More investigators

Free car wash service at our meetinghouse parking lot...
Even the bread man came!

This week also flew by way too fast. I don't get what's happening 😮

Anyways, this week we started teaching english classes, and wow did it turn out well. We were inviting all the people we saw and even though it didn't get announced during sacrament meeting last sunday, we had 7 people come, 3 of which were investigators, and 2 of those investigators were new, like we'd never taught them before teaching this class! We had a lot of fun. It was the best english class I've ever done (I did like 3 in Paramonga last July).

One of the investigators that came to that class we taught on Saturday with her mom and they accepted a baptismal date in march and came to church yesterday!!!

On another note we had another service activity on Saturday...my companion and I organized a free car wash that we combined with a tour in the church while waiting for your car to be washed and it turned out awesome. We got together with the other wards that meet in the same church building and put a sign out on the highway. Lots of references!! Even the bread man brought his moto-delivery-truck to get washed! haha 😎

It was a pretty crazy experience getting everything pulled together, and we had a lot of setbacks, but to put a long story short the Lord pulled through (like always) and we washed a lot of cars and got a lot of references, 2 of which are families in our area!! I testify to you guys that when we plan with the Lord to do His work and we follow His Spirit, He will bless us immensely.

I love you all a million. Have a great week.

Elder Evan Smith

Date Set for Baptism

A view from our apartment

It's been a great week in Huandoy. The week flew by so fast! We've been working a lot with members and I really like it a lot. In just a couple weeks we've gotten to know a LOT of members and we've received a lot of references. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all of them haha.

This week we found a new investigator that is awesome. His mom is a member, and last Sunday she told us in church she'd like us to do a family home evening sometime in her home, and of course we accepted. Her 35 year old son was interested in getting to know more about us as missionaries, and it turned out that he spoke a little English too, so that was cool. During the lesson, I felt like we were on fire, my companion and I were using scriptures, sharing our testimonies, asking inspired questions, the whole deal. We asked him if he wanted to get baptized, and he took a long pause. I thought, oh no is he going to say no..but he took a breath and said he hasn't been very involved in religion his whole life, but recently he's been studying the Bible frequently, and he knows he needs to get baptized and has been waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. He accepted a baptismal date for March 4th.

Well, have an AWESOME week!!!

 PERÚ 

Elder Evan Smith

Transferred, New Mission Schedule

Wow! So I got transfered and now I'm in Los Olivos. What a difference from my last area...big change of scenery! Not a single street here that is sand, everything is paved. Did I mention lots of paved roads? Oh, there are lots of tall buildings, lots of good restaurants, and most importantly, lots of people ready to hear the restored gospel. The members here are awesome.

And.....my companion is a gringo! His name is Elder Romero from Mesa Arizona.

Elder Romero and Elder Smith

My last area in Villa Ancón was in the Puente Piedra Stake, Miramar Ward, and now I'm in the Los Olivos Stake, Huandoy Ward. So in this ward there have been sister missionaries for over 2 years, and my companion and I are opening area as the first elders in a long time. It was crazy, when we were with the zone leaders and all our suitcases looking for our room, we were so lost. We tried looking up in the contact list in the cell phone someone who might know where to go. We called the bishop and he was super helpful, in literally 2 minutes he met up with us, took us to our room, and immediately took Elder Romero and me on a tour of the area to get to know the limits and various members. And not only is the bishop super onboard and helpful, but like every member we've talked to has been giving us references and offering to accompany us. While we've had a few normal struggles that have to do with opening an area, I am super excited to work in this ward.

We received the schedule changes for our mission that was put into place by the missionary department. Our mission president has applied the things that were announced and made some changes specific to our location in the world. Starting today, here's our schedule:

• 7:00 am - wake up
• 7:00-10:30 am - exercise, get ready, eat breakfast, daily planning, personal study
• 10:30am-4:00 pm - proselyting (when convenient between our appointments, lunch, companionship and language study)
• 4:00-9:00 pm - full proselyting
• 9:00-10:00 pm - options continue proselyting if we have appointments or return home to update area book, eat dinner, write in journal, etc.
• 11:00 pm - sleep.

Yeah it's a big change for us. Or at least it feels like it. It's now way more independent, not just the same thing every day. We can use our agency more to study at more convenient times and be able to teach families that are only all together later at night.

Hope you have a great week!! 

Elder Evan Smith

Zone Soccer, Invitation Accepted

We played soccer today as a zone with some members. It's still heating up here in Lima, so it was funny to see the picture of the snow at home.

This week I was doing a work visit with one of the elders in my district, and during the day we were going along with our plans when we found ourselves with a member that wanted to talk with us for a little while. He is less active and it was a good opportunity to gain more confidence with him and invite him to church on Sunday. As we were visiting, a friend of the member walked by and we started talking to him too. He turned out to be really willing to listen to us and it was a great opportunity to find this man, that we may have otherwise never gotten to know. He accepted the invitation to come to church and to get baptized when he receives a testimony of the truth.

Our district with ward mission leader and
elders quorum president on Sunday

I know that the Lord works in mysterious ways, but when we open our mouths and talk to everyone, and share our testimonies and the experiences we have had in our lives, that the people we talk to will hear the voice of the Lord, and those that are His sheep will recognize His voice and follow His call.

I love you guys a million! 

Have a great week.