Week 69

It was a good week. We found two chosen investigators that came to church so that was cool. They just aren't married but that's not a problem we can't solve. We found the wife, Luz, talking to Rosemary, a recent convert, in the srteet and told her all about the church and whatnot and she was hyped about going to church. 

To start out the week we had our district meeting and then we did exchanges with the assistants. Elder Inostroza, the brand new assistant came with me. He is from Argentina and plays basketball as well so that was pretty fun. We went to the stake center in La Molina where there is an actual indoor court and played 3 on 3 in the morning. He is actually really good. Hahahha lets just say I am so out of shape and have lost a lot of touch but I can still hold my ground. 

Wednesday was a normal busy day. Thursday we had the table with pamphlets activity thing in the morning in Monterrico and that was good. And then in the afternoon we went out looking for apartments where we could live because they are kicking us out of the house. We found one that is in a really good spot where we will probably go. We have until next prep day to find one. We are moving just in time to decorate our room with Christmas stuff as well, I hope Elder Fagg gets some Christmas decor in his package that his mom sent last week

Friday we did our weekly planning. It was rough because more than anything we had to plan for the zone because we are struggling right now. We will probably finish this month with 3 baptisms, which is trash. We had to rack our brains on what we could do better and I think we have come up with a better plan for this next month. I am excited to see how December turns out with the stake president's plan and our new plan. I think we should see a lot more success and then hit our stride in January. December will be a cool month. 

Saturday was a waste of a day. We went to Chaclacayo for an investigator's baptism. It took us like 2 hours to get there and then the quick little baptism and then we bounced because we had appointments and an interview with one of the district leader;s investigators that got baptized on Sunday. So we got on the bus and got about to Vitarte where I served a while ago and then we sat in the same spot for about an hour, the traffic was insane! Turns out there was some kind of a Catholic worship demonstration and they were blocking a lot of the main roads for it. So ya we left there at 5:20ish and didn't get home until 9:15, it was painful. We ended up having to call the other district leader to tell him to do the interview because it would have taken us another hour to get to their area. Lets just say Lima is one of the cities with the worst traffic, even without Catholic demonstrations in the streets! 

Sunday was a good day! We had a solid number of investigators come to church. The second counselor in the bishopric called us like 30 minutes before Sacrament Meeting and told us it was our turn to give talks. We were eating lunch with a family that was far away from our house so we finished and ran to our room and spent a quick 20 minutes preparing, then took a taxi to the chapel. I spoke on using technology to further the Lord´s work. I think it was a good talk. I shared Luke 8 on the "Parable of the Sower" and how we never know what ground we are sowing on and how we can reach so many people through social media who might be that one part of the field with good soil, that one person, who is ready. Anyway, a sister in our ward invited us to her house for Thanksgiving. They don't really celebrate it here, unfortunately, but she studied at  BYU and so she said she would try to put something together for us. After church that night, we went to the stake center for the Face2Face with Apostles Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. It was for the young single adults and president said that all of the missionaries were invited too, so we went. It was pretty cool. They said that the Logan Institute had been invited and was present there so that was weird. I saw Thomas Lundburg and a ton of other people that I knew when they showed people from the audience haha. 

Today was chill, we went to Chili's. I bought the Fajitas just like old times. It seemed freaking expensive in Soles (Peruvian $) but for like 6 people it wasn't too bad. We spent a total of 450 Soles! It was just like being back at home though. 

I'm doing well just trying to make it to Christmas to be able to talk to you guys. I'm enjoying this transfer with Elder Fagg and I love you all. 

PS: We thought it was Thanksgiving so we dressed up like pilgrims and were eating apple pie while reading the Bible to reenact the first Thanksgiving, Not! 

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Elder Mortenson

Week 68

So we had transfers on Tuesday. We got to our room around 12 and Elder Fagg unpacked his stuff while I pulled all of the old stuff out of the room and cleaned everything and we moved it all around so that everything would fit better.  That was cool until Thursday when the lady that lives in our house told us that her husband died and that he left the house in his kids`names and they are kicking us out so looks like we cleaned and did all of that for nothing. We wrote down like a million phone numbers of people that are renting out rooms so we gotta call them and be moved out by the end of the month. 

So pretty much all the rest of the week was normal. It's really fun to be with Elder Fagg, I can actually make jokes that he understands and he can make some that I understand unlike with the Latinos, so that is fun. He has some dope stories of stuff that he did. I'm trying to convert him into an Aggie. His brother graduated from USU and lives in Logan and his sister is there right now too. Unfortunately, they are BYU fans for some reason...but that can be changed. 

We had interviews on Friday with president. They were good, he talked to both of us about the zone and about how things were going and out take on things and whatnot it was pretty cool. We also had a meeting with the stake president and a couple of the members of the high council on Sunday to talk about a plan president Palhua has. He is the man! let me just say that. He is going to write a letter to every member over the age of 10 in the whole stake and invite them to pray, choose a friend or family or family member, fast for that person, and then set up like a Family Home Evening and invite the missionaries and whatnot. And then he's asking them to do 25 kind acts during the 25 days of Christmas! So we should have a lot of baptisms in January after so much faith being exercised like that. 

We are enjoying things here in Saint Patricia. We have a couple of baptisms set up for the 25, Joyci is gonna get baptized for sure and then we are still on the edge with Flor and Monica. But we are having tons of lessons and teaching a lot of good people. 

Today for prep day, we didn't do much of anything. I got a haircut and we went to the office because I am buying a new suit and there is a member that works in Gamarra and makes suits and sells them for real cheap so I got one, its blue. I hope it turns out well. Afterwards, we went to the stake center and just watched some movies and ate burgers. We asked for permission to go to the gym in the mornings because there is one super close by. We are also thinking about going running in the mornings and we are trying to eat healthier so that is cool. 

Everything is going well. Never thought I would have a white comp but turns out president put 5 companionships of zone leaders with another American comp so that is cool. Speaking English again is pretty weird. But ya until next week. And here is a pic of Elder Fagg and me planning. I got the hat in Gamarra and idk what he is wearing. 

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Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 67

My Companion, Elder Rojas went home. He cried so hard like everyday it was kind of sad tbh some days he was like super excited to go home and then other days he was like super sad to go home.  But I'm going to be companions with Elder Fagg, he is my homie, he is from Heber, UT. We will see how it goes, haha I'm hyped. 

So it was kind of a sad Halloween. As you know, it's my favorite holiday, but at least that's the last time I'll not be home for it. We bought some witch hats and went proselyting with them on hahaha! There was an activity in our ward that night that we went to. They brought food from all different parts of South America like Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Columbia. It was pretty cool.

On Thursday we had our Leadership Council. It went well. President talked about how we are the "mission presidents" of our zones and that we have the power to do what we need to to help the zone, but we also have all of the responsibility if things don't work out, as well. He talked about how we need to help our district leaders understand the same principle so that they feel the weight and responsibility on their shoulders as well. My companion had his last interview with president after that meeting so that took a really long time....lets just say we didn't get a ton of things done this week. 

On Friday, my companion had lunch with president. I went and dropped him off and then went with Elder Whitby to a training that was going on and they gave us pollo a la brasa to eat, so that was good. We just kinda chilled while the outgoing missionaries were eating with president and we went to the office with Elder Hidalgo and talked.

On Saturday, my companion wanted to organize a breakfast with the zone, so we did that and ate breakfast hamburger-type deals. It was good, and then we did our weekly planning there in the chapel. Then my companion had bought these huge pictures of the zone and wanted everyone to sign each one of them and it took forever. Then we went and ate with Chacarilla´s pension so that he could say good-bye to her and that took forever too, but we ate good food at least. 

Sunday was pretty much a waste of a day as well, as far as missionary work goes. Elder Rojas packed all of his stuff in the morning and then we went and ate at like 12 and then went to church afterwards. We ended up leaving early because he still had a lot of stuff to finish.  We went back to the room and he finished packing and then wrote like a million cards to everyone with his picture and whatnot and then Monterrico came and got us at like 7:30 and we dropped him off at the assistant's room and then went back to Monterrico. 

Today was pretty chill. We had to go to the office this morning because Elder Rojas had forgotten the battery to his camera. So we had to go all the way back to our room and then all the way to the office again to leave it there so that he could get it. Then we went and ate Papa John´s, I am with Elder Beach and Elder Valle right now. Next, we went and cleaned up the room a bit because it was super dirty after Elder Rojas had packed everything up.

I am pretty excited for the new transfer with Elder Fagg, it should be fun. I never thought that I would have an American companion lol. I have a lot of new plans and ideas for what we can do this transfer and it should turn out well. But ya that's about it....until next week. 

Here's a pic from my birthday celebration:  

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Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 66

Nother good week, Just suffering away, I mean working so hard every day:)

To start out, on Tuesday we had another meeting with the stake president, he is a boss. He comes up with the weirdest analogies and stuff but we got our activity all planned out and it should be cool. We also planned a "White Night" for the 25th of November where we are going to have all of the zone baptisms in one stake center, all together, it should be super cool but it is gonna be rough on me following up with all of the missionaries to see who really progresses and will be able to be baptized that day.  The stake president told us that he is going to write a letter to each member of the stake inviting them to fast and pray for a family that they know that could possibly be baptized and then introduce the missionaries to the families. It should be a super cool thing because the fast really does work! I am excited because after talking to Pres. Amato he told me that I will probably be here for 2 more transfers and I'm fine with that because I will be here to see how everything turns out until at least January. 

Also on Tuesday, I got the package mom and dad sent! it was bomb! Thanks a ton for everything!!

 

On Wednesday we went to the office in the morning to pick-up some supplies for the activities of this last week. We talked to president about an investigator that we have whose mom does witchcraft and he told us not to teach in her house so that is pretty interesting. Lets just say that some weird stuff has happened in her house before...like a long time ago not while we were there. 

 

Thursday we threw up a table in Viña Alta here in our area and had a zone attack and it went really well. We got 50 references in about an hour! We did it right in front of a school when all of the parents were going to pick up their kids. We are going to be contacting them throughout this week. We also got to know Evert´s family this week. I don't know if I told you guys about him, but he got home about 2 weeks ago from his mission and only him, his dad, and his younger brother are LDS. So we went and talked to his mom and his two younger sisters and they are super cool. His parents aren't married because of some legal problems, but we are working on it. They will really need the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives but as the stake president said..."that's a sealing opportunity right there!" It would be super cool to see their family be able to go to the holy temple and I would definitely have to find time to come back to Peru to see that take place. 

On Friday we got to go to the baptism of a little kid in our ward because his family asked us to be the witnesses which was cool.  I also started the English Class that night and lets just say it wasn't a complete failure but it wasn't really a success either. We handed out like a total of 100+ invitations throughout the week and we had it posted on Facebook and everything, and over 400 people had seen the invite, but only a mom and her 10 year old son and his two friends and one other girl came. It was kinda sad. But I am thinking about trying again in a couple of weeks. 

Saturday was a cool day as well. We went proselyting with the missionaries in training at the MTC all afternoon. You'll never guess who I met! I took 3 elders with me and all 3 were from Utah and 2 were coming to our mission. But the one was a Poly who is going to Trujillo. So naturally I started talking to the Poly and  I told him his last name sounded super familiar but I couldn't remember why.So like every other Poly he told me he had like 15 uncles and 37 cousins and started naming them off and turns out it was Simeon Matagi´s cousin!!! The football player from Bingham High that signed with USU as well. Idk if you remember him? But it was pretty cool, what a coincidence that i would go with him. I have a pic but will have to send it to you next week. But anyway, later that day we went to Manchay for 2 baptisms and it was such a cool experience because Eduardo´s mom was getting baptized and Francisco baptized her!!! It was really cool! They were hyped to see me and it was cool to see the whole ward again. My comp was hyped too because he was in that area a while ago as well. 

 

So today we got permission to go to Gamarra. It is like a huge outdoor mall type deal idk how to describe it tbh. It is like blocks and blocks of just stores where they sell everything.  We just bought some ties and I bought a hat, it was cool because one of the members took us in his car. And then my comp got his haircut because he is getting ready to go home next Monday. I will probably go back to Manchay this weekend because Elder Macias is finishing as well and I might just go be comps with his comp, Elder Whitby, that is serving there, so that would be really cool. So ya that is basically what has gone on. We are just getting ready for November and the activities we have planned! 

 

PS. Google translate doesn't have Tongan so I hope that dad knows some Samoan. 

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Much Love,

Elder Mortenson