BAPTISM DAY, NOCHE CULTURAL, AND OTHER SUPERB STUFF

Hola Familia!!!

MAN … WHAT A WEEK!! This week was probably one of the most stressful weeks I have ever felt in my whole mission. But it was so worth it!

To start … HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK MAMA!! You are the greatest … and man I sure do love you best friend! Hope it is the greatest day and that the boys spoil you! Feliz Cumpleanos from Peru! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Second, Leandro got baptized this past week! It was such a special experience seeing him all dressed in white, entering the font. Like I said last week, it has been quite an adventure, and to finally see it all come together was incredible. His baptism was Saturday at night so we prepared the room to make it nice and made the program for the service! I ended up giving a talk on baptism and my comp played the piano for the musical number by Andrea and Aixa (his future wife and 4 year old daughter). Everything went really well, and then when it got time for him to enter the font … I just started to tear up. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. He was literally glowing … and when he came up out of the water he just couldn’t stop grinning! We ended the service with him bearing his testimony and when he walked up to the front he just started crying. He said that he knows this church is true. He explained that when he went under the water he didn’t want to come up because he just felt so much happiness. He said he has never ever felt that when in his life and he will never forget that. He said he feels different and can’t even explain it. He couldn’t even hold back the tears. He finished sharing his testimony and it was such an incredible moment. Afterwards his future wife, Andrea, told us that she doesn’t know whether to cry or laugh because she is so happy! Honestly it was just such an incredible night. After the baptism we stopped by his house to tell him how proud and happy we are for him and gave him a white Sunday shirt (thanks Mom), tie (thanks to the elders), and a pic of the temple so that he never forgets his goal! Sent a few pics, but man I can’t even tell you how incredible this night was. And he even wore the CTR ring we gave him and hasn’t taken it off. :)

The following day he was confirmed in church and ended up giving his testimony in fast and testimony meeting. He walked into church just beaming in his white shirt and tie. Family … this is what makes this work worth it!

Also, this week we had another Ward Activity! Se llama Noche Cultural. Every organization presented plates of food from different countries and we had judges to judge the best plate and they performed a dance from their country and all that great stuff! It was a real HIT! So many people came and the food was INCREDIBLE! As the Obra Misional we presented the plate from AMERICA (woohoo!) and after thinking forever about what to make we decided to make french toast and pancakes! Classic USA food right? Not even sure if we invented those things but hey … it turned out superb! We made it look like a picnic and everyone loved the food! They also invited a dance group to come and perform Peruvian dances and it was so fun! A lot of less active members came and NEW investigators. Overall, it was a great night!

Oh random fact ... on our way to our Zone Meeting our bus got stopped by a few police cars. I thought … can they pull over buses? Yup! All they wanted was to check the ID of everyone on the bus. It was super exciting! We didn’t have our IDs so we thought we were going to jail. But the police were cool with it because we are just nice gringa missionaries. But it was all crazy and apparently they were looking for someone. They didn’t find them and let us get on our way. It is always an adventure here in Peru! #PiuraLife

We had a lot of things happen this week and actually didn’t have a lot of time to work in our area … but overall it was really a SUPER great week!

We are working hard … thrilled to have seen Leandro get baptized … and have set goals to find more Investigators this week! We have a huge stack of Book of Mormons and want to hand a lot of them out this next week in some creative way. We are brainstorming and I will let you know how it goes! Also, we are still working with the two families we found and hope they keep listening. This message sure does bless families. I have seen that in my own family!!

I love this gospel and I hope you really, really do too. And I know this is the work of our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that he touched the heart of Hermano Leandro and know he and Andrea are working to get married in the temple. What a blessing that families can be sealed there for time and all eternity!

New phrase of my comp and I is: WHERE IS THE LOVE? LOVE EVERYONE … and I promise the greatest love you can show them is sharing this message with them.

Keep on being incredible! LOVE YOU ALL! Make every day better than the one before. And share this gospel with everyone you know. I promise they need it!

XOXO

Hermanita Shumway

Baptism Day for Leandro ... best day ever!!!