Week 18 I don't even know...

Hola Familia and everyone else! :)

So...I just don't even know anymore. My life is crazy here in Peru. Haha, but it is amazing :) My mom, Hermana Guzman, finished her mission on Sunday and it was the saddest thing ever. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to work with her and learn so much from her about diligence and charity. She is amazing!

Something funny that Hermana Guzman always told me was that I was going to train right after I got done with training. She would tell like everyone we saw that I was going to have an ''hija'' (daughter) this next transfer. When I started my training, they said the goal was for everyone to be ready to train once they finished their training. I always thought that was a nice goal to have in mind, but didn't think it happened hardly ever. Last Wednesday, our zone had interviews with President McGinn, which was super great! He is such a spiritual giant. We are lucky to have him here in the mission. While we were there, the assistants to the president and zone leaders kept asking me if I was ready to train. I just laughed and said ''I'm not going to train!'' 

Well, on Saturday night, we got a call from the district leader to tell us about transfers. Hermana Guzman and I sat on her bed and listened as he said ''Hermana Winward...va a capicitar!!!'' (You are going to train!) I SCREAMED and laughed and started crying all at the same time. It was so crazy!!! I just barely finished my training, my first 12 weeks in the field, and now I am going to train!

Yesterday morning (Tuesday), I went up to Lima and met my new companion. Her name is Hermana Gonzalez and she is absolutely amazing!!! She's from Texas and her parents are from Mexico, so she already speaks both English and Spanish! YES!!! Haha it's a miracle. She was only in the CCM for 2 weeks, and now she's here with me in San Vicente, Cañete! I am soooo excited to work with her! She has a strong testimony and is so excited to share it with the world. This is going to be the best transfer ever!!!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week! I love you all so much!!! Sigan Adelante! Les quiero muchisimo!

Love, Hermana Winward :)

Week 17 Broken Hearts

Buenos Dias!

How is everyone doing? I hope all is well! Things here in Peru are just fantastic.

This weekend was really hard. Hermana Guzman and I have been teaching Horacio and Loren for a while now, getting them ready for baptism. Horacio was going to be baptized this Saturday and Loren on the 31st (or when she felt ready). On Friday night, we had a lesson with Horacio to prepare him a little more for his baptismal interview on Saturday. He shared his testimony with us of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We felt the spirit so strongly. He was so excited and so ready for his baptism. And then Saturday came... He had his interview planned on Saturday but didn't show up. Neither one of them would answer their phones, so we went to their house. He came out and said he needed to talk to us. So we went in and sat down with him and Loren. He basically told us that he doesn't believe in the doctrine and that he can't be baptized. Loren was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, so she has a hard time in believing everything and always doubts or questions things. They had let go of that faith they had just a short time ago and began to doubt again. The only thing we could do was testify of Christ. We both bore our testimonies of what we knew to be true. And then we left. I was absolutely heartbreaking. It was hard to see them reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ after they had felt the Spirit and come to know that it's true. We were both crying and so was Loren. We have developed a lot of love for them, and it was hard to see them reject the truth. My heart is broken for them. But I have faith and hope that one day, they will humble themselves and come unto Christ. That day will be a beautiful day.

For now, we are pushing forward and we are doing all we can to find new investigators! I know the Lord is preparing people and I know that His timing is perfect. He is all knowing and all loving. I am so grateful for the testimony I have of this gospel. I know this church is true. I know that Christ is my Savior and He lives! 

I hope you all have a great week! Always remember to trust in God. He will never let you down!

Love, Hermana Rachel Winward :)

Week 16 - Conferencia General

Hey Everyone! 

How are you all doing? I hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did! It was so uplifting for me. I want to hear about what you all learned about! 

Something that really stuck out to me was how we can seek ways to be better. We can always start right where we are to become a better person. If we don't know where to start, we can kneel in prayer to our Father and ask Him what we need to change. Then we need to listen. This is the part I forget to do sometimes... But I know He hears our prayers. He knows our strengths and our weaknesses, and He will help up on our path towards perfection.

Everything here in San Vicente is going well! We are going to keep working hard with Horacio and Loren, but also focus on finding new investigators.

I hope you are all doing well! Have a fantastic week and remember to apply the words you heard this weekend in conference!

I love you all!!!!!

Love, Hermana Rachel Winward :)

Week 15 - Best Week Ever!!!

Buenos Dias Todos!

How are you all doing? I hope everything is going well for you. Happy Primavera (Spring) from here in Peru! I sure miss the beautiful Fall weather in Utah, but I hope you are all enjoying every moment! :)

So this week was super busy but super amazing! Hermano Giorgino was baptized on Saturday! Whoohoo!!! It was a great day and we felt the spirit so much. A lot of members came to support him. He was so happy and I know that Heavenly Father is even more happy for him. 

After the baptism, we got to watch the General Women's Conference! Thankfully, I got to watch it in English with Hermana Tharp and Hermana Freyre. I loved the story from President Uchtdorf about Eva and her aunt Rosa. I learned so much from the conference and felt my testimony grow.

We saw another big milagro (miracle) this week in a family we've been teaching. I think I might have mentioned something a long time ago about Horacio and Loren. They were the first people I had a lesson with here in Cañete. Well we've been teaching them a little here and there during this time, but Horacio had a problem with his leg and couldn't walk for a while, so they didn't come to church and it was hard to find a time to teach them both together. Well we taught them a couple weeks ago and were thinking about dropping them. Then we were busy with Giorgino and other things, so we didn't have time to visit them. On Thursday night, they called us and asked how we were doing and said they missed us. So we scheduled a lesson for Saturday morning. Honestly, that lesson was one of the most perfect lessons I have ever been a part of. They are so ready to change and to do whatever it takes to come unto Christ. They both came to the baptism of Giorgino on Saturday and Loren stayed for the Women's Conference! They also came to church on Sunday and stayed for the whole block. They are so excited and ready to be baptized. They have a date for October 31st, but it might be a little earlier than that! 

Well, there's some little snipits of my busy but amazing week! I hope you all have a wonderful week this week. Don't forget to watch conference this weekend and listen to what the Lord needs you to hear right now. D&C 1:38. I love you all soooooo much!!!

Love, Hermana Rachel Winward :)

P.S. Funny Story: Remember my teacher from the CCM, Hermano Vasquez? Well he came to visit Cañete this weekend! Here served here about a year ago and came to propose to his girlfriend on the beach in Cerro Azul! It was so great to see him at church on Sunday. He's awesome!!!

Week 14 Paciencia

Hello Everyone! 

How are you all doing? I hope life is great for you all! If not, do what you can to make it great! I have some exciting news...we have a baptism on Saturday for hermano Giorgino! (He told us it's pronounced Gee-or-gee-no, haha). I am really excited! He is so great. He's 19 years old and he's practically a member already. He goes to church every week, attends the YSA (JAS en espanol) activities, and he's even in a mission prep class for institute! He probably knows more than I do, haha. We have truly seen the power of the Atonement change his life. It is so amazing.

We had our patience tested a lot this week as we tried to have appointments with Giorgino. Almost every day we had lessons planned with him and he never showed up. Thursday was a really hard day, but we made it through and now all is well! We finally met with him on Friday, and now we'll be having lessons almost every day to finish teaching him before Saturday.

We have a crazy week ahead of us! Tomorrow we have a multi-zone meeting, then intercambios! Hermana Tuquerrez, the sister leader, is going to come here to San Vicente, so I get to lead the area for a day! Then we have Giorgino's baptism and women's conference on Saturday. Antonio, a 20 year old less active, will be ''rescued'' on Sunday. He has also changed so much and now wants to serve a mission! We just need to finish teaching him also. This week is going to be awesome!!!

I hope you all have an amazing week! Thank you for everything. I love you all so much!!!

Love, Hermana Winward :)

Mosiah 24:15-16

Week 12 Cambios! and Week 13 Finding with Faith

Hola Everyone!

How are you all doing?! I hope school and work and everything else in your lives is going well. I think about you all so much, and I'm sorry I don't always have time to write to each of you individually. This hour goes by so fast...But I do love reading all your emails and hearing how you are doing. Also, congratulations to my favorite little brother Blake! I am so proud of you and so happy that you chose to be baptized. I told almost everyone I saw ''Mi hermanito va a bautisarse hoy dia!'' which means ''My little brother is getting baptized today!'' I am so happy for you Blake and I love you so much!

So this week was Cambios (transfers) and that's why I'm emailing today and not yesterday! But nothing changed for us. I am with Hermana Guzman for one for cambio and we are staying here in San Vicente, Cañete. This is Hna Guzman's last transfer, so we are going to make the best of it! 

Funny story: I got another bug bite on my OTHER foot that made it swell up like a big red balloon again. This time it hurt more than the first time. On Wednesday, I stayed at Elder and Hermana Tharp's casa while Hermana Guzman went to lessons with a member. On Thursday, we called the office again and they told me to try my best to walk on it that day and see what happens. So I gave it 110% percent, and it was super painful at first, but by the end of the day, I couldn't really feel the pain that much. We walked a lot that day, but we also met a lot of the goals we had. It was awesome! The Lord truly does bless his servants with strength and miracles.

Another miracle from this week is that we finally have a true progressing investigator! His name is Georgino and he is about 20 years old. Hna Guzman taught him while I was at the Tharps on Wednesday night and invited him to be baptized. He said yes! We taught him on Saturday night, and he had this paper of notes he had taken on the things he learned from the scripture she left him to read. It was so great! We both can see that he is ready to change his life and follow Christ. 

I am really excited to be staying here in San Vicente and to work as hard as I can. I have learned so much and I have so much more to learn with the language and how to be a better missionary. Thank you all so much for your love and prayers. Your loving support helps me get through each and every day and week. Thank you for you examples and wonderful testimonies! I love you all soooooooooooo much! Have an amazing week!!! 

Love, Hermana Winward

P.S. Helaman 12:15 Always remember that no matter how crazy this world gets, Heavenly Father will always be constant. We need to obey Him and Trust in Him always!!! 

Sept. 14, 2015

Buenos Dias to all my lovely family and friends!

How are you all doing? I hope you have all had a wonderful week! Things are going GREAT here in Peru! I still can't speak Spanish that great, but it's coming! I feel like I can understand people a lot better than before, so that's good. I kind of forgot how to pray in English, so there's that. Haha. I know I have the Gift of Tongues and I am so grateful! 

So this transfer, Hermana Guzman and I have made a goal to focus on developing one Christlike Attribute. We both decided on Diligence. We have been trying to work diligently to find new investigators and just work hard in all that we do. Well our faith and hard work definitely paid off. On Thursday, we received a wonderful miracle. We were able to find four new investigators that day! It was so great. In one lesson, we felt the spirit so strongly as we shared about the First Vision. I know that Heavenly Father will bless us in whatever we need as long as we work faithfully and diligently for it.

Last night, we were in a combi to get to an appointment. A combi is a bus with a bunch of seats squished in there. Hermana Guzman and I were sitting in the front with the driver and she asked him if she could put a picture of Jesus on the dashboard. He said yes so she placed it up on the dashboard. It was funny because every time we hit a bump or something, it would fall over and the driver would reach over and put it back. Then this guy sitting behind us tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he could have one too. So I gave him one and we invited him to go to church! It was just something little, but it was fun to share those little pass along cards in a different way!

There's a little bit of my week! I hope you all have a wonderful week this week! Remember that the little things you do can and do make a difference!!! I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!!!

Love, Hermana Winward :)

P.S. D&C 6:36-37 

Week 11 - Elder David Bednar

Hola Familia!

How are you all doing?! How was the first week of school? I hope everything went well and that you like your teachers and classmates and everything. I can't believe Emily's in high school and Nicki's in middle school...It's crazy!!!

So this week I had the best experience EVER! On Wednesday, a special visitor came to speak to Mision Lima Sur, Mision Lima Oeste, Mision Central, and the missionaries in el CCM. Elder David A. Bednar, his wife and Elder Waddel from the Seventy and his wife came to speak to us. We traveled to Lima and went to this Stake Center next door to the CCM and the place was full of hundreds of missionaries. I sat in the second row and was able to see them really well. We were able to ask questions and comment on the things we had learned from talks we read before. It was so fun and so so so spiritual. I felt the Spirit so strongly that whole day. It was an experience I'll never forget. 

After that, Hermana Guzman and I stayed in Lima overnight because she had an interview with the mission president on Thursday. We were in the mission office pretty much all day long on Thursday and didn't get back to Cañete until about 7 in the evening. So we've had a lot of work to do and a lot of amazing things to apply since hearing from Elder Bednar!

I want to leave you with one last important thing I learned on Wednesday that you can all apply in your lives now and always. He shared with us the importance of always being steadfast in all we do. He gave an example of how sometimes when a temple is announced, the people who live around that area get really excited and start doing the things they should always be doing with more enthusiasm and excitement. They drive past the site of the temple everyday to see how it's coming. Once the temple is finished, they attend every week. But then they get bored and visit the temple less and less, and their lives get too busy to do those things they should consistently be doing. The best thing we can now and throughout our lives is be consistently steadfast. When he was sharing this, I thought of the Iron Rod--we always need to hold to the rod with firmness! Instead of getting really excited about something, we can just slowly but surely make the changes we need to every day to be better. Always remember to be steadfast and immovable!!!

I hope you all have an amazing week and keep trying a little harder to be a little better. I love you all with all my heart!!! :)

Love, Hermana Rachel Winward :)

1 Nephi 8 and Mosiah 5:15