3 White Shirts

Well, now that I have a week here in the city, I have sort of gotten a good look at how the work is going to be.  All of you returned missionaries will understand that much of the success acheived in an area depends on if the previous missionaries continued to work, or not.  My first week was filled with finding new people to teach.  When I arrived, my companion took me to 2 investigators house, who didn't seem to interested or promising, and then later explained there were no other people we had to teach or to visit... That's when I realized it was time to well, basically open and area and start fresh.  It has gotten off to a great start here in the area though! We now have 5 people with bpatismal dated and found great new people to teach.

Here's a bit about my companion now: HIs name is Elder Alvarez, and he is from Chimbote, Peru.  Apparently it's a fishermans town about 8 hours north of Lima.  As soon as I met him, I could tell he does not come from a family with money. Tuesday night was a bit cold (as it's starting to get a bit colder here) and he asked to borrow a hoodie of mine.  I noticed he didn't have one. Later on that night I told him he could have it. I have 2 hoodies, and the one he was wearing is a bit small. After that, he turned to me and said "this is the first piece of original (or namebrand) clothing I've ever owned"

We found 4 young boys on Thursday who were references from another youth.  Between thursday and Sunday, we were able to teach them twice. When Sunday came around, we went to their houses to take them to church, but unfortunately none of them were home.  A bit discouraged, we headed over to the capilla.  When we arrived there were 3 young men, all dressed in white shirts and ties, sitting reverently on the back row! They had gotten themselves dressed properly and on time to church, as it explained in the folletos we had given them! During 3rd hour, the teacher of their class came to us, asking us to speak a bit to them about the mission.  He also explained that 2 of these 3 young boys were brothers, abandoned by their parents a few years ago.  They were taken in by their uncles and aunts and now they live with them. They also told the entire young mens quorum they wanted to be baptized! Their Tios are also going to try and attend church with them this next week!