Week 94 - Buenos Aires Peru - it's actually cold! Working with

Buenos Dias!!


This has been an awesome cold week here in Buenos Aires. We are right on the wáter here in this área and every evening there is a blistering sea breeze that comes through that adds a nice chill to the air. Buenos Aires is the best though. This week Elder Torres and I have been visiting lots of members here so that I can become more familiar with the área. My companion has 8 months here in Buenos Aires so it seems like he just about knows everyone. On every Street corner there is someone who calls his name. Even the drunks know my companion. It is a great time.
 
This past week Elder Held came to visit the misión in a Mission wide conference. He is an área seventy. A colombian German. Born in Colombia to German parents. He has lived in germany for over 20 years and has lived in just about every country in south america. A very interesting leader who brings a whole mixture of cultures together. He gave an interesting message about the importance of, as missionaries, being spiritual personal trainers. Pretty cool to think of it that way. His wife also gave a great message about our thoughts. It is extremely important to control our thoughts. Any thought that is not a positive constructive thought does damage because it takes energy away from one and decreases one's desire to serve. Everyone has to find their own way to control their thoughts but it is so important to find a way that Works for you. 

This week we have been working with an older lady named Lilia. Lilia has been listening to the missionaries for quite some time now and she loves the church. This past Sunday she came in and it seems like every other lady gave her a hug or a kiss. She knows what we teach is true, but she has this fear of being baptized that she is trying to overcome. This week we have been reading the scriptures a lot with her, but please keep her in your prayers so that she may be baptized this coming Saturday. 

Another cool family we have been working with is the Zavaleta family. They were baptized well over 10 years ago, but have not been coming to church for some time. This week we went to visit them with a few members and the visit went splendidly. Luis Zavaleta recently has had the desire to improve the spirituality in his home where he feels as though his family is slowly drifting apart. We arrived just in time and I believe Luis Zavaleta recognized it as the answer he was looking for because sure enough the whole family came to church on Sunday. There is nothing like the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings a family together. 
Well everything is going well here in Buenos Aires. I promise to take some pictures this week so everyone has some idea of what Buenos Aires looks like. 
Today we had lunch with all of the Elders in our zone. About 80% of the missionaries in our zone and new to the mission, it is crazy. Many are struggling to learn Spanish and are still getting used to mission life. It makes me feel real old. 


The mission is awesome. 

Love,Elder Vassau 

Week 93 - Moving to Buenos Aires (in Trujillo)!

Buenos Dias!


It is time for a transfer. After a little over six months here in the mission office working as the Mission Secretary it is time for me to move on. My new area is Buenos Aires (Not Argentina). It is an area in Trujillo on the ocean. Pretty nice view but no beach. My new companion is Elder Torres from Rancagua Chile, it is just a coincidence that I previously had a companion by the same name from the same city in Chile. We are the zone Leaders from the central zone here in downtown Trujillo. It will be an exciting new challenge. My companion now has about 8 months here in the area so he will show me all of the ins and outs. This week I have said all of my goodbyes to friends in Primavera. A hard goodbye was with Jessica and her sons Juan and Daniel. Coincidentally today I was not the only one leaving Primavera but also Jessica Quiroz is moving to Spain for work. Keep her in your prayers so the family can stay strong  during these changing times. Here in Primavera I have had a ton of amazing experiences working in this ward and in my office assignments. I think the most important things I have learned are how to balance temporal and spiritual work as well as a little bit of quick thinking in stressful situations. It was super cool to work under President and now I am ready to go to hit the ground running here in Buenos Aires. 


On another note for my last pday in the office we went and saw a Caballos de Paso show. Caballos de Paso are dancing horses that dance the Marinera. It is a very famous performance here in Trujillo. 

The office was great and Buenos Aires is going to be an awesome last area. 

Love,
Elder Vassau 

Week 92 - Finding Tender Mercies with the Superintendent of Immigration, moving out of the office

Buenos Dias!!!

This has been an awesome week here in Primavera. Last Sunday evening I received the call that my replacement was coming to replace me as the mission secretary. Even though it has been an amazing experience I am super exciting to get back out to the field. I am not sure where I am heading off to just yet, but I know it is going to be a great change. My replacement is Elder Ray from Las Vegas, Nevada. I will spend one more week with him here in the office training him up and then I will be transferred out. 

This week Elder Ray and I had a super awesome experience when we went to the immigration office here in Trujillo. I frequent the immigration office about two to three times per week, so we were there to show Elder Ray the ropes. On our way out the door we took a moment to chat with the Superintendent Milagros. As a superintendent she has the job of keeping order in Immigration office and she loves to make up funny rules out of nowhere to mix things up. That being said she is a friend of ours and we always take the opportunity to talk to her. This week I gave her the news that I would be finishing my time as the mission secretary and she would no longer be seeing me in her Immigration office. To that she somewhat jokingly told me "What a shame because we never prayed together...". The idea then came to me to invite her to pray with us in that very moment. She accepted! She took us up to her office and she began to open up to us. The hard-strict Milagros turned from one moment to another into a very honest and sincere concerned mother. She began to tell us of her daughter in the United States who has been emotionally suffering for well over a year after suffering from a miscarriage. In Milagros' second floor office we said a very heart felt prayer with her, thanking our Heavenly Father for the many blessings we have as well as asking comfort for her daughter. She shed tears and as strange as it sounds the spirit was very present there in her immigration office. To be honest it was a very sentimental moment for me. I have spent so much time there with missionaries and with the workers that I felt in that moment I was truly helping them to feel Christ's love after they have helped us so many times to be here in Peru legally. I have met so many interesting and amazing people there in Immigration office and this experience was one of the many memorable experiences I have had there. 

This week we also had our multi zone conference which are always wonderful times to learn from President and his wife. The next time I write I will know my next and probably final stop here in the mission.

Love,

Elder Vassau 

Week 91 - Temples and Families Can Be Forever

Buenos Dias!!!

This week was awesome. This week we went to the temple with our ward and with all of the recent converts. It was so awesome to be there with them as many had entered for the very first time. It was a super awesome and spiritual experience. 

This last Sunday my companion and I had the chance to see the spirit work miracles in someone. We have been teaching a sister named Dafne who came to the chapel one time accompanying her member friend Laura to visit with us. She enjoyed the message we shared with her about God but did not act super interested in continuing to visit with us. That was about 2 nearly 3 weeks ago. We thought nothing of it until Sunday morning at around 8am when we get a call. It was Dafne and what she said was the best. She said, "Elders, can I come to church today? Where do I go and what time should I be there? We were a little shocked. Someone asking to come to church?!? Sure enough she arrived nice and early (earlier than we had arrived) and stayed there for all three hours. She loved it and then afterwards set up an appointment so that we could visit with her once again to teach her more about she had heard at church. It was awesome and this week in our appointment with her she completely opened up with a strong desire to once again have a close relationship with her Heavenly Father. It was amazing how perfect this example was of how the Spirit works within people. At first sometimes just a seed of faith is planted, but when it is the right time and the right situation, this Spirit impulses people to make the decision to come unto God on their own behalf. In this case Dafne felt the need to attend church, but these impressions come in simple things such as a desire to read the scriptures, pray, or even just to talk about God. When we follow these small impressions that invite us to do good, we can never go wrong :) 

Yesterday was Elder Rosenhan's birthday (one of the other office secretaries). We went to lunch at the stake president's house where his wife had made us a huge Mexican taco feast (something one never sees in Peru) complete with three different cakes. It was amazing the only sad part was that Elder Rosenhan and his companion Elder Cieslewicz were both absolutely sick and they could not enjoy anything. Oh well. Elder Valencia and I still enjoyed ourselves. 

This week has been awesome here in Trujillo. Today we went to the Huaca del Sol y Luna. They are some super rad old ruins here in Trujillo from 100ad up until 800ad. The missionary work is going stellar as well. 

Love,

Elder Vassau