" And now I say unto you that this is the order after which I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again."
Alma 5:49

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Easter


Elder P. went home this past week.  My new companion's name is Elder F. His trainer was Elder P. about 20 months ago. He too is from Peru (Lima), and he has three changes left in the mission. His a really cool guy, and I am really excited for the time that we will have to work together. 

I really enjoyed General Conference (an opportunity every 6 months we have to hear from our Church leaders) this week. I enjoyed all of the talks but, my favorites where the two by Pres. Uchtdorf and the one by Elder Holland (however, the ones by Elder Renlund and Elder Ringwood really struck home too.) I really liked the general theme of both of Pres. Uchtdorf´s talks; we are obedient and faithful in the Lord´s work, not out of a desire of praise or numbers, but because we love the Lord and love what He did to save us. Elder Holland´s talk was just normal Elder Holland, pure testimony with lots of power :)  It was a wonderful way to spend Easter - listening to testimonies of our Savior and how we can draw nearer to Him.

Here's a pic of the "gringos" watching Conference in English.  Everyone else was in the chapel watching the Spanish translation.



I know that my Savior lives. I know that He directs His living church, and we need never fear if we are holding fast to His eternal gospel. I know that as we do our best to follow Him, He will make us stronger. I love the Book of Mormon because it testifies so clearly of the purpose of the Atonement. We are not only to go back to Him innocent, as we were before this life, but we are to go back to Him fully developed by His divine grace. I love Him for what He did for me, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to remember Him this Easter season. 

Friday, April 3, 2015

Getting a Little Dirty

My week was pretty good. I was able to do "divisions" (meaning my companion and I met up with some other missionaries and changed who we were working with for the day) on Friday with an elder from Montana. He has been here less time than I have. It was the first time that I`ve been with someone with less-time that me during divisions. It was nice to be able to talk English and also to see how much I`ve learned to do as a missionary.

I felt pretty focused this week. With my companion so close to going home it`s a little hard, but the Lord`s helping. Definitely feel like He's help me to have the Spirit this week.

Physically everything is going well. Cross Country was very helpful in the preparacion of climbing a volcano every day. Mentally I am doing well. At times Spanish makes me a little tired, but I guess that`s why there are divisions with other "gringos" :) Spiritually I am doing fantastically. My testimony is growing everyday, and I can feel that now I have an even greater desire to talk to the people and help them receive the knowledge the Lord has given me. Emocionally I am fine as well. Doing what I love - what could be better?

To assist me you guys can pray for me and for the people that we are teaching. I know that prayer brings power from heaven, and that is something that every missionary needs. 

The M. T. family is a family we've been teaching. We`ve been able to share with them the first two lessons, and they came to church again yesterday. On Saturday, we talked about the Plan of Salvation, and has we were talking about the Atonement, they both shared powerful testimonies of the Savior. I felt the Spirit very strongly. I know that Christ is our Savior, and that through Him we can overcome any difficulty or weakness that we might have. I know that He loves us, and He will always be by our side as long as we strive to keep His commandments. 

This week it has started to rain alot more. On Wednesday, we woke up to a rain-storm, and it kept going well into the afternoon. We were walking down the mountain, and we came across a 15 passanger van that had gotten stuck in the mud. The driver was a member of the church that lives in Otavalo, and he was there with what I assume were his mom and his sister. We spent about 25 minutes helping to push them out of the mud. In case you were wondering, this has been my favorite service.