Week 20 He heals us all

Buenos Dias!

How is everyone doing? I hope school and everything is going well for you all. I can't believe it's already November! It's so crazy. 

So this week has been pretty uneventful because both Hermana Gonzalez and I have been sick. The elder in charge of health told us to stay home on Thursday so we could rest and feel better. I slept a ton and it felt like I hadn't slept in ten years! My body was just completely exhausted. But now we are both feeling a lot better. 

Yesterday I was feeling pretty overwhelmed because I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything. My district leader told me something that really helped a lot. He said with all the small things we do, we will see miracles. I realized that I was lacking the faith I need to make those miracles happen. Now I will have more faith as I put ALL my trust in Him and let Him be in control of His work. I know the miracles will come!

There's a lot of work to do here in San Vicente, Cañete, Peru and I am soooo ready to get to work! I know that as we get to work, listening to the Spirit, we will always see miracles!!! I love you all so much! Please tell me about the miracles you are seeing in your lives, and have an amazing week!

Love, Hermana Winward :)

P.S. Read 3 Nephi 17, it is full of beautiful miracles.

Week 19 Just another week in the missionary life

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 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