¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you´re all enjoying yourselves today and that you´re able to be with your families wherever you may be, or at the least be able to video call them. #MissionaryStyle :D

Today is a very special day, not because it´s the day that pur Savior came to Earth, (that being the 6th of April according to D&C 20:1) but because this is the day that we remember that wondrous event with the rest of the world.

Anywho, we sang carols in a plaza Saturday night and Christmas eve was good with a small gift exchange at our pension with the other 2 elders.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Elder Fincher has an imperitive update... *PICTURES*

I say that because I feel like I haven´t written all y´all much now recently. So, here´s an update:

Christmas party, basically the videos explain it all, but to explain the unexplainable: We got there, there were people that I knew (because at the Christmas party I met the last missionary I hadn´t met yet, being Elder Castillo. met him, now I´ve met all the missionaries in the mission. #OfficeLife) Juliaca came, Puno Central my zone and Bellavista the other Puno zone were all there. All the remaining office Elders in the mission (Elder Boelter, Elder Ordoñez, Elder Fawcett and I) are all in Puno, so we got a picture.

There was a really good spiritual start to it all and then each zone played the video that they filmed. Ours was really good until the end. But Bellavista´s was outstanding! Juliaca´s was alright. Then we all presented songs and presentations. Some zones did sketches we did a song and then a song dance thingy. It went really good, my foot went above many heads (please put the video in here). And that was that, I photobombed 1/3 - 1/2 of all the pictures taken that day by people, but it wasn´t with my camera, so just know that many people have me in their pictures now. :D I am a master.

What else? Christmas is next P-day, that´ll be interesting. Merry Christmas! ¡Feliz Navidad! Frohe Weihnachten! all them wishes!

I honestly don´t know what else has happened that´s interesting, other than yesterday for the third hour we attended the baptism of the Bishop´s kid who turned 8 on Saturday? Or maybe yesterday, I didn´t ask. But Saturday there was a party for him, don´t know.

Oh! Raul got baptized! I think I talked about that, but this week I have pictures because I found a place that likes my camera enough to read it and move pictures! So, yeah, pictures of that great day.

I finally ate with chopsticks again at that Chinese place! Because I brought the ones I´d bought there.

It was Elder Ochoa´s birthday the first Wednesday I was here in Puno, the 6th.

Our room when I got here was really, really sad. You know in the movies when the guy goes to boot camp and he´s in a small room with a bad paint job? Yeah, ¡Bienvenido a Puno! But we quickly solved that and had moved by Friday afternoon to a much nicer and closer to literally everything house. The old one is the green one (with shower faucets like the ones I have in my basement bathroom at my house) and the new one is the yellow/orange/redish one. It´s nice. And a bedroom and a study room!

Also, our pension takes us out to eat a few times for lunch, that´s kind of neat. No one else has ever done that.

Also, all the news came and I have many pictures of them, but you can find cooler pictures with descriptions on the mission blog: http://misionperucusco.blogspot.pe/ Cool stuff there, organized and explained.

The Johnsons also invited us over for dinner to have pancakes. AKA: Hotcake Hoedown. ´twas delishous!

I took pictures with lots and lots of members. I don´t know if it´s realistic to say that I´ll name them before I´m back.

Also, some amazing moms from back in the states (the only one I know for sure is the mom of a missionary who´s middle name is Layne) sent Secret Santa gifts for the missionaries! Thanks all of you amazing moms! (I don´t even know if my mom was in on that or no) You´re all the best! Especially my mom though, but I don´t know if she did anything there, but nothing can beat her, because she´s my mom! <3

And yeah, some pictures of Puno from different places, it´s really pretty actually. Just coldish. Like November/December in the house, without snow.

The sector is progressing a little bit, we´re teaching people in the street and we have some future appointments that we´re looking forward to, lots of finding right now, but there are people to be found, so it´s good. What´s sad is trying to get the dad of two people ready for baptism to sign their paper so they can be baptized, but he´s not willing to sign it, he says to baptize them and all, but won´t sign the paper. So we´ll be going back to talk again on the 29th and hope for the best with lots of prayer and maybe fasting too.

And I think that just about covers everything I have pictures for and not much else comes to mind that I don´t have pictures for. So have a great one, enjoy all you Christmas preparations and especially the day of, remember WHY we even have this day, remember all the WHYs and take a moment to be grateful for them. Have a great one and Merry Christmas!!!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Christmas in Puno!

Really boring right? Actually, I`m going to change the title from "Puno, week 1" to "Christmas in Puno!"

Questions:

How are things going? Are you used to Puno yet? Getting comfortable with the area?

Things are going good, other than trying to get you guys pictures. Yes and no, I`m trying to figure out how to keep being good and when to wear a coat and when not to. We`ve done some service, it`s been good, but we`ve yet to teach much.

As far as the area goes like I said we did some service. Once shoveling dirt inside of a house right before it rained and as it started sleeting, that`s fun without a coat. The other service we did was helping a hoarder to clean their house, we threw about 1 1/2 - 2 of the big black trash bins like we have in Orem of trash away. And that only cleaned about 2/5ths of the one room house up. But it was something.

That`s it this week, I really need the bathroom and there isn`t one in the internet cafe, so I need to find one. These are things that one deals with on the mission.

Also, title came about because we had our Christmas party here in Puno on Saturday, when I can I`ll get pictures, and details, but bathroom...

Love y`all,

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

PUNO!!! HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!

That`s an excerpt from almost all the music they have here that`s called Wayno, but they just list off whatever city name they want. I`ll make a video later of how they sing, it`s funny.

I`m in Puno now, I now feel more like Christmas is almost here and that`s nice. It`s colder basically is the thing. Kind of nippy, but it`s not bad.

Raul got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That`s super exciting! It`s the first baptism the Vista Alegre office sector has had in 15 months. That`s more than a year! AKA, a long time!

But it almost didn`t happen, he passed his interview alright, he`d told us first that it would be at 11AM and then on Tuesday he called and said to have it at 5PM, okay, that`s fine. But on Saturday we went around 4:20PM to clean the room and get everything ready, and we called him to double check he was going to be on time...

He said that he had a fever and wasn`t feeling so great. Could it be next Saturday??? And then the line cut...

And we tried calling him 20 times and nothing.

So I got depressed and knew that I should have done a better job, tried harder, made more of an effort to get out and teach people while I`d been in the office and just generally felt like I hadn`t been enough. So I got really distraught.

The other Elders, Elder Larsen and Elder Pinedo showed up too and they got a little sad, but still trying to be upbeat and optomistic.

Then Elder Lewis comes out of the bathroom and says that Raul had just called him and said he was coming, that he`d gone to the wrong chapel! YAY!!!

So real quick we picked ourselves up and finished preparing everything, made a welcome sign on the whiteboard and wheeled it to the door of the chapel and waited for Raul to come...

And he walked through the front gate and I ran up and gave him a hug and told him that we were so glad to have him there. (even though we were the only ones there for him at that point 5:20-30ish) And we went in and he got changed and the 1st councilor of the bishopric showed up and we took pictures and the Hermanas came and then the Hermanas convinced the Relief Society sister who were having an activity to come join us and then Nefi and Kristina showed up right before we started and the room was full.

We had a very spiritual service and it was very good and Raul got baptized and then the next day Sunday he got confirmed and he`s well on his way in following the Lord Jesus Christ. And I`m happy. I`m in Puno now, but I`m happy and ready to work hard. Elder Ochoa who`s also from Huanaco like Elder Cubillas my second companion (they are from the same stake and they know each other) and Elder Ochoa is super cool. But just wait until next week when I can upload a picture of the two of us together and you`ll probably laugh. Jaja.

I`m going to love this!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Thanksgiving

Hola a todos!

Well, this week was Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving! Thank them pilgrims and our great Maker.

So, to start out with I taught District meeting this week about the armor of God. (see photo with cardboard person) And that was really good. Elder Spencer volunteered and had the armor put on him. Basically we need to be strong, prepare ourselves and develop Christ-like attributes. I also like being like Captain Moroni too and declaring my Title of Liberty, we can all make our own y´know.

Tuesday night we had a ward Noche de Hogar, or Family Home Evening. And it was spectacular! We had around 80 people there, that´s more than other all the other ward activities I´ve had combined I think! Wow... We also did an activity that I describe below. I was in charge.

Then we had the changes meeting. It was super messed up. Because Elder Fawcett and I were still in our sectors here in the office and there were a couple sectors without people in them and there was a trio in another zone that was training. Super freaking messed up. So in all honesty Elder Fawcett and I got upset on that one. Because we had no idea how long we´d be without knowing where we´re going.

But then Thanksgiving happened. And that was super awesome! We had that at President´s house with all of the Cusco and Inti Raymi zones. Or about 50 missionaries. We all spread out picnic style on his lawn terraces. And I made some great quality mashed potatoes that a ton of people loved. I made about 2/3s of a 40 liter pot. (I think) It was a lot. And yummy.

I also had charge of an activity that we did as a Mix´n´Mingle/Get to know ya. Where everyone had a paper with different things written down and you had to find someone that had the same thing. But the same person could only sign twice. on your paper out of 25 items. I got them all, just like the ward Family Home Evening.

We also did a sketch of the pilgrims when they came to America, I´m uploading the video, it´s a 1.58GB file though, so you guys may or may not be able to ever see that on this blog...

Come Friday morning, Darwin gets baptized! He´s a convert of the sisters, and Elder Rüeckert (our zone leader) baptized him because he invited him to the Chapel Open House that we had in the middle of October right before changes. So, there has been at least one baptism from that activity and made everything worth it. Superb! (voice of Albert from 17 Miracles)

Saturday we went to Pisaq which was some ruins an hour out more or less. I was too distracted by everything going on with me leaving to really enjoy it, but it was cool. Elder Fawcett and I hiked all the way down to the city from the ruins after driving up to the top of the mountain to the ruins.

After we were done at Pisaq we went and had second Thanksgiving. With some members we did another Thanksgiving. Nefi and Kristina, they´re super cool and we presented again the sketch and there were like pure investigators. It was good too.

Our sector has been pretty good. We´ve taught Raul a bunch of lessons this week and he´s in his baptismal interview right now. It´s kind of tense waiting to know if he´ll pass it... Not much else. (in the middle of writing this email) RAUL PASSED HIS INTERVIEW!!!!!!!!!! For the first time in 15 months there will be a baptism in our sector! Also, I´ll be staying until Saturday at least, maybe longer.

And then on Sunday night (last night) President called an emergency meeting for changes that had to happen. But Elder Fawcett and I know our changes now. I´m going to.... PUNO!!!!!!!!!!! I´ve known that since I was awaiting my change at the end of my time in Sicuani. I knew I was going to go to Puerto Maldonado and Puno, just didn´t know what order, but being in the office made me forget until I saw it actually happen.

Elder Fawcett is going to Puno too, again. He´s opening a 100% new sector, no house, no pension, no laundry, no bed, no area book, no nothing. But he´ll have fun. :D

My companion will be Elder Ochoa from Peru (maybe Lima, maybe not, just hasn´t had to do tramites; so... automatic Peruvian.) Everyone is telling me that he´s cool, so that should be good. I don´t know how it´ll be. But it should be good.

They tell me I have a good sector too, don´t know. But I´m just hoping that it is all good. I know that there will be things I need to learn and grow with, but I just wonder what it will be. We´ll see...

We pick up the news tomorrow morning!!! YAY!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Water and Cara a Cara

Hellos to all the peoples,

In case anyone is wondering, I´m not becoming worse at English as my time in the mission goes along, (well, it is, but not bad enough to where I´d actually mistakenly write the words above which are weird, rather it is a side effect of being in the office, I´ve decided to leave it behind in the office though and not take it with me to the new area I´ll be going to.)

This week we have been without water for a good part of it, the FM group is supposedly taking care of a problem with the baptismal font, but they turn off all the water. It´s made me quite angry. I´m working on that. But today there´s been water thus far, so we´re alright. (at least our house still has water)

Questions from peeps:

How is the training going? Is Elder Spencer catching on? How much longer do you have for it? Do you know yet where you will be going afterwards? Hopefully it is going well. Wherever you are assigned to serve, you will do well there.

It´s going good, he catches on good, but there are a couple things that I may need to show him later as they don´t occur now, rather later. I have however long I need supposedly, but probably not much more than the first week of December. Thanks, I´m slightly concerned, but I´ve gotten more at peace with it.

Are the baptisms still lined up for this week? I hope that they are. Please send some pictures.

We taught Marco the rest of the lessons that he needed for baptism and told him that he needed to come to church before the sacrament to be able to be baptized, he indicated that he understood. Then on Saturday he passed his baptismal interview and we got everything ready to announce in sacrament meeting. Then he showed up 30 minutes late and missed the sacrament, so we had to postpone his baptism. And Raul who has been progressing well, hasn´t received enough lessons to be baptized the day he was going to be, so I´m a little disappointed and worried if I´ll be able to have a baptism here in Vista Alegre. But if they get baptized that´s great, whether I´m here or not.

Also, President Herrera has been on vacation all this week. Interesting, but not any different, he doesn´t frequent the office much anyways. (it was really a mission president seminar, but he went to Colombia, so, vacation)

He also announced that all the missionaries in the mission (I think, at least Cusco) would be watching the Face to Face event with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. In Español it´s Cara a Cara. And it was spectacular! They are SO FUNNY!!! You wouldn´t think it, but they are. And they gave some very wise counsel. If you didn´t, I would recommend to watch it, especially if you´re a young adult, but also everyone else can learn from it.

I can´t think of anything else there is to say, other than right now I´m kind of stinky because we had a Turkey Bowl where we played football. Not fútbol, football! I didn´t have a clue during the whole thing, but I had fun running and I moved the ball 10 yards one time, just open and went. Cusco, Inti Raymi and Sicuani all came. But the sisters didn´t play, they were told they couldn´t, some were not quite happy with that. But the sidelines were good for conversations between turns.

Anything else? I´m going to miss the office, but I´ll be happy to move on and see what other growth God wants me to have. Keep on keeping on. *distant thunder*

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

P.S. I´m going to have 2 Thanksgivings this week, double chance to be thankful! Like we should be all the times.

Newness, adjustments and surprizes

Howdies and hellos to alls,

This week, very good, then I had an interview with President Herrera and got sick. :-| *cough cough*

First off, Elder Gutierrez helped us yet again this week to get out and do some great stuff in the field. We found a family on Sunday last week and we taught them a couple times this week and they´re super interested and excited to learn. They also indicated that they´d be willing to get baptized, that they´d talk about it and let us know. And we´ve been teaching two other people that have baptismal dates for the 24th of November! And even though Marco, a 12 year old who´s been actively attending church, even though we had to move his original date, he´s going to make it to this one that we´ve put. He´s only lacking a couple commandments to teach him and he´s just a great youth that wants to follow Christ. And Raul, more or less 60 years old, he´s been coming to church for the past couple weeks and he´s also super excited to get baptized, and we explained last night about enduring to the end and I feel like he understands and that he´ll keep on going well. It´s going well.

Then on Friday President Herrera called me in for an interview, which was weird, because he´d just talked to me the day before as well. So I was curious as to what would be happening in this interview. He started out asking about a flight to Juliaca that I´ve yet to get anything on (sometimes people don´t help you out when you ask them for flight options...). And then he proceeded to ask about how I´ve been doing in general in the office and after I told him about that he mentioned how I´ve been doing a really good job.

Then the kicker. He said that the time had come for changes in the office, me, Elder Fawcett and Elder Daybell the assistant who´s been here for 8 changes... I was a little surprised but also had known it was coming eventually anyway.

I was expecting to stay around until at least new years, so I´m a little disappointed, but I´m trying to continue how I should and trust in God. And with that I wasn´t expecting to leave the office for a while more at least, I think that´s a big reason that I got sick this weekend, just a lot to take in and I couldn´t quite swallow it. But I´m doing better and know that I´ll be here until whomever I train is ready, so I could be around longer or shorter. We´ll see.

All in all it will be interesting. We´ll be having a couple baptisms in a couple weeks, so that part will be done that I´ve been wanting to accomplish. And the other things I´ve been wanting to do will be done, or they won´t, but they´re not super important either way, so it´s good. This morning I worked on moving all of my stuff from the downstairs room where I´ve been my whole time in the office to the room upstairs where those leaving the office sleep their last bit they´re here. President said that I´ll be training at least 3 weeks, but that if whomever I train needs more time we can accommodate that so it works out right for them. So I might be out by December, or I might be around for a little longer, but it´s pretty sure I won´t be around for Christmas or New Years, which I was planning on, but one of those things that´s a good either way thing.

I don´t know what to think, other than to do stuff quick that I´ve been meaning to do and work hard in the sector so that the baptisms happen as planned.

Elder Gutierrez got an assignment finally and he´s in Bellavista in Puno now with Elder Diaz, the other office friend. :D

Other things, for Halloween I dressed up as a Wayqe, or brother in Quechua. We wrapped up Elder Pinedo in plastic wrap and I made a model picture for when the new executive secretary does the ending packets (without knowing that there would be that change)

I think that´s about it, other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the Book of Mormon has the fullness of said Gospel. So I recommend and invite you to read that inspired book. (also, I made it through all of the small plate pages last week at the end of the week in my goal to read it in a week, yesterday I was around the middle part, I´ll see if I can finish it this week. We´ll see.)

Take care!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher