Called to Serve: Peruvian Style: Over the River and to the Woods :)

Hola Familia!

So last Monday we had transfers and I thought I wasn’t going to have a transfer but it turns out that I did J This whole time in my mission I have been in the city of Iquitos but on Monday they told me that I had a transfer to the Jungle….. which means they are sending me way far away from Iquitos to somewhere literally in the middle of the Jungle. I got assigned to the Zone Tarapoto and I will be serving in a branch called Shilcayo. I was super excited for my transfer but also a little bit sad because I have so many friends here in Iquitos. I am not going to see the missionaries in Iquitos for a long time because Iquitos is an Island so you have to fly in and out if you want to get there. We sang a last hymn together as a zone after the transfer meeting and then we were up all night packing suitcases because my companion Hermana Hernandez also had a transfer. The next day was hard saying goodbye to Hermana Simonson because we have lived together for 6 months and she will be staying in Iquitos but my new area was her old area J I got on a plane at 2 o clock the next day and flew to the beautiful city of Tarapoto!! Seriously I have never been in a place more beautiful. It is surrounded by huge mountains that are just pure green jungle and the mountains are always misty. We have to hike up to these little villages every day to get to where the people live and I am not going to lie it gets really tiring. We literally walk through the forest every day and we have to climb up old Incan stair cases to get to where we need to go…. It is definitely and adventure but it is absolutely amazing. We have native Indian tribes about an hour away and I think we are going to go to the native villages one P-day. My new companion is adorable. Her name is Hermana Lozano and she is from Mexico. We get along really well J I am genuinely excited to be here and yesterday we had people in church and the branch was so welcoming. We got a baptismal date last night of a man named Julio. All of his family are members except for him and so we are so happy that he will finally be united with his family. This area is amazing and I love serving with the other sixteen missionaries that are out here serving in this little place in the middle of nowhere…. It is going to be awesome. They took me out of the river and put me in the woods…. Literally. I was so good to talk to my family yesterday and I am so happy that everything is going well. I will send lots of pictures of my new area next week. Have an awesome week! Love you!