Monday, July 25, 2011



July 23, 2011

Dear Family,

Basically, Ill start by describing the title of my letter. I have made an official scientific discovery. (Hypothesis, theory, and facts included) The second week of every transfer is the toughest week here in the office. Up to this point we have not been able to proselyte in our sector for more than 1 hour. It´s been tough, however, we have done almost everything that we will need to do for the next couple week, so we hope to be able to get out and proselyte a bunch in the next couple weeks. We try and work as much as we can in our sector, but it is pretty tough. Elder Noriega is awesome though. We still get along great, and he loves to teach. When I get tired of teaching taxis, he just jumps right in and takes care of it. I learn so much from him. Other news in the office. We have partially been busy with an activity that we are going to do Monday. Monday we are having a mission-wide activity. Its going to be pretty sweet. We are basing it on the Pioneers because of July 24th. I have found that is really sweet to be in a different country when you start talking about things like pioneers, because the pioneers of the gospel in some of the central and south american countries are still living. For example, my companion´s grandparents are some of the pioneers in Guatemala, and we have an Elder from Colombia who is a pioneer for the gospel in his city, and an Elder from Ecuador who also is a pioneer from his tribe. (He is basically what you would call a native American. He still lives in a tribe, and he has church authorization to have long hair because it is part of their culture. I think it´s pretty sweet.) We are planning games, and a video and its going to be a really spiritual experience.

This week we have had some interesting experiences teaching. We have mostly taught taxi drivers, but during this time, we have found a few receptive people and a few less receptive people. One man I had a chance to teach was actually a less active member. He was baptized when he was 17 years old, and so we taught him and we gave him another Book of Mormon. He was really excited to be able to read it, (he had lost his years ago), and he told us that he would make some time to go to church. It was a highlight in a pretty rough day. We also have been able to plan to get ready for the following week. We also had another opportunity to do another baptism interview. This time it was Elder Noriega´s turn to do it. The sister missionaries in the ward are working really hard and are having a lot of success. Its pretty awesome. We are able to help them a little bit with their investigators, which turns out being a blessing for all of the work in the ward.

Sad news on Leon (the 80 year old priest). He had a stroke this week. He is declining in health, and its been pretty rough for him. We hope he will improve, but its looking less likely now, however, Elder Noriega and a member gave him a blessing the first time they went. (I was with Elder Pineda at the time) We have the faith that he can be healed, if it is the Lord´s will. However, we also find that it is important to follow what I call the "if not" scenario. If it is the Lord´s will, he will recover and be able to come to church and be baptized, but if not, the Lord knows our hearts and his heart, and he will have the opportunity to receive the blessings of baptism through baptisms for the dead. We are going to be taking down his information, just in case. We hope for a speedy recovery and we will continue praying for him. We are also going to try and visit his family in the next week. We received his family´s information, and the member who gave us the information says that they are also interested in the gospel.

I know that the gospel is true, because I have seen the blessings of the gospel in the lives of others and my life here in Peru. God loves us, and desires our happiness. We can receive whatever thing we ask for from God, if it is right. (3 Nephi 18:19-21) I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, and the apostles are also prophets seers and revelators. They receive revelation for us. I know that prayer has power. I love you all, and hope that God will bless your lives this week and in the future.

Tyler

No comments:

Post a Comment