See You on the Other Side

Well, it's been a pretty normal week. We talked with Talia and asked how her fast went, but she STILL doesn't know if she wants to get baptized.... We had another lesson this week with a girl who we contacted. Last time we taught the restoration and on Friday we talked about the Book of Mormon. We did some explaining, she had some questions, we answered, and she said she didn't agree with our ideology or with the Book of Mormon. We challenged her to read it anyways and pray about it. Sometimes we just have to plant seeds. 

We found a new investigator this week whose daughter is friends with a member. Her name is Jelixa and we did CCE (como comenzar enseñar=how to begin teaching) and then she had questions about the Book of Mormon and the temple. She went to the temple open house two years ago. So then we explained about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and she was really interested. 

We had planned an FHE this week with Irving and his family to kind of introduce them to the church and some members. It was first scheduled for Wednesday, but then he reminded us that it was the world cup qualifier between Peru and New Zealand. So we rescheduled for Friday. But the members we had invited had a meeting. So we rescheduled for Sunday night, but then someone reminded us of the face to face that we got to go to, so we rescheduled for Sunday afternoon and FINALLY had the FHE. It wasn't the best we've had, but we felt the spirit and we hope Irving’s family did too. 

SO. The soccer game on Wednesday....no one wanted to let us in the whole entire day. It started at 9pm and our mission leader texted when Peru scored the first time. Then around 10:45 when we were in bed trying to sleep, all of Peru FREAKED OUT. all our neighbors were yelling, playing music, honking their car horns, and generally just making a lot of noise. The same thing happened when the game ended. It was about time that Peru got to the World Cup though, it's been like 38 years. The joke after was that Peru always arrives late (here in Peru it is not a priority to be on-time. For anything) 

Well, my last week has arrived. I remember when I completed 2 months in the mission and wrote my parents to say that I didn't think I could make it 16 more months. I am so grateful that I didn't give up after two months! The mission has been the hardest, most wonderful, most frustrating, and most joyful experience I have ever had. I have come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ better, learned to love other people, and I just love being a missionary. I know the church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Jesus Christ lives, and is our savior. 

I LOVE PERU!

At the temple with Irving and his girlfriend

With Yanira, one of the young women. I played the violin while she sang at the anniversary of the YW.

Our district this morning

No Greater Joy

Wow, the time is flyin......

We had a zone conference on Thursday (my last one) that was super good. I also got a letter from MariaJose Ventura, one of my converts from Guadalupe!! She and her family are doing well and she's working on her personal progress!! "I have no greater joy than to hear that my [converts] walk in truth." 

This week we were talking with Talia (investigator) and her sister (recent RM) and we asked how she's feeling about baptism, and she said she still didn't know. We had just finished teaching a lesson about tithing and fasting, and she said she wanted to fast about it. So she picked a baptismal date for the 25th and we all fasted about it. We’re going to go see her today to see how it went(: It was pretty awesome for her to have that idea herself and to follow through with it. 

Saturday we got to go to the temple with Irving and some members so he could do baptisms!! We got there at 5, and the temple workers said we'd have to wait 15 minutes. Well we were still waiting at 6:15 and they told us it wouldn't be possible because there weren't enough temple workers available. But we explained that we were with a recent convert to do baptisms for the first time, and everything worked out. It was a really great experience to be there with Irving, his girlfriend, and our ward mission leader. 

Well, being a missionary is the very best thing ever. I’m so grateful to have known so many amazing people that I otherwise never would have met. I love Jesus Christ and His gospel, I love being a missionary, and I LOVE PERU!!!

Every Member a Missionary

It's been a great week here in Granados!! Most of our citas (appointments) fell and we actually didn't teach very many investigators, but I just had a good week. We visited Aura (her husband is an inactive member in a tough spot right now) twice with the relief society president, and yesterday’s lesson was especially spiritual. We read a bit in the Book of Mormon, then talked about the Holy Ghost. Our relief society president is super awesome and shared some really amazing thoughts, the spirit was there so strong and Aura was crying and shared her feelings too. It was awesome. 

Church yesterday was chevere (cool), we had three investigators there. Testimony meeting was pretty powerful; in second hour we didn't have gospel principles because all our investigators left after first hour. But the class was on every member a missionary, and relief society addressed the importance of visiting teaching. All things that our ward needed to hear(: 

Last night, president Calderon had a meeting for all the ward councils from the wards in Trujillo and invited the missionaries. He is very spiritual and funny and it was an incredible meeting. He shared some pretty cool experiences and invited the members to be more involved in missionary work. He made all the missionaries stand up, and all the members had to go find their missionaries, tell us their schedules to accompany us to teach, and give references if they could. He’s pretty incredible, I’m sad I’ll have so little time with him as my president. 

Today we went to the Huaca de la Luna, it was way cooler than Chan Chan. and the first time that I’ve worn jeans in 17 months. Hahaha

Huaca de la Luna ("Temple of the Moon") is a large adobe brick structure built mainly by the Moche people of northern Peru. The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche, Trujillo, Peru from about 100 to 700 AD

Chan Chan, the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America, is now an archaeological site in La Libertad Region 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of Trujillo, Peru

Overall, it's been a great week!! This last week and a half I have found a much deeper love of Peru and the people here. I love being a missionary!!!! The church is true!!!! Tell everyone!

Huaca de la Luna

Also known as bad weeds.......

We’ve had a pretty good week here in Granados. We had a ward talent show, met and had interviews with President Calderon*, had 6 investigators at church, and Irving was confirmed and received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday! 

*Anna’s mission president, President Marble, has been diagnosed with cancer. He and his wife returned to the U.S. last week in order for him to receive treatment. They plan to return to Peru to finish their mission in a few months. President Calderon is from Chimbote, Peru and is an Area Seventy. He will function as mission president until President Marble is able to return to the Trujillo, North mission.

This week while contacting, we knocked a door. An older lady answered and we presented ourselves as missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as mormons. Then she said, "tambien conocidos como hierba mala." (also known as bad weeds...) we stood there for a sec, then laughed, then I talked about the Book of Mormon and how we can come to Christ and learn how to return to God's presence. Then she started off on a tirade about how Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon, that we are in error, and a whole lot of other stuff. I was sad inside, but I smiled, bore my testimony, we thanked her for her time, and left. Another guy yelled to us in the street so we went to talk to him and he only wanted to tell us how disappointed he is because lots of missionaries have contacted him but never visited him. We think he may have been drunk as well....lots of interesting things. 

Anyways, it really has been a good week. I love this ward and the members here, and I love Irving and Diego and all the other people we are teaching. There’s no time like the mission to see so many miracles in so short of a time, and to hear all sorts of weird funny things too. The church is true!!!

In the Botanical Garden

A tortoise - or is it a turtle?

Santos and Henry (investigators from Guadalupe) FINALLY GOT MARRIED.

Surprise! A Baptism!

Well, it was kind of a slow week here until Thursday night. We had a good lesson with Irving and Diego, and at the end we asked how they were feeling about baptism. We had set a date for the 21 of October, but Irving said it would probably be better for the 28th, and Diego said he's still not ready. But then Thursday, Irving said he wanted to get baptized the 21st!!! Remember that this was Thursday night and he still had to have an interview, and we hadn't organized ANYTHING. But he wanted it for this Saturday, so we organized!!

Friday we emptied and cleaned the baptismal font, and then walked what felt like a million miles for the rest of the day. We were so so so tired that day. Saturday morning Irving passed his interview, and we finished cleaning the church, then Saturday afternoon he was baptized!! Hna Inmunda and I gave the talks and did the musical number. I played the violin and Hna Inmunda and some girls from JAS (young single adults) sang. Irving's mom and two sisters came, and Diego too. It was a really spiritual baptismal service, and it was great to see Irving in a white shirt and tie. He always came to church in jeans and a sweatshirt, but we talked about it and now he'll go with a shirt and tie. 

Sunday was the national census, so we had to be in our room from 8am until 5pm. it was SO BORING. We did personal and companion study, planned our day, did weekly planning, organized the area book, and played lots of rounds of UNO in between. But i was kind of dying. 

This morning in personal study I was studying 2 Nephi 2 and it's really, really awesome. It talks about the atonement, agency, and the plan of salvation. There’s one line from verse 13 that I really liked: "And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness." Keeping the commandments truly makes us happy, and I love verse 8: "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."

I love being a missionary of Jesus Christ and making these things known unto the inhabitants of Granados. The church is true!!

Us with Irving

Irving with his family

Irving and his girlfriend (I'll be waiting for a pic like this in front of the temple in 1 year)

The Church is True!! Tell Everyone!

Well, this week there was ANOTHER world cup qualifier. Peru tied again and again there was no one. So we visited an older lady in the ward who doesn't watch soccer. 

We had a super awesome zone conference this week. President and Hna Marble talked about the power of the Book of Mormon and showed a video that BYU professors and students made.  They went to different cities all over the world, had a display in a public place, and asked a bunch of people to read one page of the Book of Mormon, highlight the references to God or Jesus Christ, and share their impressions. It was pretty powerful. The Book of Mormon truly speaks for itself! 

We’ve had good lessons with Irving and Diego again but we'll have to wait another week or two for their baptisms. We also had two really super great lessons with Napoleon and his wife Pilar. She seems a lot more open and receptive now and they committed to a new baptismal date. We are excited to see lots of miracles this transfer. 

I found more awesome President Monson quotes this week. "Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith...don't lose your faith, because the lord has not lost faith in you." The church is true!!!! Tell everyone!

We had a family home evening with a member family and made pizza!

Proselyting during soccer game = ineffective

Tuesday was the world cup qualifier between Peru and Argentina, so EVERYONE was shut up in their houses watching the game and didn't want to listen to us. I thought for sure that Peru would lose, but they tied 0-0. So during the game we contacted the 3 people that were not watching. 

Diego and Irving are doing well, they read the Book of Mormon and are still praying about baptism. We had a really awesome lesson with them about faith and our noche de hogar (FHE) in their house went really well. Diego didn't make it to church yesterday, but they're going with us to another noche de hogar (FHE) tonight. I feel like they're kind of Heavenly Father's gift to us after months of working hard with not many results. They are open and willing to learn, keep commitments, and are just really nice and respectful and are just good people. 

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. I found a quote the other day by President Monson that I love.

"Today there are hearts to gladden, kind words to say, deeds to be done, and souls to be saved."

That is our job as missionaries, and the job of everyone else as well. Gladden hearts!! Say kind words!! Do good deeds!! And save souls!!! The church is true.

Kissing a lizard

Service

my companion complains that i don't ever take normal pictures haha

General Conference

Well, it's been another week here in Granados. I got to have an intercambio (exchange) with Hermana Lee which was the best! I also got to watch Saturday conference in English with three other gringas!! Conference is such a blessing, every single talk had something that I needed to hear.

So on Sunday, we had four investigators at the morning session of conference. Irving and Diego went, and we went with Aura and her two daughters. They are 3 and 8 years old and it was terrible!! The 8 year old was bored, so she was trying to talk to us through the whole meeting, and obviously the 3 year old was bored too, and at one point we had to separate the two so they wouldn't fight, and Aura got mad at the 3 year old and made her cry. Needless to say we were very happy when that session was over and we watched the afternoon session in peace. 

Irving and Diego are doing really well!! Diego has almost finished  2nd Nephi and they are both praying about baptism. The bishop went with us to visit them last night and that was a super great lesson. We have a noche de hogar (FHE) with them and some members tonight, and we're planning on October 21 for their baptism! 

Funny: so Hna Inmunda has told me various times that I talk in my sleep (which is not new), but that whenever she's heard me sleep talk, that I’m speaking in Spanish and teaching someone or inviting someone to be baptized! If that's not a 100% dedicated missionary, I don't know what is!!! hahaha  

So Elder Holland's talk on Saturday was one of my favorites. Lots of times I feel inadequate and that I’m not doing well enough, but his talk was a perfect answer to my doubts.

"Every one of us aspires to a more Christlike life than we often succeed in living. If we admit that honestly and are trying to improve, we are not hypocrites; we are human. May we refuse to let our own mortal follies...make us cynical about the truths of the gospel, the truthfulness of the Church, our hope for the future, or the possibility of godliness. If we persevere, then somewhere in eternity our refinement will be finished and complete. …"

Love,

Hermana Stevenson

  a peruvian dog

 eating a pb&j sandwhich (thanks to packages from mom and grandma)

eating lunch between conference sessions with our mission leader and his fam

Te amo Peru!

Well, there's not much to report for this week, but Irving and Diego committed to a new baptismal date of October 21! They said they are receiving their answers poco a poco (little by little) and we are really excited about their progress!! We also found a former investigator that the elders were teaching a year or two ago. He had a lot of the lessons and went to church a few times. We knocked on his door, he let us in, we reviewed the restoration and invited him to be baptized on October 21 and he said yes!! So things are going good. 

We got to watch women's conference and it was awesome!!! I really liked Sister Eubank’s and Elder Uchtdorf's talks. And I’m super pumped for general conference this week!! 

Even though the mission is flipping hard sometimes, at the end of the day, I love being a missionary! The time goes so fast and it is such a special time to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love being able to meet so many of God's children here in Peru. And despite all it's challenges, Peru is a beautiful country and its people are so loving. Te amo Peru!!

Eating lunch with Familia Guerrero

 

  I ate Kraps!!

 This is Mosi(:

On second thought, make my potatoes (rice/bread/chicken) a salad

Que tal? (How are you?)                                                 

This week has been normal, with some really awesome lessons. We had a super great lesson with Irving and Diego about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and now they understand the purpose of baptism, and how each step gets us closer to our Heavenly Father. Irving also went to stake conference yesterday.

After cancelling our citas (appointments) for more than a month, we were finally able to meet with Napoleon and Pilar again. We had a super spiritual lesson about the plan of salvation, which was just perfect for some health and other problems they're going through. Pilar (who is a little more cold and quiet than Napoleon) was crying as we shared our testimonies of the plan of salvation and eternal families. It was a pretty special moment. Then last night, two brothers from the ward went with us and gave Napoleon a priesthood blessing and the spirit there was really, really strong. 

We went looking for a contact of some elders from 5 years ago, and found him in a little tienda (store). When we told him we were missionaries he pulled out his bible, and I just knew everything was gonna go downhill. He and his friend who joined us, started telling us about how when Christ comes, the United States will be the first place destroyed because it's super wicked apparently, and a whole bunch of other stuff that he backed up with irrelevant bible verses. And his biggest problem with the church is that missionaries can't date or fall in love on their missions.................................. it was a pretty interesting experience and it was pretty hard to escape. 

This week I’ve been reading a lot of conference talks and I really like "Faith Is Not by Chance, but by Choice" by Elder Andersen. I really liked this quote:

Your faith is either growing stronger or becoming weaker. Faith is a principle of power, important not only in this life but also in our progression beyond the veil. By the grace of Christ, we will one day be saved through faith on His name. The future of your faith is not by chance, but by choice.

We always need to be strengthening our faith and rooting it deeper and deeper into our souls. This is the true church of Jesus Christ!! Have a great week everyone. 

Doing service 

Our Pensionista's birthday 

Our district at Chan Chan 

 With a senior missionary couple that works in the temple. She's from Peru and he's from Cedar City