Lima (Surco) Peru – Week 1

Oi! Bom dia!

Haha I've been able to learn a few words in Portuguese this past week! It has been a really good last week! I'm really excited to be here and I know that we're going to help lots of people here! It's also really fun because the 2 DL's here are some good friends of mine. One was my old comp Elder Fagg and the other is Elder Mortenson, who I lived with in Manchay. So, we have lots of experience here in the zone to have lots of success! We're looking like we'll have an amazing month of May here!

In this last week I was privileged with the opportunity to go back and be in the baptism of La Molina Vieja, where I was just at! It was an amazing experience in so many ways. So, you remember that convert from Manchay that I was telling you about last week? Well he had been helping us teach these people that got baptized on Saturday, and one of them asked him to baptize them. So, he was able to baptize his first person! So that was awesome! I'm so happy that he was able to do that! The 2 people that we baptized were a father and son. The mom was baptized years ago in Venezuela and the 2 other kids are listening, but they're going to take a little longer. But I know that they'll get baptized! 

I was also able to go to one of the Hermana’s baptisms here in the zone. We got a last-minute phone call from them saying that they needed someone to baptize this kid because he only wanted an Elder to do it and he decided that last minute. So, we had to drop everything that we were doing and go, because all the other elders in the zone couldn't do it. But the good thing is that he was baptized and then on Sunday confirmed.

Well I hope that all the weeks keep going this well! And I hope that you all have a great week! The pics are from the baptisms and from some converts from LMV. The pic with the converts also has a kid that was leaving on the mission the next morning, so he spent his last night with us! Well that's all! Have a good week!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 18

Good Morning,

This last week has been a very good week in the best mission in the world! My comp and I were able to have some baptisms to finish off the transfer strong! We were able to help Marcia and her daughter Valentina get to know the Gospel and be baptized. Her other daughter that is 9 decided not to get baptized, because she’s has more friends in the other church that they were going to. So, I would give it a little bit of time and she'll get over that and want to be like her older sister and mom. I am so very thankful for the opportunity that my Father in Heaven has given me to be in this ward. It is honestly amazing! I love it so much. I am even more thankful that I was able to be an instrument His hands to help others come unto a knowledge of His Gospel. And to see how members of this ward act instantly to help others in need spiritually or even temporally. This has given me a very clear example of how missionaries and members should work together. I am very grateful for having the opportunity to know the converts of the church here. They are some of the strongest converts that I know and a few of them want to go on the mission. So that is super amazing! Oh, and something that just came to mind right now is that one of the converts from Manchay, where I served before, has been accompanying my comp and I several times a week. He is working with his bishop there in Manchay to get his papers ready for the mission and his goal is to try and leave at his year mark of being a member. So, that is absolutely amazing. I remember the day when my comp and I contacted his house and he looked like he was less than pleased that we were on his doorstep, but something prompted him to let us in. After a long process of gaining a testimony he was baptized and now he wants to go on a mission. So that is amazing how the spirit works in people and changes them. Now moving on, last night we received the call about transfers from the assistants.... And well I have transfers. I will be going to a Zone called Surco and my comp will be Elder Silva, he is from Brazil. So hopefully I will be able to learn some Portuguese. He also knows English and his Spanish is very good! Although I am sad to be leaving this area, I am very excited for what lies ahead! In the pics that I'm sending are some from our baptism and from the night that we were without power. So, we went back in time and used candles! Well I hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 17

Hola Buenas Días!

I can't believe that we are in the last week of this transfer! It’s crazy!!!! The time has just flown by. I feel like it was yesterday that my comp and I received the call that we were going to stay together and here we are 5 weeks later. I must say that this was one of the best transfers of the mission so far. My comp and I have been able to work hard and have lots of success! Even though he is one of those Utahans, I've grown to deal with him! Haha jk he's great! Even though he thinks that Utah is better than Idaho. Oh well, one day he will recognize that he's wrong! I'm really glad and thankful that we've been able to work together for this time because his strengths are my weaknesses and my strengths are his weaknesses. Because of that we have been able to work and have so much success! It’s amazing how the Lord puts you with people that are the best for you in that moment. Well maybe if we get lucky the Lord will keep us together for another transfer!

This last week we were able to have the baptism of Olga. She is Mexican. So that was definitely very interesting. Because when I got my mission call I never thought that I would teach or baptize anyone that’s not Peruvian. But now we've had a Mexican and Venezuelans. So that's awesome that we have been able to help people from several different places get to know Christ and His Gospel.

Haha this week I also was able to go and visit my favorite place. The toe doctor! Haha I know that in this moment my mom is probably having a small panic attack. But don't worry I'm all good! But this time I was able to include a picture to always remember the memories that I've made there! I hope you enjoy it! This past Saturday we had the opportunity to leave and proselyte with some missionaries that are in the MTC here in Lima. They do this activity to help them get to know a little better the mission field and I was able to leave with 2 Filipinos. They're really cool and humble! They will be great missionaries and they will be coming to this mission.

Well I hope that you all have a great week and I love you all!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 16

Aloha!

Haha I thought that I might change it up a little by saying that instead of Hola. Well I hope that this last week you've all had was as good as mine was!

This last week was a really good week here in our area and we were able to see several miracles! It really has been one of the best weeks of my mission. Because of several different reasons. First off, we were able to take some of our recent converts to the temple to do baptisms for their ancestors and they loved it. And it was a very spiritual experience for all of us. Another miracle for us was that my comp and I were planning on Friday, and we were saying that we really needed to start looking for the end of this month and for May. That same day a recent convert that was accompanying us and took us to a reference and she completed with all of the filter questions and accepted a date for the 5th of May. I really think that if she progresses quickly she can be baptized in the month of April. We need more people for this month so that we can reach our goal. In the moment when we extended the date to her we had people all ready for this month, but they fell through. We also were able to find a family of 5 that we contacted and visited in the same day. They accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of May. And I think that they were so receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the mom is a member. So, we have 2 more people that my comp and I need to find to reach our goal of 7. I am confident that with the help of the Lord we can find them and get them baptized this month. I feel so blessed to be seeing all of these small but significant miracle here in our area! And there are so many more that I can't even begin to count.

We are not only seeing miracles here in our area and zone, but in the whole mission. We are doing things that have never been done before and we are helping more people come to a knowledge like never before. The work of the Lord is accelerating like never before. All of this is happening to prepare us for the second coming as President Nelson said in conference! And we should all feel so grateful to be alive in these moments to participate in what it says in Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

Well I hope that you all have a great week! And the pics I have are of the recent converts in the temple!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 15

Hola querida familia, this last week was sooooooooo amazing! I really hope that all of you had the opportunity to listen to general conference! And if you didn't I encourage you to do so! It was by far the best conference that I have ever seen! Along with the big changes that the church is putting into place. I can't even begin to express how amazing it is to have a living prophet on the earth in these days. Now what we have to do as inhabitants on this earth is follow the counsel of the prophet so that we can be blessed and so that we can prepare ourselves for the second coming of the Savior. I absolutely loved all of the talks in conference but especially the prophets. Here are some quotes that I've taken off of lds.org from President Nelson that I really liked!

 “Nothing opens the heavens,” “quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.”

“Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses,” he counseled, “yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions you are prompted to take.”

“As you continue to be obedient,” he explained, “expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. Every blessing the Lord has for you—even miracles—will follow. That is what personal revelation will do for you.”

“Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true.”

This one right here is one of my favorite ones that he said right at the end of conference, “construction of these temples may not change your life, but your time in the temple surely will.”

He also invited us during the next 6 months to read over, study and share these messages that we have heard with our family members, friends and nonmembers. I'm going to do this, and I hope that all of you will too. Because as we follow his counsel we will be blessed. Because he has received the revelation about what we need to do right now in our lives to find more happiness and the spirit!

We also had a good week in our area! And if all goes well we will be having a baptism in 2 weeks! Well I don't have any pics to send this week, but next week I will! Have an amazing week!

Elder Farnsworth