Called to Serve in Peru: "CoMuertos"

Hey ya`ll!

Some strange things went down this week with transfers. First, my companion was transferred. We knew it was coming but it was still sad. We cried. It happens every time. I`m used to it by now. I`m on my 11th or 12th companion I think. :P

So that wasn`t the strange thing. The strange thing was when they announced my new companion...and it was the Hna Ortuño! We both looked at each other like...wait what? Because, she finishes her mission this transfer as well! Ha, President made the joke when he put us together that we were to be ``co mayores`` not ``co muertos`` Ummm not sure exactly how to explain that it English, but basically in mission slang when someone is finishing the mission they say that you`re ``dying`` and since we`re both ``dying`` together he was basically telling us not to be trunky. :) jaja, ok. So maybe it’s only funny in Spanish but everyone here got a good laugh out of it.

So, we`re finishing our missions together! Its super weird, but super fun at the same time. Apparantly there aren`t as many sister missionaries entering, and also our area is a little dangerous for hermanas, so President is going to put in another companionship of elders in this ward when we leave. The whole ward is kind of bummed when they find out, They like having sisters, but we`ll see what happens.

So Hna Ortuño is from.....you`re never gonna guess Mom, Bolivia! My third companion from Bolivia. But this time she`s from Santa Cruz. Each one has been from a different part, Oruro, Cochabamba and now Santa Cruz. She`s awesome! We didn`t know each other when we started the mission because her original mission call was to Venezuela so she served 6 months in Bolivia waiting for her visa to Venezuela, and then she was there for only three months before they took out all the extranjeros (what is that word in English? for someone from a different country? my mind is pulling a blank.) And all of the Bolivians were sent to Peru. Last night we were having a hard time sleeping, the both of us, so we just laid there and talked for a long time and she told me all about her experience in Venezuela and how scary it was, and how hard it’s been serving in three missions. I can`t even imagine! So anyways. Thats a little about her. We get along great and we`re having a ton of fun ``dying together`` :)

Last night we had an amazing experience. Back story: I`ve been praying my little heart out to be able to baptize a family before finishing my mission, and the truth is that I`d been losing hope. But this week we found an investigator that we`d lost contact with for a couple of weeks, and were able to visit with him nuevamente. Yesterday him and his ``wife`` (their not married yet) came to church. And we went to visit them at night and had an awesome lesson. They are literally SO prepared, he had prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and said he felt a calming peace, and his wife said she`d felt the same way in the chapel. He had been attending the Jehovah’s Witnesses before and they both expressed their feelings of confusion that for years they have been looking for the true church, and she said she`d been frustrated because she`d never ``felt`` anything in any of them. So we were teaching the third lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit was SO strong. I know I have felt the spirit in my mission but MAN I haven`t felt it that strong in a long time. We got to the part on baptism, and I extended the invitation and it was quiet for a moment and first, she accepted. And then R started to talk. He hesitantly said....yes...and then he said, I don`t know how to express what I am feeling right now. I feel like my very heart is on fire, it literally moves me, and I feel like I want to cry, what does that mean? We were able to testify that it was the spirit testifying to him that this was the path he should take. He said that he`d always analyzed all the decisions he`d ever made, and that they usually took a long time but that in that moment his first instinct was to say yes. Long story short. They are preparing for baptism on the 29th of this month. :) But that isn`t even the most amazing part. After that we had to talk about marriage and the law of chastity and I was a little worried but I hesitantly brought it up and they said that yes, it was in their plans. And after we explained that they had to get married before they could be baptized but that we could help with the process he looked at us and said, Ok! Marry us! What?!?!

So we were like, yeah okay, well turns out that there will be a marriage sponsored by the church on the 21st and the last day to turn in the papers is...tomorrow. He looked at us kind of shocked and was like, ``Imagine that! For God there aren`t any coincidences, are there?`` No there definitely aren`t. Then we came upon the next problem. It can sometimes take a long time to get all the papers ready and the birth certificates sent from other parts of the country to get a marriage ready and so we brought that up and he said, well, we actually have all the papers ready, look here they are! And he grabbed them off the table and gave them to me. At this point my mouth literally fell open and I blurted out, ``EN SERIO?`` haha. Seriously?! Yeah. Seriously. So....today we are giving up our P day to go to the center of Lima to get them all signed up. This morning Satan tried to discourage them and they were worried about the costs and how fast it all is, but we were able to talk about it and pray and they decided to go through with it. :) Every little thing is falling into place. I feel like I am watching a miracle unfold in front of my eyes. But, Satan always tries to get in the way so we are going to be praying SO MUCH in these next few weeks.

Oh. Ok, so their names are R and M, and M told us that she has a 12 year old son that we haven`t met yet that hasn`t been baptized in any church yet. She`s going to bring him to the next lesson :)

Heavenly Father answers prayers, and miracles do happen. I love, love, love being a missionary, and can`t wait to see what these last five weeks bring. Time seems to be speeding up with every second and I just want to take advantage of every last one of them.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, I know I will!

Love ya`ll,

Como siempre,

Hermana Shelton

Fotos!!

Just realized I didn`t have a picture with Hna Ortuño so we just took one in
the internet cafe and here it is! Its not that great but, oh well. :)

Also! Hna Shroader and I are together again in the same zone.
She was my first companion with Hna Mamani. Starting, and finishing the mission together. :)
We matched one day and took a picture.