Final Testimony, take II

This week's been great.....same old same old.....not many new investigators. So I'll just tell you what I was going to say last week....

Well, Sorry about the abrupt end last week.

What I was getting at was an experience that honestly put my whole missionary service in perspective.

A couple of months ago I was still in Maranga, and in case you're unaware of how much visible success we had. It was minimal. More often than not, we were walking in the streets, knocking doors, talking to people in the street, visiting every member in the ward, or doing just about anything we could to find people to teach, so that we could fulfill our purpose as missionaries to "invite others to come unto Christ".

Even when we got into a house, our visits to active and less-active members alike proved fruitless. Even the "progress" of our investigators was dubious. 

I vividly recall one family, the “ L”  family. We had to have visited them about 10 times in my short 3 months there, and not once did they go to church. A few of our teaching appointments were cancelled due to the fact that the father was inebriated. I remember distinctly the feeling of complete uselessness every time they promised to come, and never showed up.

On a Sunday morning, much like any other we passed by several investigators so that we could accompany them to church. About a block from the church, who else should we see but the L.  family? Although, it wasn't anything new, frequently they were out and about Sunday, buying ice cream, or going to the beach.....but this week something was different. The men all had Shirts and ties, and the mother and daughter had dresses on....

We approached them, and I hesitantly asked where they were going today. They laughed and said "Church of course"! I must have had my mouth a bit agape, because they all laughed, and said "for reals this time, let’s go".....

Along the way the father, Ricardo, said something to me I'll never forget.

He said: "Elder, it really does mean a lot that you kept visiting us. I'm going to talk with the bishop today; I know I've got to get some stuff in order if we ever want to get sealed."

"Elder, I want you to know. Your visits weren't in vain. Thank you".

Oh, if I could always feel like I did that day....

So. That's what changed my mission. That's what I bore my final testimony about in my last zone conference, and that's the testimony I'll be taking home with me.

I love this gospel so much. I love my mission so much.

That's something they don't tell you when you start....everyone who's served a mission loves it.....but that love doesn't come all at once, but now that it has, I can affirm every cliché statement there is about missionary work!

I love it!!!

I love you all!

I'll let you know about transfers next week!!! Love you!

-Elder Winn

 Temple Trip

 Market outside their apartment

 He might need new socks

 Brian's baptism

Glad to see he's eating healthy

This might be the shortest letter we have receive so far.....

BLOG

May 23, 2016

Hey everyone! I'll start off by telling you I'm doing great!!! And while the work here is going well, I just heard it's going even better back in Maranga...

Now, let’s rewind a bit.

April 11th.

I wrote to you detailing the experience I had sharing the gospel with a young family in a gas station.

Well. It is my pleasure to inform you that they are now members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sunday morning after the sacramental services I received a phone call from the elders in Maranga. Elder Villarroel told me that someone wanted to talk to me. I waited, wondering who it could be, when I hear "It's me, Gisella. Elder Winn, thank you for sharing the gospel with us, we’ve all been baptized and have just received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thank you so much".

I was dumbfounded. I asked her about their conversion, about the missionaries, about the family. While there were certainly trails, there had never been a lack of faith on their part. From what I heard, nearly the whole ward attended their baptism, and President Larson himself affected one of the baptisms.

And while that may be one of my favorite experiences as a missionary, I think there's one more that tops it. One that illustrates exactly what I've done here....

And It looks like I'll be sharing it....along with pictures next week.....I'm sorry!!! I promise a super great e-mail next week!!! Love you!!! Bye!!!

BLOG

May 16, 2016

Well the internet here is dumb, so it appears as if you will not be getting pictures this week!!! Sorry!!!

Apart from that; I just received news that Elder Rasband will be visiting our mission June 10th! That'll be awesome!

Also my $60 suit came in today, it's quite the purchase if I do say so myself! Although the sleeves were a little long and it wasn't as slim as I would've liked (Don't worry mom. Even though it's a $60 suit I didn't settle. It's getting sent back to get tailored again).

Today we went to the center of Lima!!! I found out I can pretty much navigate the whole city now.....like....really. Which is saying something because like 10 million people live here and it is not tiny at all.

This week we contacted; knocked doors, received 50 references, and planned out Bryan's baptism on Saturday.

The noteworthy events there are Bryan's baptism, and the fact that we received 50 REFERENCES THIS WEEK. A normal week for us would include about 2.

Bryan is Kiooshi's younger brother. And in case you don't know who Kiooshi is, he's Victoria's grandson. And in case you don't know who Victoria is.....that's perfectly understandable. I really haven't spoken much about any of them.

Hahaha Victoria is a little old lady who we reactivated last week. Elder Castillo and Elder Adams baptized her grandson (Kiooshi) before I got here, and we will be baptizing Bryan this week. He's 12 and is excited to pass the sacrament. So he's leaps and bounds ahead of me when I was his age.

Hahahaha so I'll be making sure to let you know how that goes.....and in relation to the references. They all came from missionaries in this zone.

For two hours all the missionaries in Callao came over and contacted people in our sector. After all was said and done we have 50 potential new investigators, so this should be a very busy week!

I'm doing quite well and am really excited to keep working with Elder Castillo. We get along great, and he's got lots of energy for the work!

Hmm....I can't think of much more to say....but I'm doing great!!!

Love you guys!!!

Hey everyone!!!

This week's been great!!!

We've been kind of all over the place, but here's this week's rundown.

Monday: P-day, we went to the zoo, and ate at Chili's!

Tuesday: Full day of work, lots of meetings, lots of dropped meetings, lots of street contacts

Wednesday: Service for Mario and Marino. I put in a roof....Now I know what you're thinking ¨Oh wow. Elder Winn and his Companion helped fix a roof¨.....no no no. I built a roof. It was hard. It was quite difficult. But while my companion helped clean up trash and junk from the back room. I tore off the old roof, and put in a new one....If you don't mind having a roof made of plywood and cardboard, I could totally build you a roof for less than $10.

Thursday: We went to the temple! The temple's kind of a ways out of our mission, and our session was at 2:15, so we got home about 8:00 at night. So that was about our whole day.

Friday: Another full day of work. Pretty sure the average age of our investigators is 70. We have one youth who's 12 years old, and then Great-Grandparents who are like 85....so....lots of love, lots of patience. Lots of speaking very loudly into one ear so they can hear, but lots of progress.

Saturday: Another good day, lot of contacting in the street, because, while we started the day with 9 planned meetings, all but 1 fell through.

And Sunday!!! SKYPE!!!!!

It was great talking with my family!!!! Hahaha they made it pretty clear that I would be home in about 2 months.

Hahaha life is good! I'm loving how things is going here!!!! It's kind of hard to find people to teach, but we're trying to do everything we can to find new people to teach!

I'm loving life here!!! This week we've got a multi-zone conference! So I'm excited for that!!!!

That's all for this week!!!

Love you all!!!

Well this week has been great!!!

We've been contacting just about everything that moves, and we're seeing results!

Highlights include:

-Carlos V., who: Warmly welcomed us into his home, listened to our message of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and accepted the invitation to be baptized  by one holding the authority to do so.

-Ericka (and family), who: is actually a less active member. Along with her husband, she was baptized about 16 years ago. Her two children ages 12 and 11, have recently been asking  many gospel related questions, causing her to ponder her current direction  in life, and pray to God wanting to know his will for  her family.

-Severino, who: Is a firm Christian believer, who is simply looking for a way him and his family can improve their relationship with God.

-Pedro, who: After asking for a contacting card about "The Big Beard in the sky" frankly told us that he was drunk and that he just wanted to know what religion we were from

-And Andy who: Is incredibly racist; although only against those from South America, despite the fact that he is from Peru....He's actually a great guy. He just hates everything from Argentina, which is kind of a bummer for Elder Castillo!!!

Hahahaha This week has been moving along smoothly!!! Life is going great!!!

We've been teaching plenty of people, and have been really busy! This week Mario and Marina came to church early and stayed all 3 hours! It was pretty miraculous!!!

I honestly don't have that much else to say!!! Love you guys!!! I'm doing great!!!