Teaching Families

I am a giant here in Peru...this is a classic Peruvian door

Escabeche

Let's just say I am SUPER happy the World Cup is over. During this time of the year, here in Peru, the people are GLUED to their TV´s watching the World Cup. As we walk past houses we can hear the families inside screaming at the TV ¨GOAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!¨ It is pretty entertaining :) But in the Tafur Leon family, the World Cup is like general conference for them. Priority. So it has been hard this week to teach them and prepare them for their baptism!!  They love us so much, though, they called every day saying ¨just break the rules today and come over to watch the game!¨ But we did get to go over this week and cook with Andrea (their daughter) which was AWESOME. The mom, Nancy, travels to Lima every week to sell products in the market, so she leaves her daughters alone Monday through Friday, and she asked us to go over and teach them and keep them company during the week. We did, and we learned how to cook REALLY yummy food :) We made Escabeche which is one of my favorite meals here. See photo below :) The family is progressing. I really think they are the hardest investigators I have ever had. They have a LOT of questions and a LOT of doubts. But they love the church. They love our principles, our teachings, and the doctrine. They just don't understand that it is THE true church. The ONLY way to receive salvation. It was great because this week President Archibald came up to Huaraz and trained us on prayer. We learned the difference between an honest, sincere prayer, and praying just to pray. We learned that the Tafur Leon family have been praying for a long time now to receive an answer about the church, but they haven't been doing it with a sincere heart and real intent. We were able to kneel with them and teach them how to pray to Heavenly Father to receive answers. It was a really great experience. So this week we are going to keep working with all of them to get their answers.

Cooking with Andrea

Andrea is one of the daughters and last night we were pretty direct with her. She says that she wants to get baptized but she has barely read in the Book of Mormon and she has barely prayed so she said that she is not ready. We were very very direct with her. And at the end of the lesson something changed in her. Hermana Medina and I right now are living for this family. We eat, sleep, and think about this family. Every free second we have we are talking about what we can do to help this family progress. I have never thought so much about investigators before. We have developed a great love for them, and when they don't fulfill their commitments or when they don't progress, it is really hard for Hermana Medina and I, because we know that this gospel is what is going to help them in their life. So, Andrea hadn't gone to church, so we went and taught her. We told her that we were very concerned about their family and her progress. We were able to bear strong testimony to her that this gospel is what is going to change their lives and that we love them so much that we want them to enjoy the blessings of the gospel. And that is why we gave them assignments in the Book of Mormon and why we were inviting them to pray...To prepare them for baptism! Andrea was able to realize the importance of our message. Seeing our concern for their family really helped her, I think. Being a missionary is so draining emotionally. We put everything into our investigators and we have to rely on their agency. A lot of the time there are disappointments...but some of the time, there are MIRACLES. It is the most rewarding feeling to see someone that you love accept the gospel. And I know the Tafur Leon family is going to be one of these miracles. We are going to continue to fight for them.

I am getting really comfortable with chicken feet :) Here I am peeling the foot. They sell just full dead chickens here and so we went to the market to buy a chicken and according to Andrea we have to use EVERY part. So I got to peel the chicken foot. Andrea and Hermana Medina got a good laugh out of that!

We are also working with another family too, and they finally came to church this Sunday! The husband has a drinking problem, so we are trying to help him out a lot. They read their Book of Mormon and pray as a family every night :) They have strong desires to follow Christ. They are Kari, Juan and Hans (the cutest little 5 year old :)) To help Juan with his drinking temptations I told him to get a picture of his family and carry it around with him EVERYWHERE. And when he felt tempted, to pull out the picture and think of his family. The next lesson when we went back I asked him, ¨Juan, do you have your picture in your shirt pocket??¨ (thinking to myself that he had probably forgotten). He smiled and pulled out a picture of his family from his shirt pocket that he had cut into a heart :) He said ¨I did what you told me, and it worked¨ :) So we are excited to work with this family to get them baptized as well :)

Well, I am going to send a few pictures. I am so grateful for this gospel. I know my Savior lives and that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. The scripture are FILLED with things to learn. I learn something new and deep every time I read the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon and I know it is true. This gospel changes lives...I've seen it happen many times! I love you all! Keep being diligent in the gospel!

Hermana Agle

Now that I have 3 months left I decided to buy myself a tracting bag....I wish I would have bought it earlier!!

Also, the people here in Huaraz carry their babies around in these :) So I bought one for my future children :) Not only babies, but anything! Like the lady that washes our clothes comes with her manta to carry our dirty clothes away on her back. It's awesome!