Week 74

¡Feliz Navidad mis queridos hermanos!

This week we headed down to Piura as a zone to have a special Christmas party in the mission home with President and Hermana Vega. We ate lunch, played some games, and then watched a Christmas movie. It was a good time. After the movie, Hermana Vega brought out a big birthday cake to celebrate all the birthdays in December and January. President gave each of us that have birthdays a big hug, with the exception of Elder Schouten, who’s birthday happened to be that same day. President did something that was completely outside of his more serious nature as he hugged Elder Schouten and then picked him up and started shaking him up and down telling him “happy birthday!” It was completely unexpected and us missionaries totally got a kick out of it. It was hilarious. Overall the party was super fun. There were some good memories made. It was definitely worth that long, hot 6-hour bus ride from Tumbes to Piura.

The rains came down and the floods came up! One interesting thing about the region of Tumbes is that unlike the majority of Northern Peru, it has a little bit of a rainy season. So, when we got back up from Piura on Wednesday, we were welcomed to a nice downpour. It was fun to finally experience real rain again after being out for almost a year and a half in the mission. But at the same time, it wasn’t too fun to try and tract in the flowing streets that looked like rivers. It’s safe to say that this city is not very well-situated to get a lot of rain. There is absolutely no drainage system whatsoever, as it all just flows into the streets. I think the next time it rains, we may have to take a canoe to get to our appointments. After finally coming into the apartment on Wednesday night, it really made me feel grateful to have a roof over my head, and to have a place where I could get dry. It’s not a blessing that everyone has here.

On Saturday we had our ward “chocolatada,” which is a Peruvian Christmas party where they eat panetón (fruit cake) and drink hot chocolate. It actually went very well, and I was really surprised how many people showed up. Each organization of the ward each did a special musical number and then there was a live nativity. The stake patriarch, our elders quorum pres, and our ward mission leader dressed up as the 3 wise men, and they looked super great. The ward loved it. We were able to bring our investigator, Jefferson, and I think he had a pretty good time—to the party.

On Sunday we had another tough break. After a week of finding some really great people and working hard to commit our people we are teaching, we did not have a single investigator attend church. It was really a tough one for me to swallow because it was our special Christmas sacrament meeting that I knew would be a great experience for some of the people that we are teaching. We also had 5 or 6 people tell us that they were going to go “for sure,” that just didn’t show up. Sometimes it is really hard to accept the agency that others have. We have just got to keep working hard and doing our part. Hopefully we’ll get someone soon to exercise that faith and get to church.

Despite the disappointing day at church, we had a little miracle in the zone. So, after church, we got a call from the Elders in my old area, La Cruz, saying that they had an investigator that wanted to be baptized, and he wanted to be baptized that same day. Turns out that the Elders there in La Cruz had been teaching a 19-year-old kid named Clinton for a few weeks and had a baptismal goal with him for a few more weeks out. However, Clinton, for whatever circumstance, has to pick everything up that he’s currently doing and move to Lima this Thursday, and didn’t want to go any more time without being a baptized member of the church. So, the Elders called us and asked If we would be ok to put together a quick baptismal service (given that he wouldn’t be able to be confirmed in Sacrament meeting) and they gave us the thumps-up. As my companion Elder Westergard got off the phone with President Vega after receiving permission for the baptism, he looked at me with a smile and said, “Well my friend, that is how a baptism falls out of the sky,” We were super grateful for that miracle and tender mercy in the zone. It came at a time where we really needed it. I feel the Lord was watching out for us. 

Today for P-day I got my birthday wish! After almost a year and a half, I finally got to play some competitive ball. We got most of the zone together early Monday morning outside the stake center to play some hoop. It wasn’t the best of playing circumstances and I was definitely rusty, but it was still a good time. It was super fun to match up against my man Elder Pincock, who played for Pleasant Grove last year when they played for the state championship. I had to show him how we play ball back in L-Town. ;) Good times.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I love and miss you all so much, but there is nothing that I’d rather be doing to spend this Christmas than help bring souls to Christ himself. There is no better joy that comes from that. I love Him and love this work that I am doing, It’s the most important work on earth!

Auanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey

(P.S. thanks for all the birthday wishes! I really appreciate it. :))

Week 72: Transfers! Well, not really...

I’ll be here in Tumbes for the holidays! I knew that I had about a 50/50 chance of staying or leaving this transfer, and looks like I’ll be saying at least 6 weeks more. I’m actually pretty content to be staying here for Christmas in a familiar place and with a zone I’ve grown to love. I’m happy to keep working here to help bring up this somewhat struggling zone. 

This week we were able to see some small progress with our investigators. I’ve never had an area like this one where we just go through so many investigators each week. It seems like a never-ending cycle of finding, teaching, and then dropping people, due to the fact that they can’t complete simple commitments like prayer, reading, or coming to church. It’s been a huge struggle lately, but we’ve got to just keep working and sifting through all the sand and dirt to find those precious pieces of gold. We’ve just got to be patient. 

On Tuesday I was asked to teach an English course to a group of members and other people in the stake center. Here in this area the church is implementing a program called English Connect to help anyone here in the stake, members or nonmembers, learn English. It’s really a good idea by the Church to offer these classes considering how valuable it is to know English here in South America. It can really help anyone here in their careers and in other aspects of their lives. It was pretty fun to see some of these people learn and practice English, even though some of them really struggled, haha. It totally reminded me of my days in the CCM (MTC) when I couldn’t speak a lick of Spanish and swore I would NEVER learn the language. Now sometimes I feel as if I can express myself better in my second language, lol. Learning another language is definitely a challenge, but with practice and time it’s not impossible. 

Another highlight of this week was our family home evening with Genesis’ family. I showed them how to make one of my favorite foods of all time: french toast. They thought it was absolutely bizarre that I put the bread in egg and cinnamon before toasting it, but they thought it was pretty tasty. While cooking for them I thought to myself that I was an American cooking french toast while in Peru. How’s that for globalization?

Lately I’ve really been trying to develop the Christlike attribute of patience. It’s really been an attribute that I’ve been working on my whole mission. I’m naturally an impatient person that needs things when I want them, and I don’t like to wait. Being on a mission really puts one’s patience to the test. There are so many things that happen that are just completely out of your control, and you really have to learn to wait. You can’t alone do a certain number of things in order to convert someone to the gospel. In fact, we are not even the ones who convert. It is the Holy Ghost. All we do is prepare ourselves to deliver the message in a way that is understandable, and in a way that one can feel the spirit and testify that it is true. After that, all we can do is have faith, hope, and patience that the people will accept the message. 

As President Monson put it: “Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required.”

Let us be more patient! 

And don’t forget to #LightTheWorld!

Avanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 71 - Pan con el Patriarca!

Not much to report!

However, two quick highlights of the week: 

#1 Heading up to a small pueblo called Corrales, where we took a bunch of donated clothes, food, and other items to a small Catholic school where they help feed the homeless and needy. We were able to meet an 88 year-old nun that was VERY friendly with me, haha. She was a sweetheart. 

#2 Learning how to make "panetone" with the stake patriarch, who is a seasoned veteran as a baker. Panetone is a type of fruitcake which is a favorite among the Peruvians around Christmastime. It was a blast, and the bread was pretty tasty. Im thinking of making panetone a Christmas tradition in my family in the coming years.

 I cant believe it that the Christmas season is already here! It truly is the best and happiest time of the year, and for good reason. It is the time where the world is the most focused on our Savior. This morning we were able to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional. I loved the challenge that Elder Stevenson gave us to find "an outward way to show our inward feelings and desires to love and serve Christ". Each one of us should ask ourselves what we are going to give Him as our gift of gratitude this Christmas season!

Avanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey