BDAY Week!

Well last week was pretty dang great. It was my B-day on Saturday and we had four baptisms and I got a cake from my pensionista! My b-day was pretty great.

We had interviews with Presidente Amato last Friday and that was awesome. It is always good to see and talk with President. He is such an amazing man. Also on Friday, me and my compy went to a lesson with the ZL's. During the lesson, I was sharing a story about my dad when he was 14 years old and años is years and I didn't really stress the Ñ and so I said anos. I said when my dad had 14 anuses and after I was done telling the story I look over and my comp and the ZL's are just dying and I had no idea why and it took them a while to recover. 

Elder Binford and Elder Thomsen; we all have bdays in September.

 Anyways on Saturday we baptized Elizabeth, Jesira, Esmeralda and Jhair. Lol, Elizabeth was so scared that we had to close the doors because she didn't want anyone to see her. She was crying and the first time the priest baptized her, of course, she didn't go all the way under so we had to do it again and it took like 20 minutes, haha, but she got baptized. 

Elizabeth, haha

On Sunday Jhair wouldn't get his butt out of bed so he didn't get confirmed. We are going to have to confirm him next week, but it was great because I got to confirm two of them so that was pretty cool. It's amazing how merciful the Lord is and how He has blessed me with baptisms. I am also very grateful to help bring these precious souls closer to living with their Father in Heaven once again. 

Jhair

So the miracle of the week was we were in church yesterday and Elder Martinez sends me a reference and told me to call him. I called him and we got an appointment set up an hour after church. His name is Brayan and he lived allllllllllllll the way at the very top of the edge of our area in the mountains. We had ward counsel after church and we had to leave that early and hustle over to his house. We were in our suits and we were sweating hard core, but we got to his house and taught him and man, this guy is chosen! He's a pretty cool guy. He works super hard form 11 am unto 2 am. He says that he wants to change his life and that he wants to be a member of our church and be baptized. After the lesson we asked him how he felt and he said he felt a warm feeling inside of him that felt really good, so we have a date with him. YAYYY! 

Esmeralda and Jesira

Love, Elder Shockley

¡Primer Bautismo!

Well this last week was pretty great. For last P-day we played sports together as a zone and we played some good ole american football and that was super fun especially because we have a lot of gringos in our district. After, we went and had a weight lifting competition to see who could do the most curls and stuff and other stuff. 

On Tuesday I had like 3 ingrown toenails so that sucked. I just got my toenail clippers and ripped em out so that hurt a little, haha. 

Pero Peruana

So last Wednesday after lunch my comp was feeling sick, so he and Elder Martinez went back to the room so he could get some rest and Elder Burley and I went to teach this lesson. The lady we were teaching was named Rosa and her parents weren't in her house and we didn't have a dude member with us so we taught her in her door. During the lesson I was explaining about how we receive the Holy Ghost and I told her that men with the authority of God put their hands in your mouth.... I accidentally said boca which is mouth instead of cabeza which is head, haha. Thankfully Elder Burley corrected me and we just kept going. Haha. So this whole week Elder Burley and Elder Martinez have been making so many jokes about this, haha. 

Yeah so last Friday we had this incredible experience to have Elder Renlund come speak to only just our mission. It was absolutely amazing! He's a pretty big guy and he has such a strong spirit. He taught us about how to be effective missionaries and just this other amazing stuff. After he left the room you kinda wanted him to come back just because of how strong his spirit is. Afterwards, we had some pizza from Pizza Hut which was amazing. I was finally able to have some type of American food! 

Yeah so Saturday I had my first baptisms! Carmen and Anthony! Usually Presidente Amato wants the priests of the ward to baptize the people but because it was my first baptism I got to baptize Carmen. It was an incredible experience. After the baptism, I just felt so much peace; I can't describe it. It was just an amazing experience to bring 2 souls unto Christ. 

Anthony

Haha, so apparently when I baptized Carmen, I liked dunked her pretty hard. I had to baptize her twice because the first time her feet came up out of the water so I probably baptized her hard. Elder Martinez was saying how I did a John Cena and I took a video of him demonstrating how I baptized her. 

James, Anthony, Valeria (Elder Burley's investigator)  and Carmen

So for this Saturday we have 4 with (baptismal) dates and all of them needed one more asisstance in the church to be baptized but the last Sunday the mom of Elizabeth and Jesira wouldn't let Elizabeth go. I was super worried that she wouldn't let her and Jesira go to church but miracles do happen and we were able to get all 4 of our investigators to church, Elizabeth and Jesira who are sisters, Esmeralda the daughter of Carmen and Jhair the bro of Anthony.  We went and taught Jenny the mom of Elizabeth and Jesira and she accepted to be baptized for the 6th of October! We also had 44 members attend the house chapel and that is 10 more than the last week. My comp and I are working hard to get all of the converts and menos activo to church so that we can have enough to make Amauta a branch and then a ward; so we have been working hard. 

I also confirmed Carmen yesterday and that was crazy because she said that she wanted me to confirm her and I had no idea how to confirm in Spanish but the counselor helped me out and I was able to do it. It really is crazy how giving a blessing works. The spirit just guides you. 

Anyways, I hope everyone back home is doing great and I'll keep everyone in my prayers with the fires and everything. That looks pretty crazy.

Pole Creek Fire

Camel Loveee

Yeah so last week flew by way fast, holy cow. It's probably because we actually have people that we are teaching and they are progressing. 

So last P-day we went to the Zoo. That was pretty great, haha. We saw some pretty crazy stuff. 

It was normal for Peru but it was a flip´pin weird Zoo. We saw these weird camel things making love and that was just hilarious, haha. Everyone was dying. 

Weird camel dude

There was also this old guy selling ice cream and treats through the fence and I just thought it was so hilarious. 

Dude selling his ice cream, lol

On Wednesday we had immigrations and we had to get up at 5:30 so we could get to the place early to get our cards. Well... I'm Peruvian now! YAAA, haha. 

So we now have 6 people with fecha (baptismal dates) which is great! Carmen, her daughter Esmeralda, her niece Elizabeth and Jesira and Anthony and Jhair who are brothers. We are baptizing Carmen and Anthony this week and the rest next week on my birthday so that will be cool to have 4 baptisms on my birthday. We would've baptized Elizabeth this Saturday but her mom wouldn't let her go to church because she said she had to do laundry and she needs one more asistencia. We are going to try and talk to her mom and hopefully we get her baptized the next week for the 29th. Please  pray for all of them especially for the mom of Elizabeth and Jesira that she'll let her daughters be baptized and that we'll be able to teach her and baptize her as well. 

Elder Munoz in district meeting, lol

Last week we went contacting in this freakin mountain and it was sick. Like I said, our new area is a huge valley and we have a lot of cerros which are hills. 

Our casa capilla! Lol, we don't even have a real church but it's awesome

Our pension is still making some good food and I can't wait for my birthday because she's going to make me a cake and her cake is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo amazing! 

Ceviche for P-day

The miracle that happened last week was we started off with just teaching Carmen and her daughter and then we got her nieces to teach and we have the permission papers. Yeah, well I love everyone and I hope ya'll are doing great! 

Love Elder Shockley

Cambios Emergencia!

Wow so a lot happened this past week. First it was transfers and I got my new comp, Elder Monzon. He is from Argentina so both of my trainers are Argentinian or whatever haha. He has a lot of energy, and he works hard but he is a bit of a spaz, holy cow, but it's alright; everyone kind of just needs a spaz companion. 

Elder Monzon

So an old convert of Elder Rodriguez showed up at church and so we started teaching her and wow, she's ready to be baptized. Her name is Valeria and she's 15 years old and has a kid. Crazy. But her mom and her sister and brother sit in on the lessons so we should be able to baptize all of them. 

So on Thursday the zone leaders sat me and my comp down and told us that we are having emergency transfers and we're now in Amauta 2! Amauta is this valley right below Vitarte and it is giant. What happened was President Amato received revelation, and we are needed in Amauta, so we split it in half with Amauta 1. It is this huge valley with hills and houses everywhere and it's a lot of dirt. For right now we are still staying in the same room. It takes about 15 min to walk to our area so it's pretty close. 

Amauta

We received 4 investigators from the elders from Amauta so that's good but the sad thing is we had to give up Valeria and her family but its alright because they'll end up getting baptized. We are teaching a young woman named Carmen and her niece Elizabeth and these 2 young boys, Anthony 12,  and Jhair 10. We got all of them to church on Sunday except for Jhair because it was too hard for him to get out of bed; wow but all of them are progressing greatly and Carmen has a lot of great questions, and we are answering all of them so that's great. All of their dates are for the 15th of September so we'll see how that goes. 

Elder Espinoza finished his mission yesterday so our pension made a freakin bomb cake and it was too good. Wow! Our pension has a flippin gift. 

The miracle of the week, I would say, was having Valeria come to church and teaching her. Even though she isn't our investigator anymore it was still amazing to have her come to church. I am way excited to get to know my new area this week. It'll take some getting used too but I'm way excited!

Primer Cambio!

Wow! Well I'm already at my first transfer.That was way fast, woah! Being with Elder Rod was a great experience. I learned a lot from him. I learned to love him and to become friends with him. Hopefully my next trainer will be able to help me even more, but I'm excited to have a new comp. 

Un sublime con galleta; My fav candy down here.

So last week was Temple P-day. We got to go to the temple on p-day which was on Wednesday. That night we received a reference from Elder Espinoza while we were out contacting and so we call the number a couple of times and head over to where the house is but no answer. We don't know exactly where the house is so we start walking away but then the guy calls us and gives us his address so we head over. We get to the house and it's a family of four and we start teaching them. The dad tells us how it feels like they are missing something in their lives and how he had a dream about these 2, white, blonde chicks saying how they needed help or something like that. We invite all of them to be baptized and they accept. Me and my comp were super happy because this family is just perfect. We set up an appointment in 2 days and we call them that day but he says how his daughters are moving to Cusco and they are trying to get them ready but that they'll come to church the next day, and he agrees to have us come pick them up. But of course, that morning we call and no answer. We go to the house and no answer. After church we call them and later that night we go back over but no answer. So sadly I didn't get any baptisms my first transfer which was a bummer but I'm excited for next transfer to find people to baptize. 

The food from my mamita.

I am getting a new companion on Wednesday to finish my training. He's from Argentina as well, haha, so I'll have been trained by 2 Argentinians, haha. 

Ronaldo Jersey

On Sunday, my suit pants were dirty and they were getting cleaned and I didn't have my other gray pants so I wore my blue pants with my gray suit jacket, and it just happened to be the day that Presidente Amato and a member of the seventy was there, lol, oh man. (Side note from mom: This experience made me laugh out loud because Jackson is pretty particular about how he looks, haha, so I bet he was dying a little bit because he didn't match!)

A hamburger from this Argentinian grill. Holy cow, so good!

Mountain part of my area, Valley Cenai.

Fetch!

Alright so these past few weeks were crazy. So last p-day I was super sick so I just stayed in the room and slept all day. 

So Zeus, we dropped him because every time we came to his house he was never there. Also one of elder Rods old investigators called him and she said that she wanted to start receiving the lessons again. She was in a tight spot where this guy would only pay rent for her if she would have sex with him but she told us she wanted to change. She has a boy whose 12 named Hans and he's pretty funny. We had a baptism date for her and were teaching her and stuff but she was really struggling with not drinking coffee and she still wasn't living the law of chastity and one night she told us that she couldn't keep the commandments and that it was too hard so yeah. 

FETCH. lol I want to find the Lord's chosen down here in Peru and bring them to the light of the Gospel but man, this trial of faith is tough. Elder Rod and I are still working hard everyday to find people. Contacting is going great but finding people isn't. We're still struggling to find people to teach. The thing is, Elder Rod isn't that experienced either. This is only his 3rd transfer here so he's pretty young. His trainer did a lot of the stuff for him so I am learning how to a bunch of stuff out on my own. We both are learning. He is kind of scared to contact people so I do a lot of the contacting and he will help me with the Spanish. I encourage him to speak to people and he will do it sometimes, but a lot of the times I have to do the initial contact or walk up to them or else he will just let them walk by but its alright. I would rather learn this way than have a trainer that tries to do everything for me.

Anyways so Elder Whitby went home last Wednesday and that made me kinda trunky, lol. 

So our Mamita Zoil, to say the least, her food just went downhill. It gave me, Elder Rod, and Elder Burley the hershey squirts and fever so we dropped her. She has been a pension for like 20 years, longer than I have been alive but hey, the servants of the Lord need sufficient, good tasting fuel. She was pretty sad but we gave her a jersey of her favorite soccer team and signed it. 

We also had to change apartments. A 25-year-old woman moved in so we had to move and that sucked. Elders had been living in our room for two years and man oh freakin man are elders messy. We moved to our new room but we're still not done cleaning the other room. Our new room is a bit smaller but it's not too bad. Monday night, after we had finished moving in, I just got the worst stomach pains and then I was throwing up all night. 

I'm still trying to adjust to the food and the hygiene down here. Gosh, hygiene doesn't even exist down here, haha, no but it's part of the culture so it's great. Transfers are in a week from today so we'll see what happens. Being here in Peru is such a strange, but great experience. I am just glad to be down here among the children of the Lord, living in their conditions to give them something that will change their life forever and will give them purpose to their life. 

The miracle of the week was getting our new pension, Hermana Anali. She flippin bakes cakes for us ..... and cupcakes! Her food is pretty good; I'm not too sure yet because she is only my second pensionista but she's great. So there are no siestas down here but after lunch everything is super chill. Lunch is usually a bit bigger and we eat dinner now at 7 because she has 2 little girls and it's easier for us to eat earlier with her.

I forgot my converter again for pics so I'll send a ton next week. 

Love Elder Shockley

TORTA

Cake here is so flippin good. 

So this week was good. Last P-day Elder Whitby and Elder Burley went to La Victoria to buy all these clothes that are dirt cheap. Elder Whitby goes home next Tuesday. 

Chickens in the market

Last Tuesday we had a training with all of the newb missionaries with the APs and president. It was very helpful and useful and I learned a lot more about how our mission works. That night me and Elder Rod went on splits with Elder Whitby, and we were at the church to go to the bathroom and this member came up to us and told us how she has been feeling an evil presence in her house and how she heard a voice say levántense which means to stand up, so that was pretty sketch. We gave her a blessing and told her we would come dedicate her house but we still need to get permission from the bishop.  

On Thursday, after a long day of contacting, we finally had a lesson with this 17 year old named Zeus. He accepted to be baptized but he has been avoiding us the past couple of days and yesterday we went to try and meet with him but he wasn't there. We ran into his aunt and she was super nice. She seemed receptive to what we were telling her and she told us how Zeus is addicted to marijuana and how he needs help in his life. We offered to come teach her, Zeus and his parents tonight so pray for them! 

Mamita Zoila

Food made by Mamita Zoila

On Friday we had a ward activity where non members were invited to come play football and eat chaufa at the church. Chaufa is this really good rice chicken noodles and egg stuff kinda like fried rice but Peruvian style. 

Chaufa

On Sunday for lunch we ate with a member and she loaded us up. It was the first time I have actually been full on the mission. It was her son's b-day, so we had cake and Inca Kola. It was sooo good, mmm. 

Also a ward member named Pool is leaving on his mission on Wednesday, so we went to say goodbye and we got this good stuff called arroz con leche. 

Pool

The miracle this week was finding Zeus. Elder Rod and I have been working really hard these past few weeks to find people to teach and we finally found Zeus. 

The cemetery

This morning Elder Burley and I went running and we ran up the insanely long stairs here and we destroyed our legs, lol. After, I decided to take a cold shower and I realized that the mission is a lot like taking a cold shower. At first it is really hard and it's a slap to the face but after a little while you start getting used to it and then it feels good. Once you get out and get ready, you're wide awake and ready for the day, LOL. 

 

Hope everyone has a good week. 

Love Elder Shockley