October 1, 2012

Wow, the temple sounds amazing! Way to make me miss the temple even more dad, good job haha. But really, it sounds like our (I like to think that its mine too) temple is heaven on earth. What an amazing experience it would be to take non-members through the temple, a little weird too, im sure, but seeing them feel the spirit, beauty, and power of the temple = a very neat missionary experience. I want to hear more about it :) And yes, please please, I need my parents to take me through at the latest the day after I get back, just so you know.

Well things here in Bagua Grande are moving forward. My companion and I had the opportunity to help marry a young couple in our little branch (who were living together ·(Cough  cough). And we were able to be their witnesses. It was an awesome experience. My companion and I left with that little feeling of ¨awe......i want to get married.....¨ lol, but we should that off and went back to work. We are very very excited for General conference. We have to travel a ways to get to a place that will show it. so it will be a little harder than last time, but we are going to do the best we can to see the most, with our investigators. We enjoy the whole,¨AND we have a living prophet today, AND WE CAN HEAR HIM SPEAK TO US THIS WEEKEND! wanna go!? lol. Well, sometimes people dont really understand the significance, but we are trying to help them lol.

We are really hoping Marlin and MIkel can make it, we hit a few rough spots, dealing with permission from parents for Mikel being one of those. But we are trying, there is still lots of hope! Thank you so much for your prayers, I know they are helping them so much.

Well I hope everything is going just dearly for you guys, Love you all :)

Elder Lonsdale 

September 24, 2012

Hey family 

Sounds like the temple craze is really getting up there. I can tell from here that the whole city of Calgary is in a bustle about the temple. Im super excited, and I can only imagine how it would be being There. I could go off again on how awesome temples are, but we`ll save that for today. :)

This week was great, we were able to make some key progress with some investigators, and find some other great prepared people as well, thanks to the very useful help of some branch members (hint hint, nudge nudge *împortance of members* cough, like you guys* cough). But apart from that, we are working with a young woman named Marlin, and her little brother Mikel. We met them by starting to play with Mikel in the street with some toy tops that they have here, but they let us in, and we began talking with them and sharing our message. They came to church and we visited them a couple more times. All would be well, but we noticed that Marlin, a lot of the time didnt show us that she had much interest, like she was listening and came to church just because we are persistent. This lack of desires started to get us down and we tried some ideas but we didnt see much improvement. We headed to our appointment with them this past week, ready to lay things out on the table, When she surprised us by telling us that she really has felt something in this time we`ve been teaching her, and that she feels like this is the change she needs in her life. She said that she wants to keep feeling that good feeling she gets when she reads, and prays, and attends church. We left that lesson with our jaws a little dropped and she left that lesson with a baptismal goal for this next month. It was a huge blessing. If you could pray for them, Id be so grateful. We are going to do all we can here, to help them with their goal. :)

Here we dont have a bapt font so we do baptisms in the river that runs along the city. We had a baptism this past Saturday, WOW. what a neat experience. Being baptized like Jesus haha,

Well I love you all so much, thanks for all your support. sorry this computer is really really slow, so maybe NEXT time I can send pictures :)

Take care!

Elder Lonsdale

September 17, 2012

Hello 

Reptile show? that sounds like fun, as a matter of fact, yesterday, during a lesson our investigators´s cat came in eating a large lizard that it had just caught, I thought it was pretty cool, she didnt, as she shooed it out he door annoyed lol. 

This week has been great, we both learned lots and are really trying to work hard. Hard, but smart at the same time. In a big area you have to learn how to work smart. Ive also learned a lot about myself, and what I need to improve, as a missionary, as a person. Honestly, as I found out a little after I started my mission, I didnt realize how much pride I really had. OK, perhaps you guys as my family knew, lol, but when you start in the Lord´s work you really start to see your weaknesses. But thats a GOOD thing, because then you can change, and become better. Im really trying. Its not always so easy, but the effort will pay off someday, im sure of it. I also really enjoyed that article by Hilary Weeks mom, about words. I was able to experience a little of that this week too. Learning when and how to communicate, and when and how to bite the tongue when necesarry :) I would like to really put that in practice. We always need to lift lift lift our brothers and sisters, and a very important part is what we say. 

Being apart of the Lord´s work is really amazing. You get to see miracles everyday. How the spirit touches hearts and how God is never very far. I love being here, helping others and seeing the gospel light illuminate their lives. Time is so short, im trying to not waste any minute of it. 

I love you all so much, thank you for the support, love and prayers, I hope you feel all of it coming back your way ;)

Elder Lonsdale

Sorry, ill send photos next week! this computer is a little/really slow haha

Im glad to hear that seminary is everything you hoped it would be Krista! haha keep sippin' that Hot chocolate! You'll never forget what you learn in seminary!

September 10, 2012

Hi family,

Thanks mom and dad for your thoughts and advice about accepting change and keeping my head in the game while its my turn, they really helped. Whenever transfers come around, and change comes sneaking up around the corner with its loaded pistol of unseemingly potent personal growth darts,.....Things can be a little uncomfortable for a while. Presidente Risso explained it like tightening a nut, or a wheel to make things uncomfortable for a while but we adjust, grow, and are made stronger by it. So when that time of uncomfort rolls around, you start thinking, perhaps, more about what is happening on the ¨sidelines¨ or not focusing as hard as you should be. All in all, this week has been good. Im just practicing my patience as I try to get to know the area, the investigators, and the branch. (of about 30 people who attend, so that wont be too hard lol, but it is great and we are going to do all we can to help it out). But thank you my beloved parents, youve always known whats best :)

Well, about where I am right now.....I am now in one of the farthest and hottest areas, lol. Its called Bagua Grande. (The ¨Grande¨ diferenciates it from the other bagua ¨chica¨ (small) about an hour away) It is great, lots of ground to cover and tons of people to help. We had to travel in bus about 6 hours to Jaen, and then another hour to our area. My companion´s name is Elder Cabrera, from Chile,(Chile and Peru arent the best of friends so, it can be funny sometimes the reactions we get) But He is an awesome missionary, willing to work and help me out however he can to help me get to know the work here in Bagua Grande. We are part of the Zone Jaen, here in the peruvian mountains. So its green and Beautiful. Today we had one of the coolest Pdays ever; The Whole zone made arrangements to travel to Jaen sunday night so we could leave early monday morning to take a little van/bus about 3 hours into the mountains to hike another 2 hours to a waterfall called The Gocta Waterfall. The third largest(tallest) waterfall in the world. it was AMAZING. We ate lunch near it and me and another missionary we the only ones with the desires to get close(underneath the waterfall) and get completely wet(with the permission of our zone leaders of course). Very fun, and an awesome experience. Hopefully I can send pictures soon :)

Well, Im here, happy and loving everything. Even the tough days are important, they are the ones you leanr the most from right? I hope all is well there. The temple buisness sounds very intense and I wish you all the luck to get everything done. Thank you so much for all the letters, emails, and prayers. I hope you all dont think that your efforts are wasted, your support helps more than you think. Thanks for everything, Love you mom and Dad, keep being the superheroes you are :)

Love, Elder Lonsdale

How was kristas first day of seminary? muwahahaha

September 3, 2012

That really is crazy, winter is coming back for you, and summer for me.....well.....I guess you could call it summer lol. One day we were walking in the hot street with the sun out, without a cloud in sight, and I just laughed to myself and told my companion that my family  would laugh if they saw that they call this winter here lol.

Well mom, Im not going to lie, I am very happy with the spanish language, and am thinking of changing my maternal language of english, to spanish, I hope you dont mind haha. But I am excited to use it whenever I can in canada. Funny story...When I arrived at the airport in  Salt lake , on my way to the MTC, I was waiting by the bus teller when this latina lady came up and in very broken english asked if the young teller knew spanish, the young lady responded and said that she knew a little. (when in reality she didnt know much). after a minute of frustration, the latina lady turned to me and asked if I knew any spanish, and I said that i knew a little, (when in reality I didnt know anything that would help this lady, perhaps if she wanted a translation of english numbers to spanish i would of been of a little help) but yeah, in the end she gave up on us and looked for another source of help. Moral of the story, I hope I have another experience like that on my way home, to help me feel good about myself, and help someone haha

Well we have transfers, and im heading off to who knows where. I´ll let you know next week. But I have loved my time here in San Pedro. Ive had a little more than 5 months here. You grow really close to the members and investigators, and so its kinda sad to leave. These last few days have been filled with goodbyes. But in the end thats ok, the work moves forward, and Im being called to another place that Im sure Ill love. Ive mentioned to some of the members that i´ll come back and visit with my parents after my mission, and they just LOVED that. so, just so ya know, we are very welcome back here haha. 

Oh yeah, this past week on aug 24, I bought Iguana and brought it back to our pension for the hermana to cook up for the special occasion. It was delicious. I highly recommend it :)

Well I love you all, thanks for your love and support!

Elder Lonsdale