December 28, 2015

Weeeellll Hola and Merry belated Christmas! I was a little disappointed with our call because I had so been looking forward to talking to you all, but I was happy to chat for the little time we had and hear what is going on with you all. It sounds like it was a good Christmas there. It was a good Christmas here too and I will just give you a little recap because it was a big week:

Wednesday - We had a zone conference all day basically, but they called us the night before and told us it would be in the mission home! We were so excited. We never get to go there! We went to the ritzy protected houses part of Iquitos to the mission home, which is a literal mansion. We had training from President and Hermana Gomez and the assistants, ate a lovely lunch of chicken filled with ham and cheese, and then played games. We played Jeopardy and then, because it is their last Christmas as President, President and Hermana Gomez tried to make it as Mexican as possible. We broke a piñata and did posadas and then they gave us mazapan and paletas payasos candies from Mexico. It was really fun and nice just to enjoy the Christmas spirit with our little makeshift family. We were there basically the whole day. 

-the zone now! It has changed so much. 

And my zone leader is from Santa Margarita Stake. His name is Elder Smith

Thursday - La Buena Noche! The day was pretty much standard and normal. Then, that evening at 7:00 we went to a plaza in Iquitos with our zone and Zona Iquitos to sing Christmas hymns. It was awesome. There were almost 50 missionaries and we just started singing on the steps of the central statue. We sang for a little bit and then the wind picked up and we knew it was going to rain, but we kept singing. It did rain, a lot. All of our hymnals were soaked but we kept singing. Then we walked from that plaza to the central plaza in Iquitos, Plaza de Almas. We sang as we walked and it rained. In Plaza de Almas it was packed with people because they had all the trees decorated with lights and everyone was taking a stroll with their families. We set up shop and just sang. People took pictures of us and watched and we had other missionaries going around contacting people as we sang. It was an awesome experience. I really felt peace as I sang those words that a Savior had been born. After that we went home. We went to bed as normal and then were rudely awakened at midnight by the sounds of all the fireworks below and the cheesy Christmas music being blasted and people calling us on our cellphone to wish us a merry christmas. It was fun to see but I was so tired when I woke up. The party never ended for some people. We passed some men still drinking in the bar on the corner as we went to breakfast and they could not tell us if it was morning or night. Feliz navidad! 

Friday - Actual Christmas was pday so that was fun. Basically we spent the whole day trying to figure out Skype and such. We did go for a walk on the boulevard by the river and eat some ice cream so that was fun. We also ate a bunch of panetón! I ate (and I´m actually not joking) an entire panetón by myself. I love it! It is so yummy! That night we went out and worked and it was just a calm night. We shared the Christmas video a lot and it just brought peace to see it on the day of Christmas.

-getting photobombed by a stray dog on Christmas day by the river

Saturday - We had a baptism! Hermano Leoncio was baptized. He is the first person that I have found, taught, and baptized so that was cool! He is a crackup, so crazy! One day in church he brought his dog with him to all three hours. After being baptized, he wanted to take a bath and swim for a little bit in the water. He also pretended to fall when they opened the font for everyone to see. But he was baptised and confirmed! It was awesome for me because I have seen how much he really has changed and how converted he really is even though he is crazy. He walks with his crutch every Sunday to the chapel alone, and gets there early. I respect him a lot. 

-Leoncio! He looks angry, but he is really actually happy

Oh, and I am in the same area, Clavero in Punchana, and my companion is Hermana Laura from La Paz, Bolivia. She has already taught me so much. She is a worker and she has overcome some really big challenges in her life. Today is her birthday too! So we are going to do something fun.

-Hermana Laura! In the mission home after the piñata

No package yet, the mission isn´t receiving any materials either and the offices are out of a lot of things because Serpost is apparently still on strike in Lima. Looks like everything is trapped there and will be there for a while. 

Love you all! Hope you have a great week and a happy new year! 

Hermana Fitz

December 14, 2015

Well, well, well, it´s that time of the week again. We had quite the week this week and it flew by. Can I believe that next week is Christmas and that I will get to talk to you all? Nope. Any package? Nope, but I am hopefull that it will be here tomorrow. There is one courier and they have been on strike for about a month so that´s why it´s probably taking so long. They say they usually get here in two to three weeks. I´m on the lookout though!

Today are changes! My second cambio in the mish completed! This cambio flew by and I can´t believe I already have three months on the mission. Pretty soon I´ll have 6, and then 9, and then I will be dead. Time flies! All the sister training leaders from all 6 zones went home this change so we will have all new ones which is pretty crazy. We have a little bit of a drought of sisters right now so my comp, who has been here for 14 months, has the most time of all the sisters. We are thinking she is going to be a sister training leader, but we won´t know until tonight. And you won´t know until next week haha! I´m pretty sure I´ll stay here in Clavero. Who knows, we could be here together. 

This week was super super hot and we too are awaiting El Niño. The river has grown a little bit but it has a long ways to go. The only day it rained this week was Sunday which was awful because no one attends if it rains. It confuses me, because they all live here in the rain all the time, but if it rains they will not go to church. 

-this is a regional dish we have sometimes. It is fried bananas, the hard potato tasting ones, mashed together into a ball. I like eating it with hot dogs. Also, excuse my face, it had just rained

-uvilla! our favorite fruit. We eat it every Thursday during weekly planning

This week on Wednesday we got a call from the offices that a sister from Tarapoto who was going home was going to stay with us her final days. The last couple days as a missionary are filled with immigrations, training, interviews, and goodbyes. She accompanied us for a lot of our lessons, but a lot of the time we were taking her to all the places she had to go, mostly in the centro, which is about a ten minute moto from our house. It was fun to see her go home and go everywhere with her, but it wasn´t really how we were anticipating spending the last week of this change. Oh well, the Lord had other plans for us this week. 

-our little mamita Hna. Vega. Super sweet. And she is from Riverside! 

Last P Day we went to Quistococha again, as a zone. It was super fun and we played missionary tag on the beach of the Amazon river. Who else can say they have done that in their life? 

-more new friends!

-welcome to my everyday

-the Amazon beach, pretty crazy and beautiful

 I´m learning about paitience and the Spirit. If we have true desires to feel it´s influence in our lives, and we are patient, it will come. We are also sharing the ¨A Savior is Born¨ video a lot and it is awesome! It you haven´t seen it, look it up, and if you have seen it, share with a friend! Also the other one, the why we need a savior is really great. I love having the Christmas spirit about because it is so powerful to testify of Christ when everyone is thinking about Him. 

-getting into the Christmas spirit at a less active´s house

I love you all! I will actually talk to you soon! 

Hermana Fitz

December 7, 2015

No package yet, but don´t worry, I will advise you when it comes. I am anxiously awaiting it!

Congrats to Kathy!! That is so exciting!!

This week we had some nice and rainy days. It rains all night and the sound just lulls me to sleep. It´s really nice. I love when it rains because it is nice and cool. Sometimes it rains in the morning really hard but by the afternoon it is blazing hot again. And the rain doesn´t stop the sweat, but such is the life.

This week we had to get the baptism record for Cynthia in the system.

The mission is super strict on it, and if we don´t do it right we don´t get internet for the week. Pretty drastic, but they are important. So we did her record and then we made a bunch of mistakes.

And then we did it again and made mistakes. We did it wrong four times. And every time we did it wrong we had to get the bishop and Hna. Cnythia to sign it again. The last time we went to her house to get her to sign them, but she had already left for work. So we had to take a bus an hour out (with permission) and get her signature and then bus it back for another hour. It was quite the little adventure. And this week we had run out of money, so when it came time to pay I looked in my bag but I couldn´t find any money. We were panicked because I had the last of the money and we needed 4 soles for the whole trip. Then we said a little prayer and then my comp looked through my bag and pulled out a 5 sol coin from my camera bag. It was such a relief! We got the records all signed and good and we got internet!!

We did get to go to the devotional! It was awesome! We set a goal as a zone to more fully santicfy the sabbath day that we wouldn´t take motos on Sundays. We walked to the Stake Center to watch it and then when we got out, we started walking home. It is about a twenty minute walk to our house and we looked at our watches and it was 9:21. We panicked and just started running. We ran the whole way home and got home at 9:25. It was another miracle!!

I love you all! I am feeling the Christmas Spirit and I am excited for the holidays. Next Monday are transfers so I will keep you all posted on what happens. I think I will stay but my comp has been here a long time so she might be on the outs. Who knows!

Much love!

Hermana Fitzpatrick

November 30, 2015

You all are living the vida luxurious. Thanksgiving sounds like it was a blast. No worries, I had a c-frut, my favorite little soda thing, in celebration. I live for c-frut. It has gotten so bad that I have to limit myself to one c-frut a week because I will drink them everyday if not held accountable.

So, this week was pretty happy. We had some successes this week that we have been working for this cambio and the cambio before. We had the baptism of Hna. Cynthia! She was so happy and it was a great baptismal service. But, we got to the building in the afternoon after the mission leader got everything ready and the water was brown! Like dirty brown. It was pretty obviously not clean. My companion was so upset she was in tears, but I mostly thought it was funny. A little eight year old girl was getting baptized too that day. When her mom got there we explained what happened and she was really worried, but then she saw the water and said, ¨Eh, the river is dirtier. That´s not that dirty.´´So we went through with it and she was baptized just fine. We were really happy for Hna. Cynthia. 

We also had an investigator, this little old man with one leg named Leonzio, who had told us the whole month that he was going to attend church but never did. We were getting frustrated with him but then we showed up at church this week and who was waiting for us but lil Leonzio! It was awesome. Then, after the first hour I saw him shoot out of the building. We were trapped with people but we literally ran after him down the street. He moves fast for only having one leg! We caught him and he said he had stuff to do and had to go. We kept blocking his path and just told him no, you have to go back, they will wait, the Lord will not. He kept trying to get around us but we just kept moving to block his path and eventually we got him back in the building! We sat with him the next two classes and after the third hour we were so happy and told him congrats and he just walked out of the building and said bye! see you Tuesday! We just laughed. He is an interesting man.

This week a lot of things happened with the family of my pensionista. They are basically our family here because we spend all our meals there and spend a lot of time with them. They are passing through some really hard times right now so it was hard to see this week. One of the daughters fell off of the moto while she was driving home with her family. Here, they don´t have any protective equipment and in fact they don´t even hold on if they are on the back of a moto. She fell off the back and she was also holding their two year old son in her arms because that´s how they take them on motos. She was in the hospital and luckily is going to be ok and she kept her son from being injured, but it was really scary. Motos are super freaky because they are so unsafe and people are really careless with their safety while on them. The youth (I´m talking ten to fourteen year olds) are probably the worst because they drive so fast without helmets or anything. Add rain and you have a lot of injuries.

We ate a lot of mangoes this week. They are so good here! They are enormous with tiny little pits so you can bite into them and have a mouthful of juicy mango. It´s awesome! 

We also got to see the construction process this week because my pensionista built a kitchen! It even has a sink, even though water only runs during a couple hours of the day. It was fun though, to see. If you want to build something, they just dump a pile of concrete mix stuff in front of your house and then you get some bricks and you pile em up and build your wall like that. It was interesting to see. A little different than the reno we did but I would say they were equally excited with the result. 

It has been really hot this week as always. I think the Elders have it a little different too because they just shake hands or give a hug or two to their really close amigos. But the Hermanas have to kiss and hug every woman we meet. I have met with some sweaty faces let me tell you. Sweaty backs, sweaty faces, sweaty hands. I think I´m getting acne on my face from all the kisses. And we are all up in the faces of people whether they´re sick or healthy. It gets concerning. But I also like the hugs and kisses because it´s a little ice breaker and you show affection from the start when you meet people.

I love you all! I will talk to you so soon! Weeks are flying by, can´t believe I have almost been out for three months. 

Mucho amor!

Hermana Fitz

Curichi! A member in our ward sells them and gave us coconut curichi. It´s the best! 

It´s just milk and coco frozen like a popsicle. So yummy. They make curichi of aguaje too.

My zone! From zone conference. Punchana foreva!

Nothing like an Iquitenian sunrise. This is from 7:00 in the morning. 

Told you the clouds were beautiful!

What a lot of my meals look like. Plus a plate of rice. 

In the background, cooked banana because they say it´s not fish without banana.

November 23, 2015

Man it just seems like yesterday that you were trying to get me to do chores too. I can´t believe it´s almost been three months here. Time goes so fast.

This week is a little scrambled in my brain. I faltered on my journal writing this week so I can´t really remember what happened. But...

We had zone conference on Tuesday. It happens every other cambio and, where I am, Zona Punchana and Zona Iquitos come together for a mega meeting! They told us the night before that it was happening and it felt like a big secret or something. We were in the meeting from 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Whoo it was long one! We had training from the assistants, our zone leaders, counselors in the mission presidency, Hermana Gomez, and finally President Gomez. Then we had lunch and then every missionary had to bear their testimony. I was cooked by the end of it. It was all good stuff and it will help us be better missionaries. Lunch was at a super luxurious restaurant too so that was fun and funky. The meat was really yummy and they actually had a spicy sauce. Incredible!

We also had stake conference yesterday. I swear we are having conferences every other week. They are awesome but it really messes with attendance because every gets confused when the location and time changes. We had hardly anyone show up so that was sad. Every week is basically a build up to who will attend Sunday and then Sunday is basically a huge let down because even if you have a lot of people that attend you never have everyone, and then you are sad, and then you remember P day! The weekly grind

This week in food:

Nothing too crazy but we have been eating a lot more fruit. There are so many fruits that are regional and don´t exist elsewhere, even in other parts of Peru. We have been eating more aguaje and I´m into it. It is bitter but with some salt I like it. They all LOVE aguaje here. If I could pick a mascot for Iquitos it would be aguaje. We also had the regional grape here which is called uvilla. It is like a purple grape but enormous and you peel the skin off because it is scratchy and there is one mega seed in the middle. It is delicious and we are loving it. I am now also in love with Ecco, it´s that fake barley coffee stuff and our pensionista makes it so yummy. She pours in evaporated milk and sugar and it is so good. Oh, and we had cachanga this week. It was really good and I was thinking whoa I think I have had this before. Turns out it is sopapilla! Brought me back to the New Mexico days. They make it all over South America but each country and region has a little different way of making it. Here they make it thin and crispy and eat it with onion and lemon juice. I liked it a lot.

One of our investigators that has been receiving the discussions since May finally accepted a date this week! It was a really cool experience. We had prayed a lot about what we should do because she refused to accept a date. We decided to visit her one more time and invite her one more time and if she declined again we would stop visiting so frequently. We were scared but we went in and before we could say anything she said, I want to be baptized, I'm worried for my soul. We just cried we were so happy. Then, the NEXT DAY, she said that her mom called and wanted to be at the baptism and we would have to postpone it. How quickly the adversary works. We were really sad and told her she shouldn't postpone her baptism. We visited her again last night and she confessed to us that it wasn't her mom that was holding her back, it was her fear and she accepted the date again! So she will be baptized this week. If all goes well and she doesn't get anymore calls haha.

We ran into Brando again without his clothes on when we went to teach him and his sister a lesson. I don´t think I have ever had to ask someone to get dressed so that was pretty funny. The men here never wear shirts. Ever. At first it kind of shocked me but now it is just the everyday. Some people get embarrassed if we see them without their shirts on too, which is odd to me because they are completely comfortable walking around in public without it. I guess they recognize us as representatives of Christ. One investigator opened the door without a shirt on, saw us, yelled Hermanas!, and shut the door. We just laughed as he went to get his shirt. Living free down here.

The women are even worse. They just wear a tube top and spandex underwear basically. I have never seen so much cleavage. We were in the middle of a lesson this week with a less active and she was talking about her skin or something and wanted to show us something and just straight up flashed us! My comp and I were just in shock. The things that go on around these parts are too strange for words.

It was so hot this week! And then it was really rainy. I have to bring my umbrella with me every day even when it´s sunny in the morning because it rains every afternoon. I love it. I love it at night when we are home and it feels cozy and I almost feel cold but then I don´t and I turn the fan back on. During the hot times you just melt. The pamphlets make great fans. More like fan-phlets am I right?

This week breezed by, I am still happy. I am still healthy which is really nice. I miss Thanksgiving and I am thankful for all of you. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Tell the fam I love them!

Hermana Fitzpatrick

I will be on the lookout for my package! I´m super excited!! Love you!

No photos this week. Insanely slow internet. Sorry. Took me twenty minutes to open my first email just so you know what I´m working with

November 16, 2015

Hola hola!

Well, this week was another wild one. Sometimes there is just nothing to do but laugh because my experience here has just been so far from real life. Sometimes my comp and I seriously just laugh. Everyone is such a chambon but we just laugh it off. And the things we get involved in. Lives down here sometimes really play out like telenovelas. It´s crazy. 

It was a rainy week down here. It is starting to get bursts of really crazy heavy rain for a half hour every afternoon. This is the beginning of the rainiest time of the year so it is starting to pick up. December it apparently rains everyday pretty much straight through the month. I love the rain though. It is so calming and fresh and the people take pity on us and let us in. It always makes me want a hot chocolate and to cuddle up on our couch though haha. It was so insane, this week we were talking to some members outside of their house and we could feel the wind pick up and the sprinkles start to come down and we knew it was going to rain heavy. And then I looked down the street and I could literally see the storm coming down the street. It was the most unreal experience I have ever had. Normally you see the clouds come or whatever but I could see the wall of water coming down the street. Because when it rains it really is a wall of water. If you take even one step outside you will come out drenched. It´s utter insanity. But, this week we took advantage of it and taught lessons to people we got stranded under overhangs with. No escaping us!

-getting caught in the rain. The scariest part is the lightening. We woke up one night to the loudest lightening I have ever heard. It was actually kind of scary.

 This week I also had a work visit with the sister training leader Hna. Blackmore. It was so fun! I really love her a lot. I went to her area and got to see a little bit more of Iquitos. Her area has more of the houses on stilts. And we are actually entering the flood season so those houses will be flooded soon. I don´t really get it but they live there and their houses flood every year and they build a second floor and live up there until it dries in April and then return. But they live on a river basically for five months of every year and construct wood sidewalks through the streets like really long, janky bridges and take boats to their house. We will see, it should be coming soon.

We worked in the Panadería again this week and it was so fun. This week we helped them with their panetones. It´s basically fruit cake but it is the classic Peruvian Christmas food here. They told me that just like a meal isn´t a meal without rice - including breakfast - Christmas isn´t Christmas without panetón. They drink hot chocolate with it and it is actually really yummy. I had some paneton and hot cocoa for breakfast today actually. I´m into it.

-making alfojores in the panderia (and possibly consuming a few)

-Aguaje!! They LOVE this stuff here. This is the process of peeling the scales off. 

It's like really bitter mango. They go crazy for this stuff.

We had some really funny moments this week and we had a lot of fun. On Sunday we went to pick up an investigator for church and her little 10 year old brother answered the door, in only a speedo. My comp was shocked because she is really shy about seeing people in no clothes, like we do everyday, and we just busted out laughing. He was not even embarrased at all either. He kind of tried to hide himself with his door, but it was glass so it wasn´t doing much. Too good. He is also really fat so that added to the hilarity. We just tried to hold back laughter while he asked what we wanted. What a kid. 

I think it´s so funny the way people address other people here. We were talking to the landlady and someone came to buy bread from her and she said "si abuelita" and it was totally normal but I thought about it and she had just said "yes, little grandma, how can I help you" and it was all good. Or we went with a member and her boyfriend to the family history center and she was directing him where to go by saying "aquí gordito" which is like "here little fatty" and it was just another intimate moment in Perú. Everyone calls everyone gordito and gordita which would be incredibly offensive in the US. I think it´s just funny, especially because the member was pretty heavy and her boyfriend was stick thin. So it goes.

Man, everyone already has their christmas trees up and everything. It makes me so excited for Christmas! My first of two! I love you all and I am thinking about Thanksgiving this week. We are going to do a little dinner with the zone so that will be fun. I am so thankful for everything I have. If I have learned anything from the Peruvian people, it is gratitude. They don´t take anything for granted and they work to use everything they can get. I am so blessed in so many ways temporally, but I am blessed richly with the gospel. It covers everything. I am so grateful for the Atonement. We have been focusing on that as a zone and it has blessed my life. Everything depends on it. I am so grateful to my Savior for His sacrifice and I hope to show my gratitude by serving faithfully, dilligently, and obediently here. 

Love you!

Hermana Fitzpatrick

November 9, 2015

Well, good news, kind of. We finally figured out what has been making me sick this whole time - turns out I have a parasite! I thought I was just adjusting becasue I started to be sick around the same time that I arrived but it looks like it was just a happy coincidence that I got the parasite and arrived at the same time. I am taking some pills to kill it ( I named it Parry the Parasite) and I am feeling SO much better. And I can finally enjoy the food! Which means now I need to start actually paying attention to what I eat.

-Clinic fun. The third try on the IV. Insanity, literally smiling through the searing pain. What a riot!

This week went by so fast, every week actually goes by so fast. We had a baptism this week (whoo!) and it was really nice. We have a lot of problems getting members to support converts and go to baptisms. This week we had a youth get baptized and we planned the baptism to coincide with seminary so all the youth had to attend. It worked! There were so many people there and it was really nice because his parents were there too and could feel the support, they are still investigating because they have to get married first. Here´s hoping they let the spirit they felt there motivate them for marriage! We have a massive the seventh of December so we are working to get them there. I want to see a massive so I hope they accept, and also their salvation and stuff depends on it.

-Little Remy got baptized! The pants we had were like two thousand sizes too big for him so we took a white paper clip and fixed that problem. Encontramos soluciones constantemente!

-The whole crowd at the baptism. Oh happy day!

We had changes last week and I am in the same area with the same companion. I am getting to know the area finally and the members here. I even gave a talk on Sunday! It was really scary and I actually feel like it went awful but I did it! And with changes we had a sister stay with us for a night because she was going to Moyobomba. There are four cities in the Mission - Iquitos, where I am, Pucallpa, Tarapoto, and Moyobomba. Iquitos is the hub with four zones and everyone eventually ends up somewhere in there. Pucallpa has two zones and has a mall and there is a little bit more money down there but it is hotter. Tarapoto and Moyobomba are the jungle jungle areas with each one with one zone. Moyobomba is the place that everyone wants to go though because it is cooler and cheaper and the people are a bit more educated I guess. I don´t know but the way they described it sounds like a luxury vacation compared to Iquitos. I´m glad I´m here though. Iquitos is a crazy place to be. A lot of times I think, man if they could see what is going on right now, who would´ve ever expected this, I didn´t. I´ve learned a lot of things already. But I´m a Punchanita till I die! Iquitos forever

-Dropping our little hijita for the day off at the airport. Reminded me of my first day coming in. 

Also saw scorpions on the sidewalk as we were leaving so all good things.

Oh, remember how I told you about Mormoncito and his antics. Well, this one takes the cake. My comp wanted to borrow a ball that he had and so his mom put it in a bag for us. Mormoncito was less than thrilled. He screamed and bit my comp. Then it seemed like he calmed down a little bit. She was holding the bag and we were talking to the sister when all of a sudden we look down and see that he has his pants down peeing on my comp´s feet! It was hilarious! We could not believe it. He is now Diablito to us.

Oh, also I forgot to tell you that in Iquitos there aren´t really signs or billboards with ads and stuff. Mostly people just accept payment for their houses to be painted by companies. There are houses all over the place that are all green and painted with the Kola Real mark. I think it´s so funny. And politicians campaign that way too. That´s why my name is all over the streets - because there was a political candidate with my name. 

I love you all so much. Thank you for all that you do for me. I´m keeping on keeping on down here.

Hermana Fitzpatrick

-My district at Quistococha a couple weeks ago!

October 26, 2015

Hello once again from the jungles of Perú! It was the craziest week I've had so far this week. We just did so many things. The time goes so fast, it seems like it was P Day just yesterday. 

We spent P Day in the city again. Sometimes I forget how awesome it is here until we are on the bus and I feel the breeze and I see the people and all the hustle and bustle that is Iquitos. It is really a sight to be seen. I also ate three ice creams that day so that didn't hurt either - they´re everywhere for one sol which is basically 30 cents. Who can resist that?

On Wednesdays in the morning we do service and this week we did service as a zone. We went to the area of the zone leaders and helped some of the members there. It was so fun! We built a boat! The Brother builds boats and sells them and we helped him make one. It was a giant canoe looking thing. I hammered in metal pieces on top of the tar so I´m basically your average Amazon woman now. I actually learned many things that day. The family lives in one of the houses on stilts so I got to climb up there and see how life is - very scenic, lovely view of the river. Then, the Hermana, who sells watermelon and yuca, had the other Hermanas and I help her weed her plants. Who knew they weeded with machetes? I did not. It was awesome. We should really implement that technique at home, much more effective than a shovel.

-The area we had our service project in

-weeding with machetes!

 I will say this about that day - it was the most infernal heat I have ever experienced. It was roughly a bajillon degrees and I was sweating from every pore. I had to wear my boots and I didn´t know it was possible for my ankles to sweat like that. I took my boots off after and my socks were soaking wet and my feet were wrinkled from the water. Just awful. I also didn´t know I sweat from my upper lip, but that is a thing here. People´s faces are always wet but I have never really sweated there, but wowzers I did on Wednesday. I just cannot express enough how sweaty I was, how sweaty we all were. I also had a cold this week, super bizarre to sniffle and cough when it´s 100 outside, and I couldn´t tell if what was dripping down my face was sweat or boogies. It was incredible. We went home and reshowered because hello, nobody needed to be subjected to that.

I also learned on Wednesday how to make a cake at my pension. We just started throwing things in a huge bowl and I was thinking where is the whisk or mixer? Turns out I was the mixer, more specifically my hand. They just kept telling me to wait until it was all one feeling. I mixed it all up, and this was directly after service without washing my hand with more than sanitizer (sorry Mom) but I will sadly admit I have done grosser things here. Such is life in the jungle. I ate that cake with no reservations and it was delicious. Also, for vanilla cake we added a whole bottle of coca cola. I was doubtful, but it really made it taste good! Yum, cake.

 -Mixing up that cake with my pensionista Mariela :)

-Eating said cake with yummy banana smoothie

Then, this week I went to Lima! On Wednesday we left and Thursday we came back. It was so nice! We stayed in this seriously luxurious hotel (with warm showers!) and were waited on hand and foot. It was a dream. We went to Immigrations in the morning and collected our residency cards, so I am now an official Peruvian! Then we went to the temple! It was such an unexpected treat to do a session. I love the temple so much and there is just no other place where we can feel as close to Heavenly Father as we can there. I felt rejuvinated. We also got to go to the temple store which was a huge blessing becuase I had been needing a hymnal (the chapels here don´t have any, and I don´t know any of the words) and I also got a book for the simplified version of the hymns so I can play better in sacrament. I also got to see my friend from the CCM who is in Pucallpa, where Elder Sheppard is. So, turns out Pucallpa is way more developed and modern than Iquitos, they have the Peruvian equivalent of Walmart and Target, and a mall, and good internet. There is a lot more money in Pucallpa I guess. Lux life. Hna. Vasquez said that Elder Sheppard is doing well and that he is always excited to serve and that he doesn´t speak very well yet but he really tries and the people like him. Oh and we had pizza! It was so yummy! Papa John´s, my favorite! It was the best thing I have eaten in weeks I wanted to cry I was so happy. 

I am learning to trust more. Everything depends on trust and faith in the Lord. We don´t progress without it because we don´t truly want to progress without it. It´s hard sometimes. A lot of times we ask people to give up work to attend church every week. It´s hard to think that things will just work out if we do our part, but they will. I see it all the time with the things we do. Sometimes we meet people in the strangest way but it´s all part of the Lord´s plan and His timing. We just have to trust, and work. 

I love you all. Hope you are all well

Hna. Fitzpatrick

October 19, 2015

Hola hola coca cola! 

I'm back! I try to write down what I want to write you throughout the week and I forgot my paper at home so I'm sorry if this is a little rambly this week, but here goes:

It was a rainy week. I love the rain. It cools everything off and we just walk through it and get soaking and it's all good. I love the smell right after it rains and everything is fresh. I love the chill. I actually even feel a little cold sometimes which is incredible. The Iquiteños get really cold when it rains, and all our citas fall through too. They refuse to do anything but sleep when it rains which is a little frustrating, but I would 100% do the same if I had a choice. I always think of Mom when I see them napping. They have these awesome rocking chairs that are like steel with elastic so that they are comfy and fresco. They ALL use those chairs. They are super comfy. 

We went to Quistococha this week with our district for P Day. It is this wildlife park thing about 45 minutes by bus from our zone. It was so fun! The bus is insane. You just hop on and they don't have any doors or windows. Then you sit if there are enough seats, but most likely stand and they BLAST music and you rock up and down the dirt streets until you get where you're going. People hop on to sell stuff and people bring their enormous packages of fruit, eggs, chickens, wood, etc. and just dump it wherever. It is a riot. Quistococha was a really cool, super jungly beach. We saw pink dolphins, monkeys, pumas (¡que pumas!), and a bunch of other animals. It was fun to just hang out and see the touristy stuff. The river was unreal beautiful. I wish I could send pics but I lent my camera to a girl in the ward for the YW/YM dance they had and she erased all of my pictures! We are working on recovering them haha

Food this week: We tried salchipapas! SO yummy. And greasy. French fries with hot dogs and mayo and tomatoes and cabbage. And I had it with Inca Kola so it was true Peruvian food through and through. We also had tacos yesterday. I think they did it to make me feel more at home and it worked! It was almost like home. It was so nice to have tortillas again. 

Yesterday we had a training meeting with four stakes in Iquitos and the Area 70 for the area. I really liked him, his name was Elder Lozano. He was really direct and used D y C to teach us that when it came to the wards we needed to ¨Get our houses in order¨. It was really direct and I felt like I could work harder. It was great. It was also fun to see all the elders and hermanas around.

I am also feeling so much better! Finally! It only took a month but I think I am adjusting to the food and water here.

Crazy things that happened this week:

- another man tried to kiss me, but this time he was really offended when I wouldn't kiss him even though I explained that I couldn't as a missionary and he refused to give me a goodbye handshake. Oh well

- they add ¨ita¨ and ¨ito¨ to everything and sometimes it really confuses me as to what the original word was. This week one lady was talking about these little bugs that had infested her family and her daughter´s ¨vaginitas¨ and I was trying to figure out what she was saying and what that word was and then I got it, and I thought ¨AH! Nope, I do not need to hear any more of this¨

-a family in the ward has a little two year old boy that we call Mormoncito and he was in one of our lessons hanging around without his mom and he was going insane! He was acting like a literal demon. He was hanging from the hammock, throwing water bottles at us, biting us, chewing screws(!), and hitting us with huge wooden sticks. It was a war zone in there. Exhausting. I felt so bad for his mother

-the mom of one of the families we are teaching is traveling and sent back some tortoises to her family. They are enormous and alive and we were like what are you going to do with them? Eat them, they said, we are going to eat them. Ahhh

It is watermelon season so we eat a LOT of that. Everyone offers us watermelon. It's really yummy but it gets messy and they have so many seeds. I never know what to do with them. But, blessings

I'm feeling a lot more comfortable. And guess what, I am the ward pianist now. It is an electric keyboard, the building doesn't have hymnals, and I only know how to play the upper hand, but it is a blessing. The Lord prepares us for different things, and He has a perfect knowledge of what is going to happen, even when we don't know. We found some families this week that are really interested. They have been prepared to at least accept our visits, we are hoping they are prepared to accept. 

I'm glad you got my letter! Hope you liked the corazones. I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Hna. Fitz

PS I'M GOING TO LIMA THIS WEEK. I AM REALLY EXCITED 

-Selfie with Karol because she is leaving this week :

( and also my pensionista Hna. Mariela! She is the best)

October 12, 2015

¡Hola Familia!

First of all, huge news this week - we got a shower!!! It is so beautiful! Our zone leaders installed it for us and now we have even streams of water everyday! We said like five prayers of thanks that day, and I couldn't help but play with it. It is so luxurious, I feel like a princess every time I use it. Water is still cold, but it is like jumping in the deep end everyday and then you're good. #blessings

We also had a baptism this week! Little Paolita was baptized and it was really special. We even did a little musical number for her! I don't know her too well but I was really happy for her.

-Paolita's baptism! I promise I'm not hunching more I was just really cramped in this photo. 

I hope your back stretches work. You will have to send them to me.

-Everyone taking photos at the baptism lol I think this took longer than the actual program

This week in food: we had some interesting meats this week. There were these little balls of meat and I asked if I could eat everything because usually there are bones and they said yes. So I popped it in my mouth and it had a huge pop! They were unaffected and casually mentioned that it was just a little bit of cartilage. No biggie. Popped and crunched my way through that meal. We also had some meat that I thought were just beef strips but then I wanted to vomit when I chewed it. Turns out it was chicken giblets and the heart. Yummy. But there was a holiday on Thursday so my pensionista had a pollada, a little pop up restaurant thing where they bbq chicken. We got some of the chicken and it was so good!! Holiday was crazy though because everyone was drunk. Such is the life.

Crazy things that happened this week:

- it rained SO HARD yesterday out of the blue. We were walking and then bam! Gushing water. Luckily a lady took pity on us and we went inside and taught her a lesson.

- we see a lot of children peeing in the streets. We saw one kid who was walking in the rain with one side of his shorts pulled up haciendo el pipi as he was walking! I saw the stream shooting out! Insanity

- a man almost kissed me yesterday! We do one kiss on the cheek for the ladies, but just handshakes for the men. He was a little drunk and he had my hand and then was like "Just a little besito" and started moving in! My hand was trapped and I was just trying to dodge and then he went to kiss my hand and my companion just shot her hand in and said "No Hermano". It was a close call to say the least

It was a good week. It was a hard week. I felt a little homesick, but I am getting the hang of things around here. I am even starting to contribute in lessons and do contacts. They still laugh at me and my Spanish, but it is all ok. I am ok with it. I know I will get it eventually. I know the Lord is aware of me. I feel it every time I see my name on the street and think of how conscious of me and the people here He is. I feel it when I get frustrated and hymns pop into my mind with the words I need to hear. I feel it when I am sick and He strengthens me. I feel it when I finish off another fish! I feel it when I see people keep commitments and reap the blessings.

It is a new mission rule that we have to bear our testimonies every Fast Sunday so I did it! I made it through and I actually think I did a pretty good job. I was so nervous

I feel so different here. It's not just the country, it's not just the plaque, it's me. I'm different. I feel good with change here. I'm changing, the people we teach are changing. Sometimes that change comes slowly and sometimes it comes fast, but if we are diligent in following the Lord it always comes.

Here are some little sayings. I don't know if they are Peruvian, but they are what we say here:

-ok - listo

-very - bien, bastante

-cool - chevere, bacan

-what? - ¿como ya?

-pisses me off - ¡Me saca la piedra!

And my personal favorite...

-What the heck! - ¡Que pumas!

I love you all and think of you frequently. Happy birthday to Greg! Ancianito! I hope you have a great b-day and take a break to enjoy it.

Much love,

Hna. Fitzpatrick

ps. send me photos! I want to see what's going on

pps. Michael write me! I better see an email from you next week or I will pray that you grow so tall that none of your suits fit

-P Day at the stadium. Really fun day and we got to meet the missionaries from the four zones in Iquitos. It felt like the factions in Divergent uniting. Nice to finally speak English too!

-Hna. Colquehuanca's first time trying M&Ms. They were a hit. We found them in this random store because they don't have american candies or really anything here. It's weird. 

I want her to try the peanut ones but we'll have to look for them

October 5, 2015

Hola Familia!

Well this week flew by. And this week I hit my first month mark. Who can believe that? I can’t. We taught a lot of lessons this week but my companion is having some health issues so we spent a lot of time at the clinic too. I will tell you that I do not trust the doctors here. She had crazy eyeliner and prescribed like four different pills for some sort of mouth infection. I will be avoiding going there at all costs. Now we have to see a blood specialist because there is something wrong with my companion’s blood. I don’t know. I just accompany.

We had two baptisms planned for this week, but one of the investigators got in a fight with his girlfriend before conference and so didn’t attend. It wouldv’e been his third attendance so now he can’t be baptized this week unfortunately, but we are hoping soon. I don’t really feel like they are my investigators though because I don’t know them, and I barely understand what they say to my companion and what she says to them.

Last P-Day we went into the city center – it’s like a ten minute motomoto ride from our pension. I didn’t realize how not city our area is until I saw the city. It’s bustling in there and it’s bizarre because there are actual stores, but most of all because the river is right there. We saw the Amazon!  It was big and beautiful and the houses are on stilts around it and we saw a monkey running around some little shops. It was awesome! It was weird to go back to our humble little area after that. But I much prefer our area with the kids running around in the streets, and everyone hanging out outside of their houses. Life moves slower here.

One thing I love about Iquitos are the clouds! Everyday they are the most beautiful, literally celestial clouds. Big and puffy and white, unless it’s sunset, when they turn into rainbow, cotten candy puffs. It takes my breath away every night. Or when it is raining and the clouds are big and angry and black. We had a couple days of heavy rain this week. We were in my pension eating and I thought the roof was going to collapse, but my companion and my pensionist told me it was nothing, that we will have a lot heavier rain. I’m scared. I don’t know how it gets heavier than that. But, they just live with it. The field by our house still had people playing football and the kids just splash in the puddles. When it rains, the entire sidewalk becomes a puddle. It is inevitable that you will get wet. I don’t mind it though. I like the rain a lot actually, it freshens the air. Oh, but sad news, my companion lost her rain jacket so I let her borrow mine and I used my sweater and umbrella and now my jacket has a huge hole in the side. I’m not sure what happened but I’m really sad about it. Hopefully we can fix it and it will still be waterproof. The only thing about the rain is no one wants to have lessons when it rains. It confuses me because they complain about the heat when it's hot and they won't let us in or won't go to church when it rains even though they have lived here their entire lives. Who knows.

I’m getting used to the food, and my pensionist is getting used to serving me half of what she normally serves. I don’t know how they eat so much here. The portions are incredible. She would serve us an entire plate of just white rice and then a soup and meat and a salad and a fruit juice. It’s absurd. I'm feeling a lot better. I'm trying not to drink the milk here anymore. I think that might have been what made me sick because it's not real milk here, I don't know what it is exactly. I never let my feet touch the ground here. As soon as the shoes come off, it's flip flops on. Even in the shower. Although, I wouldn't call it a shower. But we are very blessed.

How about conference??? It was awesome. I watched the Saturday sessions in english with some of the other missionaries, but the internet wasn’t working Sunday so I watched it in Spanish. I got most of it, I think. My favorite talk was Elder Holland’s, it made me miss you Mom. So grateful for the patience both you and Dad have shown with me. He always uses the most beautiful words, I really liked it. But, attendence at conference in the morning session was awesome. We met as a stake at the Stake Center and there were no seats left. I was expecting  the same for the Afternoon Session but we got there and there were maybe 100 people. We didn’t even fill all the pews. It was awful. I am learning how important weekly attendence is here. The Lord expects a day of our week and we need to renew our convenants. Exact obedience to that commandment is what brings happiness. It is frustrating when others don't recognize that. I liked the new apostles. We were so excited to find out who they would be. I don't remember who is who but I liked the third one that spoke the best I think. He just was simple but powerful. 

Oh and the drink you guys tried was definitely chicha morada! It's purple corn liqour and they put lemon juice and cinammon in there too. It's super yummy and popular, we have it almost every day. And they make a gelatin out of it. Whoo! It's either inca kola, chicha morada, some fruit I've never heard of, or anis tea. 

As far as Christmas package, I am really happy with whatever. Some little hand sanitizers that smell nice would be fun. We shake so many hands throughout the day, I go through that stuff like crazy. Also, the sisters here said packages usually get here within three weeks of sending so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I didn't know this but they don't want you to put Hermana on there either, just my full name. That's all :)

Today we are going to the Stadium with all four zones in Iquitos so I'm excited for that. I love you all! I hope all is well this week.

Oh and my favorite outfit so far has been my white Zara shirt with the red jersey skirt and my black tevas. Very airy and fresh.

Hna. Fitzpatrick

Pictures(!) hopefully these send, the internet here is honestly the worst:

-I'm Queen of the Amazon. The river in the city. So cool!

-Me and my companion with some of our investigators at the Stake Center for conference. Not sure why they didn't smile, they are normally really smiley but when the camera came out this happened.

-Our street view from our little balcony. And a motomoto! My favorite!

-And an old one of me and my CCM companion at the Lima Temple. Feels like ages ago

-My scripture cases for my Spanish scriptures, I bought them in Lima. 

The two temples in Peru! (soon to be three)

-The river!! So beautiful

-My name! It's seriously on every street!

September 28, 2015

Well Familia, I´m officially Jungle Jane now! I have been in Iquitos for six days now. I have been assigned to Zona Punchana in Área Clavero 1. It is right in the actual city of Iquitos. There are 8 zones in the mission, and 4 of them are in Iquitos itself. My companion is Hna. Colquehuanca from Puno, Peru down south. She is so little and cute, and calls me her hijita even though I´m practically twice her size. She has 11 months on the mission and has been in 9 areas with 10 companions which is super abnormal. She served a little bit in Tarapoto and Pullcalpa, which are the two reallyyy jungly zones. Elder Sheppard got sent to Pullcalpa I believe. 

Observations on Iquitos:

-It is not the tranquil jungle village I thought it would be. Quite the opposite. There is never a moment of silence. Everyone drives mototaxis (it is the most common form of employment here) and they pass by always. All our lessons are outside people´s houses and they speak quietly and with the noise my biggest challenge right now is hearing what they are saying. Also, music justs blasts. No one can afford walls or anything but corregated steel roofs, but they all have elite sound systems. The speakers are the jewel of the home. Sundays are the loudest day of the week and when we walk through the streets with music pounding and colorful houses and palm trees I feel like I am in a different world. 

-We live in a little apartment above a panadería just the two of us. It´s not bad. We sleep under our mosquito nets, which I actually like because I don´t use my sheets and my net feels like those princess veil things girls put over their beds. Plus, I´m on the bottom of our bunkbed so I get the fan all to myself at nights. Sweet, cool dreams indeed. 

-The people are so kind. They are a little more reserved and they totally have an accent but I love them. They also wear no clothes. Ever. Because of the heat. They also always call us Hermanitas. When they accept a commitment they go,¨Ya Hermanita¨ and then they don´t follow through. But we are working on that!

-Food is different. I don´t know why, because I had absolutely no problem with the food in Lima, but I have been sick all week. It´s been rough and unforgiving to be sick and sweaty 24/7 but I think I am coming out of it. It´s pretty basic rice and chicken, and lots of fish. River fish. Big hunks of fish with skin and bones still in. The second day our pensionista gave us just a cooked fish with fins and head and all. I had no idea where to even start. I ate it all. I thought I was going to vomit but I made it through. The portions are enormous too and I can´t eat it all! But I feel bad because my little companion eats two portions in the time it takes me to eat one and my pensionista told me she is worried that I am not eating, but such is life. The sisters here told me this is a mission where you gain weight so you have to be careful. I´m scared.

-I have used almost all of my First Aid kit- so glad I brought it! The second day I woke up with an enormous and angry red rash like bite the size of half my bum cheek. It´s still under observation. I also have yet to use my lotion. My skin care here is one part sweat and one part bug repellent (it´ll save your life!) The bugs here are relentless, but not unmaneagable. 

-My favorite thing is riding in mototaxis. They are so breezy and fun and quick. Lo máximo!

-No one can say my name. They don´t even try. They see it and smile and say they´re sorry and I forgive

-The ward is pretty big here, we usually have about 172 attend. This week we had 7 investigators, 4 less active, and 7 recent converts attend

-I also noticed the sun Momma when it woke me up at 6:00 am everyday. I thought I woke up late because it was so bright, but ya, it comes up at 6:00 (blazing) and sets at 6:00 pm with the most beatiful colors and clouds

-The heat is not that rough, I don´t even notice I am sweating but then my cothes are all damp at the end of the day. Mesh garms are a must have

-Finally felt the rain! It was a light pour though so nothing to note. The umbrella worked perfectly! And it fits in my bag's water bottle holder. Apparently we are headed into the rainy season (it goes from October to March is what I´ve heard) so we will be getting some downpour soon.

-My shoes have worked fabulously Momma, and the ladies we teach always compliment my tevas, both pairs. They always ask me where I bought them haha

It has been a good week. It was a lot more difficult to transition to being here than in the CCM. I´m getting to know everyone we are teaching and learning little by little. Everyday my knees are the filthiest part of me from kneeling in prayer so much, but I need that strength. I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and is aware of our needs, mine as well as the people here in Peru. I love Iquitos, it is a fickle and unforgiving mistress, but I love it. I don´t feel homesick, I don´t feel alone, but I don´t feel quite settled either. I am lucky to have such a loving companion who encourages and teaches me. I am getting the hang of things around here - learning everyone´s name and backstory and how things work. 

Mucho amor!

Hna. Fitzpatrick

PS- we will be watching General Conference in the Stake Center. So excited!

Also, I´m trying to figure out how to send photos but the internet is incredibly slow here so it will have to wait. Sorry! I really want to send some

PPS- Oh and I forgot to mention, apparently there is a political candidate with the name Jane so JANE is painted on literally ever street. I´m not kidding. Entire walls with my name on it. Big, little, colorful, black and white. Every time I see one I smile. It feels like my hidden identity, a person I used to be. 

Also the fruit here is awesome! Love it! So fresh and so many fruits I have never seen or heard of before. I love this treat they make called curichi.