Week 88: True Conversion
Hello everyone!
On Tuesday we went to the chapel in California to practice our special musical number for the multizone conference. We sang "A Child's Prayer." It took some patience but little by little we were making it performable. After that we went on exchanges with Elder Yataco and Elder Chorrez in Vista Alegre! I went with Elder Yataco in Vista Alegre. The area's pretty small and everyone's too busy to talk or "is never at home," but it was a good day. Their pensionista is Ferucho, the guy who caters the food for the conferences, so we got to eat for lunch what the Elders ate for the conference that day. We had a lesson with an hermana named Angely who's preparing to be baptized. Mostly Elder Yataco and I talked a lot and we could give each other a lot of good advice. He recently bought an Amogus plush so that was fun playing with at night.
On Wednesday we went to the California chapel again to finish practicing our musical number. By the end we got it mostly in harmony and Elder Agostinelli and I were satisfied with what we could do. After lunch we finished prepping our training section for the multizone conference on Thursday. After that we went to Buenos Aires to do a baptismal interview. I interviewed hermano Wilfredo, a powerful man the Elders street contacted there. That was the first night this whole year where it felt a little chilly and I used my sweater. Afterwards we got a taxi back to our area and had a lesson with hermano Valentino. His mom, Genesis, wanted to push his baptismal date back a little bit because the original date wouldn't work anymore. We both felt that was right so we could teach him more and have him understand what he's learning. It's a good thing we pushed it back to the 7th of October because Valentino was still praying in the Catholic way like he learned in school.
On Thursday we had our multizone conference. We got there early so we could print off pages with the lyrics for our musical number for the rest of the zone. I practiced for a little bit before we started, talking with all the missionaries I hadn't seen in a while as I could. We learned a lot about the Holy Ghost, extending invitations, and God's love. I learned that love is a law, and not a reward. We can't earn love. Or in other words, "money can't buy me love..." Jajaja I'm so funny. But in all seriousness to love one another isn't just a suggestion, but rather a commandment. The love of God has always been there and there is absolutley nothing that can change that. For that, we should honor Jesus' commandment to love another. Our love for others should always be there, even though we might not want it to. It can be hard, but I know it's what God wants. The love of God is always there, but as we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can truly feel and understand that love. That will make us feel the Holy Ghost, who will be able to touch others as well and feel not only our love, but God's love as well (Moroni 8:25-26). Elder Agostinelli and I gave our training on daily contacts with our friends. We started with an example from the scriptures but focused on how the spirit should guide us in every moment of our work, even during simple contacts. After that we had lunch, which was barbeque with french fries. (Man I want some of dad's barbeque ribs!) For dessert we had cake, cookies, and ice cream. We also finally got to here the testimonies of the new Senior missionaries, Elder and Hermana Batioja, from Ecuador. They're technically part of our district, but this was the first time we met them. We also heard the testimonies of the dying missionaries, atleast from the zones we were with, Hermana Rodriguez, Hna Alanoca, Hna Vivanco, and Elder Vilca. Another one of my old comps is dying. After the conference we did some planning and had a lesson with hermana Veronica. We focused a lot on asking God for an answer if everything she's been learning is true. She really just needs a testimony right now. After that we had a lesson with hermano Jhonathan, Kiara, and Estefano. We also decided it would be best to push their baptismal date back so they can understand what they're learning and be ready to make that covenant. We focused on the Holy Ghost and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we could feel the spirit a lot.
On Friday we started another exchange, this time with California. I went to California with Elder Geisler while Elder Agostinelli stayed with Elder Keller in Chan Chan. The walk to their pension is almost 30 minutes, which is hard on the schedule. We started with a lesson in the chapel with a young man who's investigating the church. We focused on the Book of Mormon and he's understanding really well. We also saw the Trujillo South office Elders setting up for their new missionaries to arrive, since the South mission offices are in the California chapel. It was a little awkward seeing all these missionaries I don't know walking around in our chapel That afternoon we had a lesson with an hermana named Estefania. She wants to get baptized, but has some doubts and some personal problems. We invited a member, Margarita to come. That in and of itself was spirit guided because she practically led the lesson and just talked with her. She was able to talke with Estefenia about some very hard things that are going on in her life. I pulled up a video about hope and Elder Geisler and I both gave our testimonies. Then hermana Margarita told Estefenia to pull out her calender. She then told her to pick a date for her baptism right then and there. Hermana Estefenia chose the 10th of October! That was such an eye opening experience for me because we literally did nothing. It was all the spirit and the member. Maybe the spirit is telling me to humble myself. But the spirit was very strong and was a testimony to me that this is God's work and not mine. We had burgers for dinner and walked the 30 minutes to the apartment.
On Saturday we finished the exchange and did a little bit of service for the family of our pensionista by carrying some boards from one place to another. After lunch we had a lesson with hermana Rosmery and got to know her husband and their son. They went to church a few times when they lived in Chiclayo and are interested in learning more. We taught them the restoration. We did some weekly planning and man I realized that I love this companionship. Elder Agostinelli is a beast, and I love how we help each other to improve, how we notice what we need to improve on together and how we work together to improve. It was an awesome weekly planning session and we focused a lot on what we need to improve in the area and in the zone. After that we visited hermana Veronica and hermano Kike again. Unfortunately hermana Veronica hadn't prayed in the way we had invited her to, so we spent some time testifying of that more. Hermano Kike also gave his powerful testimony and was able to teach his wife some important parts of the gospel. I particually felt the spirit very strongly and I know it's only a matter of time before she receives her answer that the church is true. We made it to the pension and saw that hermano Gabriel was there with hermano Jhonathan! They had returned from the ward activity and were watching Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Spoilers spoilers spoilers! They kindly turned it off and we watched a Book of Mormon video. The rest of the family soon returned and we had a quick noche de hogar with all of them. All of hermana Patricia's children, including Kiara, promised to come to church this time.
The power went out on Sunday morning so we had cold showers. We got to church and saw hermana Patricia there with hermano Jhonathan, Kiara, and Estefano! Later hermana Veronica and hermana Isabel showed up as well. Hermana Rodriguez gave her last talk in this sacrament meeting. Afterwards we saw President and Hermana Hiatt who for some reason where in our chapel again, but it was a pleasure to see them. We came back and planned for the day. We had lessons with some friends we hadn't seen in while. We taught hermano John Ramos about the restoration and got to know hermano Ronald in the park. We also taught hermano Valentino a little more and helped him understand what is faith, why the sabbath day is important, and how to pray in the correct way. That night during the mission devotional President Hiatt spoke about the love of God and it made me reflect a lot.
Today for pday we went with Elder Keller and Elder Geisler to the Trujillo museum of toys, and that place is cursed. It's filled with all these old German dolls that look like they're possessed. But the weirdest part was when we ran in to the APs and the office Elders there. Man how am I always running into them in the downtown? That was weird but cool.
That's my week! We're really focusing on helping our friends to understand what we're teaching them, and I hope you can keep them in your prayers too! I'm becoming truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ out here, and I'm loving it! Have an absolutely fantastic week!
Elder Jensen
1/2. Multizone conference!
3. Leadership council!
4. Elder Vilca
5/7/10. Yo y Elder Agostinelli
6/8. Zona Central
9. My shoes after 2 years (it's cardboard)
11. Amogus oreja
12. Elder Gomez
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