That was a pretty fun hike, not gonna lie. You could see half of the mission from up there. Cool beans. Well, that's about it for this week. Take care everyone!
-Elder White
Thursday
20 months. That's a big number. I believe in Christ. Now that's a great hymn. Every time I listen to it, I get motivated in Him even more. I know that He is my Savior and Redeemer. I know that if I live righteously my entire life, then I'll be exalted with Him and Heavenly Father in the last day. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. This morning I went with Elder Porter to the office because we had a lot of stuff to do in order to pay rent in time for March. While I was doing a bit of studying in the President's office, I realized that I had misplaced my highlighter from when I studied in there yesterday. So I opened up a desk drawer hoping to find it. Instead I found a phone book for the general authorities of the church. I totally could've taken the prophet's phone number. Anyways, then Elder Recalde called me from the multizone and told me that he needed to swap out the Elder he was working with out for me. When he got to the office, he told me how the Elder was being really slow, refusing to help, and complained when they had to run an errand. It was already a stressful day because someone stole our laptop. Well, I decided to pull the Elder aside with Elder Recalde and talk it out. (That Elder can have a pretty negative attitude sometimes.) Welp, the two of them started arguing and the Elder got really defensive and made himself the victim. Excuses too. So that whole thing was a quack. After lunch, we all went down, but Elder Recalde and I heard that it was extremely dirty upstairs and the institute director was fuming. We caught him talking bad about us. I was expecting a huge mess, but instead wound up sweeping up 5 chili beans and 7 grains of rice. I know that they might've missed that when they cleaned up, but really man? When I got back to the office, Elder Wilcox was there. And he stole a piece of my gum! That guy still owes me a Cinnabun! I'm actually not mad, but I'd still like a Cinnabun if you know what I mean. Tonight we went to go and visit the Velasquez family. They seem to be doing well. We still need to get them to the temple. Every once in a while as a missionary, you start a contact that's going really well, but then it just tuns into a quack. For example, I contacted a 16 year old tonight that seemed really cool and wanted to learn about Jesus. She wanted to go to church last week, but couldn't. So I suggested calling her for a reminder and she declined. Quack.
Friday
I know that Jesus was baptized to show us the way. I know that when we get baptized like he did, he will bless us not only with the covenants that come from that sacred ordinance, but he will also bless us for obedience to this commandment. I know that this is the gateway to all of the blessings that God has in store for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Today was a weird day. In the morning, I went with Elder Davis and Elder Recalde to migrations. That's usually a fairly quick trip, like, less than an hour there. Well, it wasn't so quick today. We waited around there for two and a half hours just waiting around. That seemed a little excessive. I was watching people that got there after us get their stuff done and leave. Why did it take them so long to call our ticket number? We waited a 1/2 hour longer before we finished. All that just for a stamp and signature. We celebrated by buying some Little Caesars Pizza. Good stuff. It's interesting that I can't finish a pizza as easily as I used to, but can now eat 2 full plates of fries plus a whole chicken. Peru does some weird stuff to your digestive system man. On our way home we had to buy new microphones. We had just bought new ones, but I guess that they're already broken. RIP. Back at the office, Elder Porter had to handle crap with the Zone Leaders all day. He'd doing pretty good. It's kinda nice because he has to do all the crap that I never liked doing hehe. All in all, it was around a 5 hour long trip that we made. When I got back, Elder Recalde and I ran to Office Centro to pick up a new paper shredder (the one that I've been asking for since I got here). They had forgotten we asked for it, so they sent it our office later with free delivery. It's pretty cool beans. I sweat a lot. Like I'll walk outside and it'll literally just start dripping down my face. No one else has that problem, just Elder Pardo. It's kinda awkward sometimes. I've never had a problem with sweating before. We had a cita with Valeria tonight. So it turns out that she used to smoke 5 cigarettes a day. She's only smoked 2 since we taught her the Word of Wisdom, so that's pretty good. We taught her the law of chastity. My theory of her going out with a German boy was wrong. Mario is in a bit of a low spot, so we visited him tonight to try and help him out. For dinner we went to Sangos. It never disappoints.
Saturday
There's a scripture I like in Alma 38:5. Alma says that as much as we trust the Lord to exercise that faith is as much help as we'll receive to be delivered out of our trials, troubles, and afflictions. If we put a little bit of trust in him, he'll only help us a little bit. But if we put our full trust in him (in other words--to exercise a lot of faith.), then he will help us out as much as He deems necessary. I know that as we do this, help will come. I also know that if we look unto Him in every thought, we don't need to doubt nor fear. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. We got up bright and early to play soccer in Manchay. If you think I didn't want to go, you're probably right. But I actually had a lot of fun. When I'm on defense, the other guys always think that they can pull a fast one and go around me. They don't seem to realize, however, that I've got like a 5 foot long leg span. Hehe. President took us out to lunch today. We were going to go to Chili's but then he changed his mind and wanted to take us to this Chinese restaurant named Madam Tusan, which is part of a chain by Peru's most famous chef, Gaston. President really likes that guy.
The food was good, but I probably didn't appreciate it fully because I've got the flu. Last night Centenario found a new, but he's moving to Ceres tomorrow. They asked us to go give him a blessing. His entire family is stuck in Venezuela, he's got serious amnesia problems, so he's pretty depressed and suicidal. It was a humbling experience for me. Hopefully he can follow the gospel. We decided to look for Gino tonight. All week he's been like, "Tomorrow at 8, pero yo te confirmo (Tomorrow at 8, but I'll confirm with you)," and it hasn't happened. Well, we got there even though he didn't confirmarnos. Well, he was off playing soccer. But we found out their grandson, William Jr, is going to be living with William and Rosa now, so we taught him a bit.
Sunday
I'm pretty sick right now, but what kind of sick? Am I the 'super cool beans' kind of sick or am I the "enfermo" kinda sick? Well, I'm always cool beans, but someone must've mixed their beans with my beans because now I've got that good 'ole gripe. Anyways Alma 34 is one of my favorite chapters. The last time that I read it, verse 28 really stood out of to me. It's very interesting to me because he explains how we should pray always and all of the blessings related to it. But then Amulek says that if we don't serve or have charity for others, then our prayers profit us nothing. Then get this--he says that if we don't do that, we're as bad as the hypocrites that deny the faith. That's pretty extreme, but it's true. Christ's charity and love for others is probably his biggest trait. If we can't even keep the second great commandment, then I guess nothing else really matters. I know that God will bless us as we keep this commandment. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So Gino didn't come to church today, so we'll probably have to drop him. Valeria and the family came though and William and Laura, so that was cool. We were going to eat lunch with la familia Mostracero (who cooks really well), but she forgot. Fortunately for us though, another family mistakenly thought it was their turn to feed us. That worked out kinda of well. La familia Rojas consists of a mom with her 32 and 23 year old daughters. The mom was crazy. Five minutes in she asked us about a "hypothetical" situation that everyone knew was aimed at her daughter. That was awkward. She was super feminist too. "Men aren't needed in families. They're only there for economic support." Her daughters were pretty uncomfortable. We basically just told her to go read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" again. I think that feminists are pretty funny. We were all invited to go to a NDH with all of the JAS tonight. It was pretty good. The tequeños that is. But also the other stuff too. We shared a good message on missionary work and how they can invite their friends to go to church. It was kinda really weird to be with JAS, because missionaries usually avoid it since it can be considered trunky. Valeria went with Gianella, so that was cool beans. Valeria is already super active in church activities.
Monday
Wickedness never was happiness. What a great counsel. Never have I ever met someone with a wicked lifestyle that was truly happy. It doesn't exist. It's literally against the law of God. They might be happy for a season (or have pleasure for a season), but evil works will be justifiably rewarded with sadness, misery and the absence of the Holy Spirit. I know that the opposite is true as well; God will reward us greatly for our righteous works. It doesn't matter if it's a member making a conscious effort or just an atheist doing what he thinks is right, they will both be rewarded for obeying the laws of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I had the trunkiest dream last night. I went home with everyone from my group. It was so real--even down to the part where I had a peanut butter JCWs milkshake. Then I realized I wasn't there for Moises, Araceli, Lucero, or Valeria's baptism and I got sad. I didn't enjoy that dream very much. Two missionaries came here today, one for Muancayo named Elder Garcia for visa stuff; Elder Oliva from Chiclayo is here for 16 days for some serious knee problems that he's getting help here for. I was doing Caja Chica with Elder Porter for his first time today. I went out with Elder Oliva tonight. It's always odd working with Elders from other missions. Just different norms and work styles. Since he was with me, Elder Recalde and Elder Porter went to the cita with Valeria. They say that she's doing well, but is still smoking 1-2 cigarettes a day. Not quite sure how else to help her stop smoking. I mean, I'm smoking hot but...that's different. We did the pre interviews for Moises, Araceli, and Lucero. Lucero didn't seem 100% sure about baptism Saturday, but we talked to them and they all seem ready and excited for Saturday. While playing soccer the other day, I came up with this brilliant joke: Well you know what they say in the migrations center in Finland--we're gonna Finnish you. I think that it's a gem, but no one else seemed to appreciate it.
Tuesday
It's amazing the way the prophets in the Book of Mormon teach. I was pondering on the way that Alma talks to his kids in chapters 36-42. It's pretty impressive how he teaches them. Each one is personalized according to their needs and is given through the gift of discernment, prophecy and revelation. It's especially true for when he talks to Corianton. First he starts off my setting his son straight and tells him that Christ will come and redeem him. The second part is what really interests me. He perceives that he has a question about the resurrection, among other things. He explains it in a way where he relates it to what his son did. It's just like what they teach us missionaries to do: to always relate what we teach to our investigators needs. I thought that that was pretty cool. So on Saturday, President asked me my ward and stake's names. Then he revealed that the house they were considering to buy is just crossing 10400 from my house. That'd be pretty cool if they wound up moving there! We had the 2 week training today. It's probably my favorite training to go to honestly. I had to spend a while there helping Elder Recalde, so when I got back, Elder Porter and I were in a frenzy trying to get done all of the stuff that we needed to for Caja Chica to close and open back up in his name. We were 2 loco chicos. Elder Porter told me about how he did an attack once that turned out pretty good where the missionaries made random check list things to do during it. I liked the idea, but changed it up a bit: Bingo. I made a bunch of random things like contacting a couple holding hands, referring twice to the Book of Mormon, hugging and old dude, etc. It was pretty fun. The zone was excited to do it with us today. From there we went to the church to meet with Mario. He's giving a talk on Sunday on how baptism has blessed him, so we were just giving him some pointers. After that we had the family come to the church for their interviews, the which the assistants agreed to do. Moises and Araceli both passed theirs super tranquilamente (quietly). While they were in there, I sat outside with Angelina and Lucero. We were laughing and practicing English and stuff. Then Lucero went in for her interview, in the which she wound up crying uncontrollably. Elder Napier said that she passed, but when he asked if she was ready to get baptized, for some reason she just broke down crying saying that Saturday wasn't a good day for her to do it. No one knows why.
Wednesday
I know that our peers have a great influence on us. This morning I was reading in the Book of Mormon war chapters. It was always apostate Zoramites and Amalekiahites that were the captains of the armies. It says that they did this because those two had the strongest hatred against against the Nephites and were excellent at keeping and developing that same hatred in their soldiers too. So what can we learn from this? Don't be friends with a Zoramite/Amalekiahite because that'll lead you down a path of hatred and sorrow away from the path to Eternal life. Surround yourself with people that motivate you to be better. I've done that throughout my life and if you ask me, I've turned out pretty decent so far. I know that God loves us and wants the best for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. We had consejo this morning. It was cool because I totally improvised my training hehe. There was cake too. I was still feeling pretty crappy when I got back from my enfermidad (disease), so Elder Colton made me take a mandatory nap on the couch. If I had one dollar for every time someone has made a coronavirus joke while I've been sick, I'd have enough money to lead the funding for the cure. While I was trying to sleep downstairs, Elder Porter got a call from Francisco about Caja Chica. That man got roasted hardcore. It was half my fault and half his--I had told him a few times to take the extra $ to the bank, but he never did. Tonight I went out to work with Elder Oliva and Elder Mendoza. It went looking for Laura tonight and instead I found Gino. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. We had a really good lesson on the restoration. It was pretty spiritual too. He showed some good potential and even talked about baptism. We might starting working with him again soon. Then we ran to our cita with Valeria. All we did the whole time was talk about her cigarettes. She smokes 1-2 a day. I pulled out the big guns. "Ya know what's gonna help ya stop smoking? Granadillas." "What? You've gotta be kidding, right?" "Nope. I'm dead serious. Granadillas will help you stop smoking. Think about it: have you ever eaten a granadilla and then smoked right after? "No...Wow you're right." "Exactly. Because they give you the urge not to smoke." It's all mental. It's just a normal fruit. She said she'd stop though. Elder Mendoza told her that we can go to the movies on our day off. We were like, "Uh...no we can't..." He's kinda weird like that sometimes.
Sometimes you just get really tired at the end of the day and bushes can
seem pretty appealing. They're actually not all that soft, or stable.
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