Is This Real Missionary Work?

Something about English

This was a week of learning about English. All Latino missionaries are strongly encouraged to learn English while they are on their mission. This will help them when they return home. They can earn more money in jobs, if they can speak English. They can do the Pathways program and then move on to BYU-I if they can speak English. It gives them a way up in the world.

On Monday I traveled into the downtown Lima to the Lima Central Mission. Sister Strong (mission president's wife of Lima Central) had invited me and Sister Packard and Sister Glazier (two new mission president's wives) to learn about the program that she does in her mission. She was very kind and fixed a lunch for us and had a lot of materials ready. It's a great program and we will be doing it in our mission. I will also be in charge of it.

The view from Sister Strong's 19th floor apartment in downtown Lima

We travel with the mission president to zone interviews and while the missionaries wait for their interview with the president they get to talk with me! We talk about where they are in their English learning. I ask them some pretty basic English questions, such as: where they are from, what's their favorite food, how many brothers and sisters in their family, etc.  

I know just how they feel when they can't understand a question or when they can't find the words to answer it. I'm the same way with my Spanish.

On Wednesday I had four cute hermanas sitting on the couch in the mission office teaching them basic English. They want to learn, but they have no American in their apartment. It makes it very difficult.

Elder Garcia--one of my English victims

Something Clean or is it Dirty?

Thor has been busy checking out missionary apartments. Apparently there are a lot of back problems in the mission, so the mattresses need to be checked. When he and Elder Pardo go out, they are also looking for safety issues and how clean the place is.  Nothing like a surprise check up!

A study area

A kitchen

The inside of the Sisters fridge

The inside of the Elders fridge--Yes there is a difference!

Something Shared

We surprised our zone on Thursday. We have never gone to a zone meeting before. We walked in and had them put us on the agenda. We then related the story of the lady that felt impressed to make President Kimball a new tie. When she arrived at the door with the tie in hand, she wondered why she was there. Sister Kimball opened the door and stopped her from going and said, "Never suppress a generous thought."

We then shared rolls, jam, cheese, and oranges with them. We have found that many of them don't take time to eat breakfast.

Here's the link to the story:  https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bonnie-d-parkin/personal-ministry-sacred-precious/

Our zone

Something Spiritual

Thor had the opportunity to do a training at Fundet this week. These are his thoughts on it.

Time for my presentation at the Fundet trade school.  So 87 present, 86 men and 1 lady. All of them starting this week a 4-8 week training program that will guarantee them a job in a trade when they complete the training.  The current classes are: Refrigeration, Motor Repair, Accounting Assistant and Micro Finance). I had them show by a raise of hands how many were converts (about a third of them); and how many of them were returned missionaries (about ⅔ of them).  

    The presentation on Self Reliance went very well.  They are an incredible audience. And I felt very blessed and sustained during the presentation.  Judging by their response to the question at the beginning: “What is Self Reliance?”, I knew we were starting from the ground level.  I’ve learned that principle from listening to Elder David A. Bednar speak to groups of missionaries. (ask questions and listen carefully to the answers to determine what the group is ready to receive)  At one point in the presentation, it was so clear to me the message: STOP, let them write down what the spirit is telling them. So I gave them 2-3 minutes to write down the thoughts that had come to their minds.  And many of them were deep in thought and writing many things down. It felt like and the content was that of a church meeting. Their participation critical. I felt a little awkward receiving a loud round of applause when we finished.   And many wanted their picture taken with me. And no, I did not let this get to my head. At times during my presentation specific things came to my mind that were then shared. I did appreciate the several who shared that they had felt the spirit throughout the presentation, and that they learned so much.  As did I-we were all edified, and the Holy Ghost was the teacher. If Fundet will have me back, this will be something I cherish the opportunity to do. Teach them the basics of Self Reliance. Encourage them and share with them my love and my confidence that they will be successful. There are three older men (late 40s or early 50s) in the group, and they shared some incredible stories. I was blessed through the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to do things this morning that I could not do without His sustaining power and influence.

Plants of Peru

Random Photo of the Week

These are the moto taxis waiting outside of a school to take kids home.
They are 3 wheeled vehicles.