Arriving Home

From Mom: On Tuesday, September 26, Jackson arrived home at the Seattle International Airport. Because his plans changed a week, we took him with us to Nauvoo the next day. There is nothing like driving to the airport back-to-back days. Jack's accent is fun to listen to and he has lost quite a bit of weight. Mostly, I just need to give him a haircut.

It took just a moment to clean him up. Then the unpacking and repacking began. President Flake was kind enough to drive to our home and released him and hear a few stories.

The next day he was laying in the grass at Independence, Missouri. He really missed grass. Naturally, this is Jackson County.

All the wonderful missionaries were excited to hear that Jackson was just recently released. We enjoyed an afternoon in the Nauvoo Temple before the beginning of General Conference.

We flew in and out of Omaha where these incredible sculptures are installed around the city.

The memorial to children who died at Winter Quarters is behind the temple. 

This sculpture of Joseph and Hyrum Smith is directly in front of the Nauvoo Temple.

What a success!

Septiembre

Well this is the last month. That sucks. It's gone by quick. I made Oatmeal Chocolate cookies with peanut butter that the member bought. They were soo good. So good I was asked to do them again in another members house. It does come out a little expensive with peanut butter... But worth it. 

We had a good week and an interesting experience. We taught an investigator a little about the gospel and baptism and such. We invited her to get baptized again, but she said no. She is afraid of dividing her family. Her mom is Evangelica and her grandma is Catolica. So she doesn't want to fight. So we said, do you want to see a baptism? She said yes, and there just happened to be one right then. So we went. And it was a twelve-year-old girl and everyone talked about how their dad baptized them. She said her dad was in Japan and asked me, "Who will baptize me?!" It was funny. Hopefully she'll have the desire to do it soon, before I go. We'll see. 

 Love you all, have a great week!

Pizza

 We'll one more month. I'm actually really excited to work this last month. I still don't feel like I'm almost done. The best news today is I have a family home evening tonight with some investigators and members and they bought me ingredients to make Oatmeal Chocolate drop cookies. I'm so excited. 

  The other story is that we were at the mall as a zone to eat. And it just so happens that it's the end of the month and I'm poor. Luckily, the second counselor of the stake presidency, who lives in my ward, saw us and asked what we were going to do. At the end he bought us four pizzas at Pizza Hut. Here is a pic with him. He is going to general conference is April, and I will go visit him and take him to eat at a great place. 

  We had a great week. I had the chance to do a work visit with another gringo. He is from Camas, Washington. There are only three Washingtonians in my mission and here is a pic with the three of is. The gringo on the far left is from Utah. I had a great day and we got a ton done. We found a women who knew the missionaries a while ago and they stopped passing by, so now she is in an Adventist church. She said she doesn't like the church she goes to. It's sad, 

  Love you all!!

Elder Willard

Elder Medinger

 You'll never guess! There is a missionary in my zone from Ecuador and she said she knew a missionary from Washington, but couldn't remember what part. So she pulled out her bible he gave to her and it said Stanwood, Washington, and it said Elder Medinger. It blew my mind. I don't know him personally, but I remember his brother and when he left to Ecuador. That was my craziness this week.

Here is Colton Medinger serving in Ecuador. 

In 2023 Jackson's parents would be called to the same mission and serve with President Osorio in the above picture. 

Farewell

 I don't like it when my companions leave. It means we have to go to every house to say goodbye and I'm not even leaving. But, I'll only have to do it one more time, thankfully. My new comp is standing next to me because he want to go play football, so I don't have much time. He is another Peruvian and it'll be a good last change. We've been working hard and changing lives. Have a great week!

We Did It!

 Well we had changes. My companion is leaving to Huaraz, the mountains. My new comp is Elder Tapia, I have no idea who he is. He will be my tenth and last companion. 

  We had the craziest week. We had a baptism coordinated for Saturdays, so we were happy and ready, He had been going to church for 4 months. He passed the interview the week before. But on Thursday my comp went with a youth and I with another. In the lesson our baptism said he couldn't do it and keep all the commandments. We were very stressed. We taught him the doctrine and told him to pray to ask if he should be baptized. But a miracle happened. The very hardened heart daughter told her neighbor who is a member that her dad is sad and that someone should help him and 9pm. So we got the bishop and second counselor. At 10:26pm he decided to get baptized. 

  The day of the baptism, we went to try on the clothes in the morning. And his son got home and was very drunk. The devil works till the very last moment. He wanted to fight about Joseph Smith and Tithing, but I told him we'll do a prayer and leave. And that's what we did and blew out of there. We went to pick up the family at 3:30pm. The daughter answered and told us to be quiet to "not wake up the demon". But he woke up. He asked his did. "Are you taking your towel?" We were so relived. It was a great day and I am so glad it is over. I never want to deal with that stress anymore.

Love you all. Do good and give a referral!

Agosto

 We are in full Winter here in Chimbote. It's dropped down to about 65 degrees and the people are suffering. Almost everybody has the cold. Everyone is complaining and hiding in their houses. They see me and say, Where is your jacket, you're going to die! They're a little weird about the cold. 

  We had a great week. I'm eating a lot of fish and fruit. It's weird because it's expensive all fish, but they keep buying it... And chicken, always chicken... I actually really like the food here. We visited the bishop and learned how to make completos de Chile, he served there. It was excelente. It's basically a hot dog, Chile totally stole it from us. The Peruvian hate the Chileans, they were in war and stole land from Bolivia and Peru, just a little history. 

  We had a great experience with an old investigator. The only reason he wouldn't get baptized was because of his kids. We knew it. But we weren't sure how to fix it. So we kept working and got him to accept a date after several attempts. We explained many things and spent much time working with him. But after his interview we told him to invite his family, kids, grandkids. He said no. He said they don't even come to visit, why would they come to something that is between me and God. I love this guy so much. 

Don't be ashamed of the Gospel! Romans 1:16

Love you all, enjoy the pictures.