One Year Mark!

My family skyping with me on Mother's Day

Skyping on Mother's Day from the casa de la familia Ochoa

It was so great to talk to my family on Mother's Day. I didn't even realize the time went flying by so fast until it was time to go. I miss them all so much and wanted to talk until we had nothing left to say because I only get to talk with them twice during my mission (last Christmas and Mother's Day yesterday). It is so crazy to me to see how much my siblings are changing and growing up! A big thank you to the Ochoa family for allowing me and Hermana Jaramillo to use their computer and internet for the Skyping. They are awesome!

On the other hand, I am happy to be here in Peru! I am ready to go and take advantage of these last 6 months! There is so much that I need to do here. My Dad was telling me about my baby blessing. In the LDS Church, babies are given a Priesthood Blessing shortly after they are born, and my father gave me mine when we lived in Provo, Utah. He said that he felt impressed by the Spirit to bless me to serve a mission, and at that time, not a lot of girls were expected to serve missions (well, not as many as do now). A lot of people were surprised, but he felt pretty strongly about it. And now here I am 22 years later in Peru. I had no idea that was part of my baby blessing until my Dad told me yesterday, so to me that is pretty amazing. My parents and the Lord knew that I would be serving a mission before I did -- ha ha.

Thanks Grandma Langford for the awesome frog! 

Zone Conference with Hermana Morales' companion,
Me, Hermana Morales, and Hermana Jaramillo.

We have been working with a family here in Peru who came to Church this past week. The mom is less active and hadn't been to church in a few years, but we are teaching the whole family now and trying to help them accept the Gospel. We were pretty excited they came to church. They even got to hear me give a talk in Sacrament Meeting, which went pretty well.

So, this week we had a conference with Pres. Waddell that was really good. We learned a lot about working with members and what we should focus on as missionaries. At the conference I got to see Hermana Morales! It was super exciting! I also got to see Hermana Lind and Hermana Hyer and we took a picture together to commemorate our one-year mark. We're all super excited to work hard for our last 6 months!

Two of my MTC companions: Hermana Hyer and Hermana Lind. One year on our missions! Woo-hoo!