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. 

Independence Day

 Well here in Perú they also celebrate Independence Day, but it's the 28 and 29. What I don't understand and what they don't know is why they deserve two days to celebrate. Not that I think we should also have two days, but it takes away a lot of time and chance to find new people. Everyone left and drank and the streets were empty. 

  The highlight of the week was being able to proselyte with a companion from the MTC for a day. Just talking about that time over 20 months ago and comparing to now there has been a lot of changes. Good changes. That's what a mission does. He was more rebellious at the beginning and told me that now he has to leave his friend that are going to hold him back, the people that wont help him progress. It was a very interesting day, and lots of success. I never received so many complements on my Spanish. 

  Lesson of the week. Just work. Many things happen in the mission, but who cares, just do your job. And that applies everywhere. Love you all, and get to work.

Elder Willard 

Temple Trip

 There is a convert here who is blind. He wants to go to the temple. And I get to go with him! Maybe this will be my last time going... We had a great week and got lots done. We made tacos today. 

  We found a family. The women said she hadn't really prayed before. We asked if she believes in God. She told us the the belief is recent and didn't know what to do. She couldn't pray and didn't know what to do with these new feelings. She told us how her mom died and how she felt that this was all true. Without a doubt, we were guided there, we were just knocking on door before dinner. But she was able to understand the importance of prayer and how to do it.

 I think we all need to be reminded of how important it is. You should read 2 Nefi 32: 8-9. I always think that the spirt reminds us to pray, but the evil spirt gives us excuses. Watch and Pray ALWAYS! 

Have a great week and make good choices!

Milagros

 There was this family, they were going to get baptized leter on. But the dad got a job in the jungle and wanted to get baptized now. So I interviewed them and he asked me to baptize him. My suspicion is he didn't trust the little Elder that baptized his daughter. The mom and son will be baptized soon, don't worry.

  My family is having a hard time with the economy and nobody in the family wants them to pay tithing, because they are poor. But pray for them, The De la Flor Family or Of the Flower family. Today is the dad's birthday, he is turning 85 and the mom tomorrow, she will turn 81. We told them, "NO BEER!" And they invited the bishop! So that's progress, lots of prayers. 

 Love you all, Enjoy the heat while it's nice and cool down here. I love being by the beach, so much breeze. The only downside is sand in the eyes...

Ward Lunch

 So there is a few members from my ward that now live in the states, and the bishop asked me, "Is it true that you eat in the church with the whole ward?"

So then I explained what I have done before in the ward, and he liked it a lot, so we did it. I was assigned to collect the garbage. It was a ton of fun. There is nothing better to help the investigators feel part of the family then eating as a family.

  BUT! My pensionista said there was a certain member that said, on facebook, it's a sin to work so hard to cook and bring lunch to the church on a Sunday. So the old stake president and the current on respectfully said like this,  "Thanks for your comment, but I have lived here in the States for over a year, and this is an activity they do every other month." Then my pensionista said, "I think we should respect the ideas of our leaders, because they are the ones that receive revelation."

There was another 10 comments directed at this member. My pensionista was a little furious. 

I learned: Facebook is dumb! 

Love you all, have a great week and do good!

Changes

 There wasn't any! I'm staying here with my same companion. It was a slow week and lots of work. There was some kind of day off on Thursday, and when that happens, it turns into a four day weekend. Se acabo mi tiempo. Love you all and I'll write more next week, maybe...

Taco Sunday

 Well, this is the last week of the change. I'm pretty sure one of us will leave. If I don't leave I'll probably finish here. It's nice, but too much dust. It's hot, but you can't open the window because too much dust and sand comes in. I feel like Wall-E when he hurries back to his house thing to avoid the sandstorm. The weather is different. It's hot in the morning and gets really cold at night. 

  We had a slow week after the temple trip and a big meeting with all the missionaries of Chimbote. But we managed to find some people and do some good. There was a member who we didn't see for a few weeks in the church. Nobody knew why and nobody did anything. He showed up yesterday and sat by me. I asked how he was doing and he said he was running in and out of the hospital for a while, but his dad passed away two weeks ago. The sad thing is nobody said anything, nobody really noticed he was gone. I felt bad because I don't even know where he lives. But on the bright side, he said he is going to the States at the end of the year and we'll hang out. We need to worry about others, we might never know the impact we can have on them for just asking how things are going. 

  On a brighter note, a family from Trujillo came and made us tacos. They also want to come and visit, but lack the funds. But they are very good people. 

Love you all, have a great week, and we'll see what happens with the changes.

Temple Trip

 Well, it's almost certain now that this was my 5th and last time going to the temple. I'll send pics next week, or maybe Presidente will put up the selfie I took. They made us get up at 4am to get on a bus and by 8:30am we were in Trujillo at the temple. Presidente came to accompany us and asked why they made us travel so early, it was worth it. I found gringos there installing some tech thing. One said he would have loved to have gone to a Spanish-speaking mission now, but he went to Connecticut. Maybe I can do what he is doing.

  Well I had a good and bad moment this week. Bad first. We have a family of older people, and they were ready for baptism this week, then his daughter in Australia said if he joins a church and pays a tithing, she'll stop sending pills they need and money so they can live. That's a problem. He receives 450 sols a month for the three of them. That's almost nothing. So lots of prayers for Familia de la Flor.

  The good one is that I finished reading Jesus the Christ. It was fantastic, I was actually sad to finish because now I don't have something to do when I am about to go to bed. But I would recommend the book to those who have not read it. 

  Love you all. Have a great week and enjoy summer while it's winter down here.

Los Libros Canonicos

 I actually forgot how to say this, but it's all the scriptures like the Bible and Book of Mormon. 

  So. Remember how I told you to be nice to the missionaries and feed them. I've had a great week! We have a couple of investigators that are a little older and we went to help move a bed one morning. They were so grateful we ended up eating lunch with them. We also met new people that gave us things and were nice, I met a 100% White person from Illinois which was fun, and a 100% Japanese that didn't speak Spanish or English. It was a rewarding week. So I would like to thank those that did nice things. 

  We were teaching the older couple and asked the dad how the lecture of the Book of Mormon was going. He then responded, "I try to read all the books when my time permits me. I read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and have tried to read the green on, but I don't understand." 

Me and my companion thought about what book he referred to. He proceeded to pull out a hymn book that the bishop gifted him. We proceeded to sing hymns with the family. If somebody doesn't want to hear the gospel, sing a hymn. They soften hearts and invite the spirit so strongly. I love the Hymns. 

Have a great week everyone. And especially to those Dads out there, have a great Dad's day!!!

The Cold Again

 I got a cold. This doesn't even make sense. It's hot! I can't even sleep with a blanket because it's so hot. The good news is they sell Halls here like candy and I can buy a bag of 100 for 7 soles which is like two bucks. Pretty cool right? 

We painted a house for a guy in a wheelchair. For being in a wheelchair he was fairly picky an wanted us to paint everything. 

  We are teaching an older couple here. Guillermo and Ester. He is 86 and she is 82 with los principios de alzheimer. But they go to church every week. Here is a picture of her during the lesson. We have learned not to wake her because she then takes five minutes to say what she had just said. The most common thing she says is, "The church of Salaverry is next to my house."

But Guillermo always reads and prays and said he wants to die in the religión.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing great have a great week and behave!

Eighteen Months Into It

 Well, I have finished my mission as a sister. That means I have six months till I finish. I don't know what is happening with the time. It's been going by so fast. Everything here is normal again. The water is colder now.  There isn't much rain. There is just a lot of mud in my old chapel. 

  While I was in my old area we changed rooms. The sister missionaries found it and we talked to the Landlady. I felt a little uncomfortable because she wanted me to marry one of her daughters. But they lived in a different house. She always said she would come to church, but then got really sick from diabetes. Then I left. All of a sudden the new elder told me we needed to interview her daughter for baptism. It was crazy. She had read the Book of Mormon when she was seven and didn't know where it was from. Then the missionaries passed by a lot and asked for water (because in the room there was no water) and then started visiting and she knew it was true. The only problem was the mud in the church. It was gross. But we did it!

  I did an interchange with a new Elder Near. He is from Iowa. We went to see my investigator near the top of the mountain and took advantage to see the city. This is all of Trujillo from Pequeda. I also found a UW hat in the dirt.

Love you all. Have a great week, and please write or send a picture at least... 

The Fruits

 Well I got good news this week. While I was in my last area we found a big family and they were very excited about our coming. So we taught for a couple weeks and they said they were married, but then they said they weren't and wanted to be baptized, but lacked the funds to do it. So after a lot of effort and visits with many members to help (visits that were hard to do with older members, because they live on the top of a hill) they were willing to get married and do whatever possible to make it happen, then I got changed. But on Saturday I was happily informed they got baptized. It was not easy, one of the sons is very sick and has to have his blood cleaned three times a week. But I know that they gained a testimony of the truth and took the first step to salvation. It was bittersweet because I wasn't there, but they got baptized!

  I'm going to stay here in this area for at least six more weeks. We'll see how our investigators progress. Thanks for writing, have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day

 We had a great Mothers Day here in Peru. It was a great excuse not to go to church and for everyone to drink outside, even the women! We had an activity for the moms on Thursday. We chose two moms to answer a series of questions, the one that didn't answer in time had to throw a plate of shaving cream in our faces. They just so happened to be moms with missionaries in the field, so there was more emotion. They made me make this heart in the pic because I am tall. 

 We found a woman knocking on doors a few days ago; her name is Dolores, and in English that means Pains or Aches. So I can only imagine how her mom felt at the moment of her birth. I tell you about this women because she is a very positive mom. Her husband left her for another woman, and she doesn't care. She said, "My husband was just some guy, but my kids are my kids forever." Very inspiring! She doesn't complain, her old husband is rich and still gives her cash to cook and sometimes he comes by to eat. So we wanted to share the plan of salvation at a later date, but she said no because her husband hates religion and there is a chance he will be home. Not the best reason. We'll see if we find her tomorrow. 

  In the other pic we are eating hamburgers. The woman in the pic is from Venezuela and she made us arepas, which are like bread filled with what you want, in this case chicken. 

 

  Anyway, it was nice to see you all and hope you had a great Mothers Day to all the moms and future moms!

Mother's Day Soon

 The weeks are flying by. There is so much to do here. We are just talking to everyone we see because we don't know anyone. It's been a crazy week. But I'm back in Chimbote where the people are a little lazier. 

We managed to find a family that had a son recently pass away. I had an exp like the general authority that was talking about the kid that was going to die, and then she said we know the doctrine, but do we believe it. It was a great moment of reflection, and I came to the decision, that any of you can die and we'll see each other again. The woman said her son didn't repent and the knowledge that he is being preached to helped her a ton. 

  Don't die yet, that would be sad. Thanks for writing! Have a great week!