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