Week 83: I went to Cajamarca?!?!
Hello everyone! I hope you're all had a great week!
After pday on Monday we went to hermano Anthony and hermana Lourdes and watched the Joseph Smith movie with them. They had a lot of good questions and we can see the positive changes that are happening inside of them. That night we also visited hermano Carlos and talked about his experience at church the day before. Things are looking very hopeful for him and his family! After that we visited hermano Daniel and taught him about repentance.
Tuesday was a productive day. We visited hermana Angheel, a recent convert and talked with her and her parents about the trials that are going on in their lives. Afterwards we visited Kevin and talked about his experience in church. We talked about the Book of Mormon and baptism. He has his doubts and fears, but we'll see what we can do. We visited with hermano Santos and later had a video call with hermano Enzo about the sacrament. We had a video call with hermana Victoria too. We talked about her experience in church and put a new baptismal date for her for the 26th of August! We also had a call with her friend, Kandy, who also came to church that Sunday. She also is very promising and has children we hope we can teach too. We'll see what we can do. But that night I saw someone I was not expecting. As we were walking to a contact I heard a voice call out. I thought it was directed to the person in front of me so I ignore it. Then the voice said, "Elderes!" I turned around and saw hermana Milagros from Pueblo Libre! I ran over to her and asked her how she was. When I left Pueblo Libre I hadn't seen her in a while because she was getting kicked out of house after house and wasn't even living in our area when I left. I didn't have her number and I thought for sure she was inactive. But I saw her here in Casagrande and she told me that she's still active, although living in barrio Nuevo Trujillo now. The missionaries have been visiting her and she's been going to institute. That was so unexpected but filled me with lots of joy. I thought for sure she was inactive and I had regrets wishing I could have done more for her to help her. But I think the Lord let me see this miracles to remind me that here I am making a difference and am impacting the lives of so many, even if I don't see it.
On Wednesday we had district council and then we went on exchanges with Ascope. I stayed in Independencia with Elder Scarpetta. We started by doing some service for hermana Nelly. We cleared out a bunch of old books and trashed a lot of them. I don't want to read a 500 page book on advanced trig in English, let alone in Spanish. I did save a few geography books though, because those are interesting. We had a lesson with Cesar, did some finding, and gave a blessing of health to hermano Miyahara, who's been sick with Bronchitis for a while. We passed hermana Nery and hermano Jason too. That night we had a powerful lesson with hermano Carlos. We invited hermano Carlos and hermana Susy to accompany us. We testified of the BoM and explained the confirmation chain that one receives when they read the BoM. The spirit was so strong and I know that he and his family are going to read it. He was also marking the verses he liked with his marker on his own account, which is a very good sign. He hope for a better world, and by reading the BoM and joining the Lord's church, we told him, he will be given strength to make a better world, starting with his own family. I had a quick meeting with APs that night that went a little late so I ended up having to bring my dinner with me to the apartment.
On Thursday we went to the temple! We were running a little late but we saw Hna Hiatt and the APs driving by so they took us the rest of the way. There was also a district from zona Jerusalén there so that was fun. We had lunch in the temple, which that day was tallarines verdes with fried chicken. I also had a piece of cake. I stayed back with Elder Huaman while they figured out his temple recommend. The session was great and it's always rewarding to go to the temple. Afterwards Elder Cordova and I went to Sausal where we had a lesson with hermana Victoria. We talked about baptism and her doubts. We also talked to her 8 year old daughter who was also there and she accepted a baptismal for the 26th too. Because we were leaving so late we said a prayer that we would be able to find a car back, because last time we stayed out that late we ended up waiting an hour. But this time we luckily found a car going to Chicama immediately and from there we made it back to Casagrande.
On Saturday we finished the exchange bright and early so Elder Cordova and I could help out and do some service for a recent convert family. Hermano Ricardo took us in his moto to Mocollope, a tiny little town that's pretty poor. It's only about 10 minutes from Casagrande. We ended up loading mud bricks onto the moto so he could take them to a different site where they're going to build a house. There were about 1000 bricks but with the time we had we could only move about 200. The moto could only carry about 16 at a time. But it was fun and very hot. We got back to Casagrande and their family gave us parrilla! That's when we got a call and saw that it was from Presidente. Apparently he had sent us a message 1 hour before but we hadn't seen it because the phone was in my backpack. He told us that he was coming to Casagrande to delivered is some new cards for the missionaries and have small interviews. We said we'd be ready at 1, and it was already 12:30. We raced home, showered and changed, and got there just after they did. We got the cards and had the small interviews. Hermano Carlos and his kids were actually practicing outside, too. We're still going to have our normal interviews with Presidente next week, but on top of what he had to say I was able to ask some things that really helped me. After that we started to work. We met with hermano Johan, a recent convert who just got back from PFJ (FSY). He loved the experience. Then we went to visit hermana Lourdes and hermano Anthony. We answered a lot of their questions. They're so great and I can't wait for the end of the month when they can start coming to church. We visited hermano Angel who also got back from PFJ, and he seems more powerful than ever. Later we had a call lesson with hermana Victoria and visited hermana Nicol for a minute and taught about the Sabbath day. We were interrupted by her drunk friend who came up, but it went well.
Yesterday was tough, because we regressed back and had 0 friends at church. Hna Hiatt herself told me that this has always been a hard area. But we're not going to let that get us down and next week I know we'll have another miracles week like last week. Hermano Angel did come and blessed the sacrament for the first time! We visited hermana Jessica in the afternoon and taught about prophets. We visited hermana Nelly too. She also has a bunch of fears about following Christ. But that night we used the ward member list and found 2 PFs so that made up for it.
Today was an awesome pday. We got permission to go to Cascas, a city in the mountains. It's about 1 hour and a half away from Casagrande. It's technically closed to our area, but it pertains to barrio Pueblo Libre in Cajamarca, so I can say I visited Cajamarca.The church doesn't exist there so we'll have to go back next transfer to proselyte. I did leave a pamphlet for someone to find though. We took a bunch of photos and went on a hike through multiple attractions. We saw a rock that's shared like the face of Christ, a tree with lots and lots of roots, and a small waterfall. It even started to rain! It was also so cool seeing the Peruvian mountains for the first time and man I want to serve in Cajamarca now. At the waterfall I got the natural Jensen instinct to just jump in no matter how cold the water is, but I resisted the temptation. I still got my feet wet and dunked my face in. It was so fresh! Uncle Jer you know what we gotta do when I get back. We had lunch and got back in bus.
While this week may have been a little difficult, I have a strong feeling that this week we are going to see miracles. Have a great week!
Elder Jensen
We took so many photos in Cascas I'll probably have to send a few more of them next week
1. The Sausal sign at night
2. Elder Scarpetta
3. On the way to the temple
4. Elder Matos
5. Hermana Milagros!
6. Templo
7-15. Cascas
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