This last week we had changes and i have been left to keep working in my area. At first i was depressed but then a couple of miracles happened this week to change my mind completely. Lets start off with the good things that have happened.
We were lead to a family this last week that are just awesome. The three kids are super and have every desire to get baptized and only after 2 lessons! Their names are Jimmy, Jiseña and Iris. They are awesome and are gonna get baptized this next month. We taught them the first lesson and they were hanging on every one of our words during the lesson. And then we read 3 Nephi 11 together, and at the end they asked us if they could get baptized and we said OF COURSE! So they are already well on their way to getting baptized this next month.
Another great thing happened. We had the baptism of Mishell this last weekend! It was a great experience and everyone came. There were 26 people there and all were the family of her. We had been working with her forever and we finally got permission for her baptism. And the funny thing was when all the family of the mother that are members were praising Elder Muñoz and I for what we were able to accomplish. We were practically famous for a day haha.
Things have made a drastic change in these last few weeks and it has made things so much better for me. I learned from my hard time patience and humility. Also, our zone leaders are going through it now, so i can help them out a lot now. Its funny and amazing how things can change so quickly and how we can all help people in their times of need.
We have also made great strides with the ward. They are now going to help us out a lot more. We are setting up a program for our investigators so that people that have passed through similar problems as them can help us out in the lessons and provide the help that the people need.
Life has made a 180 and it is truly amazing. I hope that everyone has a great week this week and remember that the tough times suck, but there is always a purpose. Humble yourself enough to find it. I love you all and i also received the letters from the whole family and they were awesome! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Now im gonna go take a nap haha. Ill write you next week!
Elder Washburn
Monday, August 24, 2009
Well, it has been yet another tough week for us, and our leaders are letting us have it for the unsuccess that we are having.
This week, we actually had a great change come around, we found some new people to teach and they look to be good investigators, but they all decided not to come to church on sunday. It was very discouraging that none of the people that we were teaching came to church on sunday, so that puts them back even farther on their progression. But the ward is chaning and they are working to bring things back to the way that they were. They are visiting people and giving us references to new people. We still have visited any of them, because they gave them all to us on sunday, but this week we shall see how are these references. I am just hoping that they arent like the last 10 that we have received from them, which were the following. He is a drunk, doesnt live much in the house, and he needs your help, oh ad he doesnt know that your coming. So much for a reference.
Elder Muñoz is doing alright, but he is having a peeing problem, and is always getting up in lessons and peeing, not to mention in bed sometimes. Its pretty gross, and our room smells of it too. He is still learning how to be a missionary, but its as if he doesnt listen to me and just doddles the whole day. I just feel like i am doing this whole thing by myself, and then when we dont have great success, our leaders love to rip me a new one. It is quite a pleasurable time out here right now, im just hopin and praying that it gets better some time soon.
I hope you get to move into the house soon, and get this whole thing done. Im sure that it will get done in the near future. One thing that my president told me was that when we dont have blessings here, the people at home are the ones receiving them. So ENJOY YOUR BLESSINGS haha.
I did read one thing this week that helped me out a lot. I was looking in the teachings of the prophets by joseph smith and found a great couple of pages. I read that no person in this world is worthy of the celestial kindgom without receiving great and demanding tasks. Also that the people that survive through the trials, and WITHOUT complaining are the ones to be crowned with glory by the Lord. It has given me a little more drive and personal reflection, and i have changed me prayers from take away these challenges to give me the strength to learn from them and make it through them.
I hope you all enjoy your weeks and all goes well in your life.
Elder Washburn
This week, we actually had a great change come around, we found some new people to teach and they look to be good investigators, but they all decided not to come to church on sunday. It was very discouraging that none of the people that we were teaching came to church on sunday, so that puts them back even farther on their progression. But the ward is chaning and they are working to bring things back to the way that they were. They are visiting people and giving us references to new people. We still have visited any of them, because they gave them all to us on sunday, but this week we shall see how are these references. I am just hoping that they arent like the last 10 that we have received from them, which were the following. He is a drunk, doesnt live much in the house, and he needs your help, oh ad he doesnt know that your coming. So much for a reference.
Elder Muñoz is doing alright, but he is having a peeing problem, and is always getting up in lessons and peeing, not to mention in bed sometimes. Its pretty gross, and our room smells of it too. He is still learning how to be a missionary, but its as if he doesnt listen to me and just doddles the whole day. I just feel like i am doing this whole thing by myself, and then when we dont have great success, our leaders love to rip me a new one. It is quite a pleasurable time out here right now, im just hopin and praying that it gets better some time soon.
I hope you get to move into the house soon, and get this whole thing done. Im sure that it will get done in the near future. One thing that my president told me was that when we dont have blessings here, the people at home are the ones receiving them. So ENJOY YOUR BLESSINGS haha.
I did read one thing this week that helped me out a lot. I was looking in the teachings of the prophets by joseph smith and found a great couple of pages. I read that no person in this world is worthy of the celestial kindgom without receiving great and demanding tasks. Also that the people that survive through the trials, and WITHOUT complaining are the ones to be crowned with glory by the Lord. It has given me a little more drive and personal reflection, and i have changed me prayers from take away these challenges to give me the strength to learn from them and make it through them.
I hope you all enjoy your weeks and all goes well in your life.
Elder Washburn
Hey Family and friends!
Another tough week at the work of the Lord, and we finally have a spark of hope for this month of august. After many months of talking wih the father of a young woman, he has finally allowed her to be baptized this month! For about 6-7 months, the missionaries have been fighting to get her baptized, and we were finally able to do it! Her baptism is for the 22nd, so we hope all goes well, and they dont get stage fright at the end.
Other than her, there hasnt been much success. This week we had the chance to go to the temple and to a conference. The Temple was awesome and it gave me a lot of strength to keep pressing on in this work and area. We also have been praying for one of our Zone Leaders that has a hernia and could probably ending his mission early. The Zone has taken a hit from his absence and we all have been trying to stay positive for him. We also had problems with our room and have been asked to leave as well. So we are going to move in with the Zone Leaders.
Things have been quite the challenge for us, but we have been having a little success. We are becoming more dedicated to the rules and keeping every one of them and we have seen the results from that. We have found new investigators this week and they look to be promising. We can only hope that the work continues as it is and that we can find more people to teach.
One great thing has happened this week. About two weeks ago, we came across a woman named Edith. She was quite the case for us. As we started to teach her, she opened up her soul to us and told us about her life. She had once tried to commit suicide, she hates her husband, doesnt even want her children and tried to abandon them once, and she doesnt believe in God whatsoever. This last saturday, we went to visit her once again. In the previous visit we asked her to pray twice a day to know if God exists. As we visited her we asked her how her prayers were and she told us that she had prayed everyday, at least twice a day. We told her to keep doing that and then we started to teach about faith. At one point we asked her if she had any questions and she asked us two amazing questions. The first being that she believed that God had put us into her path and that he lead us to her. I told her that it was true, in our planning that we do every night, i had the impression to visit this area where she lived and to knock doors. We were personally lead by the Lord to her house and specifically to her. She then asked us why she felt so different around us and at church, she said that it was if she was walking on clouds. I explained to her that it was the spirit that we bring and how we are the only church that brings that spirit with us. I then told her that she could feel that way everyday if she would be baptized. She said that she would like that.
Through this experience i have come to realize two grand things. The first being that our Heavenly Father is always aware of our situations and is always ready to bless us. He desires to speak to us at night and we must be willing to do so, so that he can help us. I have also come to learn of the great calling that it is to be a missionary and to be a member of this church. We have something special that no one else has, but that everyone desires. The truth and the guidance of the Lord. I know that this church is true, and that all of our experiences are for a reason. She is the reason for why i am here, and now i dont have the desire to leave, but i hope to be able to stay until she becomes baptized.
I love my mission, all the great and hard times are well worth it.
Elder Washburn
Another tough week at the work of the Lord, and we finally have a spark of hope for this month of august. After many months of talking wih the father of a young woman, he has finally allowed her to be baptized this month! For about 6-7 months, the missionaries have been fighting to get her baptized, and we were finally able to do it! Her baptism is for the 22nd, so we hope all goes well, and they dont get stage fright at the end.
Other than her, there hasnt been much success. This week we had the chance to go to the temple and to a conference. The Temple was awesome and it gave me a lot of strength to keep pressing on in this work and area. We also have been praying for one of our Zone Leaders that has a hernia and could probably ending his mission early. The Zone has taken a hit from his absence and we all have been trying to stay positive for him. We also had problems with our room and have been asked to leave as well. So we are going to move in with the Zone Leaders.
Things have been quite the challenge for us, but we have been having a little success. We are becoming more dedicated to the rules and keeping every one of them and we have seen the results from that. We have found new investigators this week and they look to be promising. We can only hope that the work continues as it is and that we can find more people to teach.
One great thing has happened this week. About two weeks ago, we came across a woman named Edith. She was quite the case for us. As we started to teach her, she opened up her soul to us and told us about her life. She had once tried to commit suicide, she hates her husband, doesnt even want her children and tried to abandon them once, and she doesnt believe in God whatsoever. This last saturday, we went to visit her once again. In the previous visit we asked her to pray twice a day to know if God exists. As we visited her we asked her how her prayers were and she told us that she had prayed everyday, at least twice a day. We told her to keep doing that and then we started to teach about faith. At one point we asked her if she had any questions and she asked us two amazing questions. The first being that she believed that God had put us into her path and that he lead us to her. I told her that it was true, in our planning that we do every night, i had the impression to visit this area where she lived and to knock doors. We were personally lead by the Lord to her house and specifically to her. She then asked us why she felt so different around us and at church, she said that it was if she was walking on clouds. I explained to her that it was the spirit that we bring and how we are the only church that brings that spirit with us. I then told her that she could feel that way everyday if she would be baptized. She said that she would like that.
Through this experience i have come to realize two grand things. The first being that our Heavenly Father is always aware of our situations and is always ready to bless us. He desires to speak to us at night and we must be willing to do so, so that he can help us. I have also come to learn of the great calling that it is to be a missionary and to be a member of this church. We have something special that no one else has, but that everyone desires. The truth and the guidance of the Lord. I know that this church is true, and that all of our experiences are for a reason. She is the reason for why i am here, and now i dont have the desire to leave, but i hope to be able to stay until she becomes baptized.
I love my mission, all the great and hard times are well worth it.
Elder Washburn
Hey Everybody!
First i have some bad news for everyone, i can no longer use pouch mail to send you guys letters. So sorry that i cant write you guys anymore, but when i find a way i will try to do so. It only adds another challenge to life out here in Bayovar.
This week has gotten a little better. We still dont have anyone to teach, but things are looking better for us in the future. I dont know how, but i have a little more faith that its going to happen soon.
This week has been really crazy for us out here. On Friday, we went to the doctors office in the night for my companion. It took us one hour and a half to get there, and then once we got to the hospital, another bad thing happened. The doctor wasnt in the office that day. So we had to just turn around and go home. We searched for a taxi for two hours and we couldnt find one. Finally we found one to take us home. It was a waste of a day, and a waste of 40 soles. I was a little mad, but i got over it quickly. Saturday was even worse in a million ways. We have this one woman named Jenny that wants to get baptized and was going to get married on Saturday. We had an Alcalde, that can marry people, ready to go on saturday in a city called Chosica. Well saturday was as follows. I got a call from the couple on saturday saying that they were ready to go at 7. I was still waiting permission from my leaders so i told them to wait. We went to breakfast, but i was dumb and locked my keys in my room. So when we came back we just waited until the locksmith was in his tienda. We did use the telephone of the other elders to call the zone leaders, and they told us that there are no weddings in chosica today. The alcalde had flacked out. Well as we waited, the sister of the couple came to us at 930 asking us why we werent at their house. Everyone, that is their family, is in the bus and ready to go. We told them that there wont be weddings and they were devestated. I then had to tell the couple. They too were devestated and almost killed us, literally. We found out of some other mas group matrimonies here in san juan de lurigancho, so we left to go their. We got there at 1130 when they had already ended the ceremony. From there, everyone started to fight, and then they turned against us saying that we were the guilty ones for this. After about an hour and a half of this, we went home. They went to their house to eat the lunch that they already had prepared. After we ate we went to their house to visit them. Jenny, who wants to be baptized, understood that it wasnt our fault, and was still looking forward to getting married and baptized. This helped us out a lot too. They day continued pretty normal, and then the night came. While we were in our room, we got a call from Hma. Luz, who lives around the corner from Jenny. She called us and told us that Jenny and her husband, are drunk in the street. That really broke me down. I wasnt mad, but just sad that it happened.
Another hard week it has been for me out here in Peru, but i still dont feel hopeless like i did before. I know that i am here for a reason, and i need not whine about my situation because there are worse situations.
Thank you for your prayers and love, i have really needed them this last week, and i still need them. I hope everything is well with the house, and that you are doing much better than me haha.
Love
Elder Washburn
First i have some bad news for everyone, i can no longer use pouch mail to send you guys letters. So sorry that i cant write you guys anymore, but when i find a way i will try to do so. It only adds another challenge to life out here in Bayovar.
This week has gotten a little better. We still dont have anyone to teach, but things are looking better for us in the future. I dont know how, but i have a little more faith that its going to happen soon.
This week has been really crazy for us out here. On Friday, we went to the doctors office in the night for my companion. It took us one hour and a half to get there, and then once we got to the hospital, another bad thing happened. The doctor wasnt in the office that day. So we had to just turn around and go home. We searched for a taxi for two hours and we couldnt find one. Finally we found one to take us home. It was a waste of a day, and a waste of 40 soles. I was a little mad, but i got over it quickly. Saturday was even worse in a million ways. We have this one woman named Jenny that wants to get baptized and was going to get married on Saturday. We had an Alcalde, that can marry people, ready to go on saturday in a city called Chosica. Well saturday was as follows. I got a call from the couple on saturday saying that they were ready to go at 7. I was still waiting permission from my leaders so i told them to wait. We went to breakfast, but i was dumb and locked my keys in my room. So when we came back we just waited until the locksmith was in his tienda. We did use the telephone of the other elders to call the zone leaders, and they told us that there are no weddings in chosica today. The alcalde had flacked out. Well as we waited, the sister of the couple came to us at 930 asking us why we werent at their house. Everyone, that is their family, is in the bus and ready to go. We told them that there wont be weddings and they were devestated. I then had to tell the couple. They too were devestated and almost killed us, literally. We found out of some other mas group matrimonies here in san juan de lurigancho, so we left to go their. We got there at 1130 when they had already ended the ceremony. From there, everyone started to fight, and then they turned against us saying that we were the guilty ones for this. After about an hour and a half of this, we went home. They went to their house to eat the lunch that they already had prepared. After we ate we went to their house to visit them. Jenny, who wants to be baptized, understood that it wasnt our fault, and was still looking forward to getting married and baptized. This helped us out a lot too. They day continued pretty normal, and then the night came. While we were in our room, we got a call from Hma. Luz, who lives around the corner from Jenny. She called us and told us that Jenny and her husband, are drunk in the street. That really broke me down. I wasnt mad, but just sad that it happened.
Another hard week it has been for me out here in Peru, but i still dont feel hopeless like i did before. I know that i am here for a reason, and i need not whine about my situation because there are worse situations.
Thank you for your prayers and love, i have really needed them this last week, and i still need them. I hope everything is well with the house, and that you are doing much better than me haha.
Love
Elder Washburn
Hey!
This week has been quite the grind for us out here in Peru. We have only one person to teach, but she is set for her baptism and her marriage for this week, so unfortunately after she gets married and baptized we wont have anyone more to teach. We are kinda bumed for that. But i do have to report on a great experience that i had this week
I have been pretty down this week because its raining everyday, and there is lots of mud and we have no one to teach. So one day before i started to study i said a long prayer begging to read something that could help me. Afterwords i opened up to where i left of in my reading of the Doctrine and Convenants. I opened up to Section 122. I read the section and was filled with hope. I wont say what was inside, but i challenge you to read it and apply it. It holds a great secret to happiness inside and can help anyone in any hard situation.
From that moment forward, my attitude changed and i started to feel like there was hope in my area. Saturday we worked our butts off, as well as sunday. We finished the week strong and we are looking to make next week even better.
I still need your prayers to help me out because i still am dragging a little. Having to teach someone to be a missionary, but then not being able to give him anyone to teach is quite burdening for me. But i know that we will have someone soon.
Enjoy your week and go have some fun!
Elder Washburn
This week has been quite the grind for us out here in Peru. We have only one person to teach, but she is set for her baptism and her marriage for this week, so unfortunately after she gets married and baptized we wont have anyone more to teach. We are kinda bumed for that. But i do have to report on a great experience that i had this week
I have been pretty down this week because its raining everyday, and there is lots of mud and we have no one to teach. So one day before i started to study i said a long prayer begging to read something that could help me. Afterwords i opened up to where i left of in my reading of the Doctrine and Convenants. I opened up to Section 122. I read the section and was filled with hope. I wont say what was inside, but i challenge you to read it and apply it. It holds a great secret to happiness inside and can help anyone in any hard situation.
From that moment forward, my attitude changed and i started to feel like there was hope in my area. Saturday we worked our butts off, as well as sunday. We finished the week strong and we are looking to make next week even better.
I still need your prayers to help me out because i still am dragging a little. Having to teach someone to be a missionary, but then not being able to give him anyone to teach is quite burdening for me. But i know that we will have someone soon.
Enjoy your week and go have some fun!
Elder Washburn
A very good week out here in the Dust Bowl of Bayovar, that has recently turned into the mud slide.
We had yet another baptism thus completing our goal of 3 baptisms for the month! Natali, or Monchi as i like to call her, was baptized this last saturday and it was a great baptism. She is the cutest little girl and i felt honored to have baptized her. Her mother is inactive but the rest of her extended family are members and are going to help her out. But she is super devoted to the church and loves it there.
One funny thing did happen this week, more of a miracle than anything else. As we went to the room on saturday to get the baptismal clothing, my companion locked the keys in the room on accident. We left for the baptism knowing we could take care of the problem after it. Once we got back, we started to manipulate different ways to enter into the room. We tried jimmying the lock to no avail, and then we got the idea of going through the window. Well those are on the second story, so we asked the owner for the keys and he said that he didnt have any. WELL, we asked for a ladder to try the windows. Ya, Peru has a different concept of what a ladder entails. It was a rusty old oil drum with a very old rickety wooden ladder on top of it. I lost rock paper scissors to my companion so i had to scale the ladder of death. I got to the windows and turns out that they are locked too. I climbed back down and then asked for the keys that they had to the house. He pulled out a bunch of different ones and we went to the door. He tried 8 or 9 keys to no avail. He got to the last key, and i started to pray in my head that the door would open. The key didnt work, but he tried it once again and opened the door! I grabbed the keys with much relief. The owner tried the key one more time and it wouldnt work at all. He asked me how it worked and i told him that it was faith.
Its not a grand miracle but it still counts for me. I now have a stronger testimony of the power of prayer. The scripture that states Ask and ye shall recieve, knock and it shall be opened up to you, brings new meaning to me. I know that it is true, whether it be with an actual door or if you are looking for an answer to a question. Ask and it shall be given.
I love being a missionary. Another great thing happened as well. One elder that had been very prideful lately was humbled last night. He entered into our room and begged for our pardon. He started to cry and said that he truly had seen the errors of his ways. He asked for council and we gave it to him and then we gave him a huge hugged as he cried into our chests. The power of the atonement covers all sorrows and helps us to become better. He is now a great friend and i look forward to spending more time with him here.
Bayovar is pretty ugly, but the miracles that i see change my perpesctive. Its beautful here.
I love you all and thank you for your individual prayers, i feel them throughout the day and they give me the help i need to be succesful. Thank you so much.
Elder Washburn
We had yet another baptism thus completing our goal of 3 baptisms for the month! Natali, or Monchi as i like to call her, was baptized this last saturday and it was a great baptism. She is the cutest little girl and i felt honored to have baptized her. Her mother is inactive but the rest of her extended family are members and are going to help her out. But she is super devoted to the church and loves it there.
One funny thing did happen this week, more of a miracle than anything else. As we went to the room on saturday to get the baptismal clothing, my companion locked the keys in the room on accident. We left for the baptism knowing we could take care of the problem after it. Once we got back, we started to manipulate different ways to enter into the room. We tried jimmying the lock to no avail, and then we got the idea of going through the window. Well those are on the second story, so we asked the owner for the keys and he said that he didnt have any. WELL, we asked for a ladder to try the windows. Ya, Peru has a different concept of what a ladder entails. It was a rusty old oil drum with a very old rickety wooden ladder on top of it. I lost rock paper scissors to my companion so i had to scale the ladder of death. I got to the windows and turns out that they are locked too. I climbed back down and then asked for the keys that they had to the house. He pulled out a bunch of different ones and we went to the door. He tried 8 or 9 keys to no avail. He got to the last key, and i started to pray in my head that the door would open. The key didnt work, but he tried it once again and opened the door! I grabbed the keys with much relief. The owner tried the key one more time and it wouldnt work at all. He asked me how it worked and i told him that it was faith.
Its not a grand miracle but it still counts for me. I now have a stronger testimony of the power of prayer. The scripture that states Ask and ye shall recieve, knock and it shall be opened up to you, brings new meaning to me. I know that it is true, whether it be with an actual door or if you are looking for an answer to a question. Ask and it shall be given.
I love being a missionary. Another great thing happened as well. One elder that had been very prideful lately was humbled last night. He entered into our room and begged for our pardon. He started to cry and said that he truly had seen the errors of his ways. He asked for council and we gave it to him and then we gave him a huge hugged as he cried into our chests. The power of the atonement covers all sorrows and helps us to become better. He is now a great friend and i look forward to spending more time with him here.
Bayovar is pretty ugly, but the miracles that i see change my perpesctive. Its beautful here.
I love you all and thank you for your individual prayers, i feel them throughout the day and they give me the help i need to be succesful. Thank you so much.
Elder Washburn
2 MORE BAPTISMS, but i dont have my camera with me so i cant send the pics today, sorry. We had to go to Plaza Vea this morning and buy all the food for today, so i forgot to bring everything.
The baptisms were great though, we completed a family so they now have the goal to go to the temple in a little less than a year. We are so happy for them, and if im in the city then ill go to their sealing! The baptisms was at 830 though, so we didnt get home until 950, but we broke that rule for a good purpose i believe. What happened was that we combined 2 other baptisms with ours at the last second, so that is why we were so late. But the baptism was great and very spiritual, the only bad thing was when an investigator answered her phone during the closing prayer and talked on her phone through the whole prayer. We strung her up by her thumbs afterwards, to be an example of course haha.
I am doing great, no more problems with the kidney stones! Not a great experience and not one i would recomend to the world haha. DRINK WATER! The area is looking good, but i do think that they are going to close the area at the end of this change because we have 4 missionaries in this ward and were losing a ton this change. But ill keep working like i dont know that haha. I got a call from my last companion telling me that they baptised this family that i left there, so that really pumped me up. I was so happy to hear that. I do hope that ill be able to see her sometime soon too to personally congratulate her.
Nothing really else has happened here, just trying to keep my companion from being trunky, which takes some great effort haha. The other companionship in our house are fighting a lot, especially from one elder that is picking fights with us too. And for no reason, this morning he started a fight with us about how my companion has more shampoo in his bottle than this angry elder. Odd, i know, but it is what it is.
I am happy and healthy and enjoying my time here. I bought some shoes this last week, the only pair in Peru that is my size, a little expensive but i dont have pday shoes, only my tracting shoes. But they are great and will last me the mission. I could use some toothpaste from Dr. Rule, the procrest please, and pepto bismal pills if you could. That would be the best. Enjoy your weeks and remember that America is great because it has running water in the houses.
Love
Elder Washburn
The baptisms were great though, we completed a family so they now have the goal to go to the temple in a little less than a year. We are so happy for them, and if im in the city then ill go to their sealing! The baptisms was at 830 though, so we didnt get home until 950, but we broke that rule for a good purpose i believe. What happened was that we combined 2 other baptisms with ours at the last second, so that is why we were so late. But the baptism was great and very spiritual, the only bad thing was when an investigator answered her phone during the closing prayer and talked on her phone through the whole prayer. We strung her up by her thumbs afterwards, to be an example of course haha.
I am doing great, no more problems with the kidney stones! Not a great experience and not one i would recomend to the world haha. DRINK WATER! The area is looking good, but i do think that they are going to close the area at the end of this change because we have 4 missionaries in this ward and were losing a ton this change. But ill keep working like i dont know that haha. I got a call from my last companion telling me that they baptised this family that i left there, so that really pumped me up. I was so happy to hear that. I do hope that ill be able to see her sometime soon too to personally congratulate her.
Nothing really else has happened here, just trying to keep my companion from being trunky, which takes some great effort haha. The other companionship in our house are fighting a lot, especially from one elder that is picking fights with us too. And for no reason, this morning he started a fight with us about how my companion has more shampoo in his bottle than this angry elder. Odd, i know, but it is what it is.
I am happy and healthy and enjoying my time here. I bought some shoes this last week, the only pair in Peru that is my size, a little expensive but i dont have pday shoes, only my tracting shoes. But they are great and will last me the mission. I could use some toothpaste from Dr. Rule, the procrest please, and pepto bismal pills if you could. That would be the best. Enjoy your weeks and remember that America is great because it has running water in the houses.
Love
Elder Washburn
Hey fam and friends!
This week has been an interesting one for us down here in Peru. I have recieved that package mom so thanks a ton! As for some of the highlights here, we went to the temple again! It is my second time in only three weeks, so i felt very blessed to go again and so quickly. This time i did do a session and it was awesome. I had a lot of questions answered and a lot of strength given from on high. It is a great blessing to have a temple in your mission, i feel sorry for those that dont have one and miss out on these great opportunites to replenish your spiritual strength.
Another interesting thing is going on in my life. I have baby kidney stones! So turns out that all of that rice can get ya haha. They are only little baby ones but i have fallen to te knees a couple times in pain. Things are going much better now because i drink about 2 liters of water everyday, so they should be gone in about 2 weeks. I was so relieved to find out that it wasnt the vericroseseal one more time, and only kidney stones. So maddy, we can relate on the whole kidney stone level haha. But im lucky and they arent as big as yours were, I WIN!
I also had a very good experience this week with a member here. She is a convert of one year and has had the worst of times in her life. She has been robbed many times of a lot of money and a car that she purchased. But recently we went to her house and found here crying because someone had stolen from her workplace all the money and some things that she had there. She was telling us that sometimes the things that go wrong in our lives are almost unbearable, and we lose the faith sometimes. My companion and i were silent for the longest time because we did not know what to say. But i prayed and recieved the inspiration to tell her about the house fire that we had. I told her the story and told her the part that was most important. How the first thing that you did, mom and dad, was call us and find out if we were safe. The house was only little thing compared to the safety of your family. We cried together for a little bit and then she told me after a little pause how much she needed to hear that. She said that the elders always have the right thing to say. All i could think of at that time was the thanks i had for the spirit and of the experiences i have had in my life. Many times we think, why does this happen to me? I am a good person but why do bad things happen to me? The answer is simple. We have experiences in this life so that we succour the people around us. The Lord fords us these opporutnities so that we can be like him. Let us not forget that he has suffered it all, and so merciful that he allows to experience that misery in our lives so that we can be like him in comforting those that need counsel. We become those saviors for these people. Many times i have seen my bad experiences help someone else in their life. Be thankful for the hard times and pray for the strength to endure them and learn from them. Our sorrows are to help those around us, be sure to be ready to help the feeble knees and raise the fallen hands.
The church is true, and i know that with a surety. I have learned a great deal this week and will never forget these experiences. I am almost at the point where i am lost in the work once again and i am loving it. I love you all very much and pray for your benefit.
Elder Washburn
This week has been an interesting one for us down here in Peru. I have recieved that package mom so thanks a ton! As for some of the highlights here, we went to the temple again! It is my second time in only three weeks, so i felt very blessed to go again and so quickly. This time i did do a session and it was awesome. I had a lot of questions answered and a lot of strength given from on high. It is a great blessing to have a temple in your mission, i feel sorry for those that dont have one and miss out on these great opportunites to replenish your spiritual strength.
Another interesting thing is going on in my life. I have baby kidney stones! So turns out that all of that rice can get ya haha. They are only little baby ones but i have fallen to te knees a couple times in pain. Things are going much better now because i drink about 2 liters of water everyday, so they should be gone in about 2 weeks. I was so relieved to find out that it wasnt the vericroseseal one more time, and only kidney stones. So maddy, we can relate on the whole kidney stone level haha. But im lucky and they arent as big as yours were, I WIN!
I also had a very good experience this week with a member here. She is a convert of one year and has had the worst of times in her life. She has been robbed many times of a lot of money and a car that she purchased. But recently we went to her house and found here crying because someone had stolen from her workplace all the money and some things that she had there. She was telling us that sometimes the things that go wrong in our lives are almost unbearable, and we lose the faith sometimes. My companion and i were silent for the longest time because we did not know what to say. But i prayed and recieved the inspiration to tell her about the house fire that we had. I told her the story and told her the part that was most important. How the first thing that you did, mom and dad, was call us and find out if we were safe. The house was only little thing compared to the safety of your family. We cried together for a little bit and then she told me after a little pause how much she needed to hear that. She said that the elders always have the right thing to say. All i could think of at that time was the thanks i had for the spirit and of the experiences i have had in my life. Many times we think, why does this happen to me? I am a good person but why do bad things happen to me? The answer is simple. We have experiences in this life so that we succour the people around us. The Lord fords us these opporutnities so that we can be like him. Let us not forget that he has suffered it all, and so merciful that he allows to experience that misery in our lives so that we can be like him in comforting those that need counsel. We become those saviors for these people. Many times i have seen my bad experiences help someone else in their life. Be thankful for the hard times and pray for the strength to endure them and learn from them. Our sorrows are to help those around us, be sure to be ready to help the feeble knees and raise the fallen hands.
The church is true, and i know that with a surety. I have learned a great deal this week and will never forget these experiences. I am almost at the point where i am lost in the work once again and i am loving it. I love you all very much and pray for your benefit.
Elder Washburn
Im in my new area out here in the city still, but it is a great area. It was weird that we didnt work too much because we had to go a bunch of weird things. Turns out that my companion has two weeks here because the two other elders were pulled out since they fought one another. So its like opening an area again! haha. But the area is great and the best part about everything is that the ward is the greatest that i have had in the mission to this point. Its almost like America haha. The Bishop is a recent convert and was actually called to be a bishop when he had 4 years as a convert, but he is amazing. He runs his ward very tightly and lovingly, he reminds me of our good old Bishop Eyre back home! The best part of this last week was church because its the first place with a piano and they had someone that kind of knew how to play, but i think that i will be giving lessons to the people here. But there wasnt any apostasty in church and it was very reverent. The other classes were awesome and enjoyably. At the end we had the meeting with the presidents of their quorums and the bishop and they were dyeing for us to give them work or people to visit. They wanted to know all about our investigators and how to help them. I was blown away and so happy to see initiative that i havent seen the other 9 months of my mission. I am so happy to be in this ward and get to work.
As for my companion he is from Bolivia and his name is Elder Guzman. He is super cool and doesnt want to coast to the finish. He told me that right off the bat and i was pumped to hear it. We are trying to find someone to baptize his last week in the mission and we are getting close to finding someone. I am not worried about killing him, because i know that he will work hard.
My area is only hills haha. We take a bus up into the hills and then work from there. Its about 7 different hills and all the houses inbetween and around them. Its the part of our ward that is full of members. We cant walk down a street without a member greeting us, its really cool. Our pension is funny and cooks well, and her son is studying to be a chef so he cooks for us everynow and then. He is also a RM.
My life is great out here and i also got to meet Elder Wengren again. My best friend from the CCM and he is in my zone! Its going to be a great couple of changes. I also filled out one journal so im working on my second one! It has my first nine months of the mission in it and this next one will be until i have 20 months. I am so glad that i started one and have kept writing in it. Looking back at old entries makes me laugh and to realize my progress here in the mission. So when you guys ask me about my mission, ill just give you my journals so i wont have to talk so much haha.
I love you all and am thankful for the letters. I hope that you will find someplace to live haha.
Elder Washburn
As for my companion he is from Bolivia and his name is Elder Guzman. He is super cool and doesnt want to coast to the finish. He told me that right off the bat and i was pumped to hear it. We are trying to find someone to baptize his last week in the mission and we are getting close to finding someone. I am not worried about killing him, because i know that he will work hard.
My area is only hills haha. We take a bus up into the hills and then work from there. Its about 7 different hills and all the houses inbetween and around them. Its the part of our ward that is full of members. We cant walk down a street without a member greeting us, its really cool. Our pension is funny and cooks well, and her son is studying to be a chef so he cooks for us everynow and then. He is also a RM.
My life is great out here and i also got to meet Elder Wengren again. My best friend from the CCM and he is in my zone! Its going to be a great couple of changes. I also filled out one journal so im working on my second one! It has my first nine months of the mission in it and this next one will be until i have 20 months. I am so glad that i started one and have kept writing in it. Looking back at old entries makes me laugh and to realize my progress here in the mission. So when you guys ask me about my mission, ill just give you my journals so i wont have to talk so much haha.
I love you all and am thankful for the letters. I hope that you will find someplace to live haha.
Elder Washburn
This week was very fun and interesting at the same time. First i want to talk about some of the funny crazy things that happened. This week we went to Plaza Vea, which is like Walmart to pick up a few things that were on sale. On the bus ride there, the bus was absolutely packed, so i, being the last one to get on, was left to hang onto a bar inside the bus with my body hanging out side the bus. It was really fun and i talked to the money guy the whole time. The only problem was when the bus driver got really close to poles or motos haha, but i made it through unscathed! Another interesting occurence was a blessing that we gave this week. A man approached us and asked us for a blessing on his mother who has cancer. She was really bad, and the blessing ended up being one of those death blessings. We just blessed her to do die comfortably and know that there is a plan for her in the next life, she died the next day. It was really weird but still not anything bad. We did have a first this week with our church meetings. This last week was fast and testimony and it was the first meeting where apostasy wasnt spoken by anyone but just great testimonies by everyone, it was actually really nice. But then our bishop gave us apostasty when he tried to prevent a baptism of ours. He tried to stop it, so he called our president who ripped him apart, and then he allowed us to have the baptism. The bishop is just apostasy, but we have to live with it for now.
Well that is the funny things that have happened this week. As for our spiritual happenings we had some good ones and bad ones. We have a TON of people to teach here and sometimes we cant reach out to everyone, which is a huge blessing. We will have at least 4 baptisms by the end of the month, which we are so pumped about, and we are hoping to get people ready for June. The time has really been flying by because we are so enveloped in the work, this change is half over and i didnt even realize it! The work is progressing greatly, and we are having a blast doing it.
I do have news that i will be calling home around 11 to 1 tomorrow Peru time, so mom stay at home for the morning afternoon time, and tell me what time you want me to call. On mothers day, or on my Birthday? Whichever is fine, but ill probably call in the afternoon for mothers day and night if its my bday. Try to see if we cant do a conference call so i can talk to andrew and zach and samira too. That would be a great bday present!
I love you all and am happier than ever out here. Thank you for the prayers and the love. They always help.
Love
Elder Washburn
Well that is the funny things that have happened this week. As for our spiritual happenings we had some good ones and bad ones. We have a TON of people to teach here and sometimes we cant reach out to everyone, which is a huge blessing. We will have at least 4 baptisms by the end of the month, which we are so pumped about, and we are hoping to get people ready for June. The time has really been flying by because we are so enveloped in the work, this change is half over and i didnt even realize it! The work is progressing greatly, and we are having a blast doing it.
I do have news that i will be calling home around 11 to 1 tomorrow Peru time, so mom stay at home for the morning afternoon time, and tell me what time you want me to call. On mothers day, or on my Birthday? Whichever is fine, but ill probably call in the afternoon for mothers day and night if its my bday. Try to see if we cant do a conference call so i can talk to andrew and zach and samira too. That would be a great bday present!
I love you all and am happier than ever out here. Thank you for the prayers and the love. They always help.
Love
Elder Washburn
Howdy there friends and family!
We are already seeing the success of this area and why our president decided to open this area. We have found many new people to teach and spread the gospel with. Here are some pictures of a place called new america sand, where there are a lot of great people ready for the gospel.
We were also blessed with 2 baptisms this last week. These two teenagers that we baptized are great and really strong in the church. We felt really blessed to have been allowed to teach and baptize them. That is one thing that i have learned this week from the scriptures. The success that we have is not ours in any way. The Lord has done all the work in preparing these people, and we are only allowed to baptize them. We become worthy to teach these people through our actions and how pure we are. I literally have not baptized anyone, but have only recieved the blessings of being allowed to do so. It is very humbling to remember this, and makes me want to repent daily, and make myself worthy to be allowed to work among these chosen people of the Lord.
As for the ward, they really dont want us haha. The bishop refuses to speak to us, and do much of anything as a bishpop. Surprisingly he is 29 and a return missionary, but yet hates us as missionaries. We will try to gain his respect and love, but it will be hard. The members are just as cold as well to us. There area few that love us, but its mostly scrutiny. It only goes to show how one missionary can destroy a ward. So now we are in the act of repairing those ties with the ward. We really dont worry about the ward too much, but just try to do the work. Our ward mission leader is alright, but still a little lazy. Needless to say, i went from the heat to the frying pan when it comes to the wards that i have worked in haha. But i am not sad or depressed by it, rather i am thankful for the challenge and ready to do my part.
Collin´s letter was awesome and im happy that he is enjoying his time. I recieved the package and THANK YOU!!! It was amazing to recieve all of my favorite foods and more. Im trying to conserve them and what not so i dont run out too fast. Half of it is in the freezer of our pension haha. Thank you so much for it, but be sure to use the new office address and to put it up on the website for everyone else!
Thank you for the letters and the great love.
Elder Washburn
We are already seeing the success of this area and why our president decided to open this area. We have found many new people to teach and spread the gospel with. Here are some pictures of a place called new america sand, where there are a lot of great people ready for the gospel.
We were also blessed with 2 baptisms this last week. These two teenagers that we baptized are great and really strong in the church. We felt really blessed to have been allowed to teach and baptize them. That is one thing that i have learned this week from the scriptures. The success that we have is not ours in any way. The Lord has done all the work in preparing these people, and we are only allowed to baptize them. We become worthy to teach these people through our actions and how pure we are. I literally have not baptized anyone, but have only recieved the blessings of being allowed to do so. It is very humbling to remember this, and makes me want to repent daily, and make myself worthy to be allowed to work among these chosen people of the Lord.
As for the ward, they really dont want us haha. The bishop refuses to speak to us, and do much of anything as a bishpop. Surprisingly he is 29 and a return missionary, but yet hates us as missionaries. We will try to gain his respect and love, but it will be hard. The members are just as cold as well to us. There area few that love us, but its mostly scrutiny. It only goes to show how one missionary can destroy a ward. So now we are in the act of repairing those ties with the ward. We really dont worry about the ward too much, but just try to do the work. Our ward mission leader is alright, but still a little lazy. Needless to say, i went from the heat to the frying pan when it comes to the wards that i have worked in haha. But i am not sad or depressed by it, rather i am thankful for the challenge and ready to do my part.
Collin´s letter was awesome and im happy that he is enjoying his time. I recieved the package and THANK YOU!!! It was amazing to recieve all of my favorite foods and more. Im trying to conserve them and what not so i dont run out too fast. Half of it is in the freezer of our pension haha. Thank you so much for it, but be sure to use the new office address and to put it up on the website for everyone else!
Thank you for the letters and the great love.
Elder Washburn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
