Semana 3 in Tarapoto

 Our group going to Iquitos from the MTC

 

Tarapoto from our house 

 

 Hermana Talbert and I at the airport in Iquitos

Freaky abondoned plane at the airport in Iquitos  

 

  So randomly some horses showed up in our yard....like I have no idea who they belong to but they just started chilling and nursing right in front of our house. Normal.

HELLO MY PEOPLE:

Tarapoto is awesome. Teaching is hard.

That´s pretty much my week summed up.  This week was for sure a challenge.  But honestly I feel like I´ve come so far. It´s tough expressing all that I want to say in a second language and at time I feel like the people don't really comprehend.  It´s really interesting here, the people are all very sweet but you have to teach simple simple simple, or they don´t really get it.  I'm starting to feel more at home and the members in the branch are so very sweet. Also, everyone greets with a cheek kiss and bids farewell with a cheek kiss and I always forget to do it and people think I'm rude but I'm just not used to it. Funny story, so we're missionaries and all and this one teenager tried to greet me and kiss me and I had to like dodge it and pull away and...it was kind of awkward maybe you had to be there.

I feel so blessed to start off in Tarapoto because it´s in the high jungle, and so the weather is awesome (iquitos is wretched), the food isn't weird (no reptiles), and it's really cute and cozy. It really reminds me exactly of Appleton except completely different and in the Peruvian amazon.

In Lima it wasn't a big deal being a gringo, because there were plenty, its a big city with tourists, but Tarapoto is a lot more remote. In actuality, I think the missionaries are literally the only gringoes in Tarapoto. The whole language and teaching thing is difficult but without challenges, I wouldn't be progressing so I'm thankful for that.

It's a little frustrating because our investigator Eli was going to be baptized the 25th but it fell through because she didn't come to church yesterday. We have another investigator named Hisela and I love her so much. She really is so sweet and so smart and has such desires to change her life and come unto Christ. She is cautious and wants to learn more, which I think is great so we have been teaching her often.

One of our goals as missionaries is to love the people of Peru, and I'm really praying that I can do that more, and think of myself less. Because ultimately that's what missions are all about, right?

Love you all! CIAO!

Hermana Benyo

Semana 2 in Tarapoto

          Me and President and Hermana Gomez  

 My run with Hermana Ruesch 

 

 The view from our apartment

 

 The Amazon River. nbd

A man casually cutting grass with a machete

Hola mi dulce Familia,

So this week has gone by so fast but I've learned so much. I'm finally starting to learn street names, where I am, members in the branch, and our investigators. Names are SO hard for me here. Like I was expecting a bunch of Miguels and Alejandros but no, they all have 15 names and they're Gringo names but pronounced hispanic. Like 'Richard' but with a really strong accent so people tell me they're names and I have no idea and forget instantly. 

Anyway, so Hna Alvear and I live in a little room about the house of our pensionista, who is Hna Luzmila, the Relief Society president in our branch. Our room is about what you would expect, cement floors and brick walls with a little cupboard in the corner covered by a curtain that is our bathroom. So funny story the other day I was showering, there's no hot water here, so i tried to move the shower head and I realized it was just a pbc pipe so it snapped and water was spraying out of a hole in the wall. hahah I cant remember if I already told you that last week, but its fixed now.

So we eat meals with our pensionista and lunch with members every day. I haven't eaten anything too weird yet, but all the weird food is in iquitos, here is mostly just rice and such.  But there's TONS of fruit I love it. Lots of Pineapple, mango, papaya, coconut, maracuya, passion fruit, star fruit, and other ones that I don't know the names of. The other day we bought a coconut from this man on the street who cut it open with a machete and stuck a straw in it. I also tried this fruit called aguaje which is weird and tastes like cottage cheese but at the same time is kind of good/disgusting. 

This week Hna Alvear and I went on intercambios with a companionship and I went with Hna Ruesch, who is from South Jordan, UT. And she´s only had 6 weeks in the mission....haha. Two gringas who had no idea what they were doing. It was for 24 hours but seriously it was SOOO fun.  She is the best and honestly yeah we´re not that good at spanish but our lessons went so well and we felt the spirit so strong. We visited some less actives and they came to church the next day. We also taught our investigator Eli and with her we read Enos in the Book of Mormon and talked about prayer and conversion. Our lesson was very simple, but the spirit was so strong. I love the Book of Mormon, it really speaks for itself. And that lesson she committed to be baptized the 25th, yay!!

Our area is a little bit tougher to find people, but I like the challenge, and when we do find people that need it, it's so sweet.

But yeah so On our intercambio, Hna Ruesch and I went for a run through the jungle and it was SO COOL!!! And we ran up this hill that overlooks the mountain and the valley below. Its so pretty here. And I love being a missionary. My testimony is being strengthened each day and I`m learning more than I thought possible about the gospel.

I love you and miss you all!!

Hna Benyo

Semana 1 in Iquitos!

 Tarapoto, Peru

 Tarapoto, Peru (again!)

 The famous motokars! 

HOLA MI DULCE FAMILIA!!

Okay so this week has been CRAZY. Crazy but awesome. So tuesday I left the MTC at 2:00 Am to fly to Iquitos. I got to go with Hna Talbert and we were the only gringos so that was fun!  Not gonna lie it was so nice leaving Lima and the flight was so cool. We flew over the Andes mountain and then it all turned to green jungle for miles and miles and miles, it was like the ocean. Once we were about to land in Iquitos, we were super low and passed over the Amazon river. It was the coolest thing of my life, I was fan-girling so hard I actually cried. You think I'm kidding. I'm not.

Bueno, so we stepped out of the plane and I was immediately smothered by humidity as expected and the scenery looked like Jurassic Park. There was also this freaky abandoned plane there, it was cool. So we got to meet President and Hermana Gomez and let me tell you, they are the sweetest people on planet earth.  We ate breakfast in the mission home in Iquitos and then our areas were announced. I got sent to Tarapoto!!  And the best part is that Hna Talbert did too!  Our mission is so huge that we need to fly to every area during transfers. So that got announced and then they were like 'oh by the way you can only bring one suitcase that is 20 kilos and you have 20 minutes till your flight leaves". So I panicked and ditched over half my stuff at the mission office in Iquitos and hopped on another plane.

On the flight I met a man who was asking about the church and the flight to Tarapoto, I taught him the entire first lesson of the restoration and gave him a folleto. It was so fun and cool!  

Okay. TARAPOTO. I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you that Tarapoto, Peru is the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. I freak out everytime I step outside. Its one of the areas that has mountains and waterfalls and its super green and tropical. They call it the paradise of the mission and that is no exaggeration. Another awesome thing is that it isn't as hot as Iquitos. The weather is basically like Wisconsin in July. Its soooooooo pretty, I can't send many photos so just google image search it. The city is so cute. It's like the size of Appleton, except everyone speaks spanish and its in the middle of the jungle and mountains.

There are no cars here, only motokars and its so fun.  There just these little motorcycle with a bench on the back and we take them everywhere we go.

My companion. My companion is Hna Alvear and she is great! She's from Ecuador and a very experienced missionary and is the Hermana equivalent of zone leader. She has trained 7 gringas and this is her very last transfer, so she will be going home in a month.  

This week we invited two of our investigators to be baptized and they have dates set in january.  I got to invite one of them and since I'm training, I've been doing a lot of contacts which is scary but fun. I honestly feel like I am in such a perfect place to do missionary work because the people are SO awesome. I have never seen anyone as friendly as these peruvian jungle people. Like I almost feel spoiled because I haven't received any negative response and almost everyone is willing to learn more about the gospel. On sunday we did branch missionary training and I taught the members the importance of teaching people, not lessons for their visiting and home teaching.  I feel so blessed that I can speak spanish, but that doesn't mean I have any idea what Im doing. Hna Alvear keeps saying that she forgets that she's training because I can speak and teach, but in reality I have NO CLUE how to be a missionary. Its quite funny. But also not funny.  I'm really working to get to know our members and investigators and just planning and teaching in general. The people in the jungle have very simple understanding so its essential that you teach as simply and clearly as possible, almost as if you're teaching children. Its cool, I just don't know how to do it.

Anyway, pray for me because I have a LOT to learn.

I have so much more to say but SO little time. Love you and miss you all!

Christmas

I just want you to know that I had an awesome christmas!! Christmas eve was really hard but the next day was so so so good. We didnt have class so that was good, and it was literally the most beautiful day. The sun was shining and I got to spend time outside and with my old district, and we are all super close and a lot of us felt the same homesickness so it helped a lot to spend time with them. I just kept noticing how beautiful it was outside and we got to play volleyball and enjoy it. I also got to spend time reading scriptures and really reflect on the life of the savior. Although I wished I was home with you guys, it was honestly one of the best christmases I´ve had and I felt so close to my heavenly father and it just made me so happy and put me in such a good mood. I think the main thing I was sad about was that I didnt get to call home, especially when im only a few days from being in the field where I could have called home. But it´s okay because I really wasnt sad at all on christmas, so dont feel bad I was actually really really happy. I read about the saviors life and his atonement and I just felt such and immense overpowering sense of love and gratitude, more than I´ve ever felt on christmas, and I think that being away from all the tinsel and materialism that normally clouds my vision during the christmas season is the only thing that truly allowed me to feel the TRUE spirit of CHRISTmas. I´m so grateful for this Christmas, and I don´t think I´ll forget it and I know I won´t look at Christmas the same again.

We also had an AMAZING christmas day devotional from Elder Bednar from the quorum of the twelve apostles. It was the best christmas present ever. He dad something a little different and it was really great. He handed out a bunch of cell phones to all the missionaries at the MTC and had the missionaries at foreign mtc´s email in questions that we had for him. Anything we wanted to ask, and he spent the hour answering them. It was amazing hearing him speak so frankly and unscripted, but everything he said was so spiritually powerful which strengthened my testimony that he truly is called of God.

One question he answered was "What is the most important thing you learned on your mission?" He said that he learned that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has two prominent parts: The cleansing power and the strengthening power. We all know of the cleansing power of the atonement and we teach that we can all be cleansed from our sins, but oftentimes we overlook the strengthening power of the atonement. This means that even if we are not directly sinning, our efforts will always be insufficient and short of perfection. Entonces we need to understand that we can ALWAYS rely on the atonement of Jesus Christ to strengthen us and become better. Yes the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made is for sinners who need to be cleansed, but also for disciples who are trying to become saints. Another cool thing he said was that a lot of people fall in to the trap of thinking that it´s okay to sin because you ccan just repent and be cleansed again. This is false because thinking this way has completely disregarded the strengthening power of the atonement. If you are always spending time in the cleaners working to become cleansed, that is precious time that you are losing which could have been used refining yourself and slowly progressing toward our eternal and great potential. Pretend there is a jar full of black sand that has a hole at the top and the bottom that is large enough to fit exactly one grain of sand. If you push one grain of white sand in the jar and one grain of black sand pops out the other end, what happens? Is the jar going to look significantly different? No. But is the physical makeup of the sand in the jar going to be different? well Yes. Praying or repenting one time is not going to make us any different. However, if we continue dilligently to push in white sand one grain at a time, through daily prayer, scripture study, serving and loving others, keeping the commandments, and thinking good thoughts, slowly but surely that jar is going to be nothing but pure white sand. Becoming saints is not going to happen all in one day. It is a lifelong process and something that can only be done with the strengthening power of the atonement.

One other question someone asked is "is it more important to serve my companion or the investigators that I´m teaching?" Elder Bednar stated that they are both equally important. I think of the way the savior treated his disciples and it all makes sense to me. My companions deserve to have a good companion. They deserve to be loved, cared for, and served. He said that the best quality that a missionary can possibly have is to forget themselves. When you are not always thinking about "me me me" you´re going to forget that you´re away from homé, that you´re sweating buckets in the jungle, that your companion gets on your nerves, and that you´re eating weird food. This is not my mission, this is the Lord´s mission and I am a vessel carrying the spirit to help the people of Peru. Being a missionary is SO sweet. It´s LO MAXIMO!!! (Slang I learned from the latino missionaries)

Anyway, In the end I had a really great Christmas and I´m really happy.

Latino district is awesome and challenging. I get SOOOO much more out of my lessons and the teachers are so so good. I leave for Iquitos on Tuesday. ((CANT WAIT!!!!))

Peace and Love,

Hermana Benyo

Semana 4

My district and I celebrating Christmas! 

My companions and our Latina roommates! 

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Mi familia!!!
So another week has gone by at the CCM!
I found out this week that I will be leaving my district and advancing to a latino district for my last two weeks here in Lima! I´m seriously so sad to be leaving Hermana Talbert and my district but I know that it will be for the best and it will be cool to be in total and complete immersion. So the way that works is North Americans stay here for six weeks of language and gospel training, but latinos are only here for 2 weeks. So in the last four weeks that I have been here, there´s been 2 different rounds of latinos, and the third round will be the one I join for my last two weeks. So basically I´ll just be doing the basic 2 weeks of MTC training without language training...all in spanish with a latina companion...so that should be interesting!! I´m a little nervous.
Today was P-day and my district all gifted our secret santa gifts. It was super fun and we all got in the christmas spirit and wrapped up our presents, it was really cute.  Elder Largent loves the harmonica I got him and now all the Elders in our district got harmonicas and play hymns all the time.
We went proselyting again in North Lima on Saturday.  I got put in a trio with two Latinas and they were very good. I can tell my spanish is getting better because they don´t speak an ounce of english and I could plan the lesson with them and teach the people we were contacting as well.  We were back up climbing these dusty mountains with all the little houses built on the side of them. We met some really cool people and bore our testimonies. I´m becoming less and less timid about sharing the gospel and I love it. Today while we were shopping for p-day I gave out a plan of salvation pamphlet to a man on the bus so that was pretty cool!
 I´m getting really anxious to get out in the field and get to Iquitos, but 2 weeks to go!
I love you all and Merry Christmas from Lima!

Love,
Hermana Benyo

Semana 3

Me and my lovely companions at the Lima Temple today

Me and my district at the Light Ceremony. Left: Hnas Ogden, me, Talbert, Ransom, Reynolds, Smith, and Heiner. Row 2: Elders Price, Geddes (short), Largent (tall), and Allan.

CCM volleyball court

View of MTC from my bedroom

CCM Patio where we study

Soccer Field where the latinos lay the smack down

Lima Temple 

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HOLA FAMILIA!!!!

How´s it going, I miss you all!!!

So this week Hermana Talbert and I got a new companion!!! Her name is Hermana Ogden and now we are in a trio so that is pretty fun!!

I seriously love Hermana Talbert and we are so close and work great together, and we´re excited to have a new companion.  So our district has also gotten really close! They are all awesome and hilarious.  Like I´m not even kidding you, they´re all really cool but SECRETLY they´re the biggest nerds on planet earth. Seriously they are so passionate about pokemon, dragon ball-z, and Yu Gi Oh.....and they always bond with the latinos over dragon ball z, but It´s fine. hahaha no they´re really cool and funny. All the girls in our district are super close too.  Our district is doing a christmas gift exchange and I have Elder Largent, our District leader. We went shopping today and I got him a sweet harmonica from this music vendor.  ALSO, so on the way back from Utah, grandma and I stopped at Little America, some random restaurant in Nowhere, WY and when we ate there I told the waitress I was going on a mission to Peru. And she was like ´Óh cool, theres a girl that works here who is doing that, I think she´s going to Peru too. So yeah, flash forward to now and one of the hermanas in my district who reported the same day as me said she worked at Little America in Wyoming...I was like ´NO WAY´. This world is so small, even in Soth America.

So last night We had this awesome Christmas lights ceremony where they decorated the CCM with Christmas lights and then lit them up. It was really cool, some of the area seventies were there and it was really awesome. Although it´s like 75 degrees and sunny so it´s easy to forget it´s december....(hehe sorry I had to)

So the CCM is SUCH a bubble. Seriously, it´s so beautifully landscaped and perfect inside and I kid you not there´s always hummingbirds and birds in the fountains. And it´s so tranquil and safe feeling but also a little bit like a prison cell. haha I can´t wait to get out to Iquitos. However, Lima is kind of scary. I´m glad I´m not serving there. The few times we have left, it´s liberating but then you get out to the dirty city with the PSYCHO drivers and it can be a little overwhelming. Seriously mom, you would hate riding in cars here. Absolutely. Feels like you´re gonna die.  But getting out of the beautiful tranquil CCM is like leaving the Garden of eden and venturing into the lone and dreary world.

Also Hna Talbert and I were talking to some Senior Couple who had been to Iquitos recently and she said that Iquitos seems like it is like 30-40 years behind Lima.....and Lima already feels a bit like it´s stuck in the 90´s haha. It´s scary but I´m honestly so excited. She said it might be hard to find deodorant.....

Anyway, our teaching has been a little rocky lately. of course the whole language barrier is pretty hard to break through but also just I´ve felt like we haven´t been prepoerly covering what we need to.  Our teacher Hermano Meza (he is awesome) pulled us aside and talked to us about our concerns. When we told him that we thought we weren't being effective, he directed us to this section in Preach My Gospel where it says that we should teach our investigators not lessons. Yeah I´ve heard that a million times but that's when i realized that if need be, it might take 3 lessons to cover the restoration and that´s OK! And that really helped me and Hermana Talbert. I´m grateful for his guidance and I think it will help us teach more effectively.

I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is mindful of us.  I am grateful to be at a point in my life where I can have His spirit with me every minute of the day, and be focused on serving Him and His children.

Well anyway, I love you familia, Hasta Luego!

Hermana Benyo

Semana 2

Me and Hermana Talbert at the Lima Temple 

My companion and I bought these awesome peruvian genie pants from a street vendor in Lima today.

Last night with our fave latinas! Hna Castro from Peru, Me, Hermana Garcia from Mexico, Hermana Talbert from Indiana (my comp), Hermana Amador from Honduras, and Hermana Rivera from Chile

Lima Peru Temple!!!

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!!

Okay so week 2 in the CCM has gone by pretty quick!

This last satruday we had the opportunity to go tracting in north Lima and it was quite the eye opening experience!! I got to go with one of my sweet latina roommates and we went visiting people with some of the actual sister missionaries. North Lima was very different than anything I´ve ever experienced. It´s very poor and theres tons and tons of houses built up the mountains, and they look like shanty little boxes stack on top of eachother. You have to climb up all these stairs to get to them. I have noticed that the people here in Lima Peru are SO friendly and kind. They are always willing to listen to our message and are so happy when we came to visit and check up on them. We visited some of the less active members and shared a lesson with them about the importance of coming to church to partake of the sacrament there as well as the strength they would receive in doing so. It was really difficult for me to understand the peruvians however. They mumble and just laugh at me because I´m just a little gringa that has no idea what they´re saying. I don´t know why, maybe I just get nervous because I have no problem whatsoever speaking to the latinos here in the CCM, but hopefully it gets better! I got to share my testimony and some scriptures about baptism and sacrament and the people were very kind!

One funny thing that happens here in the CCM is that all the Latinos and North Americans play a game where the north americans teach the latinos funny things to say in each others language, and have them say it to other people. Like for instance the other day Hermana Talbert and I were just walking and these latino elders walking past us were just casually like "whats up, chicken butt?", completely matter of factly. Hahahaha we died, they are all so sweet and hilarious. Oh mom, you´re gonna love this. I found out this week that "your mom" jokes are SUPER not ok here. I said it in spanish to my latina roommates and they all gasped and died laughing. It was really funny and I´m glad I learned it with them hahahahaha. Hermana Talbert and I are so sad that our latina roommates left for their actual missions already. They are such good missionaries, always help us with spanish, and just genuinely good friends.

The food here is super good still. There´s this awesome fruit they give here called granadin. Its sort of like a pomegranate but has the consistency of slugs. Its pretty good.

We had p-day again today and got to go to the Lima temple again, it was really really good. It´s weird being outside of the CCM bubble in actual Lima and the driving is NUTS! There seriously so efficient with roadspace I would be so scared to drive here.

But anyway, I miss you all very much, and we had a really fun little thanksgiving dinner, american style!! Also, the sun here is pretty intense! I´ve gotten burned so quick!

This week I read an AWESOME talk by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace Is Sufficient". Its a good reminder that although we can never be perfect, he expects us to try our best and show gratitude for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ has made for us. "There should never be just two options, perfection or giving up. When learning piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? no. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long suffering, that change is a process and that repentance is a pattern in our live. His strength is perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Grace is not the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light that moves us through the tunnel."

I know that this is true. For me and Hermana Talbert lately, it´s been esy for us to think that we aren´t good enough and that spanish isn´t coming fast enough, but we need to remember how HE sees us. Our father in heaven loves us and like a piano teacher and his student, He doesn´t get angry when we mess up a few notes, He expects us to keep trying.

I love you family and I pray for you on the daily!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Benyo