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.  

Monday, June 15, 2015

Now that you are all saying happy one year and all that stuff I will start off this email about telling you how much I have changed on the mission.  Last night, we were going into a less active family's house for a lesson.  We got in the house, sat down and the daughter had just barely landed on the NBA channel and was checking it out.  THE FINALS GAME WAS ABOUT TO START.  I seriously had an inner debate with myself.  It was so tempting to just watch the game.  BUT.  I didnt.  It was a hard decision but we made them turn off the TV.  So there ya go, I am a man now.  Haha just kidding but I thought it was a funny story to share.

Now I will tell you what happened in that lesson.  So the family is a family of 4.  They are less active but the youngest son isn't baptized.  He is 10.  Anyway, we started to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with them and all was well and we were explaining what was going on in the chapter.  When.... The sister of the mom of this famly arrives with her family.  A family of 5.  They got there and so we now had two less active families with us and we were trying to think about what we were going to share.  Somehow when the second family got there we got on the subject about last names and where our names come from and all that.  So after that I just felt like we needed to talk about family history.  I pullled out the booklets of family history and we started to explain them.   Anyways, it was a very powerful and spiritual lesson.  The mom of the first family I mentioned has her Catholic beliefs and a couple things happened when they were going to church which made them stop going to church for a little bit.  The mom up to that point was open to listening to us but didn't really want a lot to do with the church.  But after the lesson and talking about baptisms for the dead she started to say that she would really like to do the baptism for her mom.  Then the mom's daughter started saying that she wants to go to the temple.  And the other family, the parents are sealed but for some reasons they have stopped going to church.  But last night we were able to make goals with both of the families that they could start coming back to church and one day make it into the temple.  The spirit was so strong last night and was truly testifying that the families here on earth can live together forever thanks to the priesthood power that we have here on earth to seal families.

That was one lesson.  Another cool lesson that we had this week was with another less active.  His name is _____.  We had planned to teach him about the restoration that day.  We were starting everything up we said the prayer and ever since we had walked into the house I just felt like we should change it to the word of wisdom.  So we changed it and we started to teach and even though we didn't know it was a problem before, we started teaching and we found that he is having a couple of problems with the word of wisdom.  At the end of the lesson the spirit was also very strong and he started crying and we had another lesson with him last night and he was doing so much better!  

Another cool lesson that we had this week was our first lesson with an investigator.  We went into her house and it was just her, then her mom came in, then after a while, her other sister, then after a while her other sister with her husband and their child.  So we were teaching the restoration and everyone there in the room were very firmly in another religion.  It is amazing to see what the spirit can do.  We were teaching and at first they were hard and stubborn but after we testified and kept teaching they softened up and they all started listening and asking questions.  It was crazy cool!  They felt the spirit and we could feel the spirit and they invited us back for another lesson and we have that this Tuesday so hopefully all goes well again.  But seriously the Spirit works miracles!!

It was an awesome week and we definitely had a lot of success!  This week will also be very exciting and strange.  Exciting because on Sunday they are dedicating the temple of Trujillo!  And Saturday there is a cultural activity from Perù that we get to see and it is so awesome.  Weird because tomorrow we have a change meeting and we are getting our new President.  It is crazy to think that The Borgs are ending their mission and going.  They were so awesome when they were here and it will be sad to see her go but I am sure the new President and his wife will be just as great.  

That is all I have for this week family, I hope you all have a great week.  I love you all.  I am burning a shirt this week.  

Monday, June 8, 2015

Here in Zarate we had a really good week!  When I first got here we didn't really have many people to teach so it was kind of rough.  This week, we got to contacting.  Oh boy, we had a lot of success.  A bunch of people accepted us and accepted us back for other visits too!  This whole week I felt like we barely had any time to breathe!  We have been so busy and so full we have basically almost had to run to appointments to make it to the next one.  It was awesome.  The best days are always the busiest ones.

One thing that was awesome from this week is what happened last night.  We gave a blessing to a little baby who had been sick for a while and it was incredible.  We started talking to the family (they are recent converts) and we shared a lesson then we gave the blessing.  Wow, the spirit was so strong in the room and my chest was on fire!  Seriously it was such a spiritual blessing and it is awesome to know now that the baby is going to get better.  it was great because then it felt like that spirit just followed us around throughout the rest of the night.  So it was a big testimony strengthener about the priesthood after the blessing we gave to the baby. 

We had another lesson with this guy that is going to church, praying and doing all that but he just doesn't have his answer yet.  He isn't reading much so that is why, but he is such a good guy!  We were talking to him and he also feels that baptism is an easy way out.  That to repent we should have to suffer in a way.  So we read in Doctrine and Covenants 19: 16 -19 about where Jesus is talking and he says that He suffered so that the people don't have to suffer.  Obviously to be able to repent we have to feel a little bit of pain and regret, if we didn't we wouldn't be repenting because we wouldn't feel the need to repent.  But after that we just have to recognize that Christ already paid the price of sin.  Everything is paid for already!  We just have to be willing to accept the atonement and the sacrifice of the Savior and we will be clean!  After this lesson he said that he felt a little bit better about it and he actually accepted baptism for the 20 of June.  That is if he has his answer.  But I know that if he reads he will get it, that is all he needs to do so that was good.

Another thing that happened cool is that we found new investigators and they were really interested.  They are already a part of another church but they were paying attention really well.  Seriously every single time that we teach and we teach with the spirit, I leave the lesson feeling like we have just taught the best lesson in the history of good lessons.  It is an incredible feeling.  They were staring like deer in the headlights the whole time.  In a good way.  And when I said the first vision it was silent and the spirit was so strong.  Just like it is every single time we share it.  It is incredible.  Anyways during this lesson I had a flashback to Hartvigsen.  When we would go there as a basketball team to the special needs school to help the kids out because when we got into the house one of the daughters has special needs and she was so cute and funny and i just thought about Hartivgsen and seriously it just made it so easy to love the people in the house.  And when you love the people and the message you are sharing, everything will work out.  Anyways, we have another appointment with them this week so hopefully all goes well and hopefully they keep their committments during the week.

Also, we had a multizona with President and Hermana Borg and it was awesome.  We only have a couple of weeks left with them so it was kind of sad but they are so great and I am sure the new president will be the same way.  

And in other exciting news.  This month, the 21 of June they are going to dedicate the temple here in Trujillo and all the stakes in Perù get to see it so that will be fun.  We are excited for that and so many people have traveled to Trujillo to see the temple and they say it is huge so we are excited waiting for that!  Presidente and Hermana Borg gave us handkerchiefs, just spelled that wrong but oh well, that were really cool!   That is my report for this week, hope you all have a great week!  

Monday, June 1, 2015

Hello family!!  this was a very tiring week!  We put in so much work this week and it was tiring!

As I told you all, our sector is really really big.  So we are trying to become familiar with it all and to find people in all the parts of our area.  One good thing that happened from this week was that we found a family of 5.  It was so cool.  We were trying to contact old investigators that were in the area book and we found the name of this guy and we went to his house and he answered and said ahhh right now I am about to leave.  The normal excuse.  We said just 2 minutes hermano.  And he said ya ok, come in.  So we went in and we started to talk and then we were able to stay longer than two minutes haha.  It was great.  We taught the lesson one and the whole family was there listening.  Then the daughter who is 18, who I thought was going to be less receptive than all of them, was the one at the end who said I will read the book!  Speaking of when we introduced the Book of Mormon.  So that was cool and we will see how everything goes this week with them!

Other good things that happened was with one investigator named ____.  She is awesome.  Her whole family is recent converts and she is the only one that hasn't been baptized.   She came to church for the first time this past week and apparently in the past she hasn't read the Book of Mormon at all but then we gave her the assignment on Saturday and on Sunday she told me that she had read it and it was so awesome!  She said that she liked church a lot so it was so cool!  We were talking and she said that she doesn't really feel anything when she prays.  She prays and doesn't feel a single thing.  And after she said that I asked her if she was reading and she responded no.  She had read the Book of Mormon a long time ago when the first missionaries read the introduction with her.  So then we opened up the introduction and read the last two parragraphs and I told her that to be able to feel something in her prayer first she had to read it.  That if she didn't try it how was she going to know if it was true or not?  It is like a cake, or any food.  To know if it tastes good, we only have to try a little bit.  We just need to take a bite, we don't have to eat the whole entire thing.  It was cool after that because the spirit was in the room and you could tell that she felt it and it looks like it worked because she read the other day!

We also had another guy and we had to teach him in English (it was hard).  He is Peruvian but works as a translator and likes it when we speak English to him.  But anyway, same problem, he is praying and says that he wants to receive his answer but he doesn't feel anything.  Then the same thing, I asked him if he was reading.  And he also, said no.  So we explained the same thing.  That if he wants to know, he has to read.  It was a good lesson also and he also went to church.  We had so many investigators in church on Sunday and some of them that we thought were going to go didn't go so next week we could have even more.  

Those are basically the highlights from this week.   This week also, I feel like my prayers have gotten so much longer.  It is awesome.  I can say that we are actually talking with God while we pray.  Knowing that someone is listening is such a good feeling.  If we need ANYTHING we can talk to him about it.