Im not TRUNKY I promise ( trunky is a
missionary word meaning whenever
you start talking about the states or your home, another missionary
will tell you that you are trunky!!!) TRUNKASO!"!! HAhaha I wont be
trunky until thanksgiving time until i remember all the good food we
eat.... That will be hard...
Anyways first of all, before i forget... I need stronger bug spray...
way stronger, I dont know where you will find that, but ya... second
of all.... im good on the peanut butter... they actually have it here
in a store called metros... so ya, none of that, third of all,
yesterday we had a conference with the 4 zones in huanuco and a zone
in cerro de pasco with president and his wife ( which is why i didnt
email yesterday) and too many missionaries were taking advantage of
the disney music with lyrics, so ya none of that anymore, it can only
be classical and instrumental.. as well if you can send me the music
of josh with his band, all that bluegrass, that would be nice, i can
listen to that type of stuff like instrumental bluegrass, just put it
on a flash drive, i have a speaker that reads usb. Also add any other
music.. i like guitar bluegrass instrumental, anything from the
church, ask the brothers and josh.. Just no disney with lyrics
anymore. I really just want food from the states.... anything... im
dying here......PLEASE.... NO MORE GUINEA PIG!!!! NO MORE
POTATOES!!!!! I want some flavor.. theres no flavor to anything accept
the juice.... YES IM SAYING I DIP MY POTATOES IN MY JUICE JUST SO I
CAN GET THEM DOWN MY THROAT hahaha, the potatoes are just plain and
dry... and did i mention... NASTY!!!
So my companions name is Elder Cook, he is from Idaho falls and he has
13 months in the mission, there is only 2 more weeks in the
transfer... already.. thats soooo fast, and im like 99 percent sure im
leaving primavera. President made a joke to me yesterday and said I
hope texans like the cold... which means i will probably get sent to
huancayo or huancavelica or maybe even Cerro de Pasco... which is the
coldest part of the misiion, its the tallest city in the world, and
has the highest church building in the world....
Anyways, the work is getting slow, but its not bothering me too much,
we have had to drop investigators, for people just not wanting to come
to church.
This buhdist guy named Edgar taught me something that is actually
pretty cool. So he believes that when one is super busy and just
always doing things or always worrying about the future of the past
its because they arent thinking about the present. Its like golf
(yayayayay i know another analogy to golf) dont worry about your last
shot (hmmm Cameron hahaha) just focus on the one you need to do in the
moment. Dont get upset about the past because in reality, you cant do
anything more but fix it. So edgar told me when i am upset about the
past of future to stop for 3 to 5 min and think about the next thing
personally i need to do.. and go on and do the next.. I think this is
super important with my duty as a missionary. I was called to serve
each day as hard as i could. Not worry about the weeks to come. Each
day is a sprint. Work as hard as i can for that one day. Ya its hard
to drop people... i just gotta keep looking and finding the people im
suppose to find. It aint easy... but i´ll tell you what it aint
imposible either.. I love this work and i love my friends and family
for supporting me. You know in school all i wanted to do is
golf....and right now all i want to do is serve.. I had friends ask me
before why i was leaving golf to go to peru, Isnt it hard to give up
something for two years... This is my answer, Yes it would be hard to
give up something for two years, but because i made this decision to
serve a mission when i was a kid while my brothers served it was a lot
easier. Yes its a sacrifice but i made the decision to serve a
longggggg time ago, therefore it was a lot easier..
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!
FACE YOUR FEARS!!!!
SHARE THE GOSPEL THIS WEEK!!!!
ALL OF YALL!!!
Love
Eldert Thatcher}}
P.S. That means ALL O YALL!! YA HEAR!!!
my zone!
this guy bought us ice cream.... it was reaaallllyyy good
Paul bought us KFC for Halloween. he is the coolest guy ever!!!
One week left in this transfer!!! Thats crazy!!! Time is flying by
fast!! I hope everyone is doing well!!! I have some funny stories this
week.
First of all... its super hot here, I cant takeit!! its like 40
degrees celcius!
Second of all I got a haircut this morning and i tried to tell her i
just wanted a trim but i guess she didnt understand me so she cut a
lot of it off... oh well...
Third of all... You will never even guess what I ate this week.....
You cant even guess, guarantee it.. Ready?? Cow heart..... It was
gross!!!! But i downed it down my throat with a lot of maracuya which
is my favorite juice here, so i didnt even gag... not even a little
bit... i took that cow heart like a man... And I am proud!! Haha
So this week has been hard, still looking for more people. We have
some possibles but they havent accepted dates yet.. Just no one is
coming to church.. the area is getting hard. I have knocked on every
door here in our area like twice. The only places i havent knocked is
all the way out passed the mountains. But the people out there dont
want to come to church. So its hard right now. And it doesnt help when
we are just walking everywhere in the heat... Oh well.. gotta keep on
goin!!
Oh by the way apparently for christmas in able to talk to yall i have
to have a skype. I know its a ways a way, but someone has to make me a
skype then give me the info to log on..Thanks everyone.
Doctrine and covenants 50:24 That which is of God is light and he that
receiveth light and continueth in God receiveth more light and that
light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day
Just remember that if we continue in doing the small things, the
things that bring joy to us, the things that are of God, that we will
shine and show it unto other people, who may need that light more than
we do. You never know whos watching ya..
Love Elder Thatcher
P.S. Face your Fears, like always
Hermana Claudia!! Best Pension in the mission!!!
My pension!!! Shes awesomeeee!!!
Paul!!!! My favorite Peruvian!! He is sooo cool!!!!
ok... I spy time... See if you can find the face of Jesus!!!
this angel is pointing into the mountain of a face of jesus that was found in the mountain
kfc in the pension!!!! AHHHH YAAAAA!!!!
First of all I just want to say sorry for the email I sent last week. When I was writing the email I was kind of drugged up to begin with. I am better. I will have this scar for the rest of my life, so thats pretty sweet. Its smaller and its going away now. Im not in pain anymore. I still dont know what it was. I spray my sheets every other night, and i never see bugs in our room. Oh well, thats a story i will have for ever!! COOL
"Dont you realize I have had diarrhea since EASTERS!!!" Haha I love that quote... Thats Peru for ya hahah
So this week has been really cool. Rain is coming down hard every other day! Like a lot, and they dont have a draining system so it just floods... Its awesome. Just look at the photos. It was ridiculous. Sunday morning at like 4 i woke up because my bed started shaking!!! And im on the top bunk so I thought elder cook was shaking the bed. NOPE!! EARTHQUAKE!!!! AHHH!!!! It lasted for 4 minutes. It was awesome. It waspowerful! It broke some windows to my pensions house! I thought it was so cool.
Anyways, this past week we have been teaching a new investigator. His name is Edgar. And out of all the catholics and evangelists down here, he is Buhdist! Its pretty cool. He is 22 years old and he is just always happy!! Like always!! He cant frown! But he is super interested in the lessons. I just hope he comes to church on Sunday so we can give him a date for baptism!!
Love you all!! And Happy HALLOWEEN!!!
Elder Thatcher
This week has been interesting.. Elder Lopez got transfered to huancayo, and i am still here in primavera huanuco. My new companion is Elder Cook, from Idaho Falls. He has been out for 13 months and his spanish is really good. I dont know, I thought I was getting transfered out but I didnt. Thats ok!!
So the scariest thing happened to elder cook and i on saturday!!! It was scary, and i dont know if what i said was right or not but its what the spirit told me.
Anyways... here we go... So we were contacting and it was getting really hot and we just wanted to go and teach some one new... so after knocking on doors for 2 hours finally these three sisters let us in to teach them!!! SWEET!! welll... no... not sweet.. haha. We started teaching them, and we were feeling the spirit so much!! Like we were almost done with all of lesson 1 and they were interested and they were asking questions!! It was awesome.. then when we were reading james 1:5, we here the door starting to open.. and there faces of the girls was just like... oh dang...This tall,, talll big, big strong white guy came in the door!!! He was huge!!! His name was Gary, and he spoke english and Spanish.. and just in a really rude voice he said ¨well howdy, what are yall doing in my house?¨ And thats when the bible bash began!!! His name was gary, he was from tyler texas!!! He has a big red beard and red hair, and was wearing a country shirt and all. Apparently he was atheist in texas, and then his friend converted him to orthodox christianity. Then 20 years ago he moved to huanuco peru and he now owns his own church from his house. But man was he rude to us, he just interupted our lesson and the spirit, and said ¨lets talk boys¨!! I was scared.... terrified even.. He was asking us questions about how we were born in the church and that we shouldnt just jump off the bridge into a dark hole. He was just bombing us and tearing us apart about how we are wrong. He was like, you could take a swab test from any one of my daughters ( who are latina) and see that they have no trace to jerusalem. And that there arent any traces of people from that time, or there isnt any horses in the americas!! I was just like really!! Then he brought up ole joe smith about he discovered some mysterious plates in the woods.. that werent in hebrew but in egyptian, and that no one could translate that because they didnt have rosetta stone. Elder cook asked if he knew what faith was and he said yes that he has faith in christ, but just praying and ¨feeling an answer¨isnt good enough, he said faith has to have evidence. And then he was like ¨with your church it doesnt look like your faith is doing to well¨. He was just going on and on asking about where all my moms live and just rude hurtful things, and he was loud ( and big) and i was just scared. But then the spirit just manbifested and spoke like afterward i was just like wow... i really said that?!? Even elder cook was like woah elder... So what had happened was i was sitting in my chair the whole time while he was blasting on our faith and this is what i did ( my head was hurting so bad as if it was about to explode), I stood up, i looked him in the eye, ( i didnt yell but i was bold and strong with what i said) AS MISSIONARIES AND REPRESENATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST WE ARE NOT JUMPING INTO A BLACK HOLE. WE DONT NEED SIGNS AND EVIDENCE TO HAVE FAITH AND BELIEVE IN THIS. Then i said, YOU WANT EVIDENCE, HERE (i gave him a book of mormon) THERE IS YOUR EVIDENCE! (i then went on and said) YOU CALL YOURSELF A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST BUT ALL YOU ARE TRYING TO DO IS TEAR APART WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE AND MY FAITH. AS A REPRESENATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST I COMMAND YOU TO STOP AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE SAID TO US.Then he just froze and was silentt.. theni walked out side my head was just on fire! It hurt so much! I didnt even know what i had said.. i had to think about it that night.
So family, friends... haha. There are people out there in the world that are trying to bring us down, but we have to keep getting stronger. ¨For I know that I am nothing, that I do not glory in myself, but that I glory in him, that i may be an instrument in the lords hands¨. Dad, mom... i want to thank you for teaching me this gospel, for making my testimony stronger. And for my brothers and for my family, and friends, for always being there for me when i need an example. I know for my self that this is true, that this IS the church of jesus christ.. this isnt my church, its his.. and i am going to do all i can to share it with others through the holy spirit. I love yall, and i hope that everyone is safe, i pray for all of yall everyday, for i know this life isnt easy... I spent my first 4 weeks in the field throwing up every night, getting no sleep, i know how it feels to feel like you have nothing going for you.. But i know im not alone out here, and for that reason im going to keep on doing all that i can everyday as hard as i can. When my body begs for rest I give myself this rallying cry ¨I knbow that my redeemer lives¨! I know it.
Love
Elder Thatcher
P.S. FACE YOUR FEARS!!!! NO FEAR!!!!
Feliz Cumplianos!!!! Ashley y Devrie!! HAHA, yesterday we finally had time to make the cupcakes, so we made them, and after we sang happy birthday to ashley and devrie!! It was awesome!! The cupcakes were delicious!! I really enjoyed them.
Well, tomorrow we have transfers, so maybe... just maybe I might be getting transfered out of Primavera (My ward). But maybe not, maybe Elder Lopez is leaving, he thinks he is leaving... he already packed all his bags and everything hahaha!!! Really not much that went on this week. The work was slow because the past week voting for the new president of peru has been going on, so everyone has been gone and went to lima. We didnt even have church on sunday, because for some reason we are watching conference this next sunday, kinda weird, but the law is on sundays, no church service during voting. So ya the work this past week has been slow.
Ya.. so nothing much else, if you have questions about anything please ask...
Love, Elder Thatcher
P.S. We are allowed to have disney music now and i bought a usb so if molly or any of the kids want to send me some in an email i can download it onto that. Thanks!
last monday, hma claudia made hamburgers... it wasnt the same, but its better than the other food i have been eating!!!
Hermana Claudia ( my pensionista) and Josue (her son)
birthday cake getting smashed in my face when i wasn't looking hahaha
kfc!!!!!!!
my view everyday. i live beneath where i am standing.
cupcakes with the sisters!
Me, Silvia, Elder Lopez and Silvias boyfriend
Silvias baptism!!
my breakfast. cold raw bland potatoes.
When i was on splits with my Zone Leader.... Just relaxin on my not comfy bed haha, it basically was a matress without anything inside it haha
Well I feel amazing spiritually this past week. I got asked to baptize Silvia Rosales on Saturday. It has just been a huge process teaching her, because she has liked what we have been teaching her, only she hasnt felt that it has been true. So her baptism date was more of a goal. And the past week i was worried for her a lot!! But she called the morning of her baptism and my companion was on the phone and i was just praying so hard right there in that moment that everything was ok. And when he hung up he looked at me and i was scared and Elder Lopez just smiled and said.. we have a BAPTISM!!!! She asked me to baptize her. So that morning we called up some members and after two hours, i Baptized her..
After the baptism she shared her testimony that she felt like she wasnt suppose to be baptised... so saturday night at 1 she was crying and couldnt sleep, because something in her head was telling her no, dont get baptized, so she prayed and after her prayer the feeling went away.. And she was able to sleep, and she had a dream that i baptized her!!! When she said that... i was just like... wow...... I was speechless... I was just so happy, i dont know how to describe it!!! There were little kids in the room being noisy but when she shared her testimony, i couldnt hear any of them, or any person. i just felt like everything i knew to be true was testified even more that this is the true Church of Jesus Chist, That i WAS restored by Joseph smith, that we do have a living prophet with 12 apostoles.
This past week Elder Lopez was in Huancayo, with all the other district leaders. President has made some new rules.. No more eating with members!!! We cant accept any prepared food from members except from our pension, ( I dont like any of the food, but the food from my pension doesnt make me sick!!) So thats new.... hahaha
Family... Friends...
The mission is soooooo hard... sooo hard!!!! The hardest thing i have ever done.. and ive only been out for 4 months.... but there isnt any other place i would like to be other than here on my mission. Sorry, but I love this! The church is true, and i know it.... I know its true. I hope you share this with the members and with anyone.. Love You guys a tone!!
Love,
Elder Thatcher
FACE YOUR FEARS!!!
Hello family! Things are great! I only havetwo weeks left of this transfer!That is crazy to me! (sorry about the spacesinbetween words, the space bardoesnt really work) My companion left for Huancayotodayforadistrict leader training for three days, so I am with thezone leaders andElder Rodreguiz for 3 days. So this shall be fun.
Thisweek wasthe beginning ofspring!! It rains like every day now, usually in the nights! I love it so much! I sleep so great in the nights now! It isnt really cold, inthe nights its cold, but its a perfect cold, in the day it is pretty hot. And dusty.
So one cool experience I had thisweek. We were walking at like 7 at night down one of the mountains, and our appointment was canceled, and it is hard to contact at night so we didnt knowwhat to do. It was dark, then all ofasudden we see this taxi comedown the street and it stopped and the lady drivingitlokked at uswith aconfused look and she said, What church are yall? My companion looked atme and was like, lets get outof here, but idint want tobecause this lady lookedlikesomeoneI knew! So i contactedherandasked if we could come andteach her, so we went to her house, and she has 2 sons, and we went in andwe taught her.And i had deja vu! I hadseen the room we werein beforesome where but i just felt like this wasright like we needed to be here teaching her! We haveonly taught her oncebut she was so interested and wanted to learn more and shesaid she will come to church this sunday! I am so excited!
Anyways all iswell here, sorry about the spacebar thingy. How is josh and his family, havent heard from them yet, heard from Ainsleys dad! He sent me a letter with some stickers that said NO FEAR! I love it! It is my new moto.. FACE YOUR FEARS!!!! It is the only way we cansharethis gospelif we just say to our selves that wehave to do this for our savior. So family... FACE YOUR FEARS!! Share the gospel with someone this week! And actually mean it! we always have opportunities, and if you feel like you dont, then pray for some! FACE YOUR FEARS!! Love everybody! Tell Bishopjones for me that the ward needs to FACE YOUR FEARS!!! With power too.. haha Love yall!!
Happy bird day cam bam!
Love Elder Thatcher
The rain!!!!
Hello family! I am doing great! I feel healthy! I am happy! I feel blessed! Everything is just great right now! How is everyone?? I pray that yall are healthy too! I hope yall got to see all of the great pictures last week! I dont have pics really from this week as this week has just been crazy busy serving the Lord! We have been really pushing hard to find people who are prepared to listen to the gospel, and one of the many ways we can do that as missionaries and <I think is the best way is through members. The members are who we find people that they know and love and can share the gospel with and everything be fine. Meaning as after baptism they have a friend in the church and are actively engaged in the church. So this is what we have been working on mainly this week.
My first convert has a calling now in the church and she is attending institutes and everything is just peachy with her right now. She is super strong in the church which just makes me feel great because there is a lot of less actives here right after baptism. This saturday we have a baptism with a returned missionaries girlfriend actually. She is all prepared and excited for her baptism. So we only have one baptism this week and its her, her name is Silvia Rosales, she is 31. Also the sister missionaries in our ward have a baptism this saturday so we are thinking about combining the two.
Selene (the 10 year old) and her father (she doesnt have a mother) are not getting baptized this saturday because some problems have come up. This is a super sad story, so bare with me. Selene is 10 and she has a younger brother named Luis (which is the same name as his father) he is 6. There father has been working really hard at his job to provide for there education and to provide food. The only have one key to there house which the owner of the house keeps. He wont give one to Luis (the father) because they are renting the room and he cant aford a room for his family to own. Luis works from 4 in the morning until 8 in the night every day. His kids go to school and then stay out in the streets until 8 because the owner of the room doesnt get off until 8 too. So the kids are just by themselves every day. out in the streets. So life is rough for them. And then 3 days ago there father, luis got layed off and now doesnt have work. He got layed off because he asked his boss if he could have 3 hours off on sundays to attend church. isnt that sad? he works a ton and hardly getspaid anyways. So when dont know when they will get baptized for they need to attend church more but the whole ward is helping us find them a new room, find him a new job. Everything will be ok, he said he was going to put all his faith in the lord in these trials!
Yesterday I gave a talk in spanish! About the doctrine of Christ! I was able to write out a 8 min talk and actually speak! How crazy is that!!!!
Yes mom i am fineee.. Our room is clean and fixed, no damage yet. I havent paid for socks yet because the only money i have is money for motos or taxis. But I need to pull some out today because i desperately need water and some chifles of something!! Also the bag we found in the room upstairs? Ya it broke.... Right now i am borrowing another elders bag but i need to find one soon because changes are in 3 weeks! Wow time is fast!!
Everything is great! I love yall!!!!
Love Elder Thatcher
this is what our taxis look like... they are so small and dangerous.. but cheap
Im sorry its a little late today, I dont usually email at this time. But anyways today we went way up in the mountains for P day today!! 3 hours away on a crazy Bus!!! That was just packed as usual. And we are leaning off the edge of the mountain!! It was so scary!! But we went to go see some ruins, and then the driver just got lost so we just went hiking anyways!! it was so cold!!! I basically felt like it was a waste of time.. But my goodness were we up there... We were so high in the air.. we were on a mountain.. on a mountain... And people actually live up there!!!! But anyways thats what we did today.. it was hard and i couldnt breathe well but i made it to the top!! I was so happy!!
Anyways this week has been crazy.. I went to the clinic and they said I had a scratch in my ear so nothing bad, It is probably from all the dust in my area. So that is good, headaches are off and on, but whenever I do have one it is pretty bad, but once its over with I just forget about it and go back to work.
Friday our bathroom drain cloged up and just flooded our room so thats great.. We had to take everything out then clean everything. It is all ok right now.
Wednesday we had a reunion with our president and about 80 missionaries and President Uceda who is president over the area! He spoke with authority!! My goodness but it was with love too. He just loves this gospel so much and really stressed about how this is a new time in missionary work and that we need to be working with members every day for refrences. It is true it is hard contacting. I feel the more prepared someone is, is through refrences of the ward. This is a new era!!!!!!! FACE YOUR FEARS!!!!! Share the Gospel with friends!!! I was afraid of contacting because i dont like speaking all to much right now because i dont know much, but after i did it and contacted more It is coming easier!! FACE YOUR FEARS!!! share with others!!! Help the missionaries!! They need it more than ever!!
Anyways I am glad to hear from the family about everyone it sounds like everyone is doing good!! The boys are cuter than ever and so big!!! We have 3 more baptisms for the 20th. One is 10 year old girl that reminds me of molly. She doesnt have a mom and she just helps with her siblings for her dad all the time. Dont have too much time this p day because we got back late so I am sorry. I love everyone!!!
With love,
Elder Thatcher
Some houses on the mountain
The view from the top!
Elder Inkley
Look what I found!!! Kinda expensive 4 soles (around $1.50 in US)
I got my package! I got it on Saturday! The assistants send them to our Zone leaders here in Huanuco! And by the way, one bag of beef jerkey is already gone! Literally! I cried when I opened it!! It is aweso me!! I love it so much!! My favorite part of it all was the pictures!! Dad.. When I get back, I will go ridi ng with you before I play Golf.. Seeing those pictures, just made me realize how awesome my family really is!! And that I was placed in it for a reason. I love seeing pictures of the kids! Dallin and Samuel are so cute! and they are so big!! Thanks mom and dad for everything!
I cant believe it has already been 12 weeks here in Peru, and I have finished my first transfer out in the field! Transfers are on Wednesday so we will see if I get a new Companion. I probably will because Elder Lopez has been here for 5 months already. So we will see. Last Monday was our multizone Conference with President and his wife! It was fun. Played Soccer. there was 80 missionaries there!
So last saturday Elder Lopez and I had two Baptisms. Senida and Victor! They are in the Hermanas area of our ward for the first three weeks of this transfer and then they moved into our area, so we taught them for a little bit. Elder Lopez baptized both of them. I dont really know them that well, because i have only taught them once but still! This saturday is the baptism of Yadith! I am so excited!! She is so prepared!
This Sunday, Hermono Gonzalo, walked to church!!! again!!! It was awesome! Also on Saturday I met this Guy named Luis, a contact on the street, and we coordinated a time to talk to him, and after he was just like, I know your church is the true Church of christ. So we told him about the baptism and said he could come and watch, and he asked if he could get baptized after!! hahah!!! We told him we would teach him and then get a date settled. He has a date for the 20th of september! Easy!!
On wednesday I went on splits for a day with Elder Contrerras from Ecuador. He is one of my zone Leaders. He likes to bible bash . it is quite funny.
My health is getting better. I just wish i knew what i was eating half the time... There is no flavor with anything i eat!! I should of asked for like chick fil a sauce, or barbaque and teryaki sauce. Plain rice.... plain potatoes... that arent cooked.... plain meat.... this stuff i know what i am eating. But when we eat with members on sunday.. That is when i get to suprised with stuff that looks like mushed up alien eggs!!! FOR REAL!!! Hahaha, Well I love you guys so much! The weeks go by fast!!
Love Elder Thatcher
P.S. With Llamas haha :)
que pasa calabaza!!!!! Hahah.. How are youuuuuu!? Haha I hope everyone is doing well! This week has been one of my greatest weeks and also one of the worst! It started on tuesday I got sick and that was rough because i have never felt that way ever before! But i was given a blessing Thursday by my stake president, and I kid you not, that night i was completely normal! Everything that was wrong with me was mejor!! I am so greatful for priesthood blessings!
So our contacting hasn`t been that great, and Hermana Luz hasnt been attending church so we have to push her baptism back until she has gone two more times. So our zone leaders are frustrated with us right now. Our numbers our terrible. But on saturday... my goodness, longest, hardest working day ever! We contacted 30 homes in the mountain region which took 4 hours. I was exhausted after that!! ( Good thing I had a cold Inca Kola!!! ) Then after that we had 4 lessons! It was so much work! Sooooo Sunday I was thinking it was only going to be me and Elder Lopez at church... NOPE!!! WE HAD 8 INVESTIGADORS COME TO CHURCH!!!! 8!!!!! My heart was just filled with joy watching they come to church!! And Hermano gonzalo, the man who lives like an hour away on the top of a Ginormous mountain and can barely walk came!!! I teared, not going to lie, i cant even imagine what it is like for him, his house.. well it really isnt even a house and he has a beautiful view from his house you can see over all the mountains, next time we backpack to his house I will take a picture! It takes us about 45 min to get to his house after we have all ready taken a taxi halfway up the mountain. Then the road stops and we have to hike. How he came to church... I have no clue, he has a terrible back and terrible pair of legs. Half of his left foot was cut off in an accident with a saw. We have only had 2 visits with him and one lesson, but he keeps telling us how he wants to be a member so badly! That baptism will be hard!! haha!! But he is so nice! And he knows Cacewan as well!
After church we were suppose to go have cuy with a lady in our ward (Guinea Pig) because it was Huanaco independence day! But she was sick.. so we lucked out of that one!! But we didnt have anywhere to eat for lunch. But luckily there is a guy named Hermana Paul who just got back from his mission 3 years ago and he isnt married, and he has a lot of money... a lot!! He works for Toyota in Lima but he lives in Huanuco. He loves us! He wants to go to visits with us like every other night and he wants to buy us kfc and pizza hut! We have a mall here but missionaries arent allowed to go in, so he goes in and buys us food and we eat it at his house. So for lunch on sundayhe had bought 5 pizzas on saturday and then we just warmed them up on sunday! It was awesome!!!! Plus we had Inca Kola as well ( Obvio ). It was awesome!
Then after lunch we got a call.. Listen to this... this is just amazing.. So we get this call right? and it is this girl named Yadith. She is 21. 2 years ago she met with missionaries and then decided lds wasnt for her so she stopped, then on sunday she called us, We have never met or talked to her before and she called us and said Hey is this the missionaries? Can you come visit me? And I was just like uhhhhhh noooo, that is too weird, and this person probably wants to mug us! But we prayed about it and we decided to go and to be careful.We asked if we could talk to her outside her house, and she said it was fine. But all in all, she said she has been praying recently and she said that she needed to be baptized. She said the Gospel is true and she has repented of all her sins, and all she wants to do is be a member! So we taught her for a little bit and I asked her to get baptized on the 30th of August and she said yes!!! I got my first baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This week was so hard at first, and just when I wanted to say this is the worst it turns around and becomes one of the best weeks ever!!!! I am so grateful for this Gospel! Everything about it is just fantastic!!!! I realized even when I was sick... that i was given this trial to test my faith. I wanted to give up, i wanted to call it quits, I hated being sick.. But i testify to you this... That when you are given a hard trial, a hard time, the worst trial in your life... Never Give up!!!!!!! NEVER!! Because he is always there!! Always! He looked out for me the most when i needed him too, he answered my prayers, when i needed help, he helped me overcome this week.. But only when we keep pressing on with faith will he help us. Ben told me something before I left, when it is hard, just do it anyways. It will be hard, it will never be easy, because salvation was never easy for Christ! I love everyone! And I am so grateful for missionary work! Grateful for every person who has given time to serve the Lord! Thank you!! Jesus is awesome!!
Love you all!!
With Llamas,
Elder Thatcher
(p.s.) Thanks for the package mom! I should get it by next monday!
Thanks mom for sending me a package! I love P days, I get to hear all these wonderful stories about the family! Happy Birthday also! I was thinking about you on saturday!
I hope all is well! Lets see, the baptisms are not happening and we actually had to drop both of the kids. They didnt want anything to do with the church. It was really sad. But we have another baptism confirmed on the 23rd of August. I am super excited. Her name Is Luz and she has built up a lot of faith and comes to church with us every Sunday! It is amazing to see some ones faith build that fast.
This week has been a lot of walking... tons of walking....all day.. it seems like.. My area is half in the town and half in the mountains. It can be rough walking up the mountains because it is so windy! I get dust all over me and i can hardly see! Some of the familys we teach up in the mountains is a life shocker for me. It really just lifts up my soul. So i walk into this little mud home basically, and its about the size of a bedroom and they just have all there stuff in this little room. It is a family of 4. So we go inside and they are just so nice, they let us sit down on rocks which is all they have. And the grandmother can hardly walk and she goes over and tries to wipe off the dust for us to sit down! It was so touching to me and i dont know but just talking about this family makes me realize how grateful i really am to have the family i have. The little kids were showing me there collection of potatoes.. those are the only toys they have.. They dont have beds, the sleep under corn stalks.. on the ground. This family is a less active family, and they live about 8 miles away from the church and about 3 miles from a road to get a taxi, and they walked all the way to church! I was just filled with so much love and excitement when i saw them walk in.
I had a miracle happen to me last thursday. So my companion and I hiked to a ladys house up on another mountain at about 6 at night. We went and taughtand by the time the lesson was over it was 7:30 and it was just absolutely dark. I could not see anything!! I couldnt even see Elder Lopez standing right in front of me. We had no idea where we were walking and to be honest we were panicing a lot because he didnt have any service on his phone, we coudnt hear any cars. all we could hear was sheep and llamas. So we knelt down and just asked for a small light that we could follow cause it was getting late. About 15 min later of just walking no where a lady on a bicycle came by with a small lantern in her bag and came by and told us we were going the wrong direction on the other side of the mountain!! We eventually got back to our apartment butr i was so scared thinking that we were lost for good.
The Lord will answer your prayers if you are asking sincerly. (Alma 37:37).
So for luch yesterday we had arroz con leche which is rice with milk.. very interesting.. Oh and i ate corn on the cob.. yes even the cob we had to eat.. all of it.. talk about yuck!!! Last P day we had pizza which was awesome!! and this P day Elder Lopez and I are going to this place that sells american food! I am excited! Usually we go to a store and buy stuff like food and snacks then we play soccer with other Elders! It is fun!
Friday we did service for our Zone leaders, we had to move there stuff to a different room. It was a lot too.. So they thought the room was only two blocks away.. ya nooo it was eight.. Nothing better than watching elders carry furniture down streets in the middle of a hot day! I was so tired after.. and had bruises every where. It lasted for 5 hours moving everything. After we all layed on the street drinking coke.. It was nice and reefreshing! I lovvvee Inka Cola, It is my favorite soda by far! It is better than Dr. Pepper.. It taste like cream soda mixed with bubble gum its soo good!
Sundays is just a lot of meetings, after church we have lunch with a member, then we have meeting with ward mission leader, then ward council, then meetings with the missionaries from both zones here in Huanaco. Then sleep.. They are long days.
I love everybody and will be thinking about you lots! Until Next week!
With many llamas and lots of Love,
Elder Thatcher
This is the family I live with. They are so funny! Familia Morales!!
with Elder Lopez
view from the mountains
Entonces, Estoy aqui en Huanaco, mi primera area!!! It is soooo windy here! My shirts are yellow by the time i am done with the day! Entonces, myy new companions name is Elder Lopez, from Santa Cruz Bolivia! he is awesome! He is the district leader. Our district is primavera! I absolutely love missionary work! it is so cool! Its hard work.. but let me tell ya... I love it! I can understand people usualamente, but it is hard for me to respond to people. But that is ok it is my first week! My penstanistra is Hermana Morales and her and her family are so funny! So we actually live with them for now, for at least 4 more weeks until we get a new place to stay (so we will be moving again). They are so nice, and funny. Hermono morales reminds me of dad a little bit. he is just so witty and always making jokes its funny! (its funny cause he thinks its funny.. JAJAJA). The food isnt bad until sundays, because sundays we eat with members.. i had no clue what i ate for lunch yesterday.. it was gross... but i ate it somehow.. they wanted me to eat the bones too.. but i couldnt so in my pocket it went.. and out when we were done with the visit haha.. i was sooo not gonna even try to eat the bones.. Anyways.. the missionary work is awesome.. we have 6 investigators and 4 are around cadens age.. they love talking to us. i asked one of them to get baptized.. and he was a little hesitant so i told him he should on august 2 because its my moms birthday, and he was like YESSSS!!! we were so happy, and i was able to talk to him and everything and ask him.. ughh it was awesome!!! Entoncess, the spanish is coming along but i want it to progress more, so if Chris has any advice.. YESS PLEASE. It isnt cold here until around 8 at night, its sunny and windy everyday.. i get stuff in my eyes all the time! it is annoying but its not too bad. There are dogs just everywhere! Elder Lopez and i have been chased by a countless amount of dogs..
I miss all the kids! the boys look great!! I cant believe it has almost been two months i have been gone!
So this is usually my schedule for every day:
6:30 wake up and exercise
7 shower and get ready
7:30 desayuno
8 personal study
9 companionship study
10 idioma ( i teach english to elder lopez every other day and he teaches me spanish)
11 plan for lessons
12 companioship inventory
1 almuerzo
2 lessons or contact
8 cena
9 planificar for menana
9:30 get ready for bed
10:30 bed
Thats my everyday life!! And i absolutely love it!
With much love,
Elder Thatcher
P.S. and with many llamas
