January 23, 2016

This week has been pretty fun. Last Saturday we went to some ruins called Chincerro. We had gone because we heard there was a cool market where you could buy cheap souvenirs, then found out the ruins were there. They were awesome! It was really big, we could go explore everywhere, it was just really cool. The only downside is that if you're not from Cusco it costs 70 soles. We've found ways to get around that though. We take our carnets (Peruvian ID) and our electric bill that shows we live in Cusco and they'll usually let us in for free. We've done that several times since I got to the office and today was the only time it didn't actually work. We went to this place here in Cusco that was the Incan Sun Temple, and they were very against us getting in free. That said, we did get in half off. 

This coming monday we have changes. That means I'll no longer be with Elder Yorgesen, who's been training me in my office job. Instead it'll just be Elder Tsosie and I. We've been doing a lot of preparation for that. Going to migrations to get oldies out of the country, getting newbies in, etc. It's been pretty fun actually. As a reward for changes President and Hermana Harbertson usually make breakfast for us. Since Yorgesen wouldn't be here though, they did it yesterday, before changes. That was so good, I had no idea how much I missed waffles. It's been fun for me getting to work so much with President. I feel like I've gotten to know him a lot better since I came here. I guess that happens when you become his personal secretary.

Elder Tsosie and the assistants already know the changes, but I won't know until Monday. That said I've been able to figure out a couple of things. The main thing is that I'm going to be district leader again. There's always a district leader in each of the office companionship, but it's usually the elder who's been there longer so we were all thinking Elder Tsosie would become DL. I guess since I already have experience with it though, President decided that it would be me. 

Sorry I feel like this letter is kind of a ramble, but that's kind of how my week has been as well. Next week's going to be worse since we have to help with changes. That means no proselyting, just random trips to the airport, terminal, mission home, etc. Changes are fun though.

January 18, 2016

Sorry I couldn't really write on Saturday. We went to some ruins called Chincherro and we got kinda lost so we ended up getting back later than we thought. Afterwards we went to a baptism with a couple of investigators and taught a lesson and before we knew it it was already 8 and there wasn't time to write you.

 

January 2 and January 9, 2016

Jeremy has not sent a group email for a couple of weeks, and I am a slacker. Because of this I have not posted updates lately. My apologies.

Here's some information from the past couple of weeks, pulled from his email's to me and his mom.

Happy new year! Glad to see your break was going well, even if it's ending too soon. Good luck with class on Monday, the week after Christmas break always sucks. It'll go by pretty fast though, then it sounds like next year's going to be really fun.

I'm glad you got that (package that he sent to us). Truth is none of it was super important and if it hadn't have gotten to you it wouldn't be a big deal, but I feel like you guys do so much for me and it was a tiny little thing I could do for you. So I'm glad it made it there. I'm so grateful Elder Caprio was willing to take it, that was extremely nice of him. That bread is called Paneton, it's the traditional Christmas food here. It's basically just fruitcake. I don't blame them for not eating it, I honestly don't like it that much either. Well, I do now but I didn't when I first got here. Tell Logan not to worry about it, those Tumis are super cheap (The Tumis Christmas ornament that Jeremy sent to us was accidentally dropped and broken). In fact the main reason I bought that one is because an investigator made them and we helped her do it.

My first couple of days here were changes, and we had to do training with the new missionaries that were just coming in. It was amazing to me seeing how different they are. I never thought that people changed so much on the mission, but compared to those new kids we are all so mature. There was one elder who was just all over the place, jumping on the furniture, yelling at the other elders. I wanted to kill him. It's fun though because I get to see them grow up too. I bet that kid will grow up too.

So we spent this whole week moving. The other office elders had been looking for an apartment for a couple of months now, and last Monday we got a call from the owner of one of the apartments we had looked at. He told us that it was ours if we wanted it, but we had to be in by Jan. 1. So we dedicated our lives to moving. Our new apartment is sweet though, it was definitely worth it. We live in the penthouse of the tallest building in Cusco, and we have a balcony that looks out over the entire city. I'll try sending pictures next week, I don't have any right now.

I love you mom. This year I'm coming home! Weird...

This week we were mainly just moving. We got a new apartment that's closer to the mission office and a lot nicer than our last one. I'd say it's probably one of the best apartment complexes in all of Cusco. So there's not a lot of stories, but there was one cool experience I wanted to share with you. Since the mission is in charge of all the districts and I'm now the executive secretary of the mission that means I work a lot with the districts. I'm basically like their stake clerk. And the funnest responsibility I have is helping kids get out their mission papers, then when they get their call I set up the appointment with President or his counselors so they can get set apart. This past Monday, we had two missionaries who were leaving and had to get set apart (one from Puerto Maldonado and the other was a friend of mine from Calca.) So I set up the appointment with President Harbertson, we got those kids here, everything normal. President was in his office interviewing the first one, when he came out and asked for Elder Yorgesen and I to come in. We sat down and he asked us to talk to this new missionary and give him a little bit of advice. We both ended up talking about the Holy Ghost and obedience. Then President asked us to help him set apart the elder. That was such a cool experience. I'm loving my job here in the office just for things like that. How many other people get to work with the whole mission? How many other elders get to help their mission president set future missionaries apart? That was sweet.

My week has been pretty boring. I took a lot of missionaries to the notary so that I could get a letter of attorney for them. That'll help me to update their visas. It's something I'll have to do with everyone in the mission because we have to do this thing called a TASA for everyone. So that'll be interesting. Also this last week I had to send a missionary home, which was really sad. I got an email on tuesday morning notifying me that there had been an early release. I called President to see if that was right, and he told me that it was. There was an hermana who had gotten pretty sick and had to go home. So I got her flight back to Paraguay, then yesterday we went to the airport with her and sent her off. It was really sad, the only people who knew she was finishing were us in the office and the sister leaders.

Last Sunday, there was an investigator of the sister missionaries in our ward who asked us if we could give her a blessing. Her name is Elizabeth. She told us that she had been going through some trials, but her boyfriend/husband (they live together but aren't married) had told her about blessings of comfort. That was something she decided could really help her, so she asked us for one. The blessing that Elder Tsosie gave her was probably one of the most spiritual blessings I've heard on my mission, and afterwards Elizabeth started crying. She thanked us in tears and told us that she just felt loved. The next day her husband Chris called me and asked if we could come over to dedicate their home. We went and helped with that, and it was also a really cool experience. We also ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon and giving her a copy. That day Elizabeth asked us if we could start coming over to teach her. We were a little hesitant because we knew that the hermanas were teaching her, but we told her we could come by every now and then and just see how they were doing. So that was on Monday, and on Thursday we decided to come by. The hermanas hadn't been there because they're sister leaders and had to go to Quillabamba, so we thought we could just come and give a little spiritual thought to keep her excited. That lesson was insane. The spirit was so strong. She told us that she had read the Book of Mormon that we gave her everyday, and when her husband showed her Moroni's promise she decided to try it. She got her answer that the Book of Mormon is true and wants to get baptized. I'm so excited for her, but at the same time I feel kinda bad about it. We're basically stealing this investigator from the sisters. The thing is though, she told us that the sisters had been over 4 or 5 times but they hadn't been able to help her feel that the gospel was true. Then Elizabeth says, "You guys have only come here twice and now I know that this is true." I love that "I know". Those are the best two words you can hear an investigator say. So basically we've gotta talk to the sisters and figure this all out, but it's very possible that we could end up baptizing her. And soon too, she's already put a goal for their marriage in February so that she can get baptized right after.

So that's been my week. Starting the new year off right!