Week 79 - Chimbote

I write to you this week from the city of Chimbote. Its super hot here and it smells like fish in parts, but its a pretty nice city. It has been a great first week here in my new area with my new companion, Elder Parra. He is from Lima and he is a pretty funny missionary.
Last monday was my last day in my last area and we had a nice family home evening in my pensionista´s house with our converts, Hermana Roxana and Hermana Yaquelin. We talked about the tender mercies of the Lord and it was awesome to get to talk with them and see how much they had grown in the time I was there.
Last tuesday morning i got on a bus with a few other missionaries, and I came here to Chimbote. I got all settled in to my new room and we got to go meet a few people my first day. One of the families that we are working with here is really progressing quite well. The mom´s name is Eva and the dad´s name is Percy. They have been passing through a few trials lately, but they have decided to listen to the missionaries. They have been going to church, reading the Book of Mormon and praying. In my first lesson with them I became friends with the dad as i found out that he likes to watch old western movies with Clint Eastwood in them. One of the coolest parts of our first lesson with them was listening to Hermana Eva share her testimony. It was awesome. This week we also got to talk to her a little bit about the word of wisdom and the very same day she took the coffee and tea that she had in her house and threw it away. Getting to help people that have been prepared is such a blessing.
One other family that I got to know this week was the Hermano Cristofer and his wife Hermana Rosa. Hermano Cristofer has been a member for quite a while, and his wife was baptized this last December. They are great people. Hermano Cristofer has a taxi and he has helped us a ton this week.
This past friday we got to go to Trujillo for a training with President and Sister Ríos. It was a great training. One of my favorite things that Hermana Ríos told us was that love and patience can get us a long way. President Ríos talked to us a little bit about having faith and not being hesitant when we invite people to live the Gospel of Christ. He helped us remember that we need to replace fear and doubts with faith.
It was a great week here in my new area. I am grateful to be serving here at this time. I know that this is the work of the Lord and that as we choose to have faith we can stay on the right path and help other people along the way.