Happiness

We dedicated a lot of time this week to finding new investigators. We were able to print a list from the ward of families with part member. We had a pretty big list and tried to visit everybody. We found a lot of good families. I think there is a lot of potential with that list so we'll see how things go, we're hoping for the best.

On Sunday we had stake conference. All of Conchalì met up and I got to see almost all of Conchalì 14. I loved that ward so much. The best part was seeing Elizabeth again and talking to her. Elder Patterson is still there doing work. He is such a great missionary. This stake conference was a little special because we watched a transmission from Salt Lake. Russel M. Nelson spoke, BUT IN SPANISH. Nobody knew that he spoke spanish. He came to our mission when I had just began and spoke in straight english. Elder Nelson pretty much spoke perfect. It really looked like he wasn't reading his talk either. Everybody was shocked.

This week I had to do some work with my visa. While we were waiting we practiced some kreyol that Youry taught us with a few Haitians. Mostly words that a missionary probably shouldn't say but we were all laughing. My comp is also from like the richest part of Lima, Peru so with almost every peruvian I saw I asked them how is La Molina (where elder Mostacero is from) and they all went off about how rich it is. It was a long tiring day but with some funny stories so it was worth it.

1 reason why I love the book of Mormon so much is that there are so many principles of happiness. The other day I was reading in the liahona about the teachings of the book of mormon and happiness and read this quote I really liked. 

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. Mahatma Gandhi

I love you guys Have a great week!

40 Minute scrubdown and tender mercies

I was so glad to hear that Emma is doing well in the MTC. I can't believe how happy and optimistic she sounds, she is going to be a great missionary. It sounds like things are chill back home so that makes me feel good.

This week was really good for us. My comp is a machine at working out. Like, for real he has a bunch of weights and is really dilligent with his exercises. He makes me realize I should probably be doing that also :) We get along great and I'm really glad to be with him.

This week we almost gave up on Fabiola. These past two weeks she has been near impossible to find because she's working a lot and she was kind of avoiding us also. On Saturday night we went to her house and she said didn't want to hear anything about God because she was mad at him, so we agreed. When we got in we offered our help cleaning up the house and in about 40 minutes we totally scrubbed down her house. After we gave her a blessing. Without mentioning anything, she agreed to go to church with us, and did. It was a neat experience.

Isiah 53 

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

45 years is all

I'm glad that Emma had a good week right before going into the mtc. She is definitely going to be the best missionary ever.

This week was all about one of our investigators Youry. He is from Haiti and honestly is one of the best people I know. He is here working a lot here and sends almost all of the money back to his family in Haiti. He is really skinny and people tell us that he doesn't eat because he misses his family so much. Meeting people like Youry help me see what really is important. He is still learning spanish but has learned a lot. He has nine brothers and sisters and always talks about how much faith his mom and how good of an example she is. 

We had another problem filling up the water for his baptism. We had to use the fire hose again. I love that firehose so much.

Elder Bednar was in Argentina and spoke to all of the missionaries in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. I love elder Bednar he did such a good job. Highlights: He said you guys know why paul and alma had such spiritual experiences? Because they were messed up. It made me think of my little bros. His wife shared an experience of turning down the opportunity to go on a mission, and being hesitant about when her husband was being called as an apostle. She said throughout her life she always seems to say I can't do this. And she feels God always tell her that she can. Last highlight, Bednar said the biggest difference between us and him, is that he was 45 years older than us. Super humble.

I hope everybody has a great week. I'll try to send some of this sun your way!

A beautiful painting

We had a week long battle with the heat here. I guess I can't complain too much because I know there are missionaries in places that are a lot hotter, but this week was pretty rough. Despite the heat, we were still able to have a really good week.

Yesterday I went with the missionaries from my group to do some stuff for our visa. But my process was a little different. I guess some of my papers had gotten lost and I had been here illegally for a few days. Good news is I got everything figured out and I'm legal again!

Our ward mission leader is a total stud. He finished his mission two years ago and is really focused and determined to help us. He's helping us out a bunch with the members and with coming to visits with us. We have a lot of good goals together.

We're teaching a haitian named Youri. He lives with a chilean family and is learning spanish. He has a book in french and is constantly reading it. He has been to church a lot and really likes it. The only thing is that it's a little complicated trying to teach him because he doesn't understand very well. The last time we taught him we were using google translate and it actually ended up working pretty well.

Fabiola didn't want to go to church with us because she said that her little kid behaves too bad and she feels embarrassed. We were trying everything telling her not too worry that he's just a little kid and that everyone is used to little kids running around. She finally said yes, but when we went to pick her up for church she told us again that it wasn't worth it. 

Other than that things are pretty normal here. The other day I was reading what I had written in my journal. Almost everyday honestly not very many groundbreaking things seem out of the ordinary, but over time all of the small moments work together and build on each other and make such a beautiful painting.

Romans 13

 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Saved by the fire hose

I'm bummed out I wasn't able to see Emma's farewell! but it sounds like she did a great job which doesn't surprise me at all. This week was a pretty average, but we ended it really well!

One of our investigators two sundays ago totally surprised us by saying he wanted to get baptized. He has been investigating the church for 14 years and we thought he was joking. But he wasn't, he was totally serious. He had gotten married that week and said that that was the ONLY thing that was holding him back from getting baptized. He told us that he wanted to get baptized before church. We set everything up for him to get baptized at 8:00.

The problem was that we had a big miscommunication with filling up the baptismal font. We got there thirty minutes early and there was no water. It usually takes three hours to fill up. So we started filling it up. We found two buckets and were filling one up and sending the other to the font so that it would fill up faster. But it was going so slow, and Cèsar was getting super impatient about it. 

We said a prayer because honestly we had no idea what to do. When we finished the prayer we walked over to the font. As we were walking somebody noticed that there was a fire hose in the church. I have no idea how we didn't realize there was a huge red fire hose. Anyways the font filled up like in five minutes with the hose. The best part was right after getting baptized Cèsar shouted "I'm finally pure!" It was pretty funny but also very touching. A good witness that the family draws the very best out of us.

 My comp is a super cool dude. He is practicing his english a ton and speaks super well. Things are going great here.

Have a great week!

James E Faust

As we pray we should think of our Father in Heaven as possessing all knowledge, understanding, love, and compassion.

Unseen work

This week we had transfers. We found out that Elder Navarro was going to leave on Saturday. Sunday we went around and said bye to everybody. It was cool to see how close people got to him. He is a great missionary and a great friend.

One of our investigators Fabiola went to church for the first time on Sunday. We had a really good lesson with her. It didn't start off very well. She is a little hard to read and it's hard to know what she needs. While we were teaching the question came out right before falling asleep at night, what do you think about? I'm not sure why but the question brought out everything. She explained to us about her work and her family. She seemed really relieved getting everything out. She was carrying alot of stress and worries and doesn't have alot of people to talk to. There was a really sweet feeling in her house that night. This is really the unseen work of my mission that is so rewarding. 

She came to church with us on Sunday with her little boy. I've seen a lot of kids act roudy during the sacrament, but I have never seen a little kid as crazy as him. He was jumping off of the stairs onto his soccer ball and completely eating it, and laughing as loud as he could each time he did it. It was actually really funny. The ward was super nice to her and made sure she felt comfortable.

My new comp is Elder Mostacero from Lima Peru. He is super awesome and were going to have a great change.

Love you guys have a great week!

Because I love you guys

Yesterday I gave a talk in church. Saturday morning they asked me if I could give a talk. I didn't have that much time to prepare but it ended up not being too bad. I wrote my talk but didn't take it up with me because I wanted not to worry too much about the words and just say what I really felt. I kind of had a brain freeze a couple of times stalling not really knowing what to say, but I was happy with it.

This was a really good week in terms of teaching. I don't think I have had a week like this week. We got into almost every house that we knocked. We studied a lot together, practicing teaching the first time we meet somebody. So it was awesome to actually put it into practice. We met this guy named hèctor. When we knocked on his door he told us that he had been waiting for missionaries and wanted to get baptized. His intentiones are awesome but he has some issues with word of wisdom. He has two adorable little daughters so we'll see how it goes with him. Pray for Hector.

On friday we got a call and the first thing she said to us was that she had something urgent to tell us. She told us that her daughter decided to seperate from her husband and that she had been crying all night and needed help. We went over to her house not really sure what to say or what to do. On our way walking to her house my comp said to me it might be a good idea just to listen, and after sing hymns with her. I never would have thought of that because I have a terrible voice and my comp believe it or not might have a worse voice.  Inflicting that kind of torture on someone doesnt feel natural. But that is exactly what we did. We got there, she spilled a lot of stuff to us, and after we sang her favorite hymns. It was such a special lesson, something I'll never forget.

We've been passing by almost everybody in our area book. I think the main reason I heard this week of why they quit listening to the missionaries was because the missionaries were too worried about doing what they wanted, and not listening or caring about them. It made me think of this quote I heard that is something like He that serves unselfishly has very little competition. 

One last little story that has to go along with that. We had a problem with our toilet (again! seriously! its a curse)  so the office sent someone to come and fix it. The man that came and fixed it was an older man. He noticed that our bathroom wasn't super clean so he asked for cleaning stuff to clean the bathroom and we gave it to him. We were kind of worried and embarrassed he was going to chew us out or tell us he was going to tell our president about it. He came out and he said I cleaned your bathroom! Do you know why?  And we were like uhhhhhh no. And he said BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GUYS, with a huge smile. It was a cool experience.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf        Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery from the days of Adam until today, you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things.

And the greatest of all good things is God.