How Great is the Lord and THE Fastest Baptism ever recorded in Church History ;)

Thursday July 25, 2019

These past weeks have been full of incredible miracles. Last week we went on intercambios with the assistants and I went with Elder Topham, my old companion, and it was pretty good to work with him again. He's a pretty funny guy, haha. He has some crazy mission experiences that happen to him. He's finishing his mission in two weeks so it will be kind of weird because Elder Topham is a very influential person. It will feel weird to have him gone. 

Anyway, last Sunday, we had 3 miracles happen. The first was the sister of Leo. He had told us that he had a sister but we didn't think much of it until some ward members went and brought her to church. We taught her after church and she is just as chosen as her brother. Her name is Angy and she's 12 years old. She just soaks in everything that we tell her and she has such great desires to want to change as a person. She accepted date for the 17th of August. 

The other miracle we had actually went back a week ago when a contact we had in the street came to church, and he told us that the missionaries had taught him before but almost 2 years ago. We were going to take out a lesson with him but he wasn't paying attention in church and for some reason we just kinda forgot to take out an appointment. But we were contacting one day and my companion decided to walk down an alley that didn't have any people in it. I was going to tell him that we should keep contacting on the main road because there was barely anyone but something just told me to follow him so I did. We walk to the end of the street and there was a lady in her little tienda or store. We started talking to her and come to found out she is the mom of the contact that we had contacted and that came to church almost 2 weeks ago. His name is Luis. He came out and we talked to him about if he wanted to be baptized, and he said he did and we told him that we would see him in church the next day. He came to church and after we had a sit down lesson with him and everything went good and he accepted to be baptized the 24 of August. 

Finally, the last miracle we had was one of the ward members nephew moved her to Lima from the jungle and he's not a member. He came to church on Sunday. We taught him after church, and he totally wants to get baptized. His name is Brayan and he accepted a date for the 17 of  August. 

Right now we are teaching Isamar, Jean Paul, Leo and Angy, Brayan, and Luis. Please everyone pray for Isamar. She's a little hesitant with being baptized so everyone pray that she can resolve her doubts. 

SO yesterday we had the fastest baptism recorded ever in church history! We had the baptismal interview for Owen yesterday, and after he was telling us how he was going to travel on Saturday for vaciones to Chiclayo for a week. He was going to leave on Friday right after his school ended, and we talked about doing his baptism today (last Thursday) but today is temple P-day and we don't get back until 6:30 pm, and he can't leave his house for some reason after 6:30 so he was like, "Well we can do it right now." It was 5:35 and he had to be home at 6. So we hopped in a mototaxi and drive to the house, get all the clothes, call the bishop to get permission to baptize, and run back to the church. It's about 5:48 and we start the baptism. We have a huge tub in the back of our church as our baptismal font, welcome to Peru, and it was already full of water. We have a hymn, a short message, Owen gets baptized, we get changed, he bares his testimony, and we close with a prayer and he's running to his house at 6, so he got home a little late. So now I can say that I helped someone make their first covenant with God that has the same name as my best friend. So, I pretty much baptized my best friend! 

The missionary work is just going so great right now, and the Lord is truly blessing us. I am ever grateful for the Lord and his tender mercies. Hurrah por Israel!

La obra del Señor

Que tal! Well this past week flew by again! The time goes by pretty fast when you are working hard and enjoying the work! 

So a cool story that happened last week was that One of the recent converts in the ward was on Facebook, and she recognized someone that lived right in front of the church and she sent him a friend request and invited him to church. On Sunday he came, but a little late, to 2nd hour and we took out a lesson with him after church and he accepted a baptism date but we needed permission from his mom and he didn't have a phone number to be able to communicate with him. The next lesson we had with him he wasn't there, and we had our doubts but the next day we found him in the streets. We talked with him and he said that he had been looking for us. We had the next lesson with him and after that he wanted to accompany us in lessons and he contacted with us in the streets. He also shared his testimony about the LDM (Book of Mormon) and how he wasn't able to understand it the first time he read it but he prayed to God for help and then he was able to understand it. He's only 14 and last night he attended the future missionary fireside in the stake. His name is Leonardo Garcia and his date is for the 3 of August. 

We had a lesson with Owen yesterday and he's doing a lot better. We were only able to teach him once last week because he had a march that he had to do for his school so it was a little rough teaching him but yesterday he told us how he felt a lot better about his baptismal date. Keep praying for him that his mom or his dad can sign his permission for his baptism. 

This past week we were also able to  find Isamar. She's a single 26-year-old mom with a 6-year-old autistic son. She is slowly losing her sight as well. She accepted a date for the 10 of August and she came to church yesterday. We also have Jean Paul from last week. He's doing pretty good as well. 

Elder Muniz and I have been working hard, and we have been finding people so it's going good here. Elder Madruga is finishing his mission here soon but we got a quick picture together. Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Madruga 

Week of Miracles

July 8, 2019

Last week was quite a week of miracles. The first was a reference that we got from the Elders from ñaña. His name is Santiago Moralez and he's 13-years-old. He had gone to the church in ñaña and then the elders passed us the reference and we went and visited him. Even though he is 13-years-old, he acts like he's 16. He's an only child in his family and his parents aren't around for him when he's at home. He told us how he just feels super lonely but when he is at the church he feels super peaceful. He accepted to be baptized the 3rd of August. 

On Sunday at church there were 2 young men that showed up to church with their friends. Jean Paul and Leonardo. Jean Paul is 16 and lives by himself here in Lima and his family lives in the jungle. He had some family problems and his dad would beat his mom a lot and he works at a mechanic shop every day so his life is pretty tough. He also accepted a date for the 3rd of August. Leonardo is 14 and he lives right in front of the church. One of the members brought him and after we visited him and he also accepted to be baptized for the 3rd. He told us how is has done some bad things in the past that he wished he hadn't done and wants to be clean from his sins. 

Today we are also going to visit another family that came to church and a Venezuelan and her kids as well. It was just so amazing to see the Lord bless us with such great miracles. Owen is doing good as well. We just need everyone to pray that the parents of Santiago, Owen and Leonardo give them permission to get baptized! Working with Elder Muniz is awesome! I'm loving it out here in Peru! Hope everyone takes care at home!

Is that you, Owen?

July 1, 2019

Well this last week was pretty great . First we had the baptism of Benjamin and that went great. There was also a family that got baptized in the ward that we helped out. 

Last transfer my comp and I were contacting and there was a lady with her daughter that we contacted and she was super interested and all but she told us that she didn't know her address or her phone number so I was like, great because usually if someone doesn't know either of those two it's very hard for them to get baptized. But my comp asked for references for where she lived and we figured out that she lived just outside our area but in the other part of the area of the other elders in the ward. He took out a lesson with her and I thought he was kind of crazy because we barely knew where her house was but we passed the reference to the elders and the next day the we called them to see how it went and the lady accepted a baptismal date. she was a single mom with 3 daughters and to make a long story short they all got baptized last Saturday.  It was just really cool too see because they had had some doubts, and we went to their house a couple of times to teach lessons with the elders and it was cool to see them, get baptized as well. 

This past week we also found a 16-year-old kid named Owen and he accepted a date for the 27 of Julio. I kept telling him that my best friend named Owen was also serving a mission in Peru and he thought that was pretty cool. He lives with his dad and his brothers but his dad is a little questionable about him getting baptized so please pray that the Lord can soften the heart of Owen's dad. 

My companion Elder Muniz is awesome, haha. He's super funny. Hes helping me learn a little bit of Portuguese so hopefully I can come back knowing 2 new languages, haha. Hope everyone has a great week!