Week 38: Snorting Cake

 General conference week! Woop woop! This week had it's ups and downs but I have a lot of hope for October.


On Thursday we went on exchanges with Indoamerica again. This time I went with Elder Gerber in his area. He's not scared to go up the hills like all the latinos are, so I was excited to go up. It's hard to climb up but there's something about the por people that makes me want to go. The view is also amazing. We ended up running to the chapel for their comisión misional and a few random people starting cheering us on.

There's this one crazy guy who's a member who just wanders around between the church buildings in the stake. As I was leaving our building from the exchanges this guy came up to me and tried to slap me. He was a little out of reach so he missed, but it made me jump into defense mode and jump out of the way. The next day he came up to me in the stake center all happy and greeted me with a handshake and a smile. I couldn't help but think, "didn't you try to backhand me yesterday? Where did this come from?"

The election down here is anything. Posters and banners everywhere. There's always music blasting from some of the taxis that are supporting a specific candidate and the caravans of trucks and mototaxis. Both people running for alcalde provincial seem to have their own songs writren about them. People go around everyday and glue up a poster saying you support a specific person to your house even if you don't want it. I've collected a bunch of notebooks, posters, booklets, and even can openers that are just lying in the street that all advertise a party. Now I just need a box of matches. And sorry Raul, but there's no way you're winning because you're a third party. It's between Cesar Acuña and Elías for governor. But even more annoying is the run for alcalde provincial. Sandra and Wilmer. Both have their own songs writtwn about them and you can't turn around in a circle without seeing one of their faces. I don't know their views so I don't know who I would vote for, but I can tell that Wilmer doesn't know how to smile. Why would they use that photo? I don't think that's the face of "confianza" that they're trying to make me think it is.

On Friday we had zone council and I was asked to pretend to be the investigator in a practice that went way too long. We were asked by the zone leaders to bring some baptismal pants for a baptism they were having that noght. We had a lesson with a man, David, at the stake center too that night so it worked out. We got them the pants and I got the biggest slice of cake I've ever received. There was a wedding or graduation or something right before we got there so Elder Lumbre gave me a slice. It was a monster of a cake and I accidentally snorted a bit of it while taking photos with it becaude there was a random straw in the middle of the cake. Our lesión with David fell so I carried this slice of cake all the way up to the apartment to est over the next few days. It actually was a pretty good cake. After we went to a members house to print a map of our area. There computer kept crashing so it took a while but we eventually got it. It's kind of blurry so we might go back to print smaller sections to make one big picture. The family gave us some cheetoes too. I'll just say I felt like such a pig that day.

We invited many of our investigators to watch conference with us and some accepted, but none ended up doing it except for Hugo surpisingly enough. Well, I guess he can't move so he's just going to watch whatever is on tv. We asked him about his thoughts on baptism again and he told us that he still doesn't feel ready. But it was sad going to the stake center and watching conference with none of our investigators and all the other companionships had some. I watched the fiestas 3 sessions all in Spanish. I understood the meanings of the talks, but I feel like I lacked the doctrine and power they could have given me. We couldn't meet in the stake center because if the elections on Sunday and all the investigators we planned to watch it with canceled, so we ended up watching conference in our apartment. It was nice to indulge in my snacks though. This time I turned on the english subtitles so I could understand more and it definitely helped a little. The tales were powerful and I definitely heard somethings I can use to improve myself as a missionary and help my comp and others.

On Sunday in between sessions of conference we had a cita with hermana Milagros. She has some medical problems, but has a desire to meet with us. She received lessons from the misionaries 5 years ago in Pacasmayo, a town about an hour from Trujillo. We ended up finding her through one of her friends who had randomly stopped us in the street a few weeks ago with a few questions about who we were. We're still teaching the friend, but we were able to find Milagros which was awesome. We can't meet in her home so we've been meeting outside with her. Her big dog took an interest in me and actually grabbed my leg with his arms and tried to hump me! When we pulled him away he tried to bite my thigh. He actually got his jaw around it before we pulled him away again. She remembers a lot about the lessons, so not much was new to her. This was our third time meeting with her and we extended the invitation to be baptized. She accepted! So we didn't have anyone watch conference with us but we got a fecha instead..

Elder Rasband's talk was an answer to some of my questions. If you read some of my last emails you'll know I've been strugglimg with trying to get my comp and some other latino missionaries to not have a fear of using the BoM. This is one I'll definitely be using to help them understand the importance of the book and use it all the time. The Book of Mormon is powerful. It has the fulness of the gospel. Why should we be afraid of sharing it with people? I'm going to apply the book and it's teachings of Christ into my own life even more so I can testify of it even more than I already am. If the Book of Mormon is true, which it is, everything else is true. I encourage you to strengthen your testimony of the BoM and feel free to share it openly.

Today for pday we went to the mall to pull money and got some Pizza Hut for lunch. It's the first decent pizza I've had in the field . Also on our way to conference there was a cow head in the middle of the street. Just a cow head. Don't ask me why because I can't tell you. I have a picture of it but don't look at it if you're easily grossed out.

That was my week! I hope you felt the spirit during conference and found answers to your questions! Have a fantastic week! Templo Chiclayo!!!

Elder Jensen

1. What we should be doing after Rasband's talk
2. Elderes de Pueblo Libre
3. One of the many random fires we find in the street
4. Oranges are fun
5. Snorting cake
6. Me with "the angel of oxygen" José Ruiz
7. Trujillo from Indoamerica 
8. The bunnies are getting big!
9. Cow head. Atleast I think it's a cowhead
10. Conejito por la encima de la cabeza!































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 61: It's Just a Little Rain

Image
  This was a little different of a week. Hope you all are doing well and staying safe! On Monday for pday last week we went to the mall to pull money and buy things. Afterwards we had our district activity in the mission home with Presidente and Hermana Hiatt. We made tacos and pizza and ate till we were stuffed and couldn't eat anymore. I tried to help in the kitchen but there wasn't very much for me to do because I had to be told because I literally didn't know what to do. Just goes to show the knowledge I lack about cooking and my inability in the kitchen. I'm more of a dish washer, and actually a pretty good one (ask my mom ) so I just sliced some peppers and listened to Elder Ampuero do his Ampuero thing and talk.  I also talked with president for a little bit with some of the other Elders. All the cabinets in the mission home are really weird. None of them have handles and you have to press them to open. Also we tried to get an electric oven to work but we couldn...
Read more

Week 25: Let Freedom Ring!

Image
  Happy fourth of July! I hope you had a fantastic week and were able to give thanks to God! Last pday we almost had a rerun of the time we got locked out of our apartment for 2 days. We went to the chapel to play sports with the other elders when I realized I didn't have the keys anymore. I looked around but couldn't find them. I thought they had probably slipped out of my pocket in the taxi we used to get over there. Luckily, inDriver allows you to call your previous driver! I called, and yes the keys were in his car. We had to wait a little bit, but we got them back and avoided a crisis. Saved again by technology! As we were walking down the street someone meowed at me on a bike. I did what anyone would do and meowed back. I'm surprised that guy didn't die when he looked back at me laughing considering how fast and all over the place he was riding in the middle of a busy street. Last week I said I was going to get fat from the bakery across the street we discovered, ...
Read more

Week 100: The Imperfect Harvest

Image
 Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week! On Monday after pday we had our new missionary training and did some contacts. On Tuesday we planned to have a lesson in the afternoon with hermano James to prepare him for his baptism on Saturday. He finally had finished his exams so we thought he's have more time, but he told us right then that now he's working from 2pm to 11pm everyday. We quickly tried to work out a call lesson that day but it didn't work out. We had exchanges with Central 2 and I stayed in Chan Chan with Elder Jensen and Elder Salas went there with Elder Estebes. When I was in Central 18 months we taught a kid named Paulo who ended up not getting baptized. The Elders have but him on date again, this time for January so we'll see what happens. Elder Johnsen has great Spanish for just 3 months in the mission and I loved his enthusiasm. Pretty much all of our lessons fell but he stayed positive and we still had a great day! On Wednesday we finished our...
Read more