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