Week #9 - Granados

FELIZ NAVIDAD (temprano) and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!  Wish I could be there to give you a huge hug. I love you so much and am forever grateful for the sacrifices you make for our family and for your selflessness in all you do.

I hope you all have been enjoying the Christmas spirit and have been reflecting on the Savior these last few weeks leading up to Christmas... and maybe enjoying the chilly weather that comes along with it!! This is the first time I´ll be experiencing Christmas with the blazing sun, but I´m excited to see what it´s all about here in Perú!

This week when Hermana Inmunda and  I were walking to our next cita, we saw a super cute, short elderly lady staring at us from across the street. She was just smiling at us so we both waved and she waved back, smiling even bigger. So, we decided to cross the street and visit her. Crossing the street here is wacko by the way. People driving cars have no mercy. If there´s a gap and a little bit of time in between traffic for pedestrians to pass, the people just go and walk in the middle of the street but the cars don´t slow down. I'm still adjusting to this, as expected, and I´m trying to stay calm and not run like a weirdo from one side of the street to the next. Anyway, this week we visited a lady and she was the cutest thing. Her name was Elsa, yes like the movie Frozen. Turns out she´s a Baptist but she has so much love and respect for us. She kept saying something along the lines of  ¨in the end, it´s all for Him¨, and would point to the sky. She kept turning to me, calling me gringita and saying I was bonita. It made my day.

We also ran into a service opportunity in the street. A lady was carrying a heavy goody basket and was struggling to carry it, so we asked to help her! I carried the basket since I´m practically  twice the height of everyone here haha, and Hermana Inmunda and I walked with her to her house with her little boy. She was so grateful for our help and insisted on giving us a can of evaporated milk that was a part of the gift basket. I felt kinda bad  taking it, but it´s a huge deal when people offer to give you things here especially when they know you´re missionaries and servants of the Lord. 

We had a visit with Luis and his wife Jenifer who is an inactive member. There are soooo many less-actives here. Lots of work to do. Luis is so great. He seriously is the epitome of a progressing investigator. He´s reading the Book of Mormon faithfully and praying daily and he has a sincere desire to be baptized. However, he´s a lawyer so works on Sundays sometimes, and also isn´t married to Jenifer yet. They definitely want to be married, yet aren´t ready right now finacially, thus his baptism date keeps getting pushed back. We´re hoping we can get the help of Jenifer and her support to prioritze his baptism and have their wedding soon! This is his salvación we´re talking about!!

We had a couple of visits with Yolanda, who´s another less active member who has schizophrenia. Her life is so so hard. She has a son who has veered off the path and is a heavy drinker and doesn´t live with her anymore. It´s pretty hard to understand everything she says in our converstations because she´s either super emotional or talking really fast. Yet, I can tell she´s faced a lot of difficult trials. I just pray that Heavenly Father can use me in some way to help this lady feel of Christ´s and Heavenly Father´s love for her.

Hermana Inmunda and I are pretty tired and working hard. It´s hard for both of us being away from home for this Chrismas season, but I know we are doing so much more here than we could be doing for others back at home. 

Sé que El Evangelio de Jesucristo ha sido restaurado por el poder de Dios, para nosotros. Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador, y por causa de Él y su Expiación, podemos regresar a nuestro Padre Celestial nuevamente. Este diciembre es para Jesucristo. El es nuestra luz y nuestro ejemplo perfecto. Sí seguimos su ejemplo, recibirémos felicidad y gozo. 

Your Savior loves you, and knows your trying. Let him help you along the way. 

Hermana Doney