Called to Serve: Assigned to Labor in Piura, Peru: December 2017

Hey Everyone!

I don’t have a ton of things to write about this week, as a lot of days I was stuck in the room sick, but I’ll share a few fun things we did. :)

On Monday for P-day we went to Paita! Paita is about 45 minutes west of Sullana, and it’s a port city. It was pretty cool to finally see the ocean, and another part of Northern Peru in general. The part we were in was Elder Bayona’s old area, so we visited some of his converts and watched a movie with them. It was a pretty fun P-day. I wouldn’t mind serving in Paita at some part of my mission. It’s super cool.

On Thursday we had a Christmas activity with all the missionaries of Sullana. We made a bunch of little treat bags and took them to some kids who were in a nearby hospital. We talked with them, played games, and sang some Christmas songs. It was cool to see their faces light up and be happy even though they were sick or badly injured. We also borrowed a Santa Clause costume from one of our members, and for some reason everyone voted me to be Santa, lol. I thought I was going to die from heat stroke in that thing, but it was fun to pass out all the candy to the kids in a giant (and kinda creepy) Santa costume. Most of the little kids were terrified of me, haha, but it was still fun.

As far as the work in our own area, we are seeing lots of success! I feel like the Lord is really blessing us right now. It feels like almost every door we knock we are able to find someone who is ready to receive us. In just under two weeks of being here in this area, Elder Huarcaya and I have been able to see 11 people accept dates to follow the example of Christ and be baptized. Now, as we know, usually not everyone who accepts a date ends up being being baptized, but we are going to do everything we can to help them progress towards baptism. I know with the help of the Lord, anything is possible. I’m so grateful for this success that we are seeing, and I know it is a result of our desire to work hard and find people to share the gospel with. We are going to continue to work hard and hopefully more success will follow.

I’m sorry I didn’t have more to write about! I promise I’ll have more next week. :)

Have a great week!

¡Avanza su Verdad! #takenote

Elder Bailey

Wow, what a week!

On Sunday, our day was made when we had 6 investigators show up to church! It was the highest of my mission so far. There is no better feeling than seeing the people that we have found and taught in the week before walk through the doors of the chapel ready to listen and learn more. One cool thing that happened was during the sacrament. I was sitting there thinking about Segundo, our investigator, and how bad I wanted him to be there in that meeting with us, when at that exact moment I looked out of the window and saw him walking outside the doors of the church! Segundo showed up with his 10 year old son AND stayed for the full three hours. He is the best. It has been so cool to see his growth and progress. I believe Elders Bayona and Marques have a date to baptize him for the 9th. I’m super sad that I’m not going to be teaching him anymore, along with all the other people we have taught in my first area. I’ve started to see my love grow for them. It’s all good though, they are in good hands with Elder Bayona and Elder Marques.

Monday I spent the whole day with Elder Halterman. He is training with me for these next two transfers. We were super excited and nervous the whole day to find out who our “kids” would be. I went with him up to his area in Querecotillo to help him clean his room to get ready for his new comp. I think I’ve mentioned Querecotillo before in one of my first emails. It is a little village about 20 minutes from Sullana, and it is super awesome. It’s basically a giant banana plantation and it’s super green and pretty. It was a pretty fun day.

Tuesday we got our kids! The whole morning I was super excited because I knew that one of my best friends from back home, Mason Randall, was coming this transfer to the mission, and that I would see him at the mission home. I even knew that there was a chance that I would be his trainer. When we got to the mission home I immediately met up with him and we gave each other a big hug. It was the coolest thing ever to see him. He’s the man. It is definitely a miracle that we were both assigned to serve in Piura, Peru. Out of all the hundreds of missions that there are, we are here together in this part of South America. I definitely feel like this is no coincidence. The Lord always has his purposes for everything, we just have to wait and see. Anyways, after lunch in the mission home and also some training, we got assigned our new comps. Unfortunately, Elder Randall got assigned to be with Elder Marino, in the Piura Central Zone. I was a little disappointed, as I thought I maybe would be called to be his trainer, but I trust in President Rasmussen. He is the only person who can receive revelation for the whole mission. I’m sure we will have the chance to be companions later on in the mission. As for my companion, I got assigned to be with Elder Huarcaya! He is 19 and from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is super awesome. It’s been a little bit hard to understand him at times because of his accent, but it’s been fun to learn to adapt to a different type of Spanish. He has a lot of desires to work hard and find people, and I’m grateful for that. I’m super excited to train and work with him. So far it has been a little bit of an adjustment going from being trained, to training, but we are already seeing success.

We have been working super hard to find new people, and to set baptismal dates. We have really been blessed for our efforts, too. We have been able to find a bunch of new people to teach, and have already put baptismal dates for 4 people! Two of which are Jhony and Pilar. They have met with missionaries before and even wanted to be baptized. However, they were never able to commit to getting married. The other day I felt like we should visit them. When we got to their house, they explained that they have felt so blessed from God lately with everything in their lives, and they want to be baptized. We explained that they still have to get married, and Jhony told me, “Bring me the requirements to get married and we will do it.” It was super awesome. We are going to do everything we can to help them. We set their baptism date for the 30th of this month.

The other two getting baptized are Leo and his little brother, Angel. Me and Elder Bayona found Leo a few weeks back, but weren’t able to get ahold of him again after the first lesson. Me and Elder Huarcaya were able to find him yesterday, along with his 12 year old brother Angel We taught them both the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and really focused on baptism and confirmation. After the lesson, we invited Leo to follow the example of Christ and be baptized on the 23rd, and his brother Angel on the 30th. They both accepted! I hope they can continue to progress towards their dates. Hopefully we will be baptizing this transfer!

One really spiritual experience we had this week was when we were knocking doors. One of the doors we knocked a quiet, older lady named Blanca opened her door, and we started talking to her about her religious beliefs. She expressed that she believes in God and Jesus, but has been having a really hard time dealing with the death of her husband. After hearing this, we immediately began testifying to her the truths of God’s Plan of Salvation for every one of His children. We explained that there is more than just this life, and that through Jesus Christ, she will see her husband again. The spirit was so strong as I shared my testimony of God’s plan for her and her family. Tears were running down her face as we shared of God’s love for her, and I know that she could feel of the light and hope of the gospel. I’m so grateful that we were able to be guided to Blanca and her family at this moment. This is what missionary work is all about: Bringing people to the light and hope of the gospel. This is why we are here.

I hope you are all doing good and had a great week! I want to remind you all of the “Light the World” initiative. If you don’t know what it is, be sure to check it out on LDS.org. If you have any questions for me feel free to send me an email! I’d love to hear from you.

Que tengan una semana fantastica!

Elder Bailey #takenote