Today we´re going to play soccer in the afternoon with some members here in Ferreñafe so that´s why i´m writing you guys in the morning. I hope you have a fun time up at Deer Creek, the water should be pretty cold up there I would imagine.
So this week went really well we had a cool experience on Monday with Danni (was inactive member) and Rosa (his wife not baptised yet). We taught them about the Law of Chastity and at the end of the lesson Danni thanked us for having visited him and his family and bringing him back to the church he got emotionally and cried when he beared his testimony. It was a special experience for me and my companion to have helped him out, and now his wife Rosa is getting baptised this Saturday! She seems really excited about it all and her husband Danni has been helping us out a lot with references and always wants to go tracting with us. All of our investigadors have been going to church and everything is going well in our area..anyways talk to you guys next week.
-Elder Connelly
Monday, August 19, 2013
The Last Transfer 8/5/13
Thanks for all the pictures that you sent me and for the letter. Wow that`s crazy, Dad`s retired now...how does it feel Dad? Your going to have a lot more free time I imagine. The pictures of Bryce down at Lake Powell look cool, it`ll be fun to go down there I`ve never been. So Bryce took Kaylee to Lagoon? I can`t even remember how old she is, everyone is going to be so much older now...
So this week my last transfer in the mission official started, and we had a really good week i`m excited to work hard up until the last day of my mission. We`ve got quite a few of really awesome investigadors we`re teaching, we`ve got a baptismal date on the 17th I`m sure I`ve already wrote about her but her name is Rosa Quevedo. She was supposed to get baptised a little earlier on this month but because she sometimes has a hard time capting and understanding we had to push her baptismal date a little further back. She`s really excited and has come to church with her husband Danni three weeks in a row.
We`re also teaching José Agip still he`s the one that had an accident about a month and half ago and his foot got run over by a three wheeler. It completely destroyed all the flesh near his achilles tendon but his walking more now. We had a spiritual experience with him on Thursday when we taught him and his wife that`s already an active member. We had just got done teaching him and we asked him if there was anything we could do for him and he started crying and told us that he wanted his sons to return to the church. He has two sons that are inactive and always hang out in the street and aren`t very obedient. I`ve been visiting José since I got to this area and ever since he had this accident with his three wheeler he`s a lot more humble and receptive. I think the Lord is preparing him to recieve the Gospel, he`s the only one in his family that isn`t a member.
Oh and on Friday we taught this sweet family, on Tuesday or Wednesday we contacted this guy in the street and he told us that we could visit him and his family on Friday so we set an appointment. We showed up to his house on Friday and we were able to teach him and his entire family. Theres about 7 people in the family and the guy we contacted is named José, his grandson Jorge who`s about 9 years old has had two surgerys to try and take a brain tumor out of his skull. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and it seems to really have helped them a lot.
Today we went to the beach in Pimentel with the zone and played soccer it`s like the 5th or 6th time i`ve gone to that beach. It`s one of the best beaches in Chiclayo, there wasn`t very many people there because of how cold it is. Anyways I got to go but I sent some pictures of us at the beach, thanks for sending a package!
Talk to you guys next week!
-Elder Connelly
Obendiencia 7/29/13
I got the package you guys sent me today when I went to the office! Thank you! We´re going to have to put to use the water balloon launcher, my companion thought it was funny that you sent me that haha. I liked the pictures too that you sent, the baby is so cute.
I had a good week, the only bummer was when I had the flu on Tuesday we didn´t tract at all. It was only for one day, luckily my companion has a lot of pacience and I rested the whole day. I feel a lot better now. On Wednesday we had exchanges with the zone leaders, one of the zone leaders is Elder Cabrera he was my companion in my second area. So it was cool to get to go on splits with him and remember when we were companions. I learned a ton with him when he was my companion and we baptised some really great people.
We´re teaching Rosa and her husband Danni still, and Rosa has made a ton of progress. She went to church on Sunday with her whole family and is really excited about the church and everything. We visited them on Wednesday when I was on splits with Elder Cabrera and we taught about Repentance. Turns out that Danni and his brother in law Marcos (he´s a member too) were breaking the law, they sell bricks to build houses and apparently people would buy bricks from them and they would give them less bricks than they bought. They realized it was bad what they had been doing when we were teaching them and they said that they wanted to change and were going to stop doing it. It´s tough because they have been inactive and they don´t give a very good example to Rosa. They´ve been going to church on Sunday and it´s a sign that they´re trying to change and repent.
With my companion I´ve been learning a lot about obedience, he´s helping me a lot to be more obedient. It´s always been something kind of hard for me to be 100% obedient but it´s cool to see my companion make an effort to do it and it´s been helping me to do the same. This week we met an awesome hermana named Elvira she was outside of her house on Friday afternoon sweeping her patio with some of her kids and we contacted her. She let us in her house and it turns out that she´s a member, apparently she got baptised about 15 years ago and they never registered in the church and they didn´t give her the gift of the Holy Ghost either. She seemed really happy that we had come and wanted her kids to go to church as well. It felt good to know that God had led us to her and her family.
Anyways that´s pretty much a summary of what happened to me this week, oh and the Primary President had a mini MTC for the kids in the primary and we helped her out with that and tracted with some of the primary kids it was fun. I sent a picture of that with the primary, it was cool. Thanks again for the package and for supporting me.
Love you guys and talk to you next week! :)
-Elder Connelly
Por fin estan progresando!
Wow the mountains look so green in the pictures that you sent me, the wild flowers look really cool too. That picture of the family is awesome, everyone looks about the same except for Ava ha. My mission already e-mailed my arrival date? That´s a weird feeling, a lot of the elders from my group are going home early like Elder Sampson goes home the 29th of this month. I´m glad I didn´t shorten my mission, I´m learning so much still everyday here. Dad thanks for getting all my school stuff squared away, it´s the best knowing that I don´t have to come home early to study and that you already signed me up for classes. What classes we´re you able to sign me up for? I´d be excited to make a trip down to Moab and do some mountain biking, hopefully I´ll have a little bit of time to do that.
So this week went well, my companion had his birthday on Tuesday and the members threw him a surprise birthday party. The members here are really cool and love the missionaries. Then on Wednesday we had exchanges in the zone and all the elders were with other elders that aren´t their companions. I was in an area in the zone named Latina, it´s a tougher area because the people there are wealthy and the elders there have to work with members. It was nice to get out and preach in a different area for a change but I like my area a lot. In the interchange they set a baptismal date for August 4th for Rosa, she went to church yesterday and is progressing. Her husband is inactive but he also went to church with her on Sunday.
Our investigadors are finally going to church, and we had a breakthrough with Hermana Gladys. We´ve been teaching Gladys for quite a long time now but she never commited herself to going to church. We had a lesson with her on Thursday and taught her about the sabbath day, she finally understood how important it is to keep the sabbath day and at the end of the lesson in her prayer she promised God that she was going to go to church. On sunday she made a lot of friends really fast and one of the members in our ward is a friend of hers that she knew before. We´re also trying to help this one hermana get married, she wants to get baptised and her daughter is a recent convert. Her birth certificate is in Chota and to get married she has to have her birth certificate we called the elders that are in Chota and they´re sending us her birth certificate.
Me and my companion are good, I´m learning a ton from Elder Harris and he learns really quick everything. He´s helping me a lot to stay focused on the missionary work. Today was cool because I ran into Elder Cometivos in Chiclayo, it was cool seeing him he was one of my favorite companions we worked a ton in our area and had a lot of success.
Oh by the way your letters got to me! Thanks for sending me them, it always helps to get a letter from you guys. I´m sending pictures of the suprise birthday party we threw for my companion and also a picture of lunch that we had today with the zone. I hope you guys have a good week! Love you!
-Elder Connelly
So this week went well, my companion had his birthday on Tuesday and the members threw him a surprise birthday party. The members here are really cool and love the missionaries. Then on Wednesday we had exchanges in the zone and all the elders were with other elders that aren´t their companions. I was in an area in the zone named Latina, it´s a tougher area because the people there are wealthy and the elders there have to work with members. It was nice to get out and preach in a different area for a change but I like my area a lot. In the interchange they set a baptismal date for August 4th for Rosa, she went to church yesterday and is progressing. Her husband is inactive but he also went to church with her on Sunday.
Our investigadors are finally going to church, and we had a breakthrough with Hermana Gladys. We´ve been teaching Gladys for quite a long time now but she never commited herself to going to church. We had a lesson with her on Thursday and taught her about the sabbath day, she finally understood how important it is to keep the sabbath day and at the end of the lesson in her prayer she promised God that she was going to go to church. On sunday she made a lot of friends really fast and one of the members in our ward is a friend of hers that she knew before. We´re also trying to help this one hermana get married, she wants to get baptised and her daughter is a recent convert. Her birth certificate is in Chota and to get married she has to have her birth certificate we called the elders that are in Chota and they´re sending us her birth certificate.
Me and my companion are good, I´m learning a ton from Elder Harris and he learns really quick everything. He´s helping me a lot to stay focused on the missionary work. Today was cool because I ran into Elder Cometivos in Chiclayo, it was cool seeing him he was one of my favorite companions we worked a ton in our area and had a lot of success.
Oh by the way your letters got to me! Thanks for sending me them, it always helps to get a letter from you guys. I´m sending pictures of the suprise birthday party we threw for my companion and also a picture of lunch that we had today with the zone. I hope you guys have a good week! Love you!
-Elder Connelly
Happy Birthday ELI 7/15/13
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI I wish I could have been there to wish you a happy birthday but I guess I´ll have to do it through my email to you guys HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!! From the pictures you sent me looks like you guys had a good time with the cake and everything :) I´m not going to lie all the pictures you guys send make me miss the mountains and green. I´m glad you were able to go and see Kash it´s weird to think that he´s already back from his mission. If some of my friends want to be there in the airport when I get back it´s fine by me.
This week was good, I´m learning a lot from my companion and from the experiences we are having here in our area. I feel really blessed because my companion is obedient and likes to work hard and that´s what we need to be successful as missionaries. Especially right now it´s helping me because i´m getting close to finishing. God has given me companions that i´ve needed to be able to learn and progress, I was able to think a lot this week about the mission and the things i´ve learned and it´s the best being a missionary. I´m especially liking our area because of all the member help that we get, we pretty much work through members and nothing else.
We´re still teaching José and Jesús, and they making a lot of progress. José relapsed saturday night and drank with some of his buddie, it was really discouraging for me. We´ve worked so much with him and seeing him drunk bummed me out, things like that happen he ended up making it to church on sunday so it´s okay. I´ve defintely seen a big change since we fasted with José, I´m certain that before the end of this next transfer we´re going to get them married and baptised. They´re so close to doing it, we watched the Restoration with them this week and asked them if they believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and they believe our whole mesage and everything. On thursday we´re going to go with the ward and have a family home evening in their house, pray for José and Jesús please!! We´re also teaching a man named José Agip he´s not a member his wife is but he hasn´t been baptised for some problems in the ward. He had an accident about a month ago when he was driving his three wheeler with a trailer and cut his achilles tendon and messed his foot up pretty bad. He´s become really humble and has been listening to us this past week. Pray for him too! Other than what´s going on with our investigadors nothing really that crazy has happened this week. I´m happy and healthy and enjoying the mission.
This week on Sunday we got to give talks which is always the best, I´ve gotten to really like giving talks. Today we went and played soccer, that´s pretty much the Monday routine now we always play soccer. Thanks for the letters that you sent with the drawing from Joel, Evan, Eli and Eva. Love you guys and i´ll talk to you next week!
-Elder Connelly
ps I sent two picture one is of the ceviche that our pensionista gave us for lunch and the other is of the money we took out of the bank the beginning of this month.
This week was good, I´m learning a lot from my companion and from the experiences we are having here in our area. I feel really blessed because my companion is obedient and likes to work hard and that´s what we need to be successful as missionaries. Especially right now it´s helping me because i´m getting close to finishing. God has given me companions that i´ve needed to be able to learn and progress, I was able to think a lot this week about the mission and the things i´ve learned and it´s the best being a missionary. I´m especially liking our area because of all the member help that we get, we pretty much work through members and nothing else.
We´re still teaching José and Jesús, and they making a lot of progress. José relapsed saturday night and drank with some of his buddie, it was really discouraging for me. We´ve worked so much with him and seeing him drunk bummed me out, things like that happen he ended up making it to church on sunday so it´s okay. I´ve defintely seen a big change since we fasted with José, I´m certain that before the end of this next transfer we´re going to get them married and baptised. They´re so close to doing it, we watched the Restoration with them this week and asked them if they believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and they believe our whole mesage and everything. On thursday we´re going to go with the ward and have a family home evening in their house, pray for José and Jesús please!! We´re also teaching a man named José Agip he´s not a member his wife is but he hasn´t been baptised for some problems in the ward. He had an accident about a month ago when he was driving his three wheeler with a trailer and cut his achilles tendon and messed his foot up pretty bad. He´s become really humble and has been listening to us this past week. Pray for him too! Other than what´s going on with our investigadors nothing really that crazy has happened this week. I´m happy and healthy and enjoying the mission.
This week on Sunday we got to give talks which is always the best, I´ve gotten to really like giving talks. Today we went and played soccer, that´s pretty much the Monday routine now we always play soccer. Thanks for the letters that you sent with the drawing from Joel, Evan, Eli and Eva. Love you guys and i´ll talk to you next week!
-Elder Connelly
ps I sent two picture one is of the ceviche that our pensionista gave us for lunch and the other is of the money we took out of the bank the beginning of this month.
New Companion 7/9/13
My companion left on Wednesday and now I´m with Elder Harris, it was a bummer because I learned a lot from Elder Cometivos but I´m excited about a new companion. He´s from Nevada and was serving his mission in California for 6 months waiting for his visa. We get along really well and he´s really going to help me a lot I think. It´s different because I´ve never had an american companion but I´m getting used to it.
This week went well we´re teaching a lot of really great people but the problem that we have right now is that no one wants to come to church...but we did have a breakthrough with one of our investigadors. We´ve been teaching the Segura family for quite a long time and we´ve thought about giving them some time so we can look for new investigadors that will progress faster. This week José told us that he wanted to fast with us, so on Saturday after lunch we went to his house and started a fast with him. I´ve never fasted before in my mission with one of my investigadors, but it seems to have really helped. He came to church on Sunday with his wife Jesús and they seemed to have liked the church meetings. The problem with them is that José doesn´t want to get married yet with Jesús because he wants her to change, she has kind of a in your face personality and he is more passive. They already have two kids and it doesn´t really make sense that they don´t get married but we´re working with them right now.
So teaching has been a little different with my companion because he´s still learning spanish but he´s picking up really fast spanish and we teach well together. I sometimes don´t have very much patience but I´m learning a lot right now, my companion is really obedient and humble and he´s teaching me a ton. I´ve been lucky to have had companions that have wanted to work and keep the rules.
I don´t really have much to write about this week but I´m enjoying the mission I´m happy healthy and tired like always haha. I´m sending a picture of me because here in Ferreñafe there´s a lot of walls that have poetry here and so I decided to take a picture of this haha. Love you guys talk to you next week.
-Elder Connelly
This week went well we´re teaching a lot of really great people but the problem that we have right now is that no one wants to come to church...but we did have a breakthrough with one of our investigadors. We´ve been teaching the Segura family for quite a long time and we´ve thought about giving them some time so we can look for new investigadors that will progress faster. This week José told us that he wanted to fast with us, so on Saturday after lunch we went to his house and started a fast with him. I´ve never fasted before in my mission with one of my investigadors, but it seems to have really helped. He came to church on Sunday with his wife Jesús and they seemed to have liked the church meetings. The problem with them is that José doesn´t want to get married yet with Jesús because he wants her to change, she has kind of a in your face personality and he is more passive. They already have two kids and it doesn´t really make sense that they don´t get married but we´re working with them right now.
So teaching has been a little different with my companion because he´s still learning spanish but he´s picking up really fast spanish and we teach well together. I sometimes don´t have very much patience but I´m learning a lot right now, my companion is really obedient and humble and he´s teaching me a ton. I´ve been lucky to have had companions that have wanted to work and keep the rules.
I don´t really have much to write about this week but I´m enjoying the mission I´m happy healthy and tired like always haha. I´m sending a picture of me because here in Ferreñafe there´s a lot of walls that have poetry here and so I decided to take a picture of this haha. Love you guys talk to you next week.
-Elder Connelly
Another Week 6/24/13
It`s funny hearing about cub country, some of the greatest memories I have are from cub country with all my friends and the Corner Canyon 2nd ward. That`s cool that that man was able to help you out with the cooler, sometime the Lord is there to help us out when we least expect it. I was able to read a little bit more about what happened to Dan with more details, I`m glad he`s doing well and recovering from the accident.
This week we baptised Olga Sanchez! It was awesome, another one of God`s chosen children was able to join the church. I think I already wrote about her but she`s about 72 years old, and one of the members in our ward gave us the referral. We starting teaching her about a month and a half ago and she progressed quicly and now she`s a member of the church! The baptism service went well, our ward mission leader baptised her. She couldn`t bend her back at all to get submirged so we had to use a chair so that she could get baptised without causing any damage to her back. After the baptism she shared some of her feelings about her baptism and said that she couldn`t have been more happy. She already has a lot of friends in the ward and visiting teachers so she should stay active.
Now we just going to try and find new investigadors, we`ve got two prospects but they didn`t go to church yesterday so they aren`t progressing...On Sunday there was a missionary work training that got transmitted to our stake in Chiclayo, it was an inspiring training. The prophet talked and some of the apostles, it pumped me and my companion up to work more with the members in our ward. I liked a lot this quote that "the most effective missionaries act by love" the also said that "good leaders act by love", it`s so crazy there`s 70, 000 missionaries serving full time.
Other than that the mission life is going good, I`m enjoying a ton my area and finally it`s getting a little colder at night and sometimes I have to use a sheet when I sleep. We played soccer today like we did two weeks ago at a synthetic soccer field here in Ferreñafe. The whole district came and we played with all the elders and some members as well. I`m doing good, my companion is still waiting for his Visa so I don`t know how long I`m going to be with him. Thanks for the letter and the pictures, Bryce looks like he`s really tall now...luckily I`m huge and can still take him haha. Love you guys! Until next week...
-Elder Connelly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)