This week i would like to inform you all of a change that was made in the mission in order to send a package to the mission you will need to put this address!
deleted and added current mailing info
just fyi, since I am behind the mailing address is now
Chad Alvin Rowley
Elder Skyler Davis
Misiòn Perù Piura
Mz. H Lt. 4
Urb. Los Geranios
Piura Peru
if you dont put the name Andrew Stephenson it is dificult for me to receive them because he is the office elder who goes and receives our pachages so they need to be in his name. for future reference...
Alrighty then this week was a great week, we had many ups in the spirit and like usual it just proves to me that this is the work of Heavenly Father and he is proud of the work we are doing here in Micaela Bastidas!
About a month ago we were meeting with a young man named Grover, he is 22 years old and lives on his own and works in his house a carpenter. He was raised Catholic and was eager to hear the message we had to offer. We taught him 2 lessons and things were going great! When we introduced the Book of Mormon he was a bit hesitant to accept it, he had always beleived in the Bible but was very closed minded to new scriptures. We continued to visit him for a breif time when one day we went to visit him and he told us that he could not accept the book of mormon to be true because he had not received an answer from God. We deceided to leave him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and told him that if he read it and prayed to God he would receive his answer! He told us that it would take a miracle for something big to change in his life to know that it was true, my companion and i bore the most sincere testimonies we could and left it in the hands of the lord... We didnt visit grover for several weeks knowing that the lord would tell us when it was time to help him once again. This week my companion and i had an appointment fall through and we stood on the corner of a street and offered a prayer to know where to go, we both looked at one another and just started to walk, when we arrived at Grovers house we knocked the door and he welcomed us in. When i entered the house i knew something had changed! i could feel the spirit so strong and i knew that he had changed. He told us that he had read the chapter we had left him, he prayed and received his answer! We didnt know but he used to be a heavy smoker waiting and trying to quit! the moment he offered his prayer he told us that he had lost the urge to smoke and for 20 days now he had been smoke free! he told us that with our testimonies and his prayer he knew that he had received his miracle. He told us that he would like to be baptised but would like to wait and resolve other problems he is facing with his family right now! I know that the lord answers prayers and that he is here walking where we walk and filling our hearts with the words that we are to say to help reach his other children!
We are working with a young man named Pedro, he is 19 and is a special soul. He is partly handicapped mentally, he is socially very open but does not understand or retain information. When he was a young kid, his father used to beat him and one day through him out... he lived in a place named casahogar which is to help young people that didnt have families and needed somewhere to go. When you complete 18 years they kick you out and you are required to live on your own, we encountered him sleeping in the street one day and my heart broke to see him like he was. He is very short and with his disability he looks just like a child. When we found him he didnt have clothes or shoes or where to sleep or food to eat. The mission rules are very clear about what we are supposed to do and the things we are should do to help the less fortunate, but following the rules wouldnt be enough to help young pedro, he needed somewhere to live something to eat and someone to help him overcome the life he has lived.... We gave him all that we had in that moment and found a family who would take him in and feed him and clothe him... that night i dont think i slept more than a few hours, my companion and i got up in the middle of the night and just talked about all that we could do to help him.... we deceided we would do all that we can to help him, it brings me to tears seeing him like that knowing that i can do something to help him. He is now living with a family, he has 3 square meals a day and is clothed and working! Pedro is so specail to me and i know that even though we broke a mission rule by giving him money to by food, we kept the commandments in serving those who are without.
We had another amazing experience this week saturday night, we had been meeting with a young man named Andy ^chino^ Inga, his brother darwin is a recent convert that we baptised this last week. Andy had been assisting church but had never known if it was true and he never received an answer to hus prayers. We met with him saturday night late at 8:30 and we taught about baptism, we told him that we knew he was ready and we would help him prepare for baptism this 27th of May, he told us he was nervous and finally told us his doubt, he didnt know if the church was true. We told him the only way he could know was to pray to and ask God and that if he did so he would receive an answer. We knelt in that same moment and Andy offered one of the most direct prayers i have ever heard from a 13 year old young man in my life! he told god that if this was his church then he would be baptised. When he said amen we waited in silence, and more silence and more silence. We were there 5 minutes kneeling without saying a word. Finally Chino spoke, he told us that he knew. I asked him how he could be so sure, he told me that he felt a purification and that the church is true and that he would be baptised this 27th!
Viton is a young man who we had the great blessing to baptise this week!!!! he is 15 years old and was a very strong evangelico when we found him. we met viton playing futbol one day and he told us that he would be open to having us come and visit. We did so and he was very receptive to the gospel and as soon as we said the words he knew they were true. The only problem that we had was his mother would not permit him to be baptised. A month ago we met with his mother and asked her permission to preform the service and she told us that she would not allow it! he was welcome to attend church but could not be baptised. We continued to try and make small talk with her each and every time we visited! This week he told us to stop by his house and that he had told his mom that he was going to be baptised but she accepted because he knew it was true. We went to visit her and speak with her again. She told us that Viton had spoken with her and that she didnt think he was ready to be baptised still. Worse yet his older sister came in and started to tell us that he was misbehaved and she doesnt want him to be baptised either. I kept a silent prayer in my heart and put my faith in the lord that he would give me the words that i was to say in order to help viton! He was upset that his family could not see what it was in the Gospel that he saw and when his sister told him all these he freaked out and fell into tears! he told her that he was going to be baptised because he knew that the church was true and that it was the right choice to make! His mom was suprised and he received permission! it was amazing to feel the great spirit that was in that room and i know that the lord was there and that he helpped soften the heart of his mother and that Viton will be a strong young man in the gospel
There is nothing greater than this work! i am scared to leave it and greatful that i yet have so much to do for the lord here in Peru! i hope you all remember forever all that the lord has done for you and what it is that you can do for him to show him your love and gratitude!
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