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.