Week 76

So ya ´nother week down. To start the week out on Tuesday we went and bought the cake that I owed the family that we are teaching. I told the lady in the store to give me the type of cake that they like but she ended up giving me a tres leches and supposedly they don't like tres leches so the contract didn't really work out because my companion and I ended up eating the majority of the cake, but ya it was alright with me hahah. 

On Wednesday we received a message on our phone with a reference that lived in Miraflores, the super rich part of our area and it said that her husband was American so we went to look for the family. We ended up finding them and he came out to talk to us and it was a really interesting experience. He was from San Diego and was pretty cool and all but then I asked him what he did for a living and he went off on this whole thing. He told me that he had studied natureopathic medicine and so I asked him what that was and he explained to me that they study nutrition and all of this stuff and how doctors don't study nutrition, they only study how to treat a sickness and not how to cure it. He told me how they had found a cure for the AIDS virus through electrical pulses in the blood and how they can cure arthritis and diabetes and cancer and all of this stuff. He then continued telling me how I shouldn't eat wheat, barley, rye etc... because the protein chains that they contain are too complex for my body to breakdown and that gluten is dangerous, and how I should never cook things in oil because it is cancerous, and how I shouldn't eat corn because it is cancerous and all of this stuff.  My companion just sat there playing with a nearby bush because we were speaking English. But then he told me all about this company called Longevity and how I need to be on this 90 vitamin and mineral thing so that I can be healthier and all of this stuff. Just thought you M.D.'s at home would like to hear about that conversation. hahah 

On Friday we had interviews with president. They went really well. He talked to me a lot about going to play ball at USU and whatnot. He told me how I needed to be prepared to stay strong. I mentioned to him that the coaches wanted to call him and talk to him and he said that was fine and that he would be happy to work out that situation because he honestly loves ball.  He always talks about how in his ward at home, the new bishop is the Nike CEO´s bodyguard or something and how all of his kids play ball and he always shows me pics and videos on his phone so that is pretty cool. 

Sunday was a pretty good day. Haha we had a good attendance to church. The only thing is that Jorge, the dude we were gonna baptized this Saturday is going to Huancayo for his business all week so we gotta baptize him next week or in February now. But we were walking in the street and I saw this old dude working on an old Slug Bug so we went over and asked if we could help him out.  We ended up changing his mirrors and doing all of this stuff on the interior because he is fixing it to be able to sell it soon. We also helped this lady in the ward fix the electricity in her house. She burned a couple of cables and we went to one of the members that owns a tool store and got more and then went and changed them out, so that was fun. 

Outside of that nothing else really fun has happened. They changed some of the rules in the mission again and so now this is our new schedule to get on email. Its from 9-11 the morning here so I think that's 7-9 there. I like it because doing it in the afternoon kinda sucked. We also no longer have to wear suits to meeting and to church in the summer, which is awesome because sometimes we suffer! But ya that is about it. This week we are gonna watch and sustain the new prophet and then we have a multi-zone conference on Friday. Also the pope is gonna be coming here to Surco on Thursday. Idk what that day is gonna be like because everyone is gonna be in the street celebrating and wanting to see him so it could be dangerous. I saw in the street that they got their pope-mobile done and idk if I told you already that they are gonna spend like $40 mil on his visit alone so ya pretty interesting...

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 75

Yo waddup!?

So it was a normal week again. Just the same thing everyday but ya its chill! On Wednesday Elder Gozalvez did exchanges with me and it went pretty well. It was pretty weird being together again with the elder that trained me but it was pretty cool this time. He was in Surquillo, my area a long time ago and so he came back and showed me all of his old investigators and old references and whatnot that he had received when he was here. It went well. 

We ate lunch with the Llanos family and it was pretty sweet. They cooked a turkey they had saved from new year's so they gave us some. It was good. 

Last week I made a contract with some of our investigators. We are teaching a family that has never been to church. The aren't married and have 3 daughters, 2 of which are old enough to be baptized, but the elders have never been able to get them to church before which seemed weird to me. So I made a deal that if they went to stake conference by themselves, without our help, that I would buy them their favorite type of cake. But if they didn't go they had to make us some crazy food from the jungle that my companion loves. So anyway they went to stake conference and President Amato (the Mission President) spoke! In his talk, he invited everyone to get baptized, so it went really well that our investigators were there to hear that. Jorge, a dude that we are teaching, went as well and he is gonna get baptized pretty soon. Later, we introduced an "eternal investigator" to president and president invited him to get baptized, too... so ya its going pretty well. We should have some good baptisms for these upcoming months. 

Today was a good day though. We watched Moana, which was pretty cool and that's about it. I just hung out with Elder Brooksby and Halls all day. I had a dream last night that I got home with Elder Halls´ group so that was weird, not saying it was a sign.  I've been actually writing in my journal lately which is going really well. I'm trying to remember what happened in the last 8 months because that was the last time that I wrote hahhahhahah. Lets just say that being a Zone Leader for all of those months didn't leave me much time to write, but I am writing a lot of the past experiences I had so that I can at least have something to remember them with. 

But that is about it. I'm just enjoying my time here in Surquillo. 

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 74

It was good to talk to you guys on Christmas. Idk if anything has changed other than the fact Brett (Bryce's older brother) is now rocking the Thor look haha. 

So even though you guys are off from school the work continues onward. This week was actually normal. Now that I don't have so many responsibilities I don't have as many stories to tell you guys about either because it is 100% work in my area now. All is going well though as far as my companion and the area and everything. I found out that part of our area used to be called Chicago Chico because of how ghetto it is, so that is cool. I don't feel like it's that bad though...

So reflecting on my time as Zone Leader, I think the biggest thing that I learned was that you just gotta act like you know what you're doing and hope it will turn out fine. That was one of the biggest things Elder Garate taught me and so I'm applying it as a district leader now because when I give trainings I just act like I know what I'm doing, even though I've never been District Leader before. hahahha. 

I was just reading some things about Christ during these last couple of weeks and would like to share them with you guys. Christ had one single mission. The miracles he performed, the teaching he gave, nothing he did was of greater importance than the mission he had to fulfill. He understood why he had come to the earth when he testified of his mission before Pilate saying that unto that end had he been born. I was thinking about Amulek's teachings in Alma 34 about the atonement and what the words "infinite atonement" means. The atonement was infinite in every aspect; the being that performed it, the depth, the coverage, everything about it was infinite. That is why God could forgive sins before the atonement had even been performed, because he knew Christ would be faithful no matter what and would complete his mission. It doesn't matter where, when, or how we have done something, there is no gap in all of the universe that the atonement does not reach. Celebrating his birth, we celebrate his mission and what he did for each and every one of us. 

I would also like to share a couple of talks with you guys that really strengthened my faith. One talks about the book of Mormon and how it was translated and the other about the organization of the church. I will put the links in here. 

So all is well! It is now officially the last year of my mission. That is a kind of scary thing to think about. Weird to think that I didn't stand on American soil in all of 2017. But ya I hope that you guys really study the talks and that they can strengthen your faith as well. Sorry I don't have a ton of stuff to share in this email. 

	12/23/17 (9 days ago)

https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2014/01/what-is-the-blueprint-of-christs-church?lang=eng&_r=1

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1997/01/by-the-gift-and-power-of-god?lang=eng&_r=1

Week 73

Don't expect this email to be too long because we are gonna talk on Christmas anyway. But so Thursday night we had Mauricio and Andre´s interviews and they were good. Oh but I guess I should tell you what we did for pday. We went and took pics at the temple with the whole zone and then afterward went and ate at Pardo´s chicken palace place and that was good and then we had gingerbread house making competitions and then they gave us some sick new flower ties and after we went to an orphanage and played with little kids and sang songs so ya it was pretty fun. 

On Friday we had to go get a mini-missionary to come with us but we only ended up going to the Municipalidad and then to the mission offices because we had to do a ton of crap for our Christmas caroling activity that we won't actually be able to do because we went back to the municipalidad and they said that we can't have permission to do anything religious, so that sucks. But ya I felt bad for the mini-missionary. But then we had to go interview one of the elder´s crazy investigators that read the Book of Mormon in 3 days and was screaming during her interview, she is so crazy. Luckily, my comp did the interview. But ya supposedly she is going to start proselyting every Wednesday now that she has the Holy Ghost and bringing references to the elders so that is interesting. Then, later Friday night we went to our ward Christmas party and that was fun. 

On Saturday we had the two baptisms. They went well except for the fact that Mauricio showed up an hour late! But we got some members to baptize them and confirm them. Then, at night we went into like the busiest spot in our whole mission and put up the banners we got and tables and free cookies/candy with Santa hats and contacted people. It was super cool and worked out great, we got like 85 references in like 2 hours. But supposedly we aren't allowed to do that so we won't be going back haha but they didn't get mad at us. 

 

Then Sunday was normal. Today we went and played basketball in the morning and then we had to clean our room and I had to pack because I have been  transferred. Then we went back to the municipalidad and that was when they told us that we can't do our activity. Then we went to Papa Johns with the La Molina zone leaders and now we are here. 

But ya so anyway I am being transferred. I'm going to an area called Surquillo. Its like a rich zone but my area is like a half and half. I am gonna be companions with Elder Malca...I'll tell you about him when we talk on Christmas. I'm gonna be the new District Leader there. So ya I'm super hyped about not being zone leader, it is super stressful and I've never been DL before so we will see how it goes. My district is made up of the zone leaders, and another companionship of elders that are in my room so I don't think it will be too bad haha thank goodness. 

But love you guys. Hope you are having a great Christmas season. Ill talk to you soon. 

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 72

We had a good week. On Friday we had breakfast as a zone where we planned and stuff.  We made chicken sandwiches which were super good. 

On Saturday we went to San Borja and had a zone attack there. The bishop of the ward planned the whole thing and brought like 100 copies of the movie "Meet the Mormons" so we just passed those out in this subdivision. I went on splits with Brother Hooker, so that was dope. He was mission president in Piura and then an Area Seventy afterwards and now he works in the area offices as their manager of planning. He knows a ton of stuff so I got to talk to him about some cool things. 

Sunday was a normal day. We are just visiting tons of members in these weeks so that we can invite them to participate in the IluminaElMundo (Light the World) thing. It is going fairly well. 

Monday and Tuesday were just normal days as well haha. The nice thing is, that the ward members bring tons of people to sacrament meeting so we just set up appointments with them during the week. There are a lot of Venezuelans that come because they have cousins or other family that are members. The assistants found a Venezuelan mom and her daughter that had escaped by walking all the way across Columbia, freaking crazy! The Venezuelans that we eat with always tell us about the circumstances over there and it is pretty sad. 

On Wednesday we had our district meeting and it was pretty fun. We told everyone to bring like a funny present so that we could do a white elephant gift swap. I used those weird plastic hands that you sent in my package and gave them away. hahaha Elder Fagg bought a Pokemon-go photo album and we put tons of random pictures of us and our families and whatnot in there hahaha it was super funny. 

Oh ya i forgot to mention that I got the package! Thanks a ton for all the sick stuff in there! I really enjoyed it! I haven't gone through the whole thing yet because I am gonna open it on Christmas! 

But ya today is the mission Christmas activity prep-day thing. Idk what we are going to do. But we are gonna take the zone on Saturday night and go either to the temple or Avenida La Molina where every single bus passes by and we are gonna sing Christmas carols. It is gonna be sweet. We got permission to spend a ton of money to buy light up hats and we bought two huge banners that say Ilumina el Mundo on them and we bought a stamp with the address of the stake center and our phone number so we can stamp tons of cards and whatnot it is gonna be sweet because literally thousands upon thousands of people go by there everyday from every part of Lima so we should get tons of references to send out. 

But I guess that is about it. Next p-day will be normal on Monday. Transfers are this next Tuesday but I don't think that I will be leaving, I think Elder Fagg and I will stay together. I'm excited to talk to you guys on Christmas, we already have everything planned out. Idk when we are gonna do the pre-call but it should be next week I think, so be ready for that!  Talk to you soon!

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 71

Sorry I forgot to tell you guys that I was going to the temple on Monday and to write me Wednesday instead. Next week I won't have prep-day until Thursday because of our Christmas activity. 

It was a long week. To start out with, on Tuesday we had a multi-zone meeting. It was pretty good. They explained a lot of good things to the missionaries like inviting investigators to baptisms and whatnot so I think it will help out the mission a lot. 

On Wednesday and Thursday we had to move. We went to the other multi-zone conference on Wednesday morning and also got all of the money and stuff for our new apartment, and then went and payed the Leaser and started moving in because we had to be out of our old place by the First of Dec. We pretty much lost 2 days of proselyting, unfortunately. Even though we moved right up the street it took forever because we just carried practically everything we own to the new place. I'll send you some videos of it because we live on the fourth floor but there are these little tiny spiral stairs at the top and we couldn't get our beds and whatnot up them so we had to take them up the "Peruvian way", with rope and man-power! hahaha and we got Miguel, one of the members, to help us out. And we are all settled in now. 

On Friday we had leadership council. We talked about some of the new rules that there are in our mission. We can now only listen to hymns, but we can eat with members and investigators now, so that is cool! We had a huge debate on if the missionaries would have to ask permission or not and decided that they did but that we, as zone leaders, would be the ones to give it. Elder Fagg and I got invited to some member's house and they gave us turkey and then that night they brought us turkey sandwiches, so that was awesome! They also told us that we could skype at their house and she invited us to dinner on Christmas! Another thing was that Aaron Garate, my old companion, came to our leadership council for some reason. He came to go to the temple and his girlfriend came with him, so we met her too. He took us to breakfast on Thursday morning as well, so it was cool. 

Sunday we finally got a new pension (The person that cooks meals for the missionaries)! It is a member from Venezuela. It is awesome to eat some different food other than the normal Peruvian menu. The Venezuelan's are so funny! We also got to go to the Christmas Devotional on Sunday. 

Monday we didn't do anything, and yesterday we just had district meeting and a meeting with President Amato and the stake president about the activity that he is doing this month. It was just about following up and whatnot with the members. 

But today we went to the temple, it was so nice! There are so many activities with Christmas coming up and all.  It seems pretty stressful, but I guess I am getting used to always feeling that way. I'm excited to receive the package you sent and to talk to you on Christmas. 

--

Elder Mortenson

Week 70

Happy Thanksgiving.  Peru, unfortunately didn't have a president that freed the Slaves and officially established a day of thanks as a holiday...S/O to Abe. 

One of the sisters in our ward that studied at BYU invited us over to eat Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. The only way we got permission to go was by taking an investigator, her husband is from Venezuela and lived in Florida and Missouri for most of his adolescence so we just spoke to them in English the whole time. It was super cool. They didn't have turkey nor stuffing, but she made us good chicken and mashed yams and delicious rolls and whatnot so I couldn't complain. 

On Tuesday this week we had a meeting with our district leaders to present to them all of our new ideas and talk about the zone. One problem that we have been having is that they don't really take on all of the responsibility that they have. Elder Fagg and I spent two full morning just racking our brains for thing we could do to help the zone out and I think we have come up with a good plan. They seemed excited to work after we finished presenting everything and then on Wednesday we presented it all to the zone, and it turned out well. 

Practically every other morning we have been out looking for a place to live. Where we live is so expensive and we couldn't find anything. The financial secretary gave a price range under like 800 soles and we were finding things around like 1500. But then Saturday, at the last minute, we found this place literally up the street from where we live that is only 900 because it is on the 5th floor haha but it is really nice and we couldn't get all the paperwork and payments done today so we will have to move on Wednesday. But it is even nicer than where we are living right now. 

We went to the office on Thursday for Jhoise`s interview with president. The good news about that was that Elder Fagg had two packages waiting for him there haha so we got to bring them home. They were those ones from like the website where you order the stuff here in Lima and the people put it together, but they were better than nothing. So Jhoise passed her interview and got baptized on Saturday! It was a pretty cool baptism...let's just say she had done some pretty serious stuff in her life and she was so excited to be clean and forgiven. She bore her testimony afterward and it was super powerful, I think she will be a solid convert. 

On Sunday we went to Ward council and it was all good. We came with a plan where a couple that we are teaching is going to cook a bunch of stuff and then the ward is going to buy it from them so that they can pay for their wedding because they want to get married. Afterward, we had called a reference that we had received and he told us to meet him by the university that is in our area on Sunday morning. So we went and he was a super nice guy, he was 25 I think. But he started explaining to us all of his beliefs and whatnot and it was kinda weird. He told us all about how he had come to the conclusion that God didn't exist that only 'Good and Bad' existed and all this stuff and we were super confused because it didn't really make sense.  He is a super good guy and like wants us to be his friend but he doesn't  really want to progress in the gospel, from what it looks like. 

Today, as far as prep-day, we didn't do anything. We went to Pizza Hut, I bought a backpack at the legit Nike store that is in our area but nothing else. Everything is going well. We have zone conference tomorrow and then we are going to move on Wednesday and then we will have Leadership Council on Friday, so ya that's fun. 

I would tell you all of the things that I'm grateful for but it would take too long, just know that I'm a grateful guy and that I'm excited for Christmas now. 

--

Elder Mortenson

These are my homies here in the ward, the missionaries that just barely got home.

And this is us at Jhoise`s baptism. The sun was kinda in my eyes if you cant tell...