Pictures!!!

Week 10 - Just keep swimming!

Hola Everyone!!!

How are you this week? I can't believe school is going to start soon! Good luck this week with everything and all the new beginnings!!! You are all in my prayers!

So this week was just silly. Haha I wasn't allowed to walk most of the week. I was capable of it, but I needed to let my foot heal. So Hermana Guzman was able to go out and work with some of the members while I either stayed home with a member or stayed with Elder and Hermana Tharp (a senior missionary couple--they are the BEST!). It was kind of nice to have a little time to practice the language more and everything. I still have no idea what's happening part of the time, but oh well! 

Now my foot is almost completely better and I have been getting back to work. On Saturday, I was out and about again and we walked pretty much all day long! All of our appointments were falling through and things just weren't working out. In the night, we called up some recent converts to see if we could have a lesson with them because we just wanted to teach someone! It was a good lesson. 

I spoke in church yesterday for my first time in Spanish! Besides bearing my testimony my first Sunday. It was weird because I prepared for it a little bit but I wasn't really that worried about speaking. When I got up to speak, I wasn't nervous and just said what I could. Later, my companion and others told me when I spoke, it all flowed well and was fluent. I definitely have been blessed with the Gift of Tongues!

Last night, I had a really great experience. We were teaching our pensionista and her family. They are recent converts and just the best family every. Raul has such a strong testimony. He always tells me how good I'm doing at learning Spanish. Magaly is so fun and her food is amazing! Haha she is from Brazil so she speaks Portuguese. I hardly ever can understand her but we both just laugh and that's good enough communication for us! They have one son named Lucas and he's 10 or 11. So we wanted to help Magaly strenghthen her testimony because she said she was having some doubts. We watched the Restoration video and talked about Joseph Smith. We shared our thoughts and things afterwards and I was able to bear my testimony. It was one of the most sincere testimonies I have ever said. Of course, I was crying and so was Magaly. I just felt the Spirit so strongly in that moment. It was one of the first times so far that I really felt like my testimony and the little things I am able to say really do make a difference. It was absolutely amazing.

This week, as you all start a new school year or continue what you're doing, try to take advantage of every opportunity you have to share your testimony. You may not feel like it will make a difference, but I promise it does!!! I love you all so much! Tengan un gran semana! Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Winward

P.S. Elder Bednar is coming in TWO DAYS!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll let you know how it goes next week! :)

Week 9 - Life is CRAZY!

Hola Everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the new school year coming up! I can't believe that summer is already over for you all. I can't wait for winter to be over here...Haha I never liked being cold! 

So this week was absolutely crazy--basically a spiritual, emotional, physical roller coaster! There are so many unexpected things that happen here on the mission. Some are an immediate blessing and with others, you have to search for it, but I promise it's there! For example, this week my foot was basically a giant red balloon and I had to go to a doctor in Lima yesterday. I'm still looking for the blessing in this experience, haha. But I know it's there! On Tuesday, I got bit by some kind of bug, but I didn't think much of it. The next day it was kind of swollen and red. Then every day kept getting worse, so we called the missionary over health stuff, and he told us to come up to Lima to go to the doctor. So we did! They prescribed an antibiotic so we'll see how it all goes. It's already a lot better!

I also had a lot of spiritual/emotional ups and downs this week. I tried to do all I could to focus on what I have to do and I put all my trust in the Lord. In return, He blessed me with more confidence, with more peace, and will a determination to keep moving forward. I know that He is looking out for me and for each and every one of us. Just reach out to Him and He is always there!!! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your faithful examples! Have an amazing week!!!

Love, Hermana Rachel Winward :)

Week 7 - Finally Getting to Work! and Week 8

Hey Everyone!

How are you doing? I hope everyone had a great week! I definitely had a really great week here in Cañete. It's been crazy but good! I had a lot to adjust to coming from the CCM. Seriously, I remember thinking the CCM was kind of sketchy at times when I first got there but not anymore! We were very protected in there, haha. Our apartment is actually really nice. We have a lot of room and a little kitchen and everything. It's really fun! 

So this week we were able to commit two investigators to baptism, a husband and wife. It was so amazing. My first night here we taught this family and the husband received a priesthood blessing for his leg. Well the next day, we taught them and Hermana Guzman asked Horcaio (the husband) if he would be baptized. He said yes right away. Well actually, he said Sì! Because everything is in Spanish here, haha. Anyway, he really has a desire to change his life and follow Christ. His wife, Loren, however, was hesitant about being baptized and didn't commit. Actually, she's a Jehovah's Witness or something, so it was hard to get her to understand that we worship Jesus Christ and everything. Anyway, we scheduled a lesson with them for Saturday afternoon at the church. So on Saturday, we had a lesson with them and two recent converts at the church. We watched this video about having faith in Christ. Afterwards, we talked more about Christ and the gospel. The two recent converts bore their testimonies. Then I was able to ask Loren if she would be baptized and she said yes. It was so great. I felt the spirit so strong during that lesson. 

Yesterday, Horacio, Loren and their son Horacio Jr. came to church. During Sunday School, everyone was bearing their testimonies. Loren shared her experience during the lesson the night before in the very same room we were in for Sunday School. She said she had prayed to receive an answer of the truth before that lesson. She was able to receive and recognize her answer during that lesson and she said she will never forget that experience. It was so amazing.

I am so grateful to be a part of this work. I already love this family so much and all the others we have met and taught as well. The people here are so great! I know that the Lord prepares the hearts of people to receive His gospel and come unto Him. And I know that if it were not for Him and for the Holy Ghost, none of the work we do as missionaries would be possible. I am excited for this week and I'm so grateful to be a missionary!!!

Love, Hermana Winward :)

Hola Everyone!

I don't have a lot of time to write, so this won't be very long. Thank you so much for all your emails and prayers and everything you do for me! I'm sorry I don't have time to write everyone very much, hopefully that will change at some point! 

This week I had a lot of ups and downs. I was with some other North American sisters last week for a day and that was really nice. It gave me a lot more confidence to open my mouth and speak. I've been so blessed with the gift of tongues during this time. It is truly amazing. 

Today, we found out the Elder Bednar is coming to our mission on August 26th!!! I am so excited! I can't wait to learn from him. It is going to be so great. 

Funny thing: My companion Hermana Guzman talks in her sleep a lot! The other night she was inviting someone to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know it's true. Then the next night she was singing Called to Serve. But all of that was in Spanish! Haha it's pretty funny! 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all soooooo much! 

Alma 12:24--How are you preparing? 

Love, Hermana Rachel Winward :)

Week 6 - Goodbye CCM, Hello Cañete!

Buenos Dias!

How are all of you? I am doing great! Yesterday, I left the CCM and now I am in the mission field! Basically, I entered a whole other world that is way different than anything I could have ever imagined! Haha but it's really great. There's a few things from the CCM I want to share about and then I'll write about cambios (transfers)!

So last P-day, after we emailed, our district got to go make cookies with Hermana Gonzalez (the CCM president's wife) in her kitchen. They live in on of the buildings on the second floor, so we just walked over there! It was so much fun! That night I got the biggest headache, probably from all the sugar I'm not used to anymore. Haha it was really fun though.

The other day, we said goodbye to all of our teachers. It was really really sad! We left for dinner and knew they wouldn't be back when we were done, and we all looked in the window that's on the door, and that was the last time we saw them! Hermano Vásquez said "Los vamos en el reign de Dios!" That means "We'll see you in the kingdom of God!" I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from them. I just loved my whole district. Every one of them are wonderful people! 

Yesterday morning, we woke up early, ate our last meal at the CCM, then went next door to a church and waited for our mission presidents to pick us up (for the Lima missions). We rode to the mission office with them and there were 9 hermanas going to Lima Sur--no elders! Haha. We were in the mission office for almost 6 hours just doing training stuff. Then we met our trainers! It was super fun and exciting. My companion is Hermana Guzmán from Argentina. She has been out for like 15 months or something. She is the sweetest person ever!!! I feel so blessed that she is my trainer. She doesn't know very much english at all so we mostly just laugh at the ginormous language barrier we have. Haha, it's pretty great. We took a taxi from the mission office to the bus station and she taught the taxi driver about the Restoration while we listened to Bruno Mars and Katy Perry music in the taxi! I just thought it was the best moment ever because it was like my first real lesson. We did teach one lesson last night to this family about the priesthood. Actually, the zone leaders came and gave a blessing to the husband because there's something wrong with his leg and he can't walk. That was a really neat experience!

Cañete is really fun! We ride probably the same kind of Jeepney things that Cassie rode in the Philippines. They are so funny! We were in one last night and there was this little head thing hanging from the dashboard area, and it reminded me of those heads in Harry Potter. Haha. I am really excited to be here and I can't wait to learn more and serve with all I've got!!! 

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! Remember to recognize tender mercies every day!

Love, Hermana Winward :)