Dearest Family,

This week was special for Hermana Villegas because Alejandro and Cerila married and were baptized on Saturday.  Their eleven year old daughter was also baptized.  Sunday was also special because another special woman was baptized.  We were not expecting her to be baptized this week.  The woman`s name is Eulalia. 

Something extra special about Eulalia is that her son is serving a mission in Trujillo.  He grew up in Cusco with his aunt and joined the church there.  The missionary sent the reference of his mom to the Cusco mission office and Hna. Villegas and I subsequently received it.    Eulalia does not read or understand quickly, but she had lots of enthusiasm to be baptized.  She takes care of an 86 year old man, who is still quite intelligent, and he helped us out a lot on Friday.  On Friday we visited Eulalia to invite her to watch the baptisms on Saturday, and the older gentleman encouraged Eulalia to go.  Eulalia was worried about serving lunch and the gentleman said, ‘don`t worry about it, we`ll eat early.’  I think it would be the sweetest thing in the world to baptize this gentleman.  His name is Alberto.  Eulalia also has a daughter that still does not want to get baptized, but we do lots of confidence with her so she will get baptized in time.

 Thank you for always expressing your confidence in me.  I know that God is with us.  I know that God is with me.  I feel that He has some families for me to find in the next few weeks.

Take care.  Happy Memorial Day to all of you!!!

Love,

Hermana Blunck II

In one of the photos I`ve attached, I am playing basketball in Huallabamba with a young boy we taught.  We met his mother and father in a park in Urubamba.  The boy, Brandon, loves to play basketball, so it`s a good thing that I had some B-ball practice with Stephen over the years.

The second photo is the family the married and baptized this past weekend.

The third photo includes Eulalia and Cerila.  Eulalia and Cerila have already started becoming friends.

Dearest Family,

I am sorry that I did not write you yesterday.  Thank you for all of your wonderful emails!  I leave the internet with the biggest smile in the world because of your letters.

Yesterday was a lot of phone.  The Schellenbergs put on an Olympics contest for our zone.  If you can believe it, I placed second out of our whole zone!  I won a cute Machu Picchu hat.  Some of the games in the contest were more based on luck than skill, but not all of them.  I did more crunches than all the missionaries in my zone and so I won that contest!  Aren`t you proud?  I also did more pushups than some of the elders in my zone.

This week the couple we have been teaching is going to get married and baptized on Friday or Saturday.  We are super excited.  The mother is returning today from a ten day trip to obtain the paperwork necessary for her wedding.  Bless her heart.  She`s been through a million of adventures.  Sometimes it is very difficult to get birth certificates and other legal documents from the little pueblos.  For example, Cirila couldn`t get some of her husband´s paperwork because terrorists had burned the city building.  Thankfully, Elder Schellenberg was able to work through the problem with Alegandro`s paperwork, so we`re still set to go. 

I think I should look into studying nursing because I gave Hna. Villegas a shot this morning!  Hna. Villegas fell on Sunday and felt a lot of pain, so we visited the doctor yesterday and he sent us back to Urubamba with pain reliever shots.  He showed me how to give the shot and gave me the assignment to give Hermana Villegas two shots today.  Quite honestly, I was nervous this morning, but we both survived.  Hna. Villegas isn´t paralyzed and I`m not paralyzed emotionally.

Hermana Villegas sends her greetings to all of you!


Every one of you are in my prayers!  Please take care of yourselves and be safe!!!!!



Love,

Hermana Blunck II

Dearest Family,

Happy belated Mother`s Day!  I hope yesterday was very special for every one of you.  Yesterday was wonderful for me.  During the afternoon and the evening, I had to resist the temptation to call Mom and Dad again.  I hope you appreciate that you can call Mom and Dad whenever you want and that you call them often!

This last week Hna. Villegas and I put on a talent show for our branch.  It turned out quite well.  A lot of investigators came, and most of them where the type of investigators that never attend church.  We`re hoping and praying that having entered the church for the talent show will help these investigators to attend church on Sundays.  

In the photo I`m sending, I am helping a ward member with her choclo.  Usually choclo is dried and then stored as individual kernals.  The corn is lots bigger here than it is in the U.S.  It is not quite as sweet.  Many people prefer to eat the choclo with cheese.  Something else that I learned to eat is corn stalk.  The inside membranes of the corn stalks are sweet, so the locals peel off the out layers of the stalk and the munch on the inside.  They do not swallow what they chew on.  They simply suck on the sweet juices and then spit out the pulp.  Interesting. 

Sorry this email is not very long.  Adding a picture takes quite a bit of time.  Thank you for writing me!  I hope to hear from you again next week!

Love,

Hermana Blunck II