Hey Everyone!!
So, this week been full of by far the best days of mission thus far, and some of the most dead days as well. It seems like the Area Latina caught fire and then had spiritual relapse haha.
This week... we challenged a lot of different people to baptism. We are always challenging people to baptism haha. But this week we had two commitments to a date! in one day!!! It was the best day of my mission up to this point. Junior, my investigator friend, and the sister of a recently returned missionary both committed to be baptized on September 8th!! I'm confident Junior will be ready, so far we haven´t been able to have a second discussion with the girl so I'm not sure, but she has a testimony of the savior and the book of Mormon, and that is what everything is built off of. So she is already there as far as a basic testimony goes. She just needs some friends in the church and more knowledge about the gospel, and a testimony of Joseph smith.
One thing I have been discovering here in the mission and especially this week is that there is true POWER in the book of Mormon, I have heard that all my life and I have even read the book of Mormon, and I have felt the spirit while reading but to witness it working in someone else is completely different. Junior is our Golden Investigator and I hope we stay in contact. I wouldn't be surprised if he served a mission one day. He is just simply pure in heart, he wants to follow the Lord. He has read everything we have given him and more. He says he can´t put it down sometimes haha. At first he was expecting us to be upset he read more, but we were excited for him and now he is taking in everything he can. He has had a hard time with gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith, and I don't blame him. I was thinking about what the Joseph Smith story would look like to an investigator and it is really different. He is not the only one who has a hard time with it.
But, yesterday, (Sunday) we watched the Joseph Smith movie with him at a members house and we started and ended with prayer. I gave the opening prayer and he prayed after the movie. :D it had to be one of the most sincere, childlike prayers i have heard in my life. After the prayer, he looked at both of us and started to smile. He is just a smiley guy and he reminds me of Tanner Bunker, and Tanner Browning. He smiled and he said he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet and he had this growing feeling inside that was hard to explain. He knows what the spirit feels like. Something that took me a long time to find for myself. Ah! absolutely awesome!!
I'm sorry this is kind of short.
One last funny. So in Peru everyone is really short, obviously. But i haven't really noticed, (for some reason in my mind I am Peruvian and then I am reminded I'm white when someone shouts gringue!! haha) but this week I had like 20 people comment on how tall me and my companion are. hahaha made my day. I don't know what i will do when I come back and martin is nearing 7 feet haha. Everyone asks how tall I am, but I still don't know my height in meters haha.
I love you all,
The church is true tell your friends,
always turn outward and keep smiling!!
Elder Bunker
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
3 months!!!
Hey Everyone,
I cant beleive it. Already and eigth of the way through the mission!! What!! Sometimes it doesnt seem very long, and sometimes it freaks me out its going by that fast!!
So I promised some stories last week. I have a few.
First, the food here is a little different. I probably metioned that. (its amazing though, just took some time to get used to...) There is a dish here called masamorra. It is really good. It is pretty much fruit soup. they mostly have it for christmas, but our pensionista (Brother Hernan) likes to cook it for Family Home Evening with our recent converts. Anyway, I didnt realize, but this soup cleans out your system pretty good. haha, I love the stuff so I ate a lot and... we ended up running back to the apartment because I had to go haha. I thought i was going to die...
Second, I mentioned last week there are a lot of look alikes... haha all the little boys here remind me of tanner. They are so funny and innocent. Its the funniest thing. Makes me sad though. Tanner will be almost a teenageer when i get back!!
That and alot of people remind me of Thomas and Uncle Jake. haha There is just a look about thomas and jake i guess. Also we have a less active we are teaching who is just like lily. (except a 25 year old verson... super skinny and complete tomboy haha)
We have 3 people we are hoping will accept the baptismal invitation we have already extended. Hermana Judith, Hermana Vilma, and Junior. Hermana Judith just had a son return from the mission but is not a members so we have big hopes for here. the only problem is she is living with someone... marriage is no small deal, even when your already living together i guess... rggh. not my favorite thing in the world when we find that out about someone, specially when we have been working with them consistently for almost a month...
Hermana Vilma... she is the sweetest lady. and often i think of grandma when we are teaching her, not because they look anything a like, but just little mannerisms. Herman vilma has 2 kids on missions right now! We are close with her. She just lacks the confidence and faith to make a few sacrafices. (like close her store on sunday and attend church all three hours) We extended the baptismal invitation last week and she said she wants to, but she is afraid of failure... like all of us really. I think having kids in the mission really helps her. She has a hard time reading the scriptures because even in spanish they can be hard to understand. But she adores the Liahona and from that she has gained a lot of faith. I hope and pray we can help her get baptized, because she is someone who would make it to the temple after we leave. And that is ultimately where we want to be.
and Junior... Junior has become one of my best friends here in the feild. He is 21 studying, working, and helping his family run their store. He is lo maximo to put in local terms. pure gold. So far he has read everything we have given him. Attended all three hours of church, and a fireside for the prophets birthday. he really wants to know if the church is true. We have been praying he would receive an answer. Im not sure if he has been able to intentify one yet. We have visited him everyday for the last 5 days, and we will visit him again tomorrow even though he started school today and he is so busy. last friday we taught him the word of wisdom and he accepted to live it. the next day we visited him and he told us a story with a huge grin on his face. His story was that after we had left friday night he went to a party with some freinds where there were some drinks being served and he had promised not to drink and he remembered and asked for water. He said while he was there he realized all the blessing we promised from the word of wisdom were true! And that the gospel has already blessed his life immensly! :D Him and I get along really well because Im trying to learn spanish and he is trying to learn english, so we are patient with one another.
Last story, This week I think i have grown a lot. Especially in confidence, not in me but in what the Lord can do through me.
I was reading in the Liahona this last week Elder Eyrings talk about Mountains to Climb. I wanted to ask for a challenge from the lord to help me grow, but i wasnt sure if i was ready for it. I was/am still struggling with a lot of things. So i asked for a small challenge, and I received it in full haha.
My trainer is the District Leader and so as such he has to go on splits with all the other missionaries once a month. this last week he left to go on splits and I was paired with an elder who is from Ecuador and only speaks spanish. So I had to direct the Area. Meaning plan lessions and where we were going to go and such. I was really nervous because our area is huge, and i dont know it very well, and we had appointments all across our area. I did a lot of praying haha. I studied the map of our area the night before, and prayed for a miracle. it was something that I had been dreading the whole week, (Elder McAllister told me what was going to happen the day after i read the article and prayed) the day I had to direct the area was one of the best i have had thus far. I was able to get to know junior more because i talked a lot more with him and I was able to extend the invitation to go to chuch, and the fireside with us. and my comp for the day asked about baptism. so within the 24 hours my trainer was gone I had 2 lessons with junior, had comitted him to come with us to a fireside, church, and he said he would pray about baptism. I really hope it works out with him. but the greater miracle was that the lord was able to give me the confidence i was lacking through something i was dreading.
That is all I have time for!
I love you all,
The Church is true tell your freinds,
Always turnoutward, and keep smiling because the mountains we climb provide a better veiw. :D
Love Elder Bunker
I cant beleive it. Already and eigth of the way through the mission!! What!! Sometimes it doesnt seem very long, and sometimes it freaks me out its going by that fast!!
So I promised some stories last week. I have a few.
First, the food here is a little different. I probably metioned that. (its amazing though, just took some time to get used to...) There is a dish here called masamorra. It is really good. It is pretty much fruit soup. they mostly have it for christmas, but our pensionista (Brother Hernan) likes to cook it for Family Home Evening with our recent converts. Anyway, I didnt realize, but this soup cleans out your system pretty good. haha, I love the stuff so I ate a lot and... we ended up running back to the apartment because I had to go haha. I thought i was going to die...
Second, I mentioned last week there are a lot of look alikes... haha all the little boys here remind me of tanner. They are so funny and innocent. Its the funniest thing. Makes me sad though. Tanner will be almost a teenageer when i get back!!
That and alot of people remind me of Thomas and Uncle Jake. haha There is just a look about thomas and jake i guess. Also we have a less active we are teaching who is just like lily. (except a 25 year old verson... super skinny and complete tomboy haha)
We have 3 people we are hoping will accept the baptismal invitation we have already extended. Hermana Judith, Hermana Vilma, and Junior. Hermana Judith just had a son return from the mission but is not a members so we have big hopes for here. the only problem is she is living with someone... marriage is no small deal, even when your already living together i guess... rggh. not my favorite thing in the world when we find that out about someone, specially when we have been working with them consistently for almost a month...
Hermana Vilma... she is the sweetest lady. and often i think of grandma when we are teaching her, not because they look anything a like, but just little mannerisms. Herman vilma has 2 kids on missions right now! We are close with her. She just lacks the confidence and faith to make a few sacrafices. (like close her store on sunday and attend church all three hours) We extended the baptismal invitation last week and she said she wants to, but she is afraid of failure... like all of us really. I think having kids in the mission really helps her. She has a hard time reading the scriptures because even in spanish they can be hard to understand. But she adores the Liahona and from that she has gained a lot of faith. I hope and pray we can help her get baptized, because she is someone who would make it to the temple after we leave. And that is ultimately where we want to be.
and Junior... Junior has become one of my best friends here in the feild. He is 21 studying, working, and helping his family run their store. He is lo maximo to put in local terms. pure gold. So far he has read everything we have given him. Attended all three hours of church, and a fireside for the prophets birthday. he really wants to know if the church is true. We have been praying he would receive an answer. Im not sure if he has been able to intentify one yet. We have visited him everyday for the last 5 days, and we will visit him again tomorrow even though he started school today and he is so busy. last friday we taught him the word of wisdom and he accepted to live it. the next day we visited him and he told us a story with a huge grin on his face. His story was that after we had left friday night he went to a party with some freinds where there were some drinks being served and he had promised not to drink and he remembered and asked for water. He said while he was there he realized all the blessing we promised from the word of wisdom were true! And that the gospel has already blessed his life immensly! :D Him and I get along really well because Im trying to learn spanish and he is trying to learn english, so we are patient with one another.
Last story, This week I think i have grown a lot. Especially in confidence, not in me but in what the Lord can do through me.
I was reading in the Liahona this last week Elder Eyrings talk about Mountains to Climb. I wanted to ask for a challenge from the lord to help me grow, but i wasnt sure if i was ready for it. I was/am still struggling with a lot of things. So i asked for a small challenge, and I received it in full haha.
My trainer is the District Leader and so as such he has to go on splits with all the other missionaries once a month. this last week he left to go on splits and I was paired with an elder who is from Ecuador and only speaks spanish. So I had to direct the Area. Meaning plan lessions and where we were going to go and such. I was really nervous because our area is huge, and i dont know it very well, and we had appointments all across our area. I did a lot of praying haha. I studied the map of our area the night before, and prayed for a miracle. it was something that I had been dreading the whole week, (Elder McAllister told me what was going to happen the day after i read the article and prayed) the day I had to direct the area was one of the best i have had thus far. I was able to get to know junior more because i talked a lot more with him and I was able to extend the invitation to go to chuch, and the fireside with us. and my comp for the day asked about baptism. so within the 24 hours my trainer was gone I had 2 lessons with junior, had comitted him to come with us to a fireside, church, and he said he would pray about baptism. I really hope it works out with him. but the greater miracle was that the lord was able to give me the confidence i was lacking through something i was dreading.
That is all I have time for!
I love you all,
The Church is true tell your freinds,
Always turnoutward, and keep smiling because the mountains we climb provide a better veiw. :D
Love Elder Bunker
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Poco a Poco
Hey Everyone.
K, So first. Im sorry if there has been confusion with letters. I guess there is a vuelga (strike) with the postal service in peru so there isnt much being shipped in the country. so I apologize.
second, I forgot to tell everyone. Andrew Law is in My mission!! from Pleasant Grove. Haha we were in preschool together and went to the same gradeschool and had a lot of the same teachers. So cool to see him again. I guess he was only here for a transfer or two before me. Crazy!!
Third, I think everyone in the states is related to someone in Peru. haha. There are so many look alikes. This Last week I saw someone who looked like George Bush, David Archeleta, and Mystery Guitar Man. Hahaha weird. Wish I had my camera. Especially yesterday. Every sunday there is a train that travels around and plays music with a whole bunch of disney caracters painted on it. It is called "my happy world" (or mi mundo feliz). interesting. still havent gotten the point but it looks like fun.
Last week we were visiting a member family who own a Mariachi band. Sweetest thing ever. Anyway they have a little girl and she was watching tv when we walked in, and she was watching the Backyardigans, So lizy Fish, Backyardigans exists in Peru too. Haha actually this little girl who was watching it reminded me of alice, it was somewhat surreal.
K now for the serious bit. So this week, like others has had some ups and downs. Mostly with the Language, I can understand most of what everyone is saying but there a few people with a lisp in our ward, and some of the youth combine their words, so it gets hard sometimes, and a bit frustrating. But the hardest part is speaking the language. I can say most of what I want to, but it takes me a while to congegate all my words, and so sometimes people lose interest in what im saying or become impatient. I want more than anything to talk to the people here, but Im not there yet.
One thing that has helped me though, is this saying they have here. "poco a poco". I have come to love this saying. I love it because it has taught me patience. I think that is one thing I have been lacking but have been blessed with as I have been working this week. Poco a Poco is how heavenly father works with his children. line upon line, precept upon precept, sometimes unnoticable, the trick is to be doing the small things. This week I have been reading the Liahona outloud everyday, and not only did i learn gospel principles but my toungue has been loosed a bit more and i have been able to speak with more clarity, I have to work on it everyday though because every morning it seems like I almost have to start over again.
The other great lesson i have been able to take away from this week is having a greater perspective. I got a really encouraging letter last week from aunt lizy (thanks lizy, sorry I cant email you directly and thank you) that really helped me. one of the pieces of advice she gave me that I feel will apply to me for the rest of my life is to see the bigger picture. Sometimes its easy to feel down when people turn us away, stop keeping commitments, and ignore us (or make fun of us cause were two gringos in a foreign country) but I have learned to look at it in different way, a bigger picture.
Right now I am here in feild!! something i have dreamed of my whole life, and sometimes i have forgotten that. I am helping people who are brothers and sisters return to heavenly father and receive eternal life. there is nothing greater than that!!!
I thought about that even more, and expanded it even farther. The truth is, life is amazing. We are here on earth, being tested, and all of us, have already kept our first estate. We have a body!! and we are working to do the things the lord comands to return to his presence, and even better, we have a savior for when we do make mistakes. And as far as the things we cannot see, Im sure we have concourses of angels behind us every step of the way.
Im sorry this is shorter. but we are going to leave to proselyte in 5 min.
one last thought. One of the greatest struggles of the mission is help people have the desire to learn more about the evangelio de JesuCristo. gospel of jesus christ. sorry, spanish and english not good. Because it is the desire to know about these things that drives them to pray with a sincere heart. I have been searching, but I have not found a clear answer and Im not sure if there is one cause everyone is different, about how we can help people develop a desire to know. I have found those who truly want to follow jesus christ those who truly beleive in god, already have that desire and they are ready to hear the gospel and test the book of mormon with a sincere heart. It begins with their desires. I think that is what the scriptures mean by pure in heart.
sorry I didnt share many stories about investigators. I will have some next week.
all I have to say is i whish i was peruvian cause it would solve a lot of problems haha.
the church is true tell your freinds,
always turn outward and keep smiling. Because we have kept our first estate.
Love
Elder Bunker
K, So first. Im sorry if there has been confusion with letters. I guess there is a vuelga (strike) with the postal service in peru so there isnt much being shipped in the country. so I apologize.
second, I forgot to tell everyone. Andrew Law is in My mission!! from Pleasant Grove. Haha we were in preschool together and went to the same gradeschool and had a lot of the same teachers. So cool to see him again. I guess he was only here for a transfer or two before me. Crazy!!
Third, I think everyone in the states is related to someone in Peru. haha. There are so many look alikes. This Last week I saw someone who looked like George Bush, David Archeleta, and Mystery Guitar Man. Hahaha weird. Wish I had my camera. Especially yesterday. Every sunday there is a train that travels around and plays music with a whole bunch of disney caracters painted on it. It is called "my happy world" (or mi mundo feliz). interesting. still havent gotten the point but it looks like fun.
Last week we were visiting a member family who own a Mariachi band. Sweetest thing ever. Anyway they have a little girl and she was watching tv when we walked in, and she was watching the Backyardigans, So lizy Fish, Backyardigans exists in Peru too. Haha actually this little girl who was watching it reminded me of alice, it was somewhat surreal.
K now for the serious bit. So this week, like others has had some ups and downs. Mostly with the Language, I can understand most of what everyone is saying but there a few people with a lisp in our ward, and some of the youth combine their words, so it gets hard sometimes, and a bit frustrating. But the hardest part is speaking the language. I can say most of what I want to, but it takes me a while to congegate all my words, and so sometimes people lose interest in what im saying or become impatient. I want more than anything to talk to the people here, but Im not there yet.
One thing that has helped me though, is this saying they have here. "poco a poco". I have come to love this saying. I love it because it has taught me patience. I think that is one thing I have been lacking but have been blessed with as I have been working this week. Poco a Poco is how heavenly father works with his children. line upon line, precept upon precept, sometimes unnoticable, the trick is to be doing the small things. This week I have been reading the Liahona outloud everyday, and not only did i learn gospel principles but my toungue has been loosed a bit more and i have been able to speak with more clarity, I have to work on it everyday though because every morning it seems like I almost have to start over again.
The other great lesson i have been able to take away from this week is having a greater perspective. I got a really encouraging letter last week from aunt lizy (thanks lizy, sorry I cant email you directly and thank you) that really helped me. one of the pieces of advice she gave me that I feel will apply to me for the rest of my life is to see the bigger picture. Sometimes its easy to feel down when people turn us away, stop keeping commitments, and ignore us (or make fun of us cause were two gringos in a foreign country) but I have learned to look at it in different way, a bigger picture.
Right now I am here in feild!! something i have dreamed of my whole life, and sometimes i have forgotten that. I am helping people who are brothers and sisters return to heavenly father and receive eternal life. there is nothing greater than that!!!
I thought about that even more, and expanded it even farther. The truth is, life is amazing. We are here on earth, being tested, and all of us, have already kept our first estate. We have a body!! and we are working to do the things the lord comands to return to his presence, and even better, we have a savior for when we do make mistakes. And as far as the things we cannot see, Im sure we have concourses of angels behind us every step of the way.
Im sorry this is shorter. but we are going to leave to proselyte in 5 min.
one last thought. One of the greatest struggles of the mission is help people have the desire to learn more about the evangelio de JesuCristo. gospel of jesus christ. sorry, spanish and english not good. Because it is the desire to know about these things that drives them to pray with a sincere heart. I have been searching, but I have not found a clear answer and Im not sure if there is one cause everyone is different, about how we can help people develop a desire to know. I have found those who truly want to follow jesus christ those who truly beleive in god, already have that desire and they are ready to hear the gospel and test the book of mormon with a sincere heart. It begins with their desires. I think that is what the scriptures mean by pure in heart.
sorry I didnt share many stories about investigators. I will have some next week.
all I have to say is i whish i was peruvian cause it would solve a lot of problems haha.
the church is true tell your freinds,
always turn outward and keep smiling. Because we have kept our first estate.
Love
Elder Bunker
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
9 Baptisms!!!
Everyone!
Holy Cow this week has been crazy!!
Im hoping i will have enough time to load pictures. But pretty much we had our first baptism this week, and it truely has been a miracle. So our investagator lucero was baptized this week. Her mom has been holding permission for a while and we finally received it this week. Lucero´s aunt has been in the hospital for a while and so her mom has been there with her. And it was hard to get a hold of her. However, we were able to go to the hospital with Lucero and Lucero explained that we could give blessings. The aunt then asked for a blessing and we we gave her one. Suprisingly lucero´s mom gave us permission to baptize her. but not for a while because the aunt needed to heal... haha well the next day the aunt left the hospital because she was feeling much better. So, we baptized Lucero this weekend, Her mom came and watched and also came to church for the confirmation!!
I am just really excited about all of this. but really none of it is us. The lord has been answering our prayers and we have been truely blessed this week.
Thanks to everyone who sent letters I think sometimes they get lost for a bit in the Dear Elders cause I get some that sound old, but it is still always a treat.
So this week I had my first taste of Guinee Pig! haha. Its probably the best meat (besides steak) that i have had here. its a little chewy due to fat, but it is tender and flavorfull... we got some from one of our investigators. haha the investigators are always always giving us food. Im going to come home fat. seriously.
we also had lunch at a members house this last weekend and they served us a meal with some meat that was a tad bit hard to chew. I feel bad cause I couldnt for the life of me finish that meat. Haha the members understood and they thought it was kind of funny. they tried to explain what kind of meat it was. im still not sure exactly but I think it was some sort of stomach of a duck or chicken... anyway they thought it was funny.
This week also. I got shocked! by the shower. I forgot I had the power on and grabed the shower head to adjust it and i got shocked haha... ouch.
we have an investigator im really excited about. her name is sheyli. she met the missionaries 6 years ago, and she immediately let us in to teach. She accepted everything we taught and accepted the challenges we extended. she is 22, married, and is 1 month away from having her first son. she is golden! The craziest thing is she is the first and only door we knocked on that day because there was so much else going on.
haha im so sore cause we had to clean out the font for lucero´s baptism with buckets. took 2 hours... it seems like getting ready fro that baptism has taken a lot of our time, but it also has been the most rewarding. hopefully the mom might start taking the lessons now...
The language is rough, i still cant speak well, and sometimes the members and the youth get frustraded with me which is hard, but I am working hard and I love our ward. They really are loving kind people, and I really wish i could talk more with them.
anyway thank you for your prayers. I love you all.
The church is true, tell your friends.
Always turn outward, and keep smiling,
because heavenly fathers plan for us is a plan of Happiness! :D
´´The lord expects us to be happy, but never content.´´ (interesting)
Love Elder Bunker
Address
Hey Everyone here is the Pouch mail instructions: Pouch mail is for people to send 1 page letters to the missionary in the feild, you send them to the church office and they have a representive take them down to the country whenever they visit. It takes a little bit longer that way, but its much more reliable and cheap.
so instructions:
1. Lay the blank side of the letter(single sheet) facing down with the writing facing you.
2. Fold the top of the letter about one-third of the way down and crease.
3. Fold the bottom of the letter to the top of the first fold and crease.
4. Use two pieces of tape or two sticker tabs on the top to secure it, not more than one inch from each side, but do not seal the ends.
5. Do not include any other items within the letter.
6. In the top left corner, write your name and complete return address.
7. Affix a stamp in the top right corner.
8. In the Middle write the following:
Missionary Name (Elder Isaac Benjamin Bunker)
MTC or Mission Name (Peru, Chiclayo Mission)
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
I hope to continue to get letters from everyone. It is great to know how things are at home.
Love you all
Elder Bunker
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