San Juan!

Hello everyone! This week was a crazy week of celebration here in Pucallpa. This week was the Jungle holiday of San Juan. Its a holiday that people celebrate to honor the death of john the baptist and for all of saturday everyone was making a type of food called juanes. Its basically a ball of chicken rice and egg wrapped up into a leaf to look like a head. Every single house had a firepit outside, with a pot filled with Juanes and all of Pucallpa was filled with smoke. It made me think of when our hill caught on fire and there was smoke everywhere in Herriman. It was all because everyone was making Juanes! It was really sad/funny because last week everyone was buying chickens because they were getting ready for San Juan so there were chickens everywhere outside, and the day after San Juan there wasnt a chicken in sight. Its slightly unfortunate for the chickens but at least Juanes are delicious so all is well. We have an awesome new family of investigators!! We are teaching Peter and Lana. They have one daughter and they are so awesome. They accepted a baptismal date and were just waiting for them to get married so they can get baptised! Lana is from russia and she is such a cool lady. Im so excited to be teaching them. My companion is recovering from an operation that she had to fix a bone in her mouth and its been really hard for her. Please send your prayers so that she can feel better soon. This week my first companion Hermana Prince came to visit peru with her family and it made me so happy! I loved seeing them. It was weird speaking to them in english. I never speak english anymore! Its awesome. I love peru so much. I learn so much every week about the culture and about people. I am so grateful for all of you and your love and your examples!

Con Amor, 

Hermana Toponce 

Also sorry for no pictures! This computer doesnt want to load them this week!

**here is a picture of a Juanes I (mom) found on the internet--It represents the head of John the Baptist in a bag.  

I'm writing from. . . .Pucallpa!!

My companion and I made it through transfers!!! I am so happy that I get to be with Hermana Kachkachian again and that I am still in Pucallpa. I seriously love it here so much. I am so excited for this transfer and for all of the experiences were going to have. Speaking of experiences... this week has been full of them. I have been so sick this week. Dont worry it´s only a cold, but having a cold on the mission is so much worse than having a cold at home. I feel a lot better today so Im super grateful for that :) My companion this week had to have an emergency root canal. This was also an interesting experience. She also felt pretty sick this week. But she is also feeling a lot better! I felt so bad for her but she is tough :) I also got bit by a dog this week... again dont worry it didnt do any damage, it just scared me a little bit. haha. I cant believe that its only the first week of transfers and weve already had these experiences! I also got to give a training in our district this week about the importance of Charity. I was so happy to give this training because charity is my favorite attribute of Christ. I know that if we are always showing our love for others we will always feel happy. I am so grateful to be here and I am so grateful for the loving people that I get the chance to meet everyday. This week I am especially grateful for the members of our ward who are so caring and help us to feel our best so we can keep teaching the gospel. I know without a doubt that this church is true and I am glad that I am blessed to be  member and that I can help others recieve the happiness that this gospel brings. This week with Fathers Day, Ive been thinking a lot about how wonderful it is that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is always here to help us when we need help and to celebrate with us when we reach our goals. I seriously love yo uall so much and I hope you had a great Fathers Day. Have a fantastic week!

Con Amor, 

Hermana Toponce

**The dog bite didn't break skin. Nat says she is just nervous about the dogs now and never used to be. She says there are more dogs than people in Peru.

**in an instant message Natalie said she will not likely get any American companions again unless she begs to be with an MTC companion at the end of her mission. There are only 3 American sisters and they all came together! She said there are 120 missionarys total. 20 sisters. Very few american elders (like 20). She said she is glad that having spanish speaking companions will just help her language skills!!

Four Months In The Jungle!!!

I seriously cant even believe that I have been on my mission for four months. Time seriously flies! I have finished three transfers and were just waiting to hear whats going to happen this next transfer. I really hope that Ill still be here in Pucallpa, but Im excited to work in whatever area Im assigned to. I have really loved working here. This week was a little bit uneventful. We worked a ton. We contacted new families that were are going to start teaching this week and Im so excited about it. Its going to be so great :) We had a little bit of a sad experience. Luisa, our sweet investigator who was supposed to be baptized this week, moved to a village in the jungle to take care of her mother. We are really happy that shell be able to be with her family, but it was a little disapointing that our only baptism from this transfer fell through. I feel like everytime we help someone get to the point where they can be baptized, they move. I know that everything works out how its supposed to and that they will join the church when the time is right. Im just so happy that I had the chance to get to know Luisa and her adorable little family. I cant wait to teach more families this week! Hopefuly they wont move away haha! I love the chance to meet knew people everyday and teach them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Its hard work, but its worth every second because I know that what were doing is important and is changing peoples lives. This week I also had the chance to do service with my companion at the home of a member named toti who has every time of jungle tree in her back yard and it was great! I love you all so much and I hope you have a fantastic week.  Con Amor,  Hermana Toponce

Count Your Many Blessings

Hello my sweet family,

I hope everything has been gong well for all of you! I absolutely love reading all of your emails and hearing what is going on outside of Pucallpa. Thank you for your motivation every week! 

This week was a great week here in Peru we worked really hard and had lots of fun experiences. I just love the mission so much! So my companion and I were sitting in a lesson this week and it was a really spirit filled lesson about the plan of salvation when all of a sudden our investigators chicken jumped onto my companions head! It was so funny. I so wish that I had a picture but I think Ill remember because I was laughing so hard. There are so many people with pet chickens here and they just live inside like a pet dog. Ive gotten so used to random animals inside during our lessons. There are always one or two salamanders in every house sometimes people have pet parrots. Its great! 

My companion Hermana Kachkachian also has a special talent of remembering everyones birthdays! If anyone tells her their birthday she'll remember it. This week she remembered that it was Brigham Youngs birthday on the 25th so we decided to celebrate! We had icecream and cake and everything. It was great. I love finding things to celebrate. :) I so often am focused on all of the little things we need to do  that I forget how blessed I am to be here serving a mission in Peru. The title of my email is "Count your many blessings," because there are so many little blessings that we have in our lives that we take for granted. This week we had a really special opportunity to go to a dedication of a water tank in a poor community here in Pucallpa. The church donated money so that these people could have the basic necessity of water. The ceremony was so sweet and my heart smiled seeing thse people dancing and celebrating this gift of water in their community. I know that God blesses the daily aspects of our lives because he wants us to be happy and succesful. My goal this week to to be more grateful for all of the little things that I have and find success in the little moments along the way. Theres a quote I love that says " Come what may, and love it" (¡Venga lo que venga, disfrutalo!) Every moment in our lives is for our growth and when we love all of our experiences life is so much happier! I love you all so much and I hope you all have a fantastic week :)

Con Amor, 

Hermana Toponce

 Nat said it was a "actually chilly this week!"

 This was some of the many people that came to the grand opening of the water tank!!