FAM!

How are you all doing? It sounds like everyone is doing great.  That gives me so much happiness and comfort to know that! This week has truly been a week of miracles in all ways possible! Our mission theme is to focus on the BOM and as a companionship we have been really focusing on that this week and I have never felt such a power of the restoration in my life.  I will tell you of a few of these miracles that happened this week through the power of the restoration.

We have been working with a 25-year-old less-active lately named Alexander.  He has really been struggling with his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel.  So the other day we decided to watch the 20 minute video about his life.  After we were done we sat there for a while in silence and my companion said, "Would you like to kneel down right now and ask if this truly happened?" He resisted for a little bit but got down on his knees and prayed for about 10 minutes long.  As he got up he had a tear in his eye. We didn’t say anything, usually we ask, "How did you feel? Etc.," but we knew that he was going to speak. Without saying anything he lifted up his hand as if he wanted to touch something in the air and at the same time he looked at his hands almost shocked and he says, "I have never felt something like that in my life.  I can’t explain it.  I can’t explain it. I can’t explain it!"  After a little bit more time with us still staying silent he says, "I KNOW I can’t deny.  I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God."  I have never felt such a strong feeling of the truthfulness of the prophet Joseph Smith in my life. So unbelievable.

Another less-active, a 17-year-old named Ciro, the one who I was talking about the other day who said he wanted to go on a mission. As we entered into his house my companion and I had the feeling that we need to talk about the prophet Joseph Smith.  We watched the video of him getting tarred and feathered and after the video it was silent and he said, “The other night I had a dream with him.  He was trying to get me to follow him but I wouldn’t listen.  But now it know it was HIM the prophet Joseph Smith and NOW I can feel that the spirit is telling me to learn more of him and his life in order to have an extremely strong testimony of the restauration of the gospel.” As we have been going back this week he has been investigating absolutely every book, movie, anything that he can get his hands on about the prophet Joseph Smith. I have never seen someone who has such a desire to learn more about the prophet. So amazing!

Yesterday at church one of the members brought a friend of hers to church and as I sat there with her in the sacrament room as the reunion started all of the sudden she began to cry and said, "This is so beautiful."  I haven’t ever seen anyone be so touched by the spirit that was there in that ward house. And as she was taking in this amazing spirit all of the sudden I turned around and saw our pencionista walk in with her HUSBAND! My companion and I have been inviting him this entire change to come to church but he has always denied us saying he will die Catholic. But even though we haven’t been teaching him directly every night we are saying nightly prayers with their family and I am convinced that through this small and simple thing, we saw this Sunday a giant step in his life! Heavenly Father is so amazing!

Well, there have been many miracles this week and I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for His CONSTANT guidance in my footsteps. If it weren’t for him and for the example of my family I would be completely lost in this work! Thank you for your prayers and your love.  I feel that each of you are right by my side! Keep moving forward and smiling! Talk to you soon!

Love, Jess

My comp getting her DNI

Fam!

It sounds like all of you are doing so great! Thank you for all your words and thoughts, they are truly inspired and help me in every step that I take here in Peru! This week has been good.  We have seen soooo much success the lives of our less-actives! The other day we were walking by a house of a less-active who is never home but we both had the feeling to go and knock on the door.  And guess who opened the door?  Him! He is a 17-year-old boy; his parents are less-actives and he never has had the feeling to go to church. However, we decided to show him a video of missionary work Don’t Cross The Lines by Holland.  As we watched he began to tear up at the end when the missionary baptizes his investigator. As the video ended we just sat in silence for about three minutes when he finally said, "I want to do that." The spirit was so strong in that moment knowing that this was the path for him to go and preach the gospel to those who are waiting for him!  The next day he walked into the ward house with his white shirt and tie! What a miracle!

Also, the other day we went to the house of another less-active; an older lady that hasn’t come in years and years.  She has been sealed in the temple. We went into her house, began to talk to her and one by one her five children came in out of nowhere! Finding out that they are all less-active and all live there with their husbands and wives who are not members! Right there, we had a family home evening and we talked about eternal families.  Each of their faces just seemed like they were craving to hear this their entire lives! Each of the families that were sitting there accepted to take the lessons and we have set a date for them to get married! It was such an unexpected miracle that night!

Yesterday we left proselyting with our investigator Oscar and I couldn’t believe how strong his testimony was. After we left for home he couldn’t stop asking us about the mission and he told us that he has plans to go! As we were on the combi he got his BOM out and started to read and commented to me every two seconds about how he loves the story of Nephi and how he wants to be like him! He is truly an investigator who is having a change of heart.  He is growing each day in the knowledge of the truth and everyday I am seeing a brighter light in his face! It is amazing to see this change in him and also in his mother!

Well, this was my week.  It was amazing and I have learned even more this week about the true power of the atonement. I have felt this power more this week than I ever have before. Only through Christ we can be healed spiritually, physically and emotionally. Look for this power.  It is in our everyday lives--you just must look for it and accept it! Thank you so much for your prayers and the power of your testimonies! I couldn’t do this without you! I love you! Keep smiling! 

Love, Jess

FAM!

Hey fam how are you? It sounds like everything is going great down in SLC. Everything is going great here in Peru! We have seen many miracles this week in the progress of the investigators and less-actives that we are working with! One of the less-actives that we are working with lives alone with her 18 year old son, Oscar, her son has always seemed to be really closed and has listened to the missionaries forever never wanting to talk. And every time we taught his mom, she always pleaded with us, “Please help my son come into the gospel.”  But one day my funny companion just kept knocking, knocking and knocking on the door until he came out haha. Right then, we taught him about the plan of salvation with drawings and questions--he had tons of intelligent questions that we didn’t know how to answer. So we promised him that we would come back with the answers.  But we told him that we know that he would be able to find the answers to all the questions he had in his soul in one book--the Book of Mormon. We left him Ether Chapter 12 for him to read and when we came back the next day he had read and told us that he found his answer! And he accepted a baptismal date! To see his mother’s face when he accepted was priceless. Such a miracle.  The Book of Mormon is the key to the conversion!

We learned so much in our leadership council about the importance of our studies and how our studies in the morning can change generations! We talked a lot about the role of the spirit and especially the importance of LISTENING, to be able to discern the needs of each person. At times I was so worried about what I was going to say that I forgot that during the lesson THEY are the ones that should be talking and practically teaching themselves.  It is just our job to ask the questions. It was such amazing council. And to see all the work that President puts into every aspect of this work is unbelievable to see every time!

We began to teach a family of members, however, the father is not a member. His parents formed the evangelical church here in Moquegua so he is completely faithful in that church and never before accepted the visit of the missionaries. But one day we had a FHE with his family and he was there.  He brought out his bible thinking that we were going to do some scripture bashing but instead of we just asked him about what he liked to do and his hobbies. He looked quite confused at our questions because he was expecting to learn doctrine. But we did not even mention it. He mentioned that he love basketball so we asked him if he would be willing to teach a class to the kids in the ward and he said he would love to! He is teaching classes every night.  And yesterday he came to teach to hear his daughter talk! Poco a poco! But through the little things there are miracles!

This week has been amazing.  Heavenly Father has led my way in every step that I take. He truly knows perfectly the heart of each child of god and his love for each and every one is immense! Thank you so much for all your words and prayers.  I KNOW I couldn’t do this without them. You are the most amazing family I could ever ask for.  Thank you for your examples and your love.  I couldn’t move forward without them! I LOVE YOU. Keep smiling.  I will talk to you next week!

Love, Jess

At the Mission Home

All the sisters

These are all the sisters we are in charge of.  They are adorable!

Divisions with Hna. Fueres, from Galapagos.  She is awesome!

Helping President make french toast in the morning before the conference

Hey fam! How are you all doing! It sounds like you guys had a great New Year’s and Christmas! For New Year’s, as my companion and I were sitting in our beds (our apt is on the 1st floor right by the street) we were hearing all night a drunk guy arguing with a dog as fireworks went off. haha  It was a pretty funny start to the new year! I hope all of you have set goals for this new year in order to come closer to your savior Jesus Christ!

Talking about new goals, the new focus for our mission this year is the study of the Book of Mormon, so the day after New Year’s President Zobrist gave instructions to all the leaders to take an entire morning to read the Book of Mormon as a zone. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had with the Book of Mormon. At the end of the reading session everyone stood up to give their testimony and many of them said that they had never read the Book of Mormon until right now in the mission and this experience to read for hours has strengthened their testimonies in order to have power as they bare testimony of the keystone of our religion!

This week has gone very well for us.  There were many miracles that we saw in our area. One of these miracles was just barely this last Sunday. Our recent convert, Ana, came to church and was sitting in sacrament meeting when all of the sudden her husband walks in from the back and sits down right next to her and after the meeting he came up to me and said, “Ah, I wanted to come early.  I didn’t know the hour changed”. That same day we went to his house and taught him the Restoration and he was so interested that he downloaded the entire Joseph Smith movie and as we were leaving his house he pushed play haha. They are going to be an eternal family and we are not going to stop until we get them to the doors of the temple! 

Also, this week we had divisions with Hna. Guymon and Hna. Mamani, also with Hna. Ango and Hna. Bassett from ILO. They are such amazing missionaries but we have seen that they have been struggling a little lately, however, we have plans to help them re-cover this urgency of obedience that we constantly need in the mission and help them recapture their purpose as soldiers of God´s army. It is amazing to have this opportunity to get to know these amazing sisters and learning from their talents!

Today my companion and I traveled to Arequipa to go to leadership council which is always an amazing spiritual experience. As we traveled here we had many experiences finding people in our path who are ready to hear the gospel here in Arequipa. My companion is amazing and she is teaching me something new each day!

This was my week.  It has been an amazing one! A good start to the year! I just want you all to know how much I love you.  I couldn’t do this work without each and every one of you! Stay firm and always KEEP SMILING so that all those around you can see the light of Christ that is in you!

Love, Jess

At Edson's house for Christmas!

In ILO for pday - by the beach

On the bus to Arequipa today - one of the families did not have a seat for 4 hours so we let their little girl sit in the middle of us.  Little cutie!