We got attacked by a dog!?

Week #75
2/23/15

Hey Everyone!!

Well this week went alright after all! 

We played some soccer on Monday as usual because there isnt really much else to do in our Zone.. Anyways we played socceer for 2 hours!? We normally play for 1 but this week we played for 2 and it was super hot!!! The think that kind of stunk is that after we played soccer my head kind of hurt for the rest of the day.. I think i need to exercise on a more regular basis! I have been trying lately but its hard sometimes because youre just sooo tired!! 

So on Tuesday we woke up and got ready and went to our district meetings with the other Elders! We always have to take a mototaxi to get there but the thing is there arent any  paved streets going to the church so its kind of like an offroad trip!? It was fun the first time but yeah its king of annoying now!? Anyways the meeting were good as usual! Then we went out proselyting in the afternoon! Some days are better than others and other days are just like walking around trying to get into peoples houses and nobody lets you in!? So on those days you kind of just ended up walking around talking to a whole bunch of people!! We almost always get home way tired from walking around a bunch but i guess thats a good thing!

Wednesday and Thursday nothing much really interesting happened! They are two of the 3 days when we go out and proselyte in the morning and its always super hot and sunny in the morning and sometimes it hard to get the desire to preach the gospel and talk to the people because its so hot and the youre just walking around sweating all the time! Ususall when we get home i can see the white sweat stains on my pants behind me knees from sweating so much!! Thursday night my companion went to Lima to do some paperwork for his Visa and things like that and i ended up going to another area and staying with another companion for all of Friday! I was in Las Brisas and thats right next to La Pradera! We climbed up this hill and on the other side of the hill you could see La Pradera and it was kind of cool! The missionary I stayed with is also training so we shared some insights and learned some new techniques to apply to our companions which was cool! Fridday went well and it was kind of a cool experience being with another missionary and seeing the way he teaches and some of the things like that! Oh i almost forgot.. Friday in the morning when i was with the other Elder, Elder Smith was his name, we got attacked by a dog!? Nothing really happened though but we were walking along the street and out of nowhere this little dog comes running out behind this taxi and jumps out on Elder Smiths leg trying to bite hime but he kind of kneed the dog in the face and the dog fell on its back but got back up and jumped on my leg trying to bite me but i turned around and was about to kick the think but it got scared and then ran away!? It was a small dog but it was still kind of crazy! No damage done though.. 

Saturday we woke up and did weekly planning which we didnt get to do on Friday because my comp was in Lima! Then after weekly planning we went out and proselyted for the rest of the day but nothing really eventful happened.. Just ended up walking around trying to find new investigators which isnt going he greatest.. Everytime we go back to their houses to teach them they arent there or they say the cant meet with us.. We will find some chosen people soon though!! I can feel it!!

Sunday was alright i guess! The ward went to the Lima temple this Friday, Saturday and the all got back Sunday right when we were finihsing the first hour of church and they all walked in the back of the church in their street clothes just to be there and take the sacrament!! It was kind of funny seeing the Bishop sitting on the stand in a t-shirt and sweat pants!? The thing that was a surprise though is that in the morning like 10 minutes before the sacramemnt meeting started they asked me to give a talk because the other ward members werent going to get back from Lima on time!? So i have to wing a 10 mintues talk and i guess after all it went alright.. Got to be prepared!! Sunday nobody really came to church but i guess a lot of people were in Lima.. 

Well thats all for this week! I know that this church is true! One thing i like studying this week was the Article of Faith!! I memorized them in English and in Spanish!! I know that what the Article of Faith testify of are true!! I love being a member and a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ! Love you all!!

Love,

Elder Jarman

The Gospel offers the greatest happiness achievable!

Week #74
2/16/15
Hey Everyone!!

Well this week didn't end up being very productive in the end but yeah some weeks are better than others!

So the first thing that happened is that we aren't going to be able to baptize Jhordy because we have to wait a little while to see if he comes to church a lot and if he really wants to be baptized and is committed to keeping the covenant that he would make, which is kind of a bummer but it makes sense! We are looking for people who are going to e converts to the church and not just numbers! So were going to wait a while to see if he keeps coming to church and everything like that!

Other than that this week we have been trying to visit some of our recent converts and some less actives and it hasn't been going very well for  us.. Every time we stopped by to visit Blanca this week she wasn't there.. Every time we tried to visit our recent converts they just weren't there.. Also we have been trying to visit lots of less actives this week and we were a little more successful in visiting the less active but still we weren't able to visit many of them and not many of the came to church this past Sunday either.. Hopefully this week will go a lot better!

This past week we were able to do some more contacts and that was cool! Now we will be praying that something comes of the contacts we have done! My comps doing really well at contacting! The hardest part of contacting is starting the contact and my comps gotten really good at that lately! Sometimes hell just walk over to the people and just start talking to them without me even realizing! Hes doing really well though! Were going to try to do a lot more contacts this week which should be fun!!

This past Sunday was our stake conference and it was pretty good i guess! Nothing too special but it was cool having the stake presidency there! The ward is doing alright but there's a lot of things that we desperately need to work on! We have to work a lot with the ward and when we don't have support of the ward we need to go out and do service and help the leaders out so that they will help us out too so well be looking for more service opportunities and well be working hard with the ward to help the out!!

We were able to do service this past week which was cool! It doesn't happen very much when you pray for service and the next day it comes barging in your door! Haha! Anyways Saturday morning we were getting ready and were right about to go eat when Hermano Jimmy, a member from the ward, can walking up the stairs and jumped into our room and asked up to help him! It was kind of cool but it kind of startled me at the same time!! Anyways so Saturday morning we went to a members house and helped them fix their roof! It was pretty fun but it was really hot!!

Anyways this week has been pretty good but were hoping that next week will be a lot better! I know that the Gospel offers the greatest happiness achievable for the people and especially for families! Love you all and God loves you too!!

Love,
Elder Jarman
 

The best hamburgers!

Week #73
2/9/15
Hola Familia y Amigos!!

Well this week went really well and was really cool!

One of the coolest things that happened this week is that we had a zone conference with a couple of the zones in the mission and President and Sister Williams and the Assistants! It was all in all really good!! The best part of that was the hamburgers they gave us! ;) Haha no im just kidding but they did give us the best hamburgers that Ive had in Peru so far!! No but really it was a very awesome meeting and i feel like i learned a lot! One thing that President Williams shared that i really like is about the scriptures that talk about us talking up the cross and following Christ! He also shared a quote from ¨Jesus the Christ¨ (pg.365 for those who want to look it up) which talked more about the cross and that surely taking up the cross would mean denial and privation of some of the things that we love in life! I really enjoyed that part and feel like i learned a lot from the conference and i have a lot of things to work on!!

Anyways this week we have been contacting some more and just talking with the people that pass by us in the street and its always kind of funny some of the thing that you see while contacting! People with sometimes just keep walking as if you hadn't said anything to them! Sometimes there are some cool people that you meet and that are interested in the Gospel so i guess we just got to keep contacting no matter what to find the chosen people!!

This week another cool thing that happened was that we invited Jhordy, Blancas son, to baptism for the 21st of February and he accepted! One by one we are working with the whole family and it would be awesome if in the future the whole family could become members of the Church and enjoy the blessings the Gospel has to offer!

Well not much interesting besides that has happened this week! I love you all! I know that God is there to help us in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in!ª We just need to reach out to him!

Love,

Elder Jarman

We are planting seeds

Week #72
2/2/15
Hey Everyone!

Well this week was actually really uneventful!

We had really only one really weird experience!! One day we were walking around trying to find this one house really far away and we ended up walking all over the place trying to find this house and we walked down this one street and we saw this strange looking house that had a lot of different rooms and when we walked around the corner there were a couple tents and this man was sitting there and this lady was walking around and the lady said, "Elderes!" and so we decided to walk over and see how she knew us and so we get over there and the guy that was sitting down tells us to sit down and then brings out some Mango and some Watermelon to eat and starts talking to us and he was a little drunk.. He told us he was from Italy but that his parents had moved to Peru and bought a whole bunch of land and when they died they left it all to him and his brother.. He was a very strange man and had a really pretty nice and big house and it was all really just a very strange experience!! That ended up taking all morning because they guy kind of liked to talk a lot! We did end up finding the house we needed to at the end which was good!

Other than that this week we have been trying to talk with some more people and find some more people to teach because the pool of investigators that we have right now aren't really progressing... 

We have a lot of people who could progress its just that none of them are married!! Not a big surprise here in Peru... We seriously have a like 5 or 6 families who need to get married!! Maybe we will plan a mass marriage for all of them soon! 

We also went to an activity in the stake center with Blanca and she learned a little bit more about how to do her Family History work and she seems pretty interested in it because her mom has actually passed away and so we were explaining all the things that she could do for her mom and other things like that and it was actually really cool! Blanca is progressing really well so far she just needs to come to church on time every Sunday! She comes but she always gets there late..

Well the missionary work is going slowly but surely and even if we don't see the fruits of our labors now at least we are planting seeds and helping the people out! I know that the Lord directs his work in this day and that he leads and guides his church today by living apostles and prophets! 

Elder Jarman