Jarett Hale: Peru, Lima North Mission

Week 28

Hey Everyone!!!

How are y'all doing??

Hope you guys are all having a great day. Life in Peru is going good and going by fast! This transfer is starting to come to a close but it still feels like it just started! Well, here is how my week went down here:

Monday—was p day and we went to get pizza and my compy and I ate a whole pizza each (they make dang good pizza down here!) Then we went grocery shopping, then we came back to the house and my comp took a nap while I ate sunflower seeds and listened to conf talks. Then, after we left out to an appointment, my comp got super sick from the pizza I guess so we had to come running down the mountain to find a bathroom haha, and that put him out of commission for the night.

Tuesday—we had district meeting and 3 people in our zone had birthdays this week so we ate a lot of cake! Also, we got trained on new ways to contact people, it's super fun and effective. You basically just walk up to someone and without presenting yourself, just ask them a question like "did you know that Christ came here to the Americas?" Its kind of weird to just go up randomly and ask questions but it works and it catches their attention. So we've been trying that out a lot lately!

Wednesday and Thursday were very normal and not too much out of the ordinary except that we contacted a person that turned out to be a preacher that started to argue with us which is always a funny experience.

Friday—we found a lotttt of new people, it was awesome! We spent most of the day up in the highest part of the mountain and contacted a bunch of people and visited members and less actives up there. The view from up there is suuppperrrrr awesome, we stopped for a few mins to take pics—I'll send em.

Saturday—was Ximena's baptism!! Super great experience! I don't remember if I've talked a lot about Ximena or not, but I'll write about it anyways. So Ximena is a 17 year old that was basically Alma the younger. She has relatives that are members and she always used to make fun of them for being members of the church and saying that God doesn't exist. She did a lot of not so good stuff and already has a kid! And at first she didn't want anything to do with missionaries but little by little her heart was softened and through reading and earnest prayer she found out that God really does exist and that He loves her. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and she looovveesss reading it. She always tells us about what she read and what going on in the chapters she's in. It's pretty awesome. It has been SO AWESOME to be part of her conversion process and to see how much she has changed and how happy she is now!

Sunday—Ximena was confirmed in sac. meeting and my comp and I got called to give talks. It was a reallly good day. Later that day, we had a mini miracle! We went to this house that we had contacted a few days ago and we got there, the wife let us in, we sat down, and when the husband saw us, he yelled "I'm Catholic!" at us and hid in a different room. After a few mins of my comp working his "people person magic" we got him to sit down with us, and well by the end of the lesson, he was begging to read the Book of Mormon and was talking his whole family into going to church next week!! They excepted a baptismal invitation but he haven't set a date yet. But it was SOOO cool to see how much the Spirit softened his heart during just a short 40 mins when we came and he yelled at us and didn't want to do anything to do with us, to when we left when he was smiling and hugging us and excited to read the BoM!!!!!! It made my week!

I love being a missionary and seeing people change! I love seeing the Spirit touch peoples hearts! I love seeing how happy the are when they LET the Spirit in their heart. I also see a lot of people feel the Spirit, but deny it and reject us and what they felt, its sad! But everyone has their agency and I can't force them to do anything.

Well, I love you guys, and don't forget to read the blue book everyday! (BoM)

-Elder Hale