Aaron

Hey everyone!  It`s good to hear from you all and thanks for all the birthday wishes.  For me, I managed to get through the whole day without one egg being smashed on my head!  It probably helped that we were on divisions and I went to the zone leaders sector.

So today we have changes!  I`m going to Sicuani!  I don`t know how to feel about that because it`s a little higher elevation than Cusco!  It will be cool though!  But I`m also sad to leave Puerto for several reasons..  First, the people here are awesome and I`ve just gotten used to this sector.  Second, we have a baptism!

So on Friday we went on divisions and I was with one of the zone leaders so I didn`t really know any of the people we visited.  But when we got to dinner, my companion told me that Gloria finally decided to get baptized!  They chose the date for the 30th of May.  I won`t be there but it`s awesome that she is finally getting baptized!  Her daughter is also going to get baptized with her.

We also heard the news from some of these less actives we have been teaching that they have the goal to get married the 10th of June!  Lots of things are going to happen!

So everyday I keep hearing of more and more people that have birthdays in May.  I think the whole world was born in May.

Well, other than that not much is going on.  I`m going to be leaving Puerto tomorrow morning for  Cusco, and the next morning I will leave for Sicuani.

Thanks everyone for all that you guys do for me!  Hope this week is a good one!  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great Mother`s Day weekend!  If it makes you feel any better, I did.  Not a whole lot this week but it was  a good one as usual.

So first off I talked to the family which was pretty cool.  It feels like not too long ago I talked to them on Christmas!  It`s crazy how fast time goes.  Maybe it`s because I have a gringo companion.  But it was super cool to talk to them.

We had a conference with our mission president this past week which was pretty cool.  It`s always fun to hear him and his wife talk.  And afterward they came over to our pension to eat dinner.  I love talking to the mission president.  He is way cool.

So we got news this last Sunday that President Uchtdorf is coming to Cusco this Sunday!  But I will still be in Puerto and I don`t even think the missionaries in Cusco get to go.  Hopefully we can watch it through transmision though...

We also did some service this week.  We helped Gloria move some dirt from the road to her back yard?  I don`t know if it really counts as a back yard but that`s what we did.  Afterward she gave us breakfast which was nice but we didn`t really want it because we were going to go to breakfast right after.  So we had 2 breakfasts!

Then we went to do service for someone in our branch.  We just helped him move some engine thing back to the city from his shop.  We rode in the back of his moto/truck thing then I rode on a trailer back.  It was pretty cool.  Also the Hermana prepared us soup even though we told her we already had lunch set up for us, so that was kind of annoying, but nice of her.  So we had 2 lunches that day also!

Also about the soup, I don`t get why she had to give us soup on that day.  The whole week it`s been cloudy and a lot cooler than it usually is, then the hottest day of the week, we get a big bowl of hot soup...  It wasn`t something that I really wanted but we ate it anyway...

So with Gloria we have tried to put a baptismal date on her several times, and she pretty much told us that when she decides she will tell us.  She is awesome and knows everything is good and true, but she won`t commit to a date.  She is still helping us though, giving us references, we are teaching one of her friends now, she is trying to get us to teach her sister-in-law.  She is great, but won`t commit to a date.

Well that`s about it for this week.  Hope everything is good back home.  Love you guys!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone!  Everything is good!  Had a pretty crazy week this past week.  Lot´s of goods, some bads, but such is life!

So we did end up going fishing last week, but just me and my companion.  We found a place and we started to try to fish.  The fish just ate our worms and left.  They would bite, but we couldn´t catch anything.  Then, I fell in the river.  That was probably the worst/best part of the fishing.  It was funny, but I was all muddy and we were late to district meeting and I didn´t have time to change and our power was out.  What a day!

So this week something pretty cool happened.  Me and my companion were out in Chapajal which is  a little part of our sector that is pretty far out.  At least as far as we go.  Everyone who we had planned failed us.  So we decided to walk back to Barrio Nuevo which is our main proselyting place...  We happened to run into the other Elders there and they told us that we needed to go to the hospital to give a blessing to someone that was in a coma.

I find that super interesting and super cool!  If nobody would have failed us, we would have not had the opportunity to run into the other Elders for them to tell us that.  We have no means of communication when we leave our room.  We don´t have cell phones or anything like that, so that was a blessing in and of itself.

So we get to the hospital and we met our branch president there and went inside.  He kind of explained to us the situation and pretty much said that it´s a blessing of comfort.  So we went in and wow, it was crazy to see what I saw.  It was also a little traumatizing.  But when we gave the blessing it was super cool.  The next day she passed away.  She is in a lot better conditions now.  She was an amputee in a wheelchair, but she was super nice as well.  Good thing it´s not the end.

Well that´s about it for this past week.  We also have been working a lot but it´s just all the normal stuff you have heard.  Gloria is super close to baptism.  I just hope we can get her to that point this month!

Thanks for everything!  Love you guys! Have a good week!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone!  This week was great.  We got a lot of work in this week but along wiht that, we had a lot of activities in the district.  They were great!

First there was a talent show for the other branch.  My companion and I went to support the other Elders and we didn´t have anything to do anyways because everyone fell through on us.  So we go there and we were a half hour late, but we were some of the first people there.  It started and hour and a half late!  I didn´t really mind much because it wasn´t my talent show, but it´s still annoying.  But we get there and nobody really had a talent to show.  So one of the other elders told me to play the piano, so I did, then I left to go eat dinner.  I guess it turned out pretty  good though.

Next, there was a fireside for the young single adults in the district and they asked my companion to play the piano for the hymns and a special number that the members of our branch were going to sing.  He said he needed the music to play it and they finally got him the music like 6 minutes before it was supposed to start.  He tried to play it, but he said they would have to sing acapella because they had never practiced together and they didn´t know when to come in.  He kept insisting that he doesn´t play and he even said that something bad would happen if he did play.  But they went through with it anyway.

Peruvians really don´t know how to sing... It was kind of awful.  It was funny for me though!  And one of the girls, when they got done, said, ´´wow, something bad did happen.´´  My companion came back from the piano laughing so we went outside for a little then came back in.  They were grateful for it though.

We helped build a preschool this week in a small villiage called Pueblo Viejo, which litterally means old villiage.  They don´t have much support from the city so we went to help.  We just cut the grass with machettes.  It was super hot but it was good.  We love doing service here because people never let us help them.

We visited a lot of people as well and a lot of people tell us that they are going to do something but they don´t.  Me and my companion always talk about how people hardly ever fall through in the states and if they do, they call ahead.  It just makes sense... 

Everything is good.  And hot still.  This change is going by so fast it´s insane.  The mission is awesome.  I always see how much I´ve learned in the mission already.  It´s the best.  Love you all!  Thanks for everything!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone.  Everything is going good!  As the title says, there wasn`t much this past week.  We have been visiting a lot of people but a lot of them don`t seem to be progressing a whole lot except Gloria.

Gloria brought a friend to church this week which was awesome!  She is the only person that keeps her word that we are teaching.  We have been teaching several other people that say they are going to do things, but it never happens.  Even the members sometimes.

This week in the branch council, we started with 4 people and 2 of them were missionaries!  The branch president we have is really awesome and he does a ton, but everyone else seems to not be doing hardly anything.  He has no support and we hardly have any.

This week wasn`t the best, but that means that better is an option.  

Also on the side, Gloria invited us to go fishing in the river, so we are going to go fishing next week in the amazon.  Hopefully we can find some river monsters!

Thanks for all the support and love everyone!  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone, this week has been a pretty good one!  Despite my companion getting sick and me having to sit in the room for a couple days with him.  But at least I was able to read a ton!

So everytime we teach the Law of Chastity to someone, we slip up somewhere or something happens.. We were teaching the Law of Chastity to Gloria and we asked her if she has ever seen the word or if she was familiar with the word.  She was hesitent but she said that she thought she knew it.  She got out a dictionary to make sure, and when she found it she looked relieved.  She told us that she thought it had to do with castration...  It was pretty funny, but we cleared it up.  She actually really liked to hear about the Law of Chastity and agrees 100% with it.  Also with the Word of Wisdom.  Everytime we teach her, she gets closer and closer to baptism.

This morning we didn`t have water so after I was done working out, I went to a sink downstairs and washed myself there.  Enjoy your showers with warm water!

We also talked with one of our less actives this week and she is having a hard time.  Her husband (who she isn`t married to) is starting to drink again.  They had this problem before and that`s why they got seperated but now they are living with each other again.  The problem is that she can`t go to her family because they invite her husband to drink.  It`s a hard situation and we plan on talking to the husband about it.  It`s just hard to find him because he is always working.

My companion got a little sick so we were in our room for a couple days.  I read a lot of books that were laying around the room and there is a lot of cool stuff in them that I`ve learned.  I`m also learning better ways to answer questions and dealing with different situations.  There are some cool books.

This past Sunday was Fast Sunday.  I didn`t want to sit in the room all day so when I started my fast, I prayed that my companion would feel better enough to work.  A couple of hours later, he said he felt better enough to work!  I don`t think it`s a coincedence or just happened.  Fasting really does have a lot of power.

That`s about it for this week.  Nothing too special other than our zone now has more latinos than gringos.  Hope you all have a good week!  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone!  Hope everyone is doing alright wherever you may be!  The mission is just awesome.  I love it so much.  I have learned so much already in the first 6 months and I look forward for more to come.  Conference was awesome and I got a lot out of it.

We were able to watch it in English for the gringos.  We set up a tv in another room in the chapel and we got it in English.  However, with the native Spanish speakers, we listened in Spanish because we don`t like translators.  We came to a conclusion that ``by my voice or by the voice of my SERVANTS, it is the same.`` NOT by the voice of the TRANSLATOR.  But the conference was awesome.  We also had several investigators come which was pretty cool!  One talk that I can distinctly remember and that I really liked was Dallin H. Oaks in the Saturday Morning session.  I could talk a lot about conference, but I`m sure you all saw it.  And if you didn`t, GO WATCH IT!

This week we had 2 really hard rain storms.  They were some of the hardest rainstorms I have ever seen.  We tried walking in boots and ponchos but even that didn`t keep the water out.  But one of the days I cut my hair and it just started pouring, so instead of getting in the shower to wash off the hair, I just went outside so our room didn`t get so dirty.  The rain is always fun.

In between 2 parts of our sector, Chapajal and Barrio Nuevo.  Right there is just all jungle and a river.

Today are changes and it looks like I will be staying in the jungle for another 6 weeks!  It will be good!  This change will be fun.  We have a lot of awesome people.  Gloria and Jhon Wayna are 2 of my favorite people right now.  I hope I get to see them be baptized this change!

The mission is really awesome.  Right now in the mission, I really wish I would have studied Preach My Gospel a little better before I came into the mission.  It really knows what it`s talking about and really helps.  It`s as close to scriptures as anything else.  

There is a new video that is out that is called, Because He Lives.  It`s a great video about the resurrection of Christ.  It`s also a good video to share with your friends...  Help out the missionaries wherever you are.  They need it.  I see missionary work as helping the members.  The missionaries pick up what the members aren`t doing, and here, that`s a lot.  Everyone has the responsibility to raise the warning voice (said someone in conference that I can`t remember), whether it`s to family or to friends, we need to all help out.  ``We are ALL enlisted till the conflict is o`er...``

Thanks everyone for all the support.  I love you all.  Have a good week!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone, yet another week has passed by.  It is really crazy how fast time is going.  Everything here is pretty good.  Nothing super crazy happened this week but it has been a good one.

There is one member that helps us out a ton.  Her name is Daniela.  She helps us out a ton in lessons, finding people, etc.  She gave us a ton of references the other day that we can now go contact.  She wants to serve a mission but her parents won´t let her.  They want her to finish her studies first, but she wants to leave as soon as she can.  But she is helping out a ton in Puerto.

This week we had a baptism.  Her name is Masiel.  Her family aren´t members but they gave her permission to be baptized.  We now want to try to contact her family and start talking with them.

This morning, we were up on the roof of our building just talking and one of the people that lives there went up to get her clothes that were drying.  When she was walking back she asked me what the steeple ment on the chapel.  I just told her it doesn´t really have a meaning, but it´s to identify the chapel.  Then she just started asking a whole ton of questions.  It was pretty cool.  We taught her the restoration and answered a ton of her questions.  It was really cool talking to her.

In other news, we put up a dart board in our room and the wall is pretty much destroyed.  It´s a cement wall so.... But the owners of the building said we could put up the dart board.

Nothing all that special has happened.  Next week are changes so we will see what happens!  Thanks for all the emails and support!  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone.  Another week is gone by.  It`s crazy to think of how fast time is going.  It`s weird to think that general conference is 6 months in the mission.  Time is going by way fast.  Not a whole lot happened this week that is too exciting.  Just the normal missionary work really.

We had a family night with one hermana that is like a recent convert and a little bit of a less active.  It was really good.  We shared a video called, The Will of God.  It`s one of my favorite videos.  If you haven`t seen it, go watch it.  But she has been coming back to church again.  She is really cool and nice.

We also invited one of our investigators to the family night and she came!  Her name is Gloria.  She is progressing, but she is progressing very slowly.  She has good questions but she doesn`t want to get baptized yet because she doesn`t see a diference in our baptism with all the others.  But she believes what we are teaching is true and she comes to church and the activities.  She is fun to teach.  She also has the nicest dog in Peru.

We contacted this guy this past week and he was really weird.  I didn`t think anything was going to come of it when we talked to him the first time.  We decided to go back anyways.  The second time we talked to him was a lot better.  He didn`t seem so weird the second time.  He took The Restoration pretty well and he said he would pray about it.  I don`t know how it will turn out but hopefully he will recieve us again.

We have been contacting people like crazy but it seems like everyone we contact, they live out of our sector.  It`s tough.  This week we have a baptism so that should be good!

Thanks for all the emails and everything!  It`s awesome to hear from you all as always.  Thanks for the support.  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hello everyone.  Not a whole lot happened this week.  I think the coolest thing was that we ate cuy!  Usually we don`t eat that in the jungle but our pension is awesome.  Cuy is guinea pig for those who don`t know.  It is actually really good.  I liked it.

So this week we had an awesome family night and also a not so awesome one.  The awesome one we had with a part member family.  The dad is less active, the mom isn`t a member, and 2 of the kid`s are.  But it turned out really well!  I think it will really help the family in the church.

Me and my companion are working really well together now.  It`s awesome working with him.  We are both learning a lot as well.  Speaking of companions, my last companion is already engaged!  He gets back to the states and within 2 weeks, he is engaged.  That`s what happens at BYU I guess.

We are helping a recent convert get ready fro a mission.  He is way cool.  He is 19 and he want`s to leave his studies behind to serve a mission.  He is always talking about it so he seems pretty excited.

We have a couple of marriages that we have planned for the next 2 months.  I don`t know if I will be here, but it will be awesome.  One of them is a less active family.  The dad hasn`t come to church in a long time, but now he is coming!  It`s awesome.  The other is a part member family.  They have the goal in April.

We also have a baptism lined up for the 28th of March.  She has a ton of support and she has been coming to church for a while, so it will be good!

That`s about it for this week.  Not a whole lot, but it was good.  Thanks for all the emails and support!  Love you all!

-Elder Augat

Yet another week has passed by.  Time goes by pretty fast in the mission.  Pretty good week I would guess.  Me and my companion are getting along pretty well now.  We have had a few things to laugh about.  So anyways, this week we will have a baptism!  Her name is Masiel.  She is the girlfriend of our mission leaders son.  She is pretty cool.  Anyone that gets baptized is pretty cool.

This past week we had a mom tell us that she wanted us to baptize her kids.  So we have been visiting them and telling them that it`s a little more than that.  They need a testimony first.  But we went to go visit them yesterday and they had family over.  We saw the mom sitting down, then she looked at us and went inside.  Her sister told us that she wasn`t home.  Now we don`t really have desires to go back and visit them.  That also happens a lot.  People always run away from us.  I think it`s kind of funny.

Other than that, a monkey peed on my arm this week.  One of our investigators just got a monkey from the jungle and it doesn`t really like people.  It`s really afraid.  But it was sitting on my arm and something started to feel really warm.  I moved the monkey, and found out what happened.  It was weird.  But the monkey is cool!  They also have a parrot that likes to bite.

We were able to do service for them as well which was good.  We cut their ``grass`` with machettes.  It was fun.

That`s about it for this week!  Thanks for all the emails and the support!  Love you guys!

-Elder Augat

Hey everyone.  It´s good to be here on another rainy day emailing all of you!  Not so much exciting news, but I will share with you what I can.

So this last week I got my new companion.  He is from Spanish Fork.  He is a nice guy, but sometimes it seems like I can drag him around a little bit.  He doesn´t fight anything I do or say.  So in a way, he is a little too nice.  But everything is good.  My last companion got really trunky even though he was a great missionary.

Also, Elder Harmon´s family came to pick him up and he was able to come back to visit Puerto.  It was cool to see him again with his family.  They also invited us to lunch which was nice of them.  Everyone here loves Elder Harmon.  Maybe a little too much, and this is why we have changes in the mission, so people don´t get so attatched.

He came to church with his family on Sunday, and it happened to be testimony meeting.  I wasn´t really able to feel the spirit all that well because all of the testimonies were thanking Elder Harmon and saying they were going to miss him.  Although his dad gave an awesome testimony.  I was able to feel the spirit when he was speaking.  Elder Harmon is a great guy, but a testimony shouldn´t be a public way to thank someone.  A testimony is what you know about the gospel.

This week I´ve been reading in 3 Nephi which is awesome.  Christ came to the Americas and he called his disciples.  After he called them, he told them to go forward and not worry about what they should eat or wear or anything like that.  In 3 Nephi 13:32-33 it says... 

32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

If we first seek the kingdom of God, He will bless us with the things we need.  He knows the things that you need.  He just asks that we first seek the kingdom of God.

Other than that, we have had a few people that have accepted baptism, but they still need a testimony.  Everything is going great here!  Thanks for all the support!  Love you guys!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone.  Everything is good.  Not much going on right now.  This past week we had a marriage and a baptism.

The marriage and baptism were for the same people.  Her name is Felicia.  She is really smart with gospel topics.  She used to be part of an evangelist church I believe, and she was active so she knows quite a bit.  She got married to a less active, Vidal.  He is a return missionary.  So with the marriage and the baptism and everything, we also had a rescue.  He was also able to baptize her.

The marriage was interesting.  It was held at the town hall and it was in this small little room with like 10 chairs.  Nothing all that special or big.  Then we went to the reception and it was at their house.  It was in a small little room because it was raining.  Everyone there (except us) danced wayno.  I don´t really like that type of music.  But it was interesting to watch.

My companion has left so I am now with the zone leaders for the time being.  My new companion is Elder Thompson.  That is all I know so far.  I am staying in Puerto as well which I am happy about.  We have a lot of potential baptisms this next change which will be good.

I am now sick of bananas.  I have eaten a banana in every way possible.  I can´t stand them anymore.  That´s about it for this past week.  Not a whole lot has happened.  Still hot.

Thanks for all the support and everything!  It really helps.  Love you all!

-Elder Augat

Hello everyone.  Another good week.  Another baptism as well!  This guy is amazing and has an amazing story as well.

The first time I saw him, he was drunk, chewing on cocaine leaves.  We left him a pamphlet but I´m sure it didn´t do him good.  We would always see him on the street with his drunk buddies, drinking and all that.  He would always tell us that we are doing a good job, and we would invite him to church and invite him to change, but he said, ´´Only God can change me, but I don´t let him.´´  So we kind of just left him alone.  A little later we saw him walking down the street with his hair cut, he shaved, he just looked better.  So we said hi and asked him how he felt and he said he felt a lot better, and we told him he looked better.  So we set up a cita for the next Sunday and he came!  The first lesson was incredible.  He would talk about how he felt when he was with us and we told him that it was the Holy Ghost.  We invited him to be baptized that day and he indirectly accepted.

We have been following up on him, teaching him lessons, and we don´t even have to do a lot with him.  We just tell him what God has asked us to do, and he will do it.  He also told us that he has been a part of a lot of other religions, but this one just makes sense.  But about a week before he was going to get baptized, we ran into a little problem.  He had a pareja.  But his pareja lives in Germany so they don´t see each other often.  But he said that when they do see each other, they have a strong relationship.  So we gave him the two options.  First, he could be baptized and live the law of chastity until they could get married.  Or second, he could wait get married, then get baptized.  He chose the first.  Also when he showed up to his baptismal interview, he told us that he wants to get married in the chapel in about 2 years (for legal divorce reasons).

Ever since that first visit he has been a very strong investigator, and now he is a member and holds the Aaronic Priesthood.  He is one of the most converted people I´ve seen.  He will follow the prophets, and the church no matter what they say we need to do.  So he basically went from a drunk (the ones you see on the corner everyday passed out), to sober, to an investigator, to a member. It was incredible to see him grow so much during this time.

Other than that, this week we have a marriage that we were supposed to have last week.. But this time it is set.  Also my companion goes home, back to the states in a week, so I will have a new comp. pretty soon!  I will most likely be staying here though.

That´s really about it.  I hate the dogs.  A lot of them are really ugly.  Thanks for all the emails!  Love you guys!

Elder Augat

Hello everyone.  Everything is still great and hot.  Which has really been a bummer because the power has been out these past 3 nights so we couldn´t turn on the fan.  But it should be up by tonight.  Other than the power being out, like the title says, I broke a window.  Its a very interesting story...

So we went to the other Elders´ room to have a work visit.  All I needed to do was pick up an Elder and go back to my room.  But we started talking a little bit, then my companion found an aguaje.  All it is, is a little fruit that everyone in the jungle eats.  But it has been in their room for a while and my companion broke it open.  It smelt pretty bad.  So I said, I´m going to throw this out the window.  But I couldn´t throw it straight out because there were houses, so I was on an angle.  As soon as I let go of it, I heard the window shatter.  All the Elders were laughing their heads off because they couldn´t believe I just did that...  I don´t even know why I did that.  But we got it fixed so everything is good.

We had a baptism this last Saturday and I had the opportunity to baptize him.  His name is Bruno and he is 11 (and he is not from Mars).  All his family is inactive except his cousin Axel, who is 13.  We have been trying to get support from his family and they all came to the baptism, but they couldn´t make it to the confirmation the next day which was a little sad.  But everything is good.

Our investigator Salvador has been progressing really well, but we recently hit a road block.  We explained to him a little bit about the law of chastity and he had a question.  We figured out that he is legally married to someone who he can´t find to get a divorce, and he also has his pareja or partner.  But the situation with his pareja is interesting.  They have kids and everything, but they don´t live together.  If I understood correctly, she lives in Germany.  They don´t see each other very much but when they do, they have an intimate relationship.

So we explained to him his two options.  The first is that he gets baptized on the 14th (this saturday)  and explains to his pareja that they can´t have that kind of relationship until they are married.  The second option is that he gets married as soon as possible, then gets baptized after.  He told us last night that he wants to get baptized, but we told him to pray about it, and talk to his pareja.  

If he does choose to be baptized, and I think he will, he is taking a huge leap of faith.  He is the most amazing convert I have seen yet.  All we have to do is explain to him the commandment and he will follow.  He has kept every commitment he has made so far so he is progressing really well.  The best converts come to us, we don´t have to go to them.

We also have a wedding this weekend.  It is one less active and one investigator.  She has accepted to be baptized the following Saturday.

Everything is going well!  Thanks for all the support as always!  Love all you guys!

Elder Augat

Hello once again.  It´s crazy to see how time flies here.  I feel like yesterday was P-Day too!  Not a whole lot happened this week because my companion went to Cusco to do some legal work so he can go home when the time comes.  So I got to hang out with the zone leaders!  I got to see the differences in the two and realized what works and what doesn`t.  It was pretty cool though.

The first day my companion was gone, I worked with a member.  He is a recent convert but wants to serve a mission so I thought it would be good for him.  Not a whole lot happened that day.

The next day I worked with Elder Jackson, the gringo zone leader.  I have learned so much from him just talking to him, but now I got to see how he worked.  We also talked about a lot of things which I will probably explain in a minute.

The last day I was with the other zone leader, Elder Villa.  I have also learned a lot from him, the way he teaches, and what I need to do to improve.

The first thing I learned is that as missionaries, we waste a lot of time.  Not all missionaries, but most missionaries waste a lot of time.  Most of the time wasted is talking to investigators.  We talk about things to build a relationship, but when we talk about things and ask questions that we don`t really care about, the relationship is fake.  So with wasting time, the second thing I learned, is that we need to make sincere relationships with the investigators, and the best way to do that is to be straight forward, but also loving.

With creating sincere relationships and wasting time, I was able to learn how to contact people the right way, and also teach the right way.  A lot of missionaries think that they need to be in the lesson for an hour to be a good missionary, but really we are just wasting time.

One of the most important things I learned, is that we need to have faith that the Lord will put someone in our path, but we still need to look.  It`s not by magic we get baptisms. With this faith, I learned that wherever we are, the Lord sent us there for a reason.  If both our citas fall, we are there for some reason.

A story with that, yesterday we went out to Chapajal which is the farthest place from our sector.  It`s a pain to get out there.  The family we usually visit out there is always home when we come.  This time they weren`t there.  So we went to our back up plan.  We knew there was a less active family that lived out there so we visited them.  They didn`t have time, but we are now coming back Saturday.  We also got a reference from them.  So we went to the reference which was not far at all.  They are also less actives.  While we were getting a cita with them, I saw someone carrying shovels and things so I asked if I could help.  She said yeah, so we took the things to her house and talked to her a little bit.  We now have a cita with her.

Now I don`t know how well any of these people will progress, but because that one family wasn`t there, the only family we used to visit in Chapajal, we now have 2 families and one other investigator that we are teaching.  Sometime the Lord will put someone in our path and they will be ready.

I learned a lot more, but it is a lot to write.  In other news, we have a baptism this Saturday!  All he needs to do is show up.  Also right before coming to internet, we saw a moto crash.  Pretty sketchy, but everything is good.  I don`t know what is going to happen with the situation because we left, but everything looked good when we left.

Thanks for all the support everyone.  You guys are in my thoughts.  Love you all.

Elder Augat

Hey everyone, hope everything is going great back in the states!  Everything is good here except that its been raining everyday for a week or two!  It´s raining season!  But its alright, we just put on boots and go.

So everyday for the past week or two, along with the rain, I have been waking up to this dog that lives with the owners of the building we live in.  She just recently had puppies and is now super annoying.  But a couple nights ago she finally didn´t bark!  But I still woke up.  This time it was to thunder!

I would try to close my eyes and sleep again but I could still see a flash and a couple seconds later, I would hear the loudest thunder ever.  It got super close too.  It was the loudest thunder I have ever heard.  I thought about getting up and recording it, but I was too tired to do anything. Eventually I did get back to sleep.

So the guy that used to be a drunk that we are now teaching is our leading investigator!  He is also the most responsible.  We have taught him a lot because he keeps asking questions which is really good.  He also came to church yesterday!  He is always on time and always fulfills commitments.  He is reading in the Book of Mormon everyday.  We had a cita with him yesterday and we got there and he was about 10 minutes late.  He said sorry and everything, but when we got back to our room, he had left a message for us saying that he would be 10 minutes late.  Nobody here does that!!  He also officially accepted baptism for the 14th of February.

We had a zone conference this past week as well so President Harbertson came and talked to us along with Hermana Harbertson.  It was a good conference and I was able to take some things out of it.  I also really like this video that you can all go watch.  I believe its on lds.org, not exactly sure where.  It´s called, The Refiners Fire.  It is a really good message that everyone can learn from.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week.  We did some service helping someone paint, we have some more service tomorrow.  The life of a missionary.  But it is surprising that they are actually letting us do service!  But its good!  We really do want to do service.  But that´s about it.  Thanks for everything!  Hope everything is good!  Love you all!

Hello everyone!  This week has been pretty good!  There have also been a few days that were a little strange...  But for the most part, everything is still good and hot!

So yesterday we had church.  Only one investigator came to church which was a little disappointing but I guess it´s ok.  The girl who teaches the principles of the gospel left on a ´´mini mission´´ this past Monday.  So that means that one of us had to teach it!  So it was my companion.

After church we went to lunch then we had a cita with some guy who I really didn´t know if he was going to show up.  When I first got here, he was a really big drunk.  He was one of those guys that you see passed out on the corner of the street every day.  We recently saw him walking down the street and he looked a lot different.  He cut his hair, shaved, and his clothes even looked cleaner.  He also didn´t look drunk because he was walking straight and fast.  So we talked to him and got a cita with him on Sunday.

We told him to come to the church at 3 and he came!  It was crazy!  So we talked to him, and he speaks and understands really good English as well because he used to live in the states, but we taught him about the gospel.  About faith, repentance, baptism, and the holy ghost.  He was a really good person to teach.  He had questions and really good ones at that.

He told us that when he talks to us he feel really good and that he feels like he is in a garden (because he likes nature) and he even said he wants to feel like that all the time.  He also said he feels like that when he prays and reads the bible, but then it goes away and he wants to feel that way all the time.  We talked to him about the Holy Ghost and challenged him to be baptized.  He indirectly accepted.  He just said that he will do whatever he needs to in order to follow Jesus Christ.  He was a really cool investigator.

We have a new zone leader here in Puerto because the other one is back in the states now!  His name is Elder Jackson and he is a super smart kid.  I love learning from him and listening to his thoughts.  One thing that I learned from him and it might be small, but we need to find the people that are willing to learn.  We can only teach someone what they are willing to learn.  If we try to force ourselves in the door and force another cita out of them, they won´t have good experience with the missionaries and may never let them in.  However, if they have good memories and associate missionaries with Jesus Christ, they may call them someday.  But we can only teach the people that are willing.

Elder Jackson has a lot more teachings than that but they are really deep and hard to write.  John Wayna is traveling so we have to push back his baptismal date, but he is still excited.  We also plan on having at least 5 or so baptisms in February at least so it should be a good change!

That´s about it for this week.  As always, thanks for everything and all the support!  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hello Everyone!  I made it through my first change with only a hospital visit in the first week!  I would say that´s pretty good!

Well to start out, today we dedicated the Hermana´s room. I guess they had a really hard time sleeping last night and didn´t feel good at all.  They definitely felt something really bad there.  So 4 elders went to there room to dedicate it.  Right after the prayer everything already felt better.  It was a really cool experience.

Changes are today!  And I´m not getting changed because I´m still in training!  So on Saturday, for some reason I thought, I really want  a dream.  I haven´t had one in a long time and I really want one.  I know it´s small and silly but I really wanted one.  So the scriptures came to my mind.  I thought of how Mosiah asked that his sons would be safe as they preached the gospel to the Laminites.  The Lord told him that they would be safe because he asked in faith.

I have learned a couple things about faith here.  First, faith without actions is in vain.  If all we needed was faith, how easy would this life be.  Second, faith is believing beforehand.  Listening to the discussions on Lectures on Faith and the Lectures on Faith themselves, there was one example, not so sure where they got it from.  But somebody asked another person, ``Do you believe what I´m going to say?``  He didn´t say do you believe what I said.  That also reminded me of the scriptures.  In the Book of Mormon somewhere, it says that if you ask for something that is good, with faith, believing that you will receive it, you will receive what you desire.

So I did just that.  I prayed for a good dream, believing that I would have a dream as if it had already happened.  That night, I had a dream.  That was really cool.  The next day was Sunday and it was raining.  When it rains here, the numbers at church are very small.  Especially numbers of investigators at church.  But there was one investigator that we needed to come and really wanted to come.  So I did the same thing.  I asked, and he came.  It was so cool to see that work.  I know that if we ask for good things, in faith, believing we will receive, we will receive.

On another note, I had cow stomach!  Wasn´t too bad actually.  But the people that cooked it knew that Americans don´t usually like it so they also cooked chicken.  But I would have had the cow stomach.

There is always a lot to tell and not enough time!  Wish I had more.  Thanks for all that you guys do!  Stay true to the faith!  Love all you guys!

Elder Augat

Feliz año everyone!  I hope your new year was better than mine!  Not that anything was wrong with my new years, just that all the fireworks woke me up in the middle of the night.  Oh, and then my zone leader?  He told us to come to the roof and we had to see all the fireworks.  I was so tired I didn´t want to get out of bed, but I did.  There was a ton!  There were more fireworks than the 4th of July in the states!  The only sad thing was that it seemed like it was a bigger holiday than Christmas!

After watching the fireworks for about 2 minutes we all said happy new year and went back to sleep.  The next day, it was impossible to teach people!  They were either all drunk, or hung over.  Even the members were gone to see family.  We only had a few lessons that day.

The rest of the week I can´t really remember all that well.  I don´t know if I told you this last week but we have a baptismal date with Jhon!  We were also able to talk to his mom a little bit and she seemed very receptive and nice as well.  But yeah for all of you who asked about John Wayne, even the Peruvians say something about that.  Especially our mission leader.  But we are excited!  The only problem is that he needs to attend church every week to be baptized on our set date.  But he came yesterday!  Seems like everything is going good with him!

We had a couple of visits with Mario and Lucia (deaf) this week which were pretty cool!  The first time we went by it wasn´t a cita fija, or a set appointment.  We just went by to see how they were doing and they let us in.  We were able to share a scripture with them and a little bit about prophets.  We talked about 1 Nephi 3:7 and how Nephi was able to recognize that Lehi was a prophet called by God.  They are less actives so they kind of understand the concept but we asked them if they believed we had prophets today and if Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and they said yes.

Lucia was also feeling sick so we were able to give her a blessing and explain how they work.  They can´t hear anything but she was super excited.  When we left we set up another cita with them when we could come back and watch the story of Joseph Smith.  It had ASL so they could watch it and understand it.  We also remind them of church every week but usually only Mario comes.  This week they both came!  It was really cool.

Also this week was a lot of work.  We helped some Elders move into their new room then the Hermanas into the Elders old room.  It took a little while but we got it done!

That´s about all I can remember about this week.. Thanks for all the support everyone!  Love you all!

Elder Augat