Elder McKay White: Week 20 in the Office

Crazy Week

Not gonna lie, this week got to be super crazy. There was a lot of work in the streets, drama with investigators, and miracles all around too. Here's an update on William and Rosa. They're doing good as of right now. It's been a stressful week full of drama and miracles with them. So one night we went to visit them to talk about their marriage. They were excited for it, so we talked while we did some paperwork with them. Rosa had told us that her partida de nacimiento (birth certificate) was at the house, but she wasn't able to find it while we were there. That was kind of really concerning because she was born all the way down in some obscure town in southern Peru and has no friends or family down there. You need to pick it up in person; Peru hasn't gotten to that whole electronic thing yet. So we left the appointment trying to think of ways that we could somehow get that for her. At the moment, we were contacting with the Bishop's son, who just got ordained as a priest. Rosa called us and told us that she had found the partida. We were some pretty happy missionaries. We took a moment to testify to the bishop's son about the power of missionary work and how the Lord will help us to accomplish His designs.
Now, this is where the drama comes in. A few days later, we went to visit them again. We started talking about papers and stuff, but then Rosa out of the blue told us that she decided that she didn't want to get married, nor baptized. Long story short, they had some serious stuff go down about 30 years ago between them. They had an argument, Rosa decided to bail, using this stuff that happened years ago as an excuse as to why she didn't want to go forward with it. We spent literally an hour and a half testifying to her about the gift of forgiveness and about how that would bless her life. It was a very spiritual lesson. They had their youngest son (24 years old) there that we had only talked to once before and even he could recognize the spirit, so he started to testify about the things we were saying about the plan of salvation and the atonement. By the end, she knew what she had to do. We left her to pray about it. Two days later, we got a call from them saying that they were going to go through with the marriage and baptisms. We visited them and they told us that they were, indeed, going to go through with it. AH! MILAGROS! We're finishing up with the papers and are looking forward to their wedding and baptisms for the end of January.
Next story. On Monday, I was out with Elder Leite contacting a bit on a small intercambio (exchange) when I received a call from the assistants from Lima Tambo, who have their area right next to ours. They said, "So funny story. Remember that reference that you passed us? They actually live in your area." That is pretty funny, and cool. We made plans with them to meet up to meet the lady and her son. It was actually a reference that we received that we passed along from the hermanas. I actually got it a few weeks ago, but didn't think much of it because they told me that the mom was a member. When I called the first time, she seemed like a member and told me that she was in Huancayo for a bit and that we could visit her when she got back. Well, we got to the meetup spot. We were talking and it turns out that the day before she had moved across the street, into our area. Very nice. We were able to teach them there in their house and they both accepted dates for baptism. We've been back a few times and have introduced them to the young men during an activity too. They're doing well. Overall, this week has been really awesome and full of miracles. These are just a few. I love missionary work! I know that the Lord is on our side! Have a good week!

-Elder White

Saturday
I know that baptism is the gateway for us to enter Heaven. That's why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so important. There's literally no other way to do it. I know that when we are baptized, we receive a remission of our sins and God remembers them no more. When we complete this important commandment to make this covenant of baptism by immersion performed by someone who has that divine authority from God, we will be blessed extremely in every aspect of our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So today was Pday de limpieza (cleaning) for us. We spent a solid 2 hours or more doing a thorough deep cleaning of our room. It was pretty crazy. That freaking fridge man. There was a lot of ice that we had to thaw. Elder Pardo was chipping at it with a wrench, so I just went and stuck my blow dryer in there. It was working great until my bow dryer freaked out and over heated and stopped working. So then I was forced to go back to the ice chipping method. It was going ok until I accidentally punctured some tubing from inside the freezer. Toxic gasses sprayed out and I breathed some in and died. Well, not quite. But hey! At least we just got a shipment of 10 new fridges in the office. Joe got called as an assistant this week, so thats pretty cool, mainly because we can email back and forth on Saturdays now. We're getting a new assistant on Monday, which means that today was his last office Pday. We honored him with 2 final games of Risk. I'm getting pretty good at throwing these mini magic cubes. There's a girl in the ward named Sophie. Her parents just got divorced (it's kinda weird because they still sit together at church). She just turned 8 and for whatever reason, was really insistent that Elder Pardo baptize her. So we went. We prepared Cuando up me Bautice (When I am Baptized) as a musical number. I'm not sure how, but we actually harmonized really well. The spirit was strong there. We got a reference tonight to give a blessing to a less active member. As soon as we got to the address, I instantly recognized it as crazy Luis's house. He thankfully wasn't there, but we gave his MA mom a blessing. It's sad because her mind is super sharp, but her body's given up on her. Like, she easily memorized my phone number and recited it back to me even though she can hardly speak.

Sunday
I know that the transfers that President Amato makes are given to him by God. God knows where we need to be at certain times and places in people's lives. There's companions to learn from and people to help/teach. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Last night I had a nightmare. I was at USU and they were playing BYU in girls soccer. I didn't know who to cheer for. Then I had to go to class and got lost. It was like I was in a 4 story shopping mall with 3 dozen escalators. Then Elder Tenney walked passed eating pizza and said, "You shoulda gone to BYU." Weird dream. I think Elder Pardo had an equally restless night because after getting up at 7:30 and saying my prayers, I noticed that Elder Pardo was asleep still. So I kinda shook him awake and said, "Hey man, it's past 7:30. You've gotta get up." Elder Pardo: "Dejame. Tú estabas durmiendo también. (Let me be. You were sleeping too.)" At that point I just kinda looked at him like "Bruh, really? You can't be serious." We all gave him a bunch of crap for the rest of the day for that one. Funny stuff. None of our numerous potentials wound up coming to church today, so that was unfortunate. There was one 17 year old (Melisa) that said she'd go, but she hated her job, so she moved back to Provincia. Well, there's not church over there, but she says that she really wants to go. So Melisa told us that if we can find her a job here, she'll move back and go to church too. So now in addition to river hunting, we're also job hunting. Cool beans. For lunch today, we ate with la familia Arzubiaga. It was a great way to end a fast. They gave us each a huge plate of aji de gallina (chicken chili) and some ice cream too. we had a cita with William and Rosa. Really it was just us talking about their marriage papers for an hour. We got their domicillio stuff and DNI taken care of. Rosa said she had her birth certificate there but couldn't find it. It'd be really hard to get it because she'd from a small pueblito far away. That caused a panic. We took Mauricio (Bishop's oldest) contacting since he just turned 16. While we were out, they called us to tell us they found the birth certificate. Milagro! Today was judgement day. Elder Leite's replacement is Elder Kimball, Elder Armstrong's is Elder Colton and Elder Wilcox's is Elder Davis.

Monday
Today in my personal study, I was reading some stuff in Mosiah 21. Limhi's people are slaves to the Lamanites. They're obviously not very happy about that. So they rise up in rebellion and try to defeat the Lamanites. They lose, badly. Motivated by anger and sorrow of the loss, they're motivated to try again and lose again. Then it happens a third time. They lost because they were fighting for the wrong reasons, and they were doing it without God. The promise of Abinadi in Mosiah 11:21-25 was fulfilled. Only God could deliver them out of the hand of their enemies, and the same applies today. In chapter 20 right before, they defended themselves successfully despite the odds. It's because they did it for the right reason. It's funny how the righteous are never on the offensive. They only do the necessary. I know that God will help us when we need Him in a righteous cause and that only He can deliver us from affliction. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. It was a pretty busy day in the office of getting the new guys accustomed and doing stuff to prep the mission for next transfer. It got pretty crazy. President did our interviews today. In Elder Pardo's, he asked President if it were possible to end his mission in the field and not in the office. The next thing ya know, President walked out and announced that Elder Recalde was going to replace Elder Pardo and that Elders Pardo and Armstrong would be in the field in 2 weeks. So just like that I'm gonna be the only secretary left. In my interview, I mentioned to President how crazy it was and he said to me, "Some days the revelation flows better than others. When it does, you need to write it out and act on it immediately." I really enjoyed this interview because I've had a huge increase in conversion since the last one. We talked about how to receive personal revelation so that I know what to do with myself the rest of my life. I went out with Elder Leite to contact. We got a call from the AP's from Lima Tambo saying, "Hey, funny thing. Remember that one reference you forwarded us? They actually live in your area." So we met up with everyone there. They had moved into our area yesterday. That's a nice miracle. Gloria, a single mom, and Jeff, her mildly alcoholic 17 year old accepted a date for baptism for the 8th of February. They seem really promising. Good thing I initially thought she was a member and accidentally procrastinated on sending the reference a few weeks....

Tuesday
I don't know why God has brought me this far. I feel like I'm so undeserving of all the blessings that Christ has given me. I don't know how I was able to be brought to where I am now. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best guy in the world. As a teen, I had a basic testimony, but had a bad habit or two that distracted me from the gospel. I wasn't weak or a powerhouse or anything, just an average Joe with a few weak points. I was, and still am, a trusting and obedient guy. I tried to do my best to do what my leaders and parents told me. I wasn't always the best with prayers (sometimes) and reading the Book of Mormon, but never really had a gigantic faith crisis. I was blessed with a lot of faith. When it came time for the mission, some people (like Brandon at my Jiffy Lube job) questioned my motives. All I knew was that it was a commandment, and that was good enough for me. So I made it here and have been growing in my conversion since. There were so many things in my life that could have easily taken me down a bad road, but by the grace of God, he brought me here, for which I'm eternally grateful. For that reason I know that God loves me and has a special plan for me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. My back hurts a lot, not sure why. Today was 1° training. There was an RM named Hermana Wells that was there visiting. She was in Alameda 2 years before I was and was the one that started teaching Mafer, so that was cool. We had a cita with William and Rosa. It started out normal, talking about marriage papers and stuff, but then Rosa started making false/exaggerated claims against William and refused to get baptized/married. It was around that time that Gino walked in. Rosa, up until now, has utterly refused to forgive William for having a daughter with another woman 30 years ago. So it was literally an hour and a half of us testifying to her of forgiveness. At one point, William straight up broke down crying while he explained his repentance. Gino had never seen his dad cry before (he's 24 years old) and testified to his mom. Rosa thinks she's perfect, but I told her William was better off at this point than her since she didn't forgive. Then Elder Pardo testified of pre-Earth life, saying that we made promises to each other up there. Gino testified of it too! We've never even formally taught him before. We rocked Rosa to the very core. She's got some serious thinking to do.

Wednesday
I know that every trial that we receive, we receive for a reason. We don't necessarily only get trials when we sin; a lot of the time, God gives them to us so that we can grow and learn. That's the entire reason why we came to Earth after all. If there were no trials in life, then it would be nearly impossible to learn and grow, which would void God's plan for us. I know that when we face our difficulties without murmuring, and we do turn to the Lord for help, we will over come that trial and be better than we were before. They're literally just growing pains. I know that no matter how bad it seems right now, God will make things right and reward us according to our faithfulness in His own due time. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. We had the new leaders training. It ran way longer than I would've liked. Oh well though. So, a couple of taxi drivers have been pushing my buttons recently. They find out I'm an American and then immediately say something like, "Hey! Your president's stupid. He's trying to start WWIII with Iran over there." And they rant on me despite me saying that I don't watch the news. One taxi driver was especially bad today. He was trying to put all of the problems in the world from the last 50 years on the US. I'd never really had to defend my country before, but I roasted him pretty good. Elder Pardo did too. Elder Wilcox found Mayte again the other day! He had a cita with her, but for baptism, she was eh. But then later, they ran into her crying in the street after she said a prayer, so she wanted to be baptized. They needed an accompaniment, so they took me. She's in a very sad situation. Her husband has had a history of beating her (she tried suing him for that), so due to that and other reasons, she feels very unloved by her husband. She really wants to divorce her husband and kept asking us if she should do it. We can't say yes or no, but you know my answer. She was crying the whole time. We talked in English the whole time so that her kids didn't understand. But that freaking testigo (Jehovah Witness) husband brainwashed her kids to tattle on her. For example, they texted him to tell him that the Mormons were there, so the came home fast, which brought the cita to an end.

Thursday
I know that Jesus is the source of joy. He loves us. When we obey the commandments, we receive blessings. No matter what happens, he will always be there for us. No matter the darkness that surrounds us, the Lord will always be our light. I know that we just need to trust in him: to have faith. It'll all work out in the end. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. There was consejo de lidarzgo (leadership council) today. It got pretty crazy. For lunch, we got Little Caesar's. But Presdient thought we didn't get enough, so he sent Elder Wilcox with Elder Davis to Burger King to get more food. Well, let's just say that we had an abundance of food. Hermana Amoto brought these amazing gourmet ice cream bars too. President announced that we're going to shake the apostle's hand when he comes! That's so exciting. During the first day training, we bought the Amato's dehydrated chocolate covered pineapple. I tried a little and commented on how it reminded me of my dad a bit because he really likes dried mangos. Today Hermana Amato came up to me and said, "I forgot to bring it, but I went and bought some dehydrated mangos for you." That was very thoughtful. While we were at the meeting, William called us to tell us that Rosa decided to marry him and get baptized! Score! There was some drama with late charges to our card in December that I had to take care of. Kinda stressful, but ya know. I saw quite a few people while I was out contacting tonight. First I saw William and Rosa in a Botica buying certificates for their wedding. Then I saw Mayte with her kids. They always shout "¡Mormones!" when they see us, so that's kinda funny. Turns out that her husband refused to have us back in the house saying that she was flirting with us. She was more confident about baptism today than yesterday though. She's also more determined to get divorced. Then I saw Israel. He might come with Mayra on Sunday. Then I saw Elena and Freddy (from Manchay). It was really cool to see her again and catch up a bit. Then we went to our cita with Rosa and William. We got everything back on track. We need to have missionaries send a scan of William's artida de nacimiento (birth certificate). Otherwise, it's looking good. We tried inviting Gino to get baptized, but he wants more prep time. I tried talking to Rosa to try and talk her into getting baptized in the church, but she is very determined to get baptized in a river.

Friday
Elder Wilcox gave a nice training during consejo this morning on the gift of discernment. He used the story of Ammon with King Lamoni as one of his examples. I had heard this training at least a dozen times before in my mission. But while reading this scripture today, I learned something new. At first, he stated the obvious of what he gathered from his intellect that the king was surprised at what he did. The spirit might've helped him a little with that one, cut then he got even more help. He was able to discern that King Lamoni thought him to be a God. From this I learned we just need to start and do our best, even if it's a little, and then the spirit will help out more. So the group of Elders that I was in the CCM with were at trunky training the same time as our consejo. That stunk. Ya know, just me in the 3 week program. So I guess that I can say it now, but it's Elder Holland that's coming to Lima. That's gonna be exciting! On our way out, we had to stop by the podóloga (podiatrist) for Elder Recalde's feet. Nasty stuff. He's been put on rest and isn't allowed to go out contacting, so Elder Pardo and I went with Elder Colton. We went to visit one of their new investigators, but when we got there he appeared to be drunk and seemed disinterested. But hey! Now I know what beer/drunks smell like. So that's why some of my Jiffy Lube coworkers smelled like that... Any who, from there, we went to go visit Gloria and Jeff. It went well. We shared a nice spiritual thought and then took them to the church. The YM were learning how to set up tents for a camp out that they're gonna do, so we presented Jeff to them. He's really shy, but it was good for him. We also introduced Gloria to a few members. We were walking along at the end of the night when we saw a family struggling with a big new water tank for the roof. So we seized the opportunity to help them. We lifted it over a 10 foot pokey fence and then somehow used a rope to pull it up to the 4th floor. Then I hoisted it up over another wall. Good stuff. They were a really nice family. Hopefully they come to church. We ate in a Chifa for dinner.