January 25, 2016

Hello Family!!!

It was another roller coaster week this week, but it was fun. This week has been pretty warm but I´m pretty much used to it. 

Sorry this is coming in a little late. We were all in the internet and then all of a sudden all the machines shut down and didn't open up again. We were all confused so we had to go to another internet to finish up.

This week we went to the Family History Center which is in the mission offices. There is a companionship of hermanas that work there, but they are only there certain hours and we bring recent converts and less actives to do their work there. On Sunday we had an appointment, and because it was Sunday we couldn´t pay for a moto into the city. So, we asked the brother-in-law of our pensionista to drive us in because he had his moto there. He agreed and when we got there, there was nowhere to park the moto so he said he would just wait outside for us. We felt bad so we opened the gates to the offices and he parked the moto inside the gates so he could come in with us. Everything was cool until we went to leave and the gate was locked with a lock and everything. The office elders and the assistants didn´t have keys for the lock and didn´t know who had the keys so we were waiting while they called looking for the mystery person who locked the gates. It took a long time and they still hadn´t found them and we were going to get home late so the asisstants told us we had to go and they would wait with the brother. So, we left and got home at about 9:15. Then, we were getting into bed and we got a call at 10:30 from our pensionista asking where her brother-in-law was. We were like, ¨um, don´t know, think still locked in the church¨ We went to bed but we felt really bad and in the morning she told us that he didn´t get home until midnight! We felt so bad but he thought it was just funny. And they all made a joke out of it and his daughter apparently had cried when they told her that her dad was locked in the church building. They said she cried ¡Mi papito mi papito! Está encerrado en la iglesia y nunca va a salir! ¡Va a morir allí! So scared some children and locked a man in the church offices this week.

We also had a baptism! It was cool, but man there is no such thing as an easy baptism. There is ALWAYS something that comes up, some trial, some challenge, some doubt. But it really is like that with everything we do in the gospel. When I first got here I thought, why is a mission so hard? Why are you tested in every way you can possibly imagine and why do you face so many challenges? But I´ve realized that missionaries are the front line against the adversary. He knows how directly we fight against him and so he sends his best forces to try and detain and distract us. I think we face that whenever we try to take a step in the right direction. The enemy is so real and so quick to act on us. It can be hard to not get discouraged or exhausted, but Heavenly Father is more powerful than Satan and we have His merciful support. We are so blessed! 

I am doing well. Today are changes and I actually think that I might not be having changes but we will see tonight. I might be doing the full six month service here in Clavero. Tonight we will know. Well, I will know. You will have to live another week in suspense.

Love you all!

Hermana Fitzpatrick

- quistacocha! We went with the sisters on Monday and it was fun. 
My third time on the beach!

- Alonso! He was less active but he just opened his papers for the mission! 
Miracles happen!

- Just your typical Sunday dinner. Fresh coconuts! So yummy.

 I love to drink the milk straight out of the coconut

January 18, 2016

Ok ok ok, 

This might be a little longer letter than usual because I have so many stories from this week. It was a CRAZY week and I am exhausted. So many crazy/funny things happened. You might not see them as such but I laughed so that´s what matters. 

In food news first, this week I ate a hard boiled turtle egg. It was vomitrocious and I will not repeat that experience but I ate it and I even ate it with a cooked banana like a real Peruvian. This week we also had a lunch appointment with a family for the first time. It was really fun and special and we ate sancin - a chaufa with every type of meat and everything else you can imagine. They are HUGE servings. Seven of us ate two servings and that was with a generous portion - Peruvians do not skimp on the portions. I was so full of meat and rice and Inca Kola I thought I was going to throw up. Thankfully I did not, I just said thank you and left. Also, the son of the family got back from Buenos Aires Sur Mission 6 months ago. ¡Hola Greg! 

- eating sancin with the member family. So fun! and so filling!

 OK, now to the stories. Well, we have an investigator who is going to be baptized this Saturday and we visited him and he told us that he had seen on the news that a 14 year old girl had gone missing in a city nearby. He was really worried about her and prayed for her safety. Then, he said that he had a dream, that I was pregnant! He told his mom the dream and she said that to dream someone was pregnant meant that good news was on the way. The next day, the girl was found safe and sound in the jungle! So, just causing miracles out here no worries!

Next, we have a little 4 year old girl who lives next door who yells ¨Hello!¨ at me. Every. Day. We live on the second floor and one night I was talking to my companion and I heard ¨Hello!¨ in her little voice. I kept talking but in the back of my mind was thinking, ¨That´s so odd. How can she see me from all the way up here?¨ I didn´t really think about it too much but I looked out the window and just saw her little face looking at me! It scared me so I screamed and my companion, who couldn´t see out the window, heard me scream and screamed even louder. But, turns out that the little girl has a balcony that connects to our balcony and she was just standing on her side of the balcony. Freaky none the less. Now when she sees us she says ¨Hello!¨ and then follows it up with ¨I really scared you didn´t I?¨ Yes, Diana, you really did.

Now to our really crazy day - Saturday. It was supposed to be relaxing with our baptism and lunch date, but it was so stressful. So, in the morning we left like normal to get the chapel ready for the baptism. It was going to be in the afternoon so we had to get the font filling. We got the keys and went to fill the font, but it was already full of filthy water when we got there. So we drained it and hopped in the font barefoot to clean it with some detergent. We ran out so we went to the store to get some more. As we were leaving I didn´t want to leave the door open, so I closed it, not knowing that it would lock it. With all our stuff, our cellphone, our bags, and most importantly, the keys, inside. We went to a sister´s house that usually has the keys thinking she could help us out, but she told us there was only one key! We didn´t know what to do so we called Bishop who came and called the stake president who told us the other key was with another bishop in the stake who didn´t answer his phone. So, we decided we would have to do the only other logical thing - go fishing for the keys through the open window. We put some sticks together with the belt of my dress and found some wire to make a hook. It took a long time and lots of stress but we got the keys!! It was a success.

- the rescue team!

Then, we had the final interview of our investigator in the chapel. We finished all the cleaning and morning madness just in time for the elders to arrive but our investigator was nowhere to be found! We called and called but he didn´t answer. So, we ran to his house and picked him up. Then, when we got to the chapel he told us he had decided not to be baptized that day. We were so sad but we told him to go into his interview and then we could talk more after. We were so scared, but he came out of his interview completely normal and ready to be baptized! I don´t know what that elder did but it worked!  Then we had his baptism and it was awesome. The young men have really rallied and become his friends and have been a great strength for him. It was gratifying to have worked so hard against the adversary and see a little triumph for Heavenly Father. I was exhausted but happy.

- Alvaro! The little stinker almost escaped us!

 That was my week. It was pretty crazy and I´m drained but I am happy. I feel happier and happier every day. This is the last week of changes and I think my time is coming to a close here in Clavero but we will see next week. 

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

Hermana Fitzpatrick

January 11, 2016

¡Hola Familia! 

Another week has come and gone and this week I hit FOUR MONTHS.Whoa! Crazy talk! Time flies when you are having fun and experiencing every emotion known to man. This coming week I will be one fourth of the way done with my mission. Are we hearing that? It´s absolute madness. 

This week was pretty calm but extremely hot. These last couple days have been real cookers. You wake up sweaty, shower sweaty, get dressed sweaty, and just continue to sweat throughout the day. There is no relief. My companion and I each have our own fan and we put them on full blast during study time and still sweat our eyes out. It is weird to think that anything other than sweaty heat even exists. It all seems like an odd fantasy now - having actual weather and such. 

-Can we talk again about how beautiful the sunsets are? 

This is the field in front of my pensionista´s house

 I started my diet this week because the rice is catching up to me, and fast. One sister, who still is convinced I don´t understand Spanish, told my companion in front of me that it is so odd that I have skinny arms and fat legs because usually skinny people have skinny legs too. Heartbreak in the jungle as the truth comes out. I told my pensionista I didn´t want any more rice and she looked at me as if I had pierced her soul. She got over it. Now it´s just chicken, fruits, and vegetables for me. And smoothies. I would never sacrifice my morning smoothie even though I know it is half sugar. 

We did go to Carmencita on Monday with the zone and it was so fun! It was a huge field area with a giant iron platform tower and a pool. We brought a bbq and meat and grilled meat and went up the tower. It overlooked the airport and the area around there and it brought back the memories of my first glimpses of Iquitos. I will never forget landing and looking out the window at straight jungle and thinking ¨What have I done?¨ Actually, I think that´s a thought that has not ceased to be in my mind. It was really beautiful and refreshing to watch other people swim and remember that that was something I used to occasionally do. 

 -grilling it all up in Carmencita

 -The very ¨safe¨ and ¨secure¨ tower that I climbed up and almost peed my pants out of fear

 -taking on the jungle as usual. This time from the air

 Speaking of swimming, this week was the beginning of Carnaval, a month long celebration. It is every Sunday this month culminating to a big celebration in February. They celebrate by throwing things like water balloons and basically anything else that will get you wet - paint, juice, soda. If they can get their hands on it, they will throw it at you. Mostly they just play between themselves though and don´t really involve the missionaries. But, we were walking the other day and all of sudden I felt like I had stepped in mud or something. Then I realized it was a water balloon that a kid had thrown at me that landed a direct hit on my foot. Such an odd sensation to have one foot be soaking wet and the other dry as a bone. Also, the kids all play in the little plastic pools on Sundays. It looked so refreshing yesterday I could´ve just jumped in there with them. 

Also, yesterday and Saturday we didn´t have that much time to work because Elder Uceda came and visited the mission. He burned us but he also inspired me so much. I feel recharged and ready to be better. He is the area president so it was a big deal. He was really nice and told us some hard truths about the missionary work here. We are working as a mission to be better, but it will be hard. We had conferences with him Saturday for four hours and then Sunday for five hours. It seemed like it would be a long time but it went by in a blink. And my trainer who is Sister Training Leader in Pucallpa was here for a leadership council, so I ran into her too! It felt like a weird past life to see her again and hear her voice and everything,but looks like she is doing well. 

Love you all! Hope you have a great week. Stay firm in the faith and be a little better every day. 

Hermana Fitz

January 4, 2016

Well Family! Hola! 

This week was a blast. So much happened and it felt like an eternity but it also went by in a snap. We finished up the year strong and got a lot of work done. The next couple weeks we have some more baptisms that we are preparing for and excited for. They are all people that I have found and taught so I am happy about that. 

On the 28th it was my comp´s bday. We didn´t really do anything except go downtown like we always do. Then that night our pensionista asked us to come at 8:30 instead of 5:00 so we came and she had made a little surprise party for my comp. It was so nice. We ate chicken and chaufa and sang happy birthday and ate cake. I know it meant a lot to her and it was really nice of my pensionista to do even though their family doesn´t know her that well. She was really touched. I love my penisonista and her family a lot. They are like my family here and it will be hard to leave them when I have transfers, whenever I go.

- surprise party! My pensionista and her family!

For New Year we didn´t really do anything either, but no one was at home. I thought Christmas was a party, but New Year´s is even bigger here. Everyone decorates their houses with green, yellow, red, and white banners and balloons and dresses up in the colors. Red is for love, yellow for happiness, green for money, and white is to get married. People also make muñecos to burn at midnight which are big dolls filled with old clothes and stuff. At midnight, the music was pumping as usual and fireworks were blasting and the dolls were burning and people were calling us. It was absolute madness. I woke up so out of it. Another tradition is to eat twelve grapes at midnight and make a wish with every one. I was so drowsy and just watching the craziness outside and half consciously eating my grapes. I think I forgot to make wishes. But I´m pretty sure my year is going to go just fine anyways.

- one of the dolls, burned for being a drunk and a womanizer lolzies

The morning after New Year´s people were still going. It was really hard to sleep that night because literally the music got turned off at 7:00 in the morning. I´m talking so loud you think the speakers are in your own house. That, all night. It was a rough night. They kept drinking, and another thing they do is throw corn flour on people. So all that day we just saw drunk people covered in white still partying the day away. It was actually really sad to see. I think one thing I have seen and learned from here in Iquitos is just blatant wickedness. At home it was more glamorized and hidden in people´s houses, but here you pass it on the street every day and it is always right in front of your face. Sometimes that is hard for me to see. But it was a New Year´s to remember forever. One down, one to go. 

Annnnnndddd, my package came!! I saw it before our district meeting on Tuesday and the whole meeting I was just thinking about what was inside. It was awesome! Thank you so much mamita! I love the shirts and was really grateful to get them because I had just been wanting more t-shirts that are kind of nicer. They fit perfectly! And the food was amazing. It is taking a lot of willpower but I am trying to preserve them for as long as possible. Gold of all gold are the joe´s o´s. I had actually prayed you would send them and I opened them and almost cried. We love playing with the yo yo and slinky during study and we are going to make a poster and try out the lights. First, we have to get some batteries. I gave my comp one of the marker sets and she loves them, she was amazed that they could have scents and is really happy with them. And the cd´s are the bomb! We have been listening to them nonstop. It was a really great package mom! Thank you so much for sending it, it was huge too! I am enjoying everything you sent. 

- look what came! Thanks momma!

This week we are going to Carmensita, a field thingy, with the zone for a bbq and games. Should be fun because we had a lot of changes in the zone so we are getting to know everyone and trying to unify the zone again. It´s a bring-your-own-pollo event so we have our seasoned chicken in tow. 

I feel really different as a missionary. You just can´t be a missionary and do the things we do everyday and be a normal person. You can´t constantly testify of Christ and see the things we see and not be affected by it. It changes you. But I also feel the same. I don´t know, it´s an odd sensation. Even if the Young Women don´t think they are going to go on a mission, they should prepare because you really never know. Get in the habit of doing the little things - scripture study, prayer, attending church, and then look for ways to be a missionary. Go out with the missionaries too and see what it´s really like! It´s awesome! And do your personal progress, even though it´s tedious it really does have so many good things in there. I regret doing it so begrudgingly. Take advantage of the mini MTC and the biggest advice I would give is pay attention to the Spirit. Figure out how to recognize it in your life and that will be your greatest tool. And learn scripture mastery! It will help so much!!

Love you all, happy 2016!

- see ya 2015! It was a really good year to me. Looking forward to 2016. These numbers were burned that night but it was far away from our house so we didn´t see them burn. 

They hung them over the street on the light cable, so really secure and safe as usual

Hermanita Fitz