Getting Out of the Apartment On Time, Miracles, and Installing a Skylight

Monday, July 7th, 2014

Hey, thanks so much for everyone's advice, help, and prayers at home. I am learning a lot about how to work harder and trying to get more done each day. It's really true, when you can just get out of the apartment, you get so much more done. When Hermana Pinto got here, she would always take a nap in the afternoon, and a lot of times we didn't even leave on time in the morning. Things were going really slow. But, when we had interviews with President, I mentioned my frustration in how nothing was happening here. He talked a lot about scheduling our time, and how if I really want success here, I can have it. When Hermana Pinto went in to talk with him, he talked with her a lot about our time, and since then I have seen a difference in her. This week, we've been trying to GET OUT of the apartment and get things DONE! And you know what? This week we saw a difference.

Painting the home of Caballero family for service.

Yesterday was a day of miracles! Hermana Pinto and I were both fasting so that we could find new investigators because we've been struggling this week. After lunch, we went to our appointment that we had planned, and then we had no other appointments for the day. We decided to go to a nearby park to look for families. We went, and there was a family of four!  Then, we went to a house where we had previously knocked on the door and made an appointment, but it had fallen through. We tried again yesterday, and they were home... and it was a family! We taught the grandparents, one of their daughters, and the two sons of the daughter. This family is very special because the grandma and her daughter can't talk or hear very well, and the they talk mostly in signs. When we first entered the house, we were nervous and weren't sure what was wrong, but then we realized the difficulties that this family has. We talked and taught them, and we were able to turn a slightly hostile situation to a welcoming one. We're pretty sure the mom of the two sons is conviviente, but her sons both have the desire to be baptized. So, we're going to keep learning about this family to see if we can help them be baptized together.

It's a second floor home, so it was a little tricky.

Then, after meeting those two families, we had another miracle. We've been working with a less active family where we can NEVER talk to the father. We know that he is the head of the family, so if we can help him come back to the church, his children will follow. We'd been praying that we could talk to him, and yesterday we were able to find part of the family at home. We talked with the oldest son about how to have a happy family and as we went along in the lesson he was able to feel the spirit testify to what he needs to do. As we were finishing up, O., who is the mother and the only active member in her family, called her husband and passed the phone to us. We were able to talk to him (FINALLY!) and set up an appointment when all of the family can be there. This was a little miracle that we'd been praying for. I want to keep working hard and work even harder this week to find even more families. I really want to be successful because I'm tired of low numbers and no baptisms. 

Getting ready to start painting. That is Elder Llaguento
in the blue sweater/green T-shirt.

I only went up on the ladder for a few minutes,
but I did help paint up there! Talk about rickety!

Know how I spent my 4th of July?

We finished our painting service with the family Caballero. We got there in the morning and we began really great. There were two areas, and only two brushes, so we let the Elders paint the high dangerous part. There was a part high above the window on the second story that the ladder couldn't reach, so the Elders were trying to be creative on how to paint it....ya. Elder Llaguento climbed up onto the roof! So here in Peru, lots of times they'll put plastic or metal sheets on the roof held up by wooden planks. These are precarious and can break easily. So, Elder Llaguento climbed up and went on his stomach to where the window was, but he couldn't see it very well. As he was waiting for the others to come up with another plan, he got bored and decided to stand up. He stood up, saw that the roof supported him, and then began to walk around. BAD IDEA! As he was walking to the far part, he FELL THROUGH! I was down below and didn't see him fall, but I heard it. Fortunately, God protected him and he landed in the middle of the tiny kitchen. He didn't break anything in his body or in the kitchen...it was a miracle! When Elder Llaguento opened the door of the apartment, all he said was ¨Mi caí¨ and began to laugh. It was pretty funny. The bad news was that the people that live in that apartment weren't too happy about what had happened. We all pitched in and bought a new roof tile, and in the end it all turned out ok. But, it was definitely memorable for my Independence Day.