Proselyting in P-Day clothes!

It's been a great week in Guadalupe! Monday we had a super fantastic lesson with Raul and his wife Betty about baptism, confirmation, and enduring to the end. And he chose his own baptism date for April 15th! So get pumped. His wife likes the changes she is seeing in him, and said that she has always followed him. So if he gets baptized, she will too when she knows it's right. We left that lesson so excited, and so grateful to be missionaries.

Wednesday and Thursday we went out with the elders and some JAS (young single adults) to collect food and clothes for people in San Pedro. San Pedro is a pueblito in our zone that is the only place affected by the flash floods. A lot of people's houses got carried away, so they're living up the sand dunes. On Friday we went with them to give out all the clothes. It was super cool and very humbling. Also, we get to proselyte in p-day clothes all the time! (except for meetings and church) President said we should all be focused on service, so if a service opportunity presents itself, we're all ready to go and don't have to go change. So everyone that knows me well knows that I’m the happiest little missionary here in my basketball shorts, t-shirts, and converse(:  

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and we had 5 investigators at church! At the beginning, Raul sent us a text asking if he could go up and bear his testimony, so we said yes, but he never went up. Then, right before they were about to start the closing song, he went up and gave the most beautiful testimony. Literally Hna Mancilla and I almost cried. He talked about how he studied for five years to be a catholic priest, but then got married. At some point he started to distance himself from God until we showed up at their door. He loves coming to church and talked about how much the gospel is changing his life. It was amazing. If I can see him get baptized, and never have another baptism in my mission, I will be happy. He's the greatest.

I literally love being a missionary so much. Some days it is so hard and I miss my family so much, but when we have people like Raul, when we find new people, or less actives that have been years away from the church, I get so excited about everything. I am so blessed to be serving in the Peru Trujillo North Mission, in Guadalupe 2, with Hna Mancilla. I could not be happier, even with sweating all day and my mosquito bites. The church is true, and this is the Lord's work.

Love,

Hermana Stevenson

Collecting supplies for San Pedro flood victims in the rain

Zone pic

 Proselyting in P-Day clothes!

Flooding in Peru

Peru is currently experiencing the worst flooding it has seen in 20-30 years. More than 70 deaths have been attributed to the flooding and thousands have been displaced. Many people do not have electricity or clean drinking water.

I had seen on Facebook that the internet was down throughout most of Peru and so we didn't expect to get an email from Anna this week. I tried to find out if there was flooding in her area, but couldn't really tell because most of the news stories focused on the larger cities. On Monday I was visiting teaching and my phone rang; the number was from Peru. I was nervous for a second, hoping it wasn't bad news, but was so happy to hear Anna's voice on the other end. Because there was no internet connection, the missionaries had permission for a QUICK phone call home to let their families know they were safe. I was so glad to hear that there has not been any flooding in Guadalupe.

Later in the day we received an email from her mission president explaining what is going on and that all missionaries in the area are safe. Anna was able to go to a nearby town and get online so we did receive a very short email from her. Here's an excerpt:

Lima is a HUGE mess, the center of Trujillo is flooded too, and all north of us, Chiclayo, Piura, is all a mess too.... it rained pretty hard here Tuesday, but the big problems everywhere else are flash floods from the rivers overflowing. There are no rivers here so we're just fine.

The rain here has made the missionary work kind of interesting, because the rain gets into people’s badly constructed houses, so we haven't had very many lessons, and only Raul came to church. And we only had sacrament meeting. We haven't been able to teach anything to him for awhile for various reasons, but we have a lesson tonight and there shouldn't be any hindrance to teach. So we're going to talk about baptism and invite him again to be baptized.

Not really any other news, but I’m good, happy and healthy and safe(: Have a super fantastic week!

Here's a link to some pictures from the flooding.

 

Se que es verdad

Hola de Guadalupe!!

On Tuesday we went to Trujillo for a multi-zone conference with President. It was super good, we talked about inspired questions, teaching with the spirit, and enduring to the end. I always like the opportunity to learn from President and Hna Marble and to be around other missionaries. I also got to visit the Plaza de Armas (Main Square) in Trujillo. It's big and pretty, but I like the one in Cajamarca better.

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Santos and we were planning on teaching about tithing, but then I felt like I should ask her if she's knows that this is all true. She said she hasn't received her answer, and that really surprised me. I had assumed that because they'd been receiving missionaries so long, that she had received her answer that this is true, but we talked, and she realized she had received her answer, but now she doesn't know. So she'll keep praying, but it was cool to see how the spirit works and how it gives us what to say.

Then on Saturday, we had a lesson with Ruth, who came to church with her family a few weeks ago. We asked her if she had prayed specifically to know if this is true, and she said yes, and so we asked if she received her answer. She didn't say anything for a minute, and then she said, "sé que es verdad" (I know it's true). That was the coolest!! We read a scripture and the spirit was there so, so strong. Definitely a moment I will remember for the rest of my mission.

No one came to church yesterday, but we're finding new people and Hna Mancilla and I love being companions!! She’s the greatest. I love Peru with all my heart, and I love the people here. I never thought I would love living in a third world country, but I do. There are things that are uncomfortable or different, but I love it anyways. I hope everyone has a great week, love you all!!

Hermana Stevenson

 With Hermana Marble at multi-zone training

 With Angelica, Yampier, and Eduardo

Blessed with opportunities to teach and testify

Well it's been a great week here in Guadalupe! I completed 9 months (???!!) and Hna Mancilla 14 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so we celebrated with pollo a la brasa (Peruvian grilled chicken) for dinner.

We had a great lesson with Shirley, our investigator in La Calera (the little pueblito in our area) and she knows this is true!!! She's so prepared and really knows that the Book of Mormon and this church are true. She was in Lima visiting her son, so she couldn't come to church yesterday, but we're excited for her progress.

We also had a great lesson with the family that came to church 2 weeks ago. We taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong!! But then they didn’t go to church...

Friday we had another noche de amigos (a big family home evening), and we went with some less actives and an investigator, Angelica. 4 of her kids are members, but only 1 is active, and we're working on reactivating her two teenage boys. We were at her house yesterday and she told us that at the noche de amigos, she felt the spirit so strong, more than she's ever felt it. So here's the backstory on her. Her oldest son went on a mission, and 3 other kids are members too. She’s had all the lessons like 3 or 4 times from a bunch of different missionaries and she knows this is true, but she can't get baptized because her husband doesn't want to get married. So she's felt the spirit before, and the lesson in the noche de amigos was on families. It was kinda long and a little too detailed maybe, but even if I didn't enjoy it much, if it made such a difference for Angelica and if she could feel the spirit so strongly, we couldn't ask for anything else. So we’re praying that her husband will be willing to get married soon so that she can be baptized.

Other than that, missionary work is great and I love Peru!! I am so grateful for everything I’m learning here, and I love this opportunity to serve Heavenly Father and his children in Peru. 

entrance to the hill in Chepen

us overlooking our kingdom (really it's Chepen, but you can see Guadalupe too)

us with Santos, Franklin, and Victor