August 19, 2013

¡Hola! 

This week has been extremely busy!! And pretty interesting, like every week is. I got my first plate of food that I couldn't finish this week. Neither me or Hermana Sales could. It was some type of meat in a really weird sauce. We both ate as much as we could and then Hna. Choque had to ask the lady if she had her Bible and while she went to get it she hurry and ate the rest of our plates. I felt bad but there was no way I was going to finish it, it was pretty funny though. I also tried cat this week, not to bad, and they gave us whole fish a lot this week that they just fry or boil, kind of interesting.

Another funny thing this week is we taught Hna. Choque to say "Wicked Sweet" and "Oh great" whenever something bad happens. Her accent is hilarious!!

It seems like everyday I feel like I can't get any more humbled but then I do. This week we ate with a member named Sariah. She is really awesome and comes with us to teach lessons pretty often. We went in her bathroom to wash our hands first and I literally started tearing up. Her bathroom consists of a very broken toilet, a mirror thats about 5 inches wide and 5 in tall on the wall and a little cement square with a little pipe coming out of the wall for their shower and sink. The rest of it has a dirt floor. It's really so heartbreaking to me that these people live like this everyday! We also have an investigator who is homeless. Literally he lives in the street. But he is so interested in the gospel and really understands what we teach him. It's crazy to me what this life is like for some people and how much God still means to them. I haven't met a single person here who said they don't believe in God.

We also have 4 baptisms this week! One is Brenda, her aunt is a member and her mom died 3 months ago from cancer. She's an awesome girl though and always so happy. I love visiting her and her family because she loves the gospel so much. Her dad isn't a member and told her he thinks she should learn more before she gets baptized but in front of all of us she said "Dad I know the church is true, and I know I need to be baptized", so her dad gave her permission to be baptized this week. It was a big testimony builder for me to see how strong her testimony is after only 3 or 4 weeks of lessons. We also have Ronald, Karen, and their daughter Fabiola. They are such a cute family and Karen especially loves learning about the Book of Mormon. She is always asking questions and she always asks us what new things we are learning. She also loves church and is so involved in the classes. 

Hope everything is going well at home. It's starting to heat up here, and trust me when the sun is out here, it's HOT! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Benson

August 12, 2013

Buenos dias!

Last week for Pday we got to go into Central Lima. It was crazy how different it was. There were quite a few tourist and it was so much cleaner than the rest of Lima.The plaza is really pretty and we also got to visit the Catacombs in the big Catholic Cathedral. It was really interesting but kind of creepy because you were underground and the path was really skinny and only like 5 ft 5 in tall in some places. I kind of felt like I was on Indiana Jones, but it was really fun. 

So sometimes the food here is pretty sketchy but I've fallen in love with the Panaderias here! They have the best bread, churros, and cookies! My favorite is called an alfajor. I also love chichamorada which is a drink made from purple corn and they also flavor candies with it. 

My spanish is coming along, somedays are better than others. I'm kind of nervous now because we have a some more North Americans coming in soon and the President told me I might have to train someone as soon as I finish my 12 week training. So we've definitely been trying even harder to understand spanish and learn the area. 

This week I started something new in my journal which is kind of interesting. I realized that everyday I wake up in Peru, with a cement floor, and often a cold shower, and walk out onto a dirt covered steet with 10 stray dogs and think "why the heck am I here?" But I realized that everyday I seem to go to bed with a really good answer. So I started a page in my journal where I just right one sentence about my reason for being here that day, so at the end of my mission I will have a list of 500 reasons why I went on my mission. And it's crazy that I've already been here for 2 months!

We had a cool teaching experience the other day. We were teaching a less active member named Nelly. We've taught her before and she just likes to talk and talk and talk. This time she was talking about nutrition and we could not seem to get the lesson back on track. We had been there for quite some time and I was thinking that maybe we were wasting our time when her sister knocked on the door. She came in and we started talking with her. She had heard about the church but never the Book of Mormon. I explained the Book of Mormon to her and she was extremely interested in it and the fact that we believe Christ came to the Americas. She was asking all sorts of questions and we talked about where it was written, when it was written, Joseph Smith, how it supports the Bible and so on for quite some time. Then we started reading in 3 Nephi 11 and she started crying. She doesn't live in our area but I know the missionaries have gone to her house again and she is taking the discussions. It's really crazy to me how prepared some people are for the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. Especially here is South America the people get SO excited about the fact that Christ appeared and taught the people here in America.

I hope everything's going well at home. I'm jealous that it's warm cause it's actually kind of cold here! Love and miss you guys!

Love,

Hermana Benson

August 5,2013

Buenos dias!

My first week out of the MTC has been so crazy. I thought La Molina was crazy but turns out we were in the richest and cleanest area. I've never been so humbled in my entire life. Now I feel really dumb for ever complaining about anything I have at home. My stake here is called Santa Isabel and the ward is Tungasuca. There are a few nice houses here but most of the houses here have cement floors, walls and no roof. If they do have a roof it's usually either kind of thatched or it's a canopy (like the ones we take to the beach). Some have couches but usually they just have a few patio or lawn chairs. And we're lucky if they have enough for them and us to sit in.

Our house is on the fifth floor so we have a really awesome view. And we have a roof! But we do have a cement floor and cement walls but atleast they're painted. Our bathroom does have tile and we have hot water. The way to control how hot the water is though, is by turning the nozel to change how much water is coming out. So if you want the water really hot then there`s hardly any water coming out. Our pensionista lives on the first floor of our building and her house is one of the nicest ones i've been in. It's almost as nice as a lot of houses in the US. We eat breakfast with her every morning and she does our laundry. We eat lunch with the members which is really awesome to get to know them, and actually they usually make really good food! But sometimes it's a little crazy. I'm learning to swallow just about anything. So far we've had cow stomach, guniea pig, roots, all sorts of vegetables and fruits and lots and lots of rice.

Right now I'm actually in a trio. We don´t have enough trainers in our mission so each trainer has 2 missionaries with them. My companions are Hermana Choque and Hna. Sales. They're really awesome and Hna. Choque is a really great trainer. The only problem is she's a little unorganized and bad at directions but we're working through it.

One crazy thing here is people always say they recognize me. It's happened 3 or 4 times and so now it's a joke with my companions that I was either really friendly in the pre earth life or I'm secretly famous in Peru. One of these experiences was particularly cool though. We were kind of wondering around trying to find a house (which is really hard here) and this lady came out and asked where I was from. I told her the United States and she said Oh I'm sorry you just looked really familiar so I explained that I was a missionary and she invited us in. It turns out her husband is a member but she would never go with him. She came to church though and now she's taking the discussions! Another crazy experience was on our way home from the Bank. This older woman came running over and greeted us. She told us we were angels from heaven and kissed our hands. Then she read us a scripture in Deuteronomy and tried paying us money. Hna. Sales and I didn't really know what was going on but it turns out she was trying to pay us tithing. It's kind of interesting because she is Catholic so I have no idea why she would try to pay us tithing but she's taking the discussions now. Another family that I really love is Ronald, Karen and their four little kids. They have been taking the discussions for a little while and I asked them if they would be baptized this week and they said yes!! So they are going to be baptized on the 24th and I'm really excited.

Also here is the address for my mission now.

Kelsey Benson (don't put Hermana)

Mison Peru Lima Norte

Av. Carlos Izaguirre 124,

Independencia

Lima 28

Peru

or for packages it's

Kelsey Benson

Mision Peru Lima Norte

Av. Carlos Izaguirre 124,

Independencia

Casilla de Correo

Lima, 28

Peru

and with packages don't send money, Beef Jerky or used clothing. 

Hope everything is going well at home!! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Benson

August 1, 2013

Dear Benson Family,
We are thrilled to have Hermana Benson join us in the Peru Lima North Mission. She will e-mail you on her p-day which will be on Mondays.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Erickson