16-9-13 - Did the Date Look Weird to You?

September 16, 2013

Did the date look weird to you? Cause it did to me too. It drives me crazy how here they put the day of the month before the month. Every night when we write in our binder for our investigators, I have to stop and think and make sure that I am doing it right. So many things here are taking forever to get used to!

This week has been infinitely better than last week. I think it's because I was able to get on some medicine that helped with the runs. I think it worked. I'm feeling great now! We had some hard times this past week but there were also some spiritual things that were great!

Pancake Mix in Peru!

One thing that was great this week happened with Antony. Antony is our investigator right now. He is 19 years old and his whole family was baptized earlier this year but he had some doubts about the church. He had been really stubborn before this week. This week I made it a goal to really try to become his friend. I feel like before, we were just being missionaries trying to get another baptism. This week, my companion and I really started to take interest in him. He ended up opening up to us and confirmed what I had thought. He had thought we just wanted him to get baptized. The previous missionaries didn't really seem to care much about him as a person before. We helped him understand that we want him to be baptized because he knows that the church is true and not because we want a baptism. We invited him to come to stake conference with his family and he actually came! Before, we had dragged him to church with his brother in a polo shirt and jeans. But this week he came without us going to his house and dragging him with us. He was even wearing a white shirt and tie and walked in and smiled when he saw us. It was super great.

Another thing that was pretty fun this week was that I had companion exchanges on Friday-Saturday. Since my companion is a zone leader, he had to do exchanges with one of the other zone leaders. They were in our area so I got to go to Santa Julia for Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. My companion in Santa Julia was great. He is obedient to every rule and does everything like we are supposed to. He doesn't take any shortcuts and does everything like he should. I want to be exactly obedient, not just mostly obedient.

Friday night went super well in Santa Julia. My companion there is from Bolivia and has 19 months in the field. It was great being able to work with him because he is a super good missionary. I feel like I learned a ton with him. Every time I am with a different missionary, I feel like I learn something new that I can do to help me become a better missionary. He really helped my Spanish. He made me talk a lot. I was kind of frustrated with how much he was making me talk, but I realize that it is for my own good. Each time I do things like that I become a better missionary. I don't like their room though. Maybe it was just because it didn't feel like home. My room is much cleaner. I can't stand to live messily. All my stuff is organized. 

Sunday was stake conference which was super cool. It was all of Peru! It was in Salt Lake and they were televising it by satellite to all of the stakes in Peru. They were celebrating the creation of the 100th stake in Peru. The members here are great and the church is growing super duper fast! Elder Bednar and Elder Scott spoke. Elder Bednar spoke in English with a translator, but Elder Scott spoke in Spanish. Someone said that he knows English, Spanish, and Portuguese. I couldn't care less about learning Portuguese right now, but it would sure be nice to be able to speak Spanish as well as him. He is super good. All of the Latinos say they are amazed at how good his Spanish is. My Spanish is improving though. Every week I am able to understand more and more. I'm not getting ahead of myself though. I still sit through a ton of stuff having no clue as to what is going on or what is being talked about, but it's improving. I've pretty much nailed my testimony in Spanish though. That's one thing that I'm glad that I can do. My teaching is getting way better too!

Today we went to this park for our zone activity and played games, played soccer, looked at the animals, and played in the park and had lunch. It was super fun being with our zone. Our zone is pretty small. I think it's the smallest in the mission. There are only 14 of us. But we all get along really well. Today was nice because it was my first opportunity to play soccer on something other than cement. Most of the field was dirt, not grass, but it was still way better than cement! It was super fun. Today has been a crazy day, but it has been a good one.

Our Zone, Piura Central
at Zone Activity

Soccer Field

Love you guys! Love you tons! Thanks for everything! I know that the church is true!

Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadera. Se que el libro de mormon es verdadero. Yo he leido y el espiritu ha testificado que es verdadero. Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro salvador y redentor, y por medio del evangelio de Jesucristo, podemos retornar y vivir con dios por eternidad!

Simple, and full of errors, but true.

Have fun at the BYU game this weekend! I'll be wearing my BYU football shirt every day this week. I really hope that they win. And if they lose, I'm glad that I'll be in Peru because then I won't have to deal with the pain of losing.

Sounds like the weather is getting nice in Utah. It's getting bad here. We have language study after lunch every day here and our room is flaming hot. I don't even want to know what it is like in the summer here. And I've already been out here 2 months! Time flies by! Before I know it, it's going to be Christmas here. Elder Aquino in my room always talks about my first Christmas here. He says it will be great. He always sings this song that's like "Mi primera navidad, in ñaskdjfñkjsdñklfjasñkdfjñksdjfñkljs" those letters signify the part when I can't understand what he is saying anymore. It's okay though. I miss going to the temple. Only 22 more months till I can go again though!

Lauren, Sounds like Australia is a happening place! It's not as great as Peru though! Jaja. Keep working hard. I think about you every day. One thing that is weird is that every morning when I wake up I know that you are just returning to your apartment finishing up the day that I am just starting! Pretty fun to think about. Keep working hard. I pray for our family everyday. I pray for you guys cause I love you.  Pray for me because I need the help with the language! I really want to learn this language!! I just have to keep having faith, and it will come!

Love you guys!

Elder Baker