Elder Jake Moss: Running From The Big Dogs in Huancayo

Hey Family! How are you all? Things are going well......I'm happy and time is flying! This week was tough. We had a lot of knocking and failed appts....but that's OK. I'm determined to find new people. So our goal for this week is to contact a lot! Monday was a good day. We played soccer with all the Elders. We also taught a lady named Elva who only wants to get baptized if her son does too.....but there's a problem...her son works on Sundays. So we are trying to work that out. Tuesday we had district meeting and I gave my first training.....good stuff haha! I taught how we need to be more thoughtful in our prayers and think of it as a conversation with our Heavenly Father. Because it is and that is one of the reasons I love praying so much. Our Heavenly Father LISTENS and LOVES each one of us. The format of district meeting is we have a song, training out of the missionary white handbook or Preach My Gospel, we talk about investigators and then we usually have an activity or game with the other districts. All of the districts in our zone meet in the same ward building so it's pretty fun. We also taught Jorge. He's my favorite less active. He is 78 and loves to talk. He tells us stories and then we get to teach him. He has come to church 2 weeks in a row and is progressing a lot. We are very happy for him. He always comes in his suit and white hat...haha! Wednesday Elder Cornilles was sick. We worked as much as he could. Thursday I did divisions with Elder Camacho from Bolivia. He's such a hard worker. We went running on Friday....which is always fun! Then we had planning and a lot of failed appts. That didn't stop us from trying to find people and we found a few people which was great. Elder Brown, who is Elder Camacho's companion apparently has bed bugs...which is a bad deal. So I brought my sleeping bag and even though I was sweating to death at night I slept in my sleeping bag because I do NOT want bed bugs! Saturday we had to help with a members daughter's baptism. We had to fill the font because no one has the assignment apparently. The heater is broken on the font and if something isn't 1,000 times harder then you're not in Peru! So we had to rig this heater thing to get it ready for the baptism. We also had mission night on Saturday with the members. Sunday was good. We had ward council first thing and in church we taught gospel principles class. Izumi and Ryumi came to church....so awesome to see that. It truly made my week. After church we had several appts that failed us. That was tough, but we stayed out and searched for people. The one lesson we did have was with Ernesto and Carmen. Ernesto's dad is a recent convert. They live out in the farmland of Huancayo by the mountains. They have a really nice house. We talked about there desires to be baptized and follow Christ. We talked about changing their schedules so they can attend church. The spirit was there while teaching and they are going to ask for Sundays off. Please pray for them!

We were headed back to our apartment at 7:45 and we had to cross this yard where a dog was. This dog is huge and hates us! We pick up our rocks/boulders and ran and threw the rocks at the dog. It is the scariest thing. The dog is huge! All of his buddies chase us.

Reflection of the week: This week was really tough and I found myself down on my knees a lot. But what I learned is not to give up. I also realized that I got to testify a lot of Christ. That our Savior lives and he loves and knows each and everyone of us. I know that he loves me and I know God made this week tough to test me. I am excited to bring about the work here in El Tambo. I love it here and I love how the mission has shaped me for life and has made my testimony of this gospel stronger and my relationship with my Savior even stronger. He is our loving brother and it's my purpose to share with the people in Peru that he lives and loves them. He only wants the best for them. The highlight of my week is teaching people and testifying that Jesus Christ lives. Love you all! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss