Week 28: Sunny Sunday/First Baptism!

 What a crazy week! This week was all over the place, with some really great moments and some dissapointing moments as well. But all throughout I knew the Lord was working miracles and that He is watching out for me.


To start off as soon as p day ended last Monday I got sick and felt some big chills. It didn't register as a fever on my thermometer so my companion forced me to come to the meeting with a ward member we had. Luckily that house had heating, (first time out of the CCM I've seen air conditioning), which helped reduce my chills. It's only 60 degrees outside but they had the heat all the way up. Some latinos don't even know what actual cold weather is. My comp wears a huge parka every night even though it usually only gets down to 55. "Tengo frio" he says, shivering. Meanwhile I walking around in a short sleeve shirt thinking, "Man he wouldn't like the US very much." Anyways of course the night I'm sick and I don't want to eat anything is the night we get papá reainas from our pensionista, which is one of my favorites. Future missionaries who will have pensionistas, just go in knowing that you're always going to get the best meals when you don't want them, and the worst/least interesting meals whenever you're starving. It's happened so much to me both ways I'd be surprised if anyone else gets lucky all the time. I did buy one of these pastry things that I had had in the CCM that were good, but this one was even better. It was like eating straight sugar.

This week was just a giant back and forth with Nahiara and Paullo. We met with one or both of them everyday. Somedays I felt like they were both on their way to getting baptized. Somedays I felt that only one of them was actually going to make it, and other days I felt that neither of them we're fully prepared. But during our lessons with Paullo, I'll just tell you I've never wanted to kick a dog more in my life than I did during those lessons.  On Friday we felt that both of them we're going to get baptized the next day on the 23rd, the Noche Blanca. But we got a call from Paullo's mom at 9:45 saying that she didn't want him baptized on that day because of her work, but on a later day instead. We were dissapointed, but the ZLs called her and were able to convince her to have him baptized at 9:30 on Saturday, a little bit later in the event that started at 7.

I got attacked by both a tree and a chicken this week. One member we visited with has a pet chicken he found on the street and named "Gallina," which is actually just another word for a chicken or a goose. I got some photos with her standing on my shoulder and she pecked at my glasses a few times. Ok maybe I was exagerrating about being attacked by a chicken but I'm not exagerrating about the tree. There were these trees with sharp thorns on it's bronces we were walking under. I was looking at the ground because it was full of holes I didn't want to trip on, so I didn't see one of the trees hanging down really los until I was underneath it. I looked up and all these thorns were scratching at my head. I tried to get out but there were even more ahead. Luckily I escaped with my life and only a few scratches that I can still see today. I guess since people aren't as tall as me here they don't need to trim their trees all that often.

All the missionaries in our zone gathered to practice a special musical number for the Noche Blanca. Someone came in with a guitar and played while we sang. For some reason the fact that I can play the piano somewhat decently well causes latinos to think I can play anything. So Elder Sotomayor said that I can play the piano for the number, even though I had no music. I knew something like this was never going to work, even if I did have more time. Thankfully the guy agreed with me and said I should sing instead. There's no way I could write my own part in a few hours and play it perfectly, despite what some of the latinos think.

So on Saturday the DL from California came down and we visited Paullo first to give him his baptismal interview. And I'll say, it was painful. He answered positively to all the questions and was ready to be baptized but for some reason he couldn't decide to say yes or no to being baptized on tha day. We sat there for an hour just trying to tell him that since he answered all the questions well he was ready to be baptized. But he kept giving an excuse for something and wasn't really telling us what was going on. We all bore our testimonies all while trying not to strangle his dog and so easily turns into a savage wolf. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he gave us his decision and said that he would be baptized. Relieved, we left and walked to Nahiara's house. There we got a call from Paullo's mom saying that he has changed his mind and didn't want to be baptized that day. So that really sucked, but we can still work with him and help him so he can be baptized in August. Nahiara's interview went perfectly, but I was a little on edge because we were already a little bit late to when I wanted to be at the chapel because the night before I had been asked to play "The Spirit of God" as the opening hymn, which is one I had never really played before. I got some time to practice, and I definitely didn't play it horribly. 

We sang our hymn and I was able to baptize Nahiara. This was my first baptism for someone I personally taught that I was able to attend. I felt the power the spirit and I think her family, who are inactive, felt it too. Presidente Hiatt and Hermana Hiatt as well as the APs were present at the meeting, which was for all of the Central stake. We had a total of 10 baptisms, which met the goal we had set. We almost had 11, but Paullo wasn't baptized. We didn't reach our mission goal of 80 total baptisms, but I think the final number was 42 or something, which is still a large number of people being baptized and making their first covenants with God all in one night! Nahiara's family actually brought some chicha morada and some orange cake for all the missionaries and those in the central ward. That was a nice little tidbit, especially because I've been finding myself to be really hungry a lot of the time. I don't think our pensionista is giving us enough food.

On Sunday we saw almost all of Nahiara's family come to sacrament meeting, which is so awesome. I played the piano again, but we had a new chorister who I don't know if they've ever led music before. Maybe she was just confused because I think she started singing a different sacrament hymn than the one I was playing that was listed in the schedule. So about halfway through the first verse they cut me off and I started over because she was leading the wrong song. I guess we'll see how this goes. But seeing Nahiara confirmed as a member of the church and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost was so powerful. I could feel the spirit really strongly during the confirmation and knew exactly why I am here. Seeing people join the church with little or no knowledge about it before hand is truly a miracle.

Although this is probably just a coincidence, but the gray skies and chilly weather have been really prominent on Sundays for the past few months. Now many of you know that that's actually my favorite weather, but this Sunday I could see the sun shining down bright and clear. I could feel the love God has for me and for everyone who was baptized, including Nahiara. Although there are distractions in the world, there's no place that I'd rather be right now than in Trujillo Perú serving the Lord and inviting all to come unto Christ.

Elder Jensen

1. At Noche Blanca with our pensionista 
2. Barrio central
3. Gallina
4. Hermana Nahiara
5. Estaca Central con los misioneros 
6. Straight up sugar
7. I don't know what machine makes these, but I'm pretty sure it would be easier just to dunk the whole thing in the chocolate










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