Sister Pugmire #7

Family,

this is my last week in the MTC!!!!!! I fly out Monday afternoon for Arequipa. It´s crazy to think I´ll be in my mission soon. Some one told me that the last week of your time in the MTC reflects your last few months of the mission so I want to spend my week working hard.

I hope every one is well, especially with the flight problmes. How´s Grandma Lorriane doing? YOu are all in my prayers and I think about you often. But I try to keep thoughts of home to a minimum because I need to focus on the work.

Today was the best P day ever. My companion and I had a goal of handing out a pamphlet. We have this goal every p day but we never do it. We sat down in a coffee shop in the grocery store and talked to a college student named Grabriela. We taught her the 1st and 2nd lesson, gave her our phamlets and got her contact info, it was our first real contact on our onw!!! when we go out prosyleting on saturdays we make contacts but we always have a latin companion so we don´t do a whole lot of talking. This was different

Speaking of saturdays, this saturday in campoy was great. we went into a few houses and taught some lessons. I didn´t say very much because I was pretty well lost during most of the lessons. One door we knocked on the man just let us in without us saying a word or even getting a chance to. When we got in he told us he had been taught by missionaries before, liked their message and wanted to hear more. he was´t intersted in joining becuase he´s catholic. That´s what everyone says and everyone is catholic. he talked to me the whole time even though I was the only one who couldn´t understand. he said that I reminded him of the missionaires who taught him before because I´m white. We also tracted into a lot of inactive members.

every night Hermana Santa Cruz tells us a story before we go to bed. it´s pretty fun. She makes us actors in her stories and gives us lines to repeat and little actions to perfoms. and we always sing a song that one of the elders translated to spanish called ÿou can dance if you want to¨. Its very silly and very fun.

every day my companion and I have a goal of getting a reference, which of course is always fact (except for today). one day on of your teachers gave us a contact of one of the adminstraters and said that if we went to his office he would act like an investagator and let us teach him. So we did, but he wasn´t home. Instead President Cardon (president of the MTC) came up to us and we taught him! we plan on having the 2nd lesson soon.

So the new white hermanas seem very nice but we don´t talk to them very much cause we don´t see them a whole lot. They´re not in our district. I´m happy to report they are not taller than me. I am still the tallest female in these parts.

I don´t know if I´ve mentioned it before but Granadias are the best fruit ever. I love them and I hope there is somewhere in the US where you can buy them and enjoy this beautiful part of Peru.

I love everyone so much. And I really miss you but don´t want to see any of you we for a while.

con amor,

Hermana Pugmire

ps happy dia de brujas!!!!

Sister Pugmire #6

dear family,

in the last letter from Mom and email from dad they asked if I was getting any of their emails and letters. I found this very puzzling because I thought that I had been thanking everyone for all this in my emails. I´m starting to think that you don´t get my emails! i hope you do because this half hour of writng to you and reading emails is very stressful for me and i would hate to think that my high blood pressure is all for naught.

speaking of which grandma Lorriane is in my prayers. I hope you recover completely quickly.

Congratulations againg to grandpa Pug and Martha. Its crazy to think that there is so much going on at home.

Once again- Mom I get all your letters and I am so grateful for them. I got the birthday card you sent. I also got the letter from Annie with all the pictures of the kids. I love getting pictures, especially of my nephews and neices.

So think week we got a new group of Latinos. This is the group that i´ll be leaving the ccm (mtc) with! entonces, I´ll be leaving the ccm in about 2 weeks!! and I still don´t know spanish. but thats fine

the weekend of general confrenece we had the AMA come and give us medical advice, after the meeting i told him that I´m soppused to be the nurse for my mission. he told me a little about what I´ll be doing and said that I´ll pretty much be the doctor for my area. he said he wishes every mission had a nurse so it sounds like I´ll be able to help a little in mission by using my nursing degree.

My companion started a new game here, that doesn´t have a name. her old district used to play it. here´s how it works:

if you make eye contact with some one you try to be the first person to get your hand to your mouth and make a swooshing noise like you´re shooting a dart. if you get the other person first they have to freeze until someone says ´¨antidote¨¨. its very popular here and kinda frightening because you don´t know who´s playing so your afraid to make eye contact with anyone. I like it

we´re supposed to get 2 new northamerican hermanas tomorrow. I´m kinda bumped to not be one of the only 2 northamerican hermanas, but excited to have them come too. I hope none of them are taller then me because right now I´m the tallest female here. I haven´t seen any females in peru that are taller then me.

Our instructors here are so amazing and so patient with us. did I mention that we are now in the ´´advanced´´ class? yea, that´s crazy because I still feel like I don´t know anything, and am losing knowldge that I thought I had by the minute.

Today I found peanut butter in the store. It was pretty exciting but I didn´t buy any because we´re not supposed to bring food back to the ccm. everyone does anyways but its a rule and I need those blesing. its just good to know in the future I can buy peanut butter.

one Sunday we watched a talk by elder Hollland. It was so great!! I wish you could find it on the church website. it was about how if you come home and go bakc to the person you were before the mission you wasted 2 years. it was so great and I definetly don´t want to come home not changed for the better.

this week we´re going prosylting in Campoy. Our teacher served his mission there and told us some pretty crazy good stories so I´m exctied.

I love you all and miss you very much. THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR LETTERS AND PRAYERS!!! I didn´t realize until now how wonderful they are.

Love,

Hermana Pugmire

Sister Pugmire #5

Family

first of all I miss you all very much, but I´m very happy to do so. My companion doesn´t have a ny home sickness and I think I feel worse for her.

P.s. my companion is wonderful. we get along very well. She´s very easy going and easy to laugh hut she is also very dedicated and wants to be obedient. She has such a strong testimony. Hermana Ali is a blessing to me.

Last Saturday I went prosylting for the first time. we went to a town called Chosika. I was paired with Hermana Cruz because my companion and I don´t speak english. It was such a wonderful experience. I didn´t talk very much but I felt the spirit very strongly. I don´t think I´ve ever had such a strong desire to share the gospel because I care so much for people I´ve never met. we went to a restruarant where they served us salad. which I KNEW we weren´t supposed to eat beucase it´s impossible to completely clean the lettuce. I warned everyone and then I ate the lettuce becuase I didn´t want to waste food. Never again.

I then drink a coke for the very first time in my life because I´d heard mission president´s wives tell me that it kills the bacteria and very thing alse in your system. Thats why you shouldn´t drink that kind of stuff.

Oh, and I hated every minute of it. I never want to drink anything like it again.

many of the elders who ate the lettuce have been throwing up and couldn´t go on the tour of Peru today. One elder even had to go to the hosiptal.

Again, I will never eat something I know it bad for me out of couresty. The church says don´t do it so I´m not going to do it.

The Lima tour was amazng. we went to a beautiful Monestry that was built in the 1600s. I was so amazed. i wish I could show you picutres but there´s no way to do that on these computers and we werent allowed to take pictures inside anyways. We went to the catacombes underneath as well and that was pretty awesmoe. then we went and bought soccor jerseys (well the elders did) and after that we saw the state building and where the arch bishop lives.

The Hermanas latina left yesterday so my companion and I are the only sister missionaries here. we miss the hermanas but thats life I guess.

I lost my toothbrush last week and have been using a paper towel to brush my teeth. Today Hermana Cardon (the Mission Presidents wife) informed me that she had toothbrushes I could take. So I did.

CONGRATLATIONS LARSENS!!!!!!!!!! I can´t wait to share this with my district.

I got the Browns and Lehua´s letter and the birthday card from mom and dad and co. I was very happy to get both. I love gettinh Mom´s letters each week.

I got my early ballot as well. My branch president came over the nect day and i was able to give it to home to send back with some of his friends who leave in the states. I feel very blessed to be able to vote on my mission.

I hope that I get more time in the field to write. I´m out now, please forgive the horrible grammer and confused thoughts. I so much more to say!!! oh well. If I forget I have an eternity to recall it.

Love,

Hermana Pugmire

P.S. I placed my first books of Mormon on saturday

Sister Pugmire #4

Dear Family,

I has been so long since I have emailed you! Atleast that´s the way I feel. Usaully we email on Wednesdays but the internet in Lima has been down for the past 2 days.

I would like to begin by saying that I haven´t read any of the emails sent to me because I´m on a timer and I want to tell you everything I can before I read your mail.

I would like to also tell that I got Mom´s letter on my birthday and it was the best birthday gift I have ever received!!!!

To begin:

My first couple of days here I was with to Latina companions- Hermanas Cruz and Castro. I loved following them around everywhere although I didn´t know what was going on. Orietation was a alittle tought to follow but i basically understood it.

We had our first branch meeting the first night. As I sat dummily pretending to understand my name was called as someone recieving a calling. I stood up and accpeted it but I didn´t have a clue what that calling was. I found out when they me the black binder that I was the cooridating sister (one of two) for a bunch of Latina Hermanas that I don´t understand.

A few nights ago the cooridating sister came into my room and explained that some of the hermanas were having a hard time getting along so we were going to have meeting. My first thoughts were that I was going to get any sleep that night. When we had the meeting I realized that it was a companship having troubles and I immediately remember that we weren´t supposed to try to advise them but just notify the branch president. So I sat there for a while listening to them pour out their feeling foreignly and said ¿oracion? as soon as I found a pause- aka I tried to end it as soon as possible. Pero, I still lost a good 30 mintues of sleep. I don´t think latinas need sleep, or atleast they don´t seem to think that they do.

Yesterday they surprised me with a cake at breakfast and sang happy birthday. They made me a really sweet card and a few of them shared peices of their candy with me for my birthday. It was very sweet of them.

Two days after I got here my companion Hermana Ali came. We knew eachother in the Prove MTC but she didn´t come to Peru with the rest of the group because she didn´t have her Visa yet. She´s alot of fun and I think we work pretty well together. We both love being around the other sisters and are pretty bummed that we can´t sit with them anymore at lunch because we need to sit with our own district. to build unity. On wednesday we went to the Lima Temple and the super market it was so beautiful and wonderful. I really appreciate all the chivlary here. They gave us their tray and tell us to go to the front of the line at lunch, give up seats on the bus for us, and do so many other things that make me want to act like a lady.

FYI- Mom please don't send me any packages in the MTC it´s super expensive and if you want to send a little then use the pouch mail, you can use USA stamps. the address is:

Lima Perú MTC

P.O. Box 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130

I wish I had time to write more about how interesting it is here and how much I love it but I´ve only got 5 minutes and I really want to read your mails Por Lo tanto- good bye.

I love so much,

Hermana Katy

Sister Pugmire #3

Mi familia,

I still havent read any of your emails because I havent been given the ok to spend time reading them. I have been give a little time to write a quick note to let you know Im here and safe. I will give you a quick overview of my trip:

On the ride from Salt lake to Atalana I sat next to an older gentlemen who was once a part of the church but was offended and he left. He actually left alot of Churchs that he was offended by. I gave him a pass along card but didnt talk to him about the church very much because every time he brought the subject up (which he frequently did) he would change the subject as I was speaking. He told me so many things about his life. He told me that he doesnt make friends very easily and that he normally doesnt speak to people on the plane but he opened up to me because I reminded him of a young women he was once engaged to who died! That was very interesting but im glad he felt comfortable around me.

Last night I slept in a room all by myself for the first time since the begining of my mission. Hermana Ali was supposed to fly out with us and be my companion but she didnt get her visa. So toady Ive been assigned to 2 Hermanas from South America and they are very sweet and helpful. I hope I get to spend alot of time with them so that I will be forced to learn faster!

As far as I can tell Peru is beautiful and I feel very blessed to be here.

I got the girls letters, Mary, and I was very proud of them. I showed them off to my companions and anyone else I could. Ill write them back as soon as I can but the mail is pretty slow here.

Love you all so much

Hereman Pugmire

Sister Pugmire #2

Well guys....
I received an email a few days ago to notify me that my visa hadn't come. I was asked to notify my family on my next P Day. Consider yourselves notified.
Yesterday I told I'm flying out to the Lima MTC on Tuesday and was asked to notify my family on my next P-Day. You are now notified.
I AM SO EXCITED!!!! And I'm feeling pretty darn blessed. I've worried more about that visa then I ought to and it's a relief to be on my way.
Sunday one of my companions and I were asked to give the prayers in Relief Society. Kind of a big deal. Sister Sherri Dew was the speaker. Yes that is correct- I said the closing prayer and I sat on the stand with Sherri Dew. It was rather epic and I'm feeling pretty cool.

Sister Dew asked to shake my hand but I said "whoa, whoa, whoa Sherri Dew- CEO of Desert Book and author of President Hinkley and Benson's biographies- not just anyone can shake my hand." Actually I had a pretty lovely cold so I told her it was best I keep my germs to myself. I think that comment made me more memorable.

I think the best feeling that I experince here at the MTC is a feeling of safety. You see, there are no 'sisters grabing sisters bums' at the MTC. I can turn my back in peace.

I'm sorry to write another very short letter. We get a half hour during laundry but I was pulled out because I had a nuring class that started earlier then I had been informed it would. I'm unlawfully finishing this letter now so I can't be as elaborate as I would wish to be. I love you all and miss you but I try not to think about you too much. Mainly I just pray for you and dream about you all.

Thank you Mary for getting your girls letters sent off (I'm assuming you did) it will make me very important in my district.

Erik- I didn't get to read your letter but I did see the beginning off it and I'm happy to hear you're sporting a more missionary look.

OK now I really gotta go. IT's too bad, I really had thought out a lot of fanstastic things to share with you that I'll forget before my next letter.

Lovingly,

Hermana Pugmire

Sister Pugmire 1st edition

Well family it's been week and I caught Tb here at the MTC. I'll probably die in a couple weeks. CHISTE!!!! AKA: Chiste is Esponal for 'just kidding', although I don't know the actual spelling of that. I'm finding out that I know very little about the gospel and Spanish. I want to be better than I am and progress fast then I am. I feel like I'm in one of those dreams were a monster is chasing me and I'm running in slow motion with lead shoes.
I have two companeras. There were 4 Hermanas in our district but Hermana Dopp got bumped up to intermediate Spanish so her companion (Hermana Shelton) became companions with myself and Hermana DeMille.
I got to see Aunt Lynnie during lunch a couple times before she left. She got my lunch schedule and came and found me. It was so wonderful to see her!!! My BYUI roommate and beloved friend Amanda Hill also found me. Apparently one of the Elders in her district knows how to hack into the computer system and found me for her. I am so loved.
I saw Elder Allred from the Stake and Elder Rigby came in today.
Lets see, my Bosom friend Katie picked me up from the airport and we went to Temple Square and lunch before I went into the mission. It was very peaceful and a great breather before I jumped into the compound. Hermana Shelton is going to D.C. South - aka the Riggs mission. I tried to tell her fantastic stories about them but I don't know any that she hasn't already heard. Everyone wants to tell her about how President Riggs likes to stick his finger in your food. Hermana DeMille is going to the Mesa Temple mission. If you see a very little person with very long dark, almost black, hair give her a big smile.
So I'm getting highly distracted because I'm trying to write in the laundry room; therefore I can't think of anything else to say even though I know more has happened.
P.S. write me a letter. My companion gets one every day so you should follow that excellent example. Well I don't need one every day.
I love ya'll very much and want know what's going on with you.
Love,
Herman Pugmire
oh and I attached a picture of me and katie and me and Elder Allred


This is not katy typing...but her wonderful sister, I can't figure out how to attach the pictures to her post...but i will figure it out and do it soon!