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.