Week 69 -Huaraz

This past week was an awesome week. I feel very blessed that I was able to celebrate Christmas here in Huaraz again with the great members here. Its a great time of year. One of the coolest things we got to see all week happened Saturday night. We were visiting a family here and they gave us hot chocolate and paneton. They had told us that they weren'


t going to be with their family members that live in Lima this Christmas because the bus tickets were expensive. They had great attitudes, however, and were excited for Christmas. When we were visiting with them all of the sudden someone knocked on the door. The daughter went to open the door, and the rest of their family flooded in the door. It was awesome to see a family get together for Christmas. 

This past week we have gotten to visit Hermana Estela, her daughter, and her sister a little bit. They are progressing really well. We have been talking a lot with Hermana Estela about baptism and her desires to be baptized are growing. She is always so grateful that she has gotten to learn a few of the principles of the Gospel. She and her daughter actually came to church yesterday as well. They are starting to gain and nurture strong testimonies. It is great to see. 

This week we visited a less active sister with her family, and it was nice getting to know them and talk with them. We are really excited to get to work with them because they expressed desires to go back to church. The Lord is always preparing people for us to teach and help.

Christmas was great. Our pensionista made us a delicious dinner getting to skype our families was great as well. With the sacrament meeting in the morning we started of the day on the right foot. I especially liked the scriptures from first Nephi about the vision of Lehi that our first councilor shared in his talk. It is so interesting how the people in the Americas looked forward to the birth and coming of Christ. I am grateful for his life and for his example. I know that the principles that he taught help us to find happiness, success, and peace. I know that Christ lives.

Christmas Dinner at Pensionita's 

A picture of Elder Miller and his companion skyping his companions family on Christmas Day

Christmas Dinner 

Week 68 - Huaraz

Merry Christmas! I can hardly believe that this week is Christmas! It is a great time of year. This week was a great week. It started off a little slow, but ended on an awesome note.
Hermana Estela is still progressing, and we got to know her sister this week as well. Her sister had a few doubts about the church and had been going to another church for a while. This week when we finally got to know her and visit her she opened up a little bit and asked us a few questions that we were able to answer. In the end of the lesson, she asked us if she could take a Book of Mormon to read. We were happy to leave her with a Book of Mormon. One thing I have learned while on my mission is that people can always find answers to their questions, and many of these answers are found as they read the Book of Mormon and pray. This Sunday Hermana Estela went to church with her mom and her sister. I am very grateful that the Lord has answered our prayers.
This week we also got to know a few new families. Almost all week we couldn't find many new people to teach. We have learned to be patient, however, even though its a challenge at times for me, and we got to know a few new families this last Sunday. One of them has listened to the missionaries before. The dad is actually a member, and he really wants his wife and kids to go to church with him. In the end of our lesson with them they were excited to read the Book of Mormon. I'm excited for the opportunity to help this family.
This last weekend President Rios came with his family and we had our little Christmas celebration with them. It was a great time. President wanted our Christmas celebration this year to be more of a spiritual experience and it was awesome. We watched the church´s videos about Christmas from the past years, and talked about them a little bit. Then they had a little surprise for us. We got to see the videos that our families sent us to wish us Merry Christmas. It was so awesome! I am very grateful for President and Sister Rios.
I'm grateful for the chance to remember the Savior a little bit more this time of year and I'm especially grateful for the opportunity I have to learn of him and to strive to be one of his disciples. I know that thanks to him we all get to have second chances in life and we will live after this life.

Week 67 - Huaraz

This last week was a very great and busy week. My companion left on Tuesday morning and I worked all day Tuesday with a missionary, that is serving in a little town outside of Huaraz called Carhuaz, who was waiting for his new companion as well. We had a great day and were able to find a few people to teach. Our new companions got here Wednesday in the morning. My new companion, Elder Torres, Is awesome. He is a hard worker and has a great attitude. He is from Chiclayo, Peru. Ive included a photo with him
We visited a few people Wednesday, then Wednesday night we traveled to Trujillo to a training with president Rios and the assistants. It was a great training. My favorite part was analyzing 3 Nephi 11 with President Rios. It really shows just how important baptism is in the Gospel. As I have studied the Gospel a little bit more this past week I have realized how much it blesses our lives. I also realized that at times we take for granted some of the greatest blessings the gospel has to offer.
This week we got to work with the Santiago Family a little bit. They are farmers and are willing to learn about the gospel. One of the difficulties that we have is that they understand the native language ketchua better that Spanish. We have been patient with them, however and little by little they are understanding.
Hermana Estela is still progressing. She is developing a firm testimony and she has helped my testimony to grow so much. She has a lot of opposition, but she keeps pressing forward. We talked to her a little bit about the scripture in Ether 4 this weeks that explains how we don't gain a testimony until after the trial of our faith. This Sunday i was worried when she didn't show up to church, but she finally did get there with her mom. I was pretty happy!
The highlight of my week was finally getting to visit our convert´s aunt. She has been less active for about 30 years, and wasn't really too excited that we wanted to visit her. We finally got to visit with her, however, and she was really sincere with us. We are excited to help her to receive the blessings of the gospel.
I know this is the work of the Lord. I know that the Holy Ghost is a real gift that brings many blessings into our lives.

with Elder Pacherres this last Thursday in Trujillo

My new companion, Elder Torres, Is awesome. He is a hard worker and has a great attitude. He is from Chiclayo, Peru. I've included a photo with him.  

Week 66 - Huaraz

Wow one more great week in the work of the Lord has come and gone. One more transfer in the mission has also come and gone. This week was very busy. My companion and I have still been working with Hermana Estela and she is really progressing. She came to church again this last Sunday with her mom. Her faith has been growing as she has prayed and come to church, and we talked to her a little bit more about baptism this week. We read 2 Nephi 31 with her and invited her to be baptized....and she accepted the invitation. Yeahhhh!!! She has been testifying to us in the lessons and has come a long way. I'm very excited to help her progress in the weeks that come. I am very grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the way it teaches the doctrine of Christ.
We also had a pretty awesome experience yesterday. We had a goal to find a new family yesterday. Our plans didn't go as well as we had hoped, but we decided that we had to find a family. We kept moving along, and then met a family in the street. We got to teach them a little bit. It turns out that they had actually listened to missionaries before and were very grateful for our visit. The Lord really prepares people and families for us to teach each and every week.
We got transfers yesterday and my companion is going to Casma tomorrow, so I will have a new companion. I am very grateful for the time that I have had with my companion and for the things that we have learned together. He is a super powerful missionary and always has a good attitude. He is a very firm teacher and I have learned a lot from his example as a teacher.
I will be staying here in Huaraz for at least one more transfer. That means that I will be here for Christmas and for my birthday! I'm pretty excited about that.
I am very grateful for the mission and for the opportunity that I have to learn and to grow each and every day. I am very grateful for our Lord and Savior and for his example and atonement. I know that he lives.

lunch today. Arroz con mariscos. Rice with seafood. it was pretty delicious

Week 65 - Huaraz

One more week in the work has come and gone. It was a great week! We started the week of great last Monday and I learned a lot this week. This last Monday we went out to visit with our ward mission leader Hermano Jhon who is pretty awesome. He always has a super good attitude. We got to visit a family and talk to them a little bit about eternal families. The dads brother passed away about a month ago. It has been pretty tough on him, but I'm sure our message can give them hope and help them understand the opportunity that they have to have an eternal family. I really do love teaching and helping families. I think Ive said it a billion times, but I'm certain that the gospel blessed families and I know it will bless the families here.
This week we got to know a few members a little bit better as well, and they helped us a ton. It is so awesome to see the members get excited about sharing the gospel. One member introduced us to a bunch of her friends, so we are super excited to get to know them a little bit more and to teach them.
We have also been working with a sister named Estela. She has been progressing a ton and this week we got to see a little miracle with her. She has had a little bit of opposition from her family and from her neighbors as she has investigated the church. Her mom stopped talking to her for about a week, so Hermana Estela prayed so that her mom would talk to her. Her mom came and helped her cook in her little cafe this week. Probably the most amazing part, however, was when Hermana Estela walked into church this Sunday with her mom by her side. I was so excited for her. It was awesome to see that the Lord has helped her and answered her prayers.
One other highlight from this week was seeing one of our converts, Hermana Yaquelin, get a calling in the primary. wahoooooo!
This past week was a great week. Im excited for one more week in the work. I'm also excited for the Christmas season. We got to see the new video this week. Its pretty awesome. I'm very grateful to be a missionary. I'm learning a ton. I have really felt this week the importance of becoming more like the Savior. I'm grateful for his example.
Here I have included a photo of our leaders meeting we had last week. for more photos you can visit the mission blog.  http://beatrizymanuelrios.blogspot.pe/

 photo of our leaders meeting we had last week

Week 64 - Huaraz

This past week was awesome. I learned a ton and we also had some success in our area. Last Monday we had a family home evening with a family that we met with the help of one of the members in the ward. We all got together in their living room of their house and we filled it up. There were even people sitting on the stairs. We talked about the restoration and the Book of Mormon a little bit. The kids in the family were super excited, and they actually surprised us with what they already knew. We had left a folleto with them and they studied it and were ready.
Last Tuesday night we went to Trujillo for a leaders meeting and it was so awesome. President Rios shared a talk with us from Neil L. Anderson about having the faith to find and baptize converts. We got to study it together and I learned a ton. I learned that if I do all of the little things the best I can and If I serve with the faith and hope that the Lord is preparing people in my area to receive and live his gospel I will be a successful missionary. He always reminds us that we have real power and that we have to remember it and believe it. After we got to go out to eat for lunch with President and Sister Rios with the other leaders. Then President Rios let my companion and I go to the Distribution Center by the temple to buy some big scriptures for a few people in our area that we have been working with that cant read little letters. It was an awesome day.
The next day we got back to Huaraz and President came here with the assistants to train and to interview the zone. It was really awesome to have them here for a few days. President Rios taught us a little bit about how we can better teach repentance. He explained to us that repentance is not just changing and become better. He taught us that it needs to be centered on Christ and the atonement.
One day this week my companion and I hadn't had many lessons all day, but we kept looking and we knew that we were going to find something. In the night we found two families to teach. I know that the Lord tests our patience at times, but he always blesses us if we press forward with faith.
I am very grateful to be a missionary. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives.

Selfie with Comp on the Bus

Elder Miller in front of Trujillo Temple

Missionaries in his ward and the assistants.

A picture with my companion, the other misionaries in our ward and the assistants. The assistants are Elder Henao and Elder Benitez. Elder Henao and I were buds in the CCM and we throwed the football around a little bit. Elder Benitez is from Argentina he is a good missionary.  

Week 63 - Huaraz

Every week just seems to go by faster here in the mission. This past week was a busy and a great one.
Last Monday we had a family home evening with the Rodriguez family(the family that let me use their computer last Christmas to do Skype) and we talked about eternal families. It was great and I realized how much this knowledge changes our perspective and the choices that we make in life.
This week we invited one of the families that we are visiting to read the Book of Mormon. It was an awesome lesson. In the end the son told us that he didn't want to read the book, so my companion and I decided to be persistent and not leave it at that. We testified and talked to him a little bit more, and in the end he said that he would read. My companion is a great teacher of the gospel, and in the time that we have had working together I have learned a lot more about how to teach with power and authority.
We also got to read the Book of Mormon a little bit with one of our investigators that has been progressing quite a bit. There has been a lot of opposition in her path from her family and her neighbors, but she is enduring with faith. She is a great example. She has her own little cafe in her house, and for a couple of weeks now she has closed her cafe on Sunday. I know that the Lord is preparing his children and as long as we work hard and pray specifically for these people the Lord will help them to keep progressing.
One of the highlights of my week was seeing Hermana Agripina and her daughters bring a family member to church and to a family home evening. Seeing people become converted to the Gospel of Christ is one of the greatest things that I have seen on my mission. I am so grateful that they are still progressing and that they have the desire to share the Gospel.
I know that faith is powerful and that having faith in Christ changes our lives. I am grateful to be a missionary.