We had some pretty crazy things happen this week. Let`s start with the first story, our baptism!!

We have been teaching Hermanita Celia, who is a lady 73 years old confirmed.  We have been teaching her, and we noticed something - she has Alzheimers as mentioned last week, and of course she forgets everything pretty easily.  However, when we taught the gospel to her, she remembers everything.  HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?  We taught her Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon, Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, Sabbath Day, and she remembered it all super well. She had an entrevista with another elder and she passed it just fine. It shocked my companion and I, considering she doesn't even remember our names. We came across some opposition too, because she has 4 kids.  The oldest was fine that she gets baptized, but the rest were not.  They were upset because they felt like she isn't capable of making her own decisions considering her condition and that they weren't going to permit she gets baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ because she is Catholic and believes en la Virgen de la Puerta.  We went to her house and her kids were going to take her to Trujillo on Saturday all day so she wouldn't get baptized. We visited them on Friday, and we asked Celia if she really desires to get baptized. She stood up and yelled,  "I am a grown woman, I am my own boss and make my own decisions and there is no one that can tell me what to do. I know this church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Let`s go right now so I can get baptized"   Wow, when she said that my companion and I could feel the spirit so strongly.  We went to the church that very instant and filled up the font. There wasn't anyone at her baptism, but it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had.

My companion shared the baptism of Jesus, and we watched the Bible video in her baptism of when Jesus was baptized. It impacted me because Jesus was the lamb of God, without sin, without blemish, perfect in every way. John obviously was not perfect.  A rect man, but not by any means perfect. Pondering the doctrine of baptism, entered into my heart profoundly was that Celia is a daughter of God, and that Heavenly Father truly loves her deeply.  He sent me, someone not perfect by any means, with lots of sins, to baptize this lovely woman.  I know that Celia, after her baptism, is clean without blemish. She understands the Gospel.  I will never forget such an experience.

Besides that, I also almost got involved in a gang fight this week. We were in the Plaza de Armas, and we saw 4 dudes running.  Like that was weird.  I saw that three of them were chasing the one. At first I thought they were messing around, then I saw them take him to the ground and started kicking and punching him hard in the face. When I saw that I was like oh CRAP they are going to kill him. I started going towards them without thinking and yelled   HEY QUIT IT   and yelled back at my companion to call the police but my companion didn't even notice that I was heading over towards them. Thankfully, a grandma broke up the fight and they went walking away peacefully from the poor dude.  BUT WHAT SCARED ME is that these 3 dudes, had 17 others dirtbags keeping guard and watching what was going on. When they finished beating the dude up, this gang of like 20 dudes went walking away like nothing happened.  I gave the poor dude some water and some other bystanders also helped him out. The crazy thing is that this all happened  IN FRONT OF THE POLICE STATION. And they didn't even do anything!   LIKE WHAT.   Now I know that one dude must've done something because 20 dudes don't come after you for no reason. The dude had the excuse that they wanted his cell phone, but if that was the case, maybe 2-3 dudes would jump you but I don't think 20 would be there. Afterwords, I was thinking, and was like man this world is such a tough place. We need the gospel, we need more people who can follow its precepts and can be righteous. That we don't stoop down to this level of low.

Today we went on a beautiful hike to an awesome lake. It was so cool.  THERE ARE WILD TOMATOES.  I went crazy eating lots of wild tomatoes. We also saw some awesome owls, and clean water which was a first in my time here in Peru. It was super pretty, and I put on lots of sunscreen and still got sunburned.

Love you guys!!

BUENAS TARDES A TODOS MIS QUERIDOS

This week was so fantastic. STORY TIME:

We were contacting, doing our normal missionary work business and we came across an atheist. Which is rare here actually but he did not want much to do with us. He was super friendly and was open to talk, and I asked him a few questions to get to know why he is an atheist. While we were contacting him, came a guy named Carlos!  We being good missionaries, included him in our contacts and came to find out he is a member of the church but inactive. We set up a cita with him to visit in his work, and we went to visit him and learned that he has a family but is divorced and some of his kids live in Chile. We come to find out he has a son that still lives with him here, who is 13 years old. His name is Mark! We set up another cita to get to know Mark and taught him a few things. It was super powerful and we got them committed to come to church and Carlos was super excited to get his son involved with us and going down this path with our Heavenly Father. We later started talking with some other members of the church, and it turns out he was actually Branch President of Roma a while back ago and surprised my companion and I. We put a fecha bautismal for Mark for the 29th and they both seem super content to make the covenant with God. I was super excited, because who thought contacting an atheist would give us a baptism???!?!?!?!

Another awesome story. A member gave us a reference of her family that has Alzyhmers. Welllll my companion and I weren't sure what the protocol for a case like that is because she has the disease where she can't remember very much. We came to learn that she does understand some things, if you repeat them lots of times and have someone helping her along the way. We put her fecha bautismal for THIS SATURDAY and we taught her Jose Smith and Baptism and she first said she was already baptized but we taught her that she  has to do it the same way Jesus was baptized, thanks to Jose Smith and the restauracion. It was some pretty powerful citas because she has such a sweet soul, and the innocence in her is just so pure. I felt the spirit pretty strong with her, and I am super excited to see her enter in the waters of baptism. Her name es la hermana Celia Alfaro!!

We also had many awesome noches de hogar, and a noche misional. We are uniting the ward a lot here and I am so excited seeing all the growing and developing el barrio independencia is doing.

This week I was studying Alma 49 and I learned a lot from Capitan Moroni. He was a firm man and always consulted the Lord. He strengthened his weak parts, built up his forts, trained his army. I learned that we have to do the same. Our army starts in the home and our friends, our ward, we have to always strengthen those around us and ourselves and arm ourselves against the enemy that will come to attack us. Because he will come. We can't avoid it. If we were all as firm as Moroni, the depths of hell would be shaken and would not have power over the children of men. I know if we learn from his example and do the same, the enemy will not win against us. There will be battles and struggles, but we will come out victorious if we prepare.

I love life!  I love the mission!  I love Peru!!!!!!!

We also got to go to the beach!!!  We went to this amazing burrito place that to our surprise is owned by a dude from California!  We played basketball, and ate some delicious burritos and brownies and cookies.  The beach was unbelievably beautiful with cliffs and super clean, I definitely need to come back to this place because it made me so happy. We saw some other white people from Switzerland and France, this place was the best.

Buenas Tardes!!!

This week was a grind week.  We are working hard in motivating the members, and trying to find new people. We have been doing some awesome family home evenings and actividades to get everyone in the ward involved and active. We have had lots of fun with the young men, and they are super funny. They remind me a lot of when I was in young mens, and sometimes we have to make sure they are off the phone and participating which sometimes reminds me of what my young men's president was like. Shout out to Brother Matheney!  I have so much respect for those who have helped in the youth program.  Honestly it is one of the most important functions the church has because literally is the next generation of leaders.

This week I studied a lot the war chapters in Alma, and let me say Captain Moroni is one of the coolest dudes in the world.  He knew how to defend and attack against his enemy. He fought for what was right.  For liberty, justice, freedom, and for God.  Reading his stories touched me a lot and led me to ponder in what ways I am protecting myself against the attacks of my enemy.  In what ways am I attacking him so he doesn't destroy me.  I know we must be on guard always.  We can't ever let our shield down. We must be armed with power to defend against the dark arts of the adversary.  Alma 46-47

I love and miss you guys!!!  Please write me and keep me updated on how it is going!!!

Spencer lost a game and below is his pollo dance...

Buenas tardes a todos! Muchas cosas han pasado, y he estado muy ocupado. Me cambiaron y ahora estoy en Casa Grande barrio independencia!!!! Las casas de verdad son muy grandes. Son bonitas tambien. El barrio es muy pequeño, y un poco frío algunos de los miembros. Extraño mucho a Gran Chimu. De verdad es un barrio muy excelente. Aquí en independencia, nuestra pensión es el Presidente de Estaca, entonces tenemos la bendición a trabajar juntos con él y verle a menudo.

Extraño muchas personas de Gran chimú. Especialmente los amigos que hice, y sè que volveré a verlos alguna dia. Los cambios son las partes más feas a veces de la misión.

Mi nuevo compañero es Elder Fajardo, de Colombia. Tiene 9 meses en la misión, y es muy bueno.

Estuve estudiando mucho las escrituras en cuanto a Alma a su hijo helamán. Alma 37:6-7 me gusto mucho. Dice que por las cosas pequeñas y sencillas dios puede hacer cosas grandes y maravillosas. Se que eso es cierto. Es difícil recordar hacer las cosas pequeñas, pero a través de ello, recibimos bendiciones eternas con la promesa de la vida eterna. Sigamos a leer las escrituras, hacer nuestras oraciones, y participemos en la santa cena cada domingo. Al hacerlo, Dios nos promete que tendremos paz, tranquilidad, amor, mansedumbre, y una conciencia limpia.

Les amo mucho y que se cuiden!

Con amor,
Elder McGreer