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!