3 Nephi 5:13

Hola  friends!! It's been a great week here in Cajamarca, I just love walking(: 

Tuesday

We had a good lesson with Carla, were able to answer some of her questions, and she's praying about September 17th for her baptism!! We're praying she gets an answer soon.

Wednesday

We had our first district meeting with our new district! It's all the missionaries from our ward (Elders Medrano and Wynn, and Hermanas Sellan and Alvarenga-she's super cool) and the elders in Baños del Inca. It's a super fun district. We also met the new missionaries who just came from the CCM. They're all gringos, 4 elders and 1 hermana. It was cool to meet everyone and to not be new anymore! The rest of the day was kind of rough  though, all our appointments fell through....

Thursday

We were walking by the park, and a guy was sitting on the sidewalk with his head in his hands looking sad, and Hna Delgado and I looked at each other and decided that he needed our message. Hna Delgado started talking to him, and he kinda freaked out. He said that if there was a god he wouldn't be here in Cajamarca and have all the problems he does. He was kinda hysterical, so we left a plan of salvation pamphlet and hurried away....we probably won't try to contact someone like that again...we had a lesson with Violetta about baptism and read 3 Nephi 11. She doesn't feel like she needs to get baptized, doesn't want to get married, and doesn't pray about what we teach so idk why she keeps inviting us back...but we're praying about what to do. 

Friday

We had 6 or 7 lessons scheduled, but pretty much everything fell through and we only had like 2 lessons with members. We try knocking doors and talking to people in the street, and sometimes we get appointments, but usually the people end up not being there...

Saturday

We had a service project at the house of a member in a different ward and we moved an ENORMOUS  pile of wood from outside to inside and stacked it all in their courtyard. It was hot, but it was pretty fun, and they gave us pizza after!  The elders had a baptism later that day and Carla came and really enjoyed it!  I think it was good for her to see what happens and the feeling that's there at a baptism.

Sunday

We had a really good lesson with Clarisa, the neighbor of members that we found a few weeks ago. She seems really interested and we think that she'll progress a lot, especially once she comes to church. That's something that's pretty difficult though, is getting people to church. They have stuff with family, they travel, or just don't want to go that early (our ward starts at 8).  

One of our favorite scriptures here in the mission is 3 Nephi 5:13. You all can go read it, but it's about sharing the gospel. But we don't need to be called of god or be a full time missionary to share the gospel. Members are a huge part of this work, so please help out your local missionaries by giving references and telling friends and family about the gospel(: they'll love you forever! I hope everyone has a great week!

3rd Nephi 5:13

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

 Our new district

Workin'

Well it's been another great week here in Cajamarca!                          

Monday

We went to the Hermana leaders’ pension’s house for lunch and we made chocolate chip cookies!! From a mix, and they weren't as good as at home, but still. Hna Delgado and I went with Hnas Canizales and Sellan and took a tour of the church of San Francisco. I think it's where the Spanish held the funeral for the king of the Incas, Atahualpa, after they killed him. Then proceeded to conquer the rest of Peru. Kind of the motto of Cajamarca is "donde todo empezo" (where everything began). So really it was the end of the Incas and the beginning of the Spanish...it was cool though and reminded me a bit of touring churches in Europe. All in all it was a super fun day.

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Antonette, an investigator who's had almost all the lessons, but we just found her like a week ago. She wants to be baptized and she's 18 so she can choose for herself, but her mom wants her to read the entire Bible before she gets baptized to make sure it's the right decision....so we're trying to figure out what to do about that. She’s awesome though and has lots of faith

Thursday

We had a lesson with James and Violetta about the law of chastity again. I studied for them during personal study and we decided to talk about obedience and how much we can be blessed when we obey the commandments. We challenged them to pray about a date to be married and they said they would. I think we were able to be direct but loving, and we had a lot of help from the spirit. We have another lesson scheduled with them so we'll find out then if they did or not. 

Friday

We had a really good lesson with Carla and Hernan about celestial marriage and family history. Carla seemed really interested that we can do work for the dead, especially for family members. She's still praying about a baptismal date, but she's doing really well and I can tell she wants to be baptized, but she just wants to be sure.

Saturday

We had a get together at the ward mission leaders house as a going away party for Hermana Canizales. It was super fun, we had lunch and talked for awhile. hna Delgado and I also learned the dance the other missionaries made up to the song "workin" by David Archuletta and jamesthemormon so that was fun. It was fun to be with the missionaries in our ward (zone leaders and sister training leaders), they're super fun to be around, and familia campos is super awesome. 

Sunday

We had to say goodbye to hna Canizales :(  super sad...the power was out most of the day, and we can't proselyte at night if there's no power. It came back on at dinner, but then went out again. We were supposed to have an FHE but rescheduled it and went back to our house. It was super super dark and a little scary...we went upstairs to where hna laura lives (she makes our breakfast) and hung out with them. The power came back on, but we didn't want to go back out again in case the power went out again. We watched a video about the life of President Monson that was super awesome and had popcorn. It was super fun! President Monson is so amazing, what an example of service and complete loyalty to the Lord! I'm so grateful to have a living prophet who can receive revelation from our Heavenly Father. 

I hope everyone has a good week, especially with school starting!! I love you all!!

 

Sis Delgado - Anna's trainer

My advice: read the Book of Mormon. It’s the best.

Well, it´s been another good week here in Cajamarca!

Monday

Hna Delgado and I went to the ventanillas in Otuzco. It´s an ancient burial site and it was pretty cool, but not a lot to see. After that, we went to the church and played soccer with other misisonaries, which was fun.

Tuesday

We had an awesome lesson with Carla about the Book of Mormon and we had a recent convert with us who´s around her age so I think that helped a lot too to have him there.

Wednesday

I finished the Book of Mormon from when I started it on July 1 and that was awesome! I have a new love for the Book of Mormon, it really is the most correct and most important book on this earth. That night we had an FHE with Hna Celinda and her family. She and all her sons are baptized, but her son James (we´re teaching him and his wife) is inactive. But we read through the family proclamation and it went really well. It´s cool to see recent converts doing so well.

Thursday

We had a good zone training, we talked about how to find people, then had fun taking pictures together. We had a lesson with Moises, who was baptized like 10 years ago and is inactive. We talked about the Book of Mormon and he had a lot of good questions and seemed really interested. He didn´t come to church, but hopefully as we keep visiting him, he´ll have the desire to come back to church and have the gospel back in his life.

Friday

We had a ward activity and watched The Work and the Glory at the church. There was a good amount of people there but we as missionaries were serving the refreshments so we didn´t really get to watch. It was fun though and Carla came

Saturday

We visited the neighbors of some members and had a really good lesson with them about the restoration. We set another appointment for this next week, and they seemed really interested so we´ll see how that goes.

Sunday

We only had Carlos and Susana come to church….we weren´t able to meet with them this week but we´re setting up an fhe with them and another family. That night we had an fhe with Carla about prophets that went well. She´s still praying about baptism, but we´re shooting for sometime in September.

That´s about it, it´s been a pretty normal week. My advice: read the Book of Mormon. It’s the best. 

 Cajamarca Zone? (Anna doesn't label her pictures)

 A sister who is going home

Cajamarca week #4

Well, I've been here in Cajamarca for a month! 

Monday

We had a fun pday as a district and went to baños del inca. It's kinda a resort with a pool and mineral baths and stuff but we just walked around the grounds and took funny pictures. I also lost my planner which I was super bummed about....but at least I've kept track of my chapstick.

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Alicia, a 25 year old girl that we found in our area book. She's had some of the lessons before, but we had a good lesson with her about the restoration and I invited her to be baptized! She said she will if that's what she feels God wants her to do. Later that night we saw Ciro and Carolina (some of my favorite members in our area) in the park playing soccer with their 6 year old son Gabi. I played with them for a bit and one of his friends said 'who taught you to play??" I said "my dad!"" I think he was kinda surprised that I could play haha

Wednesday

Hermana Delgado and I both felt pretty sick, so we didn't go out much. kind of a miserable day...

Thursday

We talked to Carla about baptism and confirmation and that went well. She's the one I invited to baptism my first week. She's 21 and her brother Hernan is a recent member. She's  really cool and almost always reads the Book of Mormon. She said she doesn't have a definite answer about baptism yet but I know she'll get one. We also met with Susana and Carlos in the chapel again and had a great lesson about the restoration. I invited Carlos to be baptized and he said that if he feels it's right, he will. They are super awesome, I think with time, they'll just continue to progress toward the temple.

Friday

We had a lesson with Renaldo (16) and his brother Manuel (19). They grew up in the same kids home with Gabi and don't live with their parents now either. Manuel had a lot of good questions. I hope we can keep teaching them, I think they need the family-ness of the church and the gospel. 

Sunday

Carla and Hernan came to church for all three hours and so did Carlos and Susana! It was awesome! We didn't have any scheduled lessons, so we just walked around trying to find people...but we had some good lessons with members. 

I hope everyone is doing well, things here continue to get better. I read Sister Oscarson's talk from general conference this morning about how we have the greatest message of hope and help the world has ever known. It's true, so SHARE THE GOSPEL. Missionaries always need the help of members. I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Baños del inca

 Cows Chillin

 

I call this the mop dog. It lives by our pensions house.

Todo el mundo esta viajando! (everyone traveling!)

Haha that's what people say here because everyone is traveling cuz the kids are out of school. Also, Happy Birthday to Harry Potter yesterday. 

Tuesday

We had a super amazing lesson in the chapel with a less active and her boyfriend and their son. We talked about eternal families which is something super special to me since being away from mine. The spirit was super strong and I think these two will be great. I can tell she wants to get back into the church and be sealed and I think he does too. We have another lesson with them tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. 

Wednesday

My shower was almost warm!! But with good days like Tuesday, come days like Wednesday where you literally teach no one and no one is home...I think we maybe taught one lesson to a less-active or something. But such is mission life. 

Thursday

We had interviews with President, he and Sister Marble made the trek up to Cajamarca. It was fun to see them, and my interview was good. We had a good lesson with Carla, and she said she'd come to church this week! 

Friday

Like 8 or 10 missionaries were invited to the wedding of a less active and her fiance. The wedding started about 30 minutes late and I think the missionaries made up half of the people there. Definitely very different from what would happen in the U.S. It was cool though. 

Saturday

We had a good lesson with an investigator and her nephew. This was his first time with the missionaries I think and he had a lot of good questions. We're going back this week, so hopefully they'll both be able to keep progressing. 

Sunday

Carla came to church!! for sacrament meeting...I still don't know much of what the lessons are about in church, but we had some good lessons with less actives and member families. The members here are awesome and super supportive. 

My Spanish is getting better, I sometimes get warmish showers, the only rats I've seen have been dead, and I had my first alfajore outside of the CCM and it was delicious. There are dogs and chickens everywhere, and cows, also, about 5 discoteca's (or dance halls|) by our house, but we've got progressing investigators, I've felt the spirit, and I'm starting to enjoy everything more. I hope everyone has a great week! Keep listening to the spirit and remember that we are never alone! That's something I've been learning here, God will never leave us alone. We can have the spirit and angels with us always as long as we strive to be worthy of that.