December 26, 2016

- interesting nativity scene here 

 -getting a paneton from Rocio. Ate the whole thing in one night! Que horror!

December 19, 2016

Wellllll 

Back from the long awaited hiatus I am here for the update of a lifetime. Christmas time came like a thief in the night and we are all wondering how did we get here? Answer: plane from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Lima to Iquitos and 15 months later and here we are. It´s been a special Christmas season because the focus on service this year has left me thinking more about the Savior´s example that He left for us. I have felt my love for the Savior grow infinitely during this time and I know He lives! He was our perfect example. Missionary service has been the biggest blessing in my life and has helped me grow to know the Savior more and love Him more deeply. 

-getting into the Christmas spirit

 -our mission leader loves us! 

 Highlights from this week:

-the rain! Wow what a beautiful blessing it has been. And with the new umbrella I am unstoppable. My companion forgot her umbrella one day and we were in the house of a less active and the sky went black. No joke, black. One minute it is hot and sunny and bright and the next there are uncontrollable winds blowing and the sky is negro. But, luckily the less active had a poncho that everyone wears on their motos and was able to throw that on. It was so funny! Just her little head was peaking out and the less active told her she looked like a pregnant gnome with her bag. Good times. But it was waterproof so that´s the good news. 

-we have the Christmas conference with the mission this Wednesday and every zone has to prepare a song to sing. Our zone had nothing! So my comp and I wrote a little mix of a couple hymns. We thought we were going to practice it on Wednesday during lunch so we ate so fast. We told the motokarrista to fly and we got to the chapel super quick, only to realize that the practice was for Thursday. Ahhhh... 

-No one could give us pension in the mornings so we are now making our own breakfast. Let´s just say it´s a lot of cereal and yogurt.- It´s a great mix. 

-We changed pension to an eternal investigator who loves us...too much. She has a restaurant. She is feeding us such delicious food but I can´t stop eating!! I have even taken to the Peruvian habit of eating a pile of white rice every day!! No!! I swore I never would! But it´s so good! Killing me with the amount of love she cooks into every meal. Oh, Gloria

-Finished the Book of Mormon again this week! I could feel once again the truthfulness of that book and I love it. I was able to understand even more this time around and I am ready to start again! 

I am SO excited to talk to you! We will see each other soon! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

December 5, 2016

Well! What a week! 

The Christmas spirit has been full brew here and I am really feeling it. Last year I tried not to think about it and that made it end up being sadder. But this year we are full blown Christmas all the time. It has been a great week. Even the weather is in our favor most of the time. It`s starting to rain a little more. I really enjoyed the Christmas devotional and the spirit that it brought. It was an excellent Sabbath day because in the afternoon we were also able to help a recent convert and a less active do family history and you could just feel the spirit throughout the whole room. It was a great day.

- I got the package!!!!!!!

Spanish is coming along and I am feeling more comfortable.

Not much to say I`m out. I`ll talk to you soon. Love you all!!

Hermana Fitz

November 28, 2016

So, this week was odd. We had some REALLY hot days and were suffering for a couple days there. But then on Thursday it was cold! I am not kidding! It was a cold and wintry day. It reminded me of winter time in California and it made me think of Thanksgiving back home. I hope you ate a lot of Turkey for me. I ate bbq chicken and yucca. A jungle classic!

- We printed out quotes and hung them on old mosquito net holders we had to make our house more home-y. This is from when we made peanut butter cookies! Delish! Miss Robby a lot :( but at least I see her every Monday)

- Making causa rellena - it`s potato with chili and then filled with tuna and onion and mayo. Sounds gross tastes delicious! 

We are trying to work more with members this week. We had ward conference here this week. Usually it is just like any other Sunday, right? Wrong. In Peru conferences are a big deal. They are announced a month ahead of time. As we walked in they gave us complimentary pens! With the ward name on it! Luxury service. Flower arrangements were brought in and there was even a flutist to play the prelude! We don`t even have a pianist on normal Sundays! Just a spectacular Sabbath. 

My companion is from Bolivia. She is from the same place as Hermana Laura and she is 27. She was a convert when she was little and all her family except her mom are members. She also lived in Brazil for a little bit so she speaks Portuguese too. 

We aren`t really allowed to go to the offices that much, only with permission but I always annoy them to see if there are packages. It`s called faith! The offices are a weird world though because they just are always in there typing and working away. It`s like a little business not a mission. There are three elders in there and the assistants. 

Having the mission home close doesn´t really mean anything because we still aren`t allowed to go. But, I am hoping for Christmas they will do a devotional there like last year. It`s nice to go to the mission home because it is a huge mansion and it really feels like we are more of a family when we aren`t in a chapel. 

We had a newbie from Pucallpa stay with us this week while she did some immigration papers. It was so weird to be an old sister! It reminded me of being in the beginning of my mission and even though I still have time left it is odd that it is slowly coming to an end. 

- My comp is in the middle and a sister that stayed with us this week. Hermana Pac from Guatemala

That`s all for this week! Looking forward to the Christmas devotional this week! I will be watching! 

Love you all! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

November 21, 2016

This week has been...interesting. So, question of the week, did the Robby Fitz duo make it through changes

The answer is.....

No. 

Super sad to say goodbye but Robby left me here in 28. I am here with Hermana Poma! She is from Bolivia, La Paz and has a little bit more time than me in the mission. In fact, this is her second to last change in the mission. So, we have been getting to know each other more this week and getting to know the area a little bit because I really don´t know it that well yet. Oops. Oh well. 

That´s pretty much all I have to report for this week. More updates coming soon. 

Love you all! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I am thankful for each and every one of you and the gospel of Jesus Christ! It is what makes us happy! I am learning that more and more each and every day! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick 

Oh also Robby went to another area in Iquitos to train so I still see her on Mondays. And I would not have given her up for less than training. She is a great missionary and will do really well. Just missing her a lot. 

November 14, 2016

Hello! 

Well it is the last Monday of the change! It is really sad because who will know what will remain of the Fitz/Robby duo after today. We will see. I am pretty confident we will stay together but we will just find out tonight.

 I am doing well. Gaining weight as usual but bread is just really great when it`s made daily and you can get ten for a sol! We are enjoying a super hot climate and we are actually in a drought! Can you believe it? It should be raining a lot harder than it has been but we are only getting rain like once a week. The river is low and the lanchas that bring the food in just get stuck on the banks! All the food is really expensive right now and not great. Pray for rain! 

We had a great conference with Elder Maynes from the presidency of the seventy. He stopped by and only had time to meet with the missionaries in Iquitos mismo. It was so great! I was so happy! It was a great training on talking with everyone and he told great stories about setting goals. I loved that because you sometimes set goals and don`t reach them but he said there is no need to repent of that. You should always set high goals and not reach them instead of low goals that you can reach. 

We had a great experience with a less active who had been a little nervous to give us references and we invited him this week to pray for someone that he could invite to a Family Home Evening. He was a little hesitant but he did it and the night of the FHE he invited his neighbor and they rejected him! He was a little dissappointed but then asked another neighbor who was his childhood friend to come and he accepted! Little did anyone know that his friend was going through a really hard time and needed the gospel light in his life. He accepted our visits, went to church, and accepted a baptismal date for this month! His friend is over the moon and everything happened because of a simple invitation to an FHE. By small and simple things!

Love you all! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

October 31, 2016

Wellll the internet is SUPER slow today. Forgot about that in Iquitos. But, I will have some good internet downtime to be able to write.

It has been a BIG week. 

First, we had some challenges. My companion got parasites this week. Just the usual toll, but it is awful. Just a rough process from start to finish. I felt so bad for her but she handled it like a champ. She even stayed at a member´s house for a little bit while I went out and worked with a member but it was just rough for her. We were both anxious to get back to work. Being sick is the worst in the mission because there are no benefits - there are no movies, no one waiting on you, no breaks and a whole bunch of goals and expectations piling up! I felt really bad for Hna Robinson because she just wanted to work so bad. But, after a couple days and some parasite pills she was back in action. 

This week we also had a huge surprise...we got a bishop! The old bishop`s wife has cancer and he left about 7 months ago to be with her in Lima and hasn`t come back since so the ward has been running with just the counselors for a while. But, this week the first presidency finally authorized his release and we got a bishop! And he is AWESOME. He is already the best bishop I have had in the mish. He recently moved into the ward two months ago and was in Lima for the last 5 years or so. He is so efficient it`s crazy! The whole energy of the ward changed in two hours! It is a whole new 28 de Julio! I am so grateful because we had kind of felt that we were doing everything alone and holding the ward together but he is taking charge in a real way. Love that guy. And his wife is fabulous. And they have a car so they are playing with some serious dough. He is the best and he loves us too and offered to pick us up anytime anyplace. He is the best. Big time happiness and relief. 

Also this week we had a visit from a general authority. I was not that excited to be honest for this guy to come, Elder Godoy. We have had 70 visit us before and sometimes they just think they are apostles. But, I prepared myself and went with an open mind. It was the best! My favorite general authority hands down and best conference of my mission. It was so enlightening and inspiring. He was so personable and made us laugh and feel the Spirit. He reminded me so much of Dad. I had a wonderful time. His wife was the best too. He is the area president and is not actually a Spanish speaker. He is from Brazil! But he spoke English and Spanish. It was so nice to see someone else also make mistakes in Spanish besides me! It was so fun. He just was so inspiring and really made me more excited to work. My companion and I have just been talking about his visit ever since then. 

That`s pretty much it for this week. Not too much to report. No photos sorry :( I forgot.

Love you all! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

October 24, 2016

- We got matching dresses on our shopping day last p day. It was a great day! 

We even got pedicures! So relaxing! 

-  A great meal we had this week. Just cut up coconut and pineapple 

 - Got some ice cream today before internet 

October 17, 2016

- We did a service project this week in Belen. 
It´s a super filthy outdoor market, the biggest in Iquitos. 
It smells awful and it is super sketchy but we cleaned it up haha just a little bit

Funny things that happened this week:

-Everyone (!) speaks English to us so this one guy walked up to us on the street and started speaking to us in English and we were like ´Not again´ but we kept talking and he was a guy from another ward. He spoke French and English and had served his mission in Canada. He knew a friend of Hermana Robinson! But we were trying to help him out and just talk in Spanish and then he told us ´I don`t really speak Spanish´ and we were like 'Where are you from?' India! It was such a surprise! Hermano Ato. A great guy

- one less active has nicknamed Hna Robinson Hna Robby so that`s a classic

- we made brownies and crepes with Nutella and peanut butter as sisters. 
It was super yummy! 

- we had a family home evening with Rocio, a recent convert, and she made pizza! 
So good! And her husband accepted a date to be baptized this week! 

October 10, 2016

WOW WHAT A WEEK. I FINALLY HAD CHANGES AND HAD TO PACK ALL MY STUFF UP FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE MARCH.

- a very sad goodbye in the airport in Tarapoto

- the river as we were landing in Iquitos!  

I am now in     IQUITOS     with     HERMANA ROBINSON      as my comp. 

- My first gringa!!!! Wild times

Fun facts about Hermana Robinson:

- she is gringa! My first ever gringa companion

- she is from Canada but came from and her parents are from England 

- she plays rugby

- she had her birthday on Friday and is now 20 

- she has three older brothers and is the youngest 

- she is the best! 

- Hna Robinson´s birthday. Tres leches cake! What a win!

With consejo and changes and everything this week we had a lot of things that took us out of the area but we were able to reach all our goals even with that! It was a miracle! I still don`t know how it happened. It`s been a great week. 

- seeing Hna Vazquez from my group for the first time in more than a year! Dreams come true! 

 - ran in to my first pensionista!! Love that lady

 Being back in Iquitos is a trip. I felt like I was going back on the mission for the first time when I got off the plane. It was really sad to leave Tarapoto and I love it with all my heart but it is actually nice to be back in Iquitos. It is more city than Tarapoto and my new area is 28 de Julio which is in Zona Iquitos , Estaca Iquitos. It is the heart of Iquitos and it is SUPER pituca . I never saw such nice houses in my other area and everything is paved roads so it is crazy rich. I am right in the middle of the city and loving it! We have a lot of people progressing and are finding new people every day. The ward is great and the mission leader is super awesome! And my companion is awesome. There are cons to being with a gringa, especially with the Spanish part not really being able to help each other. But we try to always speak in Spanish and it is going pretty well. Hna Robinson has almost a year in the mission but I had never met her because she was is Pucallpa. But, there are also a LOT of pros. Culturally it`s just nice to be with someone who gets it. It is also nice to just be with someone who has the same work ethic as I do. Ping pong has just come really easily and it is just easy to be obedient and diligent. It has just been really nice.

I am meeting everyone in the ward and I forgot how difficult it is for people to say my name! They just look at my name and their faces just go so squished with frustration. I didn`t really have that problem as much in Tarapoto but we are back in the city. We even have the mission offices in our zone so everything is just right there. No more waiting for every month to get packages! What a blessing. 

- Zona Iquitos. Pretty wild times

 It is also raining so much! That`s also nice. I had forgotten about the crazy rain of Iquitos. Nowhere rains like it rains here. Not even Tarapoto compares with the rain of Iquitos. It`s great. Nice and cool. 

Well, I´m just really happy and moving forward and in Iquitos now! All good. Love you lots and talk to you soon! 

- this one is for dad

Hermana Fitzpatrick

October 3, 2016

Well,

It´s been another great week! Wow, first of all, how great was conference! I was able to see all the sessions (menos the priesthood obviously). It was such an uplifting weekend! I especially loved the messages of Elder Uchtdorf and the prophet on the plan of salvation and the message about serving where we are sent. I have been thinking about that. As I am looking forward to the changes today I am really feeling like I am going out of Tarapoto but I am excited to see where the Lord would have me go. I was so inspired! 

- watching conference with our district

 - all the sisters in the zone

We also had some great stuff happening this week. I had been feeling a little bit like I have been in this area so long and I don´t have really anything to show for it. But I was reminded again this week that the Lord knows the desires of our hearts and always gives us blessings according to our obedience. We have been teaching Mary Carmen for a while and she just hadn´t been wanting to accept a date for her baptism. It was our last effort Saturday and I invited her and felt strongly that the 29 of October was right for her. She said she would pray about it. I felt ok but I felt like maybe she wasn´t going to accept. Then on Sunday we had another lesson with her and she said she had prayed about it and accepted the date! She said that the 29th was a special date for her and didn´t know how I had known that, The spirit is our best guide! 

We also had the baptism interview for Carlos Celis, the son of the less active family that came back to church. Brother Celis went to all 10 hours of conference! And brought his wife too! It was incredible to see. Not even our branch president or district president did that. Then, after the last session, he waited outside with us while his son was interviewed. When Carlos came out with the green light he was so happy and his dad and he hugged and Brother Celis cried as he spoke of the way that Carlos brought his whole family back to the church. They both have their sights on the temple. 

Felt the Spirit and know that God knows and loves me and each one of us. 

- Fam. Aguirre had this little surprise when we went to teach them. 

¨Hermana Fitzpatrick te queremos mucho.¨ Such a dear family to me 

 It will be really hard to leave Tarapoto but I am preparing myself and my companion little by little. 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

September 26, 2016

Weelll....

This week has been really great. We had our focus this week again and always on being obedient with exactness and especially making our study time sacred. We have seen the hand of the Lord throughout this week. 

- the craziest Family Home Evening I have ever been to. 

The picture pretty much says it all here

First, we had a baptism! It was the daughter of the family that we married a couple months ago and it was great! The whole branch helped out and even though it rained really hard that day we had a great turn out. But the funniest part was the baptism itself. I really will just have to tell that story when I see you all but I think Emily is the only person in the world who would not like to get baptized twice. The best part was that her dad prepared himself and was able to baptize his daughter! Full circle!

Well my favorite experience this week has been with the Familia Celis. We had a reference for this family from the branch that there were a less active family for 7 or 8 years. Their son now has 15 years and is not a member but he started going to seminary. The first time I went to the house, I am not joking, the mom opened the door and slammed it in my face! She was so scary and did not want anything. We visited to visit her son but she did not want anything! It was like that for a couple months and we were about to give up but then we were able to go to where she sells food, buy some juanes (so yummy) and talk for a little bit. We started to have a little more trust with her and her husband until one day they accompanied us in a lesson! And then another lesson! And then the husband started reading the Book of Mormon with his son! And this Sunday, after four months from the day when that sister slammed the door in my face, they went to church! I can not even explain the joy that I felt to see them there. It was probably one of the most beautiful experiences that I have had. But what even more filled me with joy is when the husband in the church told me ¨I´m not going anywhere. From here I´m not going to lose myself again¨ It was incredible. The sister said she and her husband had to go to church before I left because of all the time that we have spent together. It was the most beautiful parting gift! The whole branch went and hugged them and sat with them. They were like celebrities and their son Carlos was so happy to be at church with his family. It was great. Just a great day.

We also found a family that are deaf and mute. Interesting teaching techniques but I am learning that the true teacher is the spirit. 

We have a fun P day with sisters today in our house! And we went to the waterfalls again last week with the zone. Good times. We always go in a car and sometimes I forget what it is like to be in a car. 

- Ahuashiayacu (in quechua yacu is water. Fun fact! quechua is a native dialect here) 

Have faith and be kind!

Hermana Fitzpatrick

September 12, 2016

Well family it´s that time of week again. It´s been an interesting week this week. 

First of all, weather. We had some heat with some cold snaps in the night. In Iquitos I just slept with a fan, no blankets or anything. Here, I have to actually use blankets at night! And during planning it is cold! 

In other news we had an earthquake this week! I woke up because I don´t remember why and was laying there wondering when the alarm was going to go off and then the room started shaking. I thought ¨Is this an earthquake? Or am I still dreaming?¨ Then I saw the light go on in the hallway of other people in the building that woke up so I knew it was for real. It was super small but we still got messages from some people asking if we were ok or not. In the talks on Sunday, one Hermano said that the earthquake was really cool and he thought it might be the beginning of the second coming. Not sure on that one haha

Learned a lot about humility this week. I think the hardest thing to fight within each one of us is pride. I really liked the article in the back of the Liahona this month about pride and how we don´t even realize how many things are pride in our lives and sin in ignorance. Pride really is the underlying sin in a lot of other sins that we commit. My companion and I are really trying to be more humble. 

We had a great lesson this week with Alan and Dayana. We went to their house at the beginning of the week and we had planned to teach something but as we started talking we felt impressed to share a little about our lives as missionaries and how we have learned to have successful companionships. I think having a companion is what humbles you more than anything! It was one of the most frustrating things at the beginning of my mission - to always have to check things by the other person, to not just be able to do what you want! i.e. Pride! But, I have really grown to love having a companion. When you want to make them happy and you are more focused on that than yourself then you both are happy. It´s such an easy trick. I love having someone to protect me, to highlight the good in me and help me carve out the bad. Someone to comfort me when I am sad and help me to reach my potential. It really is divine. We were able to share all of that with Alan and Dayana and we felt the Spirit so strongly and we weren´t really sure why we shared that with them. But then during our following visit they told us they had been having some difficulties in their relationship and our lesson had really helped them. I know the Spirit guides us through small and simple means and that every person is a beloved child of God and that he really is in the details of our lives. 

We also had a little cold this week but nothing serious so the work continues!

Also, as I mentioned before our branch council always has refreshments. At first it was just little sandwiches and some soda here or there. But lately they have really stepped up their game and are giving us full plates of food! They bring pots and everything. I think every week they are trying to outdo the others. 

- cooking up a storm

- Hermana Fitzpatrick-parrillada!! we had a whole slew of meat on that guy. Mine was the enormous chicken leg (shout out to Hna. Erika for being the best pensionista) 

 - eating a granadilla, my favorite fruit

Love you all lots! 

September 5, 2016

Well,

-walking in the middle of the street as usual 

 - double rainbow and the first full arch rainbow I have seen!

I´m honestly pretty much out of things to say about Tarapoto. It´s beautiful, it´s hot and my companion is awesome. We are striving to be completely obedient always and it is so true that miracles come from that. As far as studies go Mom we have a schedule that we try to follow for our companionship study:

1.start with a prayer

2.read 3 pages of the mission manual

3.repeat the mission culture and the 8 fundamental principles

4.watch a video from the District

5.share what we learned in personal study

6.make lesson plans for the day

7.do some practices

8.get ready to leave and head out 10 min before the hour

Sometimes it´s a race to fit it all in but I really enjoy companionship study because when we prepare beforehand the lessons go so much smoother and we are able to really get to the bottom of people´s questions and doubts. In my personal study I read the Book of Mormon, and I am trying to read the Bible too, study Preach my Gospel and then study other topics of interest. When we have some downtime here or there I like to read the Liahonas. I have really grown to love the words of the living prophets.

- my branch president and the elders in the branch

-some of my latin loves here

- our mission leader jajaja Roldan 

We have been on the search for paneton because I miss it and it is really yummy but it won´t be here until October for Christmas season :( we will just have to wait.

- a jungle hot dog! It´s a grilled banana and they fill it with peanuts, cheese, or fried pork. Yum yum! I like it with peanuts and it only costs one sol! A bargain. Literally sold on ever corner

- our ward council always has refreshments and they brought ají de gallina! my favorite! 

 I also tried cow intestine this week. Not bad but not my favorite. It´s called cau cau.

- meeting a turkey! 

- little turkey

 Still super hot and miserable but we asked for hats so we will see :)

Love the gospel. Love the Lord. Know this is His work. He heals us when we are sick and lifts us when weak. I know it.

Hermana Fitzpatrick