Lima (Santa Anita Ward) Peru - Week 3

Como estan? Feliz Navidad ayer! I hope all of your Christmas's were good! Because mine was great! I had a lot of food and talked with my family and saw my dog!! I also had a cool experience that I wanted to share.
So we contacted a house and we found out that he is an inactive member. And we set up an appointment with him for later. But then we asked for a reference and he pointed across the street to a house. So we went and knocked on this door. And 2 girls on the balcony started talking with us and were being really rude and they wouldn't help us at all. Then someone finally came to the door downstairs. It was a lady probably 60 years old and she was just so happy to see us! We asked her if we knew this person and she was like yeah that’s my son! And then she invited us in. Her son came in and was really nervous why two people in shirts and ties came into his house at night (because this area at night is a little dangerous). He told his mom to not let us in, but she did and we started talking and introduced ourselves. And then we asked for him to introduce himself. He was right up and front with his problem. So it was pretty easy to find his necessity. He said that for the past 13 years he's had an addiction to alcohol. So we started talking about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how through him we can be made better again! The spirit was super strong and he told us that he felt peace while we were talking. And I had a really hard time speaking Spanish during this lesson for some reason and I apologized that they probably couldn't understand anything, but they said that they could feel the peace that what I was trying to say was the truth. So this testifies to me of two things. One that references are really important and 2 like the scriptures in D&C 100:5-8 says that whatever you declare in his name the spirit will testify of it. Even if it is some American trying to speak Spanish and he is saying random words. Well this week was good! I hope all is well there and I hope you all a happy new year! I love you all! (:
Talk to you in 2017!
Elder Farnsworth

President and Sister Boswell

Mission Christmas Party

Finally got a new camera

Elder Pereida

ANNIE ! ! !

Family Skype

Feliz Navidad

Lima (Santa Anita Ward) - Week 2

Hola! Yeah I don't have very much time to email today............... We had to get up early today and email because we're having a mission Christmas party for Pday today. I don't really know much about it and my zone has to be there early to set up stuff. It’s like 2 hours away... so my email is going to be brief. Wow opening an area is a lot harder than I thought it'd be. A lot of walking and a lot more talking with just about everyone. But it’s really good practice with my Spanish! I feel like my Spanish has improved a lot now that I've looked back. I understand a lot more and now that I can understand more, I have been applying that to my own speaking. That’s one of the perks of having a native comp.

I honestly can't believe that this Sunday is Christmas! And even weirder that there isn't going to be snow or cold weather.. Haha it’s just the opposite it’s hot and humid. But wherever we are in the world, the meaning of Christmas is the same and that’s what we need to remember. I hope that you all remember it and have a great Christmas! I'll talk with you all next week after Christmas!

Love you all!
Elder Farnsworth

Lima (Santa Anita Ward) - Week 1

Hola! Wow what a week I don´t even know where to start.... So many crazy and amazing things happened! Haha and when I say crazy I mean crazy! Well I´ll start with transfers from last week! I got transferred to a new area and both my companion and I are new to the area! So we knew nothing about the area or the investigators. That makes being a missionary really hard! We did a ton of walking and a lot of being lost too! But, we also had a lot of amazing experiences! We ran into a lot of members and investigators who helped us find our way around! We had a lot of great contacts! 

Haha I almost forgot to tell you about my new comp! His name is Elder Pereida and he is from Bolivia! So far I think he is my favorite companion. We get along really well and he is just easy going! But he is very prideful with another Elder in our house. Probably because the other is from Peru! Haha it’s kinda funny to watch them argue about the stupidest things! So yeah I live in a house with 2 other Elders. Right now my comp and I are houseless...... because the house that the Hermanas lived in we can´t live there! But that's ok because the other Elder that lives in our house is American. I´m so glad because I can talk to someone in a language I completely understand. Most importantly, there is hot water which is amazing! We also have something else living with us...... Yeah it has 4 legs, is huge, starts with a R and ends in AT.... Yeah we have a rat. Last night we saw it for the first time....... We spent like 2 hours trying to kill it but it out smarted us and got away. It was freaking huge!!!! And disgusting! A rat out smarted 4 of us... I lost a bit of pride last night. Haha I´ll keep you updated if we kill it this week!

I also received a gift from heaven this week! Like nothing I´ve ever experienced before. We were in the old house of the Hermanas gathering stuff to take to our house. I opened the fridge to see if they had food and the greatest thing that could ever be in there was in there! There was a beef stick and a block of cheese from Hickory Farms. I don´t know if you all know what that is, but it’s a tradition in my family to have this around Christmas time! It is amazing! I've been savoring it!

Everything is all good here! I´m excited for what this week brings! I hope you all are well! And I´ll talk to you next week!

Elder Farnsworth

Peru - Week 12

Hola! Como Estan? Wow I can't believe that it is already December! Time is just flying by! This transfer felt like it just started, and now it’s ending...... Woah! Well I've got some experiences to share this week. Haha what a week!
Let’s just start with the one bit of bad news. I lost some of my pride this week....... But first let’s start way back! Remember when I told you all that I had gained some weight? Yes, my stomach got a little tubby and a few of my pants became tight. Well my body decided that it didn't want to have the weight anymore, and I was like yeah that’s fine; I'll work out a little harder in the mornings. But my body said that’s not cutting it. Faster! You know how there are all of those promotions that say "Lose 20lbs in 20 days" yeah well I had something even faster and its all natural. All you gotta do is come to Peru and eat whatever I ate and it'll take about a day and you'll lose a lot of weight. Yeah I don't think that you need much more information of what happened. I think that you can probably gather from what I said, what experiences I had this past week. But to say the least, all of my pants that were tight, haha they fit perfectly now. And about my pride, I was the only elder from my group that didn't have his insides wrecked. But I made it 4 months out of the US without, so I'd say that I did pretty good!
Oh and some good news about my area!!!! This person that has been an investigator for about a year now finally accepted a date for baptism!!! SO that’s really exciting! He couldn't be baptized because he has an addiction to cigars. But as of today he has 15 days without smoking! His date is for the 7th of January! So I'm pretty happy about that!
But...... I won't be here for that... Because tomorrow I have transfers! Yes I know, I have hope that I'll have a hot shower! But this next transfer will be very difficult and very rewarding. My new comp and I will be opening an area. So we both are new there, know nobody, and don't know the area! But it’ll be a new adventure! But with the help from a lot of prayers and the ward, we'll be able to have success. But as many things that were difficult for me in this area, I'm going to miss it... Because I've made some good friends and memories here. But I trust in the Lord that where I'm going is where I'm supposed to be.
Well that’s all I have for you this week!! Have and amazing week and remember the true meaning of Christmas! I'm attaching a link of a video you should all watch and really think about what you see!
https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_

Love, Elder Farnsworth

Yes - another cockroach picture

Maria and Gabino Saira - Tyler's pensionista