Hermana Parks in Peru: September 14, 2015 from Ignacio Merino

Here is the message from Hna Parks today...

Buenas tardes familia y amigos!

Here´s the play by play of this week! (Although it won´t be nearly as exciting as that BYU Nebraska game last week! THAT was legit. Man I love BYU football -- keep the updates coming!)

Monday: We taught Ximena (we realized her name is spelled with an X) the Book of Mormon with a member, Sharitty (16)! Sharitty is a convert as of a year and a half and has such a strong testimony, so it was a fantastic lesson! During the closing prayer, Ximena asked that she would be able to know the truth of the BoM ¨for herself and not just because we invited her to!¨ SO GOLDEN. Afterwards she invited us to have Colombian empanadas, which were super good! I love that girl. Can a 12 year old be my best friend?? (But seriously, she could be 18 in personality and intellect!)

Tuesday: We had 4 solid lessons with German (recent convert), Avanell, Lucia Escudero, and Diego (investigators). During tocando puertas it was one of those days when we would start introducing ourselves and they would cut us off and say ¨Soy Catolico, Apostolico, y Romano¨and tell us to have a nice day. One dude said we were a diabolical cult. It´s honestly pretty entertaining and we just keep smiling and invite them to church, haha! It´s also awkward here because a lot of other religiosn proselyte too so people confuse us for jehovah´s witnesses or evangelists. Nonetheless, tocando puertas has been so awesome these past weeks! This week we found 7 new investigators just from tocando puertas.

Wednesday: We decided it was Natioal Don´t Be in Your House day! Nonetheless we were able to visit 2 member families to teach a lesson and ask for references! And this cutest lady in our ward with Parkinson´s asked us to come over to today to make Alfajores!

Thursday: we had interviews with the President! They went super well. He shared DyC 33: 8-10 and talked about our new mission focus to aggressively find new investigators prepared to receive the gospel. We are promised in that scripture that if we open our mouths, sheaves will be laid on our backs, or in other words, those prepared to hear the gospel will be put on our shoulders and we will carry them to the garner, which is the temple! Such a cool promise. I left with a renewed energy for this work!

That day we visited Ximena and her sister Evelin and taught the BoM for Evelin. Evelin expressed to us that she´s going through a bit of depression right now. I wasn´t sure in the moment how best to help her, but then Hna Orellana said she wanted to share a scripture in 1 Nephi 21. When I turned to it I realized it was one of the Isaiah chapters so I was thinking ¨where in the world is she going with this..¨ but then she shared verses 15 and 16 and talked about how OUR walls are always in front of the Savior as well and He knows exactly how to succor us during trials. This is something I had shared with her personal study like 2 months ago but I had completely forgotten and I thanked her afterwards for following the Spirit to know how to help Evelin! That´s the power of companions :)

Friday: intercambios again! This time I left with Hna Bazan. I honestly didn´t want to leave, haha! I feel like intercambios is like leaving your kids with a babysitter for the first time, haha! I was super excited to hear how things went with our investigators for Hna O and Hna Richan afterwards! Nonetheless, I learned so much from Hna Bazan. She´s a rockstar. Hermana leader and training at the same time! She´s from Lima but lived in Virginia for 7 years. It was so fun to speak english for the day! Her area totally reminds me of Xela! It´s called Miguel Grau. City, colorful houses, cobblestone streets, raised, narrow sidewalks, etc! Totally took me back to Guatemala.

Saturday: the students have literally started having classes on Saturdays in preparation for El Nino! Apparently we are also having a missionwide conference within the next couple months to help us prepare. I honestly thought it was all superstition or people exaggerating, but it´s for reals!

Sunday: We had stake conference and THREE investigators came! We were so stoked. (Avanell who has a baptismal date for the 27th, Ximena, and Ana Troncos). Prez Rasmussen spoke about his experience being literally the FIRST missioanry in the DR and it took me back to last summer! Hermana Rasmussen also gave a talk, in Spanish!! We were so impressed, because she knew nothing when she came! :) Love my mission mom! :)

Overall, it was a super busy and super fulfilling week! We are thrilled to see our area progressing as The Lord is guiding us through this work. I cannot even begin to believe that this is my last week of training! I hope to make it the best and we´ll see who my new companion is next week! :) wish me luck!

Love you all!

Hermana Parks