Week #82- families that are ready and waiting to accept this gospel!

This week was hard, there weren’t very many people in their houses when we went to visit them, but we were able to have an awesome experience with the Baca Family. We have been progressing slowly with them for weeks, with many doubts that they have had, mainly about baptisms for the dead and the Book of Mormon. But this week we had a lesson with them and the Mom of the family told us that she has decided that this is where she belongs, she wants to get baptized and her kids support her and want to follow her. The father of the family wants to wait a little bit longer before deciding, but I believe that we are progressing with him. He has started to attend the activities that we have and has found a few answers to some of his doubts. We are debating if we should wait to baptize the whole family together or just do it as they are ready one by one. The mom of this family is amazing, she told us about all of the changes that she has seen in her family as we have been visiting them. I love seeing the changes that this gospel makes in these people and their families. She told us that one of her daughters was striving off of the path and didn’t want much to do with God anymore, but that she has found this desire again as we have visited and taught them. I love this family and want to help them so much, and I know that this gospel will help them immensely. I have seen over and over again the impact that we make on these people and their lives. It gives me more and more desires to work hard to find more of these families that are ready and waiting to accept this gospel in their lives. I got the package this week so thank you very much. Next transfers are October 6th right after conference.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #81- investigators walk in to church!

This week was awesome, we have been working really hard and we were able to see the fruits of our labor. We had 12 investigators come to church yesterday, many of which came for the very first time. They felt really good at church and we are really progressing here. We are going to have a few baptisms coming up and we are preparing a family to get baptized as well. We are really close with this family but the Father of the family doesn’t want to accept the Book of Mormon yet. We watched the Restoration movie with them yesterday and they were able to understand a little bit better. They asked us where they can buy the movie, and they really liked it. My companion and I are debating whether we should wait until everyone is ready to baptize the whole family together, if they want to, or to baptize them separately. The mom of the family is ready to get baptized, and is really awesome. We are also working with a 15 year old kid. One of his friends invited him to church a few weeks ago and, he wants to get baptized, the only problem is his parents. His parents believe that it is really early for him to get baptized. We hope to help his parents understand that we don’t want to baptize him until he is ready and has a testimony. Yesterday was amazing; I was so happy to all of our investigators walk in to church and be able to see how it is and feel the spirit there. I really hope that they will want to continue coming to church.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #80- we are representatives of Jesus Christ!

This week was good, I was able to learn a lot about how we always need to be a light to these people, and be the example for them. This week we were able to visit a reference from one of the members of our ward. He came to church last week and we visited him on Saturday. He told us that he was really impressed by the church, and that he feels like he needs to be a part of it. His friend that brought him to church has always been an example to him. He told us that he has a few friends that aren’t really on the right path, and that he doesn’t know what path to choose. He is looking for the right path, so we invited him to be baptized. He accepted a baptismal date for this month and he came to church again yesterday. We always need to be good examples for the people that surround us, and especially as missionaries. Because everyone is always watching us and what we do. If we make one mistake they will call us out on it. And I feel like they should, because we are representatives of Jesus Christ, so we need to act like Him. This helps us to improve on our mistakes and always do what’s right. My companion is improving on his teaching every day, but he feels like he hasn’t improved very much. I need to just help him and build his confidence. I remember my training, and the things that I most remember aren’t the things that he [companion] said, but what he did. He always set a good example for me, so I want to do the same for my companion. We should be having a few baptisms this month, so we know we need to work harder than ever so that we can make it happen.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #79- new companion: Elder Lago!

This week was good. I stayed in the same area, and I am training again. My new companion is Elder Lago from Colombia. We were able to have some pretty good success this week. My new companion is a little shy, but pretty much everyone is at the start. I can tell that he is kind of nervous in the lessons, but he teaches pretty well for being new. I hope to help him a lot, so that he will be able to guide the area when I leave and so that he will be able to have success in his mission. I had never really thought of trainers being so important, but I have been thinking about it and it really will change the rest of their missions. I am going to do my best to be able to help him be a great missionary. The meeting we had with Elder Bednar was so amazing; I have been trying to apply the pattern that he used with us, on our investigators. I haven’t gotten very good at it yet, but I know it will come with practice. I learned so much, and like he taught I received revelation for me and my area that I know will help us to have more success here, and that will change my way of seeing things. I was kind of sick this week, and couldn’t talk very much or very well, but I had to keep talking a lot because my new companion doesn’t talk very much.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #78- always learning how to overcome the challenges that we face!

Today we will receive the transfers, so we will find out what will happen, if I leave or if I am going to stay one more transfer. This morning we made pancakes for breakfast and they were so good. This week was awesome we had some good success and we have helped the area progress a lot this transfer. There is still a lot of room to improve, but I feel good with what we have done this transfer. This transfer has been a little crazy with the emergency transfers and everything, but I have learned a lot. Just a few weeks ago we were wondering how we were going to manage the area, and now we have settled into a rhythm and we are doing good. We have amazing investigators that we hope will progress. Yesterday I was invited to a baptism in my last area, and President Boswell gave me permission to go. It was really awesome to see all of the members and everyone from Las Magnolias. Yesterday we weren’t able to proselyte for very long, because of the baptism, but the baptism helped me remember what my purpose is. It has been a while since I have had a baptism. Yesterday gave me more energy to challenge our investigators to be baptized. I really want a baptism, and I feel like I will have one soon, and then of course take them to the temple. I am ready for whatever the transfers say, I know that whatever happens it is for the best. I always learn from my companions and from the people that we teach, always learning how to overcome the challenges that we face. 
Love, Elder Monson

Week #77- really good, a lot of problems, but really good!

This week was really good, a lot of problems, but really good. We were able to find a lot of new investigators this week that are actually married. One of the families that we are teaching are going to get married soon. The mom of the family went to Bolivia to get her legal papers to be able to get married and then get baptized. We are really excited and we really think that we will see the fruit of our labors this next transfer. The branch has been starting to help more and more and we entered every class yesterday and committed them to bringing a reference next week. We plan on doing this a lot so that we can help the branch progress. We believe that if we recieve even 5 references from the whole branch that it will be a success. When members give references, we have a lot more success. We were able to have 9 investigators in sacrament meeting this week, it was crazy, when werent expecting so many to come. We had a few investigators and less active members come to church that we had pretty much given hope on, but they just showed up. It was awesome! Last week they gave us some big news. Next week we are going to be visited by some general authorities and the best part is that Elder Bednar is going to talk to us. There will be about 6 general authorities talk to us next week. I am really excited. The weather has still been pretty cold, but slowly getting warmer
That's all for this week. Love, Elder Monson

Week #76- I had a good (20TH) BIRTHDAY!

This week was pretty good. We were able to put the Baca Family to a baptism date for the 22nd of August. They are awesome and we gave them each a book of Mormon to read so that they can strengthen their testimonies. The father of the family is the only one that is being hard, He told us that he isn’t really interested in what we are teaching, but he has really good questions when we teach him. We feel like he is trying to find something wrong about the church. But he told his wife that if she wants to get baptized that she can. Belen is awesome and believes everything that we teach, and we have had the support from the members with this family. We have visited them with 3 families, so they have a few friends in the church. We hope to help the whole family be prepared for baptism, and we are thinking about what to do if the whole family isn’t ready for the 22nd. If we should postpone it so that they can all get baptized together or do them separated. We had a lot of our appointments fall this week so we were a little bit sad and I feel like we need to work harder. We need new people to teach so that this area can progress, so I want to contact more people. I had a good birthday, we just had a small party with my pensionista and I bought a cake. It was really fun. My pensionista and her family are awesome. I got the package. Thank you so much, I loved it! The ties are awesome!  The shoes are really big but I am trying to make them work by putting cotton and cardboard in them haha {Insert from sister: "Isn't this just the biggest game?! We send him shoes and they are too small, so we send bigger ones, and they are too big! Seriously! And you can't exactly find shoes in his size in Peru!}
Love, Elder Monson