Hey Hey Hey!
We had an interesting week here in Chacha…filled with all kinds of weird and delightful stories, which I hope will entertain you all. It was pretty rough for our investigators, probably the most frustrating week I have had here up to this point. We were not able to teach very much at all, and when we did teach it was very difficult to get our investigators to act and complete commitments. It was the first time of my time here in Chachapoyas that we haven’t had any investigators at church…dang.
Chachapoyas is pretty interesting in many respects. It is a beautiful place, a small town, secluded and there seems to be some small mindedness on the part of many here. For example, people have some pretty different ideas about who the “Mormons” are. Cecilia is still doing really well as the newest convert, and we have been able to contact two new people and are working on a third one. We talked to Cecilia a bit this last week and asked how she has been since her baptism. She said things have been “interesting.” Apparently her neighbors have really given her a hard time about it, and even her two young kids are already getting fingers pointed at them with rude comments from their classmates. That is just so sad. I have seen that happen everywhere I have served; however, it seems to be a lot worse here in this small town. I think that is why it is so hard to talk to people here and be able to teach and help people progress. If we talk to one person, their neighbors immediately begin telling them derogatory and false things the LDS Church, or just make fun of them in order to shame them from talking to us further, making them afraid to even look at us in the street, let alone talk to us. So those are our investigator woes right now…trying to overcome that. We are working with a lot of great people right now. Lucero`s family is doing ok…the good news there is that her 25 year old son is finally reading and loving the Book of Mormon, and we were able to finally meet and teach her husband. He has never wanted to talk to us before, but yesterday we taught him and it went really well. We are teaching Maria and her son Erick, who are coming along decently and may have a baptismal date this week. We are teaching Cecilia’s amiga Miriam and she has potential as well. We are kind of in need of new people right now and hopefully this week turns out better for us. We are gonna keep looking and working hard, no matter who points fingers at us, because we are not ashamed of the Savior Jesus Christ. Not now. Not ever!
We did a service project this week cleaning an investigator’s garden and that went pretty well. We even had some help from a youth, so that was cool. We had another ward activity on Saturday that went extremely well, with lots of members and investigators. We met at the church and played some games and did a kind of potluck deal. As missionaries we took “Shukos.” (Ask Elder Winn if he knows what they are.) It’s a Guatemalan dish that is delicious. My companion whipped them up real nice and boy were they good…I`ll definitely take that recipe home because they are pretty easy to make.
Okay. Story of the week. There is some guy that always come to our apartment late at night at least once a week and bangs on the street door. Not our apartment door, but the main door to get into the complex, annoying EVERYONE - usually at midnight or later. So after two months of that, once a week, I got a bit annoyed. On Wednesday when he came and we went down from the third floor to open the door. I think he was a bit drunk. He didn’t say anything - just kinda walked in and I asked who he was, why he doesn’t have a key, and why this and that…blah blah. (I know, I should have asked him gospel centered questions, and told him about the keys to salvation or something.) Anyway, we left it at that. He came back the next night…but at 5:00 am and awoke us from the dead of sleepiness. So my comp got up and we yelled to him from the roof to stop knocking or we were gonna throw cold water on him. (Haha. Another gospel teaching opportunity, living water.) He kept knocking…so we kept our promise and threw cold water on him. Well, not ON him, but only because we are really bad shots. To our credit, we just barely missed him. Then I yelled to him again to stop knocking and he just kept demanding that we come down and opening the door, calling us names, etc. (Okay, this suddenly is not looking like my best story.) We found out where he apparently lives, and his wife came out and told us they are separated and to not to let him in. So we slid a note under the door that said, “No te vamos a abrir. Chau.” Or, “We are not going to open the door. Bye.” So he left, and we found the note a few hours later when we left for breakfast, and kept it as a reminder of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (he knocked but we could not let him in because he was not prepared). So that made for an interesting two nights, and he hasn’t been back since. It was annoying; yet, funny - all wrapped into one big ball of coolness.
So that was last week. We are hoping and looking forward to having more success this week. We are really hoping for another baptism soon. We have a bit more time to do it. We are working hard. Life is good. My comp is awesome and we are getting along great, laughing and having fun. And that’s pretty important in the mission field. Dad, I hope you had a fantastic Father’s Day. I am so grateful for all you and Mom have done for me over the years. Where would I be without you? I hate to think about it. I am so grateful for all your love and support - and for all the great letters and boxes you have sent throughout my mission. That has meant so much to me. Dad, I remember the words you told me over the phone once while I was sitting under a tree outside my dorm at BYU one Sunday afternoon: "Just have faith. Keep the commandments and do your best. Heavenly Father will take care of the rest." Those simple words helped me then and continue to mean a lot to me. It is hard to believe my mission experience is coming to a close. It’s been such a great experience. Thanks for being such a great dad, Pops. You’re awesome and I can’t wait to see you guys walk through that Chachapoyas airport door. Oh, and a late happy Father’s day all you fathers our there! Hope yesterday was good. Everyone, keep being cool, and remember that the Church is true . . . because it is. Live it. Nothing will change your life, or bring you more happiness - even in the worst of times - than embracing the Savior and His gospel.
Elder “Today is the 1st Day of Summer There, and the 1st Day of Winter Here” Royal
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