Bienvenidos a 2020!

New year in Peru, new investigators, and some new experiences.

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Glynis here: It was great to be able to talk to Jacob this last week! We spoke to him just before New Year's Eve, and he was so excited to be able to chat. He is healthy and happy, and so excited for his little brother getting the priesthood! He misses the air conditioning in the office, but has enjoyed being in the jungle. He and his companion have created a new game, as they trudge through the jungle... Kick the Frog! Sounds awful, but it helps them keep their spirits up as they walk between 13 and 15 miles per day. We told him to be careful not to kick any of the poisonous frogs they see!

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Happy New Year, everyone!

This week was kind of crazy; I'm not going to lie. Before I start, I want to say "sorry mom" because I didn't take any pictures again this week. Lo siento ('m sorry).

So  this week was New Year. Woo Hoo! Basically, for Peru that means that everyone was  drinking far into the night. So that's kind of sad. But there are a few interesting traditions for New Year's that Peruanos do. One of them is they make a life sized doll of themselves and at midnight they drag it into the street and they light it on fire.. BAHAH no joke! I guess it means they are going to start over for this new year.  So that was kind of interesting. We were walking around the day before New Year's and there were life sized dolls sitting in lawn chairs outside a few houses; kind of creepy! There were also  a ton of fireworks, like Disneyland level of fireworks. We woke up at midnight because it was so loud but it was cool.

We had a really spiritual experience with one of our investigators, their names are Franco y Monica. We have been teaching them for a while but we thought they weren't going to progress, because they don't understand much about what we teach them. This week we went in and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is lesson 3 and when we talked about baptism they got super excited. Well, Monica did, at least. Franco asked what would happen if God told him he needs to be baptized but he just doesn't want to. I shared the story of Jonah and the whale from the Bible, and that Jonah repented. Franco thought it was hilarious that he repented inside the whale. He was like "adentro de una Ballena???" (inside a WHALE?) It was really funny, I had to try not to laugh.

After the lesson we asked Monica to pray, and her prayer was so sincere. She truly asked God to know if our message was true, and we felt the Spirit so strongly. It was like we could see it descend first on her, then her pareja (partner), then on us. She was in tears after the prayer and they told us they want to come to church. It was awesome! I feel like it was God's way of telling us that maybe they don't understand a lot, but don't give up on them.Now, the sad part of the story, they didn't end up coming to church. I think they might have just slept in. We have another lesson with them tomorrow, so hopefully we can recalcar la importancia de eso (emphasize the importance of that).

Well, I love you guys a ton, have a great week!!

Love, -Elder Neves

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Glynis again: So, no pictures, but we did get another story from his companion, Elder Veach. Apparently, they were walking along, and saw a burning tuk tuk (moto car) with men standing around it throwing palm leaves on the fire to keep it burning. They ran up to see if their assistance was needed. The men told them that the owner of the tuk tuk had stolen from one of them, and to teach him a lesson they were burning his moto car. They had pulled him out of it, and some were holding him back, as the others fed the fire. Jacob and Elder Veach hurried away, minding their own business. Apparently, the police presence is almost non-existent, so this kind of vigilante justice is common! Hmmm, I wonder why Jacob didn't see the need to share that story with his mom???