Week 41- Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru: Milagros Baptism (and PICTURES!)

This week, Milagros was able to enter the waters of baptism to join in membership in this beautiful church with two of her older brothers, Dany and Uver. Now we are working with her other brother Jesus hoping that one day he'll join also as well as his dad so that they can be an eternal family. I know one day very soon, Milagros will be able to do saving ordinances for her mom in the temple. It'll be awesome.

We just started another cambio here and Elder Gonzales is still my companion so I know that I'll be able to finish his training and hopefully he will be capable of training others as his first 12 weeks come to an end.

We were hoping to have some baptisms this week, but they'll have to be postponed a little longer. As I said before, we are working with an old couple (we found out that they're already married and can get baptized!) and another older man named Fernando. Fernando has been abstaining from alcohol and we can see a new light in his eyes every day. We are hoping that he will be a bold pioneer to one day bring his family into the church also!

I love you all!

Elder Bromley!

Photo with Mission President & Wife

Elder Bromley with Perú Lima South Mission President Sean Douglas and Sister Ann Douglas

Week 40- Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru: Hello Again! (PICTURES!)

This week has been very busy. My companion and I are working hard to work with the members here, and the work is paying off! 5 progressing investigators came to church this last Sunday: Milagros and her brother Jesús, Fernando (a 69 year old Huayño guitarist), and Papito Victor and his wife Eugenia (their ages totaled is over 130 years)

Milagros is a little girl who has two brothers who are members. Her dad recently gave permission for her to be baptized and she is preparing for a baptismal service that will be held next week (pray please)!

Jesús is the older brother of Milagros and in the last lesson he opened up a lot due to the recent death of their mom. We are starting to see more little changes in him as he accompanies us in the lessons for Milagros.

Fernando is a funny older guy who plays the guitar very well. We are helping him overcome problems he has with the word of wisdom and use his talents for good.

Papito Victor y Eugenia are parents of several members but because they aren't married they can't baptize. We are hoping that we can marry them soon and we are waiting for their papers to be processed in the capital (Huamanga, Ayacucho). It's fun to teach them to pray because Eugenia prays in Quechua.

Elder Gonzales and I are trying our hardest to bring friends of these investigators to the lessons because we have seen how much more powerful the spirit testifies when members are present. Please please please please help the missionaries in their lessons! Be friends with them. Be friends with the investigators. I promise you that sincerely helping these people will soon become one of the biggest blessings in your lives.

I love and miss you all! ¡Chau!

Elder Bromley

Week 39- Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru: Back to Two, a Snake, a Rat, and a Baptism (PICTURES!)

This week was super long but I'll summarize most of it!

This week Elder Oliden was emergency transferred to Lima, Villa Salvador. He had shown us the area Huanta, and when an Elder received his visa to Mexico, he filled in the vacancy. He will be missed after having spent 7 months here in his first area.

This week I turned nine months in the mission!

We had to drop one of our investigators with a baptismal date this week because she called and confessed her love for me. It was super awkward and my zone leaders said I can stay in Huanta if I don't talk to her ever again hahahaha

Also, the same night I heard something in my kitchen and, knowing that it was a rat, awoke my comp and we had a fun time chasing it around until he hit it with a broom like a hockey puck. It's still alive, But we put it outside in the street.

Anny was baptized this last Friday!! She invited her whole family which ended up being about 25 people and they all enjoyed it. We tried contacting there but were rejected by basically all of them, but we are going to pass by and teach Anny's dad this week. It was very spiritual and now we have to work with another investigator, Milagros, who might get baptized this next week!

I love and miss you all!

Elder Bromley

Week 38- Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru: Anni (and PICTURES!)

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good. We have been teaching with members often and have an investigator who will be baptized this Friday, Anni Ayala. She is a little 10 year old girl whose mom is a member but never had gotten baptized. It's fun to teach her because I get to draw things to explain better.

Time has gotten the better of me but I'll write you more next week!

I love and miss you all!

Chau!

Elder Bromley

Elder Bromley and Elder Oliden (with Elder Gonzales in the mirror)

 

 

 

Chicken hamburger

Elder Oliden and a cow's head

Doing some yard work

Week 37- Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru: Hola Hola Hola (and PICTURES!)

So Huanta Ayacucho is basically paradise. I'm here with my two companions still. We get along get and we have really been working hard this last week. Among the lessons that we've been teaching and the new investigators that we've been finding, we have also found time to study the language together. Both Elder Oliden and Elder Gonzales can speak a few sentences in English, which comes in handy when we need to talk to each other secretly amongst the Peruvians, but I have taken it upon myself to help them learn as much English as possible. We now have a wall with letters that aren't the same as other letters to help them with their accents.

As I said before, we have been working really hard and have been having great success, but we're not the only one's working; there is a less active member, María, who we have been visiting. As of late, she has continually been introducing us to her "neighbors" (people who live near her store). We have found five new investigators through Maria's desires to share the gospel, three of which accepted baptismal dates. This just shows us that it really doesn't matter who you are, we can all be great tools in the Lord's hands if we choose to be.

Christmas here was pretty cool; we watched Home Alone as a zone and then we spent the night with our District Leader in Huamanga. At midnight the entire city was exploding with fireworks. It sounded like a war.  The 4th of July is really nothing compared to Christmas in Ayacucho hahaha

One more thing. Last night the Ward Mission leader and we got together with the missionaries de  barrio (a small army of YSA) and helped teach them to share the gospel with those who are recent converts and less active. It really was impressive to see these young members practice sharing the gospel and and then accept assignments to go do visits. It really proves to show that the Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible.

I love and miss you all!

¡Chau!

Elder Bromley

Jeff's wall of pronunciation for the Spanish-speaking elders

Eating cuy (guinea pig)

Huanta, Ayacucho

CHRISTMAS- Skype call with Elder Jeff!

Our family was blessed to be able to Skype with Jeffrey on Christmas day! He looked so healthy and happy, and we got to meet his friendly mission companions. Here is a recap of the call, by Jeff's mother, Margarita:

What a wonderful gift and blessing to talk to Jeff on Christmas day!

Jeff is loving his mission and all the wonderful people that he gets to serve and teach. He goes to Huamanga, Ayacucho (my home town) once a week for his district meetings and he says the drive from Huanta to Huamanga is about an hour long and similar to the dangerous road up to Mount Diablo but at much higher altitude and fast speeds, that the taxi drivers drive like maniacs; super fast just like race car drivers and sometimes they look sleepy on the wheel so he talks to them the entire ride to keep them awake. 

He told us that the church is relatively new in Huanta, Ayacucho, they don't have an actual chapel yet and that the members are mostly young adults, teens and children and they meet in a house and that the baptisms take place in the river.

He sure loves the friendly Peruvian people, wonderful mission companions the beautiful scenery, blue skies and how everything is so green in Huanta! He had guinea pig for dinner recently and said it tasted just like fish sticks. He walks so much that his two pairs of shoes have holes already.
 
The Inca elderly women call him "Papito" as a term of endearment and he calls them "Mamitas" (Little moms) He's loving the bread called "chapla"whole grain bread from Ayacucho (my favorite as well) .

Around town he walks/hikes everywhere and at times he has to ride the very unsafe motorized tricycles or public buses.

On "P" day the missionaries are not allowed to play soccer anymore ever since some Elders got injured and suffered fractures, but they can play volleyball and "capture the flag." He once went to the Lima Zoo and will show us pictures in April 2015 when he returns to the U.S. 

He spent Christmas Eve in Huamanga, Ayacucho and the elders were allowed to be up until past midnight to join the celebration and there was a huge display of fireworks everywhere commemorating Jesus birth and it sounded like a war zone because of all the fireworks explosions.

He hasn't gained any weight, still very fit and doesn't get sick or food poisoning and he attributes all of these blessings to the Holy Ghost.
 
Jeff loved seeing his three lovely sisters, two fun brothers in law, two beautiful little nieces again and meeting his new adorable baby nephew Tommy for the first time... and me his silly mamallama ... talking about llamas ... he said: "I didn't see any llamas or alpacas yet but I ate llama and it was tasty ...tasted like chicken!" 

As you can see he is still as funny and happy as ever and sends his love to you all, wishes us a wonderful 2014 and reminds us to pray and read our scriptures daily, help the missionaries and BE missionaries ourselves 

PS. His Spanish is excellent! He speaks fast and proficiently! I held back the tears until the very end when he also got teary eyed and said: I'll talk to you on Mother's day! Now I'll be counting the days to May 11, 2014 

Screen shot of our Skype call- left to right: Elder Gonzales (Bolivia), Elder Bromley, and Elder Oliden (Argentina)