sometimes i accidently teach my comp cuss words..

MY FAMILY!!

woo! i am so happy to e writing you this week. this week has been so great and can i jut say that i love being a missionary? you guys, it is sooo fun! as a missionary, i have permissin to go up and alk to anyone that looks interesting, and it isnt considered super weird--still a little weird, at time. haha. but i get to talk to people all the time about their lives and about something--the gospel--that will help them.  what always surprises m the most is when we knock on someon´s doo that we dont know, and they let us in!! hahah im always like, what th? you dont even know us.  haha oh mann..

anyway. i love being a missionary, and everyone should go on missions. or something. hah.

melyssa--me swears that i dint forget about your birthday last sunday. i just forgot to write you happy bday on email. im oh so sorry, but i hope your birthday was wondeful!

so something funny that happened the othe night--well funny and annoying-- was that one of our neighbos in the middle of the night started playing REALLY loud music. so i woke up, but was only like half-awake because it was the middle of the night. and then one of the songs was "like a virgin" by madona. hahha and my mind started singing along. i didnt even know i knew the words! but you know how when you know the words to a song, your mind hasssssss to sing a long? hahah oh man so just imagine little me in my little peruvian bed, trying to sleep and be a good little missionary, but singing a long to "like a virgin." hahaha

another funny thing that happened was that one of our investigators, nicolas hasn't wanted to hear from us because he saw some kind of anti-mormon documentary on tv. haha ok. thats not the funny part. he is 85 and just had an operation where he got all of his teeth taken out of his mouth, so he is temporarily toothless and has a lot of pain. but he is going to get new teeth. ANYWAY. thats not supposed to be the funny part either. the funny part issssss that yesterday we had lunch at his house because his daughter and son in law invited his for lunch(families live together for forever here, by the way), and when i walked into the house, i saw nicolas, and i was so excited to see him, that i just gave him like this huuuge hug. hahahah and then his daughter, olivia, was like, papa! she cant give hugs! but she didnt know that iiii was the one who had iniiated it. and then i was like, ohhhh yeah! im not supposed to hug men. woops! hahaha and then hna carazas(we are still comps) was like, what the? and i was afraid of her for a little bit. but it was all good. hahhaa and i dont regret it.

another thing is that hna c and i have this battle going on where we scare each other allll the time. only it is mostly her scraing me. and somehow, i ALWAYS get scared. how is it possible? everytime. EVERY. time. i am soooo scared. and i try to get her back so many times, but i never did...until this morning! wooooo!! por fin!!  i got her goooooooood. and she hated it. mwahahaha!!!!

okay. now for missionary things that happened.

last sunday this girl came to church and came up to us and said, i want to be baptized. me and hna c were like, wh wh wh wh whaaaattt???? hhahahha she had a friend a few years back who was mormon, but then he left on a mission and she has been searching for the church off and on since because she had both of her parents die, and doesn have any siblings and she didnt want anything to do with god for a while. but then she realized that she neeedds him in her life. and she found the church. this is really terrible explanation, but hopefully you guys understand somewhat. anyway, her name is anabel, aand she is 28 and she speaks fluent english and teaches english to little kids. and she is just the greatest. her baptism is this friday. and she is basically already a member i feel. hahah she is just the greatest. in lessons, she soaks everything up and keeps all her commitments and reads the book of mormon and comes to chuch. she is just the greatest. and me and hna c are super close with her. we are really really great freinds!! i love her sooo muhc. and she has already accompanied us in on a lesson, and bore her testimony. isnt that just soooooooooo great????  i want you guys to be able to meet her. she is my fave. siiiiiighhhhhhh

 

there are others, too, but i just want to talk about her today. she is my fave.

i miss all of you, but the letters and emails help. YES--i receive letters. it takes a while--like a month--but i receive them. and YES. i can still receive dear elders...so keep em comin! and if you...i dont know...wanted to send a package or something...bhte best way and cheepest way is to send it in one o those yellow, bubble-lined envelopes. woo! and it gets here in like 1 week and a half. so they say. . .

okay, this is my email for this week! no pics this time. but probs next week. i love and miss you all SOOO much. thanks for my prayers!

love,

me

oh, and can someone email my friend rachel.hansen(at)myldsmail.net and tell her that i have permission to forward her my emails because she is alllll the way in russia? thankssssssssss.

and my subject line. hahaha it is true. and it is soooooooooooo funny. i will have to record it.

first 6 weeks in the field, CHECK

wooooo!! changes are tomorrow! these first 6 weeks have flowwwwwwwnnn by. well, mabes not the first 3 weeks or so. heh... but after, yes. i think that the first 3 weeks in the field, i mostly just wanted to be on mom and dad´s red couch. sleeping and crying and watching movies and listening to music. but since then, i have been ON FIIUHHH(fire). im sooooo happy to be here and everything is going so great. yah--its hard. but it is for such a short time, and i just want to enjoy everyday as much as i can. rather than abhor the days like i was in the beginning. woopsies--confession!

you guys had no idea, huh?? hahahah oh man. it was bad. but every week goes by so fast, and i want to be sure that i really do the work i was called to do, and dont waist any time. yah.

sooooo ive heard from sooo many of you this week! alll of you, in fact. so thank you, thank you. and all of you said that you were praying for me to receive the gift of tongues and such a lot. and you guys--i´ve felt it soooo much. i dont feel as hopeless about learning this language, and people have been complimenting me on my spanish more.  and i have times where me and my comp are talking, or she is telling me a story, and i think, hahaha I CAN UNDERSTAND HER. isnt that crazy??? speaking is more difficult, but i can understand spanish sometimes. that is always so crazy to me when i just stop and think about that. it´s a miracle, so thanks for the prayers.

so this week we had the baptism of reynaldo. oh you guys. it was just the cutest thing. his cousin who lives about 3 hours away came and baptized him. reynaldo is superrrrr ppooooor and he was all concerned about what he was going to wear to his baptism. and me and hna. c were like, dont worry about it. just bring a change of underwear hahaha thats all you need. but then on saturday night, he showed up wearing slacks, a white shirt, and a blazer-type of thing. i wanted to cry! he is just the sweetest. and he has had a really rough past. he told us this story about how when he had 10 years old his uncle beat him with a rod for like 6 hours straight. you guys--that explains sooo much about him. he is nottttt very confident in his abilitiy to learn and do things, and he just wants to be loved and cared for. thats alll we wants. and saturday, so much of his family came and supported him and it was just soooooooooo beautiful and cute. i will attach pics for sure.

but then he didnt show up for church yesterday to be confirmed. dannnnnnnng it. but next week. hah. oh man.

so, hna carazas has been a bit on the sickly side lately with a lot of stomach pain. anyway, we wnet to the doc this week, and she has some crazy stuff going on in her stomach. uh oh. and today we are going to the doc again and she is going to get an indescopia(i have no clue if that is what it is called for real...) where they stick a tube down her throat and it searches around in there... or something. anyway, she has to be put to sleep for that, and after, i am in charge of taking my drugged companion back to our apartment. YIKES. eeeeeeek"!!! im a tad bit worried about leading my drugged comp from bus to bus through the city hahahaha but it will be quite the adventure. ohhhh man.

well my fammy fam. hahaha not keeping that nickname for you guys. . .

i love and miss you A LOT. and i appreciate each of your emails and letteters soooooooo much. i love and miss you all and i pray for your safety all the time. please dont let anything happen to you guys while im gone. thanks. ahahha but seriously.

thanks for all the prayers. i love you!

love,

hna. jill frances

okay, so here are some pics of the baptism. also, my burnt neck. hahaha also a tamale. theyre my favorite.  also, the banner for hunger games. in spanish. are you guys excited for that?? im worried for that movie. hopefully it isnt dumb.

also, there is a pic with a little chubby blonde girl and that is family to reynaldo. it is a joke that she and her brother are my sobrinos. haha i mean niece and nephew. it may look like i am going in to attack her, but im not. haha

annnnyway. i love and miss you all TONS. thanks for the love!

love, me

famamamamamamilyyyyy

helloooo my wondeful family!!

another week has gone by. what the??? it goes by soooo fast. congrats to sarah and greg for having greyson!! woo hoo!! he's a little cutie. yay! send more pictures, please!

so this week we had a baptism. woo hoo!!! Ariha was baptized and the baptism went great! he bore his testimony at  the end of it, and i just know he is going to be a solid member. he is just the greatest. and a lot of the young single adults have been fellowshipping him and that is just what he needs. yay! i am going to try to send a pic from the baptism.

we were supposseeeeed to have the baptism of reynaldo this weekend, but nope. the baptism service was for 10 in the morning and we walked to meet reynaldo to take him to the church, but we wasnt at his house! he went to the beach! what the??? so we waited. and waited. and waited. and waited. and finally at 5 after 10 we went to the church without reynaldo. booo hooo hoooooooooo. we were very sad. but  then we got there, and ariha was all ready to go and that good. we finally found reynaldito later that night and i said, "reynaldito--venga aqui" ahhahhahaha but i was serious. so we talked to him and we are having his baptism on next saturday. hopefully. heh.

nicolas is the 85 year old who i just love!!! but he feels that he has to know everythingggg about the church before being baptized. he wants to be baptized, but he doesnt feel he is ready. but he is! we had a really good lesson with him this past week, but all we can do really is pray that he will realize that his faith is sufficient to be baptized, and that the real learning begins afffffter baptism. but i just love that little guy.

fernando is the 22year old we are teaching. his baptism is also this saturday. wooo!!  this pas friday, we had a huge, zone fhe where we invited our investigators. we were intorcucing fernando to other missionaries, and i introduced him to hna. shupe, the other north americdan hermana, and i said, "her spanish is so great, huh?" and he was like, yeah. hah. and then hna shupe said, " hna. fleming's is good, too, huh?" and fernando replied with, "mm no." hahahhaha ha soooo honest, this culture. hahah whahhhhh!!! hahahahaha oh mannnnn. one day, fernando, you will see. i will speak PERFECT spanish!! (wont i???)

and then there is sylvia. drum roll please........ she prayed to Padre Celestial!!!!! yayyyyyy!!!! this is suchhhhhhh big news. last night we had a reallllly good lesson with her, and with sylvia, it is poco a poco. little steps here and there. she is one of my faves and me and hna c love her SOO much. she just MUST be baptized. and she loves us, too!! i think that when she shops at the grocery, she buys things specificlaly for us. hahaha because she lives a lone, but she will give us bags full of food. awwww she is just the greatest.

so this week we had a service project as a zone where we went to this street corner and offered to shine people's shoes for free. cool, huh?? haha never have i ever shined shoes before this. but it was fun! buuuuttt...hahaha during this time, 6 differerent nasty middle aged men asked different elders whom they  were talking to something like, " what do i have to do to marry her?" and they would point to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. ewwwwwwwwww hahahaha ha so. so. so. grosssss. all of the elders were like, uhhh hna fleming, you need to be careful hahahahahahaa sooo gross. oh the pleasures of being a white girl in south america...

everything is going well here in peru. i hope everything is going well for all of you guys. i miss and love you a lotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt. more than you  know. . . . but time is flyyyyyying here on the mission. it kind of scares me sometimes because it is going so fast.

thanks for all the prayers and for writing me. pleassseeeee dont quit writing me. even if i cant always reply to each of your letters and emails right away, each one means ohhhh so much. i love you all soooo much and i h ope that things are warming up for everyone over there in the states!

love,

hna. jilly frances

attached are photos of me with ariha's cat. i love cats, remember?? and me and hna c at the bautismo. ariha is the one next to me. and then another photo ofME with my favorite snack, Chifles, and a diet pepsi (which are very rare down here, so i was quiiiite happy to find one!!)

azzuuuu (it is like, wowwwwww)

por fin!! i am finally writing you guys! today for pday we went to chancay which is reallllly far away and we were gone alllll day. but it was sooooo pretty. if i have time, i will attach some pics of it, but if not, next week, my homies! i hope all of you guys are doing well! i loved getting all your emails. sorry if i cant always respond to all of them. there just isnt vvery much time, unfortunatley. wahaaaaahhhh. and unfortunately, not very mucht ime for snail mail letters either. how am i supposed to communicate with the outside world????

so i will start with the investigators this time--

Ariha--he is just the greatest. he is getting baptized this saturday!!!!! yayyyy!!!!! he told us that with the other set of missionaires he didnt really feel spiritually ready, but that now he does. woo hooo! and i actually believe him! hahaha is that bad? i am always really suspicious of people when they saay they want to be baptized. oh me of little faith. but ariha i really believe.  annnnnd we are possibly having his baptism at the beach! kewl, eh???

reynaldo--his baptism is also this saturday, and i dont know. hahahe is great, but he is such a little brat. haha he only listens to hna. c. in lessons. he is completely focused on her, and then i will start talking, and boom, he starts moving his head, looking at other things! it is soooo frustrating haha so i just dont talk as much and give him attitude haha whatevs.

fernando--he is soooo spiritual you guys.  and we committed him to baptism for the 17th. he has been searching hard for the truth, and he has finalllly found it!! oh, and he is the cousin to hugo.

sylvia--she is doing great and progressing poco a poco. she is still angry with God because of different trials in her life, and it is kind of funny because she will only pray to madre celestial. odd, yes hahah. but it is kind of like what a little kid does when they´re mad at one parent and they just talk to the other. hahaha but it is craazyyyy how much she is growing. and we finalllly gave her a BoM and she is really excited about reading it. also, something else that is funny is that if one of her smaller chickens is ever being disruptive, she just sticks it up her shirt and tucks her shirt in, and the chicken is quiet. hahaha i dont know what goes on under there, but for some reason, it works. aahhaha ohhh so odddd.

the language is realllly hard and it is really difficult a lot to have faith that one day i will be able to communicate for real. in this language. but it will be cool when i really can :)

this week has been harder--way hard. ive just struggled a lot, so thanks for all the prayers. ç

-i have ¨the bug¨or parasite. or something. truth be told, i dont really know what i have. but ive been going diarhea for the past almost week. yikes!!

-something funny. there is a missionary in my district, the DL, who CANNOT carry a tune. and when we sing, he always sings realllllllllyyyyy loud with all his soul. and i laugh. I. LAUGH. i cant help it. i have to hid behind my companion the whole time. everyone probs thinks i am mean, but i cant help it!! hahahaoh man. what is wrong with me.

me and my comp had a DTR of sorts this week and it went terribly. hahahah serioulsy sooo bad. i cannot express my feelings in spanish yet in a suaave way. hahahah man oh man. she was noottt happy. awkward to the max. but it´s all good now. probs cause you guys pray for me. so thanks! hahah keep it up, fams

well thanks to all of you for being so great!! i love you and miss you all so much!!

love,

jilly pants fleming

these are pics from the castle at chancay. no pics of the actual castle, but it wasnt thatttttt cool anyway. hahaha but the beach was BE ay YOUTIFUL! this was me today!!! coool, huh? love and miss all of you guys more than you know.

love,

hna jill