Miracles from Obedience

I should really get in the habit of writing the weekly email when I first log on, and not at the end...Sorry. 

This week has been so great, that the ten minutes I have to write will hardly be enough to email everything, but I accept the challenge. 

We started on top of the world after our first lesson with a family that was referenced to us by our zone leaders. Wilman and Jane are their names, and they have been looking for a church that is family-centered. What is more, they are MARRIED. Our mouths kind of dropped at the news, because the majority of the people we have met arent. 

We silently sang hallelujah. 

Hna Jesperson and i really work on letting the Spirit guide our lessons more than anything, so we did just that during our time with Wilman and Jane. We asked them about their beliefs and how important prayer is to them. Our conversation led into who God is and how he still guides us. We shared a part of lesson 1, the Restoration and then moved along as they were ready. We could see they´re hearts opening more and more to our message, and the Spirit was undeniably. We also had the Elders Quorum Pres with us, and he gave an incredible testimony. That lesson is now on to one of the best that I have had in the mission. Hna Jesperson and I went home that night just so happy!

My companion and I have also been extending our limits a little more and following the direction of Pres Harbertson to contact all of the families we see in the street. It is truly an act of faith, but we have been experiencing miracles from it. Even thought we experience rejection daily, we have also met with families that are genuinely interested in progressing in the gospel. Miracles really come from obedience and faith! 

Besides, how will we know who is the elect unless we teach everyone? I have experienced a real tesimony builder this week.

We also had division with the hermana leaders! It was great. The hermana leaders live in Cusco, but travel 6 hours here to Quillabamba and stay will us for a day or two to do it. We end up ending the day with double the logros, so it was awesome! I went out with Hna Valverde as my companion, and one of the families we taught was a part-member one. The son, Johan is a member, and a time before, his mom and brother were receiving the lessons. We read on their teaching record that Johan´s mom doesnt want to be baptized, but we went forward just to get in touch with them and be friends. Johan´s mom Flor said something that made us think that she would like to know about family history, so we taught just that! I sensed a little hesitation in Flor as i testified of temples, but we bore our testimonies and invited them to attend church the following day and to make an account on familysearch.org. We set an appointment to help´them do just that, and then we left!

I was really surprised to see Johan sitting in sacrament meeting with his mom and brother, and even more so when they went to all three hours. We talked to them afterward and reminded them of our appointment that evening. After everything was verified, Flor came back and took us aside to tell us something that would blow our minds:

´´Hermanas, just to make things clear, I want you to teach me and my family. Not only this, but I also want you two to prepare me and my son to be baptized.´´

Well, okay! That changes everything. We went to visit them that evening, and we talked more about family history and why they want to be baptized. Flor really likes the Church, how it has helped Johan and that it is family-centered. There was a sweet spirit there. Hna Jesperson and i also made it important to emphasize our work as missionaries is to guide others to Christ, and that baptism means more than just becoming a member of the Church. We gained more of an understanding of one another, and we are going to go forward in preparing Flor and her family for baptism so that they can come even closer to Christ and enjoy the blessings of His Atonement. 

I wish that we could get in contact with the missionaries who taught Flor previously and were rejected. They would be so happy to see her now!

Today is P-day, and we are in Cusco right now for a conference tomorrow. 

This is all that I can write now, but more will definitely come next week!

Hna Arroyo

Instruments

Last week was the begining of taking out teaching records and hunting people down. This week we went out and searched for less active members! We met several, which made us sooo happy.

 One woman is Bertha, who hardly has time to just rest because her family runs a radio station and she teaches school on the side. We spent our visit with her getting to know who she is and what she likes to do, and we found out that she loves to cook and bake! You better believe that we have an appointment to bake a cake coming up. :) We also got to talking about her spiritual core, and what she does to keep it running. Our conversation led to OLA (orar, leer, asistir = pray, read, attend). Bertha obviously is missing several essential parts, and we first talked about what she thought she could improve and we bore testimony of how those three things can bring daily peace and communication with God. It was a great visit. 

We were also given a reference from a member to visit her nonmember friend who has been coming to our branch. We went to visit them, and came to find out that she and her friend both live out of our sector! Anywho, we got to know the member, and got to know know her and her less active grandson. We are going to meet with the elders of their true branch and introduce them this coming week!

This week also has reinforced the fact that missions make you stretch and develop talents that you didnt have before. The branch president slyly asked if my companion and I would choose two hymns that our branch choir could sing for our branch conference that is coming up. Shortly after we chose them, he then asked if I would be the choir director. Never in my life...We are working by faith right now! Well, that is all we ever do - the members are working by faith by having me lead their choir. :) We have definitely had some good laughs about it! 

Let choir members sing in tune. . . and life still goes on. 

The pinacle of this week was when Hermana Harbertson, the wife of our mission president, came and accompanied Hna Jesperson to our appointments! It was after we had a training and interviews from President, and we headed out to visit Percy and Ana. 

Hna Jesperson and I had really prayed and talked about what they would need to learn next days before, and we decided that Lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ felt right. But when we were in their house, about to begin, our plans suddenly didnt feel right. I took into account how Hna Harbertson has been sealed in the temple to her husband, and the more I considered the idea, the stronger the Spirit grew. Heavenly Father´s Will was undeniable, and so Hna Jesperson and I went forward and taught about temples and celestial marriage. We asked Hna Harbertson to share her testimony and experience with attending the temple, and goodness - when she spoke, the Spirit made His presence undeniably known. 

The Spirit had an amazing effect on Percy and Anna because they were attentive and began asking questions about how they could be be married in the temple and do the work for their dead. At one point, Ana, who is normally quiet, began telling us about her dad who had died sometime before. They both were happy to hear that their loved ones who never had the opportunity to live the gospel are able to receive baptism and other ordinances through them in the temple. Hna Jesperson and I both marveled at how Hna Harbertson´s broken Spanish was made strong, and the effect of the Spirit on Percy and Ana. That lesson was a miracle! And we went home feeling that we allowed God to use us as His Hands. 

As missionaries, we work for that feeling.

We have had more meetings with Percy and Ana, which have told us that they arent ready to be baptized yet, but we have been focusing even more on the temple. Recently we also taught them about forgivness and the importance of praying together as a couple in order to strengthen their relationship. We take it as far as their understanding goes, and we are getting better at using object lessons and analogies. 

Slowly, but surely they are progressing! That is all that we could ask for.

It is easy to get frustrated when your investigators arent progressing like you think they should. I am at fault for this! But certain words from my setting apart blessing keep coming to my mind whenever I feel this way and need comfort. I was promised that I would be a help to bringing many people to Christ, but that they will come in their own ways and times; and that a step toward Christ is a step in the right direction. I was then told to be patient in recognizing those steps. I have been striving to do just that, although it is really difficult sometimes. Hna Jesperson and I have been seeing some real blessings from focusing on the needs of the people, and letting ourselves be the mouth-peace for the Spirit. Percy and Ana arent yet ready to get baptized, but they are definitely developing their faith in Christ and learning about the need of daily repentance. I know now that they are the foundation for everything.

Patience and humility are real virtues! They allow the Spirit to show us the right path, and we are given spiritual power. We will always need to rely on that power. 

This is all for now!

Love,

Hna Arroyo

Pan Wuah-wuah

We have seen some improvement this week. Hna Jesperson and I have been running around making appointments with the members and the people that the hermanas before us had been teaching. Just the other day we went out with the brother from the church and he introduced us to several inactive members. That was such a good day! The houses here dont have numbers, so it is almost imposible to contact someone from our area book without the help of a member. Little by little we are cleaning out our area book.

When we got here, a ton of the teaching records werent up to date with the weekly progress reports that the other missionaries had brought to the branch council, so we have done some digging to find out the progress of the less actives and investigators that they taught. Also - let me just rant for a second - we found pages and PAGES of recent converts and inactives that never received the lessons for the second time. Needless to say, it stressed me out to see how many members have fallen off of the face of the earth. But the work goes on! And we are more happy than sad to have so much work to do. It gives me an adrenaline rush, really. :D 

Hna Jesperson has been awesome through it all. It is so hard to adjust to a new culture and way of life, but she is really pushing forward. Something I really love about her is her diligence. She often feels inadequate because she cant express herself the way that she wants to, but she gives it her all when we go out to teach and contact people. She is teaching me a lot by her drive to work. 

How was everyone's Halloween? I was surprised to see that the little kids here in Peru also like to get dressed up in costumes and ask for candy. The only difference is they ask for it from people in the street rather than knocking on doors. The day after was All Saints Day, where the people go out to cemeteries and visit their deceased relatives. We didnt get dressed up or go to cemeteries, but the morning of All Saints Day, our pensionista Roxanna made hot chocolate with avena and we ate pan wuahua (wah-wah). It takes like panetone, but without the fruit candies, and there is a baby cooked into it!

This is all for now, I love you guys!

Hna Arroyo