Week 99 - A Still Small Voice

Buenos Dias!!!

This has been an awesome week here in Buenos Aires. Today I begin the final transfer period of my mission. My companion for the past 6 weeks, Elder Torres, has now gone to a new area, and my new companion is named Elder Anchiraico. He is from Callao, Lima, Peru. He is awesome. He has been a member for 3 years and has 16 months in the mission. Elder Torres had 9 months here in Buenos Aires so yesterday was full of goodbyes. It is hard to leave an area after being there for so long. I think everyone is ready to see knew places but it is just sad to think that one will not see many of these people again. 

This week Elder Torres and I had a super cool experience teaching a young lady named Nicolle Cueva. We found her last week when we contacted her father who was washing his taxi outside of their house. He was busy but his daughter came outside and decided to let us in to teach her and her Grandpa. We taught her a little bit and we left her with a small reading about the Plan of Salvation, which is the plan that God has for all of his children. The knowledge of this plan helps us to answer many questions that we have such as "Where are we from? Did we exist before being born on Earth? What is our purpose here on Earth? What will happen after Earthly death?". We left this reading with her and invited her to read it and to pray and ask God if it is the truth. Well a few days later we returned to see how she was and to follow up on her reading. At first we were disappointed because she said that she had not finished reading the pamphlet and that she had now lost the reading we had left with her. As usual we expressed our disappointment but she then began to explain to us what she had read. She remembered perfectly the part she had read, and even better, after explaining what she had read she looked at us, took a pause, and said "and I know it is true". She explained that the very night we had left the pamphlet with her she had begun to read. She had read about the first half of the pamphlet before falling asleep. In the moments between consciousness and sleep she said she heard a still small voice, a whisper that told her "Nicolle, this knowledge is of grand importance. This day will change your life". She awoke the next morning with a conviction that what she had read was true. How amazing the many ways and the speed in which the spirit can work. 

On Sunday Nicolle Cueva and her cousin Jean Pierre accompanied us to Stake Conference which was full of young speakers that were trully inspiring. 

This week in Buenos Aires has been awesome and I am super excited for a great transfer ahead with Elder Anchiraico. I started the mission with an Elder from Lima and I will finsih it the same way. 

Love,

Elder Vassau

Week 98 - All Peru Missionary Conference, Jaun & Lillia Getting Baptized!

Buenos Dias!!!

This has been a great week here in Buenos Aires. This week we had the privilege of listening to a devotional given by President Falabella (area president), Elder Stevenson (apostol) and President Nelson (Prophet). They were in Lima so we did not attend but we were able to participate in the transmission via satellite. It was so awesome. President Nelson is truly amazing. In the devotional with the missionaries he analyzed chapter by chapter the Savior's ministry here in the americas (3 Nefi 11-3 Nefi 30) and in the in the general devotional he actually gave his talk in spanish. The guy is amazing. 94 years old and is still learning new things. His message was so simple but so true... Keep the commandments. It really brings so many blessings into our lives. 

This week we have been helping Juan Morillas prepare for his baptism which will be this coming Saturday. He is very excited. Today he invited us to his house in Huanchaco and we joined his extended family for a grill off. It was pretty amazing. A little bit of a change from all of the chicken and rice we eat here in Peru. He really is trying hard to learn about the gospel because he knows the blessings that a Christ centered life offers the family. When a family is able to place Christ as their focal point they can be at peace even when it seems like a storm is raging around them. Easier said than done but it is truly a promised blessing. 

We are now rolling into the last week before transfers and it looks like Elder Torres will be sent off to a new area considering he alread has 8 months here. Who knows though so it is not a done thing yet. 

Yesterday we coordinated an activity with the ward Elder's Quorum President called Casa Abierta (Open House). Here in Peru each ward once a year has a church open house where visitors come to receive a tour of the chapel and go from station to station learning about the different organizations. Well we did the same thing but in President Sarango's home. It was a little cramped but a very fun activity. At the end of the activity there was a brief time given to share testimonies and one of the young neighbors that had come decided to share his testimony. It was so sweet. Sorry to say my camera's memory got a virus today so I lost all of the photos I took from the activity so one will just have to imagine. 

I would like to say Happy Birthday to Stewart jr. who turned 18 this past week. Crazy to think you are an adult now.

This past week has been awesome and this coming week we will have possibly 2 baptisms so keep Juan Morillas and Lilia Peña in your prayers. 

Love,

Elder Vassau 

Week 97 - Teaching at the University, and a Baptism Scheduled for Juan Morillas!

Buenos Dias!!!!

This has been an awesome week here in Buenos Aires. This week Elder Torres and I had two companion exchanges, one with the assistants, Elder Peterson and Elder Villanueva, in their area and the other here in Buenos Aires with Elder Gutierrez and Elder Foutz. Companion exchanges are always a really fun time to be able to get to know new people. 

Tuesday we had our exchange in a place called Florencia de Mora. Lots of fun to spend the day with Elder Villanueva, he is from Santa Cruz Bolivia, while my companion was with Elder Peterson. I got to know both Elder Villanueva and Elder Peterson very well while I was in the office, so it was just like good times. We spent a great day proselyting and in the morning we even took their pension's german shephard out for a run. 

On Thursday we had our interchange with Elder Gutierrez and Elder Foutz. I spent the day with Elder Gutierrez who is from Guayaquil Ecuador. We had a super cool experience where a proffessor from a nearby university called us asking for us to come visit her. The University was in Elder Gutierrez area so we received permission from president and we went to go visit the proffessor while she was on break in between classes. It was a really interesting appointment because Judith (The proffessor) was a very success, educated, wealthy women but she came looking for us because she feels a void in her life. She has a young son but ever since she was in a near death experience in a car accident a few months ago she has felt a void in her life. She says she has bought her self all types of things, she has redecorated her house twice, and she has dedicated even more time to her work, but she is just not happy. She knows something is missing in her life. As missionaries we have the awesome opportunity by helping people to fill this void in their life by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the most recent general conference there was a speaker who emphasized this point that the only true lasting joy that one can feel here on Earth and in the eternity

comes through Christ. When we decide to live Christ's Gosepl we decide to be joyous. As it teaches us in 2 Nefi 5:27 And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness. It is an amazing opportunity, as missionaries, to help people find this happiness and that is exactly what we have begun to do with this proffessor. As long as one is willing to be humble enough to repent, one will be able feel this joy. 

This week we were also able to commit Juan Morillas to a baptismal date for the 27th of October. He is so excited and is just so full of questions it is almost hard to teach him. We just kind of listen and respond because he is just so full of energy and information. 

This coming week we will have zone conference with President Marble and on Saturday we will have two Peru wide devotionals with President Nelson. 

Today we had a fun zone pday where Elder Torres and I lead the zone in Gospel themed Trivia and Charades. A nice highlight was when the two sister missionaries from our ward tried to act out in Charades "Elder Vassau". We all had a good laugh. 

This was an awesome week and the mission is the best. 

Love,

Elder Vassau 

Week 96 - No Church because of Elections! And, Lilia is getting baptised!

Buenos Dias!

This has been an awesome week here in Buenos Aires. Yesterday were elections here in Trujillo and we can relax without all of the crazy propoganda and parties all over the place. In addition due to the elections we were not able to attend church yesterday to view the sunday session of General Conference. On Saturday however we did see the morning and evening session. Crazy. Super exciting about the changes to the church schedules, but the focus on home study will be a great addition to all people who are willing to apply these teachings from these latter day prophets. 

This week my companion and I had a great companionship exchange with Elder Rojas and Elder Johnson two missionaries from our zone. I spent the day with Elder Johnson, a brand new missionary from American Fork Utah. It was really fun being with him as he only has 3 weeks here in the mission field. It reminded me of when I was just starting out and it makes me feel real old. 

We made some awesome progress with our investigator Lilia this week. She had previously not been able to reach her baptismal goal for the 29th of September because she has been missing that little spark that one needs to take this important step of faith. Well this week we had a great appointment with her where we spoke about the importance of realizing that faith is not having a perfect knowledge of all things but rather it is following what we feel is the truth. We had planned a well organized and beautiful lesson for Lilia, but about 5 minutes into the lesson that lesson plan went out the window as our pensionista's daughter Milly (3 years old) decided to come participate in the visit. When I say participate I mean she came and began to take everything I own and strew it all across the room and behind the couch where we were seated. Literally as I would speak she would come over and put her hands over my mouth. The cute little girl was just trying to have fun, but she did not realize the situation we were in. One might think that this distraction would scare off the spirit, but ironically it did the exact opposite as, even with all of the distractions and games Milly was playing as we tried to teach, Lilia still felt the promptings to take a step of faith and she accepted to be baptized on the 27th of October. It was awesome. 

Yesterday in the chapel the ward organized an activity where we said goodbye to two young men who go off on the mission this week and we watched as another future missionary open up his mission call. It was a really fun time, but the coolest part of all was what happened with a friend who decided to come and watch his best friend open up his mission call. Jose Vigo was the young man who opened up his call, and his best friend from a very young age, Diego, came to support him in this exciting moment. The spirit was so strong in the room as everyone was excited to hear where Jose was called to serve. I know this spirit during the meeting was working miracles in Diego's heart because, even though he has never spoken to missionaries, Diego after the short meeting came up to us and said "What do I have to do to be a part of all of this? I feel something special here and I think I want to be baptized like my friends." It was so crazy. This desire to follow in the footsteps of his friends who have been good examples since their youth prompted this young man to search for something more. We will see what happens with Diego but it is so exciting to see a young man searching to change his life and to follow our Savior. 

Yet another crazy happening this week was a run-in with a monster of a dog. Imagine the dog from the Sandlot, but black. Well it was late one night around 930 and we were just leaving a member's house. She had given us jello in a cup to take on the road. I decided that it would be nice gesture to gift my jello to a little kid that was playing in front of his house. I go over and hand the little kid the jello cup when all of a sudden just about every dog in the neighborhood began to bark. I turn to my left and with no time to react I see a giant, nearly waist high dog coming full speed right for me. The dog came, slowed its pace about two meters from me as it began to ready itself to attack. I literally had no time to react and before I knew it the dog was lunging for my left knee. I do not not know what got into the dog, maybe I had jumped out of the way just enough, or maybe the Lord was protecting me, but instead of biting my left knee the dog just head butted me as hard as it could. I jump back and then it bites, missing me and just snapping in the air. I quickly backed away and the dog left me alone. I am not going to lie, I was a little startled, but I know the Lord protects His misisonaries and as ridiculous as it sounds I know someone was looking out for me and that chunk of my leg that very well could have been removed by that monster of a dog. Crazy right?!?

This week has been awesome here in Buenos Aires. The mission is the best. 

Love,

Elder Vassau 

Week 95 - Juan & Local Elections in Peru

Buenos Dias!

This has been another amazing week here in Buenos Aires. This week we sadly did not see Lilia's baptism. She just misses that spark of the spirit to take that step. Keep here in your prayers. We are working with her so that she can develop a stronger testimony of the restoration of the Gospel. 

This week my companion and I have begun teaching a man named Juan Morillas. Juan out of the blue has attended church the past two weeks with his whole family. Juan, his wife Patricia, and his two sons Juan (2 years) and Lucas (4 months). Patricia has been a member since she was little but has not been very active in coming to church. Well this week we were finally able to get in contact with the family and we met with them here in the Buenos Aires Chapel. Juan explained to us that as a father he has felt a strong need to provide more spiritual nourishment for his family. He and his wife had begun attending church a year ago but at that time Juan did not feel ready to be baptized nor commit himself to anything. However, over the past year the Spirit has spoken peace to his mind and heart and he has now expressed his desire to be baptized, to be an "active family" here in the ward, and to be married in the Temple. How amazing right?!? We asked him what had changed his decision over the past year and he expressed that he has just felt a peace and calmness in his home that constantly reassured him that this was the best decision for him and his family. He and his family are awesome. 

This has been a bit of a crazy week here in Buenos Aires because on the 7th of October are the local elections for Mayor and regional governor. Literally there are 17 candidates here in our district and it is an all-out war. All day long there are people passing out flyers, candidates walking through the streets giving kisses, cars driving by blasting each candidate’s customized campaign song (They are all re-using songs with changed lyrics), and even last night each candidate had huge street parties where they brought in performers and live music. It is ridiculous. One of the candidates even came up to me and invited me to compete in his political party’s promotional surf competition. I had to politely tell him that I would think about the offer 😎 It is a little crazy but at least we only have one more week of this. To make it that much better, because voting is required here in Peru, church has been canceled on the 7th. We are not allowed to meet together to watch general conference, so we will have to wait until the following week to see it. Oh well, what can one do. 

Everything is going great here in Buenos Aires. The mission is awesome. 

Love,

Elder Jack Vassau