Today we hiked up to the Cristo
here in Chepen! My compi almost died, but she is ok(: Everything was all smoky
cuz after they harvest all the rice, they burn what's left of the plants. So
lots of the rice fields were burning, but it was fun. Other than that it's been
a pretty good week here. We taught Raul’s mom for the first time and we have
another appointment with her this week!
On Friday I had the most
humbling experience of my mission. A lady randomly showed up at the church
last week during third hour saying she wanted to come to church, and so we got
her "address" to go visit her. She lives out past Calera, the teeny
tiny pueblito that's 15 minutes from here. The place is called Nuevo San Marcos,
but it's just a scattering of adobe houses (that do not have addresses). It’s
people who come from San Marcos, a place in the Scierra (mountain region) of Cajamarca
(Cajamarca is a province too, not just a city). So there are a bunch of people
that come here and just work in the fields or whatever other work they can
find. There’s a member who took us out there in his car and another member, and
the family of this lady is just so poor. We met the 3 younger kids (there are
6). A 9-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy in a falling apart wheelchair, and a 3-year-old girl. Their house is just one room I think (we taught them outside)
and the kids run around without shoes and are dirty, and don't have much to do.
We sat down on empty gas cans and taught the plan of salvation. The dad had an
accident a few years ago and can't work where he has to carry heavy things so
they have like no money. The lady is kinda weird and I don't know how much she
understood, but her husband believes in God and has a lot of faith. It was a
pretty humbling experience. Walking back to Calera to get a moto to Guadalupe,
we talked about organizing a service project for them. It was definitely an
experience I won't forget.
Last night we visited Edgar, the
guy who Hna Mancilla and I started teaching, but he got baptized in Trujillo,
and now he's back here. He has an interview in English this week for a job in Cajamarca,
so we helped him practice. We did the interview stuff, and then we started
teaching each other slang. I won't tell you the slang I told them (it wasn't
bad, don't worry), but Edgar and Hna Lezano laughed so hard! So then Edgar said
"calambre, calambre!" which is like a cramp or charlie horse, and
then Hna Lezano said "calambre en mi
cerebro!" (cramp in my brain), but I thought she said "hambre en mi
cerebro!" (my brain is hungry), and we all laughed even harder. So that's
my funny story for the week. You just had to be there.
The
elders had a baptism on Saturday and while the lady and her son were changing
after the baptism, we (the missionaries) sang a hymn and then we all sang I Am
A Child of God with everyone who was there. We were up at the front so I was
looking at everyone and in that moment I was just so grateful to be a
missionary. Singing I Am a Child of God with all these great members and
missionaries, knowing that I am a member of the true church and that I get to
share that with the people here in Peru was the best!!! It was a pretty great
moment.
Life is good here, I love being
a missionary and I love Peru! Last night I read Elder Rasband's talk from the
October conference "Lest Thou Forget". He said "No matter what mistakes we have made or how imperfect we
feel we are, we can always bless and lift others. Reaching out to them in
Christlike service can help us feel the love of God deep within our
hearts."
I loved reading
that because I feel pretty imperfect a lot of the time. There are so many
things I need to improve or do better and sometimes it's kind of overwhelming. But
this helped me to realize that as long as I’m trying to improve, I can still
help others and be a good missionary. No one is perfect, but Elder Holland said
"the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept
the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish
Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to
acquire them." I’m so grateful for a living prophet and apostles who are
inspired by God. The church is true!!
You can't see it very well, but this is the house of the family in Nuevo San Marcos
With Ivana (she's 8 and got baptized yesterday)
At the Cristo
At the Cristo
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