Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 5

This last week was an amazing one! It was a historical week for us here in the church. I hope that all of you were able to hear the big announcement that the church had for us. Because of the passing of President Monson, the new prophet was ordained, President Nelson. It was interesting to hear about how a new prophet is called, because in almost everything else in the world there is a campaign, but that is not how God works. It is in an orderly manner that everyone can understand. The person with the longest time as an apostle becomes the next prophet. Here is the pic of the new first presidency.

This last week I also hit my last 6 months mark! That's crazy! I can't believe it!

And this is the last week of the transfer! This was the transfer that went by the fastest out of them all!!!!! I can't believe it! And this last week will be the busiest of them all. Today we went to an optional training from a very successful man here in Peru. He gave us the secrets on how to be successful. It was very inspiring! And helped me open my vision on what I want to do after the mission. Tomorrow we have district meeting in the morning, Wednesday we are going to do a zone attack in one of the areas in the zone (its where we go with the whole zone to an area that needs help finding new investigators and we contact in force in a specific spot to receive references for that area), Thursday my comp and I have leadership council, Friday the people that have 18 months in the mission go to a training which will last to 6 in the night, and then Saturday we have weekly planning. So, it’s going to be a full week.

We had a little more difficult week in our area. We have basically had to drop most of the people that we're teaching because they weren't progressing. So, we are basically starting new. But we have lots of faith that this week we're going to find lots of chosen investigators. I'm super excited to see what this week will bring us.

Some of the pics are from last Pday. We went to an awesome sister in one of the other wards, who reminded me lots of Grandma Glo, who made us lunch. And she lived in San Francisco for a long time working in a restaurant. So, she made us chicken pot pie! It was sooooo gooooood. I almost never ate that before the mission, but it tasted so good. And then a cool pic of 2 guys cleaning the roof of the temple today, and a pic from this morning. We went to president’s house to exercise and eat breakfast. It was fun. But I'm going to be sore tomorrow because I'm sooooooo out of shape.

Have a great week! I love you all! BYYYYEEEEE

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 4

Hola Buenos Días,

How are all of you? Haha I hope that you're all enjoying the snow and cold up there. Haha because it is just the opposite here. It is hot and sweaty. But the good news is that I haven't gotten sunburned yet because I put on sunscreen. Haha but my comp on the other hand who is whiter than I am did get burned the other day. But let me just tell you that the missionary tan lines are back and worse than last year! Haha the struggle is real.

This last week was a great week even though we had lots of inconveniences. We were able to learn a lot from them to be able to make changes for the coming weeks. That's the greatest part about the mission, I learn new things every single day. And all the time it blows my mind what I learn. It’s so cool!

One of the things that I love about being a ZL or DL is doing the baptismal interviews. Basically, what I do is ask the person that has been taught by the missionaries a series of questions to see their knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to see if they're keeping the commandments and most importantly their testimony. The people pass their interviews according to the spirit. So, in reality, I'm just being an instrument in the hands of the Lord to see if this person is ready to make the baptismal covenants. And I've had the opportunity to do several of these. Last week I did another one which was really great. It was with a 19-year-old girl who had grown up in the catholic church and had been actively participating in it. And she came to know the church and wanted to be baptized in about a month. She was so excited to be there in the interview and to be able to make the decision to change her life, And as I was in the interview with her I was able to see the testimony in her. And I was able to help her understand some more things. Because her family wasn't in agreeance with her decision to leave the catholic church and be baptized. And she was struggling with that. Because she respects her family, but then again, she had received an answer to her prayers about the Restoration and the baptism. So, I was able to help her feel better and more confident about it. And I felt prompted to promise her as a representative of Jesus Christ that her family would be baptized. I told her that it probably wouldn't be today or next week, but that it'll happen. And I when I say that I told her these things, they weren't my words. I was 100% guided by the spirit to tell her those things.

Last Sunday in church a member that works in the MTC here in Lima gave a talk. It was a really great talk. He shared a quote that I really like.

     When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest,
     in that moment God will endow us with power.
     Ezra Taft Benson

I just really like that, because it’s so true. Not only here in the mission but also in our everyday lives. If we strive to the best of our ability to keep the commandment's we will have strength to overcome temptations and to become better people. Because God wants us to be happy and if we show Him that we want to do His will, he'll help us do it.

Well something that I've learned here in my area is that more people than I thought know English. Often time my companion and I talk in English, and one time we were in the copy store saying that it'd probably be cheaper to go to the other store. The lady said, "no this is the cheapest place." We just laughed because this is my only area where the people speak English. It is a wealthier and more educated area.

Well I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 3

Hello, This has been another great week here in the mission. We made it to the half way mark of the transfer, but I feel like I've only been here for about a week.

In this last week we were able to visit a lot of great people! We were able to extend more baptismal invitations and 4 of them accepted! So, we are really excited about that! Haha…all 4 of them need to get married, but they all have the desire to do it! So, we are really glad that we were able to meet these people. One of the couples were a reference and the other couple contacted us while we were buying in a store. It was really cool!

We are seeing miracles here in our area and we are going to need a lot so that we can attain our goal as a zone of 12 baptisms this month! We are also seeing a few difficulties with our investigators. Some of them are having a lot of problems coming to church. We make plans with them to come and they all say that they’ll come and want to, but in the last minute they have unseen things come up that restricts them from coming to church. So, I'm asking from all of you is to pray specifically for all my companion and I's investigators here in La Molina Vieja. They are:

• Nelida Pariona
• Monica Cuentas 
• Joime 
• Estefani
• Manuel
• Maria

So please do that... and I know that as you do this you will be helping these people change their lives and have the opportunity to return and live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love you all and I hope that you all have an amazing week! Enjoy the pics from New Years.

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 2

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! NO PUEDO CREER QUE YA ES 2018! EL AÑO PASADO PASÓ TAN RÁPIDO! QUE ESTA PASADO CON EL TIEMPO????

Well this last week has been a good week to end 2017. Because what is better than doing missionary work? I seriously can't believe that I spent all of 2017 here in Peru! I remember last new year’s like it was yesterday! This last week just like every week flew by, busy doing things every day. But I honestly love it. I have learned so much and am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here. Because this is truly the best mission in the world. I don't even know where to start with all the things that I have learned and experienced in this last year that'll shape the rest of my life. Because a lot of the things that one learns, and experiences can't be expressed unless you have experienced them. So, all the RM's know what I'm talking about.

Well one of the things that my comp and I did last week was go to the monthly leadership counsel of the mission, where all the ZL's, sister leaders, assistants and president talk about the mission. And one of the things that we did was show the work plans and achievements of the zone from the month of December and then share the goal and work plans for January. So, in this last month here in our zone we achieved our goal of baptisms and confirmations (8/8). So, we were very excited about that. The goal that we made for Jan is 12/12. And we are very excited for that because this zone typically doesn’t baptize a lot. There are lots of miracles happening here and lots of good people to work with. 

We have a lot of investigators that we're working with here! We could either have a really great month here with my comp, or it can be a good month. We have lots of potential here! Like lots! Everyone always told me that this zone/area is really hard because it is rich. But, it is really great and I'm loving it. It’s like the US a little. You can see that in a pic that I have attached below of the car, because you don't see that type of car in a poor area.

Pics for the week, the first is from my Skype last week with the fam, then a pic of the zone (minus 2 people), then the snacks my comp and I bought for new years and then our Pday food! Thanks for all you do for me, and I hope you have an amazing 2018!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (LaMolina) Peru – Week 1

Feliz Navidad a todos!

Wow I honestly can't believe that this is my second and last Christmas in the mission. The time has flown by! I remember when we went to Disneyland 2 years ago as a family before the mission and it feels like yesterday.

Well this last week has flown bye! With my new calling of being a ZL I have been super busy. Haha I thought I was busy when I was a DL, but know I know that it wasn't that bad. Just alone in the last week we had to give a training at the new leader training on how to give a district meeting and do splits, we went on splits with the assistants, had a meeting with them, bought food for a zone Christmas breakfast and many other things. But let’s just say that we have been literally running to get everything done. But it has been super great! My zone is so great, and we have lots of American things here such as fast food, stores and even the American embassy. Its huge! And we have the temple. It is very much like the USA here in my area and in my zone! It is totally opposite than any of my other areas, but it is super great. There are so many amazing people here! Members and investigators. We are going to have lots of success here because the ward is strong and there are lots of escogidos here!

We were able to start visiting a person that has been coming to church for about 2 months and she is super good! At the beginning she didn't want to talk with us, but then she sent us a message wanting to know more about the church and the book of Mormon. And she has been asking the members a lot about baptism and what she needs to do to be baptized. So, this week we will be inviting her to be baptized for the end of January or beginning of February.

The pics are of a dinner last night, fireworks (because there were a ton of them) and from a breakfast we did this morning! Well I love you all and hope that your Christmas’s were perfect!

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (San Luis) Peru – Week 18

Hola!

Well these past couple days since I wrote on Thursday have flown by! Now the transfer has officially ended, and I have transfers. Tomorrow I will be leaving for my new area. I will also be a Zone Leader there so that is really exciting. And it will be a great opportunity to serve and learn a lot. So next week I'll let you know how it goes!

Well the biggest thing that happened during these last couple of days was our Christmas party. Half of the mission was on one day and the other half on the other day. We met up outside the temple and then took pics as a zone (pic attached below). Then we went to a restaurant literally directly in front of the temple and it was really good! It is a chicken restaurant. We ate as much chicken and french fries as we wanted. And we drank a ton of chicha morada, which is a Peruvian drink that is really good! Then we made ginger bread houses. Haha pretty sure that ours were the worst. We received a Peruvian soccer shirt from the mission and ties/candies from some of the parents of the mission. From there we went and changed from our proselyting clothes and went to an orphanage which was in one of my old areas. We played with the kids for about 2 hours, and all of the kids loved it! It was a great opportunity to help them enjoy the Christmas season.

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

Elder Farnsworth

Lima (San Luis) Peru – Week 17

Hello everybody! How are you all! I hope that you're all enjoying the cold weather while I'm getting a nice tan and sweating down here. Haha well I guess should say a nice half neck tan line and an arm one. Well this week is flying by!

We had our last district meeting for this transfer and I did splits with 2 areas. So, it has been very busy, but very great! We had one of our investigators change his own baptismal date from the 20th of Jan to the 30th of Dec. And he asked, can I be baptized this day and we said of course you can! He got really excited. He is 68 years old and he is so funny! He's got some crazy stories. He actually contacted us and that’s how we started teaching him! I'll have to let you know how it all goes with him!

I can’t believe that this transfer will be ending this Monday! It has flown by! So, I'll be able to let you know what my transfers are next Monday! This pic I have is of my district.

Well I hope that you all have an amazing week! Keep watching those videos every day. The ones that I shared with you last week. Do it so you can help somebody else have a good Christmas! I love you all and talk with you next week!

Elder Farnsworth