Week 69

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 69 (9/28/15)

Well that ends another great week in the mission! This has been a pretty interesting week here, full of hard times and a bunch of miracles.

One of our huge miracles is an investigator that we have named Inma. She is a neighbor of one of the members and they gave us the referral to go and visit her. She is from Spain and has 3 daughters here in Perú: Lucía, Ainara, and Myder. We had been teaching them for about 3 weeks, and she was super interested but wasn't able to go to church for a few weeks due to school activities from her daughters. But finally we were able to get her to church one Sunday, and she stayed all 3 hours. Later we visited her that week and started a lesson like we normally do, and she told us that she was already convinced and knew that the church is true. Whenever things like that happen, it always throws me back a little and makes me really appreciate how little work we have to do as missionaries, and how much God really does to get people truly converted. We are teaching the family and they are preparing for a soon baptism! We've also been using some sweet dynamics to teach our lessons to them like this pyramid to explain the Restoration and the church of Christ: (thanks mom)

It's a lot of fun being able to work and to contribute more in the work of the Lord and it is amazing to see how much the Lord blesses us when we only do what we are supposed to do.

I also got some sweet pics of the Lunar Eclipse from the Peruvian angle and practicing some of the open lens features on the camera:

Well that's about all I got for this week, and we are really looking forward to general conference this Saturday and Sunday and ready to help our investigators and less-actives hear the words of the living prophets. Wish us the best!

Elder Terry

Week 68

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 68 (9/21/15)

Well this has been a really nice week here in Vista Alegre. This week we had a few interesting experiences, but overall it was another great week here in the mission.

On Wednesday, we had our first district meeting with me being a district leader and I had to teach our district about how we should be making our commitments to our investigators. It was really interesting to see how I am unable to plan for these kind of lessons by myself and to see the help I get to share the message with the other missionaries.

We had some pretty tough days this week in our proselyting time and it felt like a lot of it was my fault, but my companion is always super patient and ready with some ideas that we can do. There are always some hard times, but the really good times make it all worth it.

On Saturday, we also had a Trujillo-wide service on the famous Huanchaco Beach with the Manos Mormones que Ayudan (Mormon Helping Hands). A few hundred people were there and we got to clean the whole beach.

Well, just know that the work is going great here and I just feel like the time just flies by faster and faster each day. Thanks for all of your support!

Elder Terry

Bonus picture. I found this posted by one of the local members from Peru:

Week 67

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 67 (9/14/15)

Well this has to be one of the most interesting, difficult, but fun weeks that I've had in my whole mission!

So on Monday, we had our usual farewell for my companion Elder Simper, and it was really nice to see how much impact that he had made in these last 6 months here in Vista Alegre. Then on Tuesday was the official transfers meeting at 10a, where my companion met his companion and they left off to their new area, and I just stayed back with another trainer until the new missionary meeting at 1p. We were all sitting there in the church and then came the group of exactly half Latino and half american new missionaries, with a lot of tall Americans. At that point everything just hit me at once and I realized what I was going to be doing for the next 3 months.

So one by one they called up each of the new companionship's and I finally met with Elder Smith!

Elder Smith is 18 years old, from Waddell, Arizona (close to Pheonix) and he is a pretty sweet guy. This is no joke, but he came pre-trained. He already knew about almost everything in the mission and has better Spanish than I had even after my training. He's the 4th of 7 brothers and sisters, and each of his older siblings had served missions too. Oh, and he is a literal descendent of Joseph Smith Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Joseph Fielding Smith, which is pretty sweet.

With all of this new responsablilty that I haven't had, I also had a personal conversation with President Marler who also called me to be the district leader here. Talk about a lot of new responsabilities! Not only do I have to be training a new missionary, but I am now in charge of a district with us 2 Elders and 7 American Sisters. I already had to give a 35 minute training on Saturday, teach Elders Quorum on Sunday, and teach our district meeting on Wednesday. But in all seriousness, I can tell how much the first 15 months of my mission have prepared me for this point. My testimony in prayer has grown a lot just in this week and I can't wait for these next 3 months.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

Elder Terry

Week 66

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 66 (9/7/15)

Well it looks like it's that time again... time for transfers!

Well now that I've been here for 2 transfers with Elder Simper, President felt that we could use a change in our ward. My companion is now heading over to the Bella Vista Ward, and he is district leader over the Sisters that are in Primavera! So I already told him everything about it, and he is very excited although a little sad to be leaving our ward after 6 months.

But here's where things get really interesting. So on Sunday, we go to our room a little early at 7p to get all of the indicators from our district, and all of the sudden he just hands over the phone to me and says that it is one of the assistants of the President. At that moment I realized that something was up, because I knew that they only call us to give special assignments. So I get the phone and he tells me that President Marler has felt that I should be a trainer here in Vista Alegre. I have to say I was a little nervous, but I readily accepted. So after 15 months of being a junior companion, I get the opportunity to train a new missionary. Wow.

Well tomorrow, we have the meeting to find out who we are going to train and I'm a little nervous, but really excited. I just feel ready for this. So this is going to be a really interesting week, so I'm going to have a lot to write on next Monday. I know my companion is going to be some one that I'm going to be able to help, and some one that is going to help me. Wish me luck!

Elder Terry


(here is a picture with the deaf couple we are teaching, Angel and Marisol)