it's good

So. Basically it was a really good week. It was also a super crazy jam packed week that went by way too fast! I don't even know where to start?  Our power has been out for the last three days??? and there is about a foot of standing water in our kitchen from our fridge. But before that happened we played hotel for hna carr and hna cueva which was a total blast. One of the biggest perks about being in Covida is that whenever hermanas come in from the provinces they stay with us. Which is awesome because we get to know a lot of the hermanas but it also is sort of depressing because they show us their pictures of how beautiful Perú is and we cry ourselves to sleep. Ha, okay maybe i'm being a BIT dramatic. But you know, Perú is pretty..... just not Lima. anyways they ended up staying with us for five days because hna cueva went home this morning. So this week we had a lot of great pillow talk, late nights in the offices, super early mornings (today we woke up at THREE-THIRTY) but mostly it was just a party. So I know you are thinking what do you do with four missionaries is a super super super super super super super small area? (as in we did divisions one day and ha, kept running into each other) well, I'll tell you.

 LIMONADA GRATIS.

While the actual success of all day Saturday spent contacting was minimal. We had a lot of laughs doing it- For example, we spent all morning boiling water. went on a half hour search for ice, which melted immediately without cooling the water whatsoever. So after slaving over this limonada for two hours we finally leave the house and guess what? It started raining! What in the heck! I have only seen rain twice in my whole mission (not that it was a heavy rain, just a nice enjoyable sprinkle) But seriously. Some joke- Well, we still went out. But man it was a rough sell. Ha we were running after people saying "Do you want lemonade? IT¨S FREE!!!" let´s just say its not quite the U.S., where people will do anything for free stuff. or maybe that is just BYU. However we still handed out all our book of mormons, half a million folletos and got a lot of referencias, none of which live in our area. but hey it was great. Our elders stopped by and told us that it also tasted terrible. Well they put in about a half a ton more sugar and then it really tasted terrible. We would hand out a cup and then we'd launch into the Book of Mormon and the looks on their faces. Poor people. Also the next day if you are wondering it tasted like straight up vinegar. and elder palomo keeps saying the it made him sick. (only because he drank 17 cups). and then that night we went to our ward mission night..... well our attendance was a total of six missionaries. So obviously we then went out for schwarma.

 #obvi. Speaking of schwarma we have started teaching them and holy cow they are so cool! They are five brothers who are from india and all five practice islam. So that is cool. They all speak seven languages and we teach them in spanglish and one of them translates for the others. Because they don't all speak spanish. But it's been awesome teaching them. I mean we just started and they don't know really anything about Jesus Christ. Which has been a new experience since everyone and their dog here is super catholic.

Also guess what? Alberto got baptized. And he now holds the Melchizedek Priesthood. Hna Rodriguez and I taught him in trébol. how cool is missionary work?

So yeah, with lots of missionary love, hey that's called charity something that is the pure love of Christ that I am still working on haha

hna degn

 

Our angry faces that we couldn't go on our outing.

 

Shish-kabobs--yum!

 

 

 

 

Making limonada!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The worst April fools joke...and it's not even April!!!

So, I've been super pumped for today because we WERE going to go to some super sick ruins and catacombs for the day in Huacho with our zone. Which I was sooo pumped about because A. sick ruins and B. rumor has it they are Jaradite ruins + plus they are the oldest in the history of old c. I was so excited to have pictures of somewhere cool/ pretty/ I would just love a day outside of Lima. Well, last night everything was good to go and J and I were so pumped. So fast forward to this morning when we are at Plaza Norte at 5:30 in the morning waiting for all these elders to show up and no one would answer their phones. Well you want to know why???? Because they were all sleeping! Because they got the call last night from presi that we couldn't really go. But then they all FORGOT TO CALL US! Those punks. Needless to say it was a pretty traumatic let down. Like there were almost tears thats how much I want to see something of the outside world. #soclosebutstillsofar Also perú is the worst because mcdonalds isn't even open that early plus there is no breakfast there! So we cound´t even eat away our sorrows! Well, we ended up just riding our bus until the very very very last stop. Which turned out to be kindaa like a roller coaster because the last twenty minutes the roads aren't paved and its just rocky dirt and a lot of hills and buildings crammed together. So that was kinda fun. only we are still so mad. I took a great picture of our angry faces but I can't send it because we are also at a super super ghetto internet place and yeah let's just say the camera is not coming out. so now i guess we´ll probably just play futbol and hna Jiménez and I are gonna take naps. #aprilfools #itsmarch

So now that we aren't actually doing anything I have my normal email time of two hours. so get comfortable. haha

 This week was great. Still no family family but we had a lot of super hilarious lessons. We have this one investigator Yeder that we've been working with. Well he has problems with the word of wisdom, like--no hermanita i wasn't Drunk, i just had one, maybe two, okay four drinks. What the heck Yeder! You went to church that morning!! (also it is so hard to keep a straight face in our lessons. because he just says the funniest things...like one time he fell in love with his cousin. i know don't ask) So yeah, he had a fecha, semi-passed his interview, and decided to not get baptized. So we dropped him and are now looking for newsies. Silver Lining? My Poker face is a lot better than it was three weeks ago.

Anyways this week I had a cool experience praying. So J and I were both praying about our map to figure out where we should go the next day. Well I was praying and thinking about Enos, and his prayer and the great faith he had. Well I was trying to pray like Enos prayed but you know what? I just don't have all the time in the world to pray for a day and a night and a day and a night and a day and another night and another day.. hahaha you get the picture right, so this thought was going through my head and you know what? I got an answer to a very specific question about where we should be. And then it was the same place that hna Jiménez recieved an answer about too. So that was pretty awesome. We went there the next day, contacted a ton of people. with no results. But you know what my testimony of prayer was really strengthened. A ton. And maybe the next time we do the map prayer we'll find a family that actually wants to listen to us. Stranger things have happened hahaha.

So, basically I think thats about all the higlights/lowlights from here in covida. All in all it was really a great week. For reals. Plus I haven't felt mad in a long time. ha, it was pretty refreshing. So with that, have a great week. p.s. thanks for all the emails. Good thing I had so much time at internet............... sorta.

 Love,

 Hermana degn

 

 

!Buenas dias solicito!

Well first off, I will tell you all about yesterday. Because let´s be honest, it's basically all I can remember hahaha so at church the elders had a family come. And afterward we were so excited to find a family this week. I don't know, it was just cool to see this cute lady with her four kids say, "yeah we are getting baptized the 8th and life is beautiful" and to see them so excited about the gospel. So hna J and I were pumped to get out and find our family. In fact, we have the goal to find one that's even better because the dad in our family is gonna get baptized too. Anyways, basically all of our citas fell through and we were walking past a family in a park. Well, it was like--look a family ah, too late, okay lets just double back and come at them from the other side. (that's not stalkerish at all, we only passed them like three times haha) anyways, we came up to them and the dad said oh yeah sitdown, here's my wife she's the head of our family. So he introduces us to everyone, (sister-in-law, daughter etc) and then says, "So what religion are you from? I saw you walking and you both--besides being beautiful (he did say that like five times, and we are like your wife is right here......) but he told us that we just radiate peace. (Whatt??? really!!!! Yes! it's just like in preach my gospel!) so the he asks us why he should be a mormon. and I thought oooohhhhmyygoshisthisreallyhappening. I have been waiting my whole mission for someone to ask me that question, let me tell you. So we have this super vacan lesson with them there in this park and  I was picturing their baptisms and everything, and then it ended with "We actually don't live here." So how's that for a rough breakup?? yeah, your welcome other missionaries. Thank you for breaking my heart family of seven.

Ha, it was a bit rough, But the good news is we had an awesome lesson, and it just showed J and I that we can do it. TheLord really helps us out once we open our mouths and that we really are doing what we need to be. (I mean hello he said that we radiate peace!) So it was cool. and now we just have even more motivation to go and find the families that really do live in our area.

Right--so to sum up the rest of the week, I think I should start a food blog. Like for reals. After we had a little incident buying meat..... (NEVER AGAIN!) I tell you, the last thing I am going to do is buy this chicken hanging here with its head still connected and then go home and cut it open to cook it and then put it in my mouth.  And that's not even mentioning the flies or the fish. So needless to say now we cook vegetarian and eat out a few times a week to eat meat. But this week I think we ate clams, or mussels??? I am not really sure. But its whatever is inside those black shells that we collect at the beach. Actually they weren't half bad. Regretfully, I didn't have my camera because it was a great photo moment....next time. but really do I talk too much about the food? We finally found basil at the market and made margharita pizzas. or J made me tacos. they were delish, but she cracks me up here, like some members made us tacos one day and later in our apartment, "this is NOT a taco" "that is NOT a taco" "this is NOT mexican food" "anything is better than THAT" "if someone served this to me in my home I would be insulted" referring to the rice. hahahaha too funny. Also we spread philadephia cream cheese on them. (the tacos) so I'm confused on what is a taco. Because philadelphia cream cheese is NOT mexican. Also this week we found a super delish schwarma place by our apartment. Like to die for good. and we went there and ate because hello, that's what they do at the end of the Avengers. so it was not only a GREAT meal but we just quoted the Avengers the whole time. Which we decided is basically a church movie because Captian America says there is only one God and he doesn't dress like Thor. speaking of Thor.....some elders here in the district baptized Thor. There is a resemblance, and he is a real swed, plus he only speaks english? and our ward mission leader looks like Tom Cruise. just thought you should know??????

Well I think I have rambled on long enough. But I have decided to not apologize for writing a novel every week. Because I know you are all anxiously awaiting this email so why deprive you of the chance to read and read and read hahahahaha.

 So J and I are still kicking it here in covida. Vacan means cool in castaño, and we are kicking tail and taking names. everyone feel free to send me fan mail! I am all about those letters! I could even go for some hate mail. hahaha

 love you all!

 hermana degn

p.s. shoutout to josh, I don't really think extra credit for mr. crump and rebel belong in the same sentance. #sorrynotsorry. and yes send

 

 

 

From Peru, with love...

So thanks for the update on life in sojo. everyone seems to be dancing it up these days. It's good to know you all learned from the best but sorry I can't help you out with my awesome dance skills from Perú.

Well this week seriously went by sooooo fast. But it was great. but i did miss Florence chocolates for sure! like majorly. but on a high note our fav menos active family gave us both flowers, matching bows and Yossybel painted our nails while we talked about the importance of temple marriage. It was great. Seriously they are hilarious. They are a 20 year old couple with a one year old baby who live with her family and we are teaching the wife of her dad who isn't her mom and also has a little baby. Can you say father of the bride? only wierder?? ha, They are hilarious to spend time with and now have the goal to get sealed!! Yay! Plus I have a great manicure. which you know, when someone loves you enough to paint your nails you know the spirit has been working. right so maybe that isn't the best strategy but lets just say that Yossybel (the wife) really needs friends.(LIKE DESPERATELY!) and her step-mom (??) too. So we do our best to be great friends with them and teach with the spirit. It's a hard balance. but for the most part we do alright. And they def provide us with a lot of comic relief. Like tons. Seriously they believe their house is haunted. Sometimes it is really hard to keep a straight face in our lessons. But Valentine's Day was great. Hna Jiménez and I are really loved. Which is great. plus mom, I love that necklace you gave me! #randomsidenote

Anyways we really do work super hard! PROMISE! But it was a holiday??... but we do! like this week we had FIVE investigators in sacrament mtg. and one of them is Jean. Who we found this week. He is so awesome. Like will be baptized pronto- He is 27 and is here in Lima studying and is so awkward. ha bless his poor heart but it is super endearing. ha, and he is reading in the book of mormon and doing great things and he came to church and everyone was shocked that he wasn't a member and my heart just swelled with pride. Seriously though, I love Jean almost as much as I love Perú! Which is saying something!

I LOVE PERÚ! This week one of the recent members we are working with. (Patrick, he is a DRAMA QUEEN) buuuuttt we are really pushing with him to go on a mission. Anyways, he showed us this totally sick video about Perú, Nebraska- Seriously go check it out. It has nothing to do with the church, but he was dying to show us. He said, "Hermana Degn you have to watch this. It's about America and Perú. Basically it's about us because youre American and I'm Perú and now you know how cool Perú is and its changed your life.". Well I just can't say no?? so we watched it. It's 15 minutes and its on youtube. and then after we talked about the law of chastity. so trust me, we deserved to watch this video. hahaha But I really am so grateful for it. Because that night I reallized just how much I love Perú. I love it here. This culture is so rich and filled with so many great people. I watched this video and I was filled with so much Peruvian pride. It really made me look around and realize how lucky I am to be here and how great Perú is. It ended up being such a tender mercy for me. Because I complain all the time that Uruguay is so much prettier than Perú...... um cough.... haha okay maybe not all the time. But I could definitely be a lot more grateful to be in Perú. I mean I really could love it more. But watching this video I realized how much I really do love Perú. and I don't even have enough adaquate words to express it- Perú is amazing. I basically only know a super small part. (legit, treból is like six minutes away hahaha) but the love I have for Perú is huge! so take that Uruguay! Also Nebraska? who knew? turns out it really is like the most underrated state in the history of cool places. I mean it has the college world series AND Perú. what else is there? I´ll probably live there some day. and raise corn with my children. ha. maybe not. But I do want a Perú State Football shirt more than anything.

So this week I learned to be more grateful, and realized that their are reminders to be grateful all over and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending them to me. even if they come in very unexpected ways....

 So yeah, basically that´s it.

 Okay well maybe I should share something spiritual??

 

 Alma 33:23
Basically,there is one line that I love. It says if we have the desire we can do it. It's refering to the experiment with faith. Well, that has been my thought of the week. That if I have the desire to be a successful missionary I can be. Hna jiménez and I are having a great time. We are working hard trying to find people who will progress and also reactivate Covida. We have so many great laughs along the way and have really strong desires. So God is helping us out with the rest. I just love it because it's like nike, just do it. Well- we want to do it so we are.

So sorry this email is WAY too long. but I love you all so much!!!! almost as much as I love perú- ha nah, basically your all tied....with Jean.

 Love,

hermana degn

p.s. so if this picture attatches your welcome. We made flan. Aren't I good at plating things? thanks. also don't be too jealous. It tasted terrible. We need more practice. BUUUUT I did make my own basil pesto this week which was to die for delicious. #thanksgiadaathome. Basically all my years of watching the next food network start has come in handy. I am a wizard in the kitchen.... even if the flan experiement didn't come out as well as I had hoped.

 p.s.s. also pictured are my Valentine's Day flowers. Pretty, no?

 

 

Confessions of a Rice-a-holic

So the good the bad and the ugly of life in Covida.......

We had a baptism! YAY! Her name is Carmen. and it has been so cool working with her here! She took all the lessons a few years ago and long story short has been our miracle here in Covida. And now she wants to go on a mission and life is beautiful. In our first lesson she was like no, thanks I'm not going to go through with this whole thing (two weeks ago) and Saturday was perfect. I mean she showed up, I spoke, we all felt the spirit. and Hna Jiménez and I were positively giddy all day. so it was a beautiful day.

 

And now the other parts of life in Covida. Like how we don't have a pensionista. (um what?) well turns out I actually don't mind it tooo much... But lets just say that after eating rice literally every single day for six months. (as in twice a day, somethimes three times a day) no lie. basically what that means is that the lack of rice has turned my body crazy. and it has not been all that enjoyable. like i am going through some serious withdrawals. Buuuuut hopefully i get over that soon?? Also we live/share our spacious apartment, (let's just say my living quality has drastically improved) with cockroaches. Maybe that's a bit ironic, no? But really now we have a ghetto kitchen that doubles as our room plus a second room where we study. It is luxurious! Plus my mattress is a dream! no bugs and way more comfortable! almost like what I imagine the beds are like at a motel six.... haha I'm kidding. its a least a La Quinta Inn status.

Basically I am still doing super super awesome! We are working hard to find new people to teach! and that's life here!

Also a huge thank you for the package!!! Thank you thank you!

 

Have I mentioned that we also have to wash our own clothes now??? It is horrible. I have developed a new hate for laundry. Basically if I end up doing laundry for my husband one day he will know its love. Because it is awful. ha it's kinda like being in college. only worse. jk I really do love it. just not all the parts. Although we do get some good jams going when we are washing. #imnickiminajandthatske$ha

Well, I love you so much and hope all is well!

 

Thanks for being the best family out there!

Love,

Hermana Degn

Hermana Degn & her pensionista Hermana Lucy--sad to say good bye to her!

Hermana Degn & Hermana Jimenez

 

 

 

 

The New Girl in Town

Well I am sure everyone is totally on the edge of their seats dying for this email so I guess I will tell you all where I am........ drum roll please--

COVIDA! pronouned co-beed-ah

Not that that really means anything to you hahaha. Basically I feel like its my first day back in high school or at byu when the school is so big you get lost a million times but mom says that in no time it will feel small and you will wonder how you could have ever gotten lost. I feel like that. But I love it. It's basically the same as my other area only better because I am here with Hna Jiménez. Total concrete jungle here, which is cool, I'm down for this. Okay, now I will just tell you all how much I love my life right now.

First off, I am senior comp (what the what) like what does that even mean/why on earth would anyone ever give me responsibility? But turns out---nobody judge me for what I am about to say---hahah but I am THRIVING. I LOVE love being in charge. It is so fun. That probably sounds terrible. I promise I am not like a dictator or anything but being in charge is the bomb. Who knew?

Second, Hna Jiménez. Basically I could write a million love songs about her. So let me just sum it all up. She is tiny, (like so small, plus she has the smallest feet I have ever seen) from Mexico, has been here for three months, she listened to "Of monsters and men" AND Imagine Dragons. but wait, it gets better. Her favorite movies include Howl's moving castle, 500 days of summer, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Plus she was studying literature before she came on a mission. So where's the catch? I know, I am still looking for it.

Basically, I think I am living a dream. There is a scripture that perfectly sums up my life right now: its 2 Nephi 5:27. That's all you need to know. The mission is so good. We are working hard and looking forward to the next blissful six weeks. Basically I just have seen that Heavenly Father knows me SO WELL. This past week I saw so many tender mercies every single day. Like how Hna Jiménez also has a loud sneeze or how she cried in the Frog Princess. It's like we are the same person. (if we take out my sport fanatic side) the best part is she wants to work. We are still working on that part because our contacting skills are pretty creepy on the scale of---don't ask me out, to stalker, we are probably at the-- don't look at my children stage. hahaha but we try? like invite us in your home to share a message! I promise we didn't just turn around and take another route just to run in to you guys specifically. We just thought you looked nice annnnnd you have two kids. and are you married? nope ok cool!

Ha we have a lot of work to do. but I am pumped. also turns out my Spanish is waaaay better than I ever gave myself credit for. which is pretty awesome. Ha, in our first lesson Hna Jiménez just looked at me after about five seconds and I was okay cool. and guess what? So many words just spilled out, in Spanish! I guess you could say that God really loves me and I am really loving being a missionary. and life doesn't get any better than that. The only catch is there are cambios in six weeks. But it's okay because we are going to make these six weeks count! look out Perú!

all my love,

Hermana Degn

p.s. i am in a new internet and am trying to send a picture buuuut am having problems. so sorry. but just know that Hna Jimémez is a hipster and one day I will send you a picture. I mean hello I can even ask her opinion now on what I am wearing. Plus, Sunday we wore matching bows to church. #swagcity #hipstersinperú #unity

Blame it on the rain...or the week I turn into Hermione Granger...

So this week was good. Basically Sunday was just the best. Let me break it down. We were at church and no one came. and then ten minutes late. (well really 45minutes late, but the meeting had only been going for ten minutes) and five of our investigators showed up! It was awesome. It was total choas! and Hna Rodriguez left me to sit with another family so I ended up sitting with FOUR investigators and all four were trying to get me to explain what the santa cena is. so that was fun. Plus one of our investigators (Alberto) wow he is the best. He reminds me soooo much of grandpa. and Moroni. Basically he is a mix of them both and this was his first week coming to church and it was the best. I was like a giddy school girl all day. Except he was sitting SO close to me. probably inappropiate but it's fine because he is more than 60 years old. He is basically the best! We are working for him to get baptized this month buuuut he isn't quite ready to give up in futbol games on sundays...... oh perú. But he came this past week so we are halfway there.

And then as if my day couldn't get any better we went had a bomb lesson with a new investigator and we walking to our next appointment when guess what song i heard? yep. blame it on the rain. Milli vanilli made it to PERÚ! I know, prayers really are answered- This past week I had been daydreaming about sundays at home with nachos and football. (I mean the superbowl is coming up and I am really really sad about misisng that, GO SEAHAWKS. I've got money on them) and who knew I would miss that so much, but I do. But someone was blasting their milli vanilli songs and it just kinda made my whole week.

Also this week we started an aerobics class in the morning with some of the sisters in our ward. Can you say my life is awesome. because it is. I freaking love it. And all that p90x that I kinda sorta didn't really do has really paid off- I am a star in this class. For reals my form and rythym is real good. so that's all for now. Cambios are tomorrow. Buuuut I think hna r and I will still be here next week. So wish me luck.

all my love Hna Degn

also here is my chapel.

also ps. I maybe sorta kinda got my hair permed this week. It's called I am a sucker and cannot say no to save my life! (she was an investigator and its a long story??) and lets just say I'm pretty sure I am re-living mom's senior year. Short triangle frizz. You would thinkI would learn. Also the only thing I learned from Legally Blonde is that if you wash it within 24 hours its all good. LIES. Let's just say I look like a lion a lot. (humidy+really tight perm = mistake) I just didn't have enough evers memorized to the "A perm is always always a bad idea." hahahaha