President Nelson, I Found The Lost Sheep You Were Looking For!
Monday
In the morning, we got transfer news and... nothing changes! I'm actually so happy about it because I love Elder Wilkens and this area. An elder in our district had his last P-Day, so we all went to KFC to celebrate. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because Elder Wilkens had a doctor's appointment to get a few things checked out. Nothing serious—they told him he had nothing to worry about, which is good. What made it even better was McDonald's afterward! I also bought a new Rubik's Cube from street vendors, which I was excited for. Other than that, it was a pretty basic P-Day.
Tuesday
We had district council in the morning, and I was fighting to stay awake, but it was good because afterward, we went for ice cream with the Elders. It was just another basic day. We met with a Catholic man who told us he had been in a coma for 40 days and saw his uncle in the afterlife. He was confused when he saw him because, before he went into the coma, his uncle was alive, but when he woke up, he found out his uncle had passed away. Kind of crazy. We also had a lesson with John, who was preparing to be baptized this Sunday! We went over the last few things he needed to learn, and the lesson went really well. Afterward, we went to Pamela's house with our friend Renzo, who is a member. What I love about Pamela is that she always feeds us during lessons, so I was excited to meet with her. That lesson went super well too—her testimony is growing. Afterward, Renzo took us to get a Peruvian hamburger, which was really nice of him.
Wednesday
It was a pretty slow day. We hiked to the top of our area and spent most of the day there, stopping at Crazy Carolina's as usual. Sometimes going to the top can be a little spooky because we don't know the area as well. While we were walking to a contact, a little dog started barking at us after we passed a house. When I turned around, a huge dog came right up behind me and tried to bite my hand, just barely missing! Elder Wilkens and I ran in different directions out of panic. The best thing to do with dogs here is to pretend to pick up a rock to throw at them, and they'll usually run away, which is what we did.
Thursday
It was a super productive day. We met with a lady who works in a small shop, and while we were there, a guy named Isaac came in and said he wanted to go to church. Awesome! We then had a lesson with Amparo, a girl we have on date who works in a pharmacy. She’s willing to have lessons with us, but she hasn’t been to church yet, so we’re not sure what to do. We ended the day with another lesson with John. We finished teaching him the last few things and practiced the interview. He said he feels good about everything but isn’t sure if he has a strong enough testimony about Joseph Smith or President Nelson. We invited him to pray about it again and listen to what the Spirit tells him. I also felt prompted to share Alma 32:21 with him, which talks about how faith is hoping in something you can’t see but trusting it's true. I explained that having a testimony doesn’t mean knowing everything perfectly and that having hope is still a testimony that will grow over time. It was really cool because my Spanish felt really strong when I explained that, so it was a good day.
Friday
In the morning, we had a lesson with a lady who seems really cool after just our first meeting. Afterward, we had to do all of our studies and then hiked to the top of our area again. The South American food hit us hard that day, so we had to rush back home, then immediately hike back up again. We were pretty exhausted for the rest of the day because of that. But we did put Monica, a girl we found on my first day in Peru, on date. We’ve been teaching her ever since! After that, the day slowed down, so we spent it playing the questions game with Elder Wilkens.
Saturday
Today, we traveled to a hidden part of our area that I didn’t even know existed. We live in a relatively wealthy area compared to the rest of our mission, but going there made me realize what most of the mission looks like—it was actually really cool. We met a ton of awesome people. Eventually, we made it back to our main area and Crazy Carolina’s. She wasn’t feeling well and asked for a blessing, so I gave my first one in Spanish! I wouldn’t say it was perfect, but my Spanish was pretty good. Thankfully, the power of blessings doesn’t depend on that. Later, we had John's baptismal interview. He had a lot of family over, and I felt bad for intruding, but they gave us tres leches, which was nice. Unfortunately, none of them wanted to join our meeting with John. Everything went smoothly, though, and he passed the interview! Afterward, we prepared everything for Sunday with one of the ward members, then celebrated with salchipapas.
Sunday (Birthday shoutout to Quinton L. Cook, whose birthday is getting overshadowed right now)
Since I was the one baptizing John, I spent some of my study time memorizing the baptismal prayer in Spanish. We then headed to church with everything we needed. After sacrament meeting, the Stake President had us, John, and some other people meet with him to discuss a few things. There are moments where I have zero clue what we’re doing or why I’m there, and that was one of them. After that, we all changed into what we needed for the baptism, and everything went smoothly! It was awesome because John was the first person I personally baptized, so that was super cool.
TL;DR: Almost got bit by a dog, visited a hidden part of our area, hiked a lot, and I baptized John!
Spiritual Thought: Something I liked from "Adjusting to Missionary Life" is that motivation comes with work. It’s just like faith. We tell people in our first contact that faith without works is dead. Faith takes both hope and effort.
Thanks for tuning in, and happy 100th birthday to President Nelson! Hope you all have a great week!
Elder Mitchell IV
The Elders
I found my old car in Peru!
Sexto Sector (top of our area)
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