Hermana Jill Fleming Is Coming Home!!

See that girl on the right? That's my sister Jill. And she arrives home from her 18-month mission in Peru on Wednesday morning!!! The time has flown, but I've missed her so!!!

Sunday Chatter

Jill & me

Sunday was Mother's Day. And Johnny and I have two wonderful mothers that we wished we could have been near.

this photo says it's from March, but it's from earlier this month

We did get a fun treat, however, when we got to chat with my sister Jill, who is on a mission in Peru! She Skyped with my parents, and my parents videochatted me so that I could be a part of the conversation. I loved getting to hear Jill and see that she's happy and healthy. She has already grown up so much since leaving on her mission. She has the best attitude, and I loved every second of hearing her talk about her life in Lima. Here were some of the highlights that I found interesting:

• For the first time in her life, she has lice! Some of the places they teach are not very sanitary, and she thinks that's how she got it. Right now she's using dog shampoo, but my parents are shipping her some medicated shampoo right away.
• Hardly any of the toilets have lids. They are just bowls, and many times they aren't cemented into the ground. She has to be careful not to topple over when she goes to the bathroom!
• She has a huge lunch, and that's the main meal for her each day. She and her companion rarely eat dinner. 
• She is never in short supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. However, the missionaries can't eat the lettuce in Peru, and they aren't allowed to buy food from street vendors.
• She is in a "wealthy" area right now. She said being wealthy in Peru means you actually have a car---something most Americans don't think twice about.
• Jill gets a lot of comments from men when she and her companion are out and about. She is so much taller than everyone else in Peru, and she looks very American. She wouldn't tell us what they say---I didn't like hearing that men say things to her. Gross.
• She loves the food, but she misses the variety of dishes that we eat in the US.
• Everyone greets each other with a kiss on each cheek, even upon first meeting. Jill loves this, and she said that greeting a person with a handshake seems so stiff now. 
• She loves Peru, but living there has made her very patriotic. It has made her really appreciate the USA.

Not all of my siblings were on the line, so I wanted to share these things so I would remember them. I am so proud of Jill, but I sure do miss her!!! 

Hermana Jill Fleming

Today my 21-year-old sister, Jill, went into the missionary training center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.

She'll be there for three weeks, and then she heads to Lima, Peru, where she will spend all her time sharing the gospel for the next year and a half.

I recently went down to Alabama for a few days to see Jill and the rest of my family. Jill and I got our hair done while I was down there, and we had an opportunity to talk about Jill's mission with our hairdresser and some of the other ladies in the salon. They couldn't believe Jill was going to be in Peru for a year and a half! They had all kinds of questions for Jill, from how she would pay for her mission to where she would live and whether she would know anyone in Lima.

Growing up in Alabama, I always shied away from talking about the church I went to because I knew that many kids at my school had heard negative information about Mormons from their pastors. Now that I've gotten older and lived outside the southeastern United States for several years, I've come to realize that people's religious intolerance shouldn't make me uncomfortable to talk about my religion. So it was with enthusiasm that Jill and I discussed her mission with the ladies in the hair salon in my parents' small town in Alabama. The women seemed so excited for her. It made me so proud of my sister. There aren't many people who would be willing to drop everything for a year and a half to serve their church!

I'm really going to miss Jill!!! But I am really proud of her and so excited for all she is going to experience in the next 18 months!

If you want updates on Jill, I'll be keeping up her blog here.