Hey, all! This week was pretty normal for us — Although probably really strange for the rest of you if I was to put it all in this email! — but there were, as always, some interesting parts, too. The life of a missionary is never dull!
On Thursday we went to the temple in Lima… and Elder Pastenes forgot his recommend! Since we only realized this when we got there, we decided to try and get Cristian, our ward mission leader, to bring it for us! We ended up waiting for almost the entire day on the temple grounds, but eventually Cristian showed up and we managed to do a quick session before we left. It really wasn’t bad, because being a missionary at the temple is like being a celebrity: all the people there are members and know missionaries, so we got a lot of people shaking our hands and calling, “¡Elderes!”
Also on Thursday I bought a Book of Mormon in Quechua, the language of the Incas, the ancient inhabitants of Peru. I’ll include a photo of me attempting to read it. Take a look at the words. Yeah… Glad I only have to learn Spanish!
Saturday was a little crazy and dangerous. My companion ended up getting attacked by a parrot and it bit him pretty good, so now he’s got a bit of a gash in his thumb. That thing just latched on to his finger and wouldn’t let go! (Really, it was all Elder Pastenes’s fault. Every time before when we’d gone over he’d bothered the bird because he wanted to hold it… Yeah, that didn’t go so well!)
And now I’ve got another entry for the “Most Dangerous Service Projects”. Right up there with “moving couches to the second story with rope while standing on the roof”, we’ve now got “standing on a ladder that’s on a very thin tin roof and leaning way over to cut bricks off the side of the house next door”. And, as the lightest, I was chosen to be the one to climb the ladder. Word of advice for missionaries: It’s actually safer to be fat!
“About three stories up in the air with only a wobbly, handmade ladder on a thin tin roof to keep me from falling… Time for a selfie!”
As for the more spiritual stuff, while we were waiting at the temple I found a really great article in the Liahona (For those who don’t know, it’s the magazine the Church publishes for countries outside the U.S.) that perfectly describes how it is to be a missionary:
“A Mission Was Better Than Expected”
“As a young man, I looked forward to the day when I would serve a full-time mission. When I finally entered the mission field, I discovered that missionary service was not what I had expected—it was better. It was harder than I thought, but the satisfaction that came from doing what the Lord asked of me was indescribable.
“Never before had I experienced the joy of helping someone attend church. Never before had I felt the thrill of hearing someone say, ‘Sure, come on in’ so that they could hear the restored gospel. Never before had I sensed the reality of the power that came as we declared repentance. Never before had I prayed with such real intent. Never before had an hour of scripture study gone by so fast. Never before had I been brought to tears by the realization of my imperfections. Never before had I experienced the devastation that comes with the words, ‘Elders, please don’t come by my house anymore.’ Never before had I gotten a blister on my foot the size of my thumb. Never before had I felt so protected. Never before had I felt so much responsibility for my actions because I wore the name ‘Jesus Christ’ on my chest.
“Never before had I been so close to my Heavenly Father as I came to be during my full-time mission.”
That’s exactly how I feel now! I really can’t say it better myself, because all the things that he said are so true for me too (Except for the blister part! Let’s hope that never happens!)! The mission is so awesome, even if it kills me most of the time!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now! ¡Hasta luego!
— Elder Schroeder
