This last Sunday was super cool. Our church got moved to 2 o'clock because another stake attending our building was doing a stake conference earlier in the day. So we had time to do our studies and plan before going, which was nice. While we were planning we called a bunch of contacts that we had made earlier in the week. We had a lot of people commit to coming. We picked up our investigator Marleni and went to church. We were there waiting and had a pf we had taught a few times before walk in with her aunt. (She accepted a fecha bautismal later in the week!) We were there waiting still and I sent out texts to a woman we had had a lesson with earlier in the week, as well as a man I had contacted who said he'd come. They both responded that they were on their way. Right after I sent that, this kinda crazy old catholic lady we had taught a lesson with earlier in the week came strolling in with her niece. She was one of the last people we expected to show up, but we were thankful that they did. Then the woman I texted earlier showed up too. The meeting started and we were feeling pretty good about how things were going. Then we started getting texts and calls from the man that I had said he was coming he said that he was outside of the building. So we went out to go walk him in and discovered a beautiful family of 4 Venezuelans that he was apart of that had all come. It was probably the most milagroso Sunday of people coming to church I've ever had. I know that if we keep the Sabbath day and help others to do it as well, we will receive many blessings. I know that the Lord loves us and will bless us abundantly as we obey his commandments. Have a good week!
Saturday
I know that God hears and answers our prayers. In the scriptures it says, "ask (in faith), and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," more than just a handful of times. I believe that this is because God wants us to have 100% confidence to pray to him as a natural instinct and to have zero hesitation in doing so. If you have a question, ask (James 1:5 and Moroni 10:4). I know that God loves us and wants to bless us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
The craziest thing happened last night--it rained! We were walking home from dinner and water started falling out of the sky. It was pretty good rain too; not just the typical two droplets. Nothing heavy though and no wind it lasted from 10-12:30. Our landlord lady cut off the water during the storm and when we went to ask her about it in the morning, she said she had to turn it off because there were "lluvias fuertes (heavy rains)". Not quite sure what her thought process was there. We had planned to get up kinda early and go play some sports, but the rain kinda ruined that. Today was Jaxon's birthday. This morning we went to the office to talk to our families like normal. We went to go visit Ciara again. She's still not sure about a date, but it's kinda hard to work with her because she's really robotic. The office had a "your mom" joke intervention where they all decided it was best to stop. So now we just say "your mongoose" instead of "your mom".
A top secret mission to create a fire on the roof:
The Sabbath day is a critical commandment. I know that if we go to church, the rest of our week will go better. The church is a spiritual hospital and we're all spiritually ill. If I remember right, the commandment is "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." I like the wording better in Spanish because it says "para santificarlo (to sanctify it)" instead, which to me is more of an action and a verb than "to keep it holy". I feel like "to keep" something holy is mostly not doing certain things. But the Sabbath is more than that! We've got to "santificardo". We need to make decisions and take action to truly set apart Sunday. To be honest, I don't 100% understand why it was changed from Saturday to Sunday, even after doing some research. But what I do know is this: we are lead by modern day prophets. If it were meant to be another way, they'd tell us. Or you can just pray about it too. It just occurred to me to try that and it helped a lot. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Another stake that attends our building had stake conference, so we had our church moved to 2:00. The attendance today dropped from 140 to 105, but it was also probably the most miraculous Sunday I've ever seen. In the morning we did weekly planning and called a bunch of people to get them to come. I called a contact I didn't remember named Darwin. He recognized that we were missionaries and was asking for directions, the church's name, how it started, etc. so I offered to go pick him up. He said he'd use his maps app to get there, which usually means they won't go. Elder Wilcox called the crazy old catholic lady and she said she'd get there by asking around. So we went to eat lunch with la familia Cornejo and then went to go pick up Marlene. She's cool beans. We were there at church and Ciara walked in. I sent Darwin and Marcia texts to see if they were on their way. They both said yes. Then the crazy catholic lady walked in with her niece. We were shocked. Then Marcia showed up too and we were feeling pretty good. Then during the sacrament, I got a text from Darwin saying he was outside. So when the sacrament ended, I went to go get them. There Darwin was with his wife Mary, his 13 year old daughter Gabriela and his 10 year old son Sebastian; a beautiful Venezuelan family. The other elders also had a couple come. God was good to us today. I mean, he's always good, but today we were really feeling it. All of our 8 potential committed to returning next week too. President promise that there's 10 people in every area ready to accept the gospel. He wasn't lying. I love being a missionary. We ate dinner with some members from La Molina tonight.
Monday
I know that before coming here to Earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father in Heaven. We liked it, but we wanted more than anything to become like him--a perfect, happy being with a body. The only way for us to truly be happy was for us to have a body because for whatever reason, a spirit can't be as happy as a soul. Satan and his followers rebelled against this plan for us to come to Earth, so they were cast out. I know that I was an elect child of God and reserved to come forth in these latter days to do much good. I know that He loves me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Today was kinda crazy, so I'm glad I got to start the day out with a chiropractor treatment. My back had been a bit uncomfortable. The last week for me in the office had been quite relaxed. But then today came around and sucker punched me right int he schnauzer. Elder Ordoñez came into the office, again. He's a new punk missionary that we have to burn all the time to keep him in his place. Poor Elder Jensen is his companion. So then we were chilling and all the sudden an elder and 2 sisters from the Huancayo Mission called and were like, "We just got back fro migrations and are gonna stay the night here." The area forgot to tell Elder Wilcox, so we were all al little surprised and unprepared. So we did what anyone would do in that position and went to McDonald's for lunch. We got back and I had to scan 70 receipts one by one to document them for caja chica. Then I got an email notifying me that President didn't sign off on the credit card reports, so his and our cards got suspended until Thursday so he came in to sign off. While he was there, he told Elder Tenney that that Sunday was his last day. He also told me that the area was going to come audit my work for a day or two here in a couple of weeks. Basically they're going to tear me apart and tell me everything that I do wrong. 🙃 Kinda necessary, but still. Then the water dude in the mission came and slapped a fat 4774 PEN bill on my desk for all the water he delivered this month (he's actually a real nice dude). But yeah, crap went down today. Elder Tenney and I went and took Marlene to a NDH with la familia Ortiz. It was a disaster really. It was a crazy night for the young family to say the least. We were unprepared for the lesson, but I pulled a milagro out of thin air. We asked Marlene if she liked it after and she got excited and said she did and told us all the stuff she learned.
Tuesday
I know that Jesus made the earth. Someone once taught me that the 3 pillars of The Plan of Salvation were the creation, the fall, and the atonement. So while right now I can't tell why the creation is a pillar, I'm striving to understand it better. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I woke up this morning and was super dizzy. Like, I couldn't walk straight. I still got ready though. But then my stomach started to hurt. Elder Armstrong came into my office and said that we had to go run an errand and also mentioned that his stomach was hurting him. I was like, "I wasn't going to say anything but mine is too." So we took some pills and hopped in a taxi. When we got back, he bolted from the taxi and threw up in the grass. I followed suit about an hour later in my office. Elder Cordova stopped by for a minute. Consuelo, Bruce and Andres all got baptized on Saturday.
There was an MTC attack that day and they made the MTC elders baptize them. jajaja Elder Cordova was telling me about how much Consuelo has changed. For example, she goes to church on time on her own now. When I was there, she said she'd never go alone--only if Anabel took her. And I guess she's best friends with the Bishop's daughter now. Crazy stuff. (I just had to take a 15 minute because ese pedo salio con challa. That was unpleasant.) Anyways, I was so nauseous that I couldn't really work. I got to the point where I felt as if I night vomit again when 2 Hermanas walked into my office. It was dangerous, but I didn't throw up until 10 minutes after they left. Elder Tenney got back from a meeting and I went upstairs to nap on the hidden couch. I didn't have a whole lot of success since A) it was a tiny couch and B) Elder Pardo talks and laughs really loud. Which reminds me--yesterday at McDonald's we told him that we'd buy him ice cream if he could go 5 minutes without talking. I legit didn't think he could do it. That 1 minute mark hit and he still hadn't spoken, so I sent out a few texts. Long story short, he got his ice cream. But he also got 8 or so calls from zone leaders over the next half hour asking how much a potato costs. We all thought it was hilarious, but Elder Pardo wasn't feelin' it. "I don't know, how much does your mom cost?!" *Hangs up* Any who, someone told the Amato's we were sick, so they showed up at the office at closing time. They brought us homemade soup and other stuff too and drove us the whole 2 blocks back to our house, which was probably good since I threw up as soon as I got up the stairs. It's awesome the love they have for us!
Wednesday
I know that Adam fell. A lot of churches focus on only the negatives of the fall. But I know that there are more positives than negatives. Though the possibility of sin was introduced, the ability to learn and progress came. Also, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they night have joy." Because we could recognize the difference between right and wrong, we can also now distinguish between happiness and sadness. I think about it this way: they were probably the happiest people in history, but couldn't recognize it because they'd never been sad before. It's like every food in the world were chocolate cake. Every time you ate it, you'd be eating something super nice, but you wouldn't know it since you'd never eaten something else. And now we can be here too. I know that the fall was necessary and that we can find God's blessings in it as well. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I kind of had a restless night last night, due mostly to the fact that Elder Pardo and Elder Tenny were arguing with each other in their sleep at various points throughout the night. They took sleep talking to a whole new level. For example, the last one I heard (about 4 AM) I woke up because I heard Elder Pardo talking. Then Elder Tenney said, "¡Callate Mongolo!" (Mongolo=sland for someone with Down's) Then also said, "Oh, I missed you." *In a more sad voice* "Did you miss me?" Crazy night. The other elders told me that the cita with Marcia didn't go all that well last night. Turns out that she's a feminist and went on a rant and asked a million questions about how churches in general discredit women. She needs Hermanas to teach her, not Elders. Nothing too exciting happened in the office today. La zona Vitarte came in for interviews. When we went to dinner tonight, obispo (bishop) was making this big 'ole thingy outta bamboo and duct tape. He said, "Elder White, I've got a question for ya." I was just like, "Alright I guess." He just walked up to me and rolled up my sleeve and slapped on a strip of duct tape. He said something along the lines of, "How much hair is going to come off?" So yeah. Bishop goals. Things are going well. I've got the whole financial secretary thing basically down. Sometimes I'll get a super sophisticated and formally complicated email. I've learned that those are mainly informative, so I don't respond. If it's something important though or if it's because someone wants money, they'll do some follow up.
Thursday
I know that we are here on Earth to be tried so that we can learn and grow. I know that God loves us and if we follow his counsels while we're here, we'll be blessed while here on our mortal journey. We'll mess up sometimes, but that's ok--Jesus just wants us to live his gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I was trying to do some stuff to close caja chica today. Francisco, my boss at the area office, had me call him and do a screen share so that he could help me better. Not gonna lie, it was kinda just a 30 minute roast session while he was helping me through it. Just when I thought I was getting good at my job. hehe Today is Book of Mormon eve. We kinda used up all of our hype juice last week for the series premier, so it was kinda hard to match that same hype level. We went to go eat lasagna as a zone today, so that was pretty tasty. On our way there, we were all walking in a group on the side of a quiet neighborhood street. Then, out of no where, an old dude on a bike coming down the hill crashed into Elder Tenney, who had been looking at some dogs to the side of the road. No one was hurt, well, the old man's pride was. He was pretty mad, even though it was totally his fault. "Obey the laws! You're in Peru now!" While we were out proselyting, Hermana Amato called me to make sure I was feeling better. That was super thoughtful of her. I sure do love the Amato's. We had another cita with Ciara today. We finally got her to accept a baptismal date for October 12th, but we're cautiously optimistic. Then we were walking along and saw a woman (Mayte) out front of her house, whom the Hermana's from Mayorazgo had passed to us as a reference. She was super cool. She loves the church and has wanted to get baptized for years, but couldn't because her Testigo husband wouldn't let her. Then we were like, "The policy changed. You don't need your husband's permiso to get baptized." She got really excited and invited us upstairs. She's ready to get baptized, there's just one problem--she can't come to church because she's studying at the university. She'll rearrange some things though. The spirit was really strong the entire time that we were testifying to her. She's 32 and has 3 kids with her husband. She left him for 3 months and recently moved back in. She was super nervous the whole time because she said her husband could walk in any moment. Then he did, and she got super scared and tense. We handled it well though. And he did too. He didn't get mad and seemed almost fine with it. Super crazy and awesome milagro!
Friday
15 months. Time is flying. I know that Jesus Christ came to Earth to suffer and die for our sins. This is the greatest showing of love ever, and nothing will ever top it. The price has already been paid for each and everyone of our sins--all we have to do is repent. He wants us to use this marvelous gift that he has bestowed upon us. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He suffered not just for our sins, but also for all of our pains and sicknesses and stuff too. We can find peace in Christ when we are going through a hard time and pray to Him, because He knows that trial as perfectly well, better even, than we do. I know that it is an infinite atonement. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, Redeemer and older brother. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I've had a solid case of enfermtitis (sickness) this week. Tuesday was the ugly start. Then there were some in between days where I was mostly ok, but still wasn't 100%. Then today I felt like poop cheese again. But I worked like normal and didn't throw up though at least. The Book of Mormon video was super cool beans. I was refreshing that page every 2 1/2 minutes trying to find it. 1 Nephi 3-5 is just so iconic. There were probably about 50 missionaries wandering around the office today. A zone was there for interviews with President and the other half had their companions all go to Miraflores for migrations. Kinda crazy, but I didn't even have almost anything to do in the office. We went to a member's house for lunch, but I was only able to eat half a burger unfortunately. My time spent proselyting today was mainly just following Elder Tenney and Elder Wilcox, and trying not to die while still contacting a person here and there. The Lindstroms invited us over to their home for a brief visit to eat ice cream and brownies. You'd better believe I ate all that. It was my motivation to keep walking throughout the night. There's a lot of people in my area that know a decent amount of English. For example, we were contacting when this Mexican looking dude with a bandana drove by in his old taxi and yelled, "S'up bros!" Yesterday we asked Mayte how old one of her kids were and she said, "Sebastian, cuanto años tieres? Sube las escaleras or so help me I swear. (Sebastian, how old are you? Go up the stairs or so help me I swear.)" She was really funny about it. I said guden nacht to some Germans tonight, but they didn't respond back.
A meme I made when I had some extra time on my hands.
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