Week 76: Love's Redeeming Work is Done, Alleluia! (And Trio #5?)
This was quite the week!
On Tuesday the APs called us and told us to come to Trujillo to pick up the phone and keys for Chocope because our trio with Elder Perez is now official! We'll be together the rest of the transfer and working both Independencia and Chocpe. What fun it is to again work 2 areas! But now Elder Perez is officially my 2nd son! Elder Ochoa has a brother! Elder Thomas was also made the new DL of distirto Paijan. This transfer'll be interesting!
On Thursday we had a great lesson with Carlos Mosqueira, his wife Suguey, and their children Tiago and Renzo, a family we found last week. They're already married and are already good friends with lots of members, including the stake president Rivas. We invited hermano Carlos Rojas and his wife Susy to come with us to the lesson. It went very well. I've started to focus more on asking inspired questions instead of just teaching and man I'm loving it! It's so cool and humbling being in tune with the spirit and saying what the Lord wants us to say. They are so golden. We answered questions and taught about the Book of Mormon. We're going to help them a lot so they can progress, because the spirit clearly guided us to them.
On Friday we made the 40 minute trip all the way to Cartavio to do exchanges with them. Elder Thomas is the new district leader there. E Cordova stayed and I took Elder Geisler back to Independencia with me and E Perez. He was pretty sick his first week in Perú but he's doing better now. We had fun getting to know each other, although both of us we're feeling a little sick and he had a bad headache. We had a few lessons, but the last one was with Belgica and Melani. We asked them if they had read 3 Nefi 11 like We had give them, and they had! We read a few verses together while Elder Perez was distracting her 2 year old son Mateo so he wouldn't interrupt. I felt the spirit strongly and started to tear up thinking about our Savior and His eternal sacrifice and just how joyful his coming to the Americas must have been. It was done. The Atonement had been made and Christ was victorious. He had finished the hardest thing anyone could ever have done. He saw everyone there and sees everyone who reads the account in the Book of Mormón. We must rejoice! The love in Jesus was greater than all pain, suffering, loneliness, and doubt so he dug deeper and kept going. But I did not see Him, sit on His knee, or touch the marks in His hands, feet, and side, as says verse 14 of 3 Nefi 11, but His invitación in that verse is still in effect and we can know of a surety that Jesus is real, that His love is infinite, and that He has resurrected just as much if not more than anyone whoever did see Him in the flesh. His sacrifice is the definition of love and it coming to know just how personal the Atonement is will fill any person with undescribable joy. Jesus is real to me.
Anyway it was very powerful and we invited them to church and they gave a strong yes! On Saturday we finished the exchange and had a great time talking with E Geisler in the bus. Saturday in the night we went to Chocope for a cita, (We're working both Independencia and Chocope right now), but it canceled right after we left Casa Grande. We decided to keep going and go where the spirit led us. We ended up in a noche hogar of the branch and got to know them a bit. Just as we were about to leave a man named Eduardo pulled up in his van. He's an investigator who had come to church quite a few times but pulled back for a moment. Both us and him showed up just at the right moment. But he gave us a ride home and we talked about his difficulties and set up another visit for the next day. We gave a blessing of health to the mother of a member and she gave us some pizza from her restaurant that we took back with us.
On Sunday we ate pancakes hermana Diane made for breakfast. and confirmed the attendances of Belgica and Melani and showed them to the church! Sadly hermano Carlos and his family didn't come, but we're going to make sure they do next week. Angel, a recent convert who hadn't come to church in almost 2 months, came as well! We had a very spiritual lesson with him last Sunday and helped him understand more about commandments this week. And he came!!!! We also had invited the Cepeda family, which is an inactive family that has 3 recent converts. The mom came with 3 of her kids, 2 of them recent converts! The spirit works with people. Hermano Johan, another recent convert, helped bless the sacrament. Earlier in the week he had invited us over to try some chocolates he made, and they were pretty good. But church was good and we had a decent turn out. Hermano Enzo was in Trujillo so he couldn't come, but he's still going strong and we're having great call lessons with him and he's so anxious to read the BoM and understands everything. We had to move his date back to the 15th of July because of another event, but it's still good. Man I love eating and talking with our pensionista's family. Her 11 year daughter Lian is so sassy and it's so fun "arguing" with her. She's great.
After church we visited a boy named Kevin with one of hermana Diane's sons, Alvin. But man he's just like Korihor. He shares all the same points of view as him, so we did our best to answer his questions and in turn asked him questions. He has a tiny gram of faith and we're going to use that. Elder Cordova has faith he's going to turn around, and I believe it too. Afterwards we went to hermano Eduardo in Chocope. The spirit was so strong in that lesson, even though I was feeling kind of bad and it was hard to focus with my stuffy nose and upset stomach. But we talked about him and his difficulties and talked about how baptism and repentance are the answer. We felt the spirit, and we know that he felt it, and that he knows baptism is correct. He still has a tiny fear of relapsing in the future. We explained that but he still told us he wants a while to think about it, even though we know he knows it's right.
Today we played a little basketball in Casagrande and a little soccer with a basketball.
This was a pretty spiritual week and I know that this next week will be the same! I know the spirit guides us in all we do. If we get through a week without feeling the spirit, it is because we did not look for it and we have no faith. We were led many times this week to people who were in need and were ghe answers to many prayers, but even then people used their agency and chose not to listen or follow the promptings. That does not mean we did not have success. We listened to the Lord and did exactly what he asked, even though the outward result didn't show it. Have an absolutely fantastic week!
Elder Jensen
1/2/3. Cosechando en el valle con Elder Cordova y Elder Perez! (And thou shalt trust in the sickle and reap with all the might)
4. That is a large avocado (palta)
5. Chocolates with Johan
6. Teaching English with Elder Jones (this is from last week)
7. Elder Jones y yo en Paijan
8. Exchange with Elder Geisler (I don't know why it's upside down)
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