A Modern Day Miracle!

This afternoon I received an email regarding an article in the Church News about Elder Christofferson's visit to Bolivia. Here it is:

'Bright future' awaits Bolivia, apostle says
Elder D. Todd Christofferson visits with nation's leaders
By Jason SwensenChurch News staff writer
Published: Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009

After spending several days meeting with Church members, media and government officials in Bolivia, Elder D. Todd Christofferson concluded that this South American nation enjoys "a bright future" enriched with "great opportunities."
A member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Christofferson visited several cities in Bolivia Feb. 6-12. He was joined on the tour by his wife, Sister Katherine Christofferson, along with South America West Area President Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy and his wife, Sister Shelley Nash.
In the capital city of La Paz, Elder Christofferson sat down with several senior Bolivian leaders, including the nation's second-ranking official, Chancellor David Choquehuanca. Elder Christofferson and Elder Nash also enjoyed an audience with senior military leader Admiral Jose Luis Cabas; health minister Dr. Ramiro Tapia; the vice-minister of social and civil affairs, Sacha Llorenti; and the director of human service, Dr. Roxana Suarez.
In their meetings with government leaders, Elder Christofferson and Elder Nash spoke of the Church's international scope and its policy of political neutrality. They also discussed the Church's humanitarian work in Bolivia, including efforts to combat dengue fever and to advance agricultural development.

During a nationally televised interview, Elder D. Todd Christofferson shared his testimony of Jesus Christ and the blessings found in living the gospel.
Elder Christofferson also reaffirmed the Church's commitment to work with the Bolivian government and provide humanitarian assistance to help meet medical, nutritional and employment needs. In each meeting, Elder Christofferson and Elder Nash presented the government officials with copies of the Book of Mormon.
"I felt that we made great strides in two days," Elder Christofferson told the Church News, "due in significant measure to the prepartory work of the Church's National Public Affairs Director, Enrique Cabezaf, and his team."
The Church leader also appeared on the national television channel Bolivision morning news program "Noticias," where he was interviewed in Spanish by news anchor Guillermo Estrugo, a Church member. During the interview, Elder Christofferson reaffirmed that the Church is a global institution and does not claim any nationality. He also spoke of the some 150,000 Bolivian members and the Church's charitable work in the country.
Elder Christofferson concluded the interview by sharing his testimony.

During his recent tour of Bolivia, Elder D. Todd Christofferson was interviewed on the national television morning news program "Noticias." He conversed with news anchor Guillermo Estrugo about the Church's humanitarian efforts in Bolivia.
"Our Heavenly Father lives. He is our actual Father. We are His children and we can receive answers to our prayers. Our Lord Jesus Christ lives. Obedience to His principles and commandments brings goodness to our lives. We can find happiness, peace and confidence despite the tragedies and challenges that may occur.
"I am certain that Bolivia will move forward. God bless Bolivia and its citizens."
While in Bolivia, Elder Christofferson also presided over the Feb. 7-8 reorganization of the Cochabamba Bolivia Los Alamos Stake with Elder Nash and toured the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission. He met with the missionaries, challenging them to meet the qualifications needed to serve the Lord. He also participated in question-and-answer and training sessions with local priesthood leaders in Cochabamba and La Paz. He emphasized the vital role bishops, branch presidents and stake presidents have shepherding the Lord's children.
"We have an impressive leadership corps in Bolivia," he said.
Elder Christofferson also enjoyed a spiritual gathering with a large group of young single adults in Cochabamba. "It was one of the sweetest spiritual experiences I've ever had," he said.

I was so happy to see this. It gave us great hope for the Church and the missionaries to be able to return someday to Bolivia.

Then tonight I received this email.

I too saw the Church News article, but I also have a little more information.
On Monday of this week, I spoke with my son's mission president on the phone on a matter related to college application. He told me that he had just gotten off the phone with the area authority, and that the church had approved the missionaries to return to Bolivia. I was stunned, because I, for one, am very happy to have my son in Peru. He told me that it will take time, over several months to process the visas for the 150 missionaries who were taken out of Bolivia. He said that this was an ecclesiastical decision and not a diplomatic one so that it may not proceed quickly.
I don't know if the missionaries have been informed, yet, as I had already heard from my son earlier that day and the president had just heard. I know that they will be excited, but I also know that they will be sad to leave Peru as they have worked there with all their hearts. How it all happens and the time frame have yet to be decided. Governments there do not always act quickly, so we will see how long it takes and all the other details.
The one thing I can say about this whole experience is that it has not been dull. I believe our sons will view these experiences as great blessings. How fortunate they are to be able to serve in two missions under such wonderful mission presidents. They will certainly have stories to tell when they get home.
We will celebrate the one year mark in 14 days. I never thought it would come, and yet it has come so quickly. I continually marvel at the blessing of having a missionary.

Kay Powell, Tustin, CA
powellkay@yahoo.com
Brandon Powell, Bolivia Cochabamba,Peru Lima Central 3/12/10

And then I received another email tonight to confirm the great news.

Thanks for your news, I was a very inpatient mother and called SLC yesterday, I was told the same thing, I am excited to e-mail my son and let him know, he has loved Peru but wants to finish his mission where he started in Bolivia, how lucky our missionaries have been to serve in two different countries.
Carol Dean
Elder Kristopher Dean
Cochabamba, Bolivia and Lima North Missions 1/08-1/10

I cried tears of joy knowing how happy Justin will be when he hears the news! It is nothing short of a miracle that they are able to return now. Bolivia's leader, President Morales just spoke out against the United States today. I am confident that the Church would not send the missionaries back if they did not feel they would be safe in the Lord's loving hands.

I believe in answer to many prayers, the Lord sent Elder Christofferson to Bolivia to soften the government leader's hearts towards the Church. I am so grateful and in awe this evening. I wonder if and when Justin will be told the incredible news! He is supposed to be possibly transferred this coming week. Who knows, maybe he'll be in Cochabamba, Bolivia for his birthday. What a birthday gift! The many heartfelt prayers and incredible faith of the missionaries (and their parents and family) have brought down the powers of heaven. As I told Justin in an email I wrote to him tonight, we have many prayers of thanks to give!

What an adventure Justin has been on these short eight and a half months! It has all been wonderful. Although Justin hoped to one day return to Bolivia, he has had some incredible experiences in Peru. He has been fortunate to be able to have two mission presidents, been given the opportunity to serve in leadership capacities and to serve and love people from two countries. We are sure he must have some mixed emotions, although we are certain of his desire to return to Bolivia, the place he was originally called to serve. Hopefully he'll stay put for the rest of his mission! What can you do but wait and see. It's all good! And a true miracle!

We'll keep you posted on when to send letters back to the Cochabamba, Bolivia address. The bummer is the mail takes much longer to get there. Back to snail mail. Oh, and Justin...... be prepared to eat jello....... your worst enemy is soon to be back!

Will He Stay Or Will He Go?

We are one week away from changes. In his email today Justin wrote, "this change went fast." It went fast for us too. Justin and Elder Gil have been together for 4 1/2 months now or for 3 changes. Justin said, "I think I am ready to leave if I have to, so that will be fine. We will just have to wait and see."

They baptized two little girls this week that are 9 years old. "Stephanie Cordenas, whose mom is a member and Sayuki whose parents are inactive but always comes with her grandma." The ward there doesn't always get around to baptizing the kids once they turn eight. "It basically only happens when the parents really want it or when the missionaries coordinate it all. It blows my mind."

On Thursday, Justin and his companion went one hour south to Ica to have their interviews with President Fierro. He was running behind with his interviews, so he asked Justin and his companion to teach a class to all the missionaries in the zone during the whole time he was interviewing his zone and the missionaries in Ica. "So we had to wing 4 1/2 hours of teaching a class. I couldn't believe we pulled it off. Didn't know I could pull that much stuff out to talk."

Justin said on the bus ride down, they hit a huge sand storm. "It was crazyy. You couldn't see ten feet from the bus, it was like being in a fog or a snow storm. (Must have learned what that was like from his time at BYU in Provo, Utah last winter. We certainly don't have those here in So. Cal.) But the crazy bus driver was still trying to pass other cars on a one lane each way. They are crazy. It is a miracle we got there alive though. (His dad just finished telling me how unsafe the bus drivers there are. He said every once in a while you'll hear of deadly bus crashes there. Great news, considering my son rides in these "crazy" buses every time he goes to Lima or to any other town or city in Peru!) They had to shut all the windows in the bus though and it was like a sauna in there, I was dyinggggggggggg. But we made it. (With divine protection!) After the interviews and everything the president took us all out to dinner at this chicken place that was really good. He was a lot more laid back there. It was nice of him. Haha he didn't have any money though and he asked me to pay for it and that he was going to have the offices reimburse me."

A miracle of all miracles, it actually rained last night! Justin said it "never rains here, it was a slight miracle." Big news!

Good news for his parents....... Justin didn't take a skull from the old Inca temple place. He said they went hiking and found tombs full of human bones. Thankfully he left them in peace!

Pday today consisted of playing soccer and volleyball and then a BBQ. He was also hoping to get a nap in. Sounds like a nice day.

Last of all he mentioned that that they found a huge rat in his room and dogs came in trying to kill it. They tore the room apart until they found it in the window. I just asked him in my last letter if he has rats or mice because he never mentioned them before. I figured they would. He also wrote, "I always laugh when I go downstairs and see all the bugs crawling through everything in the kitchen. What can you do." It is good he can laugh about it. The premission Justin would not have found all this so funny! It's true, "what can you do?"

This past Friday, Justin's cousin Scott Mathis recieved his mission call to Bucharest Romania! He reports to the MTC in Provo June 3, 2009. Almost one year to the date of when Justin went to the MTC (Justin reported on June 4, 2008). These two will not see each other for three years. But what a great reunion it will be. And what changes and growth these two will have gone through! Congratulations Scott! Life is good.

Responsiblities of a Zone Leader

We got another letter today that was dated February 6, 2009. In it, Justin told us about the lady whose three kids have already been baptized and her "surprise" baptism. Her name is Soledad and they always thought she was already a member because she was at church almost every Sunday. She was taught by the missionaries before Justin arrived as well as by Justin and Elder Gil. She always told them, "Everyone has a time, but mine hasn't gotten here. And one day it will get here, I don't know when, but when it does, I myself will tell you when I'm ready. I've just got to wait for my moment." Justin said that no matter how many times they tried to convince her that it had nothing to do with a moment (because she knew it all to be true), she wouldn't budge. Then she finished reading the Book of Mormon and had a dream and told them she wanted to get baptized. She was urgently looking for Justin and Elder Gil to tell them. She was baptized the next day.

Justin mentioned that he was starting to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. "We'll see how that goes." He must be feeling pretty good about his Spanish. What a huge hurdle and trial that was! It was about his six month mark when he overcame his difficulty speaking and understanding Spanish. Amazing if you think about it. Six short months and he's fluent!

Justin met with the bishop of their ward (by direction from their stake president) to talk about
the ward's bettering the support of the full time missionaries and helping the converts by giving them home teachers, callings and friends. The retention rate in their stake is 49%. He said they weren't talking as missionaries of the La Villa area, but as zone leaders of the Pisco area. He wanted to help with a ward mission plan. He said a lot of the wards there don't have ward mission leaders or ward council. He said , "Normally as missionaries we don't tell the bishops what to do, but because the stake presidency wanted us to and we are the zone leaders we had to." Now on to the plan.

Justin said, "Church on Sunday was good. The stake president came to give 2 people their mission calls. The stake president receives the calls and makes them open and read it in sacrament meeting. One is going to Chile and the other to Colombia. He also said 2 twins got back from their missions last week ( Paraguay and Argentina). They called one of them as our new ward mission leader and the 2 that got their calls as ward missionaries. We had our first mission correlation meeting Sunday afternoon and they are going to start working more with us and visiting the less active and converts to teach them lessons. And last Sunday, Elder Gil and I started a training of the missionary lessons for the ward missionaries and all the members. It turned out really well. About 25 people came, taking notes and everything. We want the missionaries and members to be able to participate in the lessons more. So we are teaching and practicing the lessons with them so they can help more. Then at church we passed around a list asking everyone for their (phone) numbers and schedule every week when they can accompany us. A lot of people did it, about 3 pages. So things are getting a lot better with the missionary work in the ward. We should be working a lot more with the members and having a lot of success." Sounds like Justin is doing just fine as a zone leader. He certainly has his heart in the right place.

"Well we have reached the end of another letter. Until next week. Love you! Justin"

Four Months In Pisco Now

Justin has been in the Pisco area for 4 months now. Changes are March 2nd so we will see if he stays (which will make it 6 months in that area) or goes. He says either he or his companion or both will be transferred because the president doesn't keep people together for more than 3 changes. Justin has enjoyed being in this area. He likes being anywhere that is out of the city of Lima.

Justin got a laugh out of thinking the gun we saw in mamarina's hands was real. He said it was a broken air soft pistol. (What a relief!) "But the knives and saw she uses are real. She has gotten in a habit of hitting me with her broom every time I go downstairs. All her daughters get mad at her when she does it. I make sure to shout ouchhh really loud so they all hear and come and get her in trouble." He did say in a past letter that his arm has bruises from the broom attacks! I still think Justin gets a kick out of mamarina in spite of the violence!

For pday today, Justin was taking his zone back to Tambo Colorado (the old Indian ruin temple place). He says there are a lot of new people in his zone that haven't been yet. He was pretty excited because he is looking forward to "pick up my human skull! So stoked about that. We will see how it goes getting it through customs." His dad and I will be waiting for the phone call from the Peruvian police. Is he kidding us?

Carnival continues much to Justin's glee! He said last Sunday when they were in a 3 person taxi car thing on the way to an appointment, "We passed these little girls and they threw a bucket of water at us through this little 6 inch window in front by the driver. It didn't get a drop on him, but went all over my companion. He was soakedddddd with this nasty, dirty, smelly water. The driver and I were laughing at him hysterically!" I think the month of February will be the Justin's favorite while in Peru. By far.

They had a conference this week with a visiting Seventy. He still goes by Elder "I don't remember his name." I will have to get him to ask someone who it was. (He later wrote that it was Elder Edwardo Govert.) He did say it was a good meeting. It was six hours long with no air conditioning in the chapel. Welcome to Peru. Or as Justin has been saying A LOT, "what can you do." Nothing.

The Lord Always Provides

Today we got a letter from Justin that is dated February 1, 2009. On the top of the page is a piece of tape with a flea under it and this written next to the tape, "A flea I found crawling around my desk while writing this." He still has flea problem. The heat doesn't help. Bummer for him.

He wrote about the baptism he had on January 31st of Lili and her two kids, Delicia and Kevin. I wrote about them on the last blog. From that family, Justin said her husband wants to be baptized when he returns home from the jungle in a few months. Lili also has her sister in law visiting from up North for a few months to study and wants to be baptized. A grandmother also came to the baptism and wants them to baptize her granddaughter. Justin said he found three more people that want to be baptized in the month of February. "Every time we have baptisms and it looks like we don't have people to teach, the Lord always provides. It is just hard continuing to depend upon and trust Him when it is the hardest, but if we do, He always pulls through for us. Every time that we need more people to teach and baptize, the Lord always provides."

Next Justin writes about something that is probably good for a lot of us to hear. He says that one of the challenges they are having is with unity in the ward and how it is affecting missionary work. "Everyone is always nice and happy go lucky in the chapel, but during the week they are supposedly different people. To the new converts and investigators, the members represent what is the church. He said, "We had a meeting with the bishop and ward mission leader and are already seeing changes, which is good."

Justin also wrote about a connection he made with two different scriptures when he was studying. He says, "Everyone always talks about Helamen 5:12 about how if we are built upon the rock of Christ that we will have all power over the adversary , that we won't fall." But how do we build ourselves upon the rock of Christ? In 3 Nephi 18 when Christ institutes the sacrament, he gives us a commandment (in vs.12) that the people should do these things, or take the sacrament worthily, and if they always do it, they are built upon the rock. It shows importance of the sacrament."

Justin wrote that he is feeling good. "I only had to take 7 pills to get rid of typhoid fever. Cheap too. Less than $5.00." Thank goodness.

I asked Justin to tell us the names of the dishes he eats. He mentioned in one of his letters that he really liked a Peruvian dish called lomo saltado. In an edition of Bon Appetite magazine, they wrote about Peru and had a recipe for lomo saltado. Justin's dad made it and it was soooooo good! So we asked Justin to tell us more names of his favorite Peruvian dishes. In response he wrote, "I don't really know the names of the food I eat. I just eat it." Oh well! He did say that since getting appliances for a kitchen he is only making he is own breakfast now. "I normally just eat a bowl of cereal, or two or fried eggs and bacon, or french toast." He eats lunch at his pension's and doesn't eat dinner because he is never hungry at night.

I asked Justin in a letter if he now thinks in Spanish instead of English since he rarely speaks English. He responded, "No, I think that I think in English, although I think I may of had 1 or 2 dreams in Spanish. Who knows, I can't ever remember" He did say that when he is with other English speaking missionaries, they speak English.

He wrote that he got quite a few letters in the past couple of weeks. He was happy about that!

The other two elders that live in his house is Elder Crisanto (from Peru) and Elder Cojom (from Guatamela). "Elder Crisanto has been in his area here (San Clemente) for 7 1/2 months now. That's 5 changes! This is Elder Cojom 2nd exchange here. They live in La Villa but have to take a taxi to their area everyday."

He also wrote that he (finally) bought a Christmas ornament! "It is a seahorse." Perfect, handpicked by Justin!

Justin also sent to us with this letter another cd with more photos and videos. Most of the videos are of Justin's "events" with Mamarina. In them she has come after him with an iron, frying pan, knife, gun( not aiming, holding it like a frying pan, but sheesh!!!! We could not believe she has a gun!!) anything she was holding or anything she could pick up at her convenience. I think Justin may actually miss her and the excitement she brings into his life when he leaves this area. The boy is crazy I tell you........ Crazy!

An Eventful Week!

Justin had quite an eventful week! He didn't email yesterday because he got a call last minute that he had to go to Lima yesterday and had to leave at 3:30 am! I must say, he did sound kind of grouchy in his email about all of that. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Well, on the upside, he said he got to eat Burger King and buy a new (clean and fresh smelling) pillow! He said while in Lima, going through immigration he saw and spoke with some North Americans. He could not understand why anyone would choose to live there in Peru instead of the US. Most had married Peruvians (the things we do for "love!"). Justin went to Lima all by himself and he said "It was weird being alone on the bus and in the taxis and everything, not having to have my companion by my side, but I guess that's what real life is!" For those of you not of our faith, the missionaries are to have their companions with them at all times. I don't know why Justin was to go all by himself. That is a rare happening for a missionary.

His mission gets to have a conference this Thursday with a general authority. Justin didn't remember his name, but I'm sure he will write about it in his next letter or email. They always have the best messages for these young men. That is an exciting event to look forward to.

A great highlight of the week is when they were able to baptize a mother of three kids that were already baptized. I'll have to find out who that is. Possibly the mom of Flor and Carlos (and Jessica)? That is exciting news! Justin said, "We have been teaching her and she knew everything but always said that everyone has a time and that hers still wasn't there, but would tell us when it is. I thought we would never see her baptized, but Tuesday night she was searching for us urgently, so we went to her house Wednesday morning and she invited us in and told us she had finished reading the Book of Mormon and her moment had arrived. She was ready. So we got her baptism all ready and everything and it went really well. It was Saturday in the afternoon because she didn't want to be cold in the night." ( There is no hot water there. Smart lady!)

Justin is halfway through this change. A change is when they can be moved to another area and/ or get a new companion. He says "time is flying right now." This area is another world from Lima. Makes us wonder what the other areas in his mission is like.

Justin says they are thinking of splitting his ward because "it is always jammed packed full." It is has the most people in the stake. He wonders if he'll be around for it. They are probably splitting it in March. Two people from his ward got their mission calls and are going to Chile and Colombia. He says they open their calls in sacrament meeting over the pulpit.

Justin says in the month of February, all the Sundays is a Peruvian tradition called Carnival. "It is basically legalized water ballooning or just drenching people with water. (WEIRD tradition!) Sounds like a tradition Justin and his cousin Scott would have started! He says, "We always have to be careful when we are walking around that they don't get us soaked, but I have been having a great time from our second story window throwing buckets of water on people. If only we had that tradition in the states." Sounds like my son. What is a mother to do? Fireworks (or anything that you light and goes "BOOM!") and water..... he is a fanatic about both! And has managed to get in plenty of trouble for both in the past. Luckily, nothing serious, but always have involved the police. Can you imagine, Scott, Chelsea and Jenny?? (Once, with the police apologizing to him for making Justin disassemble his potato launcher that the police officer thought was so cool! You know......neighbor (at the time with no kids) complained.) I hope he stays out of trouble in Peru!! I'm surprised Justin doesn't want to make permanent residence there! He should love Peru just for these reasons alone. Fireworks galore and drenching people as a tradition. He must be in heaven! I can almost hear his laughter across the continents!

Last week for pday he (big surprise) went down to the beach and (finally!) bought a Christmas ornament to send home for his mother. It is tradition in our family to have a memory ornament for each member of our family for the year. While there, Justin said, "An earthquake hit that was only 5 or 10 seconds but it was 5.0, all the Peruvians started FREAKING out. They started screaming and crying for 10 minutes after, running all around, on their phones. All the people in the ocean ran away sprinting, scared that a tsunami was going to come. But they all calmed down after an hour or so." A little while back, Pisco was the area where a big earthquake hit and pretty much wiped out the area. It was a catastrophe and very sad! Justin said they have little earthquakes there often. That must have been very scary for the locals.

Justin said his health is well and everything is "regular." If you know what he means........

Life In Peru

Here are some pictures Justin sent us of life in Peru.


Justin said the people there are always having demonstrations where they parade down the streets protesting.




He gets a kick out of the people there that sweep the dirt everyday. He doesn't get it.

A big herd of goats walking down the road. Part of life in Peru!

Justin's laundress.




Justin's room in La Villa.

Well, a little peek into what Justin sees in his life in Peru.

Hi Elder Evans, This Is Katie...... What???!

A North American girl called the the house this week. Justin said, "I pick it up (the phone) and she says "hello Elder Evans, it's Katie." (I was thinking.....what the heck??? How did Katie Koh (a good friend of Justins) get Justin's house number? It wasn't her.) I didn't get it. I was trying to think how did someone from home get my number here and why are they calling me? I guess when I went to Lima the other missionaries ended up doing service with this girl down here. She is from Tennessee and has been here for 8 months trying to start a charity organization. Crazy. We all went this Thursday again and helped her out. There was a huge mountain of dirt about 20 feet long and 5 feet high that we had to flatten out so a lady could move her shack onto it. We got it done pretty quick. This week I am helping a neighbor, Flor, the mom of the 2 kids who have gotten baptized put a speed bump in on our block. Should be interesting."

This week Justin had 3 more people enter the waters of baptism. A family. The mom, Lili, and her two kids Delicia and Kevin. He said the dad wants to get baptized too, but had to leave for the jungle to go to work for a couple of months. Hopefully he will when he gets back. The dad only comes home 4 times a year. We don't know how easy we have it here.

Today for p day they are going to the same beach they have gone to twice before and are going to play soccer (now there's a popular Latin sport!) on the beach and eat lunch at a restaurant there. Sounds nice for my beach loving boy! Justin has mentioned that there are all sorts of tourist hut things there so he'll be on the lookout for the Christmas ornament I asked for back in December. Good thing he listened to me about the skull thing!

What a beautiful shot!Loooooove it!




He got the package this week that we sent to him. It is amazing how quick he gets our packages and letters in Peru. Much faster than Bolivia! He says, "I am always on a sugar highhhhh for a couple days when I get candy from the states." It seems to be his favorite thing to receive. Glad he is happy, even if it is from a sugar highhhh!