Trainings, Meetings, Traveling....that pretty much sums up the week. Alright, So we will see you guys next week! :)

Jk...Well, this week flew just like all the other ones. We were busy doing informes and other letters for the mission on monday and tuesday and visiting zones seeing how all them are doing. We are dedicating a lot of time now to visiting each zone and the leaders in that zone (ZL, DL, HL) and talking about each companionship and fixing problems and seeing how we can do things better. Then we would go out to lunch with them. We did 3 zones this last week on Wed, Thurs, and yesterday. The meetings have really turned out great and we are seeing how the leaders are doing with their zones and districts and the mission is improving. Thats always great to see. 

We traveled out of Arequipa on thursday to the city of Mollendo on the beach and had a good meeting with them. And on wed, and friday, we stayed here in arequipa to do some of the meetings. 

Other news thats happening around here is we are doing another recital muscial and have been preparing those songs with 2 zones here in arequipa. i have been asked to perform on the violin again...some of the old songs and some new ones too. i also have been asked to play in sacrament meeting with the relief society sisters next sunday and i have been teaching violin lessons to a family here in our ward for a couple of weeks now. And its been fun. So i am still using the violin...maybe even a little bit more than usual...but its a goal that i have. especially since i wont be getting to use it for a while as the weeks come up because we are going on a full traveling schedule of the whole mission once more this week and next and then president decided that we should do zone conferences one more time before i leave the office. 

As for a forecast of the schedule for this next week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are Training meetings with the District Leaders and then Sister Leaders. Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday will be traveling to Moquegua and Ilo for meetings and divisions with the leaderships in each zone. And friday we come back to teach violin lessons and really have a half day to visit all our investigators before its pday, then sunday and then we go traveling again on Monday. 

Regarding my spiritual experience of the week, i would definately have to say that in my studies and in preparation for the trainings that we are going to have i have certainly felt the spirit guiding my thoughts and helping me know what i need to say to the specific people that i will be meeting with or training. Our investigators are doing great. We were sure having a problem with one and couldnt find him for a while, but we were praying and praying that he would be home and we went and found him and had a great lesson with him. He was almost in tears and is excited once again to continue on listening to us and learning. We have found another guy and the lessons with him this last week have been great. so we expect him at church along with hna. joanna who is progressing very fast with all the lessons and reading. So we visit those who we can during the time slots available. 

love the work. always have. got to keep going strong and helping as many as i can. i love you all. grateful for you. proud of you. and i pray for you. always. 

have a wonderful week. be safe. 

Weston 

1-4-3 

Hola!

I certainly wont be forgetting this day ever because our investigator, Elena, was baptized! :) We a had a very special baptismal service. President Zobrist came along with his children and grandchildren who have come this last week on a visit to see grandpa and grandma! :) 

It has been great to see his two grandchildren and one on the way. The family is great and we have certainly gotten to know them and president has just been so happy lately. i mean really happy! haha i was sitting here in the office the other day and i get this call and its president and he tells me, "Hey Elder Birtcher! Im down here in Ilo on the beach with my family (yeah, mission presidents dont have the same rules as us...) and i am so happy!" so i started laughing and we talked for a bit and he began to tell me about everything that he was doing and that they were going to go and find a nice restaurant to eat at....all in all...i finally asked him, so president, is there anything specifically that you need me to do right now (i thought he might have needed something due to calling me...) and he goes "nope! just wanted to talk to you, take care okay. bye!" it was hilarious. my best buddy, President zobrist, was calling me to tell me that he was super happy! :) 

i love president and his family! like a lot! :)

So its been a heck of a time with presidents family coming into town and we were busy with trainings all this last week. Monday was the training of the trainers which turned out to be really uplifting and we are excited for this next group of trainers. We picked up their greenies on Tuesday and debriefed them as well. This new group is really excited and really fun to have and talk with! i sure enjoyed it. Wednesday and thursday we were training the Zone Leaders and Hermana Leaders from all over the mission, and friday we were busy doing some work here in the area!

I am super happy, even though i am super tired. Our now convert, Elena, is sure increible. She was so nervous and scared to get baptized even though she knew she needed to do it. But she prayed a ton! She told everyone today in her baptismal service that she was scared and stayed up till 3am last night praying for god to help her be calm and to allow her to have the courage to go through with it. And that is exactly what she recieved, courage. Because, apparently her boss, a very anti-mormon person said that she wasnt going to be getting time off today to come and get baptized, and that she would have to work all day long till 7-8 PM, and elena told everyone that she had already scheduled an appointment with God at 3:30PM in the church for her bapitsmal service, and she would not be missing it. She explained that directly after her baptism she would be returing to work, and come what may but i am happy. and i know i did the right thing. She is an amazing woman. it was a testimony builder to me to also put the things of the world in second place and always put god first, just like she did.

i am sure proud of her and of another investigator we are working with, her name is Joanna. She came to church this last sunday after she was invited to by a friend. Her friend didnt even show up that day for church, but she did and we got to sit by her and talk and explain just a little bit before the sacrament meeting started. She is 25 years old, and is just AWESOME! after her principles of the gospel class, she asked if we could teach her the discussions right then and there. We were happy to do that, so we taught her the 1st discussion about joseph smith and the restoration which she just loved. We visited with her yesterday morning and she excepted to read the book of mormon and go further in learning. We asked her "hermana, if these things are true, what do you think you should do?" and she responded that she would continue learning and do what we asked her to do. And so we said, "well, we would like to invited you to be baptized..." and she goes, "yeah, sure." she is golden and is loving what she is feeling and finding. I called her last night and said, hey i know you are super busy, but we have a bapitsmal service at 3:30 tomorrow if you want to come and she what its like....and she CAME!! sola. just walked right in and sat down and then stayed and talked with us afterwards. The members of the ward are doing a great job fellowshiping her and invited her to stay for a karaokee activity afterwards! so we are excited to see her in church tomorrow and continue on teaching her! pray for her! 

As for our other guy, fabricio, we finally found him. we are praying for him and are going to give him some extra attention in teaching him

 

 

. 

So that is what is happening around here...its been great! i am loving it! 

As for a forecast of what this week holds for us: i really dont know actually. i had it all planned out, but then president change it all on me on the last second, so i will have to talk to him on monday and reajust some things.... but i know we will certainly be busy. as always!

love you guys, enjoy all that is going on back home. know you are loved and prayed for! nos vemos pronto,

1-4-3

Weston

Well Hello,

We have arrived yet again for changes. these last 6 weeks have flown by! This last week things have been crazy, and it wont stop being crazy until the middle of April. We were busy with getting the old missionaries all set to go home and we had their farwell meeting and shipped them out thursday and friday. We have been busy planning with President Zobrist all the changes taking place tomorrow and have been running around visiting zones and making sure everything is going smoothly here in the grand mission of Peru Arequipa! :) 

But we get hecktic again in the schedule with trainings all this next week. Monday and Tuesday we get the newbies and their new trainers and train them both up. Wednesday and Thursday all the zone leaders and hermanas leaders are coming in to arequipa for leadership council. And then we have a baptism on Saturday! 

Even though it has been busy, we have seen many miracles and have seen the lords hands in changing peoples hearts and helping us find some new ones to listen to us. 

One such miracle has been with a sister named Luz. We have been working with her for a while. She is not a member, but her 2 kids are baptized. She wanted to when her kids got baptized but had some problems with living with this guy and couldnt do it then...but had the desires to listen to us again after a year since the elders had returned to her house. She has come to church a bunch and knows it true but has been struggling to commit to baptism. So we had a great little lesson with her about having faith in the lord and about repentance and that hte spirit will guide her afterwards and to not fear, but be prepared. So we ended the lesson by saying, but your fears on the table and just ask the lord what he wants and when he wants you to be baptized. She came to our stake conference that we had sunday and then our next lesson with her  was awesome. I dont know how the subject came up, but she asked us when we were ending our missions, and since my companion and i are in the same group we said, "in july," and she gets this sad expression and says, "i dont want you guys to go, but i guess i better get baptized before july comes no?" so we laughing said, hermana, in talking about baptism, have you recieved an answer yet? she explained that she hadnt recieved a specific answer but that she was super excited to do it. So we started talking about a baptism goal for her...and we said, " hermana, we personally would love for it to be this next saturday, the 14th, but if you feel that you need more time, we can do it on the 21st. which one do you think is better?" and right away says, no i think the 14th we can do it! 

She is ready, and she is excited to do it. We have been going back a bunch visting her and helping her out more. but we love her and are excited for her to get baptized this next saturday. 

Fabricio our other guy, has disappeared. i have no idea where he has gone to. but our search for him has not ended :) haha we will be trying to communicate with him and try to invited him to the baptismal service this next saturday. hopefully that will excited him even more. :) 

but good things happening here in arequipa. how is everything back home? getting ready for spring break?? what are your guys´ plans? 

i love you all a whole bunch. i pray for you all constantly. have a wonderful week. and i will talk to you guys next week! 

con mucho amor, 

Elder Weston 

1-4-3

 

 Elder Birtcher

 Asistente 

 Misión Perú-Arequipa

Que tal?

I know you probably already know whats been going on around here lately...more interviews. We just have one more week of those and we are DONE!!!!!!!!!!! :D yay!!!

We stayed here in arequipa tuesday and wednesday to do the interviews for some of the zones here in arequipa and thursday we left with president and his wife to siguas (a place about 2 hours outside of arequipa) and then on friday we were in Camana (about 3 hours outside of arequipa on the beach). 

the interviews went well. We are having some lack of excitement issues in some of the areas out in the boonies, but we are trying to get them excited and get them focused on what they need to be doing for their branches out there. kinda of a different work on the outskirts of the mission limits. so it was good to get out there and visit them and help them out with what theey are struggling with. 

Returning back to Wednesday...President and i have been talking for a long time now about the famous bull fights that they do here in arequipa. They are special, and only happening during special times of the years and this last week they were having one. it was rare to be in the middle of the week because they are always usually on sundays but we found out about it and president was like "LETS GO!" So on Wednesday afternoon, after our interviews in the morning, president took us and the whole office to the Arequipa Bull Fights! And it was probably one of the coolest things that i have done here in Peru. To be honest. We all bought cowboy hats and had a great time there yelling and watching the Toros go at each other. They were massive and it was fun to watch. i will send pictures. president has all the good ones on his camera and he hasnt given them to me yet, so once i get those, i will be passing those along as well. but talk about fun!

Thursday and Friday were good. The hotel in Camana turned out to be really nice and the driving didnt kill me as much..... being tired that is. 

Bueno, like i said we are having our last week of interviews for this week and then we have to be sending the old elders and sisters home and then we get right off rolling with another change. gonna be a great week i hope and i am excited to get to working hard. 

Our baptism that was supposed to be for today fell through. Fabricio left unexpectatley to Tacna to help out his grandpa and his health situations and then we left and we couldnt have any lessons with him. so we will be trying for that this next saturday. pray for us to find some more people to teach and pray for the mission that we can improve our numbers and foucs on what needs to be done here in Arequipa. I love the mission and the missionaries i get to serve. and i especially love the peruvians. they are awesome. 

and of course i love you guys. more than you know. 

have a wonderful week. be safe. look for more missionary opportunities and look to bless the lives of all around you. look for spiritual experiences and be true to the faith.

love you all, 

Weston

1-4-3 

by the way, i dont think i have ever been so happy. we had a wonderful lesson yesterday with an investigator who has accepted a baptismal date for the 21 of Feb. i am so excited. pray for him, is name is Fabricio. we are trying to look for another sister who is ready to be bapitzed as well (just cant find her) and we will be contacting a wonderful family on monday to start them on the road to baptism. pray for us!

 i love this work. today we have interviews again here in arequipa...so it will be busy. thanks for all your help. 

1-4-3

FEBRUARY 14, 2015

 

Happy Valentine´s day to you all!!! :)

I hope the weather has been great to you all over there because here, its been raining non stop all week long! i think yesterday we had one clear day but then today it came back to being all dark and heavy clouds. today we are going to the waterfalls outside of arequipa and i hope it doesnt do a down pour on us!! :) 

Anyways, we just got done with a baptism that some of the elders here in the office had this morning. It really made me excited because this next saturday we are going to have one too!! :) We have been teaching this young man named fabricio, his mom is a less active and him and his little brother arent baptized. so we have been working with the whole family to resuce the mom and to baptize the 2 along with the help of their active member grandpa from Tacna. in our lessons he has accepted everything, he has been reading and his mom has really opened up, something that she has never done with any of the elders. so we are excited. we are also teaching a lady named elena who we need to find and continue teaching! if we can just get her to understand the power of hte book of mormon, then we can continue on with her progress. i pray for her. keep her in your prayers as well. and then on monday we are contacting supposedly a golden family. so there is work to be done and im excited to get to do it. 

That the area report for you, as for the mission report. The mission is continuing to progress. The numbers are rising and we are still interviewing everyone. This last week we got to interveiw tuesday wednesday and friday here in arequipa in the office and thrusday we left to go to moquegua to interview there. The elders and hermanas are excited and improving everyday. little problems here and there but not much. On thursday night i got ot get out with one of my good buddies and do divisiones with him, Elder Wagner. Had a great talk with him and got to teach a couple of lessons that went really well. Stayed in the hotel that night in Moquegua and listened to the rain and the overflooding river down below. kinda crazy that all of southern peru really has gotten hit by a ton of rain...but its like arizona, we need it! :) 

more interviews coming up this week and like i said, hopefully a baptism to end the week off. we will be traveling outside of arequipa on thursday and friday and saturday i think, so more fun stories coming your way next week. 

well i got to get going...love you guys a bunch. 

les amo bastante,

Elder Birtcher

1-4-3 

I did survive this last week. :) We had our hands full all week with training conferences and with traveling and interviewing the missionaries. A lot of work still to be done...that is our job for this whole month of Februrary.  As for arequipa life....its overcast now, and actually really cold. its been like that since last week. A sunny day here and there, but mostly heavy dark clouds and rain. On sunday, it POURED. it was a flood here in arequipa...kinda fun to go visiting people during the down pour. When we came back to the office sunday night to do numbers for the mission...haha we had jackets, ties, shoes, and socks all over the place drying out. got soaked.  The schedule and businesses started fast as monday and tuesday we had the zone leaders and hermanas liders come to arequipa for our leadership council. And from all the comments and opinions...everyone really liked it. i was pretty happy about that. My comp and i were kinda struggling on how to present the info that we wanted to share with the mission. But the lord helped us out as always. He really puts words in our mouths at the moments that we need them!  Tuesday afternoon we were busy trying to visit investigators and other recent converts (because it would be the only time to visit people ALL week long...kinda sad no?) but really didnt have much luck in finding those who we needed to teach.  We hit the road for the rest of the week on Wednesday and traveling down to Ilo with President and his Wife to start the interviews. Met up with my old companion Elder Cornejo, didnt realize how much i miss that guy. One of my best friends. In ilo the interviews went a little longer than expected but great to see that the zone is excited and ready to work and ready to apply the things which we talked about with them into their areas. that makes me excited. we then had our lunch...at 5:30PM before going and doing divisiones with the Zone Leaders. The lessons that we had turned out really great and we finalized the 3 baptisms that they have coming up for this month. Got to stay in the grand hotel ilo for the night which is always fun! :)  Thursday morning i got to work a little bit on some paperwork after breakfast, before leaving for Tacna. Bought a bunch of junk food for the trip over :) haha president and his wife are the best! seriously. love those 2 so much.  Interviews on thursday went well i should say. the zone is doing well...we can always do better, but the zone leaders and the district leaders are ready to take it up a notch. During the evening hours, after checking into the hotel...i had some free time to visit my pentionista from tacna and a family that i love so much and i havent seen them in since i left my first area in tacna. its pretty amazing the feelings you get seeing old friends again. i love those people and i love tacna. haha i think i left half of my heart there in tacna when i 1st left and i was so grateful to find it once more while i was there. President took us out to eat at a super nice restaurant afterwards to end off the day. But i think the best part of thursday was the sleep i got that night! the grand hotel tacna changed out all their beds for new ones and i think i was so tired from everything that i crashed super hard. but i felt great on friday! :) Started interviews off early on friday and that continued on throughout the whole day until about 5pm before we headed over to the airport to catch our flight back home to arequipa.  so it was a go go go week once again but it was fun to travel and be with presi and hermana zobrist. sure learning a lot here in this position. kinda crazy how fast the weeks are flying by. pero, im happy.  its just starting to rain now...so im even more happy.  this next week we continue on with the interviews here in arequipa for some zones and its a possiblility that we leave to moquegua maybe weekend time...we shall see.  know that i love you all. i hope you all have a great week. you are all in my prayers. constantly. Weston 1-4-3      Elder Birtcher  Asistente   Misión Perú-Arequipa

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