Vivo En Peru: Sister Stevie Carr

April 21, 2014

Faaammmmillyyy!!!!

It sounds like you had a beautiful Easter. Mom you made me jealous thinking about that Easter dinner, I knew you were going to make something DIVINE. My Easter dinner was tuna salad, potatoes, and rice....yyuumm yumm! Love you all and hope you had a beautiful Easter!

Okay...this has been an insane, emotional kind of week. Lots of ups and downs. The work was really good this week though!

Hermana Cardozo and I got along GREAT this week and it showed in our numbers as we BOTH worked hard this week. It made me so happy. We went to a place called Manchuria that I had heard of but never realized was a part of our area. It was prettier than Cabina, it has a lot of trees and just tons of orchards. We found out that there are 30 menos activos there, so Hermana Cardozo has her work cut out for her. It was a really wonderful experience. There was one elderly couple that we visited that can't come to church because they live so deep in the country side and struggle to walk. We went to their home and they have a beautiful orchard. They gave us a giant bag full of oranges, and they're the best oranges I've ever had in my life. That was super fun.

On Friday we had a really cool experience. Well actually on Wednesday. Wednesday we came home for lunch and Hermana Flor had invited the mototaxista that helps her take things to the school every morning. We all talked and hit it off really quick, he's a great man and you can tell he loves his wife and daughter. I asked him if we could visit him and he said OF COURSE. So Friday we went to their house, they were awaiting our arrival. We taught them the Restoration and it was a very powerful lesson. He told us that he was near tears, and he was ready to do what he needed to to find the answers. He and his wife are currently convivientes, so they don't have baptismal dates, but we explained to them that they need to get married and they're doing everything they can to be able to be married and baptized. Cool people.

Friday we had our Easter activity, we had a fair handful of people show up, and it was a success. Thanks mom for sending me the Easter egg hunt! The only thing is the people of Caraz focus on Semana Santa....Holy Week. This part of Peru is very heavily, traditionally Catholic and to be honest some of their practices are disturbing. They have processionals all week long carrying very graphic statues of Christ on the cross. Friday is the big day and I heard that they imitated the Crucifixion in our town square... I didn't go though. Then on Sunday. NOTHING. Everyone's back in the market. As I walked through the market to get to church yesterday, I felt a little bit of what the Savior must have felt when He overthrew the moneychangers in the temple. Here were were on the day of the Lord's resurrection and these people don't even celebrate it. They sell their wares on the Sabbath without a thought for the Lord that has given all for them. It made me really sad. They only celebrate His death here...down to the members of our congregation. Our Sunday service was as far from Easter as it could have been, we didn't sing a single Easter song, we didn't have any message about the resurrection or the Atonement...only about preparing for a ward conference. Like I said, many people don't even know what the word Pascua or Easter signifies. It made me so sad. We went home for lunch and when Flor and Daysi found out cambios were coming up, they both cried believing that I would be transferred. It made me sad. Later that night we were walking to a cita when a woman with a baby was screaming and crying wandering the street. Oscar had just given us some massamora, and we found out that the baby was her grandchild and that her daughter had abandoned her. The woman was 42 but looked like she was in her sixties, obviously had a really hard life. We comforted her, fed her baby the massamora, and helped her go to the place she wanted to go. It broke my heart. It also made me think about the Savior and how He can heal all wounds. Despite the strange day, I was still able to reflect on my Savior, I'm almost done reading JESUS THE CHRIST. I´m just so grateful for a Savior that has given everything so that I can be free and I can be uplifted during difficult times.

Last night at 11, Elder C. called me, he found out early about Cambios and this time I'm on the list. I went downstairs this morning before internet and when I told Daysi, she burst into tears and hugged me, she didn't let go for probably 15 minutes. I've really found my Peruvian family. I have a feeling I'll never find another family quite like the Castillo family, nor an area quite like Caraz. I am so sad to leave the mountains and the GREEN and the cetchua speaking people saying MAMITA GRINGITA when I walk by. I've loved this place and I've loved these people through the ups and the downs. The new Hermana better care for these people like CRAZY. I find out tomorrow where I'm going and who my companion is.

Also.... HAAAAPPPPPYYYY BBBIIIRRRTTTHHDDAAAYYYY MOOMMMMYYYYY! I love you and I'm so grateful for you and the example you've been in my life. Thank you for all of your support, packages, and pep talks since I've been out here. I'm so excited to skype you in three weeks! HAVE A WONDERFUL BDAY!

Con mucho cariño y amor,

Hermana Carr