Fasting is a way to forget yourself physically and be able to strengthen yourself spiritually.

10 de Noviembre 2014

Looking at that date, and feeling how hot it is is kind of weird. Don’t complain about how it's getting cold in Utah. Just one day of cold would be like dying and going to heaven. But for real. This heat is unbearable. I don't know how the people do it year after year. Well actually one thing that they do is clothing. Everyone and their dog here are wearing tank tops and shorts because it's the only thing that they can do to survive the heat. But as a missionary, a tank top and shorts wouldn't be the most practical thing ever. So we just continue sweating and teaching the gospel, in our long pants, socks, and a shirt with a closed collar and a suffocating tie. Gotta love being a missionary! But you really actually do have to love it because it's the best! 

This last week wasn't the most exciting week ever in the mission. Want to know why? Because we had to spend 3 days in Piura in the hospital. Don't worry though. No one is dying. It's just that my companion had to go to a dermatologist. For a few reasons. One of them is his acne. He has tons of acne and the sun pretty much kills his face and he can't even touch it because it hurts so bad. So Hermana Rowley told us this week that we needed to go to the dermatologist to see if there is anything that they could do about it. 

Medical care here in Piura--I'm still counting my many blessings that I still haven't had to go see a doctor here in Peru. But the hospital that we go to in Piura is actually pretty cool. And it seems to be almost like a hospital in the states. Except for a few things. One of them being how long you have to wait. So anyway, Tuesday was the first day that we went. We got to the clinic at like 3:00 in the afternoon and checked in at the main office. We had an appointment and everything for 4:30. But the doctor didn't get there until 4:00 in the afternoon and that's when he started visiting with patients and we were the 10th people on the list. (Does that make sense? 10th people?) So we got to sit there in that waiting room forever. We were honestly waiting in the clinic from 3:00 in the afternoon until 9:00 that night before the doctor finally could see us! I tried everything I could in that time to stay busy and not be bored. But it was so hard. I read the Book of Mormon for like 3 hours. I read pretty much half of Alma. After that I read the Liahona from October. And then after that I couldn't read anymore because I had such a bad headache and just decided to watch people for 2 hours. People watching is pretty fun. Especially watching bored people. That day I found out that people have super funny faces while they are bored. And they sit in very awkward positions in chairs. jaja. But anyway! At 9:00 it was super nice when they doctor finally saw my companion and by 9:30 we were done but it was too late to go back to Sullana so we had to go over to the mission office to sleep for the night. That was something that we hadn't planned on. So we weren't really prepared. I brushed my teeth that night with toothpaste and my finger. That was kind of fun. And then Wednesday morning we traveled back to Sullana at like 7:00 in the morning.

Wednesday I had a visita de trabajo with Elder P. Elder P is a super cool Elder. I would love to have him as a companion. Because he's a super chill elder, but he loves to work hard. He's super smart too. And he loves to read. He has read pretty much every book that the church has. If you have a question about church doctrine you could ask him and he could refer you to like 50 talks by general authorities to help find the answers. jaja. But it was pretty fun working with him. We went to Marcavelica. Marcavelica is super sweet. Except for the fact that there are tons of mosquitos. That's one thing that I'm glad Sullana doesn't have tons of!

Thursday after the visita de trabajo we had to go back to Piura to do a blood test. We showed up at the hospital and they told us that the doctor that does the blood testing didn't show up that day and they told us to return Friday in the morning at 7:00 to do the blood test. So then we had to go all the way back to Sullana. So that was pretty much a waste of 4 hours and 25 soles. But whatevs! The good thing about that though is that Thursday night we got to have 2 super duper great lessons! The first was with P G! He is super great! And his parents are deciding when he will be baptized! We're hoping that everything will work out so that he will be able to get baptized on the 29th of this month! 

After that lesson we went and taught F R and L, his wife. They are super great! L isn't a member, and F is a less active. L is super receptive to the gospel though! And she wants to learn more! F is going to be the problem with this family though because he likes to drink. He really does want to change his life and stop drinking and come back to the church. But it's going to be hard for him! Good thing we're here to help him though! His wife came to church on Sunday! And she stayed for all 3 hours! It was her first time at church and she liked it a lot! F didn't come though, because he woke up hungover--ugh! Pray lots for him! We need to help his family a lot! 

Friday in the morning we went to have the blood test done. We were done with that by 8:00 in the morning. The only problem was that we had to take the results to the doctor, but the doctor didn't arrive until 4:00 in the afternoon. So that means that we had to go and spend pretty much the entire morning in the mission office. We had our studies, and then weekly planning. And after that we went and ate lunch with the pensionista of the elders in the office .That was pretty fun. And then at 4:00 we went back over to the clinica and gave the results to the doctor and headed back to Sullana. It was such a relief to get back here. Traveling is kind of boring. And we had to do it 3 times this week! Hopefully that will be it for a while! 

This last week was kind of rough. Because it wasn't too exciting and we didn't have much time to work in our area. We were able to get a little bit done, but I didn't feel good with myself. It was like I had feelings that I wish I could have been able to do more. And when I started feeling like that I realized, that if I don't try my very best and give everything that I have while I'm here, that's exactly how I'm going to feel when I go home after the mission. Which is something that I really, really, really don't want. So, Saturday after lunch I decided to start fasting. And I probably had one of the most spiritual fasts of my life. Some people say that fasting is easy. But for me it's not. It's hard. Especially on days like that Saturday. Because that day we had to go out and work in the hot sun all day when no one was home and we had to knock on tons of doors and make tons of contacts. And that night I came back to the apartment thirstier than you could imagine. And I was honestly contemplating breaking the fast because I felt like I couldn't do it. But I didn't do it. I decided to get down on my knees and plead for the help that I needed to be able to fast. And once again, my loving Heavenly Father answered my prayer. After saying that prayer, I honestly didn't even think again about how thirsty I was or how bad I wanted to drink something. That was honestly in the back of my mind. I was able to receive the blessings that I was needing. Fasting isn't easy. But it's so important. I know it's real. It's more than starving. It really is a way to forget yourself physically and be able to strengthen yourself spiritually. That was probably the spiritual high for the week. It was the spiritual experience that I needed. 

I don't have much else to write you guys. I hope you all have a great week! I love you guys more than you can imagine! 

Elder Baker

P.S. You may not be looking forward to the first snowstorm, but I sure am. It would be the BEST DAY EVER if after writing you guys I walk outside and it starts snowing. I don't think it's going to happen though. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to wait until about this time next year!