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

Weird occurrence + All you need to work is a black guy

Good day, good day to all,

I assume that the title of this week´s blog sounds a lot more racist there in the States than here in Peru where it´s a lot more acceptable. :D But fear not, I shall explain all in due time...

First off, on Tuesday we went and picked up Elder Gutierrez from the airport. He was supposed to have come all the way back in June, but he being from Nicaragua, they didn´t want to give him his visa. So he served for 5 months in Nicaragua until he finally got his visa and came here last week. He´s not so black, but he´s blacker than most other Latinos, so here he´s black. And as we (Elder Lewis, he and I) were walking somewhere the other day I asked if he was offended if someone said that he was black, he said no, so I said that everyone was looking at us weird asking the question in their heads, "What are 2 white guys and a black guy doing together? In white shirts and ties even..." So yeah. Normal here.

Wednesday was tramites with Elder Jensen and Clancy, then afterwards they went somewhere with Elder Lewis and they came back a while later with the mail.

Now, you might think that the sentence found above ↑ is normal, but it´s not. Now the question, what´s not normal about it???

Wait another minute and examine it. ↑↑

And another 30 seconds. ↑↑↑

Now just 10 seconds more trying to find out what´s not normal with the above sentence. ↑↑↑↑

Okay, now I´ll tell you, trusting that you at least put in the ten seconds to guess what´s wrong. The thing that´s not normal is that a while ago, shortly after getting to the office Elder Lewis either had his keys stolen or lost them. We replaced all of them we knew of besides the one to the mailbox. So, for a good 3-4 months now there has been no way to get the mail out of the ever filling mailbox. Until the point where nothing else could be put in and possibly things were being stolen from how full it was.

So, that´s what´s not normal with the above sentence. ↑↑↑↑↑↑ There should not have been mail to bring in! But they did!!! From my suggestion they had gone to a hardware store and bought a new lock to put on in place of the old one. (padlock style) but not to my suggestion, rather I´d just said we´ll figure this part out later after we have the lock. They also bought a hacksaw! And then the next time I saw them they had their arms full of letters, bills and other papers. (see photo)

And that´s when I finally got the Christmas card from my bishop from last year. Pretty nice. And there were lots of phone and light bills, (power bills) and letters for Elder Clobes, Elder Fackrell, Sister Johnson and Elder Clancy. Not many other peeps. (so if you´re reading this, and you know someone in a mission, send them a card! Because those 4 people are only 2.5% of the missionaries in the mission, and I´d say less than 25% receive letters regularly and less than half receive letters. (guessing, but just send a letter! :D C´mon, please?)

Then Thursday was a multizone conference, really good I´d say. And then Friday, some of Saturday and Sunday we got to work! Elder Gutierrez really inspired us to leave since there was nothing else for him to do all day but study.

We had a couple really great citas. One with Franco whom we met this week, he seemed super interested and we´re hoping that he´ll progress a lot and quickly. We also visited with Raul, he´s been coming to church for a few weeks now, but we haven´t been able to visit with him yet, and last night we had a great cita and Elder Gutierrez invited him to baptism which he readily accepted, and then a little bit further along we put a date for the 24 of November. We´re really excited to help him come unto Christ like he´s wanting to. And also Irina, who we´ve taught a couple different times came to church yesterday! We were super happy with that since she´s been studying Sunday mornings and now she was able to come!

So in conclusion, all you need to work is a black Elder from Nicaragua called Elder Gutierrez to come and be put in a trio with you (because President still hasn´t assigned him a sector...so he´s stuck with us) to be motivated to get out into the field and do the work of the Lord. It´s pretty great I´d say.

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Changes, The Census and The Book of Mormon

HOWDY!!!

I scratched my arm this morning as I passed by a bush coming back from the Balcon del Diablo. Still human...

This week, where to start? Well, Monday is a good option. What happened on Monday? I can´t remember, that was a long time ago. But it was something along the lines of finishing the ending packets for those ending the mission and other things I´m sure.

Tuesday, I was in a bad mood, I don´t know why anymore, people were expecting me to do things how I didn´t want to, (expecting more than I felt I could give) so I gave up for a couple minutes and then finally came out of the storeroom and faced the day, but I was still not great because I let people get on my nerves. But once I got over that it was a lot better. (AKA, don´t let people get you down, just roll with it)

I took the dying missionaries to the airport and we said goodbye to some good Elders there, including Elder Westbrook. Other things happened too including with the news.

Wednesday we trained the new missionaries and they´re all super pumped! It´s awesome! I was busy the whole day with this that and the other. Legalizing passport copies, setting up lunch, sending out pictures to their parents, etc...

Also, small note, we´ve gone to this Chinese restaurant with the new missionaries and their trainers, and they have really good food, but 4 out of 5 times that we´ve gone they haven´t given me chopsticks. I´ve asked each and every time, but only the first time did they give me chopsticks. So this time I came prepared with my own chopsticks. (see picture with pens and my face) Next time I´ll bring actual palitos chinos though. Great food. No chopsicks anymore (they must have all burned.. :P)

Thursday, a normal day. Other than I had to do everything to get ready for Friday. So I was busy yet again, updating info for all the news and everything. Also, I went to Migraciones with some new missionaries to do their legal fegal to get their carnés de extranjería. Good stuff, but long lines.

Friday, Consejo! Where all the zone leaders and sister training leaders from the whole mission come to Cusco to talk about the mission. I announced a couple things, for example: If you want to change your ending date, do it! Normal, but talk to President first. BUT! Once I have sent you the email to ask where you need to travel and all, this is your last chance to change it. Unless you want to fork over $300-400 for changing your plane ticket. I don´t know why, but people just willy-nilly this last transfer have asked me to do that. I tell them that and there was one who was like, "but it´s not my fault" uh huh, right buster. C´mon! Be smart. So I announced that. And other things, like Machu Picchu, and then I had 3 people that heard me announce what I did come and ask if they could go specifically against what I had announced... Good gravy!! I think it´s funny, but really folks. Pay attention! Be smart, as Jacob says in the Book of Mormon: "Oh be wise, what can I say more?" (I don´t remember the reference right now...)

Saturday, also busy, finishing up everything from the week including tasks that can appear at whatever time.

Sunday, I was in my scrubs all day long. (please see picture with me in my bed in scrubs with the Book of Mormon) Why? Because it was the Peruvian Census! I am now so officially Peruvian! I was in the Census! Yeah! But anyway, we couldn´t leave the house from 8 until 5. And then we didn´t even leave at 5 because Elder Lewis was sick. So I was in the house all day long. And I got a decent start on my goal to read the whole Book of Mormon this week. I read 30 chapters yesterday, the most I´ve ever read in a single day. It was good, but it was also long, I´ve got a lot more ahead of me this week, but I´m excited. I also invite anyone else who wants to participate with me. Read the Book of Mormon in a single week. I´m actually learning more than I thought I would, things that make sense on a large picture basis. (I wanted to read it in a day, but that didn´t happen)

Anyway, I hope that you all have a great week and I´ll be seeing you later!

Take care!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Fortified Nephite Cities

Sumaj p´unchay!

I hope that you are all doing well. I am currently sick, proving that even those with a divine mandate from God can suffer illnesses.

This week, first, last week. Because it rained at Condor Picchu, (Machu Picchu) there were no bugs. So it was a tender mercy in disguise, but, also because it didn´t look like it would rain, I decided to leave my rain jacket in the car that brought us to the train. So I got wet. But I had brought more shirts, so I did a wardrobe change at a Wonder of the World. Right there in the middle of everyone, all the tourists I changed my shirt. Though differently than you might think, for you see, I´m ingenious.

I put my black long-sleeve on first, then my green t-shirt, on top of my white shirt which got rained on. Then, I unbuttoned my white shirt and carefully took it off from under my two other shirts. Then I put it on top of everything because it was cold and I had no other layers. So, quite ingeniously I did a wardrobe change at a touristic location without hardly anyone noticing because I was never shirtless! Haha! The only thing is I might be sick from getting wet, but lesson learned. If not going to bring a jacket, bring a plastic poncho.

Now, this week went like lightning. There was a lot of things that happened, but it´s all over now. Changes meeting so we can plan for everyone to move and all. Half p-day, work then half p-day. And a couple citas for teaching too. The Spirit was strong in the one we had yesterday. With Irina we taught the Restoration and really drove home the importance of the Book of Mormon which we´d shared with her earlier.

Ahora, lo que es el titulo del correo: I visited Pikillakta again, but this time it was with Elder Lewis and the Johnsons. So we actually looked at what is was, not the pictures we can pose.

This time, as evidenced by the videos I filmed, I´m now convinced that it was a Nephite city that was fortified personally by Captain Moroni. I could be wrong, but I also could be right... So...... Yeah.

Just look at the outline that the city is from the high vantage point that I took the picture from. There were strong walls, they could have had trenches on the outside for all we know, the whole city has been filled in by dirt almost. They´re excavating it for crying out loud. But it could have been a fortified Nephite city...

Now, analogy: We should make our lives like a fortified Nephite city. We should make it hard for our enemies to enter. And we should make it easy to kill our enemies when they come and try to invade. That way we can come out victorious by defeating all our enemies. But the key to remember is that the Nephites were strengthened by the Lord, and we need to be as well. The Lord strengthens us as we pray, read the scriptures, go to church and keep the commandments. So, I recommend that you all do those things, because I´ve seen when I do them, I´m better off than when I don´t. Because the Lord strengthens me when I do those things.

Have a great one!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Machu Picchu... NOT!!!

Hello everyone!

I went to Machu Picchu this week!

Actually I didn´t!!!

I went to Condor Picchu!

Because Machu Picchu is the name of a mountain behind Condor Picchu.

The real name of the city is: Illkyllantyamachuwakcha

Actually it´s not that either, it´s some other unpronounceable Quechua name.

But the Machu Picchu part is right, it´s a big mountain behind the city and Wayna Picchu is the mountain in the middle of the all the postcard pictures.

But yeah, it was quite wondrous the trip.

I don´t actually have much to say about it without pictures for reference, and how that takes a long time... Plus you just need to be there to understand, but I hope that my dad puts a bunch of the cool pictures I took on here so that you can see a little bit what it looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the week was pretty good.

Now that I proofread a little, you don´t know why it´s Condor Picchu. It´s because our tour guide kept pointing out how the Incas made everything in the city look like a condor. And that´s also the name that I don´t remember in Quechua.

I probably don´t make it sound too special, but that´s just because it´s indescribable. You have to go and see it for yourself. And after the mission I´ll be happy to help you out with a bunch of tips and pointers. But that´s a ways off still.

I actually just want to delete this message, but you guys need something to read. Machu Picchu is cool, it´s actually Condor Picchu and it rained on us.

Christ may or may not have gone to Machu Picchu itself, but He did come down and visit the Nephites here in America. (please see video I filmed at Machu Picchu.)

Love you all, take care!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher