Thanksgiving in Puerto

Hola a todos!

Esta semana me encuentren con un poco mas de tiempo, entonces, voy a compartir un poco mas. :)

Yet again, I'll let you translate the Spanish. :) Sorry, but it's cool. :D

I was asked questions, so I'll answer them:

I know it isn't a holiday there, but did you do anything different for Thanksgiving on Thursday?

Yes. Our pension, Sister Nadine, knew about Thanksgiving already since other missionaries have celebrated it in the past with her, so, when I told her Tuesday that Thursday was a special day, she knew already. We did a little thanksgiving before eating and I told the pilgrim story. Photos of the rica comida. (delicious food)

How different are things there than in Sicuani?

Very. Weather, people, and really, not much. The people are the same but yet different, I think the branch here is a little bit more into missionary work than the ward, but we all pass through seasons, we're doing a lot here though.

Do you have a "mom" who helps with food and such like you did there?

We still have a pension, one for breakfast and lunch, another for dinner. Breakfast is delivered and the other two we go to their houses.

Is it only you and your companion or are there other missionaries there too?

In our room it's us two no more, different, but I like it. I think you can bond easier.

Which branch do you go to or is it multiple? 

We go to Puerto. We share the building with Tampopata.

Other things, The sector is progressing. We have a person with a baptismal date already and we're working with others. Lots of less actives, for the first time in the mission I'll see how we help rescue them. We're contacting pretty well and finding more and more people each day. It's going really well.

I'm doing good over here in Puerto Maldonado, with my goals that I'd set in Sicuani to become more like Christ by developing Christ-like attributes I'm progressing well. While I left Sicuani with more or less 10 whole points out of 220, now I have 26, I'm finding more goals to put to be able to see how I can improve and keep becoming more like Christ. It's really satisfying to be seeing the progress that I'm making. But it's not just me, I'm seeing a lot of help from many people, especially Christ.

Our companionship with Elder Quevedo and I is fantastic! He's helping me a ton with developing into a better missionary and a better person. He really cares for me and is showing so much charity. By his help directly and indirectly I'm seeing how I can improve, I'm trying to help him with English and the things that I know better than he does in other areas. We're doing an inventory each night to see how to improve each day and it helps a ton! The thing that is really special for me is that he accepts me for who I am, but sees my potential, so he helps me. I need to learn how to do the same. But we're all capable of improving and being better, each day. 

Let Christ be your friend, let Him help you when you're down and when you need a friend. He's always there and understands us completely.

Remember to be grateful.

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

PUERTO!

Hola!

This week went faster at internet, I don't know what happened. My hands might be affected by the heat, I'm not sure.

But a little bit is this.

Elder Quevedo is my companion now. He was in Vallecito when I got to Sicuani. I've sent at least one picture back when he was there. He's super great, we're both doing our best to support one another and to do the work. We're opening the sector after a sister finished and went back home. Her companion was a mini missionary I think, so we're opening it again. From not much to work with, so it's interesting. But we're making progress. And we had a lesson yesterday! With members even! There's lots of trees, it's hot, it's like Lima, I'm adjusting well, but air conditioning makes you sweat more when you leave it. Last night we slept in 27 degrees C or more. Or 80 more or less F.

It's great here. Hot, but great! The members are fantastic! We're working hard and will have visible fruits soon.

Ask me questions to answer for all.

Love you all! Overcome your challenges with Christ! Be willing to change and become better people! Be the child of God that you are!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Transfers!!! La selva!

Hola a todos!

Espero que su semana fue lo máximo y que la siguiente será lo mismo o mucho mejor!

I hope that your week was the best and that the next one will be the same or so much better!

Things are changing here. I'm heading off to the jungle and my companion is going to have the old medic as his companion and we had a baptism this week and there's so much going on! It's awesome!!!

So yeah, first, good week. Good lessons. Baptism on Thursday so that the family of Hermana Anel could be there. (I constantly learn how to spell names correctly, especially when I put them in the baptismal record) The internet died for a minute just now, but thankfully gmail saves automatically. :D

So yeah, I'm heading out to Puerto Maldonado, in the beginning of summer, but the Lord likes to try His servants, sometimes by fire. :D It'll be fantastic! But I knew there was a reason that I decided to keep wearing long sleves here even though I could have worn short sleves for the heat. It's about to get a lot more.

I kind of wish I could stick around here in Sicuani, but I know that I'm leaving a ton of great people for my companion Elder Yangali and his new companion to help out. And I'm off to help more people in the jungle! It's actually the place that my first trainer, Elder Wilde started his mission.

I'll be packing today, but I'll also be prepping photos with testimony. A little for you guys is that Jesus is the Christ. He is the son of God and performed a perfect Atonement for all of us to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Him, being as they are after this life and being perfected. The Plan of Salvation is so amazing! It's the Plan of Happiness and how we can be happy no matter what happens, because Jesus did the Atonement, we can repent, we can be saved. We just have to act.

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Interviews and Stake Conference

Hola a todos!

Espero que su semana pasada fue muy bien, que muchas buenas cosas han pasado y que están aprendiendo mucho que está ayudando a ustedes y ellos quien les rodean.

I'll leave it to you guys to translate the first paragraph this week if you want to know it. :D

For us here in Sicuani, this has been a good week. We've had a lot of lessons to help people understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ more, because it brings us blessings.

Stake conference was yesterday, it was really good, focused on the Sabbath a lot. President Herrera was here for interviews and the Stake Conference, it was great, interviews helped us to lift our spirits even more, have more unity and just go for it.

Also, Anel is getting baptized this week! WHAT?!?! Yup, she passed her interview yesterday and now she'll be baptized the day that they decide on. Her mom will luckily follow as well and their family will have the blessings of the Gospel more abundantly in their lives.

Sharon and Ener as well are doing well and super interested. Life is good here, working on becoming more like Christ, but it's a great adventure.

Live the Gospel, it's how Christ blesses us. Be the amazing child of God that you are!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher