FIRST LETTER FROM PERU.....I LOVE it here!!!

Hey Family! I'M IN PERU!!!!!!!!!!

OK, the keyboard is super weird so forgive any typing mistakes!

Peru is incredible!! So different, but so amazing! It's so cool to be in a different country but still be doing the same work I was doing in the United States! My companion is Hermana Muñoz, she is 24, and she has been on her mission for 17 months! She leaves this next transfer so I will be left in this area all alone with a companion that doesn't know the area! I.am real stressed about that!!haha.  I LOVE her so much, she is SO great! We have a lot of fun together! She was really grateful that I understand/speak Spanish. She wants to learn English so that one day she can go to BYU.  We decided we would talk in English in the house and Spanish everywhere else of course :) I really like that rule!  She is really interested in BYU and she is from Santiago, Chile! We get along great, and we laugh a LOT. We have fun :) I am not in the same zone as my MTC Hermanas, but in the zone right next to them! I saw Hermana Brown my first day here in the office!! We both cried we were so happy! I loved seeing and talking with her! I can't wait to see the other two! I'm in the zone El Olivar which boarders the Lima, Central Mission, so I'm right in the heart of the city!! It is so fun!! Scary though! The driving is crazy. Like NYC driving on steroids. It's just a free-for-all here! No one obeys lights/stop signs, nothing! We have to be really careful haha!!

There are dogs here. EVERYWHERE. And its so sad because most of them are just savaging for food, or injured, and it makes me sad. But for real, they are everywhere. It's weird, I've never been around stray dogs before so my first day I walked up to one (it was SO cute) and my companion said that I should never touch the dogs haha...I'm learning! Also, the men here are...forward. Very forward. They shout things at you, try to speak to you in English, shout "Mi Amor", come whisper in your ears...yeah creepy huh?!! But my companion knows all the safe routes and we go home early on weekends so we're safe :) It is just very different. I told my companion that you could call the police for that in the US and she thought that was pretty funny :)

The food...My pensionista (the woman who prepares all of our meals for us) only feeds us lunch (we are the only Hermana's who aren't fed every meal). And I am SO GRATEFUL for that. She is the sweetest, cutest lady and she is just the "cool" lady in the ward. She reminds me of Sister Gold!! Some of her food is so good! She knows that I like french fries so she makes me fries, and they have fry sauce here! Who would have thought, right?? My first day here, we ate turtle for lunch. And then liver. And the chickens here come feet and head and all so she cooks the WHOLE chicken. Oh man. Interesting food. It's a good thing Austin isn't coming to Peru on his mission, because the meat is also ALL fat and very very salty haha!! The first couple of days I just didn't eat anything besides bread and my lunches because I was so grossed out. But, I'm getting used to it I guess? Also, dinner isn't until 10pm! Crazy, huh? So I have to fill up on my lunches...which is a struggle for me sometimes. I am so grateful for Hermanita Juanita (my pensionista)...she has made the transition bearable, and is so cute and so so nice :)

The missionary work here is very different than in the US. There are a LOT of baptisms here. And a LOT of less actives haha! We mostly do Recent convert/Less active visits and average about 4 baptisms per month! That's the mission goal per companionship!! So it's sooo different than in the US! But I love it here, and I love the people and my zone and companion and the Peruvian culture! It's just so crazy that I am here!!

I hope everyone back home is continuing to develop their Christ-like attributes for this month!! It has helped me, a lot, to become a better missionary. I have found that when I apply these attributes in my mission, it makes me a better, more obedient missionary and my love for my investigators grows so much! Also, I love the scripture in 2 Ne. 26:24-33. It's so important that we share the gospel with everyone and invite people to come unto Christ! I'm sure a lot of you watched the mission fireside about member misisonary work. That really is the best way to do missionary work! So keep being the amazing people that you are and share the gospel! Everyone needs this message and your efforts help the missionaries so much :) 

It has been so humbling being in Peru this past week. People here have very very little. It has made me realize how much I have in my life and how blessed I am. I'm so excited to be here and bring the happiness of this gospel to the people :)!! I love you all!! Go out and save some souls!! :)

Hermana Agle