And I'm On the Board!

Oh yes, everyone, that's right, I am now on the board for baptisms! 

This week we had our first baptism, and I baptized my first person! Let me run you through everything. 

First off, sorry I didn't talk about it more before. We have been teaching this girl (18) for casi(almost) the entire time that I have been here. Her name is Jari Cumbia, she lives with her older sister and her nephew, is super shy, and works and goes to college in Chiclayo. She was originally going to be baptized on Sept 11, but it fell through because she said her parents, who live in Haen, didn't want her too. 

After threatening to call her parents and talk to them about it, we figured out that the actual problem was that she was scared that being a member of the Church meant having to keep a ton more rules. We were very relieved to get this out of her, and were able to teach her about the rules that members follow (this was actually while I was in Lima, so I don't know what we taught, but it worked!) 

After this we thought we were in the clear, until she told us that she was going to live with her parents in Jaen until November. She told us this a week in advance, so there wasn't time to get her baptized and confirmed before she left. This was really bumming because if she wasn't coming back tip November, it would be easy to lose her, but Heavenly Father worked another miracle and she ended up not going on the trip. 

So now that there was nothing in the way, we picked a date with her, for last Thursday. Then, between visits almost everyday, a screaming 4 year old who didn't want to be at the interview, and re-teaching some things that she forgot ,we got to the day! 

It was Thursday, September 25, and almost all that morning we worked cleaning and preparing the portable font and chapel. All in all about 3 or 4 hours of sweeping, spraying this plastic swimming pool with a hose, and moving chairs to wherever my companion wanted (he has a very strong ideas of how things should be to be perfect). 

Then came time for the actual service. Unfortunately, this didn't run over perfectly either... 

To start off, when we went to pick her up /walk with her to the chapel, her older sister wasn't home yet and she couldn't leave the house until her sister returned (I didn't actually understand the problem). So after standing around a ton and praying in my head, her sister showed up and was able to go to the service, which was also another miracle. 

Because of this delay we ended up getting to the chapel a few mintues after when the service was supposed to start, but that turned out not to matter because the bishop was much later than us. The bishop ended up not coming until an hour after it was supposed to start. 

So after changing, I ended up pacing back and forth for an hour reciting her names and the prayer to baptize her, so I didn't mess it up when it was actually time! 

Fun side note, when I changed into the all white, I got the biggest, probably dumbest smile that I couldn't get rid of the rest of the day:) 

Finally the bishop showed up, and after a song, prayer, and a few short messages about the gift of the Holy Ghost, the time came. In all white, we climbed into this tiny, portable pool that is the font here. Warm isn't the right word to describe the water like the fonts back home, but either the warmth of the Spirit or me being used to freezing showers made it so the water wasn't too cold. Then (drum roll please) I baptized her and cleanserd her of her sins! 

I will skip the part about how we had to do it twice because she kinda panicked going under the water and part of her head didn't make it and skip to the main point. I got my first baptism this week! Then yesterday we confirmed the Holy Ghost upon her which completed the process. 

I would say I am now addicted to baptized people (I am getting addicted to a lot of things out here) like I am to temple work. It was great to get an investigator to the font and making them a member of the church.  It was a great experience. Also through this I learned a ton and saw the hand of the Lord in almost everything that we did. 

Other than that not much happened this week, or if it did I forgot about it. I hope everyone had a great week and good luck with everything this next week! 

Now if you will excuse me, I have a village that I need to convert!

Love Elder Lewis

There's a lot of Salvation Going On

 This I think is a picture of us playing volleyball with members on our Pdays. Volleyball is huge here and is definitely second to soccer. The people are also very prideful in volleyball because I guess Peru is really good at it, and not at soccer.

 This is us having our dinner at 11:30 after our trip.

 This is the outside of our apartment building, and the stairs.

Here is the link to the talk that Tanner was referring to in his letter:

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/09/the-work-of-salvation-then-and-now?lang=eng


Tanner's letter from September 22, 2014:

This past week was great, and definitely had the theme of salvation. What started this theme off was I got the opportunity, nay, the blessing, to give a talk this past Sunday on the work of salvation. Luckily, there is a talk in a very recent Liahona, (as in this month), that is about this very subject. So I did what any new missionary that has to give a talk in a foreign language would do, and pretty much copied the talk from the apostle which was in Spanish:) 

But don't worry, I still did a fair amount of studying, thinking, and learning on my own from this. I talked about the 5 parts of the work of salvation: missionary work, convert retention, the activation of less actives, temple and family history work, and teaching the good old Evangelio (gospel). I showed how each of these things were done in the Book of Mormon, and how we can do them here and now. The talk went well, I think. 

The entire time I was terrified I was going to subconsciously break into English, so I stuck to just reading my talk word for word, but it still went well! I invite everyone to go and read this talk that I based mine off of in the September Liahona. It is called "The Work of Salvation", before and now (translation) and is by Elder L. Whitney Clayton. Read it, think about it, and then find a way to progress the work of salvation!

This past week I was actually able to do all 5 things, instead of the usual 4, becasue I took a vacation to Lima! 

On Thursday, I took probably my one and only vacation of my mission, to Lima to get my ID card. This vacation had everything one might be looking for in a mid mission retreat: late night traveling, a hotel, hot shower, Pizza Hut for lunch, and to cap it off a trip to the temple! 

On Wednesday night all of the members of my district from the CCM, except the ones who are in the Arequipa mission, and probably 7 other missionaries who have been in the field for longer than us, flew down to Lima. This night was an erie reminder of the first day of traveling because again we were all dead tired, and being driven through Lima late a night not knowing where we were going. But we arrived at our hotel and got to bed at a modest 1:00. 

The room we stayed in was flat out awesome, it fits my family standards perfectly! A little background, almost every trip that my family takes, my dad finds at least one hotel where we all sleep in the same crazy room with 5 or 6 beds. Well dad, I found the hotel room if we go to Lima! This room we stayed in was a massive room (by Peruvian hotel standards) and had 7 beds in it! All 6 of the Elders that made the trip all stayed in that room together, which was really fun. 

Another highlight of the trip was the shower, it actually had pressure and was hot!! I almost died... But anyways, in the morning we all went back to the center of Lima and stood around in what reminded me of a DMV to receive our ID cards. 

Once we got them, we got to eat lunch at a Pizza Hut! This pizza was some of the greatest food I have ever had in my life, probably becasue I have only been having rice and chicken 80% of the time. 

After the lunch of kings, we got to go to the temple. I had a great experience there for a few reasons. One, I could understand almost every word in the session! This was a huge confidence booster in my ability to learn spanish and the fact that I have the gift of tounges because last time I went there in the CCM, I could only pick out words. The other reason was because of the testimony about the work of salvation that goes on in the temple. 

During the session, I tried hard to keep thinking of the person that I was going through for. I was constantly thinking about what I was doing for him and what the significance was. This actually turned out to be one of my greater ideas, which is actually a marvelous idea when you look at the fact that the norm of my ideas are always great! (chiste) 

But anyways, by keeping him in my mind and thinking about what I was doing, I had an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, joy, and happiness from the spirit at the end. I knew that I had just helped this person that I dont know, live in the celestial kingdom with his family, and that he was grateful for me. Its hard to explain but the feeling of knowing that I helped him obtain eternal salvation was amazing, and frankly addicting! 

Unfortuantley I won't be able to go back until who know when, which is why I ask everyone to go to the temple and try hard to keep the person you are going for in your thoughts and see what happens!

That night we flew back to Chiclayo, and didnt get back to our room untill 10:30. We had a companionship with us who also made the trip, and since their area was much farther than ours and they couldn't get out there, we got to have a sleep over! That night we went to one of the only restaurants in Tuman and bought a nice big chicken and a TON of french fries, and took it back to our tiny room, and had a nice take out dinner at 11:30. This was a wonderful make shift dinner and an end to a crazy 24 hours. After that night the other companionship left in the morning for their area.

Some other things this week, my companion got called as out district leader. I have no idea what changes, if anything, but it is exciting and I'm happy for him! I also got to talk a ton with all the members of my old district in Lima, and it was great to catch up and see the different places and experiences everyone was having! 

Also the famliy that I told you about last week still haven't started their papers to be married, so the process is going to take a bit more time than we were hoping. We also might have a baptism this week, but only depending on how much you pray for an 18  year old girl named Jari Cumbia.

Anyways that is my past week! Sorry for the jumbled thoughts, and if things dont make sense. I hope everyone is doing well and will have a great next week! Good luck in school, work, or tennis (mom) and remember to find a way to progress the work of salvation!

Love Elder Lewis

We Are Rebels

My companion showing off our apartment.  This is the best picture that describes how big our room is.  I am taking the picture in the doorway/outside.

Hello everyone! 
I hope you all had a great week and remembered to share some scriptures with some people. This past week was pretty good, we taught a TON of people but unfortunately didn't make a ton of progress on our investigators.

One great thing this week was on Saturday we had a fund raiser for a couple that are investigators, to help them be married. We had an apollata, which is where people pay whomever is running the fundraiser to give them a plate of lunch. I guess it is a fairly common way to raise money, and we had great success with ours this past week! 

Elder Damian and I helped out a few days with this, by helping peel a HUGE bag of potatoes and also being the delivery boys (I guess they didn't trust us cooking the chicken or actually cooking). But from this I did learn how to peel a potato with a knife, and also that the Peruvian ladies can peel a potato about 568 times faster than I can. That is why they only let me do one, and then probably decided that they didn't want to wait all day for me to do a second one.

 
But nevertheless the activity went well and the family got the money they needed! So now they will be married hopefully next week and then we will baptize the parents! (The kids were baptized a few months ago) So I am super excited to bring that entire family into the church.

Also, this past week we have had a ton of success with teaching lessons to investigators with a member. This actually led to us getting into a bit of trouble, but more of that later. We have 4 priests in the ward here, 2 of which have mission calls, who are always willing to go out with us and teach. So much so, that every day except one this past week we had one young man with us all morning and another all afternoon and night!

 
We were also able to go on mini splitz twice this week! Mini splitz are when Elder Damian and I each go out with a priest and visit people. I am not 100% confident that we are allowed to split up and do this but apparently Elder Damian has been doing this his entire mission, and we are able to visit twice as many people so I'm not complaning to the President:) 

I am, however, complaning a bit in my head because of how hard it is. Even though I have gone out with a priest who has a call and who was actually Elder Damian's companion for 3 weeks before me, and who knows a ton, when we go on these splitz it is a ton harder and scary for me. 

Suddenly I have to know where to go and think of people to visit, get in the door and make small talk with them, then lead a lesson and set up a time to come back. This is terrifying because up until now I have only learned how to speak Spanish about the church. But alas, I am still living and it has been great practice!

 
Just in the two days that we have done it, I can tell I have gotten a ton better and more confident in these other parts of missionary work! 

But these mini splitz aren't why we are rebels, we are rebels because of the amount of this we have been doing. This past week we taught 29 lessons with a member present. This is a ridclious number for missionaries I think, because the norm of excellence for our mission is 14 and all the other companionships in the mission average 8 a week...

 
We were super excited about his, but unfortunately our district leader got a little mad, I think, and said we should focus more on less people. All of this was told to me by my companion in angry Spanish, (slightly easier to understand than excited Spanish) so I'm not exactly sure if this is correct. But nevertheless we taught a ton this past week, and I got a ton of practice that helped a TON!

So that is my past week!  Also, one small thing, it has rained the past two nights. This, I am pretty sure is super rare, and has wrecked havoc on the dirt roads here, with is almost all of them... 

But anyways, this past week was really good, I learned a ton, had a lot of fun, and progressed this unstoppable work! Good luck to everyone this week, and keep sharing those verses!Love Elder Lewis

This is what the area north of the main road that runs east and west looks like. South of the main road that goes to Pomalca, the houses are much closer together with smaller streets.

Ya Never Know, When It's Gonnaa Get Ya!

Tanner with the the Mission President and his wife.  His companion's name is Elder Damian and is from Ecuador.

Aloha my dear friends and family! 

This past week was good, and two things, amongst others, became apparent to me:

Thing #1. I am only able to speak when the spirit says so. But Tanner, what do you mean by this, you can speak whenever you want? Ha, false, This week I saw that my Spanish goes in and out, and that I can speak when I have to. 

For example, some lessons I literally don't understand, or even able to distinguish words at all, and can't speak a lick or have any idea of what to say. On the other hand, there will be times when I understand everything, and am leading the lesson, asking questions, and sharing scriptures off the top of my head. I have determined that these differences are when the people need to hear something from me, so the spirit starts talking. The difference is amazing, and when I can actually talk teaching is a ton of fun and I actually enjoy it!

I also realized this week that when you prepare for the day, you can use the things you learn a ton if you try! Every morning we have personal study for an hour, so I study the scriptures. I have found that when I mark scriptures and write them down, that I use them a ton during the next few days in lessons, or as commitments. 

Before I never thought that I would or could use the scriptures that I read so much! This is why I invite everyone to read the Book of Mormon for 5 or 10 minutes, depending on how ambitious you are, and mark a verse or two. Keep this verse in your head during the day, and see how many times you can share it with people that you encounter! I have a feeling that you will surprise your self with how much you can use it.

Some other notable things, I learned the difference between vino and vaso. During lunch one day I asked our pensionista for a vino. She didn't understand and after a few minutes of charades she realized I meant vaso. Vino, ladies and gentleman, is wine in Spanish. So apparently I was asking for wine instead of a cup... who knew?! So next time you are in a restaurant remember, vino is wine, and vaso is cup! 

I also learned that wall sits are terrible for missionaries and really catch up with you around 4 o'clock, and that sometimes you just gotta laugh. 

I also found a few things:  another white person (total albino), the bull fighting arena in Tuman (but not the ticket stand), and that people like to train their chickens for cock fights in the streets, because apparently that's legal here! 

Well that my week in a nut shell. Things are going well here, we have about 3 or 4 investigators who are progressing, and we'll hopefully be able to baptize a family this month! This week I have started speaking a ton more Spanish and have had a break through, at times. 

Good luck this week and remember to prepare for the day!

Love Elder Lewis

3 Nephi 18:18-21

And let me know if you want me to talk about anything different, These are just my jumbled thoughts that probably don't make a ton of sense!