A Trip to Lima!

Happy Wednesday family!                                           

Sorry I did not write Monday, I will explain that story.

So Sunday night we are doing all the reports and I am calling the sister missionaries and the Zone Leaders and such. At like 8:30 the Zone Leaders called me, and Elder Toolson said "I heard we might be going to Lima tomorrow." Oh, great little heads up... He later got that confirmed, and they called telling us we had to be at the airport in Piura at 8 in the morning Monday. So I was a little worried, I didn't even know if buses would leave in time. So I called the Pensionista and she said I needed to be in the terminal at 5:30 so we could get there in time. So we left at 5:30 and I was so nervous because as we walked out I saw a bus fly by thinking that was my only chance driving away. But we go to the terminal and take a bus to Piura and we were at the airport before 7. hahaha My companion was very tired from waking up at 4:45, just to find out we could have slept in considerably.

But yep, Lima was awesome! There was 23 of us Gringos that went and also 3 Argentinians. We arrived and went straight to Migrations to work on paperwork. There were already the missionaries from Tumbes of our mission there who had flown in the night before. So it was a big party. Then we went and ate PIZZA at the mall and that was super great, I have missed that delicious stuff. Also, Lima was cold! They told us that Sunday night and I was like "Pssh! I am from UTAH, people in Piura don’t even know what cold means!" But yep, that wind made me happy to have my suit coat! (Who knows, maybe it really was like mid 70s and I am just so used to sweating constantly... haha) Then we went to the hotel and we all hung out until it was night. We chatted with missionaries from the Cuzco Mission that came for the Visa too and that was fun, also every single missionary brought the same game of Uno, so we played that for a bit taking full advantage of leather couches in the lobby :)

In the morning I took the most divine shower with hot water. Considering the fact that our water here in Tambo Grande has been having problems for like over a week made that even more better. haha Then in the morning we went to Interpol. I hear that in a month we have to come back to Lima and then we will finish it all up. But Interpol was cool, we talked to people from Canada, Spain, China, a cool deal! And between the 23 of us Gringos, it was an excellent time to refresh our English. :) haha As a treat to take home to Piura, I bought DUNKIN DONUTS for me and my companion. A dozen was super expensive. 35 soles!! That’s like 12 bucks, but to put it in perspective, the mission gives us 4 soles per meal. haha so they were pricey but we are enjoying them. :)

So there is a little about my trip, it was quite a fun little adventure. And now about Tambo Grande and the work, the better part!! :)

Last week, Elder Grow of the Seventy came to Piura!! We had a conference with him and it was the best thing ever. We talked a lot about how to improve our mission, since really things are kinda being slow for a while. We talked a little about setting goals and how to do weekly planning. And he taught something that is already changing everything about my mission. He taught us about the first paragraph in Preach My Gospel section about setting goals in chapter 8. In the spirit of prayer, set a monthly baptismal goal. Then from that, you get all your other goals. Because that is the focus: Baptisms.

The next day before starting weekly planning, I told my companion I would like to start off our weekly planning with that. I explained I would offer the prayer to start then we can personally pray and meditate then when we are ready we can talk about the goal together. I offered the prayer together. I will be honest, in weekly planning it tells us to pray asking to receive revelation and this time was the first time I think I really did that with full intent of doing so. I had been thinking about the goal since the conference and 8 had been in my mind. Then kneeling there pondering, my mind rested upon 6. 6 felt like the goal. I prayed and thought about it and 6 stayed in my mind. I can't really explain how it went, but I knew that was my answer. But I was so worried my companion was going to come up with another number. SO then I was content with the number and looked over at my companion and he was kneeling praying and CRYING. an abrupt sob burst out for a second and I was like “hey are you ok?” He then looked over, got up washed his face then told me what had happened. I will be honest, I was thinking "This poor boy, he just can't reach it or he is feeling bad or something is up..." But then he explained it was from the pure joy he was feeling in his heart!! (I should be better used to this emotion seeing how often it happens in the Peterson family, shouldn't I? jajaja) But then he told me "I thought of 1, then 2, then 3 ... up to ten. But the number that most stuck out to me was 6." And holy cow my heart just flew. We had a little of a tear sharing together and we were like, we are going to have 6 baptisms this month of June! That was honestly such a testimony builder that the Lord directs this work and gives us revelation personally if we ask and search for it. And I am learning as a missionary I need to search for it much, much more. I loved that experience. We are still on a spiritual high from it!

So now we got high goals to reach that. Our goal was the teach 7 new families this week, find a new family every day. But the thing is I was in Lima, we have a Training conference for my new companion, and interviews. So we are getting a hard start, but we know if we put forth our efforts God will help us reach His set goal.

As for L and his family, they are now ALL listening to us and are starting to invite like everyone to listen! He told us he comes from a little town of like 10 families outside of Tambo Grande. He wants to take us out there to share this message with all of them!!! So we were like "Ummm... YES!!!" hahaha OF COURSE WE WILL! The thing we need to do for them right now is help get him to church, since he is having troubles in Paita with some property he owns over there and work there is only on Sundays. So that is his trouble. Also we need to help their daughters get caught up on the lessons since they are recently starting to listen. So I think we are going to go back to square one for a little for them, but also set a date for all of them for June! We will see how it all goes. Be sure to keep this family in your prayers! :) 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, sounds like things are awesome back home! I hope all is going well and I know the church is true!

OH! Church attendance was only 48 this week so it went down, but we are working on that. Our goal is to have a LOAD of investigators attending (those 7 families we talked about...) So we are still working hard!!

Thank you all, Love you all!!

Con amor y felicidad,

Elder Collin Russell

Catching up with old friends at a recent Conference:

Hermana Mara

and Hermano Morales

Being a Little Bold

Hola familia!

Well this has been a super duper week!! We got a lot of really fun stuff going on!

One adventure was Elder Plata and I one day searching for new investigators, which is something we need and I honestly do not have much experience in efficient finding. So we decided to do talk to a couple future investigators, and along the way we had three games coming from the answers to these questions: What is your favorite color? What is your favorite food? and What is your least favorite food? From that came the game. We needed to knock the door of ever orange or blue house (quite common here!), I had to mention chocolate cake in at least one of the contacts (my companion had to mention papa a la huancayina which is a peruvian dish), and if anyone we saw was eating chocolate or pinapple we HAD to talk to them. hahaha it was quite an adventure!

One of my favorite parts was we knocked on one of the doors and a lady comes to the door and opens the little bitty window. My companion says "Hello, we are missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints" 

"We're busy." And she slams the little window shut. I think she started to walk away and I just thought I would be a little bold and shouted "What other day can we visit then!?" 

Silence.
Then we hear a replying shout: "Saturday!"
"What time!?"
"4 o'clock!"
"What is your name?!"
"Rosario!"
"Thank you! Bye!"

We came back Saturday at 4:30 and a man answered the door, we asked for a Sister Rosario, and he said nobody lives there named Rosario. And he was also just about to leave, so that contact didnt really work out, but I got a thrill from it all. My companion thought I was crazy for all that determination I think though... haha but I am trying to make it fun for us. And I figured it would make a good story to send home. :)

The C. family is doing great! The Hermano in the last visit says he wants to be baptized, and so the goal is to get his wife feeling comfortable working with a date in mind. She also said if she gains a testimony she will be baptized. In the last visit it was just with Hermano and he said some very touching and fulfilling stuff. He explained he sees that everything is changing. His son apparently has talked in his sleep saying "Elderes, Elderes" and his grandson now asks when the Mormons are coming over. He explained that when he just gets full of all this pain and heavy burdened, he reads the Book of Mormon and prays and he feels so much better. He especially LOVES Alma and his stories from the books of Mosiah and Alma. Mosiah 24 was one of the first chapters we left for him to read and ever since he cannot get enough it seems. He loves to read. He says he sees the changes and we see it too as missionaries! We have a visit tonight so we'll see how it all goes!

Today we went to buy some food and there was a man there when we were buying drinks who was helping us with the prices and such. My companion still doesn't know what all the types of drinks are here in Peru so I was explaining a bit what they were and such. We are talking to this man too and he thought I was from Peru!!!! He was like, you know the foods of Peru, you talk like you are from Peru, you know the places of Peru (I later was talking to him about Sechura and Chulucanas and such) and I was like nope, I am from the US! Later in talking a bit more I think he picked up that my Spanish is far from complete though. :)

But it was still a real confidence booster. hahaha another story about my Spanish was there was a visit where one of the young women in the family kept saying she couldn't understand me. That is really a struggle for me when people say they don't understand... But then later in talking to the family she said "Oh, now I understand, you just talk really fast!" hahaha it is true... I do talk really fast, here they talk slow and as though they are singing sometimes, and I just talk fast. I dont know why though. haha

Church attendance was awesome!! We hit 56 in attendance!! Last week was 37. We measured church attendance for the month of March and now in May, and in all of the time reporting this number, that has been the highest I have seen!! So the work is progressing! I have the list of people in mind to work with so we can reach at least 80 before I get transferred away, so that is the big work ahead of us! I am dreading the day my change of area will come. I think I have 10 more weeks here, but transfers are coming up in 4 weeks... I hope I don't go yet. Even though I already have like 4 months here!

Yesterday we had a Family Search training session with our district and the district of Algarrobos Ward. Did you know on there I can trace my lineage back to Adam and Eve?! But there are some rather unsolid links. Just one name with the fact that they have passed away as the information. Also the name of Adam is "Adam the Red Man of Eden." Is that biblical knowledge that he was red that I have overlooked or what is that all about? Maybe you all can help me with that question...

I also looked for shoes today out of curiosity. They don't have over size 42 in the marketplace. Everywhere I asked for my 44s they would be like "noooo...." and it was quite comical for the crowd, myself included. It is like us tall Gringos are monsters or something. haha I love living here in Peru actually.

One thing I learned in Preach my Gospel this week was about the Spirit of Conversion. I am studying a lot about the spirit and my goal is to learn how to teach with a greater power of the spirit to accompany the lessons, since the Holy Ghost really is the key to missionary work. We are meant to just create the atmosphere in which the Spirit can testify to the hearts of those we teach. I am really learning about how to magnify that part of my calling. Really the big picture purpose in the lessons for me is 2 things: Invite the spirit and help them build the desire to act.

I know the missionary work is progressing and that what we teach is true. I invite you to continue DAILY in your spiritual growth.

Well I am out of time!! I love you all!

Con amor y felicidad,
Elder Collin Russell

Hooray For Skype! :)

With my new companion, Elder Plata from Bolivia, and President and Sister Rowley

Hello family,

Well, it was so great to see you all yesterday!! I loved seeing all of your faces and brushing up on speaking fluent English! :) Hopefully I was able to answer all of your questions or at least put a dent in the list! haha That was an awesome idea mom about me bearing my testimony in Spanish, we will have to be sure to do that at Christmas!

Also, about sending me the photos and video links. THANK YOU! The photos I now have on my USB and I will get some prints of those. The videos however, I would need the video itself as a file, not the link. But those videos are awesome and I would sure love to have them!

So family, you might have to write down a recap of what all is going on down here from our Skype call, but here I will write down some more other little fun things.

So about my new companion, Elder Plata. He is a fun young man, quite green in the mission but we are working hard. Inside I really get a kick out of what he does sometimes. His second day in the area he was already telling me the quicker route to get back to the apartment. hahaha He is very confident and not afraid to share with me his thoughts. Which is super awesome because that comes out with him participating a whole lot more in lessons than I did when I started. I admire that and for that trait he will grow fast. 

Today we went shopping for food and we decided to just eat here at the mall. The portions here are rather small for me, so I was trying to figure out what I was going to do to get filled. So we ended up buying a Norky's Family Combo. Norky's is like KFC. So we got a massive plate of french fries and 6 piece chicken bowl and soda and chicken tenders and a chicken sandwich and we are STUFFED! hahaha so we are having fun!

Sorry I don't have any more time... that 2 minute warning snuck up on me!

I love you all so much, check out all the new photos I sent you in Dropbox from Sechura and Tambo Grande!

Love you all!!

con amor y felicidad,

Elder Collin Russell

SKYPE!

With Elder Plata, his companion

 With Elder Toolson, his Zone Leader

Us watching him...

 Him watching us…

(and demonstrating the game that some play there -- racing to get the wing nut to the bottom first :)

 And doing a little sand boarding while in Sechura (his last area)

ROCK IT in Tambo Grande

Dearest family,                                                                                            

How are you all doing?! :) I hope all is well. It was so great to read all your letters!! Also mom, we have been LOVING all those Easter treats, I think I might have already finished off all the Peanut Butter Eggs... my favorite!! haha

Well, today is the first day of a new transfer period. Yep, we had changes in Tambo Grande. Elder Martinez is now serving in Piura with Elder Bradley, a STELLAR missionary! I am actually sticking with them it appears until Wednesday morning when I will receive my new companion. I am so super excited for my new responsibility, it has been my goal and dream since I came out on the mission, I am going to be a Trainer!! So Tuesday night the new missionaries arrive from the Airport and we find out who our new companions are Wednesday morning. And we are going to ROCK IT in Tambo Grande. :)

This week was pretty good! A great end in the companionship, despite our differences we especially really got closer this last week, being a lot more open with one another and working to love and put off our pride. Elder Martinez is a wonderful missionary, his desire is to show his love to everyone. He always worked to strengthen the youth and let everyone know he is their friend. We had a LOT of Farewells for him to say Sunday, and we did a lot of running around for that. Tambo Grande won’t be the same without him and he already keeps going off about how badly he misses it already, but it is a new chapter with new adventures, trials, growth, and successes!

As for Hermano L., we had two visits planned with him this week. The first was to meet his whole family and teach them all, and then Sunday to say farewell. But both these times he has been off elsewhere. So yeah, we taught his family, the wife and 2 of his daughters and they are interested! They are seeing the impact that we have put on J., their 7 year old son who sits with his dad in the lessons. He now prays for his meals and in various other times as well! But they are SO great, I hope and pray that we can have success with them. Will you all pray for them this week for us? 

Sorry I didn’t write too much this week...But at least I got a lot of photos your way I believe! :) As for Skype, I now believe it will be Sunday. Between 4 and 7, because we will be coming to Piura to Skype, and with that it will be better avoiding school and work...  But that is 4 to 7 in Peru time, hopefully you can all figure that out! Sorry it is not very specific! I will see if there is a way to contact you before Sunday, the thing is I still need to coordinate with the Zone Leaders and my new companion. But plan on Sunday night! I will start preparing now for all the questions. ;) haha

Well, you are all the best! I love you all!! Keep choosing the right and reading the scriptures! Katie, you are going to be AMAZING on that mission, stay strong during the hard times and you will experience the best 2 years of your life! :) Love you all, and SEE YOU SOON! :)

con amor y felicidad,

Elder Collin Russell