Week 47

LA COPA MUNDIAL!! Things have been pretty crazy around here with the start of the world cup. Its so cool to be down here in South America during a world cup in a culture that eats, sleeps, and breathes soccer. I can honestly say my love for the game has grown immensly, hehe. Everytime we pass kids playing in the street it is hard to resist the temptation to immediatly throw my stuff down and jump right in and play (I give into the temptation every now and then). I think Elder Silvano is just about ready to kill me considering how many "nutmegs" ive given him with rocks as we are walking in the street, hahaha. As fun as it is, futbol has always been a great way to start a conversion with people in the street as well. It doesnt matter who you are, if you start talking about Peruvian soccer with someone, you instantly become their best friend. I love it. Unfortunetly, our boys in the red and white took an L on Saturday to Denmark... Everyone was pretty bummed around here. Hopefully we can get that bounceback win against France this week. Porque yo creo en Ti!!

As far as the work this week, it was a little tough. As of late, we just cannot seem to get any of our contacts or investigators to follow through with the basic commitments that we give to them like reading the Book of Mormon, praying, or going to church. These past few weeks have definitely been a big test of faith and patience. All we can do is just keep working hard, putting in our part, and trusting in the Lord. I know He always fullfills his promises.

One funny experience that I had this week was during a work visit with one of my good friends, Elder Newman. As we were going door to door knocking doors, we decided to take a different, more creative, approach to contacting the people. To take advantage of having two gringos together, after knocking a door and having someone peak their head out of the window to see who it is (what everyone does here when someone knocks on their door), we decided to talk only english while explaining who we were, and what our message was. Obviously, nobody understood what the heck we were saying or what we were doing, but it was hilarious. People had the most confused looks on their faces and it honestly worked so well in getting people out of their doors to come and talk to us. After we got them out of their house, of course we started to talk spanish and said that it was just a joke and that we were going around testing the english skills of people here in Peru. Surprisingly, people thought it was super funny, and most of the people really opened up and were willing to hear our message. It was definitely a different way to contact the people here, but it turned out really well. Ill never forget Elder Newman pointing to his pass-along card of the Savior and saying super slowly nodding his head, "WE HAVE A MESSAGE ABOUT JESUS. YES, JEE-SUS" and the people looking so confused, haha. It was so funny.

Well, I dont have much more time. Everything is going well and the work continues. The gospel is true. Also, I want to give a happy fathers day shoutout to the best father in the world. Thanks Dad for always being my role model and example. You are the best. Thanks for all you do!

Avanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey

"Great works are performed not by strength but perserverance."

-Samuel Johnson