February 18-24 Earthquake, Baptism, and the Usual!

Feb 18, 2019

Be better today than yesterday.

What a day, we got up and had a good breakfast and we washed our clothes, when we were studying we received a call from the district leaders that the prophet received revelation that missionaries can have the opportunity to call family and are allowed to govern themselves with the time! In the past it was 1 hour to email mom, report to the mission president, respond to other emails of missionary updates or friends, and if time allowed send out a weekly report which I try to do every week! This was the best way to learn how to type 70 words a minute! We then went to Chiclayo to play futbol with some elders. I got sun burnt, then had some chicken roasted and French fries! We came back at with eager anticipation and went to write to our families! I was glad to have a little more time to type because I had 3 weeks saved up due to me forgetting my cord in Bagua. I called my family, but some kid had ripped the microphone off the head set at the public internet place. So I heard my beautiful family! That was great! We went to a public phone to call families because my companion had the same issues I did, he talked with his mom for a while... then it was my turn, I put the money in, and international calls don’t work... so I bought headphones with a microphone and a video chat camera! ready for next week! Quite the day! I love you and sorry for the long message last week! good night!

Feb 19, 2019

Be better today than yesterday.

Well last night it rained, and it rained good! The streets were full of water and covered speed bumps! So wet shoes and unstyled hair for me today. We got a call that today our district meeting was getting moved to today and so we drove to Motupe to do that. by the time we got back we had to eat lunch and wash clothes. We then headed out to start teaching, the lessons went... pretty well, a lot of people were not home but thank goodness Christopher was home. He is excited to get baptized! we have his papers and interviews all lined up! he is an 11-year-old kid who likes the church and says he is going to serve a mission one day! I told him to let me know and I will send him packages full of food! Overall it was a good day! I love you good night!

Feb 20, 2019

Better today than yesterday.

Today was my companions 1 year! So, we bought yogurt, milk, pan with sweet, and chicken roasted. Well we visited 4 chicken restaurants and they all did not have chicken, like how in the world! You go to a place similar to KFC and they do not have chicken! The last store had some so we are feasting right now! Our pench bought us soda so that was a win. As soon as we got to our room a rain storm started, it’s coming in through the seams of the windows it’s so strong! Our contacts today were rough, we had 15 visits planned and only 1 came through... I would say it was a rough day, but we did our part, only no one was home. So, I will say it was a good day! I love you and good night!

Feb 21, 2019

Happy birthday Jared!

Better today than yesterday!

Today was a spiritually exhausting day! We first had the interview for Christopher, and he passed! He is getting baptized this Saturday the 23rd! We had his interview at the church which is a really old house with a plastic sign that says the name of the church out front. It’s not like the churches back home or in Bagua. It also has a bad bat problem, and we were asked to take care of it. So, we sent Christopher into the bat cave to show them out. Well he went in there all guns blazing swinging his broom stick at them like a pro! We ended up going in and helping after working up the nerve. We killed them and let Christopher finish them off, I told him never will he ever kill bats with the missionaries in his life again! It was fun and then I felt bad! We then picked beans with sister Ines, fun as well. but all of our visits fell through except one. It was not a spiritually powerful lesson. It was 1.5 hours long and me and my companion were not on the same page... we then went contacting and found no one, and no doors were opening. Kind of a rough end to the day but we will try again tomorrow. I love you good night! 

Feb 22, 2019

Be better today than yesterday.

This morning at about 5:30 we had an earthquake, it was a 7.7 and woke us up! I thought it was my companion shaking my bed at first but once I came to the realization, we headed for the door frame. We then got up at 6:30 like any normal day and headed for breakfast, our pench cooked us up some fish. We then headed out to go teach the world the amazing truth, when we started back for lunch, I told my companion the 4 foods that I either cannot eat or highly dislike fish, mangos, masamore, dulse ciurela and fried plantanos. 5 things that mess me up! I have been good with fish and mangos in the past but the others I can’t do. Well at lunch it was fish, juiced mangos, and afterwards we had dulse ciurela... my companion laughed at me so hard! My stomach was full, but my spirits were not. We then set up the font for Christopher for tomorrow and had really powerful lessons! I was teaching about how the great apostasy was a time of complete spiritual darkness and as soon as I said that the power went out for all of Jayanca! And when we got to the restoration the lights came back on! Everyone was like how did you do that!! Ha-ha a good day in the books! I love you and good night!

Feb 23, 2019

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

Be better today than yesterday.

Wooooow! Well today we woke up at 5 to go to the church and start filling the font for the baptism, along with set up chairs dust them off, sweep, and mop! As the font started to fill up, we noticed it had the smallest hole in it. So, from 10 o clock till 3 we were endlessly moping trying to soak up the water as it poured out. My hands are sore and blistered. Christopher was a successful baptism and we had fun with it! After being in a 95-degree church mopping all day along with a great baptism, we started teaching. And we were teaching with power! We have a family and we were heaping on reading and gaining a testimony of the book of Mormon, and the mom said she believed it to be the word of God but has many questions and so on and so forth. I just looked at her and said this is our message... to give you another testament of Jesus Christ, because the first two did not do the trick. The old and new testaments= to teach all people that Christ lives! And that this is the start of her testimony and the questions will have answers as she reads! It made me so happy! Also, my package came today! My zone leaders said they had it and would get it to me on p-day but our pench went and picked it up! So that was awesome! I have not opened it yet! I love you good night!

Feb 24, 2019

Be better today than yesterday.

Well my birthday package is awesome! I won’t rant too long about it because I could say so many thank you’s! Thank you sis Boinay for the art book! Thank you for the Skippy peanut butter bites. They are awesome! Christopher loved the new floral tie! He ripped his old one of so fast to put the new one on! Awe so awesome! Today was Sunday and we got to church late, Christopher was not there so we left  to go pick him up, he was sleeping but long story short he did get the gift of the holy ghost! Then we studied and taught some lessons, one family we taught believed in the bible but also believed in whack stuff from other religions, like reincarnation. The bible says nothing about that. Anyway, afterwards we helped a girl with some service, and it felt so refreshing! I love you and this gospel, good night!

I received a question by someone on my email list about the church’s stance on abortion, though I am not a prophet and far from it, I would like to share my response to clear up confusion for all. Most people know of the Church of Jesus Christ by rumors, true and false. Jesus Christ created the earth under the direction of God, any good Christian can respect the creation of the earth. But God left it unfinished. He left the oil in the earth, and the electricity in the clouds, the rivers unbridged, the paintings unpainted and the songs unsung. God gave man the challenge of raw materials so man could feel the joy of creation, to look back on a job well done, swipe the sweat from his brow and feel the sense of accomplishment. This also goes along with families, the power to create is sacred when in the bonds of marriage and to have the ability and the blessings is not something to take for granted. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes all children have a right and are entitled to birth, to receive the same blessings and experiences here on this earth as we have.