Monday, January 25, 2016

So this week flew by again and this change flew by.  We have changes tomorrow, we find out in the night if I get changed or not so we will see what happens.  I wouldn't mind getting changed to a more humble place haha.  

This week was another good one.  We had our interviews with the president this week and it was strange because he told me the date that I go home.  And started talking about that and all of that stuff.  The interviews are always good.  The President is called of God.

This week there are not that many exciting things to say.   It's just getting hot and hotter.  This week the people have told us that it is supposed to get up to 95 degrees but the humidity is also at 95 percent.  Our ward mission leader bought a machine that sucks the humidity out of the air that is in his house.  And in a couple of hours he had a full bucket of water to dump out.  It gets super hot because of the humidity.

Also this past week we had a devotional for all the missions of all the world!  We were trained by apostles and other general authorities from the church.  It was really cool and a neat experience to have a meeting knowing that all the other missions in the whole entire world were watching the same thing.  

We were going to have a family night with a bunch of people this past week.  The missionaries in the ward and we invited EVERYONE.  And EVERYONE said that they were going to come.  We got there and we were waiting and waiting and nobody was showing up.  There were 3 people there and we had already waited like 45 minutes so we decided to start it.  We ended with the same three people.  So even though not that many people went it was still a good experience.  We taught the restoration with candles.  Pictures included.  It was great and the spirit was strong.  

That is my report for this week.  I love you all!!  Have a great week!

*****NEW PICTURES at the bottom (after all the little side pictures).  His mom finally figured out how to do the file on the semi-new computer. *********

Monday, January 18, 2016

This past week was great.  On Wednesday we had a meeting with Elder Uceda, all the missionaries and leaders of ward council.  It was seriously such a great meeting.  The Bishops left the meeting very happy because Elder Uceda talked about how the bishop is responsible for the youth.   So if older people have family problems and things like that then it goes to the elders or the sumos and the stake so it was interesting and the Bishops were happy.  

Also, in the meeting, I was amazed the whole entire time.  He started telling us the story of the church here in Perú.  Perú is the country to make it to 100 stakes faster than any other country.  Faster than the US, faster than Mexico, Brasil, any country, the fastest.  And this past week Stake number 101 was opened.  So the church is growing fast here and Elder Uceda was talking because the people have the blood of Lehi.  So I feel very blessed to be able to be here in Perú teaching these people.

After that Elder Uceda called a family up.  Well a mom and a dad that were converts (and have 4 kids and 1 in the mission), then he called the ward council up from the ward of this couple.  He then talked to everyone and asked the ward council how they helped this family (that is now sealed) stay active in the church.  They talked about it all and Elder Uceda then called up 4 people to represent the kids and said that thanks to the ward council a family and many souls were saved.  Then he said the kids will also have kids and called up 3 kids for each child of the couple so 12 more people.  Then he said your grandkids will have kids and called up 3 people for each of the grandchildren and so it was 36 more people.  And he showed us that the work we do doesn't just save that one person.  It saves generations and generations of people.  He said that if a person makes a decision to leave the church they take with them hundreds and hundreds of other spirits because the next spirits will not be born in the church.  It was a very cool meeting.

The next day we had a meeting with him with our whole mission.  It was AWESOME.  It was from like 8 in the morning until 230.  He trained for almost 4 hours and it was incredible.  He has so much information in his head.  All these facts and everything and he didn't even use notes to teach us!  He just went based on the spirit.  It was truly incredible.  The general authorities and everyone in the church are called of God.  

We also got a triple in Russian yesterday!  Hermana Larsons son was asking RMs in Provo from Russia and he found one and sent it here and yesterday we went to the presidents house to pick it up then we went and gave it to _____. He is still very busy but he was happy to receive it and he told us that he could actually read and understand now.  So hopefully that helps him out in his progress.

I also got to go and baptize an investigator of some of the hermanas in my district this week!  The baptism was very nice and the spirit was very strong.  

Something I learned this week in the meeting with Elder Uceda is that repentance is a principle of perfection.  It is something sweet and should not be feared.  

 

Monday, January 11, 2015

This week there wasn't a whole lot that happened.  One exciting day was Wednesday.  a young man came with us and we found 4 new people to teach that day!  We told him that he was a good luck charm so I think that we will be using him more often.  Maybe every day haha.  Also this lady gave us free water bottles and ice cream!  (He says it's really hot now.) So it was a really good day.  So when I lived in Callao the family that we lived with had a bakery in Callao and in Miraflores.  They have a car that has a BYU sticker on the back of it and I recognized it here in my sector the other day.  So when we went in to a store to buy a drink, she was in there and recognized me and was the one who gave us free water and ice cream!  So that was awesome.

Also, we have another investigator that I told you all about last week who is 23.  Last night she accepted a baptismal date!  So if all goes well we are going to have a baptism on the 23 of this month.  So that will be good.  She is excited and really likes the church.  Also her husband owns a store that sells all these old items and watches and all this stuff.  It is pretty cool.

With ____ and ____, they are still good!  This past week they just didn't have much time.  Because ____ (the Ukranian investigator) found a job and he is basically gone all day long.  Because he cant have very many jobs because he doesn't speak Spanish so this job is good for him but he just doesn't have that much time.  They are still excited we just have to find an hour that we can go teach them!  

This week we are going to have two meetings with Elder Uceda!  One on Wednesday with our mission and members of a bunch of stakes and one on Thursday with just our mission!  So I am excited for that. 

Well, that is the news from this week.  Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this week.

But I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Monday, January 4, 2015

This week was a little slower than normal because a lot of people traveled for the new year but we were able to find some new people.  One new person we found was a less active and his wife that are not members.  They had been going to church and we had a lesson with them on Monday.  It was funny, she told us a story about how she was baptized and all that stuff but she didn't really remember much and we didn't really think she was baptized so we searched for her baptismal record and it wasn't there.  But she said she would like to be baptized again so that is good.  The husband is a lot older than she is but they are great!  

_____ the Ukranian and his wife went to church again!  They love it.  I am still trying to find a Book of Mormon in Russian.  This morning we got a text from Hermana Larson and she said that if we want, we can use some other Elders in the mission that speak some Russian to help teach him.  In our mission we have like 6 missionaries who were going to go to Ukraine and were in the MTC for 6 weeks learning Russian and then because of the war and everything they got changed to Perù and a bunch of them have been studying Russian here in the mission.  So in this week we are going to see if we can get one of those elders to come here for a lesson to teach him in Russian!  But we will see, this week or next week.

New years here this time was pretty boring.  We didn't do much.  A lady invited us over to eat at 7 but nobody invited us over to stay until midnight.  So we were just in our room which was better because I was tired.  We fell asleep at about 10 o clock and then randomly woke up at about 1130 so then we stayed up until the new year and then crashed again.  Where we are the people can get in trouble for using fireworks so there weren't very many.  Especially compared to when I was in Callao last year.  But it was good.  That is about it for this week.  I hope that you all have a great week!  I love you all!

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!!!!!!