The True Nature of Meat - Elder Jake Avery

Written by Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Elders Avery and Martinez, Peru Lima West Mission

Well because all of the people I've been teaching for a while aren't progressing, we've focused a lot on contacting. I think the English word is tracting. Anyway, my district leader came over on Tuesday for our first full day of contacting and it went well. He showed me how to approach people so that they recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ instead of Americans with money who like to giggle. He also showed me how to handle a situation where the investigators aren't progressing, and how to get into the door of almost any house. I had a successful day with him.

We kept going hard all week, trying to get people to come to church, and trying to get them to pray and read their scriptures. When Sunday came, three less active members ended up coming to church! It's a lot better than zero, but hardly the seven investigators and eight less active members we were expecting. One less active member had told us she would go to church on Sunday, so I called her while we were waiting for her at the bus stop to see what was holding her up. She told me, "Because today is Father's Day, my dad says I can't go to church. But I will send my daughter." To give a little background, this woman is 37 years old and her dad is 70.... I told her that she should invite her dad to come with her, then they could be together at church on Father's Day. It didn't happen, but was worth a try  :)

It's not always easy being a missionary, but it's rewarding. I really love being a missionary, and I'm very ready to find a family of 12 to baptize this week, haha! We had two lessons last night with full families, and they both promised to read the Book of Mormon. So, we'll see how that goes.

My companion is awesome! He works hard! I think his mission must be tough because he's 21 years old and he's the only member in his family. His dad is actually a preacher for another church.

I learned how to make some Peruvian meat thing called pachumanca (they haven't discovered BBQ yet). So, there was a huge pot of dead pig and chickens with blood. My job was to (with my bare hands) distinguish a chunk of chicken and a chunk of pork and wrap it up in paper, give it to someone who wrapped it with leaves, and they gave it to someone to put in a hole in the ground where they had made an oven out of mud. It was difficult to tell what was chicken and what was pork. The chicken skin was the dead give-away because it is super goose bumpy. Plus, chicken bones are smaller than pig bones. It was very traumatizing. To beat all, they had no running water, so I got to wash all that yumminess off in a bucket. Yeah, buddy!! After working two years for McDonald's, I finally learned the true nature of meat in one night in Cochauain.

Well, that's a little taste of my adventure this week. We're praying hard for baptisms. If the sun sets on Saturday and there's no darkness, it means we got a baptism in Yungay!

I love you lots. Remember to not be a stinker. Just because someone else is a stinker doesn't mean you can be stinkier (that mostly applies to Jared). I miss you guys a lot. But, hey!! I'm almost half way home. Keep being good!

Elder Avery

Miracles Happen Everyday (June 9, 2014)

The Book is Blue  (June 23, 2014)