Monday, February 16, 2015

I have very exciting news!!  We have a baptism this Thursday!!  Her name is _____ and she is 15 years old.  She is the cousin of Alexis that we just baptized.  We went and talked to her the other day and she is going to be baptized.  The only reason she hasn't is for her fear of water.  but At Alexis`s baptism she saw that it was quick and fast.  And so she will be baptized Thursday.  And mom, I am going to play the baptism song on the piano for the baptism.  The I like to look for rainbows one.  

This week was pretty much the same as the other weeks.  This week we have been contacting  A LOT.  We have been knocking on doors and going to the parks that we have in our sector.  Out of all of those people we found about one girl that was interested.  We told her that Jesus Christ visited America and she wants to hear more.  The only problem is that she works every single day.  She was really interested and wants us to come back so hopefully it all works out.

We had stake conference this past week so our investigators couldn't come because it was at a different time and in a church farther away.  So that was a bummer.  

Other than that it was a pretty normal week.  We are starting a new thing as missionaries.  We are going to every single members house and sharing about, la invitacion dispuesta y breve.  Put that into google translate or call Blake if you want.  This is just where the member selects a gospel principle they like.  Then they go to another person they know and say how this principle has helped them.  Then they invite the people to listen to us.  We are going around and teaching all the members in our ward about this so hopefully they all get excited and help us out!

Good Luck this week and I hope you all have a great time!  Work hard in all that you do and talk to you next week!!  Love you all!!!

Monday, February 9, 2015

I seriously can't believe how fast the time flies by!!  It has been over one year since I opened up my mission call.  Two days ago we were just walking down the street and I looked at my watch which has the date and it just hit me, wow, 1 year ago I opened my mission call!      Then I though about how we went to Cafe Rio that night, too, and I miss Cafe Rio.  A pork burrito would be so good right now.  haha and then I also thought of Sydney and how it was two years since she passed away.  That was sad but I have learned in the mission so much about the plan of salvation and how much love the Lord has for us.  Also about the Atonement of Jesus Christ how He felt every single feeling we have and every single sin that we have.  And that we can be clean from all of our sins.  And we can be forgiven for our sins and we don't have to remember them anymore.  It really is a beautiful thing.  There is nothing greater because without it we couldn't return to our Heavenly Father.  

This week, I don't have a lot to report.  On Thursday we had intercambio.  I went to another sector with Elder Hulet from Texas.  I have more time than him but it was awesome.  We taught some awesome lessons.  One, about the Word of Wisdom and another about the 10 commandments.  When we taught the 10 commandments the spirit was so strong.  We were teaching a couple and normally with the 10 commandments It is pretty brief just because it is what it is.  I always felt like there wasn't a ton of explanation needed just because it is pretty simple.  But when we were teaching more and more things just came to my mind and the mind of my comp and it was great.  That was this day and in this sector I swear like everybody spoke English.  There was so many people that just wanted to speak English with us and we even had to teach a recent convert in English.  I have officially decided that it is easier to teach in Spanish.  I think I talk smoother in Spanish in a lesson than in English.  

So we have 3 people with a baptismal date.  One is this lady that is about 50 and in the first lesson she told us that she wants to change her life and be reborn spiritually and in our heads we were just like oh wow, perfect!  And she accepted baptism the first lesson!  We have another lesson with her tonight.  It is tough for her to come to church because she works but we are praying that she will be able to get work off so that she can come but we will see.  

Then the other people that have a baptismal date are _____and _____.  They are a young couple, 28 years old mas o menos and they are excited.  They love listening to us.  Anyway in the morning we went by and _____ was really excited and saying he can't wait to go to church.  In the afternoon we went to pick them up and NOBODY was home.  I thought he would be in the church, nope.  We were calling and  calling and no answer.  It was a bummer, we saw them in the night and they had a family reunion come up and went to that.  Hopefully this next week we can get them to church.

One more thing, the first vision is so powerful.  When it is quiet and you say the first vision in a lesson the spirit just fills up the room.  We were teaching a new investigator and at first it was funny.  She likes to talk and we asked her what she has heard about Mormons and she said, "that you brain wash people"  we all started laughing and explained that we aren't trying to convince them.  So anyway we started teaching and the spirit was so strong.  Especially when I said the first vision.  The fact that Joseph Smith saw God The Father and Jesus Christ is so powerful.  This really is the church of Jesus Christ.  The same church he established on the earth when he lived here.

That is my report for this week.  I hope that you all have a great week!!  I love you all.  

Monday, February 2, 2015

Hola familia,  yesterday I didn't remember it was the super bowl and then we were about to go home and we knocked on the door of a member's house and the girl answered and said, "hi, my dad is watching the super bowl right now."   I about lost it haha.  I just said my family is eating so good right now.  Ahhh the super bowl.  I lost my bearings for a little bit but I got it together haha.  

This week was mas o menos.  We had some ups and downs.  The first up is that Alexis, the recent convert received the priesthood yesterday!  And we now have plans to go to the temple with him on 27 of February (for baptisms).  Another up was that the family that I told you all about accepted a baptismal date for March 7!  They love it when we come over.  The dad said that before these people from a different church tried to teach him and he didn't like it because he felt like they were just teaching him just to teach.  But he said that he feels like we actually care!  Which is true.  All this missionary work that we do is because we care about these people.  If we didn't care, we wouldn't be doing this for two years or 18 months!  It is so rewarding when you can see that someone feels the spirit in their life.  We taught them with examples and they said it all makes sense.  The only hard part about teaching this lesson was that the little girl just wanted me to play with her the whole time haha.  We were in there and she just started calling me her uncle!  Uncle uncle uncle!  I don't know why but she kept it up for a long time haha.  And she would just hand me her toys.  It was such a good lesson.  They couldn't come to church yesterday but they are coming next week!

Another cool thing was that we received a reference of a girl that wants to get baptized!  She is the cousin of Alexis that got baptized two Saturdays ago.  She has gone to church for years and years now but she is scared of drowning and for this reason she hasn't wanted to get baptized.  She went to a baptism and the girl had to get baptized 5 times so she is scared of drowning.  But she came to Alexis's baptism and it was quick and easy so she decided that she wants to overcome her fear.  We are going to go to her house today to talk to her!  Hopefully all goes well!

The bad, we just had a couple people drop us this week.  They said they weren't really that interested.  And our investigator who doesn't have permission to get baptized, we were at her house and talking to her mom and she told us how she is sick and it might be fatal.  She has to wait for the results to come back.  But she said if we pray for her every day during the week then she will come to church.  We prayed every day and she came to church.  It was testimony meeting so I was like oh sweet, this is perfect.  Then afterwards it was just the opposite.  She said that nobody respects the speaker.  That it was irreverent.  The kids she was fine with but she said that adults were playing on their tablets, phones and those things and that they were talking and that there was no respect.  She said these things and then she left.  We are going to go back to her house to talk to her today or tomorrow so hopefully we can get things figured out and get her to come back.  Hopefully that one experience didn't destroy any desire she had.  The examples of the members of the church for other people are so important.  There are always people watching.  And sometimes people won't like our examples, like this Sunday, but other times maybe they will.  And that could be the difference so we always have to be good examples, in every place and in every moment. 

                              MORE PICTURES IF YOU SCROLL DOWN PAST ALL THE POSTS.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Hola familia,  This week was a great one!  And it ended with the baptism of Alexis!  It was great!  He was a Cornelio, or,  someone who just accepts everything and doesn't really have any problems and they get baptized.  His baptism was on Saturday.  It was kind of irreverent during the talks and everything on baptism but when I took the first step into the water, it was like the spirit just punched me.  It was so strong and I knew that everything we were doing was right.  And that Alexis is a child of our Heavenly Father.  The spirit was really strong.  Afterward, he is really shy, but he went to bear his testimony and got shy and I had to go up and help him.  But it was such a good experience.  Oh, and the water in the baptismal font was green.  You could see to the bottom but it was green. 

  

Also, we found this couple that is like 28 and 25 years old and have a little girl that is 3.  We have always talked with them but this was the first time we entered into their house.  The thing I remember most from the lesson was the word WOW.  They kept saying WOW the whole time, with every single thing we read.  It was such a powerful lesson, we just talked about the family, just that and it was powerful and they loved it.  We really think that they are going to progress.  It all depends on the Dad in the family, but, he read the Book of Mormon and he said that he thinks that Joseph smith did a good thing and he likes everything he has seen.  So this week we are going to work really hard with them.  

Another thing, Elder Carlos A. Godoy came and talked to us this week.  To our whole mission.  From the seventy.  He is in the area presidency in Perú.  And he is from Brasil.  His wife and he came and talked to us and it was powerful.  Seriously when he walked in the room you could feel it.  It is incredible how close these men are to the spirit.   He talked to us about why we are here in the mission and what our purpose is and the importance of what we are doing.  He spoke in Spanish and his wife spoke in Portuñol haha.  

Love you all.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Hello family sounds like you all had a good week.  It is nice that you got to go up to grandparents house for grandpa's birthday.  Save some cake for me please.  I am going to start out this email by saying, I. AM. FRIED.  I got absolutely roasted today.  We went and did the bikes again by the beach and mom, the tops of my knees look like yours after a day watching softball for you.  I can feel the heat coming off of my body.  

This week we have a baptism!  The twelve year old is going to get baptized.  We moved his date up a week.  He is going to all the activities and everything and church and he likes it all so it is great!  He is really shy and really little but he is awesome.  I am excited for him.  Also, last night we placed a baptismal date with a senior couple.  They have 88 and 83 years.  When we were teaching them I instantly just started to love them.  Because, I thought of the grandparents that I have and how much I love them and how much I would want someone else to treat them with love.  They are old and fragile but they accepted a baptismal date for the 14 of Febrero so hopefully they will be able to come to church and listen to us.  They had a son that died because of alcohol so they liked the fact that we believe families can be together forever.  That is a major thing that I think we take for granted sometimes.  Literally we have the priesthood power in our church to seal families together on earth and in the life that comes.  This isn't all we have, we have a life after this that we can live with our families.  

We originally went to this house to contact their daughter because she said that she wanted the missionaries to come teach her.  She wasn't home but we taught the parents.  Her boyfriend is a member so hopefully we can get her to progress and listen because that would be a big help for her parents.  

What else what else....  Oh, my companion and I didn't have a change so we are still here working hard.  I am glad that he didn't have a change.  One change is so short to do all this work with a companion.  The people grow to love the missionaries that are in the area.  So I am glad that he got to stay.  Also, it is very weird, Elder Apaza finished his mission!  It is crazy, my trainer is gone and in his house.  He called me the night before he was going to leave.  I will miss him, he taught me so many good things and most importantly how to work hard and be a good missionary.  

This week we have President Godoy from the 70 coming to talk to us.  The mission will be divided in two and my group is going to go on Thursday.  I am so excited.  These men are literally men of God and the spirit is so strong with them.  It will be good for us and we will learn so much.  

That is about all that I have for this week.  Can't think of any more things to exciting to report.  But I hope that you all have a wonderful week!!  Choose the right.  I love you all.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hello wonderful family!!  How is everyone doing?   No I did not get a new comp.  Cambios (transfers) are mañana and we find out who goes and who stays tonight so we will see.  I think he  will probably stay one change more but who knows?  He has three changes here so he might go.  

From this week, hmmm what can I say?  Ohhh so this past week I have been praying and praying that we could find a new person to teach.  Someone that is ready.  And two Sundays ago, the 4th, we got a reference.  This kid is 12 years old and his sister is a member.  His mom isn't but she wants him to be baptized.  So we taught him the first time and he didn't really have a knowledge of anything.  But he learned some things pretty quick.  He is kind of shy but is breaking out of his shell with us.  Anyway, he likes the church and he had gone to church before but now he is really learning things!  He has a baptismal date for the 31st of January!  He is awesome, he is 12 but he looks like he should be in primary haha.  

Then we were walking in the street another day and this guy contacted us.  He said hi to us and then we contacted him and when he was little he remembers that the missionaries were in his house but he never listened because he was really little.  He basically invited us to come to his house and teach him.  We went to his house yesterday but he wasn't there.  We are going to be passing by this week and hopefully we can make progress with him.  Also, he was with a girl and a kid so I hope he is married!  He looks like he is about 25-ish.  We will see with him!  Let's hope he will listen.  

Anyway, that is the most exciting things from this week.  We almost got robbed again. too.  Sorry mom, but we didn't so you don't have to worry.  This is a story to spice up this e-mail a little.  My companion was talking on the phone in the street (which you shouldn't do) because we were trying to contact a reference.  Then three guys came up and I didn't have anything valuable on me so I was just thinking, "our cell phone, again, seriously?"  Then my companion just bolted off sideways in a little speed walk and the guys saw that there were people around so they said, "we were lying we were lying, we don't rob!"  Uh huh, suuuure.  But ya, that is that.  And we are good and nothing happened.  

Another exciting thing, I now have weights in my room so that is cool.  Elder Piña is leaving and I bought his from him haha, for 60 soles.  Here just a pair of weights is like 90 soles and I got a pair of weights and a bar so it was a good deal.  Love you all!!  Have a wonderful week.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Happy New Year for everyone!!  I hope that you all had a good week, sounds like a crazy week!!  This week here was crazy too.    The work was kind of slow here just for the holidays still and a bunch of people left town but they are all coming back now so hopefully it will start to pick up again.  

I will say this about New Years Eve.  When it hit 12 o' clock and became the new year, holy cow.  I wish I could send you all the video.  The amount of fireworks there were and things burning in the street, it was unreal.  Everyone here has fireworks, and it isn't like the fireworks that we have in the street and that, no, everyone has huge aerial fireworks that they just launch.  They were literally all around us in every direction for miles and miles.  I really want you all to be able to see the video, it is crazy.  But that was our New Years.  It was the same rule as Christmas with how late we could be out.  OH, and here, the people make all these human sized dolls and burn them in the street, and they just burn a bunch of their old stuff.  So it is just like one big fire here on new years. 

Then new years day I wil say this line.....  DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN??  No, it didn't snow here in Perù it is still very very hot and getting a lot hotter.  But as a zone we had permission to watch FROZEN on New Years day.  We watched it in Spanish but I was still singing along with all the songs.  And everyone was laughing, it was funny because I knew every word to all the songs still haha.  Only thing is the movie and the songs were in Spanish.  Also, on the 31st as a whole mission we got to watch the movie Meet the Mormons!  Wow, that was a powerful movie.  Is that in like all the theaters over there?  It should be?  The movie is not here.  Internet, movies, nada.  Because we tell members to search for it to watch it but they can't find it.  Maybe in time it will come.  But holy cow, that was such a good movie.  

We are already in the last week of this change.  Next week I could have a new comp.  Who knows, he has three changes here so he might have one more or he might go, we aren't sure.  All I know is that I really want to train someone.  That would be so fun I think!  So If my companion goes, I am hoping for that!  

Our church time in this ward is at 2.  From 2 to 5.  Then we have ward council after.  So I don't really like Sundays that much anymore haha.  We have two hours in the morning to teach, then we have lunch, then we go get people for church, then we have church, then we got out of ward council at 645.  So we just don't have a lot of time to teach on Sundays now.  So that is a bummer.  

In our sector we don't have anyone with a baptismal date.  We have one girl who has been an investigator for 1 year.  She comes to all the activities and comes to church every week but she doesn't have permission to get baptized.  She is 16 and doesn't have permission until she is 18.  So hopefully we can work with her mom, who loves us by the way, to have her be able to get baptized.  She says that she just wants her daughter to be stronger in the church before.  Then we have another lady that didn't want to get baptized because she sees bad examples around her in the church.  But she comes to church and has all the lesssons.  But someone told us yesterday that she wants to get baptized so we will see, hopefully yes. That is our sector right now and hopefully we will be able to find a lot of new people this week.  

I hope that you all have a wonderful week, remember to say your prayers and read your scriptures.  I love you all.