HUMILITY...IT'S A GREAT THING!

We traveled to Washington DC last week and found the apartment Cami lived in while serving in Leesburg, VA

Dad!

I am glad everyone is moved in and starting off the school year well. I can't believe summer is already over. I hit my 5 month mark tomorrow. I can't believe I have been here that long already! Time is flying. But I really have loved every second of it. Well, thats a lie, not every second haha but mostly all of it. Let's just say I continue to learn every second...that is truth! The mission is a great thing. I am glad I decided to serve even though it is really hard at times. This year and a half of my life is worth an eternity of happiness for other people's lives. The church is so true! I had a pretty cool experience this week, I'll copy and paste what I wrote to President Archibald:

I had a really cool experience this week. The month of August I was working on the Christ-like attribute of humility. One day this week during my studies, I was really discouraged and didn't really have a reason why. I was just really pondering why I am actually here on my mission because it is so hard sometimes! Having a companion is hard and just being a missionary can be discouraging at times when you are not having the success that you want to be having. Satan was working on me really hard this morning. But I remembered my attribute of humility and I realized I needed to just humble myself, and enjoy the work I was doing and realize that I am here for the Lord, to do his work. And the second I changed my attitude, and humbled myself a little bit, I could just feel the Spirit come back, and Satan cast out. I continued to read the Book of Mormon and I just got this overwhelming feeling that the church is SO true. I could just feel it so strong that the church was true and that everyone in the world needed to know about it. And THAT is why I am here on the mission. It was cool because as soon as I humbled myself and allowed the Spirit to come back, it was able to testify to me of the church and remind me why I am here on the mission. Even if the mission is hard at times, it doesn't matter, because this church is true and everyone needs to know it. The sacrifice is worth it because of the testimony I have to share with the people here. The Spirit will always testify to us when we allow it to.

So yeah...That was my cool experience :)  Hermana Jones and I are both very competitive!! I love her!! We put a quote on our wall that we came up with and it is, "We can still be competitive, as long as it's for the Lord". We are channeling our competitiveness into finding people and baptizing people! We have 4 baptisms set up this month so the work is moving along. Oh, is there some sort of war going on in the States or something because lately people have been talking about how the Unites States is a bad country and not free and stuff?? Hermana Jones and I are wondering... 

Tell everyone in the family I say hi! Especially Ty! I miss being at BYU and just coming over and hanging out with Tyler! And tell Ave good luck at school and Em good luck with seminary. Does she like it? How did she do on her Spanish assignment that I corrected? And tell Joshie boy I love him and he better be keeping a list of movies that I need to watch when I come home :)

Here is a scripture that has kind of been the "theme" to my mission. Matthew 10:37-39:

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

If it is possible to change the scripture on my little plaque thing, I would like this scripture! It has helped me BASTANTE on my mission. To forget myself and just focus on the mission. I love this scripture a lot.

My Christ-like attribute for September is Charity and Love!! I am excited for this one, I think its going to help me! I hope everyone is still working on theirs too! I know this church is true, and that if we live worthy of the Spirit, the Spirit is ALWAYS going to testify to us that the church is true, and that Christ lives and loves us. If we always strive to have the Spirit with us, he will always help us in our lives. The church is true. The Book of Mormon is amazing! Keep reading scriptures every single day! Your testimony will grow like never before! I love all of you!! 

Hermana Agle

Washington DC temple...so beautiful!

We also met Elder Lawler from her district in Leesburg, VA

A Complete MIRACLE Baptism!

A throwback to one year ago this week...Hard to believe so much has changed in just one year :)

Hey Mom!

This week has been great! We are both still so excited to be a part of this work. People keep saying that the time will come where the "MTC excitement" will wear off, but it still hasn't for me and I hope it never does! It is a lot easier to work when you are excited about what you are doing :)  We had a MIRACLE baptism this week! Two weeks ago, a lady came to church named María. She just showed up. So, we started teaching her, and 10 days later, she got baptized!! She was baptized this past Saturday :) She loves us because she is a translator and speaks English so she only talks to us in English...so she can practice. It's great for the both of us! It feels weird to talk to someone in English here! María....our complete miracle baptism!! It's like she has been ready for years and no one found her, so Heavenly Father had to just lead her to the church one day. The CRAZIER part is, she is our next door neighbor! We were really happy María found us!! :)

Last night we had a Noche de Hogar at Julio and Kervin's house (family night). Even though Julio can't get baptized(he's not legally married yet), he is a part of the ward. He loves everyone and everyone loves him. I led the Noche de Hogar and we played fun games, had a lesson and ate a huge dinner that Estela prepared. She even made flan!  :) Almost the whole ward was there! Everyone was looking at me to come up with a game when it was time to play games and all I could think was "Ok, what kind of game would Emily come up with right now??" Haha. I decided we would play OOGA BOOGA, a girls camp game, and they all LOVED it! So all you young woman, never ever underestimate the importance of those girls camp games :) They will help you in times of need on your missions!! Before leaving, Julio said to me, "Thank you so much for bringing this to our family. I feel very happy. Things like this give me the strength to get up and go to work in the morning". Man, I have really loved teaching this family. I really hope Julio and Estela can get married someday and get sealed in the temple. Kervin started mission-prep yesterday :) I love this family so much! Julio printed a bunch of pictures off for me so I'll send some of them home :)

We got a new Bishopric this week! The new Bishop, Bishop Mocarro, is SO amazing! He always comes out to teach with us. I remember my first couple weeks here I told myself that one day I would introduce my parents to Hermano Mocarro just because he is such a great man and he has really helped me a lot on the mission. And now he is Bishop! I am so so excited! The work in El Olivar is going to sky-rocket with him :) Also, Hermana Jones and I are changing our area a little bit...starting today. The ward boundaries are changing so we no longer have Condevilla in our area!! :( That means Kervin and Julio, and José y Omar! We can't visit them anymore! :( I am literally heart-broken! I can't imagine how it is going to feel when I have to leave Peru, let alone just my little area! I am really going to miss teaching all of them! I will still see them at church and activities but we can't go teach them anymore :( José is throwing a little party for us before we leave. We are all really sad about this! But I am excited to start working in Condor now, our new area! The people there are just waiting for us to come and teach them the gospel!!

I know this gospel is true! My testimony has been strengthened so much on my mission. Especially of the Book of Mormon! The Book of Mormon is so true! There is no way it could not be true! Joseph Smith was a prophet! I hope everyone is still working on their Christ-like attributes. I know Christ lives and loves us and we can find so much strength through him. I am so grateful for this gospel in my life. It really brings so much happiness to so many people, I have seen it! Keep reading your scriptures every single day, and your testimony will sky-rocket. Mine has! I love you all and thanks for all the support!! 

Con mucho MUCHO amor,

Hermana Agle

No Time to Write this week

Peruvian dance festival! Jose and Kervin...both new converts!

Wow! Tell Emily good luck in her first week of high school! She'll do great! Just tell her to make sure to study hard! AB will teach her a lot. Because of AB, I didn't struggle learning Spanish and I can't tell you how grateful I am for that! She'll do great :) And tell Joshie boy that he will do absolutely great with Mrs. Crockett. She is the sweetest! I don't have any time today but I love you guys! I hope you enjoy your last couple days of summer and labor day weekend! Thanks for everything you do for me :) I miss you guys a lot! It's crazy to think it has almost been 5 months! José was baptized this Saturday :) Tell Hermana Ward I love her and I miss her!! 

Con todo mi corazón,

Hermana Agle

Jose's Baptism! President Archibald came! I look like a mess because Satan works HARD to stop these baptisms!

Woohoo...finally an Alpaca picture!

I Am Training!!!

Sister's Training Conference...all the Hermana's in the mission with President and Sister Archibald

Mom and Dad,

I am training! Oh my goodness, during cambios(transfers) when President called my name he said, "In El Olivar, Hermana Agle TRAINING Hermana Jones!" Oh man, my heart leaped up into my throat when I heard "training"!! I finished MY training on Sunday...and started training on Monday! Oh man, was I nervous! But my companion is GREAT! Her name is Hermana Jones, she is 19, and from Missouri. So yes, the two 19 year old gringas that both have less than 3 months in the mission field are stormin' the streets of Peru baptizing everyone! :) It actually is an advantage to have both of us gringas because people are interested in talking to us to see whether or not we speak Spanish. And they are always surprised when we do :) BUT Hermana Jones is awesome! We get along really well! We are kind of the same person! haha We are both studying Pre-med at BYU, we are both 19, both of us are NOT from Utah (yes I just said that, Brother Nanto :)), we both have boys at home named Cameron, and our Dad's served in the SAME MISSION! And we keep finding similarities every day. So yeah, we get along really well :) And we work together as missionaries really well too! :) We found 9 new investigators this week and 2 of them have baptismal dates. So we are going to continue to work hard, have fun and baptize baptize baptize this transfer!! Life is good :)

I have learned so much from training and just being left alone in my area without Hermana Muñoz. I have realized how much I love the people here in Previ and Condevilla. I think I am learning more from training than my baby is! It has been so great :) We are learning together and growing together and helping people come unto Christ! I think it's really cool how President Archibald trusts the two of us to be here working together even though we are both 19 year old gringas. It makes us want to work even harder. I am learning more and more every day about Christ and how to be an effective missionary and trainer, and how to work with people. Lessons that I will use for the rest of my life. The mission really is the MTC of life...so if you want training on how to have a great life, SERVE A MISSION! It's so great!

I love you all! Thanks for all the support and letters! The church is so true. I know it is true! I know that Christ suffered for our sins and he knows every single one of our feelings. Through Him, we can do anything. I know the power of the Priesthood is real. We are teaching an investigator named Fernando with pancreatic cancer and we brought members to give him a blessing. That was the strongest I have ever felt the Spirit in my life. I know the Priesthood Power can bring miracles! Fernando is getting baptized September 7th :) The church is SO true!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Agle

Kervin's Baptism...WOW!

 Hey Mom and Dad!

So, this week is cambios(transfers). My companion extended her mission, but is leaving the area and I will be here with a new companion! I am a little nervous but really really excited too! It will be cool to work with someone new and learn with someone new. Our new Mission President is...brilliant. Like the smartest man I've ever met! He has this formula for how we are going to double the amount of success we are having...and I really think it's going to work.  He has all the missionaries super pumped up! He's great! I had my interview with him and he just gave me advice the whole time on how I can have baptisms every week of my mission. He is great!

This week was Kervin's baptism! It was INSANE. So, we had a missionary work activity with out ward at 5:00pm and Kervin's baptism right after the activity at 8:00pm. But, at about 7:30...during the activity, a brother came up to us and told us that the water in the font was draining and there was no more water in the church building to fill it back up! Hearing that was like hearing that the Titanic was sinking...It was so stressful!! So, we quickly grabbed Kervin, had him change in like 2 minutes, gathered everyone from the activity into the baptismal font room, snapped a picture real fast...his Mom showed up JUST in time (Miracle!), and he was baptized right then and there!  He was barely able to get his whole body under the water! Oh my goodness it was so stressful! During all this may-hem I kept going over to the font just watching the water slowly drain...I was so stressed!! Kervin and his Dad are pretty chubby guys and they always make fat jokes to each other and totally tease each other. One of the times I walked over to the font, I went with Julio(Kervin's dad), and I was like "It's going down fast" and he said, "Ehhh don't worry, right when Kervin gets in the water it will just rise back up to the top again". Hahaha!! They crack me up. Teaching fasting to them was a riot :) !! I was so grateful that he was able to be baptized and confirmed! His mom came to the confirmation and was crying during the song "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". We are going to continue to work with his parents so they can get married and get baptized! Julio really wants to get baptized! One of my favorite parts of the whole night was when Kervin got up at the end to bear his testimony and he said, "I'm excited to serve a mission so that I can help other people the way the Hermana's helped me". I know that I am supposed to be here and hearing that just made it so much clearer to me as to why I am here :) I know this gospel is true!! With all my heart! Keep on enduring to the end! 

 Hermana Agle

Kervin is a great kid!!

Teaching the Gospel, English and GYMNASTICS!

Hey guys!

So this week has been great! We had a lot of activities and service projects, so that was really fun!! We had a "Show de Talentos" that the missionaries put on for our stake and everyone LOVED it! I did gymnastics and you have no idea how many people came up to me wanting to learn gymnastics!! Looks like I'll be teaching the Gospel, English, and gymnastics from now on :) We also did a service project where we painted a whole school! Our zone, and some people in the stake got together and we painted the whole school! It took 6 hours with about 40 of us! But it was really fun and the owners were really really grateful :) Doing service here is the best!

We had the coolest experience yesterday!!  One of our investigators is named Kervin. He is 16 and wants to get baptized this Saturday(Aug. 10th). But his mom is a STAUNCH Catholic and for about a month she been telling him no, he can't get baptized. So, we've been praying and praying for her to change her mind and for the Lord to soften her heart...just a little bit. Yesterday I fasted for that, too! So last night, we went to his house with the permission slip for her to sign. When we got there, Kervin told us that she would never sign it and she still was against baptism. She came out of her room, we talked to her for a little bit about it (I was saying prayers in my heart like crazy!), and when we asked her to sign, she said, "Yeah, sure". Everyone in the room was SO SHOCKED! Kervin was like "uhhhh, ya sure mom?"  We were all so surprised! It was really a miracle! Heavenly Father totally helped us out on that one! There is no way that we convinced her to sign the paper, it was the Lord helping us out. Heavenly Father is really really listening to our prayers and Kervin is now getting baptized this Saturday :) Can't wait!!

So I got really sick this week. An investigator fed us Causa (you can look it up)...Let's just say EEEWW. I was sick for days. But, that's all a part of the experience right?? :)

My new attribute this month is Humility! I realized with Kervin and his mom that we can't do this on our own, we need the Lord helping us! There is no other way to successfully do this work! So I will be working on Humility :) I hope everyone is keeping up with their Christ-like attributes! Love you all!!

 

 

Hermana Agle

Don't you LOVE the BLUE!!

 

This how you get bread from a 3rd story floor!!

Yep...I got to see Hermana Winters...Love her!!

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