Hard Week - Passed Out and Conked My Head

March 9, 2014

In all reality this was one of the hardest weeks of my mission.  These are the kinds of weeks that you have to work harder than you have ever worked in your life.  Give the Lord EVERYTHING that you can possibly give.  Work so hard that you just lay down at 10:30 and think that you are going to die.  The days where you just have to think, while standing in the street, "All I have to do is put one foot in font of the other so that I don´t just sit on this curb and cry."

Anyway, in Puno, everything is calm.....  Calm, in the sense of, I am in Peru and everything is a little more crazy than America. We are always talking to dunks and that is a new thing for me.  Well, it isn't that new, I have been here for 5 months, but it is still a little weird.  Their Spanish is just different that "normal" Spanish.

So I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and I got to a part that I love more than any other part of the Book of Mormon.  It is Alma 26.  Go read it.  The whole chapter!!

This week, the 3 district leaders in our zone, had a meeting with the Zone Leaders, and we just talked.  I have been having a really hard time with 2 elders in my district.  They are not super obedient.  I have been praying to know what to do.  The zone leaders explained that we are responsible for our districts and the elders and sisters in them.  It is weird how inspiration and revelation work.  It just comes.  I have also been thinking really hard about what I can do to help the district be more excited about the work.  Our number have been really low the past 2 weeks and tonight in district meeting I just don´t know what to talk about.  If you have any suggestions hit me with them.

This week, something kind of funny/kind of bad happened.  A lady in our branch needed a blessing and she called us so we zipped on over there to give her the blessing.  She doesn't have anything too bad, just wanted a blessing so that she could feel well enough to go to work today.  She asked me to give her the blessing.  It would be my first blessing in Spanish.  A little  scary for me at the time.  Everything was going good when I passed out.  I am 99.9999999999999% sure that I just had my knees locked.  She was just laughing when I woke up.  My companion was right there with her.  The first question they asked my was, "Are you ok?"  Really a dumb question.  "No, my head hurts really bad."  Haha, I just fell flat on my back.  I am all good now.  Looking back now it was something to lighten up my week.

Well that is just about it!!  LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder George

Elders Garcia and George - He didn't tell me who this family is but I love them because they are taking care of my boy.
The picture makes me happy because he looks happy!

Training and THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

March 2, 2015

HELLO!!

Well what a week it has been here in Puno!  I sure do love Puno!  I will be really, really, sad when I get a change!  It has kind of become my home here in Peru.  It is weird how your body changes and you just start to think of this place as home.  I mean it will never be HOME home, but it is home.

So this week I went to Cuzco on Tuesday morning.  So there is my Tuesday in a nutshell - BUS!!  Haha, so ya, Tranzela is the bus agency that we use and I am starting to get to know the attendants and everything.  They are really nice people actually.  They get lots of business from the missionaries.  Every 6 week (transfers) it is a hay day for Tranzela!!

Anyway, on Wednesday, we had our training.  So at 3 in the afternoon we headed over to the office and were expecting a huge training from President.  President came and he was sick as a dog.  He looked about as bad as he felt I think, poor guy.  He had been in the hospital and the doctor told him that he couldn´t do anything.  He told us that his "children" are so important to him and that he had to at least come and shake our hands.  He is a really good man!  SO, we got our training from the assistants, and they did a really, really, good job.  It wasn´t anything like I was expecting.  They just talked about leadership.  There was really no "training".  They just explained that leadership in the church is not really leadership.  It is just being a really good example and that is how you lead. Being a leader really is just being an example.  That means that I need to be more obedient.  A more consecrated missionary.  The most important thing is I need to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

So I had to get back to Puno somehow.  Thursday was travel!!  How fun, right?  Another 8 hours on the bus.

Friday was a good day.  It was a day filled with visits to leaders and people from the ward so that Elder Garcia could get to know them.  Not very eventful really, and so I will tell you about Elder Garcia.  He is a short little guy from Columbia.  He is 21 years old and has just one change more than me in the mission.  We will finish the same change.  He is a really hard worker which I am really happy about because that is when the work goes the best.  We will try to help our two little sectors.  Haujasapata is the ward, and they are struggling a lot.  The have about 30 people come and it is just 2 big families really.  It should probably be called a family group.

Saturday we had our baptism and everything was ready to go.  We had talked to President Asqui and he said that he would get the font started in the morning and that it would be ready by 5.  We headed over to the church at about 2:30 - 3:00 to start getting the water heated up.  The heater was not working so we went to go check on the water because we figured that Franky could just be baptised in cold water.  That was not the case.  The church just didn't have water hot or cold.  There was like 5 inches of water and ya, that was the problem!

A good friend of ours who has served in Puno told me once that Peruvians
do not smile in pictures.  But I believe that both of these fine young men were very happy!

Elder Garcia is from Columbia and he has a great smile!
Elder Garcia, Franky, and Elder George - HANDSOME, HANDSOME, HANDSOME!

We ended up just having our baptism on Sunday and everything worked out.  While we were changing Franky just kept saying how happy he was and that he always wanted to feel like this.  I explained to him that he wasn't my first baptism, he was my first convert.  It is more important to have converts than baptisms.  If a person is converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ they will stay active.  That is my week in a nutshell.

Love you!!

Elder George

Carnival vs The Celestial Kingdom

February 23, 2015

AHHHHHHH we have changes today!!  Is that what they are called in the US of A??   I actually really don't know what they are called because sometimes when I translate something directly it is really off.  But changes just mean changes.  New compies, new leaders, and lots of stress.  Well, we got a call this morning that the changes would not be in our emails but, that we would have to wait until 10ish and call the Zone Leaders, and they would have the changes.  It was a really, really, long morning!!  We waited, and waited, and waited!!  I found out that I need to work more on my patience!!  But anywho, 10 rolls around and we called, and of course, there were 10 other sets of missionaries calling, and so, we waited a little more!!  We finally got the message.  Elder Enriquez is going to Juliaca and I am staying here but I have to go to Cuzco tomorrow for training.  I am the new District Leader.  Talk about STRESS!!

Anyway this was a really wild week in our sectors.  This month there are carnivals, just not the carnivals that you are thinking of with all the cute little rides for the kids.  Nope!  Just wild parades and what not.  Kids running around with "spray"

This is the spray.  Kinda like silly string but. . . 

not really!

and water balloons.  Carnival was in our sector this week and that made it kind of hard for us to work.  We had to be really careful in the streets because there are always kids who are up on their roofs with water balloons and they think it is real funny to hit the missionaries.  But we still worked hard.

Carnival mask on Elder George

We have our investigator Franky.  He is 16 years old and really excited to be baptized.  He will be baptized this Saturday.  We've had a lesson with him just about everyday for the past 2 weeks.  He is reading the Book of Mormon and is following through with all of his commitments. He is a really awesome young man and is just the little bit of spirit that I've needed.  We have a lesson with his mom this week and we are PUMPED about that.  We always like teaching families whole, and not just one person!!  It is much better when you can teach a whole family because, when you baptize a whole family, they have the opportunity to go to the temple and be sealed FOREVER!!!

When we were in district meeting, one of the elders said, "Ya, I like to imagine my investigators in the baptismal font."  I decided that I was going to be a little sassy and said, "Ya, well, I like to imagine them in the Temple."  And then, of course, Elder Enriquez says, "Ya, in my mind, I think of them in white in the celestial kingdom!"  At first I was laughing, just thinking of it as a joke.  But in my personal study I was thinking about that.  If all missionaries had that mind set, that we are literally offering these people eternal life, not just baptism, we would really have more success.  So I have started doing that more and thinking of these people not only in the baptismal font, but in the celestial kingdom.

I have been reading Jesus the Christ and have learned so much.  It is hard to understand sometimes but the doctrine is so cool!!  My testimony of the Savior has been strengthened so much and I can see myself growing as a person.  I have a greater appreciation for Jesus and his atoning sacrifice and love for us!!

This is my week in a nutshell and I don't really have anything more.  Love you all and hope that you all have as good of a week as me!!

Love Elder George!!

♥Franky♥ Contacting Families - It's the Best!

February 16, 2015

HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!

Well this week was really good!  There is so much work for the 2 of us.  You all know that we are working in 2 sectors and that means lots of lessons, and teaching, which is really, really, good.  We are working really hard and seeing little improvements here and there in out ward and branch.

This week the work is going to be really awesome!  We are working with Franky almost everyday and he is learning a lot.  The other day in one of our lessons he told us how supportive his mom is of what he is doing and his decision to get baptized.  I asked him why we were not teaching her too, if she is so supportive, and he told me that he had asked the same question the other day.  We have an appointment with both of them this week.  He has his interview this week and he is really nervous.  We have to explain to everyone that it really isn't an interview, but more just a gospel discussion.  We had a lesson this morning with him where we talked about Thomas S. Monson.  It really blows my mind that people have a problem with living day (His words not mine.  Does he mean latter day or living - - you choose!  Or just smile and go with it.) prophets.  They have a problem that there is a man, called of God, on the earth, who also talks with God and receives revelation for us?  Blows my mind!   I think that a prophet makes sense really.

This week we had a goal to contact 15 families in the street.  THAT IS A TON!!!  The week before we contacted 2, yeah....  For it to be a family, it has to be a mom, dad, and at least one of the kids.  It is a lot harder than it sounds.  And I actually am a little scared to just walk up to someone who doesn't speak English and just have a conversation believe to or not.  Ha ha.  But we did it!  We contacted 15 families in the street.  It is a cool thing; contacting families.  You can share your testimony of the family and how you know that they can be together forever if they apply the teachings of Jesus Christ in their lives.  You have two minutes to bear testimony and (more or less) convince them that this is the truth!  I love contacting families now.

On Wednesday I went on divisions (exchanges) with our District Leader.  I was in his sector and he was in mine.  We had a lesson with a guy they call Señor Thomas and Elder Chota says, "He speaks really good English." I started to laugh a little because the people here who speak "English," usually only know 10 or 15 words.  I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the lesson and he spoke PERFECT English.  PERFECT!!!!!!!!!  It was really cool because he asked me to teach the parts that I was going to teach in English.  It is weird to teach in English, but it was a good break too!!  When we were in the lesson I forgot how to say "Persevere hasta al fin," (we believe he means "Endure to the end), holy cow, how embarrassing Hahaha!!!

I am just about half way through the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I started at about the middle of January!  I feel like my Spanish has improved so much in such little time.  I still have a long way to go but it is coming.

It is a weird thing on  mission.  I don't know how to describe it.  I see all these pictures of everybody and I feel like everybody should just wait 2 years for me.  But at the same time, I want everybody to grow and learn with me.  It is a weird feeling, a little distanced, but I know that this is the work of the Lord, and that this is where I need to be.

Much love and take care,
Elder George

How Do You Get a Missionary to Answer Questions?

February 16, 2015

So getting Gabriel/Elder George to answer ANY of my questions - EVER - is kinda like a miracle.  I have used the following tactic before and have gotten "nada," zero, zip, nothing.  But miracles do happen and I sent an email with only questions.  Not very many but some.  I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got responses.

Hey Bud,

You never answer questions so I am doing it this way

1. Are you taking your vitamins?

2. Did you get to stay with the pensionista whose food you like?

3. Your Journal?  Are you writing in your Journal?

     IF you are not please do so immediately.  You will want to relive every moment even the boring ones - I promise - Write it all down!!!

4. We recorded Molly's homecoming talk.  What is the best way for me to get it to you or do you even want it?  I can put it in your dropbox.

5.  Do you need or want anything for your birthday?  Package or money in the bank?

Love you!

Mom

Reply, Reply All or Forward | More

Gabriel George

To me Feb 16

1Yes

2yea

3could improve

4jumpdrive or dropbox both work

5whatever, really dont need anything

I didn't even care that I would never submit his answers to any of his English teachers.  Mrs. Otto would be appalled -  I was relieved and grateful!  ;)

The Golden Investigator and Run Away Run Away

February 9, 2015

Wow another week we almost have another change.  Only 2 more weeks and I will probably have another companion.  This week has been really, really, good.  But it is weird when you have a really good week in the mission, that is when Satan is going to work his hardest on you.  Sometimes you feel doubt and maybe sadness for no reason at all.  I was filled with all these negative emotions this week.  You can feel unworthy and like you are not good enough.  You have to remember that you are a representative of the Lord and you are right where he wants you to be.  Puno in February is really crazy, but yeah, that is beside the point.

Like I said in a previous post - random picture!

This week we found a teenager who really is so ready for the gospel.  We found him through his friends, references are really the BEST.  One of his friends asked him if he wanted to come to church and he came last week.  We got to know him a little bit and he told us that he really wanted to listen to the lessons.  We told him that we could teach him on Tuesday.  He said perfect and that he would be at his friends house at 11 for the appointment.  He was there for the appointment and the lesson want just perfect.  At the end of each lesson you always ask when you can teach them again.  We asked.  He said "Yeah tomorrow, I don´t have anything at 11 again if you guys can."  Yeah sure.  It was awesome!!!  So we taught him again on Wednesday.  Thursday we had our multi-zone conference and told him that we were busy all afternoon.  We thought that it was going to be impossible to teach him.  He insisted that we teach him in the morning.  We had appointments at 11 and 12 so it was really impossible.  Anyway, the time that he was free was at 7:30 in the morning.  And he really wanted a lesson and so we taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ at 7:30 in the morning.  He is going to be such a faithful member of the ward.  We are excited for his progression.

This week in Puno there is just one really, really, big party.  It is called Calendaría.  Everybody wears really crazy outfits and dances in the street.  We try to avoid wherever there is a party or dance.  Elder Enriquez hate the drunks just about as much as I do.  Whenever they start yelling at us because they want us to teach them he just says that we are busy and to have a nice day.  They don't like that very much but we don't like them very much either.  HAHA!!!

Elders Enriquez and George in the Tienda

So this week we were in a Tienda for a member it is like a little store on the road and I just in front of the counter.  A guy came in and asked if they had any beer.  I very politely told him that we don't sell beer.  He got kinda aggressive and asked me if I was in charge of the store.  Elder Enriquez ran to get the member who was in the other room.  I very politely, again, just told him that there was no beer.  He was walking toward me when I decided that I was just going to run away.  I ran into the back room and he left.  I know this story is really anti–climatic but yeah it was the most exciting story of this week HAHA!!

We taught a ton of less actives this week and a lot of them seem pretty excited to come back to the church.

I am doing well and will try to have a better story for next week!!

Elder George

A Trip to Cuzco, A New Companion, A Few/Lot of Drunks, and Water Balloons!

February 2, 2015

(We sometimes change his wording to help you understand better what he may be saying.  Of course we may be getting it wrong too.  Some of the things we just leaves as it is written because it makes us smile.  I think some of it is direct translation from Spanish.  I like it and it makes me smile.  )

Big changes and news in the little life of your Elder George!!!  So this week after reunion of the district (district meeting) we got the news that we would be going to Cuzco AGAIN!!!  We left at 8 in the morning on Tuesday.  The bus ride is kind of growing on me.  NOT!!!!!!  Eight-ish hours on the bus really sucks.  I do get a lot of reading in my Libro de Mormon done but yeah that is beside the subject!  We went to Cuzco so we could go to the doctor on Wednesday in the morning.  It was really painful for Elder Osinaga.  I could hear him in the other room (I wasn´t allowed in the room with him).  It was weird being alone, I don´t really like it actually.  Anyway, they needed to test whatever they took out of his leg and we wouldn´t get the results until the morning!!  So we hung out with the office elders for the day and went out working in Cuzco (I love Cuzco).  We taught a few lessons.  The people are so different there.  So much more loving and inviting.  Anyway, we slept in the apartment of the office elders.  We got up to the news that Elder Osinaga would need 30 days of treatment in Cuzco.  Wow, what a shock that was for us.  We didn´t really know what was going to happen because I needed to get back to Puno to start working again.  President was in Cuzco and he told me that I would go back to Puno in one of the next few days.  He would take care of everything.  So I spent one more day in Cuzco and the got on a bus early in the morning, and started my little 8 hour bus ride back to Puno.

I had no idea what was going to happen really.  I was traveling back to Puno without a Comp and was a little scared really.  I got back to Puno and up walked our district leader Elder Thompson with Elder Chota and Elder Enriquez.  I was really confused because Elder Thompson's companion was not there.  I was them informed that Elder Thacker (Elder Thompsons old companion) was in Cuzco on his way to his new sector.  My new companion in Elder Enriquez.  He is from Lima and is a really awesome elder.  We have been pensioning together for the past few months and are really good friends.  We have 2 sectors that we are in charge of.  It is a lot of work.  Where there are usually 4 elders there is just the two of us.  But that keeps us really, really, busy.  We have fun together and it is good to just have fun sometimes.  We work really, really, hard and have a LOT of fun.

Fun!

Lots of FUN!!

The work here in Puno during this month is really hard and slow.  It is a party here for the next 4 weeks.  Everybody drinks and is always drunk.  It is really hard to teach when literally everybody here is drunk.  We are still working with Hermana Virginia.  She is progressing, just really really slowly.  Bryan, well I will be honest, we haven´t visited him in a little while mostly because I have been in Cuzco.  But yeah, a better update on him next week for sure.  We were sitting in my branch and one of the teenagers that we live with brought his friend to church.  When we got home Enrique told us that his friend wants to be baptized as soon as he can.  We have our first lesson with him tonight.  I am pretty dang excited.  He told us that he doesn't care if his parents kick him out.  Whatever happens it is okay because he knows that this is what he wants.  I am thankful for such courage and faith.

So yeah, all of this month Elder Enriquez told me that we need to be careful in the streets and really watch our backs.  It really isn´t as bad as it sound.  Yesterday we were walking to our pensionistas house, it is about a 10 minute walk.  We were walking, and then all the sudden, in the street, a water balloon exploded.  It really isn't anything unusual.  But it was kind of close to us so that worried me a little.  All of the sudden I look up and there is a fleet, flock, yeah, I don't know what to call it, but a ton of water balloons were coming right for us.  Ahhhhhh!!  Now thinking about it it was kind of funny.  We didn't really get too wet, just a little.  So I am going to be careful this month.  The crazy drunks are not that cool either.  But you guys don´t want to hear about them.

Considering that I was in Cuzco for more than half of my week, there was a lot of stuff that happened.

I love you all I can feel your support and prayers!!

Love Elder George