December 14, 2015

No group email again. Here is some of what Jeremy sent to me and his mom.

Yesterday I received an interesting call, letting me know that I was going to have a change. I'm headed to the office in Cusco, I'll be replacing Elder Yorgenson as President's personal secretary. And at first I couldn't believe it. Truth be told I still can't believe it. I was wondering why I had to leave, I just got to Calca and I love it here. I don't want to go. But that last sentence got to me: "The Lord knows who you are, and you are right where he wants you to be." I know that's true. I'm leaving Calca because I guess I did my part already and the Lord needs me in the office now. That, together with the testimonies of Elder Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund have helped me to accept this new assignment.

This week has been a difficult one. The school year in Peru goes from March to December so school just got out and everyone's going on vacation. There hasn't been a lot of people here in Calca because seriously everybody is going on vacation. Our ward mission leader just went to Chile and he won't be back until February. That's been difficult. Then on Friday we were talking with the landlord and he told us that his brother's coming from Lima and he wants to give him our apartment. They're kicking us out. So we've been looking for apartments too, which is difficult finding one that meets all of the mission requirements. Friday we also went to lunch and our pensionista was balling. We asked her what was wrong and she just told us to look into the living room. Her son was in there with most of the local alcoholics and they were completely wasted. We talked with her all during lunch and before we left I gave her a blessing. But with all of this happening it's definitely been an interesting week.

You know, I hadn't realized that I had seen the gospel strengthen families so much until I read that. It's very true, the gospel produces miracles. I have to tell you about Freddy though. Because in the end, he did leave. The week after I wrote that email we went to their house and their son came to the door. I asked if his dad was home and he told me "No, yesterday he hit my mom and then they were yelling for a long time and then he left with all of his things." That killed me. Up until now that's still been the hardest trial I've had on my mission, knowing that I could've helped this family but in the end we failed. I cried that night, and I still pray for them. I left right after so I don't know what's going on anymore. The last thing I saw was Freddy leaving his wife and kids.

But that's the past. No use crying over spilled milk. Got to focus on the here and now, especially since I have a lot to learn these coming weeks.