Monday, November 27, 2017

Week 51 - A Wonderful Baptism, Hasta Luego El Milagro, and Welcome to the Andes!

Buenos Dias!!!!!!   Hasta Luego El Milagro!!!!




This has been quite the last week in El Milagro... Elder Vassau welcome to Baños del Inca. I am now currently in zone Cajamarca as a district leader. Cajarmarca is a city in the mountains which is about a 9 hour bus ride from the Trujillo and a bit isolated from the rest of the mission. To say the least the greenery, mountains, trees, and constant rain remind me a little more of Seattle then the hot desert coast. Well the week started a slightly unusual note when our room in El Milagro was robbed while we were out playing soccer. Nothing serious happened but they did steal money, my favorite backpack, and documents/wallet. It was a very humbling moment where I had to put into practice what I preach everyday which is that we always need to maintain the eternal perspective. I am not going to lie, when we walked up to our room to find our door wide open and our room a little bit of a mess I was a little angry. After a good 5 minutes of anger I took a seat and said "Elder Vassau what are you doing being angry... these things are just temporal. Although you cannot replace a favorite backpack nor a gifted wallet, all that was stolen was temporal things. You need to remember what really matters." Elder Romero and I decided to put into practice what we preach and we were soon having a good laugh at ourselves and at the situation while we were seated in the police station. We got everything sorted out, the police report filed, and I think the robbery might have even helped our spirits. 😎😂 It is so awesome to be a missionary. 

This week we were also able to have the privilege of seeing the baptisms of Janet and Rosemery Casanova. They were so excited, but in very different ways. Both have been waiting for this moment for years but they show it in very different ways. Rosmery is really really intelligent, quiet, and does not like to share her feeling while on the otherhand her little sister is quite the opposite. Janet is very emotional and open about her spiritual moments. Although Janet and Rosmery expressed it in very different ways,  the highlights of the baptismal service were being able to see their father in attendance and being able to see the number of people that came out to support Janet and Rosmery who have been working for this moment for such a long time. It was truly a miracle, and although Leonardo, their dad, did not really believe they were ready, he still was there to show his support for his daughters and make right past errors. He even brought food to celebrate a baptismal service that he did not agree with. 😁😇 Pretty great things. 

Well sure enough saturday night I got the call for my transfer and sunday I said my tough goodbyes to the ward, a few converts, and especially our pension and her family, Lila and the Benites Family. Sunday night, along with many other Elders, we boarded the overnight bus to Cajarmarca and we arrived this morning at 430am. I am now in the most beautiful area of the mission with my new companion Elder Zapatiel. He is an argentine who loves football and cars and has 7 months in the mission. We met when he was just first started the mission back in Esperanza and since that moment I had a hunch that we were going to be companions one day. On top of that crazy predictions I also predicted, with a little help from former Baños del Inca resident Sister Lila, that I was going to be sent to Baños. My former companion Elder Romero is now in Milagro with the Elder who trained me and started his misison in Milagro, Elder Angulo D'Leon. In the mission we joke that your trainer is you dad... and since my dad is now also training my son, Elder Romero has officially converted into my son/brother (I trained him for one transfer and we both share the same trainer)... How crazy right?

Well this has been an amazing week in Peru and although it was sad to leave behind some great friendships in Milagro I am very excited to experience the completely different culture and missionary experience that Cajamarca has to offer. 

Love,
Elder Vassau


(Note we didn't post 48, 49 & 50 because we mis-numbered the weeks :)

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