Monday, May 1, 2017

Week 20 - Miracles Happen!

Buenos Dias!



Another awesome week here in sandy El Milagro! This week Elder Bedregal and I had a lot of awesome experiences here in El Milagro. One of which was a story one of the sisters in our ward told us. Her name is Gloria Rodriguez and we have been teaching her husband Jorge for about a month now. They are really great except for the fact that Jorge works way too much. Jorge's birthday was this past Friday so Elder Bedregal, being the expert baker that he is, decided to bake Jorge's favorite Lemon cake. That morning we went over the Hermana Gloria's house to make the cake and she told us this story. Gloria has been suffering from pretty serious cancer for a couple of years now and has been going through chemotherapy as well. She told us about how one day she was going in for her 3rd or 4th session of chemo. She had the routine down and now knew what to expect. Hours of nausea and pain sitting in the hospital. She was terrified and was about to get up and just leave the hospital without doing her treatment to avoid the pain and allow the cancer to take its course when she decided to offer a short prayer asking for a little help with what she was going through. In that very moment she heard a still small voice saying to her "Gloria, do not fear, you are not alone. The two of us will get through this together". Heavenly Father answered her prayer through the Holy Ghost who was able to help lighten her burden of the Chemotherapy. She went on to tell us of how that whole day she had no nausea, no pain, and she felt as though someone was protecting her from every obstacle in her life. It was a really special opportunity to hear her share this story with us and it just goes to show that the Lord really wants to lighten our load if only we humble ourselves and ask for his help with faith.

One of the other awesome experiences I had this week was the missionary night activity we hosted in the church. As a district of 4 we decided to do a little game where members, friends, investigators, and whoever wanted could learn a little bit about obstacles in this life. We set up a rope that ran throughout all the rooms in our church building. The game was that people would have to follow this rope throughout the church avoiding obstacles, in complete darkness, while blindfolded, until they arrived at the Chapel, where videos, a short spoken message, and piccarrones (Peruvian donuts more or less) were waiting. To make it even better myself and a few other ward members were working as guides, both good and bad. The majority of us were trying to distract and lead everyone astray. Basically we were trying to tempt them to not follow the path of the rope that leads to their final destination and goal, the chapel and food. Most of us were trying to distract but there were a couple who using very quiet voices tried to guide everyone in the correct path. Let me tell you... it was a lot of fun trying to lead people astray and if helping people get lost is success, we had a lot of success in that field. This activity was a symbol to represent this life. Our heavenly father has a path set out for us that we can choose to follow or not. In this life there are a lot of worldly distractions that try to have us change our path and will not allow us to enjoy the blessings that come to us when we reach our destination. In this example these blessings were picarrones but in our Heavenly Fathers plan, these blessings include the ability to live with our families for eternity (probably to eat picarrones for eternity as well hahahahahah). This short game showed everyone how easy it is to get distracted and lose the path that is set forth for us, and all we need to do is block out and listen to the still small voice that is trying to guide us back to the path and eventually to our final destination. To be completely honest the best strategy is to just never let go of the rope or in real world talk, always be doing the things God gave us to keep us on path (prayer, scripture study, attending church), however, there is always a way back to our destination and the path if we listen to the still small voice of the spirit and search and follow the rope (prayer, scripture study, attending church). This was a super fun activity for the message we were able to share and a little bit for the opportunity to mess with a few people as well :)

This week we had transfers here in Trujillo. Only Elder Vasco from my district is leaving but tons of changes are happening here in the zone. About half the zone is changing because of the limited changes during the time of rain and Huaicos. It is crazy. Also I mad waffles this week which was a huge success (although my companion was not a huge fan. He could not decide if he liked it as a dessert or a breakfast) and wish me luck with the French toast I am going to make for my district tomorrow. Everything is still amazing here in The Miracle (El Milagro).

Love,
Elder Vassau


p.s. how is it that in Spanish they can get away with naming places La Esperanza and El Milagro but in English it just sounds weird to call a place The Hope or The Miracle... food for thought.

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