Elder Ryan Baca's Mission Blog- Huancayo, Peru 2014-2016: June 16~ The First Stranger and Lost Visa

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Another week down in the MTC in Lima!!! Okay, so my past week has been crazy. Filled with so many crazy mission experiences idk if i will even have enough time to write it all.

Okay so first off, we started teaching fake investigators in all out Spanish. My first lesson I taught about faith, and why faith in Jesus Christ is so important. So we ended up talking to our investigator about why prayer is important and just why faith in general is important, and then i said a super long prayer in Spanish and taught her how to pray. The Spirit was so strong I could just feel it when i was teaching. So anyways the teacher afterwards she saw me walking in the hall later and she like called me into her room and asked me like how do you do it?? I felt the spirit so strong when you were teaching me!! I guess she really loved how I just didn't stop talking even if the conjugations weren't correct! but she said that "Elder Baca made the difference in the Spirit" and all these amazingly nice things in our reviews!! I definintely have room to improve, but it was a good start to the week because of that and then we taught her again on Saturday about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon- that went super good too! Spanish is really coming along good when it comes to lessons! I can teach about 30 to hour long lessons now!!

SO SATURDAY, was our first day proselyting, my companion was from Lima, Peru and didn't speak any English so I had to communicate solely in Spanish. We planned this lesson from Alma and Moroni about faith and hope and were planning on sharing it with less actives, but we ended up sharing it with a special someone instead. So me and Elder S. got sent to proselyting and contact in the Lima Central Mission (London's mission) which was insane! So many dogs and just people and just a really poor area, but anyways me and my companion got dropped off at a church in the middle of town and we started contacting (going up and saying hi to people and sharing a message about the gospel) ... we were pretty nervous at first, so the first couple people we didn't say hi too, but then I saw this middle aged lady and I said Hello how are you doing?! Then we stopped and started talking to her about how we are missionaries and everything, and how we are sharing a message about Jesus Christ and the restored gospel.

Okay so then my Latino companion started going off with his Spanish and I got kind of lost with their conversation, but the lady started crying. All I kept hearing was how she had a bunch of problems and stuff like that, so we shared our scriptures and faith and how we should have hope in Jesus Christ ( Alma 32, Moroni 7:40) anyways so they started talking for a long time and I could feel the Spirit so strong even though I didn't know what was going on. So I just bore a simple testimony that I knew God loved her, and that I knew she was a daughter of God, and that's why God loved her so much. SO we gave her a couple of pamphlets and my companion was done talking to her and she wanted to give us a kiss on the cheek but my companion was like NO! We shook her hand and went on our way. So after this happened my companion explained to me what just happened with this lady, I guess she was around the corner, and was praying to GOD asking God why she had so many problems, why are all these bad things happening in her life, and if God really is there... so as she finished her prayer, she walked around the corner onto the straight away street, and guess who she ran into, me and my companion. So that was one of my amazing stories this week! So crazy !!! The first person I ever introduced my self to as a missionary and this crazy story happened! The rest of the day was tiring and really fun just seeing the people of the Peru! We talked to a lot of atheists for a while, a lot of families, and a ton of Catholics but it was an amazing day!

SO here's my other story, I went to immigration yesterday, with me and like 15 other missionaries to get my visa! I get my visa and there's this super friendly security guard talking to some sister missionaries that were with me (both from California) so they explained to me that this guy loves missionaries! We started talking to him more! One of the sister missionaries gave me a pamphlet to give to him so I put it in my bag for like 2 minutes, and then we ended up giving it to him (*Remember THIS).....so long story short, we get back to the CCM and this girl in my group starts freaking out because she can't find her passport, and i was just thinking back on all the times I have lost something... so i was like I know how you feel, so this Sister was leaving to her mission tomorrow so she had to have it. About 5 hours later I see her again, and she cant find it anywhere, so she was just really depressed and freaking out because she didn't know if she could leave the country. I told her some stories about how I always lose my stuff, and to just keep praying and praying and praying. So, I walk back into my class, we sit down, and one of the other sisters in my class was like all these crazy-like missionary spiritual experiences happen to Elder Baca (talking about what happened this past week) so anyways.... the teacher starts talking.... and she asks us to write something down... and I reach into my bag to grab my pen..and the first thing I see in my bag is a passport, and i was so confused because I gave mine back.....BUT IT WAS HERS!!! So i jump out of the seat like so freaked out and puzzled and run to go give it administration !! I was so happy for her!! She came back into my classroom like 20 minutes later and was just bawling crying because she was so happy she could go on her misison!!! hahaha Crazy stories this week!!

Anyways, the Latino missionaries left this week and I was pretty sad because i got so close to all of them! But I can feel my love for God and my Savior grow each and every day!! It's going to be the hardest thing in my life, but i know it will be the best for it!

Love you all! Have a great week! Happy Birthday to Ellie!!

Love,

Elder Baca