We have had one senior couple serving in our mission since we

arrived, Scott and Carol Nelson.  Recently they just finished their

23 month mission.  We are extremely grateful for their service to the Lord.   They brought with them years of experience in the church

and shared this experience where ever they served.  For the first five months they served in a ward here in Lima, as proselyting missionaries.  Then they served in a jungle city for 14 months and helped to establish a new branch of the church.  They finished their mission in Lima by helping nearly fifty people attend the temple.   They returned home with a treasure of memories.

We are so grateful for their willingness to serve. Elder Amos Mendoza was the first missionary they helped prepare and send out from the new branch of the church they helped establish in the jungle city of Nauta. 

Senior couples are greatly needed.

Once the Nelsons left Nauta a new branch presidency was called.  

Pres. Chucos is in the middle is the branch president and the other

members of the presidency have all been members less than two years. 

While we were in Nauta this past month we attended a baptismal service. 

Our purpose as missionaries is to:  invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. 

A family of six were baptized, 

a father, a mother, and their four children.

Elder Luna and Elder Sigurdson  taught this family.  It truly was a

joyous occasion for this family.  They were all united

by their faith in Christ.

This was our departing group of missionaries this transfer.

Here are some of our great zone leaders.   The mission is divided into zones, which basically are geographical areas.  Each zone has two young men that supervise the missionaries in that area. We depend upon these young men to  lead and guide their zones under the presidents supervision.  Once a month we have leadership training with them.

Pictured here are Elders; Condi, Nunez, Huntsman,  and Franks.

Our zone leaders love to eat and hot dogs are a big hit.

Piles of mustard and mayonaise make it even better. 

Pictured here are Elders; Gomez, Leiva, Smith, Bahr, and Hunt.

President and Sister Uchtdorf  along with Elder and Sister Cook visited our mission recently.  You can read about their visit in the Church News at the link below.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62462/Members-in-isolated-city-radiate-goodness-dedication-faith-love.html

Our church is governed  today by apostles,  reflecting the way Jesus organized His Church in biblical times.  We do not believe God has left us alone in this world but that we have a prophet and apostles that still lead and guide us today.  These men lead the Church worldwide and serve as special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Pres. Uchtdorf and Elder Cook are apostles. After the dedication of the Manaus Temple in Brazil they flew to Iquitos Peru to edify and uplift the church members that live in Iquitos.  Their visit was historic.

It was a once in a life time experience for all of us, members, missionaries, and new investigators to hear apostles of the Lord speak. 

When the meeting concluded Pres. Uchtdorf told the people of the great love he and the Lord has for them.  The congregation rose to their feet and began waving many with tears in their eyes, as they bid farewell.  It was a very touching scene to behold. 

During their visit they spent a few hours seeing some of the

sites  along the Amazon River.

These giant lily pads are called victoria regias.

Pres. and Sister Uchtdorf and Elder Cook and his wife enjoying

some of the abundant wild life and vegetation of the region.

Alligators

Canoes are seen all along the river banks.

You may ask why houses are built on stilts.  Each year during the rainy season in the Amazon jungle the rivers flood.  The water level rises as much as twenty to forty feet.  People continue to live in these areas because the land is cheap or free.  Along the river life is primitive 

This month has been training meetings with the missionaries.  We have met with all the zones and practiced skills to make them better teachers. This is the zone in Tarapoto. 

Elder Barragan is teaching the missionaries about ways to contact and talk to people.  For many of our young people this is a hard task to do.  Our young people live in such a technolgy oriented society many have not develped very good people communication skills.

After we teach, then we have them practice what they have learned.

One of the things we teach them is to have a smile on their face.  This is challenge for some but not for Sister Gee and Sister Orellana

To break things up we celebrate birthdays and play a few simple games. 

And the winner gets........ a loaf of banana bread! 

A treasured treat.

We are playing a game called Listo Calle, their smiles tell the story.

On occasion we have the opportunity to visit families,  to edify and

strengthen their faith.  Many times in the jungle regions we walk into the

humblest of homes.  No refrigerators or running water, dirt floors and a few benches to sit on. By our standards they live in extreme poverty.  Their primary concern is providing food for their family.  Meralita's husband has traveled down river to obtain employment. 

Yet, despite these conditions they are happy.  The one treasured pocession they have is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the great hope He offers all His children.

  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." 

  Despite Meralita's living conditions notice the beautiful smile she has on her face.  Her family and the gopsel fo Jesus Christ are the most precious things she has.    

Her children were fascinated with my camera. 

Their family does not have a camera so it was fun for them

to see themselves in a photo. 

Here they are at church on Sunday.  I think you will all

agree, they look like little angels.

They love primary! 

Many people wonder why our church sends out missionaries. 

 This is a great question. 

This family was recently baptized after having been taught by Elder Sanchez and Elder Smith.  The missionary effort of our church is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in Jesus Christ. At any one time

our church has about 52,000 missionaries serving in various parts of the world.  Missionaries are only sent to countries where governments allow the Church to operate.  In some parts of the world our missionaries are not allowed to preach but serve in humanitarian causes.  If you

have other questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter

Day Saints many of your questions can be answered by going to:

www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-101

The gospel of Jesus Christ changes our personal lives and

changes the lives of families.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Our missionaries teach people with open minds and hearts about this doctrine and invite people to "come unto Him".  

Our mission has many contrasts. There is a drastic difference between the jungle cities and Lima. About half of our missionaries are serving in the jungle cities of Iquitos, Pucallpa, Tarapoto, Nauta, Moyobamba, Rioja, Nueva Cajamarca, Soritor, Campo Verde and Yurimaguas. 

In some parts of the jungle living conditions are very rustic.  Sometimes the power goes out and at times the water supply is limited. Despite these limitations the work of the Lord continues. 

When the president travels to the districts of the church (small congregations) he is the visiting priesthood leader and is respoinsible to interview people with various needs.  The other night he was right in the middle of interviews when the power went out, not just for a few minutes but for two hours.  With lots of people waiting for interviews he improvised and moved to the back patio where he conducted the rest of the interviews by moonlight. The Lords work needed to continue.  Thank goodness for the warm moonlit nights in the jungle. 

 The other half of our missionaries serve in Lima. Lima is a massive city and our mission has some of the most northern cities. These include. Wiesse, Canto Grande, Magnolias, Comas, Carabayllo, Indenpendencia, and Tahuantinsuyo.  We try and see all the missionaries once a month.   

 Traffic in the jungle.

 Traffic in Lima.

 We finished up our last zone conferences in Lima this week.

For you moms or dads still looking for your missionary, hopefully, they are in one of these zone pictures.  If you haven't found them in the last serveral posts maybe you are looking in the wrong mission.  I have tried to take everyones picture.   

This is zona Wiesse.



 Zona Magnolias

 Zona Canto Grande

 We are glad to have these new elders in our mission.

Elder Woolstenhulme and Elder Anderson from Utah and

Elder Maldonado from Honduras. 

 Zona Pucallpa, baptismal service. 

 "The purpose of the gospel is ....to make bad men good and good men better and to change human nature." 

That is why our missionaries serve missions so they can invite

others to come unto Christ.  As they serve they find themselves and

they come to know Christ themselves. 

It is a privilege to serve with them and along side of them. 

 The jungles of Peru.

 Since it continually rains in the jungle, there are many rivers flowing.

These rivers wind throughout the jungle. 

During heavy rains they always look dirty from all

the dirt that is washed in. 



 This is the new branch presidency from Nauta that was set apart

recently.  This new branch is just over a year and a half old.  We are

excited to have the new members now serving in leadership 

positions. 

Our senior couple the Nelsons served in Nauta for 14 months

helping to establish the church and fortifying the new members.  They served in various positions while teaching the new members how to

serve in their new callings and be members of the church

 Senior couples bring years of church experience with them.

President Chucos, 1st counselor David Pinche, 2nd counselor Ranulfo Cometivos, Secretary Abel Cometivos.  Abel is 18 years old, he is the son of Ranulfo.  When he turns 19 he plans on serving a mission.  



This last week we visited Iquitos Peru for zone conferences. 

 Presently there are four zones in Iquitos.

These elders are from two of the Iquitos zones.  

Elder McKeachnie, Elder Emett, Elder Castaneda and Elder Blanco.

Today the missionaries in Iquitos found our that on June 11th

 President Uchtdorf and Elder Cook will be visiting Iquitos Peru.

They will have the opportunity to hear them speak the night of June 11th. 

We are so excited for them, as many of them are new converts

to the church and have never had the opportunity to personally meet a general authority of our church.  

When new missionaries enter the mission they are given material to study for  12 weeks to help them become better prepared to teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When they complete this program they are awarded a certificate of completion.  We also invite their trainers to stand with them. Trainers are perhaps the most influencial companions they

will every have.    

  In our mission we invite the missionaries to do

hard things.  The three hard things they

identify are contacting people, practicing the lessons,

and doing push ups.  We are here to make boys into men so

that means we do the hard things like push ups. 

 

 During this conference our topics were the Atonement of Jesus Christ and

effective planning.  Each companionship was given a

large map of their areas and trained on how to use the map in planning

their visits more effectively. Hermana Zagal is from Chile

and Hermana Rodriguez is from Guatemala. One evening

I went out and worked with these great sisters.   

 Elder Nielsen and Elder Chavez

I hope you moms can find a picture of your son  or daughter if they are serving in Iquitos.

 Zona Secada

Can you identify your sons shoes?

These shoes walk a lot of miles!

 Zona Nueve de Octubre

I love this zone unity!

 Missionaries come in all shapes and sizes and so do their feet.

Zona Iquitos

 Mission work helps these young people become men and women of God

John Ruskin says it well:  "The highest possible reward for any man's toil is not what he gets from it, but what he becomes by it."

 Zona Punchana

 We teach the missionaries they have to do something to have success on their missions.  There is no happiness without action.   The Lord will help us but we have to exercise our faith and act.   

 These shoes have walked a lot of miles.  They have walked on pavement, on dirt and in mud all to find the sincere in heart and those seeking a new life in Jesus Christ. 

The shoes of a missionary always tell us a story.

 A many a miles has been walked in these shoes and

a many of families has been baptized by this missionary.

 Our missionaries come in all shapes and sizes, just look at

their shoes sizes.

President Blunck with his two assistants. 

Elder Sorenson and Elder Mar.