Monday, June 26, 2017

Week 27 - English Classes



Another great week here in El Milagro. This week I had the opportunity to do an interchange of companions for a day this friday with my other gringo buddy here in El Milagro, Elder Maddocks. Two white americans proselyting here is always a funny thing to see. Almost even funnier than two white guys walking around Milagro was the spelling bee we held in our english class this saturday. Once again I think it comes down to poor teachers, but the spelling bee was sooooooo difficult. Simple english words are so hard to spell if you are not used to the sounds. 

This week we have also had the wonderful new opportunity to eat lunch Saturdays and Sundays with members which until recently was prohibited. So far it has been so much fun trying out everyones different cooking and to hear lots of stories. What has really stood out to me were the many conversion stories that we have heard in our coule of lunch appointments we have had. So many of the members here have sacrificed so much in their lives to find Christ and to serve their neighbors here in El Milagro. It just made me think about what we are personally willing to do to serve and sacrifice for our savior Jesus Christ who was the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. 

Well another great week here in El Milagro

Love,
Elder Vassau


Monday, June 19, 2017

Week 26 - The Carpenter and Shop Cleanup

Buenos Dias!




This week was another great week here in el Milagro. This week it is safe to say that I really learned part of the meaning "What would Jesus do". When Jesus was a young man growing up... he probably worked in Joseph's carpentry shop... which means every once in a while I am sure Joseph, as any earthly father would do, made Jesus clean the shop... and that is exactly what we did this week as a district service project, We cleaned up a carpentry shop. Exactly more or less maybe something that Jesus would have done when he was a young man working in Joseph's carpentry shop. Maybe. Ok, it is a little bit of a stretch but well it was a great service project. I forgot to take the before picture but just image about 2-3 feet worth of sawdust just about everywhere and piles and piles of unorganized wood, basically that is what we were dealing with. 

Well this week we have been planning our big noche blanca of baptisms for this coming week, but it looks like the investigators from our half of Milagro are not quite ready just yet so we are going to have to postpone it a little bit.  A little disappointing, but if it is not our Heavenly Father's will that they get baptized this week then it is not his will. God has a plan for every one of his children. He prepares many in their own time to receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we all still have our agency to choose. Therefore we are still super excited here in Milagro that the Lord is still preparing these people and please keep them in your prayers. WOOOOOOH MISSIONARY WORK.  

On another note, Elder Maddocks and I are still doing our English classes every Saturday night and they are so much fun. So far we have covered going to the grocery store, body parts,emotions, and many other themes. This week we taught how to give basic directions such as "go straight" or "turn right" followed by a game where participants had to guide their blindfolded companion through a very basic obstacle course. It was a ton of fun but the game was almost a complete disaster with no one being able to give directions but oh well. I guess one should blame the teachers not the students. In this case I think failure to be able to follow directions was probably because of poor teaching  but on occasions it is due to the fact that the students are not listening to their teacher. When students do not listen to a teacher they get lost because they do not know what to do... basically they missed the directions. Well in life we as heavenly father's children have the same problem. When we do not listen to the guidance of our Heavenly father through the Holy Ghost, scriptures, and latter day church leaders, it is as if we are not paying attention in class, and when we do not pay attention in class is when we get lost. We need to always pay attention to the direction and instruction of our heavenly father so that we can always know exactly what to and if we do that and follow his instructions we will never be spiritually lost. 

This week we also had our La Esperanza stake conference so it was lots of fun seeing my friends from Jordan and some of my converts including Jerrado who is still doing fantastic. 
Well this is going to be another great week here in el Milagro and until next time. 

Sincerely,

Elder Vassau


Monday, June 12, 2017

Week 25 - Belisario, car racing, and June 24th preparations!

Biuenos Dias!!!!!

(OK - I wasn't really with Tucker at his wedding but at least they were thinking of me )


Another awesome week here in el Milagro, and to make it that much better, all four of us missionaries here in El Milagro survived transfers and we will all be staying at least one more transfer here!  

This week we have been working hard to contact some of the referrals we had from our Capilla Abierta (Open House Tour) last week. We were able to contact a couple of people who are interested but one in particular was really cool. His name is Belisario. He is in his late 50s/early 60s and is basically retired. What he now devotes most of his time to is racing rally cars. He was telling us all about some of his races here in Peru and how one day he wants to make it to the U.S.A. to have the chance to test out the pavement there which apparently is "Legendary". I guess nice paved roads are something you take for granted until you are trying to race cars. Well he is super cool and he is also super excited to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was really surprised when we were explaining to him exactly what missionaries do and how we sacrifice two years of our lives to serve our Heavenly Father. What really impressed him was that two young men are taking the time in their life to slow down and focus on some things that are really important, service and our Heavenly Father. Talking in terms of racing cars and in terms of life Belisario explain that in this life, a lot of things happen at a really fast pace and often because of all the fast paced exciting distractions we do not take time to slow down and focus on the things that really matter. Things such as our families and our Heavenly Father, two areas of his life that he knows the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help him refocus on. 

When we learn of Christ we begin to remember what actually matters in this life. Although there is time for other things as well, we always need to take time to remember and focus on the things that really matter and that really bring eternal happiness to us here on Earth and in the life to come. Belisario is awesome and I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help him focus on what really matters in this life, with maybe a little bit of extra time for him to race cars as well.  

Well big things are happening here in El Milagro. Yoland Rodriguez, Rosabel Aranda, and Paolo Carrera all have baptismal dates for the 24th of June as well as 6 other people from the missionaries in the other half of Milagro. That means we are going to have a possibility of having 9 baptisms on the 24th of June. That is a lot of people that are making the decision to follow the example of Jesus Christ. It is awesome! We just need a little bit of help so please keep this date the 24th of June in your prayers so that we can help all of these people prepare for this date. It really is a privilege to help people to come unto Christ as a missionary. 

In other news my big brother Tucker got married to Caitlin this past week. Big congratulations guys! Love you both so much and I am super excited to have a sister in the family. I guess it was about time that a sister came into the picture to mix things up with these 4 brothers. You guys are awesome and meant to be!

Things are still going great here in El Milagro and looks like I am going to be here in El Milagro with Elder Bedregal for at least another 6 weeks and maybe more.  Only the Lord knows J  Well until next week. 

Also,  today I completed my goal for the past two transfers to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. WOOOOOOOOOOH. The Book of Mormon is another set of scriptures that we use side by side with the bible. Basically it is another testament that talks of Jesus Christ but from the perspective of prophets here in the Americas instead of the Middle East. Here are two scriptures that really stood out to me this morning during my power reading. Both of which talk about what we are capable of if we have faith and come unto Christ. 

Ether 12:27
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humblethemselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weakthings become strong unto them.

Moroni 10:23
23 And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.

Love,
Elder Vassau