Hola de Cajamarca!

                                                                

On Tuesday we had a great lesson with Diana about the plan of salvation and eternal marriage. She was really interested, especially about eternal marriage. But it's hard for her because her husband is atheist and only joined the Catholic Church to marry her. So we're going to try and work more with him.

In personal study, I read the insert to the Liahona about Elder Scott after he died, and one of the stories really impressed me. He had been working for the navy/us government in the new nuclear program for 12 years when he was called to serve as a mission president in Argentina. When he told his boss (a navy admiral) he would be leaving, the boss freaked out and made three points: 1)Elder Scott was so vital to the program that it would take a year to replace him 2)if he left, he'd be a traitor to his country, and 3) if he left, he could not expect to get his job back on returning or to ever work in the nuclear field again. But Elder Scott stood his ground and said he'd train a replacement. But because of Elder Scott’s faithfulness, his boss was impressed, and before he left, said that when he got back, Elder Scott could have his job back. That was just an incredible example to me of how if we stand strong in our faith and do what is right, we will be blessed. Elder Scott is pretty dang cool. 

On Wednesday we finally talked with Carla and we're not sure if she's going to be baptized. She’s just really nervous about what she'll lose (mainly her boyfriend) if she gets baptized. We tried to be really direct with her and emphasize that she has so much more to gain than to lose, but she's just not sure. so we're going to fast with her tomorrow so we'll see what happens. 

Saturday we met two gringos (one from England, one from the US) who are here teaching at the Davy College (one of the better schools here, especially in teaching English cuz most of the teachers are from the states). They’re a young couple and it was super cool to talk to them and speak English! But it was also kind of hard to speak English cuz I’m so used to Spanish now. But they live in our area, so we're hoping to be able to meet with them sometime.

Overall it's been a week of cancelled appointments, knocking door after door, and learning that I need A LOT of patience. But Heavenly Father knows what He's doing, so we're trying to listen to the spirit and be led to people who will receive us. Even on the hard days, I’m glad to be here and to have the knowledge of this gospel that I have. I love it so much, and I know that it is true!! I hope everyone has a great week!!

Hna Stevenson

Me and the Homie - Hna. Alvarenga

 Cajamarca Sunset

I met Cuzco (the llama)!!

Hola amigos!

On Tuesday we had intercambios and I went with Hna Alvarenga to her area and it was the best! We had a few awesome lessons, had tons of fun talking and laughing, and I learned a TON from her. It was a super great day and got me excited for the rest of the week.

On Thursday we had a lesson with Lorena. She’s 11 and we've taught her mom a few times, but she didn't want to listen this time so we just taught Lorena. We taught the plan of salvation with the little diagram I have, and she understood it really well. Then she drew out the diagram so she can make her own! She’s super cute and we hope to be able to keep teaching her.

Saturday we went to Otuzco to have a lesson with Rosalila, but there was a dance going on, and she was there watching her husband cuz he was one of the drummers. It was super cool, all the men were in white, with red sashes with little mirrors sewn on, and dancing. Rosalila said they'd been going since 10:00 the night before...it was super cool but I didn't have my camera...we had a super great lesson with Nora, we just think it'll take a while with her cuz we haven't been able to have lessons very often. We also had a lesson with someone we found in the area book. She seems great, but she had a lot of really hard questions, so that was interesting, but a good learning experience.

Sunday we had cuy (guinea pig)!! I usually have a pretty strong stomach, but they just disembowel them and fry them so you can definitely tell what it is, so that was just too much for me and I only ate a little bit. 

Today we went to Porcon as a district, and it was super fun!! It’s about an hour and a half from Cajamarca, and it is so pretty! I’ll just send the pics.

This has been a great week of learning how I can improve, learning from other missionaries and from members as well. I’ve felt the spirit a lot this week, and my love for the other missionaries here and the people of Peru just keeps growing!! I know this gospel is true with all of my heart, and I’m so grateful to be able to share it. I hope you all have a great week!

Hna Stevenson

 Peruvian soccer jerseys?

 Just a little guinea pig for lunch

Cuzco the Llama

 Porcon

 Porcon

Porcon

We just keep going

another week down in Cajamarca...   

Wednesday

We visited Diana again, planning to teach the restoration but she had a ton of complicated questions about the Book of Mormon, so we just answered questions the whole time, but it was good. We’ve heard that the people who have the most questions and are harder to convert are the stronger members. So we're hoping for that(:  we also ran into a large problem with Carla...she found out that she has conference things for her college classes all day Saturday and Sunday for the next four weeks and they started this Saturday...so we asked her to ask permission from her professor to be a little bit late on Sunday so she could get baptized on Sunday before church and then confirmed. so we were super stressed about that.

Thursday

It rained super hard, so after one of our appointments we went back to our room to get our boots cuz our shoes were soaked. Well, water had come in under the door and there was water ALL OVER the floor. We had to cancel our next appointment so we could clean up and it took almost an hour. But this is just the beginning of the rainy season and we've been told it gets worse, so I’m sure I’ll have some more rain stories. 

Friday

We found out that Anita, the investigator who's really awesome and wants her whole family to get baptized is moving....so that was pretty disappointing. And we had to tell Moises (the less active we've been teaching for a while) that he has to get rebaptized. We don't know how, but his baptismal form got lost somehow when the area moved the records from paper to computers. He was disappointed, but not mad like I thought he'd be. 

Saturday

We had another lesson with Rosalia in Otuzco, and her husband was there. We taught the plan of salvation and he actually had a lot of questions. It was a great lesson and we're going back on Wednesday. Also, Carla did not get permission to be late, so she was not baptized this week and we don't know when it's going to be...

Well those are our highlights from the week, kind of a disappointing one, but we're going to keep going! I love you all, have a great week!

 FHE with familia Diaz. They're super awesome!

 This is our attempt at being happily exhausted at the end of the day

 Otuzco

Maybe it doesn't look like it, but it's raining like crazy

Agency

Well, it's been a bit of an interesting week, not much to report. On Wednesday, Hna Delgado felt like we should knock a certain door, so we did, and the lady let us in. She's Catholic, but seemed super interested, she knew a bit about the church and asked a lot of questions. Towards the end her husband came in with their baby, who is SUPER cute. Anyways, they both seem interested, and they know a member family in our area. they weren't able to go to church yesterday, but we're going to keep working with them and hopefully we'll be able to help them progress. We also contacted a reference from a member, and they seem interested too, but didn't have a lot of time and we haven't been able to meet with them again yet. One of our investigators has a tienda and across the street, a little square of land between buildings with chickens and stuff. So before our lesson she was disemboweling cuys (guinea pigs) so we got to watch that. It was pretty sick! (in the cool way and the gross way). 

Saturday we went to Otuzco to have another lesson with Rosalila, the lady we met last week. We went with Janeth, an RM in our ward who's really fun. Rosalila was washing clothes out back, so we helped her a bit as we talked. she's having problems with her husband, he's cheated on her a few times, and they have two kids, so she doesn't know what to do. But after our short lesson with her last time, she started praying every day and said she's felt really peaceful and comforted through prayer so that was super cool!! We taught the restoration and she liked it a lot. She can't come to church for another week or two, but she's super awesome! 

We haven't had very many lessons this week, and a lot of the lessons we've had scheduled have fallen through. We've knocked a lot of doors, and been rejected a lot and that's frustrating because we have a message that will change people's lives and allow them to live with their families and Heavenly Father forever, but they "don't have time" or "already have their religion".  But it's been a week of realizing that people have their agency, and that numbers don't matter so much, as long as we're finding and teaching people. We're hoping to have a better week this week, and Carla's baptism is scheduled for Saturday! Thank you all for the love and prayers, I appreciate them so much! I hope everyone has a great week!!

Hna. Stevenson

 

 The large hill up to our investigator's house in Otuzco

Last district pic with Elder Medrano and Hna. Sellan

 A cajacha and her mule in Otuzco

Conference!

Monday

We had a super great lesson with Anita, we taught her and her son the restoration and invited them to be baptized and they both said yes! We haven't had another lesson with them since because she was in the hospital, but it was a super awesome lesson. She really wants to learn and receive an answer about it. 

Wednesday

We took the combi out to otuzco to contact a reference we got. Addresses don't really exist out there, so we didn't find the person we were looking for, but we did find someone who was interested! We talked a bit about prayer and the Book of Mormon, and we're going back on Saturday! 

Thursday

Hna Fuller had to go to Lima for her visa, so Hna Holmes was with us for the day and it was so fun!! All our lessons fell through, but we had a fun time talking and laughing together. Hna Holmes is one of my best friends here in the mish and can relate to all my white-and-blonde-girl-in-peru problems haha. We did have a lesson with a less active who just looked really sad. she doesn't have great health and just kinda has a hard life. But at the end, I had the impression that we should sing "where can i turn for peace". The spirit was super strong and I hope she felt it too. 

Friday

We had to get up at 4:30 to go get Hna Fuller from the bus station so that was great....we contacted a reference from a member and had a short lesson with her, her 11 year old daughter was really into it and asked to go to church with us!

Saturday

Conference was amazing as always, and all us gringos watched together in English and that was super fun. Great messages and a great spirit. Lots of talks about missionary work, it's cool to be a missionary watching conference and seeing what we can do to improve.

Sunday

Conference was great again, and we got transfer calls. I'm now officially done with training, and usually would have got a new comp for this next transfer, but I'm staying with Hna Delgado. But hna Sellan and Elder Medrano, two of my best friends up here are leaving and I'm super sad about that. They're both in my ward so it will be pretty different. But such is the mish...

I love you all and hope you enjoyed conference! Please take Elder Oaks' talk about member missionary work to heart and help out your local missionaries, they'll love you forever, promise(: 

#ldsconf

 The gringas of Zona Cajamarca

This is probably one of the most cajacha pictures you will ever see

The unofficial symbol of Cajamarca