Meet the Mormons

Hey Family and Friends!

This week was really busy but really great! Projecting movies and
branch conference. This is my companions last week in the mission,
bittersweet/mixed emotions.

Last Wednesday we had a branch family home evening. We watched the
movie my sister sent me “Meet the Mormons”. It was great, at the end a
lot of the members were crying and we could feel the spirit really
strong. It made me really proud to be a Mormon!

We have been working with the city and we received permission to
project the videos of Christ’s life in the town square. On Friday we
put up a white sheet and projected the new videos our church made
about Christ’s life. Even though it was freezing cold a lot of people
came and watched the videos. When the videos ended we thought it would
be cool to put in Meet the Mormons. When we were watching the videos
of Christ there were more than 20 people but when we started meet the
Mormons all of them left within 2 minutes! Haha

Yesterday we had our branch conference. We had the zone zamacola come
up to sing and President and his wife gave talks. It was a great
conference, really spiritual but not too many people came (about 10
less than normal). This branch still is at risk of being closed so we
are making our last efforts to help the members. We are trying to help
them convert to the gospel so this branch can have its own leaders
instead of 4 missionaries doing everything.

We have been busy planning and stressing about this branch so my comp
hasn’t had time to be trunky! He is great, he has taught me a lot and
helped me become a better missionary. Im excited for the new
experiences ahead but it will be hard to say goodbye to him.

Things are great here in chivay! Turns out one of our investigators
that works in a souvenir store is a millionaire. When went to her
house in another village to give service and she lives in an amazingly
beautiful house. Her husband made his own lord of the rings house (it
was my paradise) haha. IT has started to get really cold at nights, I
finally bought a sleeping bag which has saved my life. The work is
progressing and im healthy and happy! Thanks for all the love and
support from home, have a great week!

MIRACLES

Hey Family and Friends!

This morning we had a scary experience! We got called by one of our
members at 5 in the morning, she told us that her husband was having
heart problems and couldnt get up. We ran to the hospital in our
pajamas and asked for an ambulance. We road to his house and he
couldnt move, the doctors gave him medicine and then we helped him get
into the ambulance.

We went to our room to change our cloths and then we went to the
hospital. When we arrived to the hospital he was doing better but they
needed to take him to Arequipa for better medical treatment and to
prevent further problems.

While we were waiting outside one of the doctors came up to us and
asked if we knew korean. He explained to us that a korean man started
to throw up blood on his vacation and him and his wife dont know any
spannish. They were in the emergancy room and we went to see if they
knew any english. The wife was very panniced and afraid because they
had no idea what was going on. She spoke a little english and i helped
translate for the doctors. I helped them know if he drank, smoked, had
other problems like this, how old he is ect.

It was really a miracle that i could understand what she was saying.
She knew very little english like cold, money, help, husband, treking
ect and the rest she spoke korean but some how i could understand what
she needed.  She explained to me that her husband was really cold and
the attendance in this hospital is really bad so i gave his my hat,
gloves and scarf. Later they needed her to pay for the emergancy, the
medicine and the transport to arequipa. She only had her credit cards
and korean wons and us dollars. I helped her go to a hotel and change
her dollars for Peruvian soles. I helped her understand what she was
paying for and what was going on with her husband.

It was a long morning but i was glad that we could help in a little
way. The korean lady was really grateful for our service. She started
to cry and was happy that everything was getting better. She took out
her wallet and started handing out 1000 wons to us and all of the
doctors (equivelant to 1 dollar). It made me realize that the things
of this world really dont matter, we could loose everything tomorrow.
So its important that we value what we have today.

Im grateful for this gospel and the comfort it gives me to know that i
can be with my family forever. All i have to do is be obedient and
live how God wants me to. The mission has been full of great
experiences that have changed me life.

Photos- (We had to break into our apartment and i fixed the problem haha)

MORE PICS

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.

A POST FOR PICS

God answers prayers

Hey Family and Friends,

This week was awesome! We had 28 brothers and sisters attend church
yesterday, our goal is to reach 50 and to call a new Branch President.
We are trying to motivate the members to give us references so we can
work together.  The members have a strong impact on missionary work,
they can relate better with the people that live here and when we get
changed they will continue to be their friends and help them endure to
the end.

This week we have two possible baptisms! The lady that contacted us
(#chosen) and her son that was born in Germany! She has another son
that wants to be baptized but he lives in Arequipa, so we will give
the missionaries his address to teach him. She came to church
yesterday and bore her testimony in Sunday school about how she had
tons of problems in her life but after our visits she began to live
how God wanted her to live and that now she is happy and excited to
become a member!

I received a strange call this week. One of our members called me and
said ¨Eldercito por favor ayudame, se me a escapado ocho toros¨ they
have a farm and 8 bulls had escaped. We went at night in the pitch
black to go look for them! We walked through forests, swamps and all
kind of farm lands to find them and after thirty minutes of looking we
found them. We herded them back to their stall but one ran away. We
went to go find it and I thought I heard it on the other side of the
rock fence. I climbed up and the fence collapsed! I fell with all the
rocks and twisted my ankle. In the process falling into some bull crap
haha. After all of this I couldn’t help but laugh and think how many
other people have this happen during their mission?

A spiritual experience that we had was one night we were looking for
new investigators. We couldn’t find anyone, every door we knocked
nobody came out or didn’t want to listen. While walking in the street
I felt like we should pray to be guided where to go. We prayed and
after we just started walking, we started to climb up to a more remote
area and the first door that I knocked the family accepted us and
believed in everything we said. Turns out that the daughter is friends
with two girls who are less active and yesterday they all came
together!

I know that God answers prayers! It is really important to have the
spirit to be guided where God wants us to go. Try to read the
scriptures with the spirit seeking revelation instead of reading just
to read. The spirit has helped me understand more of the mysteries of
God and has helped me to be happy.

Thanks for all the love and support, I can’t wait to see my family on
mother’s day!!

www.mitchell.diederich@myldsmail.net

TRANSFERS

Transfers!!

It was sad to say goodbye but Elder Canales left to go to arequipa and
Elder Kehoe from Las Vegas came!! He is from my mtc group, he is
great. He is really obedient and will be a great help in our area. My
companion finishes his mission this transfer, i think i am going to
stay here for 12 more weeks! This is good, our area really is
progressing and we have 10 baptismal dates for the next month.

The Power of Prayer!!! Last week my comp and i asked our families to
pray for 3 of our investigators. The mom accepted a job and was
losing her desire to be baptized. We were about to drop them and move
on but during the week they did a 180! We had a great lesson and
cleared up some of their doubts! SHe said if she received an answer
that she would drop her job and get baptized!!

The German family that we have been teaching came to church yesterday!
They lived in Germany for 15 years and her son was born there. They
have a date for the 2nd of May to be baptized. In sacrament meeting we
sang Love at Home and during the song i saw the mom look at her son
and gave him a side hug. The happiness i saw on their faces made it
all worth it! I felt the spirit so strong and i know that this gospel
can bring such happiness into peoples lives.

We have been studying the importance of Temple marriages. Here in
chivay none of the members have gone to the temple and the majority
arent married. In this world it has become normal to live with someone
and not get married. Marrage is the most simple and essential
comandment God has given us! Adam and Eve were the first but after
the great apostasy it became one of the "precious and simple" things
that have been taken away from the orignal church of Jesus Christ.
Many if not all of the other churchs just focus on baptism but there
are other covenants that they have forgotten. Marrage is essential and
it is not until death do you apart but for all of the eternities. Im
grateful to have parents and 3 sisters that have been sealed for this
life and eternity. This is what God wants, it gives our life purpose.
I hope that everyone can have an eternal perspective on life!

Thanks for all the love and support from home! Pray for us here in Chivay