Semana 23 in Iquitos (June 23rd, 2014)

Hola Familia!!!

This week Hermana Centeno and I have set a lot of new goals to get us 100% focused and we really feel so great! Although we don't have any families now that we are preparing to marry, we are so focused on finding, talking to every person we can, asking for references and working with the members.  I feel so good and when we work like this I really feel the spirit all the time and can see the hand of the Lord in our work. I'm trying to not let myself panic that we don't yet have new families and just continue working and trusting in the Lord, that way I know he will direct our paths and bring us success if we are focused on our purpose here.
On saturday Luz and Jaime had the ceremony for the massive wedding that they signed papers for last week.  There were 169 couples that got married here in Iquitos and tons of missionaries from all over the city who were also helping their investigators get married.  It was fun and actually a lot cooler than the matrimonies that we've done so far on our own.  
That night Luz and her son Angel got baptized.  Jaime decided that he's not yet ready to get baptized, but he has a testimony and we know that his time is soon to come! It was great seeing Luz finally baptized and confirmed a member of the church, she has been waiting almost 2 years and never could because she wasn't yet married. But she was so grateful to finally have taken this step after so much time.
This week is a big celebration, a holiday called San Juan that they only celebrate in the Selva. And I live in the district of Iquitos called San Juan, so it should be extra loco.  I'm still not sure exactly whats gonna happen but San Juan is on tuesday, I think we're gonna eat this food called Juanes, and think about San Juan, while listening to Juanes--should be neat. What I do know is that all the people have been fattening their chickens for about a month in preparation for this day...it's a big deal.
On that note, I know that this Gospel is true, that Jesus Christ is our savior and that through Him we can be cleansed, changed, and receive eternal happiness. Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ, with love of God and love for all mankind, until next week!

Love Hermana Benyo   

Photos
1. The Happy Couple
2. All dem Peruvians gettin' hitched
3. The lovely wedding venue

Semana 22 in Iquitos (June 17th, 2014)

Hey Family! How’s it going! So today I just finished my second change here in Iquitos and we’ll find out who stays and who goes (I’m 99% fingers crossed sure that I’ll still be here). On Saturday the municipality had a massive wedding and the family of our investigators Luz and Jaime went and signed some papers to get hitched before their baptism this week. We're really happy about the change we've seen in Jaime, when we first got here he didn't want to get married and much less baptized, but he prays so sincerely now, tells us that he knows the gospel is true and is making the arrangements to set that example for his family and be married and baptized. We're happy for them.

This week was truly a week of serious reflection. Our leaders talked to the zone about obedience (everyone's favorite topic as missionaries!) but it really got me thinking and reflecting. That honestly I'm not doing my work like I should be or like I could be. When we came here to be missionaries we left behind our families, friends, studies, dating life, hobbies and all that. For 18 months to 2 years that's all behind us now.  But what I really realized is that that literally isn't me anymore. I'm not Lauren, I'm Sister Benyo, a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ. Never again in this time will my thoughts be directed towards my personal needs, desires, and passions but for this short time in my life I am serving the Lord and his Children.  I have forbidden myself to come home the same person, I will never be the same so now while I'm here, our 100% must be focused on the Lord and His work. What a blessing to have this experience, but at times I feel like I am impeding myself from undergoing that transformation. I think about what I'm gonna eat next, time till the next P-day, how long I've got till I go home one day,  I don't fill in the area folder at night and we leave the house 10 minutes late. It's all these things that add up, and I feel myself being a little bit too Lauren than I should be. But she is so gone and not welcome here. Here in Iquitos is a sacred place for me and never will I let these selfish distractions from who I once was keep me from being who the Lord wants me to be. On the eternal perspective a mission is SO short. This isn't 1.5 to 2 years, it's 1.5 to 2 seconds.  We're throwing it all behind us now. That all is over now, 100% focus on working, on helping others and on having the spirit at all times. Without work and 100% obedience and self-discipline we are nothing. And frankly there's just no time for me to be Lauren.  I'm so grateful for the strengthening power of Jesus Christ that helps us to be strengthened in our weaknesses. I love the Book of Mormon in Ether12:26 where it says "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that 

they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselvesbefore me; 

for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things 

become strong unto them."

But now is the time to repent and be perfected, to be a little bit better, a little bit more focused and selfless and hardworking than I was the day before. To contact a little more, to talk to more people, to find more people waiting to hear the gospel, to pray and fast more. Because honestly this time is so so short. And let me tell you I'm gonna remember it as the best 1.5 seconds of my life.

Love you all,

Hermana Benyo

Photos:

1. Luz and Jaime signing the papeles!

2. Zone 9 de Octubre...Take 1....

3. Zone 9 de Octubre!!!!!

4. A monkey in it's natural habitat in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest....no just kidding it's the zone leader's pet monkey posed on a tree (note the leash)

Semana 21 in Iquitos (June 2nd, 2014)

This week was weird but good and we learned a lot.  We moved into our new house. It's a lot smaller and it doesn't have windows like our old house, but it's safer and were getting accustomed pretty fast.  We finished up the wedding papers for a family named Luz, Jaime, and their son Angel who is 8.  They have been investigatores for a loooooonnnnnng time and their finally taking that step and getting married this month. The municipality is having a massive wedding this month which makes things easier for all of us and it's a lot cheaper, so taht helps us out a lot as missionaries, it'll be on the 21st. They're really good, Luz is rock solid in church and in her testimony, and we are working with Jaime to help strengthen his testimony, read the Book of Mormon and resolve his questions.  We're also teaching a sister named Blanca.  She is seriously an angel. She was being taught by the elders but they had to pass us off to us because her husband didn't want to be taught, and she's so great it literally pains me to take their investigator from them and  that relationship they have with her. But honestly she has got to be the most spiritually prepared person I have met on my mission. Most of the time leaving lessons at her house I feel like I just got taught by her. She has had a tough life, her parents abandoned her as a child, but honestly she has the most amazing attitude about everything. The light of Christ just shines from her and she has this burning desire and hunger to learn more about the gospel to read the scriptures. I just love her attitude about life, I wish I could describe it to you, she sells food in her home and before was selling beer, but now after talking to the missionaries she stopped selling beer and sells her Chicha Morada (a peruvian koolaid like drink made from purple corn---tastes better than it sounds).  But she was just like ¨Hey I know that the Lord doesn't like when I seel alcohol and when I sell on sunday, so I stopped and it was a good paycut but I mean I'm not dead I'm still here, so we're all good!´. Wow I love her so much, and she and her beautiful little daughters are sooo so smart and ahhhhh. One lesson she told us about her childhood and how now that she's a mom she feels so blessed to have her little girls and have them safe and give them the childhood she didn't have, and her eleven year old daughter Galadria, listening to her tell this story just started crying and hugged her mom and it was literally so sweet and tender that I cried a little too. Also, all her neighbors are telling her to stay away from the Church but she just testifies to them that she knows its true, and invites all her friends to Church. For real this sister is going to be future Relief Society president I'm tellin you.  But that's about it for this week! We got a new pensionista who makes breakfast for us now, her name is Hermana Lucy and she's awesome!

Love you all!

Sister Benyo

Semana 20 in Iquitos (May 26th, 2014)

Hello my family!

Well this week flew by in the blink of an eye. I felt like I was just writing you all yesterday. 

Hermana Centeno and I are living the dream here in our area Las Colinas and working so hard. This week for sure had it's ups and downs but we are learning so much.  We're also going to be moving this week because Sister Gomez doesn't like our house all that much and wants us to move into an apartment owned by a family of members, it's for sure safer and the road in front of the house is cement (HALLELUJAH).  Its gonna be really tough though because our current house is basically inaccessible by motokar and I don't know how we're gonna load all of our stuff onto a motokar, but hopefully the members will help us out with that one!

We've been finding lots of new investigators and some awesome families that we're teaching.  One of of them is a super cute little 20 year old mom who has two little twin baby boys. Her name is Chana and we've been teaching here a week or two now.  Her husband is a member of the church but hasn't been active since he was a kid, but she is super interested and has come to church and wants to get baptized. So we've been teaching her normal, but this week we went and taught her with a member named Janina. Janina is awesome, she's always helping us out, giving us people to teach and usually tries to teach the whole lesson haha. This time when we got to the house, Chana's husband Jose, would not come and went and hid on the back porch. With Janina leading the way we marched around to the back of the house and brought the lesson to him. I literally sat on a log and we started teaching. We started getting to know Jose better and he said that he doesn't really have goals for his family and that his kids can do whatever they want. And with that Janina was off, she started with a social analysis of why Jose was that way, and then started burning him REALLY hard and started saying things like 'I know you have problems in your relationshiop and your family, and your babies are sick! Look at them! I can tell that they have diarhea! And your wife is suffering and lonely!" at this point my companion and I were slightly horrified and tried to cut her off before the damage got any worse. And right as I was getting ready to change the subject Chana, with a baby on each knee, started crying really hard. A cry of desperation, and of someone who really is suffering. Janina went over and started hugging and comforting her, and she too started crying and telling her to be strong and that we love here. And right then one of the babies started crying and had an accident of diarrhea. At this point I was kind of freaked out I had no idea how this sister was able to discern all of these challenges that this young women and her family were facing, when normally we would teach her and she would be there with a smiling face. That night, Janina went back to the house of Chana and gave her some money to take her babies to the clinic. I learned a lot from Hermana Janina and her example to me. At first I was like 'oh my gosh this woman is a wizard' but then I realized that when we are in tune with the spirit, we truly can discern the needs of these people. Because it's true, so many of these people are suffering in ways I can't even imagine, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. It's what truly brings families together and can heal all these problems.  I completely sure that Chana felt the love of Hermana Janina and this week came to church.  I was moved by this experience and pray for the spirit of discernment to help me open my heart and truly help my brothers and sisters here in Iquitos.

This week Segundo got baptized! He is so awesome and has lots of goals for his family. But sadly on sunday he didn't come to his confirmation.  It doesn't sound that bad, but for me and Hermana Centeno it was a pretty hard blow as missionaries and really sad. We went and talked to him to find out what happened and there were some issues that happened and he feels pretty bad about it, and I'm 100%  sure that he will be there next sunday for his confirmation.

So that was probably the low point of the week, but there are things that happen that are out of our control, what is important is that we are constantly learning. 

One of the members asked me how it feels when I see the families that we have found, taught, married and baptized in their dresses and white shirts and ties faithfully walking to their sunday meetings as families and reading their scriptures and Liahona's--I literally can't describe it. It's AWESOME. Missionary life rules. 

Love,

Hermana Benyo

Photos:

1. Us and Segundo before his baptism, along with his now father-in-law/our convert Maykeel

2. Amazon river dolphin!!! awwww

3. Our neighbors selling their freshly caught piranhas 

4. The peruvian hairless dogs here are super cute!

5. Hairless puppies

6. The street in front of our house after it rains (ie every day)

Semana 19 in Iquitos (May 19th, 2014)

Wow do I have a lot to update you on this week! Hermana Centeno and I are pleased to announce that two of our families that we taught got married on saturday, Guido and Betsy, and Meredith and Segundo!! Woohoo! and after the ceremony, Betsy, their daughter Emily, and our other investigator Sofia got baptized!! And Segundo will be getting baptized this Saturday.  This week was a little crazy, filled with trips downtown to do marriage papers, we had a bar-b-que activity with the ward to help raise money for the matrimonies, decorating the chapel, and a little bit of stress on the side! Like I said the other week now that we're doing all the marriage papers it's a little more work and matrimonies and baptisms always stress me out a little bit but they also are so awesome I cannot describe to you how great it feels to see these families come together, be married, and enter into the covenant of baptism. Each on of them bore their testimonies after being baptized and hearing them firmly state their faith in Jesus Christ brings so much joy and warmth to my soul, Its not something I can even describe. After being baptized, Sofia pulled me aside and thanked us for everything and said that she feels like she really has started a new life, now that she has come to this great step of baptism.  It was an awesome day, the Elders also had a couple that got married so we had a joint ceremonies and they all got baptized afterwards. It was such a beautiful day and for real I'm still on cloud 9. I love being a missionary.

Oh yeah, I went to Ecuador this week. Hehe. So on Tuesday the zone leaders told me I would be flying to Lima the next day (Iquitos is surrounded by rivers on all sides and there's no roads connecting Iquitos to the rest of the world so leaving always means flying), but this news was normal because I still have to do some visa stuff. This is a really exciting thing for people serving here in Iquitos because Lima means McDonald's, and Papa John's and all kinds of other delicious American things that sadly don't exist in island cities in the middle of the jungle. So We flew in Wednesday night and they took us to a super ritzy beautiful hotel (WITH HOT WATERRRRRRRR). Yeah you bet I showered for a good 30 minutes. So yeah Lima was nice I legitimately thought it was about 38 degrees there it felt so cold to me, but when I saw the temperature it was actually 68...hahah, I'm so weak. So the next morning they piled us in a van and took us back to the airport....which confused me a little because I was expecting to go to immigrations. So when we got to the airport they were like 'Great, so you guys need to leave the country, so you're going to Ecuador?. hahaha what. So we hopped on a flight to a place I've never heard of called Tumbes and when we got there it was SUPER hot again and they piled us in a van and drove us to Ecuador lol. So that was an adventure, it's a lovely country with diverse people, but sadly I was only in Ecuador for about 2 hours. We had to leave the country and re-enter. But the good news is I have the Ecuador stamp on my passport so it COUNTS. Then they dropped us off in Tumbes in some plaza and we ate dinner and acted like tourists for a while, took pictures by the river. We ran into some missionaries that are serving in Tumbes too and they gave us some tips on where to eat and whatnot. So then we flew back to Lima, stayed the night in the Hotel, and flew back into Iquitos in the morning. haha so yeah that happened.

But for real this week was so great, different but I loved it. My testimony and desire to serve the people of Iquitos gets stronger and stronger every day. I love you all and hope you all know that I am working my heart out here and loving every minute of it!

Love,

Hermana Benyo

Semana 17 in Iquitos (May 5th, 2014)

Hello family and friends!

Hope you are all doing well, I miss all your pretty little faces!  Everything is great here in Iquitos and I hope that spring has finally sprung up there.  Honestly I don’t know what season is because you can ask whatever person what season it is and get a different answer every time. But it’s safe to say that seasons aren’t really a thing here.  We just finished our sixth week here in Iquitos and I can’t believe we’re already at changes again, the time flies so fast. But I won’t be going anywhere for a while which I’m totally fine with because I really like my area and my companion, Hermana Centeno.  This month of May we’re teaching some really awesome people, and it looks like we will be marrying and baptizing one or two families (one for sure). The other news is that our Zone Leaders just informed us that from now on, we will be taking care of the marriage process for all of our families. Before, they did all the papers for everyone in the zone, but it’s gotten to be a huge burden so now we get to do it! Which is fun but also a bit stressful because the process can get kind of complicated depending on the situation.  This Saturday, Sofia is getting baptized! She is beautiful inside and out and learning and living what she’s learning. I love seeing the fire of her developing testimony, it always inspires me and brings us so much joy, everytime we meet with her. She is going to be great. The other family is the famiy of Hermano Guido and his wife Betsi. We have been praying and fasting for them so much and doing service for them to help them with some struggles and we know that our prayers have been answered. Guido has made a 180 turn and is ready to come back to church, get married and help his wife and daughter prepare to be baptized. It really is a miracle his change of disposition and we owe it all to the lord. Yesterday they all came to church and it was the best. I love having families that we’re teaching in the chapel with us together.  This week I’ve been feeling a little insufficient and like I’m not completely living up to my potential. And more that the spirit is not always with me. Our leaders gave us a really awesome talk that talked about one missionary who had a similar experience, and asked a well known leader in the church what he should do.  The leader told him that what he lacked was the accompaniment of the spirit, and this is because the spirit only dwells in holy tabernacles. If we are doing things that drive away the spirit, of course we won’t be at our full potential.  What we have to do is purify ourselves. So he told the young man to go home, start fasting and praying for one day and make a list of all the things and all the thoughts that drive away the spirit. Whether it’s thinking too much about your life at home, speaking sarcastically to your companion, or sleeping in a few minutes longer than you should, put them all on the list and present it to the Lord. With this list of things he challenged him to do a 40 day fast. For forty days, completely abstain from each of these things on the list, and he promised that he would see miracles. They did this and it completely transformed their attitudes and not only that, it affected the people they taught. They taught with more power and authority with this companionship of the spirit. After reading this, I was totally inspired and ready to go because it was exactly what I needed. There are so many things that I do that prevent me from living up to my potential and having the spirit with me at all times. So my companion and I made our list and this beginning of the new 6 week change starts our 40 day fast from all of our little vices. Even the little things, the distracting thoughts, the negative words, all of it. This is a process of purification and we know that we will see miracles. It won’t be easy and we can’t do it on our own by any means. But every morning we will look at this list and pray for strength to withstand temptation. And every night we will report back to the Lord how we did, where we messed up and commit to be better the next day. I know that this is a Gospel of change and that if we don’t actually change and repent, this life and this time of probation with be worthless. I'm so grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ which allows us to be better, to be transformed into the best version of ourselves, and to be purified. Habits and behavior don’t change overnight and we gotta keep going, every day is a fight and that is one thing that I just love about this life. I wish you all the best and hope that you too can be inspired to purify yourselves and live up to the potential that our father in Heaven has in mind for you all. I love you sweet people. Peace out till next week!

Ps can’t wait to see those guapo faces this Sunday on skype!

Love,

Hermana Benyo

Semana 16 in Iquitos (April 28th, 2014)

Hello my dear family!

Hope you are all doing fine, still can't believe you guys got another dog, but hey I'm pretty happy about that haha. Hermana Centeno and I had a fabulous week here in Iquitos, but what else is new I really feel like I'm living the dream here. We have a lot of new people who are preparing for baptism this month and several families who potentially may get married and baptized this month. Our area here in Las Colinas has some serious potential and we are working on turbo right now.  

We have a new investigator named Sofia who lives with a member, she is 19 years old and the definition of golden investigator. She's been attending church the last month and loves it. Our first lesson she expressed her desires to follow the Savior's example, start a new life and be baptized.  The second lesson in her prayer she asked Heavenly Father to help her to follow our example so that she can also serve a mission. We were smiling so big after that prayer. She has a such as sweet spirit, she literally glows. She is preparing for baptism on the 10th.

We are continuing to teach the soon to be son in law of the Torres Amias Family. His name is Segundo and he's really great as well. He's been praying to know if the Book of Mormon and the Church are true and he's said that he feels that it is. It's looking like we will be planning the wedding for them on the 17th.

It's pretty crazy because there's like three other families too that we could potentially be marrying and baptizing this month which could be a little stressful but we're way excited! May is gonna be a good one!

I've been thinking a whole lot lately about how great it is to be here. I'm exactly where the Lord wants me to be and there's literally no other place I would rather be. I love being a missionary and I love serving the Lord and his children.  I'm learning and stretching and growing in so many ways, dilligence, hard work, service, love and charity, humility, selflessness, focus....It's such a time of growing I wouldn't change it for the world. So thank you for supporting me out here. Thank you for the prayers, all of it. We never get discouraged here, because we're already on the winning side!

An update on Iquitos is that I realized recently that I literally don't even feel the heat anymore. It's completely normal and it's so sad to me that living this long in tropical heat and humidity with no air conditioning that I will shiver in anything less that 80 degrees. Yeah it's safe to say I'm officially not the Wisconsin girl I once was.  Update on the bats in our house, we haven't heard from them recently and the cucarachas have been keepin pretty quiet. Also the Elders in our ward have a huge monkey with a scary face living in the rafters of their house, so I mean yeah, I really can't complain.  Excited to call home in a couple weeks. All is well in Iquitos! Love you all, stay sweet, choose the right, and write me! 

Love, Hermana Benyo