Apostoles, Templo, CAMBIO DE EMERGENCIA... Oh my.

This week goes down in my mission history as the busiest and perhaps most eventful week of my mission. 

Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start....) **Sound of Music, anyone?! ;) **

On WEDNESDAY, Elder David A. Bednar was here to visit our mission! It was an absolutely INCREDIBLE meeting. We got together with 2 other missions for the meeting - a grand total of 735 missionaries. Just imagine that for a moment.... 735 servants of the Lord. 735 soldiers in His battle. Gathered together to listen to the Lord's apostle. Just gives ya chills, doesn't it? 

We all thought we were going to LISTEN to Elder Bednar speak. But we were completely wrong. Elder Bednar is the best teacher that I have ever met, and anyone who knows anything about teaching... knows that it is NOT talking. From the very first moments, Elder Bednar began to ask questions. To us! The missionaries! We had all come very prepared to the meeting, having read a few talks that Elder Bednar asked us to read in preparation (this is the first step to GREAT teaching.... preparing to interact.) The questions he asked allowed the Spirit to begin to teach all of us. He did not act upon us and make us answer any questions that we didn't want to... rather he taught us to be agents. And to seek learning through the Spirit. It was a POWERFUL and ENLIGHTENING 5 hour meeting. I will never forget the things that I learned through the Spirit. 

At the end of the meeting he left us with an apostolic blessing - In his words, he blessed us so that we "would have the spiritual eyes to see the eternal importance of the work (we) are doing. That (we) would be able to find the true eternal happiness that comes from living the gospel - not just during (our) time in the mission, but throughout (our) entire lives."

I could write for a whole hour about the things I learned from this meeting with Elder Bednar. But, alas, there are even MORE things that happened this week.

On SATURDAY, we took a family of recent converts to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. :) It was such a happy sunshiney day, and seeing their faces when they came out of the temple just lit up my heart! I absolutely love the temple. 

Isabel, Cristofer, Dallana, Briseis, y Seor! This family is wonderful :) The temple is wonderful :) Ahhhh just so happy. 

While we were there on the temple grounds.... the craziest part of the week happened. President called me and told me that I was being EMERGENCY TRANSFERED away from Chorrillos in Lima...... that I needed to go and back my bags so that I could leave that same night. There was an Hermana who went home unexpectedly, and President recieved the revelation to transfer me. We ran home right after our converts came out of the temple, I packed my bags, and I was on my way!

Cambio de emergencia.... yikes. Packing the bags! HELP ME!!

To................ PISCO!!! 

Back to the south :) Back Back to the no roads, dirt houses, no toilet seat or shower, "was that a woman just peeing on the street?!" south of Peru. 

The view from outside my house.

Well, basically the same view as my entire area!

And. I. Love. It. Pisco is about an hour away from the area where I started my mission (Chincha). There are only 2 Hermanas here in Pisco - me and my companion from Colombia! Hermana Zambrano :)

I love how Colombianos talk :) it is so fun! She speaks her Spanish with a sing songy voice... she is great :)

I am happy to be here :) I will continue being Sister Training Leader here in Pisco - the only difference is that my responsibilities as Sister Training Leader now extend from Chincha... all the way to Nazca. That probably means nothing to any of you, but let's just say that I will get to know ALLLLLL of the south of Peru pretty quick. Intercambios are going to be a good 4 hour bus ride away! 

Thank you for all of your love and prayers. I feel them, and am so grateful.

The doctrine is TRUE!!

Hermana Sintay :)

Preparing to recieve revelation.

HELLO family! 

A couple updates... I don't have much time, so it will be a little shorter! 

The Hermana that came in an emergency transfer last week is still with us :) So I am still sleeping on the floor. jaja don't worry, I have only been woken up by bugs twice, so I am counting my blessings! The Hermana Dàvila will be here with us until we have cambios, which will be in another 2 weeks. I am learning a lot from her! Definitely is an adjustment, but another blessing is that I can do interchanges more easily... part of my responsibilities as Sister Training Leader! Heavenly Father knew why she needed to be with us :)

This week we had a Mutlizona with President McGinn. It was wonderful! It is always good to get to see other missionaries from other zones, and to be edified and instructed by the Spirit. One of the tallers that we had talked about the POWER of the First Vision. The Elderes that led the taller asked us to close our eyes and think about how GOD felt during the First Vision... looking down at Joseph Smith, after waiting for thousands of years to restore His church on the Earth. Think about the love he must have felt. How long He had waited. How long he had been preparing Joseph to be the Prophet of the Restoration. How long he had been preparing the WORLD for that Restoration. I had never thought about the First Vision that way. We talked a lot about the doctrine this amazing vision, and I received so much personal revelation and inspiration. I love testifying of the Restoration of this gospel and doctrine. I really do. 

This Wednesday, ALL DAY, we are going to be in a meeting with Elder Bednar :) It is going to be incredible. I have been spiritually preparing a lot for the council and instruction that he will give us. 

This Church is true!

But more importantly, this DOCTRINE is true.

2 Nefi 31:21.

Hermana Sintay :)

This might be the coolest thing y'all have ever seen.

Don't ask too many questions.

But yes. It happened. 

Miracles exist, eh?

Can't think of a subject title. sorry.

Helloooo family!

Yikes, there is lots to report from this week. Here we go, hold on to your seats :)

MONDAY, for pday, we had to go and buy new shoes for my companion. We had heard of a couple stores that were close to the office that sold good shoes... so we got permission to leave our area and go there to search. We didn't have much luck... considering the fact that my companion wears a size 1.5 in American sizes. jajaja! So President told us we could go to search again on Thursday. 

TUESDAY, I had an intercambio with an Hermana from Texas, named Hermana Dougal. She has 3 weeks in the mission. It was great, and I learned a lot from her :) 

WEDNESDAY, well, we were still in intercambio! Saw lots of little miracles, 

THURSDAY, since we couldn't find any shoes for Hermana Artigas on Monday, we received permission to go to another part of Lima that is SUUUUUPER nice. Miraflores. Look it up on google, I am sure you will find some good pictures!

So we went there, found shoes for her (YES).

ALSO, on Thursday, I ran into ELDER BURRUP! Wow, I was so excited that I couldn't speak English, I just kept saying things in Spanish really fast, he thought it was hilarious, we had some good laughs and tried to speak in English for a while. It was some good Spanglish. jaja :)

Well, after being here in Perù for 10 months, right around the corner from Elder Burrup, we FINALLY ran into each other this week. My companion and I had to go to the office to pick up some things from President, and when we got there, one of the Elders in the office asks me, "Hermana Sintay, do you know an Elder Burrup?" I said OF COURSE, that we had only been friends since we were like 12 years old, and that he was in Lima East. The Elder in the office told me, "Well, he's right behind that door." 

It was a GREAT little reunion, it made my heart so happy to see such a good friend from home! Elder Burrup is finishing in September, and is serving as assistant to the President right now. 

Such a tender mercy :)

FRIDAY, my companion had to go to migraciones to become legal in Peru. We went SUPER early in the morning and spent the whole day there. I almost died on a metro train kind of thing, I have never been so squished between so many Peruvian people.

SATURDAY... this was where it really got crazy. President called us in the afternoon, and told us in about 5 minutes that an hermana was coming here to our mission... she had been serving in Mexico... something happened with her visa... they kicked her out... and she would be coming with us. She arrived at 3 in the morning, and then the whole next day was full of trips to the airport... tramites.. visa stuff... this poor hermana. But she is here now with us, we are in trio, and I am enjoying sleeping on the ground so she can have my bed :) We have no idea how long she will be here. 

Well, time is up, I wish I could fill you in on more things! Life is good, I am happy, and I love being a missionary :)

The Church is true!!!!!!! :)

Hermana Sintay :)

When your heart and mind are just TOO happy :)

My heart is just so happy right now, I can't get my fingers to type what I want them to! So please excuse me if this email is a little scatter-brained and unorganized. That is kind of how my mind and heart feel when so many good things happen at once.

Number One :) This week we had a Concilio de Lideres for all of the leaders in our mission. All of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders gathered from all 4 corners of Perù (or, at least it felt like it. Ayacucho and Nazca just seem like other worlds compared to Lima), and we had a full day of training with President McGinn. So much revelation was received, and all of us left completely edified and inspired. As leaders, our job was to teach all of the missionaries in our zone what we had learned in a meeting the next day. The Zone Leaders and I were in charge of that. Things went really well, and all of our missionaries left the meeting with the same inspiration and motivation that we did :)

Number Two. I had my first intercambio as a leader this week. With an Hermana from Utah named Hermana Russell. She has a whopping 2 weeks in the mission, and the intercambio was a blessing for both of us. She just needed someone to talk English with and tell her that things get better. I remember my first weeks in the mission. While everything is exciting and new, it is hard. Really hard. And there is a moment when you just LONG to speak your native language with SOMEONE to express everything you are feeling. She was definitely at that moment :) More than the words that I said to her in English, the Spirit helped comfort her heart and give her the strength to keep on keeping on. The Spirit really is the ultimate Comforter.

Number Three. We received the best news this week. 

Are you all ready?

Are you sure?

........ ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING TO OUR MISSION! :)

Yesssssss! Elder-teach-with-power-and-fire-coolest-apostle-ever-tied-with-Holland-DAVID A BEDNAR!!!!

He is coming here to Perù to have a meeting with 3 missions in Lima, and Lima Sur is one of the lucky ones :) The meeting is going to be the 26 of August. Saying that I am excited would be an understatement :)

There were just so many little miracles that we had this week. We didn't have a ton of investigators in the church this week, but there were 10 less actives that came who we are teaching. Members who hadn't come to church in 30 or 40 years... being there to take the Sacrament and feel of the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love those moments as a missionary just as much as I love seeing someone enter the waters of baptism. 

Thank you for all your prayers and love. I am so blessed to have family and friends so faithful and supporting. 

The Church is true!

Hermana Sintay :)

Pday at the beach... again :) The 8 Hermanas of Chorrillos. These are the Hermanas that I am in charge of as a Sister Training Leader! They are all great. 4 of them are brand new missionaries, and their trainers are all training for the very first time. Truly a powerful group of missionaries. And a blessing to be able to work so close with them!

A few miracles.

Hello everyone :)

Happy day! How are you all? :)

This week was great. Quite honestly, I am not sure what to write you all, so I guess I will just tell you about a few miracles that happened this week. 

We struggled to find this week. We were going crazy, doing everything we could, practically looking under rocks to find new investigators. And yet, we hadn't found anyone when we got to Friday. The investigators that we were teaching were not progressing as well as we'd hoped. They just were not escogidos - and we are here as missionaries to find and gather the escogidos (DyC 29:7). For this reason we were searching for every source to be able to find new investigators - the escogidos. 

Saturday came and we still had almost nothing. We had found 3, but then they informed us that they actually didn't live in our area, so we just had to pass the reference on. 

When Sunday came, we thought for sure that we were going to have no investigators in the chapel. For as much as we strived to make plans for the chapel for our investigators, things just weren't working. We were emotionally prepared for a week of low numbers and just more plans to work harder. 

But, God saw our faith. And He blessed us with a miracle.

2 investigators, an older couple, that we had left almost a month ago showed up at church. And they got there early. They said that they just "felt like they needed to be there."

Another family of investigators came that had been a street contact from Saturday. We hadn't even had a lesson with them, and they came to church.

In the afternoon, an investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for over 2 years told us, "Hermanas, I am ready. I want to be baptized. Let's put a date." Her two sons are members and are in the young men's program. She has a baptismal date for the 5 of September. 

God really does bless us when we endure to the end and act in faith. 

The church is true!!!!!!

Hermana Sintay :)