Tres Mil Papas (Three Thousand Potatoes): Week 64 - "Hello!" Nov 21

We have had a few weeks when we wished a few more photos would be sent. Well Jonah sent about 60 photos this time. So I have attached all of them at the end of the blog. Several are of a Huaca. In Quechuan (Incan) language it symbolizes something revered, typically a monument. Apparently this place is somewhere outside the city of Casa Grande. In his email he has a great story about inspiration through prayer. We just love Elder Babbel and miss him tons!

Hello Everybody!!! What a wild week! I totally forgot to tell you all but an Area Seventy was going to be coming to our mission. Elder Godoy!!!!! He is the President of the Area where I am serving a mission. In the area is included, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru! It was so stinking cool to have him here with us as a mission. So there were 2 different sessions, one with all of the zones from Trujillo, and the other of all the zones outside of Trujillo. So we were in the second session on Saturday. We all headed down to Trujillo on a bus, and had our reunion back there. It was SOOOO GREAT!!!! He is so humble and down-to-earth while having such an incredible calling. He spoked in General Conference (October 2014), but he spoke in Portuguese. This time with us, he spoke in Spanish and sometimes in English. Whenever there was something he couldn't say in Spanish, he would say it in English instead haha.

Elder Godoy is a convert to the church, and was baptized at the age of 16. He shared his entire conversion story and it was so incredible. So many times he was so close to going off the edge and almost never was a member. He used to be a soccer-fanatic that dressed in all black, and had a super long rat-tail with super shaggy hair. His friends all drank and smoked, and he was heading that way as well. But the missionaries found him and he was baptized, served a mission, got married in Brazil, and studied in BYU Provo with his wife. He was a mission President in Brazil and is now the Area President. Wow, he's just the best. So after we had the reunion with him and all of the other missionaries, we had an extra 2 hour meeting with him and the other zone leaders of the mission. It was so intense! It was him, his wife, President Marble, his wife, the 2 assistents, and the 16 zone leaders. Wow. He gave us some incredible help and tips, and we are excited to keep working hard and have more success.

In this last week, we have been doing really great! The people here are so humble and friendly. We meet so many incredible people here every day, and are really enjoying every second. We have several people progressing towards baptismal dates right now, and also this great family! The mom's name is Mari, the older son, Giancarlo, and the younger daughter Lucero. They are so wonderful!!! Mari is super great, her son Giancarlo (17 years old) came to church with us yesterday and loved it. He found a ton of friends there, and is super pumped to be baptized next month. Lucero is the sweetest little angle in the world. She's 8 years old and has down-syndrome. She loves the Elderes! It was a really special experience finding them as well. On Tuesday, we did some divisions with a couple return missionaries here in the ward. So I went with Hermano Jimmy, the stake president's son. He's so awesome!! Anyway, we didn't have any appointments, so instead, we just talked to people in the street the whole time and were given permission to enter a few times. At one point, we were both lost, because he's new here, and I'm even newer, so we had no idea where to go. So I asked him if we could say a prayer and ask where to go, and he said yeah. So we said a short little prayer right there in the dirt road. When we finished, we both started walking in the same dirrection. We went around the corner, turned, and saw a mom and her daughter sitting outside of their house. We said buenas tardes and were about to pass by, but I felt strongly that we should talk to them. We got there and began talking, and it was as if we were long lost friends. They brought out two more chairs and we taught with Mari while Lucero drew pictures for us. It was such a great experience, and we are very excited to continue helping the family to be baptized. They are very motivated, and so are we!

Anyway, that was a just a couple things that happened this week. It was really great. I love Casa Grande! I love you all! Hope Thanksgiving was great! Haha I forgot that it was Thanksgiving, believe it or not, it is not celebrated here hahaha, yeah that wouldn't make sense to celebrate it here anyway. Eeeeeeeeeen fin. I love you all!! Have a great week!