Companion Number 2

Wow I don't have any time at all but I have mucho to tell you. Ugh. 

Okay, so saying goodbye to Hermana Norton was killer hard and way harder than I expected. I spent Monday with a Latina from Honduras, our sister leader.  And she is so nice and it was a huge confidence builder. We talked the whole day and she understood me and I understood her and we laughed and I love her a lot a lot. Then we had changes Tuesday morning.  I have a north american again, which is a little bummy. Her name is Sister Brito. She only has 2 changes left, 3 months and will be home for Christmas. She has had 10 companions, I'm her 7th white one, so her spanish is very gringo. She is nice and all but has had a hard time with President Williams and all of his changes.  I'm trying to be positive and remind her that it's the Lord's work and we don't need to do crazy zone activities every week and things like that. We are getting along just fine but nothing like a lasting friendship, yet. 

Jacob 4:12. ya!!!!!!!! Why not? Just learn more about the gospel, do research, learn, feast upon the words. 

We eat sooooooo much rice.

There are country wide elections this weekend so no one is allowed to have services or anything so we can't watch general conference :( I am so so so so bummed. I won't be able to understand most of it anyways but it's still a bummer. 

I miss you all and we're just heading into spring here and it's HOT and I'm always wet and it's gross. 

I have zero time left. I love you all and I appreciate your prayers!

Hermana Pilling

Finally some photos

Clair's email this week made us smile.  We could just picture her telling us in person these things.  It was a short one, but she sent photos!!  Finally!  We're so happy.  Thoughts from Clair:

- I like pineapple! It's one food that I have to eat and I like it now (apparently she didn't like it before).

- Please get a good food storage ready. The Liahona for September had some really important messages in it. 

- My area is Nueve de Octubre which is 9th of October and I just realized that that is October 9th, which is your birthday Mama. This is a cool coincidence!!!!

- Crocs are doing so well here. Mind you, I don't think they are name brand.  But they are doing so stinking great! hahaha (I guess she bought some when she got there or something.  She didn't leave here with a pair).

- Also, I think I like coconut too! (she definitely didn't like coconut before she left)

- I was super scared for Sister Norton to leave but right now, after writing President Williams, I feel pretty calm and I know everything will be okay. 

- I want the talk by Elder Holland April 2013, "Help Thou My Unbelief." 

- We went with Sis Williams to get her haircut so Sis Norton could explain what she wanted and it's a short little bob thing and I LOVE IT. I was so tempted to say me too please. Oh it's so cute. 

- What does Cale's hair look like? 

-  I went to Lima! We were able to go to the temple real quick and it was awesome!  Also I was worried about whether I would be able to stay in this mission because I told Sister Norton and Elder Harper that my setting apart blessing said that my influence would extend beyond the borders of my mission.  They both thought that I'd have visa problems and go to another mission. BUT, that won't happen because I got my official card and everything!

I need to finish sending pictures.  Sorry for this lame email.  It was a crazy fast week and tomorrow I find out who my new companion is! This could be a slow week, I don't know though. 

I do know that I love you so so so so much and I sent letters with Sister Norton to send to you guys from the States. I love you!

Hermana Pilling

Clair and Sister Norton in the Andes

Clair's trip to Cajamarca

Sister Norton on their trip to Cajamarca

Clair's first p'day

Sister Norton and Sister Pilling

Meal time!  (She didn't give details)

First Baptism

Tuesday we had our district meeting. Sister Norton and I taught the class and talked about how we have the choice as to what kind of missionary to be and it's all up to us. Then we had lessons, lessons and lessons. 

Wednesday we had a bunch of lessons too and it was a very busy day!

Thursday was a pensionista training with President and Hermana Williams. We drove like 45 minutes and after about 30, the GPS told us to go on this road that was gated.  It went through some sugar cane fields. The man at the gate said "I can let you in but I don't know what the guy at the other side will say. If not you'll have to come back and go back into Chiclayo then out a different road."  So President asked us what we should do and I said, "We're praying! We're going for it!" That is a quote. He thought it was so funny. And the whole time in the fields kept saying "if this doesn't work out, Sister Pilling is going to live with this for the rest of her mission"... and teasing and such. It was funny. Then we got to the other gate and there was an old grandpa dude just sitting in his chair and saw us pull up and stood up and.... waved us on with this big cheesy toothless smile! It was soooo funny.  The suspense was crazy and President laughed too. What a great moment. Maybe you had to be there.... Then that afternoon we went to the office with one of our investigators, Elizabeth, because she had her baptismal interview with President. It was also one of the assistant's birthdays so we had cake! I love the atmosphere of the mission.  Everyone is filled with the spirit, some more than others, and is serving the Lord. How great is that??  That night we had a lesson with a lady, a friend of ours, and her husband, both non-members.  Her husband goes to some MMM church (in spanish) and they do some crazy stuff. It was an interesting lesson. Especially when he was bashing Joseph Smith and started yelling in his prayer. Oh the people of Peru...

Friday morning we had weekly planning which means we had companionship inventory which is when I cried. I explained it in the letter I am sending. I am just frustrated with the language.  I can't see any progress and I'm getting impatient.  I know that I need to rely on the Lord and that my next companion will probably be Latina and it'll be hard but it'll come faster too.  Friday afternoon was so busy and we had so much to do for the baptism! It was a crazy afternoon to be honest!

Saturday was the baptism. My companion and I sang a song, "I'm a Child of God, part spanish, part english. hahaha.  Elizabeth, the convert, is so so so so faithful. Wow, she is incredible.  I love her! She's an oldie but she's fantastic all the same. 

Sunday I spoke in church and it went really well. It's comforting when the members come up to me and tell me that they understand me and that it's more fluid and smooth than my first Sunday.  The members are fantastic. It rained a lot saturday night so we had 45 members at church. With the dirt roads and no roofs on the houses it caused lots of problems. But our house is good and we just walked in the mud, missionaries do it all! It's made me think of the zoo and my rain boots. 

Then today - Sister Norton is packing because she leaves Monday morning to spend the day with President before heading home. Pretty crazy!  She packed and I unpacked and reorganized hahaha. Now that I know I'll be here for like 4 months or more, I decided to make myself at home. 

I found out I'm going to Lima this week! We leave at 10 pm from here Wednesday night and get back the same time Thursday night hahaha. I have to take my temple recommend so that means I get to go to the temple! yay! It's a bummer I lose a day with my companion but I need to get some visa stuff figured out. I hope I can stay in this mission, I really really do. 

So I can't send pictures from these computers and I feel really bad. I'm taking some cool pics.

I'll figure something out. 

Oh, so it's getting cold at about 6pm and I am so glad I have my nice jacket. It's saving me. Apparently in the "spring" the weather is just a little more bipolar and summer is KILLER HOT. So that will be zero fun. 

My companion laughs at me. Because I'm funny. hahaha

This is our last week and she keeps talking about going home, which is okay. It just reminds me how little time I have left. The mission is going to fly and it makes me mad that I don't know the language. I feel like I'm wasting time and I'm not as efficient because of the language. It's dumb, but I'm being patient (or trying to) and relying on the Lord and being obedient.  I try and have the faith needed to receive blessings. What a great church this is. I love it! 

I love you all so so so so much and I'm sending a letter with a day in the life of me much more detailed. I love you. 

Hermana Pee Jing as they call me here. 

Short, but good

I can't believe it's going to snow. That's crazy to me. I still wear sweaters every day actually, especially at night. I wish I brought my warm infinity scarves and more sweaters like pull over ones because it gets cold at night. I now have a cold from the cold because it does get cold, like 4 degrees. 

So president has amazing goals for this mission to be a MISSION. 

We can't have zone activities, he says, really it's just the companion you need to have a friendship with. That is true. We have a new rule, given by the area 70, that we can't baptize anyone under the age of 18 if their parents aren't active members. This way we can get  more families and more members that are truly converted to the gospel. Apparently the last president was way number focused and the mission was a little corrupt with pride for these things. So we are working A LOT with less actives and working on contacting families only on the street.  

President Williams is an amazing person. His wife came proselyting with us on Friday for 5 hours! It was so so so so fun! Wow, it was a blast! Her spanish, she knows a lot of the grammar but because she isn't around any latinos ever her accent is basically awful. hahahaha. I love her so much and I know I am going to have a very special mission because of this time with president and his wife. We have 2 more pensionista training meetings to help them with and they're about 2 hours away I think, so we'll have some more time together. Also, he has said that missionaries will be staying in their areas for 6-7.5 months so that we can really work well with the wards and get some progress going.  I could be here for Chirstmas!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would be the best, because they're family to me. I don't know what else to say but I still have to read my email from my missionary. That's tyler. So this is all. I love you and next pday I'm going to try to print pictures and send them in a package of sorts for you guys. These computers doing have anywhere to plug in my cord or anything :( 

I love my family so so so so much! You are so great. Mom, I miss you and I love you so much it's insane. To be honest, you don't know what you've got til it's gone, and I have an amazing family. 

Lots and lots of love,

Hermana Pilling

Missing Canada?

We spent 1 morning with the president and his wife this week for another pensionista training. We have 3 more trainings and then that will be all so we don't spend too much time with them. We did have the 6 hours and the 3 days in Cajamarca with the AP's and they're cool. Elder Latin is finishing in 3 weeks too. His spanish is perfect and talks like a latino ahaha but then at other times he seems so immature and silly. His companion, Elder Noriega, is so great. He's so humble and shy and has a strong testimony. He's one of the only missionaries learning english. He's awesome. 

This week we asked an investigator to accept a Book of Mormon and she politely turned it down and we are no longer visiting her.

Flor and Alex are my favorites.  We taught them the plan of salvation and they brought up the movie Heaven is for Real.  Since my comp doesn't know it, I got to teach most of the lesson and talk about the movie and it was awesome. 

There is a family, the Culkeys. She's widowed and has 3 daughters. The oldest 2 served missions. The oldest has one daughter and lives here, no longer with the father of her daughter. The middle is married with 2 teenage girls, 17 and 15, that live in TORONTO and they've been here visiting for the summer. We visited with them so many times. None of Sister Culkey's daughters are members and so we taught a little and made friends. We went to say bye before they went back to Canada and I cried! She was wearing the same grey Roots sweats I have with a black v-neck. She obviously speaks fluent english and hardly any spanish, like me. Her name is Alexandra. I was just so aware that she was going back home to Canada to have Tim Hortons and speak english and watch tv and use her iphone and be a teenager who speaks english who has friends that speak english.  They had become my sisters and the whole family is just so loving and I just cried. It was cool to meet them and everything and we are continuing to try to reactivate the oldest daughter, Susana, and her daughter. 

This internet cafe doesn't have a place for me to download photos so I can't and I don't like it. I will learn eventually though. I can send home my chip eventually too. I wish I could send you photos. 

I love you all so much and my favorite thing to study this week was Joseph Smith history. Read it! It's amazing! He's kind of funny. hahaha

I love you

Hermana Pilling

Oh and my name is impossible for them. haha

Week 3 in the mission field

Preface by Toni:  I asked Clair some specific questions and the first part of her email were replies to my questions.  

The food:  it's so good!  Breakfast is this AMAZING runny oatmeal, hot chocolate deliciousness called avena... i think.  Lunch is the big meal, at 1:30 ish. It's usually rice and then a meat but in sauces and with peas that are huge and healthy and great.  I am eating chic peas and these beans that are white, like the gross ones. But I like them. Then dinner is just soup or sandwiches, really small, but perfect!

It is actually a little bit cold! I wear a cardigan every day and usually don't have to take it off. We study all morning til 12. We eat lunch at 1, and dinner at 8 so the rest of the time we are at lessons or meeting members or less actives. It gets dark around 6 and... our area is a little peligroso so we are very careful when it's dark. 

The language: honestly it's good! I am only getting better at expressing my feelings and testimony. I can pronounce just fine. The gift of tongues, and the gift of interpretation of tongues, are so very real. I just follow the spirit and always seem to say the right thing. It's difficult when I get asked questions because I can understand most words but not all so then I don't know if I am saying the right thing. You know?

The talk you sent me, "Miracle of a Mission", isn't the one I was talking about. So maybe try "Fishers of Men" or "Drop your Nets" or something. It was the Provo mtc. 

On Tuesday (after a lesson with our investigator who was going to be baptized this upcoming Saturday but it's moved to the 13th of September) Presidente called us and said we were going to go to CAJAMARCA to help his wife with a pensionista training meeting. Look it up, absolutely beautiful!  It was a 6 hour drive, very much like the road to Hauna but through the ANDES mountains. This whole time we are with the MISSION PRESIDENT, his wife and the assistants.  So usually you have interviews here and there with pres and that's all but we had a whole 3 days with him and his wife! It was amazing! I felt so useless because I don't know anything about the pensionista training, but I feel so blessed to have been able to go because they are amazing people. They told us the story of them being called to be presidents and about how they met, and the changes they are making to the mission. We have taken all the missionaries out of the small areas or branches and brought them into the cities so that we can have centers of strength. There are tons of members in Cajamarca and hardly 1/8 are active, so our focus is more on "rescuing".  But we still need to be baptizing, which makes us really really busy. Presidente and the area 70 were inspired and Peru will see the benefits of this change. 

About Cajamarca, it's cold. Cooooold. I hope I am there for the summer because then I wont be so hot. It's like a Banff Peru, perfect pinterest crazy beautiful place, so gorgeous!  It's perfect national geographic photo spots. 

So that was Wednesday til Friday. Saturday we moved because it was too dangerous for sisters in our other place, so we hardly had any time to teach this week.  But we had so much growth from being with the pesident. It was amazing!  He learned so much about me too. We talked about the hardest and most blessed moments of our missions so far and the 4 of us (pres and wife and sis Norton and I) really opened up. It was the coolest thing of my life and I am so grateful for president. He does so much work and he's so stressed and he's such a great example. He's so much like dad! COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what I expected him to be. Also, he is an institute slash EFY teacher and works for the church. He's crazy like dad and I loved it! Wow. So cool. 

I'm keeping my good attitude and trying to do my absolute best. I love you all and I am so grateful for your examples and support and love. 

Missions are awesome!

Also, some things are spelled the same but pronounced spanishly here. ex. Viks Vapor Rub is beek bapoor rube. If you can pronounce that. It's so so funny. 

I LOVE PERU I LOVE MY WARD I LOVE MY COMPANION I LOVE THE MISSION

All my love,

Hermana PIlling

Hello family!

Tamara sent me pictures of Moroni´s Quest and you guys look AWESOME! I hope that the experience was as cool as it looks.

My companion, Hermana Norton, is from Ohio and has one month left. I am so blessed to have her as a companion for so many reasons! I can learn spanish but communicate my feelings in english. She is so easy going. She knows what it's like to be the newby. She is so outgoing and is a great example of how loving and fearless I need to be as a missionary!

I have so much love for the people! Our ward, Nueve de Octubre, hasn´t had sisters for years so they are all so excited! I can´t even communicate well with them and I feel like they are my best friends. I am filled with joy when I see them and I feel safe and loved and I know that I am not alone in this work when I am with them! Our house is really far from the pensionista and it's a little dangerous for sisters so we are moving this week which is such a relief! Our pensionista isn´t a member but her daughter is. She's 35 ish, the daughter and she´s such a help for us! She's so outgoing and her mom's been the pensionista for forever so she knows all the elders, which is fun for Hermana Norton. Her cooking is literally lo maximo! It's so amazing. I'm getting fat. hahaha It's delicious food! The daughter, Angela, isn't married. Erasma, the pensionista, and her husband are so sweet. Her husband calls us his daughters, granddaughters, sisters, cousins, and everything.  He's adorable and so old and just sweet!

My first day I asked a lady we contacted in the street to be baptized and she said yes! She went on vacation the next day so we haven't met with her yet but she literally asked how we knew she wanted more in her life and why we talked to her.  It as so cool!

We have been working a lot with the relief society president, mostly just because she was the only person we knew when we got here.  She has a daughter in law and son that aren´t members, We taught them yesterday and Flor, the daughter, said that she´s heard the lessons so many times but our lesson was different. I don´t doubt that Sister Norton has a special way of teaching principles and bringing the spirit to the lesson and making it personal. It's amazing.

We had stake conference on Saturday and they got a new stake president, so Elder C. Scott Grow came.  He´s nice. It is so so important for the ward counsel to work with the missionaries. Oh my goodness. So, family, be helpful! Talk with the missionaries and give them referrals and help them out because the ward can make or break the success in an area!

I don´t have time for pictures!.

I love Sister Williams and President Williams. We haven´t met with them yet, they are giving us time to get to know our area, but they are amazing people and I'm blessed to be able to spend time with them. My call is inspired along with my companion and my area. I love this work!

Love you all and hope you can send me more pictures of the weeks!

Also, I got the other package with the skirt! THANK YOU! Also the oatmeal, love it! I laughed out loud.  You guys are the bomb!

Love

Hermana Pilling