Hola!!
Alright so first of all I am attaching some pictures to you! The first set are of the very first Baptism that I had here in Peru! I baptized a boy named Angelo who's 11 years old. His Mother is Evangelical and I'm not even sure where is Father is. But he's living with his Grandmother who's a member and he really wanted to be baptized. So we taught him all the lessons and everything and he was really receptive! It was actually such a cool experience Dad. It's a great feeling being able to bring others into the waters of Baptism and share in such a life-changing experience with them. The Spirit was so strong and I could just feel that what I was doing as right. I think I'll be pretty happy if I can feel that way on my mission! Also the one picture with the American is me with my first companion in the MTC Elder Fredrickson who is from Utah. He had his 2nd baptism the same time as I did! It's pretty cool that we get to be in the same Zone and work together so that's why I sent that one!
Alright so first of all I am attaching some pictures to you! The first set are of the very first Baptism that I had here in Peru! I baptized a boy named Angelo who's 11 years old. His Mother is Evangelical and I'm not even sure where is Father is. But he's living with his Grandmother who's a member and he really wanted to be baptized. So we taught him all the lessons and everything and he was really receptive! It was actually such a cool experience Dad. It's a great feeling being able to bring others into the waters of Baptism and share in such a life-changing experience with them. The Spirit was so strong and I could just feel that what I was doing as right. I think I'll be pretty happy if I can feel that way on my mission! Also the one picture with the American is me with my first companion in the MTC Elder Fredrickson who is from Utah. He had his 2nd baptism the same time as I did! It's pretty cool that we get to be in the same Zone and work together so that's why I sent that one!
The ones with the really cool wall type thingies are in a place up here called the Fortaleza. I'm not exactly sure what they are, but it's some kind of a community type thing built by the Inca's! We didn't really do too much there since it only took like 15 minutes to see it all, but we did of course play soccer which was fun! But we had to be careful because if we shot too hard on one goal then it would go into the river behind, and we'd then have to chase it down the river to catch it before it swam away. So that was fun! There were also like a million mosquitos as well! The problem with these ones is that they hurt, like they draw blood when they bite kind of hurt. Not nice at all, kind of mean actually.
The teddy bear (Peluche) is actually a gift from a recent convert of ours, it reads Con Cuñado, which means either ''With Love'' or ''With Affection''. I chose to believe it says with Affection, because that's slightly less awkward then with Love :) But you can choose whichever one for yourself!
Then the other ones are just basically my first sewing experience! I have no idea how it happened, but I found a rip in my pants one day, so I spent like an hour and a half just trying to sew it back together. And I actually thought I did a pretty good job!! Until finding out later that night that I didn't tie it off well enough so it just came undone again. So now my Latiño mama has them and is fixing them for me! But at least I tried right?
The language is actually coming quite well! I'm very thankful for the chance I had to go to the MTC in Lima, it's definitely helped a lot. And I'm beginning to get a lot more confident in the language which is nice! I think I'll have it down one day :) I think the one advantage I have is that I can hear the language... basically I just feel that I can get the pronunciation down a lot faster then other elders, which is why no one believes me when I tell them I only have like 4 weeks in Barranca and that it's my first area. So the Lord is definetely helping me out, and for that I'm appreciative! Our ward is also doing pretty good! It's nice because we have someone who knows how to play the Piano which is apparently rare! As well, Latino's can't sing very well down here, so it helps drown them out :D
Here is a little bit about my zone! We're in Zone Barranca which has about 14 missionaries in it! Our district has 8! As for Barranca, it's fairly big? I don't know exactly how many people there are here, but it's big enough to have 3 areas in one city! Lot's and lot's of markets! And chickens! Mostly dead though... Oh I also saw my first rooster fight yesterday! Pretty interesting! Aha We have the west side of Lima and about 3 or 4 other cities apart from Lima.
Our investigators are doing pretty well! We had about 3 baptismal dates set which is great! We just had one baptism last Saturday and now we have 5 dates set for the next month! 1 of our investigators is having a lot of problems with family who are Catholic and don't want to give their permission or anything for her baptism. So she's having some real problems with that! And the other one is just.. I don't actually know. She just kind of dissapeared, so I'll let you know how it goes with that one! But as I said, we have another 5 as of right now! I really hope we can work with them and have them follow through, because a lot of the time the problem is that they agree to be baptized and then fall away shortly before. So I'll let you know how they come! Transfers are next week so I hope I can stay to work with them but who knows, I'll keep you updated!
In closing let me share with you something I learned last week at a Zone conference we had! We learned about the 3 steps of Faith. Where it starts, where it takes us, and how we get there. This is how it works.
1. The first step is the Belief. But in order to get to that step we must start with the desire like we read in Alma 32!
2. The 2nd step after we believe is Works. Because faith without works is dead!
3. The 3rd and final step is our Testimony. But before we can get to that step we must pass through our trial. Because in Ether 12:6 we read that we receive no testimony until after the trial of our Faith!
So those are the 3 steps of Faith! The last step leads us towards Jesus Christ. And in order to start your way up these Steps you need the help of us Missionaries! (Most of the time at least) We're here to give them the Desire to believe, to give them commitments and jobs to work at their faith, and ultimately to verify with them to help them grow in their testimony towards Jesus Christ. If you ask me we have a pretty big job as missionaries! Remember that God is literally our Father in Heaven and he WANTS to hear from us! He wants to feel what we feel and help us through the hard times. This beings said, remember him when times are good as well! When Satan sneaks in and tries to make you feel that you don't need to pray. That's when we need to the most!
With Love,
Elder Hatt
In closing let me share with you something I learned last week at a Zone conference we had! We learned about the 3 steps of Faith. Where it starts, where it takes us, and how we get there. This is how it works.
1. The first step is the Belief. But in order to get to that step we must start with the desire like we read in Alma 32!
2. The 2nd step after we believe is Works. Because faith without works is dead!
3. The 3rd and final step is our Testimony. But before we can get to that step we must pass through our trial. Because in Ether 12:6 we read that we receive no testimony until after the trial of our Faith!
So those are the 3 steps of Faith! The last step leads us towards Jesus Christ. And in order to start your way up these Steps you need the help of us Missionaries! (Most of the time at least) We're here to give them the Desire to believe, to give them commitments and jobs to work at their faith, and ultimately to verify with them to help them grow in their testimony towards Jesus Christ. If you ask me we have a pretty big job as missionaries! Remember that God is literally our Father in Heaven and he WANTS to hear from us! He wants to feel what we feel and help us through the hard times. This beings said, remember him when times are good as well! When Satan sneaks in and tries to make you feel that you don't need to pray. That's when we need to the most!
With Love,
Elder Hatt
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