View from Hayley's apartment.
Aug. 12, 2013

Hayley Imbler	10:17 AM (10 hours ago)
to me, Michael, Michael

Buenas dias!!

 

Hola familia y amigos! How goes it? Yet another week gone by, I do not understand how the time passes so quickly, it feels like I was just sitting in this dirty computer lab yesterday, but all is well I´m super happy and lovin life in Peru!

 

Where to start..

First off.. it´s absolutely freezing, I was expecting warm in Peru but boy was I wrong...good thing August is the coldest month. Also last week I got my packages, ahh thanks so much for sending me my calender with my pictures of all my favorite people! Not going to lie, I got a little teeny bit homesick seeing pictures of everyone, but it´s all good that has passed and honestly I love Peru with all my heart!

 

This week was a little rough, we didn´t have any of our investigators show up for sacrament meeting.. one new investigator came for the rest though. I never realized how hard it would be to sit in church and just pray that someone would come through the doors, and then how disappointed I would be when no one came. I want so badly for these people I teach to know the joy of the gospel!

 

This week we went to visit Valerio (86 years young with a cane like Moses) haha he really is a character. 3 times we went to visit him and on the last time he was finally able to make it downstairs to talk to us. In our other visit though we did extend a baptismal invitation to another member of the family, her name is Lola, and she is a three month old goat. She seemed really excited. Ok in all seriousness now... Valerio was supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but he hasn´t been able to attend church so we have to push back his date for another 2 weeks. It´s really sad, he loves learning more about the gospel but just never comes to church and that is one of the most important parts.

 

This week I also learned how important it is to be an example to everyone! Your words and actions have an effect on many people. Last week I talked a little bit about Consuelo and how she attended church and stuff. This week we went to get her for church and she didn´t want to come. We talked to her and apparently there is a woman in our ward who lives in the same house who hasn´t been very kind. I won´t go into much detail but pretty much that is the reason she didn´t go to church, she felt very uncomfortable knowing that her neighbor went to that ward. So make sure that your words and actions are always kind and friendly, because you never know who is going to be affected by the things you do.

 

A little more about my companion: Hermana Flores... haha she is very different from me but she is an awesome missionary. I found peanut butter this last week at Metro (only the greatest store ever, ok in Peru) and my companion does not like it... haha I never thought I would meet someone who didn´t like peanut butter. Oh and that reminds me, she also doesn´t like the goldfish I got in my package...she´s crazy for sure:)

 

Last thing before I need to go... One of my favorite experiences of the week. We had a boy (probably 18) run up to us in the street. He asked us what church we were from and we talked for a minute or two. He had heard of Mormons but didn´t have any friends who were members or know what missionaries were, but he just ran up and started talking to us. We are going to visit him later this week. But wow talk about cool!

 

Hope you all are doing well and know that you are all awesome! Shout out to my home girls Tania and Losa for deciding to serve missions, it is the best decision you could ever make and I know you will both do great! And Laura 1 more month girly and you´ll be out! Thanks for all your encouraging emails!

 

Love

Hermana Imbler

 

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

Well it´s Monday, and yes that´s right it´s Pday!! Wow it feels like it´s been forever since I have written... probably because it has!! Goodness gracious so much to tell you and so little time to do it. Ok first off I´m in the field in case ya´ll didn´t know, but I´m sure you did. Wow it´s the best I absolutely love it here! I´m in the zone Comas in the area La Pascana.

Tuesday we left the CCM and came to the mission offices, we had a little training, had Papa Johns (yes they have that here) for lunch and then after we got assigned to our areas. My new companion is....Hermana Flores! She is 23, from here in Lima.. her mission was supposed to be Cochabamba Bolivia but her Visa is going to take another 8 months and she has been here for 6 so she talked to the President and looks like she is going to stay here for the whole time! Hallelujah! She is so much fun! She speaks hardly any English which is perfect for me because I need to learn and I need to learn fast! So for me it´s Spanish all day every day, but surprisingly it doesn´t bother me much! Mom, you will be happy to know that I have a pensionista.. haha ok only for breakfast but hey she´s the greatest. I barely understand anything she says because she talks so fast, but most of the time I catch ´´Oh hermanita!´´ not much more. For lunch we eat at members houses, so far it hasn´t been too bad, but I am required to eat everything on my plate. Which Saturday that included the stomach of a chicken... yeah... ok I can´t lie I didn´t eat it. That´s another reason why I am grateful for my companion... she took it while the ward member was in the kitchen. Haha oh and one another thing, the Hermana´s brother ate with us... definitely ate a whole chicken foot in front of me, super disturbing! But the sweet stuff here... wow it´s fantastic, they also have a drink here that is called Pulp and it´s seriously the best, I don´t know how I lived without it.

This week has been pretty awesome, we have a lot of new investigators. On my first day we contacted a reference we had. Consuelo is a 23 year old and has the cutest son, Americo. The first lesson we taught her she committed to a baptismal date, the only problem is she isn´t married to Daniel (her significant other). So many people aren´t married here... like tons, it is probably going to be one of the biggest problems we have. Every month or so we have a mass marriage for those who are getting baptized. So Consuelo and her husband will need to get married.. our next visit she said that she really wanted to be married so that´s all good! She also came to all 3 hours of church yesterday which was wonderful. Speaking of church, the pianist didn´t show up so I played, it was great, except for the fact that there were maybe 30 or 40 members there max. We supposedly have 600 members in our ward, but so many of them are inactive, so we try to visit them a lot. The 1st counselor in the ward is Hermano Pedro (Pedrito, or my Abuelito). Pedrito is my abuelito because he too is white.. haha it´s awesome. He struggles with my name though, most people here do.

One of my favorite things to end this letter: people stare at me, and by people I mean literally everyone. Being blonde and blue-eyed in Peru is seriously the funniest thing ever. People will just stare and stare, then I say buenas dias or whatever and they are all like: ´´Woah, she speaks Spanish??´´ it´s hilarious. The other day a cute Hermana in the ward told me that I had celestial eyes. It´s kind of fun being the different one here.  Whelp out of time, I´ll do my best to send a picture of my area!! Adios everyone!!

Hermana Imbler

Dear Imbler Family,
We are thrilled to have Hermana Imbler join us in the Peru Lima North Mission. She will e-mail you on her p-day which will be on Mondays.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Erickson

Family and Friends,

First of all, thank you so much for sending that package with Elder Miles, it was much needed!! And I loved the picture of Justin and I!

Well this is IT, the last Pday at the CCM!!! I can´t even believe I´m done! I don´t feel quite ready yet, there is still so much more that I want to learn, but I guess I can´t do much about it! This has honestly been the best 5 weeks of my life, it has really made me realize what is important in life to do. This week I was able to finish reading the Book of Mormon again and let me tell you I got so much more out of it than I have before. I KNOW IT IS TRUE! I always had a testimony of it, but every time I read it it just gets stronger and stronger. Those writings are inspired, and if you have yet to read the Book of Mormon all the way through I challenge you to do it! It may seem long, but I read it in 5 weeks in only my personal study time (which is not often) so you can get through it. It will help answer any question that you have and you will feel so much closer to your Heavenly Father. I know without a doubt that He loves each and every person that is reading this email plus everyone else in the world. His love for you is SO much more than you can even fathom.

Today I had a wonderful experience on the bus on the way back from the temple. I sat next to an older woman who had headphones in. When I sat down I immediately introduced myself and asked for her name. I couldn´t quite understand because it was loud, but I think it was Louisa (it´s ok because if I pray for her Heavenly Father will know who I´m talking about). I told her I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I asked about her belief in God and she said she was Catholic. I pulled out the Book of Mormon I had just bought at the distribution center and started talking about how it is another testament of Jesus Christ visiting the people in the Americas. I told her we use it along with the Bible and it is a true book. My Spanish is still not very good, but after I had written the mormon.org website on the back page I bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. At this moment I looked straight into her eyes and told her that I KNOW the book is true and that if she reads it, it will bring her happiness and peace in her life. I felt the love that Heavenly Father had for her. I will probably never know what happened to her, but I planted a seed, the Spirit was there, and someday she will remember the girl on the bus who gave her the Book of Mormon and changed her life.

From this story, I hope you learn that little things make a huge difference. Louisa may not read the book for years, but one day she will find the truth of the gospel and I will never look back and regret not talking to someone. Everything you do, no matter how small it may seem can make a difference. We promise as members of the church to represent Christ. Do it at all times, in all things, in all places!! It will change your life, it will change others lives!

I don´t have much time left as always, but this week has honestly been so good. I am so excited to get out to the field and teach people. We are going proselyting again this Saturday and I couldn´t be happier. The best times are when I get to talk to people who truly need the gospel in their lives. I hope that I can do all I can to not waste a single opportunity to share the gospel. I love all of you and am constantly praying for you!

Ciao!

Hermana Imbler