But we were talking about how really its not a sad thing, it feels like it, but really it is just the end of this earth  life.  We will all have to experience it at somepoint. And we talked about lots of other things too but i think that conversation really helped me prepare for that.  Hes great and i know hes in a better place now.

I forgot to write notes down for what i was going to write about so thats why i am all scattered today haha.  Sorry!  

We also had an awesome activity to help us get references this week!  So what we did, is we had a bunch of oreos and we invited all of the members that came to take a pack and go hide it somewhere around the church.  After, we told them that we were going to find them.  So we went around and looked and found only 2.  Then we asked them to come with us and kind of guide us to where they hid their oreos.  Then, with their help, we were able to find all of them!  We then explained to them that that is how it is with their friends!  They know their friends but we dont.  Us looking alone, maybe we will be able to find 1 or 2 of them, but with their help we will be able to find lots!  As a result, we got lots of references and lots of them offered to acompany us!  So i think it was a success :) 

Transfers are this week also and i am SUPER nervous!  I am pretty sure Hermana Sandison will be leaving me.....  And i am super nervous for who my last companion will be!  I have been praying super hard this week.  I just want someone who will work hard and motivate me and just be my friend...  But we will see what the Lord has planned!

I was also able to finish the Book of Mormon again this week.  IT IS SOOO TRUE!  I have a goal to finish it one more time before i get home :)  We will see what happenes! :)

Well, that is it for my week...  Sorry i was super boring this week, i will do better next week!

Love you all tons! 

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

February 22, 2016

Feliz Lunes!

It finally sounds like you had a normal week haha.  I feel like you guys are always doing something crazy without me haha! :)  

Okay well my week was another CRAZY week!  I am kinda glad its over!  But it went by super fast.  Time goes by faster and faster!  Only 2 more fast sundays left mom haha :)

Okay well the craziest thing we had this week was a surprise baptism!  So you all remember Alex right?  Well for some reason a few weeks ago he literally fell off the face of the earth.  He entered the military so we hadnt met with him in forever.  But this week we finally got back in touch with him and he was soooo ready to be baptized!  He had given up everything he has had  a problem with and has been clean for pretty much a month straight.  He just told us that he wanted to do it and that he was ready!  So we set up an interview and he passed and he was baptized on saturday!  It was so amazing to see his face when he came up out of the water.  He just had the biggest smile on his face and we could see how much he changed and how happy he was.  He says he has goals to go on a mission so we are going to be helping him with that!  But the only bad part of this is he didnt go to church on sunday to get confirmed haha!  I guess he had another committment that he forgot about.  But we went and talked with him and he will for sure come next week haha :)  So that was a fun part of our week :)

We also had our multizone conference this week!  It was my last one... so i had to give my last testimony.  That was pretty hard for me.  But it went really well!  As sister leaders we had to do a training example in front of everyone!  I was super scared haha but it also went really well :)  Me and Hermana Sandison work really well together :)  

Then on Thursday we had our sister training!  It was sooo fun but soooo crazy haha!  All the sisters in the mission together in the mission house....  yeah it was interesting :)  But we learned soo much!  Hna. Rasmussens friend from california was here visiting and gave the greatest talk about being BOLD!  It was something i definitly needed to hear.  She told us that sometimes sister missionaries often get in the habit of being visiting teachers and we are there and we talk and we are good friends but then we get too afraid to ask them to repent and be baptized because who wants to go up to their friends and tell them to repent haha!  She told us that we get out of our comfort zones and tell them the things they need to hear.  I think that helped us out a lot.  We definitly saw a difference this week from putting it in action.  

Last night we also saw a miracle.  We have really been looking for new investigators with REAL potential to progress.  We recieved a reference from the Elders a few weeks ago but every time we passed by he wasnt there.  But saturday we were finally able to contact him and yesterday we had our first lesson with him.  His name is Gerardo.  He is GOLDEN!  He has had contact with the missionaries before.  He told us that a while ago he was in a really hard situation.  His mom had been diagnosed with cancer and he was just so worried about everything.  In that time is when he met the elders and they gave him a blessing.  He said that within that month, his mom called him and told him that the cancer had somehow disappeared.  He said that he was shocked and then remembered the blessing that he recieved and he is convinced that thanks to that blessing, he mom was saved.  He is so willing to learn and wants to really know if the church is true.  We were able to put a baptismal date with him and he is super excited to learn more :)

Well, that is the craziness of my week.  Gosh i love it here!  I cant believe that i have been here for 16 months now....  Its gone by too fast!  

Momma,  i will send you the other things you need in a different email :)  

I love you all soooo much!  Remember to be BOLD and share the gospel with someone this week.  You will CHANGE THEIR LIVES! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

February 15, 2016

Momma!

Happy valentines day to you too!  We kind of celebrate it here.  Its not as big as in the US though.  People just drink here like always :)  But it was fun! :)  

This week was amazing!  I had one of the most spiritual experiences ever this week!  So we have 2 converts, Carlos and Brenda.  This week they both went and got their Patriarchal  blessings and wanted us to come!  So we went and talked to the Patriarch to see if it was okay and at first he said no, so it was like whatever we will wait outside, but after a minute he came out and said ´´Sister, i dont know why but I have the strongest feeling that you do need to be in here,´´  and let us in!  So during the blessings the spirit was soooo stong!  Brenda's was exactly what she needed and had some amazing blessings.  But, during Carlos´ blessing it was just... crazy.  So a few weeks ago Carlos was having a lot of problems.  On that Friday night at the church we just sat down and talked with him for like, i dunno... 2 hours maybe.  And he just talked and really explained everything that was going on and everything that he was thinking .  He cried and really just expressed how frustruated and alone he felt.  We gave him some scriptures to read and he felt a little better.  I was a little worried about him after that.  So during his blessing, oh my gosh, i dont even know how to explain it haha.  But every blessing and counsel that was in his blessing was about everything we had talked about that night.  It answered every question he had, gave him every promise he needed, and was honestly just for him.  Half way through I started to cry, which surprised me because I am not a crier!  But honestly in that moment I knew that God knew him and loved him.  I knew that He knew what hes going through and that he is not alone.  I felt how much God loved him and wanted  his success.  It was really such an amazing experience, to be able to get a glimpse through God's eyes how he sees and  feels not just about Carlos, but for all of us.  After that Carlos changed.  He now is more confident and his doubts are not a problem anymore.  One of his doubts was about the mission, but just last night he sent us a text and expressed how sure he was now about going on a mission.  God loves us!  Sometimes we might not feel like it, but he does.  He knows each and everyone of us and what we are going through and what we need.  He wants to help us and his arms are extended towards us, we just need to come to him. :)

This week we also found a new investigator that is soooo great.  His name is Esteuart.  He is 19 years old.  So we were getting to know him and we asked what he would like to do in the future.  His answer was ´´I would like to serve a misison for your church and preach the gospel´´.  That is something we LOVE to hear haha!  I guess he has a friend that is going to Argentina and he looks up to him a lot.  He does have a few doubts about the doctrine but we have a lot of hope for him.  He already has friends in our ward too so as far as fellowshiping goes, we got that down :)

The week we have 2 trainings with President!  The first one is tomorrow.  It is a mulitzone meeting, and since we are sister leaders we have to do practices in front of everyone...... not too excited about that haha but i am sure it will all work out okay :)  We also have a sister training for all the sisters in the mission in the mission home!  I am sure it will be a blast haha!  So this will definilty be a spiritually uplifting week :)

Today for pday we went to the BEACH!  I got sooooo sunburnt.  i am almost positive I am going to have skin cancer after this.  I always put on sun screen but with how it is here, it does not help much because after 5 minutes outside it comes off!  But we had fun playing soccer, and football :)

I am now realizing how little time I have left here.  It is super stressing me out..... But I am also excited for life i too haha. 

I love you all soooo much!  I hope that everyone is good and healthy :)  Remember to ALWAYS read your scriptures and pray!  Also, look for missionary oppertunities!  AND SHARE THEM WITH ME.  As of now you are all being heald accountable.  :)  Every member a missionary.  Dont forget it. :)

Have such an amazing week!  

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

February 8, 2016

Happy Tuesday!

Sorry I wasn't able to write yesterday haha.  It was a crazy day! And it was superbowl sunday??? WHO WON?  Gosh no one gives me any information anymore haha.  Also yes I did finally get my package!  Thank you tons!  And  I got TONS of christmas cards haha and they still keep coming :)

Well it was another good week!  This week we were in a trio because another sister's compaion went home.  Her name is Hermana Ingram and it was super fun to be in a trio haha.  We probably speant way too much time talking but it was still super fun :)

So this week something awesome happened!  A couple weeks ago we talked to this guy on the street and went back to teach him a few times.  We even invited him to be baptized but the problem is, is that he doesn't live in our zone, he just works there!  So we passed his reference and he happened to live in the zone of the assistants!  So i guess they started teaching him and he is going to be baptized!  We were super excited about that!  We just wish he lived in our area haha.  His name is Juan.  He is super cool :)  We are for sure going to attend his baptism!  We go by every so often to check up on him as well at work :)

We found a few new investigators this week.  Not as many as usual in this area but they are all pretty solid :)  This week we are going to try to be creative a find even more :)  I am not sure exactly what we will do but we are thinking :) Also we found out that our convert Carlos has a whole flippin stampede of guinea pigs in the back of his house haha!  It is hilarous!  There are over 100 i think.  We got to hold them this week.  The sad thing is, is that they are used for food..... but they are super funny.  Hermana Ingram has the picture so when she sends it to me ill send it :)

So yesterday we went to canchaque!  It was sooo fun!  I will send pictures!  It was soooooo pretty!  Yes, there are parts of the Piura district that are pretty!  And cold!  We went with the other sisters and a couple members!  The elders were there but they were lame and left us haha but it was soooo fun! :)

This week i read a really good talk that i would like you to read if you get the time!  I think its called Follow-Up.  It is the the May 2014 ensign and it was given by M. Russell Ballard in the sunday morning session :)

And no mother i have not heard about this virus.....  i dont want to get sick!!!

And the most significant lession i have learned on my mission.... thats a hard one.  I have honestly learned so much.  I remember saying before i left that i wasn't going to change...  but honestly I have changed so much that sometimes I dont even know myself.  But it is the best thing for me.  I guess the greatest lesson i have learned is really just trusting in God!  Just understanding that he has a time, place, and plan for everything that happens.  That use to be really hard for me to understand and it was hard for me to have that kind of trust.  I guess it also just leads back to faith...  All my life I have struggled with faith.  In the mission as well.  It was just something I didn't understand.  But slowly but surely I have seen my faith grow and I think I finally learned and understood what faith really is.  It was super interesting actually, a week ago I was reading in my Patriarchal blessing and just noticed how much it mentions faith.  It was another testimony that God knows me and knows what I have trouble with and knows what i need help with.  Wow, the church is so true.  That is something I can say now without a doubt. :)

Well, that is it for my week.  I am going to send picutres!  Have such an amazing week in the USA!  I love you all sooo much! 

Love, 

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)

February 1, 2016

FELIZ FEBRERO!

You are right mother, january went by sooo fast!!!  It was one to remember though :)  I hope february is as good as january was!

It sounds like a crazy week you guys had as well!  Im glad that everything turned out alright though :)

My week was a lot calmer than the last week thankfully.  Tuesday Hna Sandison was sick so we were not able to get out... which was actually kinda nice but i also realized that i do not know how to do nothing anymore.  I just felt super anxious all day.  But it was good.  I slept a lot :)  I was happy the next day when we got to leave the room though :)

The rest of the week was super good though.  Thurday we got to go to our first leadership meeting in the mission home!  All the Zone Leaders and Sister Leaders from the whole mission were there.  We were able to talk about problems in the mission and numbers and it was all super interesting.  And we got to eat TACOS!  I didnt realize how much i missed normal food haha!  Also, Cole is a zone leader so i was able to see him!  It was suuuuuper weird hahaha!  But it was good to get to talk to him :)

Also we had to teach part of zone conference.  It went really well though :)  

We have been working super hard to find new investigators this week because we baptized all of our other haha!  So that was the main focus of our week.  And we were able to do it!  We found so many great people that are sooo prepared for  the gospel.  We were also able to put 6 baptismal dates so we are hoping that they all work out :)

Our convert Carlos has been having some problems.  He is finding out how hard it is to be a recent convert.  We had a long talk with him this week about going on a mission and his goals.  He says that he just feels so alone..  We have been trying to help him out the best we can.  He is great though.   I am positive he will do great things in his life :)

So there is a youth in our ward that is pretty much our best friend named Wilder.  And his got his mission call this week!  He is going to the Argentina Rosario mission!  He is leaving the 31st of March!  We were super excited for him!  He is super ready to leave haha.  

Well, that is it for my week.  I am happy and healthy and i am loving every minute of my time here in Piura.  I cant believe that i will be home in a little less than 3 months!  CRAZY!

Thanks for everything!  I love you all sooo much!  Have a great week! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :) 

January 25, 2016

My week was SUPER crazy! Okay first of... The baptisms!!!  So initally we were only planning on having 3, but we wound up having 5!!!!  Crazy right!  There were a couple investigators that I guess just really wanted to get baptized so at the last minute they told us and we had to make a bunch of arrangements but thats okay :)  So the people that got baptized are, Pablo, Orlando, Felix, Jose Fransisco, and Lynda!  And it went so well! President was there as well :) I was SUPER stressed through out the whole thing but it ended up just being super good. :)

So first off, Felix's interview was honestly the best thing ever.  So we were super worried about how he was going to have his interview with our district leader because well... he cant talk or hear.  So we went over early that morning and worked so hard with him on it.  We wrote out all of the questions one by one and had pictures and everything.  But we were still super nervous.  So we sent him in the the interview and after our district leader came out and said ´´wow... vacan hermanas, lo mejor entrevista que he tenido´´ (which means, wow awesome, that was the best interview I've had in my whole mission) and when we heard that we were super happy!  Felix walked out and just looked super happy too :)   I will send pictures of the baptisms! 

Also this week i found a bug in my head!  You know those bot fly videos we use to watch mom? Yeah kinda like that!  My head was itching so i felt around and there was a bump there and so i was kinda scratching at it and  pulled something out and it was a bug!!!  It left a hole in my head!  I am now paranoid!  

Oh and there were transfers this week! But.... me and Hna. Sandison are staying here together!  I am SOOO happy!  Also, we got a new assignment to be the Sister Leaders!  Its kinda like being a zone leader but for the sisters, and most of the ones we are in change of arent in our zone so we will have to be traveling!  But I am super excited!  We have a leadership meeting on thursday and then we have to be in charge of a part of our zone meeting on saturday!  I am exicted to get to know some other sisters in the misson though :)

We were also busy teaching and finding new people this week.  Most of our attention was on the baptisms so we kinda slacked off on finding new investigators but we are going to pick that up this week.  

Oh also we had a world wide mission broadcast!  And something that i was thinking about through the whole thing was about Preach my Gospel.  It really is an amazing book and honestly its not just for missionaries!  So if you havent had a chance to read it DO IT!  It teaches sooo much about everything! :)

Well, that is it for my week.  I am super excited to start a new transfer!  I love you all sooo much!  Have a great week! :)

Love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Mitchell :)