ONE MONTH DOWN!!!

Hola everyone!!

So how is everyone this wonderful day? How was everyone´s Easter Sunday? Easter Sunday here was beautiful. A little different, but beautiful. Rather than Easter being the beginning of Spring, it´s the beginning of fall here so it´s a little different that way, but really it was great! We had an Easter MTC devotional and we were able to listen to President Uchtdorf and he was amazing! He always has those little sayings that are just exactly what I need to here, "If you want to punch Satan in the face? Preach the gospel!" Isn´t that just so great? It was just what I needed. Kind of a funny little saying, but it´s true.

Anyways, so many awesome things have happened this week. My prayers have truly been answered and I can really feel the love of my Heavenly Father for me. So first off, we teach "investigators" everyday, and the investigators are just our teachers who act as investigators that they all taught on their missions. But anyways, this week my companion, Hermana Hoskins, and I taught an investigator "Gisel" and let me just tell you, our last lesson with him was the most amazing lesson I´ve ever been in! The spirit was so strong, and I was floating on cloud 9 after the lesson. Anyways, after the lesson my companion and I went outside to have a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for being with us during the lesson. And right as we finished our lesson, we had another teacher ask us if we would help him. We said yes, and then he asked us if we would teach a less-active family a lesson. And my companion asked, "A real family?" he told us, "Yes a real family!" So we went on to teach our lesson, and holy goodness! It was so awesome! I taught a real family... IN ESPAÑOL! Isn´t that so great? I was just so happy afterwards. But honestly that wasn't the end...

Our District with Hermana Loyaza
Today we were able to go through the Temple with one of our teachers, Hermana Loyaza!
She told all of us to tell our families Hello!  She's the greatest teacher ever!

The very next day, our morning teacher, Hermana Loyaza (who is honestly my favorite teacher), had a friend who hasn´t gone to church since she was a young teenager and she wanted us to teach her a little more about the gospel for practice. My entire district asked Hermana Loyaza if this was real or if she was just acting. And she told us, no this is real. I asked her to come, so please teach with the spirit. After she said that, I had the feeling that my companion and I should go first. So we did, and we walked down the hall to the other classroom where her friend would be. And we were just about to knock on the door and we looked at each other and my companion said, "Hermana Karratti, what are we even going to teach her?" I looked back at her and said, "I don´t know, but I have a feeling that we´ll be just fine. Let´s just get in there!" 

So, we knocked on the door... "Hola! Buenos Dias! Somos misioneras de La Iglesia de Jesucristo..." Anyways, she let us in and we started the lesson. It was the hardest start ever!! She just sat there with her arms folded and had this blank stare. It was so difficult. Like we had no idea how this lesson was going to unfold. Well, I decided to ask her why she didn´t go to church and she gave many excuses, like I don´t have transportation. I have work on Sundays, and a lot of others. And my companion was right on it. And she asked her to read a scripture out of D&C. D&C 20:75 and this is what it says, "It is expedient tha the church meet together often to partake of bread and wine in the rememberance of the Lord Jesus." 

Once she read it, I asked her how she felt about it, and she sat there silent for about 3 minutes. And then she started crying, and my companion and I looked at eachother and we were just like "Do you feel this?" The spirit was filling that entire room! Oh my goodness. Jessica (our investigator) started telling us that she didn´t feel worthy to be at church. Everyone there seems so perfect and she wasn´t even close to it. I cannot explain the feeling that came over me. I started crying, and I told her, that no one is perfect. I told her that there is only one perfect man who ever lived on the earth. And I showed a picture of Jesus Christ and she started crying even more. I told her how much Christ loves her, and he wants more than anything for her to turn to him. The lesson went on, and we shared our testimonies about the atonement and repentance. When we ended the lesson, she was smiling and we could feel the spirit so strongly in that lesson! I asked her if she would give the closing prayer, and at first she refused, but we told her that she could do it! She ended up saying the prayer, and during the prayer she said, "Thank you Heavenly Father for sending these 2 angels into my life." All of us were crying, and we after the prayer we all hugged and it was beautiful! I felt the spirit so strongly at that moment. We finally looked at how long we had been in there. We were in there teaching her for about an hour. We were teaching a lesson in Spanish for an hour! How neat is that?? I can´t explain the feeling that I was feeling afterwards. But it was truly amazing.

Elder Pawn-Kalilikane and I
He is from Molokai'i and he knows a certain Elder who served in Hawaii.
Elder Karratti came to his house for dinner!!

So, all in all, this week was amazing! We went proselyting in my mission on Saturday!  I have officially been to my mission! And, I cannot wait to be serving there in 2 weeks! 2 more weeks and I'll be in my mission! 1 month down, and 17 more to go. Wow!! Anyways, while we were in my mission, I was taught a lot about my mission.  My mission is one of the poorest missions in all the Lima missions.  The houses that we went in were literally cement floors, cement walls, with a metal sheet as their roof.  It was so humbling to know how much I have at home, and people here seriously have nothing, and they are so happy! How is that possible?

Well, this week was amazing and I cannot wait for more weeks like this.  I love being a missionary, it's the greatest calling in the entire world!  Since I have been here for 1 month, my group is now the advancados here, or in other words, we're the big man on campus. Oh joy!

I Love My District!!

My companion and I are trying to really learn our Spanish even more. For the past week we have been trying to learn 50 new words per day, and it´s a struggle but we have been able to do it! Spanish is coming! Yay!!!

I love you all, and I know that without a doubt in my mind that this church is true. It´s the one and only true church on the earth today. Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers! He has answered mine this week and I´m so happy that he did. I miss you all, and you are all in my prayers. 

I hope this email finds you all well, and you all know that I love you and miss you!

Con amor,

Herm'ANNA' Karratti

Preachin´ in Perú