The Still Small Voice

Stephany at her baptism!

This week has been incredible. One of the best weeks of my mission :) I feel like I say that every week, but really... It was amazing!! Stefany was baptized!! The 12 year old girl in the big family that we are teaching :) Her baptism was so awesome :) We had a Noche Blanca (white night) with our district because we all had baptisms this week so we did the baptism together :) Stefany was so cute after, when we got back to the house to celebrate all of her friends ran up to her and said "how do you feel??" and she said "NUEVA!" :) She is really happy :) And the whole family came to the baptism and were able to feel the Spirit so it was really really cool :) We are working with the rest of them to get them baptized soon! :)

I had one of the coolest experiences this week. The first time that I  actually HEARD the "still small voice" of the Spirit...and it was AWESOME! Hermana Jones and I were walking to Previ from Condor and ran into Irán and her mom and one of their friends that was about 40 years old. We talked for a little bit, just a quick little conversation and said goodbye and walked away. As we were walking away, I had the strangest feeling.  As we were crossing the street to Previ, I heard "turn around right now!" as if the Spirit was yelling at me! So, I immediately turned around and started walking back and Hermana Jones was like "where are you going?" and I just said "I don't know" and kept walking. Right at that moment, Irán, her mom and their friend turned the corner walking back towards us flagging us down. Turns out, the woman that was with them, her name is Jackie, has wanted to listen to misisonaries for a long time, and she just has never had the chance. So we went to her house to teach her and she has 3 little kids. Marjoire (13), Priscilla (11) and Luis (9). Their house was the most humble house I have ever seen and her kids the most respectful, well-behaved kids I have ever met. So sweet and just so cute. They live in a little wood shack with a straw roof and they don't have electricity. We huddled around a small candle to share the gospel with them (it was night time). We shared a message with them, and the Spirit was SO strong in the room. They told us they wanted to get baptized as soon as possible :) They are getting baptized the 26th of October :) This family has been PREPARED. And I'm so glad the Spirit yelled at me and told me to go back so that we could find this family and bring the gospel into their lives. They are the kind of family that is already so humble and good and following Christ.  Now they have the gospel and will receive all of the blessings that the gospel brings to families. So we are so excited for them!! :) 

Kervin was able to go the temple this week and he bore his testimony about it the Sunday after :) He is really progressing and going to be the best missionary :) Also, Julio and Estela are in the process of getting married so they can get baptized and enter the temple as well. Julio called us (he calls us a lot because we can't visit him anymore), and told us that and it made me SO happy. I love that family :)

A dog attacked me this week, it was really scary! But...the funniest part is, Hermana Jones totally abandoned me! Haha! The dog ran up and bit my skirt and was tugging on my skirt and I turned around and Hermana Jones was bookin' in down the street. I was able to get away from the dog, though, and he calmed down a little bit and walked away...but it was scary! Apparently Hermana Jones thought so too! :) We got a pretty good laugh out of that!. I just turned around and my companion was nowhere to be seen!! It reminded me of a story that Steve told me about his mission with dogs attacking him and his companion :) 

Last week on Pday we got to climb this huge hill and the hill is a Peruvian cemetery. They bury people above the ground here. So, going up the hill is just like a maze of graves that are above the ground.  At the top there is a Virgin Mary that is watching over all the graves, and at the top we found a bunch of human bones just lying around. It was SO sweet!

Well, so many more great things happened this week but that's what my journal is for :) I might just send my journal home so you guys can read all the great experiences I'm having. The mission is so great. I love it. It is HARD and takes a lot out of your body and when Pday comes, you are TIRED but it is SO WORTH IT. Seeing the joy this gospel brings to families makes everything SO worth it :) I love this gospel and I know it is true. I know Christ lives and God is our Father and He loves us and listens to us. I love you all so much. Thanks for all the support :)

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Agle

General Conference was the Best!

This boy's name is Josua(Joshua)...he's basically Joshua's twin!

Hey Mom!

This week has been incredible!! We were able to get 9 people to general conference! And every single one of them loved it! Conference was SO AMAZING!! I really loved all of the talks too! I thought it was cool how President Monson said that this conference has been one of the most influential he has ever heard! Isn't that amazing?!  I loved his talk on Sunday morning. I also LOVED Elder Holland's as well! Also, the talk on Saturday morning about Christ-like attributes, I really liked that one! Helped me a lot! Conference is the best on the mission :) Better than Christmas! Here is a really cool experience I had this week! I wrote this to President so I'm just going to copy and paste :)

This week, like I said, we set the Villa family on date. And it was a really amazing experience! We were all huddled together in their little carpentry shop and we had just finished teaching all of them lesson 3. We have been teaching them for a while but one of them, Bryan, it was our first time teaching him. After we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we invited them to live it and be baptized. We went around the circle specifically to each person and invited them to be baptized. The spirit was SO strong! I felt like I was in a testimony meeting, because one by one we went around the circle and each person expressed their desire to be baptized. Even Bryan, who we had never taught before, expressed his gratitude for general conference and his desire to be baptized. The 14 year old, Naysha, said that during conference, she had received answers to some of her questions and she also expressed her desire to be baptized. I could feel Heavenly Father's love so strongly in that room. We taught them about the Celestial Kingdom and one of the steps to get there as a family is baptism. The spirit was so strong and we could see the desire in all of them to get baptized into the true church of God. It was really an amazing experience! We are so excited for this family!

The Villa family is the family I told you about last week :) We are SO excited for their baptism :) It was interesting because remember how we changed our areas? The DAY we started working in El Condor, our new area, we met this family and we've been teaching them ever since :) And from the beginning I have had such a strange feeling about them. I feel like I know them! Like I have met them somewhere before! And I have felt from the beginning that they are ready for baptism :) It has been really exciting working with them and preparing them for baptism :) 

So a year from TODAY, I will be coming home from the mission. Crazy huh?? The transfers are October 7th next year. I really hope you and Dad can come here to Peru to pick me up and you can meet all of the ward members and converts! Although you wont be able to speak Spanish...but I will translate! You have a year, start practicing! :)

That is a great idea to set aside 30 minutes a day to study your scriptures! (I mentioned to Cami that I had recommitted myself to this each day)It will help you a LOT! I'm glad I have the mission where I can develop those habits. It will really help you remember the Savior throughout your day. Something I have learned here is that we can't just depend on Sunday's to get our spiritual nourishment. Every single day if we read and study the scriptures, or read a conference talk or something, we can strengthen our testimony a little bit, and grow firmer and firmer in the gospel. I loved the talk this weekend about how NOW is the time to strengthen and live our testimonies and told tight to the Iron rod. I know that reading your scriptures every day will really help you do that. You will grow so much closer to your Savior, and strive to live more like him. This church is so true. Every time I teach someone about it, my testimony grows stronger! I am so happy and privileged to be one of the 80,000 missionaries that is serving in the world right now. It was so amazing to hear every single person that prayed in conference, include the missionaries! I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ :) Love you all!!! Keep working hard to strengthen you testimonies!!

Con BASTANTE amor,

Hermana Agle :)

I met Collin Russell's teacher from the Peru MTC...he's in my Stake!!

Teaching a Family is the Best

Together Again! Hermana Brown came to El Olivar to visit this week!

 Hey Mom and Dad!

Wow, the conference looks GREAT! Nice work mom :) That's so cool that so many non-members went too!!(Our Stake held a Women's Conference in conjuction with the General RS Broadcast) I wasn't able to go see the RS General Broadcast, but I am sure it was so good! I am excited to get all of the people that live within the boundaries of my area to GENERAL CONFERENCE!  We are making huge posters to put around town and a bunch of fliers that we are going to hand out all week. Everyone needs to hear the words of the Prophet and Apostles! And I think it will help our investigators progress a lot! I am also really happy because my Spanish is fluent enough now that I can watch conference in Spanish and actually benefit from it and understand the messages :) So that will be cool! I don't think I have ever been so excited for conference before. Once you are on a mission, things like conference just have a whole new meaning. I am SO excited! 

This week has been COOL. We are teaching a bunch of families and teaching families is literally the best. We found this guy named Julio César in the street a really long time ago, when I was with Hermana Muñoz. Hermana Jones and I see him ALL the time so we finally asked him if we could teach him, even though he is SUPER busy all the time. He doesn't live in our area, but we decided we would just go to his work and teach him there, because his work IS in our area. We went to his work one day, and ended up finding a family there with 9 people that we can teach! We were teaching Julio César and another boy named Andy. Andy did not say ONE word our first visit(he is really really shy), so we kind of focused on Julio César thinking Andy was not very interested. When we came back, Andy had read 12 chapters in the Book of Mormon and said he wanted to get baptized!!! It was SO cool! He says that there is just so much power in the Book of Mormon and he knows that it is true! We are teaching him, and his little sister, Stefany, and their cousin, Naysha (she was going to get baptized 2 years ago but ended up not for some reason), and their Mom and Dad, Marlene and José Luis. Andy, Stefany, and Naysha all came to church this week and loved it! It is so cool because we always teach them in a little carpentry shack next to their house and we had a lesson with them all last night in the dark. There was just a little bit of light coming in from the street and we were all just crammed in this little shack huddled around 3 Book of Mormons (because Hermana Jones and I are handing out Book of Mormons like CRAZY and we ran out haha :)) Everyone would get so excited for their turn to read their verse in the Book of Mormon. We were reading in chapter 13 of 1 Nephi which talks about the gentiles and how in the last days, they will all have the chance to hear the gospel.  I could just feel the spirit so strong that night in our warm little shack all huddled around the Book of Mormon! It was so great to see all of their desires to read the Book of Mormon and study the words of God. We are so excited and lucky to be teaching this family :) It's hard teaching a family like this though because not everyone can always be taught at the same time...But we are continuing to work with them and are so excited for their baptism the 12th of October!!! 

Sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera y que José Smith fue un profeta. Sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero y contiene la plentitud del Evangelio de Jesucristo. Sé que Él es mi Salvador y Redentor y por medio de Él, podemos volver a vivir con Dios y nuestras familias por eternidad. Amo mi Señor y mi Dios y estoy MUY agradecida por el Evangelio restaurado y el amor y misericordia de Dios. Ojalá que puedo decir todo el Peru sobre estas cosas para que puedan sentir el Espíritu y saber la veracidad de todas estas cosas. Sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera con TODAS las ensañanzas de Jesucristo. El poder del Sacerdocio es grande y verdadero. Gracias por todo su apoyo y ayuda :) Les amo MUCHO :) 

Hermana Agle

Miracles, Miracles and more Miracles!

Iran and Cianny's Baptism(they're both getting over the chicken pox!)

Hey Mom!

This week has been FANTASTIC. We are seeing miracles and miracles and more MIRACLES. Two kids got baptized this week! Their mother is named Eva, and she has been less active for quite a while. We have been working with their kids to get baptized for a while and they FINALLY did this week! Irán is 13 and Cianny is 9 and their baptism was great! The spirit was so strong and their mom was just crying and crying after because she was so happy :) Now, we are going to get them to the temple and sealed! :) President Archibald just made a new rule in the mission that if we help a less-active family get to the temple, we can go with them! Hermana Jones and I are really anxious to get to the temple so we are excited about that :) But seriously this week, I have felt the spirit so strong and the Lord helping us so much in our missionary work. We were able to help one family stop drinking tea, and when they finally did, they were ready to accept the invitation to get baptized. It is so crazy how not keeping the commandments effects us spiritually. We didn't know that they were drinking tea, and that is why they kept pushing off their baptism. When we finally found out and helped them to stop drinking tea (it was a battle haha) they were finally spiritually ready for baptism and accepted!! :) And now their family can live together forever :) Man, this church is so true :)

Living in Peru is so amazing. The people here are so nice and humble and so SWEET! I am getting used to the food and every Monday we go to our pensionista's house to learn how to make a different Peruvian dish because the food here is so RICO. I love it!! Arroz con pollo is my favorite :) I'm getting used to life here and it will be so strange to go back to the United States! I love it here! Hermana Jones and I went a whole week without water, though...Oh man, It felt like we were at girls camp! We went 4 straight days without showering!  It's absolutely an adventure to live here, but I love it more and more every day.

Alright...well, I love you all! I know this church is true, I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know Christ is our Savior. Everyone needs to hear this gospel! Keep sharing it with friends, family, everyone! Families can be together forever, we just have to do our part :) I love you all!! Have a great week! :)

Con mucho mucho amor,

Hermana Agle

The First Missionary to serve from PERU!

Working on Bro. Rojas house....He was the 1st missionary to serve from Peru!!

Hey Mom!

Everything is going great! We are already in our last week of the transfer! Time has gone by SO fast! I think next transfer Hermana Jones and I will stay together though, and we'll stay here in El Olivar. I have grown to love it here and the people so much...it will be sad to leave when the time comes! Hopefully I still have some time here? President Archibald said he doesn't like change so I think that means we will all stay in our area's for quite a bit. BUT they just opened a new area for sisters up in the mountains (in the mission), so hopefully one day I get to go there :) 

This week we have been preparing two jovencitos(youngsters) named Irán and Cianny for baptism. They were going to get baptized August 24th, but one got the chicken pox, and then the other got the chicken pox, so hopefully by this Saturday, it will clear up and they can get baptized! They are really eager to get baptized so we are very excited for them! We always "help" (do) Irán with her English homework haha and I'm sure she's been getting 100% on all of her homework assignments she's had :) They are two great kids. I have learned a lot from teaching them because these are the first kids that I have ever taught. It's fun to teach kids, I get to draw in the lessons and have some fun with them :) I'm excited for when they are baptized!!

This Sunday was Stake Conference and it was a broadcast throughout all of Lima. It was cool because Elder Bednar and Elder Scott came to Peru to be broadcast, and they gave two GREAT talks. The investigators that were at church got to hear apostles of God speak! That was sweet! We had a mom and a dad of a missionary that is serving in Argentina right now in sacrament meeting with us. Their son is the only member of the church, but the family has started to show more interest in hearing the gospel. They decided to come to church and when the dad, Wilfredo, heard that apostles of God were going to speak, he got really excited and paid really close attention. It was really cool! I'm SO excited for general conference!!! It will be so great to just invite everybody to hear the words of the prophet and apostles. I have been reading and studying the general conference talks from April and those men are really inspired of God. What they have to say comes directly from Heavenly Father, what he wants us to hear at this time. We should probably listen to them ;)

This week we did this sweet service. We went to the house of THE FIRST MISSIONARY FROM PERU! Spencer W. Kimball came to Peru when he was an apostle and asked Brother Rojas (that's his name) why he hadn't served a mission. He told Pres. Kimball it was because his parents were not members and he didn't have any money. So Spencer W. Kimball talked to his dad for 5 minutes and the dad came out and said "son, you're serving a mission" and then paid for the whole thing!  He was the first missionary to serve from Peru :) He is great...SO hilarious and so SMART! Anyway, we cleaned his house which he hadn't cleaned in years! haha. It was nasty but it felt good when we were done :) We all left very satisfied :)

The work is pushing along. We are experiencing trials, but also HAPPINESS. Being a missionary just makes me happy. Seeing the lives of people change is really amazing. It's starting to get hot, so we will be walking through the hot, dusty streets of Peru (and when I am hot I am usually really not so happy :), but I know why I am here and I have seen so many miracles in the work that I am just happy to be here. The Lord needs his missionaries!!  It's SO cool that the Littleton ward is getting sister missionaries!!! Tell the young woman to go out with them a LOT! That is something I wish I would have done! They will see miracles and feel the spirit so strong!! Well, I love you all! Thanks for all of your support! :) The church is true! Keep working on your Christ-like attributes!!

Con todo mi corazón,

Hermana Agle

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