Peru - Week 7

Hola! Wow I can't believe that today is Halloween! Time has been flying by. I remember 1 year ago today like it was yesterday. Haha it was a cold, rainy, muddy and a kinda disappointing day. It was State Cross Country up in northern Idaho. I think the worst part about it was that I didn't get to go trick-or-treating because I was sitting in a car for about 9 hours.... Wow I still can't believe that was one year ago. But that’s ok because my President said that we get to go door to door tonight and knock on them. It’s a little different than the normal trick or treating. Instead of saying trick-or-treat we get to say ¨Hola nosotros somos misioneros por la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimas Dias pero mas conzen Mormones." The sad thing is they probably won't give us candy, but what we have to share with them is better than candy. Well this week like every week is full of adventures and experiences!
First, I got a new companion! His name is Nicolas Baltazar. He's pretty cool! He is from Arequipa, Peru. He is the new district leader. He has been on his mission for 8. I´m really looking forward to being able to work with him. What comes with a new companion is having to teach him the area and that’s a little difficult. We had a lot of trial and error with things. Which for most of the time turned out to be good because we'd run into old investigators or members who want to help us. Lots of little "tender mercies" to help me out. I definitely wouldn't be able to do this without your prayers. So thank you!
Oh and we caught up with Jerson this week after his baptism. What he said I'll probably never forget. He said thank you for changing my life. If you wouldn't have taken the time to help me I wouldn't have changed and a bunch of other things! It was amazing! All of the bad experiences and hard times are all paid off because of experiences like this.
I’m not quite used to the cold showers yet, so I tried to heat the water with a match. It didn’t help much.
Well that’s all for this week! I hope you have a great Halloween and week! I love you all!!

Elder Farnsworth

New Companion - Elder Baltazar

Mission Buddies

Water Heater

Peru - Week 6

Hola! Como Estas? Wow what an amazing week! This past week has flown by! But that’s good, because that means that I'm working hard (haha or at least I think)! The week started out with a great P-day last Monday with my zone. We had a BBQ! I had my first multizone conference, which was amazing! My companion had 2 baptisms along with the 12 other baptisms my zone had at the same time. And we have transfers tomorrow morning!
Ok let's start with last Monday! The BBQ was a lot of fun, but nothing like one of Grandpa and Darin’s BBQ. I've been craving a steak or a real hamburger for a long time now! Let’s just say I've been a little deprived of beef here. I can count the number of times I've had it on 3 fingers. Yeah...... I'm a little sad about that. So for the BBQ we had hotdogs, hamburgers and chicken! It was the closest thing to an American meal that I've had since I've been in Peru. Then after we watched Ice Age 4 and played soccer! Today we're going to a big shopping place! Haha I'll probably end up buying something that I don't need, but it’s fun to barter with the people for a price! I'll let you know next week what I buy!
Next we had a multizone conference with 5 other zones! It was good to see some of my friends from the CCM! But the main topic of it is being 100% obedient and giving 100% to the Lord. We all had the decision to sign a banner making the commitment! I signed it! It'll be hard to do, but it'll be worth it!
Now to Saturday! Wow what an amazing day! We had 14 baptisms or what we call a "Noche Blanca" or in English a White Night. It was amazing! We baptized Jerson (23) and Ronaldo (9). It was great to see them change their lives. Especially Jerson. He went from not caring about religion to crying when we taught him about repentance. He literally changed his life! I love that I get to be a part of the process and help out. I look forward to helping others like him. The look on his face after I baptized him is why I'm here. I know that it’s only been 2 days since then, but you can just tell that there is something different about him. I'll keep you updated on other stories like his! Tomorrow we have transfers! Which is exciting and a little terrifying because I get the opportunity to teach my area to a new companion. I don't know much about him right now, but next week I'll tell more about him. It'll just add to the adventure!
Well I hope that you are all doing well! I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Elder Farnsworth

BBQ and Soccer

100% Commitment

Noche Blanca

Jerson

Ronaldo

Jerson and Ronaldo

Peru - Week 5

Hola! One more week down! So many things have happened! Haha good and bad..... But for the most part good! We have one more week left in this transfer and there is a good chance that my companion will get transferred. It is bad because I still don't really know my area that well..... and if he gets transferred I'll have to teach the area to someone new. I have 4 different experiences that I want to tell you about; a lesson that we had with a Jehovah’s Witness investigator, companion exchanges, giving a talk in church and a very humbling experience.
The lesson with the Jehovah's Witness….Let’s just say that they believe in some very strange things. We've talked with a lot of them, some are very nice and polite and others are super mean. The mean ones just yell and tell us that we're missionaries of Satan, that we're liars, and on and on.... Haha, but it’s kind of fun to listen to them ramble on. The student that we taught was nice. I say student because in order to baptized in their church you have to pass like a 150 problem test about different bible topics. Oh, and they have a different Bible. It has a lot of the same things, but a bunch of things are changed. Ok back to the story, my companion and him were going back and forth about the Bible and sharing different scriptures. I had absolutely no idea what they were saying and it was like an hour. I tried so hard to understand what was being said, but I only picked up things here and there. When things were wrapping up, I felt like I should ask "What is your testimony of Jesus Christ?" He started to tell what the religion believed, and my companion said "no, personally and not what you're church believes.” He didn't have a testimony, and then I shared mine about the Restoration, the Atonement of Jesus Christ and about Joseph Smith being a prophet. Woah, what a cool experience! The spirit was so strong and he was nearly in tears. Then we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read the introduction and pray about it and call us when he does. Even though he felt that our message was true, he's probably not going to call us. That was Tuesday, and he hasn't called. That’s how it is sometimes. Not everyone we talk to will accept our message. They're not ready, and that’s ok. We're just preparing them for a later time.
Haha companion exchanges.... That was an adventure, or in other words, the most stressful day of my mission. The District leader came to our area and my companion went to their area. I had to find all of the houses and we had lessons all over in different areas...I survived and learned a lesson. From every bad experience there is something to learn. I need to learn the area better and have more confidence when I talk with people.
Yeah I had to give a talk in church yesterday. I found out about it 20 minutes before church started so I couldn’t prepare anything, but it worked out pretty well. I gave it and I was definitely helped by the spirit. I didn't have to think twice about things and it was pretty fluid and people understood it so that’s good to hear.
And now my humbling experience….We talked with a member. I think he's about 60 years old. Ten years ago he was hit by a car, in a coma for 40 days, both arms and legs were broken and he was in the hospital for 4 years. Eventually he could walk again. He now lives in a "house" made out of junk, but he is probably the happiest and nicest person I've ever met! He's just so thankful to be alive and be able to walk. So I/we have no right to complain about really anything…My cold shower, that chicken foot and all of the walking up hills all day every day. My mission has been such a humbling experience and I've only been here for a month. But I love it!
I have some pictures of me with food, on top of a hill at night and sweeping the house this morning. Yes, all of those spots are dust. Well that’s all for this week! I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!
Elder Farnsworth

Restaurant Food

Night Lights

New Tie

New glasses

Dinner

Sweeping...yes, that is dust in the air.

Peru - Week 4

Hola! Everything is going well here! I hope all is well wherever you are! This week flew by! It seems like yesterday was pday! But I'm not complaining because pdays are great! Last pday we had the "World Cup." Needless to say, my team won... Haha even though I am really bad! We always go to lunch on pdays! That's always really good!
Attached below is a pic of a part of a typical meal. Now imagine soup and some sort of a dessert.... every lunch and dinner. There hasn't been a day that I haven't had rice! But I'm ok with that. I have been craving a lot of American food like Cinnamon Rolls, a real American hamburger, milkshake, Sourpatch Kids and a Dr. Pepper.
I found some creatures in our house last night.... A big spider and a cockroach...... But don't worry! They both ended up on the bottom of my shoe! Haha it was funny! My comp freaked out and stood on his chair because he doesn't like that kind of stuff.
We have an amazing investigator right now. His name is Jerson and he is 23 years old. We've taught him more than any other investigator. For example, we have taught him the past 4 days in a row and one day before that too. So 5 times last week. You typically teach once a week. But he loves what we're teaching and his baptism is on the 22 of October. The very first time that we taught him he started bawling. We taught him about repentance and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ he can be forgiven. That's just an example of what I get to do for the next two years!
Well I hope all is well! And I'm looking forward to another week of a lot of walking, trying to speak Spanish and hoping the next plate of food I get doesn't end up back on my plate.(Because it almost happened once! It was fish soup.....)
Have a great week! (:

Elder Farnsworth
 

World Cup Champion

Typical main course - plus add soup and dessert

Friendly Spider

Our phone - like the taped on keypad?

Peru - Week 3

Wow what a week! From almost being hit (by a car, bus and a motorcycle), almost being eaten by several dogs, having the first investigator compliment my Spanish and having the opportunity to watch all 5 sessions of General Conference.
Not gunna lie, the first part of the week kinda sucked.... I had my first door slammed in my face. Not a lot of that happens here because everyone wants to talk about Jesus. Or is what most will say is "Estoy ocupado" (I'm busy) and then we convince them that they have a minute to let us talk and give them a pass along card. But not a lot of success this week.... But that’s ok! Other weeks will be a lot better!!
Yeah I wasn't joking about almost getting hit by all of those things. I have a near death experience everyday with them. Because you never know what they're thinking. It’s not like in the States where they always yield to you. The buses here weave through traffic like the motorcycles do back at home. And yes dogs do try to eat me every day. But then I use my Book of Mormon to motion that I'm going to hit them and they typically back off after that. There are literally dogs everywhere here. And they're not pretty dogs. Most of them are really ugly.
I was so surprised when that person said I had good Spanish! I think they were just trying to be nice. But I really have noticed a difference. It’s getting better but it still has a long ways to go!
Conference was amazing! For those of you who don't know what it is, every April and October all of the leaders of our church (Prophet, 12 Apostle and other leaders of our church) hold General Conference. There are 5 sessions over Saturday and Sunday. They talk about what we need to work on, teach us more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and every single talk was inspired. They were all amazing! I found something in every talk that I can apply to my life. And when you're a missionary you see conference differently. You look for things that can help your investigators. For example, we had a person who knows the Book of Mormon is true and knows the church is true, but doesn't believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet. And there was a perfect talk about Joseph Smith that we're going to share with him. And many other examples! It was just simply amazing.
I cleaned our bathroom for the first time in probably 3 months.... it was disgusting.... But it’s a lot better now!
I'm going to attach a photo of part of our area to show what our area is like. It's about 6km long and half of it is on a hill. Haha and the picture of the guinea pigs.... Those will be dinner in a couple weeks! I'm excited! Everyone says they're really good! Yesterday I had chicken foot soup...... I think it’s pretty self-explanatory of what it is.... I think a lot of people have been praying for me. Because I know that there is no way I would have eaten that without a lot of prayers. Well that’s all for this week!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Elder Farnsworth

Clean bathroom - It looks much better.

Area where I serve

Guinea Pigs - Dinner soon