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.