Monday, November 25, 2013

FIRST WEEK WITH NEW COMP...


Hey everybody!!!
 
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!! I didn’t even know that Thanksgiving was on Thursday until one of the sister missionaries in the car ride back to Juliaca told me, and it caught me very off guard!!!
So this week has been absolutely insane bringing in a new missionary again, and helping him feel comfortable. 
So Tuesday morning Elder Bentson and I along with the company of some other missionaries all traveled to Cusco, those who had changes, those who were receiving new missionaries and those who are new leaders in the mission. So we traveled at 9:30 in the morning until about 3:30 in the afternoon when we finally got there and other missionaries were there waiting for us, and then it was a real surprise they told us, ¨well you won’t get your new comps today, just go with somebody and you have the whole day to do whatever you want¨ so me and 2 other elders went around visiting different places in Cusco, eating at McDonalds of course!! Haha but all in all it was a good day. 
So the next morning on Wednesday, at 8:30 all the new trainers had training with Presidente Harbertson for about 1 1/2 hours and then finally we got to meet our new companions. My new companion is Elder Solano, he is from Chimbote, PerĂ¹, and is 19 years old. He has been a member of the church for 10 years now, and HE IS AWESOME!!!! We get along great, and he was able to trust in me right from the start, he hasn’t had problems asking me how to do something, or when he needs help, and I can tell that we are going to work great together, he has a huge desire to learn English so we have been working on that a ton, and he is helping me to perfect my Spanish because after being with a gringo for so long my Spanish got pretty bad. So after receiving our comps they sent us all out to work in other sectors in Cusco, and guess what president gave me permission to go to Los Alamos, my very first sector, so we went there and got to visit people all day, we visited 2 of my converts my very first baptisms in the mission, Yanet and Bony, and when they opened the door and saw me Bony freaked out because we haven’t communicated since April!!!! And huge surprise, Yanet is pregnant!!! It was so good to be able to see them and talk with them for a little while, after that we went and visited the mission leader of the ward who is a gringo living in Peru, and we were always really close when I was there, and he and his wife took us out to eat dinner, but let’s just say it was so nice to be able and talk with those people and catch up seeing how they are doing!!!! 
So when we got back to Juliaca that day president didn’t want us to work, he just wanted us to make our comps feel like they are at home!!! So we got all his stuff organized and then the next days we started working. 
On Saturday we had a ward activity of helping hands, and we did free haircuts and free shoe shining for whoever wanted it and it went really well, we were able to get a bunch of reference from it, and the people really seemed to enjoy not having to pay, and don’t worry we weren’t the ones cutting hair, we have like 9 sisters in the ward who cut hair for their work. 
Well I am sorry that there is not much to talk about this week I have been a little distracted helping my comp and all that, but it was good to hear from all of you!!!
And just know that you are all in my prayers every day!!! I love and miss you, and can’t wait to hear from you next week!!!
 
Con Mucho Amor
ELDER GOASLIND















Sunday, November 24, 2013

TRANSFERS, AND A BAPTISM

Email from 11-18-2013

Hey everybody!!!
So this week was insane, and I wasn’t sure if my comp and I would survive from how tired we were!!!!! Well I am sure you are all anxious to know about the transfers, so here it goes, Friday night my comp and I got a call from President Harbertson, and he wanted to talk to each of us separately, so he talked with my comp, and it was about the transfers, turns out my companion Elder Bentson is getting a transfer, TO THE MISSION OFFICE!!!!!! How cool is that!!!! He is going to be one of the secretaries in the office. we are both passing through a very difficult time with this, because we have become such good friends over these past 4 months together, and I know both of us are not going to take it well having to receive another companion, but the good thing is Elder Bentson lives about 2 blocks away from the Oquirh Mountain Temple so extremely close to Tyler and Mercedes, which means I will probably get to see him often after the mission. 
So after being able to tell that to my comp, President then asked to talked to me, we started talking about how the training went with Elder Bentson, and stuff like that, and then something happened that I would never imagine, I AM TRAINING AGAIN!!!!!!!! tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be going to Cusco to pick up the new missionary, my ¨son¨ and bring him back to Juliaca, but that means there is a very good chance that I am going to be in this sector until February, because will Pres. Harbertson he doesn’t like having 2 trainers for one elder, so he tries to keep them training the whole 12 weeks!!! But I am alright with that, because I loved training before and I am sure that it will be a great experience this time around also!!!!!! Pray for me and my new comp that everything will go well. I still don’t know his name or anything so I will have to tell you that next week!!!!!! 
And I am so glad to hear that all of the missionaries in the Philippines are accounted for, it really is amazing how the lord can protect those are in service to him!!!!! Being able to read the stories you sent me about all that, I could feel the protection of god, that I never have to worry as long as I live worthy and I am in his work. 
So this week was absolutely insane!!!!! so it started out normal, just working teaching some people, we had an appointment with Brenda, and she was not able to get baptized on Saturday, because as a singer she always gets invited to drink, and she drank last week because she was scared to tell the people no when they offered it to her, so we are going to keep working with her to help her leave all that stuff behind and keep moving forward. 
So on Friday night from 4pm-9pm we had to go help these people who were getting married on Saturday to prepare all the food for the wedding, and all that stuff, so Elder Bentson and I ended up Friday night peeling 120 kilos, (little more than 200 pounds) of potatoes, and also putting together 200 favors for the people who attend the wedding, then the next morning at 6 we had to go back to there has to help finish everything, so all the potatoes we peeled, we ended up having to cut them all to get them ready to cook. And then we had to go to the chapel where the wedding was, and we had to get everything set up there so that when the bride and groom got there everything was good to go. The wedding turned out good, they are investigators of the other elders but we have gotten to be really good friends with them also. The wedding lasted from1pm-9pm and it was hilarious because they made all the missionaries that were there be the waiters and take the food to everyone, and all that good stuff. But the bad part was that we were also in charge of the cleaning, the zone leaders gave us permission to skip the curfew rule because we had to clean the entire chapel!!! So after the wedding ended we cleaned until 11 at night, and by the time we got back to the room we were all basically zombies!!!!!! But I am happy that I could help that couple with their wedding so that they could get baptized after!!!
So now about the baptism of Alex!!! Sunday after all the meeting we got a big group of members together to go to the baptism, and the best part is we got permission to baptize him in the river, so we all made the trek down to the river, and it was probably the most spiritual baptism that I have had in the mission, I am not sure why, but you could feel the sprit sooooooo strong there, despite the fact that it was blazing hot outside in the sun, and all the bugs that there were, the sprit was present in the baptismal service, and my favorite part was when Alex shared his testimony after the baptism, he has been working for this for a while, and I agree, it was finally his time, I can see him becoming a great leader or somebody in the church, and I am so happy I will be in Juliaca a little bit longer to keep helping him out in the journey. 
Nothing much else happened this week, other than the things that I described, but I am excited to see what comes along now with a new companion, and all the great blessings that the lord as prepared for me out here in the mission field!!!!!
Also I have no clue when Thanksgiving is, because they don’t celebrate it here, but happy Thanksgiving for whenever it comes along!!!!
I love this church, I know it’s true; I love all of you guys so much, and can’t wait to hear from you next week!!!!!
 
Con mucho Amor
Elder Goaslind
 





BUILDING THE CHURCH ONE CHILD AT A TIME...

Email from 11-11-2013

Hey everybody,
So everyone was asking about the riots, there haven’t been any more as of now, haha, thank goodness. And let’s keep praying that it stays that way!!!!
Oh, and what is this about the typhoon in the Philippines!!! That is crazy!!! I am pretty sure there are quite a few kids from my graduating class that are in the Philippines!!! Let’s all keep praying for them!! The nice thing is to know that those 80 missionaries are on the lords service, and the lord will protect I am sure of it!!! 
So, big news this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I HAVE A YEAR IN THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How crazy is that!!!! I couldn’t believe it, it all seemed a little unreal, but now thinking about it I just know that the time is going to go flying by!!! my comp brought to my attention that I only 8 changes left in the mission, and I did not like that comment at all because the changes are the things that seem to go by the fastest for me and I don’t want it to go by fast!!! But oh well I will just have to keep moving forward and working as hard as I can to make every moment worth it!!!! 
So mom and dad you were wondering about changes, well they are the 19th, so we will know Sunday the 17th who has changes, but we are almost positive that me or my comp are having a change because we have been together now for 3 changes and that is quite a long time. But we have no idea who is going to leave so we are all kind of worried because neither of us wants to leave this ward because we have been having so much success and the ward is starting to progress so much!!!!  But whatever the lord needs we will make it happen!! WE ARE MIRACLE WORKERS!!!!! HAHA.  
So good news!!! ALAN WAS BAPTIZED!!!!! It was an awesome baptism!!!! I had the chance to baptize him and confirm him, which was cool. So the good news apart from the fact that he got baptized, is that a ton of people from his family were there supporting him and we now have appointments to go teach them and reactivate them!!!! Also the primary president basically threw a party for him so that was pretty awesome!!! I love baptisms and seeing how happy the people are doing convenios con dios (covenants with God). 
So this week Brenda supposedly has her baptism date, but it is not for sure yet, we are going to meet with her tomorrow and talk about it. So I will let you know next week what happens. 
But there was a cool experience this week!!!! So after the baptism, we had an appointment with our eternal investigator Alex, who we have been teaching since we got here in Juliaca. and we sat down in the appt. and after the prayer he looked at us and said ¨elders I want to get baptized, it’s my time¨ me and Elder Bentson both just looked at each other like What????? Did he really say that????? And we found out he had already chosen the day and time and who he wants to baptism him, so looks like if everything goes well on Friday at 9 in the morning Alex is going to be baptized also!!!!! And he wants to do it in a river so we are in the process of receiving the permission for that. But Elder Bentson and I wanted to give up on him many times, we just felt like we shouldn’t  and we kept going and now look what’s happening,.... THE LORD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS!!!!!! 
Our ward is progressing a ton, 4 months ago when we got here we had 85 people attending regularly, and now we are up to 120 each week!!!! And that’s why I don’t want a change, I want to stay here!!!!! Also we are doing this thing where at 5:30 every morning we go and play futbol, or basket or volley every day, and its super fun and its good for us because it gets us up and helps us get going for the day!!!
Now for the fun story of the week!!! So an investigator had us do a service for her, and after invited us to breakfast, or sweet bread and a fruit smoothie so we ate and drank it all, and after that’s when she told us that the smoothies contain BEER!!!!! For the first time in my life I had beer, and I felt absolutely horrible after!!! NEVER DRINK!!!! IT’S HORRBILE!!!!!! 
Well that’s all folks!!!
I love you all and can’t wait to hear from you next week!!!
 
Con Mucho Amor
ELDER GOASLIND 

 


Thursday, November 14, 2013

NO MORE RIOTS FOR NOW...

Email from 11-4-2013

Hey Folks!!!!
 
How is everything going!!!! So just so you all know, there were no more riots this week, we worked like normal, but that just because the riot people are giving the mayor 10 days to decide so next week maybe we will see things start back up again but who knows. Haha.
 
So first off I want to congratulate Steven and Kristen for their new baby boy!!!! He is so cute!!! I can’t believe that I won’t get to see him for a year!!! That’s Joshua and Karson that I still haven’t seen in person, but that’s alright!!! Haha. But that’s awesome! You guys make such a cute family!! 
 
So how was everyone’s Halloween this week??? I hope it went good for everybody!!! Here it was not quite as good as in the USA but it was alright, a member gave us Jack O’ Lantern things with candy in them and invited us to lunch, so we were pretty happy! Haha, whenever there is food involved my comp and I are happy!!!!
 
FYI mom to answer your question, you did a great job on the birthday ties thank you very much! And yes I did get my drivers license it was weird to see a Utah driver’s license again after not seeing mine for so long. 
 
So not much happened in this week, very few things, we taught a couple of people, but some sad news, Brenda won’t be getting baptized this week because she wasn’t able to attend church yesterday, so we postponed her baptism and it looks like it will be for the next week, but she is still progressing, it’s just because she went on vacation that she couldn’t attend but everything is going well with her!!!
 
But this week we are going to have a baptism it looks like, for Alan. He is the son of a less active member that we are trying to activate, Alan is 11 years old, and his baptism is planned for this Saturday, so let’s hope everything goes well and we can get everything planned and set up to go!!! and let’s hope that we can get some help from the members, ever since we started teaching Alan he has been faithful to all commitments we have left and always shows up at church by his own will 30 minutes early!! It’s awesome!! We are hoping that by his example that we can activate his whole family, because his mom grandma grandpa, aunts uncles, all are members but nobody goes except his grandpa, and that’s only every once in a while.
 
This week there was a holiday called Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead where everyone worships there dead, its actually kind of creepy, but we were teaching a reference (Senovia is her name) on that day and she told us about her laugh and then due to the holiday wanted to know what happens to us after this life, so we explained plan de salvacion, and she LOVED our message!!!! We invited her to church and she came and was participating in all the classes, and kept asking us questions and what not and is very interesting in the church now, so we have an appointment with her tomorrow, and she actually asked us if we could teach her about tithing tomorrow in her second lesson because she is curious about why we do that, so we are going to see what happens tomorrow!!! But she is a very nice lady, and has some real potential to progress!!!!
 
So that’s really all that happened this week, other than an investigator somehow found out where we live and came to our house to find us one day because he says he messed up and wanted us to explain to him again how he can repent, this investigator we thought was an ¨eternal investigator¨ but now we are actually seeing some progression. 
 
Not much more to tell you guys, but I love you so much!!! Those of you who leave in the mission this week and the next week don’t be scared, trust in the lord and love the work!!!! It’s an awesome work that we are a part of!! And as we bless the lives of others god blesses our lives!!
I love you all with all my heart!!! And I hope the best for you!!! Can’t wait to hear from you all next week!!! 
 
Con Mucho Amor
ELDER GOASLIND 


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Riots, all over and the Juliacan people want to kill the mayor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Email from 10-28-2013
Hey everybody, so I am sure that mom is already freaking out just from reading the subject title of this email, but don't worry I will explain it in a little bit. Because it's quite a good story!!! jaja 
So before I start, I want you to know that I did get my birthday package finally, I got it today, this morning in our zone meeting, and I was so excited to open it!!!! I felt like a little kid on Christmas!!! jaja, but thank you to everybody who sent me stuff, letters, gifts, lo que sea. You guys are all the best, and even though it got here a week after my birthday it's alright, I bought a gift for myself, and I also had 2 different parties thrown by members, and a member gave me some gloves and a scarf, hand knitted!!!!! They are pretty awesome!! Peruvians are like the most loving people ever!!!! So all in all my birthday went really well and I really enjoyed it, and from the emails it sounds like Annika's birthday went well also, I can't believe that she is 5 years old already!! thats incredible!!!! The scary thing that my comp has been saying all week is that I am now going to be home in less than a year, and I will be home for Annika's next birthday when she turns 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this week there was not a whole lot of work that happened, and the reason why is because of what the subject title says. ....... haha so I am sorry if this email is short because there will not be a whole lot to say, and I am not going to update on investigators today because even I don't know what's going on with them. 
So this week on Monday for my birtthday, my comp, Elder Yellico, Elder Reyes, and I we all went to SILLUSTANI. It's these ancient ruins in between Juliaca and Puno that are off in the middle of nowhere surrounded by some random lake, (dad the lake in the picture is NOT Lake Titicaca just so you know) so we went there, and I am sending you quite a few pictures of it because its way cool!!! I don't even know what types of ruins they are but, they are these cylinder things and you can enter all of them through these tiny little entry ways but they are awesome!!!! So we went there to spend the entire afternoon and I bought myself a gift for my birthday with the money grandma sent me so tell her thank you,
So when we got back from Sillustani we went to a family home evening with some members, and we had our lesson and all of the sudden they walked out with a big chocolate cake and sang happy bithday to me, and just so you know they sing it in English here in Peru. They sing the entire song in English, and then do a version in Spanish and they always turn all the lights off while doing it. It's way cool! So they sang and then like always they smashed my face into the cake. We were all taking pictures and there is another tradition here in Peru that I had forgotten about, where they ¨make a cake on your head¨  so I was standing in the kitchen and out of no where I was attacked by several members with them smashing eggs on my head, throwing flour on me, and confetti, all with the chocolate still on my face. So I sent some pictures of that, needless to say, it was a mess, but it was very fun. So I had a great birthday!!!!
Then the next day is where the fun story begins, so we had heard rumors that there was going to be a small strike this week, so we didn't think much of it. But as we left Tuesday morning to go by stuff for breakfast we found out that the strike was quite large, by large I mean ALL OF JULIACA LARGE, THE ENTIRE CITY WAS SHUT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They shut everything down, none of the stores were open, and there were thousands of people in the streets for this strike, but a strike here isn't like the USA with your picket sign out front of target saying ¨shame on target¨ or anything like that. But here they burn things, they rob, they break glass bottles all over the street, and a ton of other stuff, also if stores opened to sell because someone needed food the people in the strike would invade the store, destroy it, and steal everything. So it got quite out of hand, and all of this because they don't like their mayor, all over the city is written the words ¨muerte al alcalde¨ or in other words, ¨death to the mayor¨ and they all say they want his head. It's quite interesting. jaja. Also during strikes if there are cars buses, motorcyles or any type of transport they stone the car and the person. 
So our leaders called us and none of the missionaries in Juliaca could leave their rooms for 4 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were locked away for almost the entire week, and guess what they never came up with a solution to the problem for the reason why they were striking, so they say its going to begin tomorrow again and we won't be able to leave our house for anything, so everybody is buying a ton a food storage today, and that's because they say this time the strike won't end unless the Alcalde resigns, so it will be another interesting week!!!
But don't freak out mom!!!!!!!!! I am alright!!!!! 
Well that's all that happened this week I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

Con Mucho Amor
Elder Goaslind