Week Seventy-Nine: Responsibility and Diligence

Well, I literally almost forgot to write this. Awkward.

My companion and I had another week full of responsibility and diligence. We had a lot of ambitious goals and even though we can't always achieve them all, we are seeing miracles.

The temple dedication is less than three months away. I could not be more excited.  President George Q Cannon once said, "Every temple lessens the power of Satan on the Earth." This is definitely true but I feel like Satan is taking one last strike on the people of Trujillo. A lot of member and non-member families are passing through all kinds of problems that are sometimes really discouraging. On one hand, sometimes it can be frustrating but it also testifies that something real and good is about to happen.

I love this mission. This week a group of missionaries went home (including Elder Leavitt and Elder Boekweg) and a new group came. This has to be one of the most blessed missions in the world. I am witnessing historical moments in the church's progress in Perú.

I love you all,
Elder González

Week Seventy-Eight: Want to Know Anything Specific?

Yesterday, we received the change-call and......I'm staying. I thought that I might be leaving but I'm staying. So now I will be in Chimbote for at least 6 months and with Elder Bernuy for at least 4 and a half. I'm excited about it because all of those families that I've written home about are awesome and I'm going to be able to see them progress even farther.

One other really cool thing that is happening in these changes is that Elder Grant, my roommate here in Chimbote, just got changed to...Chao. Haha, I'm so excited that Chao is going to be in good hands and that I will always have someone to update me on how everyone is doing there.

I feel like I'm running out of things to talk about. It's getting about as sketchy as the 11th and 12th seasons of Spongebob. If any of you have any questions or things that you want me to write about, bienvenidos sean.

Love you all,
Elder González

Week Seventy-Seven: One Wacky Week

This was one wacky week.

Last Monday, after emailing you all, we went as a zone to some ruins way out in the cuts and played Nephite versus Lamanite capture the flag. It was a ton of fun but everyone got SOOOO dirty and rallied by bugs that a quick afternoon shower (dump a bucket of water on your head because there isn't running water in the afternoon), was well appreciated.

On Tuesday, we had a family home evening in the house of the Luján family. About 25 members came and we all made pancakes and watched the church movie "Together Forever".

Wednesday, was our zone training where my companion and I transmit what we learned in the concilio to the whole zone.

Thursday, we had a multi-zone with President Marler where he taught us the importance of making the most of the time that we have as missionaries and getting rid of what he calls "the rocks in our shoes" which are the things that stop us from reaching our full potential that we often choose to leave untouched. And then later Thursday night had a meeting with Pres. Marler and the stake president.

Friday and Saturday were the only normal preaching days so we went hard and tried to teach as much as possible.

I hope that this week is a little more tranquilo. Or at least that we can teach a little more. I feel super excited and inspired to make the best of the last 6 months that I have.

Love you all,
Elder González

Week Seventy-Six: Where I Admit That My Sister is My Favorite...And Also That She Names the Posts

This week had to be one of the fastest of my whole life. We had concilio in Trujillo on Wednesday which for those in Chimbote is an all-day event due to the travel. It was a stellar concilio. We were reminded that "the field is white already to harvest" (D&C 4:4) and not brown already to sow. This is a time to work hard and to see miracles.

We also did two work visits (switch places with a different missionary for a day) in the zone this week and I got to preach in other areas of Chimbote and help a couple of missionaries in the zone. It was really fun and it made the week pass by incredibly fast.

This week is going to be another hectic one.  We have tons of meetings, and training, and activities, and great lessons planned (including a family home evening where the whole ward is going to go to an investigators house and we are going to make pancakes).

Also, a happy birthday shout-out to my sister Lillian. She is the one who fixes my grammar, puts in the apostrophes that I still can't find on this keyboard, runs the blog, updates my Facebook, and generally makes sure that you all don't forget about me, haha. She's the best sister ever and I know how much she likes clowns so we threw her a little party here in Chimbote.

Love you all (especially Lillian),
Elder González

Week Seventy-Five: Families We're Teaching

Hey everyone,

There's not a lot of big news this week. E Bernuy and I have just been working hard and trying to help a few of the families that we are working with. A few of them are:

The Luján family: A really friendly family where the parents (Genaro and Blanca) are already married and have a great relationship even though Genaro sometimes travels for work (he´s a fisherman). They have like 6 kids but the ones who live at home are Eric (16) and Genaro Jr. (6). They love the church and are making a ton of friends. The dad always says he most sincere prayers in the whole world and always gives us a soda at the end of every lesson. They came to the Cornejo family´s baptism and Blanca came to church on Sunday.

Jacky: Jacky is a really nice lady who we met in the street. She has two daughters (Angely and Mia) who are 7 and 1. Each daughter has a different father and she has gone though a lot of difficulties with the most recent one. Since we gave her a Book of Mormon, she has been reading it. We visited her with a member this week and the two clicked a whole lot. The member said that she is going to go to her house today and do some crafts and just talk for a while. The Gospel is going to help her a ton.

The Villena family: A family who was listening to the missionaries about 5 years ago. The dad (Jorge) has 3 college degrees and is one of the the smartest people who I have ever met. The mom (Enma) works in a small mountain town and a education evaluator but she comes home every two weeks or so for a couple of days. They have two sons (Junior and Diego). Junior is really involved in his church and Diego is just a goober and is always in the street with his friends. 6 months ago, Jorge decided that he was going to find out which church was true. He reads everything that he can get his hands on, attends like 6 churches a week and fasts several times a week. The dude just wants to know and he LOVES that we are able to answer his questions.

So those are a few of the people that I am teaching. Prayers are always appreciated.

Love you all,
Elder González

Week Seventy-Four: A GOOD Week

This week was a pretty special one.

Some weeks are really hard but you always just tell yourself that it'll all pay off on some other week. I think that this week was the payoff of quite a few other weeks of tough days.

First, Carmen and Jorge from the Cornejo family were baptized this Wednesday. It was a great service and the ward was super supportive. There wasn't even room for all of the members to sit. They feel so loved and supported. We even saw Jorge leave on Saturday with his home teaching companion to go visit some other folks.

Then, I got a call from my branch president from Chao informing me that a woman who I taught when I was there wanted me to come and baptize her. The woman is named Geheydi (pronounced like the country Haiti) and she has wanted to be baptized the last two years but has passed more trials than a lot of people would be able to bear. She has prayed and fasted and cried and suffered a lot asking God to help her.  When I was in Chao, I was really able to see the strength of her testimony and in the months that I was there a saw a change in her. I knew that she would be baptized someday but it was such a blessing to be able to be there and to be able to perform the ordinance.  I have every certainty that Geheydi will stay active and that she will receive innumerable blessings for her constant looking to the Lord.

Geheydi, I imagine that you are smart enough to find and translate my blog so: Don't stop fighting. You still have a lot of trials to pass through. You received the Holy Ghost this week; use it. Listen to it. It will help you.

I love serving a mission. I love the people that I have met here. I love seeing people search and search and search for the truth and be able to find it.

I love you all,
Elder Gonzalez

Week Seventy-Three: A Car Crash, Leg Surgery, Facebook, and a Walrus

Hope that Valentine's day treated you all well. I had a pretty great one. Remember when I explained that we were going to bring like 14 couples and then have a massive baptism? Well, that sort of fell through. In the days leading up to it, the majority of the missionaries found that the couples that they were working with got scared, couldn't get a hold of their birth certificate, or just got lazy. (There was also one weird case where the government thought that one of the couples was already married.)

Anyway, the day came and we had a grand total of......1 couple. The good news is that they are ours, hahaha. We have been teaching a family called the Cornejo family. The dad was baptized as a kid and went inactive as a teen. His wife and kids knew nothing of the church. He's come back in the last few months and he married his wife on Valentine's day. His wife and his oldest son are getting baptized on Wednesday. It's a longer story than that including a car crash, a leg surgery, Facebook, and a walrus but I can tell you all that story some other day.

The Cornejo family: Sandy (father), Carmen (mother), Jorge (oldest son), Jeniffer (daughter), César (youngest son).

It's been a great week and next week will likely follow suit.

Elder Gonzalez