Becoming converted

HI FAMILY!

Well, let me tell you, it was the best gift in the whole world being able to see you on Christmas. Christmas as a missionary is the best. Even though we miss our families, we´re just so happy because we get to walk around talking about Jesus with everybody. And now that Christmas is over, we get to keep doing the same thing :)

I just have a small thought to share with you guys today. In the mission, we don´t just go out looking to baptize people. We go out, looking for people, and our only purpose is to help them come unto Christ and be converted to Him. The definition of "conversion" that is found in the scriptures says the following:  "Denotes changing one’s views, in a conscious acceptance of the will of God (Acts 3:19). If followed by continued faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism in water for the remission of sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, conversion will become complete and will change a natural man into a sanctified, born again, purified person—a new creature in Christ Jesus (see 2 Cor. 5:17). Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing. 

I remember that I shared this during the last talk I gave at church, about 17 months ago. Becoming converted - that is the whole point of what we do as missionaries. Obviously, we work on helping others in their conversion process, but at the end of the day, the goal is that WE become converted. Really, truly converted - a conversion that LASTS or endures. I feel like that´s happening to me. I feel like it´s definitely already happened, but it´s still happening. It´s an ever-lasting process. It never ends. But it´s the coolest thing in the world.

I know my Savior, and I love Him. He´s my friend. He´s my Savior. I feel that He is with me, and that He´s been here for each and every one of these 17 months. He´s definitely going to be able to be there for one more, don´t you think? :) He loves me, and He loves you. Even more than I do, and that´s saying a lot.

Have a great week! I love you so soon and I will talk to you soon!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

Happy Christmas!

Hello family and friends!

I am so grateful for all of the birthday and Christmas wishes that you have sent me, thank you SO much! If I didn´t reply to you, I am so sorry! But know that I am thinking about you and hoping that you also all have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you, I love you so much!

I have been thinking about one of my favorite Christmas songs the past few days. I can´t listen to it, but it´s been ingrained in my memory ever since I was 6 years old or something like that, so I can still sing parts of it in our free moments. It always helps me to 1. cry like a little baby and 2. remember what Christmas is all about...

"Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my mama please, it´s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size. Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says there´s not much time. You see, she´s been sick for quite a while and I know these shoes will make her smile and I want her to look beautiful if mama meets Jesus tonight."

These past few days have been some of the sweetest days of my whole mission. First, my birthday, I felt SO much love from you guys, the people here, and my Heavenly Father of course. It´s been such a wonderful week, the people are happy and a little bit more willing to listen to us. We went caroling the other day with some members of the ward, and we visited all of the members that are a little bit less-active. It was so sweet to see how their faces lit up as they listened to us sing. I got choked up a lot, and I´m sure my voice sounded beautiful, but what really mattered was that these people could feel the Christmas Spirit.

I received some great news the other day! We had a little meeting in Cieneguilla with the bishop and the Elders, and as we were leaving one of my old investigators, whom I loved SO MUCH, just showed up out of the blue. We were teaching her for about 5 months, and when I left in May up until now she has been listening to the missionaries. We said hello, and she said, "Sister Scott, I have some news for you. I´m getting baptized on Saturday!!" I couldn´t believe it, I just started bawling out of pure happiness, and a bunch of the ward members came up and said hello. That same day, the brother of one of the people I taught was getting baptized, and the Spirit that we felt was so strong. We never know what can happen to someone if we share the gospel with them. Maybe we see the consequences right away, maybe months later, or maybe even years. But I feel like a genuine testimony is something that someone doesn´t forget. What a great birthday/Christmas present, right??

I just want to share with you my testimony of the Savior. I want you to know that I know my Savior. I know that He lives, and that He came to save us. I can´t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than talking about Him everyday. I love Him so much. I´ve felt His presence with me in the mission; I know that He´s always been here to keep me going. Remember Him this week; remember why we celebrate.

I love you SO MUCH and I can´t wait to see you on Skype this Thursday!!!! I love you so much, and I am grateful for all that you have done for me.

Merry Christmas! Or better perhaps, as Harry Potter & friends would say, "Happy Christmas." :)

All my love,

Hermana Scott

Happy 21st Birthday!

HELLO FAMILY! I hope you are happy! This week is going to be a good one, so get ready :)

A little bit of news for you guys: So next week, we will be celebrating Christmas as a mission. Half of the mission on the 22nd and the other half on the 23rd. The half of the mission that DOESN´T celebrate Christmas on the 22nd will call home to plan a time to Skype, and the opposite for those on the 23rd. So if I go on the 22, I will call you on the 23 and I will also go to internet that day. BUT, the inconvenient part is that tomorrow we have transfers, and I have no idea if I´m leaving or staying, so I don´t know which day I´ll be calling. So, you´re just going to have to wait patiently. :) Sorry about that. But I´ll be calling either the 22 or the 23, so make sure your phones are on! :)

Today I just have a little bit that I want to say. First of all, thank you so much for wishing me a happy birthday! I am really feeling the love, and I´m really grateful to have so many wonderful people in my life that love me so much! I love you so much too, just so you know :) I have a feeling that this, my 21st birthday, is going to be cool. Not because I´m going to receive lots of things, but because I know what really matters. Life is good, and I´m still living it! 21 years down. Almost.

The other thing I wanted to say is that this time of year is so special. I feel the Christmas Spirit every day! I get to talk about Jesus all of the time, and in this time of year, remember Him and all that He did for us. I wear His name, and I have the great blessing to represent Him at this time in my life. As we read in the Bible, HE is the gift. He is our gift. 

I love you all so much! And I can´t wait to talk to you and see you! Have a wonderful week, and I will be talking to you soon!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

An interesting P-day

HI FAMILY! I have very little time to write you. How many times have I said that before? Sorry about that :) 2 things -

1. We share a bathroom with 2 other sisters, and that bathroom just happens to be right next to our bedroom door. Today, they left early to go to use the internet, and we were still studying in our room. All of a sudden, I looked up and noticed that our room had been converted into a lake. Isn´t that cool? The toilet overflowed. But when I say overflowed, I mean it OVERFLOWED. Completely. So we got to clean that up today. But somehow, we found a way to enjoy it. Another one of those moments that God gives us to learn how to laugh, and enjoy life despite all of it´s imperfection. The good news is that we had an excuse to clean up all the dirt on the floor :)

2. The elder sitting next to me is finishing his mission next week. This is the last time that he´s going to come to an internet cafe to write his family, because next week he´ll be stepping off the plane and seeing them face to face! He was telling me all about his plans for the next few weeks. His mom and his brother are coming to Peru, and they´re going to Machu Picchu and to a bunch of other places before he actually returns to home. He is so excited! It´s kind of funny to see his reactions. He´s like "This is my mom´s last email. This is my girlfriends last email." He said that next week it´s going to be raining and thundering in the jungle. I told him to shut up because I really miss rain and thunder. And my mom. Hahaha it was just a joke. :) But then all of a sudden he got really quiet, and I noticed that he was crying, so I didn´t say anything. The feelings that a missionary has at the end of the mission are indescribable. Next week, I start my last transfer! Can you believe it??? I feel like the time has gone by so quickly, but I feel like I´ve been able to live, learn, love and feel so much. I´m so excited for this last little chunk of time, and I know that God has a perfect plan. There are lots of things that I don´t know, but of that I am sure.

I love you so much! Keep being wonderful, remember that I love you! I´ll tell you next week about when I´ll be calling and everything. I love you!!!!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

We can choose to be happy

Hi family! How are you?! I am good, like always. Actually I am GREAT.

Today, a lot of dumb, little things happened. I forgot something in our room, and we had to go all the way back and go up those 5 flights of stairs again. The bus guy saw us running to catch up, and he sped up, leaving us behind to wait another 20 minutes for the next one. There weren´t enough computers, so we had to go find another internet cafe. Those are the moments when I normally lose my patience AND my mind. But I´m getting better at choosing to be happy. Did you know that we can literally CHOOSE to be happy? Sometimes it´s easier to just get ticked off and be grumpy all day, but that´s no fun. It´s a lot more fun to laugh and smile and enjoy the day. Right? So right after getting upset for a few seconds, that´s what me and my companion did - laugh about it and move on. And I just wanted to tell you that because everything is okay, and here I am writing you a letter. :)

Wanna know something hilarious? The guy who is working here in the internet place was just watching the Walking Dead, which just happens to be my FAVORITE SHOW EVER. I couldn´t see it, but I could hear all of the weird zombie noises and the sounds of guns and knives and other weapons, so I knew it was the Walking Dead. The guy all of a sudden shouted "Noooo!" and he walked out of his little office literally crying. It made me chuckle a little bit. Just a little moment of excitement for me...I´m a little bit excited to see my zombie friends again. :) Although I might be a little bit more sensitive now than I was before...we´ll see.

Anyway, this week has been amazing! I just wanted to tell you one thing of the hundreds of things that happen to us every day. This week, I was able to really feel that I am a daughter of God, and that He loves me. ME, just one of the 6 billion people living in the world in this moment, not mentioning all of the people that have lived before me and all of those that will live after. Isn´t that cool? God loves each and every one of us. 

One of my favorite questions to ask people when we talk to people in the streets, in the bus, or in their houses, is WHY they believe in God. That´s a weird thing to think about..some random person coming up to you in the street saying, "HI, I´m a missionary! Do you believe in God? WHY?" It´s kind of a personal question, but it makes people think for a minute. A lot of times they say because their mom always told them that there was a God and that they should believe in Him. Sometimes they say, "I don´t know." Some people share incredible experiences that they have had that have been testimonies to them that there really is a God. It´s so amazing listening to what people think of Him, our perfect Father. This week I learned more about what He thinks of me, and all of His children. And all I can say is that HE LOVES US. It´s more than something that I know; it´s something that I have come to feel, and I feel it in all that I do.

I think it´s so cool that the church is publishing that Christmas video everywhere! We are supposed to pass a little card to everyone we see that has the website on the back of it, navidad.mormon.org. It´s so fun talking about Jesus and Christmas all day! Daddy and Daniel look up the video also, because it´s the best.

I´m going to miss you guys again this Christmas, but I feel really blessed to understand the true importance of this time of year. My Savior and my family, the two most important things in my life! And I get to see your faces in 24 days!!! Enjoy these next few weeks , and remember why we celebrate this time of year.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!!! Talk to you soon!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

Why did God choose me?

¡Buenos días familia! Espero que estén bien y que hayan tenido una buena semana :) Ustedes tienen que aprender a hablar español para que me acompañen a Perú un día cuando vuelva a visitar estas personas tan increíbles.

Yeah, well you should look that up on Google translate :)

Before I tell you about all of the amazing things that happened this week, I wanted to tell you something hilarious that happened the other day. So learning a new language is super hard, right? When you´re learning how to speak a new language, there are just SO MANY things that you don´t understand. In my zone, there are a ton of new American missionaries, and a few of them are struggling a little bit to learn. The other day, one of them was sharing a scripture in the Book of Mormon, in a book called Third Nephi. In Spanish, the word for third is "tercero". So the elder confused that word with another word and said, "Vamos a buscar en trasero de Nefi" instead of saying TERCERO. The bad news is that trasero literally means "rear" or "buttocks". So instead of saying "Let´s look in THIRD NEPHI", he said ....well, you can figure it out. Let´s just say that his spiritual thought turned out to be a pretty good one. :) :)

Well this week was absolutely amazing! One of the General Authorities of the Church came to visit the mission. Elder Waddell, from the quorum of the seventy. We had a conference with him on Friday, and it was SO COOL! The night before, one of the elders called us and told me that I was going to have a personal interview with him before the conference started in the morning. Holy cow, let me tell you that I was pretty nervous. But I felt like it was a huge answer to my prayers, because I was going to be able to talk to someone who knows a lot more than I do.

Before I continue with the story, whenever we go to a conference or to a meeting, our leaders always tell us that we should go prepared, with at least one question in mind. So the night before the interview and the conference, I was thinking about something that I could ask him. For a really long time now, I´ve been wondering something. Why God chose ME, out of 6 billion people, to find the truth, accept it, and teach it. So that´s the question that I took to the interview and the conference..."Why did God choose ME?"

...And so that´s what I asked Elder Waddell. It´s kind of a goofy question to ask to a general authority, who could have answered any other question about profound doctrine, but that´s what I asked him. And he really helped me understand. He shared with me a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants, which is a book of revelations that the Lord communicated to Joseph Smith during his time as a prophet. In the last part of that book, we read something very important - 

"Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men."

So we can understand that there are no coincidences. We were all prepared at one time to come to the world, with the hope that we would come to the knowledge of God and His gospel. There are lots of things that try to make us forget that we are children of God - lots of people, influences, temptations. But God knew that it would be like this. We were prepared before, and we`re here NOW for a very specific reason. 

I can`t explain exactly all of the things that I felt in that interview. I felt like God had heard my request, and He helped me to understand. As we all listened to Elder Waddell talk that day, we all felt that he is really a servant of God, called in this time to help guide God`s children. 

Is it weird that I love being a Mormon so much? I really love being a Mormon, and I also really love being a missionary. I am so happy! And I am really excited to talk to you in about 1 month!

Have a great week, and know that I love you SO much!

Con TODO mi amor,

Hermana Scott

We must have hope

Hello family! I just thought you´d like to know that in this small internet room, we are a huge group of missionaries. The Mormon jokes that are told in a group of missionaries are unbelievably nerdy and hilarious. We just laugh at our weirdness. It´s a good time :)

In other news, when I read mom´s email about the snow, I got so jealous. I love the sun, but I miss the snow so much!!!! I can´t wait to see snow again. But I´m also okay with working on my awesome farmer´s tan lines. :)

This week, we visited Maria Julia. Remember how I told you a little bit about her and her son Flabio? Well, it´s hard to get her to church. Even though she genuinely wants to go, the situation with her husband is really difficult. He doesn´t like her to leave, because dealing with Flabio alone is really complicated. She still hasn´t gone to church, but we keep visiting her. We were feeling a little bummed the other day, because she isn´t able to progress very much if she never makes it to church, to feel the Spirit and keep learning about the Gospel. We planned a little lesson about how to ask God specific questions, and how to feel that all of what we learn in the church is true. We started talking about what a testimony is, and all of sudden she says, "I already have a testimony. I know that this is true." She started to talk to us about how things have gotten so much better in her house, and that she feels happier. She says that before, she just felt hopeless, broken, and lost, but that she feels like there´s a purpose for all that has happened in her life. She says that the thing she wants most in this life is peace, and she says that she´s finally starting to feel it.

We read a scripture with her in the Book of Mormon, in Ether, that says.  "And I also remember that thou hast said that thou hast prepared a house for man, yea, even among the mansions of thy Father, in which man might have a more excellent hope; wherefore man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared.

 And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men." 

Here, the prophet Moroni is talking to the Lord. I absolutely love the promise that we receive here. There is a place prepared for us, and it´s all because of what Jesus did. There, we won´t feel sadness or heartache. We will be perfect, and we will finally be able to understand all the things that we don´t understand right now. He loves us SO MUCH! It´s incredible. 

I just want to tell you that I love you so much! I try to understand what Jesus felt as He taught people in ancient times. His love was so perfect; I want to feel that kind of love for the people I teach. My love may never be as perfect as Jesus´ love, but is sure is GRANDE. :) I love YOU, I love the people I teach, and I love my Savior.

We are still working hard here in Las Viñas and loving it more everyday. Have a wonderful week, and say a little prayer for Maria Julia and Flabio.

I LOVE YOU! All my love,

Hermana Michelle Scott

Eternal families

Hello sweet family! Happy November 10th! It looks like today is going to be a great day.

Well, we had transfers. Again. Every 6 weeks pass by in 7 seconds. It just blows my mind. But I am here with my new companion, Hermana Lopez, also from Argentina! I love los Argentinos. They´re honestly the best. About 10 months ago, I met Hermana Lopez. She was in Cieneguilla for a little bit of the time that I was there, and we became good friends. We said that we hoped to be companions one day, and look at that! Funny how things work out. She also finishes her mission in January. Crazy, right?

We´re doing really well, happy as always and lovin´ the work of Salvation! Even though I love Hermana Lopez,it was really hard for me to say goodbye to my other companion, Hermana Tacconi. We came to be best buds, and I actually cried quite a bit when we said goodbye. But it´s not goodbye...just a "see you later."

Hermana Lopez and I, along with some other sisters, have an interesting assignment this transfer. We´re working with Family History in a few stakes, helping the members to look up the ancestors to be able to do the temple work for them. That´s a huge part of what we believe in the church...the importance of doing our ordinances, then doing them for the people who weren´t able to do it themselves, giving them the opportunity to accept the gospel as well. It´s something that I´ve always wanted to learn more about - Family History. And here I am, learning all about it! It´s so cool. And this week, we just happened to go to the temple TWICE! It was so awesome! We went as a mission, then Hermana Lopez and I went to see a young couple from Cieneguilla get sealed. When we go to the temple, it´s not like going to the church on Sunday. When we say "sealed", it means that they are going to be together forever. It´s part of the plan that God created for us, to live in eternal families. I know that mom knows all about it, but dad and Daniel, it´s something very special and important. I attached some pictures so that you can see! On Saturday, we also got to see a few other members from Cieneguilla. It was so great. We were both so excited.

Sorry, my brain is filled with lots of things. I will write a better letter next week, but I just want you to know that we are super happy! Working hard and getting tan/sunburned. I love you so much!! Have a great week!!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

The power of a testimony

Hello family! Today, I have some sad news. My favorite black skirt, that I wear almost every day, has a couple of holes in it. But the good news is that almost every Peruvian woman knows how to sew, so it shouldn´t be a problem for long :)

We had a couple of cold days here which was nice, because when it´s hot, it´s super hot. But I like the sun better. I´m getting a few super cool tan lines, one where my watch is, and a couple from my shoes. And of course, the classic farmer´s tan. The life of a gringo is the best!

I wanted to share with you what I shared with my mission president. Here it is:

"My heart is really full today. I want to share with you something that happened yesterday. I have always loved fast and testimony meetings, ever since I first started going to church. There´s just something so special about seeing a person literally stand up for what they believe and share about it. I remember that a little while after I got baptized, I reached a point where I would stand up and bear my testimony every single fast and testimony Sunday. It kind of makes me laugh now, I´m sure that some people rolled their eyes when they saw me stand up and walk over to the pulpit thinking, "Here we go again." But for some reason, it just became a part of me. There was a sweet man in my ward that always thanked me with tears in his eyes, telling me that he loved to listen to my testimony. I felt like Alma I guess, just wanting people to know how much the Gospel had changed my life, how I felt like I had literally been saved. The power of a testimony really is incredible. Yesterday, almost every single young man or young woman in our ward stood up to share their testimony. A lot of them talked about missionary work, a lot of them about Joseph Smith. I started to think to myself about those first few testimonies that I shared as a recent convert. Yesterday, I actually wrote down a little bit of what came to my mind - "I remember at first, when I was investigating the church, I thought it was crazy that people actually believed that God AND Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith. Now, as a missionary, I get to feel EVERY DAY, as I share that story with new people, the incredible, undeniable Spirit that helped me to know and feel that God really did appear to Joseph Smith with His son at His side." Yesterday, a handful of recent converts, returned missionaries, and missionaries-to-be shared their testimonies, and that chapel was filled with a beautiful spirit that testified to all of us that this really is the true Church of Jesus Christ.

There are so many little things that happen every day that remind me that I am doing the Lord´s work. My companion is now one of my dearest friends, and I am learning more every day about the pride you mentioned in your email - how to get rid of it and just forget about myself. It´s not easy, but we´re doing our best.

Presidente, there are SO MANY THINGS in my heart. But I just feel so blessed to be here in this time, in this country, preaching this gospel. I can´t wait to go to the temple, and I can´t wait to see what other miracles God has in store for us."

That´s how I feel! And lots of other things. We get to go to the temple this week. We also have transfers AGAIN. I can´t believe how fast the time is flying by. I don´t want to have a different companion, she´s literally one of my best friends and it´s going to be hard to say goodbye. I hope you have a wonderful week, know that I love you and I am always praying for you.

With ALL of my love,

Hermanita Scott

Random and unexpected

Hello family! Holy cow, it´s already Halloween this week. We don´t have anything super interesting planned for Friday, but we´re going to find a way to combine Halloween with preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s going to be a good time.

I have a little story that I wanted to share with you today. Yesterday was Sunday, and every Sunday morning we have ward council at 8. We left a little bit later than we should have yesterday, and we were walking towards the pension talking about if we should eat breakfast in their house or take it with us to ward council. We were really focused in our conversation, talking about the pros and cons of each choice, a little bit zombie-ish and walking really fast, not noticing the world as it passed by us. We stopped at the sister´s house, still debating what we should do, and in that exact moment a car comes speeding up right beside us, the guy slams on his brakes and jumps out of the car and says "WAIT!!!!! Where are you going?? I just wanted to ask you guys a question. Are you Mormon missionaries?" My companion and I looked at each other, a little confused, as if we had forgotten whether we were Mormon missionaries or not. We said yes, and he kept talking - "I see you walk by almost everyday, and I always want to stop and talk with you, but I never know what to say. But I saw you again today and thought that TODAY was the day. I just want to know if you can share your message with me." Our mouths were just hanging open, and again it looked like we didn´t know how to speak or something. It was so random, in a moment so unexpected for us, but we started talking to him about what we do as missionaries, and a little bit about the message we share. He said that he wanted to go to church and that he wanted to know God and the truth. I couldn´t help but think to myself, "Well, you´re talking to the right people." He ended up going to church later in the afternoon, and loved it.

Can you see how God is? He sends a whole bunch of weird, dorky kids out into the world to preach His gospel, and trusts us to do His work. The interesting thing, something that I say all the time, is that HE is the one who really does the work. We were just strolling along, worrying about our own little breakfast problem, and this man comes up to US, asking to know more about God. I am so thankful that God takes care of His children, and that He puts us as missionaries in the right place at the right time.

That´s just one of the many examples, one of the many experiences that we have daily that help us to remember that we´re here so that He can do His work. I love what I do. 

Lots of really cool things are happening here! We are meeting a lot of people, and we have so much faith in all of them. We´ll be seeing some great things here soon.

I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

God has given us everything!

Hello sweet family!

Today is a good day. All of the missionaries look happy today. P day is always a good time, it´s a beautiful sunny day, and we´re going to CIENEGUILLA!!! We´re going to go eat delicious food and play outside all day. Then right back to work, preaching the good ol´ Gospel. My favorite part :)

Yesterday, we had a family home evening with a super awesome family. We shared a video about God, our Heavenly Father (you should totally watch it - https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?lang=eng ). This family is so special. The mom and the dad have an interesting story...the mom, Alicia, left the church for a little while. While she was not going to the church, she met her husband, and they started their family. Later, when their kids were bigger, she decided that she needed church in her life. She went back, and realized that she needed to get married to her "husband" in order to follow the law of chastity and everything. The problem is that the dad, Raul, is technically still married to another woman, because they never got divorced and she absolutely refuses to sign paperwork to end the marriage. Imagine that, literally almost 30 years and that woman lives with so much hate. So they´ve never been able to get married. Raul goes to church every Sunday, and has read the Book of Mormon and the Bible multiple times. He knows the church is true, but because of this situation he can´t get baptized. It´s so frustrating, and he really beats himself up about it. The cool thing though is that they have raised their two sons in the gospel. Their oldest son has already served a mission, and their other son just sent in his mission papers yesterday, so that means that in 3ish weeks he´ll be getting his mission call! It kills me that Hermano Raul can´t get baptized, but I admire so much his faithfulness and the way he teaches his kids. SO, the family home evening. We talked about God. God the Father, OUR Father. I thought about my own father, and how much I love him (that´s you, daddy), and how much he loves me. I saw Hermano Raul as he teared up talking about how much he loves his kids, and I realized that that´s how it is with our Heavenly Father. But He loves us with a PERFECT, unfailing love. He knows us, and He listens to us. He wants us to succeed, and He wants every good thing for us. Like it says in the Book of Mormon, "in the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way; and it is by faith that is has been fulfilled." Why is God so amazing? I don´t know. But I do know that He has given us everything. I love Him so much for that.

I hope you have a wonderful week, and that you can see all that God has given us. Remember Him this week. 

I love you so much! Talk to you soon!

All my love,

Hermana Michelle Scott

Today the sun is shining!

HI! How´s it going? Today the sun is shining and I feel super happy. How are you? I hope you´ve had a great week!

So I forgot to tell you last week, but Peru was the only country in the whole world that didn´t see General Conference last weekend. There were elections on Sunday, and the law here says that no one can have a religious meeting. We didn´t even go to church last week! Super weird, right? So we finally got to see the conference yesterday and Saturday. And let me just say, IT WAS AMAZING. I absolutely LOVED it! For the first time here in Perú, I got to watch it in English! Even though I understand Spanish, there´s something special about hearing it in your own language, and hearing the real voices of the people as they speak. I was smiling all weekend long. I love Mormons! Seriously, we are slightly different, but I can´t help but feel so blessed to be one of them.

Well, we have found lots of new people this week. 2 younger guys, 17 and 25 years old. The 25 year old didn´t seem SUPER interested in our message, but his younger brother sure did. He asked us about 300 questions and listened really intently as we explained everything. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and he was super excited to read it. Another teenager, 19 years old, went to the conference yesterday, and he really loved it! He started talking to some of the elders, and they asked him "So when are you getting baptized?" That freaked him out a little bit, but he laughed about it and looked super happy. We also taught Hermana Maria Julia again, and her daughter. Her daughter is progressing really well! She had a ton of questions about the purpose of this life, and we taught her all about the plan of Salvation. We met another lady that used to reject us every time we knocked her door, but she finally let us in, and we all felt the Spirit as we were able to talk about God´s restored church.

There are so many people that need to hear this message! Every day it blows my mind how many people are searching for the truth; how many people just want answers to their questions. I am so blessed to have the answers, to be sure that God is in charge and that He will take care of me. Because there are so many people in this world that don´t feel that. But don´t worry, we´re telling everyone we can about Him. They´ll understand someday.

Have a wonderful week! I love you so much! Talk to you all soon!

all my love,

Hermana Scott

Because of Him

Hello family! How´s it goin´? I hope you are all doing well! Today is going to be a great day for la Zona La Molina. We´re going to go climb a HILL! WOOOO! Can you believe it???

Sometimes our P-days are kind of lame.There´s not a ton of stuff to do here, but we always manage to have a good time. 

So this week has been absolutely amazing! My companion is the best. I literally feel like we´re just best pals. We laugh all the time, and we just have so much fun. We´ve been working really hard and we´ve been super tired the past few days. Everything´s funnier and more fun when we´re tired. Honestly, I haven´t laughed so much or so hard in so long.

The cool part about that, is that along with all of the goofy, happy moments, we´ve had so many moments of complete awe this week, when we have felt the Spirit so strongly, and felt that the Lord was literally right beside us.

I just finished writing my mission president, and I´m going to send you part of what I wrote him, because it´s part of what I wanted to tell you too: 

President! Buenos días!

I hope you are doing well. I am going to write you in English today.

This week has been amazing! It has been so full of beautiful experiences. I have felt the Spirit everyday, and I have felt so much love for the people here. My companion and I are like best buds, and that really helps. We laugh a lot and are growing and learning a lot as well. 
The other day, the same day that we went to the temple with Hermana Maribel, she took us to her friend´s house so that we could teach her. President, in my whole mission, I have never met a person that was as ready as she was to receive the gospel. Her name is Maria Julia, and she has lived such a rough life. She has 3 kids - 2 daughters and 1 son. Her son (Flavio) has down´s syndrome and is SO COOL! We love him. A few years ago, her husband left them all, and went off with one of Maria Julia´s cousins, who was also already married with a family. When he left, it left Flavio heartbroken and completely scarred. He used to be a happy kid, who ran around and played and danced and loved life, but when his dad left him, even with his severe mental disability, he understood that his dad wasn´t coming back and it left him with severe depression. He started trying to kill himself, and sat in the same spot on the same couch day after day, not wanting to move or eat or do anything. No one could leave him alone, because if he was alone he tried to take his own life. The interesting thing is that when the dad found out about his son, they all realized that he had to return to the house. So even after all that happened, Maria Julia had to accept him in her house again so that her son could be okay. Now, things are better, but Flavio still has serious depression and still tries to hurt himself. The whole day, he just sits on a big couch, waiting for his dad to come home. He doesn´t get up to eat or go to the bathroom, he doesn´t talk, he just listens to the same music over and over again, and when he dad gets home, he finally stands up, goes to a different room, goes to the bathroom, and gets ready for bed and everything. He lives an empty life, just going through the motions. These are the things that Maria Julia told us....that night, when we met her, we also met Flavio. He didn´t want anything to do with us. We were trying to talk to his mom and sister (also named Maria Julia), and he was just spitting all over us and trying to kick us in the face. It was kind of funny, but it really made me sad, because he obviously still has some of those feelings, even though his dad is there now. He doesn´t know how to accept people or adjust to new situations. We went back again to visit her a few days later, and Flavio recognized us. He didn´t spit at us as much, and it seemed like he was a little bit more comfortable with us. Hermana Maria Julia was telling us about how her biggest problem was being able to forgive her husband for all that he had done. He has never really asked for forgiveness, he basically just came back because he had to. She said that she couldn´t feel happiness or joy, because all she feels is hate. She talked about how she, too, feels like she just goes through the motions, living a life without purpose. We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, about repentance, and forgiveness. She understood the need to RECEIVE forgiveness, as well as the need to GIVE it. She also talked about how she realized she needed to do something different to help Flavio. We talked about the priesthood, and about how someone could come and give her and her family a blessing of health and comfort. She was so excited, and the next day we went with the bishop. President, I can´t even explain to you how amazing that lesson was! We had no idea beforehand, but the bishop also has a brother who has down´s syndrome. He knew exactly what to do to win Flavio´s love. He was laughing and smiling and singing and talking! The bishop gave Maria Julia and Flavio blessings, and I´ll never forget the moment when he said in the blessing "I bless you to be calm and to be able to feel your mother´s love," Flavio got really quiet, and sat still for the rest of the blessing, listening. It was incredible. Everything changed in that moment. When he finished the blessing, Hermana Maria Julia was so happy, a little choked up with tears in her eyes, and the power of the Spirit was undeniable. We feel like this family has just been waiting to receive the gospel. 

I really don´t understand the Lord sometimes. There are some things that happen, and I find myself looking heaven-ward thinking, "What´s this supposed to mean?" But I feel like He always helps me to understand. He´s always there, and in this time of my life, I get to feel the guidance of His Spirit in every moment. We are so blessed as missionaries, there is no one as blessed as us. We get to teach the truth every day.

We don´t know what will happen with Maria Julia and her family, but we know that God has put us in their lives for a reason, and we are going to do all we can to help them accept the Gospel in their lives.

We are so excited to keep teaching them! I´ll keep you posted on what happens with them in the next few weeks.

Something really strange/scary happened to us yesterday. We were walking to a lesson, and we saw a girl running across the street, but something was obviously wrong with her. Her body moved like a puppet, and she looked crazed. We decided to go to see if we could help her, and as we were jogging to catch up with her, she fell flat on her face and scraped up her knees. We caught up to her, and noticed that she had an empty bottle of wine in her hand and was super drunk. It was kind of scary, because her eyes were blurry and she had this blank stare on her face. We were trying to get her to tell us where she lived, but she was completely incoherent.(that's a word, right?) She just started walking, so we followed her. She was telling us about all of the horrible things that she had been doing the night before, and it made me think that she was a prostitute, or that someone had convinced her to do all of the things she was doing. She actually offered that "service" to us,and tried to lay a big fat kiss on my companion. It was so strange, and we were super freaked out. She stopped at a house, and tried to open the door, but she couldn´t do it because of the state she was in. We tried opening the door for her, but none of the keys worked, so we thought she didn´t live there and were about to call the police. But thank the heavens,someone who lived in the house passed by right in that moment, and told us that she lived in the house, but she always forgot her keys. So they let her in, and she walked up to her room, and they told us that they were going to take care of her. That moment left me a little freaked out, but as we walked to the lesson, my companion and I started talking about it. I kept thinking "Why her? Why do such horrible things have to happen in this world?" But all of a sudden I felt the Spirit so strongly that I wanted to cry. I looked over at my companion, and she had the same look on her face, and she smiled and said "She´s going to get baptized."

Miracles happen! God leads us to where we need to go. We don´t need to doubt Him, we literally just need to trust in Him. There are so many people that need Him. I feel so blessed to be able to talk about Him, His Son, and their church every day of my life. 

I hope you have a wonderful week. I love you so much, you don´t even know! 

Also, this video changed my life this week. You have to watch it,and remember that all we have and all we are is because of him.

https://www.lds.org/church/news/church-to-launch-because-of-him-easter-initiative?lang=eng

All my love,

Hermana Scott

Transferred to Las Viñas!

¡HOLA! How are you, my dear familia? Today is a sunny day here in Lima. We´re getting ready for the heat!

Well, this week was transfers. I always feel like they´re never going to come, that I´ll just get to stay in the same area forever, but that´s just not how it works. Once again I had to say goodbye to so many amazing people that I love so much. But I´m happy here in my new area. It´s called "Las Viñas." It´s part of the La Molina stake, and I was in this stake before when I was in Cieneguilla. So the church buildings where we go for our meetings and P days is the same building that I used to go to! That´s pretty fun. I´m sure I´ll get to see lots of familiar faces during General Conference :)

I have two thoughts for today. One, thinking about how much changes stink sometimes, and how difficult they can be. I was talking to one of the sisters that I live with now, and she said that she always tries to look at the transfers as little snippets of what it will be like in the real world. Changes happen in our lives; big ones and small ones. And we have to be ready to go down the path that God lays out for us with faith. 

Being converted to the gospel also requires a lot of change. Like it says in the Bible Dictionary about conversion, "Denotes changing one’s views, in a conscious acceptance of the will of God. If followed by continued faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism in water for the remission of sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, conversion will become complete and will change a natural man into a sanctified, born again, purified person—a new creature in Christ Jesus. Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." We must be willing to make these changes to one day be perfected in Him.

Another thought I had is just this...I´M STILL HAPPY! Even though it literally breaks my heart having to leave an area, I have come to love this work, and I know that wherever I am, I need to keep doing it. My area is really different, the people are rich and the streets are dead (complete opposite of Canadá) but it´s beautiful and we´ve got lots of work to do. We live with two other sisters...that´s just dangerous. We laugh a lot and don´t get enough sleep. :)

I´m excited for spring and for summer to be here, but I hope you're enjoy the beginning of fall! OH, by the way, I have another companion from Argentina!!! She is the bomb and we get along SO well. We´re basically just best buds already. Her name is Hermana Tacconi...I promise I´ll send pictures soon!!

I love you guys so much!!! Have a great week!

All my love,

Hermana Michelle eh-Scott

Charity is the pure love of Christ

Hello sweet family!

I hope you are doing well. Thank you for the emails and the fun stories. It sounds like all is well!

This week something crazy happened. Crazy is the only word that I can think of to explain it.

On Friday night, my companion and I got back to our room, and right as we walked in the Elders called us to ask us a few questions. I sat down at my desk and was talking to them, and my companion lay down on her bed. I think I was talking to them for like 6 minutes, on speaker phone so that my companion could hear too. But when I hung up I looked over at her and she was sleeping. Six minutes! I was amazed at how fast she fell asleep, I didn´t realize she was so tired. She had mentioned it during the day that she was abnormally tired, but she kept working as normal. I tried waking her up, but she was super duper asleep. I got a little irritated actually, because every night we always plan for the next day, and it´s not an optional thing. So I decided to just leave her alone for a minute, and I started to get ready for bed and stuff. At 10-ish, I tried waking her up again. I was literally screaming her name and shaking her whole body, but she would not wake up! I was legitimately angry at this point, and I just thought to myself, "Whatever, you can just do whatever you want." I´m so dumb and immature sometimes. So at 10:30, bed time for all missionaries, I prayed, tried to wake her up one more time (with no luck) and went to bed. Literally the second my head hit the pillow, I felt so strongly in my heart that something was not right and I heard in my mind, "Go take care of your companion!" I jumped off my bed and turned on the light and saw that my companion was convulsing. Her whole body was shaking and her eyes were rolled back in her head. It was probably one of the scariest things I´ve ever seen. I don´t know how I managed to keep calm because I was so freaked out. I called our leaders, they called the mission president, and they all came to our room to take her to the hospital. When the elders saw my companion, they freaked out a little bit too. The President came, and they carried her out to his car and we went to the hospital. We got there at 12:30ish. Basically, it wasn´t as serious as it looked. She´s been taking a medication that apparently doesn´t work right, and it made her body enter into shock. I don´t know what the doctors did to get her out of it, but it wasn´t that huge of a process, thankfully. When she woke up, she was so confused. I felt so bad! Imagine that, just waking up in the hospital and not remembering anything. By the time we got out of there, it was so late that we had to sleep in the president´s house because our area was too far away. The next day we woke up after getting about 3 hours of sleep, and just laughed. It was such a strange, sweet, and funny moment.

My companion is okay! Don´t worry. This week and especially the past few days, we´ve talked a lot about all of the things we´ve learned together; all of the moments that have taught us so much. We´ve seen a lot of amazing things together and had quite a few bumps in the road. But that day, I really felt that God is always taking care of us. Who knows what would have happened if I had ignored that impression and let my tiredness win me over. I think I´m still paying the price of getting so little sleep, but obviously it had to be that way. 

This experience helped me to understand the importance of the little things that happen in our lives (in the midst of the big things). Loving my companion, for one. Second, being able to listen to and respond to the prompting I received that night. 

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon that I really love. It´s in Moroni 7. It´s really well known, but it says everything that I´ve felt these past few days:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

Interesting how it says that if we don´t have charity, WE ARE NOTHING. We really have to learn how to love all people, despite their flaws. It´s something that I´m learning, and trying to master. 

We must be like Jesus Christ! We must learn to love as He loves. And also, don´t take medication that has crazy side effects :) Be willing to listen to the Spirit, and follow what He says. 

I love you so much! Have a great week!

All my love,

Hermana Scott

I get to see miracles everyday!!

HI FAMILY!

When I write in capital letters, it´s because I´m excited. HI FAMILY! I´m excited to talk to you today! 

I hope you´ve all had a great week. I have had a wonderful week. Today is September 15. Can you believe that? I literally can´t. I feel like just yesterday I was writing you!

I want to tell you about something amazing that happened this week. I talk a lot about Nancy, Roberto, and Jesus. Probably because they´re the best and I love them too much. But this week, we had a lesson with them, and Jesus finally opened his heart up to us. Just a little bit. He said that he knows that to be happy in this life, he needs to get baptized and follow God. Those were his exact words! He is only 13 years old, but he really understands. His problem is that he doesn´t want to yet. His mom told us that he really looks for affection and love from his dad, but his dad never gives it to him. His dad is schizophrenic (I think I told you that already) and he never even talks to his children, let alone show them love. But Jesus really loves to see his dad. Who doesn´t love to see their dad? It makes sense to me that he wants to be with his dad, but it absolutely breaks my heart because he´s not going to find what he wants; what he needs. But the fact that he understands that he can find that happiness by following Jesus Christ gives me hope. I have so much hope for him.

After the lesson, we talked to Hermana Nancy for a minute and she told us that her other son, Raphael, mentioned that he wanted to go to church on Sunday. I was so excited (a little TOO excited)! Since the beginning of June, we´ve been trying to talk to Raphael. He´s 17 years old and already has a drug problem, and really no one in his family cares about him. He lives with his dad, and no one even cares at what hour he leaves the house, when he comes home, if he eats or not, if he goes to school or not. It´s so sad. But Hermana Nancy told us he wanted to go to church, and I cried because I was so happy! We went to go look for him, but as always, he wasn´t home. We tried looking for him all day long, in the streets, in the parks, but we didn´t see him. This was on Saturday. I was a little bummed because I wanted to invite him personally to church, and offer to go pick him if he wanted. As we were finishing the day, heading back to our house, literally 20 feet away from our door, WE SAW RAPHAEL IN THE STREET. I had to try really hard to contain my excitement. I was saying in my head "Act natural, act natural..." because I didn´t want to scare him. We invited him to church, and he said "maybe". That was enough for me. That night, we just prayed and prayed and prayed that he would go.

The next day, he went to church.

And his brother Roberto, now Mormon and super faithful, went and picked him up and brought him to the church.

There are moments in the mission that I just can´t explain correctly. I don´t know how to make you feel what I feel; to understand the happiness and love and excitement that I feel. It´s indescribable. It´s something that just lives inside of me everyday. Seeing people come to know God and his Son Jesus Christ is the most amazing thing I´ve ever experienced. I am so lucky. I get to see miracles everyday!!!!!! 

I know I´ve already mentioned this scripture before, but I´m going to mention it again: (Alma 26:36-37) "...this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people... yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land. Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

That scripture just brings tears to my eyes. This is my life. And I love it. 

I love you all so much! Daniel, I´m happy to hear you got to go home this weekend. I hope you all have a great week, and enjoy the color change of the leaves! It´s finally starting to get warm here, I´m loving the sun and I´m excited to start wearing my sunscreen again. :) I love you so much! 

All my love,

Sister Scott

Thank you!

Hello family!

Thank you to everyone who wrote me today, I really felt the love.

The time has escaped. What I mean to say is that I don´t have very much time left. But I just wanted to share two quick things-

1. Roberto, the son of Hermana Nancy, received the Priesthood yesterday. We spent a lot of time explaining to him what that meant, that he was going to have a great responsibility, and that as the only priesthood holder he was going to be able to do a lot for his family. He was SO happy yesterday. He had this goofy grin on his face all morning long, and he helped the other young men wash the trays from sacrament meeting. His happiness was contagious, and it brought tears to my eyes to see him like that. Happy tears, of course!

2. I AM SUPER HAPPY! I love being a missionary. I feel like I say that a lot. But that´s really just the truth.

They are calling us. I have to leave, but it´s always a great "booster" for me reading your emails. Thank you for your love and support, remember how much I love you and that I´m always praying for you!

all my love,

Hermana Michelle Scott

Redeeming love

¡Buenos días querida familia!

Hello hello hello my sweet family! I am super excited today, today is just another poopy, gloomy day in Lima, but us missionaries are all super happy because we are the most blessed people in the world. We get to teach the true gospel everyday of our lives! What could be better, really?

This week, we are going to have another baptism of an 18 year old girl. Her story reminds me so much of my own, honestly. Her friend invited her to go to church, but a few months later he left on his mission. She had gained a testimony and wanted to get baptized (at the time she was 16) but her mom didn´t want her to get baptized (sound familiar....? ;) ) She is now 18 years old and can make the decision for herself. We went to her house to talk to her mom about her baptism, and she accepted it! It was really almost funny, because she had waited 2 whole years to get baptized and her mom just said it was fine. We have plans to teach her mom as well, because as we know miracles DO happen :) 

Also, this week was kind of "bumpy" for me and my companion. She´s been sick in her stomach for a long time out here in the mission, and she´s finally getting better. But for some reason, she gets super sassy about the food, and gets this attitude with our pensionista. I just feel bad because they give us this great service, and it´s just hard to see her be so ungrateful. Well, I can´t judge her,but I sometimes I just got a little peeved and didn´t want to talk to her. So, we were both acting super immature. This whole time I just thought that she had a problem with the food and was being immature. But last night, she finally opened up to me. I´m a super overly expressive person, and she doesn´t express her feelings to anyone. I just kept asking her and asking her and BEGGING her to tell me what was wrong. But all of a sudden, I just stopped talking, said a little prayer in my heart, and started telling her about some things that had happened in my life. Random things that I haven´t talked about in forever. But she just sat there and listened to me talk, with this look in her eyes that I hadn´t seen yet. There´s a book that I read a lot when I was at home, called "Redeeming Love", that is based on the story in the Bible about Hosea. Hosea is commanded by God to marry a prostitute, and in the book it talks about how he questioned God, obviously thinking, "Are you crazy? How do you expect me to marry a woman that has sold herself her whole life?" The book is amazing, and it ends with the girl, named Angel, coming to know God, learning how to accept His love in her life, and then being able to accept the love of other people. I did my best to explain this story in Spanish, super late at night (white girl + speaking Spanish past bed time = bad news), and she just started bawling. It turns out that she has had a really hard life. A lot of horrible things have happened in her life, and no one ever knew about it. She says that none of her other companions knew because they had never insisted so much. (That sounds kind of funny right? I guess I´m a little pushy or something.) In those moments when we were talking last night, I felt so happy and relieved, and she felt free. Even though I was exhausted and confused about how the conversation had turned out like that, I felt like the Lord was literally there with us.

I don´t know if I´m able to express myself really well in my emails, but something that I just want you to understand is that in this time in my mission, I´m feeling the Lord in every step. The time is going by so fast, and I can´t believe how little time I have left. I have never felt the presence of the Lord so strongly and surely in my life. Great things are happening here; I wish I never had to leave this area. But in these last few weeks that we have in this transfer, we´re going to keep working hard and seeing the Lord´s hand here in Canadá.

I love you so much! Have a great week and remember I´m always praying for you.

All my love,

Hermana Scott

Peace, hope and miracles

Hello family!!! I hope you are all doing well and that this has been a great week. I feel like I always say that, but I really mean it!

 

Well, I´m writing you with tears in my eyes. But good tears; really good tears. I feel so happy and so blessed, I don´t even know where to begin, I don´t know how to explain how I feel.

 

Right now, I´m sitting in Surco. The place where I started my mission. I´m here because we had to do divisions today so that my companion can go to the doctor. So I´m here, in my very first area, almost a year later. As I was walking in the streets, I realized how different I am. When I started the mission, I was still so stubborn, a little too confident, and super prideful. Now, that doesn´t mean that I´m not still a little stubborn (still got lots of flaws....) but as I was walking around in these streets that I know like the back of my hand, I really felt that in the course of my mission, I have changed and grown and learned so much. It´s been over a year! Sometimes I can´t believe that a whole year has already passed, and I feel like it was just yesterday that I stepped off the plane, taking my first steps in a foreign land. I feel so happy, and I feel like God has blessed me SO much! It´s really just incredible.

 

I wanted to share an experience that we had this week. On Wednesday morning, we received a call from a sister that lives in a different area, but she had communicated with the missionaries in her ward and they gave her our number, and she called and told us that there was an emergency and that she needed us to go visit one of her friends. She lives in a city called La Molina, and we live in San Luis, but she works in our area with this guy. She explained what was happening, and her friend´s dad had already had cancer for a while, but it had gotten really serious and in the past few days it had really taken over his body and he was going die within a few hours. So she told us to go to her friend´s house at 6 in the evening, and we went with the elders so that they could give the dad a blessing, as well as the members of their family. So remember that in the church, men hold the priesthood of God, which is the power to act in His name with the intention of blessing God´s children. They literally can bless people in God´s name, the blessing being the words that God wishes to communicate with the person receiving the blessing. (I hope you understand my horrible English...it´s getting bad, sorry). When we walked into the house, it was such a sad scene. The dad was lying in his bed, perked up by pillows and attached to an oxygen tank thing, and he was already unconscious and totally out of it. It was really hard to see. And his kids, who are about 25 and 30 years old, just looked so sad. The look in their eyes was one of real pain and sadness, and tears just sprung to my eyes. We explained to them what we were going to do, what the Priesthood is and the reasons why we were here as missionaries...to be able to serve all people and invite them to come unto Jesus Christ. The Elders gave a blessing to the dad, and afterwards gave a blessing to the son (Jose) and the daughter (named "Lluvia" which means "rain" in English. cool name, right?) As soon as the Elder said the word "Amen" in the last blessing, the whole atmosphere of in the house changed. We all just kind of sat there for a minute, and looked at each other almost in shock for how strongly we felt the Spirit. It was a feeling that I´ll never forget. Afterwards, we sat down and spoke with them for a little while, explained a little bit about the Plan of Salvation, and scheduled another appointment to go back another day. Jose and Lluvia thanked us, and we left. When we were all outside (the 4 of us, with the elders) we just stood there for a minute smiling, with tears in our eyes. It was a moment when all 4 of us really felt that God had led us to that family and that they were ready to receive the gospel.

 

A few days later, we received a call from Jose and he told us that that same night his dad passed away. But in his own words, he said that he "felt a great peace" and that after we left, a feeling of calm and peace had filled them with hope. When at one point they were so devastated, they felt that they could accept the passing of their father, and felt that they had been changed by what happened that night.

 

So, now what? You can probably assume that we are teaching this family. You´re right! :) We visited them yesterday, and explained to them how the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored in these days by the prophet Joseph Smith. We taught them from beginning, and when we finished, they were all smiling and kept saying how they had been searching for the truth for so long and that they´ve finally found it. We´re going to keep visiting them and help them reach the point when they decided to follow the Savior and get baptized in His church.

 

That´s just one of the miracles that I´ve seen on my mission. But it´s a real miracle! THAT is a miracle. We have to find the sister who called us and thank her, and tell her how much has happened since that call she made, looking for someone to help her friend.

 

It makes me think of how my dear friend Emma Lattin invited me to church not so long ago. And, how even before that, Shelby Barton had invited me. I too was one of those people that needed to find God and find the truth. Through Emma and the entire Lattin family, all of the members of the Orchard Ward, and the missionaries that had so much patience with me, I too was able to come to know the truth.

 

Do you not see how true it all is? To me, it´s just too simple. I feel so blessed to be a missionary, to be able to testify of Jesus Christ and get to know so many wonderful people. Life is hard, and we all of trials and weaknesses and temptations and doubts. But God knows His children, and He has a plan for them.

 

I just want you to know that I am so happy. I love being a missionary, and I wish this time of my life never had to end. I also understand that someday you´d like me to come home ... ;) Just don´t worry about me. Everything is great here; I´m happier than I´ve ever been in my life.

 

I hope that you can learn to trust in God, and look for answers to your questions. Have faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and always believe in miracles. One of my favorite scriptures says it all perfectly: "...this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people... yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers‍ in a strange land. Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful‍ of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen." (Alma 26 36-37)

 

That is literally exactly how I feel. I am a wanderer in a strange land, just like Ammon was so long ago. But it´s okay, because God is mindful of me, just as He is of each of you.

I hope you each have a great week! Remember that I love you SO much!!!

All my love,

Hermana Michelle Scott

A new companion

Hello family!

Well, this week we had transfers. And the crazy thing is that my companion had transfers! I stayed here again in Canadá! Isn´t that weird? Maybe not for you, but for me it´s super weird. She only had one transfer here, and I already had two. But they changed her, not me. We didn´t understand why, and my companion was really sad.

But that day that we had transfers, we had a huge reunion with the whole mission. EVERY missionary in our mission was in the same chapel at the same time. That´s over 200 missionaries. It was one of the coolest moments of my life. We sang the classic missionary hymn "Called to Serve," and our mission president started to explain to us that he hadn´t really wanted to change all of us. But that it was the impression that he received from the Lord; that all of the changes that were made were made because that was what God wanted. My new companion is crazy; just to be honest, she is the last person that I would have chosen as my companion if I ever had to chose. But in these days, I have felt that what our president said is true. I really believe that I stayed here for a reason, and that I am with my companion for something greater than we understand right now.

My companion´s name is Hermana Paris, and she´s from Chile. I am with a sister from CHILE, named PARIS, in CANADA, in PERU still. What the weird, right? Lot´s of things going on there. Like I said, she´s crazy, but we are having so much fun together already. It´s going to be a great 6 weeks. 

I just want you to know that I know that God has a plan for us. He is in charge of everything we see. Like it says in the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 2: But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

I love you all so much. Have a great week, and remember that I´m always praying for you!

All my love,

hermana michelle scott

He shall prepare a way

Hello my dear, sweet family!! I am writing you on a sunny afternoon. I LOVE THE SUN. Winter in Lima is not the most beautiful thing in the world. It´s just cold and gray and humid and rainy. But, if you´ve got a smile on your face and a Book of Mormon in your hand, the cold´s not so bad ;) But today we have sunshine!! And that´s the best! So there is nothing to complain about.

Today we had a big P-day of all sisters. That was super fun. We just hung out and watched a movie, and played some funny little games. I kind of felt like I was at a Young Women´s activity at church. It was super fun and all of the sisters were just being...sisters. Hahah I don´t know how to explain it. But it was a great time!

This week has been really interesting. A lot of really small miracles have happened, and those are the reasons we keep working right? If we don´t have the results we want, we still need to look at the small blessings we have. For example, there is a family in our ward, the Familia Ynga, that is like 92 % inactive in the church. The whole family are members of the church, the grandma and the grandpa, and all of their children (8 in total), but only the grandparents go to church regularly. It´s really sad actually, but we love them all and we are visiting them and trying to get them back to church. The grandpa was inactive for YEARS also, but in the past few months has started going back to church and is active again. That has been a huge blessing and honestly a big surprise for his family. His name is Alfredo but everyone calls him "nene" which means "little boy" in Spanish. His wife is Elena, but they all call her "nena" or "little girl" :) they are the sweetest humans in the world! I love them so much. But anyway, el Hermano Nene is a little stubborn. We were telling him that he needed to talk to the bishop because the next step for him and his wife is entering the temple to get sealed! He was really nervous for the interview and really didn´t want to go. We went to visit them the day of the interview, and talked to them about enduring to the end. We talked about the importance of the family, and of the priesthood. He really understood the lesson, and afterward he told us he was going to see the bishop. He stood up and said "Let´s go nena. I gotta go talk to the bishop." (in Spanish, though) The bishop told us later that it was a super spiritual interview, and since the bishop can´t tell us anything that the hermano said, he just said "Trust me hermanas, he listens to you when you teach. He is one great man." So he´s getting ready to enter the temple with his wife! Its going to be a great time. We´re not sure when, but he´s in the process. He will be a great example for all of his children as well.

Something interesting happened with my companion a while ago that I never really explained. She had a period of time when she literally wanted to go home, and didn´t want to work. She would tell me that she was going to call the president, have an interview, and she was convinced that he would hear her out and send her home just like that. It was rough to see her like that, because I knew that she didn´t REALLY want to go home. Sometimes she´d be normal and happy, but something difficult would happen (cancelled appointments, lack of sleep, upset stomach) and she would get all depressed and just not want to do it anymore. I know how hard it can be, but during that time, I had to just put a smile on all the time and help her to get over it. There were times when I wanted to just tell her to shut up, or times that I wanted to just let her call president and let him deal with it, but somehow God helped me to have the patience that I needed to be able to help her. Patience has always been an attribute that I lacked...I still need to work on it actually, but I feel like I came to understand a little bit more about it. And there have been many times when she has had to be really patient with me. It´s really funny how the mission is. It can be so dramatic, but it´s the best time in the world. The other day I was pretty emotional, a little stressed out about some things and sad about the up-coming transfers, and my companion told me, "Hermana Scott, even though I never tell you, I really do love you. Don´t worry. Every thing is going to be okay if we trust in God." It just made me want to cry. I feel really blessed to have been able to see this great change in her. That is what this gospel is all about...forgiveness, love and change. I felt so grateful for what she said to me that day when I was a little down in the dumps. She reminded me of one of the most famous Mormon scriptures: 

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which He commandeth them.

I love how God teaches us. I had thought that I was placed with my companion to help her, but really it seems like it was the other way around. God does all that He does for a very specific reason, and He will be with us in each step of the way to help us understand and do what he wants us to do. 

I feel really blessed and happy. I hope that you are enjoying the last little bit of summer. We´re going to be leaving winter soon, so when it´s cold over there, I´ll be getting sun burned and enjoying the sun here :) I love you all so much more than you know! I hope this week is filled with little miracles and that you can understand a little bit more of God´s great plan. 

I LOVE YOU!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Scott