Wow another week has somehow come and gone... it feels like there were some days that were a little slower, but over all this week went by pretty fast! We found like 3 new people I think, and we taught a BUNCH of lessons, even some good ones with members.
Anyways, everything here is like perfect! The weather stays around 60 65 degrees, and then gets down to maybe 40 or 50 when the sun goes down. But I'm like never wearing a coat, and the people think I'm crazy! Even when it rains I don't because I love the rain. Speaking of rain. It does rain here pretty often! I'd say like on average at least once a day, but sometimes it's on and off... but a lot of the times it rains while it's still sunny so it just awesome!! The sun does set at like 6 because the mountains are like super tall and super close, and when it does it's like super dark, there are a few street lights but it's not like in a city in America. And if we are away from the city at all it's like pitch black.
The food here is quite amazing too!! I haven't had a single thing that I haven't liked or that has made me even a little bit sick! It's the best! The only think that makes me feel sick sometimes is the amount of food! Cuz we eat a LOT at lunch. But a little nap fixes that. It's a lot of rice usually for lunch, with some sort of chicken or other meat (sometimes I don't know what it is she gives us, I just eat it) and I found you can buy 30 eggs for 13 soles, so now I just eat 3 eggs for breakfast, and 2 for dinner every day. It's not the best, but it's mega cheap.
My workout routine is kinda all over the place, but I do sit-ups, wall sits, some push ups, and planks. We don't have any weights or anything, so I just filled a backpack with whatever random stuff (old area book, 75 PoS, 50 Res, 25 GoJ, like 50 Chastity, and 50ish temple and family booklets.) And then on top of that for squats, I add a box with 28 BoMs another 50 PoS, and 50 Res booklets.
The people here are super nice. Most of the time they will say hi back! And sometimes the little kids will say "hello" and then giggle and run away cuz they think it's funny I'm white! There are a bunch of old people here and a bunch that speak Quechua, and some that only speak Quechua. Which is a bummer cuz I don't even know Spanish yet, but I definitely want to learn at least a little Quechua before I leave.
There's not too mane tourists in this city, most of them just drive through because we're in between Cusco and Machu Pichu and some other ruins.
Our city is so beautiful tho, there are mountains all around us, and they're super green, and have some cool like fields and some writing on them. And the market is awesome, and the houses are super cool!
Basically everyone here is like kinda poor, but like gets along just fine! No one is like homeless or anything. Our apartment is certainly nicer than a lot of the peoples here. (Those Idaho people that know Elder Kuttler, he stayed in this same house... what a coincidence) Sometimes we will just be sitting on little stools inside a dirt little hut with like a tarp for the roof and no lights or anything.
The branch here is awesome, about 40 people show up on Sunday, and then we also have missionary nights on Fridays (about 10ish people) and English class on Saturdays (like 3 or 4 people).
We had district council on Thursday, with all 4 of us elders in the district!!
. And played one round of uno, which I lost terribly (had like 30 cards).
My comp is trying to learn English and it's kinda funny to hear him practice, but then I realized that I prolly sound the exact same speaking Spanish to everyone here as he does to me
(got a lot of work to do)
Friday was good and we had missionary night, only a few people showed up this time but we had some good discussions!! I'm hoping the members can start helping us with the missionary work!
Saturday we had English class, and I loved it!! There wasn't too many people, but we talked about families and how people are related and things like that. And we had some cookies that looked kinda nasty but tasted kinda fantastic!!
Also church was good and there was a decent amount of people there... then we gave this lady a blessing and I messed up like 3 times in a row
but then later that night we had a different one and I didn't mess up at all so at least there's improvement!
It's super awesome actually being on my mission! Literally like dreamed and planned for this ever since... idk like forever I guess. And now it's here and I'm in Per煤 doing the Lord's work. Everything is so totally different from home it's crazy! But I love every part of it!
Also, we met this old (OLD) lady, and she was one of the first members of the church is Calca back in like 1968 or something like that!!!! How amazing. And she's got a super strong testimony, and her husband never ended up joining, but all of her kids and grand kids are members.
Spiritual section:
Tiny story for spiritual section. We were walking and knocking doors when we, saw this guy pushing this tricycle cart thing up this street. He looked old so we asked him if we could help and he kinda mumbled and kept walking so we let it go. Then we passed him again cuz he was going kinda slow, and this time we kinda just told him we were gonna help him and started pushing. It was kinda hard because he was pushing one side and my comp was pushing the other and so there was nowhere for me to push. I asked the guy if he wanted to sit in the cart and he said no, so a little bit later, I just told him (cuz that's the only thing that works) to sit on the seat and we would push him. He did, and me and my comp started pushing him up this hill. We ended up going super fast and we're running this man up the hill. It wasn't very fast, but fast enough we were all laughing (me, my comp, and the old guy) it was the best. We ended up pushing I swear for almost a mile up this hill, until eventually making it to him house. Then he started crying. And I don't deal with crying that well, so we kinda just kept saying your welcome and that it was no problem. Then on the way down the hill we ended up talking to like 3 people about the gospel, and we would never have even gone up the hill if not for helping that guy.
The story has 3 points I want to share that I think are important.
1) you don't have to share the Gospel through words to share the Gospel. Service and helping others is as much sharing the Gospel as missionaries teaching a lesson. And I find it much easier and accessible to us. It's all around us everyday. "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of God." (Something like that)
2) missionary work (and sharing the gospel) doesn't have to be monotonous and boring! Just as we were having fun pushing this probably 80+ year old guy up a hill and laughing, you can have fun sharing the gospel too!! Find something you like to do and there is probably some way to tie the Gospel and Jesus Christ to it.
3) when we are sharing the gospel or helping someone else, God blesses us. We would have never gone up that hill had it not been for helping that man. And we would have never talked to those 3 people (one who seems interested and said she'd meet with us). When we do something kind for someone, and do it not expecting anything in return, God blesses us!!
Look for ways this week to serve someone. It can be simple and helping them with yard work, or sharing an uplifting message with someone. Also this week, look for joy in helping others. And third keep an eye our for blessing from the Lord as you do those things!
#haveidoneanygood
Sorry that was mega super long guys... but be glad, cuz like 10 other stories happened that I didn't talk about! Also guys feel free to reach out and send me an Email! I'd love to hear how things are going in the great USA!!
Anyways...
Love you all!!
- 脡lder Bailey
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