Week 44 - Baptisms of good friends Julian (82) & Pedro (76)!

Buenos Dias!

This was an awesome week here in beautiful Milagro. This week we had the wonderful opportunity to see two of my dear friends get baptized. Julian Huaman (82 years old) and Pedro Benites (76 years old). Both of them are nice senior citizens now, but are just the sweetest and most fun guys. Both of which are still working full time. Julian works in construction every day and Pedro in his carpentry shop. As the peruvians say, it is some serious "Chamba". Julian I met for the first time about 4 months back with Elder Bedregal. We were just walking down the street one night and saw an older man carrying bags of cement, which weigh a ton, and so we decided to help. He, a long time ago, had spoken various times with missionaries so he gladly decided to listen to what we had to say and from the beginning he has had the desires to be baptised. From the very first week where we began teaching him and we helped him a bit in his contruction projects he has been attending church. Every sunday he walks for nearly 30 minutes to arrive to church nice and early. We have coordinated numerous times for members to come pick him up in their cars, but every time when the members stopped by his house to pick him up, he had already started on foot. He is so sweet and just wants to get closer to God and Jesus Christ. He is awesome. 

Pedro Benites is our pension's Father-in-Law. He met the missionaries over 20 years ago and basically everyone in his family are now members of the church. I explained a little about his situation last week, but Pedro has finally decided to change to follow what he knows is true, and to set an example for his grandson. He is so funny... and short. He also greets us with a big hug at about waist level followed by a comment about either my hair being golden and he wanting to sell it or to my companion that the two of them classified for the world cup together (Colombia and Peru qualified together with a tie in the last match of qualifying). He is just awesome and it is so sweet to see the two of them follow Christ's example. 

Well another fantastic week with Elder Romero my "Cali Pachangero". He is already an awesome seasoned missionary and Milagro is the bomb. 

Love,

Elder Vassau

​​fotos

1-2) Julian and Pedro's Baptism

3)Teaching Julian

4)Cumpleaños with the family Casanova

5) Baptism

Week 43 - Welcome to Elder Romero from Colombia, almost 1 year in El Milagro, Pedro Benites Baptism

Buenos Dias!!

What a fantastic week here in El Milagro now with the brand new Elder Romero. On Tuesday Elder Torres (the other missionary from Milagro) and I went to go pick up our trainees. He is training Elder Brady from Las Vegas and I have the privilege of training Elder Romero from Cali Colombia, the salsa capital of the world. He is so awesome and I think I am finally with a companion that is taller than me believe it or not. He is super excited to be here in the mission field and is already teaching as if he were a seasoned missionary. 

This week, on Elder Romero's first day in the mission field, we had a really awesome experience with an investigator who is going to get baptized this Friday. His name is Pedro Benites and is our pension's father-in-law. Basically his whole life Pedro has known the missionaries but for various reasons he has never made the final step to get baptized. He is a short very funny Peruvian who although has always known what we teach is true however he has always felt personally unworthy to get baptized. Many people have this fear to fail God in following our Savior Jesus Christ because they do not understand that as children of our heavenly father he sent us here to Earth knowing we would be imperfect. Jesus Christ is the only person who has lived a perfect life, however, in our quest to follow his example as long as we are constantly trying to be better through repentance we will be able to return to our Heavenly Father's presence. Many if not most do not understand this, and this was Pedro's stumbling block his whole life until recently his oldest grandson returned from his mission for mental health reasons. Since the day his grandson returned home, Pedro has been insisting on us visiting him and from the first moment we taught him he right out and said he was going to get baptized this month. What changed? After 20 something years of listening to missionaries what changed in Pedro Benites? Well we were recently teaching him about the importance of baptism and explaining to him a little more about what it means and he told us that he is getting baptized because A) he knows what we teach is true and B) he wants to fulfill a promise to his grandson and help him out. His grandson suffers from mental health problems caused by a traumatic childhood. If he spends too much time alone in his thoughts he breaks down, but when he attends church and reads the scriptures he is able to be comforted by the spirit and return to normal. Pedro told us is that one of the reasons he is getting baptized is to show his grandson that he can change and can help his grandson stay strong in the only thing that gives him peace, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He knows that if he shows his Grandson that his willing to change and follow Christ, that his grandson will find strength to keep on trudging along despite his mental challenges. What a sweet grandpa. 

Well this Friday Pedro Benites is going to be baptized and we have the potential baptisms of Julian and Sarita, so everyone stay tuned it is going to be an awesome week. 

My time with Elder Romero is going great and I am so excited for a great transfer with my new Colombian Trainee. 

Love,

Elder Vassau

p.s. Shoutout to my dear Colombian friends the Bernals. 

Week 41 - Training A New Missionary, Visitor from the USA, Goodbye's and More

Buenos Dias!

Another awesome week here in El Milagro. This was the last week of my companion Elder Alcarraz and my best friend Elder Maddocks. Both are heading home today, finishing up their 2-year long missions. It has been a great time with Elder Alcarraz this transfer, and Elder Maddocks and I have been together here in Milagro for almost 7 months together. He is truly a lifelong best friend who I am going to miss dearly. 

This week I had a great visitor to my area that worked with me for the day.  Michael Hall came from Lima (via Savannah, Georgia in the USA).  It was awesome Mikey came up to visit me. He came in on a night bus from his study abroad in Lima. We spent the morning proselyting together, then we enjoyed a nice seafood lunch that our pension prepared especially for him, followed by hiking a nearby "hill" (at the top of this hill it was a completely different world), and we finished the day by him accompanying us to visit more investigators and get to see Milagro with us. It was awesome to be able to catch up with my best bud since birth. I have really missed the guy since he moved away to savannah. He is doing great and is doing a study abroad in Lima. We already have plans to explore all of Peru when I finish up the mission. 

Well this week because of a few frustrating setbacks we have had to postpone a couple of baptisms for these coming weeks because of renovations in our church building here in Milagro and various other reasons. 

The good thing though is that hopefully I will be able to see these coming baptisms with my new companion. This transfer President Marble has given me the privilege of training a brand new missionary coming straight from the missionary training center. Although I have no idea who it is yet, I am super excited to help a new missionary learn the ropes. Here our district of Milagro both Elder Torres and I are going to be training... for the first time in my mission I am now the old guy. Milagro has always been full of missionaries finishing their missions but as of tomorrow I will be the most senior missionary in the district with just 10 months. How crazy how things change. 

Well yesterday we had an awesome experience teaching a family and committing the entire family to a baptismal goal. Elder Alcarraz and I, in his very last lesson in the mission, we taught about the plan that God has for all of his children. It is a plan that we can all live eternally as a family. It is the privilege and opportunity to be happy forever. I mean who would not want to be happy forever. That is exactly what our Heavenly Father wants for us, just sometimes we forget about that and stray from the path that will lead us to this goal. As missionaries it is our privilege to help people and families remember about this divine and awesome plan that our Father in Heaven has for us so that we can follow it and enjoy the blessings our Father wants to give us. It appears that after 7 years, the father of this family, Leonardo, is finally starting to understand this plan. 7 years ago his oldest daughter began to learn about our Heavenly Fathers plan. 5 years ago this daughter Jennifer, against her dad's will, got baptized as a step to follow this plan of happiness, and now after years of our Heavenly Father softening Leonardo's heart it seems that he is finally beginning to understand this plan and is going to let his family get baptized. With a little luck and a lot of prayer he too will take the decision to follow this plan of happiness as well. 

This has been an awesome week here in El Milagro and I am sure this coming week is going to be amazing with my new trainee. SOOOOO Pumped! 

Hasta Luego!

Elder Jack Vassau

Week 40 - Gian Carlos - A Boy that keeps his word

Buenos Dias,

This has been another awesome week here in El Milagro. In about a weeks time this ward is going to be way different. First thing is that my companion Elder Alcarraz and my best bud and fellow missionary of milagro Elder Maddocks are both finishing their missions. Along with two of the four missionaries here in Milagro heading home, the mission is opening a new area here in El Milagro. There will now be 6 missionaries here. It is going to be awesome. To add to the craziness and changes, this week they are going to begin the remodel of the church here in El Milagro so we will have to attend in another chapel about 15 minutes away. Craziness... sort of... hahahahaha. 

This week we have been working a lot with our best bud Gian Carlos. He is 14 years old and really wants to get baptized. He is awesome and, being our neighbor, always swings by our room. One thing we love about Gian Carlos is that he makes a big effort to be a man of his word, which as missionaries when so many investigators promise things they do not complete, is a really big deal. He has made me think a lot about this idea of being honest, not just completing our promises and telling the truth always with others but also with ourselves. Our savior Jesus Christ suffered, died, and atoned for our sins so that we can receive forgiveness from all of our faults. However to accept our Savior's atoning sacrifice we need to recognize when we have made a mistake and be honest with ourselves, so that we can call upon his help to act and change ourselves to follow him. If we are always honest with ourselves and with our Heavenly Father we will be constantly in the path to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Well some more craziness here in Milagro. Hopefully this week we will be able to see the baptisms of possibly three investigators: Julian, Gian Carlos, and Sarita. Keep these three in your prayers so that they might make this important decision this coming week. Also please keep our mission President, President Marble in your prayers, as he is currently in the United States undergoing a medical treatment.  Along with all of this, on a slightly less spiritual note,  keep the Peruvian national soccer team in your prayers because they have the chance to qualify for the world cup for the first time in 30 something years this Thursday (every house we enter everyone is talking about it).

The mission keeps on being awesome. 

Love,

Elder Jack Vassau

Week 39 - Goodbye to 2 great missionaries Elders Maddocks & Alcarraz and we found David!!!

Buenas Noches (sorry this is late at night),

This was another good week here in El Milagro. This week an event that really stood out to me was when we went to go revisit for the second time an investigator's house we had taught the week before. Last week while contacting we contacted and had a brief lesson with a man named David while he was outside washing his car. The lesson was very normal to say the least. Nothing that seemed too out of the ordinary. He seemed semi interested in what we had to say. When we finished the lesson he just told us to come by his house "one of these days at night". It really did not seem like a very excited invitation but we decided to go looking for him anyway. We knocked on the door of his house and an older man opened the door just a crack and began with the skeptical interrogating questions. We quickly introduced ourselves as the missionaries. I do not think we had finished saying the word misioneros when franticly a lady came running from the back room yelling "open the door". Turns out this was David's mother and father. We then had a nice conversation with David's mother about the fact that he had told her he chatted with the missionaries one day. What had seemed like a very normal not so out of the ordinary lesson had really impacted David, who turns out is a recovering alcoholic. Although he might not have expressed much excitement to us, he did go home and comment to his mom about how excited he was to talk to us about God and have us visit him someday. It was something so simple but it really helped me to realize that all the little things we do can have impacts in people that we do not always immediately realize. 

Well this is week 5 of the transfers which means my companion Elder Alcarraz and my best bud Elder Maddocks who has been with me here in Milagro over the past 6 months will be finishing their missions in 2 weeks. It is safe to say the both of them are trunky hahahahahahahaaha. This is missionary slang to mean that they are thinking a little bit too much about home. It is going to be real sad to see both of these guys head home. 

Well this past Monday we got to enjoy a nice 5pm lunch at a beach front restaurant here at Trujillo's famous Huanchaco. After a quick late lunch we went out the Huanchaco's famous pier and tested our luck fishing. Although we had no real success it was still a good time. Maybe we should really stick to as Jesus said being "fishers of men" and stick to teaching people about God and Jesus Christ. 

Well some more great times here in El Milagro and this week we will hopefully be seeing the baptism of our good friend Gian Carlos and possibly the single mom Sarita Malaver.