crazy fast week!

This week went by CRAZY fast!! We are enjoying the time here in Buenos Aires, but there`s lots of work to do! Lots of people to prepare and we`re now working for September and October! Crazy how the time and the year are flying!! 

There is a workout program that is crazy called INSANITY. Lots of the missionaries like to do it, but it is seriously INTENSE! Hahaha. But my companion and I decided to try it out this week. Seriously, it`s aweosme, but SO tiring!! hahaha. After about 10 minutes, it feels like my feet are going to break in half and I`m going to sweat out of my skin. Hahahaha.  But, it actually helps us to have more energy in the day, which is really nice. 

On Wednesday, we did service for an Hermana in our ward. We washed a huge blanket... by hand (of course!). It took the both of us to wash it, wring it out, and hang it out to dry and by the end, we were dying! hahaha .But on our way to lunch, we saw... A LLAMA!!! So we HAD to take photos! It was a lot shorter than the other llama that I had met earlier in the mission, but so cute! hahaha. 

We have a less active who owns a restaurant, and outside of her restaurant, there`s a giant CACTUS! It reminded me of Maya`s mission picture with her cactus, so I had to take one! 

Friday night, we decided to eat pizza, so we called pizza raul (The best pizza place here) and had it delivered to our house and watched the movie the church published in like, the 90´s, "together forever" all about how families can be together forever (Hahaha. I guess the title is self-explanatory) hahaha. We joked around that this is the closest to chick flick movie nights that you can get on the mission! hahaha. 

Our recent convert Moises (who was baptized like, 3 weeks ago) is progressing REALLY well. He went with us to Family History this week and then yesterday, he blessed the Sacrament. It was a sweet moment and even his mom came (She`s a less active) It was awesome and we are happy for him! 

Today, we will be working like it`s a normal day because FRIDAY we go to the TEMPLE!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT WOOT!!! WE are so excited!!! 

Have a great week guys, I love you lots! 

-- 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

Giggles and Dandelions

Dearest Familia!! 

Saludas y amor from Perú!! This week was really calm, but with lots of little miracles. 

My companion and I are getting along REALLY well! She is great and learning lots and working hard. We seriously laugh so much at the littleist things that at the end of the night, we usually end up crying from laughing at the little things that happened throghout the day and week. Hahaha. She is great and is overcoming the homesickness and everything. We are now working on lessons and teaching, but she`s doing great! 

This week, we had a work visit with the Sister Training Leaders (Hermanas Capacitadores). Hermana Alvarado came here with me and we had a good time, I learned a lot, but it was nice to have my companion come back too. 

We also received NEW MATTRESSES this week!!! woot woot! I will send pics of the old one vs. the new one! hahaha. It´s like sleeping on a cloud now! hahaa. 

As we were walking down the street one day, I glanced over and saw.... DANDELIONS!!! I hadn`t seen one in such a long time and there were only 2 too! It was a little tender mercy and of course we had to have a little photo shoot... hahahaha. It was sweet and we made some good wishes! ;) 

Things are going well here and we are working hard for September too! This week, I`ve taken some time to really appreciate the little things the Lord does to help us out every day. It may not always be something grand like a person ready to be baptized, but sometimes it`s the strength to keep walking even when we`re tired or a friendly person or some other small thing. I hope you guys look around and find those small things the Lord gives us to make our days go by a little easier! 

Love you guys!!! Have a GREAT week!!! :)) 

Love love love,

Hermana Kira Andrus 

XOoxoxoxox

-- 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

My Companion 1 month!

Moises Baptism

Another one bites the dust!

Hola Familia!!! 

Welp, another month has passed here in Perù! I now have 13 months, and it is seriously still so crazy for me. Hahaha. 

This week was realy good! 

We had a zone conference this week with Presidente Godfrey. Elder Parra (my old zone leader) is now an asistant too, so it was cool to see him! 

My "daughter" completed 1 month as a missionary this week!!! Woot Woot! 1 month in Perù and 2 weeks in the field! hahaha. She is progressing really quickly and we are learning a lot together. The time seems to be flying even faster with her! 

Saturday we had a BAPTISM!!! MOISES was baptized! he has progressed SO much and we were so happy to see his baptism and his happiness when he left the water. He is going to the Marines pretty soon, but we are hopeful and happy that he will go with a strong testimony!

Yesterday, I completed 13 months in perù... crazy crazy... The time really does fly. 

The computer doesn`t want to load my photos, I`m not sure why, but I will try to send some next week! 

-- 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

I'm a Mission Mom!!!

Dearest Family! 

This week was a good one, but with lots of changes... again! hahaha. 

First off... MY NEW COMPANION!!! Her name is Hermana Torres, she`s from Ecuador and JUST got out of the CCM! ahahaha. She is awesome and learning lots, but of course there`s the normal homesickness that always comes with leaving the home and the CCM. I know she`ll get through it, though and it`s given me a lot of time to think about my first change. Wow... It was a rough one. HAhaha. BUT I am grateful for it. All the experiences that I had in that first change have really helped me to help my companio now. I definitely wouldn`t want to live my first change  again, but I would never change it. I guess that`s how the mission is supposed to work, though. Cool how the things we experience are ALL part of God`s great plan and he knows exactly what we need to be able to progress and in return, help others. 

This week in Barrio Buenos Aires, we received a NEW BISHOP!! It was a little shocking for everyone, but also pretty expected since the last bishop has been bishop for like, 10 years. Just lots of changes for the ward and there will be some adapting. However, something President Godfrey told us in the last changes was that sometimes we think that a calling or a position in the mission or the church means that we are more spiritually intune or that we have reached a higher level of greatness or worthiness, but really, it`s just what the Lord wants us to do RIGHT NOW. He told us that maybe after his mission, he`ll be called to teach primary or sunday school and that doesn`t mean he did his calling bad, but it`s just what God wants him to do right now. I thought that was pretty cool. 

Our new bishop is Bishop Roberto Lopez!! He is the oldest son of the familia Lopez who make piñatas and love th missionaries. I am really looking forward to working with him. 

Welp, those are the exciting things that have happened this week. It is REALLY REALLY cold here. Like, super cold. Every day it`s tights and my big coat! But I really do love the weather. Unfortunately, my companions having a tough time. Just some adjusting to do! 

I hope you guys have a fantastic week! I love you lots and am always praying for you! 

Love love love, 

Hermana Kira Andrus 

fotos: This grafiti says Buenos Aires-- the name of my area right now. 

My new companion and "hija" in the mission---Hermana Torres! 

-- 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

ch- ch- changes

WOWZA... what a crazy week of SO many changes... not to mention it`s the end of a transfer!! Hahaha. Seriously, where has the time gone???? 

A couple of big things that happened.... WE MOVED!!! hahaaha. I know.. so fast. Well, our landlady told us that she didn`t want to do the electric payments, and she never trusted us anyways, so we MOVED! We are now living closer to the capilla (that`s awesome) and also in a house of MEMBERs (also super awesome) and NEXT DOOR TO THE FAMILIA LOPEZ!!! (super awesome--- food! hahahahaha.

Also, this week was the celebrations for the INDEPENDENCE of PERÙ!!! WOOT WOOT!!! We dressed in White and Red (even though no one else did... hashaha) and we did this thing called a PACHA MANCA with the familia Huaytan. IT`s something they do in the sierra( mountains) You basically make a big hole in the ground and use SUPER hot rocks to cook potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken, meat, and chancho (pig)... You cover it with a bunch of rocks and paper and a tarp and it cooks for an hour... seriously SO delicious... ahhh. We were SO stuffed afterwards... ahahaa

Besides that, we`re at the end of the transfer and even though I`m not suppossed to know, and elder spilled the beans and I AM TRAINING! Hahaha. Crazy crazy fun things are ahead!! 

I love you guys lots and hope that you guys have a great week and enjoy the little things. 

One thing that I loved studying about this week was the conference talks from the April Conference-- especially from Elder Redlund. It talked about how we can use the sacrament to ALWAYS remember the sacrifice He made for us. I know I will always be greatful for that. 

I love you guys!!!!! 

Love love love, 

Hermana Kira Andrus 

-- 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

To celebrate the 6 months of my companion, hermana GARIBAY!! 

Short but sweet!

Dear Familia! 

This week was a little crazy and there`s not TOO much to report, 

Monday: We went to LIMA CENTRAL!! !That was super fun. We went to real plaza, this big mall, polvos azules (this huige market) and to a cool souvenier shop! It was a fun day, but kind of tiring. But we enjoyed it and had a great time. 

The rest of the week was really normal. We had a lot of lessons and were blessed with a few miracles. 

One guy was an old investigator who had told them they didn`t want to hear anything, but we went and visited him saturday and he went to church sunday with us and the YSA totally friendshipped him. They are planning their retreat thingy... I`m not sure what it`s called, and he went to the meeting and wants to go! He is progressing really quickly and we are really excited to see more of his progression. 

On friday, we were buying something for dinner and there was a guy there who asked us if we were hermanas. He told us he was a member and he wanted to introduce us to his wife. She is not a member! He`s a member who has been less active for 10 years, but who wants to come back to the church. And they just moved here. They came to church yesterday too. 

Besides that, I am really enjkoying my time in this area. It`s the last week of the change, which always brings a few nerves, but we are working hard and looking foirward to what`s ahead! 

Have a great week! I love you guys like crazy! 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

They named their Dog after hermana Andrus! 

UN AÑO esta cumplido!

Dearest Familia! 

What a good, crazy, nice week! 

Funny story... so I told you all last week that the word for misting was Gaguando... welll..... apparently my companion was just messing with me and it`s GaRuando.... bahahaha. still a funny word.. hahaha. But, now you know!

Moday: WE had a FREE P-DAY!! woot woot! My companion and I mostly just went food shopping and then made a little picnic in our room with chicken and papas fritas and chaufa... yum.. Then we  slept for a little bit until we went out to teach again! 

Tuesday: Was a really fun day! While we were teaching a woman outside of her house, there were a bunch of little kids doing a little dance program to a medley of songs from the musical, GREASE! It was so so cute! They were little and doing all the little dance moves and it made me think about PGY! Hahaha. good times. We went over to watch them for a bit and I decided to record them for a second... But then all the moms were looking over thinking we were creepers, probably.. haaha. So we went over to introduce ourselves and to invite them all to church! hahaha. 

While we were visiting one o our recent converts, he told us he had a new dog! Jokingly, I was like... "you can name it Hermana Andrus if you want" and they liked it! So their new dog is named ANDRUS...! hahaha. 

Wednesday: We had work visits with the Sister Training Leaders! It was good! I was in my area with hermana Samudio. 

A couple of days before, we had visited the familia Huaytan (the family who just got married and baptized) and they were upset because they had lost the wedding ring! They had moved EVERYTHING in their house looking for it and they couldn`t find it and she couldn`t remember the last time she saw it. So we offered to do a fast with them. On Wednesday, we started the fast and it was a little rough for them at first. But they stuck through it! Wednesday night, we got a call. They had FOUND THE RING! It was in the pants pocket of their son! hahaha. They were joking around that he was taking it to school to give to his special friend and it made me think of when that ACTUALLY happened with mom! hahaha.

Thursday: I celebrated ONE YEAR IN PERÙ!!!! WOOT WOOT!!! hahahaha. It was a normal day, but we hiked up a giant hill to take some pics (the one where I`m in the yoga pose) and tht night, The familia LOPEZ gave me a little cake and cards! IT was really sweet! 

Friday: We were busy running around bringing people to family 

history! 

Saturday: What. A. Day. In the morning, we were up in the hill to visit on of our recent converts. We saw this little girl with a bunch of HUGE sticks of suger canes (called Caña here). We offered to help her... wow... She lived in the very very last house on the hill!! hahaha. We carried up like, 19 sticks of sugar cane up, my companion 3 at a time, and I 6! It was a huge workout. My legs were jello after and we were sweating like crazy,. but we LOVE service! Hahaha. 

That evening, we left to go proselyting with Hermana Helen! That was awesome and we ended the night eating hamburgers (there`s a little hamburger stand here called the crusty crab!) hahaha.

Sunday: was really casual. We had completed with all our goals on Saturday, so we were helping to visit families and contacting a bit! 

This week was really good and we were really happy with our week and are looking forward to this next week! 

I hope that you guys have a good week and know I`m thinking of your from Perù!!

Love love love,

Hermana Andrus

xoxoxoxXOXOXOOXOX

-- 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

Having some fun with birthday signs!