...like a badge of honor.

This week has been super great!

There was a rash of food poisoning and a girl in my district (Hermana Hawkins) got really dehydrated and passed out on the floor of the bathroom. She was fine; she just has a slight concussion. A few of the other girls carried her down the stairs from her room and I was able to witness one of the sweetest blessings. Elder Workinger gave her a consecrated blessing. He was nervous and shaking but the Spirit was present. Then our district leader gave her a blessing of comfort and health. It reminded me of the song we sing in Primary:

''The Priesthood is restored, his truth made known to man, that God has spoken to the earth, His power is here again''.

I testify that even if you are not an experienced young man, God can work miracles through you. I was able to see that in Hermana Hawkins who is doing so much better today.

I have bruises on my knees from praying so much. It’s like a badge of honor here…I´m in 3rd behind Elder Brown who has bigger bruises and Hermana Hawkins (she got dehydrated and passed out yesterday.)

I went proselyting for the very first time. We went to a small town within Lima. It’s about 40 minutes away from the CCM. We got off the bus and the sister missionaries greeted us. One was from Idaho and spoke like a Latina (which gave me so much hope). We took a member named Wendy Flores with our group of 2 companionships. Wendy is 17 and is learning English. She wants to serve a full time mission when she turns 19. It’s amazing to me that a person so young is willing to give up time with her friends to go hang out with a bunch of new missionaries that don´t speak Spanish. It was so fun though. 

We tracted up a mountain, which are actually huge piles of loose rock and dirt. There are no paved roads off the main road. All the people in our area were living in shacks…plywood and tin roof shacks. Most everybody had an outhouse. The only people that had houses where those that lived above or behind their business. We placed 5 copies of the Book of Mormon, handed out 15 pamphlets and contacted 17 people. I can't wait until I am able to do it again next week!! 

While tracting we stopped to hang out with some little kids. They were super excited to help us with our Spanish. They told me I was not good...oh well, I am better than I was last week. While we were talking to these niños a mentally handicapped woman comes running out of the shack. The children told us not to talk to her because she was ‘sick’. She came up to me and wanted a pamphlet. I gave it to her not expecting much. She ran back to her house and gave it to her mother. Her mother read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet in less than 2 minutes. She then walked out of the doorway where she was standing and just stared at us. She never said anything. As we were walking away we decided to give her a Book of Mormon. When we told her what it was she thanked us. She said that we were a blessing. We invited her to church and with tears in her eyes she gave all 5 of us a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Heavenly Father really does prepare people for our message!