Well, I’m bored of writing my emails in the usual way, so I’m going to write this one like a newspaper. (And yes, I know I haven’t written for about 3 weeks, so I’ve got some catching up to do. That’s why I’ll write three!)
(*Note*: Not all quotes are accurate; some have been adapted and/or fabricated by creative license)
Three more souls – three baptisms in Payet
Payet, Tahuantinsuyo – A baptism took place this past Saturday, August 5th, in the capilla, making a very special experience for everyone present. Three women – Leonor, Magaly, and Andrea – had been preparing themselves for several weeks and finally made this important covenant with God.
“I felt so good,” said Magaly, who was baptized together with her daughter Andrea. “I felt clean and pure, and what made it more special was that I was able to take this important step with my daughter.” Andrea, who recently came from the United States, was equally enthusiastic: “It is so beautiful that I’m not only with my mom again, but that we both started this road back to God together, too.”
Leonor, unfortunately, had very little to say about the experience because she had a sore throat that day! She hadn’t been feeling well and couldn’t say much, but she was obviously very content. She probably would have enjoyed it more if she had been well!
Each one of them has passed through different trials and challenges, but in the end they have come to this important point in their lives when they have been born again. Magaly actually hadn’t wanted anything to do with the missionaries for several months and didn’t decide to follow the Savior until a few months ago, even though her soon-to-be husband is a member. But when two of her children, Óscar, Jr. (age 12) and Kimberly (age 9), had made the decision to be baptized and her pareja, Óscar, Sr., recommitted himself to the Church she began to follow them. “At first,” she said, “I think that I was only going to support my children. But later on I started to go for me, because I wanted to.”
Her progress, however, had been hindered for many months, until this June when her daughter, Andrea, came from the United States to live in Peru with her mother again. She also began to attend church and listen to the missionaries, and as she progressed towards baptism the Lord made it possible that Magaly, too, could be baptized. Together they made this important covenant and are now preparing to enter the temple.
[Photo: Magaly and Andrea just before their baptism with the three elders who taught them. Why the missionaries all look like they haven’t slept in weeks remains a mystery.]
Leonor was a very different story. Her son is also a member but she had never decided to follow him until one day when the missionaries of Payet found her, thanks to her son. In that first appointment they taught her a brief but powerful lesson that touched her heart. Elder Schroeder, one of the missionaries there, said, “I felt kind of like we were only giving a trailer of The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (the first lesson we usually teach), but the Spirit was so strong there that we all could feel it. I honestly think it was better that way because it let her feel what the Gospel can do for her rather than just teach her.” From there she has progressed rapidly and after three weeks was baptized.
[Photo: Leonor with the missionaries, her son, Fernando, and her granddaughter, Yahmiley.]
1999 Joseph Smith video frightens missionaries and rock group shines in first performance at local baptism
Payet, Tahuantinsuyo – Also in the same baptism mentioned earlier, a series of unplanned occurrences created unexpected results – some good, some bad, and some very interesting.
Sources report that the first surprise came while those recently baptized were changing, when the missionaries present – having forgotten to bring a USB with their videos – resorted to a DVD presentation of Joseph Smith – The Prophet of the Restoration made in 1999, not ever having seen it before.
For those of you unfamiliar with it’s content, it begins with a dramatic demonstration of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the prophet and his brother Hyrum in Carthage Jail. Even though the scene is historically accurate and does a good job of showing this sad event, it wasn’t exactly what the missionaries wanted to show, especially after a baptism.
“I saw that it was only 12 minutes and thought, ‘That should be good,'” said Elder Schroeder, “especially because the full-length video is more than an hour. However, when the suspenseful music started I got a little worried… And then the shooting started!”
Elder Klein actually left the room following this part, deciding it’d be better to simply return and see the aftermath. “There are kids here!” he exclaimed. “What on earth are we showing?!”
“One good thing I’ll say,” said Elder Mossel, one of the senior couples who attended the baptism with his wife, “is that it kept everyone interested! I didn’t see a single person sleeping in that room!” Elder Schroeder, even though shocked, also added, “I suppose it’s a good way to show what Joseph Smith went through in trying to bring the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.”
After the demonstration of the martyrdom, the rest of the video went well, but Elder Schroeder still felt that he should say something: “I couldn’t just leave it like that! I was still in shock about the first scene!” He stood up and briefly explained the importance of prophets, called by God to teach His children, and how the Gospel that they and Christ taught was lost and later restored to the earth. He finished by sharing a surprisingly sincere testimony of the things he taught, bringing himself to tears. “I think that was one of the very few times that I have actually felt what I’ve said. I know it’s true, but it has always been hard to say it with a conviction that I feel,” he said later. “I just wish I could do it all the time.”
Following this spiritual moment, a music group consisting of the women of the Relief Society (the organization in the Church made up of women 18 years of age and older) played a special musical number with a twist: “Cuenta tus bendiciones” (Hymn 157, Spanish) with a guitar. The audience found it somewhat difficult to hear because the singers’s voices didn’t carry all the way to the back, but the message was good. “I liked the guitar,” said one. “Never heard that before!”
[Photo: The Sociedad de Socorro (Relief Society) playing their new hit single with their guitarist (first row, far left)]
Training meeting causes boredom – Lima secretaries prepare for Mexican CCM group
La Molina, Lima – On August 10 those of the area offices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints held a special training meeting to teach the new mission secretaries about the various tasks and processes required for the missionaries’ visas.
“Many of the things that are spiritual have temporal counterparts,” said the head of the travel offices. “We have to work and organize everything in this world as well as spiritually… In the Church ‘we believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law’ (Article of Faith #12), meaning that we have to work according to the laws of the places in which we serve.”
This training was especially important because on September 15th many missionaries will be coming from other countries without going through the migration process normally handled in the Missionary Training Center here in Peru. This means that the secretaries of the missions will be in charge of coordinating and organizing a trip to Interpol, among many other things, to make these newcoming missionaries legal for the next 24 months they will be serving.
The only problem was the boredom and the stress. “I’m not really excited to try and collect 13 missionaries at 5am to take them to Interpol, where we will then wait for something like 7 hours while they go through the process,” said one. “But I guess that’s just part of the job.”