[Note from Carol Christensen, Susan's mom: Though Susan usually sends updates on Mondays, this week she sent it on a Wednesday instead!]
Wow! What a week! The best news is that I found out I am an aunt again. Welcome, Everett Mann Buhler! He is cute, just like his parents.
We finally found and changed houses and are much more comfortable. We were sharing a house with a monkey and a chicken coop in the back for 4 months and we are so much happier with our new house. (The chicken coop isn’t the real reason for the move. The family we shared the house with needed their space and they have 4 sons over the age of 18 which is not allowed.) The zone leaders assured us they would find a truck. To our surprise, at 7 am the day of the move they still hadn’t found one but were still confident that they could find one. We talked with our pensionista and in 5 minutes found a neighbor that had a truck they rented us. At 8:30 am, all the elders came and helped us load up our stuff. Everything happened so fast that I was surprised and grateful that Heavenly Father answered our prayer and helped us find the truck that we needed. Wow! And, I was grateful that all the elders came and helped us move.
Today the mission is officially divided into the Lima West and the Lima North mission. Hna. Reyes and I stay together in the same mission and in the same area. This is my 5th transfer here and I am happy to be here still. (It’s helpful to know the people, to know the area, and makes missionary work much less stressful.) We have our new mission president, from Ohio, and we will meet him at our interviews next week. We are sad for President and Sister Perez to leave because we love them so much, but we are going to welcome the new presidents. We are flexible and recognizing that a lot of things will change. It’s like entering a new mission for the first time. You just adjust to things.
Every June people here have their regional festival to celebrate the patron saint, San Juan. People make juanes, which is rice, chicken, and a hardboiled egg wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf. I asked about the origin of the dish, and they explained in the New Testament how the daughter of the king asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter, for her mom’s revenge. The story is gruesome, but the food is delicious. I was served and ate 4 juanes in 24 hours (one for dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner). Needless to say, I am thankful the festival is just once a year (and the families gave us even more, which we gave away to a family that had nothing to eat).
We were so impressed and happy with our recent convert, Victoria. She is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and already knew that Alma is the longest book. We explained about how the book is like a cake that you divide into sections (books, chapters, verses) and smaller sections. And, you enjoy the cake and share it with others. You don’t put it in a box under your bed and forget about it. She is so smart and is on fire. She will be a great missionary in 11 years. J All of her family is attending church, too, and they want to be baptized, but they have to get married first. I love this family.
Hermana Reyes is so cute and creative. She rapidly makes these thank you cards for the families that we eat lunch with out of cute mini photos. She and I are patas (that means best friends). It is so fun to work with her because we both are helping each other to improve, to work hard, and to bless many people’s lives. She is truly a blessing to me. Heavenly Father knows who needs to be my companion and at what point of my mission I am ready for each companion. We are focusing on remembering the tender mercies that God gives us every day. (Thanks for the suggestion, Mom. It makes a big difference.)
Have a great week!
Hna. Christensen
