First Week in Cusco!!!

May 25, 2015

Family and Friends!!!!

A few final pictures of my good friend Elder Garcia and
myself.  I will miss this companion of mine.
He may be short but you know the saying, "Big things come
in small packages!"  That is oh so true of him!

 

What a week I have had here in Picchu.   I am really happy to be able to serve here in Cusco.  It truly is a blessing.  Things are a little different here.  Everything is a little more organized.  I am having a few difficulties with the Area Book.  It is a complete disaster.  I have had a hard time adjusting to that.  We worked hard in Puno to get our area book up to date and almost perfect and then you get a transfer and the area book is a mess it is a little frustrating. My sister mentioned this frequently about her mission.  She told me numerous times that was the best think I could do for missionaries that followed me into an area.

Elder Alen is a good elder.  We have lots to learn together and we will grow together here in Picchu!!  He is from Lima and he is probably one of the most humble Latinos I have met.  We will get along good but there are always things that you can improve to have a better relationship.  This week I learned that I need to learn more about paciencia (I believe that is patience?!?) - - with everybody.  We had a "lesson" with some seriously less active people this week.  And actually they were basically anti-Mormon.  They had, before the lesson, looked up on the internet things that they could use to try to prove that the Book of Mormon is not true.

They had a lot of things.  I was blessed to have an answer to every single one of their questions and doubts.  The problem is, if someone is looking for the bad in something that is exactly what they will find.  If someone is truly looking for the true church, the somehow they will meet us.  But if someone is looking for the bad in a situation that is what they will find!!  We have to look for the good in everyone.  That is how we can become better people and improve ourselves.

Love Elder George

The First and Last Paragraphs - - REALLY Elder George?!?!?

May 18, 2015

Okay, my family and friends, I have so much to tell you all.  It has been a WEEK!!!  We are working so hard here.  It is weird to think that it has been a whole week since I deleted an entire email.  I really am a goof ball.

This week I have really felt the hand of the Lord is in my life.  As you come to understand the atonement of Jesus Christ (or at least as much as we can) it is lots easier to see His hand in your life.  I can feel the love that my Savior has for me and everyone else in the world.  This week I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time and have been thinking lot about Moroni´s promise.  I have been thinking about how important it is that we apply that promise to our lives every day!! I finished the Book of Mormon this Friday and that night I just knelt down and said my prayers - -pretty normal.  Just about half way through my prayer I thought about this promise that we have.  I prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for all my friends and people that I love and then I thanked him for the Book of Mormon.  I know that book is true!  I love that book with all of my heart!!

Anyways, I have my first transfer.  I am going to CUZCO!!  I am soooo happy I don´t even know how to describe what I am feeling.  After you are with people for a little bit of time you become attached to them.  I am leaving some people that I pretty much consider to be my family.  But I am so grateful that I have the chance to build new friendships and meet new people.  My next companion just finished his training and so I thimk that we will work hard and he will help me get back a little of that spark!!

Not much to say this week!!

Love Elder George

Computer Skills - - NOT

May 11, 2015

Well I just erased all that I had to send to all of you, so just know that I am an idiot and also I am doing really well.  I love you all and hope that you are all doing well also.  We had a really, really, good and successful week!!

I am so sorry.  Just know that I am alive and healthy!!

I Will Never Be Able to Repay My Savior For the Blessing of Peru!

May 4, 2015

Well here I am in this little internet cafe and I am panicking because I kind of forgot that I get to call my family on Sunday and I don't know what time I will be calling them.  So I am like freaking out and a little disappointed in myself.  Like, how could I possibly forget that I get to call my family?!?!  LIKE REALLY, IT IS MY FAMILY!!!!  Haha!  Anyway, I will have to figure something out real quick!!

Sometimes when I really, really miss my mommy I just buy a 4
sole candy bar and split it with my comp just like she always
did with me !!!!!!!! :)

This week was......good.  Every week is good but some are a little better - but every week is good!!  This week for 4 days straight we didn´t teach one lesson.  It was a lot of walking and I had a lot of time to just think and talk to my companion.  I really am going to miss this little guy when I have a change.  I will have a transfer in 2 weeks.  So this week I am going to tell you guys all about my companion!!!  And a little about me.

ELDER GARCIA!!

Elders George and Garcia

He is from Colombia.  One of his favorite sayings, that he writes all over my papers and his papers, is "Colombia the other planet."  He really is in love with Colombia.  He is shorter that just about everybody I know in the United States.  He has 3 siblings that he knows of, but he says that his dad is a little crazy(drunk) and he probably has more, he just doesn't know them.  He loves soccer. .  . . LOTS!!  He has been a member for 5 years and 22 days.  He loves the Book of Mormon.  He doesn't love the Bible as much as he loves the Book of Mormon.  Sometimes, he blames me when his Spanish is not perfect (I just tell him that he just doesn't know Spanish).  He wants to learn English really badly so he can come go to BYU and marry a North American girl.  He like white chicks.  He HATES eating bread in the mornings.

This is my companion.  Now you know a little more about who I am with 24/7!!

We have no idea what's on his mouth!!  It is a little disturbing!

This week we walked a lot and I thought  a lot about.....well, I thought about a lot of things.  Sometimes when you are a missionary thinking about a lot of things isn't so good.  So yes, I was a little trunky this week, haha.  But really I don´t want to come home for a long, long, time.  Actually, it was really weird; we were studying (we will both go home at the same time) and my companion said, "You know that we go home in 15-16 months."  I literally started crying.  Time flies by here.  I never thought that I would love this place so much but I really, really, LOVE it here. I will never be able to pay my Savior back for this time.  I thought at the beginning of the mission,that this is how I was paying him back for the life he has given me.  However, I have found that I just owe Him more, thanks to the mission.

Well it is hard to have fun stories to send home when all you did was walk and walk and walk a little more.  I am sure something crazy will happen this week!!

Love Elder George

♥♥Claudio!♥♥ and LOVE - It's All Just About LOVE

April 27, 2015

Okay, okay, okay!!  This week was a good one!
Zone Conference
Claudio
And lots of walking.

So first off we had our multi-zone conference.  It is always good when we get to have one of those.

Elder Balliston from his CCM group!  He loves his Brothers!

 We get to spend a whole afternoon listening to President and Sister Harbertson.  I really do love those guys!!   Sister Harbertson talked a lot about the first two commandments.  Love the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor like unto yourself.  I have been thinking a lot about before the mission, and how, when I asked Dad about what was the most important he said, "What it all really boils down to is LOVE."  That is the purpose of our life.  To learn to love.  Love unconditionally.  If I can learn that here in Peru I will be a successful missionary.  If I can truly love the drunk guy who gets drunk after he has told us that he won't drink, or if I can love the person that says that they will read the Book of Mormon and doesn't, then I will truly be successful.  We were given time to share our testimonies.  Lots of missionaries talked about repentance because we also talked about that lots.  A few were sharing how hard it is to love people.  Then I got up there to share what I had learned and what I liked.  In my mind I had planned on talking about repentance.  But when I was up there I started talking about love, and how, if we can see the people the way our Father in Heaven sees them, it really isn't that hard to love everybody!!

Anywasy, (See, "anywasy" - - he almost always types "anywasy" - - along with lots of other misspelled words (see previous post).  One of the many reasons why he makes us smile.) yeah, we need to love everybody!!!!!

Our little man Claudio!

Yeah we got Claudio Baptized!!  It was a good day.  We spent lots of time in the church trying to get the water heated up but finally gave up and just thought that he and the ward baptism would just have to be in cold water.  Then we went into another room to watch some Mormon messages. (we left the broken water heater on for 4 hours).  Anyway, everybody was there and we opened up the door, and it was like a hot tub.  We had to drain hot water and put some cold water in there for the baptism.  The little guys couldn't handle how hot the water was.  "Anywasy," the moral of the story is, when you are obedient and in the Lord's service he works miracles and sends tender mercies.

This week we walked a lot trying to find new people.  We are having a hard time filling up our schedule.  It is sad that we are in a ward and don´t have a FULL planner.  We will keep working.

Elder Goerge (Yup, he even sometimes messes up his name - just a little.)

"Anywasy"; Little Claudio; Favorite Food; Woman

April 20, 2014

So I figures that I will start calling my emails The Weekly's!!  Weird yes I know but think about it, it is like a weekly newspaper of my life.  A news paper that people actually like to read hahaha!!

Anywasy (I always fix this when I am editing his blog but he always writes "anywasy" for anyways.  Lacey and I have just started saying "anywasy" cuz it makes us laugh.  It is kind of like when you have a little 2 year old that calls a pacifier a "gaga" or reeces peanut butter cups "sayers" and the whole family just goes with it.  Anywasy, that has nothing to do with anything except it makes us laught!) this week was as good as a week can get.  I finally figured out that everything has to do with your attitude. Really though.  EVERYTHING.  If you have a good attitude about things people will be more attracted to you and you will have more success.  This week I had a goal to always have a smile on my face.  It works people.  We were in the street and someone asked me if I was OK?  We had walked by this park like 4 times in 30 minutes because we didn't really have anything to do.  We were just walking around and she had seen us a few times.  I just told her that I was happy and she asked me why, if I was just walking around with nothing to do!!  Haha little did she know that we had a message that could literally save her.  She was really polite, and we got her number and address, and have an appointment in a few days.  She told me that it was nice to just see someone smiling and being happy.  I have a goal to always have a smile!!

This week we also taught a little guy named Claudio.  He is 9 years old and his sister just got home for her mission 2 and a half months ago.  I had thought that he was baptized; that he was a member.  He has always come to church with his sister, so you can´t really blame me for that.  He really is at every church activity and is working on his family history with us.  So I rightfully thought that he was baptized.  We went to go visit him and his first question was "Why am I not baptized?"  We just said, "Well, I don't know."  His sister proceeded to explain that it was a problem with his parents.  They were really anti until about 6 months ago.  His dad then walked into the room and said that if he would be responsible he could be baptized.  I didn't want the opportunity to go buckets, so I pulled out a sheet for him to sign, and so now we have the signature and he is going to be baptized this Saturday!  I have seen so many miracles in the mission but this is one of those that I will never forget.  It was one of the first times we were let into their house, and I know it was because his dad was ready.

So you want to know what food I really like here.  When you guys hear what it is you are going to just shake your head.  I don't know if it will be out of shame that you never thought of this, or out of shame that you know me.  It is called Salchi Papa.  Translated that is Hot-dog Potato.  It is french fries and fried hot-dogs.  Man it is good!  With some ketchup and mustard.  Believe it or not it is pretty dang good.  Try it sometime!!  Not too bad really.  Another thing that I like is called Salchipollo.  Just replace the hot dog with a piece of fried chichen!!  GOOD STUFF!!

So this week I read in Jesus the Christ about the term Woman.  It really should not be offensive.  It is a name that is used with a Woman in your life who you have the highest respect for.  So just to let you all know when somebody calls you "Woman" the really just respect you lots.  They really are not trying to offend you.  Just if you do get offended, you should just sucker punch them right in the mouth.

I hope and with that everyone is doing well and having a great time without me!!! ;)  Stay strong read your scriptures and keep on keeping on!!

Love Elder George

The Start of Winter and It's COLD! But That is Better Than Investigators Dropping You! : (

April 13, 2015

It really is crazy one more week!!  The week go by so fast that I don´t know what to do.  I really do love the mission.  It is crazy!  Elder Garcia HATES Puno because it is so dang cold and his head is always hurting because of the cold.  He really wants a transfer and thinks that I will be here one more change.  That would make for a lot of time here in Puno. :)  I will be really sad when I leave and don't  really know how I will react to a new ward and a new place.  I can only be thankful for the time that I was given here in my first sector.

This week was kind of a hard week here.  It is the beginning of winter and it is really cold.  I rains pretty much every night here and that makes for a colder afternoon and night.  We would have an appointment and then, of course, they wouldn't be there.  Or it would be, "It's really cold and we just don´t have time."  Or some other lame excuse.  Sometimes this week I was tempted to get frustrated and even be mad, but then I remembered how important it is to have a smile.  We have a message that can literally change lives, and if we don´t have a smile and are not happy how can we expect others to accept our message.

We had 5 investigators drop us this week and that really was the worst part.  The weather and all of that is not too bad.  I can deal with that,  But when you see somebody so close to getting an answer to their questions, and then just say that they don´t want anything to do with what you have, it is a little sad.  You grow to love everybody that you teach and it is really hard when you get that news.

That really is about all that happened this week.  It was a really plain week. Nothing really crazy happened, you know, just the normal.  Talked with a lot of drunk people and had them tell me that they want to change and be a better person.

Love Elder George