Week 73

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 73 (10/26/15)

Well this was a pretty eventful week here in the Peru Trujillo North Mission.

On Wednesday, we had a meeting for trainers and new missionaries where we were able to see our progress and find out how to improve our companionship's and to communicate more to each other. We were also able to go to the temple at 6am to do a temple session and have a stronger Spirit throughout the meeting.

Also from Tuesday to Thursday we had another companionship of Elders who were also in their training stay and proselyte with us. We were with Elder Price from the same group as me and his son, Elder Logan. We got to do some splits and my companion got to see how much he had improved from the beginning.

On Friday we also had a ward missionary activity called "noche de postres" or dessert night. We coordinated with the members and were able to bring a lot of desserts and we personally were able to make some rico brownies. We had a lesson and a video and then just had fun eating up. Man they do love their desserts!

Then on Saturday we helped the Sisters in our ward move rooms, because they didn't have hot water, the electricity was terrible and they had an occasional rat that came by to visit them. But now they have a nice 2 story department, which is pretty awesome.

Last but not least, on Sunday we had a really cool and new type of stake conference. It was a broadcast that was shown in stake centers throughout all of Peru and Bolivia. We got to hear from Marcus B. Nash from the Seventy, Ulisses Soares from the Presidency of the Seventy, and also from Elder Anderson of the Twelve. They all gave their talks in Spanish which was super interesting especially with Elder Anderson who served his mission in France and lived in Brazil, so it turned out with a Spanish talk with a English/French/Portugese accent. He talked mainly about being a light and an example and how we can sacrifice to do these things.

Well that's all I got for this week, and even though there are many hard times, we are also able to see many miracles.

Elder Terry

Week 72

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 72 (10/19/15)

Well that was a pretty interesting week. To start off, we had the baptismal interview for Inma and her family. We were super excited and felt that they were super prepared, but as one of the zone leaders walked out of the interview with Inma he told us that she was not married and she lives with her husband. So it turns out that they are either going to have to wait and get married or be separated so we are now in the process of getting all of their papers to get them married! (which might take a few months)

But on the bright side we were able to talk to the dad a little bit and he told us how happy he was to see all of the changes in Inma and his family and he is now willing to start listening to the Gospel. I just hope I'll be here for their baptism!

Also this week we had the privilege to listen to an Area Seventy, Elder Calderón from Perú. His talk was amazing! It wasn't really centered on one specific point, but hit a whole bunch according to our needs. He talked about just being happy while we're proselyting, the importance of the Spirit to change the people, and much more. I love being able to listen to these people that receive revelation specifically for us.

Also, here are some pictures of the room we are renting in Vista Alegre:

Well this week was a rollercoaster, but it is all worth it for the great moments that we get as missionaries. Thanks for all of your support!

Elder Terry

Week 71

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 71 (10/12/15)

Well I guess I forgot to take pictures this week so this is going to be a little more boring haha, however, here is a link to the mission blog and it has me in a few pictures there: http://kurtandkathymarler.blogspot.com/2015/10/mutli-zone-conference-with-sierra.html and here: http://kurtandkathymarler.blogspot.com/2015/10/christmas-in-october.html

Well this week was kind of a rollercoaster for me, full of some amazing days but also with a few difficult moments. I am now beginning to see how much the Lord is able to work through us in everything that we do. I was able to see this most with the family that we are teaching with Inma, Lucía, Ainara, and Myder. With their baptismal date approaching we got to talk about their desires about being baptized and we were shocked to hear that the mom was completely ready for her baptism, but the 2 daughters old enough said that they still didn't feel prepared. This worried us a little, meaning that we would have to be baptized on 2 different days or we would have to postpone the baptism. So we got to work. We worked really hard on helping them understand that it is not required to have a perfect knowledge about everything that we had taught but rather how they feel making this step and the importance of the baptismal covenant. After a few lessons they told us that they are ready, and we are really looking forward to their baptism this Saturday, which will be my companions first.

We are also already practicing for the Christmas program that we are going to be doing in Trujillo's Plaza de Armas and it looks like it's going to be a great show. We are going to be singing a few Pentatonix numbers including Mary Did You Know and Carol of the Bells, which are already sonding really good. I also get to play my saxophone in a number and my companion is going to do a juggling act with one of the Asistents. It's going to be great!

Well that's about all I got for this week and we are looking forward to hearing from Elder Calderón, an area Seventy, this week. And the work is hastended.

Elder Terry

Week 70

LETTER FROM JORDAN - WEEK 70 (10/5/15)

Well this was a pretty awesome week here in the mission!

The week started of great with a really cool p-day. We went over to a place in Trujillo called Conache which is a place that has a nice park and lagoon and is known for it's sand surfing hill. We started off eating lunch in the park and relaxing:

Afterward we decided it would be a good idea to clime the sand dune (in the backround) and it turned out to be a lot steeper than we thought:

But then we finally made it to the top and took some sweet pictures of the view:

After all of the work climbing up the hill, we ended up just running down in a manner of 2 minutes ending up with our shoes literally full of sand:

Well other than all of that, we also had a really spiritual week. It started with a Multi-Zone meeting that we had with us the Zona Central, Zona Primavera, y Zona Sierra. My companion and I learned a lot for our investigators and especially to help them understand the invitation of coming unto Christ. If you ask any one if they want to come unto Christ over 90% of them would say yes, but few are willing to put in the action to do it.

The next two days we were able to listen to the General Conference (in English) and I learned a lot! One of the talks that I really liked was by Elder Christofferson who talked about the purpose of having a church and not just worshipping Christ on our own, which is something that only a few people understand here.

Well another great week in the mission and really looking forward to what's ahead.

Elder Terry