Address

Mailing Address:
Elder Gabriel George
Peru Cusco Mission
Av. de la Cultura 2417
Frente de Urb. Santa Ursula
Capilla Mormona
Cusco, Peru

E-mail
gabriel.george@myldsmail.net



Thursday, November 27, 2014

The Children - I LOVE the Children!

November 24, 2014

This week was really good!

Last preparation day we went to Julaca, Elder Cuetos first area, to visit with his first baptism.  It is a pretty large family with 6 kids.  They baptized the whole family!  And they were just the nicest people.  We were sitting on the roof when we were called down to a little room.  At first I was a little scared because they all stood against the wall as I walked into this room.  Once I got into the room I could see the whole family was there with party hats.  Everything was green because I am a "greenie" and a "greengo".  They told me that because my "father" of the mission, my trainer Elder Cueto, is part of their family, I am part of their family too!  If I ever need anything call them and they will help me in whatever way that they can!

This week there was a big strike!  Everything was closed for 3 days.  It is so hard to work and teach during strikes.  No one is in the streets and no one is home.  I really don't understand it.  Where do the people go?!?  I honestly have no idea.  But it was fun to just pretty much hang out with a few of the other missionaries for 3 days.  We mostly just hung out and watched Mormon movies and Mormon messages on the little portable DVD we have on one bed.  Oh the life of a missionary.

We helped out at the hospital this week and it was so fun.  There is a group in Lima who has kind of teamed up with the church to help kids with cleft pallets.  They give operations for free.  Cleft pallets are a big problem in this area - lots of children have them.  So we moved boxes up and down for about 2 hours and then finally got to spend time with the kids.  That was the best part!  They were all so cute it was really hard for me to understand them.  We had gone out earlier and bought toys and things for the kids.  They were so surprised when we started giving them the toys.

We have been having a lot of success here lately.  I am so thankful.  All it really takes is work and obedience.  We have been wanting to have at least one baptism next month and have been working really hard towards that goal.  Isabel and Luis are progressing and they told us about their daughter this week, Maritze.  She is a really awesome investigator and follows through on all of our commitments.  She came to church with us yesterday and told us she keeps having dreams where she is baptized.  She said that she knows that everything we say it true and so we are working with her a lot!!!  We are going to ask her to be baptized on the 27th of December.  We are also working a lot with Yessica.  She brought her husband to the last lesson, and even though he said that he wasn´t interested  at all he participated a lot.  He even said the prayer at the end of the lesson.  The spirit can change people and their hearts.

I love Peru and promise that if you get me the vitamins that I will take them!!

My testimony has grown so much and I have grown so much as a person!  The old Elder George was good but I am such a better person now.  Okay I am still me but just a little different.  Nothing has changed changed, but I have changed.  It's really hard to explain.

Lacey, tell Nawrocki that I love her and that I help the little kids with their math in Spanish!

Love Elder George

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Every Emotion in the Book!

November 17, 2014

What a week it has been!  I have experienced just about every emotion in the book this week!  I don´t know why, but it has been kind of a crazy week!  We are working so hard to build up this sector.  When we arrived we had one "investigator" and to be honest we really aren't too sure about him.  We are working so hard with Andres and still nothing really seems to be going our way!  He came across a documentary on CCN about Joseph Smith and decided to look into it more on the internet!  Why?  I don´t know -  - well I do, it's because Satan will do everything in his power to stop somebody from being baptized!

So yeah we have been working really hard in this area of ours to find people.  That is really, really, hard when your ward is not super helpful and won't help by giving  referrals.  Still we have knocked on sooo many doors and are starting to find people.  First, Yessica.  She is really awesome, she won´t bring her kids to the lessons and her husband doesn't want anything to do with the church.  However, she is really progressing.  She asks so many questions because she has family members who are active members which helps and she is really curious.  She didn't like me at the beginning because I don't really say much.  She didn't know I was a new missionary and just thought that I didn't like her or something.  When she was asking about missions she asked how long we serve for and what not. Then we talked about our lives and how long we had been out.  When she found out that I was still pretty new she felt really bad and cooked us this way good.....I don´t know what it was but she owns a restaurant and so it was safe.

Another family we are teaching is Luis and Isabel.  They are progressing but it is still really hard to visit their whole family because Luis is always working.  So we are trying to find him a job that will allow us to teach their who family at the same time!

This week I got really sick for about 2 days.  We would still go walk all day and work all day but I felt TERRIBLE!!!  One night I didn't get much sleep because the whole night I spent......well not sleeping!  It was the worst.  I finally had the bright idea to ask for a blessing.  My testimony of the power of the priesthood and of the gift of tongues was strengthened.  I understood every word of the blessing and started to feel better later that day!!

Oh my, I have lost weight and all my pants are starting to feel really really big - -  hahah!!  Our pensionista thinks that it is really funny and piles the food for me because she thinks that I am not healthy.

One thing that I hate down here is something called Chuno.  It is potatoes.  Not just any potatoes.  First you dig us the potatoes and take them to a some place that they can rot.  Let them rot for a long time, like wine the longer they rot the "better" they are!  MY HEAVENS!!  Let them rot for a long time and then put then in running  water to wash out all the bugs and "nasty" germs.  Then you serve them in soup or plain.  Not as bad in soup but TERRIBLE plain.  So is my life in Peru!

We have been having a lot of problems with robbers down here.  They other night we heard someone and they were trying to break into the house next to ours.  The next morning we went over to the church and somebody had broken all the glass windows in the church and so we spent the whole day cleaning us broken glass in the church.

Elder Cueto is becoming one of my good friends here!  One night this week we were talking about the beginning of his mission.  He said in the CCM he was always happy and never really had any problems, but once he got out into the field it was different.  He said that for the first 2.5 weeks he cried every night.  He then asked me how my first 2 week were.  I was pretty honest.  Told him that they sucked pretty bad, that couldn't understand anybody and he wasn't really all that patient.  I said it in English and realized that he couldn't understand what I was saying.  So I just asked him how much harder would it have been if he couldn't understand anything.  He told me he was proud to have me as his "hijo."  Son of the mission and that I would make a great missionary!

I love it here and my testimony has grown so much!  I love the people and the kids are SOOOOOOO cute!  I love when, in sacrament meeting, one of the little kids comes and sits by me!  There is this huge hill where a lot of kids ride their scooters up and down.  Whenever Elder Cueto and I pass we buy a little thing of oreos and give one to each of them!  They love us and they all come to church now.  Not because of the oreos but because they never had anybody they felt like loved them and wanted them at church.  They think it is funny when I talk in English to them and always ask me for different words in English.  They think white skin is funny and love that I am taller than 5 foot nothing!!

Much Love Elder George!

This was something that he sent to his Dad!  They worked the last couple weeks pouring concrete from a pump much like the ones in the pictures.
Not going to lie, when I saw this I teared up a little bit.  No matter what I said, I really did love those days where it was just you and me!  We were not always golfing, but I will forever cherish the memories that we made the last few weeks before I left!  I felt like our relationship grew a lot and that. . . well I don't exactly know but it was always good for me to just be with you!





Thursday, November 13, 2014

Easily The Best Week Yet!

November 10, 2014

HELLO!!!!!

This week has been really really good!!  I am feeling so happy and I don't really know why because I am always tired!!  Like really - always - tired!  We work and work and work.  AND when I say work I mean walk!  We have been really trying to find some people to teach - and the way to find is to contact - and the way to contact is to well.....WALK!!  We live on a mountain and so when I say walk I mean HIKE!
This is what a long day of walking and working for the Lord looks like

Puno from one side looking towards the other
 It is so tiring but we are starting to see results which is the BEST!!

So last P-day (the one day of the week given to missionaries write letters home, play soccer, shop, have a little break in "walking" etc.) and there was a big parade.  Their version of a parade is a little different than in the United States.  Elder Heslop, one of my really good friends in the zone, was talking with me when we were at the stake center.  The parade was going by and he said that the parade is all the Victoria Secret model rejects using a lot of energy to walk down the street.  Everybody was drunk and it was impossible to do anything so all the companionship hung out at the Stake Center all day.  Really good P-Day though!

We have a mission goal to contact 12 families a week, per companionship.  THAT IS A TON!!!!  We contacted 3 this week and we literally talked to every family we saw.  The most awesome contact of the week was a little family who literally has nothing; they are so humble and nice.  I love them!  Hermano Luis is really interested and his wife is too.  It is PERFECT!  Hermana Isabel was sitting down on the road with 6 or 7 HUGE bags of potatoes and was dividing the bags into smaller bags so that they could hike up the big hill to were their house while hauling the potatoes.  We simply asked if we could help them in any way and they insisted that they were fine.  We knew they could use help so we proceeded to pick up half a bag of potatoes and carry it up the mountain.  We continued to make trips until all the potatoes were at their house.  They were so grateful and wanted to pay us.  We told them they way they could "pay" us was to listen to a message we wanted to share with them that could change their lives.  They willingly accepted and we taught them yesterday.  The lesson was perfect.  They were so happy when they found out that they could pray and not say a recited prayer.  They could ask for blessings that they needed and show their gratitude for that which they have.  It is really hard to find a time to teach them though because Hermano Luis is always working, because they have so little.  He has 3 jobs in order to keep his little family afloat.  We will figure something out!

Andres was supposed to be baptized this Saturday and we went to go visit him on Thursday.  He didn't seem like his normal self.  When we asked him if he was okay he told us that his girlfriend dumped him.  CRAP!! (Although he probably learned this word from me, his mother, I really don't like him using this word!  Especially as a missionary!)  But we were able to work things out and he is planning on the 22 of September!  Hopefully something bad doesn't happen again!  I have faith that it won´t.

10 DOGS!  This guy that lives on a hill owns 10 huge dogs.  They are terribly scary!  We were walking along minding our own business when they started to chase us off what later we found out was this guys property.  The owner of the dogs just sat there and watched as we ran for our lives!  The owner called the dogs back after about 200 yards and just proceeded to laugh at how scared we were.  What a jerk!

The language is starting to come!  I can understand just about anyone.  I have been studying so so so so hard.  I felt like I wasn't really improving at all - but the other day it all kind of started coming together.  I still make lots of mistakes but it is starting to come.  It is really hard to explain if you have learned another language.  If you have you will probably understand exactly what I mean!

I´m happy and the work in good!  Today Elder Cueto and I marked all of the changes and that was crazy to see how fast time goes.  I feel like yesterday I was in the Idaho Falls Airport with my awesome family giving hugs goodbye!!
♥Three very sad little girls saying goodbye to the brother they love♥

 But the Work is coming along great!!!

Finally here is a list of 10 things I miss in no particular order.

Carpet
Cold drinks (everything here is hot)
English
Grass
Family
Sierra
Water
Hot showers - all the time
A car
American Food!!

Love Elder George!

Monday, November 3, 2014

My THREE Greatest Fears


 November 3, 2015

What a week it has been!  There is soo much that has happened!!  Elder Cueto is better.  Our relationship is starting to grow and he is starting to like me more(I think).  But it has been really good.
What's not to like?
Holy cow!  We have a lot of work to do in the area.  We were left with one investigator that has a Fetcha(date for baptism) and that is all.  It is really hard to build up an area, but we are doing it!!  We went contacting on Tuesday and had honestly had no success.  I contacted 4 poeple.  All in Spanish.  It really wasn´t that hard.  I talked to a lady named Jenny.  She is going to be a really awesome investigator.  We are planning to meet her this week and teach the 1st lesson.  I really really hope that it all works out!!

Elder Cueto had to go to Lima for some visa stuff.  He was gone for 4 days this week so I was with E. Enriquez and Chota.
Elders Chota, Enriques, and George

"When you don't have 3 beds you just make due."
Halloween is pretty crazy down here.  Nobody goes to work and so everybody gets drunk.  Bad stuff!  Bad for us too.  When the old guys here get drunk they get a little crazy and really like fighting.  So the 3 of us are walking to teach one of their investigators and we walk around this corner and this guy is standing there with an empty bottle in one hand and walks right up to me and tells me to give him all my money!!  I wasn´t scared though it was really kind of weird.  He then proceeds to smach the bottle over his head and tries to chase us down.  The only problem was he was WAY drunk.  He decided to take a nap in the middle of the street!!  TIMBER!!!  It was like all those Youtube videos in real life!  We were all laughing for a long time!!

The next day we were walking to teach another one of their investigators.  And keep in mind that we are living in the mountains - there is NO oxygen.  I can never breath.  There is a large problem with dogs; all kinds of dogs - big, little, and crack dogs.  The big crackhead dogs (we have no idea what he means) are the real problem.  We walk around this corner and what looked like a Rottweiler was staring us right in the eyes.  I really was not too scared untill it started to growl.  We then proceeded to back up slowly and RRRRUUUUUNNNNNN!!!  I don´t think that I have ever been so terrified in my life we ran and ran and ran!!  When I couldn´t run anymore I thought of my family and friends that I wanted to see after my mission and ran some more.  SOOOOOOO SCARY!!!  The three thing that I fear are God, hights you can fall from and die, and big fast dogs you have to run from when there is no oxygen!!

Teaching is going really well!  We, like I said, don´t really have investigators but are going to try contacting this evening and  find a few more.  The language is starting to come.  I can´t speak it at all but I understand really really well. A few words here and a few words there and I can get what you are trying to say to me!

We had 42 people at sacrament meeting!!!!!!!!

I love this little black name tag it means so much to me.  I don´t know what I would do without it!!

I hope all is well.

Love Elder George