February 5, 2018 – Week 71!

March 20, 2018

This week has been pretty good!

It's been kinda crazy because this week we have been teaching lots of kinds, and when you teach kids, you ALWAYS need permission from the parents before teaching them. It's always an interesting experience. Sometimes the parent will give permission easily, and sometimes one parent will and the other won't, and sometimes neither will. It depends on if the family has members of the church in it, or if none are members, and more. Teaching kids and young adults is great because they learn fast and are willing to make good decisions, and accept the commandments because they are in that learning point in their lives. We always have to think of the families though. The Lord teaches us that the family is very important. That's why as missionaries we always to try to teach entire families and not just one or two people of a family, because families should be eternal! We want all families to be able to return to God's presence together.

This week we had multi-zone conference as well! It was great. We had it in the Lima North Institute building (with AIR CONDITIONING, which felt soooo good), and it was really spiritually uplifting! We were able to re-learn the basics to be able to teach the investigatos with more simplicity and also learn how to answer the crazy questions that our investigators sometimes have. Also, at the end, the Condevilla zone performed a great version of "La Oracion del profeta" and also Elder Lopez recited the 1st vision of Jospeh Smith as the rest of them hummed. I almost cried it was so good and spiritual!

We also had a temple trip this week. Even though because of some time complications we weren't able to enter, it was great to see the temple. There are many people who don't have this opportunity, so it was awesome! I also bought a Book of Mormon in Quechua (the old Peruvian language), and so I'm gonna try and learn a bit of quechua too! Later that night I was able to teach the plan of salvation to one of our investigators, and it was a really spiritual experience! It's great to know that God has a plan for each and every one of us, and that we are all a part of this plan and we are all needed here!

We also didn't have many investigators at church this week, so we are forming plans to help investigators have the will to attend church each sunday! It's one of our difficulties, but the Lord will help out as long as we do our part!

This week we also found some investigators who the missionaries had left beforehand. Before, they didn't have much time to receive the lessons, but now, the husband Renzo is working independantly, so he has time to go to church on Sunday and hear the lessons! They are married as well, which is a great first step in progressing! I can't wait to teach them again. Renzo knew my companion from a couple transfers ago, but now we're teaching him again and I know he'll progress!

Well, that's about all for this week. There's so much to write but jsut not enough time. I'm glad I keep a detailed journal, because after the mission I'll know exactly what happened each and every day and remember all of these spiritual experiences! Everyone, even if they aren't on a misison, should keep a journal of spiritual experiences and good experiences. It's great to look back on them, and be able to tell them to family and friends later on in life!

I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that we receive many blessings as we follow the example of Him and remember that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father.

I hope you all have a great week and a great start to spring! 16 months in the misison and about 7-8 more to go! I love this time and wouldn't trade it for anything!

Elder Bruner