Hola familia! Como esta?? I had a great week this past week. I'm
so grateful to be here on a mission. So cool! I love Peru too!
This city is so dang hot. There is a reason there is a giant wall
downtown that says [city of eternal heat]. Holy
moly. I've never felt this hot in my life. And I love it.
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| My sweaty back one morning before lunch--before the hot part of the day. |
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| El Centro de Piura |
Tuesday was a pretty good day. Except for one thing. Over the past
3 days I had accumulated over 30 mosquito bites all over my body. Holy moly, I
was going to die. I learned a lot about will power though. I have to be
stronger than the urge to scratch them. I'm a pretty strong person. I made it
through some times without scratching that I didn't think were possible. Tuesday
night we had the first activity of the week leading up to Ward Conference. It
was an open house in the church. Every organization had a room with a little
display set up and we invited tons of people to come and see what kind of
things we do in the church. It was a super great activity. Really great turnout
too! I was super happy with the way it ended up!
Wednesday was a great day. Wednesday morning during personal study
I just read the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon. It really is the
best book on earth. I have been reading it in Spanish and English. Right now I
am at the part in Alma when Moroni raises the Title of Liberty. I love what the
Title of Liberty stands for. Defending their families, freedom, and religion.
Time flies while reading the Book of Mormon. I remember when I was a little kid
and every day when I had to read for 30 minutes I thought I was literally going
to die. And now an hour reading flies by in what seems like 2 minutes. I love
reading. I honestly wish we had more time to just read. When I started reading
the Book of Mormon in Spanish I honestly couldn't understand much. But now I
can understand a lot of it. Pretty cool seeing how far my abilities have come
in just my little time here in Peru.
Wednesday night the activity the ward had was a movie night at the
church. As missionaries we weren't really able to participate but we definitely
stopped by and got some popcorn. That was definitely a great treat. Haven't had
that much here. But there were a ton of people that came to the movie—probably
50-75 people.
Thursday I decided that attitude really is everything out here on
the mission. There are always bad parts of every day. But no matter how bad it
seems, there is always good too. And the good always makes up for what was bad.
Attitude really is everything. You can be angry when someone doesn't accept the
gospel or you can still love them because they are still a child of God. You
can get mad and be in a bad mood when you step in dog poop, or you can laugh
and literally "walk it off," which is a whole lot easier than being
mad. Turns out you can still enjoy things that aren't optimal.
Thursday afternoon was one of the best afternoons that my
companion and I have had in our 11 weeks here. We had 5 lessons in just 3 hours
from 3:00 until 6:00. That's crazy. Usually we have 2, maybe 3, or 4 if we are
lucky; but we had 5 meaningful lessons in just 3 hours. I love working hard. I
love it even more when you have success like that from all of your hard work.
It was a great afternoon. We visited a sister who is still looking forward to
being baptized on the 23rd of this month. I'm super excited for her. She's
ready to be baptized.
After the 5 lessons, we headed back to our room so we could change
clothes and head over to the church for the activity that they were having that
day. OLIMPIADAS! Super duper fun. That night all of the ward got together at
the church to play volleyball and soccer under the lights. Super fun activity.
We had like 5 people who are not members show up too that we invited! It was a
super great activity. Super happy with how it turned out.
Friday. Friday went by so fast. In the morning my companion had to
go to the dermatologist and that took forever. There were like 50 people in the
waiting room waiting to see a doctor. Thank goodness I had a Liahona to read
and pass the time. After the dermatologist we went and ate with his old
pensionista from when he was in the office because the clinic is right by the
office. Right after we ate we went over to the mission office because my
companion had a call with someone in Lima. Pretty fun being in the office that
day. And, I got the letter you guys sent for Halloween. Even though it was a
week late, I still enjoyed it a lot! :)
Friday night in the church they had a fiesta from 9 until 1 in the
morning and I heard that the whole ward was there. We weren't there though.
Because those hours are some of my favorite to sleep. The party said that it
was supposed to start at like 7 but to Peruvians that means 9. Literally no one
comes on time to anything. Including sacrament meeting! And it drives me
absolutely crazy!! I hate being late to things! I love the people here though.
They're all amazing.
Saturday morning my companion and I had our weekly planning
session for our last week of this transfer. It is crazy to think that this is
my 12th week with Elder C. It honestly seems like I just got here. My training
has flown by. I remember my first weekly planning session when I helped with
absolutely nothing because I could understand nothing. It would be hard to
train a gringo. I'm definitely grateful for Elder C and for the patience that
he has had with me.
Saturday afternoon we had a priesthood meeting for ward conference
with the stake presidency. After the meeting we all went out to invite
different less active families to ward conference the next morning. We got to
go with the Bishop and the Stake President. Bishop wanted to visit a family
that we had already visited earlier in the day. Elder C and I were kind of
hesitant at first but we felt like we should still visit this family. We ended
up having a super spiritual lesson with that family and talked about the power
of the Priesthood that is in their home. Super cool experience. After visits we
came back to the church and had these chicken sandwiches that were super good.
I loved them.
Sunday was Ward Conference and there were about 250 people that
came. That's a ton of people for one ward in Piura! It was super cool. The
stake presidency talked about the importance of missionary work. It seems like
every time we meet lately they are always talking about "La obra de
salvación" [the work of salvation] which is super cool because it is making all these people excited
to help us with the missionary work here in the ward. The Lord is definitely
hastening his work.
I am so grateful to be a missionary here in this ward and in
Piura. I love it here. I love the gospel. With all my heart. Because I know
that it is true. I know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us more than
we know. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we can live with those
we love in the presence of our Heavenly Father after this life because of the
gospel. I know that the Church is true.
Thanks for all of the love and support. Love you guys!
Elder Baker
P.S.
Just to let you know. I would kill to be raking leaves in 60
degrees. Right now it’s 30,000,000,000 degrees.
My testimony has been strengthened immensely this past year. I
like working with less actives too. It's true. They have a testimony. You just
have to help them find it again. I love seeing less actives come to church on
Sunday!
Lauren, Sounds like you had a nice picnic. I would dig a nice
picnic on the grass in the nice weather. Here, I could eat a picnic on the
million degree sand....Love you! Missions are the best! I'm super happy to be
serving at the same time as you! Keep working hard! Love you!
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