Hold to the rod

Welll,

This week was good! Started off with an incredible zone conference. It was all about the Book of Mormon. I absolutely loved it! It strengthened my testimony a ton and we received a challenge to flood the mission with book of mormons. That was our focus this week. We shared the Book of Mormon as much as we could and I was able to renew my testimony of the Book of Mormon by sharing it with others. That was a super super solid part of the week! 

Another sweet thing that happened this week was the iron rod activity that we had. We planned it as missionaries and made an iron rod course throughout the church with video games, salted cookies, Oreos filled with tooth paste, and it was super super fun. It was super thought provoking too. It was crazy to see people forget about the iron rod to eat the cookies and then regret it so much when they found out that they were full of salt. I ripped my suit pants setting up for the activity though. I was carrying a flat screen tv and I tripped. I saved the tv but ripped my pants. I have one pair of pants for each suit though so we are good! 

Francisco went to the temple this week too and almost died doing baptisms again! I didn't ask for permission because some missionaries told me I probably couldn't go. President told me I should have been there though! I was stoked to see Francisco after though and to see him illuminating the light of Christ in every sense. 

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week here. We are getting fed some super good food by this member whose husband we are teaching. She feeds us pasta, chicken wings, and ensalada, and guacamole with fried bananas all in one meal. I've never eaten better than at her house. So that's a super positive. 

All good in the neighborhood. Keep calm and feed your local missionaries and bring your friends to the meals! That is the best way to see baptisms in your ward! 

Elder Baron 

Push ups for Ligia

Well, this week was a really really solid week!

Highlights, well I love something my companion said this week. It goes
something like this.

Sometimes we think that God is just moving so much further away from
us. But in reality, it's just us moving away from him.

Boom. I told ya you would like it. But how true is that. Hombre,
everyone has to deal with trials at some point, despite all we do to
try and avoid them. But many times we just try to face the trials on
our own, not doing anything to ask for his help. If we do all we can
to bring ourselves closer to him though, we will notice that he is
without a doubt there, pulling us along, carrying us most of the time,
and supporting us in so many ways. I needed that lesson this week. And
thanks to my incredible companion, I was able to get it.

This week I had a sweet experience. I got called up by the elders of
Parla because this lady I taught a ton wanted me to baptize her. Her
name was Ligia. I remembered her weighing more and man I was nervous.
I did my morning push ups all week though, and prayed for help. The
Lord filled me with peace though and I knew it was going to be ok. It
was awesome to be back in the water with someone and to be able to
help her take that step in her life. The spirit was super super
strong.

There are a lot of really amazing little blessings happening here. We
are still in need of investigators but incredibly grateful for the
faithful people we do have to teach. Helping less active people come
back to church and experience the blessings of the gospel is amazing.
Especially when they bring their family and friends back with them.

We have some great dominican and Bolivian families feeding us and
helping us to encourage the investigators and working on bringing
their friends back to church.

My favorite scripture from this week comes from the book of psalms 46:10

10 Be still, and know that I am God

Let's remember that this week as hard things without explanation come
into our lives.

Con mucho amor


Elder Baron

                        Llao llao

Baby steps in barrio 8

Heeeeyoo,

Well this week we set up a ton of lessons with people we met in the
streets, and they all failed.... Wowsers, but hey we've seen some
really incredible things this week, especially on Sunday. We walked
into sacrament after ward council and our investigator who dropped us
told us he didn't want to talk again was there with his active Mormon
wife! We were super super stoked. We've also been working with this
super cool guy named Marcelo. He left the church for 23 years and
then after studying again, decided there was no better path for him
than the one he could have in the church. He wants to go to the temple
and get sealed to his girlfriend. His girlfriend has some friends who
are telling her all kinds of awful things about the church, and that's what has 
kept her from meeting with us and coming on Sunday. We prayed all week
and when we called Marcelo on saturday afternoon, she said she didn't
want to come. Well, Marcelo fasted and she changed her mind at 1 am on
Saturday night and came!!! She brought a friend too!!!! This friend
actually came because she was impressed by Marcelo not drinking
despite the fact that they all were a little while back at a friend
gathering.

Other than that this week, I had a really incredible experience giving
a blessing to this man during exchanges. He used to be a Jehovah's
Witness but he is investigating the church now. I was able to give him
a blessing and the spirit prompted me to pronounce some blessings, like
him one day having the ability to go to the temple with his wife and
help other people come unto Christ. After the blessing I felt an
incredible peace come over me. I know this man will accept the gospel
completely one day and be able to experience those blessings.

Well, I missed America this week on 9/11.... I was actually overcome
with gratitude for the country I live in. 9/11 is a catastrophe, but
also has really helped our country to come together and be more
united.

Hope you all have a great week

Elder Baron

                        My district 

                  My new best friend 

Ground Zero

Hello to all,

Welp, I've got another fresh start here. We have quite a few less
actives to teach here, but as far as new people to teach, we have a
ton of work to do here to get things really rolling. We had an
amazing lesson this week with a guy who was inactive for 23 years and
is now ready to come back completely.... Oh man the spirit was so
strong as he shared his story. He was worried about if he would be
accepted again, but we were able to bear testimony of him of the power
of the atonement. That was super awesome.

Other interesting things that happened this week. Well, I gave this
homeless guy my vans and then as we were walking away, I turned back
and he threw them away, so I ran back and got them again. I still have
the vans but intend on finding someone else to share them with. We
also got to eat some super good Peruvian chicken hearts with bread
which was super super cool.

The temple saved me today. This transfer has started really rough for
me. We live with two other missionaries on top of it all, and every
night they come home and tell us about all the success they had that
day, and we are looking back on some days and seeing dropped
investigators and a full day of contacting in the streets with little
results. It's a rough start, but I know that the lord will hasten his
work in his time here. We've got to continue giving it all we've got.

At the temple today, I was able to just feel the spirit super strong.
I came in kinda stressed with a ton of questions for the Lord and that
kinda was on my mind for a bit of the session. At the end though, I
was able to feel the spirit super strong and felt this enormous
feeling of peace come over me. I know that I am not alone here, and I
know He will help me here.

Hope this week is solid. Love all of you and wish you all the best.



Elder Baron

"Chicken hearts from Peru are so good"