¡Buenas tardes!
Well, this week was pretty normal, so I’ll try and include more about the lessons we’ve been teaching and our investigators. I’ll admit I don’t really know much because I don’t understand everything they’re saying, but I’ll try and share what I know!
First, the crazy stuff that happened this week. Well, not really much happened, but Tuesday marked my 2nd month in my mission! Only 22 left! On Wednesday I don’t know what happened, but ¡estuve en fuego! I was doing really well — talking to people on the street, following the guidance of the Spirit, teaching with power — it was awesome!… Then it ended 🙁 No, just kidding! I’ve been doing much better this week and am able to understand more, too!
Service this week was much more fun than the last: I got to destroy old furniture with an axe! I’ll try and include a picture if I can.
To celebrate Elder Terrones’s birthday (December 4) we bought Peruvian pizza, and it was ridiculous! We took a picture because it was at least an inch tall! They really pile ingredients on their pizzas! Unfortunately it made Elder Terrones sick, but it was good while it lasted! For his birthday he got new glasses and a cologne that I took a picture of because I thought it was funny. I’d better watch out for when he’s coming! But we also had a crisis on Friday because Elder Terrones wanted to use the Emergency Fund we’re given from Presidente to buy his glasses. We’re not supposed to use the fund without express permission, so I had to be hard and refused to leave our cuarto until he put the money back in the envelope. It was hard because he IS the Senior Companion, but he finally put it back. That was a little stressful.
Something cool I found out: Some people know that I talk in my sleep, and apparently I’m beginning to sleeptalk in Spanish! I was on exchanges with Elder Toth and he said I was talking in Spanish in my sleep! Unfortunately, I haven’t been getting much sleep because Elder Terrones snores like you wouldn’t believe and I lost my earplugs!
Well, that’s all I’ve really got to mention this week. I still don’t know what area in the mission I’m in — I’ll try to ask someone who speaks English to explain, because I don’t know a lot of location words in Spanish! Oh, and the Spanish Word of the Week: “zullar”: “to have a bowel movement”! You’d be surprised how often you need to use it, especially after eating Peruvian pizza!
On that note, onto more spiritual stuff! This week I realized just how grateful I am for the missionaries we had in our ward while I was growing up, because they’ve really influenced a lot of what I want to be like as a missionary myself. If it wasn’t for them, I think I would be like Elder Terrones. He’s not a bad missionary, but he doesn’t have a lot of drive to do a lot and kind of does the minimum he needs to. Hopefully I can change that in the next 9 weeks or so. So if you have good missionaries, give them a “thank you” from me!
We’ve been having a bit of trouble getting baptisms here because we have to focus a lot on member retention. After they’re baptized, the new members tend to stop coming to church and become less-active, so we’re trying to balance finding new people and teaching them and visting less-active members. It’s not easy, especially since we’ll find a new investigator and then Elder Terrones decides we shouldn’t spend too much time on them because they aren’t really dedicated to changing. I understand why we shouldn’t focus on people who don’t care and that I can’t actually tell what the investigators say a lot of the time, but I feel like he gives up too soon.
However, we have two baptismal dates! These girls, sisters, named Magaly and Marisol, ages 17 and 10, have agreed to be baptized on December 12! Their older sister also agreed to be baptized but we’re going to delay her date because she has a lot of doubts about it — if you think about it, baptism is a big commitment: it means attending church every Sunday and reading the scriptures and praying every day for the rest of your life! But the benefits are SOOO worth it! I realized while we were teaching them about the Holy Ghost that I really take the Gift of the Holy Ghost for granted. I didn’t really think about how much I rely on the guidance of the Spirit to know what to do!
We also have two new investigators with a lot of potential. One of them is named Kelly, and she is a golden investigator: she wants to listen, she wants to change, and she has been praying and reading! She can’t always meet with us, but she is actively trying! It’s really awesome! The other investigator is Johnathan. He was an investigator many years ago and actually attended church for at least a year before the missionaries lost him. We found him because he was home — he used to work all day, all week, and thus couldn’t meet the missionaries or go to church (Sounds like a hint from God, no?!) — and he wants to resume the lessons, so we’ve got two really good opportunities for baptisms!
Well, that’s all for this week. For those of you who want gifts, I’m afraid I can’t get llama ties or other decent Peruvian stuff for a little while because I can’t go to the store where I bought them until I can go to the temple. For those who want ties, what color would you like? They have just about every color, and for anyone else who wants something let me know. They have a lot of stuff, and don’t feel shy!
One final request: We recently got a little stove for cooking and I want some recipes. We’ve got a pot and a frying pan (I’ve included a picture of my toast this morning) but I need some more variety. If you know some cheap and simple recipes, please share because I’m kind of tired of sandwiches and apples!
Well, ¡Hasta la próxima semana!
Elder Schroeder
