Week 79: Just a Little Faith

 Hola todos!


On Tuesday we had hermano Johan, a recent convert, come to us with a bunch of lessons. That night we had a lesson with Carlos and Suguey and their family about baptism that we had planned out very well. They still have some doubts, especially with Carlos being without work right now. We extended the invitation to be baptized but they said that they wanted to be certain and have more time thinking about it. That night we got transfer news and both Elder Cordova and I are staying in Independencia! All the other areas in the zone had changes though.

On Wednesday we did some finding and had a lot of lessons, including another powerful lesson with our friend Kevin. He once again offered a great prayer that caused us to feel the spirit. We also were able to present ourselves to hermana Sandra, the mom of Pierina, the girl who came to church last week. In the street we talked with a woman named Victoria. We talked with her for a quite a while and but she started to look like she wasn't interested. We asked her why and she said it's because of the Book of Mormon. Now we of course would not let the opportunity pass us by so we testified of the BoM and taught a quick lesson about it. She still didn't seem interested, but atleast she accepted the book. 

On Thursday we went to Chocope to help the elderes carry their luggage when the bus with all the missionaries and their new companions came. We took the Casagrande and Ascope elders to Casagrande and helped them with all their suitcases. I'm excited to see what we can do this transfer. In the afternoon hermano Miguel, the kids with a baptismal date, rode around the corner on his bike after we knocked on his door. We were able to share a quick lesson with him and he promised to have more lessons with us so he can be prepared for his baptism. After that we went to hermana Joysse and had a lesson with her about repentance. We read the experience of Alma in the BoM and felt the spirit a lot.

Friday night we had another lesson with Carlos and Suguey. This time hermano Carlos Rojas and his wife Susy came with us. We also planned this lesson out a lot and based it on the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. The point being that sometimes we have to make sacrifices, even big sacrifices, but that the blessings will be immense if they can exercise just a little faith to put God first in our lives. We used it to invite them to come to church. It went well and it seemed to have an affect on them, although unfortunately hermano Carlos got sick with Dengue on Saturday morning. But the spirit was still there and we know that the spirit is working on their hearts.

On Saturday I tried ceviche fo the first time! Well, ceviche de pota, which is squid, so it's okay for us missionaries to eat. It was pretty good! After a few lessons dropped we sat down on a bench and called hermana Victoria. She lives in Sausal, so we can't go see her everyday. But we shared a quick message about repentance which led to baptism. We helped her understand how it could help her with her problems and she accepted a baptismal date for August 12th! We're going to help her understand more as we teach her. After that we went to the chapel to prepare for Enzo's baptism. Elder McCullough and I taught a quick English class to few friends from Casagrande. The next one will be better after we plan out the lessons. At 6:30 Enzo arrived and he and Bishop Pablo got changed while we talked with the members. The baptismal clothes were too small for both of them so they were walking around with their arms out. I gave a quick message about baptism and then we took the photos. The baptism went well and afterward Enzo gave his testimony. By reading in the Book of Mormon his testimony grew very strong and in the moment he helped us when hermana Pepa had her emergency a few weeks ago something whispered in his mind that he's in the right place. Afterwards we had some keke. That night was a little strange. We had a leadership meeting over zoom but we had to go to the pensión. We went inside hermana Diane's sewing room because her son Alvin was having his birthday party and there was a pentecostal reunion outside so we couldn't hear much. But what I did hear, especially that from Presidente Hiatt, was really good. We had some good papá rellenas and hermana Diane's chocolate cake is delicious.

Sunday we got up and went to go gather people to come to church but none of them could or weren't home. But we got to church on time and Enzo was confirmed! Oh what joy! After church we had ward council and decided to go to Sausal with some of the relief society members and the Elder's Quorum president to visit hermano Santos and hermana Sabina, the elderly couple who live on the ranch we visited a few weeks ago. We all drove over and had a great little "tarde de hermanamiento." We sat on some log benches in some little camp area that reminded me a lot of Brother Young's backyard. We gave a little message based on Alma 5 and perservering to the end that I think went really well. Afterwards Elder Cordova and I went for a walk to take some photos and we rode around for a moment in a wheelbarrow like we were children. I think hermana Susy Miyahara saw us and filmed a video. Then we gathered for a snack. Everyone else ate ceviche but we could only ear the corn and the sweet potato. Hermano Santos has the freakiest looking Peruvian dog who was sitting in front of me the whole time begging for food. When we got back to Casa Grande we went to a lesson with hermano Jason, and young man we had contacted with earlier in the week. We also met his pareja. We shared a quick but powerful message about the BoM. There were sooooo many mosquitos in that room I can only hope I don't contract dengue. That night Presidente Hiatt gave a message about the gospel of Jesus Christ during our Sunday night zoom call as a mission.

Today we played a little soccer with Casagrande. We played a game called "21," and I lost both times. And I don't know why but Peruvians always want there to be a punishment for the loser, and since I suck at soccer of course I lost both times and had to stand in the goal while they kicked the ball at me.

That's all for me! Even though this week was a little hard for me it still had it's moments and I know this next week will be fantastic!

Elder Jensen









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