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 :)