Example, Balloon Animals and Halloween Decorations

Riquel and her son, Paulo. What a cutie!

Yesterday, I learned how the little things that we say and do can affect the life of another. Sometimes, we don't know who is watching us and studying the quality of our lives in order to learn how to change their own lives. The young adults in this ward are amazing, and without realizing it, we have helped more than one of them want to come back to church, live more righteously, and even serve their own missions. It has been a great experience to work with the young adults and learn from them as well, because they are so strong in their families and have amazing testimonies. Even when we don't think we're really making a difference, people are taking note of what we say and how happy we are, and this example can help them want to change their lives for the better.

This week has been pretty routine. One fun thing is that we were able to give some service for Riquel for her son Paulo's birthday. He's turning one, which here in Peru is a huge deal. They do lots of over-the-top stuff for a child's first birthday. Anyway, we helped clean and decorate and sala for the party. She didn't have a lot of stuff, but my parents had sent me a package in the MTC that contained some balloons and instructions on how to tie different animals out of the balloons. So our district made a bunch of balloon animals for the party. It was super fun!

Just trying to bring a little
"Halloween spirit" to Peru

I made some Halloween decorations for our garage too, and I bought some candy at Tottus! Growing up, my Mom always decorated the house with festive Halloween decorations and I realized I really wanted to have something festive up here! It's a work in progress, but little by little we'll be ready for the holiday.