Pictures 1.7

Peruvian Family Reunion

Hey Everyone,

so, there is a ton to say and so little time to write.. here we go...

first, Lisa and Lauren, i got your letter this week. Haha wont lie i was a little confused by the return address at first. Thanks for the invites and the kind letter. Im afraid im a little late for the big day... haha. Your husbands look like great guys. Happy for you both, best of luck to the both of you.

Second, This week has been the greatest!!!!

Morrope is growing!! Holy cow, i never thought i would see the day that morrope would grow so much. we had 44 in the chapel!!!!!!! 44!! Im so happy morrope is progressing so well, ive been reflecting a lot on my time here and it has really been one of the greatest experiences i have ever had. I really dont want to leave Morrope, but it is allmost 100% set in stone that i will be having a transfer the end of March... I dont know how thats going to turn out its going to be really hard to leave.

k, before i continue i want to share some funnies. 

this last week we were getting ready to leave for the day when suddenly we heard someone pounding HARD on our door, (and since our door is made out of metal you can imagine how loud it must have been) it kind of freaked us out for a second. I headed out on the second story balcony and looked down and there was an old man i had never seen before, and he was really upset. haha he was talking outloud to himself saying stuff "why is this door locked?? who is trying to keep me out??? MARY!! open the door!!" haha it was super funny, but i was still freaked out at the same time. I called down to him and asked who he was looking for and he looked confused like he couldnt find where the voice was coming from haha. I then realized he was drunk. haha our kind neighbor saw what was happening and helped the man find his house just down the road. I guess he also had a metal door that looked alike...

this week we also almost got eaten by a dog. we were trying to contact one of our references when a dog ran out at us from a house and started barking and became really agressive for some reason. dogs barking is normal but this dog was going to eat us. My companions have taught me a few tricks to scare away dogs and I was try to scare this dog away but it kept coming after us. Everyone in the street was watching. i was kind of mad no one did anything. we couldnt walk away because we couldnt turn our backs to the dog with out getting bitten. finally a little kid ran up to the dog and put its hands around the dogs mouth and calmed the dog down enough that we could get away. ( how in the world the dog didnt bite the kid I dont know, Im just grateful that the little kid saw what was going on)

other thing that happened was i was sitting in bed this saturday after a long day of service and i felt somthing on my neck, i thought it was a mosquito so i swept my hand over my neck and a spider fell on the ground... haha feaky, dont know how long i was laying in my bed with that spider. i didnt know if it was poisonous or not so i smashed it with a shoe.

so biggest  thing that happened. 

Saturday we went to Caracucho and had a great activity there. In the morning we helped them build a bridge and then we had lunch and then played games. ( hence all the pictures ) The purpose of the activity was to help all the less actives reactivate. (hence the great number of people in church 44!!!!) It was so much fun. as we were working and playing with the little kids i couldnt help but feel like i was at a family reunion. I really feel like the people here in morrope are my family. I still miss my family in the united states but its going to be hard to leave Morrope at the same time. I hope i get the chance one day to return and see everyone again. I love the people here.

anyway time is short. 

Love you all

Always turn outward, and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Pictures 1.6

Morrope and the Lord of Sipan

Hey Everyone,

So a few suprises this week...

First, I get to stay in Morrope!! :D wooohooo! haha im super happy about that. Im excited for the chance to be here for josé and his baptism. Also, the mother of Hermana Rosa comitted to be baptized!! whoooohooo so we are planing a baptismal service the 23 of this month for as well. Im super excited and ready to put everything into my last transfer here in the area. 

Wednsday morning we got a nice suprise as well. I was studying at our table and my companion was asleep (he hasnt felt super amazing this week) when someone rang the doorbell to our chaple-house (we live on  the second story) I was really suprised because everyone works in the morning and there shouldnt be any reason for anyone to be ringing our doorbell that time of day. (also i thought it was one of the neighborhood kids who was trying to play a prank on us... thats happened before) so i wanted to ignore it. but i decided instead i was going to catch the little kids that have totured us during our studies in the past. so i causually walked out onto the balcony and slowly peeked of the edge and there was a woman below who stared up at me with the biggest smile on her face, and said "at last i have found you!!" .... haha i almost didnt know what to say. 

she explained she is from lima and she was there visiting her sister and looking for the church to help her sister attend... i told her to wait and ran and woke up my companion. haha he didnt seem to beleive me, but he got up and looked out his window, saw the lady and got dressed. we went down to talk to here and she told us she was looking for the church for a few hours and she had almost given up when she realized the house she was standing by WAS the church (we have a sign outside) haha. she then took us to three houses where her siblings live with their families! 3 family references in 1 day!!! :D wow, we were a little more than excited. haha. 

we got to visit one of the families this weekend with the sister who met (Hermana Carmen is her name), and looks like we will be able to progress with her (her name is juana). she is definately looking for the gosepel in her life.

so that was another great suprise that we had this week is that our mission president called to let us know he was coming out to morrope to visit. he brought us 10 more plastic chairs and a plastic table for the speakers to put their scriptures. (morrope is growing) we talked a little bit and then he interveiwed my companion and I. I guess my companion told him a little about our district because when it was my turn the first thing pres risso asked was "¿so i hear they call you `la maquina`?" haha we laughed a litte bit about that.

after he had left i asked my companion what they had talked about. and it turns out president risso is encouraging the district president to send in a request to make morrope a branch!! Morrope with most likely be its own functioning church unit in august!!! Im excited, but there is so much to do!

This week as well i finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in spanish! wow. great experience. its amazing how a different language can help you look at things with such a differet veiw. took me about 6-7 months. I finished it this week due to the fact that my companion was sick for a day. (poor guy) he had a sick stomach from somthing im not sure what, so i read my book of mormon while he slept.

today we wet to the Tumbas Reales museum here in lambayeque. wow. so sweet. The Lamanites where here!! we had a mormon tour guide who lives close to here (ferranafe) who showed us everything and explained a few things from the book of mormon (like evidence of the Jaredite cultures as well as lamanites) THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE! Haha. 

well im out of time,

Love you all, 

always turn outward, and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Last go in Morrope?

Hey Everyone,

first off MOST IMPORTANT address to the mission office has changed!!!

so here is the new address:

Elder Bunker

Mision Peru Chiclayo

Los Alamos #128, 

urb: Santa Victoria

Chilayo - Lambayeque 

Peru

second... how is BERT?! someone asked me the other day if our family has pets and i remembered that we have bert. I have heard a little about everyone but bert. how is he? haha.

so this week has been pretty good. we have been progressign little by little here in morrope. we have had more lessons and better numbers this week than any other but i am super tired. i think when i finish up here im going to sleep the rest of Pday.

we have an amazing investigator named jose, i have already talked about him already but he is practically already a member, he will be baptized the 16 of this month. yesterday we had a fast and testimony meeting and he gave his testimony that he knows that the church is true and that there are profets on the earth again. I was amazed he had such strong desire to share his testimony. when we visited him after he asked us if he was allowed to go out and teach with us and help us... awesome.... he is ready. haha. I have only had one other investigator like him. (Junior, my best freind from my last area)

There are people who are ready for the gospel. i know it. I just hope and pray we find them. I appreciate all of your prayers i know they help. they have kept me out of harms way, please pray as well for the people who are ready for the gospel that they can find it. 

so... this could be my last week in morrope. i hope not. i feel like i could be here my whole mission and there will stil be more to do. my companion told the familia fiestas that i might be leaving and they looked so sad... tore my heart in half. i wish he wouldnt have done that i dont know if im going to be able to leave this area. 

there are a ton of new missionaries coming soon due to the change in missionary age. they are opening new areas in our mission that missionaries have never been to. and they are doubling up missionaries in a few areas. Its so exciting to see the work growing. I feel an urgency to find people and to help them receive the restored gospel, but at the same time i know i need to be patient with my own area.

My goal for the mission is to find a family. I want to find a full family that will be able to receive the gospel and be baptized. it is awesome to find individuals but what would bring me the greatest joy is to help a family obtain Eternal Life together, because the life eternal isnt eternal life without the family,

I hope and pray that all of those who are at home who havent heard the gospel yet will get the chance to hear the message and will accept it. I have thought many times what it would be like to hold onto the name tag for an extra transfer after i get back just so i would be able to share the gospel with all those close friends of mine who dont have those blessings in their life.

I love you all

sorry so short.

Always turn outward, and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Mama Rosa

Hey Everyone,

So this week has been really good. we have been workign really hard and we have been able to accomplish a lot. (not goign to lie im really happy with the way what is happinin in the mission).

this week we go to visit the less active families in caracucho and get to know them more. they are all famlies that have been sealed in the temple and are great familes :D their only problem is that the chrurch is so far away (but now its a lot closer, but still far) but they all told us they would come to chruch this sunday and they did!! :D or at least a few people from every family came, but they all said they plan on coming from now on. we just have to follow up as missionaries. (once they are activated we will be able to start institute here! morrope is progressing amazignly!) It is amazing to see the lords hand in ALL of his childrens lives, including those who have already been gathered in.

the other amazing thing that happened this week is we found another golden investigator, ( i hope im not saying that too soon). Her name is Magali and she is the sister of one of other investigators. (their family is HUGE. The grandma has 7 kids and they each have 2 or 3 of their own). Magali has already read a lot of the church material, but has never talked to missionaries before. Her husband works in construction and he helped build a LDS chapel in Lima and brought home a BOM and all the pamflets we use as missionaries and also a Liahona. and she has read it all (except for the book of mormon which she doesnt understand completely yet, but easy fix XD) so she has a great base. Haha and the greatest part is she has 2 sons one named "Elder" and the other "Eyring". Elder is a name she came up with ON HER OWN! haha and she named her second son after Henry B. Eyring, because she like the name when she was reading the Liahona. I could help but smile when she told us. MADE MY DAY. Little tender mercies like that just make me happy here on the mission. I hope everything goes well with her this week. (could be the family weve been looking for)

also this week we found a family of 8 kids! (all of which are daughters, which is crazy, all the husbands here have the hope to have at least one son... poor guy haha) they dont seem to understand really why we are here or what our message is yet, but we are hoping they will accept us when we visit them this next week and let us explain a little more.

so something crazy. because of the age change the time the missionaries spend in the Mtc has changed and so the missionaries that are comign out here are coming out earlier wich means this transfer is only 5 weeks instead of 6, which also means my date to return home has changed to be 1 week ealier... im not sure how i feel about that. haha there are missionaries who are sad and there are missionaries who feel jipped.... i feel a little jipped but i have only 8 montsh in the mission so idk.

k really fast. i want to share about my mama rosa. Mama rosa is the lady who cooks for us and washes our clothes. ive mentioned her before, but she is pretty much the base of the church here in morrope. this week she got sick. one of her teeth got infected and was causing her a lot of pain and her whole cheeck swelled and hardened. (she was in a lot of pain) and she could hardly talk. but she continued to serve us as missionaries. this sunday she prepared a lesson for primary and taught all the kids even though she was in a ton of pain. what an example of faith to us as missionaries and members of the church. Her name really should be Rosa de Fe (Rose of Faith).

the most humble and one of the strongest woman i know. (along with my real mother)

well time is short love you all!

Always turn outward and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Primeros Bautismos

Hey Everone,

 

So first thing, thanks Aunt Brenda and Uncle Scott for the package! i Just got it this last week and its really been helpful. I really appreciate it!

 

Second, this has probably been one of the most eventful weeks we have had in Morrope. This week we had the first two baptisms EVER in Morrope!!!!! AAAAAaaAAAAaaAAaaAAAaaaaaHHH!!! hahaha. We were really excited, still are haha. Juli and Magali got baptized this last saturday and were confirmed this sunday in our branch conference. Also, two of our now active members. Alex and William recieved the melchezedec preisthood this sunday! we now have 3 priesthood holders (other than the missionaries). we are so excited. the area is growing and we are finding new people everyday.

 

We will probably have 3 baptisms this next month as well!! a friend of alex named Jose accepted a baptismal date this next month, and 2 sisters, Julisa and Josaline also accepted a baptismal date. they all attended the baptismal service we had for Juli and Magali, the spirit was really strong and we were all touched. (it touched on of the investigators from another area. She has been putting off baptism for a while because she has a fear of failing after, but when she attended the baptism she had a strong desire to be baptized herself, her and her son will be baptized this weekend!)

 

One thing that we are really excited about for Morrope are all the members we have found. We visit a little village about half an hour from Morrope every week called Caracucho and we found 3 less active families there! (there are about 30 people in total) we have a goal now to reactivate all of them, and help them teach their kids the gospel. (Morrope would about double with the reactivation of all those families) By the end of the year Morrope could form their own branch the way it is growing right now. I want to come back to visit in future years to see the fruits here.

 

One thing that has really been on my mind for a while is the importance of families. we have been able to baptize a few people here in the mission but only individuals. As much as i love seeing people taking that step i feel sad because they have to take it alone. I am praying to find a family to teach and baptize. A family with a Father, Mother, and children who are all in need of the gospel.

 

Sometimes its hard here because many of the families we find either the father or the mother dont want to change (usually its the father, and many times he doesnt want to give up drinking) and its a huge road block. The biggest problem we have in Morrope is that many people arent married. and even though someone is ready for the gospel they cant be baptized because they formed a family without being married. We never ask people to split up because we dont want to break apart families but sometimes its hard to convince both people that marriage is an important part to their family or that its worth the sacrifice to pay a marriage fine.

 

What we have found though is that there are "Massive Marrages" here in Morrope twice a year, and it just so happens that the next Massive Marraige is 14 of february. I am hoping we can help a few people take that step, but its going to be a challenge to convince all parties its a good idea haha.

 

right now we are teaching a family really big. The mother, Alejandrina, has 7 kids, and each of those kids have their own kids, but none of them (including alejandrina) are married. we are teaching one of her daughters named Maritza. Maritza is a young mother of 3 kids who are "terrremotos" or earthquakes. full of energy. but she likes listening to us because she feels more peaceful when we come. and she has a testimony of everything we have taught her.

 

The Family of Alejandrina is a beautiful family. and they nee the gospel more than anything. The hardest part though is that the men have hardened their hearts against our message (or at least some of them, havent met all yet). I hope we can help this family they really are the greatest. and in many ways they remind me of schellenberg reunions because there are so many kids who are crammed into the same house. haha.

 

anyway, so there are the majority of my thoughts this week. we really have 2 main goals here in morrope right now. 1. Reactivate the less actives, and 2. Convince every couple we are teaching that they should get married, and they should get married the 14 of february because if not i dont know when it will be haha.

 

its so weird to think that a year ago from today, i began to wait for my mission call. a lot has happened in what seems to be such a short time.

 

I am hoping that is all is going well at home, I hear about half the population of BYU (the girls) are leaving on missions. the work is going forth and it will be really cool to see the mission grow this summer when all the new missionaries arrive. Presidente will have to open a lot of new areas... areas like Morrope! haha or at least put more missionaries in the areas that already exist.

 

I look forward to hearing from everyone. (if you have gotten a mission call let me know!) 

 

Always turn outward and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker