Trabjando Siempre

9/29/14

This week we saw another work of god's grace, and we went up by two in church which really is amazing because for the past six months or so they have been dancing around 25 or 30 members in the church. Something funny about this next week is the country of Peru will not go to church. Next Sunday it will be illegal to have a church meeting, because of Elections. When they have political elections here in peru it is mandatory that everyone votes, and in they don{t vote they have to pay a heft fine to the government. So I don{t know how I am going to be able to go a whole week without inviting people to go to church. Life here is scary during election time and it is really funny. It feels kind of like the part of high school when people ran for class president. people are running around in the street basting songs that sing about why people should vote for a specific person, and there are thousands of bill boards and a lot of other things that I don't want to take the time to explain, but yeah that is life here for the moment.

                 We are seeing some really wonderful things passing with some of our investigators, we are working with a sister named Birtha who has been talking to us for some time, and she has just gone full blast into the gospel, and she is taking her whole family with her. She and her husband have baptism dates for the 18th of October, and her 19 year old son now wants to be baptized, because his mother is sharing the book of mormon with him, and all three of them went to church. We also found a sister named Sandra, who was really excited to hear our message, and came to church practically on her own (I say practically because we passed by her house to remind her) but she was already getting ready to go. We are seeing the members light up and they are starting to get addicted to missionary work. Oh boy I love this gospel.

                   We are working hard, and putting on sunscreen almost everyday because the sun is starting to get hotter. Me and may companion are starting to cook more in our apartment, and I am going to be a pro at cooking rice and chicken. I love you all and hope you enjoy the wonderful colors of fall, because they don{t really have that here, it's just like Summer and Cold Summer. I love you all and hope you are happy and healthy. Love 
Elder Roos. Chaú

9/22/14
Hola Familia,

                  It was a good week. We saw a lot of mericals this week, starting with a few wonderful new investigators that god led us to, and A lot of progress with some of the less active members. They have said that if the ward doesn't grow by December they are going to close down the branch here, so we have been praying and working very hard to see the members come back, and to have, well success. The first week I came here we had, 31 people in the church, second week, 32, third week, 32 again, but this week we had 50 people who attended church! It really was a merical! 50 is the goal that the ward had set to maintain the branch here in Independencia, and in one week it happened. I would like to say that we have been working our tails off, but really rally all things came down to the Grace of God. I feel so ready to keep working and to keep seeing things like we have seen this week. Well that is just about everything interesting that happened this week, I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Love Elder Roos.

Independencia, la mas bonita.

9/15/14
 Things are still going well,

                    So we are still working hard here in Idependencia, however the attendance in sacrament meeting has only gone up by one, but hey I am not one to complain at progress.  a few interesting things that happened this week is that the branch president made us Goat for lunch, which was really good, I will never look at food the same way again after all of the things that I have eaten here, but that´s a good thing. 

                 We are working so hard to help people understand why keeping the Sabbath day holy is important, which is hard when you live in a Catholic Culture. Everyone and their dog knows that God wants us to go to church, but they don´t understand that the commandments don´t change even if the prices are better on Sunday.

                To really convert the members here, we have started to use the big guns, The Book of Mormon! We are giving all the less active members the challenge to read the book of Mormon in four months, and we are giving them a little paper with a cool little pathway, which has stepping stones representing every chapter of the book of Mormon that you color in after you have read it, and they all seem pretty happy to start it, but we will see how well it goes.

                My companion showed me a video on his camera from the CCM(MTC), and I was so embarrased, because in the video Elder Cayetano asked my where I was from, and I said (Soy donde Idaho) which in English (I where I Idaho) and then I looked at the camera and said ¡Me Gusta Queso! (I like Cheese) because that was the only thing I knew how to say well in spanish. I have come such a long way, I went from nothing to where I am now. God has blessed me so much, and I have really learned to want something so badly to really work for it. I know that God gives us things that make us suffer sometimes, but it is just because he loves us and he knows what we need to make us stronger. Well I love you all and I hope that you are all Happy and healthy, and I love you all and pray for you. Have an awesome week, Love your Goofy little missionary, Elder Roos

9/08/14
So week three,

                    it was fun to hear that it is fair time again, I have heard that they do practically the same thing here, but we have never gone to one.

                    So the work goes on here in our little branch. we reactivated a less-active member that will help the progress of our branch a lot. We are in such need of strong leaders here, almost off the members are less active, but the fact that this family came back, and so strong lets me know that nothing is impossible for the Lord. I have never felt such a love for the people, or such a need to work as I do here in Independencia. It´s kind of fun to work with less active members until they start to whine and complain about petty selfish things that don´t have anything to do with anything, but I like to see the look on their face when we start to explain everything that Jesus did for them D&C 19:15-17

                      It is truly lovely here I hope to send pictures next week, I am loving it here, there is a lot of corn, avocado, grapes, and a lot of other plants that I don´t know but I love you all

Love Elder Roos.

9/01/14
Hola todos,

                So This week was a good week, I am really enjoying my new area, and my companion. My area is the most beautiful that I have had in all of my mission life. There are a lot of green fields, and everyday we see birds that aren´t pidgins, and we continue to eat a lot of fruit. However we received something new...well new for me, Sugercain.  I have eaten it here before, but this was the first time that some one has given us big poles of sugarcane, usually people sell them in little bags already to go, but this time, this member took us out to his part of the riverbed next to his hove and hacked us four big poles of sugar with his machete.

                Like normal we have talked to a lot of people who are catholic, but just don´t have time to attend, and keep explaining the importance of the sabbath day to members who can´t find the time to go to the true church, but we are teaching a lot of young families who need to follow the law of chastity, but my favorite part about teaching families that are going through hard problems, is telling them that they can when the whole world tells them that they can´t. That they really can have a happy life together, and that one really can be married and get through every single problem and trial that comes their way, if they only put their trust en Jesus Christ. I like to see the hope that comes in to their eyes when they discover that these things really are true. Well I love you all, and hope you are ally happy and healthy, Have a great week. Love Elder Roos. 

8/16/14

I got transferred,

                     So I am now in Pisco, which is a little further south then where Canete was. It is really beautiful here with a lot more fields, and trees, and everything. I can not put into word how happy, excited, or pumped to have my new companion. His name is ELder Cayatano, and he is in my grupo from the CCM. He is super funny, an extremely hard worker, and he just loves to be here on a mission. we have a lot of work to do here, because they are talking about closing down the area. It is a really small branch, with about 35 people who go to church, but there are 180 members who live here. Me and my companion are the 1st and 2nd counselors in the Bishop rick. I am so happy to be here, I just feel good. I can't wait to see what is ahead of us here. I am am in one of the hotest arieas of the mission, but the heat wont really kick in for about a month, so that is something nice. They eat alot of fish here, so that is something that I am looking forward to. I hope you all have fun at the fair, and remember that I love you all and you are all in my prayres. Love ELder Roos

Tres Semanas

8/18/14
Hello again my friends and family.

                                       Si we are on the last week of this transfer, and I most likely will end up being changed to another area this coming week, because I have four Transfers here. This week I was thinking about how much I love this area, and how many miracles I have seen in the last six months here. Yeasterday I has happy to see Brither Renauld in the Branch Council as second counselor of the Elders Quorum. I remember the second time that we met this funny little man, he was so drunk that when we showed up the next day he didn´t remember that we had passed by the day before, but now his life has completely changed. 

                                         Brother Jorge is very excited to receive the preisthood this coming week, and we are working with alot of really good families and I have eaten alot of really good food this week. Something Cool that happened is yesterday, in branch council, I was sitting next to the frist counselor of the EQ and it turns out that the contact that we found about two weeks ago (brother Fredy= is his uncle and he has been wanted him to find the curch for along time, and he had no ideah that we where teaching him. Well life is going well down here I hope all of you are happy and healthy. Love Elder Roos.

08/11/14

Hello everyone,

                     Well we are on week five here in this transfer, and well things are going well. We are finding some amazing people. including the other night when we had nothing more to do we were walking back to the house and I turned to my companion and said wait, we still have time to save one more soul! and then He pointed the the first house with the lights on, and we knowed on the door, and made up an excuse that we were looking for some one else (not the aproche we usally use, but afective) and he looked at us and said ¨you are Elder...?¨ I said I am Elder Roos, and Have you talked to the missionaries before? Well he had, he took the lessions about four years befor, and he acepted the invitation to be baptised and well we are teaching him. 

                    The weather is starting to get to the poit where it will start to get warmer, but it´s still cold. We helped the New Missionary Couple Elder and Sister Tharp, we went shopping for couches...and we went to every strore in Imperial...which is alot, but finally we found what they were looking for. The Tharps are really cool, the have some if the most powerful testimonies I have ever seen, and they glow...and they like to feed us, so we are pritty good friends. Love you all hope you are all doing well  stay on the sunny side. Love Elder Roos. 

8/04/14
Kay and Jogre were finaly baptised!!

This wee was crazy, and the day of the baptism was the craziest, and we had to fill the Baptisaml Font with buckets of water from a local macanic shop. I am out of time but I love you all

Compañero Nuevo

Buenos tardes,

                    so I was happy to hear from mom, that my letters are okay, but I will still try to keep improveing them.

                    I hope you are all enjoying the weather down there because, yes it is starting to get very cold in this part of the world. It was a good week, my companion is the best, he is the first ¨normal¨companion that I have had up to this point in my mission, and he may never stop to make me laugh. It feels good to laugh with my companion, it´s something that I have really missed. He is a hard worker and we have seen a lot of success in just the first week that we have been together. We are working very hard to help Katy and Jorge get ready for baptism. They are starting to get a really firm testimony of the church, and they have been come to church every week. This week they ended up coming to church a little late, and we were into sacrament meeting, when there was a big ¨boom¨outside the door of the chapel, and everyone including the current speaker stopped and looked at h¡where the boom had come from, and when we all heard a little girl start to cry and a little boy yell it wasn´t me, we knew that Katy and Jorge had arrived. However little Margarita who hit her head on the door was just fine, and we all hod a good time at church.

 My Companion is from a place called Cajamarka, which is near Cuzco, and is about 15 hours in buss. So he is not super close, but the funny thing is where he is from there are al ot of white people, so we usually say that we are from the same place, He is my 3rd companion from Peru, but I think he might be my favorite. I love you all and Wish you all well. Love Elder Roos. 

This saturday Sister Saturnina, and Sister Benancia were baptized. It was an incredible experience, My companion baptized Benancia and the brother of Saturnina was able to baptise his sister. The most incredible part about the baptism of Saturnina is that her brother, Nolburto had an accident about 7 years ago, and does no have full use of his legs, and is only able to walk with the use of crutches. But with the simple help of a chair and my companion, he was able to successfully preform the baptismal ordinance. The testimony of Saturnina, and Benancia were two of the purest and most powerful that I have been able to witness in all of mission. Sister Banancia as I have mentioned before does not speak very well in spanish, but with the help of her daughter (who is member) she was able to express her feelings in a very moving way. There may or may not have been tears. (I have pictures, but I will have to send them next week)

                               The other interesting thing that happened this week, is the change of mission life, Transfers. I am still here in Imperial, Cañete. So that means that I will spend one fourth of my mission in this area, but that´s okay because I love this place. My new companion is named Elder Morales, he is from Cajamarka Peru. He has about nine months in the mission, and his is a very powerful missionary. Mom asked if my comp. goes away will I be District leader or will they change me too? The answer to that question is, the will send another one in. Elder Morales is District leader, and honestly I´m okay with that, but it is possible that I will go to my next area as District leader, but I am happy to just be focused on the people that we have to teach.

                              I am excited to see what is going to happen this next change, and I truly hope that we can work to our full potential this transfer, because this will be my last in this area. My new companion is really cool, he is relaxed, but he knows how to work hard and where to focus his energy. I think that the time we spend together is going to be an awesome experiencia. Something cool about Elder Morales is that he is a sketch artist, and he is really good, he drew my face and I felt like I was watching a camera. Well I love you all have a good week. Love Elder Roos.

Por Fin

7/9/14

    I hope that you all enjoyed the Fourth of July, here the day of independance is the 28th of July, but really it's only a big deal in the schools, Everyone knows what day it is, but nothing super big happens, but most of the men do use the day as an excuse to drink untill they can`t stand, like they do for any other holiday.

                      this week we the two baptisms this week, The baptisms of a Sister named Saturnina, and another named Benancia. Both are in their older years, but are very young in spirit. We have been working with saturnina off and on for about three months, she has such strong faith, and is ready to take the next step to advance in the gosploe, but she can`t read so it has been very dificult to learn as quickly as she would like. Sister Banacia also is super powerful, and she has an added problem, that she she can`t understand Español 100%, because here in Peru many people speek the native language called Kechuwa, and she can`t read in Kechuwa or en Español, but she is progressing so quickly. Theese two sisters are such an inpiration to me beacuse they are so humble and so willing to follow our father in heaven, and Every time that I hear Benancia pray in Kechuwa, I can feel her love for god and her willingness to do all she can to enter into the kingdom of God. I hapy to be in this area, and hope that in the comeing trasfer that I can stay here for 1 transfer more.

                      The wether here is getting a little colder, and I found that I have gotten use to a wamer kind of weather, and my husky Idaho gruff for winter weather has gon back to Idaho. I love you all and hope you are all doing well , Love Elder Roos.

6/30/14

  Bien, so mom told me that on her weather app  it says that there is rain in Lima, but it doesn´t rain in this part of Perú very often, but for the past few days it has been raining...but do you know  why? it is because we placed 3 new baptism dates, and God is prepareing the for what would have been a water shortage....that`s just a joke, but we really do have three more baptisms planed and it really has been raining. We are getting ready for Transfers this comeing week, and we are pritty shur that Elder Izquierdo will go because he will have six monthers here. But other then that no big news, my companion and I are getting thiner every day... I don´t know why because we eat a ton. Katy and Jorge are learning slowly but shurly, and we finally place a bauptism date on one sister that we have been teaching off on on for theese last three tranfers. I hope you are all doing great, sory for the short Email. Talk to you all next week. Elder Roos.

6/23/14  

    On my part I am doing well, the work also is doing well, we are have a little bit of trouble have the baptism part, but every day we are working a little harder to help these people over come their problems and concerns. I have grown to love the word ¨Problema (problem)¨ because it is a god given moment to learn and to grow.God has blessed us so much, in so many ways. We have found and taught over 30 new people in the last two weeks. We are working with some families that have true desiers to follow christ, and the Branch here is impoveing well.

                               Today I learned how service is important for missionary work. My companion, the sisters and my self, were riding in a taxi to go to our P-day activity as a zone, I was talking to the Taxi Driver, and to be honest it wasn´t going very well, it wasn´t bad, but it just didn´t feel like there was alot of progress in the conversation, when all of asuden, we ran out of gass. Here in Peru they use gass or gasoline. it went something like this... ¨¿Que paso? we ran out of gass, (but it just so happened that we were right next to a gass sation), ¨I use Gass not Gasoline¨ Oh, and where is the next gass place? ¨more than three Kilómetros ( I don´t know what that is in miles). We can push you ¨no it´s really far¨no we can push you. Then Elder Izquierdo and myself left the car and started to push...and push...I don´t know how far we pushed the car, but it was a really long time, but we never stopped, and it felt awesome. The streets here are always paked with people in justabout any time of day, and I don´t know how many peopel we passed, but they all saw what was going on. They all saw the moron missionarys pushing a caxi through many bussy streets and inter seccions. I hope that some one who saw that will one day have the chance to see to Elders standing at their door and will think ¨well they can´t be that bad, I saw two of them pushing a taxi the other day¨and then let them in to hear the message that they have. Now I don´t know if that will ever happen, but after we finally got to the gass place, the driver got out of the car and the first words he said was ¨Where is your church¨well we were more then happy to tell him, and we gave him a pamflet, and wrote down his information and commited him to come to church this week and find the missionaries there (becasue he lives in a diferent area). I flet really good, not only because we got in some really good ¨Cardiovascular¨ work in, but because, before we pushed his car, he didn´t care who we where or what we had to say, but we spaked his intest just a little, and I learned just a little more how to truely live life. ( mosiah 2:17) I love you all, have and awesome week! love Elder Roos.

6/16/14  

Okay so who are joge and Katy. They are a couple that we found about two weeks ago. One day after companionship study,after the closing prayer, Elder Izquierdo looked up at me and said ¨lets go visit Walter (a old investigator) and I said, but we alredy have plans for today, we just looked at eachother, and then we prayed again so that we could both know exsactly what to do. After we ended the prayer we looked at eachother and, ÿeah lets go! So we went to walter and when he aswered the door my companion told him that we were here to visit him, but fist ¨what families do you know that us three (including walter) could visit? Something that you should know is Walter Has a very strong testimony of the book of mormon, but has not been baptised because, if wife doesn´t want to get married and he doesn´t go to church. Anyway, just then a family walked by walter´s house and walter said, talk to them....and we did and they are a Famtastic family and they are getting married this week, and then we will baptise them.

                   But really They are a Super nice family, and they have gained a testimony so quickly, when they when to church, Key said that this is the place that she has been looking for for a long time. I love this family.

                   Other then that, it has been an interesting week, we had a lession in a pig pen...that was fun. But all is going well. I know this church is true and that it changes lives, I hope you are all doing well. Love Elder Roos

Catch up!

06/09/14

Que Tal Familia mio,

                            okay so things are going well, the work is moving more fluidly, and I am finding that my teaching skills are improving, I still have a ways to go but I am getting there, I really like to teach big classes, for examples Gospel principals class.However I also love teaching families and helping them over come their problems. We are teaching a Sister named Fransisca, and she is super interested in the message, and she goes to church ever sunday, but she will not a baptism date because of her super catholic husband. We also found a super Awesome family names Jorge and Kati, but more next week I am out of time. Love Elder Roos.

6/02/14

Hello everyone,

                     So transfers happened this week, and I am still in the same place with the same Elder, but with new hopes. I am in Imperial Cañete Lima Peru. it is starting to get colder, but that´s just because I live in south america, ¨cold¨here in peru is swimming weather in Idaho.

                    My comp. is still Elder Izquierdo, so this will be cambio number three. Which is funny, because I am one of the few Elders that has lasted more than one change with him, but I don´t say that to throw mud in the reputation of my companion, but just to let you know that these past two transfers have been something I will never forget. I really feel like this third transfer is a blessing, because I have learned so much love the pat few months, and I have seen a great change in Elder Izquierdo and in myself. It is funny how God takes people who are completely different and put them together so that they can grow and learn from one another. I really am happy to with here for a little more time, and us two have become something of a team, we still have so very much to learn, but I feel like some good this are coming to pass.

                      We have found some really interesting families, we are even teaching someone who is studying to be a preacher, and he has a big fat book of question (bring it on). I love how humble people are here, even when people hate us they still listen to what we have to say and alot of the time the are honest and say that they don´t wan´t anything, or they spew the same lame excuses about why we can not enter there houses, but my point is that the people are super nice here and we find alot of people, who really do want to change, and the fact is that we want to help them, so everyone wins.

                      The second best part of where we are is that the city is surrounded by fruit orchard, so I have eaten a lot of fruit....A LOT OF FRUIT!!!!!! and it will never get old NEVER! I love these people, I love this work, and I love fruit. I hope you are all happy and healthy, and mom that you so much for helping the Sister missionaries in Wapello they will never forget your help, and I bet when you help them you think just a little about your missionary in the field, and that sends blessings here. I love you all. Elder Roos.

05/26/14

Big News,

              Those two funny town drunks that I talked about before were baptized this week!! Brother Edwin wanted to be baptized at 3pm in a river with a tunic, just like Jesus was, and when we told him that we could only do it in the baptism font, he refused to be baptized, but after, a church video, a lot of scriptures, and a look at the baptism font my companion and myself were able to convince him to be baptized that day...but he was baptized using the tunic that usually only the women wear.

              These two men have some of the strongest testimonies that I have ever heard. after the baptism the son of Renauld gave his dad the biggest hug ever and they gust stayed there for a moment, and I was so happy to see how the gospel changes lives, and how happy his family was to see the change in this man.

Well life is good, life just keeps on going one day at a time, but it is going way too fast. It is getting cooler down here but not cold, we have found a few cool families that want the gospel, so that is good, but you will hallways have those born and die catholics and dominate peru. well I love you all so much, keep reading the Book of mormon it changes lives

05/19/14

So this week we had a really big District Conference, which is stake conference when you don't have a stake, and we had 450 people show up which was a ¨milagro. It was really cool to see all of the people there, and President Douglas Gave an amazing talk on the atonement. We are teaching some really cool families, one family is Fansica, Cristian, and Evelin, and antother are Juli and Eder. these two families are really cool, and they have a lot of desire to serve god, they are having a little trouble accepting the need to be Baptizted, again after their Catholic baptism, but the Book of mormon is a super powerful tool that is helping them see the truth of this message. I thought a lot about Christian during the presidents talk, because he has some addiction problems, and we explained to him that through the atonement all can be healed, and everything that is unjust in the world can be rectified. (alma 7:11). I am doing good and mom I did get that pizza recipe, we haven't made it yet just because we have next to no time. but thank you so much!! I love you all I am happy and healthy, and hop that all of you are the same!

5/08/14

  This week went very well...well mas o menos. After the change with the sisters, we are still trying to get off the ground in regards to our goals. we are having a few problems finding less active members who will let us in the door, and we are forever looking for more people who are ready to hear the gospel. Despite the little setbacks that we have faced this week, I am feeling very hopeful for this coming week, I feel like something good is coming. Today I read 3 nephi 1, and it talks about how the people who didn´t believe christ were ready to kill the people who believed in the signs of Christ coming. These people were ready to die for a new star that they had never seen, for a firm hope that they couldn´t explain. I learned that, that is how faith in Christ works, it keeps up happy, keeps us faithful, until the day that the new star of hope finally shines, and the hand of our enemies are stopped... and the best part of this story, it at the end the better part of people where baptized, because the missionaries never stopped preaching.

                          However we did find this ¨gigante¨ family of less actives, the ¨Dixion¨father had been away from the church for over five years, after he and his wife left eachother, wich then led to the falling away of the whole family. The children knew that the church was true, but hadn´t found the desire to go to church for years, and alot of diferent missionaries, have talked to Dixion, but they never budged. Howere we had a verry sucessfull lession, where Dixion told us every problem he had with the church, and basically his life story. At the end of his epic tale, he told us that his bigest problem was the book of mormon, and that he could not accept another book that wasn´t the bible. Well being Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Laterday Saints, we taught the Resteration, and long story ¨un poco mas¨ shorter, almost all of the family when to church this sunday and almost all of the testimonies were about the Book Of Mormon!

Can´t wait to talk to my family, I have to call on Monday the 11th, or maybe skype, but I will call today and check you you people. So I´m doing good, Read the Book of Mormon 15 min Cada Día!

4/28/14
Hello everyone!

                  The biggest thing that happened this week is that we got sisters in our branch, which is fantastic, but I changed everything. We had three investigators that have a date for baptism, all three of them are now investigators of the sisters. Two of these people are named Edwin and Rnauld, they are the most prepared investigators that I have known in my mission. Edwin was a reference of a stake leader, and the first lesson he was ready to be baptized and to start going to church, and the following week, we ended up teaching him and 6 others in one very big very well done lesson. In this group pf 6 people was this man named Renauld, and he accepted the restoration, very quickly. what we didn´t know is that he works with one of the members of our branch, and he knew that his coworker was a member of this church, and he had been waiting for the chance to talk to this man, but he never found the chance, and he was very happy to finally have the chance to learn more about this message, and the best part of this is these two guys were the biggest drunks ever!!! They have not touched alcohol in over a week, and the whole community is shocked, and everyone is talking about the change of these two crazy guys. I am so happy to see how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal us from what ever worldly problem that we suffer from (Alma 7:11). The sad part of this story is that the we no longer are able to teach them, but we know that the hand off to the sisters is going to be good.