November 17, 2014

Well, I'm terribly sorry to say it, but another uneventful week has passed by!

Not a lot of people were home this week, so we struggled to get the few meetings that we did get.

Oh well. That didn't necessarily make it a bad week.

I accomplished a life goal. I finally learned how to solve a rubix cube this week. Haha, you'd be surprised what you can learn over the course of a week in the 20 minutes you have before 10:30 each week! Haha my companion Elder Villarruel taught me......while he's not exactly the most compassionate teacher, he did teach me, and I can now successfully solve that hellish cube.

OOH! First earthquake I've ever felt this week!!! It was super cool! We were in the house about 7:50 waiting for our dinner appointment when we both kind of felt the ground move. Elder Villarruel and I looked at each other and before I could ask what happened, the ground shook even more! I thought it was about the coolest thing ever! But Villarruel brought up the point that we were on the first floor of a 5 story building........constructed in Peru......so we went outside pretty quickly.....and after 5 minutes of uneventfulness, we went back inside.

Earthquakes are cool.

Despite being overall unsuccessful this week, we did find a new investigator!

His name is Whiston, he apparently took the discussions a few years ago! He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and says he wants to be baptized! I'm excited, but I know that often times investigators like this have some sort of problem with the word of wisdom, or one of the other commandments....but either way I know with a little help, he'll be a great member one day!

I'll leave you with a random fact, more or less to show you guys that I haven't changed too much, and am still the fountain of random useless knowledge that you all know and love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Demara

Here you can read about this dude.

He (having no medical training whatsoever) masqueraded as a surgeon on a Canadian Navy destroyer. He had to perform lifesaving surgery on 16 Korean combat casualties. He memorized a general surgery textbook 15 minutes before operating. All of the patients survived.

I'll explain the pictures later today! Love you!!!!!

Well The one picture is with me and Isaguirre.

The other one is a baptismal photo....

The other photos will have to wait.....I left the camera cable in the other internet place.....so I'll have to send the rest next week.....but I'm glad I got two out!!!

Love you lots!!!

November 10, 2014

 

Well. This was a fantastic week!

 

As you know, Patty and Piero's baptisms were this week,  so we went to ask them if they had any questions or concerns. Their only question was who would baptize them, we suggested their uncle, because it's usually better when a family member or ward member performs the baptism. Patty thought that was a great idea, but Piero really wanted me to baptize him. Haha so I happily agreed!

 

This Saturday was the first baptism I've ever done! It was incredible! It was a great meeting with a lot of family and friends! Patty's non-member parents came and said they would like to take the discussions! Anyway, it has been really amazing to see the change in their lives that the gospel has brought.  It makes all the hard days’ worth it!

 

Aside from that, Christian and Angela got their papers for their marriage! They'll be getting married the 28th and they they'll be baptized 2 days later on the 30th!

 

Ugh.   And as we were on our way to confirm the marriage date of Christian and Angela, we encountered a man who said he would like to learn more about our church. We happily consented this desire, but, as we began to teach him, he began to ask questions.....hard questions.....the kind of questions you'd need to study to be able to ask about.....anyway after about 5 minutes of this he noticed that I was stammering, he then exclaimed that I was having problems speaking and was obviously wrong.   It was then that my companion asked him if he knew where I was from, he ventured a guess ".....Mexico"?  to which my companion essentially replied " No, he's from the United States, he's got 2 months in this country, he hardly speaks the language".......the man then profusely apologized to me......

And proceeded to berate my companion with questions.

But then he slipped up he said "and this prophet Nephi, he's the son of Lehi, right"....Then we knew for sure, this man had clearly studied up on the book of Mormon just to attack us. We told him that if he knew that, then he knew the truth, and when he was ready to embrace it, we'd be there, but until then, he'd better leave us alone.

We then shook the dust from our feet, and continued onward towards Christian and Angelas.....

 

Well aside from that instance, things are improving, and I'm really happy down here! Love you all!

 

Elder Winn

 

P.S. I suppose the reason I included that story about the man was to illustrate 2 points, first off. That dude didn't realize I was from the states for a solid 5 minutes, that's pretty good, right? And 2nd. There are many willing to accept this gospel, and there are many willing to oppose it.  But regardless; as missionaries we need to show the same kind of love, and willingness to help to all of God’s children, not just the nice ones.   :)

 

  (the following is Dave's response to Steve's letter)

 

"We had one roll called the "Fat Ass"  and it was delicious."

Hahahahahaha I first and foremost want to tell you that this is probably the best line I have received in an e-mail thus far. I am in your debt, Dad

Well, it's not exactly a maid......We have our pensionist. Whom we pay something like $45 a month to, in exchange for lunch for a month (With the exception of Saturday's and P-days) and then we have a different ward member who we take our laundry to once a week and we pay her something like $15 a month.....and that's about it!

Oh! We go to her house.

Love you!!

Wow!  It was a busy week!

1st off, Patty and Pierro are finally ready for their baptism this week!  It's incredible to see how much the gospel has changed their lives!  They're so much happier and a lot closer as mother and son now.   It's really amazing to see!   Other than that first, I gave my first blessing in Spanish this week!  It was to a 158 year old woman (or so she appeared) because she was having a lot of health problems.   At the ever so persistent nagging of Villarruel, I reluctantly informed her in my broken Spanish, I would give her the blessing and my companion would do the anointing.  I am so glad that the kid nagged me.   Because in that moment I was giving her a blessing, I suddenly knew every Spanish word I would possibly need to know.  It was a truly amazing experience!

Aside from that.   I also taught my first lesson to the district! It's only 9 other missionaries, but it's a lot scarier when they all speak better than you........and know more than you......and despise being at the meeting because it's ridiculously long and boring......Regardless, I taught a lesson about the mission objective and why it's important.  I ended my 45 minute lesson with D&C 16:6.  I'll let you look it up on your own, but it completely sums up missionary work and why it's important.  It went really well!  And I think for a couple of minutes there everyone didn't absolutely despise the fact they were there!

This brings me to my next topic.   Jesus the Christ. This is where I got the bulk of my material for my lesson, and let me just say.   That book is amazing. If any of you reading this e-mail haven't read that book yet, I highly recommend it. The amount of detail in which Christ's life is described is incredible!

Now, finally. I'll leave you with the highlight of the week.

We were eating dinner in the house of a member. We were eating what I think was pork (she told us pork, but I had my doubts) and drinking Inca cola. When someone knocks on the door (Which was really the least of our concerns seeing as we were torn between wanting to dissect our food and find out exactly what organs whatever we were eating once had, and just eating it anyway because we were so hungry). Well, at the door were two Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were declaring that this house needed to be protected from the evil missionaries spreading lies, even the awful Mormons who sacrifice children on Halloween (yes, they sincerely believe that).   Yeah, so the sister just lets them in so they can see us 4 happily smiling and waving, mouths half full of mystery meat.   And it was the darndest thing. It was then that they realized that they had said the wrong religion, and it was not in fact the Mormons who sacrificed children, but they had mistaken us for someone else.   Well, after declining our invitation to dinner, they left.   Huh.....

I love you all so much!  Stay safe!

Elder Winn

Pictures:  The one outside is with villarruel, my companion,

October 27, 2014

Well I'm going to start off by saying I feel bad. For two reasons. The first being that my past e-mails have been a bit lackluster. Using what some parents might refer to as "an utterly deplorable amount detail".....hahaha  so, starting today I will try to write these e-mails a bit better.

That being said.  Here's the second reason I feel bad.  NOTHING EVER HAPPENS DOWN HERE!!!

Hahaha honestly!!! So far I really haven't had any super cool, funny, or exciting experiences!

But I'll share what has happened.

This past week was exchanges.  Meaning Glassford left and I received a new companion, Elder Villarruel. He's from Argentina and he's got about a year out here. Fortunately for me, he's a native, so I'll have the language down very well by the end of this change.....unfortunately.....everything else about him.

Hahahahaha just kidding!....mostly....haha .  He likes to do everything the complete opposite of Glassford. He's very Very VERY by the rules, I suppose that should be commendable....but for whatever reason everyone (even the president) finds that to be an annoying characteristic, who knew!?

But he's a good kid, and I know with a few more weeks we'll get along great!

Other than that, I've started to lead the sector. Villarruel doesn't know the sector at all, so now I have to lead a sector that I know only slightly better than him.......it's the visually impaired leading the blind out here.  But everything’s still going great!  We've got 10 investigators who could get baptized this change, so we'll see!

Other than that.

The Fabulous Unicorn painting, yea, even that whose glory was unparalleled in all existence, has been stolen.

Haha apparently Elder Farias took it when they came to pick us up for an  early morning run (which due to the words "early" and "run" we obviously didn't participate in).....anyway, he gave it to a less active in our ward because his mom absolutely adores unicorns.....anyway.....As Robert Frost once said "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Anyway.  I love you guys!!! Everything's going great down here!

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes; I'll let you figure out what it means.

"Enlightenment leads to benightedness. Science entails nescience".

Much love,

Elder Winn

 

The following are questions that Steve asked Dave and his responses. 

Steve:  What do you do on P-day?

Dave:  On P-day with Glassford, we usually went to the center of Lima to buy stuff for Glassford and his family.  Other than that we usually just play soccer....it's pretty boring actually.

Steve:  What is your apartment like?

Dave:   Our apartment is small..... like really small.... probably a little smaller than our family room.

Steve:  Are you eating well?

Dave:  Hmm....I'm not not eating well.....it really depends on what you mean by eating well. I eat a lot.....I feel full....but it's mostly rice.....eh. I'll be fine.

Steve:  Losing or Gaining Weight?

Dave:  I have no idea....I would imagine staying the same.... We don't have easy access to a scale...so I don't know.... but most of the other Elders gain weight out here.

Steve:   Do you feel healthy?

Dave:  Hahaha usually......I was super sick this last week...and I felt miserable....but usually I feel fine!

Steve:  Tell us about your investigators.

Dave:  Well, right now we have:

Patty and Pierro: They don't have any problems right now....just their own hesitation. But they're progressing very well towards their baptismal date of November 8th.

Juana and Carlos: Their problem is the same as everyone else's down here, they aren't married, and are living together. He's from Puerto Rico, so we're waiting for his papers to come through.

Christian and Angela: Same problem as Carlos and Juana

Victor Barron: He's a 15 year old boy who the other Elders have had a hard time teaching....he knows the church is true, but he doesn't want to get baptized because he doesn't want to serve a mission. He's the investigator we're struggling with the most right now.

Then we have Marco and Consuela: They aren't married yet.....

Ernestina: and she just needs to attend church more.

 

Steve:  What is the biggest challenge to get people to join the church.

Dave:   Like I said before....people living together without being married.

Steve:  Do you get to do much service?

Dave:  Not a ton actually..... so far we have painted a room(essentially a house) and moved a mountain of dirt about 15 feet.

Steve:  How is the language?

Dave:  The language is great! Right after changes it really picked up.....but I don't want to give credit to my new companion. He's not so great.

Steve:  Have you given anyone a CTR ring?

Dave:  No. No I have not....but we'll see!

Love you lots.

October 20, 2014

Oh Boy.

Well, as you can see by the subject line. I have decided to write about all the things you'll see in Peru.

In short, just think of every picture you've ever seen where you've wondered "Why on earth are they doing that without proper safety equipment" or

"Who would ever think it was a good idea to do this".

To this day I still do not have an answer to those questions.  But I sure have asked them a lot! Haha the people here are crazy!!! You will not believe the outrageous amounts of things people will strap to the tops of their cars.

Aside from that, this week we were saying goodbyes to Glassfords old Zones, many people gave him some sort of gift as a sign of appreciation, an Area 70 whom he knew gave him a painting. I can only describe it as a hideous masterpiece.

It was a painting of unicorns grazing in a field that the painter had tried to make 3D......The best part is Glassford thinks it's more hideous than majestic so he gave it to me.

It is now the centerpiece of our room.

I'm getting a new companion!!!! Glassford was great and all, but I'm really excited to be receiving a new companion! Although I'm not supposed to  know him yet, Glassford told me who it is... I think his name is Veraul or something....he's a native from Argentina....so we'll see how that goes....

I guess that's all for this week! The church is true and stuff!

Much love, Elder Winn

Everything continues to go well in the Pedregal Ward!

Elder Glassford and I have continued to have success, after opening a sector, we should have our first baptism this week! With many more to follow!

I'm sorry to report, but it was a fairly boring week!

The only thing exciting that happened was the wáter went out for two days.....apparently every once in awhile the city just shuts down the wáter because they can't afford to have it running.....so we had to buy some bottled wáter, boil it, and then shower with that.....but other than that a fairly uneventful week!

Right now as it stands this is what we're looking at baptism wise.

Victor barron(17)- this sunday

Angela and Christian (30's)- whenever they get their marraige papers.

Mauricio Sanabria(9)- next week

Juana and Carlos(70's)-as soon as they get their marriage papers.

Marco and Ernestina(40's)- The 1st of november

Patty and Pierro(31 and 8)- The 1st of November

Sorry if this week was kind of boring! If my E-mail didn't spiritually fulfill you then watch the conference talk by Elder Jorg K.......whatever his name was. That was my favorite conference talk!

 

I'll write more next week, and make sure to tell you a bit more about the investigators I mentioned!

Love all of you,

Elder Winn

This week was great!

I feel like I'm really getting used to the mission life. It's really not so bad when you get used to the routine.

It's a lot of studying in the mornings, but I feel like I'm getting the lessons and the language down pretty well, So I guess it's paying off!

The food is really routine too.

It's not necessarily a bad thing...but I think 300 years ago the country had a big meeting about food that went something like this:

"Well, we've come together as a civilization to determine what foods we would like to perfect as a nation. To determine for generations to come what culinary delicacy the Incans, and ultimately the Peruvians will be globaly recognized for making"

......."Well so far the only foods we can eat without contracting dysentery and the plague are: Rice, Chicken, and potatoes"......."Do you want us to wait until we can properly clean other kinds of food"?

"Eh....I don't really have a lot of time, lets just stick with those three......forever.....and ever".

Really though. I can't recall eating anything else.....except ceviche that one time.....which I'm pretty sure was invented by someone without taste buds.....

but other than the really repetitive nature of the mission, it's fantastic!

Last P-day we went to see the light show in the water park! They use a projector and mist from the water to do a light show, it was actually really awesome!

As for the bed......

We noticed it was kind of weak from the start....but that didn't stop us from putting the 200 pound elder up top.

Anyway, one day I jumped up and it bent a little. We could have easily continued sleeping on it, but Glassford insisted that it was broken beyond repair. When I contested, he said "Look. We can sleep on that, or we can get a new bed"! He then proceeded to jump on the bed until it became the crumpled mess that you saw.

I'm beginning to think that he really doesn't care given that this is his last change and all.....but oh well, I got a new bed out of it, so I'm not complaining.

Much love,

Elder Winn