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.