Hola mis amigos! Guess what, I’m fluent! Just kidding. Totally
kidding. I’m nowhere near fluent, but I’ll get there eventually haha.
This is officially my last week in Lima in the CCM! Next Monday I’m
off to Arequipa. I never thought 6 weeks could go by so fast. I’ve
made so many great friends here, I will be sad to leave them all!
Luckily we all get to spend Christmas here before we leave. I’m not
sure exactly what’s happening on Christmas, the CCM president won’t
tell us what’s happening because it’s a surprise! I know they will
make it really special. I can’t wait! It doesn’t feel like Christmas
at all. It’s sunny and 80 degrees every day. Then again, it’s not much
different than a Southern California Christmas haha.
Me and my companion are pretty confident in teaching most of the
lessons in Spanish now. When it comes to the gospel, I know Spanish
pretty well. But conversational Spanish is definitely harder for me. I
know being out in the field constantly speaking Spanish will help with
that though! I’m super excited to finally go to Arequipa. I’ve heard
nothing but great things about Arequipa from all the Latinas here!
Sundays here are always really great. We have the regular 3 hours of
sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and relief society. Sacrament
meeting is where everyone gathers in one room and we sing hymns and
certain people from the congregation will give talks, but more
importantly sacrament meeting is for us to take the sacrament, or the
bread and the water. In the Church of Jesus Christ, the bread
represents the body of Christ and the water represents the blood of
Christ. When we take the sacrament, we promise to try our best to keep
the covenants and promises we made with God when we were baptized.
Sunday school is just like a scripture study class we have with our
district. Relief Society is where all the sisters meet in one room and
have a lesson. After this, we usually have some personal study time.
Right before dinner, we always watch a devotional. This Sunday we
watched a devotional by Elder Holland. If you don’t know who Elder
Holland is, I suggest you get on youtube right now and just search
“Elder Holland conference talk” and prepare to be edified. After
dinner, we watched a movie about the life of President Thomas S
Monson. President Monson is the prophet on the earth today. The movie
is called “On the Lords Errand” and it was truly incredible. I suggest
watching it if you haven’t already! Every Sunday night me and my
district have a testimony meeting. A testimony meeting is where we all
share something special to us, or share something that we have felt
the Holy Ghost testify to us is true. To end this email, I will share
my testimony with you all (:
I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the
true church on the earth today. I know that it is a restored church,
not a reformed church. It is the same church that Christ intended to
establish when he was here 2000 years ago. Throughout time, there have
been prophets on the Earth. We can read about them in the Old
Testament (Adam, Moses, Noah, etc). Each of these prophets had what’s
called the priesthood, or the authority to act in the name of God.
After Christ and his apostles died, there was a grand apostasy. This
apostasy was a time where there were no prophets on the earth, which
means the priesthood was not on the earth anymore. A restoration was
necessary. In 1820, a young boy only 14 years old named Joseph Smith
was very confused about what church was true. His parents were of two
different denominations, and there were many pastors of different
denominations claiming their church to be true. He was being persuaded
all sorts of ways, when finally he decided to pray about it. He went
into a grove a trees near his home in New York, fell upon his knees,
and started to pray. These are the words he used to describe his
experience.. “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the
brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon
me…When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose
brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the
air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing
to the other—’This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!’” This was the
beginning of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph
Smith was the first modern day prophet. The priesthood was restored to
Joseph Smith by the Lords apostles, Peter, James, and John. More
scripture was revealed to Joseph. He translated it, and this book of
scripture is known as the Book of Mormon. I know all of these things
are true. I have read the book of Mormon and I know that it is the
word of God. I challenge you all to read it and ask God if it is not
true. I promise you will get an answer.
I love you all, until next time,
Hermana Celardo

Hello my people!
It twas another great week here in Peru. Tomorrow marks 1 month since
I’ve been out! Crazy! Time really does go by so fast when you’re a
missionary. So every two weeks new missionaries come to the MTC.
Latinos only stay for two weeks, North Americans stay for 6. We stay
longer since we have to learn a new language. Your first two weeks
here you’re considered beginners, the next two weeks you’re
intermediates, and the last two weeks you’re advanced. Since these are
my last two weeks here, I’m considered advanced. Two Elders in my
district, Elder Hart and Elder Chapman, were asked to be zone leaders
over all the North Americans. Me and my companion, Hermana King, were
asked to be the Hermana Leaders over all the North Americans. As
Hermana Leaders we interview other sister missionaries, plan out
Sundays, and go to leadership meetings. We’re excited for this
leadership opportunity!
I was really close with a couple of the Latinas that were here these
last two weeks! Me and my companion sat with them every day at
breakfast lunch and dinner. They didn’t know English, so all our
communication was Spanish. I taught one of them a Christmas song in
English and she taught me Feliz Navidad! I love them! I will really
miss them.
This last Saturday I was able to leave the CCM and go proselyting! My
Spanish definitely needs some work haha. I had a great time though! I
was able to talk to a couple people and give away a Book of Mormon. I
also shared my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon
with a man named Marco and a lady named Sandra. We also taught someone
about the Restoration, which was when Joseph Smith restored Christ’s
church on the Earth. Peruvians are so kind to everyone. I could truly
feel that they were interested in what we were sharing with them. We
were able to go to this little town called Churrillos, it’s in the
Lima South mission. We were up in houses along the mountain side. The
mountains here are all loose sand and dirt, very different than back
home. The houses are made out of concrete or just whatever they could
find, with tin roofs and most of them just have dirt floors. Overall
it was an incredible and humbling experience and I can’t wait to go
out to Arequipa!
On the bus ride back from proselyting we saw a car accident! It was
pretty scary. I’m actually surprised we haven’t seen more than this
because the drivers here are so crazy. This guy driving a truck ran
directly into one of those guard rails on the freeway. Crazy!
I’m excited to spend Christmas here! I’ve become really close with my
district here, they’re like family to me. I’m really glad I get to
spend it with them! The president of the CCM is planning something
special for Christmas day, it’s going to be a surprise! Also, since
the CCM doesn’t have many missionaries we get to Skype home Christmas
day. I can’t wait for that!
So one of the teachers for our districts name is Hermana Altamirano.
She is a convert to the church like me! She shared her story with us
and it made me cry because it’s very similar to mine. Her and her
brothers and sisters are members of the church but her parents are
not. A lot of the Latinos out here are converts as well. They’re
usually surprised to find out that I’m a convert!
Some fun facts about my district: So in my district, I’m the oldest.
I’m actually the oldest out of all the North Americans here. So my
district has decided to give me the nickname of Grandma haha. I’ve
also taught everyone in my district how to do that Indian whistle
thing with your hands. My companion, Hermana King, can jump rope on
her butt. Elder Olsen has this crazy cough that he gets every year for
a month. Elder Olsen and Elder Lish are the only two red heads in the
entire CCM and they’re companions. We calls them the peli rojos. Elder
Hart got a 36 on the ACT. Elder Chapman is from South Carolina and he
says yall and all yall all the time and it’s rubbing off on all of us
to the point where we say it all the time too. Elder Lish can
impersonate Chewbacca and Hermana Gallagher can do the R2D2 noise.
Hermana Rushton is the most AMAZING singer you’ve ever heard and her
dad is #1 in the Iron man challenge in the US. They’re all so awesome
and I love them!
I wanted to share some scriptures with you all this week! They’re all
from the Bible. Each scripture testifies of doctrine of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Malachi 4:5-6 The sealing power is restored to the Earth, Ezekiel
37:16-19 The stick of Judah (the Bible) and the stick of Joseph (the
Book of Mormon) are one in the hands of God, 1 Corinthians 15:40-41
the kingdoms of Heaven are described, Matthew 16:19 eternal marriage,
Acts 20:28-30 The church will be perverted after Christ passes away,
John 10:16 the other sheep talked about in this scripture is referring
to the people Christ visited in the Americas. You can read about
Christ coming to the Americas in the Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 11. 1
Corinthians 15:29 Baptisms for those who have already passed away. I
know that this church is true! I have read the Book of Mormon and it
has changed my life. I know that if you read it and pray about it with
real intent, it can change your life too.
Well, that’s all for this week. Love you all! I’m so grateful for your support.
Until next time,
Hermana Celardo

 ¡Hola mis amigos! I hope everyone’s having a great day! This week in
Perú was awesome. It consisted of a lot of studying and teaching! My
Spanish is getting better day by day. Me and Hermana King can teach
our lessons in Spanish without any notes for the most part. Also, when
someone is speaking Spanish I can understand most of what they’re
saying . The hard part now is putting words together to actually
respond to them haha. Naturally I’ve kind of just been speaking half
English and half Spanish. It’s pretty cool! I’ll be saying something
in English and then I just switch over to Spanish without even
realizing it. I have faith that the language will come eventually! I’m
studying really hard every day, so I’m not too worried.
The food here is amazing as usual. We get soft serve ice cream every 3
days or so and the ice cream here is sooo good. You would think I
would get sick of chicken and rice by now but I still love it!
Sometimes the cooks here at the CCM make American meals which is nice.
On Thanksgiving they made turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie
which was so comforting. At least once a week we have hamburgers.
They’re definitely not in n out burgers but they’re close enough (:
The best thing here is the churros though. I’m not sure if I’ve talked
about the churros before, but they’re better than Disneyland churros!
If I could send some home to you all, I would!
So on Monday we had a CCM Navidad devotional. A devotional is kind of
like a giant meeting where someone important comes to speak and
they’re always super spiritual. All the missionaries at the CCM were
there along with a couple mission presidents in the area as well as
some senior couple missionaries. The choir my companion and I joined
that I talked about last week performed at the devotional! It went
really well. We sang Noche de Luz (Silent night) and it was beautiful!
The devotional itself was amazing as well. The speaker, whose name
escapes me, is the president of the area 70. He gave a very
motivational talk on missionary work and it filled me with comfort and
reassurance that I truly am here for a reason. After the speech, we
all went outside to the main courtyard and it was decorated with a ton
of Christmas lights and there was sandwiches and snacks and treats! We
mingled and took lots of pictures and had a great time. It was a fun
break from the usual schedule!
This weekend is going to be amazing because we get to go proselyting
on Saturday! Me and the rest of my district are going to go to the
main part of Lima and we get a new companion for the day. My new
companion will be a missionary who has already been out on her mission
for a while, most likely will be Latina, and we get to go teach actual
lessons and actually talk to people about the church! I’m so excited!!
I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to communicate with my little
Spanish..but luckily the people out here are so nice and are usually
patient with people like me that don’t know Spanish yet haha.
Every Wednesday morning we get to go to the temple here in Lima. For
those of you who don’t know what temples are, they are houses of the
Lord. There are about 140 temples all around the world! They are big,
beautiful buildings. If you’ve ever driven along Santa Monica Blvd,
you’ve probably seen the Los Angeles Temple! They aren’t necessarily
meeting houses, by that I mean members of the church don’t have Sunday
services here. Temples are special because they are the closest place
we have on earth to Heaven. Inside temples, we perform ordinances and
make covenants with God that are necessary to return to live with Him
again. We do this work for ourselves as well as for those who have
already passed away. We know that every soul is great in the eyes of
God, and therefore everyone will have the chance to receive the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ whether it’s in this life or the next.
Temples make this possible. Because of temples, our families can be
together forever. And for that, I am so grateful!
Well, in exactly 3 weeks I’ll be in Arequipa! I’m already half way
done here in the CCM. Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. I
know that phrase only makes sense if you’ve ever been a missionary
haha. I absolutely love it here and I love the other missionaries here
at the CCM and I love the people of Perú! My faith and knowledge of
the gospel is growing every single day. I love you all! Thanks for
reading!
Until next week,
Hermana Natalie Celardo

Hi everyone! Sorry last week I had such a short email! This one will
be better I promise!
This last week went by SO fast. Our schedule is busy every day so
there really is no time to think of anything else but missionary work!
Here’s a typical day for me in the CCM:
Wake up at 6:30am, breakfast at 7:15. Contrary to popular belief, yes
I can actually shower and get ready in 45 minutes (more or less…). The
showers are nice and have hot water! Every time someone flushes the
toilet the water gets SUPER hot. But I’m just grateful for the warm
water! At 8am we have personal study. I usually use this time to read
my scriptures. Then from 9am-12:30pm we have class in our separate
districts. My district consists of me and my companion, Hermana King
(Bolivia Cochabamba Mission), Hermana Gallacher (Peru Lima East
Mission), Hermana Rushton (Peru Lima East Mission), Elder Chapman
(Peru Trujillo South Mission), Elder Hart (Peru Trujillo South
Mission), Elder Olsen (Bolivia Cochabamba Mission), and Elder Lish
(Peru Chiclayo Mission). We’re all super close. They are like my
family here! I love them! In class we learn Spanish and practice
teaching lessons in Spanish. At 12:30 we have lunch! The food is
always great here. They have homemade bread EVERY DAY. It puts
American bread to shame. They also have super good juice! Then at 1:15
we have whats called TALL. It’s a super great computer program that
helps us with Spanish! At 2:15 we have additional study. During this
time we can read scriptures or work on Spanish, whatever we feel like
we need to work on the most. Then at 3 we have physical activity. My
district and a couple other of the American districts usually play
ultimate Frisbee, but with a football. So I guess it’s ultimate
football? Haha they don’t have Frisbees here anyway. Then we have a
little break from 4-4:45 to get ready for the rest of our day. At 4:45
we have more class! It’s just language study and preparing to teach
lessons. Then dinner is at 6:15. Again, I can’t tell you how great the
food is(: From 7-9 we have class again. During this time is when we
teach investigators. We just use the term investigator to describe
someone who is interested in the church and is taking lessons from the
missionaries. But here in the CCM we don’t actually teach real
investigators, we just practice teaching our teachers! And then our
teachers will just take on the role of an investigator. It’s pretty
cool they actually have these tiny houses here at the CCM so we
practice going up to the door and teaching the lessons inside their
homes and everything! Oh and did I mention the lessons are all in
Spanish? That’s definitely the hardest part! But I know the language
will come to me eventually. After class we go back up to our rooms and
get ready for bed. We have to have lights out by 10:30 every night! I
haven’t had any issues sleeping here haha I’m always so tired by the
end of the day!

This last Sunday my district was asked to perform a special musical
number during church. So we decided we were going to sing Angels We
Have Heard on High, but in Spanish of course! We sang it acapella
(spell check?) and Hermana Rushton played the flute for the last
verse. It was so beautiful! I even surprised myself haha. I was never
much of a singer before I started my mission but maybe that will
change by the time I get home! I was also forced into doing this
Christmas choir thing, and I really wasn’t crazy about it at first.
But honestly it’s so much fun! Me and my companion are really glad
we’re doing it. We are singing Noche de luz (Silent Night) and it
sounds so beautiful.
So you know that phrase “What in the world?!” we say all the time? It
definitely does not translate well into Spanish! But The Americans
here have kind of made it a phrase haha. In Spanish it translates to
“Que en el mundo”. We say it all the time but the latinos always look
at us super weird!
The Spirit is SO prominent here I can’t even explain it! I’ve seen so
many miracles and tender mercies in the short two weeks I’ve been
here. And for that, I am so grateful! One thing I’ve learned while
being out here is to fully and completely put my faith in the Lord. I
know if I do exactly that, I will never be led astray. I’m so grateful
for this opportunity I have to serve a mission and to reach out to the
people here in Peru! It’s been a great two weeks and I can’t wait to
experience the next 17 and a half months!

¡Hasta luego!
Hermana Celardo

Hi everyone! Sorry last week I had such a short email! This one will
be better I promise!
This last week went by SO fast. Our schedule is busy every day so
there really is no time to think of anything else but missionary work!
Here’s a typical day for me in the CCM:
Wake up at 6:30am, breakfast at 7:15. Contrary to popular belief, yes
I can actually shower and get ready in 45 minutes (more or less…). The
showers are nice and have hot water! Every time someone flushes the
toilet the water gets SUPER hot. But I’m just grateful for the warm
water! At 8am we have personal study. I usually use this time to read
my scriptures. Then from 9am-12:30pm we have class in our separate
districts. My district consists of me and my companion, Hermana King
(Bolivia Cochabamba Mission), Hermana Gallacher (Peru Lima East
Mission), Hermana Rushton (Peru Lima East Mission), Elder Chapman
(Peru Trujillo South Mission), Elder Hart (Peru Trujillo South
Mission), Elder Olsen (Bolivia Cochabamba Mission), and Elder Lish
(Peru Chiclayo Mission). We’re all super close. They are like my
family here! I love them! In class we learn Spanish and practice
teaching lessons in Spanish. At 12:30 we have lunch! The food is
always great here. They have homemade bread EVERY DAY. It puts
American bread to shame. They also have super good juice! Then at 1:15
we have whats called TALL. It’s a super great computer program that
helps us with Spanish! At 2:15 we have additional study. During this
time we can read scriptures or work on Spanish, whatever we feel like
we need to work on the most. Then at 3 we have physical activity. My
district and a couple other of the American districts usually play
ultimate Frisbee, but with a football. So I guess it’s ultimate
football? Haha they don’t have Frisbees here anyway. Then we have a
little break from 4-4:45 to get ready for the rest of our day. At 4:45
we have more class! It’s just language study and preparing to teach
lessons. Then dinner is at 6:15. Again, I can’t tell you how great the
food is(: From 7-9 we have class again. During this time is when we
teach investigators. We just use the term investigator to describe
someone who is interested in the church and is taking lessons from the
missionaries. But here in the CCM we don’t actually teach real
investigators, we just practice teaching our teachers! And then our
teachers will just take on the role of an investigator. It’s pretty
cool they actually have these tiny houses here at the CCM so we
practice going up to the door and teaching the lessons inside their
homes and everything! Oh and did I mention the lessons are all in
Spanish? That’s definitely the hardest part! But I know the language
will come to me eventually. After class we go back up to our rooms and
get ready for bed. We have to have lights out by 10:30 every night! I
haven’t had any issues sleeping here haha I’m always so tired by the
end of the day!

This last Sunday my district was asked to perform a special musical
number during church. So we decided we were going to sing Angels We
Have Heard on High, but in Spanish of course! We sang it acapella
(spell check?) and Hermana Rushton played the flute for the last
verse. It was so beautiful! I even surprised myself haha. I was never
much of a singer before I started my mission but maybe that will
change by the time I get home! I was also forced into doing this
Christmas choir thing, and I really wasn’t crazy about it at first.
But honestly it’s so much fun! Me and my companion are really glad
we’re doing it. We are singing Noche de luz (Silent Night) and it
sounds so beautiful.
So you know that phrase “What in the world?!” we say all the time? It
definitely does not translate well into Spanish! But The Americans
here have kind of made it a phrase haha. In Spanish it translates to
“Que en el mundo”. We say it all the time but the latinos always look
at us super weird!
The Spirit is SO prominent here I can’t even explain it! I’ve seen so
many miracles and tender mercies in the short two weeks I’ve been
here. And for that, I am so grateful! One thing I’ve learned while
being out here is to fully and completely put my faith in the Lord. I
know if I do exactly that, I will never be led astray. I’m so grateful
for this opportunity I have to serve a mission and to reach out to the
people here in Peru! It’s been a great two weeks and I can’t wait to
experience the next 17 and a half months!

¡Hasta luego!
Hermana Celardo

11/25/15

 Hola everyone! So it’s been 1 week in the Peru mtc (we call it the ccm
 en Espanol). Lets go back to last week..so I had a connecting flight
 in Atlanta and there were like 15 other missionaries going to the Peru
 CCM so that was super comforting. Our first day at the CCM, Wednesday
 the 18th, was really long and we were all super tired. We just had
 meetings all day. And then the next day we got right into learning
 Spanish. Mi Espanol es no bueno, but it’s coming along! My companions
 name is Hermana King! She’s from Idaho! We get along really well, I
 love her! We’ve already practiced teaching full lessons in Spanish,
 which has been a challenge. There’s about 120 missionaries here at the
 CCM, 40 of them are North Americans and the rest are Latinos. My
 companion and I like to sit with the Latinas when we eat because it
 helps with our Spanish haha. Overall I LOVE IT HERE! The food is so
 good. It’s basically chicken and rice everyday. Oh and they make fresh
 bread for every meal and its amazing. Occasionally they have soft
 serve ice cream and churros and its actually ridiculous how yummy they
 are. And somehow I’ve lost weight? I don’t get it, but hey I’m not
 complaining! I stay in a room with 5 other Hermanas, their names are
 Hermana King (My companion), Hermana Neimela, Hermana Kunz, Hermana
 Gallagcher, and Hermana Rushton. They’re all from America. Hermana
 Kunz and Hermana Neimela are going to the Peru Arequipa mission with
 me! My companion is going to the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission. Oh
 yesterday we felt an earthquake! It was really small though. A lot of
 the people in my district (district is just a class) had never felt an
 earthquake before so they freaked out a little bit haha. Our schedule
 here is the same pretty much every day.
 The Spirit here is so strong, it’s truly incredible! I’ve only been
 here a week and I have seen so many miracles. I’m so grateful to be a
 missionary and to do this work. I’m not going to lie, this work is
 hard. But it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever loved to do.
 Until next time,
 Hermana Celardo

Hi family! So Im here in Peru safe and sound. We got to the Missionary
Training center last night around 4am.. Its really nice here and I
love the other sisters serving with me! Two other girls are going to
Arequipa with me. Ill be able to talk to you next wednesday for an
hour, but im not sure what time. I dont have much time right now its
only a quick email to tell you im safe, so I will talk to you next
week! I love you mom and dad!  (: Until next time, Hermana Celardo

Farewell

Well, in about 2 hours I'll be set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I'll be in Peru this time tomorrow! Thanks to everyone who has supported me thus far. Your support and encouragement means more to me than you know! For the first six weeks of my mission I will be at a training center in Lima. Here is the address if you'd like to write me!

Sister Natalie Celardo
Lima Peru Missionary Training Center
Av. Melgarejo 159, Urb. Campo Verde
La Molina, Lima 12
Peru

See y'all in 18 months! Love you!

Called to Serve

On August 3, 2015 I received my call to the Peru Arequipa Mission! It is now October and I only have 25 days until I report to the Peru MTC. 25 DAYS WHAT! Things are stressful but I am so excited! I'm so grateful for all the love and support from my family and friends as I embark on this journey. When I leave for Peru my bestest friend ever, Nicole, will be updating this blog for me. If you want to stay updated on my Peruvian adventures, check out this blog whenever your heart desires!

See me open my mission call here!

xoxo Future Hermana Celardo