Week 41

Hi, Mom, I haven´t received a the package yet, but I'm sure it will be here anytime now.  So far everything has showed up in good condition. This week our whole zone - Puerto Maldonado - traveled to Cusco for a conference with a seventy, Elder Waddel.  It was pretty awesome, I learned a lot.  He told us that some of the missions in Europe only baptize about 70 people a year, in the whole mission! Basically he was was telling us that we need to be a little more bold as missionary´s.  He gave us 2 promises - that if were more bold, we will LOSE a lot of investigators, however, we WILL baptize more CONVERTS.  He also said that the most important part of church meetings is the closing prayer, because that´s when were supposed to go out and DO SOMETHING! So that was awesome, more things too, but travelling back up to the high mountain altitudes, made me realize how HOT Puerto is!   And not to be sweating, but actually have DRY skin!   We only had a couple of days to work, because of trouble - not much happened, but our investigator that has to travel an hour to meet us showed up for our appointment an hour early!   That was really an answer to a prayer, but he wasn´t able to make it
to church, and so we won´t know what has happened until next Sunday from his friend, so we're hoping for the best.  I'm out of time, hope you have a great week! Hasta La Vista (o mejor proxima) Love, Aaron

Week 40

Hi, glad you guys had a good week.  That's really sweet Stormy is going to Mexico City, wow he's already going to be going in the next 3 months I would assume.   Tell him I wish him good luck and that I know

he'll be a powerful Elder.  Yeah, this week I was pretty sick - probably the highest fever I've ever had in my life.  Pretty much just stayed all Monday in my bed sweating and saying to myself - Whyyyyyyy?!"?

I got over what ever I had Wednesday, and then Wednesday my companion got some sort of infection in his ear, so yeah we spent a lot of time in the room this week, but it's all good.  Yesterday one of the recent converts brought his friend to church (which is cool because they have to travel about an hour and a half in a nasty little van, what we call a "comby") but anyway, he talked to us after sacrament and he said I brought my friend that's going to get baptized, so we were just - ALRIGHT!  After church we were talking to them in one of the rooms, his name is Barneby,  and he was telling us that he wants to get baptized and everything so, he accepted a baptismal date, and then we explained to him that we have to teach him and prepare him for baptism, and we wanted to know if it would be possible if he could travel here during the week so we can teach him, and he was said that it's kind of hard because he has a lot of work and stuff, and then our recent convert (Vladamir) said, "LOOK!, one moment I want to say something! When you decide to follow Christ, YOU LEAVE BEHIND EVERYTHING! and put him first! That is FAITH!"  My companion and I were just thinking, "WOW!"  Then he told us a story of one time he prayed for rain and it rained, and then he said to his friend that if he really wants to get baptized that he could visit us during the week, and his friend said, yeah, I think I can come and talk with you guys Friday.  That was an awesome thing.  What Vladamir said was true - just VERY direct, and it worked! I learned a lot from that experience.  Well, I'm out of time again, love you guys and, as always, until next week!

Week 39, Puerto, Peru

Hi Mom, 

Glad things are going good.  Cara is doing great, and that's sweet Brennan is progressing in scouts.   Well it sound like things are going to change a lot back home during this year - we're already in February!  Oh yeah, that picture of the skulls is from a zoo we went to. Things are going good down here.   Tomorrow is the start of a new change (every 6 weeks) and I'm going to stay with my companion.   I'm feeling that we're going to have a lot of success this change, so I'm really going to work hard.   This last change we were able to help some less active families and get some new investigators that we're praying will feel and decide that they need to be baptized. I'm pretty sure this will be my last change here in Puerto so I want to leave my sector a lot better than I recieved it.   This week we a had a few experiences that I'll always remember!   First:  One of the families we're teaching, (we were teaching the mom, Inocencia and the daughter, and the mom was telling us about a lot of stuff that has happened in her life and things lately, and my companion and I both felt that we should ask her if she wanted a priesthood blessing, so we asked, she said yes.  When we went to give her the blessing (oh yeah, were in the front room) this way scary,
back from the dead looking lady - like seriously she looked like she just left the set of a scary movie -  walked up to the front door and was staring at us through a hole -  just standing there watching, pretty earie, and the dog, which never barks or anything freaked out, and jumped through another hole in the front door and scared her away, so that was crazy. 

Second:   After we gave her the blessing we went to her neighbor's house because she told us that someone in their family was really sick, so we should go.  It was just the mom and her son (the mom is about 60 years old and the son 28) and her son was laying in the front room on a bed, seriously looking like he was going to die, just lying there very skinny,  no will for anything.  We started to talk to them to find out what happened, and I seriously got one of the strongest impressions I've had to give someone
a blessing.  We told the mom that we are representitives of Jesus Christ, and that we have the authority to bless people through the power of God and that through their faith and the will of God they can be healed.  We asked her if she would want us to give her son a blessing, and she said yes.  We asked her son Yhon (John) if he has faith in Christ and he said yes.  We gave him a blessing, and since then he's been improving in his health!   That was an experience I'll always remember.  I hope we can keep visiting them,
so they can recieve the gospel.  I'm out of time.   Love you guys.  Talk to you next week!! 

Week 38

So this week was good.   We had a baptism, Ana Juna.  Her brother is a member, her mom wants to get baptised but she´s not married and her "husband/boyfriend" doesnt want to get married, so she can't get
baptised.   She's been cooking for the missionaries for over a year, so with the misionaries always there, hopefully one day. I hope things back home go well with the elections, but guess we'll find out.  I literally have no idea of what has happened in the "world" since May of last year!  I love you guys - talk to ya next week!