Merry Christmas #ShareTheGift

Hey Folks!

This week was amazing! My companion Hermana Benyo and I have been working on consecrating all our efforts, and it is really paying off. This week we doubled all of our lessons and the number of people that we taught in the chapel. It was awesome.  

Also, we are starting to see the cool effects of the new church program "He is the Gift". It's a short Mormon Message about Christmas. I hope that all of you have had the chance to see it but if not, go to youtube and see it now. #ShareTheGift  I hope all y'all have a great week. Serve Others!

Haley

Back to Iquitos (and lot's of pics)

Dear Family and Friends,

These last couple of weeks I have been working on seeing the hand of the Lord in all our labor. I got transfered from Tarapoto back to Iquitos and I had to work to feel good about the change. I know now that it was an inspired change. We are finding so many new people in an area that nobody else wanted to work. In fact when I heard about the area from another sister I said "Geez, I hope I never go there". Well folks, God had other plans. I learned the that the hand of God is in all things at all times. There is not one thing that goes unchecked or is an accident or a coincidence. I have really gained a newer and fuller testimony of the Plan of Salvation and that we are all part of it.

I also learned something super cool in a work visit that we did. Alma the younger went from one of the most vilest of sinners to an astonishing successful missionary to father and then he got twinkled. God's perfect plan includes repentance and getting better day by day. Even if we are not one of the most vilest of sinners we can repent. We can repent of a disorganized apartment, an ill managed area book or even failing to invite people to church, and we can do it quickly. The sister that I was able to visit had a few things to clean up in her room and the companionship needed to update the area book for over a month but when we went to do a follow up visit I have never seen a cleaner missionary apartment or an area book actualized in so short a time or such an improvement in teaching. It really is amazing what repentance in the everyday life can do for a missionary or for a member. I am so happy that I have the oppurtunity to preach repentance to these people so they can experience changes in their lives!

Lots of love!

Hna Burrell 

At the falls

bacan di.  cool right?

Ennzo got baptized...chocolate pues

I almost fell in the water

Me and Estes after changes...supes awk

Me and my new comp, Hna Gutierrez

Nico looking for the cookies in my bag

Tarapoto

Tarapoto Sisters

The Elders crashed the party

The Elders go exploring

The Falls

The tortillas are not turning out well

Touching a cougar.  They are really soft.  This one has a stomach tumor.

We found a jungle animal and named it Nico

ZL Elder Valdez trying to hide

ZL's Rost and Valdez.  Guess which is the gringo?

Camu Camu in the Jungle

(Dad:I told Haley that if she didn't give me something for her blog, that I was going to make something up...photoshop a picture of her wrestling an amazonian gerbil...)

Tarapoto sunset

These past few weeks have been crazy. Its hard to believe that another transfer has passed by so fast.  (Dad: Haley has been in Peru for just over 1 year) 

The whole area (5 countires) have had a ton of missionary rule changes. We can't eat with the members anymore because there were a ton of missionaries getting sick from the dirty food. Its not too bad here in Tarapoto, but better safe than sorry. We were all ordered to take anti parasite pills a couple of weeks ago and we will be retaking the dosage in a couple of weeks. Also they changed the rules for sick missionaries. Now if you are sick for 3 weeks or more...parasites that are bad, broken bones, opperations or anything that will like take longer to heal... you go home. No questions asked. Some times I dont understand and now I feel like we are racing against the clock to keep a few of the sisters here in the zone from going home.

Haley and Hermana Estes

Today are changes (transfers)! My companion and I are really hoping that we don't get changed. We shouldn't because we have only been together for a short time. I would really like to finish my mission with her. Its possible. But that would leave her with one change and she would have to train a new sister leader. 

The work is going well. We are working hard and praying hard. All of our invesigators are families but they all have really huge doubts. A lot of them are struggling with gaining a testimony. We recently had a training on the importance of the Book Of Mormon so we are reading it with all of the investigators. Its working! 

Camu Camu

We are going to work really hard this week to make sure they can get baptized this month. We are also working on getting a lot of new investigators, this is something that we have been struggling with. We are not having a lot of references from the memeber. Dear members, please give the missionaries references. They really need them. 

Tarapoto is just a beautiful as ever and it is getting closer to Camu Camu season. Its one of my favorite fruits and most def my favorite time of year! If you guys ever have need for a high dose of vitamin c just need to find some camu camu vitamins! They say its real good for your skin too! 

I hope that everyone has a great time this week and that you all remember to say your prayers! Prayer is so powerful. Much love!!!

Hello From Tarapoto Peru

Tarapoto Peru

Hey everyone. Sorry it’s been a while. The work is going great and we are having a lot of fun. There have been a few rule changes so now we wear work clothes on P-day. I wasn’t too excited at first but it helped us do a few more street contacts so I’m happy.

P-Day activity

We had a wedding and a double baptism this last week and we are planning more weddings and more baptisms for the end of July.

It’s hard to believe that I have been out for 10 months (11 months now). The time just flies by…and the harder we work the faster it all goes. My companion told me that we should just stay home so we could make our missions longer HAHAHA! It’s great to be doing the Lord’s work. I know that the work we do blesses lives and families.

The family that got married and baptized last week already has set a sealing date in Trujillo! One year from yesterday! 364 days and counting. They are so excited and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it.

I am doing well. The climate is nice. Right now its winter so it’s about 78 degrees.  It only gets really hot around noon-5 pm. Tarapoto is great! I’m really happy to be here.

President and Sister Gomez came for a surprise room check. They came at 7:20 in the morning when I was getting out of the shower. I hear a knock on the outside door so I start to get out of the shower. Well my companion freaks out because the house is a mess and walks into the bathroom! We don’t have a door or a shower curtain so there I am standing in all my glory and my companion is in the bathroom and President is standing outside in the hall of our one room apartment with the assistants. I ALMOST DIED. The first thing that my companion said to me was that President and Sister Gomez were there and that I needed to clean the bathroom. She then realized that I was STILL in the shower and said, “You should probably put some clothes on too”... WELL DUH! I am so not coming out of the bathroom to see President and Sister Gomez and 2 elders WITHOUT clothes.

Oh what a week. Here to hoping this week is a little less exciting.

Anyways, I’ll keep you updated!!  Lots of love!  Make sure to send my love to Erica and Kellan. It’s his birthday tomorrow (July 29). 

Finally! A piranah...or at least a fish with big teeth.

Grandma photo bomb!

Hey Everybody!

Hope that you are all having a great week. I got transferred to Tarapoto this last week [Dad: Tarapoto is an hour flight from Iquitos]. Its beautiful here and reminds me a lot of Park City [Dad: it's obvious that Haley hasn't been to park city it a while!] Its really green and mostly cool. 

I sent a few pictures so you guys could all see. I am really excited to work here. We are finding a lot of new people to teach and we are having a ton of fun doing it. 

We are working hard and seeing the blessings! 

Pray for missionary opportunities! 

Much Love,

Hna Burrell

[Note from Dad:  We got to talk with Haley last week for about an hour.  It was really difficult trying to carry on a coherent conversation with her.  Her English was very broken and she had trouble thinking of words...she couldn't remember the word for 'backpack'.  She kept calling it 'a bag with two straps'.  We had a good laugh with her.  She finally got transferred to a new area, Tarapoto.  She said that it is much nicer than Iquitos...especially the Internet.  She will be able to send more pictures home because it is much faster.  She did mention that she can't believe that her mission is almost 1/2 over.  As a family, we thank all of you for your prayers and concern for her.  Please keep it up.]

This house is on 15' stilts...and almost underwater.

LUNCH!  Who is eating who?

New area: Tarapoto

New area: Tarapoto

A few pictures...

Hey Everybody! 

I hope that you are all having a great week! Things are wonderful here in the Amazon! We had 3 baptisms this week but one sister said her name wrong and was baptized and confirmed under the wrong name. So this week we have to do it all over. She was happy to do it but she said that we couldnt take anymore pictures of her. A lot of great things are happenging here in our area. This next week we will have transfers so we will see if I am still in my area (going on 9 months now) We get to call home next week! Super excited for that! I pray for all of you guys everynight. I hope that you all have a great week! Nos Vemos! 

Hna Burrell

Starting to get hot?

Alrighty Folks,

I hope all is well back home! I love and miss you all and I hope that everybody had a chance to feel the Spirit more than once this week. 

This week was amazing. Here in Iquitos, we are in the tail end of the rainy season so its starting to get really hot. The river is still rising and there are parts of our area that we cant get to because the bridges haven't been built yet. We have about 3 months before we will be able to get to every part of the area without using bridges. 

My companion Hermana Bautista and I have changed our focus. We are working more with less actives and new members.  We are also focusing more on getting people to church. We have been sending up a lot prayers. This week we walked into a completely packed chapel. We had 178 people! In our ward we have 2 sets of missionaries. Together we brought 22 less active members, 10 new members, and 11 investigadores!  When Elder C. Scott Grow was here he promised us that if we worked with the less actives we wold have more baptisms. We are truly seeing the blessings of this promise.

Well thats all for this week. Take care and lots of love!

Notes from dad:  Haley didn't have the bad Dengue Fever (the one where your eyes bleed).  She just had the not so good one (102 fever and aches and chills).  Thanks for all your prayers!  She is finally a temporary Peruvian.  She flew to Lima last week to get all of her paperwork finished.  While she was there, she got to enjoy some Dunkin Donuts and Papa John's Pizza...little bits of Heaven in the Peruvian Jungle!

Quick Update from Peru.

Elder C. Scott Grow and Sister Rhonda Grow

Hey everybody! 

Well this week was pretty awesome. We got visited by Elder C. Scott Grow and his wife Sister Grow. It’s always a blessing to be able to listen to a General Authority. I was thinking a lot about the mission language during his training. Elder Grow served his mission in Mexico almost 50 years ago, his Spanish is still really, really good. He works with his Spanish every day, not only teaching but he is also helping with the new Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon. There is a part in Preach My Gospel that says that we should always keep up our language skills. It says that the Lord has invested a lot in us and we don't know His plans for our language. It’s really true. We are blessed with the gift of tongues here and we should not waste that blessing. I feel really blessed to be here on m mission and to have the opportunity to preach the Word.

I was asked this week if it was easy to lose focus. I told them no because all I do is focus. It’s hard to forget when you try to live what you preach. 

Also this week our investigator Jhoyla got baptized. She bore her testimony and said that she would always be happy now because she was a member of the church. It was so sweet. 

Thank you all for your letters! I enjoy reading from all of you! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love from the Amazon

Haley

PS.  Also I got Dengue this week. Dont worry. I'm alright. Im doing much better now. I hope that you guys will continue to have a great week. Tell everybody hi for me! 

Punching dogs and falling coconuts...but it's all good.

Life here is good…still deathly hot and humid.  Sweatin’ out the toxins.  My comp had to go to Lima for visa papers on Friday. She said that it was hotter in Lima and it was almost unbearable. I’m grateful to be here in the jungle.

Ringworm is good. [note from dad:  Haley got ringworm from a dog named Panterra.  Gross!]  It’s all cleared up and I just have the marks now.

Life is good. My comp and I are working really hard to get families. Right now we don´t have very many.

The teaching is always good. We are on a high right now. We just gotta stay up there.

So, this week a dog tried to bite me and I literally punched it in the face. I felt really bad but it’s a really mean dog. Every time we walk by, the stupid thing chases us.  That dog doesn't bark at us anymore…which is really nice.

Also, my work bag ripped so we took it to a lady that fixes shoes. She fixed my bag up real nice for a dollar! [note from dad:  That’s just a little of the Virginian/Texan hick coming out of her]

...and I got hit with a coconut. We were teaching outside under the tree because it was hot. Well, its coconut season...one fell and it hit my arm…but it was a little one so it wasn't too bad. We ate the coconut too. It was really, really good.

I am going to cut my hair. It’s hot and it gets tangled really easy. It is time to cut it. Not too short though.

We started teaching this lady named Kelly. She's married but her husband lives with a prostitute [note from dad:  I guess it is as expensive to get a divorce as it is to get married] She has 4 kids and a testimony that is unshakable. This is her time. She was introduced to the church as a little kid but never got baptized and never really went to church. Well she was given a Book of Mormon but later in life she threw it away. When we talked to her about it she said that she had never been more repentant for throwing something away. She told us that at the time she felt that she shouldn't throw it away but didn´t listen to her feelings. Well we gave her a new one and she started reading it right away. We invited her to get baptized. She said that she would but that she was scared. Turns out that she has a mental illness that causes a compulsion to pull out and eat her hair. She was embarrassed because she would have to take out her hair piece in order to get baptized. We assured her that everything would be ok and now she is getting baptized on the 15th! It’s super great!

Love from the Amazon!

Haley

From the Amazon with Love!

So...we are back in the field after a few days in the mission home. I got to disinfect all of my clothes, but they got washed with DOWNY, so they smell super great. The showers and cold air were nice and I did have a lot of time to study but nothing compares to the sound of a font filling up. I didn't get to work until Saturday, one of my very best friends was sent home for a medical emergency and another sister may have to change missions for medical reasons.

It is SO good to be back at work. I made it to the baptism this week. Jordan got baptized on Saturday and then Sunday he was confirmed and ordained a Deacon. Next week he will pass the Sacrament. We have 4 baptisms planned for this week; Samantha, Andres, Rosario and Milagros. They are all doing wonderful. Even with the baptisms, the week was pretty rough.

This week I studied a lot about the desires of our heart and how we all have agency and how we need to exercise it. I was studying and realized that sometimes I pray to have peace with God's decisions. This is a good habit but I was not exercising my own agency. We can make decisions and then pray for guidance and direction. If we are truly in tune with the Spirit our desires will be the same as God's. For me, this was a difficult thing to learn and I will need to continue to practice-but I have seen a difference in my attitude towards the things that happen here on the mission.

We all make choices, and to quote Rush (the band...not Limbaugh):

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice…

I will choose a path that's clear,

I will choose freewill. 

We have agency and we are free to use it. It’s a really great gift that we have. I hope that I will be able to continue to grow closer to my Heavenly Father so that I can be more in line with His will. I want His will to be my will, I want to be like Nephi.

One of my favorite passages in the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi chapter 2. This is right after Lehi dies and Nephi is pouring out his soul. It really means a lot to me to know that prophets have struggles too. It’s not all daisies and butterflies and talking with God.

Remember to be like Nephi, quake at the sight of sin, and repent daily.

Much love from the Amazon!

Hermana Haley Burrell

Infections, Birds and Bugs…in no particular order

Thats me and a parrot...right after this it tried to bite me. 

 [Message from dad:  Haley didn’t email us first thing Monday morning.  It was very unlike her.  To make things more stressful, we got a facebook message from a young lady in Haley’s area, Dulce.  Her message was "hello much burrell in enferma".  My immediate translation was “Hello, your daughter is in the infirmary”.  Google translation: "Hello much Burrell in sick".  Not much better than the original message.  I tried to message Dulce back, to no avail.  I emailed Haley again, and this is part of the response that I received.]

Alright, this is why I don't like facebook. I have a skin infection. It’s bad, but I'm ok. I got it from a dog; they say only 1 in 100,000 get it. Well earth and hell right? So what it is Pioderma [Impetigo]?  It causes sores and is uncomfortable. I won’t die or get sent home which is good. I have medication and cream. I was ordered to rest and stay out of the sun for a week; so I will be staying in the Mission home for a week while I recover. My comp is going to stay at the house with Dulce [Facebook message girl].

I get to take a hot shower!!!! First time in 5 months. I really am fine. I am contagious and that’s why I can’t go out. And the medication I´m on gives me brain fog but other than that, it’s all good. I can still walk and think and do everything they just don't want me to spread my disease :)

Don't worry too much. But that’s why I didn’t get on earlier; because they made me stay in my house. So in the morning, I am going to the mission home to stay in a nice bed with air conditioning and A HOT SHOWER. I am bummed that I can’t work this week. For the blog you can tell the people that I caught a dog disease. At least Kendall will get a kick out of that. What's that disease that they always talk about at nana's? “catsocky” or something. HAHAHAHA. But really I am fine.

Haley and Hermana Kirk from Blanding

Beetle in a pringles can...flew into my hair one night

Not For the Faint of Heart...or the Weak Stomach

Taken around the 12th of October...Haley's first area

Hola Amigos!  We are working really hard but not getting any baptisms. We will have one next week...Mishelle Morey. She´s 9 and her whole family are less active. The last 3 weeks we have been working on finding new people and trying to get the old ones baptized. One of our investigators, Gressy (the lady from the motokar story) got baptized in another church. That was a blow. Satan is working hard here.

It’s not easy to follow promptings all the time but it’s always worth it. For example we were teaching this guy named Franco. I got a really strong impression that we needed to leave. I didn't know why and my companion didn´t feel the same way. She wanted to finish the lesson. I caved and we stayed. When we went to our next appointment we learned that the husband of our investigator had just left. We have been having a hard time with this investigator. She knows the church is true, she has a testimony but her boyfriend doesn´t want to get married.  We haven´t talked to them together yet.  If I had followed this prompting we would have met Raul and taught them both. We may have been able to help them get married. ALWAYS listen to your promptings.

Thanks for the support back home. There is no way that we could do this without you guys. I love you and have a great week! 

WARNING!!!

[from Dad:  Haley finally sent some pictures...not quite ones that are spiritually uplifting, but if you know Haley, then these are absolutely her!]

Peruvian Christmas Nativity
 These are taxadermied animals. They're fresh kills and not done well. Smelled pretty foul. The second week the skin started to fall off. You're lucky I didn't have my camera that day. [Animals include a sloth, pig, anteater, capybara and other unidentifiable ones.  If you zoom in, you can almost smell them.] 

Suri.
 Haley said they taste like warm butter.