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