Festivities

Monday

Very basic P-day. Back to the usual soccer and El Olivar. The ZLs told us they were going to pull up to play with us, but they never did, so there ended up not being a lot of people there, which was kind of a bummer. We ended up having lunch with them, which usually is the highlight anyway. After naps and calling family, we had a family home evening with one of the families in our ward, and they invited two friends who aren't members. It went super well!

Tuesday

Right after district counsel, Elder Estela and I had to pack up and get ready for exchanges with the ZLs. I got paired with Elder Liendo, who's a native. He's a phenomenal guy but definitely very trunky because this is his last transfer. It was just a day of contacts, but as we were walking, we saw huge fumes of smoke rising in the air. We were already on our way in that direction to contact someone when suddenly we saw this house completely in flames! There were already firemen trying to put it out and a huge crowd of people watching, but it was so wild. I can't even imagine how devastating that would be. As we were leaving, we saw this huge Peruvian bro, only wearing boxers that were pulled up as high as they could go, yell "Elderes!" to us. Apparently, he was already in contact with the missionaries over WhatsApp, so we just scheduled a lesson in person with him, but oh my gosh, was it a sight to see.

Thursday

Weekly planning! It was brutal. After three hours of it, we got to work for some lessons. Lots of them fell through, but we did end up having a lesson with this guy named Adolfo. He's awesome and was one of the very first people I had a lesson with on the mission with Elder Wilkens, but it was hard to teach him because during that time, he was traveling a ton for work. But now we're back! It almost gave me nostalgia because the lesson we had with him before was like my fourth day in Peru. Now I have like five months here and have learned so much. When we were teaching him, he told me, "You can speak Spanish now!" because during that first lesson, I had no clue what was going on haha. It was nice of him, and we put him on date for baptism. Last, we had another family home evening, which went well. Elder Estela asked them right after if they could come with us for our lesson with the Miranda family, and the mom and the son said yes. That lesson was awesome! The Miranda family got along so well with them, and I think it got them even more excited for their baptismal date coming up.

Friday

Today we had the Christmas devotional for our mission. It's always super fun to talk to everyone in the offices. The food was bussin' too, which was a dub. The devotional went super well, and the video of Christ's birth that we watched almost got some tears going for me. It was super motivating. When we got back to work, we found this family of six on the street, which was a huge dub. Then right after, we found this dude who got mad at us because the picture of Jesus we gave him was white. Then, in the night, there was the ward Christmas party, which we weren't planning on going to, but we got a call from a member who said she wanted to introduce her friend. We got there, and she didn't seem too interested, but we ate good food and talked to other members, which was good.

Saturday

Today we had the stake Christmas party, which every missionary in our zone was invited to sing Silent Night. Singing went well, and after, we saw that Adolfo pulled up. He honestly already seems like a member. The entire time, he was helping the members pass out food; it was awesome. Elder Estela went dummy and contacted just about everyone who entered the building to grab free hot chocolate and paneton. None lived in Deporte, but we got about 20 references that night thanks to Estela.

Sunday

Because of Christmas, we just had one-hour church, and it was awesome! We had five people pull up to church all on date, including the Miranda family, Adolfo, and Leonor. That was a huge miracle. The rest of the day was very normal with contacts and visiting a few members. More than anything, we're excited for Leonor's baptism. She and her husband John almost missed church because they had to travel, but then just decided to leave right after church. Elder Estela asked John how long his travel would be, and he said that they're going to get back in enough time to make sure we're ready for Leonor's baptism next week. Super awesome.

Spiritual Thought: As we took a moto taxi to get to the stake party, the person driving told us he respects our beliefs but doesn't believe in Jesus. That really got me thinking of just how sad of a life that would be, meaning that it's very possible to be truly alone. I hope y'all, during this Christmas season, remember who Jesus is to you and why you're happy he's in your life.

Thanks for tuning in! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Read your scriptures and say your prayers. Peace out.

— Elder Mitchell IV

Photos:

My alter ego

The District

Family Miranda and their new besties

Noche de hogar

The Fire

Peruvian Elf

Thirsty

Pic with the Ward

Mission Devotional with Ventanilla