PIONEERS in the JUNGLE

Monday, November 25

Well like always when I have a transfer I have a BILLION things to write, now if only I had a BILLION minutes to write everything to you guys. First of all I want to let you all know how happy I am. I haven´t been this happy in my mission for awhile. I GOT A NEW AREA!!!! :D My new area is called Primavera. Just a little info about where I´m living. Where we meet for church on Sundays isn't in a chapel. It´s in a house - we don´t have a Chapel here, it's just a big house that we meet in.  I´m way out in the jungle! My new companion (hna. Centeno from Peru) She and I are the first sisters to be in the area. Every member we meet tells us that we are pioneers because we´re the first Hermanas to be in Primavera. My area is HUGE!!!!!! Which I like because that means that there are lots people to teach. We've been in the area for about 5 days now and we already have two investigators who have a baptism date!!! We´re planning to baptize Juan and Jessica in December 14th. My bishop is AMAZING! I called him our second day in the area and asked if one of the members who has a motorkar could drive us around and help up find some families to teach. At first he wasn't sure who to ask, but then he told us to ask the husband of the lady who cooks our breakfast and dinner - Hno Sanchez. 1: This is a good sign, this shows that my bishop knows his members. Then he told me when I ask Hno Sanchez to tell him that the Ward will pay him back for the gas in his motokar (2. He wants to make sure that Hno Sanchez is taken care of too for his sacrifice) I thanked him and he told me how excited he was to have Hermanas in the Ward now and he gave me a warm welcome. I hung up the phone feel satisfied. But then not even two minutes later the Bishop called me back and told me that he called Hno. Sanchez and spoke with him and everything is planned out, Hno Sanchez is going to drive us around and help us find families to teach from 6 to 9 then he will drive you home. (3. Wow I think I almost started crying when he told me that. I´ve never had a Bishop who made sure we were taken care of like that.) I LOVE my new area. My Ward is the best Ward I've  had in my whole mission. I think we´re going to have a lot of success here.
I´m also training again! Hermana Centeno has a whopping 6 days in the feild. She is AWESOME! She is 23 and is from Peru (but I forgot what part) She is so sweet and is super prepared spiritually for the mission. A funny story: So our first night in our house our district leader called us (Elder Anderson from…. I forgot where he´s from) but he was asking us if we needed anything for our house, I looked around and realized we didn´t have beds or a frige or wáter, so I started naming off my list of things we needed, then my companion said “toilet paper! We don´t have toilet paper!” haha! Elder Anderson heard what she said over the phone and we both started laughing and Elder Anderson said, “oh my goodness sister!” haha Then I told her that we have to buy that ourselves. Haha But something else that´s cool is that we share the Ward with the elders so there is the four of us because Primavera is so huge. But anyways my new Little house is super cute and I´m loving my area so far. The Lord sure knows the desires of our hearts. I feel like I´m where I´m suppose to be. I am in love with my area and the people in my Ward. I am so blessed to be here with this people. I see the hand of the Lord in my mission life every single day and I know He is looking out for my more Than I know. I´m happy and doing great. Things are looking up. Thank you for all your love and support.
Love, Hermana Price. J

My New Apartment is my Happy Place

Monday, November 18, 2013

Hey fam!!!!
Yet another good week here in the Jungle. We had a bautismo this week!!! WOOT! Luis got baptized this weekend. It was a great experience. So here in the mission we really try with all we've got to teach families. It´s not really “frowned upon” to have a baptism of a Little teenage boy but it´s better to have a baptism of a family than just a teenage kid, however Luis´s baptism was one of the most spiritual baptisms I´ve had in my mission. The person getting baptized has the chance to share his or her testimony. Luis got right up there and gave the sweetest testimony ever. He got all choked up and tears started to roll down his cheeks. You guys know that right now I´m not having the success I would like to, but when I was sitting there listening to Luis´s testimony the spirit whispered to me that even though Luis is only 14 years old he can feel the spirit and be converted to the gospel, and his soul is a soul and it doesn't matter at what age. But the neat part was, that Luis´s parents (who aren't members or even attended church before) came to his baptism to support him. While Luis was giving his testimony his mom started to cry. After everything was said and done I went over to talk to her. I grabbed her hands and told her that this church is for the family and that one day she and her husband could join Luis in bautismo. Tears started to well  up in her eyes and in mine,  then she whispered “we´ll be coming back”.  This work is so sweet and even though I have my moments of trials and tears, those powerful moments with the spirit make it all worth it. Today is Cambios!!!!! WOOOOT! We´re all really excited to see what´s going to happen. We have a TON of new elders coming in. Oh and by the way my comp and I are changing houses today our new apartment is SO nice!!!  Hopefully that will help lift my spirits. My house that I´m in right now….. is the prettiest thing I've lived in…. Haha but anyways we had a great week and we´re excited for a new one, I hope everyone is doing well and is happy. Thanksgiving is coming up!!!! Woot! Thinking of mom´s cooking make my mouth water. Love you all!
Love, Hermana Price.  Hugs and kisses!

ALL FOR YOUR GOOD

Hey fam!! This week went by SO fast for me, I can´t believe it´s P day again.  This week has been great! I´ve really felt a lot closer to my Heavenly Father this week. We still don´t have the success we would like and we´re still trying to find ways to get more support from the Ward. It´s not an easy task. :) My companion and I are still having lots of fun together but she is still SO SHY! She really does´t say much but she is such a sweet heart and she has taught me a lot. For example the other day I just wasn't feeling the best. I was tired and stressed out. I spent a lot of that morning on my knees. Then I went in the other room to finish up my study time and my companion and I started talking. She told me something her friend, who is a returned missionary, told her. She said the mission isn't supposed to be easy. If I had to sit at a dinner table with everyone in history who have “served great missions” like prophets from the bible or Nephi, or other prophets from the Book of Mormon or with people like Joseph and Emma Smith and even Christ himself, would my trials that I have here in my mission even compare? It really got me thinking. The Lord gives us trails and experiences to help us learn and to grow and even though we don´t know the reason behind the trials, our Heavenly Father does. And one day we´ll be able to look back at our life and those hard times and it will seem like a small moment in time. I love you all so much and I pray for you often. Thank you for all your love and support.
Hermana Price.

PS Sorry this letter is so short!

IT TAKES MY BREATH AWAY!!

November 4, 2013

Hellllllllllo Fam!

Is it Monday already? Crazy! This week FLEW by. This week was SO much fun and SO crazy. J First off, we are teaching this little boy named Luis and he lives in Kil. 14 which is way out in the middle of nowhere. We went to teach him in his house Tuesday and it took us 45 minutes to drive there. We asked our neighbor who is a member and has a motorkar if he would be willing to drive us because it would be pretty expensive to pay for a car to drive us out there. My companion and I were in HEAVEN on our way out there. His houses is way out in the jungle, and guess what little miss Hermana Price forgot, HER CAMERA! Hmmm I must take after my mom. J But it´s ok we´re going back out there again on Tuesday. When we pulled up to the house it almost took my breath away. It was the cutest little jungle house ever (I´ll be sending pictures) It was so quiet and peaceful out there. First they showed gave us a little tour of the house and their farm land, they own cows and tons of fruit trees. Then we taught little Luis in their backyard about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. It was one of the coolest lessons I´ve ever had. We talked about how Joseph Smith was only 14 when he started searching for the truth, we then applied the life of Joseph to the life of Luis and how the both of them are farm boys and how Joseph went to a field of trees near his house to ask which church he should join and how Luis could do the same with all the jungle that surrounds him. It was really cool and very spiritual for me. Later his aunt (who is a member) made us dinner. By the time we ate it, it was night time and where they live they don´t have electricity so we got to eat our dinner of rice, eggs, and fried bananas by candle light. It was such a neat experience. While we were eating I just keep thinking to myself, I am so blessed to have the opportunity to go out in the middle of the jungle to teach people like Luis the gospel. When we finished dinner, we walked to the motorkar to leave for our next appointment when I looked up at the sky and once again the beauty of the jungle took my breath away. THE STARS WERE INCREDIBLE! I´ve never seen so many stars and so bright. Our heavenly father sure made a beautiful world. J

I have SO much I want to tell you but I think I´ll wrap this letter up with another animal story, so… Almost every time we get back to our house from our day of work there is always a little bit of a surprise. Well last night threw us a curve ball. I walked in to our house and put my bag down and walked back to the room where we sleep and turned on the light, and there waiting for me was a HUGE SPIDER!!! Not just any spider a tarantula. I screamed at the top of my lungs and yelled for my comp to hand me the broom. With all my might I tried to kill the little monster WACK!!!! I missed! Good thing this spider was a little slower than others and I had time to try another swat. WACK!!!! Mission accomplished. And of course this whole time my comp and I are screaming like there is a murderer in the house. Not even 3 seconds later Hermana Rubi was pounding on our door yelling for us to open the door. Once we knew our little visitor was dead, we opened the door and showed her what had happened. She told us that whenever there is a lot of rain the spiders start to come. Great! The only time I´ve seen a spider that big was at the zoo safely behind a glass cage. Oh I´m just livin it up here in the Selva. J Love you guys and thanks for your love and support. Hugs and kisses!

Hermana Price. J Aka Jungle women

Started off Running!

October 28, 2013

Hello fam!
Wow! What a week. So my companion and I started off the week running. We found two new families to teach! But at the beginning of the week,  I was a little bummed that we weren't going to have a baptism for this month. It would've have been my first month without a baptism in my mission. We had problems with one of our investigators named Victor. Victor has received the missionaries on and off for about 8 years. All of his family are members except him and his and his girlfriend (the mother of their three kids). We've been working with him for about the whole time I've been in Pucallpa. The problem was that we couldn't find his paperwork to get him married and of course we don´t baptize people who are living with their girlfriends or boyfriends. Our Zone Leaders knew about our situation and told us they would do some work and find a solution. So when we were teaching another investigator Friday night, our cell phone rang. I walked out to the front porch and answered the phone… It was my Zone Leader Elder ...... “Sister Price! I have some good news…” (But in Spanish of course) “You and sister .....  are going to have a marriage and a baptism tomorrow!” Tears started to well up in my eyes and I think I screamed a little bit! FINALLY this family could be united in marriage and Hno. Victor could FINALLY enter into the waters of baptism.  YAY! We weren't planning on a wedding or a baptism so everything was a little crazy and we had to throw together a baptism, but it all worked out. It was a beautiful day with a marriage and baptism. Then yesterday we had a family home evening with a bunch of people from the ward in their house.  I wanted to send pics but my computer isn't working! Only in the jungle.
Something else that has been going on this week is the members from the Ward are going to the temple this weekend. Mom, you asked me to send you a little info for your lesson this week. We have two families who are going to the temple for the first time this weekend. Let me tell you a little bit of what these people have to do in order to go to the temple in Lima. They have to take a 20 hour bus ride to Lima. It costs them about 80 soles ($30) and for most people here 80 soles is a stretch. The road to Lima is SUPER crazy with all sorts of bumps and crazy turns. They don´t make any stops and they have to pack their own food. Every time I think about it, puts a lump in my throat. When I was at home and wanted to attend the temple I would just hop into my heated or air conditioned car and drive a whopping 6 minutes to the temple. I cannot testify enough of how blessed we are to live in Utah and have so many temples so close. I wish I could write more but I don´t have much time for the internet today, but just tell the sisters in the Ward to take advantage of the temples so close to you. It is such a sacrifice for these people to attend the temple and sometimes takes years to prepare to attend. I love this gospel so much and I know that temples are houses of the Lord and I miss the the peace and revelation that can come from the temple.
Love, Hermana Price.

PS Thanks everyone for your letters :)

A 20-Second Choice

October 21, 2013

Hey fam!!!

So I don`t have much time to write: So my week was a little interesting. First of all, you know about that rash that a lot of the North American kids get when they come here to the jungle? Well…… It broke out all over my neck and lips like there`s no tomorrow! All week my lips have been white and swollen. It itches SO bad it´s the worst thing ever. So I asked this lady in my ward what I should do to make it better and she gave me this cream that has helped a little, but that was one crazy thing that happened this week. Then our baptism that we had planned fell through. Her name is Claudia and her cousin is a member, but her parents aren't, and her mom said no. She doesn't want her child to get baptized. That was really hard for us because we haven`t had one baptism all this month. And just when you think the disappointment and the sadness was over…. NOPE our only hope for a baptism this month was Victor but he didn't attend church this week so we can´t baptize him. L We have to wait until next month for Nov. 2nd. I was sitting in sacrament this week thinking about my investigators and everything and I felt super sad and disappointed because none of them attended church. I think while in the mission we get a little taste of how our Heavenly Father feels about us when we don´t obey basic commandments. Then I realized when we have disappointments in life we or moments like I had in church this week when you feel like nothing is going right, you have 20 seconds. Twenty seconds to be sad and disappointed. Then when that 20 seconds is over you have a choice. You get to choose what you are going to do about it. Are you going to let the sadness and disappointment continue, or are you going to do something about it and work harder to change the negative into a positive? This mission is still the hardest thing I´ve done, but I wouldn't have it any other way because I`m growing and learning about myself and my about relationship with my Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that we have experiences in life when we get to learn and grow and stretch ourselves. I love you all so much and I´m so blessed to have you in my life. I cannot testify enough about how blessed we are to live in Utah where the church is established and going strong. Thank you for all your prayers and love. J

Until Next week… Your, Hermana Price. J

Hugs and Kisses!!!!!!  

Having Faith that Things Will Get Better

Monday, October 14, 2013

Hola fam!!!!!

How is everyone doing?? I´m missing you all like crazy. This week has been great. J I LOVE MY NEW COMP! Her name is Hna. Montoya from Bolivia and she is the cutest Little thing ever. She is very sweet and always has a smile on her face. It´s been a Little difficult getting to know her because she is pretty shy but I just keep asking her questions about her and Little by Little i´m finding out more. Of course I asked her about her family and everything and she has 8 brothers and 1 sister!!! What a house full. J But her parents and most of her family are inactive, then I found out that her family hasn't written her the whole time she has been out on her mission. I could tell she was just brushing it off to like it didn't matter to her but her eyes started to water. I got a big lump in my throat. 

But anyways this week has been okay. Our numbers aren't where they should be and my district leader wasn't every happy with me this week but I know we´re going to do better. We FINALLY had a meeting with our leaders in our Ward this week and we´re constantly making changes to work better with the Ward so we have a ton of faith that things will get better.

Little animal story: So my companion is SUPER scared of all types of bugs and animals. She screams every time she sees those Little lizards that are here in Peru. But the other day we were walking down the trail and she stopped and froze up. Then she pointed to a Little tree on the side of the trail and asked why it was shaking (it was shaking pretty violently). I walked over to the tree to see what it was. It was a monkey!!!!! :D I LOVE it when we run into Monkeys! She wouldn't go near it and I wanted to hold it but I didn't want to risk the chance of being bitten. Haha

Love you all, Thank you so much for all your love and support. J I´m still loving my mission and all the experiences here. I´m learning so much. HUGS AND KISSES!

Con mucho amor, Hermana Price. J

PS DAD HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I started reading the New Testament and I LOVE IT! Want to have study dates with me when I get home?:)