Cañete Pictures!

I want to go ahead and post some pictures from my area in Cañete, Lima, Peru since I never did send any pictures once I was out in the field.

Photos at this link below!
http://sistermckenziekiser.blogspot.com/p/photos_21.html

Home After 3 Months

So I'm not entirely sure if anyone ever reads or sees this blog anymore. But I guess this post is for anyone who ever comes across it in the future.
There is a reason I haven't posted anything on here since November, and that is because I am back at home off my mission.

I came home after my first transfer in the field in Cañete (6 weeks) on December 30th 2014. In total I was only in Peru for 3 months.

I didn't come home for health issues, physical or mental, or for worthiness issues.  I came home for a couple reasons.

1. I kept feeling like I wasn't suppose to be there anymore. I was needed somewhere else for something.

2. I didn't know until I was out that the mission just wasn't for me. I thought it was before I left. I was really excited, the MTC was great, but I wasn't able to know until later that it just wasn't for me.

So, now that I have been home 2 1/2 months I'm finally getting around to writing a "final statement" post/closing remarks thing I guess.

I DO still have a very strong testimony of this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That He is our Savior. I do know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church here on the earth today and He is the head of it.

Although a mission wasn't for me I still think of the things and people of Peru often. And I still keep in contact with my MTC district and other Latino friends I made in the MTC.

A mission is a very worthwhile thing for people to do and I fully support all those who go.

I am currently teaching the "Institute" class for my Stake's Singles' Branch here in Montana and I am really enjoying that.

The Church is so true and I am happy and doing well being home.

Officially Started My Mission!

11-19-2014

Today is not my normal P-day in the mission anymore, today it is just because of transfers and coming out here. So after this week it will be on Mondays from now on.

I didn´t write out any points this week or pre write my blog so it is going to be kind of brief probably. I´m not sure.

But I left the CCM yesterday morning early. Went about 35 minutes to the mission home, met up with all the other North American missionaries that are new that came from the Mexico CCM and we had Capatación (training) pretty much all day.We had a short interview also with our Mission President to see who we would be good to be companions with and what area of the mission we needed to go to. I was actually the first one he interviewed out of about 40 or so missionaries. I got my assignment and left yesterday around 4:45 in a taxi to the bus station, then we rode the bus for about 3 hours. And now I am here! ...Now that I postponed where I am long enough I will tell you.

I´m in CAÑETE! It´s pretty close to the beach along the coast. We actually planned in our zone meeting today to take one of our P-days in Decemeber and go. Which will be way fun. I´m actually in a smaller little area of Cañete called Imperial. You can all go look it up on Google Maps if you desire. It´s quite different here. I have decided I´m never complaining about pot holes or a bumpy road ever again because a guarantee all the roads here are awful. Imperial has a lot of dirt roads as well. (Which I did expect to some extent) But it is pretty poor here too. Its interesting because there is a ton of run down buildings with dirt roads and garbage and dead animals everywhere in one area and not that far away is another more public area that's a lot nicer and not that bad! Also, there are a zillion dogs, and they KEEP THEM ON THE ROOFS here! Very interesting. But I am embracing all the cultural aspects of it while I am here.

OH, so I thought it was going to be an adjustment to be in a companionship instead of in a trio like I was in the CCM, but guess what? I´m in a trio YET AGAIN. I do have mixed feelings about this but I am determined to make it the best! One of my companions is from California and the other is from Mexico City. They have both been out almost a year and have been in a companionship for like 3 months.

Our apartment is quite nice! Hermana Saucedo (Mexico) said it is like New York. It actually is very clean and quite nice. Very small, but nice. I will send pictures next week. I didn´t know we were stopping here to email so I didn´t bring a way to send pictures. (I´m sending this email from a small room/street store thing. You just walk in and tell them you want an hour and then they unlock one of the computers and put your time on it. There is about 12 computers in here that just basically go right out into the street.I definitely haven't seen anything like this before.

Church wise, I had a District and Zone meetings today. I understood most of what everyone was saying but speaking correctly is difficult. I don't know near as much as I thought I did. But it is okay. We just barely were standing in the street, my companions and some other Hermanas from the zone were getting ice cream and this lady just comes up to me and asks me if we come visit people at their houses! Of course I said yes. But after that I didn't understand much else she said.So the other Hermanas started talking to her and got her information since she lived in their area.

This week I leave as a spiritual message just my testimony because I don't have my english scriptures to look up a scripture to have the exact quote and I'm sure you all don't want them in Spanish.

My testimony is this. I KNOW this church is the true church of Jesus Christ here on the earth today as it was when he was on the earth. It has brought me a lot of peace and comfort and knowledge to know where I have come from why I am here and where I am going. I know Jesus Christ is our older brother and our Savior. That he suffered and died for our sins so we would be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven. I know this mission is going to be the most difficult thing I´ve ever done but it is so worth it to me to go without the comforts of the US for 1.5 years so I can preach the gospel and help bring others to a happiness that I have and a knowledge that I have and ultimately be able to live in the presence of Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

With Love,

Hermana Kiser

Lima South Here I Come!

November 12, 2014

So this week the new Latinas got here, and they are AWESOME!! They are all super nice and we have become actually really good friends with them. It’s nice, because the last group of Latinas hardly talked to us even though we tried to with them and kind of ignored us, but these ones are VERY willing to interact and be friends. It’s great because they want to learn English and we want to learn Spanish so we just help each other out!! One day we spend like 1.5 hours talking to them and learning different words, talking about insects and critters here in South America and they also were helping us learn how to roll our Rs better! I wasn’t very good at it before I got here. The only way I could do it was if I sounded like a machine gun. The Latinas gave me a little riddle that helps and I have gotten SO much better and can actually do it with words now. 
Its "r con r cigarro. r con r barril. rapido corren los carros y las ruedas del ferrocarril.
I will definitely miss these Hermanas for sure. Two are going to Bolivia La Paz mission but one is going to MY MISSION, Lima South! :)
One Hermana, who I talk to the most, Hermana Lopez, from Colombia, always shares her candy with us, and the other night she gave me her bracelet from right off her wrist. She is so cool and sweet. I pray that I will get a companion as patient and chill as her.
So this Sunday Elder Evans is coming to the CCM. I guess he's in the 1st Quorum of the Seventy, right under the Apostles as far as missionary stuff goes. But nobody knows who is speaking in sacrament meeting with him this Sunday, so we all prepare talks and then they call us up right then and there (very much like the Hunger Games) so this week since I am an Advanzado I have a VERY high chance of getting called on. It would be cool to speak with him, but I am very nervous as well, because of course, it has to be in Spanish! On the upside of him coming I am singing in the choir that day, a super beautiful version of "I Need Thee Every Hour".
So since it is Spring it’s the time of new life here! This week I found a nest in a bush at about waist level with a momma and 2 baby birds!! They are SOO cute. I definitely check on them every day. ha-ha :)
It’s weird to think this is my LAST EMAIL FROM THE MTC!! Next week at this time I'll be who knows where within the Lima South Mission, with a completely new companion! :) I am VERY ready to get out of the walls of the MTC, but I am definitely not prepared. And I am going to miss my district here SO much. They are all such a great bunch of Elders and Sisters. If I could I would totally serve my whole mission with them. (But I most definitely do want to have Latina comps too though). Goodbyes here won’t be fun at all...
Well, I've had a splendid time here at the CCM in Lima, now it is time for my mission to REALLY begin!
I hope all is well wherever you all are! Remember you are a child of God and he loves you SO so much and wants the best for you.

Love, Hermana Kiser :)

                       Baby birds I found in a bush here. Havent named them yet.

Lima Peru Temple

My district with our morning teacher Hermana Oliveros at the Lima Temple.

I am an Advansado...! Only 2 more weeks in the CCM!

Not a whole lot happened this week at the CCM... or at least that I care to disclose in this blog ;) haha So I am just going to do a couple bullet points of things I could come up with. And AFTER there will be some pictures because we just found out we can now email pictures!!  :)

 

--This week one of my companions accidently pulled a chair out from under my other companion and she fell to the floor. I felt awful, but I'm not going to lie, I thought it was quite hilarious.

 

--We had the delectable churros in the cafeteria here TWICE this week!

 

--I have now tried asking 2 North Americans where they are from in Spanish, thinking they were Latino, only to get a completely clear answer of California and Salt Lake in English.  haha Whoops!

 

--I saw a big slug today at the Temple

 

--The new Hermanas got here last night and one is from Cardston, AB!

 

--The CCM President and his wife are nice, sometimes, but they are super scary. 0.0

 

Yep, thats honestly all I could come up with for this week... Its just been classes and practice teaching! Pretty routine...

 

I hope you all enjoy the pictures and have a wonderful week!

 

Hermana Kiser

 sisters in my district also all my room mates. 

                                                     the beds is of course my room

 

a picture of me with the soccer field.

The flowers are here at the MTC. I just liked them so thought I'd send them 

the 3 of us (my companionship) at the temple 

district selfie at the temple 

 the one of all the people  in front of the MTC sign is my district doing the "page 33" sign with straight faces. this is a MTC joke. Page 33 is the page in the missionary handbook that talks about interactions of elders and sisters. 

 

the one building of the house is just becuase. its a nicer part of town, just an example of what a house looks like.

 

the street and palm trees was out the back of the bus today on p day.

Excerpt from email to family 10-29-2014

10-29-2014

I don’t do a mass email; I just have people look at the blog. I am SOOOO so happy that I came to this MTC. The Lord definitely knows what he’s doing in all things. I met a kid from Pocatello, he’s a newbie, and he went to the same HS as Trevor and knows his little sister Ashley! Kind of cool. Also a girl here went to the same HS as Aubrey from my HU soccer team. And there are currently 2 kids here from Montana. One is from Billings the other from Great falls.

 I play soccer every day!! I made a bicycle kick goal the other day. And everyone thought it was the coolest thing ever. One teacher told me last week his dream is to be able to play soccer with me, and yesterday he did! ....I still have a cool head and am not cocky, but to be honest all the Latinos love me since I play soccer. :)

I am DEFINITELY getting enough to eat. Probably too much! And one of the CCM (MTC) rules is to eat all your food. Sometimes it’s hard because we don’t dish it up ourselves, the people working in the Cafeteria do.

I have been healthy! Although I eat a lot of beets! But it’s all good. ;) But I feel great! I haven’t had a single head ache yet!

My comps are from Rexburg and North Salt Lake. Vanessa South and Jennesa Coleman. If you want you can look them up on FB. Ha-ha

Studying is WAY easier than at home! It’s weird. Of course all we do here is church stuff so it’s totally normal.

Tell grandma hello and I love her! :) 

Well love you guys!! :) Tell everyone hello

The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. (10-29-2014)

The days run together here. Its hard to remember what day’s things happened. I COULD look in my journal but I don’t really have time for that. ...but today, and maybe more emails, I’m going to use a series of subtitles and describe those things, not necessarily having anything to do with events. 

My Companions:

Everyone always says being in a trio is super hard. But what of us? We get along really well and haven’t had any problems. Hermana Coleman and Hermana South are the best that I could ask for. We get along so well that we have some odd things we do. 1. We have a handshake. 2. We have a quote wall in our room for all the funny/stupid/fantastic things we say. 3. There is a picture of a hand heading into the bathroom and it has a bunch of cartoon germs on it. We each picked one and named it. Mine is Calvin and the other 2 are Eli and Steven. 4. We beatbox/hum/sing (rap) together. We got some pretty cool rhythms going right now. ...We have a ton of fun. Don’t get me wrong though they are both spiritual examples to me and we study/teach a lot too. We always talk about how blessed we are to have this companionship. 

Food:

We’ve had carne and pollo saltado many times this week and it is the best! Also, the ice cream is way good here too... my vegetables of choice that they serve here? Definitely beets! I LOVE BEETS! None of the vegetables are raw they are always cooked. ...At home I didn’t like apples very much but here, they are quite good! Also, bananas at home make my mouth itch, but not here! :) 

Out and About:

Monday and Tuesday this week we got to go on a "field trip" and leave the CCM. Monday we went to Migrations (I have no idea what it was for and what we did there. Nobody said and nobody spoke English, whatever it was its helping us to be able to get our Visas to stay here I think) And Tuesday we went to Interpol (which was at the National Police Place or something). There we were finger printed and we gave them other papers, I don’t know what they were exactly. They also checked our teeth, which I guess was in case we die they use it to help identify our body. Crazy as all of the papers and stuff was and not really communicating well with people other than pointing and some Spanish words I feel really good like everything is well taken care of. 

Traffic:

People drive nuts here!! I would definitely never survive. I think that a huge reason why it’s not a driving mission. And there are bunch of super old, cobbled together crappy cars, but there are some sticking nice ones too! Like Mercedes, Porsche, a lot of Nissans etc... It’s just crazy to see the little 3 wheeled taxi car things (which are really motorcycles with bodies) driving next to nice sports cars. Also, they have traffic cops here. And what’s WEIRDER is ALLL of the ones I’ve seen, except one, have been women!! Common things you see in traffic; round abouts, HUGE speed bumps, and jam packed busses. And everyone here honks, a LOT... for not reason.

Common American Places I’ve seen

McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, Chilli’s, Hard Rock Care, Gold’s Gym, and a bunch of nice car dealerships. Also they have Pepsi here, but NO MOUNTAIN DEW! :O Pepsi, but no Pepsi products?! What the heck. But it’s good... I don’t need that anyway.

But out of ALL this week, there was one experience that was the absolute best! We (my district) were sitting in class one morning and we heard the voices of children. For a moment we got super confused because obviously there aren’t any kids at the CCM (MTC). So our teacher told us real quick that sometimes the primary kids from the nearby stake come to visit to kind ofish take a tour. So we got super excited and we rushed to the door. When we opened it, there was a huge line of Peruvian kids. The little girl directly next to the door as we opened it screamed while shaking her hands in the air with the biggest eyes of excitement. I literally felt famous for a second. So our district went out into the hall along the wall to say hello. They all then went to each one of us and shook our hands. Some of the little kids even gave us hugs. Then all the adults with them gave us hugs, did that whole side cheek kiss thing too. (That will be something to get used to) But they said 'Gracias' into our ears with the most gratitude I’ve heard. I will never forget how excited those kids were and how grateful they seemed. They were all so stinking cute too!! It makes me super excited to get out into the field and have a ward I go to and will get to know the members and kids there.

Its weird I’ve been here almost a month. It feels like hardly any time at all. Even though I’m tired all the time and having classes over and over all the time, I am definitely enjoying myself here :) Hope all is well wherever you all are! Feel free to email me (posted on this page) with any questions or anything. My time to write is short (only 1 hour) but I’ll do my best to reply! 

Love, Hermana Kiser 

Scripture for this week... We’ve been using this chapter in our lessons a lot lately... 

Ether 12:27 (Book of Mormon)

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.