2011 August 1
Dear Mom,
My week was great! We had a baptism on Saturday, his name is Silfo Pizango and is 21 years old and wants to serve and mission and teach with us whenever it`s possible. I was very happy to see him get baptized and confirmed. My companion baptized him and I confirmed him. We met him in our first week or two here in Iquitos and he had a ton of questions and doubts but through the weeks and months all were answered, and unsurprisingly, all thanks to the Book of Mormon! He gave a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon after his baptism and is happier than ever. Remember Barbara? well her and both of her parents came to church yesterday and we visited them last night and shared part of The Family: A Proclamation for the World and they really enjoyed it. My vision is that they can receive the saving ordinances of Baptism and the Confirmation. We also taught a couple of other powerful lessons that night and two men accepted baptismal dates. Manuel Luna and Teddy Aguanuri, both older men who want to get baptized. We put their dates for the 20th of this month, even though they are willing to do it sooner but they both need a little bit of preparation. We also had interviews with President Blunck and training by the assistants. In my interview President Blunck told me that I have to act and treat Elder Zuniga like he is my son, which will help us a lot now that I think about it. Before I treated him like a brother and he really reminds me a lot of Will and I always remembered when you would tell me that I am not his dad. But to imagine that Elder Zuniga is my son and that I am responsible that he learns and grows and does the things like they should be done with help us a lot. And pretty much everything that he talked to me about in my interview was in relation to how it will be when I am married and have kids (which made me think during the interview if he knew that I only have a year in the mission :) haha ha) But the interview helped me a ton and made me feel like a new missionary. The trainings also helped me to be a more effective missionary and teacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about Teach People not Lessons and How to Begin Teaching. I have studied them both a menudo and I use them but the trainings really helped me refine these teaching skills. Thanks to what I learned we could put baptismal dates for Manuel and Teddy in 10 min of teaching time and really have the spirit there testifying that it is the right thing to do. Also, President told me to look for more families to teach and baptize so we are re doubling our efforts to find and teach families like it says in PMG page 3. And it is paying off :) So that’s my week all wrapped up into one paragraph. Sounds like the whole family is having a ton of fun! THANKS A TON FOR THE PICTURES!!!! They are the greatest. Cameron looks and sounds like he is doing more than great and I love hearing about the family and how wonderful you all are doing. Thanks for the recipes, I`ll translate them and see if we can cook something delicious from home next Monday. We won`t have time today cause we are going to the ``Chacra`` pretty much deep jungle where they grow and cultivate all there fruit, wish me luck :) I love you mom and am truly grateful for all you have done, are doing and will do for me.
Love,
Elder Divis
