Hola mis amigos!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Things are great down here in the wonderful land of Peru!

This week was a good one! After 3 weeks of not going to church, we finally went back yesterday! We didn't have regular church for 3 weeks because there was conferences and also the presidential election in Peru. There's a law here that no churches can meet the day of elections. It felt good to finally go back! Oh I totally forget to mention something important last week.. During general conference the prophet announced that there's going to be another temple in Lima! I had the chance to go to the temple that's already there in Lima while I was in the missionary training center, and it was absolutely gorgeous so I'm excited to see what the new one will look like! There was a temple announced in my mission, Arequipa, about 4 years ago and they haven't started building it yet. But I've heard that there have been some legal issues but that it's getting sorted out so they should start building it soon! On another note, my companion and I found a restaurant that's almost kind of American! They have milkshakes and grilled cheeses! We've decided to go every Pday haha you can say we're pretty stoked! We had our stake conference last week and Elder Uceda of the 70 was there. He came to change the stake president. And to our suprise, he called the father of the family we live with to be the stake president! I really am excited for him and I know he's going to be a great stake president and do great things here in Ilo. The family we live with is so great. They are SO kind and helpful and treat us like their own! I've motivated them to learn english haha so every time we sit down to eat we have an english lesson and try to speak in english as much as possible. It's a great time to let my mind rest from all the Spanish haha.  

I want to share with you all how grateful I am to be on my mission. I truly have learned so much in my 5 short months out here. There have been some hard times, but enduring through my trials and completely relying on the Lord has made me so much stronger. My testimony of the truthfullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has grown immensly. I know that I'm exactly where I need to be, I'm where the Lord needs me to be. There's a scriptue in The Book of Mormon that has always stood out to me. It's in the book of Alma. Alma is talking about missionary work. Those of you who are not familiar with the Book of Mormon, Alma is one of the people who wrote in the Book of Mormon. At first, he was very rebellious and sought out to destroy the church. But he had an experience where he could not deny the truthfullness of the church. In turn, he dedicated his life to preaching the gospel and teaching people what he knew to be the truth. Alma 29:9-10 says, 

"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy. And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

Like Alma, I glory in this work, in the work of the Lord. Perhaps I can be an instrument in the hands of God, too. As I've served these last 5 months, I've been reminded numerous times of my own conversion and of the merciful arm that God has extended towards me throughout my life. I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of about 2 years, but I have seen Gods hand in my life much longer than these 2 years. He's always been there for me and I know He always will be. And I know he'll always be there for you too. The awesome thing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that it does not matter how far away you feel like you've strayed from God, you can always come back and I can promise you that He will welcome you with open, merciful arms. Thanks to the Gospel of Jesus Christ we don't have to feel guilty of our sins anymore. The Gospel is literally SO perfect in every aspect. And I can testify to all of you reading this that there is no greater happiness than the happiness that the Gospel can bring you.

I hope you all have an amazing week!

¡CUÍDENSE!

Hermana Celardo

Hope you all had a great week. Things are great here in Peru! Last week was General Conference for the church and, as always, it was super spiritual and incredible and I learned a lot. Me and the other English speaking missionaries got to watch it in English! I was super grateful for that. We all went to the stake center here in Ilo to watch it. Unfortunately I got sick last Sunday so I wasn't able to see the second half of the first session on Sunday or the whole second session.. But the good news is I survived my first sickness on the mission! And I'm healthy now so life goes on! Something that I learned from conference is the importance of the Atonement. The Atonement isn't just for big sins that we may have committed. We can use the Atonement "to become increasingly more worthy" (Elder Bednar). I loved this because, really, no one is perfect. We're all trying to be the best we can be in this life and thanks to the Atonement we can become increasingly more and more worthy. How grateful I am for this!

My Spanish is getting better! Woo! I can understand almost everything and I can speak pretty fast. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I'm super grateful for everything I've learned until now!

Last Pday my companion and I were talking about desserts from where we're from (She's from Bolivia). I told her about root beer floats and she had never heard about them! So we made cocacola floats last pday and it was amazing! There's no root beer here, so cocacola was sufficient haha. My companion loved it!

This last Sunday were the elections for the new president of Peru. The propaganda here is INSANE! There's signs and music and parades and flags everywhere for all the candidates. Also, there's a law that says no churches can meet the day of elections. So we didn't have church yesterday. And we don't have church next week because it's our stake conference! We will have the privilege of hearing from Elder Usceda of the 70. I'm pretty sure we're getting a new stake president, hence the presence of a general authority!

The work is going well here in Ilo! I absolutely love being a missionary and helping bring people to the truth. I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Cuidense<3

Hermana Celardo

ps it's starting to get cold and humid so here's a pic of my crazy hair

Hello everyone! Hope you´re all having a great week. Things are good down here in Peru!

So this last week we had the baptism of this girl named Carry! She´s 15 years old and she was SO prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. Every time we had a lesson with her she just understood everything and was always super excited to meet with us. She also loves reading the Book of Mormon and loves going to church! The Lord definitely prepares people for us to teach, and for that I am so grateful! Her baptism was beautiful! Carry shared her testimony at the end of her baptism too and that is always a tear jerker for me haha.

I´m officially done with my training! Which means my first 2 transfers are over! Crazy how fast time flies. Me and my companion, Hermana Alvarez, are staying with each other one more transfer since we opened a new area when we came here. We get along really well! We are both converts so that´s been really cool to share stories with each other about our beliefs before we joined the church.

This weekend is General Conference for the church! I can´t wait! For those of you that don´t know what general conference is it´s when the prophet and apostles of the church give inspired speechs and it´s broadcasted throughout the world. There are a couple sessions on Saturday and on Sunday as well. Out here in Peru everyone watches it in Spanish obviously, but us American missionaries get to watch it in English at a church building nearby so I´m super grateful for that! I love conference because it´s a chance we get to listen to the counsel and advice from people who have been inspired by God. It gives us an opportunity to recieve personal revelation and inspiration that sometimes we didn´t even know we needed. 

This last week was the Semana Santa here in Peru, (Holy Week) and basically everyone here is Catholic so it´s a pretty big deal. They even reenact Christ´s Atonement.. we didn´t watch it but that´s just a tradition they do here. And they sell pictures of Jesus and put up crosses everywhere, it´s really interesting to see how different cultures celebrate Easter!

Easter is a super special time because we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ so important? The resurrection is one part of the Atonement of Christ. The Atonement encompasses when Christ suffered in the garden of Gethsemane, when He died on the cross, and his resurrection. Because Christ resurrected, we will be resurrected too. He suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of all kinds so he would know how to succor us in our infirmities, he has literally felt every pain that we will ever feel in our entire lives. Through the Atonement of Christ we can become clean of our trangressions. And when we repent, or become clean of these sins, we are preparing to return to live with God. And thanks to Jesus and his resurrection, our bodies will be reunited with our Spirits and we will live in eternal happiness in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ forever. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of mankind. It is so central to the plan that God has prepared for us. Without the Atonement, we would not be able to return to live with God. I am so grateful to be where I am teaching this principle to the people here in Peru.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week (:

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Celardo

Hey there!

I hope everyone had a great week! I sure did. It is SO HOT here. Especially walking around all day. It makes the cold shower at the end of the day feel absolutely amazing! So my companion and I are moving tomorrow! We are very excited because we are living in a garage of a members house right now. Our new room has a view of the ocean and warm water to shower in!

This last week we had interviews with our mission president. He came to Ilo and each one of us was interviewed by him. It was a great experience to get to know him and his wife more! We will be getting a new mission president in July. All I know is that him and his wife are from Salt Lake!

So this last Saturday we had another baptism in our ward! His name is Davis and he´s about 25 years old. The baptism was awesome! Myself, my companion, and the two other Elders serving in our ward sang a song at the baptism too..lets just say we don´t have the best voices in the world haha but it wasn´t terrible either! There´s a husband and wife in our ward, The Rodriguezs, and they speak English! And they are amazing. They´ve helped me become more accustomed to my mission and just getting used to missionary life. Hermano Rodriguez is awesome at the guitar and is an amazing singer. He served his mission in Paraguay! Hermana Rodriguez is the sweetest lady I know! She is so kind and truly cares about us as missionaries! I kind of love them a lot haha. They are both great examples to me!

I´m going to be teaching English classes with the other American speaking missionaries! Every Thursday night. It should be interesting considering my Spanish is still limited haha.

I´ll be going to Arequipa on Wednesday! Me and another American Hermana that came out with me need to do some citizenship information at the mission home, which is in Arequipa. Should be an eventful day!

Our mission is really trying to focus on family history work! I am familiar with this because my ward at home was big on family history work before I left for my mission. We have little books that members can fill out and include information and stories and traditions of their families. I have started filling one out as well! 

I´m so grateful for the gospel in my life. I know that this truly is the Lord´s work and that this church is true! I know that where I am right now is exactly where I need to be. This work is hard, but Christ gave his whole life for me. If he can give his life for me, I can give him my all for 18 months.

¡Cuidense!

Hermana Celardo

PS:  TOTALLY FORGOT TO INCLUDE THIS!

today for Pday we went to Moquegua, which is another area in our zone about an hour from Ilo! We went hiking to this waterfall! We´re not allowed to swim as missionaries but we all walked under the waterfall in our clothes haha it was amazing! And it felt great because it was so hot! 

Hey there! Sorry I was unable to write a letter last week! Time on the computer always goes by fast here haha. This last week was a good one.

So a typical day as a missionary goes like this:

Wake up at 6:30. My companion and I usually do some workouts right when we wake up, and then we get ready for the day. Breakfast is at 7:30. Then from 8 until 9 we have personal study. During personal study we read scriptures or study Preach My Gospel. Afterwards we have companionship study. During this time we practice teaching and also read our missionary handbook. The missionary handbook just is a general rule book for all missionaries! After that we have our language study. This is the time I get to study Spanish! And my companion studies English. After that we go to our pensionistas house again for lunch. Lunch is usually the biggest meal of the day here. Some of my favorite meals here are arroz chaufa (fried rice) and lomo saltado (I don't know the translation for that haha). And there's also this purple drink here called Chicha Morada. It's made from purple corn and it's delicious. I have no idea if there's purple corn in the States, so if you happen to see some let me know! After lunch we go out for the day. We visit investigators, members, and contact people on the street. We walk everywhere we go, but if we're late for an appointment we can always take a taxi. There's taxis everywhere and they're only about 1 or 2 soles. 3 soles here is equivalent to about $1! The conversion rate is great haha. Also there's these vans that are kind of like buses, they're called cambis, that are only 60 cents. It's pretty easy to travel around here. Also something strange about Ilo, there's a main street called John F Kennedy. Why? I have no idea haha. At 8 we have dinner with our pensionista. Dinner is usually something small like yogurt and fruit or bread with jam. After that, we go back to our room. We have to be in our room by 9 every day, Unless we are teaching a lesson we can be back by 9:30. Then we plan for the next day and get ready for bed. We are busy every day, so it's easy to get lost in the work!

Last week I had the opportunity to go on divisions. Divisions are where you switch companions for a day. I went to another area, Moquegua and I was with Hermana Marshall for the day. And she's from the States! So we got to speak English haha. It was a really great experience and she boosted my confidence a lot in my Spanish!

My first baptism! Ramon was baptized last Saturday! It was truly incredible! After the baptism, he shared his testimony with everyone that was there. You can bet I cried haha. It's amazing to see how a person can change and come closer to our Savior. His testimony was in Spanish, and I understood most of it but the Spirit was most definitely there and everyone in the room could feel that.

I'm grateful for the Spirit. To those of you who have never heard of the Spirit, it's almost impossible to describe and put into words. But when you've felt it, you know exactly what it is. And I know every single one of you reading this email have felt the Spirit before in your life. The Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, testifies of the truth. 2 Nephi 2:4 says The Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever. En Español, 2 Nefi 2:4 dice El Espiritu is el mismo ayer, hoy, y para siempre. Yo se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera en la tierra hoy. Esta iglesia es la iglesia de Jesucristo. Se que El Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios y contiene la plentitud del evangelio eterno. ¡Estoy muy agradecido ser una missionera!

Cuidense mucho,

Hermana Celardo

It was another great week here in Peru! It's been super hot here the last couple weeks. I have some pretty gnarly tan lines on my feet already. We walk probably about 5-7 miles every day. It's good exercise! The sunsets here are incredible. The sun sets over the ocean, so it reminds me of home! Ilo is beautiful, I love it here!

Okay so the food. Rice rice rice and more rice. For every meal haha and they also put Ketchup and Mayo on their rice. And i'm not going to lie, it's actually really good! You should try it if you ever get the chance! There's little food carts everywhere that sell all different kinds of foods. It smells SO good all the time, but we're not allowed to eat it because we might get sick.. They also have little markets at almost every corner on every street. So if I ever need something I can just walk across the street and buy it! I'm grateful for that!

Ramon is getting baptized this Saturday! I'm so excited! It's super great that he's getting baptized, but I think it's even better to see the change in his heart. When we first started teaching him, he was very quiet. But we had a lesson with him yesterday and he was talking so much more and he told us he has been reading his scriptures and he was just telling us how happy he is. The gospel is so true! It's awesome!!

The language is coming..slowly but surely. I still feel like I don't know a lot but when I think about where I was two weeks ago when I first got to Ilo, I've learned a lot! The biggest struggle for me right now is not being able to communicate. But I know with time and patience and more importantly, faith, it will get better!

My companion and I get along really well! She is SO patient with me. I'm so grateful for her! I don't know what I would do without her haha. She's also a convert to the church. She joined the church a little over 2 years ago and she has been on her mission for 7 months. She's awesome!

The people here are very open to hearing our message. They, for the most part, are very religious and love going to church. We've met a lot of people who are Catholic, but not practicing. Even if they're not very interested in our church, they are kind and talk with us for a while. I am very appreciative of that!

I have seen miracles every day being out here. And I know with my whole soul that those miracles are not coincidences. I know that with faith anything is possible! I'm grateful to be here serving the Lord!

Until next time,

Hermana Celardo

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! I spent Christmas in the CCM and they made it so special! At midnight there were TONS of fireworks everywhere! It wasn't just the little ones we usually have at home but the massive ones we have for 4th of July! In the morning our district opened up presents that we had from family members. They made a big lunch for everyone and gave all the missionaries stockings with our names on them. They were filled with candy! It really was a great Christmas and I'm grateful I was able to spend it with my district in the CCM.

That next Tuesday, the 29th, I left for Arequipa! Me and a couple other missionaries took a plane from Lima to Arequipa. Our mission president and a couple other missionaries picked us up from the airport. My mission presidents name is President Zobrist. Him and his wife, Hermana Zobrist, are amazing! I love them! We went straight to the Arequipa temple site after the airport. The church hasn't started building yet because of legal problems..but they will have the groundbreaking soon enough! After that we all went to the main plaza in Arequipa. It's absolutely gorgeous! After that we all went to the mission home and we got our companions!

My trainers name is Hermana Alvarez. She's from Bolivia and she's a convert just like me! She also doesn't speak any English haha so that's been interesting. It's better for me this way because I'll learn the language quicker! My first area is Ilo. It's a small town right on the beach! It kind of reminds me of Ventura. Hermana Alvarez and I took a bus from Arequipa to Ilo. It took about 5 hours. A couple Elders were at the bus stop in Ilo to take us to our room. One of them is from Idaho, his name is Elder Dennis. He's been super helpful! I'm grateful that I have someone to speak English to at the end of the day haha. The room Hermana Alvarez and I stay in is part of a members home. It's pretty small and we shower in cold water, but I'm just grateful we have beds to sleep in and the water is clean enough to use! The area my companion and I cover is new in the mission, so we are basically starting from scratch. We do a lot of street contacting everyday. As far as talking goes, my companion does most of that haha. I can understand more Spanish than I can speak. And even then, it's not that much haha. I know that it will come eventually! I just need to be patient with myself. I consider myself lucky because my companion is very patient with me! For that I am grateful!

Eating here is kind of sketchy, so to stay healthy all the missionaries here have whats called a pensionista. She cooks breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us everyday! The food here is super great. Lots of rice and chicken!

My companion and I slept through New Years haha but we heard lots of fireworks go off at midnight. I can't believe it's 2016! I still feel like i'm in 2012.. Time just goes by so fast. Especially out here serving a mission. Our days are packed. We are so busy that we never have time to think about anything else except missionary work.

On Thursday, my companion and I had a lesson with Ramon. His family are all members except him. This is my first real lesson I have taught! Me and my companion taught the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My Spanish was so bad that the people we were teaching laughed at me haha it was pretty funny. But I was still able to get my point across so that's all that matters! I shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon with him. It's 2 Nephi 31: 13. It's about the importance of baptism and how we all need to follow the example of the Savior and be baptized. At the end of the lesson, we asked if Ramon would be baptized..He said yes!! We were so excited! His bapstimal date is January 16th. There's no greater happiness than bringing people the the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have learned a lot so far in my 2 months of being a missionary! I'm excited to see what Hermana Alvarez and I have in store here in Ilo! This work is hard, but I love it. It's the hardest thing I've ever loved to do.

Until next time,

Hermana Celardo