4/14/14 Email

From: Camille Weller [mailto:camille.weller@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 11:15 AM
To: Melissa Wheatley;

Subject: TEAM CHIVAY

 

First and foremost, Congrats Mark and Jenny on Chuck Morris (: haha when you decide on his name let me know.. but i think he will always be chuck in my heart(: p.s hes so dang cute!! cant wait to meet him! (:

Wow i have so much to tell you! This has been one of the longest, most challenging weeks of my mission but thats what made it so amazing!! Monday me and Hna Stone said goodbye to our old companions and stayed together at the mission home that night. We got to talk to everyone who was headed home that transfer and it made me realize how little time i have left and how much harder i want to work and just give my all because i think the day we have to go home will come like a smack to the face. Tuesday (for grandpas birthday (: ) we got on a bus and took our 4 hour ride up to the great town of CHIVAY! Its the cutest little town in the middle of nowhere.. it reminds me a ton of Lava, its even famous for its natural hot springs! Chivay is the main town of many in the district of Colca, theres other little villages but they said we mostly stay in Chivay. The four elders came and got us from the terminal and took us to our house( in moto taxis.. coolest things ever!) We live on the second floor in the cutest little room with big windows and an amazing view! We even have a waterfall fountain thing right outside that makes it sound like its raining 24/7.. SCORE (: We also live right on the main road so were close to everything. We live with a cute little family of 3 with thier daughter who is 9 and has become our best friend. They are all so nice to us!  We share the kitchen and bathroom with them but hardly cross paths. The mom is the head judge here so everyone pretty much knows them.. looks like weve got connections (: We have hot water so were good on that one and theres a washer on the third floor that we get to use! man life is good (: We dont have a pensionista so we cook breakfast and dinner at home and then eat out in the town, theres some good restaurants weve found and also the market where they make good food too! (ill send pics next week) Wait.. did i mention that were 12,000 ft up?? Weve even got the highest irish pub in the world here! and the hotels offer rooms where they put more oxygen in the air! Luckily we didnt get too sick and now were perfectly fine(:  Its a pretty touristy town but that makes it less wierd to see two greengas walking around all the time. They dont eat cow meat up here.. only alpaca, which is pretty good actually! It does get pretty cold up here at night(which makes for some great outfits.. (: )  but during the day the son is super strong so its pretty hot. Luckily i learned from my uncle to put hot water in glass bottles in the bed.. works like a charm uncle travis!! As you can see we are loving it up here and ive also never had so much fun with my companion, despite all the challenges and different things up here we are always laughing and helping eachother to stay possitive. We know that if we trust in the Lord that all will work out (: 

Alright lets get to the work side of things. The branch up here consists of the elders as branch presidency and other than that there are 2 others with callings but that are less actives. There are about 50 members in total and about 20 active. We did our best to get to know them this week and are planning a ton of activities to get the members more involved and active. President and his wife came and visited us on thursday and we made some changes and bounced some ideas around which really helped. I know that He, The mission and the Lord have high expectations for Chivay which only gives us more motivation to work as hard as we can. We had a movie night saturday and made posters and flyers and it turned out good!! There were a ton of people who werent members who came as well! Sunday we had church.. which is super different up here.. The elders run everything, including the sacrament and talks. Hna Stone and i talked this week about the Book of Mormon which was cool because i think that their testimonies of that book is what will help the branch grow. There was a total of 6 members and 3 investigators there. The missionaries teach all the classes.. so your looking at the new primary/young womans/ Relief society presidents! Thats one of our goals is to get members in these callings as soon as possible, but for now sundays are pretty interesting! We taught Relief society this week and it was an awesome class. The sisters all told us how excited they are to have Hermanas here and that they are ready to get out and help the other members come back. I had a cool thought that i shared with them that these members were called to be members here.. in chivay.. that they are strong enough to start this branch here from nothing.. and that the Lord trusts them with the work here. I love all of them already and am so excited to get to know them and to help them to build up the branch here. There is a lot of work to be done but i know that the lord will be right by our side.. These are His Children and this is His work and CHurch. Im learning more and more each day to just completely trust in him and give my will to him. I know that the only way to help here is to have to the spirit and follow the promptings i recieve. I know that the church is true.. in all parts of the world.. and that it is the church of Jesus Christ. He leads and guides it. I love chivay, and have never felt so much love for the people in Peru as i do here for the people of this cute little town. Pray for them and for the growth of the church here, also we are open for any ideas on how to help this branch! Love you all so much! Keep up the good fight and remember to put your trust in God,He loves you and will answer your prayers. "Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you."

 

 

Con mucho amor y respeto,

Hermana Weller