I can’t believe how fast the weeks have been passing! I feel like this week was just a blur. Things are going good here in our area. Slowly but surely we are starting to see some changes. Just got to keep relying on the Lord.
Tuesday afternoon we did our usual “grind hour”, which is knocking doors after lunch during the hottest part of the day when the sun just beats on you. After only knocking about 2 or 3 doors, an older guy named Luis invited us in to talk. From the looks of him, he didn’t really seem to me like someone who would accept. I was super tired, too, and had to fight to keep my eyes open when Elder Randall was teaching. However, at the end of the lessonLuis started to show some signs that he was actually listening and interested. Then he said something that caught me off guard. After a quiet pause he said, “I’m going to read your book and pray about it. If I get an answer from God I want to be baptized!” Me and Elder Randall both looked at each other and smiled. It was super cool to see someone who really took our challenge to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it seriously. He accepted to be baptized on June 6th if he receives an answer. Hopefully he comes through and does his part to find one.
Tuesday night we had a lesson with the Facundo family. I don’t know if you remember, but a few months back we baptized a little 11 year old girl named Duani. Well, Duani is part of the Facundo family, which consists of the mom, Maritza, and her seven kids. All of them are baptized members of the church, but have been pretty inactive until Duani as baptized a few months ago. Lately, we have been teaching Duani as one of our recent converts, but now we’ve switched our attention to strengthening the whole family. Despite being members, the mom and some of her kids have some big doubts about the church. On Tuesday we really didn’t even teach them a lesson. It was more of a big Q and A. We were there for over an hour answering all their questions and doubts. We talked about everything ranging from prophets and apostles to commandments, agency, and the atonement. It was pretty crazy, but I think it was really good for them. At the end, we all came to the conclusion that they need to strengthen their testimonies of the Book of Mormon. We explained to them how it truly answers all the questions of the soul, and can help them with all of their doubts. They accepted our challenge to read one chapter from the Book of Mormon each day, and to continually pray to see if it is true.
On Thursday we got invited by the Jibaja family to a “niche de hogar”, or family home evening. If there is one area where the church is actually stronger here in Peru, it would definitely be in their family home evenings. It seems to me like everyone here really puts a big emphasis in having one every Monday. I really feel like that is something that can be strengthened in our wards and stakes back home. Anyways, we shoed up to their house on Thursday night, and the Jibaja family had invited some of their non-member friends also. Everything turned out super awesome. The lesson that Jonny (the dad) gave was on how the family can be together forever. We watched one of those super cheesy church movies from the 80’s but it was actually really good. The topic was really good for this family of non-members, as they had lost an 8 year-old child to cancer a few years back. They seemed to be really touched by the message. After the lesson, we played a bunch of games, ate pizza and pollo a la brasa, and had a good time. It was really cool to see how powerful and effective member missionary work can be. The Jibaja family are great examples of going outside yourself to invite others to come unto Christ.
This week we worked closely with the Diaz family. It’s always a HUGE test of patience with them, as it's almost impossible to sit the whole fam down and teach a lesson. However, we finally were able to start teaching the Dad, Enrique, and he has shown some genuine interest. We watched a few mormon messages with him about finding God in our lives and how the gospel can strengthen our families and our marriages. He expressed to us his desire to change his life and create a stronger bond with his family. We shared with him the power of the atonement, and the real joy and happiness that the gospel brings through faith, repentance, and baptism. We invited him to be baptized, but he told us that he wants to learn a little bit more first. Our goal is to start with Enrique, the head of the house, and hopefully the rest of the family will follow. We’ll see what happens.
On Saturday we were finally able to sit down and have a talk with Javier. Everything went great! We were able to fully teach him the word of wisdom, and also about repentance. We read the entire chapter of Alma 36 with him, which is where Alma shares his conversion story with his son, Helaman. We shared with him how we can always come back to the Lord and we will be supported with our trials and afflictions. In verse 27 it says, “And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me.” We told him how if he puts his trust in the Lord and comes unto him, the Lord will lift him up and help him with his personal struggles. Javier committed to live the word of wisdom, and we established a new baptismal date for the 19th of May. I’m so glad the Lord has been able to keep him in our hands. He is the man.
To end, I just want to share one of my favorite scriptures of all time that I have been thinking about and sharing a lot lately. It’s found in James 1:22, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”. I just love that. Like I have mentioned before, I have met thousands of people here on my mission who, when I ask them if they have faith in Christ, they say yes but they do absolutely nothing to show their faith. As we see in the following chapter, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” To be true followers of Christ, we always need to show our faith through our works, which is righteously keeping his commandments and living his gospel. We cannot receive salvation by our faith alone. My challenge to us is that we can all be “doers” of the word of Christ, not just “hearers”.
Well kids, that’s about it for this week. Everything is going good here en el Norte. The sad thing is, it’s looking like this could be my last week with Elder Randall. :( I guess all good things must come to an end. We’re for sure going to make the most of this last week together. The work continues…
Avanza Su Verdad!
Elder Bailey
*Interesting note: There is a pack of about 5-6 dogs that follow us around every day. Not really sure why. We’ve become a little gang. Guess they want to share this message too.
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