Vivo En Peru: Sister Stevie Carr

December 30, 2013

Hola Familia:

Christmas was wonderful. Hermana Flor invited us to eat with her when we came back from Chavin. We had a Christmas dinner of turkey which was great. Then we went upstairs... watched the fireworks go off...it was like the Deer Park show on steroids haa...and went to bed, it was great.

Thursday we invited our new friend Rafael to baptism. He looks a ton like Brother Wright and it´s really weird haha. But he´s really cool, studies the Bible, has a 5yr old son who is his life, and he is preparing to be baptized on the 11th. I have faith that he´ll follow through and be baptized on that day.

Saturday was a beautiful day. I think I told you all about Kati. My second week here I was given the courage to contact a girl by myself, only to find that she lived in the area of the elders. Well this Saturday she and her sister got baptized. It was beautiful. It was a testimony to me that the Lord is still using me to bring people to the fold, even if she doesn´t count as one of my baptisms, I still had a part in bringing the Gospel into her life and that is such a beautiful thing to me. I was ridiculously happy at that baptism. That evening we went and visited Hermana Nanci. She´s having a really hard time. I´m heart broken because her inactive husband doesn´t want to see us anymore. The three of us were crying as we shared words of comfort with her. That night WE FOUND THE RECORDS OF HERMANO ANTONIO...shucks I guess we don´t have a baptism with him haha, but I´m grateful we have a record of his membership.

Yesterday in church we were able to teach the Young Women. Now THAT made me the happiest person ever. We taught them about Spiritual Gifts and Hermana Cueva invited me to share with them my experience of developing the Gift of Tongues. I felt the Spirit more strongly than I have in a very long time as I bore testimony that we can develop Spiritual gifts when we pray for them and work hard to recieve them. The Spirit whispered to me that I do have this gift and that it´s developing more each day. That was a beautiful experience for me that I really needed. After church all the girls hugged and kissed my cheek and asked me a million questions about my hair. They can´t believe the color and curl are natural haha.

I didn´t get the chance to thank you guys on Skype on Wednesday because I was already near tears and didn´t want to be a blubbering mess when we were face to face...but thank you for your support and your love. I could never do this without you guys. There are so many people here that don´t have the support of their families and I don´t have a clue how they stay so strong and happy, because I´m having a rough time as it is...but I have the knowledge that I have a beautiful family backing me up, sacrificing SO much for me to be here on my mission. Thank you for your testimonies and for your love. Dad, thank you for your prayer on Wednesday. Let´s make that a tradition. I needed that family prayer so much and when I closed my eyes, I felt like I was at home....it was more than perfect. I love you so much. I´m so grateful for your firmness in the Gospel and your examples of love and service for others and for me. I do know the sacrifice you make to have me here, and I am so grateful for it. It keeps me going every day. This Gospel is true. It DOES bring happiness. This is one of the hardest times of my life, but I think it´s also so worth it. I am learning more about the Gospel, the world, and more importantly my relationship with the Savior on a daily basis than I have have done in my life.

I love you all so very much. Thank you for our time together this week. Thank you for being worthy to be married in the temple mom and dad, thank you for letting me be born in the covenant. THAT is the most amazing blessing for me and I´m so grateful for the knowledge I have that our families are forever.

Love always and HAPPY 2014.

Hermana Carr