Sunday, April 22, 2018

Week 72 - Finding Connor, a lost traveler from Canada





Buenos Dias!

This has been another great week here in Primavera. This week I had a number of great experiences. Working in the office you really begin to notice all of the little things. One of these experiences was a very unique opportunity to contact and teach in English. My companion and I were running some office errands in a post office here when a slightly raggedy looking backpacker came up to us and began to speak English. He had a beard, long hair, and some 3 different backpacks. At first he came up to us and began to ask me in English who we were and what do we do, but after a few minutes of explaining that we are missionaries the discussion changed to a much more religious message. This man´s name was Connor and he was from Toronto Canada. To be honest I am still not totally sure what he was doing here in Trujillo. He said the wind just kind of brought him here and he was now looking for a way to get back to Canada because he had no money. A little strange but we did not want to pry too much. We talked for a few minutes and then after saying a brief goodbye to continue with our chores he newly came up to us and asked if we could say a prayer with him. He said that he had felt the strong impression that he should ask us to pray and to talk with him. There in the middle of a post office we offered up a prayer with our dear friend Connor asking our Heavenly Father to please guide his life. After saying the prayer, in the best English I could, we began teaching him about how he is a child of God and his Heavenly Father has a plan for him. Connor, like many, was a person who although believes in God, really does not understand who God is or why he is here on Earth. As missionaries it is our privilege to help people to understand that God is our loving Heavenly Father who has a master plan for our happiness here on Earth and to bring to pass our eternal life. When we understand who God is, who we are, and what God's plan is, our lives will always have the direction necessary. We will always be able to find the peace and security to know that we are part of something bigger and no matter what our Heavenly Father loves us and that our Savior Jesus Christ suffered as to help us overcome all obstacles. It was really special to share a short and sweet message with this man Connor and try to add a little bit of direction to his life. Although we were not able to coordinate anything further with Connor I know that this brief moment in the post office is going to make a big difference in his life. 

This week we also had a great experience knocking doors here in our own area. I was in an interchange with one of the other office Elders, Elder Rosenhan, and we decided to knock on the door of a less active. This less active wants nothing to do with the missionaries, but us both being knew to the area, we decided to give it a try in hopes of finding some of her family members. We knocked and thanks to a little bit of luck we found her niece Naomi. We share a quick visit with Naomi where she shared that although she believes in God, she has a hard time believing in the divinity of Christ. It is proven that Jesus was a person on earth, but many question whether he truly was the son of God. To teach someone who does not believe in Jesus Christ is a bit of a strange experience here in Peru where nearly everyone is Christian in some form or another. What we decided to do was to talk about how we knew God exists and how we felt in those moments of our lives when we realize that God exists. Our Heavenly Father often times uses his messenger the Holy Ghost to respond to our questions, and this Holy Ghost often speaks through our feelings. Everything good comes from God and therefore that peace that we feel also comes from God. Naomi expressed that she had felt that peace many times in her life, and we then invited her to pray about Jesus Christ, promising her that if she prayed with true intention, through those same feelings she will know that Jesus is our savior. It was yet another short yet sweet visit this week where I know the spirit was present. 

This has been a great week here in Trujillo and I hope everyone back home has a great week as well. 

Love,

Elder Vassau


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