Hey fam!!! How are all of you this week? It always sounds like you are doing AMAZING! And so are we here in Peru.  We have seen so many miracles and mini tender mercies along our path this week and I can’t tell you everything because we don’t have too much time on the internet today but I will tell you just a few.

This week we have been activating a family of five.  When we started this change the husband of this family wouldn’t even let us in the door but little by little as we have been praying and working with the rest of the family.  He has changed COMPLETELY. The other night we were at their house talking about the temple and the covenants that we need to make there in order to have an eternal family and receive the blessing that come from that. And the dad said, "We know, we have talked and prayed about it and we have set a goal to go in OCTOBER to the temple to be sealed as a family!" This was unbelievable to hear for me because just a few weeks ago he had just slammed the door in our face and told us not to come back. Persistence and the power of prayer are the keys . . . and smiling haha so that they will let us in! But this is truly a miracle that was given to us by the hand of Heavenly Father!

Also the other day we went to visit a family of members but little did we know that the husband was not a member. As we talked about the plan of salvation we asked him if he had heard this plan before and he said, "Yes.  Millions.  The missionaries have taught me for 15 years but I still haven’t FELT my answer."  We continued to talk, talking about his divine responsibility as a father and his son, who is 10 years old, turned to him and said, "I want an eternal family.  Please help us."  He looked him straight into the eye and began to cry and after a long time of silence he said, "That is the first time I have ever felt that in my life.  Now, I feel I am on the right path."  We all got down on our knees and HE offered the prayer.  I had never heard a prayer with so much faith and true intention in my life, hearing him thank his Heavenly Father for his ANSWER after 15 years of waiting! UNREAL.  The holy spirit is amazing!

Sorry, I don’t have too much time! I love you all and thank you for your prayers!

Love,  Jess

Hey fam! It sounds like everyone is doing just great! That makes me so happy! I hope everyone had an amazing valentine’s day. It was a lot of fun here . . . in the rain! Many miracles happened this week. I don’t have too much time to mention all of them so I will just mention a few. One of the biggest was the baptism that we had this last Saturday.

Honestly this week has been a week of miracles for my companion and me. Not only have we seen miracles in our area but we have seen complete changes in our companionship. But the biggest miracles that we saw this week was our baptism that we had with Oscar. It was probably the most spiritually-filled baptism I have ever been in. The mother and grandmother of this same family have been rescued and were there in the baptism crying and baring testimony of what they had lost while being less-active and now her son/grandson is being baptized. At first, Oscar would not let us walk into his door because he told us he was a man of "science" and that he didn’t believe that god existed. Slowly but surely we walked into his life and gave him a Book of Mormon and EVERYTHING changed from there on. In his baptism he said, "I used to be a man of science but now that I have this book in my hands I am a man of god." He is 18 and he is planning on going on a mission!

Also this week my companion and I put together a "sister conference" with all of our sisters from Moquegua and Ilo. The sisters from Ilo came here for the morning which was so amazing to see all of the sisters bond together and feel the joy of missionary service. My companion and I spoke a lot about our purpose here in the mission and their purpose as children of God and talking about obedience and dedication. And then, we had a testimony meeting and many of us began to cry and I truly felt that we all needed this so badly. It was such an unbelievable feeling to hear the powerful testimonies of each one of the sisters and to see the amazing potential that each one of them has. This conference was such a spiritual experience for everyone and now we feel a lot closer to them as their leaders!

We had another amazing lesson with Marcia, the investigator who stopped us on the street and asked US for a pamphlet. We were sitting there in the lesson talking about the restoration and Hna. Lucia (the mom of Oscar) accompanying us, and all of the sudden Lucia says, "Do you feel alone?" And just from this question Hna. Marcia began to tell us about her entire life and how she has felt very alone until now. The spirit was so strong in this moment and all because of one of the members asked her an inspired question. We explained to feel accompanied by the Holy Ghost we must first be baptized and she ACCEPTED in March. Such miracles!

Today Edson is going to the temple! And yesterday our convert received her calling, her recommend and paid her tithing! It was such a special thing to see these two progress and on top of that Edson and Ana are great friends!

Well, this was my week, it was amazing! Thank you for all of your prayers and words of comfort for me each week. I know I say this every week but I honestly could not be here without each and every one of you! Thank you! Keep smiling! Talk to you next week!

Love, Jess

Andre (one of our rescues) baptizing Oscar!

Birthday party of one of our recent converts

Easting Panatone (for Christmas) in February!

Lunch at our convert's house

Baptism of Oscar!

Our District

Sister Conference with our sisters from Ilo and Moquegua

Haha Thank you companion for reminding me . . . ahhhh scary!

 

Hey fam!

It sounds like everything is going well back at home! I don’t have too much time to wright but this week was super special with the baptism that we had. I need to tell you the background of this kid. He is so strong in his testimony of this gospel! Paolo is 12 years old and had been an investigator for one year and had told us that every day this year he had been praying to receive an answer about the prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He has received a profound answer and has been urgent about getting baptized this entire year. However, his parents would not give him permission. We have been working with them this entire transfer and as we have been focusing on the Book of Mormon, slowly but surely the family softened and gave him permission. His father never supported him and we were sure that he was not even going to come to the baptism. But when it came to Saturday, he came! Which was such an unbelievable step in the life of Paolo. Now, he is the only member in his family and we are working with him now to become the missionary in his family. And he has already started this process. He told us three weeks ago he and his little brother (seven years old) are starting to read the Book of Mormon together each night!, Haha and speaking of his little brother, after he was baptized he walked to the font and said, "My turn!" haha. His mom pulling him away, he says, "But I can when I turn eight, right mom?" And to our surprise she says, "Yeah yeah, when you are eight." Little by little I know this family will become an eternal family!

And our new convert Edson baptized him! It was so amazing! He was so nervous, but he did an amazing job! We were working with him the entire week to memorize how to do the ordinance. And also, Edson received his temple recommend and has saved up money to go to the temple this next week! He is taking the name of his grandfather in order to do the work for him! Ah we are so excited for him. He is going to be such an amazing missionary!

We have been working with a family. The mother is an active member but the husband has not assisted in five years. The other day we had a lesson with him about the prophet Joseph Smith, his devotion and love for this work and we were extremely direct with him saying that if he doesn’t go to church it will be on his head for the rest of eternity, that he wasn’t able to reach exaltation with his family. He began to cry and promised that he would come. He always promised us that he would come and never did so we didn’t think too much of it at first but as we were sitting the relief society and all of the sudden I look over at the door and Luis is standing there with his suit and tie and briefcase. It was such an amazing site to see! The bishop almost had a heart attack haha! Such miracles each day!

Well this was my week; filled with little miracles each day. All we need to do is open our eyes to see them--especially during times of difficulty. During these times of difficulty these miracles are even MORE accessible but it is just our clouded vision that blocks us from seeing them! Thank you so much for your love and your prayers. I KNOW I could not do this without each and every one of you! Keep smiling!

Love,

Jess










Hna. Zobrist!



Leadership Council







My two moms in the mission - Hna. Rivera and Hna. Castro





Our area "Los Angeles" in the rain









Edson (recent convert) baptizing Paolo




Paolo's baptism







Plaza de Armas in Arequipa

FAM! How are you guys doing? It sounds like all of you are doing absolutely fantastic which makes me so happy! Well, this morning I got up at 4 AM to head out to Arequipa which was super fun! But apparently it has been raining tons in Arequipa and when we arrived one of the streets that the bus drove through was flooded with water and all of the sudden water began to fill the floor (we were on the bottom floor)with water and everyone started screaming haha. We couldn’t believe it. We had our legs and feet up on our chairs the rest of the ride in!


This week has been full of miracles, seeing the hand of the Lord in our every footstep. I will just mention a few of the amazing things that happened.


The other day my companion and I were walking fast to an appointment when all of the sudden I hear a lady say, "Can I have one of those (pointing to our pamphlets)?" I was a little surprised because usually people don’t come up to us wanting to hear about the gospel. She continued, "I love learning about God and I read my bible each week." Wow. We took down her name fast, not really processing what just happened. And for a week we completely forget about it until one day we were in the ward building and I was flipping through my planner and saw her name and got the biggest feeling to call her. So we did. She answered the phone and said, "I am right in front of your capilla. Where are you?" We took off running and met her outside with her daughter and it turns out that she lives directly across the street from the chapel. And right then she accepted to assist and activity that night and we taught her afterwards. And she accepted everything, saying in her prayer at the end, "I hope this is not the first or the last meeting we have together. I hope this will be for forever!" That moment was so unbelievable! And she came to church the next day with her daughter. Miracles!


Another one; yesterday in church, Hna. Lucia who was just rescued got called as the second counselor in the relief society! And her son is getting baptized in two weeks! But the miracles was that as I was sitting in the sacrament meeting I was just thinking, waiting for someone to give their testimony. All of the sudden I look up and our INVESTIGATOR, Christian, walks up to the pulpit! He expressed how he has never felt like he was in a family but here he does and he knows that there is something difference about this gospel compared to all the others. The spirit was so strong and all of the members were shocked to see a non-member take the courage to go up and bear his testimony!


As I was driving home from ILO the other day I was reading the Ensign from this last conference. Actually, I was just flipping through the pictures, when all of the sudden he looks over at all the pictures and says, “Why are they all so happy?” That was such an amazing question that just hit me. We talked the entire ride home and at the end I gave him my Ensign to read. But this experience just made me realize that the testimony and evidence that this church is true is through our happiness and smiles! People see this. We need to let this light shine!


Well, this week was amazing! I love each and every one of you so much and thank you so much for all your love and prayers! I could not do this without you!


Love, Jess

Doing divisions in ILO

On the bus at 5 with the zone leaders

At the internet cafe right now as I am emailing you!