what a time to be alive!: I have little time!

Hello hello, here I am. I am sorry that I didn't get to send you the weekly letter yesterday, but we were given a little bit of time today to give the "weekly update" to the fam.

Yesterday was good. We spent it in cusco, and I got to see Hna Dennison. That was awesome. My stomach has gotten pretty accustomed to the drive now, and this time I didn't throw up. Wahoo!

This week, we had fast sunday, and oh my goodness, it was such a cool experience because the night or two before, we were over at T and J's house, and they invited us over for dinner on Saturday night, but then we explained to them that we would be fasting, so we wouldn't be able to eat. They were like, "woah, what's fasting?" and we explained to them how we don't eat for two meals (here on the mish we do dinner on saturday and then breakfast on sunday) and how we start with a prayer and a purpose, and we are blessed with an increased amount of understanding, and we can feel the spirit more present in our lives. They were totally on board, and immediately T said, "Can we fast with you?" what, CLARO PUES you can fast with us, are you joking? I'll be honest, fasting has never been my favorite thing, but I just did it reluctantly because I knew I was supposed to. Anyways, as we fasted, that sunday in the chapel, I felt the spirit so strong, stronger than I ever have felt it in the capilla. Usually Sunday's can be kind of stressful, and they really work my mind, trying to really learn from all the speakers and the lessons while they are in Spanish. But this week, I felt so much peace, and I even got up to bear my testimony. The spirit was the best, and then we had gospel principles with T and J, and we talked about spiritual gifts. Which brings me to a question that I would love to receive an answer from: what do you think YOUR gifts are? (thanks Dads for always responding to my questions, you the bomb) One gift I have really experienced here is the gift of tongues, and as we talked about the gift tongues, or after we read the paragraph about it in the book in gospel principles, tony told the elders, "When I read this, I think of hermanita clark". He talked about how what a miracle it is that I ca converse with him the way I do, just like any of his other friends, after only 4 months in Peru. And holy moly, that is so true. I know that it is our Heavenly Father working through me. I love spanish, and it is really really coming, I am by no means perfect, but I just look back and think, just like T, what a miracle.

I help people with English all the time. All of the kids have an English class in HS, just like we have spanish, so I help them with their HW all the time. It's so darned interesting and they literally can't understand me when I talk in English and I just can't believe it, because it's a language so familiar to me. (mom, can you spell check this letter and all my letters? My spelling has gotten really bad). The most fun is to translate songs that are in english for them. I LOVE to do that.

One last experience I want to share. This week, we went to go visit M. I've talked about her before, super timid and has basically suffered all her life, it's been a hard one for her. Well, for the first time, she invited us into her house to teach her, because usually we just teach her on the curb where she sells her bags of matte/juice. We went into her house, and started talking. She cried to us again about how she feels SO alone, and so afraid, and it just broke my heart. As we were teaching, her husband got home from work, and he just gave her a head nod as she came in. I am positive that M doesn't have a friend to go to lunch with, or a family member who loves her to call on the phone, and then I knew that she didn't have a husband who came home from lunch and kissed her and asked her how her day was. My heart just broke so many times for her. But, her husband minded his business, and we continued talking.

Then, her brother got home from work. He came in, and saw us teaching, and I just didn't get the best vibe from him. As we were teaching, we called her over, and told her in a loud whisper, pretty aggressively, "They are lying. Why are you listening to them? It is a lie, God doesn't love you", and that shocked me, but she just shrugged it off, and came back.

As I started to read her Alma 7:11-12, "And He shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions...of every kind...", her brother came up to me, as I was sitting with M on the concrete ground, and told me, "I want you to leave my house right now. You all lie. Your religion is a lie". We got up with out hesitation, and he shouted some choice words as we left, and my heart just ached for M, as we walked back out into the streets. I wanted to cry, and had no words, but my heart brought me to those solo words that I shared with M from the verse. I have felt more than ever, the atonement of Jesus Christ. Elder Holland said that in the mission, you may have to bear just a little bit of that cross that the Savior carried up to Calvary. I have felt that. And I have felt more than ever a gratitude for Jesus Christ, who experienced all the hard experiences we have day to day, all the heart ache, and all the disappointment, and he did it because he loves us. When my heart aches for the situations I just can't control, I can't even imagine the heart ache our Savior must feel for us. He loves us.

Thank you for all the letters and the prayers! Which reminds me, I got my package. Oh, you all are the best, everything was so practical, I LOVED IT. Thank you. Which reminds me, hey did you get MY package? What did you think of the chifles? (plantain chips) Did the flower make it fine?

I truly do love you all to the moon and back (Oh wait no, heck of a lot more than that.) ;) you are in my thoughts and prayers always. And seriously again, thank you for the package. LOVE YOU.