Call me a PERUVIAN!

Abby and her trainer, Hermana Luke

This was Abby's temporary companion the first night she got to Peru.  Her name is Hermana Garate.

Hello everyone!! I am safe and sound in PERU! I still cannot believe its real. I need to apologize for my spelling errors because I am using a spanish keyboard but I will try my hardest!!

So much has happened since the 16th when I got here so I will rush through the days! But if we are being honest...and we all know me...it will be a little longer than we think hahaha! 

So to wrap up the last few days at the CCM! Wow I miss it. There are so many good people there and I miss them!! I will try to send some pictures. We said our goodbyes and that was that!

Then the 16th hit. We were supposed to be at reception at 330 in the morning...well our alarm didn't go off sooooo we woke up at 338! Our bus was leaving at 4! Guys it was most definitely a Home Alone moment. Long story short we got the bus on time so God really is in the details because I have never seen 4 girls get ready so quick... anyways we made our flight and next thing we knew we were IN PERU! I met up with the 5 people there for me! My temporary comps name is Hermana Garate! She's the best! We went and rode the buses and guys the buses here are legit kidnapper vans hahah! I slept at her apartment that night with! I met President briefly that night! We had 2 sisters sleep over at our apartment which was fun too!

The 17th

I met my comp!! Her name is Hermana Luke and she is from Arizona! President could not have picked a better companion for me! She is so sweet and so fun! We have a party together! We work so hard together and we mesh so well!!! BLESSINGS!!!! A bunch of the elders said they all had heard about me before I came because of KAELIN HIRSCHI haha! So thanks girl you are the best haha! My mission president is a COUG so we good here in Peru!! We went to our apartment in our area San German! I am definitely in a third world country but man I love it here. I really feel at home which is so great!! We went out and met some members!

The 18th

We dropped our laundry off to be cleaned! We ran into a member and so we went to go talk to her! Her husband came over and put a plate of food in front of both of us....guys....FISH...yes FISH happened hahah! When I blessed my food I prayed so hard just to be able to eat it...and I liked it! Haha! If you know me you know fish is a no...but in peru I guess it's not! Then we went to lunch...hahah yes so much food. We have a pinchanista that makes us lunch Monday through Friday and then we eat with members on the weekends! Found out I love bananas which is also new! haha! We have a baptism date so yay! She gets baptized in 2 weeks! Her name is Diana! We also set up a nativity with a sweet lady named Cecilia! She is a less active but we are working on it!

The 19th

We had district council! We practiced teaching and Hermana Luke said she was really really proud of me! Hermana Luke said she has been in 5 sketchy situations her whole mission and 2 of them have been with me hahaha details wont be shared because my mom reads this hahah! God is real woot! WE GOT MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGES AND WOW IT WAS A GOOD DAY!! We went home and dumped them! Christmas is here!! We both were so grateful!! Thank you Mama and Papa King! We had divisions with the STLS and so we switched comps for about an hour! We just contacted and so that means I sit and smile! haha! We ran into some sweet ladies who we are teaching this week and I really think they could be golden! So I am so excited about that! 

The 20th 

We had weekly planning that ended up taking about 2 hours.....longer than it should have hahaha! There was so much to organize and do! We got it done so it was a good time hahah! We had so much yummy food. Guys the food here is amazing. AND here in Lima you don't ever have water with a meal, always Inca Cola or a juice! I love it! We met with our ward mission leader and he is the best!! We had a sweet lady come up to us and she gave us a treat! The people here are honestly so sweet and I am so blessed! We taught lesson 4 to Diana and she understood and accepted everything! We gave her a pre baptism interview! SHE IS SO READY!! We got bible bashed from a scary guy in a street but hey I am here emailing today so we made it out alive! }

The 21st

We are making a skit to perform for our multizona conference in a few days! So we went and practiced that and then we went and got food for the week! We went to lunch after and we had a miracle! The sweet sisters that made us lunch, the Familia Benitas is letting us use their house to facetime our families on Christmas! So many blessings! I led the spiritual thought we left with them which was really cool! My spanish is a wreck but somehow my testimony always makes sense. God is watching out for each and every one of us!! I testify of that! We went to our Wards Chocolada which is basically a party for the primary kids! It was so fun! We got some references from members so HOLLA!!! We stopped and got GELATO on the way home so it was a HECK of a day! The sweets here are amazing!!!! We stayed up a little too late talking...haha! But I love it! I am best friends with my companion and I am so grateful for her!

The 22nd

Church was amazing!! Did I understand any? Nope. BUT I felt the spirit! Haha! Little victories right?? Guys we get shut down a lot but that is just how the mission is. It is hard when you are so excited for something and it doesnt happen! I have learned to keep going because God gives so many blessings, we just need to look!! Everything has a purpose!! We made cookies with the bishop and wow that was fun!! His girls had so much fun. My mom sent me a cake mix for sugar cookies with sprinkles and frosting! All of those things are new to the people here so they just LOVED IT!! It was so much fun. Best day!! 

The 23rd!

TODAY HAS BEEN GREAT!! Thats all I gotta say! haha!!

Okay so I hope you all know I love you! I don't have a ton of time because we don't have a full pday today just an hour to email! I have pday this week on Wednesday because of Christmas!! I hope you all have the best Christmas!! Feliz Navidad!! I am so sorry if I didn't respond to your emails! I will do it Wednesday or next Monday and thats a promise! 

My challenge for you this week comes from a quote from Kevin Worthen:

"I have come to believe that one measure of our eternal progress is how much joy we derive from service."

Write down a few times someone has served you and what they did! Do one of those things for someone TODAY!! 

Guys I love you!! Ill send pics next!!

Love you!!!!

Hermana King

Pictures from the Mission dropbox!

These are some more pictures from Abby's first day in Peru.  They were just posted!  Yay!

These are screenshots from the video of when Abby found out who her trainer was!

First Insta post from peru.lima.central

peru.lima.central Ready or not, here they come! This transfer we received 13 beautiful new missionaries. We have 11 more that were supposed to come with this group that haven’t received their Visa’s yet so they have been temporarily reassigned to other missions until their Visas come. The first day in the mission field is an extremely long day as they have been up before the sun, ushered to the mission office, hours of instruction, interviews with the mission President, Lunch, assigned to their first companion, a little more training, pics for their parents (who need to know they made it here safely) and then they take their suitcases, grab a taxi and they are off to their first sector. When they get to their rooms, they have a few minutes to unpack, then they go to the bank, the Internet cafe to write their parents, they go and meet the Bishop of the Ward where they will serve and then they finish the night with their first lesson. It’s a long, exciting, overwhelming day, but there is nothing better than jumping in with both feet! It’s not easy to enter the mission field at Christmas time but these missionaries are excited to be here and ready to share the glorious message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, there is not a greater gift they could share at Christmas than the good news of the gospel. Bienvenidos!!!

(Amy's note: I didn't post all the pictures, just the ones with Abby!)

We'd already seen this one, but thought I'd post it again.

Training meetings

Hanging with the sisters at lunch

She made it!

We got these photos from the mission tonight and we got to talk to Abby for a few minutes.  Yay!  We feel so relieved that she got there safely!

Abby with her Mission president, Michael Strong and his wife, Cristin Strong.

Abby's trainer is Hermana Sarah Luke and they will serve in the San German area

The incoming group includes 13 elders and 2 sisters

6, 5, 4, 3, 2......1! PERU!

Hi guys!! This pday marks the LAST pday in Mexico! I head to Peru early early in the morning on Monday the 16th! We leave the CCM at 4am! 

This week was one of the best weeks yet! 

Here's the rundown:

December 4th: 

Pday woot! We went to the temple and it was the absolute best! Everything is in Spanish and it was crazy how much I could understand! We got back after 5 so we went straight to our meeting for the new missionaries!

December 5th:

MONTH MARK!! I cannot believe I'm been living mission life for a month. I have loved it so much! Hermana Miles and I spent all of our comp study time (we have it everyday) helping another district who was having problems with some sisters. We taught Karla and our new interested person Alejondra! We talked about families and challenged them to watch the new Nativity video and we talked about Christ's earthly family! It was good to tie those in together! At dinner we played the Chubby bunny challenge with grapes. Guys. The grapes are HUGE here so that was so funny haha! 

December 6th:

We taught Oswaldo about eternal families! I told you I loved talking about families...haha! I am getting to the point where I really don't have a problem understanding my teachers anymore which is a miracle! We had a workshop after lunch and it was actually the best one we've ever had! We talked about working through members! We play hacky sack during class which was a BLAST! Haha! It hit me today that I'm leaving soon and I am just so grateful for the people I've met. We all come from different places, families, stories,  but we are all representatives of Christ and so we all have the most important thing in common. 

December 7th: 

We practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation in 3 minutes! It was tough!! Spanish is hard enough but FAST SPANISH is another level of hard haha! We used our study time again to talk with some hermanas that were having problems with each other. We taught Karla for the LAST TIME! (our teacher is leaving. Yes, another one. haha) We taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was a really good learning situation hahaha if you get what I'm putting down..haha! All of my friends here are into Anime so they've been teaching me stuff! We played sand volleyball which is always a highlight! My teacher, Hermana Meza ate dinner with us tonight because it was her last day and she dropped her PHONE in my mashed potatoes haha! That was a mess to clean up but a good laugh nonetheless! Ha! 

December 8th: 

Yay for SUNDAYS!!!! We had our zone meeting with the STL's  and district leaders and that went well! We get to pick the hymns we sing and who plays the piano and leads.Thank goodness there are good people like Elder Hamblin and Homestead that were fine with me volunteering them haha! I gave the closing prayer so WOOT! Next Sunday is our last Sunday and I'm so sad! District council went great. We made an announcement about Light the World and focusing on service! We did Come Follow Me which was so fun. We had 30 extra minutes so we all went around and shared our "James 1:5" scripture! So cool to hear scriptures that have helped people! We had nap time woot! Then we had a video devo about personal revelation! We went and practiced our song that we are singing next week in Sacrament meeting! We're singing a mix of Getsemani and Peace in Christ. Elder Hamblin and Homestead mashed it up and it was amazing! We're singing with both districts! It sounds so good! I'm excited! We watched the Christmas devo! Wasn't it so good?! I saw Hermana (Louise) Wall! It was so fun to see people I know!! 

December 9th:

We taught a lesson to some other missionaries in district 1B about the La Ley De Castidad which is the law of chastity! It was nerve racking and we were given fake stories of people. We were taught the Word of Wisdom and we acted as a guy with a bad drinking problem that wanted to stop but couldn't. After that we had the best lesson about the BOM! We practiced the song for Sunday again! I'm excited for it! We got our immunizations checked one last time before we LEAVE! We did a service project this day and we cleaned up the garden by the trees but Hermana Miles is afraid of spiders so she held the bag and I went to town. My arms got wrecked with spider bites and scratches! BUT #service haha! I saw our old teacher Hermano Castillo today and it was the best!! We had a BOM share today about stories that represent the best missionary example. We had the best night class tonight. We got to teach with other people and we taught about forever families. We watched a Mormon Message about this mom who lost her little boy when he was really young. Then our teacher paused the video and said we had 5 minutes to prepare a 20 minute lesson! It was so cool. The spirit is THE COOLEST!! 

December 10th:

Okay this day was amazing. We found out our flight plans! It was hard because it means we're LEAVING! I'm so sad but so excited! We've built a little family in this home away home and so saying goodbye will be SO TOUGH!! We got to help the new missionaries come in saying bye to their families and we got to help bring their stuff in and take them to their houses! It was the coolest experience to see that. Families and missions are so good!! We played basketball for gym time which was fun! We got Hermana Miles a flute and so we went in and practiced for awhile today! It was fun to see her so happy! We taught my favorite lesson we have ever taught to our new interested person Alejondra!! We taught her about Christ which is a lesson we have taught so many times, the spirit just spoke differently today! AH! It was amazing!! At dinner tonight one of our elders wanted to break the pizza eating record...15 pieces of pizza...our Elder got to 13 and called it a day! Ha! We had choir practice and then we watched a SURPRISE broadcast from Provo! President Ballard and President Oaks spoke! It was so good!!! After the devo we got home and decided to have a sleepover hahaha! Living this last week up! We moved our mattresses in one room and had a party! We actually went to bed earlier than usual haha! 

December 11:

TODAY! Today is a grand day. We got up and ate and now we are emailing!! See. Best. Day. Ever.

alright guys! This week's challenge is to find your "James 1:5" scripture and share it! This week is all about service and our testimonies is one of the best gifts or acts of service we can give!! 

I love you all so much!! Next time I email will be in PERU with some fun updates!! I love you all! I feel your prayers and thoughts. I LOVE YOU!!

Love,

Hermana King:)

Hermana Louise Wall

Wait. How many more?!

GUYS hello!! Happy happy Wednesday and HAPPY DECEMBER!! This pday marks only ONE more until PERU!! We are in our final stretch here in Mexico and wow I don't know how to feel! They call the last two weeks "sprinting"! I can't believe the next chapter of my mission will be starting in just a few short weeks! ALSO! Happy (late) Thanksgiving to you all! I hope it was the best and that there was snow!! 

So much happened this week! Here's a rundown:

Wednesday the 27th:

We played frisbee! Who know frisbee could be so fun haha! The things only the MTC would teach you! This night me and my comp as well as the zone leaders went and observed a white dot meeting which is the new missionary meeting! It lasts 3 hours..so we went and observed an all Spanish meeting to learn how to make things more fun haha! We had an STL meeting as well and we learned that our branch was going to be the FIRST group of carolers so that was nerve racking haha! We started a new game in class called "guess the latino" haha! We pick a person in class at the beginning of class and then we all talk Spanish to try to fool our teacher! Our teacher guesses who we picked at the end and we do it everyday and keep a tally for the week!

Thursday the 28th:

THANKSGIVING! I loved having Thanksgiving in Mexico. It was actually so great! Everyone will tell you something different about how they feel about holidays in the MTC but I loved it! We had the best devo broadcast from Provo and it was ahhh just the best! They made us a Thanksgiving lunch and it was yummy! I was grateful that they celebrated with all of us! We legit went on a WILD goose chase trying to find a computer that would work to finally say hi to my family! We were supposed to have 30 minutes and by the time we finally went through 6 Tall Labs(the computer labs) and no computers would work! Or they didn't have cameras! An elder let me borrow his camera so that was a MIRACLE and I finally found a computer and talked to my family for not even 10 minutes haha! But hey, we focus on the good not the bad! My companion got me a gift so that was so sweet!!

Friday the 29th:

Our teacher Hermano Castillo told us today HE IS LEAVING THE NEXT DAY! Guys I was so sad. It's okay I'll be fine. Haha! I think the reason our district was so sad is because it made us realize how hard it will be to say bye to each other haha! Last few weeks here we come! We all played piano as a district which was so fun! I saw my pre-MTC language teacher Hermano Lopez which is always so fun! I was studying in my scriptures today about Lehi and Sariah in 1st Nephi. I feel like a lot of times I react like Sariah and I am quick to judge. What I love about Lehi is how patient he is with her! I love it! 

Saturday the 30th:

TODAY WAS GREAT! We had our first TRC which is where volunteers come in and we teach them! It went so well. It gave me confidence which my Spanish and teaching which is what I needed! We got locked out of our room this day and we both didn't have our keys..oops..so we had to go to reception haha! We had our last day with Hermano Castillo and it was so sad! We put together a gift for him and the picture of a picture I sent (at the bottom of this). He loved it and it was great! After that we taught Manuel and because it was our last day we sent it and asked him to be baptized HAHA! He accepted so we were pumped! Um guys I won for the first time so you could say it was a big success haha! We also contacted our new interested person! Oswaldo! 

Sunday the 1st:

WOOT WOOT WE LOVE DECEMBER! Today was great it was also fast Sunday so that was awesome! What was so fun is hearing the testimonies of people. It is crazy to think that a language barrier doesn't change the spirit. It was awesome! Okay so last night I got a challenge from an elder in our district to find an attribute of Christ to focus on and so I took the challenge Sunday morning and I focused on Shepherd and Lamb of God. Isn't it amazing that our Shepherd is also one of us as a Lamb? Christ really is with us every step of the way. We taught relief society today and it went great! I had everyone share their "James 1:5" scripture which was so cool! We talked about which scriptures help them! It was great! We love Sundays because there's so much english! Haha! Then we had district meeting! We started Come Follow Me and it was SO FUN!!! I hope you are all doing it! Our district LOVED IT! Okay AND because of the new Sunday schedule WE GOT TO NAP!!! YAY!! Best. Time. Ever. THEN we headed in to our first devo of the night from Elder Gong. AND GUESS WHAT! He talked about Christ as our Shepherd and the Lamb of God!! I just studied that THE SAME DAY! So that was such a cool tender mercy!! We decorated for Christmas after our second devo and it was so fun!! I sent pics!! Woot!! We watched the new Nativity video for Light The World and WOW it is amazing!!

Monday the 2nd:

We had "sprinting" so basically we got motivated for the last 2 weeks! I memorized 2 whole lessons which was awesome and I feel like I'm starting to really understand Spanish. Miracles can happen!! We had service today and we cleaned our own building haha! Best time haha! Then we went caroling! I was so nervous because I was in charge of the whole branch but everyone loved it so yay!! Little miracles are real. I got TWO letters from my two best friends, Mama and Papa King and man I cannot even tell you how much I needed them!!!

Tuesday the 3rd: 

Yesterday was great! We taught our new person Oswaldo and we made a lot of progress which makes me excited! I had a meeting with my teacher today and it made my whole day. I want to tell you all that God is in the details and that He is very much aware of all of us! Trust me on that! We had the best devo last night about Christ and it was amazing. We did an english fast which was awesome! It was hard and we all made it half the day but God cares about effort right? haha! 

Wednesday the 4th:

TODAY WOOT! I am headed to the temple in literally 20 minutes and so I will try to email individually when I get back if I have time but just know that I love you all and I'm so grateful! An elder in my district, Elder Moss gave me a blessing this morning and I just feel ready to take on the last few weeks here at the CCM!

Challenge for this week!!! 

Find an attribute of Christ and study it!! Find talks, scriptures, etc on it and go for it! It is December and this month is dedicated to Christ! 

I love this gospel and I love all of you!! Thank you for your prayers and love! I feel all of it!! God is good and His gospel is true!! 

Love you all!!

Hermana King :)