Moving On Up, Birthday Re-Do, and the Sign of a Good Missionary

Moving into our new apartment

Notice our Christmas Tree up on the wall.

Our new kitchen

First off...we finally moved! We found an apartment and we moved into it on Saturday! It is super nice and actually in our area!!!! We are super happy...the only down side is that cambios (transfers) are in 2 weeks and we're pretty sure one of us is leaving. One of us will only get to enjoy living in the apartment for 2 weeks after looking for a place for 4 months! Oh, well, we are just happy to finally be in our own area! It has one big room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. We can hardly wait to get some kitchen stuff soon so that we can actually cook for ourselves. We'll see when it happens, but we hope soon. We also decorated the wall with a Christmas tree! Hermana Larsen's family sent her a paper tree with all of the ornaments that have different sayings. It's super cute! It's makes our apartment feel more like Christmas!

Me, our friend Pilar, and Hermana Larsen

We are sad, but happy, because one of our really good friends here in the ward, Pilar, is leaving on her mission this Thursday. She is studying at the CCM here in Peru and then going to the Trujillo Mission, I think, until she gets her visa to go to Venezuela. She is super awesome and has accompanied us lots for teaching appointments. She is going to be an amazing missionary!

This past week, we were eating lunch with our pensionista, Hermana Mirla. She is super awesome. She was asking us questions about when our birthdays would come up. Apparently, she didn't know that my birthday was last week! We thought we had told her, and she was sick on my actual birthday, so we didn't see her that day, and we thought it had just slipped her mind. Apparently not! She was mad that she didn't know and told me that she was going to celebrate my birthday again, and this time the right way -- ha ha.

Happy Birthday one more time! The Elders, me, and Hermana Larsen.

So, yesterday (Sunday), we went to her house and we ate delicious food. She let me choose what I wanted to eat, so I asked for my favorite food that she makes...tyerines verdes! So freaking delicious! Then, she made me a cake and decorated it with majar blanco! It was super cute and super nice of her! The Elders also came over and they ate fish...yuck! But, they really enjoyed it!

The incredible view from the hill in our area.  What a hike!

So, the baptism dates that we have for this month are still holding strong, and we are getting to know our area even better. Pray for us to find new people to teach that have been prepared by the Lord, and that our investigators will hold strong to be able to make it to their baptism! Yesterday, for Fast Sunday, we fasted as a zone for all of our investigators that have baptismal dates, and also for those investigators that we want to have dates in the near future. It was really great and made us feel closer as a zone.

Yesterday, we went with the Bishop's wife, Hermana Sarah, and her daughter to get to know some less actives that live on a hill in our area that is really hard to get to. We definitely did some major hiking, but the view was beautiful! As a result, my shoes are definitely starting to die! It's a good thing my family is sending me a new pair for Christmas, especially since they don't have my size in Peru. Curse my big feet! My father told me that the sign of a good missionary is how worn out their shoes are. At this rate, I'll need one or two more pairs to last me through the end of my mission!!

I had to throw in a picture of
my tan line!! Woot! Woot!