I Am a Disciple of Jesus Christ

Well, it's been a pretty normal week here, not much to report. We had a fun ward activity on Saturday and some members brought friends, so that was cool to meet them. We’ll be visiting some of them this week. 

Wednesday and Thursday we had intercambios (exchanges) and I was with Hermana Lee!! It was super fun and a big stress reliever. We bought ice cream and had a fun time talking as we walked to all the citas (appointments) that fell...hahaha

Well, there are really not people who are progressing. We’re going to work hard this week with return appointments, references, and contacting to find new people. 

Even though sometimes missionary work is super hard and frustrating, I know that this is where I’m supposed to be, and I love doing the Lord's work.

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. (3 Nephi 5:13)

 4 Generations of Sisters - Hermana Delgado far right (Anna's trainer), Anna, Hermana Lezano to the left of Anna (Anna trained her) and Hermana Carstens far left (trained by Hermana Lezano) and also Hermana Inmunda (trained by Anna)

 With the Bentleys

 Trujillo Temple

niños mentirosos

Well, this week has been an emotional rollercoaster. Some really amazing things happened, and some really not amazing things happened. 

Lots of citas (appointments) fell, Napoleon and his wife didn't go to church, and just the normal difficulties of the mission all piled up this week. Tuesday night kind of set everything off, but that's all I have to say about that!

Good news. On Thursday we had a mission conference with elder Montoya (from the area presidency). The WHOLE mission was there-- except Cajamarca. It was awesome!!!!! I got to see almost all my friends(:  President and Sister Marble started everything off really well, then Sister Montoya spoke (also really good), then Elder Montoya ended. Wow, it was incredible!! One of the things I really liked is that if the people recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ, they will keep their commitments and progress faster. That’s something I’ve been thinking about since then. How we act and think and plan identifies us as representatives of Jesus Christ. It was so awesome to be almost all together as the whole mission to hear from this inspired leader. 

Saturday we had another capilla abierta (chapel tour), just as good as always, and more brownies from the Bentley's (the senior missionary couple here). 

This morning we went to the temple!! That was such a blessing to feel the peace of the temple and be in the Lord's house. All ya’ll that live close to a temple and have the liberty to go to the temple whenever you want, aprovechen!! (take advantage)

To explain the subject line: (the translation would be dishonest kids) we went to see one of our investigators that cancelled on us last week to see if we could visit her. Her 6-year old son answered the door and this was our conversation (in Spanish)

us: hey! is your mom home?

him: no, she's gone

us: can you go ask her when we can come back?

(he goes running off, and comes back)

him: she's busy

us: we just want to talk to her for a minute

(he goes running off again and comes back)

him: she says she's coming

(30 seconds later she comes to the door)

I love the children here and their parents that teach them to lie to the missionaries. They make funny stories though. 

I hope everyone has a good week back at school, lots of love from Peru!!

Napoleon (is) Dynamite!

One of my work friends from BYU wrote this in her email this week and it made me laugh.

"I'm convinced that missionaries are the single largest group of people with the highest number of awkward experiences in any given day." TRUE STORY

Anyways, this week we got to do some awesome service! We made adobe (mud) and helped our ward mission leader's mom start to rebuild their wall after the haico (flood?) destroyed it. That was super fun but I didn't have my camera to take pictures :(  and the other service we did was cleaning out a storage room with another lady in the ward. People here are kind of pack rats...but I love doing service and getting dirty! 

Last Monday we went to the dentist to get Hna Inmunda's tooth fixed, and that was a little scary. I was glad I was not the one in the chair...I’m sure he's very qualified, and if President Marble (who was a dentist) trusts  him, I’m good with it. There was just outdated, scary looking equipment. 

This Sunday we went to the stake center for a regional conference for Peru and Bolivia. Elder Cook, Elder Corbridge, Elder Godoy (area president), Elder Uceda (the only general authority 70 from Peru), and Sister McConkie spoke. Everyone but Elder Cook spoke in Spanish, I was impressed. It was super amazing though, they focused on missionary work, family history, and keeping the Sabbath day holy, which is EXACTLY what our ward (and all of Peru) needs. We were on our way to lunch, though a little sad that again we had no investigators at church, when we ran into Napoleon. HE WENT TO THE CONFERENCE! There were a ton of people so we just didn't see him. It took going to the stake center to get him to go, when our church is literally around the corner from his house.....but he went!! We were so happy. And  he is going to progress!! 

Otherwise it's been a pretty normal week. We are always looking for new investigators and helping the current ones to progress.

Romans 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at [Peru] also.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth...

Reunited with Hermana Delgado (her trainer) 

Hermana Delgado  

Hermana Inmunda and Anna the giant

Hermana Inmunda

You mean it was all a lie???

 It’s been a bit of an interesting week, with some big disappointments, and some awesome parts as well. 

Bad news first: 

1) Patrick didn't show up for our lesson on Tuesday, so we called, and went by his house several times without finding him. Then on Thursday, his mom answered the door and said that he had been leaving without her permission (he's 18 by the way, and that was a lie, she knew he was meeting with us), and that until he's done with university, he won't be leaving the house. (Again, he's 18). She was just kind of rude, and it was really sad to lose such a great investigator. We’ll just pray that he'll have the opportunity to listen to the gospel at some point in the future. 

2) No one came to church again despite all our efforts of promising blessings, committing them to go, calling, and going to their houses. I have no more to say about that. 

Good news!!! 

1) Melisa said that she is starting to feel that the church is true!!! She also said she would go to church (see subject line). She just needs to read the Book of Mormon and GO TO CHURCH. 

2) We had a really super spiritual lesson with Napoleon and Pilar, and they both accepted baptismal dates for September 16!! They also promised they'd go to church and that we could pick them up....(see subject line) 

3) We are supposed to contact 25 people each day, and on Wednesday we got to 28!!!! We should be able to pull some solid investigators from those 28 contacts.

4) We got to do another capilla abierta (chapel tour)! I love being able to teach so many people at once and be able to testify so many times about the restoration of the gospel, and Jesus Christ. We got to do a bit of contacting to bring people in, and that was fun too. 

Well, the good things are always more than the bad things! (that is really terrible English, I’m so sorry). The mission is so hard but so worth it. I love the people here, I love my companion, and I love being a soldier of Jesus Christ. 

Two weeks worth of pictures

Hermana Stevenson and Hermana Inmunda (Anna looks so tall!)

 Hermana Delgado (Anna's trainer)

Awwwww......

These are the last 3 banners we talk about at the capilla abierta

  Hna Inmunda, Hna Muñoz, Hna Stevenson, Hna Gonzales at the capilla abierta

McDonalds!!

Mande?

It's been a great first week with Hna Inmunda! She's from Ecuador and is so sweet and ready to work! It’s awesome cuz I get to hear Ecuadorian words (like mande, which means "Come again?") and stuff that Hna Delgado used to say. Hna Inmunda joined the church when she was 12 and is the only member in her family. Her parents kicked her out of her house when she got baptized, so she's amazing for staying strong and coming on the mission. I really look up to her. 

We have a new investigator, Gustavo, who's 25. One of his member friends invited him to church last week, and he went to all the YSA convention activities this weekend and really enjoyed it. We had our first lesson with him yesterday, and he had good questions and seems really interested. 

We had some great lessons this week, including with Napoleon and Patrick, but none of our investigators came to church yesterday. That is definitely our biggest challenge here. This weekend was also fiestas patrias (for Peruvian Independence day) so Friday and Saturday there was like no one at home so we just contacted all day. 

One day we went through the ward directory to find members that I don't know or that are inactive. We went to one of the addresses and an older guy answered. We said that we're missionaries and that we were looking for Jose. Then he went off and said that he believes in God and in Jesus Christ (trying to say that we don't), and that Christ said that many false prophets and liars would come in the latter days. So then he said that Mormons are liars, and sinners, and all sorts of other things. I was just kind of laughing, and we ended the conversation and walked away. It’s dumb when people say stuff like that, but it makes the day interesting. 

Today, Hna Lezano wrote to tell me that one of our investigators from Guadalupe is going to be baptized! One night in my last week with Hna Mancilla, our appointment fell, so we knocked a door that I had been wanting to contact for a while. We talked to the girl there, and then the next time we talked to her sister Stefany who's 15. I only taught her a few times, but now she's going to be baptized! Sometimes it feels like things we do or contacts we make don't make that much of a difference, but this really helped me understand that sometimes we just plant the seeds to be harvested by other people. I’m glad that I could plant that seed and I hope that Stefany will be a faithful member and be a light for her family so that they too can hear the gospel. The church is true!!

No pictures again this week - but here are a few from one year ago.