Saturday 22.02.2020

Haha I haven't written this whole week... but it's all good. This week has been a big stresser. We have been working so hard and not seen many results, but we know that the seed doesn't spring out a full grown tree full of fruit immediately. But everything seems to be going pretty well. This week has been super hot and humid-- the temp got into the 40's in Celsius. But we went and worked like normal and met some new people and work around the people we have been visiting to see who truly needs help.

The mission can also be truly frustrating at times. The people that you teach don't always follow through will the commitments that we leave them and they don't feel bad for not following through with it either. As a missionary the big question we ask ourselves is "is it me or is it them? Am I the one not allowing them to have success or is it possibly their circumstances that don't allow them in this moment to progress?  And we continue to learn and grow to love God and his son Jesus Christ as missionaries or I should say as Disciples of Jesus Christ we enable the blessings to flood into our lives. This is exactly what we invite others to come unto Jesus Christ and receive his redemption but they just need to act even just a little to be able to receive these things and this is why it is hard for me and us as missionaries of the Jesus Christ whens those we teach the true and everlasting principles of the gospel don{t follow through they are missing out on the essential blessings of life here on earth. I{m not a perfect teacher and i don't think i ever will be but if i do one thing about the Savior Jesus Christ, it is that he best taught through testimony and example and he continues to do so through his modern day living prophets. 

We have been teaching a man named Willy and his son Santiago, but I have truly seen how the gospel of Jesus Christ has quickly changed this man's life and all he did was look at himself and realize the blessings that he is truly missing out on in his life. He began to pray everyday which has allowed God's spirit to be with him throughout his day. Then he began to read and gained a desire to learn more of the mysteries of God through The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  He has become fascinated with Gods hand in our lives. Imagine how Gods power can change a man's life that didn't want to hear a word we had to say and now he literally cannot wait for our visits to teach him the true and Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Wow I am so proud to see and be a part of this wonderful process that is conversion unto Christ. To be honest I never thought I would be so excited to write or that I would ever write about someone and how they came unto Christ and his true Church here on earth. 

Sunday 23.02.2020

Today is pretty crazy they celebrate something called Carnival, Which i don't entirely understand what it is or why they do it. But they cut down palm trees and then decorate it with ribbons and weave the branches then they attach like prizes or gifts to the branches and then they stand it up. the tradition is that they have a person that chops down the tree but while they chop the other people there get to throw paint, mud, water, or whatever they can find and yah they drink and dance and yah.

What?! I thought Elder Nieman stopped writing!!!

Monday 10.02.20

Wow what a blast it has been this last year haha, I can and cannot believe how fast the time has flown by. Today was p-day with my companion Elder Pedraza and we didn{t do a whole lot but we did do minimal shopping and we also watch a little bit of a movie [astro boy[. As well the FHE that we had planned with a recent convert fell through and so we were left no plans. When you have no plans for the night in the mission the day USUALLY GOES REALLY SLOW, but we passed by for 2 of our investigators, first Daniel who is 14 years old and then Willy and his kid Santiago. Turns out that Daniel wasn{t around and didn{t care too much so then we made our way to Willy{s house, Luckily he was there!!! And we came in and had no idea what we were going to talk about but we chatted for a minute then said the prayer. This is when it is really important to listen to the investigator, your companion, and the spirit. We ended up having a great lesson Brother Willy told us that he wants to learn more he made the decision to go to church to see what it is like but he told us that if he didn{t like it he would never come back haha. Well it turns out he liked but he didn{t understand half of it though we talked about priesthood keys so that was kind of difficult topic to walk into for the first time lol. But it has been so great this week and I hope to be able to write more now that I have my AlphaSmart back. 

Tuesday 11.02.20

Well I am here in Secadas area on a ministering visit and it has been a great day actually my companion is the district leader so i will probably be in other area pretty frequently. Today i am with Elder Taype chanchamayo Peru which is like the northern Peruvian jungle but he{s cool though we get along pretty well. He really likes the missionary work and is pretty dedicated though he does have some downfalls like we all do he is an awesome missionary and helps a lot of people come unto Christ which is our purpose. I actually learned a lot on how to listen to the people and teach according to their needs and I think that I was able to be guided by the spirit as I taught, It has started to be a great week and I look forward to the days that come to just help others learn about Christ and his teaching that others may desire to come unto him. I am getting scared because I feel like I am getting close to having an assignment in the mission i already have a year in the mission and I still haven{t received any responsibilities but i know that the assignments help us to receive blessings, to learn, grow to love those around us, and to become as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The mission has been a great experience for I have grown in many ways i have recognized the countless weaknesses that I have, if you want to learn about yourself serve others because we come to see the real light that Christ needs us to be and always forget ourselves in the service of others. 

Friday 14.02.20

Well happy Saint Valentine's day!!! Today was a little calm but super hot the whole day i was just sweating and it was awful haha. This morning we went proceliting and visited a few people, but we had like 45 min. until lunch so we started knocking doors and nobody really wanted to talk to us haha. But we knocked the very last door and a young guy answered the [door[ )haha they always answer through the window= and we talked to him and it turned out that he{s a member that just moved in there like a week ago from another part of Iquitos and he's really cool and said that he would love to help us visit people while he is on vacation. So that really turned my day around and his mom and sisters are not members so we will also be able to hopefully teach and help his family!Other than that is was just a really sweaty hot day, so yeah sorry I don't have anything else to say lol.

Sunday 16.02.2020

So today we had the sacrament meeting and it starts at 8 in the morning, but not everyone arrives at 8. This is something we are trying to help resolve and help the ward better in, but it will take time to help them. 

Woohoo!!!