Hello.
I kind of mis-managed my internet time and am therefore left with very little.
It has been a really great week. Now that the open house has finished up, we were able to teach a lot more lessons. We have really seen a lot of people here with some really strong desires to progress. Sometimes, Moche is a little hard because it has some very strong traditions but we have found a lot of families that we see a ton of potential in.
This is the last week of the change (Elder Meaker could be changed). You'll all be updated on that this next week.
Love you all a ton. Thanks for all of the emails, letters, and prayers.
Elder González
Sunday dinner: Home-made Pad Thai (this is really just getting silly)
Seattle pics: Mexican corn and us in a hammock that we made out of a sheet and some cables.
The open house is over now. Over the last three weeks, Elder Meaker and I have shuttled over 38 people to the temple. They were all brought into a tent, split into groups, shown a 10 minute video explaining the purpose of temples, and then taken through every room of the temple. At the end there is a tent with a bunch of sister missionaries to answer whatever questions people have. I attached the official pictures of the temple, the baptistry, the creation room, the celestial room, and the sealing room. It is a BEAUTIFUL temple. On Saturday (the last day) there was a massive amount of people there.
The temple has been such a focus of the mission right now that there isnt much more to talk about. Elder Meaker and I have just been trying to take advantage of this great opporitunity.
Yesterday, we decided to try and eat as well as we could on our food budget using a water boiler (the only approved kitchen appliance). We had quite the menu.
Breakfast: Deviled eggs
Lunch: BBQ chicken sandwiches with baked potato salad
Dinner: Homemade chicken noodle soup (including homemade noodles)
It was delightful.
The Seattle inspired pictures this week are: 1. Greek yogurt and 2. Wind chimes
Hope that everyone has an incredible week. Its been a great school year (probably) and I hope that everyone is ready to start a great summer.
HAGS,
Elder Gonzalez
Hey everyone!
It's been another 7 days here in Moche. They were quick ones and crazy ones. Remember when I said that no one should feel bad for me anymore? Well, that was a premature statement. All this week, we have had problems with light, water, and cell coverage.
It's been another great week of the temple open house. I can't even begin to explain what it means to missionary work to be able to take a family through every room of the temple and tell them, "This is why we are teaching you." This week we brought several great families. On Saturday, Elder Meaker and I went and ran into the Chao branch. It was so neat to be able to see the members and our converts going through the temple. They were happy to see us and surprised that we were companions. I also ran into my ward mission leader from Cartavio.
So since our pensions restaurant doesn't open on Sundays, we fend for ourselves. We aren't allowed to have any cooking equipment in our room except for a water boiler but since Elder Meaker is a chef, we were able to pull of fettuccine Alfredo with home made garlic bread. It was divine.
This weeks Seattle inspired pictures are: I.) Whole wheat pita bread sandwiches with lean turkey and low fat cream cheese. and II.) Wool ties
Love you all a ton! Have a great week.
Hey folks!
This has been a great one. For the zones in Trujillo, we can go to the temple with the people we teach up to three times a week. Elder Meaker and I have been taking advantage of that and taking all of the most important people. This week we took the Lescano family (a wonderful family who is a little less active), the Casana family (the parents of a girl who is currently serving a mission in Ecuador. They aren't members) and Blanca, Gloria, and Victoria (the three women who work at the restaurant that we eat at.) Taking people to the temple completely changes their perspective of what we do.
Elder Meaker and I are working to collect pictures of us doing things that are inherently a part of Washington culture. I think that I'll send like 2 a week. This week is frozen yogurt and recycle tshirts.
Love you all a ton. Finish the school year strong everyone. Do your homework!
Elder González
So I know that you have all been feeling bad for me for the last like 20 months because I have been living in really small little towns far away from Trujillo with a ton of dirt and like no water but the good news is that that is all over now, haha.
I'm in Trujillo now. Not like the center but a little suburb called Moche. Moche is way cool. It is VERY Catholic which is cool because Catholic people are a lot nicer that some of the people from the other little teeny churches that are told not to listen to us and that we are evil.
When I got to Moche, Elder Meaker looked at me and the first thing that he said was, "I've got bad news. Our room is huge and we have a mini fridge." The room is huge and on the fourth story of a building. Finally, I have a place where my bedroom, study room, and bathroom aren't all just the same room. Our pension is a restaurant that is not owned by members. The restaurant doesn't serve breakfast and doesn't open on Sundays so we have to cook for ourselves which is awesome because Elder Meaker is a chef and it gives us an excuse to eat American food (Yesterday, we ate Top Ramen for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, and taco salad for dinner).
We had the opportunity to go through the temple open house this week and it is beautiful. Like ridiculously beautiful. The detail is breathtaking. The coolest thing in the world happened to me as well. Elder Meaker and I took a man named Moisès and his family through the temple and as I stepped out, I saw Ligia (my pensionista from Cartavio), and Lucia, Cristhian, and Cesi (three of my converts from Cartavio). Cesi was there with her husband who recently got baptized. It was so neat to see them and to hear that they are active and doing well.
They told me that they sometimes read this blog which was something that I hadn't really thought about before. Here's a little shout out to them:
A todas las personas que leen mi blog desde Perú: Gracias por tomar el tiempo de leer lo que escribo. Las personas que he podido conocer y enseñar aquí en mi misión son muy especiales para mi y quiero mantenerme en contacto con ellos por toda la vida. Lo siento si el Google no siempre traduce las cosas a la mejor manera pero, en verdad, el esfuerzo que hacen para poder leer esto significa mucho para mi. Les amo y les escribiré cuando llegue a casa.
Hope that you all had a great Mothers Day. I sure did talking to my family. I love you all a ton and hope that you have a great week!
Elder Gonzalez
Also, when Jose found out that I was leaving, he asked me for my ship in a bottle so that he could finish it. So he finished it over night and gave it to me. What a great souvenir!
Well...you are all really good at praying. You should all try praying more.
This week was what Elder Bernuy and I called, "La semana de los tercos" (The week of the stubborn people). We worked a lot with Jenifer and with José, each of whom was the last non-member in their family and seemed to have some kind of doubt that we couldn't find. We worked a lot with both of them as did the ward and we were able to resolve their concerns. Jenifer was baptized on Saturday and José on Sunday.
I have loved my time in Chimbote and I love the families that I was able to work with here. El Carmen is one of the best wards on the face of this planet. However, it's always when a missionary is happy and having success that they change him.
Tomorrow, I'm going to the Laureles Zone. This will be the first time that Im in Trujillo. My area is called Moche and my companion is...Elder Meaker. Yeah, the same Elder Meaker that was in my district in Chao. Elder Meaker is like one of my favorite people in the whole world. We are going to have so much fun. He is from Blaine, Washington which is right by the Canadian border. He is hilarious and a great chef. He just sent me an email that says, "DDDDDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #washingtonswag #inspired #nochildleftbehind #what?!"
This does mean that I will be in the Trujillo South Mission and that my new mission president will be Presidente Rios starting in July. I also don't know the exact date that I go home anymore either but it's all good. I'm excited to be in Trujillo for all of the temple hub-bub. The open house starts Friday!
Well...I have packing to do. Love you all. have a great week.
Elder González
Well, this week is going to have a lot of pictures.
I could not even begin to describe how stressful, hectic, fun, and spiritual this week has been. There are more stories from this week than what a few minutes of email time allows me to send. So if you ever want to hear some crazy stuff, just ask me: "Hey, what happened the third week of April 2015?"
For starters, last Monday, we went with a family that we are teaching (Yesenia and Hilder) to his field in a town called Cachipampa which is like an hour and a half from Chimbote. It was super fun because we went with the Bishop, his counselors, the elders quorum president and all of their wives. It was beautiful and a ton of fun.
Then, on Thursday, was Yesenia and Hilders wedding. She was inactive but now she's back and he got baptized that same afternoon which was way neat.
Saturday, was another wedding. José Chozo married his wife, Elva Gutierrez. She was baptized on Sunday and he will be ready for baptism here soon. (She just didn't want to wait).
We spent the whole week filling out wedding papers, teaching lessons, giving interviews, setting up interviews, there were work visits, a missionary's mom came to visit, and a bunch of other crazy things. I wish that I could say that this week will be more calm...but I doubt it.
If you all could pray for: José Chozo and Jenifer Cornejo. They are two of our investigators that are ready for baptism any day but just need a little help from the Lord.
Love you all so much!
Elder González
