Week #19 - Cajamarca

Hola!!!

Well, after a longggg 9 hour trip from Granados in Trujillo last Monday, I am finally here in Cajamarca, practically in the Andes mountains in Chontopacha! It is so beautiful and green with tons of trees and flowers. We live on the third floor, right next to a river, and its pretty tranquilo... except for the last few nights when the people have been partying super hard with music and their crazy tree contraptions that that have weird things hanging on the branches in the middle of the streets (it's Carnival season). The weather here is kinda weird. In the morning it is pretty cold, around 40 degrees, and my hands are freezing! Neither Hna. Mariño nor I want to shower because its sooo cold and we don't have warm water. In the afternoon, around 3, the sun comes out and it burnnnns so I need to coat on the sunblock. In the evening it gets super cold again, and when we return to our apartment we don't have water because we live on the third floor and it doesnt rise, so that has been super fun. Luckily we have big jugs of water to wash our faces and brush our teeth.

This week I got to meet Nelcer who Hna. Mariña had contaced with her other companion just a week before.  He is Evangelico and it seemed like all he wanted to do was Bible bash and talk about doctine. Hna. Mariño had left him a pamphlet of the Restoration, which he claimed to have read, but he had questions that had nothing to do with the pamphlet, such as why we have church on Sunday and not on Saturday. Hna. Mariño gave the explanation with scripture about how Christ was resurrected the third day which fell on a Sunday and all that stuff... He kept talking and talking and just explaining his point of view. As I was watching him, he seemed almost a little nervous. I was just listening and kind of standing there, not doing anything. Finally in the midst of everything I just chimed in and explained, in the end, we can read the scriptures and talk about doctrine, but if God is not involved in this process of understanding, and seeking answers from Him for ourselves, we're reading the scriptures in vain. I really don't know where all that came from and I started talking more and I really don't remeber what I said, but somehow Hna Mariño and I felt the Spirit super strong with this man who seemed to just want to talk about deep doctrine. As I was talking, I could see his countenance change dramatically, and his face seemed almost fearful. After everything, he calmed down, stood there and pondered what we said. I really feel like God had prepared him to receive our message. Becasue if not, it would not have been possible to feel the Spirit like we did. I really feel like he is looking for answers but didn't want to admit it. Now that he has felt the Spirit, we're hoping he can open his heart a little more. After everything, his neighbors were about to enter the room we were in and he said: "Hey, you should talk to them too. They would really like this message". So pretty much he also gave us two references, haha. It was a super cool experience. 

I miss Granados a ton, but I'm super excited for my next journey here in Chontopacha. The area is pretty big so I'm a little nervous trying to memorize where everyone lives, but Hna. Mariño is here to help me. She's from Lima, and only has 11 weeks left on the mission!

I love you all so much, and hope this week is full of the Spirit. 

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Hermana Doney