Dearest Family,

 

Hna. San Francisco and I continue to work in the Sacred Valley.  We`re starting to spend more and more time in Ollantaytambo because there are many people there who are prepared to receive the gospel.  Hna. San Francisco and I even wrote to President Calderon suggesting that he put missionaries in Ollantaytambo.  We`ll see what happens.  Hna. San Francisco and I would love to be sent there.

 

For the past two months Hna. San Francisco and I have been visiting a senora called Mari.  Mari owns a restaurant here in Urubamba.  Mari`s told us that she likes The Book of Mormon and that she wants to come closer to God, but she`s never come to church.  We couldn`t figure out until yesterday why she`s never come to church.  Yesterday we visited Mari and shared with her the importance of obeying all of God`s commandment, including keeping the Sabbath day holy.  Mari then agreed that one can obey all of God`s commandments if she has the desire and will-power to do it.  Mari quickly changed the subject after she made this statement and started talking about how she likes the Book of Mormon.  When Mari changed the subject, I thought `Mari recognizes the power of will-power.  We can`t drop the subject of the Sabbath day so quickly.` With that thought, we asked Mari `Do you have the will-power to keep the Sabbath day holy`.  This direct question turned out to be a key for us.  We were scared to talk so pointedly, but Mari ended up explaining that she has problems in her personal life that she is trying to resolve.  We believe that Mari might get a divorce from her husband.  This problem is the overwhelming concern for Mari right now.

 

I have a bigger testimony now of the importance of talking directly.  First I learned with my companions that no matter how much it pains me, I have to talk honestly.  Now I`m learning that I have to do the same with our investigators.  I think it`s possible to talk pointedly and with love, it just takes practice.  Not talking is more painful than talking. 

 

Hna. San Francisco and I feel a little weighted right now because everyone (members, new members, investigators, and leadership) are asking us why we don`t visit them.  We are working our hearts out to visit everyone, but our area is quite big and consequently we can`t be with everyone all the time.  When I feel overhwhelmed I try to think about the Savior.  I know that he makes up for our weaknesses.  He helps us carry our responsibilities.  I know that what we feel is only a portion of what Mom and Dad feel, for example.  I can`t even imagine how the prophet feels.  What a blessing it is that we have a Savior that makes up for us when we fall short.

  

Can I ask you a favor?  If you`ve written me recently will you write me soon?  During our day in Cusco on Tuesday, the backpack of a missionary that contained lots of letters for me was stolen.  I feel a little sad that I didn`t receive those letters.   

 

 

I sure love you!

 

Hermana Blunck II

Dearest Family,

 

I hope you had an especially lovely weekend with Alison`s wedding.  Congratulations Kristin on your upcoming wedding.  I received the letter you wrote me today.

 

This week was terrific.  We experienced several miracles and had lots of fun in an event called Inti Raymi.  Inti Raymi is a festival that the Incas celebrated every year to worship the sun.  Cusco has an reenactment every year of this festival.  President Calderon gave us permission this week to take our preparation day on Friday to watch the event in Cusco.  The festival includes many dancers that are dressed natively and includes actors such as the chief Inca.  The festival takes place in three places, such as the Plaza of Armas and Saqsawayman.  We watched the event in all three places.  The photo I`ve attached shows Hermana San Francisco and I in Saqsawayman.  Saqsawayman is a huge temple complex which the Incas built.  It includes huge stones the are all cut to fit perfectly together.  It is really quite magnificent.

 

One of our miracles of the week relates to our day at the Inti Raymi festival.  After returning to Urubamba, we realized that we forgot our cell phone in the taxi.  This put us in an instant panic because cell phones are usually stolen instantly.  We just received the cell phone from President Calderon on Sunday practically brand new.  Hna. San Francisco and I ran to the terminal but the car had returned to Cusco for the night.  We called it and called it, and nobody answered.  On Friday night, we prayed our little hearts out.  On Saturday morning, we went to the terminal at 5am because we knew the we had to intercept the taxi as fast as possible.  Through the tender mercies of God, one taxi driver helped us to find the taxi we`d riden in because we didn`t see our taxi when it pulled in the terminal.  Once at our taxi, the driver told us that he`d just cleaned the van and didn`t find a phone.  We were heartbroken, but we called our phone and miraculously it started ringing within the car.  It had fallen way underneath the seats.  I can`t give all the details adequately to explain how many tender mercies we experienced in this event, but it was definitely a miracle.  Maybe this experience seems simple to you, but it was very special to us.  I know that God looks after us in every need that we have.  He helps us when we are doing His will.

  

I`d love to receive a few letters from you!

 

 

All my love,

 

Hermana Blunck II

Dearest Family,

I am with a new companion now!  Her name is Hermana San Francisco, but don`t be confused.  My companion is not from the U.S. =D.  She is from Chile.  I think it`s the most beautiful thing that I am having the opportunity to have companions from many different countries while in the mission.  President Calderon came to visit our zone right before the change meeting and named three different hermanas that could be my new companion.  When I heard Hna. San Francisco`s name, I got my hopes up that she would be the one.  We got to know each other a little bit while I was serving in Cusco.  It turns out the she was the one.  Hna. San Francisco just completed six months in the mission.  Speaking of time in the mission, I completed nine months in the mission this past week.  Can you believe it?!  I honestly cannot believe it. 

Quite honestly, I was nervous to begin this new change, but I`m getting over the nervousness.  Hna. San Francisco and I work well together.  We hadn`t practiced together, but during our very first lesson we were able to blend our teaching together.  My goal with Hna. Francisco is to have very open communication.    I told her right away exactly how I was feeling and I think Hna. Francisco appreciated it.  All of my life, one of my weaknesses has been speaking honestly with people who are not family members.  I believe that the mission is finally helping me to improve my communication. 

Hna. Francisco and I are trying to begin working with less active members.  I feel really excited about this.  We are also trying to plan our lessons with a purpose.  Of course, we are striving to do lots of contacting.  I pray that with these efforts, God will open the windows of heaven.   

Please send my greetings to all the extended family members.  I do receive their letters, so encourage them to keep sending them.  I try to write them as often as I can.   

  

 All my love,

Hermana Blunck II

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

Dearest Family,

As you can see in one of the photos, I am learning all sorts of skills in the mission.  For example, I learned how to gut fish and prepare them to be deep fried.  With the relief society sisters of our branch, we traveled to a fish hatchery on Saturday for a relief sociey get-away.  It was a lot of fun.  One of our investigators came and enjoyed herself, but the heartbreaker is that she decided yesterday that she does not want to get baptized.  I feel really bad for the senior couple in our area, the Schellenbergs, because they worked super hard to help this couple marry.  They dedicated tons of time with this couple. 

The good news is that a different couple is going to get married the eighth of April.  I feel wonderful about this couple.  We had a lovely lesson with this couple that will marry last Wednesday.  The husband arrived home just as Hna. Villegas and I were preparing to leave.  The husband immediately shared his concerns with us.  It was beautiful to see how much he opened up.  The man, named Augustin, was sincere and humble.  He explained that it bothered him how Elder Schellenberg had been so persistent that they marry and baptize quickly.  It was at this time that I understand why I had felt impressed to read Mosiah 11 in my personal study in the morning.  I had seen that reading Mosiah 11 was a personal study recommendation as part of chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel.  Even though I didn`t understand how this recommendation related to anything, I felt I should follow this specific recommendation.  There are two verses in Mosiah 11 that talk about how God is slow to hear our prayers when we are slow to repent.  Thankfully, Augustin did not take this scripture the wrong way.  As soon as we shared the verses, he said, -I understand.- 

Augustin also shared his concern with us that he desired to believe in the Book of Mormon, but it was a real struggle for him because it is so different than the Bible.  Hermana Villegas and I shared with Augustin about the sticks of Judah and Ephraim and the corresponding scripture in the Bible.  We cannot share this scripture with many people because they do not understand.  Augustin, however, immediately understood the significane of the scripture.  It was so wonderful to have a lesson where we could answer questions with scriptures and our investigator understood the answers.  It is so much better to answer questions with scriptures than with our own words.  There is a great sense of legitimacy with scriptures than with our words.

I really love my zone.  Hermana Villegas and I are the only sisters in the zone, but all of the elders are super great to us.  I laugh more than I laugh the whole week on our preparation days.  Elders are so goofy sometimes.  I`ve attached a photo of our amazing preparation day last Monday.  We traveled to Ollantaytambo together and hiked up to some Inca ruins.  There are other ruins in Ollantaytambo, which are much bigger, but it costs a lot to enter. 

  

Thank you for sharing your missionary experiences with me.    I know that the greater effort we put into being missionaries, the easier Heavenly Father makes it for us to do.

Love,

Hermana Blunck II