What a week!

First Package from HOME!!!!

Hola Everyone!!
I hope everyone´s had a great week! Things over here yonder in Peru are kicking up! With a new companion, it takes a bit to mesh our teaching styles and how we work, but once they do, BAM! Miracles!
This week we had a baptism!! Zilary is 20 and has had SUCH a hard journey to get to her baptism!! Her family kicked her out of the house and a million other things. But she is SO strong and SO steadfast in Christ, its amazing. I learned so much from her in this last month we´ve been teaching her. The spirit was so strong during her baptism and after, she was just crying she was so happy! It was one of the most spiritual experiences I´ve had on my mission! There really are people prepared for the gospel. People who are just waiting to be found! It made me want to work that much harder to find them!

Also, a crazy cool miracle yesterday! We were short our goal of 15 new investigators and were just praying and searching for a family that would be receptive to the gospel and are prepared to be baptized and enter the temple in a year. Because that´s the end goal of all this, THE TEMPLE! And at church yesterday, a recent convert told us that she gave a Book of Mormon to a friend and the friend wants to know more! So we went with her to her friend's house and it turns out that she´s MARRIED (for 25 years!) and has 8 kids who all but 1 are over 8! We taught them about family home evening and they are super interested! So pray for the family of Sandra and Jose!

Other than that, not much! Lots of work and teaching! And we had an old investigator show up at church yesterday, Juan Saminego! So miracles are real!
I love this work and testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! It changes lives! I´ve been reading in Alma 37 about prayer and holding fast to the truth! I love it!
Have a great week!!
Hermana Stephenson

The week it actually was a bit cold!!

HOLA EVERYONE!!!!
I hope you all are doing well and had a GREAT Mother's Day! Funny thing, in Peru, Mother's Day is like CHRISTMAS. Seriously!!! There are people out selling flowers and balloons and EVERYTHING you can think of all week. Then on Sunday there are just parties ALL DAY LONG! It was kind of hard actually, because no one we were suppose to teach were home!! And there was so much alcohol and loud music everywhere we couldn't really teach anyone either!
BUT we had a baptism this week!! Jose Ocampo was baptized and it was so amazing. It´s been a bit of a journey for him, but he wanted to change his life so bad. And the gospel was able to bring him the hope he needed! It was so cool to watch him change his life!
Other than that, lots of walking and teaching! I've got a new companion, Hermana Flores and she´s from Panama. I´m learning so much from her and the work is going forth!
Sorry this is so short but gotta run!
Love you all!! And have a great week!!

Hermana Stephenson

A quick note from MOM:

The Happy Missionary!

After 15 minutes of audio and visual problems yesterday, we were finally able to see and hear our sweet Megan! What an emotional experience for her and us. She is doing so well and loving her experience in Peru.  It was fun to listen to her communicate with the family she was with--fluent in Spanish--and to see that she has already forgotten several English words (such as the English word for "soccer") She is healthy, happy, and working as hard as she can while serving as a missionary in Peru. She sends her love to everyone :) 

We should still get a letter and pictures later today that I will post on her blog!

Thank you everyone for all the love and support you give Megan. She loves your letters and knows that many people are praying for her each day!

First Cambio!

Or First Transfer! They call transfers cambios over here :) Hermana Alonso is getting transfered!!!!! AAAAAGHGHGHGHGHH!! She´s been here for 5 TRANSFERS (that's a WHOLE lot) and pretty much knows everyone and everything here. And now she´s leaving and its just me! And I hardly know anything! It wasn't until like 2 weeks ago I stopped feeling like I was just being dragged around like a puppy on a leash and actually knew my way around a bit. And now It´ll be just me who knows the investigators, the streets, the members!! And I just KNOW I´ll get a companion who doesn't speak a lick of English!! So I'm more than a little bit TERRIFIED. But I know that It´ll be alright. That the Lord wouldn't take her away if I couldn't do the work in this area without her. So I can and I´ll love my new companion just as much as I´ve loved her! Buuuuuuuuut I'm still a bit nervous!

So this week was pretty crazy! (Like always) The weather is slowly changing and its starting to feel like a nice early fall in the mornings and evenings. In the afternoons I still feel like I'm going to MELT though! And I had a bit of a stuffy nose this week and EVERY SINGLE PERSON that noticed told me to stop drinking cold stuff and ONLY drink hot drinks and always wear a jacket! Apparently cold drinks and air conditioning are the only things in South America that can give you a cold! I'ts so great! Our penstanista (this sweet, old lady in our ward) even took away my juice and gave me this hot herbal tea! I love it.

Anyway so onto investigators!
Last week, we had a member from another ward come to our ward with a friend who lives in our ward boundaries. Her name is Zilary and she´s THE BEST INVESTIGATOR EVER! The Lord really does prepare people, and either we´ll find them or they´ll be brought to us! She loves reading the Book of Mormon and changed her work schedule to come to church! Her baptism date is the 16th and she´s so excited!
Bit of sad news, turns out a neighbor talked to Monica and Irene and said all sorts of horrible stuff about the LDS church, and now they won´t even open the door for us! They just told us through the door then told us to never come back. So bit of a bummer there. We were pretty bummed out.
But we found this single mother Clidia and her daughter Sofia who are AWESOME! Clidia was at one of our investigators house when we stopped by and she asked if we would come to her house too. She´d seen us walk by her house all the time, but was too shy to stop and talk to us. So MIRACLE! Love it. They have a date for the 30th!
Duber and Mercy couldn't come to church this week which was a bummer. They don´t seem to really be progressing all that much. You can REALLY tell how much an investigator is progressing when they go out of their way to come to church on Sunday! Its like a weekly test. So when they don´t come to church, we have to drop them because there are so many others who can!
I know this church is true and I know that It´ll bring joy and love to every family.

So that's about it this week!
Hermana Stephenson

Crazy Week!

Hey everyone!
So this week was pretty crazy! We taught a WHOLE bunch of people and were walking all OVER the mountain to see people! We have these two little families that live in the Cerro (the little wooden huts all along the side of the mountain) So we´ve scaled up the mountain so many times this week!! I feel like a mountain goat.

The first family Mercy and Duber with their little baby Ariana. Ariana is actually pretty sick and Duber, the father, can't seem to find work. Their little house is so humble and they are in such need of the happiness the gospel can bring them. Please pray for their little family.
The other is Monica and her mom Irene. They actually live right next to Duber and Mercy and watch Ariana a lot when they are working. They both were so ready to accept the gospel! Both families accepted to be baptized on the 23rd of May!
Bit of sad news, the Pantas family and Juan S. didn't get baptized this week. They all said they know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, but don't want to commit to baptism. So we´re still working with them. They all came to church yesterday though!! So wot!
Sorry this is so short, but got to run! I'm going to Pro Lima for a day for splits. It's like a 2  hour ride on one of those CRAZY buses so it´ll be fun!


Love you all!
Hermana Stephenson

P day today and me TRYING to play soccer. I'M SO BAD

Week of walking and miracles!!

Hola everyone!
Sorry I couldn't write last week! I had to go to Immigrations with a bunch of other gringos to get our stuff all finalized so I can live here! WOT! I've got a sweet Peruvian ID card now. Buuuuuut we sat in room after room after room for like 9 hours. There goes my P-day. It was actually pretty fun though to, well, speak English like all day :) and to get to know some of the other missionaries in my mission!
As for this week.... SO MUCH WALKING!!!! Holy cow! We were back and forth across our area every day all day! But it was great. It's slowly getting colder because here, its winter! It's still SO HOT during the day (I got sunburned on Wednesday and everyone is like 'why is your face red?' its actually pretty funny) but at night Hermana Alsonso always complains that its too cold!!! ¿¡Que en el mundo?!
Now for some of our investigators! Sorry I've been so bad about telling you guys about them! But first we have this familia, Familia P, and its this couple with a little 3 year old. They LOVE hearing about the gospel, but they ask so many questions is CRAZY! They talk SO fast too so half the time I can only catch like a few words here and there! But they're great.
Next we have this guy named Juan (I'm pretty sure half the population of Peru is named either Juan or Jose, no joke). He is so good at read the Book of Mormon and coming to church, but says that God isn't answering any of his prayers. His baptism is this week and he says he'll get baptized only after he gets his answer. It's a bit tough because there is only so much we as missionaries can do for him! There comes a point where he has to decide, and we can only help him!
Other thing. So we have this system in Lima Oeste called 10 Maneras or 10 ways to find new investigators. Each week we have 10 specific things that we do to get into houses and teach. Singing hymns, offering service, stopping families on the street and making balloon animals for their kids (I'm a BOSS at making dogs), stuff like that. And our mission president has promised that if we diligently do these 10 things, we will baptize EVERY WEEK. So this week we worked hard at doing our 10 Maneras, but we only had 1 new investigator. ONE!!! All week! Everyone we talked to politely slammed their door in our faces. We were a bit more than disappointed. But here comes Sunday and we have one Manera left, and the minute we knocked on this door to share our last Manera (asking to share the "El Vive" video the church put out for Easter and if you haven't seen it go WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. But I don't know what its called in English!) and there was a HUGE family inside!! As we got to teach them and they want us to come back! Then for the rest of the night, we found new investigators. Not even joking. It was the greatest thing ever!
So diligent obedience really is the key to all success! I know that this Church is true and can change lives, because I've seen it here!! The book of Mormon was written by real prophets and contains the fullness of the Gospel of Christ! Christ Lives and is my rock (Helaman 5:12)!
Love you guys!
Hermana Stephenson

**Note from mom: The video Megan talks about above can be found on youtube and is called "HE LIVES"
 
p.s. I also cut my hair today!!!! its AMAZING cuse its so hot and I have no time to do it in the morning! My companion nearly had a heat attack. it was so funny.

BEFORE the haircut

AFTER the haircut

Hermana Alosno's heart attack during the haircut

me in all my white glory (the flash didn't help...) and our district!

 little Johan! The downs boy

Love his hugs!

The city at night

The week it actually RAINED ONCE!!!

Enjoying General Conference at the Stake Center

You don't even know how big of a thing it is when it rains here!! In NEVER rains!! So much so that most of the houses here have random spots where there isn't a roof! It's so weird! So when it started ´raining´(aka the ground wasn't even totally wet) people were all freaking out. It was SO funny! Also there was a HUGE rainbow and it was amazing. I would send a pic but I can't cuse I don't have a cord yet! Lo siento.
Anyway some other random facts about Peru. EVERYONE wears Crocs! I mean everyone!!! There is every color shape and size of Crocs and it makes me laugh. Also, the people here love soccer (no surprise there) but also volleyball. They are CRAZY about volleyball! It's so fun to see the families all out in the parks playing together. We are also the only sisters in the whole ZONE of Ventanilla! Crazy! But all the elders here a super awesome and it's so much fun when we all get together for meetings!
And I just realized that I never told you all about my AMAZING companion Hermana Alonso!!! She really is the best EVER. She´s from Honduras and so we are quite the pair walking around Peru - black and white in a world of brown! Love it! She's such a hard worker and pretty much the best example of a trainer I could ever get! love her!
Next, funny story of the week:
So we had a training for the new missionaries this last Wednesday at the mission office that's in a different city about 2 hours or so from here. So we got to take the HUGE city buses on a road trip! And let me tell you, there is no need for roller coasters in the country when they have buses like that!!!!! AAHH! It was so crazy fun! We went with some of the other elders from our zone and it was just a crazy adventure. At one point, I was wedged between this tiny old lady and this other lady with a GIANT box of mangoes. I don't even KNOW how she got on the bus with that! And I think I still smell like mangoes. They pack those buses so tight with people its insane. And the drivers swerve and brake and jump forward the whole time!! It's so much FUN!! Love it. Although I almost biffed it a few times when I would lose my footing!
Alright, so conference. THE BEST EVER. But I'm pretty sure It was only like an hour long! Que en el mundo?! And I'm also sure that half of those talks were for me! Also here, they have everyone come to the stake center for conference for the Sunday morning session. And it was SO PACKED!! Every room had a TV and even a big pavilion outside with a projector. They even had a small room for English speakers (aka the gringo missionaries)!!! And funny story. Because I'm the only English speaking sister in the zone, we had to get permission from the AP´s so I could sit in the English room with 8-9 elders while my companion sat in the chapel. It was sooooooo weird!!!!! But I was so grateful that I could watch it in English, I've missed hearing the prophets voice!!
Anyway, one of my favorite was Wilford W. Andersen talk about finding and keeping the music of the spirit in our lives. As a missionary, I'm helping others find that music, and its not always easy! And I find myself singing the song of long suffering more often than I´d like :) But always keep trying and moving forward with faith and the Lord will make up the difference.
Well, that's about it! Lots of walking and teaching. But we are having our first baptism this week!!1 Familia M. is SO AMAZING and they want ME to speak at their baptism!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!! So, we´ll have to see how that goes!
 Love you all!!
Hermana Stephenson

our penstionisa´s family! she makes us lunch every day!!