A party is a just a party, but a Woodhouse Christmas party, well...

(well mom here i am trying to be clever and i just really can't remember the exact wording of this quote from emma, so help a girl out) also i may just shed a tear that i can't remember as well.

Well as i am sitting here i realized that i left my camera in my apartment.... sors! But you will just have a lot to look forward to next week. And wow the christmas aftermath. Can i just say that Peru parties hard. Ha cause they do. So basically the 24th we had dinner with the family that lives below us. (The Romeros) Well we ate at 11:30 and then we watched the fireworks that went off at midnight. It was kinda like a dream come true because i have secretly always wanted to be high up and see the fireworks close up. well NEVER AGAIN! 
It was sketch, because every one and their dog is sending up fireworks and there are absolutely zero rules. and I mean it- Like we saw a house catch fire. So I have some sick footage to show ya'll in 2014. But man it was a grand old time. Then Christmas day was followed but a lot a lot a lot of lunch visits. We were pretty busy trying to make it to them all and I have probably never prayed so hard in my whole life. because there is that custom here where if you leave food on your plate it is like super offensive. Well lets just say that the Lord answers prayers because some how i managed to eat like five lunches and two dinners. and lets just say that at the end rod and i were so done- Like we are never ever ever eating again (read to the tune of never ever getting back together, thanks t-swift)...... and then we did it all over again the next day so thats life for you.

 So yeah, Christmas was totally clutch. I love all my packages! Thank you thank you thank you! This Christmas was great. and don't worry I'm really not tooo trunkie....... but it still doesn't quite feel like Christmas.. maybe because its still sooo hot. minor details right?

 

Anyways this week we also had a work visit- So I hung out here in Trebol with Hna Agle and did some work. I am so pumped! We found Mariella who is awesome. Literally investigator of gold! So hopefully that really pans out in the right direction. It was a bit stressfull because hna agle came to Trebol so I was the head hancho, but it really just ended up being awesome. Like such a great day. And I am pumped for this year! It's gonna be rad. Plus talking with you guys was soooooo awesome! I love you all sooo much! The work is going good hear and I am starting to get tan. #holla. we are looking for some newies this week (new ppl to teach) and with that i gotta peace!

 all my love,

 Hermana Degn

Fleece novi dod!

So I´ll keep this brief. Really I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this subject so be sure to post it up on the blog yeah?

Right so just a quite re-cap of the Christmas festivities-

Last week we had our christmas conference and cambios.... we got two new sisters! YAY!! and here's the chillest district slash zone out here. I won't mention that we maybe got lost (as a zone) for two hours trying to get to the chapel where the conference was... but in the end we did make it- to the sad news that there wasn't any food left- rough-

But Santa came. I thought it was pretty hilarious that his face was white but his hands are brown------ but still obviously very believable-

I also hope you enjoyed my surprise phone call! I'll be calling again shortly! YAYAYAY!!!! So yeah, happy Christmas!

I love you and will be talking to you soon! (literally)

peace and blessings!

hna degn

 

 

LOVED SKYPING ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!

Summer lovin, happened so fast...

Summer lovin, happened so fast..... well the beach part is true but the summer part.... different story. We are just getting started. Buuuuuutttttt Guess who went to the beach this week? That's right. Not gonna lie, it was a bit dissapointing. I was really looking forward to sand. Well spoiler alert no sand- just dirt, rocks and dirty water- We had a stake activity to clean the beach. Well like everything here the activity was ridiculously unorganized and lasted like seven hours longer than it was supposed to (no complaints here) haha but it was great. Here is a pic of me and Hna R, soaking in the sun (she's actually allergic, turns out that really is a real thing hahaha) and the district. They're pretty awesome, this group of missionaries. let me tell ya-

Anyways this week we were out contacting and a man came up to us. Well both mine and hna R's response was like ahhh, run!!! But thats why you don't judge people. Because then he told us that he drinks all the time but that his sister is mormon and he wants to change his life. Pretty cool right- The thing is he was really sincere about it. But he has a long way to go, and a lot of addictions to conquor before he can be baptized. But still it was so cool. Sweet is the work.

We also started teaching Karin's husband. Which is awesome. We have really been challenged to have weekly baptisms. Which is really a challenge to find and baptize families. Which leads us to a whole new league of problems as literally no one here is married! It is so frustrating! I mean seriously I thought this was bad in the US, well it's not. The other problem is that lots of our investigators are married but are divorced and living with someone else... Really? But Karin and Henry are MARRIED!!!!! YAY! and Karin is really progressing. She came to church this week and now we are working on getting henry to come too. But it's been really cool as we've started to teach him as well as Karin. Because I know how much the gospel can really help them in their lives-

 
Anyways yeah, we are just getting ready for Christmas! It is going to be a HOT one. And wow I heard there was some exciting church news...... I am so glad you guys now get to have church at 11!!! What a blessing. It really is the best time no? maybe people will think we are a righteous family if you guys can make it to church on time. I mean we do live so FAR away. (from the church, obvi) ha well. time is running away from me! I will talk to you guys next week!!!!! YAYAYAYA!!!

Have a good Christmas break until then! And Bella wow! You looked sooooooooooo gorgous for your ballet performance! I LOVE YOUR hair!

Also dad, happy birthday this week. I hope its a good one!

Right now I am trying to remember what else I was going to say but forgot............ha probs should just give up- talk to you soon! literally!

 love,

Hermana Degn

 

**Including pics of Hannah's sister Bella in case you were curious about Hannah's comments about Bella's ballet performance.

 

 

 

I'm not "kitten" you...

Shout out to my home girl jess! Thanks for your email- as for cats, yes there are plenty of cats here too. In fact I´ve even been mauled by this devil cat that lives in the home of one of the less active families. Ew. cats. Then last monday, Hermana Rod and I were walking home from playing bball at the chap. And guess what we saw- A cat get ran over by a car- EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW... It was disturbing. And then we walked past this dead cat that was still sort of twitching and its eyeball was hanging out. yeah, so not the biggest cat fan really. and no I'm not kitten you. This is real.

Anyways, the work. A bit slow this week because poor Hermana Rodriguez hurt her knee yet again. Real rough. The good news is it was at our ward activity where we happened to have ten investigators #holllaaa. The bad news is she pulled her tendon bad, and my face got FRIED. But you know, it's cool- we're been on splits for the majority of this last three days, and it's just a bit rough.

But fear not, because Miguel (dueno) came to church yesterday! And he wants to be baptized! In MAY! Psych, we're gonna have to change that. The problem is that he wants his daughter to be here-------- oh man. we've got some work to do. He is great though. Yesterday we went to his house to help him set up his christmas tree. Well we ended up cleaning his house (seriously Pollyanna. You, know old man miller? It´s him. only there weren't any prisms. I´m holdng out though) After he bought us pollo a la brasa for dinner with some good old inca cola. Well have I mentioned that we haven't taught dia de reposa yet? That's awkward. We tried really hard but to no avail. Really I just think he's really lonely and wanted some company for dinner- And know we know what we're going to teach him next time.

Well this week I really did have some beautiful spiritual experiences. My testimony really is being strengthened. Hna Rodriguez and I are working hard to find new people to teach. We keep doing this, keep finding, and then keep droping because no one will progress. And we have SO MANY menos activos we are working with. Sometimes that part is really really overwheming. There have been missionaries here who have made a lot of mistakes and now there are all these phantom members as well as so many members who don't come to church like ever. It's pretty funny really, we also ask the ward for referencs and we always get like ten but they are all MA. Last monday we were deep cleaning our apartment and found a huge envelope full of people's records who had been baptized. Well the bad news is that more than half are in our ward boundaries but literally we know like zero of them. So now we have a mission to find them all and see what happened. Weather they are still living here or what not- It'll be good. The Lord is definitely in this work, and my faith and desires to serve him grow every day.

I may just be the tinsiet bit jealous of Hna Christensen and Hna Bunkall but Mondays are really just all the bit sweeter hearing of the work that the two of them are doing. I really am so blessed to be out here and to be a part of this work. We are starting to wake up our ward and get eveyone moving again towards retaining members. Which is no easy task. But hey my spanish is coming along, or at least that's what I thought until we watched the Christmas devo last night and I have no idea how Issac Newton and Christmas are related so turns out my spanish isn't really as good as I thought haha-

love you all!

love

hermana degn

 

P.S.  I keep joking with Cisnerso about Zach's pictures from beautiful Uruguay.  But, look, there are rainbows in Peru also!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A moment of silence please...

So first off. lets just have a moment of silence for my jeans- or several. Yeah I thought american eagle made better than that. and why on earth did I follow the rule of only bringing one pair of pants? That was stupid. Because now what am I going to do for the next 15 months? It´s fine. There goes my self esteem along with my favorite pair of jeans- Seriously by love for these jeans is huge. Why? because I always wear skirts- So what happened you might ask? Well basically we were helping one of our family of investigators paint their house. Hence jeans. Well the combination of yes my waist is a little bit bigger even though I didn't have thanksgiving dinner (or two, yeah rub it in). plus I dunno bending down rapidly and yeah. Here we are- My poor jeans. They ripped RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE ( Hna Rodriguez said that I could give them to our Pensionista to have her sew them up....... Well the problem with that is it is huge. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. And there is no way I am going to fit into them if she sews it up. So we might have to hold off on some service activities for a while until I can find a pair of pants to wear..........

Right so some other highlights from this week------ Hna Rodriguez and I went in search of a pie for thanksgiving- Well nine panderies and 35 soles later we found one. Lemon merangue. So thanks dad, even though I don't particularly care for lemon----- it´s no bananna cream thats for sure. But Hermana Lucy also made me mashed potatoes so it was basically thanksgiving here too. Mostly my mind is tripped out because I feel like it´s not christmas time at all. There is no snow, no thanksgiving, no christmas music, no nothing. But yet somehow it really is december. Maybe it will feel like christmas on the day of when I get to talk to you all! We´ll see. But don´t worry I am still counting down the days.

 Right so really though I am doing great. So great in fact- Yesterday we found a golden investigator- Literally. He is the dueno of hna lucy and she gave us his address saying yeah just pass by his house because I think he is interested. Well a little back story is that Hna Lucy lives right across from the chapel and is in the area of the elders. But the dueno has his office on the first floor which we pass as we go up the stairs to Hna Lucy´s. (another side note to help paint the picture is that people live in rooms not really houses) like hna lucy´s fam, they have two rooms on the second floor of the building. Anyways we sometimes see the dueno in his office but when we do, I am always a bit scared you know? Basically he reminds me of the old man in Pollyana. Like they are literally the same person-

Anyways I'll stop rambling- We pass by his house and it was like 'we´re missionaries de la igleasea de....''´´ yes pasen pasen'' (which also never happens) pretty sweet. So then we start talking and bam, so cool. The spirit was so strong. We taught the first vision and he showed us the picture he had of joseph smith and the angel moroni that he had been reading- and had questions about- It´s the picture of the collection in the church, you know like the pictures from that blue folder we have?' Pretty cool- like lets be honest it was such a miracle- He is very catholic but the spirit can take care of that- It was a pretty good week for our work here.

We may not have any snow but we will still have a 'white' christmas---

Get it? cause the field is white and ready to harvest? Too much? yeah, yo sé.

 Well it was a great week. I am grateful for all of my many many many blessings and the miracles I see everyday. I sure love being a missionary! Also tell Jess the table settings look adorable!

 

All my love,

Hermana Degn

 

Happy Thanksgiving Back...

You know the real reason Tom Hanks had to tell Rose to say Happy Thanksgiving back is because she was from Perú and they don't actually celebrate that here. It's kinda smart because it gets rid of that whole Christmas decorations debate. There's just Christmas here. And I am so pumped. Last night we decorated the tree at Hermana Lucy's and wrote our letters to Papa Noel. Cambiers are the second week of December though so hopefully we don't get transferred, cause that would be real sad. Anyways, I guess you could say we celebrated Thanksgiving last week with Pollo a la brasa at Plaze Norte as a fam for Hna Lucy's birthday- We had a great time.(this is last Monday so it was P-day) we also went up the cerro again, for some cool pics- Perú is alright. I mean whatever my sunsets don't match Uruguay's but I get to eat three meals a day. #winning- Speaking of meals...... It's too bad I'm not home for thanksgiving because I think I could actually do grandma's mashed potatoes some good justice, seriously my ability to just eat and eat and eat is surprising. I blame it on all the rice. And my every growing stomach is a witness. Curse that mission weight.

 

Anyways this week we watched the Restoration mini video in some of our lessons. IT was great- I was trying really hard to stay focused but basically I was just remembering how we watched it as a family one time with Ray and how he told us about the saw and how obvi the tree was cut done with the 7500 or something like that hahaha- And at the beginning when his little brother falls "joseph, help me" well then I was like why do we fall down? so we can learn to pick ourselves up. Oh wait wrong movie........ That's Batman. But I think its applicable here too, the church should put that line in the next movie.

 

So this week we found a new investiagor, his name is Miguel. Man he is pretty awesome. We were teaching and were so pumped like man he is ready for baptism, and we challenged him to prepare for the 16 of december-.---- Yeah well turns out he is going to Chile the 10th for christmas. Asi es la vida. But still we had another lesson with him where we read 3 Nephi 11 together and man, I just have never felt the spirit that strongly in a lesson before. It was so cool. Hna R and I were so pumped after. It was so cool. We're going to work with him and see if he will be baptized before his trip.

 

Our other investigator of gold is Louana. She is eight years old and one of the friends of our pensionista's daughter. Bless her heart, her life is just wow. We teach her Thursday nights, she lives with her mom and siblings in a room in the back of a house that is a total meth lab. A bit sketch- Sometimes we get a little bit sketched out because of the people that hang out in the front of the house and the kitchen... But, she is really amazing though and her family really needs the gospel. Right now we are working with her mom to give Louana permission to be baptized-

 

So the work. It is going great. I love being a missionary and this year for Thanksgiving I am so grateful to be here. Last night we wrote letters to Papa Noel, right and I really couldn´t think of anything to ask for- I mean granted I would like to be losing weight not gaining, I could go for another T-shirt, and I would like to live in an apartment that is bigger than my room back at home. but really I don't need anything and everyday just gets better. I really am so happy to be here. Last night Totti asked me what I wanted to write and ask for and I really just didn't know. And I thought that was pretty cool. I have the gospel, I have the opportunity to share it with others, I have an incredible family here, and I have you guys. Which I grow more grateful for everyday. I don't know how I was lucky and blessed enough to be a Degn. So with that pretty mushy thought I should probably wrap this up. Eat a lot of turkey, pie, and mashed potatoes for me! especially pecan----- yum. okay with a lot of love,

 

hermana degn

 

p.s. we got a taste of summer. Like one day it just decided to be warm. OH DANG. It's gonna be HOT. I'm going to go through a LOT of deodorant. Good thing you sent perfume. Which for the record mom, smells divine.

 

 

This is Peru...

Ah this week was super great! We went up our little cero.... Great pic huh? so yeah this is my area. Well half of it. It's not really as big as it looks. We go all the way until the freeway in this pic and then we have a whole other part that isn't pictured- I am really learning to love it here.

 Well since we obviously haven't had any baptisms you can guess that our biggest problem has really been finding people who will PROGRESS! Man why is that so hard? I don't know. But We are getting down to business. Basically we had some really awesome lessons this week and have two people who have committed to baptism. (one is Orlando-AGAIN. If he doesn't get baptized this time though it is chao chico.) But yeah this week was so great I am still on cloud nine from the package... It's the new clothes.

 This week we had a super cool lesson with one of our investigators, Fernando. He is 17 and we have been working with him the whole time I've been here- He is awesome and wants to go on a misison buuuut we are working first on getting him to be ready to be baptized. Anyways he had some problems with his dad this week and was telling us about the situation- Well that morning in my idioma sutdy I had been reading in 1 nephi 16 where it talks about Nephi's bow breaking-. (this is awkward I can't actually remember if its 16 or 17 but you get the idea) Well it was cool we read this part together and talked about Nehpi and lehi´s realationship and how even though Lehi had murmured against the Lord Nephi still went to him and asked him to pray about what they should do. Basically we just talked about how important it is to be humble and to look to our parents for guidence and that they love us even though sometimes they have a hard time showing it- I don't know it just was super cool and I felt the spirit so strong. This work is aweomse and I love being a part of it!

 Also mom, Nicol and Totti and I had a great time with the halloween crafts! Thanks! Okay well imma a gonna wrap this up and upload more pics! Also yeah mom don't worry I am in touch with my homegirl Tia. Basically she's got some crazy stories and everytime we email I am a lot more grateful for my apartment here. But she is safe, but dang, she just said how scary everything was and that they do a lot of service more than anything else. She also said that she's showering out of a bucket- Well that gave me a good laugh. Also KJ met Elder Lever. They're brothers. Cute right? Oh and a boy in our ward got his mission call. To the Uruguay Montevideo mission. I told him he's pretty lucky because I am still pretty jealous from all the pics I've seen from Zach.

 ok. yeah

con amor,

Hermana Degn

 

Pictures of my area, My comp Hermana Rodriguez and my sink where I wash my hair!

 

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!

Okay basically halloween is pretty lame here, the day after is the real holiday I guess. But we had a ward party that night (stayed out until 930!!) haha It was fun, but not really that big of a deal i think. We didn't see much celebrations. }

 

Anyways this week really flew by, ha, we are trying to work more with the members but I think they should all watch Nacho Libre. Because everyone should be more like Nacho. He was so concerned for his friend's salvation that he baptized him himself. That's the kind of energy we need. haha, but actually the members here are great. They really do want to get involved. Sometimes the "how" is just really hard.

This week were cambiars. Still in Trebol! Which is good because I have a lot of work ahead of me here. And I am glad that both Hna Rodriguez and I are here for another six weeks. We're going to start tearing it up, just wait-

Also highlight last week I score my first goal playing futbol! Yes! FISTPUMP!!!

The work is going good! Have an awesome week!

love,

hermana degn

Isn't my dog cute?!

Well first off this is my official apology for this letter because this week just went by really fast and I don't really remember very much.

 So the spanish... good news is I basically understand the majority of everything- It's a big step, thank you Holy Ghost. Bad news is I realize that saying si to everything has gotten me into a bit of trouble. But thats why I have a companion who understands spanish and can correct me after I say that yeah in Utah we believe in fantasmas.... Psych. we really don't actually-

 

Learn something new everyday right? This week we did a lot of service! Yay! Love it! Also sometimes I forget that I am living in a third world country. and that lasts for like ten minutes because then we go and nail cardboard together to make walls for someone to help an hermana have a warmer house. There are definitely a lot of humbling moments here. Also I realize that Hna Rod and I are getting the shaft with our apartment. We moved some elders-.... out of a apartment that was already 3x the size of ours. As in one of the rooms was bigger than our whole apartment. Which is one room. But I mean they have a kitchen! And a sink inside their apartment!! Such Luxury! And we moved them into an apartment thats even bigger! With two bathrooms! Who even needs two bathrooms anyways? we have a shower curtain!

 
But we really recieved a lot of blessings. Like the uncle of one of our investigators read SIX chapters of the book of mormon and asked us all these questions about it. SIX! and we hadn't even been teaching him! Tender mercy of the lord right there. We are having a family home evening with them tonight which will be good. I am super pumped to see how it goes.

 We are back in business though this week so we'll be working hard. Cause we need to find some people to teach. Also looking at this picture reminds me how I regret bringing so much stuff with the color run on it. because how do you explain that in spanish? I dont know. But now Elder Perez and Riquelme are under the impression that I was a professional runner. Spoiler alert, I wasn't and now there is all this pressure on me to be in shape when we play futbol today. Curse spanish- One day I'll be able to stay out of these sticky situations that I find myself in. Like this week apparently I also told one elder that after the mission we date. Hey I didn't know what he was saying, my go-to answer is just always a smile and si. Well people have started taking advantage of that. I also have learned that prestome not sure on spelling there, but I agreed to give someone my camera, my scriptures, my eyes, my dinner.... the list goes on. Finally I figured out what it meant when everyone started trying to eat my food. You can imagine how that went down, you've seen kung fu panda. Aint't no one gonna take my fried banana.

 Also Sunday was the primary program. Ah Just a few fun differences being-- the dog trying to participate and the other kids trying to play the piano with the elder who was playing. Ah solid entertainment.... Girls I'm sure yours was great too! Wish I could have seen it!

 So yeah, with much love,

Hermana degn

 

 

 

72 days as a Missionary!

Well I think congragulations are in order. Thursday will be my 72nd day as a missionary!  I'm proud. It's the little things ya know? Speaking of the phrase "ya know" I adopted that into my everyday vocab here, sabe. I laugh every time because I sound like Johnny Depp in Pirates, 'Savvy'. My comp never gets it... obvi. But I think I am hilarious. This past week we celebrated the bithday of Elder Perez. It was vastly entertaining. We threw eggs and him, slammed his face in the cake.... Man quite the party- Ha it was hilarious- Also the cake......delish- Yet another reason why my wardrobe is rapidly shrinking- (sidenote I did expand it a little this week, I've started ironing with my hair straightner- It kinda works. The only problem is that now my orange shirt is about seven different shades. and still wrinkly) Back to the party. It was a surprise and super funny and our pensionista family is just the best. They are all so so awesome. So here is a picture of me, hna R, Elder Perez and Elder Riquelme. Also there's a picture of Elder Perez and Hna Lucy and her kids. So you can see who I spend the majority of my time with. We are a little family here. I love it.

 In other news last week we purchased a shower curtain. Man let me just tell you that the quality of my shower has drastically improved. Who knew that could make such a difference. Well it does. It is held up with tape so I kinda just feel like I am back in college.

 This week we got the clear to start working more. We are still on a bit of a modified sched. but it is much better! And after this week we should get the clear from the doctor to go back to normal------ fingers crossed!

 
We had a zone conference which was really awesome and I had my first interview with President Archibald which was nice. I really like him. He has challenged us to get one baptism a week. Yeah. So this week we are going to find people ready to get baptized! And we are dropping all of our currents investigators because they won't get baptized. So we've got work to do. Also yeah maybe I say all... well really we only have one. and we're letting him go. So I will update more on that next week.

 Also Hna Archibald came out and did splits with us. Yeah talk about the most nerve wracking afternoon of my life! I just kept praying that people would be home and we wouldn't get lost and that they would understand me. Well, it worked out okay. She is awesome and I really love her, and we found some new people to teach as well as taught a really awesome lesson. So all's well that end's well. Even though I about had a heart attack I was so stressed during the whole thing.

 So back to business. I´m doing good! We are working more every day which is a big blessing because I am almost finished with Jesus the Christ. But hey, I've really learned a lot and during our ZC I sounded pretty smart when I threw out a few references. Until no one understood what I was actually saying ha- poco a poco. Also this week my hair miraculously was really straight for some reason (at least in the front) and Hna Cisneros asked me if I had straightened it- Well my response was "like i've got time on my hands". So when all else fails I just quote "That Thing You Do" and call it a day.

 Very good. -TB Player

 With a lot of love and affection and a tiny bit of exasperation (nah, kidding)

 Hermana Degn

 

When I first left the CCM my mission President took us to a beach (alas, this beach is not in my area!) and we watched them raise the Peruvian flag which was very cool.  He then talked to us about Cortez and his story of burning the boats so his men could not retreat.  He then talked to us about not retreating and going full on into the mission work.  It was so great and I am so happy to be serving in this area.  Here are a few pics of that day...

Two months down!!

Not that I'm counting down it just kinda blows my mind that I've been on my mission for two months. Sometimes the days drag on but then P-day comes and its like wow what even happened this week. I don't know. So updates on Hermana Rodriguez. We went back to the doctor and the good news is she doesn't need surgery. The bad news is that we are still on a bit of a modified schedule and can't do a lot of contacting because we aren't supposed to walk very far and all the jaxx for another two weeks so her knee can get better. Well its a bit maddening but its fine because after the trip to the hospital we went to the best burrito place ever. I had a burritto that was better than cafe rio and chipotle combined. Straight up it was soooo good. and huge. and I drank it with this bomb limade so that was awesome- And it was this cool hipster scene plus it even had a nice bathroom. (as in there was a toilet seat and toilet paper, so bascially on a bathroom scale of 7-eleven to barnes&noble it was a marriott, straight up) But to help you grasp just how good this burritto was the hospital is in the Lima Noth mission and it is in the Lima Sur mission and we still went there to eat-.And boy is it worth it. Also that drive! Turns out there is part of Lima that is pretty! It's right on the coast and there are some amazing waves! It was a great fieldtrip.Even though my seat in our car wasn't really connected to anything nor wear their seatbelts. Good news Lima is pretty, other news is I found out a way of driving that makes me sicker than just driving in the mountains.

 Well this week we also did exchanges. (I don't really know what there called to be honest) but I went with Hna. Banbroum, one of the sister leaders, to her area El Olividar.(sp?? no se) It was awesome! For reals like a vacation! She is from California so we got to speak english and we taught a bunch of lessons and I learned so much! It was awesome! One cool spiritual experience was when we taught a woman named Liset- We just talked to her on the street for a minute and then she invited us in. It was really cool teaching her because I felt like the spanish was pretty clear so that she could understand my testimony. It was a pretty cool feeling. We taught her about Joseph Smith which I love doing because it always brings the strongest spirit! Well Olividar is a nicer area than where I am but I hope I don't go there permanently any time soon because they don't have a pensionista AND they have to do their own laundry! Ah, it just sounds awful. This week we've had a change to our schedule and have a new rule that we aren't supposed to leave for breakfast. Well unforunately breakfast has taken a bit of a hit. No more fresh jiuces, avacados, fresh bread, eggs..excetera ect. I can't imagaine what would happen if we didn't have Hermana Lucy for our other meals. (actually I know what would happen. we would starve, but I would be skinny again sooooo, nah, not worth it) Because for reals I could proabably write a whole email just about food alone! It is SOOOOO good here. granted there is a lot of rice. but I don't really mind it. Also you will all be happy to know that I have gotten over my food touching. Like way over that- I am turning into a not so picky eater. Straight up . I've already eaten octupus. with tenticales on it. and I LIKED IT. Plus we eat this fish sometimes and the head is still attatched, and I eat it- and not just eat I have a new talent where I pick the bones clean. Its digusting. I put meat in my mouth and spit out the bones. I should put that on my dating resume when I get home because I find it impressive.

 So basically we are on a modified schedule until hermana R's leg gets better. or for two weeks. AHH! But todo bien, I am learning the art of patience....slowly. Ha see what I did there? But everything is going good. Life is good! We have some good appointments lined up for this week which I am really looking forward to! Thanks for the emails! I love you guys soooo much!

 all my love,

Hermana Degn

p.s. for family night tonight will you guys all write letters to hna rodriguez and mail them tomorrow!!! Please plese please! You guys can practice your spanish and a little english, but it would be awesome if she got mail too! A lot of it!

 

 

 

 

 

TREBOL!!!

That´s my first area and its the bomb. I mean yes it does kind of look like one went off here, but I think that adds to the overall charm of the place haha-

Well, what I week, I don't even really know where to start. My comp is great!! Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she is from Argentina. She is 22 and has been a member of the church for two years which is pretty cool. She is so awesome! She speaks about zero english though which makes for some very interesting days and nights. But its good. I´m learning spanish slowly but surely. This week was seriously so awesome! I am so pumped to be out in the field! Hna. Rodriguez and I are really lucky and we live right next to the chapel. Also our apartment or more accurately our room has really nice wood floors and electricty- and if we plug in our shower for longer than 30 minutes there is hot water! Not very much but its something. We are very lucky!! I am learning so much here and am trying to work really hard. This week a lot of things definitely went way over my head. Ha I never know anything. But I´m excited for this week with a little bit more experience under my belt and a better idea of everything. Right now I kinda feel like a lost puppy dog and I just follow Hna Rodriguez around. The people here though are so awesome! I love it!

Dad, you´ll love this but for our meals we eat at Hna. Lucy´s house- She is our 'mom' here and makes all our meals. She is the best! She also has three adorable kids. But Hna. Rodriguez and I eat all our meals there with two other elders and it is a party! I understand very little of all the jokes and funny things said but it is still probably my favorite time of the day! Hands down- During lunch on my second day here I was just thinking that this is the way to live in any country. There was some spanish music on in the background and we were eating ceviche (which is delicious by the way) and I was just loving my life. And then we went to work, don´t worry- That part is good too! We taught a few lessons this week that went really well. (I think) And did a lot of street contacting which is where my true talent is. Everyone is totally up to listen to me beause I am from the US, obvi. So that's nice.

So Yeah, I am doing great. Everyday I understand more and more. Which is nice, although one night we were teaching in a house and in the other room their kids were listening to the soundtrack of Teen Beach Movie. So that was fun. I was singing those lyrics all night. Also the food. The food here is soooo good!!! really love it.

One really funny thing heppened. I was showing a picture of our family to a little boy here, Diego, and he asked why Abby and I were the only white ones. So yeah that was pretty funny- sorry Abs

Con todo mi corazon,

Hermana degn

It's the Final Countdown!!

Hi family thanks for all the notes this week! Well here it is my last week at the CCM. And just a heads up next week I leave on my pday so I won't be able to write. obvi. But I think the mission secretary sends you an email so you can know if I am alive or not. Ha, chiste chiste. Okay well since this is my last email from the CCm I thought I would just sum up the highlights so without further ado...

 

My top ten: ( it`s like sports center no?)

1. FUTBOL! Nuff said. I love soccer now. Who knew?

2. Asking for sin instead of sin for dinner. They`re basically the same word (pescado y pecado) but my whole district was dying as well as the poor cafeteria lady. But hey I still ended up with fish, so todo bien.

3. Tea & toast. My favorite part of the day, twice a day. After dinner and before breakfast. We also talk in British accents to up our classiness

4. Temple Tuesdays.

5. Churros! (but don`t worry grandpa, I don't eat them anymore! Not because I think they made anyone sick but because they made it a rule after the plague broke out)

6. Being forgotten. So cool story. This one time (last tuesday) we were supposed to watch the devo broadcasted from the provo mtc.... well everyone leaves for their missions every other tuesday so there were about 50 of us here. Which first off how awesome is that!?! And second everyone forgot about us. So we went to watch it in the chapel and literally NO ONE else was here to turn it on for us. We ended up having an impromtu testimony meeting that was so good! And it turned into one of my favorite nights.

7.District volleyball. Let's just say I've still got game.

8. My district. Who knew I could love them this much at the beginning?

9. Proselyting. That was definitely the best day so far. Just sooo good.

10. Elder Cook. Need I say more?

Basically its been one roller coaster of a month and I am so pumped to go in the field.

also just because.....

The Five things I miss most about America! (like my not top ten) eh?

1. Cheese!!!! ah what I wouldn`t do for some cheese! Even string cheese! I miss cheese!!!!

2. Hot water. Yep, needless to say I have no problem with the five minute shower rule.

3. Never seeing the back of my hair. Its actually probably a blessing.

4. the Sun. Yeah winter is just ending here but it is always overcast-

5. Music. who knew I listened to music so much!

and of course you! I love you all so much! Have an awesome few weeks!

love,

hermana degn

Hola!

How is everyone? Today we went on a fieldtrip proselyting! It was about 10x as awesome as P-day. Also, needless to say I am still going to have culture shock for a while. I honestly wish I could adequately put into words how poor the people are here. We drove about an hour away from the CCM and it was incredibly humbling to drive through so many shanty towns and then to walk through them. It was similar to swimming through dirt but also one of the best experiences! We switched up companionships so my comp for the day was Hermana Thiel- she is so awesome! Both of us struggle with Spanish but I had such an amazing time talking with the people. It was really awesome and humbling to talk with them! Even though our Spanish was bad they were so patient and willing to listen. In fact at the first door we knocked on I asked it we could share a message about Jesus Christ. Well she said yes and then I was so completely shocked I had no idea what to say next, I just totally forgot what our message was. Haha thats the best thing about having a companion. Hna. Thiel and I made a great team! My favorite person that we talked to was named Johnny. He was so awesome. We probably talked to him for 45ish minutes and it was just amazing. He had a lot of questions for us that we really struggled to answer because he would talk so fast. Then say sí or no, and Hna Thiel and I would look at each other and shrug. haha, He could see that our Spanish was bad and helped us out a bit. He started talking slower and we bore testimony a lot and tried to answer his questions the best we could. In the end we gave him a Book of Mormon and got his name and address so the missionaries could go back. I loved talking to him because he would just laugh with us when we would mess up on words or didn´t know how to say anything. What a day. I would pray every time that I opedned my mouth that Heavenly Father would fill it with what I needed to say. The whole day I kept repeating D&C6:36 (i think?) in my mind. "look unto me in every thought, doubt not fear not." While talking every time was still a struggle and I could never really express what I wanted to I know that Heavenly father was still able to work through Hna. Thiel and I. Even if we were just planting really small seeds. It was an awesome day! although definitely so exhausting, both spiritually and physically.

And sidenote there are so many dogs here! It is unreal. I thought everyone was exagerating. well they weren´t. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! It´s a bit nuts. Other highlights this week included being seranded by some of the Latino Elders. The ones here this week were very out going which was really fun except for the fact that they do not quite understand the Elder/Hermana relationship. for example one told me that he thought I was beautiful and then sang Bruno Mars to me (because they all love Bruno Mars for some reason). Basically I found my future husband! Ha, Chiste, obvi. It was pretty hilar though.

The rest of the week was really awesome too! Yesterday was sad because my favorite district left! (but now we are the oldest eeek) There is a picture attatched of my district and that district. (the hermanas) they are for real the greatest! And they are going to be stellar missionaries!

Now back to my highlights of the week:

District volleyball. Lets just say I still have game and my district is pretty rad. We have an awesome time together. Which is good since we literally spend SO much time together. But I love them all!

Also our ride home from the temple today was crazy. The bus was so jampacked but we just got on anyways. Also you can just stand on the side of the road anywhere and busses stop to pick you up. It´s a bit nerve wracking. Especially when there are other cars honking and going crazy because the bus is just stopped- Everytime I get on I think of the Knight bus from Harry Potter. (I swear one bus even had shrieking heads). That is a pretty accurate description though-only here the busses are crazier. And the driving is about the same level of recklessness and speed only they are not wizards and nothing moves for them. We also j-walk a lot. Eveyone does ( ah the thrill of it all) but that is like real like frogger. Pedestrians never have right of way here so good thing I have so much practice with both frogger and J-walking. (I´ve done it with golf clubs before which I think is pretty impressive)

Well my time is winding down. So here is a special shout out to Rosemary and Penelope! Thanks for reading my blog! I sure love and miss you cute girls! Also have an extra piece of devils food this week for me! I will have to tell Hna Blotter a story about Stuart and maybe we will have chocolate cookies to celebrate his life.

All my love,

Hermana Degn

 

 

Thanks for the package!  Thanks Tyler Thompson!

Me and Elder Christensen!  So glad to have a familiar face in the MTC!

Literally we are halfway through our MTC time. (WHAAAT?!) and yes also literally we are living on a prayer. I have definitely never prayed this much in my whole life. Seriously though, if we added up all the prayers I´ve ever said I think I have said more in the past three weeks- I mean at the very least we pray 15 times a day. Also I have random songs get stuck in my head all the time! and we can´t listen to music here, sooooo its sometimes rough to get them out. For instance yesterday in our language class we were doing a por y para practice scenario and it used the word gasolina.... Well I have had the gasolina song by daddy yankee stuck in my head ever since. Most def not mission appropiate but my spanish teacher was way impressed that I had heard it before. So that´s cool.

It´s basically like the walking dead here at the CCM- people are just dropping like flies. Actually not really anymore but we were all sick this past week. It was basically an infirmary. with Quarantines and everything. You would see people at breakfast and then two days later you would see them again. Ha good news is its all behind us! And everyone (myself included) is healthy again.

Let´s see unfortunately they have now banned churros due to the walking dead status which is a real bummer. Basically I would eat a churro a day and probably go home 400 lbs, and be proud of it. Then I would dedicate the rest of my life to bringing them to America. That is how good the churros are. Today was rough not being able to get one. But we went to some cool shops. There was a crazy meet market with just hunks of meet hanging and plucked chickens hanging. So that was interesting. Speaking of food, thanks so much for the treats! and the dried mangos! They were the best! Even though I eat about three pounds of rice a day I feel like I´m never full. It´s a real problem. And yet they have killer flan and soft serve ice cream so obviously I´m over that problem.

This week we played futbol a bunch and it is seriously soooo fun! I love futbol now! I am pretty terrible but did take out an elder earlier this week. I just had all this energy that had to go somewhere.

Also reading.... well I finished the Book of Mormon on Sunday! I was pretty pumped! 18 days what what. Sunday was awesome. We listened to a talk from Elder Bednar that was so good. I loved it! It is really cool to be able to learn so much about the gospel here. Also spanish is coming fine. It´s very rough around the edges but I am anxious to get out in the field and really learn it. I can give the restoration lesson pretty well but can´t really carry out a normal conversation. Unless they want me to teach them how to pray.

Also I am so happy here! don´t worry about that! The CCM is relatively small so you get to know everyone really well!! I love P-days and time has really starting to fly by. (seriously I feel like we had p-day yesterday) This past week was so good. Hna Blotter really stepped it up in our lessons and talked a lot more. And we just have a ball hanging with the other hermanas here- I miss you guys a lot but really look forward to emailing you every week! thank you guys so much for all the awesome notes! I loved them! Plus I loved the cards you know me too well mom. I thought of you on Sunday during our lunch. We eat before the elders and somehow we always end up talking about movies- well last week it was the great gatsby (Ihave never wanted to see it until that moment and this week it was You´ve got mail) well needless to say it was a pretty enjoyable hour. Also You´ve got mail really are the best three words. obvi. I´m obsessed. Thank your for all emails as well. We have also had the parent trap meal as well. It was the best. (Can someone hand me my Evian bottle? I pull that one all the time)

Anyways I´m going to end this so I can send more pictures!!! LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH!!!!

XXoXOOooxXXoX,

Hermana Degn

 

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