Little Blessings from God

Hey everyone!!

This week was crazy as normal, so we didn't have a ton of time to do visits. Before I start, last p-day we went to a butterfly museum which was cool, but the best part is that we were the only ones there so afterwards the guy took us away from his house and showed us this Ocelot that he rescued a couple weeks ago. It's illegal to own those so we weren't allowed to take photos, but it looked like a little jaguar with big eyes. I did get to pet it but it didn't really like that haha.

Anyway we had a ward theater night activity that we planned to do but no one in the ward really helped us so the whole week we were making flyers, running around to buy the refreshments, ordered a theater curtain for the church, and rehearsed the skits. Just for an example of how "much" help we got from the ward was that Thursday we went to the Relief Society President's house and asked her if she could help us with the refreshments. She was surprised and said "Oh I forgot we were doing that theater activity this week," haha but she is a nice person and did help us make the refreshments.

Also Saturday we had a baptism. But it was more stressful than usual because we got the opportunity to do it in a waterfall which was a special moment. But the whole week we were trying to get in contact with the tourism department at the city building, but they were always in "meetings" and didn't get back from lunch break until 2:30, haha so I guess trying to work with the city is the same everywhere. But after all the craziness and preparations we had a really fun Saturday where we bought pizza for the family to celebrate as two of the kids have been baptized in the past 3 weeks. It was really humbling because they were so excited for the pizza, and for many of them it was their first time trying pizza. But then afterwards we had the baptism and the theater night. No lessons that day, but the ward here needs lot of love and strengthening so it was a fun day.

The past few weeks we have noticed that a lot of times when we are about to go crazy with all of our responsibility here, God puts little blessings in our lives to help us keep going. For example, one morning this week a less active member called us and said some of his family members who aren't members want us to visit them. They are 3 girls ages of 15, 12, 10 haha, but you can't complain when they have desires to follow God in their lives.

And Sunday we saw three of these blessings. One family that I have known my whole time here in Villa Rica was finally able to come to church and that made me so happy. Later in the day we found a reference that we had been looking for a good 3 weeks. Also Sunday night we decided to visit an investigator who hasn't been progressing lately since she isn't married and her husband is always working at their farm. But when we showed up Sunday night they were both home and we spent an hour peeling beans from their farm haha. But the miracle is that the husband wants us to come back next Sunday as well, so we can visit with them! So we will see how everything goes but I know that as we put all of our heart, might, mind, and strength into the work, God will put little blessings in our lives to help us keep going when we get tired oe unmotivated. All we need to do is keep going. God is so good.

I just want to ask all of you to say a prayer tonight and not ask for one single blessing. Just thank God for all that you have, and you will notice how good God really has been to you. I know that in my life, He has been way better to me than I deserve, so all I can do is say thank you. But that is all He wants is for us to say thank you.

Photos:

1) Aesthetic photo of random sketchy port-o-potty we found and used

2) A good ol Banana Farm

3&4) Baptism in the waterfall!

5) The baptism group 6) My angel costume for the ward theater activity

7) Me and my companion

Goodbye Prez, Pataska is the wOrSt

Hey everyone

How was your week? Our week flew by and the main thing that happened was Wednesday we traveled back to La Merced for our Zone Conference. It was the last time we will see our mission president so it was a sad one. He gave a really good last message and gave us some little gifts. The mission will definitely be different with a new mission president. But we just have to keep going because this isn't the work of man but the work of God who will never change.

Then Friday my boy, Santiago, got baptized. He counts as a ward baptism and not of the missionaries, but since both his parents are less actives, his grandparents asked us to teach him. It was a really fun night and the spirit was strong.

Later Sunday was Father's Day and it rained really hard so there weren't a ton of people at church and it was the missionaries turn to give talks, so that was a little disappointing. And then for Father's Day we got to eat more Pachamanka which is the food I explained earlier, that they cook by burying the food with hot rocks to cook and then you eat it with your hands. I didn't know chicken, potatoes and green beans were finger food, but I definitely wasn't complaining.

But sadly the Pachamanka takes 2 to 3 hours to prepare, so while we were waiting they decided to give us a nice bowl of soup. And y'all know how I feel about unrecognizable soups. Anyway this soup is called pataska and has corn and a bunch of mysterious items which I learned afterwards was intestine and stomach lining. GROSS!!!!!! I would take chicken foot soup 10 times over a bowl of pataska haha. Good thing we ate it outside while the food was cooking so a lot of the meat I was able to sneak to my good friends the street dogs, but I did have to eat some of it and it's an experience I will never forget. Haha the mission gives you some crazy experiences but I love it here!

Transfers were this week and I get to stay here in Villa Rica. My companion also stays and he ends his mission this transfer. So I will get to stay in this area until September, which will make a total of 6 months in this area or 1/4 of my mission. But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. The ward is small but the people here are so nice and loving.

For my spiritual thought I want to share an experience we had at Santiago´s baptism. Some of his classmates who aren't members came to his baptism and when one of them walked in he stopped and yelled "WOOOOOOOOOOOW its awesome in here!!!!" My comp and I laughed but later we talked about it and realized that's how we should feel when we walk into the church. It is a house of God and its a privilege we have to be able to enter into them. So for my thought please think of how this little kid's face would have looked when he entered into the church and when you enter into the church building do the same thing. Haha love you guys and I hope you have a good week!

Photos:

1)Just the walk to one of our investigators

2)Santiago´s Baptism!

3)Goodbye President and Hermana Silva

4)Zona La Merced

There's something 'bout that work, work, work, work, work, work

Hey everyone!

This week was super busy, but well worth it! Last Monday we had to take out money for the month and there is only one ATM here in my town, which has been broken since I got here. So we got to travel to a city called Oxa Pampa. Oxa is a really cool place because it was formed by Germans, so it is interesting to see the differences. The city streets are wider and in general the city is a lot cleaner. Also there is a meat and dairy factory. I bought some smoked sausage there and wow it was so, so good! Also we got ice cream and it actually tasted like it could've been from the states! But we had to travel on this sketchy dirt mountain road for almost two hours so the car sickness did kick in a little. But on that drive we were in a forest in the middle of nowhere so the stars were crazy bright.

Later on Tuesday we decided to wake up early and for exercise run around the lake. That was pretty stupid of us since it ended up being 5 kilometers in distance and I haven't run since before the mission. It's okay the views were amazing and I only threw up a little ;). But it did leave us sore for the next few days.

Then Wednesday morning we helped a member on his coffee farm since it is coffee´s harvesting season here. So we spent the whole morning up in the farm which is nothing like farms in Utah. I luckily wore a long sleeve shirt but my companion didn't and we counted 31 mosquito bites on just one of his arms haha.

Thursday was a normal day but we did get to visit some people in this little village (or more like a group of houses in the middle of nowhere) called Ñagasu. It was really pretty out there and again the stars were amazing.

Later Saturday we had a baptism! It was my first since December so it felt good to get back into the water. Also the family of the baptism invited us to lunch which was a soup and entreé made of one of their chickens they had killed that same morning.

Then Sunday we woke up early to walk around and invite people to church and in the afternoon did visits to less actives with some of the ward members so we got a lot of walking in that day. Lets just say I'm a little tired haha, but the best part about this work is I am always happy and optimistic. With normal work we get tired and just want to give up and take a nap. But when we do God's work we get tired but then feel motivated to keep going and even work harder than before. So next time you feel tired in the week, try to take time to go serve someone and I promise you will feel better afterwards!!

Photos:

1) Just harvesting the worlds finest coffee

2) Pre-Baptism with the ward

3) Post-Baptism!!

 

World flipped upside down

Hey everyone!!

This week was as crazy as it could be. I'll start with the miracles and then get into the drama.

So last week I told you about the fast we did and how that same night we got two people to commit to baptism. The blessings of the fast continued. There is a family we have been visiting and the 10 year old girl really wants to get baptized. But her parents told us that she is really young to make a big decision like that and they would have to think about it. Then Tuesday we went to visit them in their store and normally only the mom and daughter are there. But when we get there, only the dad was in the store. We have talked with him a little before but he hasn't really ever received the lessons. So we just decide to send it and teach him the restoration. It was a really good lesson and after the lesson I asked him if he had any questions. He then straight up said this, "I know everyone needs to be baptized and I never have been baptized. How can I do that?" Haha what a miracle God put in our lives. Now the whole family has a baptism date. We just have to help them get married which might be a little hard, but I know God will help us.

And now for the drama. Also Tuesday morning, my companion asked me if we could talk. In tears he told me about some problems he had before the mission and how he wanted the guilt to go away. We helped him get an interview with our president and then Thursday he went home. It was really sad and this week was emotionally draining.

So in our city there are 4 missionaries. But with my companion gone, they sent one of the other missionaries to a different area and combined our areas into one. So now there are only two missionaries. So our investigators and appointments doubled which is awesome and a lot of work. We definitely end each day tired now, but no complaints here.

So anyways my new companion is Elder Watson from Brigham City. He is a really cool guy and played soccer so he knows some of the people from Logan. He goes home in July so these next couple months will be full of work and it looks like I will most likely stay here in my area until September 😁. But yeah, that was our week and sorry I took a break from counting dogs, but I'll start it up again this week. Have a nice week and enjoy your summer break!!

Last photo with my comp