Monday, December 28, 2015

Hello family!!  I hope that all is still going well.  It was great to talk to you even though the connection was pretty bad almost the whole time.  

So this week teaching wise was a little bit tougher because of Christmas because people went shopping others were traveling so it was a bummer ,,, BUT, It ended on a high note.  So when we talked I told you we had a lesson with a guy from Ukraine and his wife from Perú.  We went later that night and it was awesome.  They are really excited to learn more.  In the first lesson we watched the Restoration in Russian so our investigator could understand it better.  With Spanish subtitles.  They liked the video and to end the lesson he prayed in Russian.  When he finished I said I did not understand a thing you said but it was perfect!  

They went to church yesterday for the second time and we had a lesson with them again in the night.  In the lesson we explained the Restoration a little bit more so they could understand it.  His wife started talking at the end that she had been searching for a church for a while and asked God for a church.  But it couldn't be any church because her husband doesn't speak Spanish.  So when they found our church and the missionaries speak English and some members she said it was like an answer from God that they should go there.  We invited them to baptism and they accepted!  So hopefully they keep on being so excited and can be baptized on the 16.  They are seriously so cool and after they gave us food from Ukraine and it was good.  And I know how to say delicious in Russian now.

One funny story. On Christmas we were on my ward mission leaders balcony watching the fireworks and his two year old son shut the door.  It was a sliding glass door.  And then my ward mission leaders wife called us all back inside and my companion didn't notice that the door had been shut.  So he turned around and started to walk the other way BUT....  there was a glass door in the way and BAM.  Nailed it.  I fell on the floor laughing because it was hilarious.  Seriously so funny.  

That is the news from this week family.  I love you all and hope you have a great week and a happy new year!  I love you all!

Monday, December 14, 2015

If I had to sum up this whole week in one word it would be SERVICE.  We did  a bunch of service projects this week.  We had one where my companion and I had to clean out a big pine tree and it was rough.  We took turns climbing up the ladder to clean out the tree and the other person had to stand below and hold the ladder and just get rained on by branches and dirt and bugs so that was interesting.  I am going to send a picture of what the hermana gave me so that I was protected from all the dirt and needles and everything.  

We also did a service project as a zone.  For this Christmas, president wanted us to do a service project from 4 to 6 hours.  As a zone we found a project in one of the sectors of my district.  We were going to clean out the stadium of this city.  It wasn't much of a stadium it was a grass field to play soccer, with a track around and it had a pool and basketball courts so it was pretty big.  My companion and I started pulling out all the weeds around the whole field.  We had a shovel and a pick axe type of thing and we started working and it was tiring.  Then we had to clean out the pool.  There were about 8 of us that had to clean out this pool that hadn't been used in over a year.  It was huge.  We had to sweep it.  Then we had to scrub it with brooms and soap and spray it off with a hose.  It was very tiring.  It is a good thing that the sun wasn't out that day.... oh wait.... it didn't matter because I still got fried!!  It was bad.  My neck the next day was hurting with a collared shirt.  It didn't feel to good.  But oh well, I am better now.  

This past week it was also cool because we got to go to the temple.  It is a long story because it was a little rough getting there  but it was great because two converts of my companion from this ward were able to go to the temple for the first time!  One of the was a girl who waited 4 years to be able to get baptized.  She has read the Book of Mormon like 4 or 5 times, finished her personal progress before she was a member and is just full pilas.  And the other lady is awesome too! she is a little bit older but she loves the church and she took 5 names to the temple and has a calling in the Relief Society!  It is so awesome to be able to go to the temple with converts!  The spirit is so strong and they come out of the temple just shining.

I guess we have to coordinate the skype.  So we still have to find members that will let us use their computers but what time is good for you all?  don't know why I asked because I know you are going to say at whatever time.  But I will talk with members next week and tell you all the time next Monday.

I love you all!

 

Monday, December 7, 2015

So this week was another week that absolutely flew by!  It is crazy how fast the weeks go.  And it was fun because we got to teach the people with the ha nacido un salvador - the new video that the church released!  It is so wonderful because hearts can be softened this time of year.  There is a special Christmas spirit whenever we have the opportunity to talk about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

Speaking of that, the Christmas devotional was great!!  One of my favorite parts was when Elder Bednar was talking about the signs of Christ and what the Lord said when he came to America.  THE LIGHT.  Christ is light of the world.  In any place that is dark the Lord Jesus Christ fills it with light.  I had never thought about that before.  All the signs of light...  A day a night and a day without darkness.  A new star in the sky, etc...  Then Jesus Christ said he is the light and when he was crucified there was darkness in the world.  That is the part that hit me the most in the devotional is that JESUS CHRIST IS THE LIGHT.  

This week was another good week with _____.  He is progressing so well!  So I think it told you all last week that he smoked because it was the only thing he could do to keep himself calm.  Anyways we told him that between each time he smoked to make it more time than the last time.  So on Sunday we told him that and on Monday he came into the lesson we had and he told us that he had not smoked the whole entire day!! My mind was just completely blown in that moment and the joy in his face and the joy that we felt in the room was incredible.  We saw him almost every day of the week and we played soccer with him too!  He is the best and we are going to the temple with the ward on Friday and we are hoping he comes with us!

This week I also had the blessing to baptize someone.  In my district we are 9 missionaries.  Me, my companion and 7 hermanas.  So I do all the baptismal interviews in the district and sometimes the hermanas need someone to baptize their investigator so since I did the interview a week ago their investigator chose me to baptize her.  It was a great blessing.  It is always the best to be able to participate in a baptism.  

I hope that you all have a great week, be safe, have fun and share the gospel with someone.  I love you all!!!!!!

Monday, November 30, 2015

Sounds like you had a good thanksgiving!  We had a good thanksgiving!  We went to a restaurante with our ward mission leader.  Pollo a la brasa.  It was great.  He payed and everything so even better!!  haha but it was a good day.

So this week our goal was to contact everything that moved.  And we did it.  We had a TON and I mean a ton of contacts.  The bummer is that not a lot of them live in our sector because if people are here they are working or on vacation but we did find a few people.  But the cool story from all the contacting was someone that the hermanas from our ward contacted.  His name is Felipe.  He has had some big problems in the past with the word of wisdom.  He was good for a couple weeks but he was going to fall again.  He had already made the decision.  When he was about to buy some stuff the hermanas contacted him and gave him a card with a picture of Jesucristo.  After the hermanas left he stood there for 30 minutes looking at what he could do and looking and the picture of The Savior. He decided that he was going to walk away and change his life.  The next day he called the hermanas and committed himself to come to church.  On Sunday he went.  For all 3 hours.  And we had a lesson with him because it turns out he lives in our sector.  He is awesome!  I have never in my whole mission seen someone who wants to change so much.  We have lessons with him just about every day this week and he is probably going to go to the temple with us to be outside on Wednesday.  Seriously it was such a miracle that they were able to find him this week.

Also, another cool thing that happened is that we went to the temple and in the session that we were in el obispo Waddell was there with his wife.  It was a cool experience to be in a session with a general authority.   That was about it for this week  I hope you all had a great thanksgiving and know that I am thankful for you!!

 

Monday, November 23, 2015

Hello family!!  Buenos dias.   One weird thing that happened this week was that about 5 people got mad at us in a two day span because we don't watch the news.  With the whole France thing they all got mad because we didn't know about it and they asked us and we had no idea what they were talking about and so they all got mad and lectured us about how we need to watch the news.

One good announcement.  So my ward mission leader is from Perú but he has lived in Utah for about 20 years but is here for 3 years working then back to Pleasant Grove.  So he has developed American traditions one of them being Thanksgving.  We have one American Elder in the ward.  ME.  And 2 Hermanas that are from the United States.  So our ward mission leader on Thursday is going to take us out to eat so that will be awesome.  

From this week we found a new investigator that is awesome!  He is this little old man and was super interested.  The first lesson we gave him was just reading the Book of Mormon.  3 Nefi 11.  We read it and the spirit was so strong.  It was incredible.  He accepted a baptismal date for the 19 of December and he said I am going to go to church with you guys tomorrow.  We said we would go get him and he said I will be here ready before you get here.  It was true.  We went and got him yesterday and we went to church and he loved it!  That was a great blessing to be able to find him.

One other thing that happened in our ward is that they changed the limits where our sector and the sector of the hermanas starts.  They cut a part of ours out and gave it to the hermanas and gave us a part of the hermanas sector.  The only problem is we had a bunch of investigators in this part that they cut out but oh well.  We will just have to find more to teach!  The leaders are called of God so I will trust in them and their decisions!!

We had a Multi zone this past week with President and his wife and it was awesome.  There is a video coming out for Christmas so get prepared.  We were able to see it but it comes out in a 6 days.  Get prepared, it is a good one!  Tthat is about it for this week family!  I love you all!  Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Monday, November 16, 2015

This week was a bit tougher than the last ones.  A bunch of appointments fell through this past week so that was a bummer but here in the mission we just have to keep on trying.  If we get down on one week the next one will be that much worse so we just have to keep on trying.  

This week was quite interesting in our room.  Haha so I had been sleeping on a very dirty mattress without a cover, but with a blanket covering the mattress and my sheets on top of the blanket.  And the mattress cover was full of garbage in the patio area of our room outside.  The room was not used for a long time so when the elders that cleaned it out didn't have any trash bags they used the mattress cover.  But Hermana Larson found out and I soon had a new mattress but all is well.  But this past week we threw out the big bag of garbage when it was dark so nobody saw us.  After that our sink broke where we used to wash the dishes.  So now we have to wash our dishes in the shower.

So since this area is full of tourests my companion said that sometimes we run into members from the United States and they want to buy us food.  And last night it happened.  We ran into this guy that called us over and was from Ogden but here for work for a day.  We talked for a little, I translated for my companion and then at the end he was going to buy us food but 1/ sabbath day.  2/ we had an appointment but hopefully this week we run into a member Monday through Saturday, that would be nice haha.  

There is a lady that we are teaching that could be baptized but is super sick.  The doctors know that she has a virus but don't know what virus it is.  For a month she hasn't been able to keep like any food down.  But we went over and we are going to read with her every night from now on so that she can have the desire to get baptized once she is better.  But the first night we went over to her house we started talking about guinea pigs and I told my story about my guinea pigs and she started laughing so hard that her stomach started to hurt again and she almost threw up.  Sorry kind of gross but it was funny.

One postive thing from this week is that we contacted some pretty cool people.  People that were excited to hear about the gospel.  One thing that I already knew but strengthened my testimony of is that if we serve people they will be more wiling to listen to the gospel message.  We were in a building on the fifth floor last night and these two guys in their twenties were taking a couch down to the first floor.  So when they first saw us they didn't really want to talk but we said that we were going to help them take the couch down and while we were taking it down we were talking and by the time we finally got to the first floor and we had taken the  couch out they were grateful and they were willing to listen to us.  So it is just like Ammon when he served the king Lamoni.  first he served, then he preached and converted.

Anyways, the time seriously flies by.  So many people are getting home but it is great to see the testimonies they have gained on their missions.  The mission is the best preparation that any young person can have for the rest of the eternity.  

Monday, November 9, 2015

So I totally jinxed myself.  Last week I said that I didn't want to get sent to a rich area here in the mission.  Well, me tocó.  I got sent to Santa Cruz.  Miraflores.  Which just happens to be like the richest and biggest sector in all the mission.  The video that we me and my friends made before the mission with all of our mission calls where it has the ocean in it and the coast - that is my sector.  Also if you want, you can put Larcomar which is a touristy spot in my sector.  

So anyway, I am here in Santa Cruz. The work is super different.  The people here are so cold.  For like the first time I am getting doors shut in my face.  Not just shut like people yelling.  We say buenos dias and buenas tardes to people and they don't even respond.  In the really rich areas apparently we can get tickets for talking to people and contacting them.  It is so different from my other sectors.  I must say that as far as that goes, I like my other sectors better where it was poor and dangerous.  Mom, don't worry about me getting robbed or anything.  With that being said, there are not a whole lot of people that we have right now to teach.  But this week we were able to find 5 new investigators.  So I guess the work will be steady and slow but we just have to work.   Haha we are in the richest sector but our room is not very nice.  Probably the worst one I have had haha.  Not complaining but it is just funny.  With the mixture of fungus and other bugs, won't be surprised if I get sick but oh well, the Lord protects his missionaries.  Another downside of this sector is that everything is wayyyyyyy more expensive.  Like super expensive so money will be a little tight.

My companion is awesome.  Seriously he is such an example for me.  He has 3 months in the mission and just barely finished his training.  His name is Elder Guevara.  He is from Bolivia Santa Cruz and has about 18 months being a member. He is the only member in his family.  What absolutely blows my mind is that in May of 2014 he was baptized.  One month before I left for the mission.  He has so little time but knows so much and loves the church and the Lord.  Seriously he is awesome.

As for the work this week in the sector it was a little slow.  It is a lot different from my other sectors.  The sector is gigantic and there are a lot of people that are here just for vacation.  It is tougher to contact because there aren't really a lot of houses.  More buildings and to enter in the building you have to know somebody so it is tough.  But this week we were able to have some success so it was good and next week will be even better!

Monday, November 2, 2015

Hola familia.  Another change has come and gone.  So fast.  Tomorrow we have changes.  This time it is more probable that I will have a change.  But who knows, maybe I might get lucky!  No offense here but hopefully I don't get sent to a rich place. 

Here this week there was more Halloween celebration than there was last year so that was cool.  There were a whole lot of little kids running around asking for candy.  We handed out pictures of Jesus Christ to the people that asked us.  Most of the members here think that you can't do anything for Halloween and that it is super bad to dress up and do all that stuff so I had to answer a lot of questions about Halloween in the states with the members.

This week was good.  I went and did another interchange with one of the elders in my district.  But before the interchange we had a service project in their sector and we were on the mountain moving big boulders.  It was hard and I got really burnt but it is ok.  Hopefully I will get dark.  

I love you all   Have a good week.    Elder Baker

Monday, October 26, 2015

So this week was awesome!  Yesterday we had a regional stake conference for all of Perù and all of Bolivia.  It was directed from Salt Lake City.  Elder Nash, Elder Soares, Elder Andersen and Hermana Esplin all spoke.  It was a good reminder for all the members here of what we need to do and the sacrifices we need to make to be able reach all the blessings of heaven. And it was fun to hear the Spanish of apostles.  Elder Nash spoke good.  Elder Soares did too - he is from Brasil, and Elder Andersen mas o menos.  But good for someone who served a mission speaking French.  Also Elder Juan A Uceda spoke.  He gave the members here 5 things they need to do.

1.  Put a picture of the temple in your house somewhere visible.

2.  Buy your temple clothes.

3.  Fill out the booklet of Mi familia. 

4.  Obtain and not let expire your recommend

5.  Go to the temple regularly.

This week I went on an interchange with an Elder from my district.  Elder Patiño.  It was great!  I was in his sector and we had a lot of success.  One thing is there is a convert from their sector and after he got baptized he fell in the Word of Wisdom.  So we found him and we dumped out the alcohol he had and took him back to his house.  We found him again in the morning and dumped it out again and went and bought him a little fruit juice instead.  But the thing that I learned from all of that is that Heavenly Father loves all of his children.  It doesn't matter who they are or what they do.  He loves all of them and we should to.

We had a joven in our ward who was accompanying us that is preparing to go on a mission.  We went and taught his friend and it was awesome.  We taught him and the spirit was so strong the whole entire time. He accepted a baptismal date for the 28 of November. So that will be such a good experience for this joven to baptize his friend before he leaves on the mission.  

The church is so true.  Every time I testify it is so clear that the church is true.  I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Buenas tardes!  Como estan todos?  This week was great!  To start off, I got the package!  Thank you mom, that package definitely saved me yesterday during lunch because the people we had lunch with forgot and they weren't there so my lunch was some, a bunch, of Oreos!  But hey I like Oreos so I was fine with that.

We had a super cool experience this week.  We have a new goal for contacting people in a week and so we were in the street contacting people and we ran into a couple that was carrying household objects in the street so we ran over and asked if we could help.  At first they kind of rejected the help but then after we insisted and insisted they said ok ya, you can help.  Then they said you guys are Elderes right?  And we said yes and they started to tell us about how they lived in Maranga before and they were going to get baptized but they moved.  So we got kind of excited and we asked how many are in their family.  SIX.  Seis.  Wow.  So we helped them moved and then we taught them a lesson and they are super happy and they have a desire to go to church and learn and they now have a baptismal date for the 21 of November!  It was such a blessing!  They are awesome and we were so happy that we stopped to help.

Immediately after this lesson we had an appointment with this guy who was going to be a new investigator.  We walked in and he said, my family is also interested in listening!  So three other people came and sat down.  Turns out they had a cousin who served a mission in Mexico.  They were really interested and we have another lesson with them today in the night time.  

Last night we had a lesson with a part member family who went to church and they had received lessons for a long time.  Anyways, we explained the plan de salvation and they really liked it.  They said that it was the first time they understood anything about it.  Before that, the missionaires had taught about it but they didn't understand anything.  After we left, their daughter who is a convert, sent us a text saying that her parents were super happy and they were actually excited about everything.  

Haha Carla, our convert got called on out of nowhere in the Sacrament meeting to give her testimony and she looked at us and said i hate you.  Haha she thought that it was us that had planned it but we had no idea.  But she gave a great testimony.  She is doing great and her testimony is strong.  We are now also teaching her cousin and her aunt.  

All is well here in Zarate.  Time flies by.  I love you all!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Helloooo family!  Glad to hear that you are all doing alright.  I am doing great!  This week we had a baptism .  It was an awesome baptism.  She shared her testimony after and it was super strong.  I think that I mentioned to you that her boyfriend lives in the United States because he is studying but he called before the baptism and thanked us for the work we had done so that was cool.  It was funny because Carla was saying that she didn't want a lot of people to be in her baptism.  Did not happen.  There were a ton of people.  All the family of her boyfriend went and a bunch of people from the ward so it was FULL.  But its ok, that is how we wanted it in the first place haha.  Anyway, she is doing good and progressing and now her family is interested.  

We challenged the members of the ward council to each week bring 1 reference to the consejo.  Then we set the goal with them as 50 for each month.  So we didn't reach 10 but we saw some progress!  A bunch of people had talked with a neighbor and we got a couple of references and one of the members took us to their friends house and we taught them and they were super interested.  A lot of times here in the mission the people don't really act until you ask them to.  But then there are a lot of people who are willing.  This is what we have learned.  When you invite the people, they do it.  It was a good challenge and hopefully it can spread to the rest of the people that are in the ward.  Missionary work is a lot easier when you have the help from the members.

So today our p-day got cut two hours short.  From 10 to 12 we went as a zone to one sector to find new people.  So we were all in the street knocking on all the doors on each street.  I was not excited to do it at first but we were able to see just how many people are actually willing to listen to the missionaries.  It was incredible.  There are so many people but we just don't think to talk to them sometimes.

Last little miracle of the week.  We were far away from our sector today in Miraflores and we normally take a bus back but we were a little behind so we took a taxi and I had very little money haha.  So we got in and the guy told us that he was searching for a church.  Then we explained our message to him and he liked it and he said that 2 hours before he prayed to God asking for him to send people to preach him the gospel.  So he took us for his answer and the missionaries are going to go visit him.  Then because we were his answer, when we got to our destination, we didn't have to pay!  That guy was so cool and I hope that the missionaries get to his house with the direction we give them.   Miracles exist. 

Monday, October 5, 2015

Hello family!  This was a great week.  How can it ever be bad when you have general conference to listen to?  The talks were awesome and it was cool to be able to see 3 new apostles but also sad.  You could tell that all the general authorities were saddened by the loss of the apostles.  The talk about the sharks was one that I liked a lot.  Good interesting story but my favorite session of all the sessions was Priesthood.  It was probably one of the best Priesthood sessions I have heard.  One quote that I liked was that If we put in our best effort, God will add his powers to our effort.  That means a lot especially as a missionary because we always have to try to do everything possible in the short time we have.  Honestly these past couple of weeks we have been full.  We have not had enough time to do everything.  I wish there were more hours in the day.  

On Wednesday we had interviews with the Presidente!  Normally in the past we have had like 2 minutes to talk with him and then that was it.  But this time we all got more time to talk so that was fun.  The president is awesome.  And I got to talk a bunch with Hermana Larson because she was testing all the Latinos English and they didn't understand that much and she didn't either when they spoke spanish so I was the translator for a little bit.  

But ya, all I have to do is teach a class every week in District meeting.  It is difficult to teach the gospel to other people who teach the gospel all day every day but it makes you learn a lot.  I also just have to call everyone to make sure how they are doing. If they need anything and all that stuff. 

Ok, before I forget, in President Uchtdorf's talk he said the word FLAMED.  He said something about internet and that word so my question is what does that mean?  Is it a new slang or something?  Because he said that and me and all the other elders just looked around kind of confused because we had no idea what it meant.

Also this week we were just teaching _____, our investigator who is going to get baptized this Saturday.  Well when I say we were teaching her I should say she was teaching us.  She knows pretty much everything haha.  And she is giving us references and we are going to baptize her cousin tambien.  Other than that it is a little sad, our convert Samantha is going to Chile for two months.  She is going to work because they pay better in Chile than they do her in Perú so she will be gone and I probably won't see her again until I end the mission.  

Seriously being here in the mission you just develop a love for the people.  It is awesome  I love it here.  Being able to help people change their lives and just better themselves is the best thing that I could do.  I hope that you are all doing good and having fun and working hard.  I love you!!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Dear Baker Family,

 I wish to take this opportunity to inform you that Elder Baker has been assigned to serve as a District Leader in the Peru Lima Central Mission.  He has distinguished himself as an outstanding teacher and as a diligent worker.  He is a great example to his fellow missionaries and has gained their love and respect.   His worthiness and leadership abilities are a tribute to himself and his family.

 Elder Baker will lead a district which will consist of four to eight missionaries.  He will have the stewardship of administering to the spiritual as well as the temporal needs of his missionaries.  He will meet with these missionaries on a weekly basis to train, uplift and edify them.   As he serves, he will gain valuable experiences which will assist him in the future as a husband and father, and in leadership callings in the Church.

 I appreciate your continuing support of him as he serves his Father in Heaven here in the Perú Lima Central Mission.  We pray that you, with him, will “lift up your heart and rejoice,” for the hour of this important phase of his mission has come (see D&C 31:3).

 Warmest regards,

 Stephen J. Larson

Presidente

Misión Perú Lima Central

Monday, September 21, 2015

So this week was good.  One cool story...  To start off.  There is a lady that works in our sector but doesn't live there.  She lives about 2 hours outside of the mission.  Anyway, we have taught her and she liked the message but she always said that the church was not where she lives in jicamarca.  And she said that there are not missionaries.  Anyways, this lady had a big problem that happened where someone went to take a car to their lot (they rent out a little lot they have so people can put their cars in there) and someone brought a car that was robbed but the owners, our investigator, didn't know that.  So they stored it but the police came and took her husband to jail.  So we talked to her and were trying to help her and she said that she really felt our spirit and she wants to learn more and she took the Book of Mormon to her husband and he is reading it.  Ok, so we had an intercambio and I was kind of questioning it because we had already had an intercambio and there wasn't really a reason for it.  So just about the whole entire day nothing happened.  I was still questioning the reason why I was in the other sector.  But then in the very last hour of the day this mother and her daughter stopped us and said that they were members in JICAMARCA.  My mouth completely dropped.  I could not believe it.  So from them I was able to get the direction of the church over there and the number of the missionaries and now they are going to go and visit her.  So The Lord answered my question that night about WHY I was in the sector Las Flores all day long for "no reason at all".  Haha I immediately just thought.  Sorry.  Shouldn't doubt.  So my testimony grew this week that the Lord puts us in the place we need to be and the time we need to be there.  

That was one story this week.  Another story is from the intercambio also.  When my comp and the other Elder were going to the sector I was in to change again they got in a little mototaxi and the guy in the mototaxi started talking to them and he got interested in the message and said he wants us to go to his house to visit him.  Anyways, turns out his mom, was a lady we already knew!  One of our investigators and this guy is married and has 4 kids!  Seriously it was such a miracle.  I dont think I will ever doubt ever again the reason for an intercambio.  

One more exciting thing is that Samantha, our recent convert, had an interview with the bishop on Thursday.  She had the interview and we are going to the temple with her on Thursday.  Honestly it is such a good feeling when a convert goes to the temple and you can see their progress.  They always tell us here in the mission that we should start with the end in mind.  Or that we should imagine our investigators in the temple.  We imagine them in the white clothes of baptism and in the white clothes of the temple.  I also like to throw one more thing in there....  The white clothes in heaven.  It is nice knowing that the people I am teaching can grow to have a testimony and serve in the temple for the rest of their lives to be able to become perfeccionados.  Don't know how you say that in English so look it up on google translate haha.  

Also, I might have a change.  We have changes tomorrow and they are going to tell us tonight if we have changes or not so I will find out later if I will continue in Zarate or no.  but just like I learned this week -  A donde me mandes, ire.  (Translated by Mr. Google:  Where you send me, I will go.)  

Monday, September 14, 2015

Ok, so this week was great we had one baptism!  Samantha.  It was cool because her son baptized her who just got back from his mission!  The spirit was so strong during the baptismal service.  We were scheduled to have the baptism at 5.  The bishop told us at 3:30 it would be sufficient to fill up the font so we went and it was not sufficient.  They had recently changed the font and put new tubing in or something and so we went there with an hermano and he didn't really know how to work it.  All my baptisms in this sector have been in the stake center but this was in our ward so I didn't know how to work this font either.  But luckily la hora peruana (basically Mormon standard time in Peru) exists here because just about everyone came late so we had time to fill up the font.  If they hadn't come late we would have been done for.  But it all worked out ok and the spriit was strong so it was all good.  

Also, this past week we had a training with President Larson.  It was awesome, we were there just about all day.  It was a good experience though.  And I think it was Hermana Larson who made chocolate chip cookies and WOW, that was heavenly.  I had not tasted a chocolate chip cookie in about 15 months so that was incredible.  That was awesome.  It was a good meeting.  We met with the president and we had hours of training and practices so it was a full day and tiring day but it was good.  

I love you all.  I hope that you have a great week.  You are my favorite family in the whole world!  

Have a great week! 

Monday, September 7, 2015

Happy September to everyone.  This past week was awesome and to find out that BYU won it got even better!  On Saturday night, the secretary of the mission called us and said that he was just informed that BYU had won the game on a hail mary pass in the last second.  So I found out just about right after it happened haha.  I thought he was going to tell me something important but nope haha, just that BYU had won the game.  Well, that is important, but important mission-wise.  

First story, ok so this week we had a list of people that we really just wanted to focus on.  One of them is  _____ .  So she is going to get baptized this Saturday.  I don't remember if I told you all about her last week but her papers were lost and she went less active.  But her son got back from a missin and she now wants to get baptized!  So that is pretty cool for us.  We were focusing on her and her sister-in-law is a member also, but her daughter no.  And her sister-in-law came up to us on Sunday and said, "Elders, I want you to baptize my daughter."  So we obviously replied that we were happy to do that haha.  So this saturday it looks like we are going to have two baptisms!  

Also, this week, we are going to possibly have 5 reactivations.  That is when someone is less active, but then we find them, they start going to church and then we teach them all the lessons and they have an interview with the bishop.  This week we are possibly going to have 5 of those!  So hopefully that all goes well.  

On Wednesday we had a nice surprise.  Well, Tuesday night.  The zone leaders called on Tuesday night and said that we were going to go to the temple the next day.  So it was kind of a bummer because we had to cancel all of our appointments but it was cool because we got to go to the temple!  It was so nice to be able to go to the temple.  Seriously every single time we go in it is so peaceful.  I love it.  Because once again, Lima is so busy and there is no silence ever so when we have the opportunity to go to the temple it is incredible.  I always think of the primary song I love to see the temple.  Because here you are in a bus on a road and BAM the temple just kind of pops up out of nowhere.  

That is about it from this week.   I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that all goes well.  I love you!

Monday, August 31, 2015

So this week was just awesome.  It is hard not to have just an awesome week when an apostle comes to your mission!  It was so cool.  So Elder Wadell and Elder Bednar ended up coming.  It is cooler meeting with them as a missionary than it is in gerneral conference because they can be more loose and be themselves.  So weeks before Elder Bednar came he sent us a couple of his talks to read and to examen so that we could be ready for when he came.  So we had to study them and when he got here he asked what we thought about them and what we wanted to share.  Most of the time he made us do the talking.  He would ask us questions and we had to answer them.  Then after a while we had the chance to ask him questions.  I didn't answer any of his and he didn't call on me.  We were about 700 or 800 missionaries and I was in the back but it was still awesome.  We got to hear the voice of an apostle.  What the hermana of our mission told us was that even though we were in the back we still got to hear the voice of a prophet.  The world had gone so many years without a prophet on the earth so it was a privilege just to be able to hear his voice.  

This week we had another cool experience.  So another joven in our ward got home from his mision from brasil and we were talking to him and he said his dad was visiting for that day and that he wanted us to teach him.  So we got to teach a lesson to this kids dad with the kid.  Because he hadn't been released yet so we all had name tags on so it was pretty sweet.  It was crazy, because they always tell us that we should love the people as if they were family.  And I could see how we should really act if we actually think of the people as family.  Because this youth was teaching HIS dad.  At the end it was so powerful when he bore his testimony to his dad.  It was awesome.  The kid's dad afterwards went back to his house that is hours away from here but at least we could plant a seed. 

Also, another cool experience happened yesterday.  So a missionary got home to our ward 3 weeks ago and we went to teach his mom yesterday.  Turns out that everyone had just told us she was less active and didn't go but ever since her son got home she has beeng oing to church and so we went to visit her yesterday and turns out she isn't a member.  She was but her papers were lost so she needs to be baptized again.  It was a great lesson.  Because once again we were teaching with a recently returned missionary who wants one of his parents to join the gospel.  Two times in one week!  Seriously those lessons that we had were super cool and super powerful.

We also had a reactivation this week.  An hermano who is less active and his wife are listening to us and the husband was reactivated yesterday.  He also has a powerful testimony.  We were talking about it saying that it was sleeping and he just had to wake it up.  We were teaching him and his wife and his wife's sister and her husband and it was a lesson to all four of them but then he started teaching too.  And he showed that he has a testimony deep down inside so that was a cool experience.  It made me remember that everyone has the light of Christ.  No matter what anyone does it will never go away.  We always have a part of him in our lives.    Those are the main stories from this week.  I hope that this next week for all of you is wonderful and that you are all healthy and safe.  Love you all!

MORE PICTURES AT THE BOTTOM AFTER THE ENTRIES. 

Monday, August 24, 2015

Hola mi hermosa familia, I hope that you all had a wonderful week!  Here in Zarate I had a good week.  We just got to work again and had another great week.  This week we just really focused on inviting people to get baptized.  We did GOOD with that so that was fun.  We had a bunch of people accept but the only problem now is that they need to go to church.  In my mission I have seen that this is a struggle of a lot of people.  hay a lot of people that want to listen and they accept and they like the mensaje but they don't have that big of a desire to just go to church.  The church for my ward is a little bit far.  We have to leave the mission every single week to go to the church so that is a littl exciting.   Anyway that will be our focus this week, getting people to church because that is what we need.  We have people accepting now we just need to get them going.  Faith needs works too.  

Ok, so we have been teaching a less active family ever since I got here.  They have been less active for a while because they had some problems with certain members in the church and for this reason they don't want to go so this whole time we have been trying to help them get over the awkwardness of seeing these people and up to Sunday it had been to no success because they haven't really wanted to go.  THEY CAME.  it was serioulsy a miracle.  Mom, like you said that you were turned around every 15 seconds looking to see if they were going to walk in, that is the life of a missionary.  My neck always hurts after the meeting because I turn around so much to see if a family is going to walk in.  Right now the family is contemplating a baptismal date for their son that is 10.  He wants to, but now we just need the permission of the parents.  So hopefully that happens and hopefully they keep coming back to church.

So also, I have some super exciting news...... WEDNESDAY  Elder Bednar is coming to visit us!!!  We have a meeting with him on Wednesday with our mission, the south mission and the west mission.  And the CCM.  It is going to be huge but I am so excited.  Elder Bednar, Elder Soares and Bishop Stevensen are all coming!  It is going to be so cool!!  An apostol is coming to the mission!  We had a meeting with our president on Friday to prepare us for it.  We are all super excited.  it is going to be a once in a lifetime experience.  Love you Family! 

Monday, August 17, 2015

Hello family so I was actually really nervous about this past week because I was getting a new comp and we didn't have a lot as far as investigators go because we just had three baptisms.  So, change meeting and I am sitting really close to Elder Aroni and we were talking and they announce the changes: Elder Baker va a recibir... Elder Tauma.  Elder Aroni (I trained him) was companions with Elder Tauma in the CCM.  So Elder Aroni looked at me and was like en serio???  It was hilarious!  So I already knew my companion a little bit so that was cool.  But anyway we hit the ground runhing.  It was such a good week.  We got to work.  I honestly dont know if I have ever been so tired here in my mission just from walking around so much.  But it is awesome.  Especially on Saturday we were seriously just exhausted.  But then every time we are exhausted it makes you feel good because you know you worked hard.  And I remember that when I was set apart as a missionary in the blessing he said that if I work and am obedient the Lord will give me energy to keep going the next day, IT'S TRUE.  Seriously it was awesome.  I would wake up in the morning and still be tired (because you are always tired in the mission) but I somehow would just go and do it.  

My companion is Elder Tauma from Chachapoyas Perú.  It is the first time that the country where my companion is from has repeated.  First Bolivia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Perú, Estados, Y ahora otra vez, Perú.  He is awesome.  He is 21 and was baptized about 5 years ago.  He is really little so it is fun sometimes, I feel like a giant.  

So this week we focused a lot on finding and inviting to baptism.  We were able to compltete the goals that we had in both of those categories.  So that was fun.  Also Frank, my convert, was confirmed yesterday and then got called up in sacrament meeting to give his testimony.  He is seriously awesome and he has a big testimony.  Everyone tells him that he is going to be big in the church someday.  I told him that in a lesson and he told me that in his interview with President Larson, that President Larson told him the same thing.  Va a ser grande!  

Last night we also had a lesson with this little old lady who is less active but mostly just because she can't go to church alone and her son doesn't really want to go right now.  She is a lady that is normally really hard?  Like, hard to crack.  And she likes to make jokes and not really be serious.  She told us about a problem she had and she was fine up until the very end.  We started teaching her and she cracked.  She told us more of her story and she just started crying and it was really sad, we helped her out and gave her a blessing, then after that my companion and I sang a hymn for her.  Soy un hijo de Dios.  And like you all probably know when I sing I like to just mess around and do whatever but man I don't know if a choir of angels was helping us out or what but we sounded pretty dang good. haha Singing is cool and invites the spirit even though I am not the best at it.

Anyways, that was this week.  Haz lo justo!

Monday, August 10, 2015

So pretty much this week was just awesome!  It is hard not to have an awesome week when it ends in three baptisms!  Frank was baptized.  The whole week he was so excited and then on Saturday he worked until  late at night.  We honestly were not expecting him to come to church he even told us he wasn't sure if he was going to go.  Then with about a minute left he walked in.  It was seriously so cool!  We were so excited to see him.  He sits down and just goes I am so tired.  But happy to be here.  He said he was only going to stay for an hour so he could go home and sleep but then the classes came and he stayed for all of them.  He is seriously so awesome.  He showed up early to his baptism and was so excited.  Afterward he shared a powerful testimony about prayer and that God really does answer.  Two weeks ago we had a class in church about how we should wake up early and that we should pray early and that the spirit can be there and this past week Frank did that, woke up early prayed and said that he received a clear answer.  Seriously I would hang out with him at home, we get along so well.  I know that I knew him in the pre earth life. I am so happy that I am here in this part of the world and have the opportunity to know him. 

Ok, now for Ana and Jennifer.  So they are sisters 26 and 15.  They are a reference of members and are the sisters that I wrote about last week saying that they lived outside of our sector.  So it turns out that they actually have a house inside of our sector!  It was so cool, when they told us that my companion and I looked at each other and we were like no way!  So we got to have 3 baptims this weekend!  Basically the whole time they just accepted everything!  They were reading praying and going to church and it was seriously perfect.  They were excited to get baptized and they are already saying that they want us to teach their family and their friends and giving us some references.  So we will see if it works out with any of the references they give us.  

Basically now that they are baptized we don't have that many progressing investigators so we are starting from almost 0.  We have to find a lot of people so hopefully this week we will be able to contact people and people that are interested!  

Last Monday we went to Rodizios and it was incredible.  Basically everything here is just rice and chicken.  So to go to Rodizios and just eat a bunch of steak and meat was awesome.  I was full for a couple of days.  

Today it was weird.  We were in the rich part of Lima so a lot of tourists.  Like A LOT.  We got on a bus and I payed the guy and he gave me the money back and said come on in Elders!  So first of all that was just cool.  After that we started talking to people that were getting on the bus and we ended up  helping these tourists from Germany and Italy who spoke English find their way of where they needed to get off.  It was cool.  There are opportunities in every moment to share the gospel.  

That is all I have for this week.  Love you all!  

Monday, August, 3, 2015

This past week was Peruvian Independence Day and here they celebrate it for 2 days - the 28th and 29th.  So It was kind of a long week.  Everyone went out of town the past weekend and so they weren't there until Thursday then the ward went to the temple on Friday so then there wasn't any body that day either.  So some parts of the week were kind of slow.  But other parts were really good.  

First of all, Thursday Fran had an interview and he passed it to get the priesthood...  So he has one week and a half of a member and he got the Aaronic Priesthood.  So that was really cool!  We are planning on trying to go to the temple with him on Friday but we will see what happens.

 

Next, ____, the investigator had an interview with the mission president on Sunday so he could be baptized.  We were waiting in the offices and they came out and he had such a big smile on his face.  He was so happy and it was incredible to see!  Seriously he came out and he was completely 100 percent happy.  He is so ready.  We are going to have his baptism this weekend!  We can't visit him as much because he started a work schedule where he is working Monday through Saturday from 6 in the morning until 10 at night.  But he has sundays free so that is important.  He is really excited and we are too and this week will end in a good way!  

After that we had two sisters that were a reference of members.  Anyway, we were teaching them and thought that all was going well, they work in our sector and had gone to church in our ward.   We were teaching and they were really interested.  But then we found out that they don't live in our sector....  It was such a bummer.  Because they accepted a baptismal date for this Sunday.  So we have to pass the reference to the elders in their area.  it is right next to ours so we will still be able to see them get baptized.  At first I was really sad that we were going to pass the references and not have the baptisms but then thinking about it I know that God is a God of order.   And his church is a church of order.  Everthing and everyone has their place and we need to obey.  So thinking more about that it made it a little less of a bummer to pass the references on.  But ya, that is about it, tonight we are going to meet with them one more time to get all their information and pass it on.  

That is about it for this week.  So have fun, be safe, choose the right.  I love you all!  

Monday, July 27, 2015

The news from this week is definitely the baptism.  Fran was baptized!  It was really crazy though, first off we had to do it in another building because ours was shut for maintenance but we got there and we were setting everything up and we had it planned with another ward but then a different ward showed up saying that they had the baptism for their daughter planned.  So they made this whole big deal about it because we were in the building and they had their baptism and they reserved it.  So we were saying ok, start your baptism because we had all apparently planned it for 5.  So they weren't starting and weren't starting until it got to 540 and I pulled out the dad of the family and started asking him if they had a program set up and he was like no, we don't and then he said that nobody was there from their ward so they couldn't start it so I asked him if we could do ours and he said yes, so then we got ours done and WOW.  It was wonderful.  The spirit was so strong in the room.  When he was baptized it was incredible.  There was just a warm feeling in the room and he was so happy.  His family was there and they aren't members but they really liked it and said that they felt good.  Everyone always feels good at the baptisms.  So that was an awesome experience.

Next I will tell you all about ____.  He is our investigator that is progressing a ton and he is so cool.  So he is still reading and doing everything and this week.  But on Sunday he started working at like 4 in the morning and he ended at 2.  So another ward starts at 230 so we were going to take him to that.  Normally when people work late night or early morning they prefer sleeping over going to church but we called him to see if he could go and he said yes.  He didn't eat lunch and didn't want to sleep so he could go to church so he can get baptized.  His baptismal date is for the 8th but he is about to start a crazy monday through saturday work schedule and the 8th he won't be able to so we possibly might be moving his date to this Sunday!   He is already ready to be baptized.  We taught him all the lessons in the first week that we knew him.  He is having some problems right now but it motivates him that much more to go and get baptized and do everything in the church.  Teaching him has literally been such an incredible experience.  I will be putting in pictures of the baptism of Fran and a picture of me and ____.  

And another cool thing is that Fran was a reference from a girl who lives in the ward who recently got baptized and that same girl brought two more friends to church the other day who are also interested in learning more.  Everything is so much better in the mission when the members help you out.  Your life is made so much easier because if people have a friend they are so much more likely to listen.  

Monday, July 20, 2015

Ok, so I feel like you all won't be able to understand how good this week was.   Seriously it was a complete turnaround from the last week.  It was incredible.  I think that I told you last week about the guy that went and searched for us at church the last sunday.  Ya, so we contacted him and put the baptismal date with him in the first visit and after that he wants us to come back and visit him EVERY SINGLE DAY.  It is awesome, I wish it was like that with all the people that we teach.  Anyway, one day we were planning on teaching the word of wisdom, we went into the lesson and he started asking questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and all those types of questions so we were answering them and we started getting on the topic of how Christ commanded his disciples to go to the whole world and preach the gospel.  We started talking about our mission as missionaries and it was awesome.  I pulled out the picture of me with all my friends and started saying all the missions that we are in (all over the world) and I started saying that really the mission can be hard but if we can just help one person it is all worth it.  And then I told the story of the dirty little Irish boy and seriously the spirit the whole entire time was so strong.  After we finished the lesson this guy told us that out of all the lessons he had listened to from the missionaries that this was the most powerful lesson and that he thinks that is his answer from God.  So ya, it was a good day.  He came to church all three hours and loved it.  So all is going well with him and the 8 of August is his baptism.  

After that, we had a lesson with an investigator that has been progressing for the past couple of weeks and it was also another good one.  he told us that in his past he had some problems with these things but for a while now he had been trying to live these standards even though he didn't know about the commandment.  It was incredible.  He is seriously so ready.  He is reading and praying.  He is going to be baptized this Saturday so it will  be cool.  After his baptism there is a dinner that the stake planned for the converts and investigators and we are going to eat and watch Meet the Mormons.  So that will be a memorable day for him.  Hopefully all goes well this week so he can get baptized.  

Also, we had a family night with this one family this past week that is less active but super close to coming back and we made tacos with them.  They loved them.  And I took my can of salsa over to their house and they loved it so it was a successfuly night.  They have two daughters that havent been baptized but are going to be soon.  Seriously this week was incredible.  We got a lot of work done and this week will also be good because it is always good when you end with a baptism.  

Monday, July 13, 2015

Ok, so this week was kind of tough up until Sunday.  We had a baptism planned for Saturday and our investigator didn't answer us the whole entire week. We were going to baptize him, both of our appointments fell through and then we received a call on Saturday...  He was calling to say that first of all he couldn't call because he didn't have credit before and then after that his kid was sick and in the hospital the whole week so he couldn't meet with us so that was kind of rough.  But hopefully this week we can put a baptismal date with him again.  

Other than that the week was just tough.  We didn't have a lot of lessons, a bunch of lessons fell through, some people don't really want to listen so I am not going to lie, I was pretty discouraged.  Until I was asked to give a spiritual thought and I came across D&C 18 where it talks about the worth of souls and how we wil have great joy with the people even if we just bring one soul to our Heavenly Father.  So then I was thinking and thinking about how we have one investigator that is progressing towards his baptism so well.  Like he is really excited and just is loving everything.  We had a lesson with him and the whole time we were asking him if he had any quesitons and he kept saying no no no and so then after all of it I was ending saying well, this is what we wanted to share, in the name of..  and he cut me off!  Then he started to say that he feels really good and that is why he pays attention so much and he likes the Book of Mormon and that he has always been searching and so then he said and pointed to his chest, I feel really good in my chest.  Like a little burning and in my head.. BAM.  So I then pulled out the scripture where the Lord is talking to Oliver Cowdrey and he says that if it is right he will make it so you have a burning in your chest.  He read that and was about speechless and just said wow.  There was an incredible feeling in the room and it was awesome.  

So that lesson that we had was during the week but after that not much happened in the week, so like I said I was discouraged BUT.  Sunday came.  In sacrament meeting we got pulled out saying that someone wanted to talk to us.  We go out and there was a guy standing there who said that he was going to church in another place but moved and he said that he wanted to listen to the lessons to be able to be baptized.  my mouth just kind of dropped open and I knew in that moment that the Lord really does pick us up when we are down and that he really knows what he is doing.  

Then later that Sunday night we had a family night that we are going to start to do with as many people possible every sunday.  We had about 16 people there and 1 that was listening to anything about the church for the first time.  We watched a video about the apostasy and Wilford Woodruff and then afterwards we bore our testimonies about the restoration, the church and all that and it was wonderful.  The guy after had a lot of questions and said that he wants to learn more and wants us to visit him!  AND HE SAID THAT HE HAS SUNDAYS OFF SO THAT IS A MIRACLE.  

The Lord really is listening and knows what he is doing, we just have to be patient. I love you all family.  Have a great week!

Monday, July 6, 2015

Happy 4th of July! Not gonna lie I was dying to see some fireworks but there was nobody here that wanted to celebrate.  But i did make sure that I told everyone we visited on the 4th that it was the 4th.  Maybe this 28th will see fireworks because it is the independencia, here in Peru.  

So something happened this week that I am very grateful for.  La copa de America finished!  The big soccer tournament.  We can finally go to houses and go in because people won't be watching soccer games all the time now so that is exciting.  

Ok, so I am going to tell two stories about this week that both happened in the same night.  It was Thursday and we were at the laundry place getting our clothes (an hermana owns the laundry place) and we saw our investigator that we had an appointment with for that night and he was walking past us so we talked to him and he said that his cousin or somebody had scheduled him to translate because he speaks English and he wasn't going to be able to go to the appointment.  We talked and convinced him for just 30 minutes because he would start the work after that. So we went and we finished watching the restoration (we had started it in another lesson)  and it was super awesome.  He felt really good and actually we had a baptismal date with him for the 4th.  Afterward he had to go so we were walking with him in the street and he said that he didn't want to get baptized because he was scared that maybe after the baptism he wouldn't keep feeling as good as he does.  So we stopped in the street and we just starting testifying to him  that if he kept keeping the commandments and doing everything he would feel it.  So we started talking about a "leap of faith" and we talked and at the end of it all he said ok, lets do it next week then.  He put his own date!  So this week will be crucial, we are hoping that he stays strong to the decision and can get baptized this Saturday.  The cool thing about when we were talking about the leap of faith we were standing on the most busy street in our whole sector and it was really loud but at the same time SILENT.  The spirit was so strong.  It was unreal.  I could not believe it, seriously it was like so silent and you could feel the spirit so strong even though we were in such a loud place.

Literally right after that lesson we went to another one and it was the first lesson with a new investigator.  We went in and he was there waiting and we taught the lesson and at the end it was awesome.  I invited him to be baptized and he kind of hesitated.  Then he said, I really like how you guys invite.  You don't force it, but you invite and I have to get my own answer, I have to search.  He looked at the Book of Mormon and he was like yeah, i will finish it.  And he said that is what I want, I want to search and find out and if I have my answer yes I will get baptized.  Then at the end of the lesson he said the prayer and in his prayer he said that for the longest time he had been searching for something like this and this is what he wants.  So then on Sunday he went to church and he liked it and he even bought a new pair of dress pants to be able to go to church on Sunday!

I was sad to find out that Elder Packer passed away but in the end it is another testimony of how true the church is.  People can pass away, but there will be other people called to the work.  The priesthood authority will be passed on and won't be lost.  It will not be destroyed. 

We met our new president this week!  We had short little interviews with him but it was awesome.  Last night we had a little get to know them with the whole entire mission.  He has 4 kids but 2 that will be living here with them in the mission.  

That is about it for this week so I hope you all have a great week. 

Monday, June 29, 2015

This week was awesome!  Seriously this was probably one of the best weeks of the mission as far as having success.  It was incredible.   We had a lot of success and we were able to put a baptismal date with a bunch of people and find a couple new people. 

One of the people that we found is named ____.  So he is from the jungle here in Perú and he is this little short guy but he was cool.  He was working in the street passing out flyers and we were talking to a recent convert who sells cake and chicha in the street here.  He was right there and I have never had my shoes shined by another person so me and my comp wanted to try it so while my comp was getting his shoes shined I started talking to ____ and he was really open.  He had questions about what we do here and what we believe and he told us that he was looking for a church.  If someone says they are looking for a church the missionaries always get really excited.  But anyway, we have an appointment with him this week and he also said that he has 3 other siblings he lives with.  Before he had gone to other churches but didn't really see anything he liked.  So hopefully we can get him to church and hopefully he will like it. 

Another story is about a guy named ____.  We were walking by a park one day and we went up and I asked him how he was and he said that he was bad.  So we started talking to him trying to see what was wrong but ya, long story short we taught him a short little lesson right there in the park and he was also pretty open.  And the best part is that before we talked about the Book of Mormon he said that he likes to read!  So we gave him a Book of Mormon and then at the end of it all we invited him to be baptized and he accepted!  We invited him to church but he didn't go yesterday but we have another appointment with him this week so hopefully this next week we can get him to church. 

Ok, next story it will be a little two in one.  So we had a lot of success during the week so we thought that we were going to have a TON of people at church.  The meeting started and nope, not a single person there.  Then the minutes passed by and slowly the people started to file in.  Anyways at the end of the meeting we had 8 less actives at church and 2 investigators.  It was awesome.  We were hoping to have more investigators but oh well, next week.  And also we had a recent convert walk in with this guy that is 21 and so after we started talking to him and it was his first time in the church.  We took him around to the classes and funny story.  They called a new Elders quorum president and he didn't know he was going to be president until that same day so he didn't have a class prepared so we ended super early so we started to teach the guy that was at church for the first time.  At the end of the lesson he said that he has gone to a couple different churches in his life and that in all the churches he hasn't felt comfortable.  But he said in our church he likes what we do, the feeling and most of all he said that he feels comfortable!  We have another appointment with him this week.  A cool thing is that he said that he had asked to get work off on Sundays so he could go to church and he got it off!  So it was awesome! 

Anyway, seriously this past week we were pleading with the Lord to be able to have success and He gave it to us.  It was an incredible week and the Lord really does answer our prayers.  

Monday, June 22, 2015

Hello family!  I just want to start out by saying Happy Father’s Day!!   Dad, I hope you had a great day and got lots of white shirts as your presents haha just kidding, sort of.  But I hope you had a wonderful day.  And you too grandpas.  I thought about you here in Perù.

Unfortunately, I did not burn the shirt (for his one year).  I wrote all over a shirt and we went up to the roof to burn it and this lady came up who lives in the house and she got mad at us.   She told us we couldn't be up there so that was a bummer.  We went back down, sad, I just wanted to burn it to have some cool pictures haha.  So I haven't burned the shirt yet.  Hopefully sometime I will be able to do that but it is on hold for now.  The day that I hit a year I honestly didn't remember at first.  Until I was getting ready for the day and I saw the date and I was like hey, I have a year.  But anyways, to celebrate that night I drank Inca kola and we ate pollo a la brasa so that was good.  Other than that it was just a normal day.  

So this week we had this lesson that I think was one of the better lessons that I have had in my mission.  It was seriously really good.  I might have told you all about this girl before but her sisters are all converts and her mom got reactivated and this girl has really been able to see the difference in her family.  We started the lesson and decided that for the lesson we were just going to ask her the questions for the baptismal interview.  We started and the first question todo bien.  The second one about the church and Joseph Smith she said that based on what her mom and sisters have told her she believes that it is true but she doesn't know that she is still investigating then that led to a whole different conversation that started going and we got on the topic of baptism and she was saying that she has her boyfriend and they have been together for a while and she doesn't want to accept the gospel and be in the gospel alone and she wants to accept it with her boyfriend.  She then proceeded to state that she knows that the church is true.  And so after that I asked her that if it wasn't for this problem if she would be baptized in the church and she said yes.  Another part of this whole thing is that this girl sometimes when she is not talking has kind of a mean look like she just looks serious...  But during the lesson her whole face just changed.  She started softening up, really thinking and you could tell that the spirit was just working inside of her.  It was incredible, we started going and going and talking and asking questions and she was opening up and we invited her to be baptized and...  she said no.  She said that she wants to fix some stuff up first and so that was a bummer, the lesson was so good but it is ok.  We will keep working with her.  It was awesome and we just have to break down one or two icebergs.  She is ready, we just need to help her see it.   

The next good thing that happened from this week was that we had the temple dedication of the temple in Trujillo!!  It was so good.  I have gone to two temple dedications, I think, before this one but this one was definitely my favorite.  President Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar came down for the dedication.  President Uchtdorf was hilarious.  When they went outside of the temple to seal the cornerstone - or whatever it is called in English - he was funny.  He was talking in English and the translator he had didn't translate it all and so all the American missionaries were laughing and everyone else was a little lost.  He was saying wow, you do that perfect (when they put the cement on) and then the wife of the seventy put it on and he was like ya, your husband definitely learned from you.  And when the kids came up he was talking to them all in English and they didn't understand anything.  One of them put it on and he goes I can tell you are going to be a craftsman when you grow up and to another girl he gave her directions to take a picture in English and she just kind of looked at him with a deer in the headlights look.  But other than that the ceremony of dedicating the temple was wonderful.  Seriously at certain points the room just got like a heat wave because the spirit was so strong.  It was incredible and now Perù got a little bit brighter because now we have two temples down here!  Anyway, it was a good highlight for Fathers day since I couldn't be with my dad, I was celebrating it and helping to dedicate a temple to my Heavenly Father.  It was a good day.