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

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good 4th of July! There weren't any festivities here haha but independence day in Peru is the 28th this month so Ill just celebrate then. For their independence day and also for Christmas they have this fruit cake thing called panatone, but its not like fruit cake from home. Its actually really good! Everyone here eats it with hot chocolate. I hope that I can find it in the states when I get back!

Training is going well too! My companion is amazing, she came pretrained to the mission. We are having a great time together and we get along super well. I think I am learning more from training than she is haha. We work really well together in lessons as well, Im grateful for the Spirit that we feel in every lesson!

The area I am in right now is called Las Torres. Its right up by the volcano Misti! We have a sweet view of all the volcanoes here, Misti Chachani and Pichu Pichu. During the day the suns out but the air is cold, and at night its freezing! Theres no heaters here so we just bundle up in blankets every night and its enough to stay warm! The water we use to wash our clothes or to wash our hands is SO cold. Im pretty sure its just melted ice haha but we have hot water in our shower so Im extremely grateful for that!

My Spanish is improving! I have no problem talking about missionary work or teaching lessons or every day talk like little conversations. I can even bargain with the taxi drivers so Id say Im doing well! Its truly amazing that Ive lived in Peru for 8 months and Im already speaking Spanish.

So we had a baptism this week! His name is Luis and hes 9 years old. He lives with his sister, who is our pensionista (the member who cooks for us). Hes awesome! He has a really good understanding of all the basic principles of the church. Im grateful that I was able to teach him and be apart of his baptism.

I think the greatest part about being a missionary is helping people understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and what exactly is their purpose here on the earth, and then watching them apply it to their lives and then seeing their lives change for the better. Its truly amazing. I am a convert to the church of Jesus Christ of about 2 and a half years. When I compare my life before, and my life now, I can testify to every single one of you that I am so much happier now. Yes there are things of the world that can bring happiness, but there is nothing comparable to the happiness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings. I am so grateful for this time that I have to teach the gospel to the people here in Peru. I know that I will never have an opportunity like this again, so Im taking in every moment! I love being a missionary (:

Quiero compartir mi testimonio con ustedes en el idioma de mi corazón(: testifico a cada uno de ustedes que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días es la iglesia verdadera de Jesucristo. Sé que esta iglesia es la misma iglesia que Jesucristo estableció cuando estuvo en la tierra. Al obedecer los mandamientos y al aplicar el evangelio en nuestras vidas podemos llegar a ser mas como Jesucristo, podemos legar a ser lo que el Señor quiere que seamos. Sé que Dios nunca va a darnos pruebas en esta vida que no podemos vencer. Tengo fe que Dios tiene un plan por cada uno de nosotros. Tenemos que someternos a la voluntad del Señor en todo momento para darnos cuenta quien somos, y la importancia y la razón que estamos aquí en la tierra. Estoy muy agradecida por el conocimiento del Evangelio. Quiero compartir todo esto en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Hasta la próxima semana!

CUÍDENSE

Hermana Celardo 

Hello everyone! Well, Im writing you from a new area. I got transferred to Arequipa! Im in a ward called Las Torres in the stake Selva Alegre. Its right near the volcano, Misti. Im also training! Which means my companion is new to the mission so I have to show her the ropes. My companions name is Hermana Estela! Shes from Chiclayo and shes awesome! She came pretrained to the mission, she already knows so much! Its almost like shes the one training me haha. We are opening the area that we are in, or in missionary terms its a "whitewash". Training an opening an area isnt easy, but im up for the challenge. I know that the Lord knows I can do it! But Arequipa is beautiful! There are three volcanos in Arequipa, right now we are closest to Misti, but we can see the other two, Chachani and Pichu Pichu from here. We spent this last week getting to know the members here and getting to know the area! The members here are super supportive and are helping us a ton. The weather here is super weird.. There is sun during the day and when youre in the sun its super hot, but in the shade its super cold. And our room is literally like antarctica because the sun doesnt make it through out window haha. And at night its freezing! Today for Pday our zone is going to have a bbq! Im super excited because I havent had bbq in almost 8 months! And im also really excited to meet other missionaries! This week we get a new mission president! His name is President Johnson and hes from Utah. Im really excited to meet him and his wife! Im excited to see what they have planned for the future of the Peru Arequipa Mission!

My companion and I had a really awesome experience teaching a lesson this week. We had just met this family who is less active in the church and they completely opened up to us and we were able to teach to their needs and help them out. Its moments like this that really strengthen my testimony that I truly am doing the work of the Lord. Every week I am more and more grateful to be here. I am learning so much, I wouldnt trade this experience for anything. And I cant believe I almost have 8 months in my mission, time is passing by so fast.

Anyways, I dont have much time so thats all for this week!

¡Cuidense!

Hermana Celardo

Hola! I hope you all had a great week! I sure did! Before I talk about my week I want to say that I´m sorry if you send me and email and I don´t respond right away. I only I have 2 hours every monday on the computer and we use this time to write our families and do other things concerning missionary work. So if I don´t respond to you right away I´m sorry! Just know I appreciate every email I recieve and I read everything and I´m super grateful to all of you who support me!

So my week.. we found out there´s this little pueblo town about 45 minutes from where we live, but its part of our area! It´s called Ite (ee-tay). So we took a bus out there to contact people. There´s also members out there who showed us around. It´s not very developed and theres a lot of farms and cows everywhere. It´s also right on the beach too.. super weird haha but I love it! We started walking along this dirt road that leads to the main part of the town and we passed by a little school. All the kids came running to the gate to say hi to us! My companion and I definitely look like we´re not from Peru so they were super curious and anxious to meet us haha we felt like celebrities! We walked by the gate of the school and gave them all high fives! It was super sweet. We ended up contacting a ton of people in Ite and we´re going back this week to follow up with them. The problem is there´s no church buildings out in this little town. So to come to church, they have to travel by bus 45 minutes to Ilo. Hopefully if we see some progress, our mission president will open up an area and send missionaries to live out there! We shall see.

I have truly been humbled by the people out here. There are so many people with so many different stories and situations that make me SO grateful to have grown up in California, or just the United States in general. Now that my Spanish has improved I can understand the people here more. It´s truly a miracle that I´ve been here for only 7 months, and with no spanish experience before, and I´m able to understand these people and able to speak to them in their own language and help them progress. I know this would not have been possible without the help of God. I know that miracles are possible in this life. God promises us miracles, but first we have to show him our faith. God cannot grant any miracle unless we show our faith first.

Well, I´m about 99% sure I will be getting a transfer this next week. It has been an amazing 6 months in Ilo! I will definitely miss being by the beach. I will let you all know what happens next week! I love you!

Espero que tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Celardo

Hello everyone! I hope these last couple weeks have been great! They've been great for me! I'm still here in my first area, Ilo. my companions name is Hermana Alais and she's from Mar del Plata, Argentina. She's awesome!! We work really well together. Everyone in the mission says that the missionaries from America and from Argentina get along really well! And it's true! We're working really hard to strengthen the members of our ward. In the mission as a whole, we're working with the members on their family history. Luckily I was able to work on my own family history and figure out FamilySearch.com before my mission. It has been a blessing because I have been able to help the members here with their family history and help them send names to the temple!

On another note, I ate some pretty crazy foods this week. One thing I've learned on my mission is if you don't know exactly what you're eating, don't ask until after you're finished with your food. This week I ate chicken stomach.. and cow intestines. Not in the same occasion but still it was interesting to say the least. I'm sure there will be many more crazy food opportunities in my mission haha. I will keep you all updated on that!

My companion and I had a crazy experience yesterday! We had people contact us. Usually it's the other way around haha as missionaries we are always walking up to random people and talking to them about the church. But these two ladies came up to us, because we look foreign, and asked us where we are from! Turns out she married an American and they live here in Ilo, in our area! We are going to have lunch with them soon. Super nice people! Oh and they also wanted pictures with us because she said we looked like dolls haha.

I just want to express to you all how much I am loving the mission (: it's not easy. But the best things in life are never easy. I've learned so much in my almost 7 months of being a missionary! I know I will never regret my decision to serve this mission. I want to testify to you all that I know that the work I'm doing here in Peru is truly the work of the Lord. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the same church that Christ established when he was here on the earth. I want to share a scripture with you in The Book of Mormon, in Moroni 10:3-5...

"Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall recieve these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall recieve these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ya may know the truth of all things"

I know that every single one of you can come to the truthfulness of this gospel if you simply ask God with a sincere heart. And by the power of the Holy Ghost, you will know.

I hope you all have a great week! Until next time!

Cuídense mucho

Hermana Celardo 

Hey there world! I hope all is well in the US of A. There´s lots of good things happening here in Peru!

So we had transfers, and I had to say goodbye to my companion, Hermana Alvarez. She was my trainer! She was such a great companion. I will miss her! My new companion is from Argentina and Im going to pick her up after Im done on the computer! Im super excited to meet her! She has the same amount of time as me on the mission.

On Saturday we had a baptism! A little boy named Fabian. His dad is a member but his mom is not. We have been teaching him and preparing him for baptism for the last couple months. His baptism was awesome and he even shared his testimony afterwards and told everyone he wants to serve a mission one day!

The weather here is still really hot.. I´m hoping it will get cooler soon. The winter months here are June and July so keep your fingers crossed! This has been an endless summer for me haha.

Something that Ive been thinking about this past week is patience. Definitely something Ive learned a lot about on the mission haha. I gave a talk yesterday in church on patience..and it was all in Spanish of course! In the beginning it was really hard because I couldnt understand anything that anyone was saying to me and I felt like I couldnt help them or teaching anything because I didnt know their language. This put me in a situation where I had to be patient with myself. And now, almost 6 months later, I can understand almost everything! Looking back it was hard, but Im grateful for that because it push me to become better and I had no other choice but to stay positive and endure though it. And I came out of it so much stronger and Ive learned so much! It reminds me of the trials we have in our lives. I know we´re all different and have different trials, but I also know that God is never going to give us a trial that we cant overcome. He knows us so personally and perfectly. He knows what we can handle. I know that God has a plan for each and every one of us. And I know that all of our plans started in the same place; in the presence of our Heavenly Father. And our plans are going to end in the same place too; in His presence. We all start and end in the same place, what happens in this life is literally so small compared to the scheme of eternity. So when those trials do come, we have to remember where we came from and where we´re going. We have to keep an eternal perspective. Alma 34:41 says that one day we will rest from all of our afflictions. I know with my whole heart that that´s true. Sooo keep on keepin´ on and stay patient!

I love you all!

¡Cuidense!

Hermana Celardo

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