I know that His grace is sufficient. If we dutifully follow the gospel, then we will be saved in the last day. What we fall short of, Jesus Christ will cover with his grace. I know that God loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Elder Pardo gets phone calls all the time because he's in charge of referrals. Last night, he received a really weird call from a 9 year old while we were planning. He tried acting like an adult saying señor and stuff like that. He wanted to know where the church was, but was refusing to tell Elder Pardo where he lived. I mean, stranger danger is good and all, but the kid called us... Elder Pardo told him, "Look kid, you've gotta tell me where you live or I'm gonna send you to the church in Chosica." So we figured that out and were about to hang up when he said, "Wait! Can I bring friends?" We said yes and were about to hang up when he said, "Wait! Can I bring my radio?" "No." "But it's to listen to my regatone pe." I died laughing at that point. It was a funny call. I went 2/2 in Risk today, so that was cool. In today's episode of the crazy ex dueña from Santa Clara, she called me and whined trying to tell me I had to pay 1300 soles to paint her house. I told her no and that I needed the rest of the down payment of 1000 PEN back. But then she was like, "That won't even cover the cost of the paint!" So I went asking around and the most expensive paint I found would cost her 260 PEN. Man, she's crazy. The very first iHop in Peru opened up on Wednesday, so we went to eat there. They only problem was that when we got there, we found out that a company had rented out the whole restaurant, so we couldn't eat there. Ah! So close! Instead we went to Jockey Plaza and ate a whole bunch of Taco Bell.
Good stuff. Tonight we visited Aaron, who's less active. Hopefully he and his prima (nonmember) come to church tomorrow. We went to go visit William and he had a bunch of family over. There was an evangelical couple there that really seemed to like the Book of Mormon, so we left them with a copy. We read 2 Nephi 31 with everyone.
Sunday
I know that humility is a critical attribute of Jesus Christ. He that is humble with find many blessings because of it. It just kinda makes sense if you think about it. I don't really have a complex explanation for it; I just know that God blesses us when we humble ourselves before Him. One thing I've had to learn here in the mission is to humble myself. Sure, my favorite jokes are sometimes meant to seem prideful, but that's not how I am at all. What I've come to realize is that most of the time, it's ok to not be right sometimes. Sure there's some things that you've gotta stand up for and defend, but other times it's better if you take the L even if you know that you're right. I know that the more humble we are, the more happiness we will find. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Elder Pardo. This guy will sleep through 6 alarms and a slap to the face, but as soon as he gets a text or call he wakes up without a problem. Bah! We had some really good potentials lined up to come to church today, but none of them actually wound up coming. Somehow someone put the piano on the stage in the back, so Elder Pardo and I teamed up with the whole bishopric to move it back. That was one pesado son of a mahogany. During Sunday School I learned how to tie a noose in a rubber band. It was one of those days. We did yet another round of weekly planning this morning, which is number 77 if I'm not mistaken. You could say that I've got a lot of practice I guess. But today Elder Pardo gave me a lot of good pointers on how I can talk to people better. Before I forget, William and Diego came to church. We had a cita with Diego after. He's 9 years old, but he has a few learning disorders. Elder Pardo was really good at making it fun and engaging for him. There was a stake Christmas devotional that the zone went to tonight. It was a musical program. Our zone sang a pretty rendition of the primary song Miracle. It went well.
Monday
I read through Mosiah 3 today. It really made me reflect upon the joy of the saints. The desire to feel that joy is part of what motivated Enos to pray, an experience that changed his life. This joy is described as a happiness above all other levels of happiness. It's something that's only attained as we earnestly follow the Lord Jesus Christ. King Benjamin says that it's attained as we have faith in Christ and repent of our sins. Or in other words, as we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of knowing our sins won't be weighed against us, the blessings of God in this life, and the hope of Eternal Life in the future is what gives the saints happiness. I know that as we follow the gospel, we will become partakers of salvation. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Mondays in the office are always pretty crazy. I spent the majority of my day doing stuff to reimburse caja chica. Since the end of the year is approaching, the area is shutting down al the credit cards from the 21st-31st of December while they put all of their stuff together. So we're really gonna need that fresh 10.000 PEN to get us through. This morning I went to the area office to drop off the monthly expense report for November. I felt kinda bad doing it since it's closer to January than it is November right now. Whoops. Hermana Houghton and Hermana Black leave tomorrow. If that's not weird then I don't know what is. We're spending a lot of money. President had Elder Pardo buy enough fridges and blenders and what not to last all of next year. So much for saving the budget. Elder Pardo wanted to make brownies for la familia Iqueda here. I'm not quite sure why I let him do that because it took a while even though he cooked them in the microwave. He went to go with Elder Armstrong, so Elder Wilcox and I went out together just like in the good 'ole days. I got in as much contacting as we could. It was nice. I kinda miss being a normal missionary now. I just can't proselyte as much as I want now. We had to go get stuff ready for the 2 week training tomorrow. Elder Pardo can be a really prideful guy sometimes, but I love him and am patient and quick to defuse the situation.
Tuesday
Ya know, I've come to understand the Book of Mormon a lot better in my time as a missionary. Up until probably around 6 months ago, I thought that there was only 1 church and that everyone either belonged to it or was simply an apostate and that any time a prophet said something it was because an angel or God spoke to him directly every time. That's not true, which makes the Book of Mormon even more applicable to our day. From my understanding, there were a few churches after a while, which meant that people had to get a testimony of the truth like today. Most of the time when prophets act/give a lesson, it's because the spirit moved them to do so, not always because they heard God talk or had angels appear to them. That last one I really like because it's applicable to our own lives. Chances are, we're not going to hear voices nor see angels, but will always be moved upon by the Holy Ghost. And when we heed those promptings is when we will find happiness and conversion to Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I had to go to the 2 week training this morning. I got back and hustled to get some bills paid. We hurried and made a video for the multi zone. It was pretty dope. We basically just recreated a Piano Guys music video. It seems like they make music with random stuff, so we did the same. After weeks of planning, we scrapped it all and made a quick video with a last second change of plans, and it turned out great. It was hard core improve. I started with 2 staplers. Then I found a saw and a hard hat, so I started sawing it in half. Then I found an expired fire extinguisher and randomly sprayed it. Good stuff. We had to download the Piano Guys video from YouTube, but the thing is that those converter websites have inappropriate ads. So basically there were 2 of us trying to hide the pics with papers while another clicked. There was a lot of screaming and panicking closing tabs. Funny stuff. Elder Pardo and I had to be at Gamarra at 6 to pick up the shirts we ordered, but the lady didn't have them ready, so we did some window shopping and then waited. We didn't leave until 8:30. I had 2130 PEN in cash in one of the sketchiest parts of Lima. Exciting. When we got back, we had to hurry and buy break and prep the chapilla for the Christmas multi zone.
Wednesday
I read some stuff in Alma 41 today that I really enjoyed. Alma is teaching about the restoration (resurrection) and and in verse 5 it says that well be restored to good or evil based upon our desires of happiness, which he explains is to choose the right. I think it's very true; if we truly want to be happy, then the only way to achieve lasting and true happiness is through following Christ. He also explains how we'll be judged according to our desires, which is arguable more important than our works. For example, if there's a poor guy that wants to help the world but can't, he'll be blessed as if he did. It works the other way around too; if there's a guy that seems like a nice guy but really just would like nothing more than to ruin someone's day, then he will be rewarded for that desire. I know that if we have good works and desires, we will be saved in the last day. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Elder Pardo and I showed up at Dunkin donuts at 8:35 this morning and ordered 168 donuts. "Wow." --The lonely worker.
Today was President and Hermana Amato's 21st wedding anniversary. President nailed it. He read a really nice poem he wrote to her for everyone there. Elder Pardo and I bought a fancy bouquet of flowers for her. I was almost teary eyed. We all watched our video we made in the office like 5 times last night. It's golden. Everyone laughed when we showed it today. Score 1 for the Republic. All the zones had to make a presentation on what they did to light the world. There were some pretty cool videos. Then we all stood in a big circle and read out the nativity and sang Christmas hymns. That was cool. Hermana Black ended her mission and her parents were there to pick her up. Nice people. Elder Horton, Elder McClellan and Elder Salway prepared a special version of O Holy Night to sing for the multi zone. It was pretty dang good. Like probably the best version I've heard. We surprised everyone by taking them Pardo's, a high end chicken restaurant. President told everyone to eat as much as they wanted. Elder Cabral was there. I had to bring up all those good times: throwing up because a normal lunch was too much (he ate 3/4 pollo today). Me: "That's the bishop and relief society president." Elder Cabral: *runs over* "Hey guys! Do you have any references for us???" Me: *facepalm* Hahaha, good times.
Thursday
I know that the prophet, apostles and other general authorities are called of God and that if we follow their counsel, we're really following God's counsel. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So President officially announced it to everyone today: There's an apostle coming at the end of January. He's going to talk to us, Tambo and Lima North. We found this out in the office at the beginning of December, but they can't tell us who it is yet until the week before. Last night I had a dream that it was Elder Rasband that came. He showed up in gym shorts and a t-shirt, and he also shook everyone's hands with the classic sloppy Peruvian handshake. It was an odd dream. The multi zone was literally the same as yesterday. I edited our video to add in a slo-mo bit at the end.
Everyone freaked out when I sprayed it in the video, which is hilarious in slo-mo. But in the multi zone almost no one laughed today. Tough crowd. President knows the son of one of the Piano Guys and sent it to him to show his dad. The Piano Guy responded saying he thought it was funny and was pleased to work with us. Cool beans. President had his brother visit from Canada, and Isabella came here from BYU too. His brother is an accountant, so it was fun to talk to him a bit. Today I ate 3/4 of a chicken and 2 plates of fries. I couldn't easily eaten the last 1/4, but my common sense beat my pride on that one. Like yesterday, we had a gingerbread house competition, and like yesterday, we tried making the Lima Temple. We didn't win, but at least our walls stayed up today. I made a deal with Luigi. Since he and his family lived in Orlando, he's a big Magic fan. So I told him that I'd take him the next time they play the Jazz and then the looser has to wear the opposing team's shirt. I was talking to Elder Lewis and he said that he ran into Ruth in Huaycan. She's 8 months pregnant....but hey, it looks like she might get reactivated! There were some kids selling candies in the street. I wanted to give them a sol, but I only had a 5 sol coin. I wasn't about to ask for change, so I just gave it to them and took a few. The kids got really happy and I felt good. We had a cita with William tonight. He's been given 6-8 months to live. It was a good cita, but we need to tell Rosa that she needs to sleep in a different bed now.
Pictures from the multi zones:
Friday
I know that tithing is a Celestial law. It heard that there's a bit of a situation going on back home with the church, tithing and the IRS. I guess that the Washington Post posted a story saying that someone is trying to turn them in for potential tax fraud. Also, apparently there's a 100 billion dollar bank account. I'm not sure how accurate that that last part is. I imagine that that a lot of people are freaking out back home. I'm not too worried though. The matter is in God's hands. I think it's time to purge the vineyard a bit if you know what I mean. Only the faithful will remain. The First Presidency released a statement saying that they were abiding with all tax laws. I trust them because I know that they're men called of God. I know that we don't pay tithing because God needs it necessarily, but because it's a commandment for the which we're blessed immensely when we pay. The church teaches it's members righteous economic living, and they live by what they teach. If you have any doubt of it, just look at Utah's economy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. The other Elders showed me a funny video made years ago in our mission called No Tomes Esa Agua (Don't Drink That Water). Funny stuff. We did a movie night with Centenurio. Basically we went to a neighborhood, set it up an knocked on everyone's door to tell them to come. There was a weird middle aged smoker lady sitting on a swing outside of her house who tried to seduce me in broken English. (Spoiler alert: it didn't work.) We also wrapped up Book of Mormons to gift away. We sang for all the 15 kids and 4 moms that were there. We didn't sing well though. It was a good idea, but didn't turn out well. But you know what they say: A captain goes down with his ship. Good thing that I left after our bad song performance. We had a cita with Diego tonight. There was a lot of drama with his mom. She wanted to postpone his baptism until the 24th of January for a big party, but we talked her down to January 4th.
Elder Pardo's proof that I close my eyes when I eat.
A cool Yoda picture someone found.
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