Happy Birthday to Sam!!

Hola Familia!

That sounds like a fun week! I always feel like there´s so much that happened each week that I don´t know if I can contain it in one email!

The big thing that happened this week is we had a baptism! Our investigator´s name is José and he is about 55, he had listened to the missionaries before and received all the lessons (his wife is a member) but last month had an accident and lost three of his toes on one foot. So he has been recovering and we´ve continued to visit him and teach him this past month. This week we went to his house with the intention to invite him to be baptized next week, but when we taught him the spirit was present and my companion invited him to be baptized Saturday the 28th, and he accepted! He was baptized on Saturday in spite of some opposition from his family, and was confirmed the next day in church. The covenant of baptism is such a huge part of coming unto Christ. Too see José make this decision to enter into the covenant of baptism and later bear his testimony was really a miracle, when we have faith and are obedient we will be able to overcome the fiery darts of the adversary through our trust in the Lord.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes too! My companion has been telling everyone that my birthday was this week, and as you´ll see in some of the photos the members were really nice and bought me a cake and sang happy birthday, it was really nice. In our ward there are two Hermanas that are kind of like Moms to the missionaries, they helped organize it. Also weird thing, in Peru they sing happy birthday in English and then they sing another part in Spanish, but it was super cool!

I also had two companionship exchanges this week, one with the zone leaders and one with my district leader. I was with Elder Edwards from Las Vegas for 24 hours and Elder Laura from Huancayo Peru for 24 hours. I learned a lot from both of them, including how key dilligence is in missionary work. As it mentions in D&C 4:2 that when we embark in the service of our God that we should serve him with all our heart, might, mind and strength. As a full-time missionary I have the opportunity to really serve all my time as well. This week I have been trying to discover what it means to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength. And in those moments where I really forget myself and do what the Lord wants rather than what I want blessings begin to flow and as I was able to see this week, lives are able to change. I invite you to look for those opportunities to serve this week, and act on promptings from the Spirit.

And some photos too! Unfortunately my camera died during the baptism so I don´t have any photos, but I´ll see if I can steal one from our ward mission leader for next week

Our district! Last p-day my companion, Elder Mendoza cooked us some food from his city (he´s from Trujilo Peru) it was carne asada with a pasta with Huancayina sauce - it was delicious. We always joke that I´ll visit Trujilo after my mission 

The district part 2

Happy Birthday!