Week #36 - Cajamarca

Hello All!!!

I’ve been through two transfers with Hermana Ortiz here in Chontapaccha and she´s now off to Chiclyn!! We have changes today, and I´m super excited to share that I’ll be finishing the training of a missionary from Argentina named Hermana Terrera! I still haven´t met her yet, and for now I´m with Hermana Villca and Hermana Mower, spending my p-day with them. We just got a notice saying that the ¨12 weeks¨ training program for new missionaries has changed, and so I´ll have to be the guinea pig trying to train her with the new Introduction of Preach my gospel, without using the ¨12 Week¨ booklet... sooo, that will be interesting. President said that instead of using the training book, we have to use the activities and practices found in the new version of PMG (in the introduction) because we don´t have the new updated version of PMG yet. I´m super excited to train and to learn so much more from my new companion. I know the Lord will be by my side every step of the way, and that he knows my strengths and my weaknesses. 

A few weeks ago, (forgot to mention this) it was raining, and Hermana Ortiz and I were just walking in the street and a little moto (these cute tiny three-wheel taxis that drive around here everywhere in Cajamarca) passed by us and got stuck in a little ditch in the road and couldn´t move. It was stuck badly, so we decided to give it a shove together from behind.  There were 4 people inside, and we got them out of the ditch! Haha it was the best. The driver looked out the window from behind, surprised, and said Thanks!! and laughed… Girl power! 

I saw Luciana three times this past week!! Luciana is a returned missionary that was in my first area in Granados. She visited our ward in Cajamarca here this past Sunday with two other girls from Utah State that were visiting for a school project, and they know Luciana too! Then later when I had to drop off my companion at Linea for the bus, she was there too! Then I saw her again today at the mall with Hermana Villca and Hermana Mower when we went to eat lunch! It was super good to see her and to be able to talk to her a lot more compared to when I first started the mission. It was a good reminder of how far I´ve come.  We took a pic together after church Sunday.

We´re really trying to bump up our numbers of baptismal invitation dates here, because they´re dropping. We tried to extend some invitation dates this week with people who are coming to church and progressing, or people who truly have potential and no one accepted. We tried hard to help them understand the importance of the doctrine and testified that they don´t need to know everything before baptism, that´s why it´s a step of faith. It´s frustrating but we aren´t going to stop trying!

We met up with Ray this past week, and he is truly progressing. He told us he didn´t really feel comfortable with the YSA in our ward, but he went to church all three hours like we told him weeks earlier, and little by little he is getting more comfortable. Mercedes, his girlfriend who´s a member, always goes with him but Ray told us she´s not coming to the next appointment, haha. This will be a great opportunity for other YSA members to accompany us and get to know him better. He told us he truly wants to get baptized and wants to get married to Mercedes too in our last appt (ok tears).  When we tried to extend a baptismal date, he just told us that he wants to wait after we teach all the lessons to decide when is the right time... we explained to him that we can accommodate his needs, and teach the rest of the lessons in one week if needed, haha! We also explained that no one is going to feel sufficiently prepared before baptism, which is why it´s a leap of faith. He said he just doesn´t want to make the decision, only to go back to living his old life. His desires and goals are super amazing, we are going to help him in his process of repentance, and pray that the Lord will help him know when the time is right. 

We also had an appt with Wilmer and his 10-year old son, Diego. A recent convert, Janet Aliaga, and her 10- year old son, who was baptized with her, accompanied us!! It went super great. Jeff, the convert´s son, testified about his baptism and explained that he felt that God had given him a new spirit and he felt super clean and as if God had forgiven him of all the wrong he had done... I was astounded to hear this coming from a 10-year old. His testimony was amazing, and literally was straight from Ezekiel 36: ¨A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.¨

I love you all so much, and know the Lord is so aware of us and our struggles. Keep pushing yourself to try new things, and seek the guidance and strength from the Lord to be stretched even further than you thought possible. Have a great week!!

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Hermana Doney