SURPRISE!

Dear ladies and gentlemen (hang on to your seats),

This week was FLIPPIN' crazy. I have so much news both good and bad:

First, this Tuesday I was called in the middle of a day to be informed that I had emergency cambios (changes, moves) to Jaen the next. I had 2 hours to pack, 1 hour to say goodbye to a select number of people. Hermana Rosanna (our pensionista) threw me a last minute fiesta with spray foam covering my head and she fed us a fruit salad, chocolate cake, and chocolote chip ice cream. I was torn to leave Patapo under the circumstances of emergency cambios--more sad that my time with Hermana Arenguren was cut so short.

Second, it was decided that it was better to keep me with Hermana Gonzales in Chiclayo to wait until Thursday night--when I would fly to Lima to get my new passport and "I´m a Peruvian" card. SO I was with Hermana Gonzales and met her adorable pensionista, went to Lima (solo Hermana)--where I near passed out with stomach aches after we arrived--and then spent all my time in Lima waiting in Migraciones to do everything.

After Lima, I returned to Chiclayo and ended up staying with Hermana Gonzales until today--thinking I would be going to Jaen--until... 

SURPRISE!!!

I found out that I am being transfered to Guadalupe, area Guadalupe with Hermana Mariano. My jaw near hit the floor it was so agape. If any of you dont know, Guadalupe is one of the areas that will be cut from the Chiclayo mission in the coming months to be part of the mission Trujillo 2. Soooo......I am going to be in another mission O_O 

Que loco este día....

But to be honest, I am avoiding all emotions of being sad or distraught about it all because 1) Guadalupe is BEAUTIFUL and I have a great companion 2) I have blessings of being in both missions and 3) It is just SO much easier to be happy than to be sad :)

And so, we sail on. I only have seconds before I have to go, so I love you all and wish you a great week. Ciao!

Love,

Hermana Furness

Time Flies

Hello all! 

This week unfortunately included 2 sick days for me, but nevertheless, I am MUCH better and things are looking great for us!! This coming week is expected to be SUPER busy with moving apartments to a house down the street, going to Lima, and doing intercambios with our sister leaders. But busy hands are happy hands and I am looking forward to all of it (: 

This week we had a fantastic lesson with a man named David Silva. He had been taught by countless companionships of missionaries, and I visited him since my time with Hermana Hawks. He professed that he had done everything right and prayed for an answer but didnt get one. He admitted with time that he felt a peace or happiness but it wasnt clear enough. His less active wife wasnt helping his situation and this week we were a bit doubtful in knocking his door for the first time in awhile.

However....

(:

With time and moments to think, we taught him this week knowing that he is ready to accept the gospel. We got personal with him and asked him why he wasnt accepting the peace and happiness as his answer, and he hung his head to admit that he didnt want to make a commitment he couldnt keep. He KNOWS the church is true, but he had doubt and fear as an overshadow to making a covenant with God. We testified and taught him that we receive mercy, forgiveness, strength, and change ALONG the way in life, and baptism is just the first step in showing God that we want to try our whole lives to change. He felt confidence and faith fill his heart and we found the perfect moment to invite him to be baptized. Before we could finished saying the sentence to invite him, tears filled his eyes and he nodded his head. He agreed to the 18th of April and now we have to pump out all our strength to help him prepare. He was truly prepared by the Lord and now we have to finish dotting the i´s and crossing the t´s. 

I dont have much time for any elaboration on my favorite scripture this week, but as I was reading in Romans 1 this week, I found a perfect verse that explain human nature in pridefulness:

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fool.

Food for thought (: I love you all and continue in prayers for your safety and well being. Have a great week and happy 6 months in the mission!!

Love,

Hermana Furness

I attached a picture of Hermana Lili’s boy Arron. He is seriously the cutest! 

First Timers

Wooooo!! How are you all??

What a great week!! We had our first baptism of our brother José Sandoval Sales, and he gave the greatest testimony about the love he feels in being welcomed in to his celestial family. I was so happy the day of his baptism, because I truly felt he has converted his heart to the Lord. This past Sunday, after his confirmation, he talked about his desire to share the gospel with his family, friends, and acquaintences, and now we have a huge list of references from him! He also wants to accompany the elders on visits. I couldnt be more proud of him and we are striving to feed him all the scripture, church manuals, and material we can provide him!

I also began these 6 weeks with my first latina companion Hermana Arenguren! She is from Ecuador and has 8 months in the mission. She is a fun time and loves to tell jokes. But with her fun side, she has a POWERFUL testimony and talent of inviting the Spirit. We plan to make milkshakes today. 0.0

As per usual, I found a countless number of inspiring scriptures this week as I read in Acts. Today I feel drawn to sharing from chapter 5, verses 41 and 42:

41 ¶And they departed from the presence of the council,rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

How beautiful, no? I didn´t feel any profound insights behind this, but it was such an inspiration and motivation for me to put my hardships in perspective. I have yet to experience more persecution than people saying they dont have time to listen, but when I feel that times are getting rough, I am thankful that such examples as Peter and James have withstood their trials to provide me hope within mine. We are asked to preach and invite ALL to come to Christ, companions, ward members, investigators, less actives, and any one in between. To be so steady and so sure of the eternal perspective that we REJOICE in our sufferings? I would say that THAT is finding happiness on earth. I hope all of you are enduring through the hard times that you are facing and keeping these small moments of suffering in perspective. Don´t ever let the adversary trick you into making regretful choices that only aleviate the struggles for a moment. We have Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, to help us along the way and give us an alleviation of pain for eternity. 

I love you all dearly and wish you another great week. Keep on keepin on!

Love,

Hermana Furness

P.S. attached is a photo of the artistic skills I whipped out for the baptism of José and the other of all of us that helped in the process of bringing him back to the fold. (with exception of Hermana Dodson :´( ) Have a happy monday everyone! (:

Cambios

Dear folks and friends,

It is a bit sad to write today knowing my dear companion Hermana Dodson will be transferring tomorrow. We were completely surprised to find out that I will be staying in my first area for another 6 weeks and she will be moving to another area. I´m happy that I´ll be here for Jose´s baptism this coming Saturday--Hermana Dodson is a bit sad she is missing it by a sliver of days.

This week has been terrific although we were out from working for quite a bit. The picture I attached is of me in front of the Lima temple on Tuesday while I was there for my lost passport. We didnt get to do a session or anything, but I was thrilled to visit the temple store with Hermana Ortiz who accompanied me on the trip. 

We also had our Zone Training Meeting this week in which I snuck a rockin selfie of all of us. I learned some great things about baptism preparation in the meeting that I hope to apply to Jose in his preparation. I feel quite a bit of pressure in preparing him for his baptism and also with a new companion awaiting me tomorrow. Accepting the Lord´s will has been nothing but sweet however, and learning to trust in him has eliminated any doubts that I have. 

I am now reading in The Acts, which is completely wonderful as you testified, Elder Sands. There really is an amazing amount of organization that existed in the days of the Apostles that exists today. I am blown away and it is such a testament that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

I forgot my Bible today, but I remember a verse I liked in John this week. I found a verse about Philip in John 14, verse 9 that includes:

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?

I reflected on that to think about "how long" we have been with the Savior that we start to forget Him. I am sure that the mission field can foster an "accustomed" feeling of the Savior and the Spirit´s presence in our lives, and that working to be nourished by the Spirit is a daily challenge. I hope that all of us can work to not only BE with the Savior by obeying His laws but rather, KNOW Him by acting in accordance to His life. Our perfect example desires for us to accept and utilize the gift that he has given as an investment to us--this gift is the Atonement, and through using this gift we may truly know Him. 

I wish you all the best this week and continue to pray for your safety and happiness. Wherever we are in the world, the Savior's love shines in the darkest of times and is continually poured out upon us in our love towards Him. 

Love you all and best of wishes!

Hermana Furness

Never Have I Ever

Wait for it.......LOST MY PASSPORT! Oh yes, that was me. When we went to do our documents to get our "I am Peruvian" cards in Lima this past Thursday, I lost my passport. Or it was stolen. I am not quite sure. But anyhow I am passportless and will be flying to Lima today to get my new one. So no worries yall. Everything is all good!

The worst part of it was making everyone go out of the way for me to get my situation figured out. I waited in Migrations for 3 hours while everyone was finishing their documents, but during those 3 hours I met someone that made it all worthwhile. Her name is Lourdes, and she is from Trujillo and has been married for 5 years and has a 3 year old daughter. She asked me where I was from and we began chatting about why we were both there. I tried to make an introduction into church topics, but it wasnt picking up and she said that she was a faithfully attending Catholic. Finally, I asked her if she liked to read. She said yes and I followed up to ask if she ever read the Bible. She said that it had been some time since she last read, and I encouraged her to read it and that we actually have a book within the church called the Book of Mormon. I briefly told her the origin, history, and purpose of the Book of Mormon and she listened to every word I said. She asked me who founded the church, and I smiled and paused before saying "well, Jesus Christ did." She tried to clarify and I asked her to let me explain. Right there, in the middle of people buzzing about and noises everywhere at Migrations, I taught her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I told her the first vision and testified that if she wanted to know this church is true, she should pray like Joseph Smith and also read the book of Mormon. She was truly listening to everything I said and I KNOW through the Spirit that she believed what I said. I really think that she is going to investigate the church in Trujillo. But who knows! (:

And what a milestone I have made! I am now reading in the book of John in the New Testament and it is so beautiful. Speaking of milestones, my group from the CCM has made our 5 month mark. Isnt that crazy?? Anyways, During my readings in Luke, I wanted to share one thought from chapter 16:

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

There are SO many ways that we can apply this scripture, but I think one of my favorite applications is through our preparation to becoming Gods. That is the ultimate goal no? To become like our Father and live with our family for eternity--that seems to be the finish line for me. Entonces, in the margins of my scriptures I have written "How are we able to govern worlds as Gods if we cannot govern ourselves?" Having faith in Christ means having the belief that His grace can change us if we so put forth our effort. The changing of habits, addictions, personality, attributes, and instinct is so rare in the world. Christ makes ALL the difference in our transition from undisciplined to disciplehood. We use COVENANTS to internalize these changes and in promising God that we will keep these changes, He is the only One that can hold us accountable. The pursuit of life is not only happiness--but learning that self mastery perpetuates it.

I love you all and wish you the best this week. All of your emails bring such comfort to me and others and I hope that the spirit is abundant in your lives :) 

All my love!

Hermana Furness

Attached is a picture of Hermana Shirley, me, Hermana Dodson, and Hermana Sharon from the Patapo ward. We love them and we decided to do the "Dodson braid" this past Sunday. Love them!!