Distrito Cookies And Cream Was Born

Monday

For the first pday with the new district, we played volleyball and ate at El Olivar. It was bussin like always. We also came up with the name for our district and Elder Huanca came up with Cookies and Cream (because every companionship in our district is made up of 1 Latino and 1 American). We then had weekly planning, which was miserable but well needed.

Tuesday

Today was my first 3-hour-long Zoom meeting that I had to participate in, so I packed a lot of snacks and just listened. It was long and boring as expected. After, we visited some friends, one of which being our recent convert Basilia. We asked if her family would like to listen and her daughter participated with us, which was huge. We also had another lesson with Irma, prepping her for her baptism on the 19th. We taught Word of Wisdom and Chastity, which she took like a champ.

Wednesday

We traveled pretty far in our area for some lessons until we got a message from President explaining that the Hermanas in our district got robbed, so we had to drop everything to go help them. We traveled back and gave them one of our phones so they could still work in the area. They were definitely super spooked from the experience, so we helped them get to a member’s house where they could calm down. That night, we visited Barbara and her family, which those visits are always my favorite. Her kids, Aaron and Oliver, are doing great prepping for their baptisms.

Thursday

Today we had part of our Zone Conference through Zoom since there were protests and strikes going on in the streets. It was pretty chill. Once we got out, we visited Marco and Pilar, who trauma-dumped on us for an hour and a half with some pretty deep stuff, but by the end of it and by talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, they seemed to be doing a lot better with more motivation to exercise their own faith. We also had a lesson with another bro named Marco who watched General Conference. We asked him how it was and then talked about baptism, which he agreed to work towards.

Friday

Today was the actual Zone Conference, which was a lot of fun. The best part is always just talking to old friends and seeing how they're doing. Also, the mission made everybody get the rabies vaccine if they hadn't already gotten it. Thankfully I already had #beprepared, but it was literally like the Hunger Games hearing people's names getting called. Zone Conference was lit. We focused on the words Everybody and Forgiveness and basically how we can invite everyone to repentance. It was super good.

Saturday

We had another lesson with Irma, which went really well and also had her pick out her baptismal invitation for next week. The rest of the day was kinda slow but chill with lessons. That night, Marco and Pilar invited us over again for dinner because Marco is a cook, and he made Lomo Saltado (my favorite Peruvian dish) and it did not disappoint.

Sunday

The first half of the day was super slow, which was kind of a bummer until that night we visited with Barbara again. We had a simple lesson on prayer and reading the scriptures. Also, that night we visited with a bro named Carlos. He went to church today and wanted to visit with us. Apparently, he was already baptized over a year ago but never got confirmed, so his baptism wasn't valid. Due to personal problems, he furthered himself away from the church, but now this desire to be baptized and confirmed kicked into full gear with him, so we will see how it goes.

Thanks for tuning in, I hope y’all have a good week! Peace out.

- Elder Mitchell IV

Fotos:

The Zone

Poor Elder Mamaní after his shots

Huanca and a puppy

Random dog who decided to sit on my lap