January 16, 2017

This week was good.

I am getting adjusted to training. Mis hijitas are really great and just always help me to be excited to learn new things. They went to Iquitos for some migraciones stuff and left me alone for a day but it was all good because I statyed with the Sister Leaders.

Weather wise it is raining. A lot. Every day. But, I finally have my boots which you can not live without here and things are good. 

We had 21 people at church this week but we are working on it. Hoping the ward doesn´t get demoted to a branch or combined with another ward. It´s pretty crazy.

Looking forward to a new week! 

I loved studying the new Gordon B. Hinckley book. I love the chapter on missionary work where he says that everyday should be a good day in the mission field. So true! Every day you can see the 

Lord´s hand. This is His work. I love Him and love being His servant.

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

January 9, 2017

Wow! What a week!

We are getting to used to being in a trio and I am getting used to training and being here in Pucallpa - it´s pretty similar to home actually! Everyone told me it was the hottest of all the cities but I think it is the coolest one I have been in because the sun is really intense but there is always nice air running through. There is one catch though - ALL the streets here are red dirt. They call Pucallpa la tierra colorada. It´s all beautiful and fun - until it starts raining. Then, EVERYTHING turns to the stickiest, thickest red mud schlop you have ever seen. Everyone hates the rain here because they can´t even get out of their houses. For reals. See photo dos for evidence. I had my boots in Iquitos for a week before the sister leaders could get them to me and wow, I was dying. The mud is real. Houses here are almost always wooden and the people are a lot more humble than in Tarapoto, or Iquitos even, but they are ten thousand times friendlier! They all say hi to us going down the street which was different! Very friendly people! The children especially love to chase us down the street and ask for cards yelling ¨hermanitas! hermanitas! tarjeta! tarjeta!¨ 

- view from my house - we live on the third story. very nice and airy

 The ward is really small - we have about 50 people attending weekly. But that has made it easy to get to know everyone and we are working with less actives. There are a ton of less actives. 

- made chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate chips you sent mom! Turned out perfect! Thank you! They were great for our FHE!

Pucallpa also has a mall! It´s the first mall I have been in in more than a year! So crazy! How do people even construct things that big! I forgot what a supermarket is like and how convenient it is! Man! Crazy stuff. Plaza vea is incredible. We eat lunch there every Monday. 

We had an amazing experience this week. There is a family that the missionaries have been visiting for three years! We had never gone but we coordinated with the sister to go by and meet them. We got there and found out the brother had been attending but, because his wife didn´t want to get married or baptized, stopped. We were able to talk to her and she told us, listen, I had a lot of doubts and ´buts´ before but I have had a change of heart and I just want to get baptized. We were shocked and so was her husband. They are going to get baptized and married this 4 de February!  The Lord blesses our obedience and can definitely change even the most difficult person.

So that was our week, finding blessings, getting stuck in the mud, getting shut out of houses but let into others, and feeling the Spirit guiding us every step of the way.

Love you allll! 

Hermana Fitzpatrick 

January 2, 2017

Thank you for all the photos!!! well, surprise of all surprises... I had changes!! 

I am now in.....PUCALLPA! And my companion is...actually companions! Two! We are in trio! My first one! My comps are Hna Vera and Hna Lazarte. They are both from Boliva and they are both new to the mission! I am training them! Both of them! At the same time! It`s pretty crazy but we are learning as we go. 

-mis hijitas! 

 Pucallpa is super different than Iquitos and Tarapoto and all the streets are mud! When it rains - which is every day - it turns to straight schlop. Can`t do without boots here. 

-when it rained and we put plastic bags to protect ourselves

I will send you more details next week. Love you all! I am doing well! Home strech of the mission and the Lord wants me working my hardest until the end. 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

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