Happy Valentine's Day

February 14, 2016

Hey Family,

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

This week is easily the shortest week I have ever had, ever.

The summary is that we ended up having a crazy mission tour and I went back to Cerro and then to Huanuco...

The long story starts on Wednesday.  It was raining like crazy, well, like normal. (A normal day here is sunny in the morning and then rain the whole afternoon until night time.) It started at about 11 o'clock as usual at about 3 o'clock we were in the plaza getting a few things ready for the multi zone with Elder Godoy we had planned for Thursday.  Elder Godoy had his flight into Huancayo arriving at 5.  But with all the rain and clouds and wind there was no way they would let him leave from Lima.  The weather needed to clear up before 3:30 so that he would be able to leave.  And looking at the sky, I had a feeling it would clear up. It was weird because I was actually really sure that he would somehow get here.  I have never been so confident in something so hopeless. Well, at 3:30ish the rain stopped and in about 10 minutes that old Huancayo sun was cooking everyone like it normally does, crazy.

After the first Multizone we had a meeting with Elder Godoy and President.  We talked about how we do things in the mission and he gave us suggestions.  Everything that he said was something so simple and yet it seemed smarter, making me think that when we feel stuck between two options, the simplest one is probably the best.

After that was all over we went to Cerro for the night.  Man I love that place.  I was able to sleep the whole night without waking up out of breath.  I guess living in Huancayo for 10 months has its benefits.  When we arrived we checked into the hotel and went to find dinner.  In Cerro food is not one of the highlights. You have to be a little picky or you will get sick.  As we looked, we decided to that anything would do because. 1. we weren't that hungry and 2. if Pasco didn't kill us the first time then it probably can't.  And it didn't, but we did eat faster than I thought we would.  I guess we were hungry.  After that we saw Mama Nery. Man I love that lady!  We went to her house the next morning so that Elder Gutierrez could say goodbye and man it was hard to leave. 

The most important thing we can do in life is learn to Love.  To really Keep the Two Great Commandments.  I think that is how we can be happy..

Sonriendo Siempre,

Elder Glassett

Cerro

Create your own caption.  I have no idea what this picture is all about.  : )

Likely not Cerro cause he'd be dressed a little differently if it was taken there.

The church's email system has had some glitches recently so I have a few letters that were sent but never made it to us.  

February 5, 2016 

Okay FAM,
 

You are probably wondering why I am writing today.  Well it's Sister Henderson's birthday and so we are having pday today.  WOOOOOOO.  

This week was leadership council.  So that was fun.  The day after council we did divisions with the zone leaders from Huanuco. My old area in Huanuco. So that was cool. The even cooler thing was that one of the zone leaders was Elder Evans from Draper Utah.  WOOOOO!!  It was good to see him again and work with him for a day. 

I seem to be making a habit of trimming peoples bushes.  I've been doing that a lot lately and we have been getting new investigators with it. So I guess I'll just let nature take its course with this one.

Yesterday we talked to a less active.  His name is Luis and he is about 16.  Both of his parents died not too long ago and he is living with his aunt and cousins.  He says that he hasn't felt the spirit for a long time and we see him very confused.  Not really knowing what is going on in his life.  My companion and I didn't really know what to say because we have never been through something like that.  But I thought of the video by Elder Nelson called "men's hearts shall fail them" where he says, if you have enough faith you will be able to make it through the trials.  And I thought of James 1:6 that says he that doubts is like a wave of the sea. Which, is tossed from one side to another. (The Elder Glassett Spanish to English translation) From here on out to be known as EGT.  Lastly I thought about Hel 5:12 that says, "it is upon the rock who is Christ the redeemer where we should set our foundations which is a sure foundation.  A foundation where on if men build they shall not fall."  I kind of realized that what is happening to Luis is something that happens to all of us we all go through a time when we don't really have an anchor, we are kind of floating in the sea like a wave. Or maybe we feel like a house built upon sand.  As people, we have a weird habit of looking for ourselves when kids start to rebel the parents say "he just hasn't found himself yet."  But I don't think that. I think we should be in charge of building ourselves.  Choosing a foundation and building.  We build our foundations on Christ as we follow the commandments of the Father.  As we do what Christ told the young rich man.

It's been a good week I can't complain about anything.

Sonriendo Siempre,

Elder Glassett

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Because of Cody's assignment we often times don't get letters on the actual day of pday.  The up side of that is that there are photos of him floating on various blogs and facebook pages.  I just have to go in search of them.  

Here's one from last week.  It was Mama Henderson's birthday and Cody got to celebrate with her.  He loves Mama Henderson!!

Thank you Coco for looking at the camera!!!

These photos came from facebook.  I have no details other than these are the office elders and Cody paid 15 dollars for his shoes and he loves them! 

i no longer know what to say in these things...

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Hey Family,

Sorry about last week.  We had a crazy pday and didn't really have more than 5 minutes at a time in the office.

In summary I'm good. I have spent so much time in the last week at a movie star store with my companion that they gave us coffee mugs.  haha I think they think we are employees now..  That is the phone service here.

Wednesday we found the catholic block of our area.  haha  We have never been rejected so many times.  Every appointment failed and we ended up only finding 2 people that were interested.  Neither one lives in our area.  We sent the references. The weird thing about Wednesday was that we were so happy at the end of it.  Even though we were tired and had nothing to show for it. It makes me think of a part in acts when all the apostles had been taken and beaten and left singing praises of gratitude that were counted worthy to suffer in the name of the Lord.  I am grateful that I can work and wear myself out for him.

The work is crazy.  We had a bit of a crazy week. I spent a good amount of time on Thursday trimming bushes while my companion contacted... They talked for so long that I finished the little lot!  Later that day we were teaching a new investigator. (A Very Set Catholic woman) but also very nice and open to conversation. She told us that she thought that Mormons where rich racist people because she has never known one.  She was surprised to hear that we are really not that different from her and her beliefs.

As we did a little bit of CCE (how to begin teaching) I asked if there was anything in particular that she would like us to talk about or a question she had about our church. She said almost in tears. Talk to me about Jesus. I had been feeling like we should talk about the Book of Mormon. So we did both!!!  Haha! Good thing the Book of Mormon Testifies of Christ Right?!  We went to Mosiah.  And read about what Abinadi prophesied about the will of the son being swallowed up in the will of the father. The spirit was so strong we gave her the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to read it.  I am grateful for that book.  We read it every night American's in Spanish, Latin's in English..  It's awesome.

Well family that it pretty much it.

Sonreindo Siempre,

Elder Glassett

Throw back to Pampas

Throw back to Mantaro.  "I'm sitting in a cup."

Sitting on the best grass in Peru.

An interesting week

Monday, January 18, 2016

FAM, 

 

This week we had an interesting experience.  We visited a less active this week who can do nothing other than focus on the faults and the negative things of the church.   He claims to have a strong testimony but at the same time hasn't been to church in years.  He said many times that God understands why he doesn't go.  He claims that the Book of Mormon is full of errors and over exaggerates.  He told us that as a lost sheep it is the ward and bishop's responsibility to come look for him and put him with the rest of the flock making it not his fault that he doesn't receive the blessing and happiness of the restored Gospel. Speaking with him for a little bit we decided that it would be better to let him vent and then leave.  We couldn't find any words or any way to help him in his current situation...This man is blocking his ability to progress because he is blinded by his doubts and it was sad to see. 

 

In that same day we met with a recent convert who is having trouble with her testimony. She is scared that she might have been baptized too soon and now feels bad. She talked about all of the prayers she has been doing to feel God's Love again. She decided to restart the Book of Mormon to find her answer there. She has been doing everything she could think of to not let go too soon. We felt love for her as she spoke and we felt prompted to speak about the importance of faith and the miracles that can happen when we have faith. As we finished the lesson she said, "I think it's interesting that we talked about faith. Today, I went to the Catholic Church to get help. They also spoke to me about faith.  I'm sure that we were guided in that lesson to say what God wanted us to say... 

 

There are a few things that I think are interesting here... 

 

1. In the first lesson we didn't feel guided. Maybe because God knew that there wasn't anything we could say that would change his feelings. 

 

2. It doesn't matter if we have doubts.  It matters what we do with them. 

 

Closing ourselves off only hurts us. Blocking our personal progress and killing us almost at the roots of our faith. 

 

Let's not do this to ourselves. 

 

Sonriendo Siempre, 

 

Elder Glassett

Great Week!

Saturday, January 9, 2016

So family, 

This week has been great!!!  I have really missed going out every day to teach.  I think we got used to the office and being cramped in here all day that we forgot the happiness that comes from proselyting.  We have seen a few miracles!!!

We are opening an area and we both thought that we were going to have to pass a few hard weeks to see fruits and we were okay with that.  We planned on working double hard to make it a shorter nothing period.  (If that makes sense.)  But the Lord showed us that he wants us to succeed just as much as we do.  We worked for two days with everything we could, trying to contact effectively get to know members and the area.  The Lord blessed us with many less active families and prepared investigators.  We came across a house that Elder Gutierrez knew because he had done a division before.  As we took out an appointment we asked if there was someone in the area we could visit.  They gave us Peruvian directions.  (That means they told us the street and house color but that street has many house of the same color making it impossible to find the correct house on the first try.)  As we knocked doors looking for the reference, we knocked the door of an 18 named Daniel.  We made a quick joke with him about how his name is from the Bible and he should stay away from lions to break the ice.  Then his roommate cousin came out.  His name?  Jesus haha his little brother?  Joshua.  Full bible names on that street!!!  They are now new investigators and they are awesome.  Having area like Pampas and Cerro has helped me appreciate teaching smart people.  They had questions about the plan of salvation and we were able to explain to them our beliefs and they want to go to church with us tomorrow!!

My new pension is awesome!!!   I have been blessed with many good pensions in my mission, many of them I have called mama.

I am grateful to be in the field. I'm grateful for the inspired change in mission leadership that President had.

Random story, we have been looking to find a new mission house and yesterday in the morning we found an awesome one.  It was for rent and everything but the number was bad so we looked up the owner in the city hall.  Ex-terrorist.  Haha.  Looks like we won't be living there!!!!

I know this is the Church of Christ. The same one that was set up lost and restored.

Sonriendo Siempre,

Elder Glassett