Week 15 - More Flooding and Service! Pray for Peru.

Amigos,

Well this has been another crazy week here in Peru. This week I have been in a group of 3 with Elder Angulo D'Leon and Elder Aeschebocher. Because of all that is going on here with the flooding and rain and the lack of potible water, we did not actually end up having transfers this week, but rather Elder Aeschbocher was in an area to the north of Trujilllo called Casa Grande. His area is basically all sugar cane fields and because of the flooding he was without water, electricity, and almost all the bridges to pass from trujillo to casa grande had collapsed. Because of this all the elders from zone casa grande were evacuated and are now spread throughout my zone or other zones either helping proselyte or doing full time service. Elder Aeschebocher is going to be staying with us in Jordan until the situation is a little more normal in his zone. 

This week because of all that has been happening we recieved a bit of a strange new rule in our mission... we are now supposed to proselyte in street clothes. We have always been able to do service in street clothes but in these strange times here in Peru we are instructed to be in street clothes as often as we can in order to search for more opportunities to serve those who are in need and also for our own safety. It is so much fun, but wearing jeans and a tshirt after months of almost nothing but a shirt and tie feels a little strange. 

This week most of our work involved building roofs with various other elders and members in the areas around Jordan. We had a particularly great time building a roof friday with a member named Hermano Soransen. He is venezuelan who recently moved here because of the situation in Venezuela. His parents are danish, and he studied in Russia... so he speaks English, Danish, German, Spanish, and Russian fluently, with a little bit of Japanese as well... to say the least he is fun to talk to and we had a great time rebuilding roofs as well. Most of the houses here are not built for any type of rain, so most roofs are just sheets of plastic without incline or anything, so what we do is basically remove their roof and rebuild it from scratch with new materials to prepare them for any future rains we have here in Trujillo. With all of the elders from Casa Grande doing service here as well it is like we have a small army of missionaries rebuilding houses in this zone. It is awesome! 

Service is a great opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ and help others feel the love he has for them, especially when they are in times of much need. Always remember that we are all children of our heavenly father, meaning that we are all brothers and sisters and therefore we should serve and love eveyone as if and as they trully are our family. 

We are still without running water throughout most of the city and in our apartment, but things have largely calmed down and more normal here. The rain has stopped but the water is still coming down from the mountains so the Hauicos (flooding) continues a little. There is a lot of service to do in these days and many people in need without food, housing, or water. As missionaries and as a ward here we have been trying to rebuild houses and bring food and water. In these days please pray for the people here in Peru, they need all the help they can get. That is about all for this week here in Jordan. All is well and it was another awesome week in the life of a missionary.