Homecoming

LAST UPDATE from Elder Bledsoe

(This might be a little longer but stay with me here it's the last one)

Welp.

3 Months in Yunguyo, Puno

4 1/2 Months in Ttio, Cusco

6 Months in Mirador, Puno

6 Months in Sicuani/Vilcanota, Sicuani

1 1/2 Month in Andahuaylas, Abancay

3 Months in Tupac Yupanqui, Puno

It's been a good run, I'm very happy with what I've learned and what I've been able to experience. Especially gratefeul for the time I was able to serve in Puno, exactly half of my mission I was able to teach the people of Puno alongside Lake Titicaca. 

Being a missionary is not the easiest thing, all missionaries will testify I'm sure, but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Sharing the gospel with those who aren't familiar with it yet has been something that has changed my life. The gospel blesses me and my family and it's been amazing to be able to share that with others. It's been tough, fun, exhuasting, spiritual, annoying, rewarding, sad, awesome, and every other feeling in between but after everything, it's the happiest and greatest feeling I've had in my life (obviously for now). 

But most of all I've never felt closer to my Savior.

This week we had our multi-zone conference and it was a tough one, I got to see a lot of people again, but probably for the last time, you might recognize some in the pictures. 

So every conference President Herrera always asks those who are finishing their mission to bear their testimony in front of everyone, it's actually a big moment for every missionary, everyone always talks about it haha, like "wow someday I'll be up there" during my whole mission I was saying that, pretty weird. 

Went by quick.

Here's the summary for the next couple of days- 

Normal week until Friday, I'll be saying goodbye to converts, investigators, and members, especially in Mirador, basically just saying goodbye to all of Puno.

Saturday in the morning those are ending their mission in Puno we'll be heading up to Cusco in the morning and getting there in the afternoon, the rest of the day we'll be probably buying souveneirs and going to eat an expensive dinner with the rest of the group. 

Sunday I'll be going to church in Ttio! Pretty excited cause I'll also get to see some friends I've made in that ward, it'll be cool to see Cusco a little bit before going home.

Monday will be pretty busy so that's why I won't be writing a big email, I think I'll be on to write the mama and I'll see your personal emails so feel free to still write me this week, I'll still see it. We'll be having our last interviews with President Herrera and some other conferences to get ready for home. We'll be having dinner in the mission home with President and his family so it'll be a fun night. 

Tuesday will just getting stuff ready and waiting for our flight to Cusco, then it's all downhill from there.

Wednesday at like 11 I will be landing in Cali.... this is all so weird haha

Well for those who have read these for the past 2 years you're a real trooper.

Can't wait to see everyone, just wanna let you all know that I feel very good, weird, but good, I know I was able to take advantage of the time the Lord has given me to be here in Peru. I love this country, the culture, and the people. 

See you all very soon. 

D&C 121:7-9

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

Luke 12:30-31

30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

31 ¶ But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Elder Bledsoe

Wake me up when September endsssssssss

I'm running out of subjects to put I'm sorry.

Don't have a lot to say either but I hope everyones doing well! This week was pretty normal and not too exciting. We had lots of teaching appointments which we're happy about. Satoshy is awesome, he's a homie with every single YSA in both stakes in Puno which is hilarious, a lot of people think he's already a member haha. Pretty soon here;) Satoshy is a really smart guy, and we also now know why his name is Satoshy. So he was born in Chile but his grandparents are from Japan so they went to live in Japan for his whole childhood and then moved to Spain and even Italy for a little bit and now he's here in Peru! So you can imagine the experience he has and the things he's seen, really cool. But he's told us that his whole life he's been looking for a church like this where everyone takes care of each other and feels right. He says he feels very comfortable in all the activities and even came to church yesterday, (and participated like a boss and already knew everything). We're very excited for him and we'll be visiting with him this week.

I went on splits this week in Mirador which was a blast, we went and visited Zara who's doing really well, she's inviting a lot of her friends to listen to the missionaries so that's awesome. 

So I don't have pictures this week I know I'm a terrible person but on Wednesday we have our multi-zone conference so I'll be sure to take some pics. And let's just say next email will be somewhat special.

Hope you all are doing well!! Have a good week!! Go serve someone this week!

Moroni 7:13

13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.

Can't think of a subject

Que tal mis amigos, hope everything's going well with everyone. This week was slow due to administrative zone leader stuff that I find annoying but needs to be done haha. 

We've been going through all the Elders' rooms and sending off their blankets and bed covers to get washed cause that's something expensive to do in Peru so it never gets done. Also have been dealing with house contracts and people wanting more money for their rent so I've been getting pretty dang good at negotiating. Definitely a skill I've aquired on the mission. Elder Reyes and I have been finding ways to make this all more fun than it is haha, it's harder than you think but it's working. The little things.

So as I said before the english classes are on fire and we've got tons of people coming and all the missionaries are bringing even more investigators, this week we were able to find an investigator who's actually been going to a ton of YSA activities, his name is Zatoshi (dope name right?)  He told us he's insanely interested so this thursday we'll be talking with him some more. 

So as you might have noticed there's only like 20-24 year olds that we teach but that's cause we live right next to Puno's giant university, people come from Juliaca and even Arequipa to study there so there's a billion YSA that we see/talk to everyday haha. 

Dayvis didn't come to church this week but we've been talking to him a lot, he still has a million questions but they're so good.

Daniel and Kathy are doing really good but we had to pass the referral to other missionaries cause we realized they live outside our area haha, but they're still being taught and we hope everything goes well. 

We're also teaching Alexander, he's 21 and also studying hardcore, he's an Adventist but wants to learn more about our church so we've going at a really slow pace with him, I'm learning a lot from him and he has cool ideas that we're always connecting to the gospel. 

I hope you all have a good week!! What I learned this week is that there's time for everything, and sometimes we have to do things we don't like with our time! But it all depends on our attitude and what we can take from every experience. 

------Ecclesiastes 3:1-8------

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Pic 1- Puno <3

Pic 2- Salchipapas

Pic 3- Throwback to when we had a family home evening with investigators and the sisters and we couldn't find the house and it was raining and I was super sick. 

Cusco Adventures

Hellooooooooooo

All week we were in Cusco and this is what went down-

Wednesday we took our touristy 7 hour trip up to Cusco and it even stopped along the way (which it never does) so we could enjoy the scenery haha. So I hope you all enjoy the picture of me and a lady with her alpaca, idk why she wasn't happy don't ask haha. 

Thursday was our leader meeting which was a blast, (Just realized I didn't even take a pic with E Letham what a bummer) but a lot of the MTC gang was there, I'm lovin the group of zone leaders in our mission. Powerful. But President Herrera had some awesome advice for all of us and how we can help the zones better. And after they gave us food so I mean what else could you ask for. 

Friday we went on splits with the assistants in their area which was a blast cause I mean c'mon it's cusco. I went with Elder Cook who's another MTC bro, love the guy, learned a lot and we got a lot done. 

And Saturday we came back! We got to visit Dayvis who had a ton of questions and it went really well, we tried to visit Javier but they were too busy all this week.

Yesterday was a good day at church although not many investigators came which always stinks. 

I'm tired from all the traveling but it was good, traveling to and from Puno always helps me realize that the place where I'm serving is the greatest and nothing is better, being so immersed in the culture is something I'm always trying to appreciate and hopefully never forget. 

I hope you have a good week!!! Love you all!

Mormon 9:20-22

20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.

21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

El Condor

After like 400 flights of stairs feelin like Kung Fu Panda we made it to the Condor, it's my 3rd time in Puno and I told myself that I had to go this Monday cause I see it everyday haha. Finally. I know at this point I've probably sent like 100 pics just of Lake Titicaca in all the emails but I can't do anything about it I'm always in Puno haha, and I love it.

This week was crazy but good, we didn't really get a lot done due to some missionaries opening areas in our zone and also new missionaries coming in so that's been hectic but it's done thank goodness. 

Daniel and Kathy are doing good, we're teaching them little by little and it's going really well, really hope they come to church this Sunday. Javier came to church again yesterday so that was dope. We also had another family home evening with him and his family and also like the entire ward, really cool. Someone just randomly showed up to church yesterday, his name was Dayvis, he has some "friends" ;)  that are members and wanted to see how we do things. We also had an appt. with him yesterday and he's super interested, had a lot of questions about baptism so we're helping him a lot with that.  Good stuff.

So not to brag or anything but my English classes are now the hypest things Friday nights in Puno, just saying. We had a ton of people show up this week including lots of investigators, the mission recently gave us this cool new handbook on how to teach English and my goodness that thing is a lifesaver, we're able to teach the gospel, play hilarious games, and actually (like really) learn english all at once, it's sweet.

Hope you all are doing well, this week we'll be going to Cusco to another leadership meeting with President so that'll be fun. Hope you all have a good week! 

3 Nephi 14:9-11

9 Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Finally some peaceful transfers

This week was good, we had interviews with President on Tuesday and then our multi zone conference on Wednesday, learned a lot, especially on how to help our zone more. We have a lot to get done but I'm really happy with the trasnfer that just finished up, a lot of cool stuff happened and I've learned a lot from it. 

Elder Reyes and I have been struggling a lot with finding new people to teach but this week we were able to find a family that was ready to hear about the gospel, super pumped. Daniel and Kathy with their 3 year old boy Danilo. They have a billion questions which is good cause it means they wanna learn haha. We'll see how everything goes in the coming weeks!

Javier came to church yesterday, very happy about that, we'll be having more family home evenings with them and some members of the ward, gonna be cool. 

Today there were transfers but Elder Reyes and I are staying (thank goodness) so now we just have to deal with sending and receiving missionaries to and from Puno so everyone gets to their new area. (Thanks to Elder Letham for being a dope co worker out there in Juliaca, makes life easier haha) 

That's pretty much it for this week. It's been getting a tiny bit warmer so I'm happy haha. Elder Reyes and I are having a blast, we already have a million inside jokes, I'm trying to get even better at spanish so we always imitate the missionaries from Argentina in our zone, they love it. I've also been trying to teach my comp some more english and that's always a blast. 

The mission is good. 

Hope you all have a good week! 

Pic 1- Bro

2,3,4- The zone!