Money and Honey - 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. 

So President Archibald caught me on the spot during a multi-zone conference. He was explaining how missionaries should have more charity for the people we serve. He said that part of that is wanting to know and learning things about their country. Now just to make things clear, I've always had great interest in learning about Peruvian history, culture, current events, etc. And when I had a Peruvian companion, I took great advantage of his knowledge. I can piece together a few phrases in a couple dialects of Quechua, know the location of all the major cities, and have eaten the most exotic foods this place has to offer including tocosh, fried ants, and cuy.

Unfortunately, there are some things I still don't know... President took out a 10 sole bill, which is probably the most common I use and asked, ''Who's been out on their mission the longest?'' My whole zone called me out and I already knew what he was going to ask. ''Elder Avery, who's the man on the 10 sole bill?'' I didn't know. I had asked a few people months ago, but they didn't know either. And, to be completely truthful, I had come to the conclusion that Peruvians know Jorge Washington is on the 1 dollar bill better than who's on their own money. I didn't tell President all that, but rather admitted that I knew next to nothing about the man on the 10 sole bill.

Charity never faileth. I've come to realize that although I don't know everyone on the Peruvian money, I have developed a lot of love for this country. It started about a year ago, when I was assigned with a Peruvian companion, and I realized I needed to stop saying negative things about Peru. Not saying negative things is a super important step to begin to have charity, but to really get all they way there I needed to start saying good things. In Preach My Gospel there's a quiz on Christ-like attributes and one of the question reads, ''I make positive comments about other people.'' I found that to be huge, not only in learning to love people but also learning to love my second country.

Almost everything we do has a base in charity. Love for the Lord in order to work diligently to bring His children to Him, and love for the people in order to serve them to the best of our ability. I would say that love makes the world go 'round.

Moving on to the week. Al** was ordained a priest yesterday and we found new investigators. One of the families is the Cr** family who are scheduled to be baptized the 20th of June.... hopefully my companion sends me a picture because I'll be home by then...

Well, this is the time for me to work as hard as I can. We've been working a lot. I'm surprised at how tired we are at night, but during the day I just feel the fulfillment of the Lord's promises that we won't feel too tired to work. There's always a little left. Planning well helps a lot too.

I know the Church is true and I know that this work is true. It's like Joseph Smith taught, "It's good doctrine and tastes sweet like honey." :) Have a good week!! 

Elder Jake Avery

Sorry So Short (May 18, 2015)

Two Years Is Not Forever  (June 1, 2015)