This
week was great with some unexpected twists. We are still working so
hard because there is so much work to be done here. We got fourteen new
investigators this week that we feel pretty good about, taught a zillion
lessons and in our spare time were able to street contact a hundred
people. I lay down in bed every night exhausted but somehow I am blessed
with the energy to wake up and do it all over again the next day.
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| My pensionista (cook) & one of her daughters |
My working hard was interrupted by two things this
week. First was I got sick, it had to happen sometime. We were invited
over to a members house for lunch one day. The way the house was set up
was three separate small buildings, the living area, an outhouse and a
cooking hut in that order on a slight hill. The cooking hut had rocks
set up with bricks and metal sheets to put the pans on to cook and was
surrounded by tons of rotting food. We watched the family move all the
animals out of the hut and we were then invited to come and sit down at
the table to eat. There was a swarm of flies over the table and all over
the food. My companion and I tried our best to get the food down
without swallowing a fly or throwing it up. Dad wouldn't have been able
to handle it. Needless to say the rest of the day I was pretty
worthless. In the middle of my misery I got a call from our zone leaders
saying that I had a bus ticket to travel to Lima tonight so that I could
meet with immigrations the next day. I knew in the condition I was in
that I wouldn't be able to make an 8 hour bus trip so I asked for a
priesthood blessing. The blessing was one of the most special blessings I
have had in my life. To me, the miracle wasn't in how quickly the
sickness went away although that was an incredible miracle in and of
itself. The greatest miracle was that although the blessing was in Spanish I understood all of it so clearly. I understood that blessing
better than any Spanish that I had thus far on my mission. They finished
the blessing I was in awe at what had just been communicated to me.
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| My companion & I collapsed after a hard working day. |
My second interruption was my trip to Lima. It was a
quick trip. I rode a bus all night and then the next night rode it all
the way back to Huancuyo. In the morning we were picked up and taken to
the temple and showered. I then went to the hospital to be with a sister
who had just had a surgery so that her companion could shower and get
things that she needed. When we got back we spent a lot of time with the
mission president and his wife. He is such a wise man and I learned so
much from him. He has either been a bishop, or stake president since the
year after he was married. We then met with immigrations for about two
hours while they examined our teeth, fingerprinted us and took our
pictures. There were lots of missionaries there from many different
missions. Hermana Johnson and Craig were there and it was awesome to
spend some time with them. They were each really struggling adapting to
Peru, and I was able to boost them up and help them be more excited for
their missions.
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| Hermana Johnson & Craig in Lima |
There was another great miracle that happened in our
mission this week. There was an Elder who was known as the most
obedient missionary in all the mission who was finishing his mission and
heading home. He was on a bus a few hours before me on the same highway
alone when the bus was hit by a gas truck. The bus caught on fire and 7
people died. The Elder was sitting in the bottom of the bus where the
truck made contact and everyone around him died including the man
sitting next to him. The Elder walked out of the bus alive with a small
bruise on his face and a bruise on his knee. I was able to see him come
back from the hospital while getting checked out to the mission home.
The mission president told each of us that he was protected because of
his obedience and faithful service on his mission. It was a loud
reminder that god always watches over those who are obedient. I made a
commitment to be more exactly obedient for the rest of my mission.
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| food don't ask me what it all is cause I'm not sure chicken & something |
Here are some random things about my week and things that are happening on the mission.
My
companion and I have mastered the game of guess this word that I am
thinking of but don't know how to express it to you. We would dominate at
catch phrase and charades.
My English class went great! I love teaching. It was different to have people stare at me blankly for once.
I
have been asked for help reaching tall things for the first time in my
life. I'm five four and I have never been considered tall in my life.
I had rice and potato or both in every single meal this week.
My
aim with small rocks has gotten much better on the mission. It is not
super common for people to answer their doors. More likely we knock
really loud and they stick their heads out the window to talk to us.
More often we throw pebbles at their windows to get their attention.
I stopped a whole volleyball game the other day just because I
walked by. It got quiet and i turned around to see everyone staring at
me.
Among the many great experiences and things I am learning I
am learning to be a dog tamer. There is a dog that belongs to the
people who live below us that hates us. This week after slowly trying to
befriend it with food it didn't bark at us today!
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| view from my apartment |
Speaking of dogs, I had a crazy dog experience this
week. We were walking down an abandoned street to get to the homes of
one of our investigators and all of a sudden angry dogs were running and
barking at us from all directions. It was like in beauty and the beast
when Belle was in the forest and this pack of wolves came. It was
terrifying. We picked up rocks and threw as many as we could. I'm pretty
sure I kicked some of them and I know my companion smacked one with her Book of Mormon. We avoid that street now.
One thing I have really come to appreciate about the
people here is their love of God. When we stop people in the street and
ask them if they believe in God I have never heard someone say no. When
we ask if we can come to their home and share a message about Jesus Christ they always say yes. In my setting apart blessing it asked me to
find the things that people in Peru do in their culture that are better
than those that we in the United States do. I've thought a lot about
that since I have been here and the one conclusion I have come to is
that God is more important to these people than he is to others in the
world. Everyone here is very well educated in the Bible and I am
learning to love the bible more than I already do. I am always so
impressed with children off the street who are so young but that I am
able to have intelligent conversations with about God. These children
were taught by their mothers and are prepared to hear the gospel. I hope
that I can learn from their example and develop a culture like that in
my home someday.
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