We woke up to a mess. It poured rain last night and everything got soaked and it even came through our ceiling. Our bathroom and kitchen were filled with muddy water.
We got ready for the day, did our studies and read letters from home. I received many beautiful and uplifting words from many people! Once studies were over, we started to clean up our cuarto. At 11:30am, we headed to our pension to help Cecilia cook lunch, arroz a la cubana! (egg, bananas y rice) We cooked it all by ourselves and it was yummy. After lunch, we went and bought some stuff and then headed to internet.
Something that my mom and sisters shared with me, got me meditating and I thought about personal revelation. I had studied a talk from Richard G. Scott and he said something really interesting. "When God answers yes, it is to give us confidence. When He answers no, it is to prevent error. When God withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to his commandments and willingness to act on truth. We are expected to assume accountability by acting on a decision that is consistent with His teachings without prior confirmation. We are not to sit passively waiting or murmuring because the Lord has not spoken. We are to act."
Accion (action) gets us places! That is the one really, really important thing that I have learned in the mission! Before the mission, I worked hard...I did what I could...but here, I give my all. And when we hand over our entire lives to God and live the way He asks, we will receive our answers and we won't question His will. We will follow. That shows complete faith in Him and His will. Every day in the mission, we invite people to act, but most of the time, they don't. That is one of the hardest things to watch...people not receiving blessings because they choose not to act. On the other hand, the most beautiful thing, is when they do act, and they give their all to God...then after baptism, they live a full life of faithful action. Action that brings blessings and more faith and more knowledge! Seeing even one person change their life around is worth all the rejection we receive.
Luckily tonight, we didn't get any rejections. We visited a couple named Manuel and Berbelina. They like to talk about their problems and have found a way to connect all our teachings with their problems. :)
After that, we had a family home evening with Santos, Judith, their son Francis and a family that they had invited over. :) It turned out to be a really good lesson. We taught about love and the sacrifice of Christ. Then we played a game of hot potato. :) One person goes outside of the circle of people with their back turned and begins to say, "La papa se quema, la papa se quema..." until he/she feels like saying, "la papa se querno", and whoever is holding the papa (potato) loses. Then that person steps outside the circle to be it. We were giggling a lot! Hna McGinnis lost 3 times, so she had to do the chicken dance Peruvian style...first they flap one wing, then 2 wings, then they tap one foot and then two feet, then they bob their head and shake their tail. It was so funny! We were all crying from laughing so hard. Then Judith served us soda (oro), papa y crema and dulce globes. (a pastry full of air and covered with sugar)
Then we went to dinner and ate pancakes. Then we went home to our really clean cuarto. :)
Martes, 24 de Marzo del 2015
This afternoon we went out to San Antonio and we stopped by some member's house named Alaska and Gaspar. As we were talking with them, Hna McGinnis took a phone call in the other room and as I was standing in the door way, I noticed a green plant hanging above the door. I decided to ask them why, because I've noticed them in almost every house we visit here. They told me that it protects their house from bad spirits. If the plant is alive, it means that it is killing the bad spirits, but if the plant dies, it means that the bad spirits killed it...then I remembered that we have a dead shriveled up plant hanging above our doorway at our cuarto, so I told them, "Oh...well we have one, but it is dead." They looked at me with horror in their eyes and told me, "You need to change it for a live one and you better do it quick!" haha Right after that comment, their one year old son farted....well it was more than a fart, it actually ended up spraying everywhere...all over the floor...and then Hna McGinnis came back into the room and found the mess all over the floor. We decided to have a prayer and went on our way. :)
We tried to find our citas, but no one was home. Our last cita was with Antero. It was such a funny cita. He pulled out his scriptures and opened up to Nefi, during all the chapters where Nefi quotes Isaiah. He would read the chapter heading to us, and then ask what it meant. In response, we would just reread it back to him and he would respond, "Oh yeah....makes more sense." :) My favorite was when he read the heading that said, "Isaiah saw Christ." and then the first verse described Christ sitting on His throne. Antero turned to us and asked us what it meant, and Hna McGinnis looked at him and then at the scripture and said, "Well, here is says Isaiah saw Christ sitting on His throne." and Antero looked at her and said, "Thanks for clarifying." We giggled a bit. Sweet Antero.
Miercoles, 25 de Marzo del 2015
We visited a lot of people today and we had a lot of good contacts. We also got contacted by the Jehovah's Witnesses and got some pamphlets. We talked with them, and shared our beliefs...and in the end, we walked away smiling and they walked away angry because we didn't "argue" with them. haha
Another contact was with a familia. They assumed that I was from another part of South America because of my "dark" skin and my Spanish accent! haha We shared our testimonies, answered their questions and gave them some pamphlets to read. As we left, Hna McGinnis turned to me and asked me, "How do you have such a great Latina accent...you've only had one Latina companion and I've had three!" haha I told her that I didn't know...it is just the way it is. :)
My favorite cita was with Carlota and Hermes. Carlota told us about her neighbor who asked her why she is so different now...and Carlota responded, "Don't you know, I'm now with the Senorrrrrr!" (she rolled her r's really hard) haha Senor = Lord I love Carlota!
Something really special happened tonight. Hermes bore his testimony and the spirit was so strong. It was so beautiful.
Once the lesson was over, Carlota invited us to eat chicken crackers and potatoes.
At 8pm, we met with Bishop Iman, so he could sign some papers. He is super excited to work with us and has a lot of plans for us to do. :)
Oh yeah. Something I forgot to say yesterday. We got a call from Hna Furness. She said that Pres. Williams called and told her that she has an emergency transfer and is going to Jaen. (6 hours from Chiclayo) It is REALLY HOT there. She told us that she doesn't know why, but she is leaving. :(
Oh and another funny thing from today...as we were walking down a road, a man popped up from behind a pile of tree branches and said, "Thank you God for sending two beautiful angels to brighten the lives of all!" :)
Jueves, 26 de Marzo del 2015
This morning we had a district meeting and it really got me pumped up. We talked about inviting people to baptism more often, and that is exactly what we did today.
At 3:30pm, we picked up Adriana (19 year old member) and we went to San Antonio to teach. We invited anyone who wasn't already a member of the church, to be baptized, and they accepted!!
All day long we had great lessons. Our last lesson was with Royer and Maria. They live in an adobe (mud brick house, with dirt floors and no lights) It was almost 7pm when we got to their house, so it was dark, so we taught by candlelight. It was such an amazing lesson. The spirit was really strong and it was so calm. They promised to come to church on Sunday, and to pray about the truthfulness of the church. They are going to be wonderful members here in Pomalca! :)
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| teaching by candlelight |
Later, we dropped off Adriana and talked with her mom, Monica, and her brother, Pablo. (15 yrs) They are a really great family. They make me laugh!
Then we went to Gladys' house. She is a recent convert and we taught her and her family about scripture study. Before we left, they invited (forced) us to eat crackers and soda. :) They also asked us if we have soda crackers in the States. I told them, yes we do, and they couldn't believe it! haha
We went to dinner, went home to plan and got ready for bed.
Viernes, 27 de Marzo del 2015
This morning ended up being very eventful. At 7am, as I was showering, Hna McGinnis came running into the bathroom and asked me if I was ok....I told her yes and so she left. Seconds later, the power went out, so I yelled, "Well, now I'm not okay!" haha
Turns out, that as I was showering, one of our outlets caught on fire, so Hna McGinnis turned off the breaker, so she was coming to check on me to see if I was ok...and since I still had light, she figured that all was well. haha We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon without power. Luckily it is bright during the day, but it was really hot, because we didn't have a fan. And, the city is redoing the roads, so the big trucks were shaking our house...everything was shaking! It was ridiculous! :)
Today was our planning session, so we were stuck in a hot, shaking cuarto all morning long. After lunch, Hna McGinnis felt a little sick, so she rested and that gave me time to read some old Ensigns that got left in our cuarto from the other missionaries. I love the words from the prophets! :)
At 4:40pm, we left and headed to the church, so we could find some members to go out and do divisions with us. We ran into a sister from the other ward, named Indiana. She is married to the Patriarch here. They are really cool people. We couldn't find any members to go with us, so we didn't do divisions.
We went and visited with Fany and Hali. Hali had a lot of her little friends over. She is a cutie. She was pretending to "make the sacrament" by breaking up crackers into little pieces.
Then we went and visited Matilde. As we were teaching her, her 7 kids came to the open door and just stood there staring at us. Matilde yelled, "What do ya'll want?" and then they just ran away. With that, we taught a beautiful lesson about the Restoration. She loved it.
Then we went and visited Antero. We ended up teaching him and a woman named Filomena, who is a friend of the family. It went well. We talked about Christ and Easter.
After that, we went to dinner. We ate jello and flan. :)
At 9pm, the electrician showed up to fix our light situation. We did our planning by candlelight.
Sabado, 28 de Marzo del 2015
At 10am we went to a members house named Luz. She needed help cooking some food that she was selling. We helped her all morning. Once we finished, she gave us a huge plate of food. We shared it since their was so much. That was our first lunch. Then we went to a different member's house to have our second lunch. She gave us a huge bowl of rice!! We went home feeling stuffed and a little sick.
At 3pm, we went and picked up a member named Elena (19 yrs), to go visiting with us. She told us that this was her first time to go out teaching with missionaries. She did awesome! She taught, she bore her testimony and she even talked many into coming to church.
One of our visits was with a man named Rufino. He hardly let us talk, but when we did, we bore testimony. The best part is that the entire lesson, he sat there with a little baby chick on his leg and it pooped on him, but he didn't seem to care one bit. haha
Next, we visited a woman named Clara, her husband Segundo and their son German, who is a Jehovah's Witness. Well, Clara wants to be baptized in a river in October because she wants to get baptized like Christ, and in October because that is when her birthday is. We almost talked her into getting baptized sooner. :) German gave us some references and invited us to come back. I think we must have touched his heart. :) yay!
After stopping at a few more houses, we headed to the chapel to watch Women's Conference! It was amazing. I loved that the theme was about families. The entire time I was imagining my family singing the video songs, so I teared up a bit knowing that my mommy would be crying. After the conference, we talked with the sisters from Patapo. (Hna Arenqueren and Hna Walker) They were filling us in with all the happenings in the mission. Four people went home and one of the Sister Missionaries that went home is now married and 1 1/2 months pregnant! She and her husband live in South America. Holy cow! That was fast!
We couldn't find a combi for the sisters to get back to Patapo, so they came and stayed with us. We just pushed our beds together and all slept in the "big bed", just like old times in my bedroom when I would have sleepovers! :) It was fun!
Domingo, 29 de Marzo del 2015
Once again, at church, I lead the music. haha As I was sitting up on the stand, I watched all of our investigadores come in...all 9 of them! Two of them were Royer and Maria and their three sons! It was so awesome!!
During Gospel Principles class, there was a huge beetle crawling around and Teo, our ward mission leader, picked it up and put it in his pocket and then kept on teaching. I just stared at him in awe. I couldn't believe it! haha
At 1pm, we ate lunch with Monica and her kids Adriana, Pablo and Ruth. Pablo found me and Hna McGinnis on Facebook...and he thinks everyone in my family looks like celebrities! haha
After lunch, we visited Teodora and Jose. As we were teaching them about the Word of Wisdom, Teodora cut us off and said, "I already know, and so does Jose....watch. Jose, what are the five things that Mormons do not use?" She counted on her fingers, "One?" and Jose said, "tea." "Two?" Jose said, "Coffee." "Three?" Jose said, "Drugs." "Four?" Jose says, "Tobacco." "Five?" Jose said, "Hummmm.....Alcohol?" Teodora looked at us and smiled, like an impressed dog owner whose dog just did some tricks! haha
After a few other visits, we had a meeting for the rest of the night. For dinner, we ate cereal and yogurt. Then we went home and planned, reported our numbers (which were great!) and then we chatted in bed. I love Hna McGinnis!
Hermana Furness forwarded these photos of Jose's Baptism!
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