Lima (Manchay) Peru – Week 1

Hola! Como están? This week has been really crazy! My new comp is called Elder Gallegos and he is from Puno, Peru. He has like 5 months left in the mission. This week has been a great week! I love my new area and my new comp! I am really excited to be able to work here. Haha there is a lot of dirt here. But I have hope that there will be a lot of people interested in the gospel here. My comp has been doing a pretty good job leading the area, but he has struggled with it a little. But I understand because he has little time in the mission. I came here and we had a lot of people with baptismal dates. But most of them aren't even that interested and aren't progressing. So we have dropped them to use our time with more wisdom. Because if we are wasting our time with people that aren't progressing what is the purpose? So we dropped them, but we have found a few new great people with a lot of potential that this week I feel like we need to invite them to baptism. And we'll see how it goes from there. But the struggle that we have here in Manchay is that it is hard to find people to accompany us. So we had quite a few appts fall because of this. And the way in the past that the missionaries got people to go with them was that they bought them a hamburger..... I don't want to buy them hamburgers. And I feel like that isn't the way to get them to come with us. This hasn't really been a problem for me in some of my other areas. Haha so it'll be interesting to see how it goes. But I’m really excited to be here and to be helping in the work here!

I was reading the talk from President Monson this past week and I want all of you to read it. It is my favorite talk from conference this year. If we all do what this talk says, we will be able to have more happiness in our lives.

My dear brothers and sisters, I greet you most warmly as we are met again in a great general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before I begin my formal message today, I would like to announce five new temples which will be built in the following locations: Brasília, Brazil; greater Manila, Philippines, area; Nairobi, Kenya; Pocatello, Idaho, USA; and Saratoga Springs, Utah, USA. This morning I speak about the power of the Book of Mormon and the critical need we have as members of this Church to study, ponder, and apply its teachings in our lives. The importance of having a firm and sure testimony of the Book of Mormon cannot be overstated. We live in a time of great trouble and wickedness. What will protect us from the sin and evil so prevalent in the world today? I maintain that a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of His gospel will help see us through to safety. If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, please do so. If you will read it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, the Holy Ghost will manifest its truth to you. If it is true—and I solemnly testify that it is—then Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Because the Book of Mormon is true, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s Church on the earth, and the holy priesthood of God has been restored for the benefit and blessing of His children. If you do not have a firm testimony of these things, do that which is necessary to obtain one. It is essential for you to have your own testimony in these difficult times, for the testimonies of others will carry you only so far. However, once obtained, a testimony needs to be kept vital and alive through continued obedience to the commandments of God and through daily prayer and scripture study. My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives. I so testify with all my heart in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Well have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Tyler Farnsworth 🙂

Elder Gallegos

My new area - Manchay

Lots of DIRT 

Lima (San Gregorio) Peru – Week 18

Well this week like all of the other weeks flew by! It was my last week here in San Gregorio. After 3 transfers here, I am leaving. It is actually kind of sad because I have grown really close to the people here in this area. They are so amazing. They have taken me in like family. There are people here that I will remember for the rest of my life here. And hopefully I'll have the opportunity to be able to return to visit them!

It’s a little sad that we didn’t end up with a baptism this transfer. This next transfer they'll be having a baptism here! His name is Christopher. He is 18 years old and he is really cool. We talked with him outside of his house one day and from there it has gone really well. In the last 3 weeks he has come to church 2 times and he has had most of the lessons. He has a baptismal date for the 3rd of June and hopefully I'll be able to come back for that! We have also found lots of good other people that have a lot of potential. I will be leaving them with my comp which I trust will make something good out of them.

Well, my family that I baptized gave me this blanket. It is a typically color scheme for one of the departments here in Peru. The other pic is from a FHE that we did. And the other is with some people from my zone. Well sorry for the short letter this week... I promise that next week will be longer.

Bye I love you all!
Elder Farnsworth

Lima (San Gregorio) Peru – Week 17

Hola! How are all of you?? Because I'm just fantastic, as my grandpa would say. It has been a great past couple of days. For one, I was able to talk to Annie on Mother’s Day. Oh and yeah I talked with my mom too...... Haha well to say the least I talked with the 2 women in my life. Haha and they're both doing well. It was great to see everyone’s smiling faces and to see that the fam is doing well. Also today, I was able to go to the temple! It is always really amazing to be able to enter the House of the Lord. It’s just so amazing the feelings and things that I'm able to gain every time I go.

Well, there is just one week left in the transfer and I will probably be going to a new area next week. I now have 3 transfers here and this next transfer will only be 3 weeks. At the end of it, President Boswell will leave and our new President will come. Wow, I can't believe that he will be leaving. This man is so amazing. He has helped me in so many ways. He is honestly like a second dad to me. He will be missed.

This week was a little harder than normal in my area. It was because it was Mother’s Day, but people use any excuse they can to say they don’t have time. So not a lot happened. We had some hope that 2 of our investigators were going to be baptized this Saturday but they're not ready...... Maybe in a week or two. It’s hard to make appts with them and their schedule. I have hope that they'll eventually reach the waters of baptism. That is one thing that I've learned in the mission field. You help a lot of people in the process of baptism and the gospel in their lives. Whether it is planting the first seed or harvesting the fruits of other missionaries. Every step is very important whether I'm there or not for their baptism. I’ve had a couple baptisms that I wasn't able to attend, but I was still really happy for them.

Well not a lot to write about this week..... Sorry. PICS of the week. I have 2 pics with some friends that are going home in a week and one from my skype with the fam.

Well, have a great week! I love you!

Elder Farnsworth

Elder Acuna

Elder Paiva

Lima (San Gregorio) Peru – Week 16

Well another week has gone by and now it is only one week until Mother’s Day. I’m pretty sure that my mom is more excited to skype than I am! (; Do I skype her or a girl??? Haha jk If I skyped a girl and not her she would probably come here and kill me or something like that. Haha better not do that!
Well this was a good week! My comp and I had a lot of success finding new investigators! We gave two of them baptismal dates and they accepted! So that’s good! The month of June will be a really good month for this area. We are teaching a couple families that have the potential of being baptized that month. And 4 of the 5 families are married so that makes it easier! But we'll see how it goes! My comp has asked me so many times why we keep on finding new people, but not only people, families. I say it’s because of obedience. He and I have been working hard on obeying with exactness and I think that it has been paying off!

Well this morning we had some down time and I did a lot of thinking about things I’ve learned and how many blessings I truly have. One of those blessings is that my parents were such a great example to me as I was growing up. I didn’t give much thought to it then, but now I can see it all and it makes sense! I am so blessed!! I’m even more blessed to be able to know the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! And now I have right now the amazing opportunity to share it with as many people as possible! The best part about this knowledge that I have is that I have a loving Heavenly Father who does everything for me, and has given me everything. It is my responsibility to share it with the people and that makes me so happy.

Well the pics are when I found a Dr Pepper, calling my parents today (to set up Mother’s Day Skype) and some pics with a missionary. Well have a great day and talk with you next week!!

Love,
Elder Farnsworth

I found Dr Pepper in Peru!

Calling Home to set up Mother's Day Skype

Missionary Friend

Lima (San Gregorio) Peru – Week 15

Buenas Tardes! Como están? Well all is good here! It’s finally starting to cool down! I’ve had to wear a sweater a couple times! I’m glad because I’m so sick of summer and the heat! Haha but I bet in a couple weeks more I'll want summer back!

Well this week was a good week! Not a ton happened, but we talked with a lot of good people! We weren’t able to see our people that have baptismal dates... So that worries me a little bit. We also dropped one of our investigators... This is sad because we became close with her and know that she has the desire to be baptized. But she recently, as of about a month, has a new boyfriend.... and ever since he came into her life she became more and more distant with us and always canceled our appointments with her. Well not cancel just wasn’t there... I never like dropping investigators. It’s one of the hardest things to do. I feel like we're just giving up on them, but in reality they gave up on us. I always feel like there is more to do when there is nothing to do. Sometimes you just have to let people make and learn from their decisions. It’s all a part of life.

I read a really great talk this past week from the Ensign. It is called WAR GOES ON, by Elder Lawrence. It talks about the different ways that Satan try’s to tempt us. Here is a part from it that I really liked!

It is important to know that there are limits to the power of evil. The Godhead sets those limits, and Satan is not allowed to cross them. For example, the scriptures assure us that “power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children” (D&C 29:47). Another significant limitation is that Satan does not know our thoughts unless we tell him. The Lord explained, “There is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart” (D&C 6:16). Perhaps this is why the Lord has given us commandments such as “Do not murmur” (D&C 9:6) and “Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor” (D&C 42:27). If you can learn to bridle your tongue (see James 1:26), you won’t end up giving too much information to the devil. When he hears murmuring, complaining, and criticizing, he takes careful notes. Your negative words expose your weaknesses to the enemy."

This is something that really called my attention! It’s something that we can all do better to protect us from the temptations of him. So we always need to be conscious of what we say. Here is the link for the rest of the talk: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2017/04/war-goes-on?lang=eng

Well that is all for the week! Have a great one! I love you all!

Elder Farnsworth