Hi My People,
I pretty much have nothing to say because we talked yesterday and it
seems like you all feel the same, hence the short emails. I could just
end right here and say take luck till next week...... but I decided to
be a good son, turn the other cheek and write a little bit more
extensively. It really was so great to hear all of your voices
yesterday. I was actually really nervous to call you all and I didn't
really know why but I got through it. Its such an interesting emotion
to talk to someone you haven't seen for more than a year. The mission
that we serve makes you really know what it means to want, love, miss,
be sad, happy, tired, and frustrated. But the ups sooooooo out weigh
the downs.
So something spiritual for a change. Probably one of the most
spiritual experiences in all of my time away from home happened
yesterday after church. I was too excited to talk to all of you that
it kind of slipped my mind to tell you all over the phone. So Efrain
got baptized and confirmed last week and he is such a boss!!! He
really is a good friend of mine. We started teaching him with my temp
Leonel. Efrain is his friend and he wanted to know why Leonel changed
so much and why he's so happy. Efrain sells oregano and some other
things, has farms, properties, houses, and actually quite a bit of
money. But he's always tried to remember God in his life. He always
had felt better when he prayed and he prayed a lot in his life, but he
wanted more......... of something. So we gave him that "something". We
taught him frequently for like three weeks and he was going to get
baptized on the 5 of November but then he had to travel to Arequipa
for a couple of weeks. Then he got robbed at gun point along with his
Dad out in the fields. They took his truck and like $10,000 of
merchandise and left them tied up on the side of the road out in the
middle of nowhere. They broke out of the cords and got back home okay.
He passed through a lot of trials but we finally got back in touch
with him. The thing that amazes me was that he never lost his faith
and said that he was alive for a reason. He thanks God for his life
and he says that he can always make more money, he can't live two
lives. So he got baptized last week and this week got ordained to the
aaronic priesthood. He even showed up like 15 minutes early for church
which is odd even for the bishop here in Peru. After the meeting we
talked for a few seconds and he told me how happy he feels in his
life. He says he feels better every day and feels the Spirit stronger
every day. Then with tears in his eyes and thanked me from the bottom
of his heart for helping him. He told me I helped him so much in his
life and wanted to thank me for the things we do as missionaries. I
had to force myself to hold back my own tears and I realized how
important every child of God is for Him.
That was definately the highlight of my week. Even though calling the
family, recieving letters and playing soccer is fun too, those moments
that you can't live through if not only in the mission really are
priceless. I know I was sent here to Moquegua for a reason. I look at
other missionaries sometimes and think that they are more qualified
and know more than I do, but then I realize that our Father in Heaven
knows us all personally and has a plan for each one of us. I'm so
thankful for every day that I have to work in the mission field and
for every second of door contacting, sun burning, rain, sickness,
fights with the comp, rice, heat, small rooms, cold showers and
walking up steep hills because I know I'm blessing the lives of others
and I know that I'm making a difference.
I hope I get the Christmas package this week and that we can keep on
working hard in this area. I wish you all a happy New Year and hope
you can all party like its 1999! Oh, by the way, they DO love New
Year's here. They usually just spend time with the family here on
Christmas but they ALWAYS have huge dance parties for New Years.
They're doing a big party at the church New Year's eve until exactly
12:00 then they are just going to "eat" until 2:00. I hope they come
to church the next day so that the investigators can keep their
commitments!!!
Love,
Con Cariño,
Elder Child
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