This week was great !!!

"This week was great!!! Elder Vasquez and I finished with 2 baptisms, Melisa Tamani Huanuyri and Licie Lisbeth Leon Lopez. As a Zone we finished with 13 baptisms, and so far that makes 28 for the month.

We have a marriage coming up, with 14 couples getting married, and then the next day a massive baptismo with 18 people!! 6 families!!! Elder Vasquez and I have been working with two of the families - The family Macedo and Tiquilahuanca.

I'm doing great with health. I'm great in attitude, and I couldn't be better. All is good here and we're working hard.

I'm so happy to hear about all the things happening there in Utah. The snow melting, Keysto and Kaley getting married, wow, I'm so happy for them.

Well, there isn't any new news, I'm just working and going 110 percent, just like my dad has always taught me."

*I have put a link (marriage) to Elder Layton's blog. He speaks of his Zone Leaders, and their help with getting the marriages in place. I know the Lord helps those who ask for His help, and then work hard on their end to make things happen.

Missionary Work

I love the field and I love being a missionary. I am learning in leaps and gains. No one will ever understand, unless they serve a mission. I feel bad for those who throw this precious time away. It truly is the best time in our lives, apart from marriage and families.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the atonement of Jesus Christ, and what He did for me. I am grateful for His sacrifice and His love that He has for me, and for helping me every step of the way. I’m grateful for my family and for what you do for me also. All I need is your prayers and that’s it. Help me from there with your prayers.

Last week in Independencia

Walter is really excited for his baptism next Saturday (2/7/9), but we have to get permission from his parents. Please pray for him.

It’s going to be weird working in Independencia for the last time this week, my last week. I will work hard and talk with more people than I ever have before. Then........off to Pucallpa, Wednesday, February 11th.

Missionary Work

I’m grateful for this time in my life. I was reading in DyC: 4 about missionary work and well, it’s one of the three most important things to do in the church - and I’m doing it!! I love my family and all of you who are praying for me and helping me out in one way or another. It’s great to hear from you. I love letters :)

**The 3-fold mission of the church is.
1. Perfect the Saints
2. Preach the Gospel
3. Redeem the dead

A good week - teaching, working, studying....

This week has been a good one, we are finding new people and blessing their lives. We have a baptism date with Walter for the 7th of Feburary, and we’re trying to get more for this date, and we’ll find more.

I have been really really busy here in the offices with a lot of paper work to do for every single missionary that is foreign, and I have a lot still to get done, but it will be good.

I have been able to study the scriptures a lot this week, practically reading all of Mosiah in one day. I really love Chapter 27 in verse 25, 32, and 37. It talks about being born anew and changing. Well this "change" in verse 32, comes with teaching, proclaiming, and preaching... and in verse 37, comes the blessings. This gives me hope, and well, I love the scriptures. I love reading them, and following the words which helps me and guides me.

**This picture was taken Presidente Perez's balcony overlooking Lima, and out towards the sea at sunset.

Working Hard

We're struggling finding people to teach. We always need help from the members, and we're always talking with new people everyday. My companion is amazing. It's like having a best friend here on the mission.

Working with the Spirit

I felt the spirit pretty good this week, and have had a good spirit of discernment. A few times throughout the week I could feel how people were feeling, and I could sense what they were thinking, and was able to help them out. It was a good feeling.

We have a baptism date with Milagros (different than the Milagros I have previously mentioned). She has been waiting a year and a half to get baptized. We are also teaching a young woman named Carol, and of course Xiomara, and Eduardo and Regina. We are searching to find additional investigators. We have 2 or 3 people that we plan to baptize by the end of January, so we’re working!!!

"Teaching is going great"

"We have had one baptism for this month of December, remember Estrella? We have 2 other dates scheduled for the 27th. These are two young men who are the sons of members. They weren’t baptized when they turned 8. We have another date with Xiomara, the niece of Eduardo and Regina. She is progressing really well and wants to get baptized fast. It’s great."

Roller Coaster

This mission is an emotional roller coaster. It just hurt so bad to hear about Paul. I love them, and now he is gone. This has been a hard week for me, very hard. It has been tough and I have learned alot of patience, humility, and gratefulness for the plan of salvation. It's important to remember why I’m here and all the lives we are blessing, and the people we're helping, and the joy we can have in the gospel.

Busy Busy Week - Working and Teaching

We had a good lesson with a lady named Amanda. Her kids are members, and we taught her the first lesson.

We had dinner, and a lesson with Estrella, who was baptized 12/5/08.

We had another lesson with a less active that wants to go on a mission. Juan is 21 years old he has been to church before, and listened to the lessons before, but now he has a baptism date for December 27th, and he is ready to go. I love this work and I’m happy I’m here. I’m learning so much.

We’re teaching this family, Benites. Silvia is a single mom with 3 daughters, Jackie at 17, Karla at 15, and a sweetie, I can’t remember her name, at 4 (years). They are amazing. I love them. Jackie is really into it, reading the Book of Mormon and asking lots of questions. I am going to pray really really hard for them tonight!

We had another good lesson with Xiomara, the niece of Eduardo. We taught about Chastity and Word of Wisdom. Everything was great and she accepted everything. She is ready to go. She wants to get baptized.

We finished the night off with a lesson with the Family Echevarria. Their dad isn’t a member, and their mom died. She was a member, and they are 3 daughters and 2 sons. They are great, really strong in the gospel for being alone and young. We taught two of their friends, Ruth and Jackie. I love teaching, and I can’t wait to pray tonight, to help them from my part.

Well, it’s time to get upstairs and to get ready to go to bed early again to get going with the spirit. I love you all.

All is well !

All is well with me, I’m doing good and just working. I guess that’s what I always say, but really that’s how it is, almost always the same thing, just with different people.

That’s what I love about this gospel and the plan God has for us. It will never change, and it doesn’t matter who is involved. It will always have the same results: Eternal Life!!

My studying is going good and I love the Book of Enos. Just one chapter is full of important things that we all need to do and learn and put into practice. I love you all, and thank you for all you do.

Working

This past week was filled with great lessons, spiritual experiences, a great exercise - early morning soccer, burying a dog, and ya.....

Sunday after church, we went to a member’s house and their dog had died while at church. They started to dig a hole for it, and it was taking a long time, so I took over and they’re like “Wow, this white guy can work!” haha… I am grateful that I have had parents and siblings show me, and at times, made me work when I didn’t want to. I made great habits, and well, I know how to work a shovel at least.

Splits with the Zone Leaders

We recently had a work visit with the Zone leaders, and it was good. I have made two new friends in the mission, Elder Larkin and Elder Scheartl. They’re both from Utah, and they both finish this next change. (Nov. 19th) I will sure miss them, and I will look them up when I get home. Elder Larkin is from Layton, and the other from Mapleton. The work visit went really well, and I learned a lot and got pumped even more for the work. We’re working harder and progressing.

I went to their area in our zone and worked, and Elder Vargas stayed here in our area and worked. We found some new people to teach, and I’m excited to see some of the changes in the lives of people.

Preach My Gospel

This past week we had two investigators come to church. It’s funny how many we people commit to come to church (even on Saturday night), and they say yes, and then they don’t come :(

There are some great people here in our ward, great families. I love the ward members and our area. There were A LOT of inactives and less active people who came to church today. People that haven’t been for 5 years, and they’re starting to come and they keep coming. It’s good. We have 6 new ward missionaries, and we’re going to start doing visits with them, having our meetings every week, and talking and using Preach My Gospel. I’m excited.

Normal......Healthy.....Working......

Well to tell you about my week….. It’s been pretty normal down here, all healthy, just working, preaching, and teaching. We have a lot of investigators that are doing good, but then we have some that aren’t, it’s just the way it is.

We have one family where the dad is a member, but less active. The mom, Gladys, is the one learning and progressing. They have 2 kids, and need to get married. Gladys and her son that is 8, have a baptism date for the 22nd of November. Pray for them.

Eduardo and Regina, are as good as ever. They have had all the lessons, and are coming to church every week. We visit them 2 to 4 times a week, and they are eating it up. They just need to get married too, and they are ready for baptism!!!

Milagros Valenzuela (Leyla’s cousin) is going good also, she has a date for this 8th of November.

Last Friday we found a new family to teach. We visited an inactive home and they let us in. The mom isn’t a member, and at first it looked like she didn’t want us there, but we taught and she caught interest, and it turned out wonderful. We have another date with her and it will be great.

Thanks To 19 Year Olds

"First of all I would like to thank every missionary who has
ever labored in this transcendent latter-day undertaking we have been
given. The rolling forth of the restored gospel is a miracle in every
sense of the word, and not the least of the miracle is that a
significant portion of it rolls forward on the shoulders of
19-year-olds! As we have seen your sons and daughters, grandsons and
granddaughters, faithfully laboring ........, I have pictured the tens of thousands of others like them we have met all over the world. Clean, clear,
bright-eyed missionaries, laboring two-by-two, have become a living
symbol of this Church everywhere. They themselves are the first
gospel message their investigators encounter--and what a message that
is. Everyone knows who they are, and those of us who know them the
best, love them the most." by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (May 2004 Ensign)

10 Things To Strive For

President Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged each missionary to develop these traits while serving a mission.

1- A testimony of the living reality of God, our Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 17:3).

2- A greatly enlarged understanding of the gospel (D&C 50:24).

3- A love for the people with whom you labor.

4- A greater love and appreciation for your parents.

5- An understanding of the meaning of hard work.

6- An enlarged understanding of the meaning and true worth and value of personal virtue (D&C 121:45).

7- Increased poise, the ability to meet people, to converse with them, to talk with them.

8- Courage to act.

9- The faith to do. The faith to try.

10- And finally, the humility to pray.

So tell us what you think?

Now, about me completing one year?? Hmmm… I don’t know, it’s not really going to be that big of a deal here. The day before, the day of, and the day after, will all be the same, work work work.

I have a lot of things to make better, and such little time to do it. Times are going, people are growing, families are being made, and things are changing. I am grateful for my one year in the mission.

All is well down here and I am loving it. I’m glad I’m where I’m at, knowing what to do, and enjoying it. I love you all and thank you all for all you do. All your letters and emails, your prayers and help. I love you, take care.

On being a missionary........

This ward of Independencia is amazing. They help a lot. I'm excited to work here in this area. We find less actives all day, everyday, there is a lot!!! We work on both finding, baptizing, and reactivating. It's tough to talk about numbers and people. If you're just thinking about the numbers, that means you don’t care if the person you're baptizing knows anything about the gospel and is prepared. But now here is the tricky part… If you don’t worry about the numbers, you don’t have people to teach. The higher numbers you have, the more people you have to teach, and the more baptisms you have. The numbers are really really really important. Missionaries who don’t worry about the numbers, DON’T care about the salvation of their investigators. That is that.

We pray before we leave the offices. Sometimes we have appointments and sometimes we don’t. We visit less actives, no actives, and members...... and when we see a family in the street, we talk to them. We greet them, ask their name, and talk to them. We ask about their interests, their life, their family, etc. Then we relate the gospel plan to their needs and give them a pamphlet they can read, and share our testimony and write down their address and visit them when they tell us to, and that’s about it. Not very efficient......... and that’s why member references are so much better. We do 10 of these kinds of contacts on the streets everyday!! That is our goal.

We had a date for baptism with Daniel for this past Saturday, but his dad wants him to wait a little longer. He is younger and has to have permission to get baptized, but he is excited and we will see for this next weekend. Manuel has a date for October. The other ones.. they weren’t progressing, but we found some other people that have family members, so we will be teaching them and working with them.

I love being a missionary

I was thinking the other day... to be a missionary is such an awesome thing. We just carry something with us. It's the Spirit and Jesus Himself. When people see us, they just light up. The members, and just everyone. We carry such power I can't even believe it. I'm starting to notice it everyday a little more and a little more. I love being a missionary.

Español/spanish:
Amo ser un missionero
Estaba pensando el otro día…el ser un misionero es una cosa muy hermosa. Sólo llevamos algo con nosotros; eso es el espíritu de Jesús mismo. Cuando la gente nos ve, se alegran. Los miembros y cada uno de ellos. Nosotros llevamos un poder que no todavía no lo puedo creer. Lo estoy empezando a notar un poquito más cada día. Amo ser un misionero.

Português/portuguese:
Amo ser um missionario
Estava pensando o outro dia...o ser missionário é uma coisa muita maravilhosa. Só levamos algo com nós; isso é o espírito de Jesus mesmo. Quando a gente nos vê, se alegram. Os membros e cada um deles. Nós levamos um poder que ainda não o posso crer. Estou começando-o a notar um pouco mais cada dia. Amo ser um missionário