Piña and Happiness

At English class this week we were learning about how to talk about your health, so there were phrases like, "I have a headache" and, "I don´t feel very well" as well as "I need ..." so, for example, Advil, drugs, help, or something like that. But I only put these 2, "Advil" and "Pineapple" That was funny. No one, including myself knew why I´d put it on the board. But I did. Mwahahahaha!

This week was good, lots of citas fell through, but we were still able to have a successful week. Logros sucked but we still helped people.

The sector is good, we´ve visited a few people, we put a baptismal date for the 12th, but it fell through because the person didn´t come to church.

Our companionship had a bump yesterday and today, Elder Yovera feels like Elder Carlson and I are excluding him, we´re not trying to, but he´s felt that way. We had a short inventory this morning and we´re better now I think, but I´m going to try and help him more. Here´s to the best!

I personally am doing very well. I´m happy, excited and doing my best. Still imperfect, but that´s a status that´s not going to change in this life. But I´m doing good.

This week, let´s think what else we did...

We got zone polos! We did the Peru World Cup polo with our names and numbers on the back along with "Zona Quillabamba" They look really great!

It was also Hermana Arias´ birthday on Thursday, so Hermana Calvillo bought her flowers and gave them to us to bring in the morning as a surprise for her, I took advantage of having flowers in my room at night and took funeral pictures. Nerk nerk nerk.

Then the next morning we threw a party (surprise???) for Hermana Arias at their pension along with the Hermana Liders who just happened to be here this week. And then we went home and had a good day.

Hermana Kaori, the daughter of our pension made a dessert out of Jell-O, it was yummy. I don´t recall the name... mozaiko-Elder Yovera just told me.

We also found a new room for the hermanas in our branch since they said that they have a creep in their current house. So they´re going to be moved tomorrow.

A couple other things that happened. One is that we looked up requirements for marriage here in Quillabamba. The other is that I lost and found the SD memory card of Elder Yovera. Because it got wet at the waterfall Illapani he wanted to put it somewhere, so he put it in my first aid kit and then we left and I forgot he´d put it there. So when we were back at the house and he asked me for it I couldn´t find it. So yeah. I felt really nervous and really bad too.

I remembered that I´d opened my kit to get into the pension, so we went and checked there and didn´t find it. It´s lost, sorry man, there go all your mission pictures and your birthday video you made for your sister, sorry. Kinda sucks for you. Then we went to internet as he went to play soccer and when we got back to the house I remembered that I´d opened my kit in the car too to pay the driver.

So I called the driver and he said that he´d look for it. He called back as Elder Yovera was coming up the stairs to get to the room with Ronaldo who he´d been with. I finished the phone call and we went to go pick up his card, which the driver had found, without Elder Yovera knowing. The driver gave it to me, I gave it to Elder Yovera and we all left really happy and me very relieved too!

It wasn´t by chance though, I´d been praying all day in my heart that we´d be able to find it, and after enough time to feel bad about it God let me remember where it was and have a miracle happen! That was really special!

I can´t think of much else that´s happened this week. But it´s been good. Have a great one yourself!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

What goes down must come up, sometimes

Neither the saying what does up must come down, nor it´s opposite, what goes down must come up is entirely true. And I´d like you guys to send me examples of both of them. This week I give an example...

Q: What are some blessings you've experienced this week? (question that a friend sent me this week)

A: I was able to achieve the childhood dream of swinging on a vine, I was also able to help direct a choir for district conference (like stake conference, but in a smaller district) and I think the biggest blessing I received this week was one of comfort. I got super stressed out on Friday night from lots of things that were happening, one of them ironically being the choir practice, and just lots of things piling up that stressed me out. There were also interviews going on with our mission president, President Herrera, that helped me a little when I talked to him, but I think as being co-responsable for making sure that went right it was another stress factor.

So, all these stresses piled up and I got to a moment where I just walked into the nursery room while no one was looking and sat down to gather myself again, one of my companions who was playing the piano thought I was with our other companion who I was going to be with, but he ended up going with another Elder to an appointment, so he thought I had stayed behind. And everyone else there that thought about where I was would have thought I was at the appointment. But I was having an emotional breakdown in the carpeted nursery.

And so President Herrera finishes his last interview and is calling my companion who left to the appointment to get a hold of the assistant who had gone with him to say they were waiting on him to eat dinner I knew that within minutes I´d have to leave and have everyone see what I looked like, (a mess) and I was being bombarded by the enemy as well so that I was feeling like I would be sent home dishonorably for not being with my companion (because that´s usually the reason that happens) and so I was getting worse and worse instead of getting better.

Then I hear them show up and Elder Johnson (who´s an older couple missionary) asked, "Well where´s Elder Fincher?" And so I knew my hour had come and I opened the nursery door and waved my hand like a little kid would on the floor, someone noticed and Hermana Herrera came over and saw me, then President Herrera entered the room and asked how I was and if he could talk to me. He found out what was up with me and all, said a couple words that were comforting and then he did something amazing for me in the moment, he asked if I wanted a blessing of comfort. I said that would be amazing. That´s where the real blessing came in at that moment, or the miracle I should say, because there were other blessings, Elder Johnson being aware that I wasn´t there, the kindness of everyone and others, but in the blessing that my mission president gave me I was blessed by the Lord, he was only the conduit for the Savior Jesus Christ to be able to bless me. From the moment in the blessing where I was told to be comforted I was. And I only got better. President Herrera then took me with them to eat dinner, and that´s always special. But the miracle there is that within 30 seconds I was able to feel good, that which for more or less an hour and a half had not occurred.

I know that the power of the Priesthood is real and that He who blesses us thereby is our Lord and Healer Jesus Christ, and so remember, whenever you need help, you can always count on the Lord, and on His ordained servants. <end Answer>

The rest of the week was pretty good, we did service for our branch president on Wednesday and we got the goal again of 7 new investigators this week!

My spirits are tired. To be honest I feel like I realized yesterday that I won´t be having anymore baptisms in the mission other than maybe one. And so I'm kind of discouraged knowing that, but I'm going to do my best to go on and finish the mission great how the Lord would like.

But nonetheless, I love the Lord, and I always do my best or at least try to do my best when I can´t quite get my very best out of me. But I know that we can all do good and help others, we can be blessings in the lives of others and act as Christ would were He here.

Other/summery of cool things that happened to me this week: I ate 100% pure cocoa, (bitter) I swung on a vine like Tarzan, (a childhood fantasy, i.e. never was going to actually occur, did it!) I directed a song in the choir for district conference, I went to another really cool waterfall, I completed 2 years in the mission, I beat Elder Carlson in a staring contest and other good things. I also taught the noche de hogar with the jovenes in the branch and talked about how we need to have a battle plan in place to thwart the adversary´s plan to beat us.

Be good, love God by loving His children and keeping His commandments and just be the best that you can!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

The best week yet? Maybe, I don´t have a perfect 2 year memory. :-P Or do I?

This is weird, I just touched my head and realized that for the first time in my life I have hair gel in my hair. Weird! O_o   O_O   o_O It´s like I had sticks of hair that I could just pull out because it doesn´t belong... o_o It´s like grass blades...

This was a fantastic week! I feel kind of bad because when we were in Cusco we didn´t do anything but consejo really, but here in our sector we were pulling hard! We ended the week with 11 new investigators! And we found 7 of them yesterday and of those 7, 5 we found last night at the same time! That was super cool to see that the Lord was willing to bless us for our diligence in wanting to achieve 7 new investigators this week despite consejo and working until the last moment, because it was the last door I was going to knock where we found the 5, it was an abuelita with 4 of her granddaughters.

My health is super great, I bundled up in Cusco to make sure I´d remain healthy.

Our sector as I said is going really well right now, we´re working on teaching people as well as finding. It´s good.

My spirits are so much better than a week or two ago, I´m feeling good about my efforts in the mission again and I´m making more personal effort to be better. I´m also happy with what I´m doing now.

Also, we had consejo de lideres this week too, that was definitely the best one I´ve been to yet! (out of 2 that´s not too hard... but it was better than the other ones in the office too :D ) I´m hilarious, seriously. :D :D :D Jejejeje jajaja hehe hahaha! I just literally laughed what I wrote out in laugh form... O.o I like these emojis I can make too!

Okay, seriously now, we had 11 new investigators like I mention above I´m sure. And yeah, that was awesome. Another thing is that I had a very large brain fart Sunday morning, I´m pretty sure it´s because I forgot to pray that morning because I jumped out of bed into the shower. Also, I leave my journal up on the light fixture in our pension´s house when I have to update it and couldn´t at night because reasons. And so I leave it there until night, but I forgot it last night because it was the birthday of her sister-in-law and so we ate at their house.

Also, I got a haircut today and used Elder Bednar´s picture as the example pic for the barber, and he asked if he was the President of the Jehovah´s Witnesses, I said that he was an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And he cut my hair like his, so now I have an Elder Bednar do. :D Also, this is why I just realized I had gel in my hair, because I don´t know when the barber put it in my hair. I didn´t have any space-time continuum problem, just a barber put gel on me head.

I got cool things in Cusco, and I´m not going to mention any of them because they´re surprises.

OH! And Giordano got baptized!

Silly me, I was almost forgetting that.

Giordano is the pension´s son, Hermana Esther. He turned 8 a couple weeks ago, well, about a month. But he was baptized on Saturday, and it was very nearly black when the service started and so Elder Carlson couldn´t read the sheet music to play the piano, so we used the blessed blessing of technology and held a phone´s flashlight up to it so he could read it. Why? Because the power was down on the grid for maintenance or something and was supposed to come back on at 5, which it didn't, so we took pics and then had the service start in the dark. About 5:30ish. 6 it´s black pretty much.

I conducted the baptismal service which was cool and neat. And then after the messages and his grandma´s musical number had just finished... the lights came back on! So the ordinance was done in the light. And then we missionaries sang another number and then it kept going with the welcome and all and then it ended and was good.

I think that´s the important things for this week, be good, have fun, read the Book of Mormon because we are blessed when we do that and go climb a mountain if you feel like it. That´s fun!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

By the mouth of 2 OR 3...

Howdy!

I say that a lot now that I was companions with Elder Lewis...

This has been a pretty good week, just not many logros.

The sector is seeing some pick up in the work since Elder Yovera arrived, though mostly just extra efforts since many haven´t received us.

But, the scripture says that it´s 2 or 3 witnesses, that´s why their aren´t quads apparently according to my brain at the present moment. Seems right.

I don´t know what to say about this week, it´s been good, but pretty uneventful. We´ve had choir practice and now the choir sings gooder, but not perfect yet.  (nor will they ever, but yeah)

It´s going to be consejo this week.

We waited until 10:40pm for Elder Yovera to arrive.

District meeting we "abandoned our arms of rebellion" like the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. But there were no holes, so I used a garbage bag.

There are some really cool views  here in Quillabamba and we took flowers to a sick person in the hospital that got burned whom we gave a blessing to.

I really  can´t think of anything else other than we all need to follow the prophet´s voice and act on what the Spirit told us during the conference. (and watch/read conference over again, having already done so or no)

Take care y´all and see ya later!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

♫♪We´ll call in our Solemn Assemblies in Spirit♪♫

Hey all!

How are you doing? Did the baptism get held?

I´m doing well, normal challenges, but I´m well. YES! It was held and went pretty good I´d say.

I think all these changes (in the conference) are pretty spectacular.

I´m glad and sad that I won´t be there right at the blunt of it to have the change happen, but we´ll see what I end up doing here to help it implement. Honestly, I see all of these changes to be solutions to problems that I might not have been able to name, but that I´ve felt have been present, so let´s embrace the will of the Lord!

Are you staying put? I think this is transfer week.

Yes, I´ve got a new companion on the way, Elder Yovera who´s from Chiclayo, Perú if I remember right, and he´s been in Inti Raymi zone with me and was the zone leader in Bellavista in Puno while I was there. He´s a real jokester and I´m pretty sure we´re going to get along well with him. Because, yes, Elder Carlson and I are staying together to end our time in the mission! We´re going to be in a trio with Elder Yovera. It´s going to be rocking awesome this last transfer! #POWERHOUR!!!

Now, the general conference that just ended yesterday:

It was beyond words honestly, it was so, very, super awesome. Amazing and a half more. Just wow. ¡Hay que trabajar duro! And yes, it´s going to be freaking awesome with President Nelson!

I really liked what I felt about repentance in this conference, we don´t have to be perfect! We just have to keep trying and getting better each time!

I also felt like some themes were "The Priesthood: get it through your thick skulls that it´s important and use it to bless people." "Revelation: It´s for you and you can have it if you want it, so want it and get it." "Ministering: AKA, love people, serve them, love your neighbor and go serve them." Among others which surely you´ve been able to learn as well.

Now, to accept President Nelson´s invitation in the closing part (amazingly awesome to hear 3 new temples in countries where there are none and then the 4 others too!) and go back and read the talks often and meditate them. Let´s listen to the prophet´s voice and act on what we´ve heard. I´m really excited to take a very active part in these great announcements about the Elders´ Quorum, Ministering and Temple work.

Well, this was a good week, I went with a brother who is preparing to go on the mission in July, Ronaldo, when Elder Carlson was at Machu Picchu and with him as well as with Elder Carlson when he got back and even Elder Valenzuela with divisions this week I´ve been able to work hard. It´s gone well this week and we had Jean Pier´s baptism and conference to culminate it and end the change. It was really good, despite not being perfect.

Our sector had a baptism this week and 4 new investigators! We´re working on helping more people! This is the Lord´s work.

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Plan? Or what?

Life, it´s a very big mystery and I still haven´t figured out the cheat codes, but my intuition tells me that karma would kill me for using those, so I´ll just stick to what I know which is the Gospel.

This week was pretty good. The baptism for Jean Pier got postponed at last minute with a permission from President Herrera to do it during General Conference. Now his sister is going to be able to be there along with more of his family and we´ll be able to plan more details out.

Our sector, I don´t know, we´ve been visiting Jean Pier a lot which is good, but I feel like we´ve been neglecting a little bit what we need to do, I´m trying to repent and I´m determined to do so, but I don´t know how to do it that well. We´re helping with some things at least, but we´re not being very productive in news or anything like that.

"Zone leader sounds intense! What kinda of things do you do?"

I... ask for the weekly numbers Sunday nights; organize and give openings to the district meetings; set the example for other missionaries(or at least I should, I try!); other things, but not too much. Mostly occasional things to help other missionaries with non-spiritual needs as well as a less direct help with spiritual needs.

"How did the baptism go? I hope that there was a lot of support from the ward members."

Kind of the opposite, but that might have been the Lord´s hand. It got postponed a week so that his sister could be there and now more people will come we hope, because we went with him to another baptism that started late and so it went past when we were supposed to start, and I don´t think anyone showed up, even late. So we´re going to make sure that people come this week when we do it.

Um, I´m trying my best to repent, and that involves not going to long at internet like I already am, but improvement is the next best thing, and I intend on it being almost as good as not being past the hour in the first place, so that´s it for this week.

But first a couple details, I gave a talk last week on peace in the gospel and how Christ gives us His peace as the mutual theme states. We went to a view point last week and that was fun. We climbed a mountain today Ronaldo, Jean Pier and I since Elder Carlson went to Machu Picchu. There´s other things I could mention, but I think that´s about it, other than I´m almost caught up in my journal. So that´s good, keeping a journal makes you remember things better and tell people about important things.

¡Cuídense!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher

Goodbye everyone, hello future!

No, I´m not super trunky. But I learned this week that I just attended my last multizone conference unless I have a change or there´s a change of plans. I made sure to get selfies with friends at the conference we had this week in Cusco. It was one of the best if not the best conference yet that I´ve had with President Herrera. And now to act on what we´ve been taught. But these last 58 days are going to be the best yet! We´re working really hard and I´m almost to the point to where I can say that it´s the hardest I´ve ever worked on the mission.

Also, with today marking my 23rd month in the mission I now no longer have any fear of going home for medical and having to learn how to cope with not having completed a "full mission". Though the Lord knows all of those cases and loves everyone that hasn´t had that blessing that I have. And I hope that in cases where it´s possible that you who is reading this or you who has a friend in that case, that you´ll be able to return to the mission field, but if not, you´ve served the Lord the best you could in THAT manner and He´ll provide other ways. (I read an article on that in the February Liahona and felt to share that.)

Is your person still on track for baptism Saturday? How are things going in your zone? Still moving well?

YES!!! Jean Pier passed his baptismal interview yesterday and now we just need to put down the details of the service. Going good, everyone has their own things, but as a whole we´re doing really well.

This was a week spent in Cusco for a good part of it, but we were able to get some things done in the sector and able to help some people.

The sector is alright, we didn´t have many citas this week, but we did have a baptismal interview passed by one of our investigators, Jean Pier is going to get baptized this week! So we´re excited for that!

My spirits are good. I´m getting up earlier, still not how I should be, but I´m putting myself to a discipline of exercising each morning so that I can have more energy to get up on time.

President Herrera shared a really cool life story with me in my interview. Basically he passed through a long and large elimination process to work at BCP (Banco Central del Perú) and out of 1000, down to 500 and then only 100 ended up being interviewed for the job. And because of a question to whether or not he´d be willing to work on Sundays (the bank is closed on Sundays and they don´t work) he said he´d rather not and based off of that he was the only one in the last part of about 100 to not get hired. Then shortly thereafter by a couple weeks he was able to get a much better job working for the SUNAT which is something with taxes in Perú. And it was a lot better job in every aspect. So, no matter what happens in life, have faith and follow God´s will for you. No matter what it is, just follow Him and we do that by following the Spirit.

I think that´s going to have to be it. But have a great week y´all!

--

Hurrah for Israel!

~Elder Fincher