Week 13

Hey Everyone!!

I hope all is going good and you are all having a good Halloween. Life is good down here in Lima. WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE this week it was super cool and scary! It was pretty big too! It was about 10:45 pm, I was about to fall asleep and the house just started shakin!!! Crazy stuff haha. This week we had transfers, but my comp stayed and so I have another 6 weeks with him! I was kind of disappointed at first, I was looking forward to getting a new, less weird, and more obedient trainer. But it's not all a bad thing because I get to learn how to be more patient! Which I still need lots of work on, haha. And I learned something that has helped a lot and suggest this for any missionaries or future missionaries. A few weeks ago on a work transfer I was talking to our zone leader and I was venting about all the things about my comp that frustrate me and all the things he is doing that he shouldn't and vice-versa. And all he said to me was "you just gotta love him man" and at first a was frustrated by his answer, but after a few days and weeks, after focusing on the things he is good at and the things a like about him, though they may be few, I am happier, and our relationship is stronger and we are more effective. 

And well as far as investigators goes...here are the ones that we are focusing on right now a lot. The daughters of Eliana, the Hermana that we baptized last week, are saying that they feel more prepared for baptism, and you can tell that their faith has really increased! Yesterday Eliana couldn't make it to church but her daughters came anyways without her! It was a cool sign of their faith  and obedience.

Rosa and Orlanda, are parents of a girl in our ward and she has been trying to get them to church and convert them for years. And just last week they came to church for the first time in years and they are warming up to the Gospel so we are starting to teach them and have high hopes!!

Some funny stuff that happened this week is when some guy that we were teaching asked about my family and I showed him a picture and he said CAPS (Andrew) looked like Stewart Little! Hahahahah! Also there is a special guy that is like 40 that is always out in the streets and this week I guess he found a whistle and he has been standing in the middle of the street trying to direct traffic and it is sooooo funny—he is adorable. And one of the most awkward things is when we are walking down the street and we pass the Jehovah's Witness missionaries hahaha. 

Love you guys and cya next week! 

-Elder Hale

(Sorry for not sending pics last week—here they are!)

Saw the pals from the MTC at Chili's the other week and that was just a great time!

Me when I got my package, I was pretty stoked...good day!

Just a view from some of the killer hills we have to walk, haha.

Hermana Eliana's Baptism last week!!!!

This week's photos......

Killer sunset and the view of peoples lovely roofs.

Me and Will"s cousin, Elder Edwards!! He just got into the field on Tuesday! 

We just happened to be at the offices because my comp had an interview with 

the President so I got to bump into him right as he got here!

Week 12

This week was good! This week we had the baptism for Eliana! Her daughters decided not to get baptized yet but they said they want to! So we are going to try to work with them and help them. Eliana is a really good convert, she loves church and has gone every week since we met her and she always asks so many questions!! Which is great because it shows that she actually cares and is careful about her decisions. After she solved her problems with the Book of Mormon through prayer, she has been really excited and willing to keep all the commandments! You could tell that when we taught her about the Word of Wisdom she really didn't wanna give up coffee and tea but she was more than willing to do so after receiving a testimony. 

As far as other investigators...we don't have too many people progressing really good. We have hope for a few people but it's really slow right now. And whenever we find new people and set up an appt to teach, they either aren't there or say they're busy. 

Something good though is we have been helping a lot of less active members and reactivating them! Hermana Luz, Juan, John, Lily and Edwardo, Jajan, and David and Elizibeth are all some people/families in our ward that haven't been to church in forever and we've helped them out a lot and got them excited about the Gospel again. And with David and Elizibeth, when we reactivated them, they had a daughter that just barely turned 8 and said that they would want her to be baptized so we had her baptism a couple weeks ago! They told me last minute that I had to speak at it too which was fun and stressful haha. Spanish is hard. But its a lot better! It doesn't really frustrate me too much anymore because for the most part I can understand everyone now. 

A cool thing this week was we had a member of the 70 come and speak to us this week! Elder Godoy. He was great and gave a good talk! ALSO this week a finally got my package!!! SO much snickers and candy and beef jerky, and the photos album thingies were like the best part haha. 

Weeks are starting to go by faster now and they will probably only get faster!! See you folks next week. 

-Elder Hale 

Week 11: Crazy Week

Hey everyone!! It's been quite a week! Our investigators kind of took us on a rollercoaster. I'll explain: 

Our best investigators, Eliana and her daughters, were progressing really fast. They have gone to church every week for all 3 hours since we met them and one of the last times we were with them they had us download Gospel Library on their phones for them and they were just super excited! Well the next appt we had with them was supposed to be a fun family home evening with a lesson last Monday night after P-day, and we got there and they we could tell something was off. The spirit wasn't there like it usually was and in our lesson they kept asking questions about the history of the church and stuff and it was pretty obvious that they saw some anti-Mormom stuff on the internet. They said that they didn't believe that the Book of Mormon was true and that they didn't want to be baptized anymore. Well my companion and I shared our testimonies of the BoM and the restoration and said that if they read it and sincerely pray then they will actually receive an answer. They didn't seem too excited and said that they were really busy this week so we couldn't set up another appt. That was a BUMMMERR. BUTTTT this Saturday they called us and said that they've read and prayed and they have received a testimony of its truth!!! We are super excited and we will be meeting with them tomorrow and hopefully all continues to go good!!

Second roller coaster ride was with Juliño and Tatiana. Juliño is an inactive member that saw us walking down the street a few weeks ago and pulled over and said that he hasn't been to church in forever but he misses the gospel and invited us over to his house. His wife Tatiana isn't a member and they actually aren't married. Hah, like nobody is married here they just live together and call each other their spouses. Anyways, we've been teaching them and Tatiana wanted to be baptized! But Tuesday morning Juliño called us crying and saying that they got in a big fight and she is way mad at him and they've separated and he wanted our advice. So the next day we met with him and talked about his situation and told him to be very humble and patient with her and to pray. And as of yesterday they are getting back together and working things out!! You'd be surprised how many people talk to us about their relationship problems I feel like a marriage counselor, hahah.

But this week was such a HUGE example of God answering prayers. He really listens and wants to help His children. Being able to pray and communicate with our Heavenly Father is such a big blessing, and I am so grateful for His love for me, and for all of His children. Also, something that I'd like to say is READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. The Book of Mormon is so powerful and we are so lucky to have it. We are lucky enough to have it at our fingertips in our phones and you can buy it for like 4 bucks at Deseret book! The key to a happy life, and the best "self help guide" literally costs like 4 bucks. I am so frustrated that I didn't take advantage of it before my mission. I didn't read it that much and when I did, I did like it was a chore or just something to check off. Reading the words while your mind wanders off about something else isn't how we should do it. We need to study it! Mark it up and put your thoughts in it. 

So yeah thats my week! We also had interviews with the President this week which was good I got to get all my frustrations about my comp out. And he told me just to be patient and just do my part cuz you can't control other peoples actions! Also, something cool was when we were waiting for our turns in the interviews, the Presidents son was skateboarding and learning how to ollie and so I taught him how to ollie and did a few tricks! Hahah, I realized after that if the President saw me he probably wouldn't be too happy with that. But that was pretty cool, haha. Also we go to CHILI'S TODAY!!! I am super excited because I only get like 1 normal meal a month and that's at Chili's. Sometimes the food here is terrible. They eat every part of the chicken. I often get handed a piece of chicken and just wonder where on the body this came from, hahah. Also I had to eat liver and what seemed to be the yolk of a large bird egg. It had vein thingies in it and it was terrible. I miss eating fast food everyday. 

Hah, well I love you guys and talk to you in a short week! 

-Elder Hale

This is me and my pal Elder Horsley at our service activity hauling dirt/sand 

up the mountain on Wednesday!! He came from the MTC with me and he's like 

my best friend since my comp and I aren't super tight, haha.

Some hermoso clouds

Pretty cool full moon from our apartment!

Week 10

Hey Everyone! 

Quite an interesting week! I got super, super sick and still don't feel good but it's getting better! I guess I ate something really bad on Friday! They took me to the Clinic last night and they hooked me up on the IV thingy. But it helped and they gave me a bunch of pills and I'm staring to feel a little better! The bummer is that we are going to a little amusement park thing as a zone today but I can't go, haha. 

Spanish is still going! Some people are still way hard to understand though like our new investigator Ricardo. He literally talks as fast as Busta Rhymes in that one song—its crazy! Haha, and he is really weird. He has back problems and in our last lesson with him he made me massage his shoulders for a minute and it was so weird and random. I don't even know if I'm aloud to do that, hahaha. But some good news is that we have a family that is progressing really great and they have a baptismal date for the 22! Right now they are super excited about the gospel and learning more so hopefully that continues to go great!! We also had a work visit earlier this week so I went with one of the zone leaders to his area and that was great!! Got to take a little break from my comp and we found so many new people to teach! It was a really successful and happy day! So yeah, that's life out here! Going great, aside that there is an alien in my stomach but the food out here is whack so I'm not surprised! 

Love you all!

-Elder Hale

Remember the dog that wanted to kill me? Haha, well we are friends now and she 

follows us everywhere! Like all the way to the other side of our area! Haha, we like 

to call it ¨lessons with a member present¨ haha.

And this is just a nice view from one of our investigators houses!

Week 9

Hey Everyone!!

Life is going well out here in Peru! Spanish is still coming along too! Little by little, but I find that there's less situations everyday where I'm just lost. There are still sometimes though when we are talking to someone and then they ask me a question and I just have to guess what they said. Also drunk and crazy people like to come up and talk to me because I'm white. Haha, anyways, fun stuff has happened this week! We got to eat at Chili's last Monday which was heaven—it made me miss eating normal food!! Haha, this week we were eating at a members house and I'm pretty sure we ate pig skin!! Ands it was pretty terrible! But it's really disrespectful here to not eat all of your food so you just have to man up and do it. Another fun thing that happened this week was our little service project on Monday, we hauled bags of concrete mix up super steep stairs to get to this old home on the mountainside. I'll send some pics of that. My comp still bugs me a bit but its getting better and I'm learning to get over it! I just wish he was more, obedient, clean, and taught me how to do stuff, but I'm figuring it out, haha.

This week we had Gustavo's baptism! We had it on a Friday which is unordinary but it was good!! His kids were kinda rambunctious and didn't really understand what was going on and but they're kids. The Bishop shared some thoughts and feelings after and it was a really cool experience. Gustavo was really happy. ALSOOOO I got to watch CONFERENCE in ENGLISH!!!! My prayers were answered and I am so grateful. Us gringos just went on splits with each other's companions and watched it on a computer in the secretaries office of the stake center! And it was great! How cool is it that we live in a time to be able to listen to living Prophets and Apostles every 6 months! They are truly men called of God and it is really evident while listening to their talks. We had a few investigators come to the Sunday morning session too which was good news!!

So yeah, life gets better and its going good!

Nos Vemos—Elder Hale

Gustavos baptism!

Me mastering the digital camera selfie at our service project at the top of the mountain

View of the North Lima Valley from the service project

View of the stairs we had to climb for our service project

Killer sunset