On My Own

Office work on his own, mentoring other missionaries, learning the Iquitos airport.

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Glynis here: I am combining 2 weeks worth of letters in this entry. Last week got away from me, and I was never able to sit down and do the blog. I apologize for those who were looking for a letter last week. We are enjoying being able to talk to Jacob on a more frequent basis. His being in the office is really a great thing for us! He has a computer with semi-reliable internet connectivity. Jacob sounds great and looks amazing! He has developed a cute little Spanish accent that is awesome to hear! Thanks for your well-wishes and prayers on his behalf.

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Hey guys!

So, this week was kind of nuts! On Monday, we went to the airport to say goodbye to the missionaries who were finishing their mission. We left them there, said goodbye, and then went back to the office to work on transfer calls with President Li. After a long night of calling missionaries and telling them about their transfers, we went home and went to bed. A few hours later, at about midnight, I got a call from Elder Egbert, one of the Elders who had finished his mission and was heading to the USA. He had missed his flight in Lima and was stuck there! So, that was a fun night. I got up, made some phone calls to the airport and to the MTC president in Lima, and we got him a hotel for the night, and I'm happy to report he made it home the next day. It was a LONG night!

After seeing the missionaries leave it felt super weird. Seeing someone else finish his mission was strange, but the next day it was so much better! The new guys came and I got to greet them and tell them about how awesome the mission is. We went to Migrations to start a process to make all the missionaries legal, and one Elder pulled me aside. His name was Elder Patricio, from Argentina. He told me he wanted to go home. I sat him down and we talked about the blessing of a mission, and how much his family would be blessed by his serving. It was a really cool experience to see how much the Lord has truly blessed me and my family because of my service as a missionary. I just explained all that to him, and told him that he could talk to President Li. He flew out to Moyobamba a few days ago where he is hopefully doing ok.

That same day, Elder Newell, the old personal secretary left the office, and now I'm alone here. Well, not ALONE, alone, but I'm the only personal secretary now that my trainer is gone. It's been really stressful with flights for the president getting cancelled and stuff and having to quickly change plans. However, I've really learned a lot! I get to see how a lot of the mission stuff works, like how transfers get done and all that. It is awesome.

Overall, it has been a pretty good week. While we were out tracting, we found a couple named Jesus and Blanca. When we shared the message of the restoration they said they had been waiting to hear a message like this. They had been wondering why there weren't prophets today, and they had a ton of really good questions. We invited them to come to church and they said they would, so we'll see on Easter Sunday!

Another really cool thing happened the next day. Do you guys remember Octavio? He was the 16 year old in my first area that we baptized. Well, it turns out he is cooler than I thought. There is an investigator here in my new area (which is called Castanas) that was a reference from Octavio to the missionaries here! His name is Broulio and Octavio gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and now Broulio has a baptismal date, too! IT'S SO COOL!!! I feel so good to have found Octavio and helped him to be a light for his friend.

Basically, I'm having a great time here! Love you guys so much! I hope you have a good Easter!

Love,

Elder Neves

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Glynis here: Now enjoy the letter we got from Jacob on Saturday!

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Hey everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. I'm doing great here. This week has been really interesting. In the office, I've gotten to see a new way of how the mission works. It's been super educational!

This week, we were in our district meeting, as usual. I got a call from President Li. He told me to quickly come to the office. I came with my companion and President Li told me I had to buy a flight back to Argentina, ASAP! There was a missionary who had to go home for mental problems, and the area doctor was going to go with him. I quickly got the flights (you don't want to know how much a flight from Iquitos to Buenos Aires is if you buy it same day!). We got the Elder sent off. It was sort of sad to see him go, but I suppose a mission isn't for everyone. The area doctor came back and said he got home. Hopefully he is doing better now.

Today, as in Saturday morning, I sent Elder Bustios home. He finished his mission a little early so he could get home for his studies. I'm not sure if you all remember Elder Bustios. He was my first zone leader in my first area. We went to the airport this morning with him, and all his stuff, took some pictures with him, and said goodbye. It was sad to see him go. He was a really awesome missionary!

Not much more happened this week. We have a baptism tonight, so I'll include some pictures of that in the next email.

Love you guys a ton. Have a great week!

Elder Neves