Another Gator? Gimme that Shovel!

Hola!

Sorry I don't have lots of time today. I'll send some highlights

Ed. came to church this week! He seemed to have a great time! We had a lesson with him on Friday and he said that he was still super excited to be baptized. My companion told him that if he misses a single Sunday before his baptism that he won't be able to be baptized. I think that kinda freaked him out a little but it worked! I love my companion's boldness. Es. is still doing well and everything is good with her baptism plans.

I killed a cuy, skinned it, and ate it this week. I'm sending a picture and trying to send the video. We'll see if it works.

Happy birthday grandma! Love you! Hope she still remembers me haha.

Love you all!

Elder Tate

We all have an El Guapo in our lives... In our case it's a big scary guy that wants to kill us

April 11, 2016

It's been a good week. I think God likes to watch me stretch a little bit and then shows me he still cares. It's fun.

We found eight new investigators this week and they all seem pretty genuine. One of them was a referral. We went to the address that was given to us but they told us that there was no one there with her name (O). In my mind I was like, "Great she gave them a fake address." We starting walking away when a lady walked by and asked who we were looking for. We said we were looking for O. and she said that she was O. She took us to her house right away (turns our there are three houses in a row with the same number. I love this country) and called her daughter, M,  to come and listen as well. They had attended an activity with another ward and had learned a little bit about family history. We had a lesson and went back on Saturday. When we got there on Saturday a teenage boy answered the door and said that O. wasn't home. We called her and said that she wasn't going to be able to make it but that her daughter was inside waiting for her. She came out and invited us in. The kid that answered the door was her cousin, and he and his sister joined us in the lesson. They were all really enthusiastic about what we taught them and seemed very interested. When I asked if they would read the pamphlet we left them M.'s cousin, E., said, "Obviously I'm going to read it. I need to read it if I want to be a better person." It was great. Olga also has a husband and a son that we haven't met yet. It was a good experience for me.

One of our investigators, Ed, accepted a baptismal date for May 14th. He's really excited about it. He lived in Utah for a while and was about to be baptized there but had an accident and had to come back to Cusco. He loves me because I'm from Utah. He's a great guy. His wife is a less active as well so we're going to try to teach her as well.

We didn't have church yesterday because of presidential elections. In the entire country no one is allowed to have any kind of public meeting the day of voting. For some reason they have to vote again next Sunday because the results were too close or something like that. So there might not be church next week either. 

This is the last week of the change so next week we'll see if I stay or not. I'd really love to stay here to finish my mission and to see Ed get baptized and where all of our other new investigators end up. It seems like finally things are happening just in time for me to leave. But I'll do whatever I'm asked. I know that whatever happens will be for the best.

Love you all! Remember to share the gospel with everyone! God loves all of His children.

Loves,

Elder Pearce

Are You the Singing Bush? - April 4, 2016

Imaynallan Kashankicheh. allillanmi kashani.

Hola!

I hope that everyone is doing well and that you could all enjoy conference. I got to watch all five sessions in English. I LOVED it. I couldn't really say I had a favorite talk, but I thought that Pres. Eyring started the conference magnificantly, and Elder Holland ended it powerfully. I loved the talk about fathers and feel so grateful to have such a great father and example. My dad (and mom) is my hero. I noticed that a lot of talks were really focused on eternal families and temple work. I loved how Elder Nelson said that as priesthood holders we can ask God to show us how to use our priesthood more powerfully and He will teach us how. Pretty neat thought.

This past week was alright. E. won't be getting baptized this week. We're going to try to have a meeting with her and her parents and our pensionista. She knows her parents pretty well. We're going to try to explain to them that baptism isn't something we wait too long to do when we know we're ready. Y. came to one of the sessions of conference and said she enjoyed it. We met a guy named El. who is a first language Quechua speaker. He doesn't understand a lot of Spanish. We taught him a rough lesson with what little Spechua (spanish and quechua) we knew. My companion is good at Quechua but he isn't super comfortable. We're going to try to take a member who is more fluent to translate our lessons. El. is cool. He's 60 years old. The first time we talked to him he seemed really interested and told us he wanted to learn more. He even came to two sessions of conference on Saturday. He belongs to another church called La Maranata. He's been there for like 30 years and said that he's like some psychic fortune teller type-deal. Then he started asking for all kinds of favors and money. We're not really sure if he's super interested or just thinks the church is a glorified welfare program because he saw a white kid and thought he could get some money. We're going to do some real good following up with him. We're going to try and teach his family as well. His kids speak Spanish. They're adults now but they live in the house.

I kind of feel like every day is one step forward and two steps back. We find new people that seem to have a lot of potential and they don't keep commitments or decide that they're not really interested or their families tell them to stop listening to us so they do in order to not cause problems. It's been kind of hard. It's okay though. Even if it's only one step forward after two steps back, it's still progress. I've realized that in a weird way the hard days have strengthened my testimony. When I see people that choose to reject the gospel I'm sad because I know that they're rejecting so many blessings. Somehow it's helped me to realize just how important all of this is, and that I never want to lose the blessings that God wants me to have. All He wants for me is my happiness, and He's shown me how to do it. It's no mystery. It's so easy to receive blessings. All we have to do is TRY it and see if the gospel doesn't enrich and bless our lives more than we had ever before imagined. I understand just a little bit better now how God must feel when He sees me do something small that causes me to lose blessings, and how happy He must feel when I repent. I love this Gospel. I love being a missionary. I hope that made sense.

I love you all!

Elder Pearce

P.S. Happy Birthday Riley and Kenna! You're both getting old!

March 28, 2016

And then  I saw them knock you unconscious, okay

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND RACHEL. I forgot to tell Rachel last week BUT I did remember.

This week wasn't really that eventful. E. doesn't want to be baptized until her brother gets home from his mission. My pensionista is really good friends with him though so I'm gonna tell her to write him and tell him to tell E. not to put it off. It's not that I'm desperate for baptisms or anything but she's super ready. She's passed second Nephi in the BOM, she went on a youth campout last week, she has six consecutive church attendances, and my pension even told me that she put on Facebook that she's LDS. She's ready. Hopefully her brother won't tell her to wait for him haha.

Yesterday was fast Sunday in our ward because conference is this week and the week after there are elections here so there won't be any kind of public meetings on Saturday of Sunday. I'm not sure why. Maybe to avoid riots and stuff. We fasted for Y. and another less active we've been trying to work with. After church yesterday my companion taught her a lesson in the chapel with a member while I went with another member to ward counsel. She told him that her desire to be baptized is growing. Her aunt told us that Y. was the one saying, "take me to church with you," and stuff like that. To me that's a miracle. When my companion told me about it I felt relieved. It was kind of like FINALLY. Now we just need to get bast the parent barrier. We went and did service with them the other day. Hopefully we're gaining a little bit of trust, and hopefully Y. will stick up for herself a little more.

That's about it. We found some new investigators and a new less active to teach this week so we'll see how it goes. It seems like we've been finding a lot of new people but none of them are really very interested. They just receive us in their house to be nice. It's okay though. Things will get better. 

I love you all!

Word to your madre,

Elder Tate

P.S.  I forgot something

I just wanted to share a little bit about the Pascua. Here in Peru they celebrate the whole week. It's called Semana Santa, or Holy Week. They don't do a whole lot. Supposedly the Catholics don't eat meat because if they do they're eating Christ's body. They only eat fish and stuff. On either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday they have a meal called the 12 plates. Doce Platos. It's exactly like it sounds. They make a ton of food and serve 12 plates of food. Most people don't usually make it through all 12 though. No one in our sector invited us to eat but Elder Choque ate at some member's house while he was on divisions in another sector and he said it was awful so I'm not too sad that I missed out. Some people go up to the white Christ on the mountain here in Cusco on Friday (I think) and whip themselves as a way to "help Christ." I don't really get it but I guess it could be fun.

Anyways, That's about all of the easter traditions around here. However, the best tradition that anyone could have in my opinion, is the tradition of remembering the REAL reason we celebrate Easter: not only the death of Christ, but his Resurection. This week when we contacted we asked people why we celebrate Easter, and a lot of them said we celebrate the death of Christ. It's sad to think that people don't realize what a blessing it is to have the knowledge that Christ RESURECTED after three days so that we can all do the same. I know that Jesus Christ died and rose again the third day. I know that he atoned for everything. The sins, the pains and the heartache. The humiliation, the frustration and the sicknesses. He felt it all. I'm so grateful for my Savior. 

That's all. 

Tickles!

To Make Room for the Tuna

December 28, 2015

Well there's not a lot of new stuff to tell since Friday. I'll do my best though.

We found a new investigator. His name is Elvis. He's an Alcoholic. He's 31 and he's been addicted to alcohol since he was 13. Pretty rough. He has a very strong desire to be clean and stop drinking. It's going to take a lot but with God everything is possible.

We've been working with an elderly lady named Alicia. Elder Arias and Elder Day had been teaching her for a while before. She accepts pretty much everything but she has an issue with the fact that she can't worship saints. We talked about it once with little success so we just decided to kind of leave it for a while and come back to it when her testimony of the BOM and Joseph Smith are a little stronger. She came to church yesterday for the first time! Or second. I'm not sure. But either way she came! We tried to set a baptismal date but she didn't 100 percent accept. She said she's think about it and then we'll see. Hopefully church was a good experience for her.

We weren't able to have an appointment with Earth, Wind, and Fire last week but hopefully this week we'll track her down and be able to teach something.

Church yesterday was sweet. Apparently the chapel where we attend is one of the most central chapels in the city, so there's always lots of tourists there. yesterday there were like 20 tourists in our ward. A bunch of them came up and talked to me. Some lady took a picture of me with a bunch of little kids and was like "I'm gonna send it to your mom when we get back" and stuff like that. It was funny.

That's about it. Love seeing you all on Christmas. I have the best family ever. Lots of love! 

Word to your mother,

Elder Tate

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

December 21, 2015

Feliz Navidad a todos!

Well changes went smoothly and I have adjusted to my new sector and things are cool. It's kind of an interesting place. Crowded, lots of tourists and traffic. Kinda like Juliaca only a little less crazy and a lot cleaner and prettier. Cusco is the most beautiful city, for real. It's like a big bowl made out of mountains. It's awesome. And we're in such a high altitude that when it rains the clouds touch the tips of the mountains. It's really pretty. I'll take some pictures this week. The altitude here is actually about a thousand feet less than Puno, so I've been feeling fantastic. The other day we were walking up some hills and my companion was getting tired and I hardly felt anything. It was awesome. I can only imagine what it must be like to drop like 10,000 feet in altitude. I'm going to be frickin' marathon man.

My pensionista is Yomira (jo-meer-uh). She cooks very well. I think she cooks healthier than any of my other pensionistas. She makes breakfast lunch and dinner and does our laundry. It's awesome. She has two sons that are 16 and 14 years old and they're fun. Things with my companion, Elder Arias, are going well. We've been getting along just fine. He's 24 years old. He was baptized like two and a half years ago. He's from Santa Cruz. He's a cool guy. We won't be having any baptisms on Christmas, but I think we'll have one or two this change. We found a new investigator this week. A member was doing visits with us and he took us to her house. Her name is Sol Mar y Cielo. That means Sun Sea and Sky. That is literally her name. I call her Earth Wind and Fire because I can never remember what her actual name is. She's cool though. I think she'll progress.

I've already been playing the piano a lot here. I was asked to play for the stake choir in an activity, as well as a bunch of primary choirs (didn't know about those ones. Good thing my sight-reading has improved!). I'm also going to play for a missionary choir in the mission Christmas dinner this week. Lots of fun. The stake choir did a good job in the activity. They sang one song in English and every time they said forever they pronounced it foreber with a b because they can't pronounce the v very well. It was cute haha.

The elder that I replaced here was Elder Day, Trevor's seminary student. He's going to Andahuaylas as a zone leader. He and I decided that we want to visit the mission together because we've been in the exact same areas our whole mission. Andahuaylas, Juliaca, Puno and Cusco. Kinda funny. Elder Day is a stud and has become a good friend of mine.

Well that's all for now. Love you all and I hope you have the best Christmas ever! Remember to make room for Jesus this Christmas and every other day of  the year. I know that He lives.

Loves,

Elder Tate

Changes

December 14, 2015

Why can't dinosaurs talk? Because they're all dead

Well I'm heading out of Puno. I got a change to... (drumroll....................) CUSCO. I'm going to a be a zone leader in Cusco. My new companion is Elder Arias. I met him a while back and he's a good friend of mine. He's from Bolivia like Elder Flores. Elder Flores' new companion is his trainer haha. I'm really bummed to be leaving Puno, but I think I'll like Cusco. There's some good work left unfinished for Elder Flores and Elder Asay. I'm super bummed that I won't be here for Christmas to see the baptisms that are going to happen, but hopefully they send me the picture. We went and stopped by Milagros' house (the older one) to tell her the news and she cried really hard. I felt kinda bad for pretty much ruining her whole day. She'll get over it though. Today I'll say goodbye to a few other people and pack my bags. Woopie.

I sent a recording with everything else. I love you all and hope you have the best week of your lives!

Loves,

Elder Tate