First visit to Huaraz!

Ofelia and her son Sneider...I love them!

Well, this week has been crazy busy!! 

I made it up to Huaraz!! But only for 12 hours! haha...The bus ride was TERRIFYING!!! It is just zig zagged roads up the mountains the whole time. And we were in a double decker bus that swayed from side to side.  It was TERRIFYING!! We arrived at 7pm Tuesday night. I stayed with Hermana Winters and Hermana Solis so that was awesome!! We were going to be there two days, but that night our district leader called and said we had a training from President THE NEXT MORNING. It was a surprise visit!! So Hermaa Leyva and I headed back down to Barranca at 6 o'clock the next morning. The way down was even more terrifying. We took a taxi that drove 75 mph the whole way down. Huaraz is three miles above sea level...and the road is 100% zig zag. I felt like Tyler was in the front seat driving...it was terrifying. But it was a GORGEOUS morning so I was able to take a few pictures out the car window :) We will go up again to have a real work visit with the Sisters in a few weeks :) But yes, I have officially been in Huaraz :) 

We have a baptism this Saturday!! Ofelia Gonzales :) She is so excited for her baptism! And I am too! She has almost nothing and she suffers a lot in her life. But the gospel is changing her life...specifically, the Book of Mormon. She loves it. It has changed her heart. She has been humbled and realizes how she needs to repent and be baptized to be clean and she is so willing to do it. I am excited to see the blessings that she will receive by following the example of Jesus Christ :) She SO deserves this gospel in her life. Her little son, Sneider, is the CUTEST little boy. The most unsanitary... but the cutest :) We've become good friends :) I always sneak him cookies in our gospel principles class :) But yeah! We have been getting the branch super excited about the baptism as well. There hasn't been a convert here in a long time so we are making this baptism a big event. We made invitations and fliers and we were running around church all day yesterday announcing it to everyone :) So I think it will be a great day. Satan works hard the week of the baptisms...but we are going to work harder this week! We are going to fight for Ofelia because she so deserves it :)

This week Hermana Leyva made me my favorite meal...Lomo Saltado. It was SO good!!! All of you should find a Peruvian restaurant and ask for lomo saltado and you will die. It is so yummy. I already contracted Hermana Leyva as my wedding chef to make lomo saltado so be looking forward to that in the future :) Also, we visit Ofelia almost everyday and right outside her house there is a ají field. Ají is like the MAIN food here in Peru. Second to rice. And there are these workers there that we contacted and they are super FUNNY. They gave us a couple ají's (ají is a chili pepper) and said that we needed to come with soda the next time to pay them back. Well, the next time we actually came with INCA kola and gave it to the, so they gave us a huge bag of ajís!! And thats why Hermana Leyva made me lomo saltado.  We have about 3 kilos of ají that we have to use! haha. But yeah, I learned that through contacting, you can get a bunch of free ají :)

Something that I am learning in these weeks is the importance of listening to our leaders. President Archibald has been an amazing guide for me in the mission and the words of the prophets, apostles and members of the 70. As I have studied and put into practice their words, I have come to see the promises that they make us. If we just listen to our leaders we will be blessed! They really know what they are talking about!! I testify that they have communication with God through their Priesthood Authority. Sometimes we think that we can do things on our own, but it is so much easier if we just listen to our church leaders, those that receive revelation, and act according to their counsels. I have seen miracles from listening to our prophet Thomas S. Monson, Elder Waddell, and President Archibald. I know they are called of God.

Something we are doing in our branch is ¨Adopt a family¨ The ward members are thinking of a family in particular, or a person in particular, that is less active and they are going to ¨adopt¨, or be responsible to help them come back to church. If we have one family or person in mind, we can work one by one and start bringing God's children back to the fold. It has been very effective :) I would love it if you would all think of one family, with lots of prayer, that you could help come back to church. Heavenly Father will help you know who is ready to come back, and what should be done to help them in the process. It works! I have seen it! :) 

Well, today my Branch President is going to teach us how to fish :) He is a fisherman :) So I am off to the beach!! Have a great week! The Church is true!!

Love,

Hermana Agle