1 Month later... 10/11/21

 HEY EVERYONE still alive and well here in Abancay with my gringo Comp who's birthday is today😉 It's been an interesting last 4 weeks with a lot of people on date but none of the baptisms going through and more roller coaster traveling than I've probably done in total here in Peru so it's been exciting😅 I'll slip in some cliff hangers or things that happened and if you want to know more just send me a quick message and I'll try to explain more in depth!!!

Soooooooo like I said we put a lot of people on date and welp... 0 of them happened but we have plans for a couple more this month. Transfers are coming up and as I mentioned we have been traveling so much in the last 2 weeks and there is more to come! This weekend we travel to Cusco so Elder Solum can go to Macchu Picchu so in order to prepare accordingly we kind of need to know transfers before we leave so we'll see how thay works out😬 I'm thinking we are both outta here but we'll see. Got the chance too to have a Multi Zone in a place called Andahuaylas which is a 3 hour high speed rollercoaster ride (adding on to the already grand amount of traveling I've done) and after all that I'm pretty much invincible to whatever type of motion sickness there is haha! 

I partially wrote an email 2 weeks ago so I'll toss it in to finish this one off so y'all can be completely filled in...

"Well well well have these last 2 weeks been crazy haha! Sorry for not writing, our P-day 2 weeks ago got moved to Thursday because we had transfers and well it wasn't much of P-day with Leadership Council and Everything and then that following Sunday President told us that we were going to this place called Humantay and that we had to find some way to get there so we spent a ton of time trying to find rides for all 6 of us to go and so we ended up waking up Monday morning at 4am to leave and didn't get home till 9pm😬 a lot of uncertainty but hey we got back that's the important part. Between that Thursday and the following Tuesday we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off going to Cusco (5 hour bus ride) and then having to come back the same day and then with the rides and the trip just....... insane.

Did you know running like chickens with your heads cut off brings blessings?😅 Anyways we have 8 people on date in total having put 5 people on date this week with 4 of them being in their 1st lesson. It's really interesting how people will do "anything to follow God" but as soon as you tell them they've gotta change it's like... "nah I'm good" It's fun... not really. But we basically just said "hey if God answers your prayer that this is the path you need to follow... will you be baptized into his church?" Sometimes they say "Baptized again?" And we say "Yupp exactly!" But with that pattern none has said no🤷‍♂️ So that's cool!!"

And so now you can do a bit of reflection and see that all of those people didn't progress very well because as I mentioned before... none of them happened when they were supposed to😳 Anywho that's all I got I'll stay more on top of this in the future but the next time you'll be hearing from me will be after transfers so stay safe and take care!!!!

Repentance (Elder Bednar edition) 8/31/21

 Last week of the transfer already wow!! This week was probably one of the longest weeks I have had in a long time! To give y'all the simplified cliff notes version we had 10 baptisms planned in the zone of 3 companionships for this weekend and only 3 of them happened, we had 2 family home evenings that no one went to except the homies of the YSA that are our little team, we were supposed to have 25 new people and we ended up having 10, one of the sister companionships may have COVID and the other is having stomach problems... all around an interesting week haha.

Now I could go through and just say that this week was terrible but honestly with all things considered... it was. No just kidding I actually look back on last week and see the things I can do to be better. It was a week of reflection for me especially in respect to the baptisms. We were all pretty dang bummed that they didn't happen and we even called the ones who didn't want to be baptized anymore (that weren't even our investigators) and tried to ask them what the problem was to help them. For this next week we should have 5-6 baptisms this weekend and for sure 2 of them will happen for us but the other 3 we aren't sure yet. The two we have are named Marco and Manuel so for those who go to the temple or want to include them in your prayers, that would be super awesome!

For the majority of you already know... I am probably the king of being hard on myself and so after hearing that in 2 days before our big activity with the baptisms 5 of the 8 had canceled... welp I was not very happy. Not because we didn't achieve our goal but I reflected on the things I had done and decided that man I personally need to be doing more. I know the majority of you read that and immediately wish you could grab me by the throat and say "Knock it off you're doing fine" but for me fine isn't enough it never has and frankly I hope it never will. Fine implies a plateau. If you hike a high mountain with more to go and turn around saying your fine well 1 of two things may happen. 1. you turn around and go back down or 2. you take a break and wait till you are ready to continue. The life of a missionary can't stop because people don't stop. It's not dependent upon whether or not I want to stop or I would spend most of the day inside talking with my American companion about sports or something. The reason I put the title as "Repentance (Elder Bednar Verson)" , apart from the fact that I love him and all he has to say, is because he explains repentance beautifully. He says that when we sin we turn away from God and so we are inviting people to RE-turn to God and let him take over. As I think about the changes I need to make to be a better person the majority of them are fixed by truly RE-turning to God and allowing him to help me make the changes. Being on that hike looking up it's almost insane to think that you still have that much more to go and it is haha it really truely is insane because you could never have anticipated the climb before you started. THAT is what the Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us to do, turn to God when you know there is no way you can do it alone and in those moments... he will be more than happy to help you along the way. 

Love you all and hope the Monsoons aren't hitting too hard haha 

Its Our Duty 8/23/21

 Well it's been a good long hard fulfilling challenging 2 weeks haha. We started last week with "ganas" to go hard and do everything possible to organize the branch and to call people and set baptismal dates! We got kind of burned out a little but we did go to Cusco and see Elder Zevallos and talk with him a bit, so that was awesome!! He is the area president over Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. He gave some good insight on how we should go about moving the work forward and keep ourselves digno (worthy) to receive the necessary help.

We have a lot of people progressing and it's been pretty stressful trying to keep it all in order but we've done a decent job haha. This Saturday we will have 8 baptisms between our 3 companionships in the zone so that will be AMAZING!!! We have had 10 up until August so to have 8 in 1 day is incredible! We personally have 3 that we need to be working on to make it to that day but it is 100% possible so we are going to put our 110% to make it happen.

I have also spent a lot of time thinking about how the missionary work functions. For those of you who may know how I work I like boiling down things to a purpose and completing the purpose. In some cases it means restructuring how it is normally done but to me the purpose is the most important. I also don't just close my eyes and complete the purpose I find the most effective and efficient way possible (or hope to). One thing I have found most consistently confused among missionaries is our job to "find people". We think that we are the work and that is pretty much 100% false. If we are the work then when we leave the work stops. We should be the spark for the wards and branches and stakes that we serve in so that the ones drenched in the lighter fluid of excitement and drive will light up and spread their flame to each and every other member of their congregation so that WHEN WE LEAVE, because we do that as missionaries, there will be not 1 doubt that the mission work will end because it can't. The mission work isn't a person or even a concept... it is literally our deber (duty) and that creates what we know to be an ACTIVE member. I plead that those of your who believe that the mission work is dead or isn't strong will put it in the hearts of the missionaries that they are the guides so that you as members can do what is necessary. We can't start without you and you can't finish without us. We're a team and a lot of missionaries think they know more about an area than the 500 people who have lived there their entire life. I've been in their position before so not to quemar (burn) them but it's time for a restructuring because the world is a mess and there are those who can't seem to follow the words of our prophet because they believe they know better but just as 2 young inexperienced missionaries cannot gain complete success without you (members), neither can we (humans) get through this life without the help of God through his prophet Russel M. Nelson. Just look at the serpent on the rod. If you don't... the snakes will kill you. If you do... they'll hurt but you can not die. I love you all and wish you the best in your fight against the world! 

Miracle of Member Work 8/9/21

 First week in Abancay was amazing!!!! We decided beforehand that we were going to "chambear" or work hard with members and man was that the move!! Really apart from the missionary work we haven't had anything different happen. Sooooo I'll get on with the many miracles we have seen. 

So to start the week off we sent texts to EVERYONE we could find that was a member and from there we started setting up lessons like crazy!! We got to talking to a lot of the members from our other branch which really needs some help but we got some good contact with them. With the ward we have primarily, we went and visited some members and they were all crazy grateful to have us stop by which was really an eye opener just to see that there are more than just nonmembers waiting for us. So little by little going through the week we have gotten 7 referenced children around the age of 10 that need to be baptized. Along with that we have a man named Marco who is super awesome and suggested that he fast to find the answer whether or not he should be baptized and so we fasted yesterday and today for him to get the answer and we'll see what happens! There is another guy who is super interesting but also super interested! He is super big on punctuality and lemme tell ya, Peruvians don't have the word punctual in their vocabulary so we have tried to do our best to prove to him that punctuality isn't lost haha. 

But overall there is hope for us all in the missionary work if we can put our trust in the lord. Elder Bendar made a really good point in his talk Ask in Faith when he said "We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work!" Members are the key to the missionary work and it's something we don't realize. Just think if each one of you gave the missionaries a name of a friend how incredibly greatful they would be!!! The life of a missionary is the life for us all!

Thank you for those who read these and i would love to hear some missionary experiences in your own areas!!

Transfer-Abancay 8/2/21

 I know... I know, I'm sorry. I'll try to fill y'all in. We had a multizona or Zone Conference a couple of weeks ago instead of having the Area President Elder Zavallos come visit us which was cool and sad at the same time but he's coming the 10th so we're good. We got to talk with a bible basher too a couple of weeks ago which was pretty much the worst. He didn't just call us out for a something we taught he literally tore us apart talking about how we were late and that we didnt start with a prayer and that if we preach the doctrine we should know it first... Not gunna lie, I felt pretty terrible after that. However it encouraged me to want to know more so that situation NEVER happens again. 

I got transfered and will be headed to Abancay and I'm pretty excited! I'll be with an Elder named Elder Solum from Scottsdale so for all you Arizonans that may know him... he's my comp haha. We've been pretty busy in Cusco and we moved houses which was a disaster. On the 27th we took everything from our house and moved it to a house in another zone and now we are in a super small house that the sisters were in because we couldn't find a house :( but hey... I'm leaving so :)) I'm super excited to start in a new area and get some change! We were in Andahuaylas which is super close to Abancay (3 hours) that was pretty fun to be with everyone but sad to leave Cusco.

There has been a lot I have learned in these last few weeks but honestly it has come down to confidence in the work. And really just confidence with our calling to gather Israel. We "need not be afraid" in the great work we are called to do. Love you all and I am committed to write more so stay tuned

Fearing Man More Than God 6/26/21

 Ok to all who have wanted an email the last month I am so sorry... This last month has probably passed by the quickest of all of the other months in my mission thus far. I have had some pretty incredible learning experiences and met some amazing people! I am still in Cusco after the tansfer and I have a new companion who is super chill and thinks a lot like I do. The mission is still having to close areas because we don't have enough missionaries so we took all of one of our areas instead of Half so we have 3 full areas that are SUPER promising. 

We had a leadership council in a city called Puerto Maldonado which is basically in the corner of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. Kind of reminded me of Arizona with how the weather was but other than that it was a super cool experience!! To get there it's about a 10-11 hour bus ride through... once again... vomit town... but it actually wasn't too terrible. We left at 8:30pm to arrive at about 6:30am so red-eye bus ride😅 We had the opportunity to play a lot of different games and sports and I took 2nd place in a ping pong tournament but lost to the 2nd counselor in the Mission Presidency... sad. We did another puertas abiertas where basically we prepare little stations and people walk through and we explain the gospel and what the church does. We had another group of 14-16 Elders living in our house so that was... interesting to say the least but there all cool so it's ok.

This part is going to be a bit lengthy so bear with me. A couple of weeks ago I realized I have retained a lot of bad habits that I want to stop. Out mission president had said that we should all take the things we want to stop doing or get rid of in our lives and write them down on a piece of paper. Then we should destroy these pieces of paper and forget about them to symbolize the destruction of these bad things. Sounds cool right? welp... for me it doesn't work. I think too much and as soon as the things are destroyed I forget that I wanted to destroy them and I keep doing the same thing. SOOOOO I decided to do things a little differently and I kept all of the papers I destroyed and put them in a little bottle so I would never forget the things I promised to stop doing. I then thought to myself "What is the one thing they all have in common and maybe I can start there?" Well... I'll tell y'all a little secret and it's that the answer is something that controls ALL of our problems. It's the simple concept of fearing MAN more than God. If we really believe that God knows all and we really believe that through Jesus Christ we can be saved... then when it comes time to doubt whether we should do the right thing or not based on what others are going to think... THAT is the moment when we need to remember that God knows all and can inflict much more pain on those who reject us than those who reject us ever will be able to inflict on us. As missionaries we run into this all the time and it's pretty hard to put this principle to action but I PROMISE that it works. "The character of Christ is turning outward when the natural man in you and me would turn inward." -Bednar (Character of Christ). Don't learn about Christ... learn from and of him. Be willing to stand firm and fear God more than man and be willing to do it now because he needs us now more than ever. 

Love you all and I know God has a special place for each one of you!!!

John 3:10

 Welp everyone I can't believe I am already writing my weekly it feels like I wrote my last one yesterday! The mission is like that sometimes. They say that days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. Kind of trippy not gunna lie haha. But all is well here in Cusco! We had a Multizona (Zone Conference) between the 2 zones of Cusco and it was super cool! We learned a ton and planned a trip to a place called Calca in the Sacred Valley. Super pretty and completely covered by mountains so it was even cooler!! We spend the day Friday there preparing to do "Open Doors" at the church and contacting the people that lived there. We went back to Cusco for the night but returned all day Saturday to do the Open Doors at the church. I'll attach pictures below of the church but man if you were inside the walls you would not even begin to think it was a chapel haha. 

Our Investigators are doing INCREDIBLE and people keep falling into our hands haha!! I started an English Class program for the entire District of Cusco which is the entire mission and we had a member contact us and give us a ton of references to his friends!! We then went looking through to find out which people we could contact from the paper records and we found this guy who was the only member of his family and his mom had a date to be baptized but never was... so we called him and he is the SAME GUY that gave us a bunch of references!!! Basically through this 1 member we have doubled our teaching pool! We also got referenced by a relative of one of the Branch presidents and the entire family wants to be baptized soooooo things are looking great!!! We also have plans to put 5 other people on date for baptism that we are teaching. We are just trying to get solid lessons with them first. SUPER COOL!!!

I was reading the Bible in John (because it's awesome) and Christ answered one of Nicodemus' questions by saying "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" The reality of it all is that no matter who you are, where you have been, or what is happening in the world, the only place we will be able to find the answers to the things we are looking for is through the scriptures and prayer. Those two things literally create our life and give us the information necessary to continue. SO INCREDIBLE!!! Now I know that I'm living this life full of gospel stuff but the people we teach aren't and this is what we tell them to do and it WORKS!! We think of the word "convert" as someone who is fresh in the church who just got baptized but in reality I became a convert long after my baptism because I came to an understanding that what I was reading and had been taught was the truth. My invitation is to do all you can to know all things under God so that you will be the most prepared for the things we won't be able to expect. 

Love you all and hope the life is moving smoothly!!

PICTURES!!

1. My super Stressful presentation to all of the leaders haha

2. We went contacting at the top of our area and welp... the view

3/4. Our drive to Calca through the fog

5-7. The church and baptismal font haha