happy birthday to sarah and the twins!!

finallllllllly im writing you!! hahaha i love reading all of your emails so much that sometimes i forget that it is expected that i write you guys. hahaha i think sometimes i would just rather call each of you up on the phone to talk with you guys and tell you that way. yes, definitely. ooops. mabes im kind of lazy? but it is mostly because im just soooo tired. today we went to this place called Chosica (im attaching a couple of pics) and we hiked for a bit and were in the CLEAN unpolluted air (the kind of air that is NOT found in lima) and in the SUN!!! during the mayor part of august, there normally isnt very much sun, so i was VERY happy to be  in chosica today. but also, we had to wake up at 4:40 to go there. eeeeeeek. i dont think ive told you guys, but in my new sector, the air smells soooooooooo bad. there are allll kinds of factories in my sector, and sometimes i want to throw up when we are walking around. it is super super gross. and i always have boogers. too much?

so this week was actually really great and full of blessings. there had been some tension between my companions and i(mostly just with one of them.) and she would just be silent at times and make things uncomfortable for everyone and the spirit wasnt super strong during these times...AND WE HAVE TO HAVE THE SPIRIT. or we are worthless. so i had a bit of a "coach Jill Fleming" moment where i told them that as missionaries, we have to put our pride aside and communicate so that we can have the spirit with us, because if we dont, we are not only affecting each other, but the investigators, too. and girls are like that sometimes. stupid. and it turned into a big circle of truth where we could all discuss the things that had been bothering us in a loving, really great way. yay!! i cant even explain it, but it was realllllllly great. and now things have been sooo much bettter between all of us. i know that we will still have little bumps here and there, but at least we have a better foundation as companions. im learning howw important the relationships withe the compis are on the mission. 

also, during this little communication fest, i learned of a LOT of things that i lack. it was a little hard to hear, because to me, i feel like im doing sooo much better than i was in the beginning(which i think i am?) but it was super humbling because it made me realize that in our lives, we always have to keep improving. it never stops. something that the comps told me is that i sometimes it appears that i dont really care about the investigators very much. or about my compys, either. and you guys, it affected me way more than i thought it would. be it was really good for me to hear, because i think because i am a person who is more of an observer, and iiiii know how i feel about people, and i will tell people how i feel about them. but im learning that is more important to show my love for people. especially in this culture. it means a lot to the people. and also it made me think of different little talks that we have heard about it is super important to show our love to the ones that we love. so i have been praying a lot for that. 

also, i have been praying a lotttt for investigators who progress. that is something that i am finding to be difficult about being in charge of a sector is that i have to make the decisions with the people. and of course we are praying, but we dont have very many progressing investigators. you guys, can you pray for that? that we can have people who start to reallllly have strong desires to be baptized and to complete witht eh committments. and also that we will now what we need to share with them? that would be really really great. 

also, i must quickly tell you about one of our wondie investigators. her name is tiodo linda, and she is theeee funniest and cutest and greatest. i feel like i have a special plate in my heart for her because she also has a little bit of a stuttering problem like me when she gets excited about something and is telling a story. hahaaha she has a lot of desires to learn more and she loves the book of mormon. she is about 50 something and she is married and has 2 kids. she always has the funniest stories for us. like, she told us that it was really healthy of me to be drinking so much water, and then she said, "but sometimes its a bit risky..." and then she went on to tell us a story about how she peed in her pants one time when she was walking home and she showed us the way that she had to waddle home. hahahaha she is sooo great. and also, she crochets a lot of her clothes, so she always looks super cute and great. i hope to take a picture with her soon so that you guys can see her. 

wowwwww. this letter is sooooooooooo long. sorry. also, we have to get back to our room so im not going to have time to write each of you individually back this time. but know that i LOOOOVEEED hearing from each of you and i love you and miss you soooomuch. i read all of your letters with MUCH happiness every week. :) 

i love and miss you a lot! love, jill

p.s. i keep having this dream that i come early and i can speak spanish very well. hahhaha what does it mean???? i hope it doesnt come to pas.

p.p.s the pics i am sending are of my night birthday celebration when they smashed more cake in my face, and then egged and floured me. it wasnt as bad as i thought it was going to be. i was expecting pain, but it didnt even hurt. i just hope my fave shirt isnt ruined... also, there are pics of when i ate the fried fish, like the whole bod. and it was surprisingly tasty...heh. and then of a little bit of pics from the pday today at chosica. there was a waterfall too, but it was pretty small, so i didnt attach any of those. but there are some with my friends i think? anyway, i hop you enjoy! i love you all!!