Monday, September 19, 2016

Pachacutec - Week 4

Basura en la playa

This week we got to go to the beach! Which is really cool because it's a mission rule that we can't go to the beach on p-day and never. But there is an exception once a year, it's an activity for I think all the Stakes in Lima. And it's the Mormon Helping Hands thing with the yellow vests. So yeah our zone went to the beach in Ventanilla and cleaned up trash. There were tons of Mormons in yellow vests, and I think they were in different places too, because the only missionaries we saw were from our zone. It was cool. But after a few hours of picking up trash it gets kind of old. And when I say there was a lot of garbage, just compare it to the trash pile and yeah it was about the same. We weren't allowed to bring cameras unfortunately. And also the rule for cameras all the time is we can't have them while we proselyte. Only on p-day, so sorry if I don't send a lot of pics.


So I guess I'll talk a little about the work here in Pachacutec. We teach normally 10-14 lessons a week, and that's not counting less actives and recent converts, which is usually 2-4 depending on the week. This last week we taught a lot of Lesson 1s (The Restoration) to new investigators, but none of them were able to attend sacrament meeting. Only Santos and Wilford, who have dates to be baptized this Saturday but I don't know if it's going to happen. Our challenge is getting people to keep their commitments.


In my mission we have a thing called Diez Maneras. So we choose our own 10 specific, creative, inspired, smart ideas of ways to find, and we do each one for an hour every week. That plus talking to people on the street is basically how we find. One manera that is standard for every companionship in the mission is called Mini Zion. Basically we choose a small area in our area and for an hour everyday we walk around in this mini area. And for this hour we only talk to people as if we were their neighbor. We don't mention the church or anything. And we do this all week to establish trust with the people. Then, on Sunday, the last day of the week, we make contacts. It's pretty cool, and it works.


For our investigators with baptismal dates, we have Santos, a 77 year old man who can't read or write. But we have a great member who has been reading the Book of Mormon with him. I feel that Santos has a great desire to learn and progress. There are some problems with his son not wanting him to be baptized, but we will work through it. For October, we have a 19 year old joven Roberto and his older sister Juana who are living together, they always have questions, and they are reading the Book of Mormon so we have hopes for them. Yesterday Santos was our only insac.


One of my goals for my mission is to really know the Book of Mormon. During my personal study I've put a lot of time into really studying this book inside and out. It's amazing. We are so blessed to have this record to help us build our faith in Christ and learn the doctrine.


One spiritual experience this week was during 10 maneras. We experimented on a new manera last Thursday: Himnos. It felt kind of awkward at first, to ask if we could come in and sing a hymn for the family, but this one family let us in. We sang Amad a Otros and it really brought the spirit into the home. Then we taught Lesson 1. It was really cool, I think we are going to keep this manera.


It's warming up here in Peru. I only have to wear one sweater during study time instead of two haha. It's crazy how the humidity makes in cold.


But yeah the branch is great, most of the members are converts, but they are great. It's a challenge because the branch president and ward mission leader are the two members that we work the most with it seems like, and they are both really hard to understand haha, they just mutter all their words. So during ward council (which is another thing in this area of south america, the missionaries always attend ward council) it's a bit hard for me to participate. But yeah, all is well.


Chao


Elder Harris


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