Guys. It rained last night. Like, actually rained. And it did so for more than 2 hours. That kind of stuff doesn't happen here. We got caught in it while walking home, but we rather enjoyed it.
All the Peruvians freaked out though. They don't know how to handle it. For example, an hour into the rain, our building landlord lady cut off all the water for some reason. I'm not quite sure what her reasoning on that was jajaja. This was a pretty good week. We worked hard and were able to see the fruits of our labors. I was able to start the week off by going back so see one of my investigators get baptized in Manchay. It was actually the granddaughter of another lady that I was able to baptize named Lourdes. That was super nice for me to see, especially since I had to leave that area kinda quick. There's 3 more investigators there that I was teaching that'll get baptized tonight, but I don't know if I'll be able to go. In Covima we've been helping a lot of people get to know the gospel. In my companionship, we recently picked up a new investigator named Marlene. She's an antigua investigadora (former investigator) from back when the hermanas were here. She had always rejected our phone calls, but then we called again to see how she was doing. She was going through a tough time and decided to answer the phone for us. She was humbled and we were able to go to her house to teach her. We were talking about the gospel and then got to baptism. She kinda told us directly that she wasn't looking to get baptized and wasn't ready yet and stuff and had told the hermanas the same thing. But at that time the spirit inspired me with how to talk to her in a way of how she would come to see why baptism was necessary and how it would help her. So with the spirit leading the way, I was able to explain to her why baptism was necessary if she truly wanted Jesus' help. Not gonna lie, we were all surprised when she accepted a fecha for the 19th of October. I guess she was just the kind of person that needed some diligent missionaries to help her. She is a very cool person that we're excited to work with and help. I'm thankful for the chance that I have to be here as the Lord's representative on his errand. Have a good week!
-Elder White
Saturday
I know that the gospel blesses families. Basically anyone you come across anywhere in the world will say that their family is the thing that matters most to them if you were to ask them. This is all according to God's plan. I believe that we're here in families because before coming here, we lived with God in his family. Family is just one of the most basic eternal concepts. When we apply the gospel in our families, learn together, and love each other, we will be blessed with a plenitude of the blessings that God has for us such as unity, happiness and tranquility. I cite the hymns God Gave Us Families, Families Can Be Together Forever and Love at Home. I know that I can live together forever with my family. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
We got up early this morning to go play soccer against the zone leaders from Mayorazgo. It was 4 vs 3, but it was still fun. Then they left and somehow Elder Armstrong and I beat the others by a lot in a crazy 2 vs 3 match. Pday was pretty normal after that. We had our weekly office Risk match. My team managed to pull off the W this time. We had an insane amount of luck rolling the dice. Elder Tenney and I have to share a computer and be kinda took his time talking to his family. It was fine though; I just passed time watching Spirit and some other movie I forgot. Instead of getting 3 pizzas for S/40, the guys all wanted to go get all you can eat sushi for S/45 each instead.
I wasn't too excited to be eating sushi in Peru, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really good. They even had a tequeño roll. The wings were super tasty and crispy. But the crown jewel was the deep fried ice cream roll. It's the only place in Peru I've seen with unlimited free refills. I definitely ate my money's worth. I'd love to go there with my dad in the future. We were going to go have a cita with Milena tonight and then take her to a stake activity after, but she sorta disappeared on us. I don't know why the missionaries had to be at this activity, but it was cool. It was like a music talent show thing. There was a 9 year old that started taking piano lessons in February, but is basically a prodigy. Super complex songs memorized without messing up. Oswaldo from Almeda for some reason randomly wandered in, so it was good to run into him.
Sunday
I know that the prophets are God's voice on Earth. Since we can't communicate directly with God, so he gave us prophets to guide our families and us as individuals as well because He loves us and wants us to know how to return to him. While God doesn't change, the world and it's difficulties/temptations do. Due to this, He has given us prophets in every dispensation. Throughout the history of the world, there have been several mini apostasies with prophets to restore the Lord's church. I feel so incredibly blessed to live in a time where we have modern prophets to lead and guide us. I know that if we follow them, we will be blessed and everything will turn out ok. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Important Peruvian slang: Tiene la pepa--he is good looking. El es un churro--like pepa, but it's basically the complete package. This morning I went back to Manchay bright and early to see Hade's baptism. It was really nice to go back since I got taken out the way I did. I took Elder Pardo with me, which was cool for him since that's where he was serving a year ago. Hade got really excited and ran up and gave me a hug when she saw me. I was kinda sad that I couldn't hug her back. It was good to see her family again too. It was a very nice service and the spirit was definitely there.
I want a daughter like her. Elena called me and told me she'd be there. It turns out that Elena and Lourdes are cousins. Elena was there in her husband's taxi. They drove us down to Musa and we were able to talk a bit. Elder Pardo and I made it back on time for 10:00 church with 1 minute to spare. Milena wouldn't answer her phone so she wasn't there, but we did get an antiguio investigator named Marcia there, so that was an unexpected blessing. For lunch we went to go eat at a pituco family's house, so that was cool. While we were doing weekly planning, a group of adult gringos passed by and dropped off a package for a missionary. Their countenances screamed "American". Simply said, we can now see why the rest of the world might not like us a whole lot not that they did anything morally wrong. Just different cultures. Marcia went to the Face2Face even with Elder Soares, so that was cool. We ran into Milena in the street. We were all baffled that someone that was so escogido seems to have pulled a 180 degree turn on us.
Monday
One thing that every single prophet did was testify of Jesus Christ. His ministry upon the Earth was the single most important thing to ever happen. There's no denying that he existed. To me, it's beyond all doubt. I know that Christ is the Son of God. I know that He loves us. What I've come to really respect about Him is that he's very relatable to us. Before the mission, I thought he was very much 100% God form here. But he had the veil. He suffered temptations. He did a lot of the same things we do. Just as other prophets had restored the church before, Christ also established his gospel and church with 4 main pillars: Him as the prophet, he called 12 apostles to aid him, he had revelation on how to do it, and he had authority to end his earthly ministry. I know that Christ died and paid the price for all of our sins. I also know that he resurrected on the 3rd day, opening the grave for everyone. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Today was the day I designated for the mission to take out money. I received phone calls from just about every zone leader with questions. You wanna know how many of them were legitimate things to call me about? Probably 2. But that's whatever. We had our weekly office meeting this week. President announced that they're close La Caratera Central from Ceres until San Gregorio for 4 years for the subway. No big deal, just closing up THE BUSIEST ROAD in the mission. It's definitely gonna make some of these ward and stake divisions happen a little more pronto than planned. After the meeting, President and I sat down together and signed paperwork for 45 minutes. He said, "I haven't had to sign stuff like this in a while." Yeah, well, it's probably because Elder Rushforth was the last financial secretary that had ya sign stuff. It was basically all the paperwork from Elder Wall and Elder Tenney. There were many high fives when it was finished. They dropped another super cool behind the scenes for the Book of Mormon videos. The office hype levels for it are through roof. I'm more excited for this than I am for Star Wars 9. We did a NDH with a new member family that just moved in. Super pituco. I did the Book of Mormon and airplane lesson. Success. They gave us Papa Johns after. The dad, Victor, is a film maker. There was an argument between the 4 other Elders about how to handle references. I stayed out of it, but still lost the spirit. It's interesting: sometimes you don't realize that you have the spirit with you until you lose it.
Tuesday
I know that after Christ ascended into heaven, and the apostles had been martyred, the world was left in apostasy. The church was taken from Earth. I like to compare what happened with this example: A work place (or school) one day has the boss and all his assistants walkout. What do the employees do? Some might try and do their best to keep working. Some might quit. And them some might try to take charge or try and make their own business. That's exactly what the people did. I know that without those 4 pillars, there is no church. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
We had a district counsel this morning. It was pretty good actually. Hermana Gordon is the English specialist in the zone, so each week we'll be getting an Australian English lesson. That's pretty hype. Elder Pardo gave a real solid training of attitude is aptitude today. For lunch we went to go eat pizza at Pizza Raul's. It wasn't all that bad actually, but it did take them a while to make our food. Office work was kinda frustrating. I was trying to submit some stuff so that we'd be able to make online payments to some landlords, but each time I did, I'd get a notification that something with what I had sent was wrong. Why couldn't they have just sent me an email explaining everything that was wrong instead of one by one? Then some zone leaders came to the office right as we were gonna leave to proselyte and took an hour filling out paper work. But that's whatever. We decided to do a companionship fast today. While we were out and about we ran into a young Venezuelan mom named Nataly. Her and her husband got sealed in the temple in Venezuela, but have since stopped coming to church because she felt as if she had sinned too much. We talked her through it and she said she'd go on Sunday. We all felt real good walking out of that one. Then we had a cita with Marcia. She was super cool, but the other Elders weren't in a hurry to put a fecha on her. We read from 3 Nephi 11 with her which she really enjoyed the spirit of. It's interesting: a lot of the learning I do as a missionary is while I'm teaching. For example, Marcia said she was a little skeptic of the Book of Mormon. I told her God's ways aren't mans ways. When something is true, we're gonna feel it more than think it. And God won't give us feelings if something isn't true, so we can really trust our feelings in religious things.
Wednesday
I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God. I know that he restored His church upon the Earth. I know that by the gift and Power of God he was able to translate the Book of Mormon. Any missionary will tell you that the most powerful part of any lesson is almost always when we recount the first vision. I know that the boy Joseph saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. Knowing this brings me true peace and happiness. Everything rests upon those truths. I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His restored truth. If you lack this knowledge, consult James 1:5-6. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Office work was pretty boring today. There wasn't a whole lot for me to do. What do I do when I'm bored? I don't know yet, that's the rough part. We'll get something figured out though for me. The other Elders went to McDonald's and got a burger for me. Pretty solid way to end a fast if you ask me. Awkward moment of the day: Elder Tenney and I had to accompany Elder Armstrong to the clinic with a Hermana that I know so that she could pick up stuff to take samples of her poop. It's ok though because Elder Tenney and I just stood in the back and talked about how funny Elder Myers was with his poop samples. We hadn't been out contacting very long when I had an encounter with a "Christian" lady that had read into quite a bit of anti Mormon doctrine. She presented somethings (some true, some false), so I told her not believe everything she reads on the internet. Then she said how fallen angels would deceive men into preaching false gospels and how Moroni was the fallen angel and how everything in the Book of Mormon is a lie and false gospel from the Devil. So I asked her, "Hermana, what's the gospel?" She hesitated a little and then said, lacking 100% confidence, "The word of God." "It's faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost and endure to the end." "Well the Book of Mormon is of the Devil!" So I replied, "I'm gonna read you a verse and afterwards I want you to look me in the eye and tell me it's from Satan," and broke out 2 Nephi 25:26 on her. "Joseph Smith was a free Mason!" "What does th--" "They even put the triangle with an eye on it on his grave!" "You're not listening. I'm gonna leave." Darn lady didn't even know the difference between Free Masons and Illuminati. Elder Wilcox had a similar thing happen, so we recognized Satan trying to stop us; something great was gonna happen. We took out 5 citas.
Thursday
It's the Book of Mormon video eve! The hype is unreal! If this episode were released one day earlier for every time that we've watched the trailer or mentioned it, the series would've come out before any of us even left to the mission field. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that it contains the word of God. It has His pure ever lasting gospel. I know that if I can read it every day, my testimony will never falter. Since the Book of Mormon is true, it's all true. I've had too many personal experiences and testimonies given to me for me to ever deny it. Complete with Moroni's promise; you can do it more than once. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
President was in the office doing interviews today. He told us how Hermana Amato recently took up playing the piano. Yesterday she was home practicing some hymns when there was a knock at the door. She opened the door only to discover Elder Gong from the quorum of the 12 apostles. He said, "Hello. I was walking by and I heard some hymns and got curious. I'm Elder Gong," and shook her hand. He said she was shaking all over. Elder Gong made a quiet trip to Lima to meet with the Area and to meet with the JAS as well. None of us missionaries got to see him. But as I mentioned earlier, La Molina came in for interviews. I had always enjoyed talking to the office Elders. But now that I work here, it's kind of hard when a zone comes in for interviews. I have a hard time getting all my work done. Today we had a cita with Ciara, the 12 year old niece of Gustavo and Andrea (Cr's). She's been going to church and the activities for a while. She accepted baptism, but she wasn't totally confident about accepting a fecha. I think she'll feel better about it the next time that we go to visit though. Today we also went to go visit President Delgoda and his family since they live in our ward. We also had a brief correlations meeting. To end the night off, we went to go visit a 78 year old woman that Elder Wilcox had contacted, saying she was super escogida. She wasn't. When I asked her who else lived with her she got defensive and wanted to know why I wanted to know. That was a very unPeruvian thing to do. Elder Muniz ended his mission today so Elder Wilcox took him to the airport.
Friday
Elder Tenney walks in without shirt after a shower. I make comment. "It's so I remember to put on deodorant." I make comment about deodorant. "Well you try not wearing it for a day and we'll see how you smell." "Jokes on you because I haven't worn that stuff since I was 12." *Elder Tenney stares at Elder White in surprise as Elder White turns and winks at the invisible camera.* Change of topic. I know that the priesthood is God's power given to men on Earth. I know that I am a worthy holder of that priesthood and that God is pleased with me. I know that John the Baptist and Peter, James and John restored the priesthood to Joseph Smith and that it was passed along to me. I know that we are the only church in the world with God's authority. I know that if we use the priesthood in the way the spirit makes known to us, we will work many miracles and be a force for good. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Today was Elder Armstrong's birthday, so I helped Elder Pardo make breakfast in bed for him. We got to the office and you already know we were looking for that Book of Mormon video. But it wasn't there despite my constant page refreshes. "And it came to pass that in the end of the fourth week of Elder White in the financial seat, a cry was heard throughout the office; for behold, Elder White finally found the video. And there was much rejoicing in the land round about." However, due to complications with there being a zone there for interviews, we couldn't watch it immediately even though I had my popcorn ready. Ya know, the video was ok. Not overly exciting, but not too boring either. For me it really helped me to understand their family situation, and the faith they put in Lehi, a lot better. We went to Domino's to celebrate Elder Armstrong's birthday. Tonight we had a cita with Marlene, an investigator that lost interest between the Hermana/Office Elders transition. She said that she's been struggling recently (mainly because she broke up with her boyfriend). That's why she finally answered our call. She's 29. The cita went really well. Elder Wilcox was talking about baptism and she made it known she wasn't really looking to do that. So I made a contrast analogy. I asked if she wanted Jesus's blessings. (Yes.) I explained how baptism was like a contract because you can't get all those blessings until after you sign. She surprised us all by accepting a date for October 19. Powerful lesson. Juana made pancakes and a cake for dinner. Yum.
A meme Elder Tenney made me that shows the challenges of being the Financial Secretary.
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