February 23

 Weekly Update

This weeThe exciting part of this week is on Thursday the office missionaries called. My companion handed me the phone. At this time I knew it was serious because I never answer the phone. One I don´t know Spanish, two the phone service sucks in Peru and you can barely hear what the other end of the line is saying. The first though that popped in my head was that I was going to have an emergency change. I did not want that... The office elder told me that I was going to Lima Thursday night to take out my Peruvian id card- visa. This really brightened up my day. One it is a change in the typical schedule and two I would get to fly again. I really love to fly. Thursday night came and when I went into the airport the people from my group in the CCM were there. My old companion, and two other sisters. It was such a party, I loved to have the opportunity to talk to them and see how their missions were going. Not to compare, but I was the only one with a baptism so far. We flew out and then stayed in a really nice hotel. It was so nice to take a shower in a shower with water pressure. I did not have to worry about being shocked by the shower either. For dinner we ate McDonalds which was good. Sadly, it is a truth that McDonalds will get you sick regardless of what part of the world you are in. We all got sick. The morning came too fast. Then the next day we were in a government building waiting in lines for hours.

 I loved to have the opportunity to talk to them and see how their missions were going. Not to compare, but I was the only one with a baptism so far. We flew out and then stayed in a really nice hotel. It was so nice to take a shower in a shower with water pressure. I did not have to worry about being shocked by the shower either.

For dinner we ate McDonalds which was good. Sadly, it is a truth that McDonalds will get you sick regardless of what part of the world you are in. We all got sick. The morning came too fast.

Then the next day we were in a government building waiting in lines for hours.

We finished and went out to the van. We could have gone to the temple, but the tour company insisted we had to wait for the elders of Cusco. We ended up sitting in the van for 3 hours doing nothing. Then we didn't have to even wait for the other elders they had a completely different van. This was so annoying I wanted to go to the TEMPLE!!!!!!! 

We ate Papa Johns for lunch which I didn't even know they had in Peru. Lima is more modern than Chiclayo is. Now days some parts we were in reminded me of being back in the states.

The pizza was amazing.

 Then they took us back to the airport 5 hours early. Again why didn't we go to the temple. All in all it was enjoyable

 

Hello just a cool thought 

Today I read all of our search for happiness by Russel M Ballard. It is really good. You should read it if you haven't. A part I really liked was¨

That´s the way it is when Jesus Christ becomes a reality in your life. It isn´t that He somehow makes you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise. Rather, you find yourself wanting to do what He would do and respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His. And an interesting thing happens whenever you attempt to place your feet in Christ´s footsteps. If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked----loving, caring, serving, and obeying each step of the way--- one day you´ll look up and discover that His path has led you directly to the throne of God. For that is and ever has been His great purpose and mission: to lead us to our Heavenly Father so we can dwell with Him in His heavenly home.

I thought it was really cool and it stood out to me. I feel it is important that they included developing Christlike attributes in Preach my Gospel. How can you be a representative of Christ if you are not like him? Christ´s way is God´s way. and God´s way leads to lasting happiness. In reality God´s way is much more easier than any other way.

Elder Mecham

Cuy

 I don´t know if it you can see it but across the street they just had a bag full of guinea pigs. They eat them here.

February 16

This week has been great;

We had zone conference this week which is always fun and enjoyable. The zone leaders challenged us to memorize and use the articles of faith in our teaching, so the next day I started reviewing them in english and learning them in Spanish. We taught the articles of faith probably 8 times this week, but each time it has went well and had a great impact on the people we teach. I feel like learning the articles of faith in Spanish also helps me a lot with the language.

A cool experience... we were teaching the Bustamonte family and family we contacted on the street. It is sad though because they will only be here until the end of february because they are here for only vacation. We introduced them to the Book of Mormon and the lesson was going well. When it came to my part I was nervous but I felt just a calming feeling come over me. I then bore testimony and basically poured my soul into this testimony. What is amazing is I can say I had words put into my mouth.

ALSO... I had a conversation in spanish for over thirty minutes. We talked about soccer and different thing, but man that is a step on my language learning journey. Poco a poco.

All in all this week was enjoyable.

My challenge though is to memorize the articles of faith and share it with some person you come into contact this week. 

Have you ever had a service opportunity bust right in through the door? I can now say that I have. On saturday, Yimy Baturen busted into our room and asked if we could help his mom out with her roof. It scared us half to death.... We were in the middle of getting ready to go eat breakfast and then go study when he came. We hurried and changed and then ate breakfast quickly then we were off. We helped fix the roof of hna. Zenaida. It was enjoyable and really it is always great to do service.

 They do celebrate valentine´s day here too. I saw people selling different wooden furniture with hearts on it. Also flowers too. Some people we were going to visit were busy because of valentines day.

I can say the mission is a rollercoaster of ups and downs but when the day comes to an end I can feel accomplished working in the vineyard of the lord.

I would send pictures but the computer is being annoying so here is the bulletin from december. sorry it is in spanish

February 9, 2015

Hello from Peru

I have been out for three months now which I just cannot believe. This week we had a multi zone conference with President Williams and Hermana Williams and the assistants. There were four zones there in total. Before hand the president gave an assignment to study the first 4 chapters of preach my gospel and come prepared to teach a lesson on repentance. I came prepared to teach the lesson, but I didn't know what to expect with the first 4 chapters of preach my gospel. There was a competition with the four chapters in a jeopardy type format. The questions were actually really specific and It felt like you needed to have everything memorized. 

President gave an amazing lesson on taking up our crosses and following the savior. We must give up all we have with out a doubt and follow the savior. In the book of mormon it gives us the warnings if we don´t. Basically it says we will be thrust into hell. Sounds like following is the better choice.

Also president said that at all times we are 100% obedient, but who are we obeying. We must keep evaluating the choices we make every day.

The zone conference we ate hamburgers which were really tasty. I didn't imagine that I would have the chance to eat a decent burger in Peru. Speaking of food I sadly have not have the chance to try guinea pig yet, but I know I will. Cool things I have eaten hmm.. At least every so often we eat octopus. It does even taste that bad. We had it fried like chicken nuggets two days ago. I actually prefer the octopus nuggets to the chicken nuggets. Some of my favorite meals here are Aji de Gallina and Papa rellena. Aji de Gallina is basically like hawaiian haystacks but with some pepper in it. Papa rellena is like potato stuffed with meat.

Yesterday we were able to put a baptismal date on Jhordy Santos the son of our recent convert. He is super exited to get baptized. In two weeks, after some more lessons, he will get baptized. Which is pretty cool. 

Also something cool we did this week is we decided to sleep outside, so we took the mattresses and slept under the stars. It was nice and breezy and we will probably do it again. 

The work is going well 

Elder Mecham

February 2, 2015

Hello

This week was not too eventful.

After having a baptism last week it was just going back to work trying to find more people to bring to the fold and to the truth. 

This week we helped out a with a familysearch activity that the stake put on. We basically acted as missionaries in the spirit prison who were teaching those who had not had the opportunity to receive the gospel. We explained that they could not complete the step of baptism because they did not have a body. Then the group would go through to the paradise, but it just shows how important family history is. People are waiting for us to do their temple work. Waiting. waiting. I can imagine some are pretty bored and tired of waiting now.  We also brought Blanca Santos our recent convert with us. She was excited to learn how to do the work because her mom passed away.

We also are starting to teach one of Blanca´s sons. He is ten and he expressed that he wants to get baptized. He even went to church with his mom this week, so we will be working with him the next couple of weeks.

With changes my district was changed up a little and so was my zone. I have a new district leader now it will be cool to see how he leads and teaches in district meeting. I will miss some that were changed, but I will just need to get used to this it is part of the mission.

Oh yah it was sweet one the the investigators gave me a knitted sweater. It is kind of small but hey it is cool. Also this week another investigator gave me a beenie with the 2 strings that hang down. sweet

Well my testimony has grown since leaving the house... especially fasting. I have already talked about how as a companionship we fasted for Blanca Santos to accept the baptismal invitation. The blessing from Blanca are still coming. 

Elder Mecham

A little treat called trancas