somos más cajacha que manjar blanco!

Hola friends! Here's an update on life in Cajamarca

Tuesday

We had MAC'N'CHEESE for lunch and I literally almost died of happiness, it was the best! Other than that, every single lesson we had fell through, and we only had one lesson with a member....lots of walking

Wednesday

We had intercambios and Hna Sellan came to my area, so that was kinda scary to have to do everything myself, but it was super great and a lot of fun. We had some good lessons and had a great time talking and laughing together, Hna Sellan is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met!

Thursday

Presidente and Hna Marble came up to Cajamarca for a zone conference. It was super awesome, I learned a lot and it was great to be with our whole zone and President and Hna marble, they're awesome!! They talked a bit about how to begin teaching and how we can improve that, and we were able to apply what we learned from that when we went and talked to Walter, a guy we found by knocking his door a few weeks ago. We set up an fhe with him and his family for later tonight. I was also told by a catholic lady that I have romantic eyes....and idk how she could even see cuz she was wearing huge sunglasses at 8 at night in the dark...

Friday

Again, everything fell through, but we had a really good lesson with a lady we found two weeks ago. She had missionaries visit her about 15 years ago, but we really think she's ready this time. Next time we're going to teach her whole family, so we'll see how that goes.

Saturday

We got to watch women's conference!! and I got to watch in English with Hnas Fuller and Holmes and it was the best!! Especially Elder Uchtdorf's talk, that was the best! 

Sunday

We had an awesome lesson with Nora, it was only our second one with her, but I felt the spirit super strong as we taught the restoration. I invited her to be baptized, and she said that if she feels like it's what God wants her to do, she'll get baptized!! She’s super awesome, really open and willing to learn and ask God. 

It's been a great week and I love Peru more each day! Sometimes it's super hard, but really it's the coolest thing to be a missionary. 4'th floor, last door!!! Love you all, Hna. Stevenson

  Our last normal Sunday as the barrio aeropuerto missionaries (transfers are next week and 2 or 3 of them are leaving

 

“somos mas cajacha que manjar blanco” some of the cajacha women here wear pants under their skirts, so we decided to embrace the culture and proselyte in pants and skirts. Jk, just in our room, but we think we’re pretty funny

Alfajores

Zone Conference

My first talk and Papa John's Pizza!

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Moises, he's been inactive for over 10 years and his wife is not supportive of us coming or of him coming back to the church. We taught lesson 3: the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of Holy Ghost, endure to the end) and he was more focused than he's ever been. Usually he's flipping through his hymn book or Book of Mormon and it's frustrating cuz he doesn't seem to pay attention. But as I explained the importance of church attendance because we can take the sacrament, he really seemed to pay attention and think about it. Because of his job he can't come to church till after conference, so we'll see what happens. That night we went by the house of a girl we've taught once. She wasn't home so we knocked a door down the street but they weren't home either. As we turned to leave, the girls brother called to us and told us to go back. The mom came out and said her daughter wasn't home but that she wanted to listen. We started on the restoration lesson, and after I explained how the gospel blesses families she started crying and told us how they'd had a happy marriage and family for 20 years and her husband recently had an affair.....so we talked to her about that and tried to help and comfort her. It's cool how the Lord leads us to people we can help, hopefully we'll be able to keep meeting with her to help her overcome this challenge. 

Wednesday

Carla had her baptismal interview and passed!! We were super excited, and she was excited too. 

Thursday

It rained!!! like super hard, but only for about an hour. But we had to wear the super ugly rain boots we had in the apartment. But it was so much fun, I was in heaven(:  also, Carla texted us to say she was super nervous and wanted to postpone her baptism......so we went and visited her and shared a scripture and asked her to pray about it. 

Friday

I went to Lima to get my visa, and got to go with Hna Clark and Hna Lee, two of my best friends from the CCM!!!! It was literally the best, we had so much fun talking about everything that's happened in these last 10 weeks. we went to immigrations and filled out papers and got our cards, then went back to the airport and had Papa Johns (the first real pizza I've had here, it was awesome), and then me and two elders from my zone flew back to Cajamarca. It was super sad to say goodbye to my friends again, but it was amazing to see them again!! I got back at 6 and we went to try and visit Carla but she wasn't home...

Saturday

we talked to Carla, and she decided to postpone her baptism...we were both super bummed, and hna Delgado will probably be gone by the time she gets baptized. but the elders in Banos del Inca are in our district and they had a baptismal service for three people so we went to that to support them, and that was cool. But it was sad to not have our own. 

Sunday

A lot of things worked out to lead us to a member that really needed to talk to us. She and her husband are pretty young and seem like the perfect couple, but apparently they're having problems. We listened and shared what we could without actually giving counsel. I love her a lot and we're praying that they figure things out. I also gave my first talk!! It was about the blessings of the temple and I thought it went pretty well. Although I forgot to take my scriptures up so I had to improvise a bit...but I can tell that my Spanish is progressing, the gift of tongues is real!!!

I know that this church is true and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us personally and love us. We have a living prophet who receives direct revelation from God, and we have the only full and true gospel of Jesus Christ. So all y'all who know that too, go share it!! Like Sister Oscarson said, "we have the greatest message of hope and help the world has ever known" love you all!

 

Lunch at Bembos in the mall

A rainstorm - finally!

 This is the son of the member we live with. And yes, that is his natural hair. He's like Harry Potter.

Some interesting stories...

Hola friends! It's been another great week in Cajamarca! We have some interesting stories too haha

Tuesday

As we were walking to an appointment in the sketchier part of our area (it's not super sketchy, just not as nice as the other parts), this older lady said that we were pretty and that she has sons we can marry....um no thanks. anyways, Carla accepted a baptismal date for the 17th!!! It'll be my first baptism and I'm so excited for her! I think she's ready and I really think the church is something she needs in her life. She and her brother Hernan (who was baptized like in march) can help each other and support each other. We told her that this week will be hard because Satan doesn't want her to get baptized, but that we will help her with anything. Super exciting!!

Thursday

is our day for daily planning and we usually go to the tienda that's close to our house to get snacks, cuz it usually takes 2-3 hours. We were deciding what to get when I saw in the ice cream cooler a carton of frio rico. It's vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces and chocolate  sauce, and it's super good, so we bought that. We ate the whole liter of it in about an hour. Needless to say, it was a bad decision and we won't be doing that again, but it was sooooooo good(: 

Friday

We ran around our area giving out invitations for the ward activity. The activity was pretty crazy. It was an international night, and each organization had a different country and had to make a food and do some kind of presentation. It was supposed to start at 7 but started at 7:40 (per Peruvian standard time) and some of the organizations didn't get there till like 8;15 with their food...but we had 4 investigators or less actives there so that was awesome! It ended up being a pretty good activity and there were a lot of people there. 

Saturday

We were finally able to meet with James and Violetta, but they hadn't kept any of their commitments..so we talked about how we have to act if we want to progress and learn, and shared the "faith without works is dead" scripture. It was a short lesson but they said they'd go to church and read the Book of Mormon. We just don't really know what else to do with them cuz they never go to church and don't really keep their other commitments, but want us to keep going back. So we're working on that. We also had an FHE with a member family and we shared two videos about Jesus Christ and that through His atonement we can receive help and forgiveness. As i bore my testimony about Him, I felt the spirit so strong. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and that he perfectly understands our trials, and will always be willing to help us. 

Sunday

NONE of our investigators came to church...and we try to call or visit every investigator on Saturday or Sunday to remind them, but we only had one less active come. Sunday afternoons can be hard cuz we don't usually have a lot of lessons and when we do, they often fall through. Two of our lessons fell through, so we went to talk to the neighbor of one of the members. She's had missionaries from other religions come, but she said they all confused her. We had a really good lesson with her about the restoration, and gave her a Book of Mormon. She's traveling to Lima this week, so we're hoping to meet with her again next Sunday. Also, the evangelist missionaries that visited her told her that we like to share what we have, like it says in the Bible. This evangelist missionary told her that there's a basement in each of our church buildings where couples go to share their spouses with each other.....we told her that that DEFINITELY does NOT happen. idk where these crazy rumors get started, but man, people make up weird stuff about us...

Anyways, I'm still working on lots of things, and the mission is really really hard sometimes, but I read a talk by Elder Holland this last week about missionary work and the atonement, and he said this: I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience...I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul...If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that...When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions.

I wrote this down and put it in my planner to read every day. The mission is supposed to be hard, but when we rely on Christ and try to do what He would do, it can be a little bit easier. I know that He is our Savior, Redeemer, and our brother. He has lifted me up and helped me in my trials, and now I'm trying to be a better missionary so that other people can come to Christ and experience the joy of the gospel. I love you all so much, and with more wise words from Elder Holland, "keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing.Heaven is cheering 

you on today, tomorrow, and forever.

 

 The Hermanas of Zona Cajamarca (missing 3 sisters)

Moto selfie

We found this beaut in the street yesterday, I thought you'd enjoy this mom(:

estas engordando!

Another great week here in Cajamarca!                                                    

Monday

We went with some other missionaries to Santa Apolonia, you go up a million stairs to  a church with a huge cross, then up more stairs to the top of the hill to look out over all of Cajamarca! It's really cool, it was beautiful up there!

Tuesday

I had a really rough morning, feeling sad and homesick, but then in the afternoon we found Nora! She's an old investigator and was super open and asked questions, and promised she'd read the Book of Mormon we gave her. It was an awesome lesson and we're hoping to have another one soon. That really showed me that the Lord answers prayers and that He will pick us up when we're feeling down.

Wednesday

We went to another old investigators house and taught the restoration, but when I asked her if she'd read the Book of Mormon, she straight up said no...that's never happened, and I was pretty surprised. She's catholic and was very nice, but doesn't really want to change. #rejection

Thursday

So we were at the house of some older members, and after the lesson, he said, 'Hermana Stevenson, estas engordando!'......thanks hermano....I'm going to have to start eating less bread and rice. It was funny though, cuz people talk about that all the time, and they say that a lot to hna Delgado. We had a super awesome lesson with Susana at the church. It's been awhile cuz she's been out of town, and Carlos is in Lima for another month, but it was good to have a lesson with her. We had the keys to the chapel and went in, but before the lesson started, the security alarm went off! We didn't know the code to shut it off, so we called the zone leaders like 5 times before they answered and they came and turned it off. kinda funny

Friday

We looked through our area book and found the teaching record of someone that said 'Golden investigator'. So we were like sweet, lets go there! So we knocked, a lady opened the door, and we barely had time to say hola before she closed the door in our faces....so we just laughed and walked away. Maybe we'lll try again later. We had a  lesson with Carla and went over the baptism interview questions. She did really well, and we're planning her baptism for the 17th!! super excititng.

Sunday

One of our investigators, Julio, came to church! He's older and we're not sure how much he understands, but he has a friend in the ward, so he went to Sunday school and priesthood with him. His friend told us that he loved church and wants to go again next week!!

The primary kids also made us super cute notes, so that was cool to get those.

I hope everyone at home is doing well!! A quote that I really like is 'the great thing about the gospel is that we get credit for trying, even if we don't always succeed.' by Elder Holland. I like that alot, because if life was based off our success, we wouldn't get very far, especially in missionary work. So keep on doing the small things (scripture study, prayer, going to church), and keep trying, and the lord will be patient with us and bless us. Love you all!!