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| My District in Yungay, Peru |
Basically the week's success came from constant obedience and not getting frustrated. If you're patient and just keep at it, something good is bound to happen. We received a random phone call from someone who had a cousin who received a Book of Mormon, so they got our number out of it and wanted their own copy. We received 5 referrals from them, and contacted them all. The members came out and visited with us, T** finally came to church, and I bought a hamburger for 8 soles!
A sol is the money that they have here in Peru. It literally means ''sun'' because the Incas worshipped the sun. (Well, they're actually called nuevos soles because the original sol failed like 20 years ago so they changed their money.) Anyway, a sol is worth about 35 cents, but basically has the same value as a dollar in the U.S. because you can by a bag of bread, pay a bus fare, buy a Coke, buy several avocados, or use the computer for an hour....all for 1 sol. So, on the 4th of July, I remembered that I had pulled out money from home and still had about 20 soles in my pocket. The power in the town went out, which meant we wouldn't have been able to use the microwave when we got home, so we went by a member's hamburger store. Thank goodness she uses a gas stove, so she was still in business!
I saw on the menu that she had a hamburger with basically everything imaginable on it: cheese, fried egg, bacon, ham, brat, french fries, tomato, lettuce and pineapple. It cost 8 soles, which is pretty much more than I pay for bread for an entire week. Eight soles is basically 8 dollars, so it'd be ridiculous for me to buy something like that. Then the inner American spoke to me and reminded me that it was the 4th of July. I remembered BBQ's, McDonald's, and the voice of Larry the Cable Guy. Then I remembered B-Jep and how he says, 'merica. So I bought that colossal burger and ate it in about 2 minutes! My companion just didn't understand that the Americanness of an American may be measured by the kind of hamburger of which he partakes on the 4th of July. My companion went for the 2 sol hamburger :)
Anyways, I didn't just eat hamburger this week. I also learned a lot about prayer and about being specific in prayer. I was kind of frustrated at the beginning of the week because I was always so dead tired at night and didn't have enough time to do everything I wanted to. I then heard the talk that Henry B. Eyring gave in the priesthood session of General Conference. He talked about prayer and how a true priesthood holder should pray. He went into detail about how prayer will surprise us and change us when we do it correctly. I can attest to that! I began to be more thoughtful and conscientious, and my attitude has changed dramatically. Changing my attitude about my time constraints was a favor that God could have always done for me, but I had to ask him. Praying allowed Him to help me change my attitude.
Well, everyone, don't forget to make your prayers mean something. Don't forget to floss (I witnessed a 9 year old girl who had to get a big old molar yanked out because it was infected), and don't forget to be good people :) Have a great week! I love you!
Elder Jake Avery
Fireside and Smores (June 30, 2014)
Visit from the Mission President (July 14, 2014)
