Finding Work

Dear family and friends,

Remember Ana from last week? The girl who works Sundays but wants to be baptized on the 25th and in order to keep the Sabbath day fasted to find new work? And by fasting, got so sick that she was bedridden but continued fasting and praying? Well, on Monday, the day after our fast, her neighbor approached her and told her about a local job from Monday to Friday, where they pay well and which would also allow her to study, which her current job doesn´t! We were so excited when we heard.  She went to ask about it on Wednesday, and they told her to come back later.  She went back on Friday, and they said the same.  We´re still waiting to see the outcome, but she has faith that it will all work out according to the will of the Lord.  

Jorge, the awkward investigator who´s in love with a member and vice versa, called this lady a "temptation" for him during our lesson on the Plan of Salvation as we were talking about our life here on earth.  It was pretty uncomfortable.  But the lady didn´t even react so I guess she´s fine with it? We´re gonna try teaching him somewhere else this week and see how it goes.  He came to church though so that´s good!

The heat is reducing, which is very welcome.  It even rained this week which is really rare here! It was actually kind of a bad thing for lots of the people, their houses aren´t equipped for any rain hardly at all, so there were lots of dripping roofs the next day! We enjoyed the coolness though.  There was another down side, however: the garbage system here is just through-your-garbage-on-the-curb-or-wherever-you-want and the guy comes and gets it.  So the wet garbage, combined with the heat of the next day, made for a pretty nasty smell haha!

Well, the time is short, but thanks so much for all the updates and pictures and support and prayers and everything else! Love you lots and talk to you next week!

Love, Tanner

On Conversion

Dear family and friends,

Here´s an update on the work in good ole Bellamar, Chimbote, Ancash, Perú!  We´re excited about the progress the people are making here.  Two investigators, Keysi and Ana, accepted a little more firmly than before a baptismal invitation for this month of March.  Both are having spiritual experiences with The Book of Mormon and prayer and are becoming converted!! It´s such a neat thing to be involved in the process of conversion and see a normal person start praying with more purpose, reading The Book of Mormon, and changing their attitudes and behavior.  So cool!! Both have made comments about how they´re more patient, slower to argue with their family members, and happier.  We haven´t even taught them about having those attributes!! As Elder Anderson pointed out from Alma, "faith unto repentance."  It´s such a natural process when we learn about our Savior and feel His spirit more abundantly in our lives.  

Ana has a problem, though: she works on Sundays.  This past week we were really firm and explained that it´s a commandment of God that we don´t work on Sundays, and when we do it we´re sinning.  We also told her that she wouldn´t be able to be baptized until she could find a way to not work Sundays.  She realized the importance of it and committed to finding a new job.  Near the end of the lesson, I felt to ask her to fast with us in order to show her faith.  She easily accepted and committed to starting her fast after lunch on Saturday (which is how they do it here--from lunch to lunch).  We were so proud of her! She didn´t go to church on Sunday, which made us a little nervous, but we called her afterwards and she told us it was because she was sick from her first fast haha!  She got really sick on Saturday night from doing it, but just kept pushing through and praying to feel better, and made it all the way to lunch on Sunday! She has so much faith that something will turn up this week, and we´re sure it will.  I´ll keep ya updated haha.

We went to Trujillo for Mission Leadership Council this week, which was a fun time as always.  Stayed with Elder Chapman (my MTC comp) and Elder Salazar from Lima, two crazy people. President Rios focused on doing good solid follow up after extending committments and helping people progress that way, so we´re pumped to apply it and see results!

Mmm...what else, what else.  I´m very aware of approaching March Madness, which I know will be starting shortly.  Good luck on your brackets, everyone!

Not a lot else going on here, but all is well! There´s a promise in Preach My Gospel that says, "More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children."  It´s the truth!! I really really like being a missionary.  I love you all so so much and thank you for your weekly updates and pictures! Have a great week!

Love, Tanner