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)
Dear Family,
It is good to see all these wonderful pictures and videos of everyone. I miss everyone and hope things are going well.
News for thispast week.
We had transfers this past tuesday and I am stillhere in Primavera with my companion. Elder Rodreguiez from my group from the ccm got transfered to my zone! He ismy closest friend I have out in the mission, so now I will get to see him all the time! I am pretty excited.Time is going by fast, it has already been 3 months! This week we have just been working really hard and finding areas we havent contacted yet. our area is about 45 min wide by car (not including time walking up mountains) so it is a lot of hard work. But it is good. On thursday we took a scary small bus 30min into the mountains that was just jam packed with people. It was scary.. We were going into a forest part of the mountain. It was pretty cool. Pretty colorful birdseverywhere!! Bif exotic fruit on trees. Even monkeys in the trees!! It was awesome! Our area is huge!! All the members in the ward basically live in the city part of the area though, which is why we dont go to this area very much. It was really cool. You would be jealous mom. There is this weird big white fruit. I dont know what it is called, but it looks weird, its just white, and then when you open it up it looks like alien eggs. And you just suck it.Its really good and very sweet!
Saturday!!! My first Baptism!!! I had to do it two times because the first time after I said it she didnt want to go all the way under and she flaied her legs out so she didnt go all the way under. So Second time!!!! hahaha she didnt want to go under, I had to force her under basically! But it was so great!! After the baptism she bore her testimony about how I helped her to know that this church is truethrough the stories i shareabout me and my family and through my testimony!! It was awesome! I will send Pictures.
Sunday was good. I cant eat with membersanymore on sunday because i have been getting sick from the food. So i only eat with my pension now. She is the bomb. She takes care of me so much. I really feel like its my really you mom, only brown.. She makes good food, and its clean, I never have a problem with what she makes. Sometimes I dont know what it is, but its good!! She knows me and what I can eat without getting sick, its pretty awesome.
So on Sunday our pensions husband wanted to know what John trivolta hair looked like so i slicked my hair back. It was pretty funny. They loved it!
So yes i got everything in the package, i just ate a lot ofit already. No i havent made the cake yet. On a pday when it isjust companion p day i will make it! No the cold wheater stuff is not necessary here. I wear the sweaters at night, and then when we go to the mountains I wear the boots. Its great!! No need for the jacket yet. I doneed to buy some more atletic socks here though, those are best for day to day,not the gold toe, they are to thin, all the missionaries wear athletic socks. I can buy some today,no problem.
I have to go to a clinic thisweek only because the other day my ear started bleeding a ton and I dont know why. So president is sendingme to one this week. Dont know when. It is only for a check up. Love everyone!! How is school and work going for yall?? Hope it is ok!!
Love Elder Thatcher
her name is yhadith espinoza (21)
