GROWTH

Hey Family and Friends!
This week was busy! We had two baptisms, Blanca and her son Martin.
She lived in Germany for 15 years and her son martin was born there,
Her husband left her and she moved back to Peru. This family is great,
to recap our experience with them. One day eating breakfast she was
sitting next to us and asked us “why don’t you visit me?, I have seen
you walk by and you guys have never talked to me”.  Looking back I
know that the lord was preparing her to accept this gospel. We started
teaching her and she shared her testimony that things were not going
well in her life (family, business etc..). We taught her and painted
her house/helped clean up, she told us that her problems started to go
away and that she feels the spirit when we come and teach.
She was baptized with her son last Saturday! They said that the river
was too cold so we baptized them in (la calera). It is a natural
hotspring place that has a contract with the church. It was a great
experience; she has another son who lives in Arequipa who we are going
to send the missionaries to visit. We have talked with him and he is
really interested.

The branch is progressing. It is really different to have the
responsibility of the branch presidency. We are the ones coordinating
everything and worrying about the worthiness of the members. Our
attendance is around 26-30 every week. Our goal was to have 50 in
attendance but we have decided that it is better to have 30 worthy and
converted members than 50 mas o menos.

We have started to work with the local government. They are going to
support us (more) with my English class. They are going to give us our
room close to the plaza to teach and they will announce it on the tv,
radio, posters etc.. They have also asked us to give council and to
help the local kids that are going through problems. Some common
problems here are drinking and partying, the governor’s sister is a
member and he loves all of our standards and wants us to help all the
youth live them.

Things are great, we are working hard! We have two big events coming
up: 1. Our zone is coming up and we are all going to contact this
small village 2. We have our conference, President is going to come
up.

Something that I have learned this week is that we left the presence
of God to come to this earth, have experiences and or progress. Our
time here is really short, our purpose is to use our agency to choose
the good and progress. When we are on social media or playing video
games it stops our spiritual progression. I have learned the
importance to make the most of our time here. We need to grow and
continually do good. I cant count how many days of my life I have
wasted on instagram, youtube, facebook, playing video games etc.. But
one thing that I know is that my service to the Lord wont end in 14
months but I will continue to serve him and grow spiritually.

Elder D.