He is Everything.

Another week serving the Lord, learning and growing in the Spirit.

Another week being HAPPY as a representative of Jesus Christ :)

This week we had a training with President Douglas and the asistentes on Wednesday. It was SO good - and I also got to see a few Elders from my CCM district who are serving in different zones! Always a little tender mercy :) 

*Side note. I am in this little internet shack right now, and "My Heart Will Go On" just came on, but in Spanish. A little distracting? Yes. Worth the laugh? YES.*

Anyway, we had an amazing training with President Douglas! At one point we did an exercise where we listed all of the names of Jesus Christ that we could think of. 60 or 70 missionaries... and we came up with a good 30 or 40 names. 

I learned that Jesus Christ has so many names because he is EVERYTHING to us... and different for everyone, depending on where they are in their life. At times He is Teacher... sometimes He is Healer... others He is Savior... but He is ALWAYS there. I love learning more about my Savior as I strive every day to be a better representative and servant of Him. 

I also spoke in Sacrament on Sunday, and it just so happened that a member of the Young Women’s General Board was there visiting our ward. I spoke about the importance of commitments, and some of the commitments we have as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It went well :) And the Sister that was there visiting gave me the best compliment - "So, you are finishing your mission right? Because your Spanish is literally perfect and you understand the doctrine better than any missionary I have ever met in all my years of church service.”..... Well, that made me feel pretty happy :) She was such a nice Sister, it was fun to talk with her :)

I love this work! I love this gospel. I know my Savior lives. That is why I am here.

The Church is true!!!!

Hermana Sintay :)

Pictures from the Beach

Zona CHORRILLOS! :)

Selfies on the beach... they are fun :) Hermana Guelet, my companion, and me!

Hermana Rush and I :) She is one of my sister training leaders, and one of my reliefs to speak English every once in a while ;) Though we are pretty pro at speaking Spanglish.

Hermanas on the beach :)

The Elders tried really hard to make a pyrimid... (pyrymid? pirimyd? Quien sabe...)

but they never quite got it right. jajajaja

But the Hermanas...... NAILED it :)

SERVICE :)

Sorry, this is a short email this week, because we are headed to the beach as a zone for Pday today :)

This week we had a lot of opportunities to SERVE, and I loved it. Service just makes me so happy :)

On Tuesday and on Thursday we spent 4 hours helping a family whose house burned :( It was so sad... they are members and have 4 young children. The house was still standing, but everything inside was destroyed. President Douglas gave the whole zone specific permission to go and help the family 2 different days this week. I have never felt more like the ARMY of Helaman as the 22 of us missionaries worked in complete unity and strength to empty everything out of her house and help with all of the repairs. Our biggest task was not just to rebuild the house... but to rebuild the spirits of this family. They were destroyed on the inside, too. As we worked, we sang... we laughed... we told stories... we sang some more... we did everything to bring the Spirit back into this burned down home. And it worked :) When we left the first day, the family was starting to smile again - and at least they weren't crying. When we left the second day - they were singing and laughing with us :) Service changes lives. It changes spirits. And it changes hearts :) 

I love being a missionary and serving families in EVERY way possible!!

The Church is true!!!

Hermana Sintay :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom :)

Hi family!!

Talking to you yesterday was the biggest blessing ever :) I loved hearing about all the things that are going on at home! As we closed with a kneeling prayer our Skype session, the Spirit once again testified to my heart that families really are forever. When we left from skyping, I left with an even stronger desire to open my mouth and talk with EVERYONE about this wonderful message of eternal families and the restored gospel :) Thank you for inspiring me to be better and to do more! I love you all SO much!

Well, since I talked for so long with you all yesterday, I don't really have anything new to report! I mentioned to Mom that we had a baptism this week - it was a really wonderful experience! The man who was baptized has been listening to the missionaries for 15 YEARS. ...... 15 years! That is unreal! And he never wanted to be baptized. EVERYONE else in his family is a member, and they have all been praying and waiting for him to finally accept and make the decision to be baptized. He has a book with a list of about 30 missionaries and their autographs of the missionaries who have taught him at one time or another in these last 15 years. The missionaries teach him.... he still doesn't want to be baptized... and they sign in the book. hahaha. BUT, he finally had the change of heart that God knew he needed, and he was baptized on Saturday :) The covenant he made with God was not because anyone pressured him... but because he FINALLY felt like this was the truth, and that THIS is the pathway that God wanted him to take. All of his family was SO happy - I loved being able to be a part of this life changing moment for their forever family :)

Things in our area are going well - I love Hermana Guelet, we work so well together and things are always happy! We also work really hard. Which I love. I love working hard and feeling like I gave my absolute 100% to the Lord. That is what missionary work is all about :)

My favorite Argentinan :) Hermana Guelet! My wonderful companion!

The church is true!!

Hermana Sintay

TRANSFERRED!

Just an update on my watch tan. It's still there. It's still blinding. And I still get teased about it. :)

Hello everyone!!!! 

Sooooo... transfer were this week, and I have been transferred! For the first time in my mission, I am in LIMA! My area is CHORRILLOS (Chorrrrrrrr-EE-yos), in the ward La Campiña. My new companion is Hermana Guelet (pronounced gee-LEHT), and she is from Argentina :) She is the BEST, and I am so excited to be working with her :) And let me just say..... Lima is a different WORLD compared to all of the other areas I have been in. For the first time in 7 months, I have a toilet seat, consistent running water, hot showers, and water that I can drink without having to boil it. WHAT. Am I even in Perù still? Is this real life? It is like a dream or something. My area is seriously SO beautiful!!!!

Our house is on the second story, and this right here is the prettiest view I have seen from any house I have lived in!!! Maybe part of it is just beautiful to me because there are telephone lines and it looks like civilization. jajajaa

Before I left Ica, we went to the temple with a group of recent converts! As always, it was an amazing experience :) I just love the temple. It is totally worth 12 hours in a bus to make the trip. 

While we were at the temple, I found this family that I taught in Chincha!! They were completely inactive, we started teaching them and they finally started coming back to church after 30 years of inactivity. They made the trip to do baptisms for the dead together, will both recieve their endownments in June, and will be sealed in November :) Things like this just make my heart happy.

Leaving Ica was kind of hard, but I am more than ready to work here in Chorrillos. I know that the Lord called me here for a reason - and it wasn't just that he felt bad I didn't have a toilet seat :) There is work here to be done, and there are things that I need to learn. Families are waiting for us to find them! The people are prepared! And we are ready to help them :)

There were a million goodbyes in Ica... my camera won't let me attach all the pictures! But here is one - she was a less active... 18 years old, only member in her family, but now is completely active and is the YSA rep :) She is wonderful! Her name is Andrea :)

I will sure miss these crazy Latinas in Ica.

Sorry this is a short one. Transfers are always a little crazy :)

The church is true!!!!!

Hermana Sintay :)