Week 19

This week was pretty new and challenging experience for me. New area, new people, a different feel to everything. It’s like I am back in the states where everything is all modernized. I am really surprised in how much growth I have in my Spanish now just in so little time. I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting and honestly I just went up there with one quote and one scripture and started to talk about missionary work, in alma 29:9 it talks about how this is his work and his glory and how we should focus on his work to share his message and serve all.  This week was a new week and a quite one as well. Not familiar with the area or the people, but this week my companion and I had the opportunity to teach Sister Diana and is well prepared for baptism. She has been attending church for a few months with her daughter. Her father was a member but she had never been baptized into the church. We had the opportunity to stop by and teach and invite her to baptism, she immediately said yes! So now it’s time to prepare her. One of the best parts of this journey to go through in the mission is to teach and baptize. Another experience this past week was actually this past Sunday, a taxi driver parked on the side of the road needed help switching out his tires. Right after we helped we invited him to church and left him a Christmas card and a card of Jesus Christ. I think the little small acts always bring joy in this work. He was a really nice guy and has strong faith I am so glad we were able to plant a seed in his heart. 

Week 18

This week was sweet, a lot of new experiences each and every day with different people. Being yelled at because they don´t want a card of our church is kind of normal now or being rejected in general. I am still trying to not get frustrated at myself when others don’t want to receive a card of Jesus Christ. I am learning that I need to be more affective in this missionary life because time flies. This week we had a lesson with an investigator who kind of knows about our church because her husband was a member. He isn´t very active (we will work on that as well). Little did we know she had a bunch of questions about our church, we found out what she needed all in 30 minutes. The funniest part was when we first met her she would say she didn´t have time, only Sunday nights were good to visit. After one lesson with her she opened up and said that we can visit ANYDAY of the week in the afternoons. It’s amazing how God works on people when they have a sincere heart and want to change the direction of their life. In the end everything will work out for the investigators and the missionaries who are teaching them and I know that to be true. I love this gospel so much, This gospel can bring so much happiness into our lives if we just open up to him.

Week 17

This week was sweet, a lot of new experiences each and every day with different people. Being yelled at because they don´t want a card of our church is kind of normal now or being rejected in general. I’m trying to not get too frustrated at myself when others don’t want to receive a card of Jesus Christ. I am learning that I need to be more affective in this missionary life, because time flies. This week we had a lesson with an investigator who kind of knows about our church, her husband was a member. He isn´t very active (we will work on that as well). Anyways, little did we know she would have a bunch of questions about our church. We found out what she needed all in 30 minutes. The funniest part was when we first met her she would always say she didn´t have time and only Sunday nights were good to visit. After one lesson with her she opened up and said that any day of the week in the afternoons we could come visit. It’s amazing how God works on people when they have a sincere heart and want to change the direction of their life.  In the end its in God’s hands, everything will work out for the investigators and the missionaries and I know that to be true. I love this gospel so much, this gospel can bring so much light into our lives if we just open up to him

 

 

 

Week 16

Well this past week has been another great week!  My favorite phrase in Spanish is Poco a poco (little by little) One of the best phrases I have heard while in the mission field.

So this week went by super quick just like every other week, many progressing investigators as well. So just this past Monday we had the opportunity to teach Hermana Tina. This was our second time meeting with her; the first time was as a contact and lesson all in one day. She knows our church well; one of her sons is a member of the LDS church. Anyways, we talked a lot about why there are so many churches and explained/taught the restoration to her. Little by little I think she really wants to attend our church. One thing I have learned during a lesson is that its ok to pause and think about what you want to ask your investigator, I remember just asking her a simple question of how do you feel about your current  church you attend. At first she said its good until I think my companion and I gave her a weird look (not that it was bad or anything.) and then she started expressing how the priest there asked her to be baptized, she said she doesn´t feel ready for that church, there has to be more. She went on to say how when she prays to God, she doesn´t feel that God answers her prayers.

I then had the opportunity to bare my testimony about how important it is to always pray often with a sincere heart. I explained how God won´t always answer your prayers right away (something I am still learning). I then invited her to be baptized and she said yes, one of the promises I told her is that when you pray about our message and about the book of Mormon, that you will receive an answer. I couldn´t believe that I told her that, like words just came out of my mouth. I can testify that the Holy Ghost was helping me reach out to her with faith.  

Week 15

Buenas Tardes,

This week was a great week. I can understand the language more and more now and can have a pretty good conversation now during a lesson and outside a lesson. One of the things I’ve learned is that sometimes you don´t always know why the Holy Ghost is guiding you to a specific area or for what purpose. Last night my companion, a member and I were walking to our next lesson but we were not sure if we were even going to have a lesson. As we were walking I saw a little apartment complex the door was open. We walked past it and I started thinking to myself if we should go in.  After a long minute I told my companion we have to go back. There were only three apartments on the first floor, we went to the first apartment and the lady that answered opened the door and then closed it immediately. I thought to myself maybe we shouldn´t be here, but we kept going. Once we got to the second door a man answered, he invited us in and introduced us to his cousin. His cousin started talking about how he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. He told us he has been inactive for a few years now with his wife, but loves the gospel and the church. Crazy thing was he didn´t know that our church was just a few blocks from his house. We end up teaching him and his cousin, they really want to hear more of our lessons. I can testify that the Holy Ghost does work with us, and that there is a difference between having the Holy Ghost present in your life then without. One of my favorite scriptures in the bible is in Hebrews 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye  might receive the promise.

Elder Aguirre

Week 14

Buenos Tardes!

So this week went great, I feel like I have been growing in my Spanish a lot quicker, but understanding is still a little hard. I can get the general part of the conversation down but not all of it. I see it as a blessing, little by little I can see God blessing me in my everyday life.

So after District meeting our zone leader Elder Manzanera took me and the new missionaries out to go contact. It was our practice but in real life form to let out our fears. Each one of us had to contact the whole entire bus full of people four times. At first I was pretty nervous, but then I realized that this is the Lords work I shouldn’t be nervous. One of the best experiences I have ever had in my life, just forget yourself and get to work and invite people to hear our message.

I didn´t realize how many people you could find that are interested in hearing our message. There are a lot of people that wanted to hear our message and attend our church. I have a testimony when we open our mouth god will help through the holy ghost to invite others to listen to our message or attend church. We are Gods hands here on earth and in the mission field.

Week 13

Hola buenas tardes,

So this past week was sweet, and stressful. This week was my first week with a new companion. Not just new but, my first companion who can only speak Spanish. To really look back on this week it was definitely a roller coaster. Emotions were all over the place, some were positive and negative, confident and doubtful. To look back on the week I could definitely look at the negative but obviously positive is the Light of Christ so I knew what path I wanted to take. I learned that Missionary work is hard, that not every day is going to be all sunshine and positive outcomes. We read in Mosiah 4:27 ¨For it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength...¨ And I know that scripture to be true, We can easily overwhelm ourselves and give ourselves a lot of stress when we are trying to run faster than we have strength. I felt like I have been doing that a little too much these past few months, and come to realize that it’s not my time.

The coolest part this week for me was that my companion and I had to start rebuilding again and find investigators. It was unique because when I got to the field, I walked into an already scheduled baptism and finished lessons. This time together we started fresh and honestly it’s the most satisfying feeling when you know someone wants to hear a message about Jesus Christ. We found eight new investigators this week who are interested. My companion and I got to ask two people (different families) to baptism and out of the two one said yes! I am hoping and praying that we can have this opportunity to baptize our new investigator on the 26 of November.

I honestly love this work and look forward to the next day to teach the people.

Week 12

Week 12

This week was a great week to understand the importance of missionary work. My companion and I had the opportunity to go to the temple with our two converts to do Baptisms for the dead. One of the greatest experiences is to be on the other side being a witness and watching our converts do baptisms for the dead. I can see why that´s the ultimate goal to bring recent converts to the temple, it doesn´t end just by being baptized and being confirmed a member of the church; our goal is to make more covenants with our heavenly father and to be able to be part of his work.

   Another huge blessing this past Saturday, our whole zone had the opportunity to set up and hold a marriage for two couples so that they can be baptized. All together we had 14 baptisms for our investigators all in one day. The best part of it was watching each one of them come closer to Christ. Each elder had the opportunity to baptize one person and honestly it was the best experience we ever had. This is the true church; Like President Nelson said in General Conference, God is the definition of Joy, choosing to come unto Christ will always be the joy in a family.

Week 11

Week 11

I can´t believe my fifth week of training has ended, time really does fly. This week was awesome, stressful, and very humbling.  This week was my first time leading an area, and after this week I actually really like leading. I never thought that I could be a people’s person, but learning from my companion I can speak more Spanish and be more open. It´s crazy how the Lord works through us!  I’ve noticed that my listening skills are not that great, it is one of my goals to accomplish during my training.

So this week I have one story that I want to share, it’s about contacting.  Before contacting on Saturday I wasn´t always comfortable, still shy, but on Saturday I felt like my companion and I needed to contact in a specific area. In an hour and a half we contacted sixteen people. Out of those sixteen people only two wanted to hear our message. How we found those contacts were from our thirteen, fourteen, and fifteenth contacts, we were impressed 4 references, that never happens! Anyways we started with a boy who was thirteen and we asked him, and he told us that a women and her family who would like to hear our message. So my companion and I go to this reference and talk to her, but she wasn´t interested either, so after we asked for another reference, she pointed to an apartment and gave us a specific room. We go to this man´s house and talked with him for a bit and he wasn´t interested in our message either.  So we ask for one more reference and he pointed just across the hall to a specific room. At this point we just wanted to find someone who could hear our message. We end up going to this last reference after so many tries, we started talking with them, and this family recognized who we were and what we do. The sister of the family knew that we were Mormons; she said that she is really interested in the church, and she also said that she had been reading The Book of Mormon online, but doesn´t have time to read a lot. She really wanted a copy of The Book of Mormon, so we gave her a book and asked if we could come again and teach them, and they said yes!!! Honestly a true blessing that we found this family and a huge miracle for my companion and I.  I can testify that this work is true and if we just have faith and work hard, Heavenly Father will bless us and help us as we search and find people who want the gospel in their lives. I know that when we have faith and follow Heavenly Fathers plan all will fall into place.

Week 10

Week 10

 This week has been another week filled with many blessings. We were able to have more lessons with our progressing investigators and helped prepare for two baptisms. I honestly am so grateful to be part of such amazing people’s lives, to help make this happen and to be able to have the power and authority of god to baptize investigators. We also had a rescue this week which was awesome, Hermano Leoncio has been inactive for more than a year, and being able to teach him and bring him back to the fullness of the gospel is amazing.

  I have also noticed our ward has been progressing a lot these past few weeks. At the beginning it was pretty hard because they were not as active, didn´t have much service or activities with the youth. Now our ward has been participating in Family Home Evening, going to English class at the church, coming to baptisms, and just being more helpful with us. I am so grateful to be part of this ward, though we are still working to be active together, I know that we are becoming one great big family.

I had my First day of leading the area on Friday and I will admit it’s really hard to learn your area. Luckily I had my companion and the Holy Ghost by my side to help. I am really learning to just trust in the lord and just work. It’s crazy how so many people recognize the missionaries. I had this feeling that my companion and I needed to go down another block so we could contact, or share a message. Once we went down the road we were stopped by a homeless man, who was just looking for missionaries for some reason, sadly I didn’t understand his reason. We ended up giving him a card of Jesus Christ shared a small message with him to come unto Christ and you will be at peace. I have never seen a man so emotional and happy to hear our message like this before. I am so grateful that we can make people feel joy when we share messages with them; I know it to be true because we have the Holy Ghost and only the Holy Ghost can reach other people and their hearts.   

Week 9

Week 9

This week was filled with many miracles, learning experiences, and some hard ships. Our hard ships were not finding more investigators or our investigators failing to follow through. I notice that I got really down when that happened this week; I did not let that bring me down, I just looked at the positives on who we did teach whether it was with members, Investigators, less actives or even contacting new people. My Spanish might not be the best but I do feel the comfort when I teach or when my companion helps me out with a word or phrase. It’s the little miracles that surprise me.

So this week when we were walking to our next appointment we ran into a drunken person on the side walk. The Crazy thing was that he called for our names, and he bore his testimony to us, he told us his story how his son is going on a mission and how he is a member of the church and knows this church is true. What made me question was why was he drinking, why does Satan have to do that to Gods children, and why do we go through hard ships. We couldn´t do much because he wasn´t in our area and that’s what made me sad but we did give him a card to contact the church. The reason I share this story because during conference those questions in my mind were answered. My favorite talk was all of them (jaja) but If I had to choose one it would be Russell M. Nelson. What can help us become spiritually stronger? He emphasized Joy in this talk so much. My favorite part of the talk was when he said ¨Saints can be happy and feel joy every day, even if it’s a bad one. Joy comes and is the definition of God, Learn to suffer with Joy¨. I learned so much this conference and realized how much I could get out of each conference as a missionary. I am so grateful for prophets today on this earth and love this gospel more and more each day.

Ok and now onto the positive, we will be have 2 baptisms this week, their names are Victor and Jerico, I am so excited for them because I know that they are taking One HUGE step towards Heavenly Fath

Week 8

This week has been a great week, Full of learning and growing experiences. I have noticed that I need to learn more patience and just forget myself and get to work. Now this week has definitely been a better week, I got to talk more while teaching lessons and do more contacts, although I am still a little shy I’ve  noticed I’m getting way better. This past week has been filled with a bunch of blessings. One of them is about two young boys that we taught this week. Their names are Alexander who is 8 and Jerico who is 9, I love these two kids. Their grandparents and siblings are strong in the church, the mom has been a little less active and the dad is not a member.  We were asked to give them lessons from the mom so they can become members of the church.  It’s amazing that we were given the opportunity to teach them. My companion has taught them a few times before, but these last two visits have been amazing teaching them about faith, prayer, and baptism. You can see the joy in these boys’ eyes and I just felt the spirit so strong. We asked them to baptism and had to have their Father sign a paper that it was ok for them to be baptized.  Alexander was baptized this past weekend and Jerico will be baptized next week after General Conference. I love this gospel so much and I love the people of Peru. Although my Spanish is not fluent I have seen a lot of progress these past few weeks.

As for where I live, it’s in a very poor area of Peru, high crime rates, very dirty, a lot of markets, and street food which we can’t have (but it’s smart, I could get sick). We have a pinchanist who cooks for us lunch and dinner, I don’t know how to spell it but hope you know what I mean. My living isn’t too bad, I at least have a bed and running water, most people that we teach here have one or the other or none at all, it’s very sad mom. My English classes I teach are great, I learn a lot of Spanish this way because my classmates help me (haha) but I Love them they are funny and great. Our last service we did was clean the whole church building, just me and my companion, but our building is super small.

Please tell everyone I said hello, and that I love them.

Week 7 September 19, 2016

Hola Madre!

My companion is sweet. I love him, his name is elder Hawks, he has lived in Spain for 13 years so he is very fluent in the language. I am so blessed to have him. On my first day we started contacting and tracking, I gave out my first book of Mormon to a man who has two kids and is married, his children are oh so cute. Anyway this week has been a really crazy week; it feels like the first week in the CCM. I am in training for 12 weeks which is really tough but I am enjoying it. I just want to say that my companion and I got a baptism this week! It was such an amazing experience mom! His name is Louis, he’s 13 years old, the only member in the family. Crazy I know. We will have another one this Saturday. We also brought an inactive back to church, she has been inactive for a long time. It has been such a humbling experience mom. Where I am from and the place I am serving in right now is called Central which is near the coast of Lima, I am near the End of the boundaries of my mission. Its super sad mom, I see hundreds and hundreds of homeless dogs, cats, drunk people you name it, It’s bad! The people are kind of rude or just have a bad attitude...



The language is hard, but I’m just going to stay positive and say that I am growing more and more. My ward is really nice, I teach Clase de Ingles every Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. I also gave a talk on Sunday which was about 9 minutes, it was alright.. I mean they said they got what I was talking about but I just don’t know the language.. haha overall studying and learning more in the gospel has been a blessing, I have been studying in Preach my Gospel a lot in the First lesson about how God is our Loving Heavenly Father. It’s been a true blessing how much I have grown and know that God loves us and is with us every day. Its truly amazing how he answers prayers whether it’s at the moment or later when the time comes. I love you Mom and Dad.

Week 6 September 12, 2016

Buenos Tardes,

Well today is my last day at the MTC, I am so grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow just in these past 6 weeks. I have so much more to go and learn. The language is coming along but nowhere near being fluent. This past week we got to teach more members from Mexico City, and it was a huge blessing. They have so much love for us and I just don´t know why. They are so humble and just want what’s best for us. I am so grateful that I go teach each day to practice, I can see how the Holy Ghost works through me and it’s an amazing comforting feeling. God knows us and will guide us to tell us what to do and I know that to be true.

We heard a talk by Elder Ballard this past weekend and there are two things that really hit me in the heart and that was " Let your soul Be still and commit yourself, Heart, Might, Mind, and strength." another was " Nothing will stop us from serving the lord", I love this gospel so much and I know if we come unto Christ and be converted that we will see the blessing that God gives us, it starts with the act of faith.

Week 5 September 8, 2016

Week 5

Buenos Dias,

So this is my last week in the CCM! I leave next Monday to Peru and I can´t wait. This week was so awesome; we got to hear Elder Christofferson speak on Tuesday from Provo. It was on Teach repentance and baptize converts. It is such a blessing to have repentance and I am so grateful for it. One of my favorite things he says was "There is a Savior, He gives us the access of grace through faith in him". I love that and know to be true as well. Faith leads to obedience (articles of faith #4) which then leads us to repentance and being clean again. I know that our Heavenly Father loves all of us, we are his children. I have learned the importance of trust and by David O. Mckay (who was a prophet) said "It is greater to be trusted then loved", and to me I think it is more important to be trusted so then we are truly loved as well.

Week 4 September 1, 2016

So this week was really awesome, this past week our Branch president Elder Romero spoke to our District about obedience and sacrifice. In the Old Testament Samuel 15:1-22 (I challenge you all to read it) We learn in this chapter how Saul didn´t obey Gods commandment. To shorten it up Elder Romero says "Obeying and striving for obedience to the lord is better than sacrificing (for example: My life for two years). It’s just a small fraction of my life I can give to the lord. For i know and testify that he will pour his blessing onto me and everyone else as well.

Another cool experience that I had this week was in class yesterday. Our teacher Hermano Trujillo challenged us to pray and ask god one question and it can be any question, then go to your scripture and open to a random page. I´ll share my question, it was how can I strengthen myself spiritually and overcome bad days? And I happened to be in Alma 31:33 Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people. (Read it). It talks about how we are promised to have strength that they may Bear there afflictions. I know it’s just one small verse but i can testify that God does answer prayers and whether its little or big, he is always there and i challenge all of you to do this this week whenever you can, y en el nombre de jesucristo. Amen

Week 3 August 25, 2016

Buenos Tardes todos las Personas!

 So this week was sweet. I had my first TRC. which is teaching an actual member outside the MTC. Pretty nervous speaking to a native before going to teach. But the coolest experience happened, before my companion and I went in we prayed for comfort and the language to be there. During the lesson I felt like I wasn´t teaching, We were talking about the importance of prayer and how God will answer our prayers. For example before we taught he helped us with the language and the comfort. sharing my testimony with him was the greatest experience, I am pretty sure I cried. besides the point I had no clue that I knew that much Spanish to share my testimony to him. I am so grateful for prayer, I wouldn't know where I would be today without communicating with our Heavenly Father.

Another experience i had this week was when we had Book of Mormon Study with my district. We were in Moroni 7: 44-48 and that whole time I can testify that i felt the spirit. One it confirmed to me that I know the Book of Mormon is true. second I know how much our savior loves us. In verses 44-47 it talks about the importance of charity and how we need to seek that more then anything, and strive to be like Christ, Then in verse 48 its the blessings that god pours on us. he makes a promise to us that if we grow our charity and pray unto the Father that we may be purified even as HE is pure. I know  that Our savior loves us more then we can ever imagine. I know its hard to seek the charity but if we try and pray to our father that he will help us and I know this to be true.

Week 2 August 18, 2016

Buenos Dias,

       I am loving the MTC. The people here are amazing and I am so grateful that they are apart of my life. This week was a lot of fun, learning how to teach "investigators." It was kinda hard the first time because teaching in another language is difficult. But going into our third week I can tell how The Gift of Tongues and putting my faith in god has played a huge role. I can see God´s hand in my life! i just want to say how grateful I am to be part of his work, learning to be converted unto Jesus Christ. I am surprised how much my spanish has grown just in the past 2 weeks. 

 

        I got the chance to hear Elder Holland speak (Broadcast) and I just want to say that he is an amazing speaker. The talk was on The Divine Companion, I learned that there are Three companions. It´s you, your partner, and most importantly the Holy Ghost. He went on to talk about seven steps to know the recognition of the spirit, which was the best but im only going to share one which happens to be my favorite one and it is the first point, he says "Everyone is an investigator, you´re an investigator( members of the church as well), Missionaries are too as well, we just happen to be further down the path of conversion". I love that because there is always room for improvement. Our knowledge of this gospel is very little. 

         This past tuesday for devotional was amazing, We got to hear Elder Mojeto speak live, He is part of the Quorum of the seventy. It was a sweet experience to hear about his life and how he related it back to the gospel and how Jesus Christ is merciful. You can definitely feel how spiritual it was. 

           Yo sé que este El Evangelio es verdad y yo estoy mucho agradecido por Jesús Cristo y sus le expiación, Yo sé que él vive. En el nomber de Jesús Cristo Amen.

First E-mail

Hola Buenos Dias!

Don´t worry I am learning a lot more then just that phrase! The Spanish is coming along. Anyways it´s been an amazing week and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to be here. I want to first start off with the flight to Mexico, I had a cool experience meeting a lot of missionaries going to the same MTC. Let me tell you getting to the MTC was rough, traffic was worse then California. Anyways arriving at the MTC was great until they started throwing us information from left and right. I felt like I was thrown into the deep end with learning how to swim first.. it was just an overwhelming first few days to sum it up. The best advise I got on those first few days was "Just make it to Sunday". When Sunday came around i have never felt the spirit so strong in my life in sacrament meeting, although it was Spanglish I actually understood what they were saying. The best part was that at the end of the day we had a devotional by Elder Bednar, and to sum up his talk Ive learned that we cant just have a testimony of god. We cannot just rely on our testimony. We have to be fully converted to Christ, having that desire and serving in any situation everyday. That talk just gave me goosebumps. Then this week has been sweet so far, every Tuesdays we have devotionals so we were very lucky to hear Elder Niel L. Anderson speak live.. (Broadcasted from Provo) and it was just another blessing to hear a speaker from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles talk to us. I really needed that because I was really seeking my purpose and the first example he shared to us was what I call His BIG 3 and it´s 1. Be obedient 2. Be worthy and 3. Be Busy. I loved that because as a missionary its important to be obedient and striving to have exact obedience is my goal. The second is important because knowing that your worthy is the best feeling ever having no stress is a true blessing. But the last one, be busy, did not quite get that one until realizing Im in the MTC so busy is the first priority. Got to love it. Well today on  our P-Day we took a lot of pictures in the morning and then around 12 we will be heading off to the Mexico City Temple!! Another blessing the god has given me. I am so grateful that we have temples, and a temple near us. Serving the Lord has been the best decision I have ever made.. and its only been a week!! 

I love you all and miss you a ton, your missionary Elder Aguirre