Written by Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.
It's super sunny in Lima. We're at the point of the year where I take a shower in the morning and again when I get back at night. The nice part is, people are out and about and families are in the streets and in the parks. We're finding very interesting people to teach.
The other day we were talking to a guy who was kind of annoying us. He had a lot of generic questions about if God really loves us then why is there so much suffering, and those kind of questions that really don't have quick and easy answers. Like Preach My Gospel says, we're supposed to help investigators solve their own problems. So finally this guy was ranting about what the church said, referring to (another church), and my companion abruptly told him, ''The reason you have problems with what the (other) churches teach is because they are not the true church that Jesus Christ established on the earth. Those churches were created by men, based on their own ideas and understanding of what they thought Jesus taught, or what the king or other leader wanted the people to do.''
The guy was taken by surprise. Well, we all were. The whole mood of the lesson changed. He calmed down, started asking real legitimate questions, listened to our answers, and we finished by giving him an assignment to read from the Book of Mormon. It reminded me of something I told my companion, almost in joking, when he had lots of questions about other churches. ''One of the sweetest spiritual confirmations is the confirmation that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and the other churches are not.'' This guy we taught obviously got the same spiritual confirmation.
So Me** decided to flunk her baptismal interview again. The Assistants to the President (APs) called our zone leaders and said that they want us to call President to figure out what to do. I'm not too worried, I think that she will get baptized this week, but if she doesn't we'll probably baptize that family without her ... :(
President talked to us a lot about being consecrated servants of the Lord. He read some scriptures from Numbers Chapter 6 and explained to us the importance of being consecrated servants of the Lord, called by a Prophet and Seer to serve His children. He explained that we all made vows by accepting our mission calls and helped us understand the difference between a vow and covenant. He said, ''There's nothing more beautiful and sacred on God's green earth than a vow,'' because a vow is something we take upon ourselves voluntarily. If you guys want to learn a little about it, you can read Numbers 6!!
Well, I'm happy and I feel good. I'm still a little peeved that we aren't having baptisms, but I know we'll find the people. I love you guys so much :) Have a fun week and enjoy the snow. I'm going to the beach some P-day ;)
Love,
Elder Jake Avery
Official! (December 2, 2014)
I am a Chess Piece (December 15, 2014)
