Darío

I'm staying in Baños del Inca!  This week is transfers and I am staying for at least another change, which is great because I love working with Elder Gomez.  Also Elder Gomez is an uncle!  His 14 year old sister had her daughter a couple days ago and everything is fine.  Despite everything, he is super concentrated in the work and shares all of his experiences with his family, who aren't members (yet).

Harry and Gina are a sweet couple that the missionaries have taught for a while.  The other week Gina came looking for us in the street and wanted us to talk with her husband Harry.  When we went to their apartment they just started to say the worst things in Spanish to each other and Gina said that she wanted to take their child and leave.  This was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my mission and one of the few times I had know idea what to say.  Finally, we told them that we are not judges and all we could do was pray.  When we prayed I asked for guidance so that we would know what to say.  We ended up speaking of Christ and how the only way we can form a family is if we follow His path.  We told them that all they must pray and talk when there are problems, never yell or accuse, and then we left.  The other day we visited and Gina was in her house with her mom and brother; she told us that everything was better and that they are praying more together.  It is notable the difference between when people try to solve problems following the world or when they solve problems following Christ and His example.

I miss having dogs. The other day a dog on the street followed us for about an hour and when we got back to our room we looked out the window and saw him waiting for us outside.  It sat down in the middle of the street and was looking up at our window whimpering.  We felt bad so we put a bowl of water outside for it.  But the whole time it was waiting outside my companion was asking "should we let it in?" I told him that we couldn't and that it probably has fleas, but I felt bad to leave it outside.  Basically I miss dogs, especially domesticated dogs and not just 1,000 dogs in the street. By the way the dog zapper thing works.

This week I was so happy because we had so many less actives in the church Sunday.  We work a ton with less actives, but this also makes me realize how much the members are needed to help these members who are coming back to the fold.  This week we taught Darío who is super funny, but has a lot of problems in his past.  He told us about how he knows the world but because of that he misses the church.  He talked about how he enjoys our visits and going to church because it reminds him of the spirit he felt when he was active.  The company of the Holy Ghost is one of the greatest gifts we have as members of His church, but it is also something we can never take for granted.  I have learned of how much people (especially less active members) crave for this peace in their lives.

I love you all - have a great week!
Elder Perryman