Almost....

Well folks, it´s been a fun little week here as usual. I think probably I´ve never had such an up and down week in my life......no I lie. But hey, there´s always something new here to tell.

Ok soooooo basically last Thursday Elder Borda and I were bored watching some training videos and to mix things up I decided to put on Portugese translation. The coolest thing was that I could UNDERSTAND it. It´s basically like speaking Spanish but with a bunch of little rocks falling out of your mouth. No I jest. It´s more like speaking Spanish with a French twist. So now, just check off Portgugese off the list please. No I jest again. There were some things that I couldn´t understand but I´ve determined that when I get back I´m going to take Portugese as a third language. Also Quechua, if they even offer that in any place in the United States haha (I might have to make a return trip to Macchu Picchu to learn that one). I tried the German, Japanese, Korean, Italian, French, etc translations and didn´t get a thing out of it, so those will just have to wait.

Oh, hey. Lucero ALMOST got baptized again. Talk about a frustrating experience......this past week we asked her like five billion and two questions to see if she would be able to be baptized. She was all excited and "yes, yes, yes" about it. I thought there was something that bothered her with her family but she told us that her family was fine with it. The hard thing is that she´s always pretty quiet and not very talkative in any situation. Anyway........so basically it took her until the baptismal font, just before we opened the big doors so all could see, to flip out again. Part of it was her trauma of the mission leader trying to force her underwater the last time, so that´s why she decided it would be better for me to do it. However, at that moment she panicked. But this time she wouldn´t leave the baptismal font either or get baptized. So after twenty minutes of standing in cold water, she let us know that her mom wasn´t ok with her getting baptized. Even though she´s 18 years old, her mom controls her life, and they don´t really have a good relationship. The bishop helped us out and promised he would talk to her mother this week. I was so frustrated, and so were the zone leaders, who are in the same ward as us, and all the other members were also frustrated. Anyway, we´re doing our best to help Lucero out to see what we can do.

The good part about the baptismal service Saturday was that Luis Urbina DID get baptized. Earlier that day he was stricken with a cough and went to the doctor for medicine. However, he was determined to get baptized after considering postponing another week. We offered him a blessing of health with the bishop, and headed out to the chapel together, where he got baptized in a flash. It was just Lucero that sort of disrupted the whole occasion.......eehhhhh.

We also had a hard time finding new investigators this past week. It was weird because we contacted five member references, and not even a single one had solid results the past few days. Yesterday, in my desperation to not come out with zero new investigators at the end of the week, something which I´ve been able to avoid all my mission, I prayed that we would be able to find at least one new person to teach. Later that day, we met with one of our newer investigators, Charo, who is a single mother. To my surprise we found out she has a daughter, Vanessa, who is 9 years old. It hadn´t even dawned on me that Charo had a daughter old enough to be baptized. Precious little Vanessa came and sat down with us for the lesson like a little heavenly answer to my prayer that morning. So, after teaching a lesson on the importance of faith, repentance, and baptism, we placed a baptismal date for the  6th of July, and now Charo and her daughter are excited to follow the example of Jesus Christ together as mother and daughter!

The Miranda family is excited to get married and baptized. The hard thing is that we still have not been able to get a hold of Marilu´s birth cirtificate so they can complete their marriage documents. Yesterday we held the pre-interview to see what they lack as far as the lessons go, but they´re pretty darn ready, except for a little review on tithing and in keeping the sabbath day holy. The only thing left is getting that darn birth certificate from a little town in the Peruvian Sierra. Everything hangs on that single document.

We´ve also been teaching a new lot, the Chipana family. They´re a family of six, two of the kids are just little wee todds, but Miguel is 12, and Siomara is 14, with their parents Eusevio and Felicita. They have a few problems as a couple such as alcoholism and fighting, but it´s not something the gospel of Jesus Christ can´t resolve. Eusevio came to church yesterday alone, which was a surprise. But we have hopes in teaching them and helping them progress in the restored gospel as a family.

Anyway, it really has been an up and down week. I was reading Preach My Gospel chapter six  this morning which talks about Christlike attributes, several of which are faith, patience, diligence, and humility, several things we have to work on as missionaries every single day! I just need to keep my head up! After watching the worldwide training yesterday, I´ve been very inspired to work even harder and get on track. The great thing is that Floresta has some fantastic leaders, and so we´re all excited to work together and get this work of salvation thang rolling forth like a "stone cut out of a mountain without hands."

I love you all so much!

Elder Lundberg