June 4, 2012 The mission is truly enjoyable when you are
working hard and can visibly see the blessings of the Lord through baptisms.
For that very reason, this last week was a bit tough. ha. We started off very
strong on Tuesday, but little by little we taught less and less people each
day. This is one part of the mission where I feel like we´ve got to reevaluate
our strategy and mindset and get going big this week. We need to find new
people to teach! On Thursday Elder Salmon went to Lima to get his eye checked
out. If you reference to the emails from february, you´ll remember that when I
was with Elder Salmon in Lopez we went to the doctor three times to get his eye
checked. Anywho, its still red and inflamed so he went to Lima for 24 hours to
get it looked at by a specialist. So, i spent the day with the pensionistas
son, Franco, who just got back from his mission 2 weeks ago.
It looks as though once again,
the wedding of Wilder and Aracely is going to fall through. The wedding is
going to cost 180 soles/about 75 dollars and they still have not been able to
save up the money along with all the necessary forms. They are supposed to get
married on staruday and get baptized on Sunday but we`ll see. There is still a
lot of hope for this month, but every person progresses so slowly and requires
so much attention. It´s like a big puzzle trying to find them all, teach them
all, and help all of them understand the truthfulness of our message.
June 11, 2012 …Anywho,
Esta semana fue muy dura. Estamos luchando cada dia a encontrar nuevas
personas para enseñar. Tipicamente la gente aca en Piura nos recibe al toque,
pero recien, no hemos tenido ningun exito tocando puertas. El barrio tampoco
esta apoyandonos con referencias o actividades, pero vamos a esforsarnos mas en
estas ultimas semenas para ensegurar que se envelocran en la obra. Tenemos un
nuevo lider misional y muchos planes para mejorar el barrio. La iglesia aca en
Sudamerica es muy diferente en cuanto a como se funciona. Extraño la iglesia en
los estados pero tal vez solo me siento asi porque veo las casas diferente
ahora que soy misionero. Este cambio solo tiene 5 semanas en vez de 6 porque el
nuevo presidente esta por llegar y no quiren que el tenga que hacer los
cambios. Entonces, el proximos cambio va a tener 7 semanas y el nuevo
presidente llegarà en la segunda semana. Muy cortito el cambio y todavio no
hemos tenido un bautismo, pero esperamos que una joven se bautize el domingo.
Ojala.
Bueno, gracias hablantes
españoles por traducir esto a sus esposas. Ahora, algien por favor ayuda a los
padres para que entiendan tambien. Me falta aprender y perfeccionar mucho del
español pero, por ahi estamos.
Cuidense. Les quiero mucho. Que
tengan una buena semana.
English Translation by Justin:
June 11, 2012. . .Anyway, this week was very difficult. We are struggling every day to find new
people to teach. Typically the people
here is Piura will receive us when we knock, but lately we haven't had any luck
knocking doors. The ward isn't
supporting us with references or activities either, but we are going to make an
effort in these final weeks to make sure that we "something" in the
work. We have a new mission leader and
many plans to better the ward. The
church here in South America is very different when it comes to how it
functions. I miss the church in the
states but maybe I feel this way because I see things differently now that I am
a missionary. This transfer will only
have 5 weeks in it instead of 6 because the new mission president is going to
arrive and they don't want him to have to handle the transfers. Thus, the next transfer will have 7 weeks in
it and the new mission president will arrive during the second week. It is a very short transfer and we still
haven't had a baptism but we are hoping that a youth gets baptized this
Sunday. Hopefully. Well, thanks Spanish speakers for translating
this for your wives. Now, something
please help our parents to understand this too.
I still have a lot to learn and a lot of perfecting to do with my
Spanish, but there we are. Take care of yourselves.
June 11, 2012 Mom and Dad, It sounds like it was a wonderful week with
the family. I was thinking about you all every day and imagining what
activities you must have been doing in that moment. You should have brought the
slip and slide here because even though we are now in winter, there is plenty
of heat during the day. Thanks for including me in your toast dad. That was very special to hear about. The
whole day sounds like it went quite well with all the visits from old friends,
family, and a beautiful luncheon. I
miss you all tons and being able to relax at Scotts or go and see the animals at
the Savages, but I wouldn´t want to be anywhere else but here at this point in
my life. Every day is a challenge but
also a learning experience for when I’m a husband or father. I feel the love of my heavenly father more than
ever as a missionary and I see the people in a completely different light now
that every second is devoted to sharing this gospel. How amazing is it that the apostasy is over
and that God has given us his power and authority again in the earth do perform
is work. The restoration is real and I testify of that. It was a tough week and
we are struggling to find new people, but we have plans to get the ward more
involved in the work and have a select few investigators that have a lot of
potential.
June 19, 2012
This week was an improvement. We
had a baptism! It was the fourth time that I personally have gotten the old
chest wet in the sin filled waters of another person. Diana, the daughter of
Wilder and Aracely, got baptized yesterday on Sunday. We’ve now been teaching them for about 12
weeks and even still, their understanding of the restoration and the gospel is
very minimal, but the Lord has a way of preparing the people if they are
willing to exercise the faith. The ward is planning an activity to try and help
Aracely and Wilder raise money to get married on the June 29th. There are many others that have almost received
a testimony, but they don’t keep their commitments.
We now only have one week left of
the transfer. I’m praying that I can
stay in this area. I don’t want to leave behind so many people that are just
about to progress or be baptized. And I want to see the ward progress as well.
On Friday we had a huge activity
that the President and his wife planned with three stakes. Piura, Miraflores,
and Castilla. It was a music themed activity and every zone presented a song.
There were other performances and testimonies and we ended the night by singing
a song called Faith in every step, with about 100 missionaries from 5 different
zones. It was great because after the activity, all the families that I got to
know in Lopez Albujar were there and I got to talk to them for a bit. In January
we baptized Diego and Yieko, two brothers who have parents that are inactive.
On Friday, the whole family was there and told us that the two younger kids,
ages 9 and 8, are going to get baptized on Saturday. Lopez Albujar is baptizing
quite a bit and many of them are family members of the people that I baptized
with Elder Iribar. It was an enjoyable
week but the ward still needs a lot of work.
June 25, 2012
Re: I’m Pregnant
I´m going to be a dad! haha. At
10 months out. I got a call yesterday
from our zone leader saying, ¨I have good news, you`re going to train¨. So last
night I went to the mission office to get trained to be a trainer by the assistants
and the president. There are 6 new missionaries arriving from the CCM tonight,
and tomorrow in the main transfer meeting, they`ll announce the companionships.
So I will be in Ramon Castilla until
October because training is an automatic 2 transfers and due to the new
president coming in, I´ll have 13 weeks of training instead of the typical 12. It´s going to be a very interesting first
week. I just need to remember in every second how I felt when I was new.
We should be having a baptism next sunday if all goes well.
On Friday, a foundation out of Utah called Cause for Improvement ((or something
like that) came through Piura. They have been in Peru for the last week and
will be making their way down the map for the next month giving out free
glasses. The Lions Club, which is also a group out of Utah, has various members
throughout the world and they were responsible for giving certain people
tickets to this charity event. I went
with 5 other elders to translate. They have 40 suitcases filled with donated
glasses and a specific process of filing through the people and giving them
glasses that fit their eyes. I was put at the last station where we raise
awareness and check for something called Carnosidad. Look it up. Its pretty much just a sun disease that
causes nasty spots to form in your eyes and then you go practically blind. It’s
a problem here because we are so close to the equator and people don’t wear
sunglasses. It was a fun experience being able to talk to Americans again but i
realized how extremely awkward it is to have a conversation in English. We were
there from 8 in the morning until 3 helping out. About 10 of the 15 were
members. This week the relief society is
putting on a fundraiser to raise money for Wilder and Aracely so that they can
get married. Then later on they`ll get baptized - Aracely for sure, and wilder
if he can stop going to the bottle. It’ll
be fun having two more changes here in Ramon Castilla being able to train.
Its fun
being a trainer and its really forcing me to dedicate myself more to the work.
I now have more desire than ever to teach and have good numbers. We are waking
up on time, having our companionship studies, leaving at the right time in the
afternoon, and really concentrating on teaching with the spirit. We also
baptized Edu yesterday! (The 18
year old that we found a month and a half ago that really has great desires to
change his life.) And, many other
investigators are making great strides. I have so much desire to help these
people become members of the church and have a really a great relationship with
all of them. Aracely and Wilder should finally be getting married on the 14th
because the relief society did a fundraiser and we finally have money. Clara
Torres is another that is progressing great and has such a big heart. Really,
family, the mission is the greatest when you can just focus on the people and ¨lose
yourself¨. 
Things have
been going well here training. Me and Elder Pereyra get along really well and
he is very enthusiastic and willing to learn. I’m learning a lot personally too
and we are doing a lot of great things. This week we found a family of 3 very
prepared to accept the gospel. Alejandra, 34, and her two sons Fernando, 15,
and Brando, 12. They have been struggling as a family to stay unified and we
were able to enter their lives at just the right moment. The only difficulty is
that they are looking for another house because the renter asked them to move
and we are hoping they find one inside our area. Pray on their behalf, please!
We are also finalizing the last details of the wedding of Wilder and Aracely.
The relief society did a fundraiser a week and a half ago but still don’t have
any of the money that people owe them. But, once we get it, we’ll be able to
marry them in no time. They are also a couple very willing to change their
lives and I have grown to love them quite a bit. We have other young kids that
are also progressing and just about to be baptized. Every change I’ve had here
has started out with HUGE potential. I’m hoping that this one can actually end
well with all of the baptisms that we have possible.
Today we
went to Catecaus and I went a little crazy buying stuff for the parents. One
thing that I bought was an original painting by a very cool guy that has a
gallery there. I’ve entered 3 or 4 times before but never left when anything. I
would just go and talk to the guy and observe his amazing art. But this time I walked
away with one. I’m including a picture and the one that he is holding is the
one I bought. There was another one that I wanted but decided to go for one a
little more basic (the one of the Peruvian Indian). I also got measured up to get a suit made. A brother from
another ward makes suits at a great price and I figured I’d take advantage of it
and get myself a fitted suit.
