First baptism coming up!! :)

Hello everyone!

This week has been a whirlwind!

I guess most of you already know what happened the other week... my companion and I were assaulted and robbed at gunpoint. Shots were fired but the LORD PROTECTED us, and we were totally fine. President has been trying to decide what he wants to do with our area. We are still here in Chincha - he hasn't pulled us out yet. We have a lot of new rules about when we can be out proscelyting and where. The area I am in right now is the poorest in the mission - and therefore the most dangerous. Transfers are in 2 weeks - and if President doesn't pull us out before then, I think that I am getting transferred then. But... who knows. I trust in the revelation of President!

This week we have been working so hard - we have 3 baptisms this Saturday!!! A FAMILY!!!! :) Ma**** and her 2 kids :) Well, she has 4 kids, but only 2 are old enough to be baptized. Seriously, this family is incredible :) They had their baptismal interviews this week, and everything went so well!

Another awesome experience with this family :) During the week we taught the principle of tithing to Ma****. The lesson before, we left 3 Nephi 24 for her to read... so that she could be prepared with a little bit of knowledge about tithing before the lesson. When we started the lesson, before we even explained tithing, she asked "Hermanas, how can I pay my tithing? I want to do it." She has absolutely no money... her husband died 3 months ago and she is living meal to meal. But she has so much faith. The lesson was amazing. And Sunday when she came to church, she paid her tithing :) Seriously I was SO happy. I love this family. I will send pictures next week :)

This last week we worked so so so hard, but felt like we were just hitting a brick wall. It was hard, but this week we are going to work even harder. I know that the Lord will help us!

I love you all - thank you for your prayers for ALL the missionaries around the world. This work is true. I know it. 

Love, 

Hermana Sintay :)

A note from Aubrey's mom.

Because I was home from work for Martin Luther King Day, I was able to email back and forth with Aubrey this week. It was definitely a blessing for both of us. This is some of what she DIDN'T put in her mass email:

"Okay. So this week we were leaving a lesson about 8:15 at night (this was Wed night), we were headed to another lesson.. and...... 2 men on a motorcycle.. with guns.. assaulted and robbed us. Well - my companion ran so they didn't get her bag, but they took everything that I had. Yeah the gun was about 6 inches from my stomach, but I gave them everything I had. A car appeared out of nowhere (seriously, it was one of the 3 Nephites), and we were able to get away. It was really scary. But seriously Chincha is the area in the mission that is the most dangerous. This doesnt happen everywhere. And thankfully President Douglas was here for interviews the next day... so he took good care of us. But he wants to pull us out of Chincha."

She lost her ID, her scriptures and other miscellaneous stuff, but thankfully wasn't hurt.  I know that missionaries are not invincible, but I also know Aubrey will continue to be protected and guided as she serves.  Obedience to the mission rules and to the promptings of the Holy Ghost will be key in keeping her out of harms way, but our prayers are important, too.  Thank you all for your prayers on her behalf. I know she has felt strength and comfort as we keep her in our thoughts and prayers. 

Missionary life. It's a good life.

I love being a missionary :)

Just thought I should start by reminding everyone of this little fact :)

This week was wonderful. President Douglas came here to Chincha, and we had interviews with him!! It was the first time I have had an interview with him since I arrived in the mission field. He is a man with INCREDIBLE inspiration :) I learn so much from him!

We kind of lost a lot of time in our area this week, because we had a lot of trainings with President Douglas while he was here. BUT, regardless, we had an AWESOME week!!! Yesterday we had 10 investigators in church (whoooooo hooooo!!!), and 10 less actives too!! (whoooooo hooooo!!) :) That was so happy :) In our Gospel Principles class, we had over 30 people!!! :) 

We are working HARD here in Chincha - it is a blessed area with people who are prepared. I love being here. I will probably leave after this transfer, which makes me sad. But I know that the Lord has plans for me, too! We are already halfway through the transfer... which I can hardly believe!

Sorry this is so short, we are headed to Lima again..... ugh..... haha, seriously this is my 8th time to Lima!!! And every time it is 6 hours sitting in a bus. haha. My companion has to go to the doctor, not me, I am fine :) 

THANK YOU for your prayers. Please continue to pray for the missionaries. I know that the Lord protects His servants, physically and spiritually. 

The church is true!!

Hermana Sintay :)

I am almost legal here in Perú. ... Almost.

Hello everyone!!

Wow, this email is gonna be a long one, prepare yourselves :)

at the beach in Lima :)

First off, things that happened this week!!! I had to travel to Immigration, because I have been living here in Perú completely illegally the last 2 months. hahaha. Well, not THAT illegal, but definitely not legal. ANYWAY, all of the missionaries in my group from the CCM had to travel to Lima to stand in a bunch of lines and try to become legal here. Sounds quite boring, right? That's because it is. hahaha. BUT IT WAS THE BEST because I got to see all of my bestest friends in my district from the CCM!!!!!!!! Seriously, happiest reunion ever. Wow. It was so good to see them. I felt like the sons of Mosiah, when they see each other and rejoice because they are still brethren in the Lord :) Happy happy happy :)

We were in Lima for 3 days this week, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, doing all the things that we had to do for immigration and what not. We stayed in a hotel (well, the Hermanas stayed in a hotel, and the Elders slept on a floor somewhere. jajaja). Seriously, the Hermanas are treated like royalty here in the mission! President Douglas takes such good care of us :) 

On Wednesday we were doing things in immigration all morning... and finished around 4pm. We didn't have anything else to do, so guess what we did?!?!?!?! President Douglas gave us permission..... to...... GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I WAS SO HAPPY I COULD NOT CONTAIN MYSELF!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) We got to do an endowment session in the Lima temple :) WOW, I have not been to the temple since I left on the mission. **By the way, I hit my 3 month mark this week! Time flying for anyone else?** The temple was the best thing in the whole world :) The Lima temple is smaller than our temple, if you can even believe it!! Suuuuuper tiny. The man at the front desk in the temple just happened to be a gringo, and so I got to talk to him about all the logistics of their temple and what not. He was so shocked that I knew so much about the behind the scenes work of the temple. Haha thanks Dad ;) But it was really interesting to talk to him! It made me miss talking to Dad about the temple and his job. The session was incredible though :) In Spanish it was even better. Biggest blessing ever. 

When we finally got back to Chincha, we had to work SUPER SUPER hard to make up for all of our lost time. But the days that we work SO hard are always the best!!

I want to tell you about one family in particular that we are teaching - Ma***** and her 4 children. This family was a referral from someone in the ward - we started visiting them about 2 weeks ago. The father in the family died 2 months ago... and the mother of Ma***** died 6 months ago. The 4 hijos are pequeños pequeños pequeños.... ages 11, 8, 7, and 8 months. They have no money... when the mom works, the 4 children stay at home alone. The work that she has right now is going to end in 1 month, and she doesn't know what she is going to do. When we first knocked on their door, she was in shambles. She was completely alone with her 4 kids, but when we asked if we could share a message about eternal families.......... she completely opened up. She was golden from the very first second. All of her children accompanied us in the lesson, and they were incredibly well behaved and interested. Encerio, this familia is PREPARED. Escogida. And totally golden. She and her children are going to be baptized on the 31st. The more we teach her, the more hope she has, in spite of her awful situation. She still doesn't have money to feed her kids. She still doesn't have anyone besides us that she can talk to. But she knows that the Book of Mormon is true. She tells us in every lesson.. "God sent you to me. You are angels in my life. I want an eternal family, and I can't have one without this gospel." Seriously, we are SO blessed to be teaching them. We pray for them everyday. Please keep them in your prayers.... Ma*****, Ad****, Je******, An******, and Jo** Ca****. I will definitely keep you updated :)

There are miracles like this happening all over in Chincha. When I talked with all of the other missionaries in my group this week who are serving throughout the mission, I realized how blessed I am. Our area is flourishing. The rest of the mission is not right now... the rest of the mission is struggling to find new people. We are amazingly blessed. I believe that is because of our obedience and hard work. The Lord is letting us see miracles, day by day. 

Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for your prayers and testimonies. I have the greatest family in the whole world. And guess what? We are eternal :)

The church is true!!!

 matching water bottles - we are super cool :)

Hermana Sintay :)

Feliz como un lombriz :)

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!

Jaja look up what the title of my email means, it is a saying here, but it cracks me up, I say it all the time ;)

How is everyone?! Wow, this week has been incredible. Incredible incredible. Let me fill you in :)

First of all, my new companion, Hermana Chavez de Chile :) She is LO MÀXIMO, encerio. Wow. We get along so well, laugh all the time, and work SO hard. I love love love love love being companions with her. She is going to hit her year mark next week - on Ammon's birthday actually!! :) 

My new comp!

Okay so funny story..... ya know how for the last 6 weeks, I have been showering with a bucket, and only have water for about 4 hours during the day? And how I thought that was just totally normal for the mission and everything? Bueno............... yeah, it's not normal apparently. When Hermana Chavez got here, she was totally appalled. hahahahah she could not believe how I have been living the last 6 weeks!! We talked to our zone leaders to see if we could change houses, because we don't have water - and sometimes we don't have light either hahaha. They had no idea that we were in that situation, and the very next day they spent all day with us finding a new house to live in! Seriously, I thought that the whole "shower in a bucket" thing was "Welcome to the mission, time for a little sacrifice". .......... mmmmmmm yeah I was sacrificing a little too much ;) Now we are in house with water 24 hours of the day (WOW. BLESSING.), and quite honestly, I am much happier :)

in our old house.................... yeah this was kind of a problem, too. hahaha the fact that our toilet seat was never connected to the toilet.

So this week was the first week that I have had to direct the area. Heavenly Father is helping me so much. Honestly, I have had no problems!! I was so so scared, and prayed so hard,  but Heavenly Father has blessed me with so many talents and strengths to be able to accomplish His work in His way. 

The work here in Chincha is flourishing - right now we have 8 investigators with baptisimal dates, and 10 menos activos who are progressing in their process de reactivation. And even more people who we are working with. We need to find new families, however, and this week we are going to do ABSOLUTELY everything in our power to work and find those who need our message. Well..... let's be honest, EVERYONE needs this message :) But we know that the Lord is preparing specific people for us :) And we are going to find them!

 The missionaries in our ward and the bishop!! On New Year's :)

I seriously am so happy here. I love everything that we do, and I love learning new things everyday. Here on the mission, I have learned to love my weaknesses. And... I have a LOT of weaknesses. When I discover a weakness in myself, I see it as a door to potential strength. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I can work to improve and become perfected in Him. That is the greatest blessing of the Atonement. We should never be afraid of our weaknesses. We have the Savior of the World on our side, to enable us and empower us in every moment :)

New Year's dinner at the Bishop's house

I love this gospel, I love my Savior, and I love you all!

The church is true!!

Hermana Sintay :)