Time for reflection

Hello family!

Well, this email is very difficult for me to write. My heart is so full; I´m excited and nervous and sad and scared out of my mind and EVERYTHING all at once. In two weeks I will be going home! And this is my second-to-last email home. (Don´t worry, the last one will be even cooler than the second-to-last one ;))

So, I´ve been out here for over 17 months. I´ve written you lots of emails and told you lots of stories. I´ve talked about moments when I´ve laughed, moments when I´ve cried; I´ve shared with you some of my personal accomplishments and those of other people as well. But most importantly, I´ve shared my testimony about our Savior Jesus Christ and the truth of His Restored Gospel. 

About 17 months ago, when I was set apart to be a missionary, the Lord expressed to me in my blessing that during my mission I needed to share with you my testimony EVERY WEEK, and that in the process, you and I would all be blessed. I just want you to know that every single email I sent, I sent with all the love of my heart, knowing that every word I said was true. God really does live, and He loves us. We are His children. Jesus is the Savior of the world, and His true church was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that these things are true. I also know that the promise that God made to me over 17 months ago has been fulfilled: you and I have all been so greatly blessed.

There´s something special about being a missionary. As Jesus told His disciples of old a long time ago, we, as His living servants and missionaries in this last dispensation, are "in the world, but not of it." There are more than 88,000 missionaries IN the world. We are ALL OVER THE WORLD. We are certainly IN the world, but one thing that I know for certain is that we are not of the world. Not because we are better, or cooler, or smarter...we have been set apart by God´s servants to NOT be of the world, to dedicate everything to our Savior, and serve Him and God´s children until the end. 

It´s hard to accept that this time is coming to an end. It will be incredibly difficult to say goodbye to this country, these people, and this work that I love so much. But I am SO excited to see you!! Just know that I am going to be working hard until the very end.

I love YOU so much, and I love my Savior. 

Con TODO mi amor,

Hermana Scott

The love of a missionary is great

Hi family!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you have started off this new year with lots of good ideas and goals that you are ready to meet. As it says in our training manual for missionaries, Preach My Gospel, "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action." I invite you to think about what your desires are, and how in this new year you can work to reach your goals.

I just have a short little thing to share today. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting at church, my last one in Peru. I felt the Spirit very strongly and I fasted and prayed, asking the Lord to help me and the people I teach and visit here. I, along with my companion, was able to share my testimony yesterday, and when I sat down in my chair, I felt like I needed to write a little bit about all of what I was feeling. And this is what I wrote: 

"I shared my testimony in my ward for the last time today. I felt so much as I stood in front of those people, telling them about the things that I know to be true. I realized that most of them probably don´t know much about me - for most of them, I´m just another one of the missionaries that´s passed through the ward. The image of my face will blur with that of all the others; my last name will be poorly-pronounced for the next few months and forgotten in a few years. They don´t know me, but I know them. My companion and I have spent hours praying for them and the people they love; asking the Lord to make their burdens lighter, to help them keep the faith when times get hard, and that we might be able to help them in some small way. The love of a missionary is great; it´s impossible to explain all of what a young man or woman feels as a set-apart servant of God. Our knees are calloused and well-accustomed to long conversations on the floor, and our voices are well-known by our Father. We don´t need the people to know who we are; we need them to know their Savior."

That´s basically what I feel today. I just want you to know that I love you and I´m always praying for you. Thank you for your love and support! Have a wonderful week, and remember these words that the Lord says to us: "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of they days." I know that this is true, for each and every one of us.

With all of my love,

Hermana Scott

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