Week 69 - Office duties, tender mercies, miracles, and just a little bit of stress

Buenos Dias!

This has been an awesome and very different week here in the mission office. It was full of tender mercies, miracles, and just a little bit of stress. This week as my companion and I went to pick up the documents that were going to allow the Elders to leave the country and head home on Monday we ran into a slight problem. About a year ago, we do not know whether it was lost or it was just forgotten about, his residency renewal papers were never done meaning he had been living ilegally in the country for about a year. Ouch. This also meant that he would not be able to leave the country on monday until he did the necessary procedure to renew his residency and then to cancel it. Considering we found out about this on Wednesday and Thursday through monday immigrations was closed for Easter week we had very little time to act. With a lot of phone calls and running to immigrations, lawyers offices, and the transfer of a few legal documents from Lima we were able to get everything done. It was a real pull off that was all truly coordinated by our Heavenly Father because we saw so many miracles happen that allowed us to pull it off. I think the most obvious of them all was when we went to go turn in the final copy of the renewal papers. We had put everything together that the Elder needed however we were missing Peruvian identification. We were not sure if it had been left in immigrations with the worker or if we had lost it so we decided to just go ahead with the idea that they still had it. We went back to turn everything in and it turns out neither us nor immigrations had the identification card... but rather some random stranger had found it in the middle of the road and right before we had returned, she brought it in. I still have no idea how the card got their or how the lady knew that she needed to come here to drop it off, but what I do know is that it was one of the many office miracles we have seen. 

To be honest the office life is a little different but you do see lots of little miracles that makes it so that everything works out alright. 

Today as well back in Baños, two investigators I was teaching for 4 months are getting baptized. Wooooooh. I will send the pictures as soon as I get them. 

Also today we have the wonderful opportunity to sustain our new Prophet Russel M. Nelson along with the two new apostles Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares. It is just so amazing to know that Godly calls modern day prophets and apostles to be special witnesses of Christ and to guide us away from spiritual dangers that we often cannot see. 

Well this has been another awesome week here in the mission and I am sure this next week will be just as awesome. 

Love,

Elder Vassau

Week 68 - Move to Trujillo by the coast, goodbye to friends in Los Banos

Buenos Dias!

This has been a real surprising week here in Trujillo. Sunday morning on our way to breakfast I got a call from President Marble asking me to come down to Trujillo. I am now his new personal secretary. 

It was a sad early good bye to los Baños del Inca, Maria and Coringo, the ward, and all of our investigators. After 3 transfers and just a little over 4 months we finally had three people who had set their baptismal dates and were going to be baptized in the next 3 weeks. Well Sunday, whether there were baptisms waiting or not, I had to pack my bag and say my goodbyes. I had done my part and I guess it was time to move on and leave these wonderful people of Baños in the hands of Elder Zapatiel and his new companion. The Lord has a plan for the progress of everything. 

I am now here in Primavera near the center of downtown Trujillo. We share a room, ward and office between 4 missionaries. We each have a special job as secretaries. Right now I am receiving training from Elder Hiskey (the former personal secretary) in order to be his replacement in all the logistics and coordination of that is visas, legal documents, travels, the president´s calendar, and all of his personal errands. I had to officially be declared as a legal representative of the Church here in La Libertad and I even have a smartphone (the only elder in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia to have one). Hahaha. I now spend from 9-5 every day in the office and in immigration dealing with the logistics of the mission followed by proselyting here in Primavera from 5-9. It is way different but it is also lots of fun being here in the office with the 3 other secretaries. So far it is not too stressful but I am sure that will pick up a little bit when my Trainer Elder Hiskey heads off to his new area. It is lots of fun and real exciting to be here in a new area and I know those who I left behind in Baños the Lord will take care of. 

This week a scripture that I have been thinking about a lot as I begin my work in the office is found in Alma 37:6 it says...

"6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

This is a scripture from the Book of Mormon that teaches about the importance of all of the little things we do and that happen in our lives. If we work hard and develop the little habits, it will make all the difference and I think that is the key to my new assignment as well. If I work hard and stay focused on organizing all of the little things, "great things [will be] brought to pass ".

Well this week has been a big mix of tears and excitement but the Mission continues and all is happy and well here in Peru. 

Hasta Luego!

Elder Jack Vassau

Semana 66 - Prayer, Promptings, and Finding Jose

Buenos Dias!

This has been yet another awesome week here in Los Baños del Inca. This week we invited Shirley, who I mentioned last week, to prepare for a baptism date and she accepted. It was awesome and I will keep everyone updated on her. This week we had a really awesome experience while out contacting.

It was a Friday and basically all of our evening appointments had fallen through which meant it was time to contact. Contacting can be really fun if you get into it and have energy, but this Friday evening we were kind of low on energy and not quite in the mood to knock on doors. Well we decided to go do it anyway. We were knocking doors for a good 20 minutes without any luck more or less aimlessly tracting a part of Baños. Then it came to us that what we should do was pray. Something so simple can really make a big difference, but sometimes because it is something so easy we ignore to do it. Well we found a nice quiet spot on the side of the road and we offered a pray asking for energy and for God to guide us to at least one person who was ready to receive the Gospel. I do not think more than 30 seconds had passed by after finishing the prayer when a very specific house popped into my head. We had knocked on the door of this house a number of times with no one answering and there was always a little group of dogs outside that liked to give us a hard time. Even if it maybe did not seem to have too much promise, we decided to follow the prompting anyway. We approached the house and sure enough there was the little band of dogs parked outside. However this time as we approached instead of barking and growling as usual they gave us a nice warm greeting. We then went up to the door to knock. A middle aged man answered the door with a slightly stern expression, however, I do not think we had finished saying our names before he ushered us in to his home. He had answered the door in such a way that it seemed he had been waiting for us. We then went on to introduce ourselves and ask if he had met missionaries before and that is why he was so friendly to let us in. He had never met, seen, nor talked to missionaries before... it was a real strange miracle. We were left without words for a little while, a little dumb struck at how quickly God had answered our prayers. He not only lead us to a house that we could visit, but He also lead us to Jose, this middle aged man, who was so willing to let us into his home to teach before even knowing who we were. It was a true miracle and Jose as well has started to learn more about the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is currently on his rotation in the mine (most men work in the mines and have real difficult schedules) but we are praying that when he gets back we continue right where we left off because we were guided to his house for a reason. It was a true miracle and we made sure to thank our Heavenly Father right upon leaving the house. 

This week we also had an awesome family home evening in our Bishop's house. We invited a whole bunch of investigators, and all of the young adults from the Baños ward came out. We enjoyed a nice barbecue Peruvian style and we played with his giant hyperactive golden retriever Rusty. For a spiritual message for the night we presented a great new video that the church has put out about the importance of discover the truth. Ideas and truths here on earth are always changing which often causes instability, but we can find true peace when we learn about God's truths. God's truths never change and when we learn of these things we can always trust in them and follow their guidance. The video is quite hilarious and explains about what happens when we find partial truths... Here is the link. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2018-01-0010-discovering-truth?lang=eng

Give it a watch when you have 5 minutes. 

Well this has been an awesome week here in los Baños del Inca and this coming week is going to be just as awesome as well. 

Love Elder Jack Vassau

Semana 65 - Fasting, Arturo, Victor, Diana & River Monsters

Buenos Dias!

This has been an awesome week here in los Baños del Inca. This week we had the awesome opportunity to fast with a few of our investigators. We taught Arturo, Victor, and Diana about what it means to fast and they were super excited to fast in order to feel the spirit more fully in their lives. To fast is to abstain from food and water for a certain period of time. We typically fast for 2 meals or about 24 hours... but Jesus Christ faster for 40 days. In Isaiah 58 it explains to us some of the blessings of fasting. If we make a small sacrifice of hunger and thirst our Heavenly Father will help us to feel the Spirit more abundantly and will help us with what we need. Obviously to fast we are not commanding God but rather we are showing to Him that we are willing to sacrifice a little in order to receive a little more his help and guide in our lives. It was a truly awesome experience to fast with them and hopefully they too felt this promised spirit.

This week we have also been working with a less active family. Elmer Pajares (35) is a member of more than 20 years and his wife Yhovana has been a member for about 7. However when they built the chapel here in Baños about 4 years ago they went inactive, or in other words they stopped coming to church. They recently had a child, little 6th month old Alejandro, and are now super excited to become active once again in the church. In addition Yhovana has a 20 year old daughter Shilly who we began teaching just 2 weeks ago and has already come to church twice with her family. She listened to Book of Mormon stories from her mom when she was a kid and she has a ton of interest. She really seems like someone that God has been preparing to receive the gospel from a young age. God knows when and how to plant the seed so that at the right time, these people come unto Christ. All is still amazing here in los Baños and mission life goes great. 

Gracias a Todos!

Elder Jack Vassau

PS In other news today I went to a restaurant that sells food from the jungle and I ate a paiche stew. Maybe you remember the Arapaima from River Monsters (see picture below). Well it was pretty cool!