Keep The Faith

Water balloon fight for P-day!  We Love our Red-Sox shirts!

Hey Everyone!

Sooo this week has been interesting. I will start with my health. I'm healthy! No need to worry about me, I am doing just fine...following a very strict diet, and taking my medicine...But I am just fine :) I'm just so happy to be out working again :) No need to worry about me :) The Lord has blessed me a LOT with respect to my health these past couple weeks. 

I have learned a TON about faith this week. I have learned that during hard times in life is when we need to have the most faith. Not just when all is good and happy, but when we are struggling and need God's help the most. It is like the story...when Peter stepped off the ship and started walking towards Jesus. He had so much faith when he kept his eyes on Christ. But when he looked around and saw the waves and the storms, he started to lose faith and shrink. And that is when Christ grabbed his hand and pulled him back up. When winds and storms come into our lives, we can't lose faith or we will shrink. Christ will always ALWAYS be there for us to pull us back up, but when we are going through a hard time, we always needs to keep our eyes on Christ. Keep the faith and know that your trials are something to learn from, and you are going through them for a reason. It is as if Heavenly Father is saying to you, ¨I am trying to teach you something¨. That is how I have felt this week and I definitely learned something from it. Always keep faith in Christ. ALways! 

We have 4 possible baptisms for this Saturday! Yamile, Gelen, Angie and Ganpierre. All four want to get baptized, but their parents think it is too fast...which is a bummer because they have been coming to church for over a month! We have to work HARD this week so that they both can get baptized. My companion told me that ¨I have a way with the parents¨ so hopefully we can talk to them and help them realize what a blessing this will be in their lives :) They(the parents) too want to get baptized, but they are not married :( So we are working on that as well! Please pray for my investigators this week! We need all the help we can get! :) 

Some funny things happened this week:

In sacrament meeting a little girl got up to bear her testimony and she says, ¨I know that Christ does NOT live. I don't know what you are all talking about but he does not live. He is in heaven¨ 

We were teaching a lesson to a family in the street and their little boy was playing kind of far away. We closed our eyes and folded our arms to say the pray and the dad was going to say the prayer for the first time. As we were praying, the little boy, named Christiam, yells at us, ¨WAKE UP! WHY ARE YOU ALL SLEEPING??" Haha, kind of killed the Spirit, but it was dang funny :)

A doctor asked Hermana Lopez and I if we were related... ---___--- (See above photo...haha!!)

Thanks for all your love and support! I love you all! I can't believe David Pierce is already finished with his mission! Time flies, huh? Tell him I say hi! And everyone else!

Con mucho cariño,

Hermana Agle

Trials Bring Forth Blessings

Hey familia!

So this week has been a pretty rough week. My health is not very great!! I went to the doctor on Tuesday and he said my problem was very serious(Cami has been suffering severe stomach problems for several weeks...she even passed out one morning on her way to pick-up some medicine), so I had to be hospitalized... and I was in the hospital for 3 days. It was awful!! Being in a bed, all day, for 3 days as a missionary is the worst thing EVER. It was really hard...I was so impatient! I just wanted to get out!! And after I got out, I still had some problems and I went back for my appointment this morning and the doctor gave me various medicines that I have to take for 6 months! And a VERY strict diet. Very strict. I think I might be gluten intolerant to be honest, because my diet is that I can't eat flour. At all!! And Peru is the capital of food made with flour, haha, so we will see how that goes. But yeah. It has been a crazy week! I have lost a lot of weight as well. Remember how I was complaining at Christmas that I was getting fat?? Not anymore. I have lost a lot of weight. So I guess that is a plus right?  Mom always says "things are what you make of them", so I am trying to find the good in this :) 

Here is the email I sent to President Archibald this week:

Hermana Lopez and I have had a rough week. Lots of hospitals, appointments, being sick, and lots of emotions. But this week has been a learning experience. Being in the hospital was really difficult for me... And for my companion as well. We did not like leaving our area without anyone at ALL. I just wanted to get out so bad. Being in a bed all day as a missionary is not fun at all. So I was struggling. Along with Hermana Lopez. On Saturday night I was talking to Elder Herrera (after our baptismal date had fallen through) and I was pretty depressed. Not a lot of good things happened in our area as a result of me being in the hospital, and I still wasn't feeling 100 percent better, so I was kind of at a low point. But Elder Herrera was able to help me with a couple of scriptures and reassured me that the Lord was still working with us as missionaries and He was going to bless us. And the next day, President, we saw miracles. Last night we taught a family with about 20 people present. It felt like a fireside! And 11 people came to church and so many just appeared that are ready to be baptized. All we need to do now is set a date for them and help them get to that point. This week was hard and I was feeling pretty alone to be honest. But the Lord works great miracles and he is always there to help us. Times of tribulation are awesome because you can learn and grow so much from them. And the miracles that come after are even cooler :) I am so grateful for this week I have had. I have seen the hand of the Lord in this work and I now know that while I was in the hospital, my area was not left alone, the Lord was preparing people for us to teach just waiting for our return. This work is true and the Lord is with us every step of the way. Starting my mission I always said, ¨I don't want to be in a trio companionship...that would be so hard!¨ But I realized that I am already in a trio companionship...with the Lord as the third companion! Without his help, my 2nd companion, I cant do this work!!  I have learned a lot this week, President, and I'm so grateful for it!! 

Oh! Also, my nurse, his name was Wilber... And the hospital I was in, is like 30 minutes

from my house right? Well, Wilber lives in my area!! I was like NO WAY! And guess what's even cooler? HE CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK! Ahhhh I was so excited!!! There was definitely a reason that I was in the hospital when I was. Wilber now has the chance to hear and accept the gospel :) That was so sweet. I was able to teach him some lessons while I was in the hospital...while he was poking me with needles and taking my blood and stuff :) I am excited to continue teaching Wilber :) 

Alright, well I hope all is well at home! I love you all, I love everyone in the ward, and thank you for supporting the missionary work. I am so excited that you are working with a recent convert in your calling, Dad. That is so cool!! That means the missionaries in the ward are doing a GREAT job :) Always be there for him and help him continue to learn the lessons. The members are supposed to teach the lessons again to the recent converts so something you could do is go over to his house on Saturday (before your lesson on Sunday) and go over the lesson you are going to teach together. So you teach him the lesson first, and then after, plan the lesson together for the kids. That way, he is receiving the lessons again from a member, and you are doing your calling together as a team. And the missionary work in the Littleton ward moves along. The missionaries will really really appreciate it, and so will the convert. Just always be there for him, helping him along :) Thanks for being so great, and keep up the missionary work always! I love you all!! 

Con MUCHO cariño y amor,

Hermana Agle 

It's all about FAMILIES!

(We had a wonderful Skype session with Cami on Christmas Day...if you look really close you can see our entire family in the lower right corner)

This week has been a pretty slow week. We did not have a baptism this week which was a real bummer...but that just means that we worked really hard to set up baptismal dates for these coming weeks!! :) 

Remember Fiorella, Kiara, and Araceli who were baptized the 23rd of November? Well, their mom has a baptismal date for this Saturday!! Their parents have been having a lot of problems and they finally separated. It was really hard and sad to see them go through that, and I know the girls are sad because they love their dad...But it is really for the best. Their dad was not treating his family right...So he left, and after he left, we were able to set up a baptismal date for Juana(their mom). I know that her getting baptized will help the family so much! For this new Year, the mission is really going to focus on families and The Proclamation to the family. So I am really excited to have Juana baptized and start living the gospel with her daughters so they can receive the blessings that they deserve. The gospel really blesses families....I testify of that.  I had a really great lesson yesterday with some recent converts and we taught the Plan of Salvation. With recent converts, because they have the spirit, we get to teach them deeper lessons with lots of scriptures and questions (with investigators, because they dont have the spirit, we teach very simple lessons, enough that the spirit can testify that our words are true).  Teaching the Plan of Salvation in so much depth was SO cool. As I was teaching, I was teaching myself as well! The spirit was so strong and I knew... in that moment... that God created this AMAZING plan for us and gave us everything we need to live the Plan and return to His presence.  And our best tool is our family. I love the quote Mom has up on the wall on the tile that says something along the lines of ¨acheiving happiness in family life is most possible when the family is based off the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ¨. I love that, and it is SO true. I am so grateful for the family I have and the families I am teaching so I can help them base their life off of the Lord Jesus Christ. WE ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE FAMILIES! Get ready to hear about lots of baptisms this year :) 2014 is a big year! :) I invite you all to re-read The Family: A Proclamation to the World in your family home evening, and think about what you can do to help your family base your lives off of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the gospel and the happiness we receive from it :) Doctrine and Covenants 59:23 is so true :) Thanks for your support and I love you all! Have a great week!

Tomorrow, all of the leaders of the mission have a big meeting to determine the mission goals of 2014 with Elder Uceda of the Seventy! I am so excited to be able to go and hear the words of Elder Uceda and receive training from him!! I'll let you know how it goes next week! Love you all!!

Con mucho cariño,

Hermana Agle

FELIZ NAVIDAD

We had our mission Christmas party, and it was so much fun! Santa showed up :) We had gift exchanges,  delicious American food (thanks to Hermana Archibald...wife of the mission president), and played lots of games.  We had an incredible devotional to round out the night.  I am so grateful that I could spend this Christmas as a missionary, and really feel close to the Savior. Before my mission, I really didn't know why Heavenly Father wanted me to serve a mission...I just knew I had to go! But now I know that I was sent on my mission to get to know MY Savior.  I am so grateful for this gospel, and everything we can learn from living it. I know that we are here on this earth for a reason, and I know there is a reason for everything we pass through. I am so grateful for this time I have to get to know my Savior and grow closer to Him. I am so grateful for him, and everything he did for us!!

I Love my companion(Hermana Lopez) so much!!

This week, Eulalia and Renlfo got married! It was such a great day and they were so excited! They also got baptized the following Saturday! It has been a fight to get all of their paperwork ready, but we finally did it...and they were so happy :) Renlfo is blind, and Eulalia can't read...but they are just happy living in the gospel :)

This week I realized yet another time how happy living the gospel makes us. There is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 59 verse 23 that says that if we live the gospel we will have two things: Peace in this life, and eternal life in the next life. And I love this scripture! I know that if we live the gospel, we just find so much happiness and peace in our lives. The gospel is what makes us happy. I really saw that this week with Eulalia and Renulfo. They were just beaming all week long and I am so happy they are finally able to live all of the commandments and they could get baptized not to just have peace in this life, but eternal life in the life to come!

Wedding (Cami is just a little taller than everybody...haha)

...and Baptism of Renlfo and Eulalia

Ruth and Jilar were baptized last weekend as well! Their baptism was SO awesome! A fun Christmas baptism :) 

...Ok, just got off the phone with President and he called us to congratulate us on our baptisms!! AHHH we are accomplishing our goals! We are so excited!! Thanks for all of your prayers and support back home! :)

For Christmas every year, my ward has a talent show(see below). This year, we acted out a famous Latino TV show called ¨Chavo del 8¨ You should look it up and try to match all the characters! I am the ¨Bruja¨ or witch haha. It was SUPER fun! Everyone loved it and we were able to bring investigators and less actives into it so it was really successful.

I love being a missionary so much!!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Hermana Agle