#11 It's Time To Say Goodbye

Hna. Gonzalez loves to sing this song. I´m a fan. But yeah It´s time to say goodbye because I am officially done with my first transfer!!! Can you hardly believe it? Because I sure can´t. And no not goodbye to me. I´m sticking around Puno for a little bit longer. Which is fine by me. I´ve grown to love this place. And also the Elders and Hermanas that are here. And it is them that I am saying goodbye to. My dear Hermana Condie died and I am so sad. She was my Hna Leader and I loved her to pieces. So If an Amie Condie adds me on FB, please accept mommies. She was swell. Also Hermana Sanchez is dead. And that is also sad. And now the sisters in my zone are down to 3 companionships instead of the four. Which also makes me sad. And also Elder Orellana is probably gonna go. We´re not sure yet. He was an Elder serving in our ward and he was the bomb diggity.

So yeah cambios are kinda sad. But I´m super psyched to meet more people and broaden my circle of missionary friends! So that's exciting. 

Well this is kinda gonna be a lame-o letter because I wanna spend some time sending pictures and responding to some of you lovely people who wrote! So I´ll just share 2 things more.

We have 2 investigators who are sisters, Carmen and Maxi. Carmen has 19 years and Maxi 17. They are both suuuper receptive to the gospel and want to get baptized, but their parents haven´t shared this desire that they have. So they haven´t been baptized. And we never had the chance to reason with their parents because they live in the Selva (Jungle) which is suuuuper far away. Carmen and Maxi and their sister Miryiam (who is a recent convert) go to university here in Puno. So yeah never had contact with their parents and we´ve just been teaching them for the time being. But they actually came down to Puno this week and we had the chance to share a message with them and talk about baptism for Carmen and Maxi!! And the dad, who is super cool by the way, like super chill about everything, Isidro, said that he was totally cool with Carmen and Maxi taking the plunge! And he said, I think... Not totally sure on this one, But I think he said he was really happy with how Miryam was living her life and so if his other daughters want to be baptized, he wasn´t going to stand in the way! So we got the go ahead and we´re shooting for baptism for Maxi this month, and Carmen the next month, hopefully. And after the end of our message, we invited the whole family to kneel down and pray together and Carmen offered the prayer. Before, she was a little timid about praying in front of everyone. But this prayer was so sincere and you could feel the spirit so strong. She prayed to be able to continue on the right path for baptism and to be able to put into practice the things that she had learned from the Missionaries (That´s me!) and yeah it was just super powerful. And I know her parents felt something after it. And I just wish we could teach them so bad because really they are the sweetest. But they don´t live here and there aren´t any missionaries in the Selva. So that's a bummer. But yeah tha'ts the story of Carmen and Maxi! 

And I know I said I was going to share two things more, but I plum forgot the other. So I´ll fill the void with pictures! So yeah that was my week! I hope everyone is well and spreading the gospel like wild fire! Because really, that´s what we need to be doing! Thanks for all the love and prayers and thoughts! Love you all and have a splendid week! 

Hermana Rust 

 Hna. Condie and I. So sad she´s gone :(

 For Pday a couple weeks ago and for today we went to what is called the condor. But from what you can seeeee it´s not really a Condor as much as it is a giant Turkey. I think they call it Conder to make gringas like me think it´s really cool when reallly... it´s just a giant turkey. there are approx. 650 steps that you have to trudge up in order to behold this... amazing creature. Not totally sure if 600+ steps is worth it, but I´ll let you be the judge. And without futher ado, Giant turkey. Oh uh I mean "Condor"

And here is me holding the sun atop the great Condor.