May 2013

May 6     Esta semana que pasó fue bien agitada. Casi no tuvimos tiempo para proselitar debido a unas inconveniencias pero aun la obra marcha bien.
(This week that passed was quite rough. We had almost no time to proselyte due to some inconvenience but still the work is going well.)

On Monday we were supposed to travel to Piura, but along one of the only roads that goes from north to south, a little town called Zorritos and La Cruz decided to do what they call here a ¨stop.   It’s the same thing that happened in Sechura last year for example... they stop a main road to protest something.  This time it was completely valid.  Those poor towns haven’t had water in 11 days.  It simply is not running through the pipes and many do not have the money to buy water from other resources. So, mothers and other citizens stood in the street and didn’t let traffic pass by.  We sat in the bus station until 2 in the morning  for an opening but nothing.  The next day we were in the bus station from 1:45 until 8:30 when a bus finally came and we were able to pass by. 

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We worked in our area on Thursday and then on Friday our landlord told us he wanted to paint and that we needed to move out.  So we had to settle on a little room that we had found and move all of our stuff out in the afternoon.  It was a bit stressful but change is good. The room is tiny but it´s alright.

My official release date is august 26th. My group is so big that they have to get all the travel information way ahead of time.
PS:  Nick looks good.  I can see that he is still the same old Nick.   PS: Man that is one cute nephew.

May 13     It was nice seeing you guys yesterday.  I´d say it was the most normal conversation of the four calls home that I’ve had.  Feels like I’m already home but Justin made a great point, 3 months is still a lot.  So, back to work! We´ve got two young girls with a baptismal date for the 25th. We´ll see how it goes. We played in the coliseum again with the other zone today.   Now we are off to the closest thing to a grocery store before leaving at 6 to do some visits.   Elder Farmboy

PS We had a fruit activity last week . Every person had to bring some sort of fruit and we made a giant fruit salad.  While they diced up the fruit, we talked about the fruit of the tree of life: eternal life.  It was a great activity.

May 20    Just a few days before I got here, Elder Muralles and his last companion baptized a couple, and their daughters  who are 17 and 13 got cold feet and backed out at the last minute. We have been working with them little by little and they are the ones that will be getting baptized on the 26th.  This family has had many problems but the gospel arrived in their lives just in time. God saved a marriage. This week we also have a zone conference and another work visit with the assistants.

 

May 27       21 Months    We are once again entering the last week of another transfer.

 On Friday we had a multi zone conference and learned a lot. The Book of Mormon is amazing.  It contains a huge power for converting us to Christ and his gospel. I love what Mosiah 3 can teach us about what we need to do to be saved. Not many people realize the doctrine that is taught in that chapter.

Today we had a super fun zone activity. We met up with everyone in Zarumilla, the northernmost area/ward in all of Peru where there are 6 missionaries. From there we took a van 20 minutes to a beach called El Bendito.  It’s a very simple but unpopulated beach.  We played soccer, limbo; buried two elders that are going home next week, and had a good time. 

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