Multi-Zone Christmas Conference

After I wrote you guys on Monday, we went to lunch and then played basketball at the church, but it was pouring rain so we didn't play for very long. Then we went to El Milagro (district) and taught those missionaries how to play wall ball and Uno. We had a sweet meeting with an investigator, John Pierre, he is 14. We didn't really have a plan of what we were going to teach him but we felt inspired to talk to him about baptism. He has been meeting with the missionaries for over a year but has not made the decision to be baptized, so I shared with him the story of Saul and how he was baptized right there on the spot because he had faith in Christ. So he now has a baptismal date for December 25th! It was really cool to have him accept that date because he has been kind of scared and he didn't think he was ready, but he is totally ready. He is a super sweet kid.

Tuesday we walked around a lot. It kind of sucked because all of our meetings fell through except for one. We did a lot of contacting. In the morning I studied a talk by Richard G. Scott about prayer. I think I talked to dad a little bit about it but he talks about how God answers prayers and how gratitude is so important in everything. I'm really trying to apply it in my life right now. So when I was praying earlier, I made sure to give thanks for a lot of the things that I normally don't pray about. It was really, really cool to be able to feel the spirit and how special it is when we give thanks to our Father. I also received a lot of help and answers to my prayers. I think that's something we can be better at, thanking God instead of just asking for things.

Wednesday we got everything situated and headed to La Merced. We are actually staying at Henry's recreational place. It's amazing—he saved the best room for me and my companion. He is so kind.  We went to lunch as a zone at La Madera. While we were eating, I got a phone call from the office. President Henderson would like me to conduct the multi-zone conference in La Merced. Anyways, everyone loves their rooms and the jungle is awesome.

Thursday the conference went well. We did a funny skit with three parts. The first part was like an Internet scene where it was my birthday and Elder Hernandez received a Dear John letter and it was really, really funny. We do sketches every Christmas multi-zone conference. The second part was with elders cleaning their room and how there were monsters in their bathroom and then we compared the difference between the elders and the sisters rooms. Then the third part was the first Pday with really, greeny gringos. It was cool. I was the trainer for Elder Checkits from Layton, Utah. He is kind of new and is really funny. He had a giant bag with pills, sunscreen, bug repellent, etc. The Satipo zone did a sketch on how the mission would be if sisters were in the office and then the La Merced zone did a funny reenactment of what it will be like when Elder Fernandez goes home after his mission. We did that one present exchange game where you pass your $5 gift to the left and then the right and then the left... After the conference was over, we all received flu shots. So that was kind of crazy! We also got to go to a member talent show that night. One of the members danced like Michael Jackson. He has really long hair and he was really good!

 Branch President and his wife

Me and Batti (Michael Jackson)

Friday we got everybody sent off which was nice because there was a strike and we were afraid that there would not be any cars. All the shops and stores were closed so it was kind of crazy. They do random things like this all the time in Peru. The reason for this strike was because they did not want to put a University here in Tarma. It's kind of like, "we're angry so we're not going to work". It's kind of ridiculous. We had an activity Friday night called "a night in Bethlehem". The missionaries dressed up as Roman soldier's/Robin Hood guys and the members dressed up like people that lived during Jesus's time. It was supposed to start at 7:00 but it didn't start until 9:20 so we didn't get to stay for all of it. It was fun and it was nice to have an investigator there and some recent converts.

On Saturday we helped an investigator named Kennedy and his family move. We didn't have to move them very far so I did not take very long. After that, we had a good day of work. We had a good lesson with an investigator named Richard. We talked about the second coming and taking up your cross and follow Christ. He has a baptismal date for the 16th of January. We had a couple of other lessons also but it has been hard trying to find people to teach right now.

Sunday we had an attendance of 92 people. Kennedy and John Pierre came to church. Later we went and visited a family (la familia Osorio) out in the little village of Palca. It's about 30 minutes outside of Tarma. The dad and son are not members but the mom is a member just less active. The parents have a date for marriage on the 22nd of January and on the 23rd they are going to get baptized! Later in the evening, we went and gave a blessing to José Villegas. He is not feeling too well.

Well, that was my busy week. Things are going well here and I hope things going well with you. Ciao!