So last week I didn’t write that much and I kind of used time as an excuse but the truth is I really just didn’t have a lot to tell because I’d been in kind of a funk that week. It happens sometimes right, when you just feel down for no reason? Well it could have been a number of things but I’m back on track don’t worry. Just means I’m a missionary but still a normal person. I used to think that missionaries were perfect angels but you might all be surprised to know they’re not. Some are closer to it than others (I hope I’m one of them) but we’re all just trying to be more like Christ and as missionaries we just have more opportunities to do it all day every day! The only other thing I had on my mental list to tell you was that I found a place that sells Snickers. Yay America! Oh and you might want to know a little more about that family that got baptized I don’t think I’d ever talked about them. Their parents are members but were less active when they turned 8…they’re 12 and 13 now. Other missionaries last year reactivated the parents but dang let me tell you those girls were tough to crack! Lots of hermanas waited for that day that they got baptized haha but it was sooooooo sweet that their dad was the one who got to do it. The mom kind of reminds me a little bit of you, Momma. She’s my Peru mama. I already have a few of those haha.
Do you all remember how at home when I really like a song, I go buy it on iTunes and then it’s the only thing I listen to for about 4 days to a week until I move on to another one? Well the same thing happens on the mission but with the topics I choose for personal study. I spent literally almost two whole weeks studying all about the Holy Ghost, then a week on the Plan of Salvation (woah learned a TON….go study that in detail I promise you will learn something new) anyways last week or the week before I got on to Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel, which is about our purpose as missionaries. Sometimes it’s so easy to forget why we’re really here and I loved studying that chapter cause it just puts it all in perspective. Having baptisms doesn’t really mean you’re a good missionary if you’re not obedient and becoming more Christlike and actually working hard. Last week we got to go to a rich part of Lima for a Pday activity and while we were there we went to this big supermarket called Metro. I needed to buy a new camera, but there’s a rule in the mission that you can’t use your personal card or take money out without getting permission first. I guess the point is to help us learn how to live with just a tiny budget….but anyway I walked into that store and I was like “WOOOOW” ……but really it would have just been like walking into a normal Target at home. Anyway I wanted to buy the camera but didn’t have permission and was torn because I knew they would give me permission anyway and I just wanted the camera right then. But I decided to wait. And when I left the store I was shocked at myself because it didn’t take even a whole hour for me to just walk into a normal store and go back to the “I want it NOW” mode that everyone is so used to at home. I just thought to myself, why is it so easy to forget what really matters sometimes? We go about our normal lives everyday and we might even be saying our prayers and reading our scriptures daily and going to church everyweek, but sometimes we still forget who we really are and why we’re really here. I thought of Dad’s phrase “Remember who you are” and wrote it all over my agenda so that it’s a little bit harder to forget. I love being a representative of Christ and I think most of the time I don’t even really realize what that means and I’m so used to wearing the tag everyday I forget what a privilege it is to bear His name. But I kind of felt renewed this week after studying that chapter and having that experience to do a better job at serving with “all my heart, might, mind, and strength.”
So how’s everyone doing reading the Book of Mormon? You’re all reading, right??? I knew it. Keep up the good work and let me know how it’s going. I started it in Spanish and I’m in Mosiah. King Benjamin is a pretty legit guy.
Until next Monday!
Love from Lima,
Mandypandy ummmm woops I mean Sister Villarini.
Perú Lima East 