General Conference - Elder Jacob 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.

We had 6 people go to General Conference! That is what one calls éxi-flipping-to! So, four of them were part of a family we found this week. Their names are Je**, Al**, An** and El**. The esposo is Ri**, and I'm a little cross with him for not going to conference and not wanting to be present in our last lesson (which we cancelled). The problem is that husbands who don't get baptized with the rest of the family rarely ever get baptized. The statistic in the church is very ugly if you're talking about the odds of a kid's parents getting baptized after the kid is baptized alone, and even uglier if one spouse is baptized without the other. We don't even want to go there, so we explained to Je** last night that her husband will have to attend in order to continue teaching the family. The bright side is, they went to conference and they loved it. The wife is also starting to read the Book of Mormon.

 Another lady we are teaching is An**. I think you remember her from a few weeks back. She taught me how to count to ten in quechua... huk, iskei, quinsa, etc. Her family is doing great, but they couldn't make it to conference :( There's always next week :) Well, for 10 more weeks anyways.

One funny story is about one of the other elder's investigators. Her name is Em**, so I always remind her that she has to get baptized because that's Joseph Smith's wife's name. She's like 70 something, so she wasn't up to going to Huacho to see the Conference, but the elders explained to her that the guys who would be talking are older men. They convinced her to go, and she loved to see all the old people so much. I was like, ''oh yeah, old people still got fire in them!'' Her daughter is a member, and we're all praying that she'll be baptized.

So, my companion and I are doing well. In conference I realized that I need to work more by the Spirit. President Eyring said, ''Human reasoning and good intentions are not enough,'' and I was like, ''Yes, sir.'' So it's going well. I'm trying to polish myself as a missionary, but I'm seeing that time is flying like a super sonic jet. Oh, I also liked where the member of the Seventy talked about a missionary who had a sluggish companion and came to the realization where God said, ''Compared to me, you two aren't that different.'' I also liked when President Monson announced three new temples! I did not see that coming by a long shot. That's when you know that the Lord, not Thomas Monson, is running the church.

Today is Christ's 2015th birthday and the 185th anniversary of the Church. I can hardly believe all the work that has been done in such a short time. Sometimes you have to stop and look at the church's growth and say, ''If THIS is not a great and a marvelous work, and not the very work of God, then no such thing exists.''

I know that THIS is the work of Salvation and that this is the Church of God. He appeared to Joseph Smith, not only once but several times. I hope and pray that we all can follow His plan and return to live with Him.

Have a great week! I love you guys!

Elder Avery

New Companion (March 30, 2015)

Bold and Valiant Fish  (April 13, 2015)