Week 2 - August 17

Jenny can't send pictures, yet, but Lisa Peacock got this one from Elder Bryce Peacock.  This is the first photo I have gotten of Jenny since she left.  I have had the biggest smile on my face since I got this from Lisa!  Thank you!!!

Hello sweet people!

Week 2 literally FLEW by!! Life at the CCM is actually so great, the Spirit is so strong and people here are the absolute sweetest! I don´t even know where to begin with everything! 

We picked up 2 new investigators this week, Tomas y Veronica! They are both interested in the church and it´s been a challenge teaching them in Spanish but the Gift of Tongues is incredibly real especially here! I´ve really been progressing with the language and I´m SO grateful for everyone´s prayers, I can feel your love every single day!! 

The Guatemala City temple is SO beautiful! Every Wednesday morning before we all email our families, we go to the temple (bright and early) and it´s seriously the BEST way to start my day! The temple is SOO amazing so I encourage every single one of you to go asap!! 

Life is going by so quickly, it´s weird to think that I´ve only been gone for 2 weeks but then again I feel like I´ve been here for half of my life. The amount of gospel principles I´ve learned in 2 weeks is INSANE! But then I think about how much Spanish I´ve learned and I´m like oh wait, I just learned 3 years of Spanish in 13 days... It´s honestly the best!!

We have devotionals every Tuesday and Sunday and WOW, they are probably my favorite days here. It´s so crazy the amount of love that our leaders of the church have for us! I love receiving that spiritual boost of confidence from these leaders! Stay faithful to your commitments and always remember that God loves every single one of us!

I haven´t seen any ginormous bugs here (yet) so stay tuned hahah, really other than that, this CCM is awesome. The food is delicious, the people are amazing, and the Spirit here is incredibly overwhelming. 

I´m so happy to be here and I´m so grateful for our Heavenly Father. He has a plan for each of us and I couldn´t be more excited to share this happy happy gospel with the cute & faithful people of Guatemala! Keep making good decisions and never forget, YOU CAN DO THIS!

Love hearing from all of you, email me!

Con amorrrr, 

Hermana Pereira

ps 4 more weeks until I can send pictures, but I'd love pictures of all of you!

We heard from our Girl! - August 10

Guatemala City Temple

After waiting 8 LONG days, Jenny's PDAY came and we got our first email AND we got to "chat" with her for an hour via email.  It's not the same as hearing her voice, but I know that I will live for these email chat sessions for the next year and a half.  This is the main letter she sent out.  I got lots more details while we emailed back and forth and I got to tell her I love her WAY too many times!  She sounds healthy and happy.  She says the food is delicious and she is super busy.  She loved going to the temple in Guatemala City and was shocked to see guards with machine guns outside, but she said they smile at her cuz she says hello and waves and they tell her she's pretty!  Whatever works, I suppose.  I was bummed to find out there would be No PHOTOS sent during her time in the Guatemala Missionary Training Center (CCM), but it will be fun to get them in a little over a month.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

P-day is like Christmas here and its seriously the best!! I already apologize for my terrible spelling because I'm on a Spanish keyboard! haha! 

So the first day in the CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional) was seriously THE LONGEST day of my entire life!! But everyday since then has flown by!! I'm so happy to be here and it's amazing how much I've grown in just 1 week!! 

I already know how to pray, bear my testimony, AND GIVE A LESSON in SPANISH!!! It's amazing what you can learn if you have enough faith in yourself!

My companion is Sister Proctor. She's from Texas and she's such a sweetheart and I'm so so lucky to have her! We have already taught Cristina (our fake investigator) 4 lessons!!! Trying to express all of your feelings in Spanish is probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. BUT the gift of tongues is SO real!! 

Quick little PS. I saw Bryce Peacock and I got SO excited! It's so nice knowing someone here!

I hope you all are having a great week! I wish I could send you pictures of what its been like but there's a strict no sending pictures so can't wait until I can send pics in 5 weeks! hahaha

Make good decisions and choose the right! I love and miss all of you SO much!!

Email me please please please!!

BYEEE!!!

Love,

Hermana Pereira

P.S.  My P-days are most likely going to be every Wednesday for the next 5 weeks around this time!!!

She Arrived in Guatemala!!!! - August 3

Subject:  HI FAM

Hi my favorite people,

I made it here safely and I seriously couldn't be happier!! It was a long flight but it was super cool getting to see everything and what not. I miss you guys like crazy but I'm SOOOO happy to be wearing this name tag!! I only have 5 minutes to write you guys so I hope you're having a great day, don't worry about me!! I'm praying for you all and I'm excited to see what this week has in store for me and my companion! 

Love you SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Pereira

And She's Off....Farewell to Jenny!!!! - August 2

So,  I (Lisa, Jenny's mom) am responsible for keeping this blog running while Jenny is gone.  She's been gone for just over a week and I am just now getting around to getting this updated, so I will do a few posts at once to bring you all up to date.

Here are some of the pictures we took at her farewell and before we said goodbye at the airport.  I don't even have access to all of them, but I will post a few.  It is always hard to say goodbye to a child.  We did it last year when she headed off to college and it was hard, but this felt different because we aren't just a phone call or a Facetime away.  As a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), you commit yourself to the Lord and his Gospel for the duration of your mission.  You agree to obey the rules and guidelines set for a missionary.  One of these guidelines is that you will lose yourself in the service and the work, by limiting phone calls home to twice a year (Mother's Day and Christmas) and emailing and/or writing letters home once a week on your Preparation Day (PDAY).   We won't be visiting her, either.  We are fully and wholly supporting her in this commitment for the next 18 months of her life as a disciple of Jesus Christ in Guatemala.  We invite you to support her, too, by praying for her and writing her uplifting letters and emails whenever you can.  She will love it!

Farewell and Airport Photos

 

Can't wait to see how much Jake grows when Jenny is gone!

 

You will do a great job Chapina!  We love you!