Hola Familia! and friends! How is everyone this week?
Well, I have unsuccessfully escaped the CCm without getting sick... my whole district got a bug, but I was hit the worst. I am so lucky to have these girls as my district though because I was taken care of!
So guess what... this will be my last email I send from the CCM because in exactly one week I will be in Cusco! Yep, the time has finally come to start the real adventure. Id be lying if I said I am not the least bit nervous to be thrown into the real missionary world. I know a ton more spanish than I did my first day, but I still feel like such a beginner. Which I am! I have to tell myself all the time its only been 6 weeks. Theres no way I can be fluent, but it is scary to go out and start teaching for real with very limited Spanish. But I am super super anxious to be in Cusco and experience the REAL missionary life. Its funny to think I have been a missionary for a month and a half, but I only know what missionary life is like in the CCM- not the field where all the real stuff happens! We watched a talk from Elder Quentin L. Cook on Sunday and he was saying sometimes we will feel inaduquate in our callings, he said he even feels like he isnt good enough to be an Apostle and that Elder Packer doesnt even know why he was called to be an apostle, so if they feel like they arent good enough I shouldnt have to worry too much about how I feel as a missionary. I have a testimony, a love for this gospel, Jesus Christ, and my Heavenly Father and a desire to learn and teach people. That is all I really need to be able to then let the Lord stretch me and help me grow into the missionary he wants me to be. For the first little while I just need to be a Christlike example, alway strive to have the spirit with me so that it can work through me, and of course study and work hard.
Tender mercies like crazy this week! At the beginning of the week I was kinda having a trial of not feeling like God was answering my prayers and I just wanted to feel loved and at peace. So one morning I was just not feeling well at all, but I knew I needed to suck it up and teach. Hna. Arroyo and I went and taught an investigator and I tried to lead the lesson, but I started struggling with my Spanish and I was getting frustrated so I stopped and just tried to feel the spirit. I then told our investigator that I would not be here in Peru if I did not think that what I was trying to teach her was true. She looked at me and said that while we were teaching and testifying, she could feel that God is close to us, that he is near and that she can see a light in us. I couldnt help but cry and tell her that she had just been an answer to my prayers. I gained a testimony that sometimes even those that we teach can be the ones to teach us. Another morning my whole district was kinda in a funk and we were all not feeling too good so class was extra hard to pay attention and focus. Then we were told that over 60 kids from different wards around Lima were coming in and we would be sharing our testimonies to them. All of them were in between 7 and 18 years old. Our teacher had us share our testimonies and then some of them shared their testimonies and then we got to go and greet them all and they all just ran up to us and were giving us kisses and asking for pictures and it was the happiest thing ever! My face literally hurt from how much I was smiling! Then some of their leaders would come up and kiss us and just tell us thank you. Afterwards, our teacher talked to us about how here, members look at missionaries as angels to them and their country. It felt so good to hear that and it just makes me want to work harder. She also talked about how Jesus Christ is the light of the world- we are representatives of Christ, therefore, we are the light of the world. So cool to think about!
I have noticed a big difference in my studying the Book of Mormon since I got here. At home I would read my scriptures with the family, for Book of Mormon class, or to say that I had done my scripture study for the day. I have always known that the Book is true, I never really doubted it. However- since I have been here I am studying the Book of Mormon like I have never done before. As I am reading, the stories are coming alive and I just want to keep reading! When I read, I feel like I am gaining witness after witness that there is no way that the Book of Mormon is not true. I can feel so much love from Heavenly Father every time I open the book. This book is So powerful! It really has changed me. I know that anyone that reads it will gain their own witness that it is true through the feelings they experience while pondering it. God wants us to gain a witness of this amazing book, it is meant for us! Those prophets did not write in that book to just write down things that happened to them like an ordinary journal, they were writing on the plates knowing that it was for us in this day and that we need their words to help us in our lives. Whenever I am wanting to feel my Saviors love for me, I open my Book of Mormon and I immediately feel loved and comforted. I just want to go door to door and give every single person their own copy and tell them that book is literally the word of God and it will change their life! No matter what is happening in your life- if you are sick, lonely, need to feel loved by someone, want to know if God is really there, if you wonder if you are where God wants you to be, if you need help in school, if you need to feel self worth, if you just want to know the truth, this book has the power to help you through any situation that you might be in. I PROMISE YOU. The Book of Mormon is true- read it!
Alright, sorry about the novel this week- but I wont email for two weeks so I had to get it all in there! I am so excited to be able to skype or call you soon and from Cusco!!! I love you all MUCHO!!! Have an amazing week! Thank you for all the prayers- for being so far away, I also feel so close. You mean the world to me.
Love always and forever,
Hermana Kenzie Hunter
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