Week #60- the best week we have had this transfer!

This week was awesome! We have been having a lot of success lately, and a lot of our investigators came to church for the first time this week. And the part that I loved most about this week is that we finally got permission to baptize one of our investigators. It was awesome we taught about the importance of the Temple and what we do in the Temple and I guess she really wants to enter the Temple, so she got over her fear of her dad and she told him that she really wants to get baptized and her dad asked her a few questions about the church, testing her knowledge, because he is a less active member and he gave us permission. She is going to get baptized thursday at 8 o clock, and we are really excited for it. But if I have transfers I know that I won’t get permission to go because it’s so late, but I am still happy that she is getting baptized. She is already like a member, she has a lot of friends and is always at the church for the activities. She is awesome and will be a great member. We just have to keep working on her dad. We’ve also been finding a lot of new people to teach, but it seems like they are just coming to us. I love this area and I feel like this was the best week we have had this transfer.  I still bite my nails, and the people here bug me about it too haha. The other day a member slapped my hand out of my mouth and it reminded me of home haha.
That's all for this week, love Elder Monson

Week #59- finally got to play a game of basketball!

This week was good. We had some pretty good success this week and found a bunch of really cool new investigators. We found 2 families that are doing great and really like listening to us. We are planning on giving them a baptismal date this week. We are still struggling with a few investigators with permission to baptize them, mostly because the parents want to see a big change in them and they want them to learn a lot more. We dont know whether to keep focusing on them or just give them time and visit them less often. Our biggest challenge in this area is getting people to go to church. Even though they live relatively close to the church they always say they are busy, they have to work, or they slept in. We are going to try and teach them the importance of going to church so hopefully that will help them to come to church this week. The most fun part of this week that isn’t really spiritual is that I finally got to play a game of basketball. It was so fun and I wasn’t as bad as I thought I would be after not playing for more than a year.

Week #58- Conference was awesome!

Conference was awesome!!! I loved hearing all of the talks. I loved Elder Hollands, and Elder Uchtdorfs talks, they were so powerful I really know that they are called of God and that they recieve revelation from God for all of us. It made me think a lot of the revelations that we recieve as missionaries to help the people we teach. I remember an experience when we were talking to a few members in our ward and we didnt even know them, so we were just asking them how they were doing, without the intention to teach them, because we were waiting for our ward mission leader to do our meeting. Then I felt the impression to ask them how their family was. They started to tell us about all of the problems in their family and they started crying, we were able to help them a little bit that day, but we made more appointments to talk to them and help them. Throughout the weeks they have improved a lot and always tell us how grateful they are for us and what we have done and that we are angels, but I know it wasnt really us that helped them, but the gospel that Jesus Christ has given us. I love this gospel I know that it is true and that it really changes lives.

Love Elder Monson

Week #57- I love being a missionary!

We did a lot better this week and we are having good success. We have a few investigators that are really progressing and  we are close to giving them a baptismal date. One of the members here gave an less active member some advice and I really loved it, he gave the example of a baby learning to walk, and how it falls, falls, falls, and falls some more until finally it can walk without falling. I have been thinking a lot about why I cant just do better, but now I understand better. I have fallen many times, but I feel like I am getting closer and closer to just being able to stop, and be able to walk without falling.Me and my companion are getting along really good and we had a really cool experience yesterday. We had an appointment with some sisters that have been having a lot of problems in their home, We prepared a lesson and we helped them feel a lot better, but after they had a ton of questions, and we had all the answers, but not in our own words. All the answers we gave were in the scriptures and we taught with unity and it was just awesome. I love being a missionary because we always receive revelation for the people we teach. The Chilean missionary in my room had emergency transfers so now I am living with Elder Barnson. There was a big flood in one of our zones so they moved all of the missionaries out of that zone. Now they are all in Chaclacayo. Its really wierd, a few people have died so its pretty bad. But all of the missionaries are fine.

Love Elder Monson

Week #56- if we are doing our best then that is good enough!

This week was hard, we had about 15 of our appointments cancelled, so we struggled to find people to teach, but I also found out that maybe it was for a reason that some of those appointments were canceled. During a little bit of the time we were looking for someone to teach we went contacting and we found a few people that are awesome. We found a family on saturday and then she accepted a visit for the next day. She had questions about where we will go after we die, so we taught her the plan of salvation and she told us that she felt more peace when we taught here and she loves that we have eternal families. She said that she had always wondered and had doubts about where we will go after we die, and she thanked us for giving her the answer. I was feeling down on myself because we had the least amount of lessons that I have had since Ive been here and I blamed myself for it, because I am leading the area, but Elder Campos helped me to realize that if we are doing our best then that is good enough. I feel like we could have done a few things better and I hope to improve in these areas this week. But we have been working hard and had some great progress with a few people. We should be really close to a few baptisms these coming weeks.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #55- new companion!

This week was good, I have been getting to know my new companion and he is awesome, and has helped me so much this week. My companion is Elder Vinces from Ecuador. We have been talking to a lot more people, but pretty much no one accepted us, and there were even a few that got mad at us for talking to them, but last night we had an amazing contact that is really amazing. We knocked on her door and she came out and we started talking to her and then she started crying and telling us about all of the problems she is having in her life. She told us that she wants to attend a church and that she was praying for someone to visit her and help her. We had 54 contacts this week and the very last contact we had was the only one that really wants us to visit her. We have been having a really hard time with getting permission for one of our investigators, her dad is a less active member and says he doesn’t have time to listen to us, but he wants his daughter to listen to us for 2 years before she can get baptized, and we feel like there are a lot of things that can happen in 2 years so we have been working really hard to convince her Dad to let us talk to him, but we have had very little success.
That's all for this week. Love, Elder Monson

Week #54- This transfer has been awesome!

This week was good. Even though we were all pretty sick, and couldn’t work at 100 percent we are doing really good. We should have a few baptisms coming up if we can get permission from their parents to baptize them, but they are all so amazing, I love it here. I haven’t really attached myself to the people here like in my other areas yet but I feel like I have had the most success here and that I am working better and harder than ever before. My companion has helped me out a lot during this transfer and i feel like I have learned a ton from him. We have transfers tomorrow so it’s possible that my companion leaves. We will find out to day at about 3 o clock. We are nervous because my companion doesn't want to leave. The members have given us so much food this week, because it’s very likely that at least one of the 4 missionaries here [will be transferred]. Last night they made us hamburgers and they were the best hamburgers I have had in a year, since I left on my mission. This transfer has been awesome and I love the missionaries here they have helped me a lot and helped me to not be so stressed out. No packages yet. Yesterday was awesome.
Love, Elder Monson