flowers

o

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Another week of being sick!

Hola Familia!
Okay so this week was super unexciting again because I was still
recovering from being sick so I was in my house for a couple of days
this week. Being sick really is no fun. The good news is that Milagros
got baptized…. Again this week. She is super awesome and I hope that
she keeps going to church. We worked really hard this week to find new
people but we really didn’t find a ton. The work has been kind of slow
in our area for the last couple weeks but I have faith that this week
is going to be much better. We were teaching a family last night that
we have been teaching for a while and the dad told me that he has a
testimony of the Book of Mormon and the mom told me that she knows
that the church is true. We invited them to baptism and they both said
that they wanted to but when we put a baptismal date they were both
like…. No way that is way too soon we want to wait. We were a little
bit bummed about that but we are going to keep working with them and
hopefully they can have a change of heart. So I am really excited
because today for P-day we are going to Quistococha which is the
jungle zoo type thing with this really cool fake beach. We go to
Quistococha one time every transfer and its super awesome and we play
volleyball on the beach and there are lots of cool animals. The last
time we went to Quistococha I ate Suri… for those of you who don’t
know what Suri is, it’s this big fat slug that lives in the guava
trees. They go and pick it off the tree and then you eat it. I picked
up this huge fat worm that was squirming around and I thought I was
going to die. Me and two other sisters ate it at the same time and all
the elders were like screaming and chanting and it was really funny.
First you have to bite off the body from the head, eat the body while
it is moving in your mouth and then eat the head separate. Honestly it
didn’t taste super bad but the texture of having a moving worm in my
mouth was not super fun. I don’t think that I am going to eat Suri
again today but I am going to make my companion do it because it is a
mission tradition and she is new  Well that is all I got for you this
week, this coming week should be more exciting because I am not going
to be in my house sick. Have an awesome week; I love you all so much!
Love,
Hermana Allphin

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Just another week....

Hola Familia!

 So I really dont have that much to write about this week because not a ton happened but I will do my best. We worked really hard this week and tried to find a lot of new people and we are finding a few but we still need a lot more. Our biggest problem still is getting people to come to church, it really is like pulling teeth every week. This area is a little bit difficult but we are working with the members and we are starting to find some awesome people.

We had Milagros baptism this week which was super awesome but I had to go to the doctor in the middle of the baptism because I was sick so that was kind of a bummer and then the next night my district leader called me and told me that she didnt say her full name when she got baptized and confirmed so she has  to get baptized again next Saturday......but its whatever everything is fine.

This week should be a good week if I can get feeling better so that I can work a little bit better..... being sick as a missionary is the most boring thing of my life! To all the future missionaries out there, don´t get sick, it really is no fun.

Well that is all I have for you this week, hopefully I will have something exciting to write about next week but until then, que les vaya muy bien! I love you!

Love
Hermana Allphin

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Our Two Investigators Named Miracle!

Hola Familia!
Wow this week was a little bit crazy I´m not going to lie! But I have
two really cool stories to tell you. So we have two investigators and
they are both named Milagros which means Miracles in Spanish…. And it
is kind of ironic because they both have been miracles for us. So our
first Milagros got baptized on Saturday and she is absolutely amazing.
She is the easiest investigator that I have ever had. She is 20 and
she has the cutest little baby named Tiago. Her two little sisters
have been coming to church with her the last two weeks and their names
are Ana and Luisa and they always sit in our lessons with her. We went
to their house on Tuesday night and their mom was there and she was
like “Hermanas! Ana and Luisa want to get baptized this Saturday as
well! Can they?” Usually we have big problems with parents with kids
who want to get baptized but the mom signed their permission slips and
the dad didn’t have a problem with it and so we ended up having 3
baptisms yesterday instead of just one! Really it was so special and
now we are teaching their parents and we hope they are going to get
baptized in February so that the whole family can be members!
Okay so we also had another really cool experience with our other
investigator named Milagros. Her entire family is less-active and she
is the only one who is not baptized and she is 15. We have been
working with her for a couple weeks and she always says, “No I don´t
want to get baptized because I´m scared and I don´t want to make the
commitment and I don´t even know if it is true.” We finally convinced
her to have a pre-baptismal interview with our district leader and
when she went into the interview I told him that she hadn’t accepted a
baptismal date yet. 15 minutes later when she came out of her
interview she told me that she wanted to get baptized on Saturday! I
wasn’t really sure what happened but I was really grateful. That night
my district leader called me and told me the story. He asked her if
she knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet and she said yes. He then
asked her if she believed that Thomas S. Monson was our prophet today
and she said that she didn’t know who that was because we hadn’t
taught that to her yet. He then pulled out a picture of Thomas S.
Monson and she started to shake. She was like “I have never felt this
way in my life. I don´t know how to describe it but I know he is a
prophet of God. I feel like I am looking at Jesus Christ!” I was so
blown away when I heard that. The next day we went and visited her and
she told me that she was excited for her baptism and that she didn’t
have doubts anymore. I asked her if she had read her Book of Mormon
and prayed about it and she paused for a second and then said, “Yes I
have read a little bit of the book and prayed…. And I know that it is
true. I can feel something when I read it and I don´t know how to
explain it but I know it is true and I know the church is true as
well.” Honestly it was such a miracle. We have seen the hand of the
Lord so much this week as we have been working and I am excited for
her baptism on Saturday and I can´t wait to find more people this
week. Missionary work is the best! It definitely is extremely hard
sometimes but completely and totally worth it. There is nowhere else
in the world that I would rather be than here in Iquitos. Thank you
for all of your prayers and your support, I really appreciate it. I
will talk to you all next week! Love you!
Hermana Allphin


P-day in my area