Trompo

Monday—Pday we really didn't do much, just went to play soccer at the church and then our appointments scheduled for the rest the day fell through.

Tuesday we had our district meeting and then I went on divisions with Elder Sholey. We had a six lesson day which was nice! It rained again but we ordered pizza that night (for delivery) to our room and it was good! It cost us $6 and was worth every penny. It was awesome!

On Thursday we had our interviews with President Henderson. We had to practice teaching a lesson with Elder John (one of the AP's) where they put us in a funny situation. The situation was that he was a new investigator that read something about polygamy, which he doesn't believe in, and he was questioning why Joseph Smith would do that. We had five minutes to resolve that doubt and set a baptismal date with him.

Friday we had five lessons and found a new investigator. I'm learning to play this little toy called a “trompo”. It's like a little top thing that you spin with a string onto the ground. Everybody thinks it's funny that this big, white man is walking around playing with this kid toy, but I don't care because it's fun. Some of the other missionaries sometimes do it too. I don't know, I just like it.

Saturday we had a good day with a lot of lessons and then that night we went out to eat with Elder Bush, Elder Sholey, Elder White, and Elder Lopez. Everything is going pretty well. We've been having a hard time finding new people to teach lately. So we're especially working on that this week. Well, have a great week! I love you all!!

Second Set of Twins!

Hey everybody! So this was a good week. After Pday we played soccer again and later that night we had a family night with Diego and his family. We watched a Joseph Smith video and ate some of my "peeps" for dessert.

On Tuesday we had a cool experience. We're teaching a new investigator named Deysi and she was telling us that about a month ago she had a dream that two people in white shirts would come to her and say that if she wanted to have peace in her heart and a calmness in her life that she would have to join their church. So when we contacted her on the street, she took that as an answer, or fulfillment, of her dream. She was out walking one night with her mom and little sister and we were walking home after a long day and I felt that I just needed to talk to them. She is really excited to come church. She said that she got off track in her life a little bit but that it's time to get back on track and she knows that this is going to help her. She's only 17 years old and is progressing really well. She's awesome!

The church is just so different here. It's just way harder for leaders to be on time and to do their jobs. We're all learning a lot of patience.

We had about 10 lessons and 20 contacts before Friday. We finished up all the lessons with Jonaton and Jonjairo; they had their baptismal interviews with Elder White, and got baptized on Saturday. Their baptism went well and was really fun. Their whole family came and I had the opportunity to baptize Jonjairo. They both said that they felt really clean and really happy that they had been "reborn". There were a lot of members that came and on Sunday they got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is baptism number seven here for me. That's just kind of crazy. This week has absolutely flown by!

Our Pensionista--Hermana Matias

I'm doing well. I just keep walking up this mountain every day in this crazy heat! (which is good for me) We just got done eating dinner and I'm back in my room. I just finished writing in my journal and now I'm going to floss and brush my teeth and do the nightly routine. This next week we are having interviews with President Henderson so that should be fun. We have interviews with him about every three months. Have a great week!

Angels Among Us!

On Pday we played soccer again and made no bake cookies. I found out that the best friend of Elder Sholey just died and he has been having a rough time dealing with things. I had the opportunity to share some thoughts and feelings with him about KJ.

I was able to use my Easter/Resurrection eggs in a couple family nights this week, we moved some rocks for the bishop's parents, and I was also able to give another blessing of health. I'm also teaching myself how to juggle right now so that's pretty exciting.

On Friday we had six lessons and found two new investigators. It's really nice when people refer to us as "angels". In one of our lessons, with Hermana Eglen, she was saying how God sent us, her angels, to fix her life. 

Plaza Paucarbamba

We had five investigators with us at church on Sunday. Elder Hardison and his companion had a bunch of investigators at church too. We had them announce in church the upcoming baptisms of Jonaton and Jonjairo.

I got the package with the scripture markers in it. I am super excited to go mark my scriptures with my new stuff right now. I never thought I would hear myself say that but I am. I love you all! Adios!

Happy Easter/Conference!

This week on Pday we didn't do much, we just went to Metros and bought a few things and then we went and played soccer.

We are teaching another set of twins, their names are Jonaton and Jonjairo. We are also teaching Raul and Julio and his wife (her name escapes me right now). We also got three new investigators too. We had seven lessons on Tuesday alone. That just doesn't happen. It's cool to have investigators that are doing their stuff, reading....They were like, "Oh yeah, Moroni is Mormon's son..." I was thinking, "You guys are amazing"! It was an awesome, awesome day!

I'm reading Jesus the Christ and am learning all kinds of crazy stuff about Jesus. A lot are things I already knew but just hadn't thought about in this way. I'm taking every chance I can to learn. I freaking love learning new things.

Here in Peru they celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week) during Easter. They eat fish for like two days straight, they reenact the crucifixion, which I think is kind of weird and messed up, and then they hike up to the big cross that's on the huge hill outside of town. Some people really want to have their hands nailed to wood and everything.

We listened to General Conference and two talks really stuck out to me. One talk was by Dale G. Renlund, where she spoke about a saint is just a sinner that keeps on trying and that we are perfected through the Savior and He expects us to keep trying and help others. If we don't keep trying then we are "latter-day sinners" and "latter-day hypocrites". In the priesthood session I liked Henry B. Eyring's talk about prayer and priesthood and that they're connected; and that we need to pray to the Lord for Him to recognize us and recognize our willingness to serve. Then we need to pray how to serve Him and what we need to do to help other people. That is something that I've always wanted. I want to be the mouthpiece for the Lord. I have given a lot of blessings lately and sometimes I feel like I'm just saying a prayer, but I want to be the Lord spokesman and have a real spiritual experience and bless other people's lives. That is probably what I will be fasting about next.  I just want to be the Lord’s mouthpiece. I really liked the talks given by Jeffrey R. Holland and Kevin Pearson as well.

My "Resurrection Eggs"

I got my Easter packages! Y'all spoil me like crazy! It was awesome!! Hope you all had a Happy Easter! I love you and we'll chat next week!