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

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

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

Twas the night before transfers...

Hola Familia
Wow this week was actually way good!! I hope you all had an awesome
Christmas, I know that I sure did. So Christmas Eve we went caroling
as a district and it was super fun and we got to meet a lot of really
cool people. Christmas is a little different here in Peru, everyone
waits until midnight and then at midnight they eat this huge dinner
and light off fireworks. We were sleeping and then when midnight came
I literally thought I was in the middle of a war zone because there
were so many fireworks going off. We climbed up onto something and we
were watching out the window as the sky lit up with fireworks. I have
never seen so many in my life it was so amazing. Definitely the
hottest Christmas I have ever experienced. A huge Christmas tradition
here is that the eat this thing called Panetòn which is pretty much
this really dry fruit bread and it is disgusting! The sad thing is
that everyone was feeding it to us and we had to eat it but really, it
is not good. So on Christmas day after we skyped and everything we
went to eat lunch with everyone and guess what I had for lunch? An
alligator sandwich! I was so proud of myself that I actually ate it
and it is actually really yummy but it has a different taste to it.
After that, the mission put on a Christmas program and all the
missionaries were in it and we had to sing and people played
instruments and it was really really pretty and it was so fun to be
with everyone on Christmas. President gave a really good talk and
everyone loved our program! That night we went to a member´s house and
made the brownies mom sent me and they were so good! It really was
such an awesome Christmas.
So we had a baptism this week and it really was a miracle. This kid we
baptized is named Jian Francis and he just turned 14. He has been
going to church by himself for a little while and the elders just
passed us the reference because he lives out of our area but his mom
is a single mom with five kids. We started teaching him and we were so
impressed at how prepared he was. The next week he told us that he has
an aunt that is totally anti-mormon and does not want him to get
baptized.  He kept telling us about her and really I was so scared
that he wasn’t going to get baptized because he doesn’t have a dad,
his mom doesn’t want to come to church and his aunt doesn’t like the
church. We went and taught him the other night and I had so many
doubts. I really thought that he was going to tell us that he wasn’t
going to get baptized and that would be it. We sat down and started
talking to him and I asked him about his aunt and he was like “Ya she
really doesn’t want me to get baptized.” I then asked him what he
wanted to do about his baptism and he was like “The only I can do is
keep going.  I know this gospel is true and my aunt… ya she doesn’t
matter.” I really have never been so impressed with someone`s faith.
He really just knows how important this gospel is and that it will
bless his life. He wants to serve a mission one day and I know that
when he does he will bring many people to the church because of his
undoubting faith. I realized this week as I have been thinking about
my family a lot and Christmas that sometimes it is hard to be away but
there is really nowhere else in the world that I would rather be right
now. I love these people and I love this place and I am so happy.
Missionary work is hard because people have agency but I am so
grateful that I can be here and that I have met so many wonderful
people and will meet many more. I love you all so much. Wish me luck
with transfers! I think that I am going to start training this week 
I am absolutely terrified but I guess we will see what happens. Love
you!
love,
Hermana Allphin