Hola everyone! I hope you had a great week! These last two weeks we awesome for me! Last week I ate cuy for the first time. Cuy is guinea pig. Its a peruvian delicacy. No joke haha I tell people that we have guinea pigs as pets in the United States and they tell me that thats ridiculous and that cuy is too delicious to not eat.. and the truth is it's actually pretty good! What I am not a fan of is the way it's presented haha they fry the cuy whole, with the head and paws and everything, and then serve it on a plate. The lady who cooked it for us told us that there's a super tiny bone in the ear of the cuy that supposedly brings good luck if you keep it in your wallet. So we found the tiny bones in the ears and now we keep them in our wallets haha. Super weird right? But when in Peru we do as the Peruvians.

So my birthday is this Saturday! In Peru there's a tradition that if it's someones birthday, you crack eggs on their head and shove cake in their face. So I'm sure I'll have really great pics for you all next week. We also have a ward activity and a baptism Saturday, so it should be a great day (:

I want to tell you all a story of one of the members here. His name is Enrique and he is a convert to the church. He was baptized about 3 years ago, and now he has a calling in the church as the elders quorum president. But he has had a rough life, his childhood wasn't the greatest and he was in a lot of dangerous situations at a young age. He also used to be atheist. He met with missionaries years ago and continued to meet with them but never wanted to accept their message. He told us stories of miracles that happened in his life when he started applying the teachings of the missionaries, and he knew there was no way these miracles could have happened without there being a God. So he started believing and came to know that the church was true. This is a very short version of his story haha but it gave me so much hope that really anyone can change. The message that we have really is the greatest message of hope that the world has ever known. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel, of the truth.

Also, another story. Every transfer, so every 6 weeks, we go on divisions with the hermana leaders of the area for a day. So this week I went to the hermana leaders area and my companion stayed in our area. I met an investigator of the other hermanas who got baptized this last saturday, his name is christian. I told him my conversion story and he was really able to relate to me and my experiences as a convert too. He told me that I helped him a lot just by telling him my story. It's moments like these that we live for as missionaries. To be able to connect with these people and share experiences and help them grow spiritually really is the greatest feeling. I can't tell you how grateful I am to be where I am. I've grown so much and in so many different ways. I can't wait to see what's in store for me these next 10 months. Everyday my companion and I teach about Jesus Christ. Through teaching His teachings and also through my trials, I'm getting to know our Savior more than I could have ever imagined. I am not ashamed of the one who saved my soul.

Cuidense (:

Hermana Celardo