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
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