Dec 22~ Feliz Navidad!

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas WEEK!! 
So the jungle was sweet last week! We had our Multi Zone up in La Merced and its the sickest town Ive ever seen! Hoping I'll get to serve there one day! But we didnt go to any touristy places, so i don't have any sweet pics! But next time! hahaha So we all had to buy like a white elephant gift so i got someone a can of milk ( vaca means cow) and the look on the Elder's face was priceless! 

But my Mission President gave an amazing training on the importance of the Savior Jesus Christ! So dont forget on Christmas really how important Jesus Christ is for every one of us. And the importance discovering the gift he has given each and every one of us, the importance of accepting this gift, and the importance of sharing it. Really the Gift he has given each and every one of us is the gift of Eternal Life, thanks to Christ's Atonement we can repent of our sins, and overcome death. So I hope you all this week reflect on the true meaning of Christmas!!! LOVE YOU ALL AND MERRY CHRISTmas!

Btw, last week was like the best week I've had here! We found a ton of new families to teach that accepted dates! Seriously I know we dont learn anything until after the trail of our faith!

Love, Elder Baca 

Multi zone conference in La Merced  (Elder Baca in green tie)

Mom! I'm on!

IT WAS AWESOME!!  We had 14 news, found a TON of new families to teach...and only worked til Friday!  Sorry my email's like freaking out on me right now!!  It keeps shutting down!!  But what are you guys doing for CHRISTMAS WEEK!!  It's so crazy its already here again!  

I'm looking for a good internet cafe right now to skype! BUT TELL ELLIE TO MAKE ME A SKYPE ACCOUNT AND EMAIL ME THE USERNAME AND PASSWORD! 

I HOPE JARRED'S SKYPING THE SAME TIME! HE BETTER BE!  Yaaaaaa I'm so pumped!!  I'll see you guys 3 o'clock Thursday

Dec 15~ Lost and Found

¿Que tal? 
Hey so just want you all to know first off....a Jehovah's Witness came to the church last Monday while I was giving a zone training with Comp...and handed a bag to another Elder and told him to give it to Elder Baca...so he gives me the bag and it had my lost satchel in it!  With my scriptures, glasses, and all my pics from the mission! (usb) But not my camera! She kept it and gave it as a gift to her friend hahaha but I started my week of way good last week getting back all my lost stuff! 

SO this week was probably the toughest week for me in my entire mission, but I am so grateful for the challenges, the hardships, and the moments where I  just need to rely on God out here. We didn't have a single lesson until Thursday, because the people are pretty tough here. But I really feel like God wants me to develop more patience, wants me to be more humble, and wants me to work as hard as I can, but more than anything he wants me to rely on Him! So ya, not going to lie challenges, problems, and when things just dont work out...it really stinks. But everything that happens in our lives, everything that we just dont like...it is an opportunity to learn, develop, and grow..as a person. I am so grateful for the love God has for each and every one of us...He really is always there to help us, whether we realize it or not. 

But to end... after praying this whole week and fasting, yesterday was probably the best day I have had here in Tarma, we found a lot of sweet, humble people yesterday that are ready to change their lives through the Gospel. SO I really gained a testimony and know for a fact..through our trails and hardships, Dios nunca nos deja solos. (God never leaves us alone.) Love you all! And MERRY CHRISTMAS SEASON!

btw- this week I'm going to La Merced (the JUNGLE-Google it!) so I'll have some sick pics next week!

Love Elder Baca

Mom-  GOT MY 12th DAY OF CHRISTMAS GIFT LAST WEEK! THANKS so much! Seriously the calendar is the best thing ever!! Love you mom! Thanks for the time and effort you put into that!  Wasn't having the greatest week last week...everyone failed on us, didnt want to hear us, and then that for sure that lifted up my spirit. Oh, FYI don't need to get new glasses or anything! Some random lady had my bag, put all my pics on my USB...took my camera, but returned my bag with the USB in it! So have all my pics! hahaha  So random but such a blessing! --So something I really wanted to study this week was patience...and humillty. It really was a humbling week!  In Alma 5:27-28 he asks a question, are we humble enough, do we have any of our pride that's is holding us back...I really sat there and thought about that. Yes, I always am relying on the Lord...but to be humble enough to seek after His guidance in every aspect of this week...I haven't. So it changed my whole aspect on the mish..I dont want to be sitting home in 2 years asking, could I have done better?...No I want to give my all but more than anything, myself. So this week was a great learning experience for me..because giving myself is the only smart thing I can do really. But I love you mom! Need to know what day and time we are skyping by next week! And sounds like you had a crazy week!  Always good to hear about everything though!  Miss you mom! And love you! My pension is amazing! She's  progressing way good!  Will have more updates next week!

Love elder baca

Dec 8~ Beavers, Condors, Camels...

pueblo en las montanas

what i do to share the gospel with people...

Whats Up Gringos! 
Hey everyone hope you all had a good week! I cant believe its already Monday again this week! This week was a lot better! We found some people to teach and have a couple people progressing! We went up in the mountains in my area this week a ton!... (legit to get up to the mountain pueblos is like a 1/2 mile hike straight up the side of these mountains) and getting to some of the actual houses is pretty rough, too (as seen in my pic) but my area is so pretty! I'll put some pics up to show you!

But something funny that happened this week..is that it was a way slow day one day, and we were just contacting, talking to people all day.  To make things a little more interesting and to make people lighten up a bit we played the contacting game...so what it is...someone picks a word and you have to use that word while talking to someone. SO we used words such as Beavers, Camels, Condors, Doritos, Michael Jackson, etc. hahaha so I walked into a pet store and asked the lady if she had beaver food because I have a pet beaver that lives in my room, and I was being dead serious...she had the most surprised look on her face and was telling me I could feed it gerbil food maybe...and this whole time her co-worker was just dying laughing in the background! But later on I explained to her WHY I am here as a Missionary and from the U.S.,  trying to find beaver food...so its a good way to lighten people up to talk to them about the Gospel! I mean i wouldn't recommend it always.. due to the reactions of people (also telling them I have a Condor in my room, or I saw Camels walking up in the Mountains...is a little like "WHAT?!?!") but it will sure get people to listen to you! hahaha! So that was something funny that happened to me this week! I cant believe its already December again! Hope you all enjoy your CHRISTMAS season! Love you all!


Love Elder Baca
what i do to share the gospel with people...

BUENOS DIAS! QUE tal madre!!! Okay so first things first...SKYPE!!! The week of Christmas (think 22nd to 28th) ..I can pick a day to Skype you guys!!! I would love to Skype on Christmas!!! It would be a Christmas treat so whatever day is best for yall!  And idk about the time yet but ill find out soon. Still haven't got your package yet! Yesterday we didn't have church because of voting again.  SO what I've been studying this week is all the General Conference talks.  Our best investigator is my pension...she has problems with her son drinking and it tears her apart!  I was studying the talk by Elder Tad R. MaCallister about parents...the principle of teachers!! And it helped me think of things I could tell her!!! But something I loved in the BoM is Enos!!! I never realized but the reason why he repented was because of his FATHER.  The words of his father penetrated his heart causing him to repent...so really a parent, their example, their spiritual guiding and correcting...can penetrate the child! SO in this case, I'm thinking she just really needs to be the example...(she accepted a date for the 3rd) and needs to put her foot down (like in the story of Elder MaCallister) because she knows the change her son can make. So go read Enos! Love it! But besides that...a lot of walking around...talking ..contacting...and not a lot of people that want to hear us! It's a lesson I know I'm supposed to learn right now....and I thank God for the challenges, because I am learning to be patient.  Love you mom! Have a good week! And okay ! Ill wait till FEB for the glasses!!! Let me know what day and what time you can Skype! Love you!

ELder Baca

Dec 1~ Gobble Gobble from Tarma

Tarma, called the "Pearl of the Andes"

Hey Everyone! 

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving because I did!  SO there is this American family that lives in my area, they have lived here for 8 yrs and are from New York (on a mission with the Methodist Church)...we stopped by to wish them Happy Thanksgiving...so they invited us in and we talked for a while and then she gave us HOME MADE PUMPKIN PIE!  It was so good I didn't even want to eat it!  But yah a little taste of America on Thanksgiving was amazing. So I spent a lot of time walking this past week...my area is huge! It's like half city, half corn fields/Peruvian Mountains! To walk my area it would take about 2 hours! The people here are a lot more tough and not really the nicest, but I am growing to love the people here as well! So I hope everyone can go check out the video "He is The Gift"...this is all we are sharing with people this month.  We are giving them a card to go check out this Christmas video! It is amazing and will help you all the remember the true meaning of the Christmas season! 
Love you all..have a good week! 

Btw...will COMPLETE 6 months in the mission this week...crazy how fast time is going by!

Love you all,

Elder Baca

Hey Mother!!! ROGER ROGER COME IN! 

YEAAAH  I'M so happy you got your letters!!! I'm going to start doing that more, it's just a little expensive! It only took about 3 weeks to get there too! And I have not got your package yet..bummer!  My dog bites are healed, only need one more shot! And i bought a super sweet camera here for 100 dollars!  (It's a Sony and is 20 megapixels!) But this area is way hard but Pres says it was really exciting making the change for me to come here, because he knows I am/will be obedient and work super hard!  AND WHAT... I was studying 1 Nephi chapter 11, too, about all his visions his week!  Also I have the Liahona of all the Conference talks which is amazing. LOVE IT!   My Branch is way tiny...maybe 50 people assist every week...but the few members we do have they are way nice and have strong testimonies.  We don't have any real solid investigators here, it'll take some time! But I love you so much...and oh actually found out this week I didn't get my bag stolen...I thought I did, but one of the other elders was like, I saw you take it into the MOTOTAXI...so hmmmm...I think I pulled a typical move, so I am way sorry!  I think I still just need to buy a Bible...like 20 bucks. But I love you!! Have an amazing week!  INTERNET STINKS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Our PENSION IS AWESOME! She works in a restaurant and I'm actually getting fat now hahahah! But i gtg!!! Peace out from my dinosaur computer!

LOVE ELDER BACA

Nov 24~ Cambios...and Muchos Cosas Mas

Hey everyone!  I hope everything is going good. So yep I probably had the craziest week of my mission. So last week I got transferred about 20 mins away from my old area with a Elder Mendoza from Argentina and was with him for about 2 days...but while we were walking up to this house, there were a bunch of dogs chilling outside.  So they run away when they see us coming but one of them came up behind me and cheap shotted me in the back of the leg!! SO I had to go to the hospital because the bite broke my skin!!  I am now currently enrolled in rabies shots every 5 days for two weeks!!  But don't worry the bite isn't that big it's all better now.  That night they couldn't give me the rabies shot, so I had to come back the next morning...but the same night after a really long night... I get a call that I am getting transferred to TARMA the next morning after I get my shot!  And my (new) companion is Elder Mason (he has 1 change less than I do, from St George)...so the next morning, I get my rabies shot and then went off to Tarma! It's such a sweet city...its like the city you have to pass to enter into the jungle cities so the drive was beautiful!  Then while I was unpacking my stuff the taxi that drove me to Tarma...well I got my satchel jacked with all my scriptures, camera, and glasses. :(  SO yah, I was bummed for a solid 3 days about that. Six months of studying in those scriptures! I got some new ones and maybe I can get glasses here. The area I am in is one of the hardest areas of the mission but I am ready for the challenge!! 

But despite all these crazy things that have happened to me this past week, I am still so happy! It's amazing how happy being a missionary and doing the things I do everyday makes me feel!  I am truly grateful for everything God has given me! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!!

Love Elder Baca

MOther come in mother repeat ooverrrrrrrrrrrr

Hey I hope you guys have a great Thanksgiving this week! I love you so much and the fam and I really hope you guys enjoy the holiday seasons!  Sorry I didn't write a lot this week...internet is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy slow and had to write Pres H.!  I love you!

Nov 17~ Cambios and Borrachos

Hey Everyone!! 

Hope everyone is doing good! So tomorrow we have changes and it's like 95% sure I'm leaving because I already have 3 changes here!  I'm so bummed to go, because our investigators T. ( no not the Black Rapper) and E., are getting baptized next Saturday. Its probably the hardest thing for a missionary to teach someone all the lessons and have these amazing investigators, and then to get your area switched :(  But its so sad because all of our investigators are like saying in their prayers when we finish a lesson, "te pido que Elder Baca puede quedarse aqui en Huancayo por algunas meses mas" (I ask you God that Elder Baca can stay for more time) or they have all been saying to me in the saddest voice "no se vaya" (don't go..). Or other people telling me that they are going to cry when I leave! hahahah!  It's pretty sad, not going to lie because I am way used to everything here and everyone, but I will go wherever God wants me to go and I'm just happy our investigators are getting baptized!  I'm not too bummed, because my mission is awesome! Im pretty sure Ill find amazing people that are ready to hear our message in any area, and Im pretty sure I'll find peeing drunk guys that know English in about every area also!  I'm starting my SISTER mission this week actually (18 months to go). It was really a humbling week for me week...our pension told us that before her and her fam joined the church she was physically and verbally abused by her husband, her was a super drunk, and they literally lived on a dirt floor...but it all changed when 2 missionaries knocked on her door. Now her husband is the nicest guy ever and they have the best fam...crazy how the gospel can change people. At times our investigators call us doctors or psychologists because we help people out with just about any problem..but I don't know if I could help people out with their problems, major problems, without the Gospel. So yes, everyday out here is humbling and it'll take me about 2 years to just type all the experiences and lessons I have learned!  But what we do as missionaries changes lives! And families! I'm a witness of that!

So to inform you all what a normal encounter with a drunk guy in Peru is like (there are so many just about any where you go, and any time). So usually it starts out with a bunch of fat drunk guys yelling in English..." HEY GRINGO" or "HEY Mr" or " GOOD MORNING" ..and then it follows with usually a pretty drunk statement like ..." You need to pay me, Im the boss of Peru" or "you know I'm a UFC cage fighter feel my muscles"  Or, a bunch of spiritual questions like "I want to change, I want to change help me" followed by a lot of religious questions.. and then its usually followed by a lot of crying and hugging attempts. And then usually a couple hours later I see the same drunk guy passed out in the grass....yep so now you all know what a normal day in the streets of Peru is like!

Also I got my head shaved by this mullet lady last week..so yep in other news, I look like my beautiful dad Dave Baca:)

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!  

Trompo Master

 

Killing that rice with my Taco Bell sauce!!!

Mom, GETTING ME TRUNKY WITH THESE TEMPLE PICS!!!! haha BUENOS Dias! Okay first of all I can't believe Jarred finished a year already! And Im freaking out Alex Boye is coming to talk to everyone! HOW? I love his music! So crazy!  It seems like you are pretty busy with everything...just a question has in Ward Council? That's been the huge stress here in Suda America is about ward council!  But now ours are pretty good! But yea I have cambios..usually an elder sticks around in a area for 2-3 cambios max! Im super excited to get to know the mission!! Oh and my pension this week she bought me this sandals as well as some for you! aahah! SO I'll give them to you in 2 years but that was nice of her! Yah but the weeks are starting to legit fly by now!  like I'm already a 1/4 done with my mish!!!!!!!!  AND I feel like i have so much more to learn and everything- i feel like i am spiritually maturing and getting way humbled everyday! Love you! Hope you have a good week and thanks for the food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Love, Chimee!!!!!!

Nov 10~ Trompos

Eating a fish head

...and enjoying all the fish I didn't catch

QUE TAL!!! 

Wow I can't believe its already Pday again! So crazy how fast the time is going now! SO this is my last week probably in Nuevo Horizante here in Huancayo because transfers are next week, so we will see where I am heading off to next Tuesday! But I'm loving my area I am in right now! We have some sweet investigators, that will unfortunately be baptized after I probably get changed, but our ward es lo maximo! Yesterday I gave another talk in church about the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives! But I was way sick yesterday (nausea and D) so I was hoping the whole time I wouldn't pass out or throw up while I was talking, but everything turned out good. I think I'm finally starting to put some weight back on with the 5 pounds of rice I eat everyday! And my companion and I are now officially TROMPO Masters, they are these sweet Peruvian TOP like toys!! You can do all types of tricks with them it's so sweet! hahah! But I hope everyone has a good week this week! Remember, God loves you! 

Elder Baca

Can you write me real quick with everything that happened this week!! I love reading that!! AND OH GOT YOUR PACKAGE LAST TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!! HECK YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK you so much! LOVE YOU!! Those shoes are like slippers and feel fantastic on my toesies! Thanks MOM!!! Love You have no idea how much the support from you guys helps out and coming from a gospel familia! Took it for granted before my mission but will be eternally grateful! Only got 18 months to go, because my comp and  I are going home the same day..like May 18th...I'm not trunky I swear (trunky is the term we use for people that want to go home) hahah  And dang braces, lucky!!  Tell them they are lucky to have braces!! --I was studying about the Spirit, go read 1 Nefi 33: 1...Really is essential for a missionary (the Spirit), but it's important for members to know that before baptism people can feel the power of the Holy ghost, and it's up to us to create this environment by testifying of the Restoration and of Jesus Christ! Tell everyone I said Hi!  And I pray your package gets here and my letters get to you!!  I love you MOM!! The weeks are starting to fly! Love you!