Mormon Helping Hands

Helping Hands Service on the Beach

So this week, we had the opportunity to go to the beach and do an activity called ¨Clean the Beaches¨. It was so great! Our whole zone got to go with the stake! We went and were assigned a part of the beach to clean and let me tell you...the beaches here are nasty! I found about everything under the sun on that beach. But it was really great and it was cool because the whole beach was just covered with members in their yellow helping hands shirts :) It was a really awesome activity....and the water looked SOOO nice...as it is literally death here!! SO hot!!! And, people still drink hot chocolate for Christmas tradition...its killer!!  I am getting used to the hot :) I did get a really bad sunburn, though!! (See Baptism photo below)

I had a work visit in El Olivar this week with Hermana Sevilla (Hermana Jones companion), and I got to see the Quiroz family! AHH...It was the best! Luis runs up to me and says ¨Hermana Agle! Meet Hermana Agle!!¨ They named their white kitten after me haha :) It was so cool to see them because the ward has helped them fix up their house...so now they have a roof, light, water, and food! Ahh, it was so great seeing that :) I love this family so much!
 

Hermana Lopez is SO EXCITED about her package!! She had to hide it so that it's not a temptation to open it! haha! We cant wait to talk to you guys on Christmas!

Teo was baptized this week! Like I always say...Satan was working hard on baptism day!!! Everything went wrong! We got to the chapel, opened the font and there was slimy week old water in the font that had dead spiders and other unknown insects floating around!! Turns out, the drain doesn't work. So what do I do to clean it? We empty half of the font using buckets, about 40 kg of water per bucket (yes my arms are literally falling off, they hurt so bad) until I can get in and clean it. So, once its only half full, I walk in the NASTY slimy water and pick out each bug one by one with my hands. It was HORRIBLE! And, some of them were alive! Ugh! But...We got it pretty clean and the baptism went really well :) The things we missionaries do for baptisms :) And yes, I am SUPER sunburned from the beach!!

Lima Peru Temple Trip

Every month we have a companionship of the month here in my mission. This companionship gets to go to the temple with the President and his wife and then go eat at Tony Romas(The restaurant overlooks the beach). This little trip is called Moroni and Tony (it rhymes in Spanish :))... and this month Hermana Lopez and I were companionship of the month! SO I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE HERE IN LIMA. It was so amazing!! We got to sit with President in the temple and just talk and talk and talk. It was a really amazing experience!! 

Repentance Changes People

So this week has been great!! We have 7 baptisms planned for the 14th of December! Eulalia and Renulfo are officially getting married the 12th of December, and their son Hilgard is getting baptized with them on the 14th.. We also have another family getting baptized that day! They are Gladys and her sister Teo and her daughters Stephany and Amalia. Amalia is soo smart. She is 11. Yesterday we asked her how she felt about having a prophet of God here on the earth right now?  She said, ¨I feel really good! Because there are a lot of priests that say they have the real priesthood but they don't. They are just liars.¨ We're glad she is understanding the lessons :) We are really excited about that baptism! We are having a Noche Blanca (white night) with the whole zone on that day. All of our baptisms will be together in one big baptism...and President is planning on coming!! That will be great!

This week I had the coolest experience! Doctrine and Covenants 15:4-6 has really helped me know my purpose as a missionary during the course of my mission. Sometimes, its scary to declare repentance to people, because you don't want to offend them. But...President Archibald told us that it is our job to offend these people so they actually ACT and REPENT. Alma also says many times that as a missionary he has authority to call people unto repentance. So we are working with a lot of less actives here in Peru. One specifically is Alex Espinoza. Alex is 60, inactive, but married to his wife who is active and they are sealed in the temple. He was a seminary teacher for 4 years. He has the strongest testimony of the Book of Mormon and the church. He said to us, ¨I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know the church is true. I will never deny it. I just don´t go to church.¨ Well, that kind of triggered my "declare repentance" button. Lets just say I read Mormon 9:3-6 with him and put in his name. I told him I didn't understand how he just ¨didn't go to church¨ with such a strong testimony?  I was hard on him...and it was uncomfortable :) But I held my ground, and at the end of the lesson, he said to me, ¨Thank you. You are right and I really needed that¨. Man....It was hard in the moment to call him unto repentance, but I know that is what I have been called to do. I know that as I do that, I am not hurting him, but I am helping him come unto Christ. He is starting to change, and now, I don't have any fear to completely fulfill my calling...because the scriptures never lie, it really works :) 

Thanks for all of the support! I love this work, I love this gospel and I love my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be a part of this gospel. It really blesses lives. I have seen it. Thanks again! Love you all!

Con carino,

Hermana Agle