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. :))