Touching Lives and Having Success

In a letter dated May 3, 2009, Justin wrote, Things are going pretty well. It's Sunday night and I'm exhausted. I'm always tired Sunday nights. It was fast Sunday today. I always feel sick on fast Sundays. I'm always so hungry, then we go to a members for lunch and I eat so much and so quick that I feel sick after, In South America they don't have to skip lunch (their biggest meal of the day). They start fasting after lunch Saturday, don't eat dinner or breakfast Sunday, then eat lunch Sunday after church. Works out pretty well."

He is still in Ica, not Bolivia. "But I guess that means I should have a bunch of letters and packages once I finally do get there. President Fierro said he turned in a bunch of papers to the Bolivian consulate a week or so ago and was waiting for a response or something. I'm just waiting for the phone call telling me to come to Lima to go back to Bolivia."

Justin and Elder Parker have 3 people with a baptismal date for May. Diona (10), Angela (11) Felix Salazar, whose mom is a recent convert. He says they are really smart. Their dad didn't want them to get baptized, but he is now in Spain and so they are going to do it while he is gone. They should be getting baptized on the 16th. They also have Magda Astahuaman who is 21 and has been listening to the missionaries for 5 years now. Her parents are against the Church and support her financially and pay for her college. So she is secretly getting baptized. Justin says she has a really strong testimony of the Church and Book of Mormon. In their first meeting with her she told them she wanted to get baptized and May was her month. She has set her date for May 19th. They are also teaching another family that is progressing. The mom is a member but is separated from her husband because he drinks too much. Her son Junior, wants to live with his dad who lives across the street from the mom Veronica. Jorge, the dad wants to get back together with his wife, but she only will if he changes his life. So they started teaching Jorge and their son Junior. Justin said they really like it a lot. Then Rosario, Jorge's mom (are you following this?) listened one night and she was "way into it." "They all came to stake conference last week, a ward activity Friday and church again today. They all love it, so hopefully they'll be able to get baptized this month." Unfortunately for Justin, he may not be there to witness these baptisms. But that is not what is important."

For pday tomorrow, Justin is going to a resort called Huacuchina. He says it's an oasis in the middle of sand dunes. A big tourist place. He was planning on going sand boarding. I'll have to ask him about that for sure! Sounds fun, but potentially painful.

Justin also wrote that things are going great in his zone. "I guess like a year and a half ago, Ica was baptizing 25-30 people a month, but this past year it's been around 8-12 a month. So President told us that it is our job to bring it back up. So far, we are having some success. We have 5 baptisms so far, and 9 more with a baptismal date and we are only 3 days into the month. We are hoping to end May with about 20." My good, obedient boy!