Week 43: The Last Buffalo

 Our district completed our goal of having at least 2 baptisms for each area this month, so we got our incentive of Buffalo. Buffalo is a barbeque restaurant here so all the missionaries refer to any kind of barbeque as a buffalo. But this time we actually went to the restaurant for a final district activity at 8 at night. We ordered "La Gran Buffalo" which was almost 200 soles, probably about 50 dollars. It consisted of soda, a bunch of fries, and a mountain of meat. We ate so much sausage, chicken, beef, and those little chicken gizzard things that are really chewy but common down here. It was definitely a worthy reward and a farewell party as we received transfer calls during the night. Elder Compara went home, Elder Barlow went to a different area, and Elder Gerber became a ZL in a different zone. Elder Macedo and I are staying in Pueblo Libre. I'll now be the only American in the district, which is actually quite lonely now that I think about it. But I'm glad to be sticking around here for another 6 weeks!

Oh I guess Monday was Halloween. I didn't even think about it because it almost doesn't exist down here. I guess I saw a few kids in ghoul masks and passed by a gym with decorations and that was about it. That and I heard one party with "Thriller" playing. Our pensionista's neighbor's daughter, Salome, dressed up like a princess and got some candy. Hermana Gladys showed us Salome's candy stash which was a tiny little pile of about 12 pieces and told us that it was sooo much and she's going to get sick from eating it all. Maybe it's a good thing she hasn't seen the average American kid's trick or treat basket. Since we live next to the cemetery we got to have a glimpse at the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. We didn't participate much, but there were lots of food stands outside our apartment and lots of people. I actually saw a llama for the first time since I've arrived here! (Crazy, I know. Apparently they only live in southern Peru).

On Friday we had a zone conference and had practicas concerning the Book of Mormon, which is something I felt we really needed. After the conference we helped Deivi and Presidente Aguila set up for the married couples activity that night by setting up tables and chairs and moving extra chairs into empty rooms. There were so many rooms just filled with chairs when we were done. Why do they have so many chairs? I know they don't need that many. And all it does is fill up the rooms so you can't use them for Sunday. But it was a good workout and a chance to talk to some of the other elders. There used to be almost an even split between Latinos and Americans in the zone but now we're just down to me, Elder Siggard, Elder Kennedy, and Elder Wride. I guess I took that for granted last transfer.

Last week we started teaching one kid we found whose cousin and grandma are members. Through him we eventually started sharing short messages with a group of about 8-10 kids. We taught them about Jesus and I taught them a little English. We've got some of their parent's permission to teach them but it's so hard to know who's who. We'll probably try to have more lessons with them and their families this week.

After about 3 weeks of setting up lessons with hermana Keyla and her just pushing them back we finally had one with her. She opened up to us and we were able to help her a little bit with her problems. This week we're really going to try to help her change and establish a testimony of the gospel. It might be hard but I know with your prayers her mind will be opened and she can accept the restored gospel. As for other lessons this week we're still teaching Josai, and he's great. Looks like we'll be moving forward with his baptism. We met with hermano Alan and his "family" a few times and his partner Jennifer is having a great time reading the Book of Mormon. Alan wants to come back to church so we accompanied him, Jennifer, David, Flavia, and Josai to the capilla together on Sunday. They all liked it and have a desire to come back, but Alan told us afterwards that they might be moving soon. . . We'll find out about that later today so we'll see what happens there.

I decided to study about meekness this week. I listened to a bunch of BYU speeches and a few by David A. Bednar and Neal A. Maxwell stood out to me. Meekness is something I haven't really thought about much before. It's an attribute of Christ that I don't see many people talking about. Maybe that's because it's pretty hard to master. While the world tends to think of meekness as a negative, it's one of the highest qualities on God's scale. Meekness is not passive, but active. If you've been in a situation where you have to resist fighting back or becoming angry because of something someone else is saying, you'll know what I'm talking about. David A Bednar said, "...a distinguishing characteristic of meekness is a particular willingness to learn both from the Holy Ghost and from other people who may seem less experienced or capable, may not hold prominent positions, or otherwise may not appear to have much to contribute." We'll definitely find ourselves sometime in our lives when we think our position, knowledge, or even pride give us authority or the right to make decisions with no further discussion. While this may be true in many cases, a person in this position who's able to listen to ideas, reservations, or even criticism from others is truly meek. Our first instinct when someone criticizes us is to criticize them back, but that will just lead into a bigger argument and the spirit will leave. Something I'm trying to apply in my life is to accept new knowledge and ideas from a variety of different sources, even if they don't appear all that strong. Controlling anger and having a spirit of meekness will invite the spirit into the home and families can learn from each and grow to become like the ultimate example of meekness, the Savior Jesus Christ.

That's it for me! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Jensen

1/2. La Gran Buffalo (Goodbye distrito Indoamerica)

3. Herd of children