Feliz fiestas patrias!

So today is the birthday of Perú! So it's a good thing that it's p-day because everyone is drunk........but anyways we are doing greeeat. The trio is coming along--even though it is really different. I really love Hermana Valladares a lot and am glad she is our companion. Also, now I really want to go and visit Chilé. Perú hates Chilé and Chilé hates Perú so I feel like I've been brainwashed into thinking Chile is some horrible plave buuuut now I am really really excited to visit one day.

So this week was good. We set a goal at the beginning as a district that each companionship would have 8 nuevos. and we worked so hard this week and did a lot of divisions to work more with members and we found 12 new people to teach! Which was awesome because about half of them aren't married..... #storyofmylife

 So besides that the elders in our ward baptized a family, President Archibald came to our consejo de barrio and he LIKED IT (i'm quoting the sandlot there..... and YOU LIKE IT......) right before the whole you play ball like a girl showdown. So it was a good week. Yesterday I contacted a dad because he was playing volleyball with his daughters and he reminded me of my dad playing volleyball with me annnnd best part? he's married! that is better than La Jolla any day. hahahaa well kinda.

So I'm doing great here. we had a ward activity and we had six investigators come.... if only that would happen Sunday.

Also fun story, last week riding home from the bus a guy was selling these balance energy bracelets and well you know me, so hna V and I each bought one and the elders were making so much fun of us. But then this week we killed it and keep trying to sell them our bracelets for 30 soles. hahah they have special powers.

with lots of love from LIMA!

xoxox
Hermana Degn

  

At the market with the chickens! Yikes!

 

Trio--July 21, 2014

So this is gonna be suuuuuper short! I am so sorry! and I can't even upload pictures and I am real sorry about that! But last monday night HB and I got a call that we needed to be at cambios and so we went and got put in a trio. so this week has been soooooo crazy.

But I think the Lord just really knows that I needed to keep learning so he sent me another companion to help me grow aun mas rapido!

So I'll just share a quick thought of that first day..... Monday night I was super nervie. Because I am queen of companionship problems. hahaha casi no es una broma..... haha and at cambios Pres Archibald talked about how at the end of the day we should all be able to write in our journals about how our companion was the best companion ever. Well I was basically full of a lot of doubts in that moment..... maybe because I knew I was still going to be with hermana barahona hahahahaha but I prayed really hard that I would be able to do that. It was basically like that I would try my hardest to go into the new companionship with an open heart. well we got put into a trio with Hermana Valladares. and that night of cambios I felt so much peace and was able to write in my journal about how much I love hna valladaroes! (it may have been the only time I wrote in my journal hahah but hey, I did it!) She is the best! She is 25 and from Chile and we are going to be great friends! So I am so excited for this week! God has really taught me a lot in this last week about hard work and remotivated me to set new goals for the last six months of my msision. and I am excited for this week! it's gonna be a good cambio!

 with all my love,

hermana degn

 

My 4th of July Outfit!

 

One day...July 14, 2014

One day…

because matisyahu is playing in internet right now and it's trunking me out! #oneday.
So the weekly shennanagins... Mostly I forgot every spiritual thing I have prepped to tell you all because this morning I woke up with a huge fat lip. and really wierd skin rashes all over my face. this morning hna barahona just laughed at me as I tried like six remedies to make my face look more normal.... and then I just gave up and plastered three inches of makeup on only one part of my face and called it good. haha even though it still really hurts for some reason and I am trying not to smile so that my makeup doesn't wear off.... #highmanagement. So I guess that tells ya'll that its time to wash the sheets again. good thing its Monday, and that now I have two pairs.

Also, Alemania won la mundial which is finally over. yesterday was seriously so funny. I mean basically we watched it because everyone had it playing so loud that you could hear it always just walking around. But it was hilarious because maybe 30 people stayed for the last hour of church....... and everyone else was home watching it.......... and then we went to all of our citas and they all fell through. It was pretty comical really. We would knock on the door, you can hear the game, no one comes. yep same story. WE KNOW YOU ARE HOME AND WATCHING THE MUNDIAL!

But now its over so hopefully next Sunday will be more exitosa! hopefully. in other news this week went by real fast like normal and yeah. we found someone this week called Jail..... Well algo así the truth is I can never understand his name but you say it like jai eeel. and yeah. we contacted him one day and he told us to come by so we went and left him a Book of Mormon not really thinking he would progress at all. But then when we went back he had read the chapters we had left him and started telling us everything that had happened and he is really just so thirsty to read the Book of Mormon. It was so cool. We were teaching him about how the Holy Ghost teaches us through our feelings and how we feel when we read the Book of Mormon and he was like--yeah, I feel like that. So then we commited him to baptism in August but he works Sundays and maybe is addicted to drugs? so more to come there. hahaha. and that's all.

 Also now cambios. HB and I are still kicking it! well for other six weeks until she dies....... I can already feel the trunkiness coming. in the words of batman, there's a storm coming. #famesa

well time to go! i love you all tons!

 hermana degn

 Love this postcard!  Thanks, Dad!

Happy Birthday America!

Well, lets just say that I love America. the land of boneless chicken, ice, cheap fast food, carpet, target and walmart, but mostly boneless chicken. who knew that was such an undervalued comodity? well guess what--it is. like yesterday we were eating and I was picking out my chicken and there was the heart. #ifyoudon'tknownowyouknow. so thanks but no thanks. and you know I've been here a long time, because I ate it.

So we celebrated the 4th with flags, the beach, happiness, transformer oreos, peanut butter, and cheescake. It was kinda like a dream. I am a big fan. the only thing that was missing was the sun, getting in the water (but not really, it was nasty), hotdogs, potato chips, and yeah. I think that pretty much covers it. haha

So basically I feel like every week just FLIES by and here I am one week later with no idea in what I should tell ya'll because i just told you everything last week but it's cool. I´ll try to do a good re'cap.

But first I'll tell you about my pday last week when we went to the beach, checked out a sweet old boat, played some good old fútbol in which I scored TWO goals #winning. (it was the jersey) and then when we were walking back to head home we caught a ride on a super sweet decked out bus that took us all the way (about an hour trip) for only one sole! cada quien! those are some real blessings right there!

It's finally starting to really get cold here. mostly at night beacuse we don't have heating or insulation. whose idea was that? I do not know but it was a bad one. Besides that things are still moving along. We are teaching some part-member families and are always looking for new people. this week we contacted some false families. like thanks for nothing. One of them was what appeared to be a mom and dad and two kids but turned out to be a boyfriend girlfriend with her two nieces, but don't worry she also happens to be a member and now we are teaching her nephew. So in the end, it all works out!

We are just keeping on sharing the gospel and laughing a lot along the way. sure love you guys! I am still sure that i have the best family out there!
xoxox
hna degn

 also thanks for my sweet birthday present...... my real madrid jersey. and here i am showing off my not so great soccer skills representing #realmadrid

 so here is a good example of the wildlife here mom. hahahah spoiler alert: its dead. and smelt terrible- but it reminds me of my english class in high school where we talked a ton about a poem or book that talked about the sailor that killed that bird but now i can't remember the name or any details only that i liked it..... so that's kinda embaraassing, i kinda miss google.
your wildlife wins. #yellowstone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the win...June 30th email

Because in the mundial costa rica is all the rage. good to know that the games seem to be worth all the hype.

so this week was good. we had a multi-zona, interviews with president archibald, junior got baptized, we almost got robbed. all good semi-normal things really haha

so quickly. Junior got baptized and afterward it was so cute because he was soooo happy. It was really great. also yeah. this week just flew by. like for reals.

so things are going good, this will be short and sweet because today we are going to the beach. but i will actually believe it when we get there. i remember what happened last time the elders told me we were going to go somewhere........

Basically in two words this week was? RADICAL MADDNESS.  We had some good lessons, talked to a lot of people, in which the vast majority of we got stood up. saturday we spent all day at the chapel and kept setting off the security alarm. good to know that it kinda works. and Junior got baptized even though friday we were dead certain that it wasn't going to happen. Basically he hadn't answered his phone for maybe four days, and so friday we went into stalker mode and maybe just waited by where he works so that we could talk to him and short story longer saturday everything went perfect and now he is a member of the church. let's go peru.

so much for being all spiritual like last week...... well i'll keep working on that goal haha.

this week was also the famous part of san pedro, ( the area in which we live) so everyone has been partying hard and the fireworks are so nuts here, especially when they are all so drunk.

 love,

hermana degn

p.s. we went to mcdonalds and they had pancakes! it was kinda really sorta a dream come true.

 

 

I'm a big kid now...June 23rd email

of course we are now the family that goes to bear lake when i am on a mission.....

 

ha its cool. i hope you guys have lots of fun now that you only have four kids! ha jk. send me lots of pictures! i never really liked bear lake anyways. #ijoke

 

Anyways this week i was catching up on my study of general conference. Because i missed the sunday morning session because it was in spanish. Anyways i read elder Ballard's talk about sharing what we learn in our personal study about predicad with our families. And i just loved what he said. it is super powerful so i have decided to try to include something that i have learned of that i like about PME. so this week we have really been focusing on the spirit. Being guided by the spirit, teaching by the spirit, and trusting more in god. Anyways I was reading about what it is the investigators need to feel and what we need to feel and i love the scripture in alma 19:6 that says, 'y la luz que illuminaba su mente, que era la luz de la gloria de Dios, que era una maravillosa luz de su bondad, sí esta luz había infundido tal gozo en su alma, que el nube de obscuridad se había desvanecido, y la luz de la vida eterna se había encendido dentro de su alma....´ i really like that scripture because it says so much about the power of light fighting against darkness, in predicad it talks about how important the role of the holy ghost is in conversion. and i love this example of ammon and king lamoni and how the light changed is whole core and entered into his alma. That is pretty awesome. And i have really been able to see people change as they have started to follow the light of christ.

 

So.... THE GOOD:

This week we made a goal as a district to each have 4 people come to church. Hna barahona and i have been so stressed beacause last week we only had one person come. But this week we made the goal! We had six people come! even though two don't count because they live in the other ward, but it was just a mom who randomly came and now the other elders are teaching her. But it was so cool to see that as we really strived to teach the importance of the sacrament and follow the spirit that everyone did what they said they would do... (well not everyone we still have like ten people who didn't come haha)

 

The BAD:

turns out junior really is living with his girlfriend who is a member. so he lied to us then failed his baptismal interview and then didn't come to church. But we are going to baptize him if it is the last thing we DO! But really he has changed sooooo much and he is sooooo prepared!

 

The FUNNY:

Like one day i was really channelling my inner 80s child..... (but in a conservative way) and this guy stopped us and asked he if could recite a poem for me about how beautiful i was and how green my eyes are and how white my skin is. like thanks a lot. and he kept trying to kiss me and hna barhona just laughed a ridiculous amount. so we just gave him a folleto and then told him where the church was. and i secretely well not really hope that he never actually comes. Which isn't all that righteous but it is what it is. and that's why i never wear makeup. #ifyoudontknownowyouknow

 

haha so that was the week in a nutshell. Perú is the best even if we haven't qualified for the mundial in more than twenty years. fútbol is overrated! #ilie because i am turning into a fanatic. it's inevitable. but i'm glad usa is making me proud.

 

love you all a whole heck of a lot.

 

hna degn

 

also pictures. because i am soooooo much taller than hna B and we have cell phones now.... did i tell you? #iphone7s #inmydreams