I'm so Grateful for Temples - 9/30/13

30 September 2013

I don't even know where to begin. I swear every time I get here to email, my mind goes blank because its 2,000,000,000 degrees and I can't think! We go to this little house that has a bunch of computers to email every week. It's only like 1 sol for an hour so it's pretty good. Except that there is no AC. There is no AC here, no AC in our room, no AC in members’ houses, no AC in investigators houses, and definitely no AC in the streets. It is so so so so so so hot. And I love it.

This last week was really difficult as far as missionary work goes. It seems like the whole week, every one of our investigators wasn't home when we went to visit them, or the investigator had tons of questions and doubts, or something. But I honestly feel like it was a good week for me personally. It made me really grateful that the people are usually so accepting. There are lots of areas that I could be serving where it could be like that every day, all year long. There was a ton going on this week. Monday was P-day. Tuesday morning was "Morning with the Missionaries" for the priest-aged youth in the ward, Wednesday was district meeting, Thursday was interviews with president for our zone in the mission office, and Friday my companion had to go to the doctor the dermatologist. It made it kind of hard to reach some of our investigators that are only able to meet with us in the mornings. Hopefully this week will be a little bit smoother.

One crazy thing that happened this week was Thursday night. It gets dark here at like 7 every night. On Friday night we were talking with one of our investigators and the power went out. It was only like 7:30, but it made it kind of hard to teach the rest of the night. It was kind of dangerous too. We went over to the house of a family that was baptized within the last year and kind of just talked to them for a while because we didn't want to be out on the streets. Their 14 year old son, and a member of the ward went out to buy bread at the panaderia, and they were gone for a while. They finally came back and told us that they had been robbed and didn't have their phones anymore. It was completely dark and two people just jumped out of a moto taxi and put them in a head lock. They said that it probably wasn't a great idea to be walking around with their phones out, because supposedly, cell phones are super sought after things here. We have a cell phone but we leave it in the apartment all day. It was pretty fun getting ready for bed that night with no light. I was so grateful that dad made me pack that little flashlight. It would have been impossible without it!

Saturday we had a lesson with one of our investigators and her husband. They have been having a lot of problems with their marriage lately and as of earlier this week, they were living separately. We were able to have a lesson with both of them and talk about the plan of salvation and the importance of eternal families and the role that they have to care for their little 2 year old daughter. It was a super good lesson. They both seemed super receptive to it. I'm really hoping that they will be willing to make the necessary changes and forgive one another. I don't know, but I really think that mother may end up being baptized! This week we´re hoping to have some good lessons with them!

Sunday was kind of frustrating. We had like 5 investigators that said that they were going to try to come to church on Sunday, and only 1 of them showed up. And the one that did show up can't even be baptized until February, because she has to be married and she is working on getting the papers necessary for marriage. People have their agency, and we can't make them choose what we know is right. I really wish that they knew what they were missing out on though!

On Saturday, the ward returned from the temple trip to Lima. They took a bus with like 100 people to Lima to visit the temple. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and it was so cool to see all of them bear their testimonies. Families were able to be sealed, a member that is the single member in his family who was able to receive his Endowments before he leaves on his mission to Paraguay next month, and youth that were able to do baptisms for the dead. It was so cool to see how much their testimonies had grown in one week. It made me so grateful that we live so close to so many temples. We live 15 minutes from the temple and these people live 15 hours from the nearest temple. They are so excited for the new temple in Trujillo to be completed in 2015. I'm so grateful for temples. They really are the house of the Lord. The spirit is always so strong inside the temples!

Today Elder Cortes, Elder Aquino, Elder Levi, and I went to Catacaos to shop and get a few souvenirs. I bought a little shoulder bag that I can take a few things in when I don't want to take my backpack. Catacoas was so cool. I love being able to see different parts of Peru. There was this GIANT Catholic church there that was pretty cool. Everyone here says that they are Catholic whether they are practicing or not. Every taxi has a cross hanging from the mirror and every house has a sticker that says "Please bless this Catholic home". It's so much different living here than it is in the states. I love experiencing this culture though. Today we rode this little van back from Catacaos and I sat next to this catholic nun. That was definitely a first! haha. I love it here in Piura.

View from the balcony of our room before Church

Catacaos Peru! Pretty cool place!

With my new shoulder bag in Catacaos

Catholic Church in Catacaos

Me, my trainer and his trainer shopping today in Tottus

In the Combi

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have right now to be a missionary! I can't wait to hear from the prophet and the apostles this next week. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I am so grateful to be able to say that I know my Savior lives, and that He loves us, and that He suffered for our sins. I know that thanks to The Atonement we can live with our Heavenly Father and our families for eternity! I know that this church is true!

Thanks for all of the love and Support! Love you tons!

Love, Elder Baker

P.S. It can be kind of sketchy eating with the members, but the food they always serve us is super good. There hasn't been anything yet that I have had to gag down. And I'm not sure about how I'm going to be able to watch conference. Hopefully I will be able to watch it in English! And yeah, we have a sink. It is outside of our bedroom though. The fridge and stove thingy are inside our bedroom.

Not gonna lie, I could really enjoy some weather that calls for sweats and a hoodie right now. Thanks for the message of hope. I love that the Gospel is a message of Hope. There is always something to smile about with the gospel.

Lauren, Sounds like things are going well with your new companion! That's funny that she has been reading your blog! I'm so jealous about the Koala bears! They're so cute! The only animals I see here are dogs without any hair. And I see like 51,683,543,843,421,698,469 every day. Keep working hard! I pray for you every day! Love you and thanks for your great example! Crazy to think that you have less than a year left in Australia! You better make it count! haha. Love you!