I'm learning more and more each week!

Hey Family!

This week has been good! We had a baptism on Saturday! Her name is Hilda and she is so sweet and cute and awesome! We told her the baptismal font would have hot water and when we got there Saturday morning, the water was FREEZING cold! It takes about 3 hours to fill up the font so there was nothing we could do!! But, she was still baptized, very willingly too haha! She had to do it twice, poor thing, but she never complained...not once! It was a great service :) She is going to make a great member of the church :) She even came to church on Sunday to get confirmed, when she was really really sick. She said she needed the guidance of the Holy Ghost in her life :) Everyone here is freaking out about the flu. H1N1 has broken out and 4 people in Callao (the district of Peru that I live in) have died from it. So, people are kind of freaking out! But they don't really do anything about it...haha...they still kiss everybody all the time and are not very careful with washing their hands, etc. I have a huge bottle of hand sanitizer that I carry around with me and I use it very frequently!!!

This week I think I learned more than I have learned in my whole mission combined! I learned that being in a bad mood is not good and not fun at all!! When I am in a bad mood, I just want everyone else to be in a bad mood, too. I don't want anyone else to be happy, and when they are, it totally bugs me! But as I've been reflecting on this, I have realized that this is EXACTLY how Satan is! He is so miserable and he just wants everybody else to be miserable with him! So I thought about how powerful the influence of Satan is on us. Because everyone knows when I am in a bad mood, it shows. Big time. And no one else around me is happy! So I thought a lot about that this week and I realized that I am a representative of Christ. I am here teaching about Christ, inviting people to come unto Christ, so I need to be the best example I can be of Christ. Whenever I feel like turning inward and being in a bad mood, I need to remember that Satan is working on me and he is happy that I am miserable. I need to remember to turn outward and forget myself and be more like Christ. When Christ was in the Garden suffering for the sins of every single person, he was STILL praying for other people, not himself. When some of His most beloved apostles betrayed Him in the Garden and one of the guards lost his ear, Christ, instead of feeling betrayed and thinking of himself, he turned outward, and healed the guard. Christ is always turning outward to help others, and never thinking of himself. So I have been thinking a lot about that this week and it really is going to change my mission. And it really has changed my mission this past week! and I have seen miracles from it :) 

Everything here in Peru is going great! OH except for the fact that I have a nest of fleas in my bed....I have bites ALL over my body and they ITCH. It happens to a lot of missionaries here. I can just imagine the look on Avery´s face haha. But I'm in the process of cleaning EVERYTHING and hopefully they will go away soon. It is not very fun, but my investigators are great, and the work is moving along :) I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary :) Love you all!!

Hermana Agle

FIRST BAPTISM...OMAR

Hola Familia!

So this week, we had Omar's baptism! Oh my goodness, it was so amazing! The spirit was SO strong and Omar was so happy!! There were activities all day at the church this Saturday and he went to every single one of them, as the newest member of the ward. After his confirmation, I asked him how he felt and he said "powerful" :) He is so great! One of the ways I know he has a strong testimony is that in our last lesson with him, he said, "This is just so important, I want to share it with the world!" I told him that that is exactly why I was in Peru, far away from my family, teaching the gospel. Because I know it's true and I want everyone in the world to know too! He is so great :)

Hilda is getting baptized this Saturday! In our first lesson with her, she said that she didn't believe that finding pure happiness in this life was possible. Yesterday she told us that she had found pure happiness and it was the Book of Mormon. I couldn't be more excited for her baptism this Saturday :)

We are also teaching a family that we found last week. Turns out, the mother is abusive to the son and the father told us that he had been praying with his son for something to happen to help soften the heart of the mother. The next day, we showed up to the door, and we've been teaching them ever since. The father says that the mother has really changed since that first lesson. The Lord knows what he is doing! This family needed help and he is giving it to them through this gospel! The son LOVED church yesterday and I can already see that their family is so much more united and happy. Miracles happen! The Lord really watches over everyone and he listens to our prayers!

Este Evangelio es verdadero. Yo sé con todo mi corazón que este Evangelio es verdadero. No puedo negarlo. Sé que Jesucristo es nuestra Salvador y por medio de él, solo por medio de él podemos volver a vivir con Dios y nuestras familias otra vez. Realmente, estoy disfrutando mi misión muchísimo. Quiero ayudar todas las personas aquí y es posible por medio de este Evangelio. Sé que Dios está escuchando nuestras oraciones y Él siempre va a contestarlas. El Libro de Mormón es felicidad puro y realmente es la palabra de Dios. Los profetas están llamados por Dios y reciben revelación. Gracias por todo el apoyo! Les amo a ustedes!!

Muchísimo amor,

Hermana Agle

1st Baptism

My District

On the roof of the Stake Presidents house

I put my backpack down for one second!

Hermana Brown got to come to the baptism!

Omar

Patriarch baptized Omar

Estefani, A member that comes out with us

I LOVE Hermana Brown

INVESTIGATORS

Hey Mom!

Oh man, so much has happened in the work this week! We have seen a LOT of miracles!! I LOVE missionary work! Ok, I'm going to tell you a little bit about each investigator :)

Omar-- HE IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!! Oh my goodness I am so excited!! One thing that is really cool is that my first Sunday here in Peru, Omar showed up to church with his brother who is investigating the church and the next day we had our first ever lesson with him, and now he is getting baptized! When we first started teaching him, he said he never really had a relationship with God but that he wanted to change that. So we started teaching him, and the second visit with him, he had already read up to 2 Nephi 2!! I think my face almost fell off I was smiling so much! He loved the Book of Mormon and he said he knew that it was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Omar knows his Bible really really well, and whenever he comes across a verse in the Bible that he has a question on, he always tries to find the answer in the Book of Mormon. Most people find a controversial verse in the Bible and automatically tell us that we are wrong. But Omar has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, he is always looking for answers there and in the Doctrine and Convenants. For example, we taught Omar that God has a body of flesh and bone. Later on he read in the Bible, John 4:24 and asked us about it. He said he knew that God had a body of flesh and bone because he knew the Book of Mormon was true, but why would the Bible say otherwise? We then taught him about the Doctrine and Covenants and the footnotes in the Bible and he loved it! He is very interested in Doctrine and Covenants now :) Oh man, he is going to be a great member of the church :) Such a strong testimony and so willing to live the commandments :)

Andru-- Andru is 17 and we found him while teaching his mom! We taught him the Book of Mormon and he said that he always had questions about religion in his life and that he was hoping to find the answers in the Book of Mormon. So he is reading, and he came to church yesterday, and loved our Gospel Principles class! It was on baptism! We have another lesson with him tomorrow and I am so excited to see what he thinks! He is so great! So willing to learn and he really wants to strengthen his relationship with God. Such a good guy!

Hilda-- Hilda is getting baptized August 3rd! The missionaries have been teaching her for a long time and she has finally decided to be baptized!! That will be so amazing :)

Mauro--Mauro has a lot of BRILLIANT questions...really deep questions that are really hard to answer. Like, "If we are supposed to follow the example of Jesus Christ, then why do we get married and have families, because Christ didn't?" Hermana Muñoz and Mauro get into really deep conversataions like that, and I never understand because they talk really fast in Spanish. But, Mauro has received an answer that this gospel is true, he just hasn't realized it yet :) I love our lessons with Mauro, they make my personal studies the next day really really interesting :) 

Delia-- Delia was a reference from the Patriarch and he comes with us to teach her! She is so cute, she feeds us every time we visit her :) She doesn't know much about religion and everytime we teach her something her face lights up and she says, "This is something new for me!" She is great :) We love teaching her, and she is learning so much! I love sharing this knowledge with her because she lives alone, all of her family has passed away, and one day she wants to do the work for her family members in the temple :)

There are more, but not enough time to write about them!! Basically, we are seeing miracles every single day and the work is moving along. We work a lot with the members, and that helps us a TON! Never be afraid to help the missionaries! Go out with them, give them references, and love them! They really need the members help!

There was an earthquake in Peru this week! Our building (5 stories) was swaying back and forth! So scary but so cool!! 

I hope everyone is continuing to develop their Christ-like attributes! Love you all and thanks for the support!!

Hermana Agle

ADJUSTING TO LIFE IN LIMA...

Hey Mom!

I am so glad you guys are having fun in Utah! To be honest, I am kind of  jealous! I miss everyone in Utah so much!! But things are great here in Peru. You're right, Ave and I are in totally opposite places right now!! We are teaching a 12 year old girl who is being baptized the 20th of July and she lives with her Mom and baby cousin in a one room cement house. It is about half the size of my room in Boston. So so sad! I got Becky's letters that she sent to the MTC. She sent the DEARELDERS directly here on accident, haha, but that is OK because it was nice to have letters waiting here for me when I got here :) Tell her I love her and miss her and thanks for the letter!! 

Being here is so humbling! For example, last Monday my zone went to play soccer together and when we got there, school was getting out and all of the little kids ran over to the field. When they found out I was from the United States they FREAKED out. I signed all of their shirts, backpacks, and a little 5 year old boy kept petting my skin and saying "I love the color of your skin". One of the little girls asked me if I thought she was ugly :( (I said yes at first because I didn't understand her Spanish...but then corrected myself haha). Oh man, it was so sad! The people here just idolize America and are so fascinated with it. It is really humbling. I now realize how blessed I am to have everything that I have, but I am so glad to be here teaching the gospel because I have seen it bring so much happiness into people's homes. The knowledge of this gospel brings hope to these people and I am so lucky to be the person giving them the good news of the restored gospel on the earth! I love being a missionary here :)

This week we had some pretty NASTY experiences with food. We ate at a members house and lets just say it was NASTYYYY. She has rabbits hopping all around her house that she just picks up and cooks when she feels like rabbit...so all my food had rabbit hair all over it.  She gave me a chicken leg, which I was like "thank goodness, just chicken"... at first, but as I started eating it, I realized the testicle was still attached. Oh man, I really died. Like I got light-headed haha!! And here, there is this plate called "papas con huancaina" and after our main meal she gave us a WHOLE plate of it. My companion is amazing and while she left the room my companion scarfed down all my food because she knew I couldn't eat it. She is great. Also, half way through the meal, a cat jumped from the ceiling onto the table. Haha!! Oh man, this lunch was CRAZY!

Everyone here thinks I am blonde! What the heck! I am blancita and rubia. (white and blonde). I was so confused at first but my companion explained to me that everyone here thinks North Americans are blonde. So weird! 

My new attribute for the month of July is Obedience!! The scriptures for obedience in Preach My Gospel are amazing!! I am so excited to work on developing this attribute this month! I hope everyone is doing this with me!! It has really made a positive impact on my missionary work. Everyone remember that members are the best missionaries! Seriously, we can't do this work without the members!! Everyone deserves to hear this gospel, so share it! Don't be afraid! You'll be so happy once you have done it :) I love you all!! Thanks for all of the support!

I know this church is so true! I am so grateful to be here in Peru sharing the gospel because it has brought me so much happiness and I want everyone here to experience this happiness as well! I love being a missionary. It is hard, but SO worth it. I am learning so much! Love you all!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Agle

P.S.  Tell Grandma DeeAnn that I love and miss her, too!! So much! Our new mission president just arrived here, I am so excited to meet him! Also, the 100th stake was just created in Peru this week and Elder Christofferson came to speak! Only the Peruvian missionaries got to go, though, because it was far away. BUT SO COOL! The work is progressing :) Tell everyone I love them!