June 12, 2017 – Week 37!

June 23, 2017

Well, this week was pretty great! We had stake conference, which was for sure the highlight of the week. We entered, and they had a women's choir, and a little orchestra too! Someone was playing the piano, the flute, the harp, and the violin. All the instruments permitted in a sacrament meeting. It was very spiritual and amazing to hear hymns played so professionally. It seemed like a little general conference! I loved it. Alberto also came to the stake conference! It was in the IRU building (institute building), and it was on the 2nd floor, with Video and sound broadcasted to the 1st floor for others to watch. President and Hermana Larson were there, and also a member of the Lima Temple presidency as well as his wife were there. It was good to hear so many messages! One of them that I like is that we need to be sure we're reading books and spending less time in front of electronics. They told the story that was told I think in a general conference about a boy named Ben, who wasn't a very good student, but after reading books and following the advice of people saying "read books, and lots of them!" he was able to progress fast, and become a boss of a big science company. I think we can all apply this, as electronics are becoming more prevalent in our times. Sometimes we can take a break and read a book! I'll be doing it for sure.

This week was also great because we were able to find 2 new investigators, and one of them has a baptismal date! Kimberly is one of them, and she has a family, and was really excited about the invitation to baptism. She said that is what she wanted, and so we'll definitely be working with her to help her make the covenant with God as soon as possible!

The other new investigator's name is Karen, and she is the friend of one of our other investigators who we found a while ago. She had also heard of the missionaries before, and I'm pretty sure she talked to them once or twice, and we had a good 1st lesson with her this past week. She wants to learn more, and has lots of questions, so it'll be great to teach her more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We also had a little rough start of contacting after stake conference this past Sunday. It's a normal missionary experience though. You get the people who you contact,and the first thing they say is "sorry, no offense, but..." and go on to say something that they find that seems like a fault in the church. I know though that even though this church is persecuted, possibly more than any other church, that it still stands as the only true church upon the face of the earth! I have a testimony, a testimony that cannot be denied: that this church really is the true church of Jesus Christ. Even though we may be persecuted for our beliefs, sometimes we just have to say "oh well!" because the eternal blessings for keeping the commandments and having faith are much larger than the momentary blessings that come from following the crowd. Yes it's hard, but it's not impossible. Always keep going with faith, and you will recieve your reward in heaven for it!

This week we also had the great experience of going to the temple here in Lima. We woke up at 4 a.m. to be able to meet up with the zone at 6, and the session was at 9. Lots of waiting, but definitely worth it. I love the temple. I love entering. Everything about it is great. ALWAYS be worth of a temple recommend. You won't regret it.

Thank heavens I'm getting beter. This past week with a cough has been annoying, but I'm glad I've been able to keep working and not stay home! I was given a fruit called Camu Camu, or Kamu Kamu idk from a member, that's from the selva, which is pretty much pure Vitamin C. Pretty sure that helped a bit. I know we can't follow medical advice from just anyone, but eating a peruvian fruit is another story ;)

This week has just been great. I'm sure I missed writing stuff, but there's always too much to write. Elder Noel finishes his mission tomorrow. We saw an elder who had served here like a year before who returned here for one day, and he was in stake conference. Just lots of stuff that's been cool and great!

I hope you all have a great week this week! We have transfers, and I'm not sure if I'll be transfered or not. Probably I will be. We'll see tonight! Hope I can fit my mini blender in my suitcases haha.

--Elder Bruner

an inti. The money used before soles. Inti is a word in ketchua (old language of peru) that also means Sun. That why they're called "nuevo soles" now, like new suns.

painting the house of our pensionista. AWESOME! I LOVE PAINTING.

with the pensionistas family

with the district

with the zone

a machine that someone in our ward has that imprints stuff on metal. or carves images into metal or wood etc. Its an expensive machine but it's cool! it makes little points, so it can put black and white pixel art onto metal!