I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.

 

While seeing some snow covered mountains would have been nice, I found myself wishing a lot harder to see the brilliant white of a baptismal robe this Christmas!!! We had been working a lot with Luis lately, and were hoping that everything would go well with his baptism the 19th.

It was really miraculous to see how much of a change could take place in his life in such a short time. His habits, thoughts, and even personality have changed (not like he wasn't great before....now he's just better).

We had a really cool experience with him just before his baptism...

He was nervous, as most people are, and he told us that he wasn't sure about the whole baptism thing....He told us he wasn't ready to forgive some people, and that repentance was a little too difficult for him to handle. After a few questions he told us his problem,

When he was very young, Luis had been abandoned by his parents....Just left on his Aunt's doorstep. All his life he had harbored a great animosity towards them, blaming them for all the resultant problems and inconveniences in his life. He had always felt unloved as a child. He said it was something he had taken very personally and internalized. His Mother lived not too far away.....and every time she tried to visit to explain her actions, he wouldn't hear it.

He would never forgive his parents.  EVER.

My companion used an arsenal of scriptures, talks, exhortations....but they fell on deaf ears....We began to worry a bit....and then the spirit whispered "You were in a similar position....the gospel helped"....

How had I forgotten? How had that not struck a chord before?

I immediately told Luis that I knew he could forgive. I told him that I was adopted, but due to the love my parents had shown me, and to the gospel of Jesus Christ that I had in my life.....I had never once harbored those feelings with which he was so familiar....

"You mean....you don't hate your birth-parents for what they did"? He asked.

"On the contrary" I said.

"I owe them a lot.....Thanks to one good decision they made, I have parents who love me, who provided for me. I have a Mom and Dad, who gave me the life I otherwise wouldn't have had"...

"Think about it Luis.....your mother was young when she had you....she wasn't married I bet....she couldn't have provided for you....She did the best she could. She knew your Aunt loved you and so she left you with her"......

Luis thought for a long moment...........He looked at me and said

"Wow.....I never looked at it that way......I.....I need to call her".

I was happier for him than I think I have been for anyone else in a long....long time.

That was truly a beautiful moment.

So.....I hope that all of you know that I have never once felt out of place in my family. I know that we were sealed together in a House of The Lord, and that nothing can ever sever that bond. I knew that growing up. That's a knowledge I've had in my heart since I was 8 years old. I've doubted in a lot of things over the years, but I have never, ever doubted in that knowledge.

......So Luis got baptized and it was great.

Hahahahaha, Christmas Eve we got to stay up until 12:30 and watch the fireworks. It was amazing. It's better than any fireworks show in the US. The Entire city of Lima (like 8 million people) all shoot fireworks into the air at midnight. For like a solid 30 minutes there's fireworks in every direction......I'll miss that a lot.....

But New Year is even better!!! They burn effigies in the street!!! It's so cool!!!!

So....that's what we've got to look forward to next week!!!!

Love you guys!!!!!!!

Elder Winn

Rooftop Christmas Eve 2015

 Luis

December 21, 2015

THEY GAVE ME 30 MINUTES TO WRITE BECAUSE I'LL BE SEEING YOUR FACES ON FRIDAY!!! 

I should be calling around 10-12 AM in Peruvian time....I think I'm 2 hours ahead so 8-10 there.....sorry....Elder Diaz has some problems with communicating the hour to his parents...so it's not that sure....I'll see if I can't call the day before or something.....

I got to go!!! I'll share some cool experiences next week.....and on skype!!! I love you guys!!!!

Love you!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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AHHHH

So my companion is saying goodbye to his other sectors. So I got jipped on time. So rapid fire....

-I'll be training this change. I don't know who my companion will be but he will be new! So the only companions of mine still in the mission will be him and my other "son", Elder Slade.

I'm doing well!!! Luis will get baptized this Saturday!!!!

.....I've got a great story for skype!!!!! I'll have mom write it up at Christmas!!!

I don't know what else.....I may be able to write a bit tomorrow.

I love you all!!! I'm doing great!!! Callao is exciting!!! I'll make up for today next week!!!! Love you guys!!!!

BLOG

Well.....There's really not a whole lot to say this week....other than:

WE'VE FINALLY GOT SOMEONE WHO'S GOING TO PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Cheers erupt from readers around the world*

Hahahaha that's right!!! We've met a great young man named Luis.

He was a contact we made just walking by last week, we told him we were missionaries, he told us to come in, we had a nice heated discussion with the pastor who was apparently using his house as a chapel (although not anymore....oddly enough), and arranged for a meeting later in the week.

He ended up coming to church, and staying for all 3 hours (a rare feat). Then he came back this week and did it again (an even rarer feat), then he went on visits with us to less active members (so rare of a feat, that I'm pretty sure it's never happened to me before).

Anyway, we've got a pretty rock solid baptismal goal with him for the 26th.

In other news I'll be making my own burrito for Christmas, which just goes to show how awesome President and Sister Larson are. We'll be filling out an online form, and then Christmas each and every missionary will receive their own custom burrito......ya know....now that I'm describing it to an entirely American audience I sense that it's really not all that whimsical.....but trust me, if you were here, it'd be whimsical alright.

And that's about all that I can think of right now!!!

Things are going a lot better this week! I'll make sure to keep you guys updated!!!

Much love,   Elder Winn

P.S. Looks like I've got a bit more time. Random Fact: Calamari is way cheap here and is by far my new favorite meal; $1.66 with rice, and a side of Yucca, by far the best thing ever.

The Law of Conservation of Mass; and how it applies to Missionary Work.

 

I hope you all gained at least five pounds this 26th!!!

Turkey's a little bit of a rarity here, so I'll have you know I thoroughly enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner composed of bagged *Chaufa and soup (they were both bagged).   If you order soup or a drink to go here, they just put it into a thin plastic bag that you can eat later at your leisure.

So.....although the feast may have been a little disappointing, it was pretty good overall!!! We found a great investigator that day!!!

His name is Carlos. He's received all the missionary lessons, and came to church this week. We talked to him for about 20 minutes in the church, he said he was super excited to be baptized, and he had been preparing himself for about 6 months now. We asked where he lived so we could visit him and he said he lived in "El Olivar" which I don't know if I've told you guys before, but that was right next to my sector in Jorge Chavez.......we ask him why he came to church here. He says he'll be moving soon. We get excited again. He says He'll be moving here in January, one week after his baptism (not going to lie, I was a little disappointed we weren't going to be able to teach and baptize him).

So, we told him we'd be in contact when he came here, and would be happy to teach him. Eh, it's ok, we say. We'll have another convert to teach, it'll still be cool.

Then Monday, we find and teach a lovely family from Huancayo!

-They're married

-They're Christians

-They have 3 kids ages 11, 9, and 3.

-They reminded US about the meeting 10 minutes before the scheduled time.

-They attentively listened and asked questions throughout the lesson

-They accepted baptismal dates.

And just when it looked like it couldn't get any better. They said

"Well it sure has been a pleasure....too bad we'll be moving back to Huancayo next week".

We thanked them for their time, set a meeting for this Tuesday (they day before they leave), and left.

I felt a bit sad as we left. After all, we had found a great family this week, and a promising investigator at church......and we wouldn't even be able to baptize them.....Other than that we had had a pretty lousy week too....not many people were home, and our pool of investigators has been steadily drying up.

And then I thought for a minute.......It really wouldn't make a difference if they were baptized here or in Huancayo.....would it?.....Yeah, I wouldn't have as many pictures.....and maybe I wouldn't get to know them as well.....but I still got to play a small part in their conversion. In fact, we were the means by which an entire family learned about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. That's still pretty neat!

Then I got to thinking......there's an awful lot of things I've done that (as far as I know) have gone unnoticed.......I think the same principle applies.

All of us at some point have become acquainted with the law of conservation of Mass:

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another".

I think this law ties in quite nicely to missionary work.

Our efforts as missionaries do not "create" baptisms. They all just form a part of the wonderful work of spreading the gospel. A missionary who introduces 50 people to the gospel has played just a big a role as one who has found 50 prepared people and baptized them.

Unfortunately as humans, we tend to only view the outside results as successes, therefore the energy and efforts given by others; that do not have visible fruits, we often see as failures.

I want to testify to each of you, that that is not true.

I know this principle extends far beyond missionary work, and I hope you can all begin to realize it.

Entirely too often we let opportunities to help, serve, share the gospel, brighten a day, forgive, and love, pass by simply because we think "It won't make a difference".   According to both spiritual and physical laws that simply isn't true.

I want to invite each one of you to do 7 things this week to help someone else that you wouldn't normally do simply because "It wouldn't make a difference". You'll see that it makes a difference in their lives as well as yours.

Well that's it for this week!!!!! I'm sorry I don't have pictures!!! It's the computers fault!!!!

I love you all!!

Elder Winn

*Chaufa is a Peruvian fried rice dish consisting of rice, vegetables, eggs, meat  and seasoned with soy sauce.

First a personal note from Syd: #1... I  want each of you to know that I have been a "shining example" of a missionary mom.  I am not one of the parents who called or emailed the mission office to find out where my e-mail was, nor have I emailed when he was having companion problems or when there was a tsunami warning off the coast of Peru.  I have given the boy to the Lord for two years and I've been stellar.

#2  I like Sister Larson she sounds a little feisty....No wonder Dave loves her!!!!

Now enjoy Dave's letter!!!

 

First off, I suppose I owe an explanation as to why I'm writing today.

You see we had a multi-zone conference yesterday, and in the words of Sister Larson:

"Apparently some parents have the idea that every Monday they will always get a letter from their missionary. That is simply not true. In some missions the missionaries don't communicate with their families for a week or two, because they don't have electricity."

"We do not want your parents e-mailing us and calling us if they do not receive a letter every Monday. Sometimes p-days change and they need to deal with it"

If you couldn't tell.....she was not very happy......So from here on out sometimes I will be writing on a day other that Monday and you all (mostly Mom) will have to deal with it.....Hahahaha

Speaking of the Multizona, it was incredible!!!

We had some great practices shown to us by the president and the assistants. They showed us effective ways to contact, as well as to involve members in the missionary work.

A major theme of the conference was obedience. Not only to the commandments, but the plethora of Mission rules that exist. It was really cool to hear of the experiences of other Elders, and their testimonies about obedience. I also had the pleasure of sharing a few of the experiences I have had.

Although much apart from all of that, it was my favorite zone conference for the following two reasons

1) The spirit that was felt

2) The laughs that were had

It was by far the funniest Multi-zone conference I have ever had. Thanks in no small part to a rather rotund Peruvian we have in our zone, here's what I can recall:

President: "So if a thief robs you, just give them all your stuff, don't resist. We don't want you dead"

Missionary in the back: "But what if they want to rob our family scriptures or something really important"?

Elder Navarro: "YOU HEARD THE PRESIDENT, DO YOU WANT TO EAT LEAD, TASKER"?

Or this gem:

In our mission we have to note down every expenditure on a sheet every day, to keep track of what we spend, here's Navarro’s reaction:

Assistants: "So make sure you're all writing all your expenditures down somewhere you'll see them"

Elder Navarro: "Like my agenda"?

Assistants: "Yes! Can we use your agenda as an example"?

Elder Navarro: "I didn't bring my agenda"

Assistants: "Then where are you writing it all down"?

Elder Navarro: "When did I say I was writing it all down"?

The president, the assistants, and most of the elders made a normally boring meeting, reflect the true spirit of missionary work.

I learned a lot about the role of laughter in our lives.

It's truly a wonderful thing, and brought much joy to a otherwise dull day. Instead of a lack of focus, I found that all were attentively listening, happy to be among beloved friends, in a work we all loved so dearly.

Annnnnnnd in other news. Here's what a normal day is like in my life now:

6:30- Get up, brush teeth, exercise, shower. There's usually not breakfast here, and if there is, it's usually with the family across the street from 7:30 to 8:00

8:00- Personal study. Normally this means the BOM or Jesus The Christ, or Preach My Gospel......although if I'm bored of one of those three I usually read Liahona's (we've got like 100ish).

9:00- Companionship study- We read from the missionary handbook, then share what we learned during personal study.....then study for our investigators together.

10:00-12:00 We either leave and preach, have a district meeting(Wednesday), plan for the coming week(Thursday) or have some other conference (not very often)

12:00 is language study which means I read the BOM in Spanish or help Ramirez with his English.

At 1:00 or 1:15 we leave to go eat lunch with the pensionist. She lives about 5 blocks away so we play our harmonicas and contact en route.

2:30- we have finished lunch, went back to the room to brush/floss (yes Mom I floss daily). and are ready to leave

And then usually we eat dinner at like 8 and go home at 9. Although sometimes we're home at 9:30.....

And that's it!!!!

I know this Thursday is thanksgiving.....but I figured you'd get messages on being thankful from everywhere else. I figured I'd do something different!!!

Love you all!!!

-Elder Winn