Monday, April 13, 2015

April 13, 2015

Hola Familia,

My week was pretty good. Victor passed his baptismal interview and was able to be baptized on Saturday. He even asked me to baptize him. We met him on my first day in this ward so I have been able to be here the whole time we taught him. The baptismal service was supposed to start at five in the afternoon on Saturday. People didn't show up until at least seven. It was awful. With conference, we weren't able to broadcast it as well that there was a baptism. I started showing Mormon Messages on a TV while we waited for people to show up. Finally the Bishop showed up and some members. (We, the missionaries, burned the members a little bit the next day in ward council). Just a little more Peruvian Standard Time (PST) for ya. It was a simple service that ended up going really well. The baptismal font was completely full, so when I baptized Victor, I had to drop him really low. I was worried I would have to do it again but all went well and he was baptized the first time.

Mirella's mom is doing all right. She is not progressing as well as some of the other investigators that we have. She still hasn't decided if she wants to get married yet. I will still be going to the wedding though because we registered a less active family to finally get married. They have been less active for more than 16 years. They are finally starting to come back to church and have finally decided to get married after almost 14 years together and 2 children. It is way normal for people to live together their whole life without ever getting married. They are going to get married and we are going to help prepare them to go to the temple and be sealed.

May is looking really good for us. We have at least three families who are very interested in learning more. One of them, The Crisostomo Family, is super cool. On just our second visit, the mom told us she was going to miss us when we get transferred. Whenever we go over there they always give us something to drink, and some crackers or fruit. They didn't go to church this week because their 14 year old daughter spilled boiling water on her leg and burned it really badly. It was all blisted and she could barely walk. I usually don't except excuses from people when they don't go to church but I could except that one.

I did get a little sick this week but nothing serious. Thursday and Friday I had a stuffy nose, sore throat, and a headache. It was super hard to get out of bed, focus, and go outside to work. It passed really quickly though and I feel a lot better now. I am amazed at how healthy I have actually been for being in a foreign country. I am suprised that I haven't actually got even more sick.

I still haven't recieved my packege yet but it could be in the mission office. The sister of the lady who lives below us is going to Utah tomorrow to study at BYU. She asked me if I wanted to send anything with her. She will be going up to Ogden for a friends wedding at the end of the month. I think I will buy a USB today and put all my photos on it in their computer tonight. If I end up doing that I will write a short email to you guys tonight with her information so you can contact her.

Love you lots,
Elder Karter Isaacson

Monday, April 6, 2015

Happy Easter! (April 6, 2015)

Feliz Dia de Pascua,

I hope you all enjoyed conference this weekend. I know I did. I got to see all 5 sessions, although I only saw the start of the Preisthood session. We went out into the area to go get people and they weren't ready yet so we would get there late. The Peruvian time schedule is worse than Mormon standard time. We would get there to bring the people to church and they would have just started to change. We got to every session between 15 to 30 minutes late even though we left an hour and 15 minutes before conference to go get them. Since I got to conference late I only heard the end of President Monson's talk. I really enjoyed Elder Holland's talk and Uchtdorf's also. Conference was a lot better this time because I could actually understand it. I didn't struggle at all not falling asleep like I did during my first conference in the mission. Our investigators, recent converts, and less actives that listened to conference really enjoyed it, too. A lot of messages were centered in the family and the blessings that they can receive. I am pretty sure some of the messages about marriage will help motivate a few of our investigators get married so they can be baptized. It was a little trunky to listen to but it will help the investigators. :-) Even though I understood the talks I still want to be able to read them and study them so when you send a package I would like an Ensign of conference.

Mirella's mom came to conference and really enjoyed it. She was really busy this week and it was hard to get a hold of her so I am not sure how she feels about getting married yet. We have an appointment with her on Tuesday and we will bring up marriage again. In these coming weeks there will be a matrimonio masivo (massive marriage) that the mission does. A lot of people need to get married to get baptized but it is difficult to get everything ready to be married. The mission prepares everything and makes sure everything is done right. We will be marrying a couple hopefully in March. They were both less active and have never gotten married. They want to get married so they can get sealed in the temple.

Victor is super excited for his baptism this coming Saturday. We have a lesson with him tonight and he will have his final interview tomorrow. He and his wife are already talking about getting sealed in the temple one year after his baptism and he isn't even a member yet. I am sure everything will go well with his interview and I am not really worried about anything.

Where it was Easter this week, it was kind of crazy in the streets. School was out on Wednesday until Sunday for the holiday. There were so many Jehovah's witnesses in my area these past few days. When we would walk past them they would just sort of glare at us. We still were very nice and said hi to all of them. We were killing our enemies with kindness.

We had 15 of 24 recent converts at church this week. The percentage is slowly climbing up. We also had 3 different part families come to church. We are working with all three to complete the family and baptize the family members who aren't members.

Congratulations to Tyler. I can't wait to hear where he is going. He is going to come to the Mision Peru Lima Norte. I am sure of it.

Te amo,
Elder Isaacson

Giant water balloon fight with my new zone in Indepedencia.



Monday, March 30, 2015

March 30. 2015

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Well, This is going to be a really short letter probably. The computer wouldn't let me get into myldsmail for almost a half hour. Maybe I will talk my ZL's into letting me stay a little longer.

You make me laugh when you talk about rain. That word just about doesn't exist here. Remember that Peru has a ton of different climates. Lima is a desert, and the northern part is even worse. It never actually rains here. It did get cooler Sunday morning. We woke up to a ton of fog and couldn't see anything. Everything was a little wet because it just is a mist of water. Supposedly it is like that all winter long. One member did show me all the flooding on the news one day just because he wanted to. It would be cool to have an area that is actually green like the areas that were flooded. The computer may say that it is always 70 degrees here but it feels a lot hotter. I think the computer is telling you the tempature for the Center of Lima. It gets a lot hotter and colder in Northern Lima.

Megan, my future sister in law wrote me but I am not sure if I will have time to read it and reply today. I can't believe you are already trying to marry me off. A picture might help still.

We were able to baptize Angie and Mirella this weekend. The baptismal service was great. They were confirmed on Sunday and Pres. Erickson came to our ward to visit. He didn't say much to us but interviews are on Tuesday. All the members enjoyed what he had to say. We had fast and Testimony meeting this week because next week is conference. We are now teaching Mirella's mom. For her to get baptized she will have to get married. We are going to start working on her papers so she can get married and then get baptized. Her ''husband'' is a member and that is how we met Mirella.

I am super excited for General Conference this coming week. Maybe I will understand a lot more this time. The first time was really hard to understand anything. Victor is excited to listen to the prophet too. He can't wait to here what he has to say and he is also super excited to get baptized on April 11th.

I feel like I am working in a gold mine. Everyone wants to listen to us.

Thanks for all you do,
Elder Karter Isaacson

Monday, March 23, 2015

March 23, 2015

Hola,

It sounds like you have a lot of questions this week for me. To answer the first one, yes I like my new area. It seems that everyone we talk to accepts us. My planner is full until Saturday already and it is only Monday. Whoever we contact says we can come back and teach them. Everyone here is super humble and accepting. I think I might have to cut down some of the people to visit so we can visit people who will progress. That is the problem here. They are really accepting but don't keep the commitments to come to church and to read the scriptures.

I am not a 100 percent sure you found the right chapel. The Stake Center is on the Tupac. Mine is higher up buy a school. From the church, there are 2 hills. The one directly behind the church is the other companionship in my ward. My area is the hill next to that. It is higher up/deeper into the hills. I have no idea what streets I live on. I am pretty sure that the google earth truck couldn't drive up the hill anyway to take pictures where I live.

Yes, the bed bugs are dead. Our roof is kind of like the barns roof. It is like the sheet metal but is plastic. I think the bed bugs/fleas fall off the cats and then crawl between the overlaps of the sheeves. They then fall into the house. I would almost prefer to sleep under the stars. It wouldn't be so hot in the house if there was no roof. And actually, when I was in Mexico in July, it was winter here in Peru. It should start to cool down here for me in April and May.

I should have a couple baptisms coming up this Saturday. I just had to take over the teaching when I got here. It has been pretty easy to get them prepared to be baptized. I am really excited to baptize a man named Victor in April. I met him my first day in this area. He is the husband of a member. His wife made a joke about when we were going to teach him and he accepted instantly. He has accepted everything we have taught him, goes to church, and reads the scriptures. He is a golden investigator. We haven't ran into any problems yet that would impede him from getting baptized.}

The hedgehog looks pretty cute. I can't wait to find out if it tastes like guinne pig.

Love,
Elder Isaacson

P.S. If you are going to send an Easter Package, I would like some nice leather work gloves. All the work gloves here are the fabric ones that don't do anything

Monday, March 16, 2015

First Transfer! (March 16, 2015)

Hola de Magnolias,

Well, I am sure you can't wait to know if I was finally changed. The answer to that is...Yes. I am now in the Magnolias Ward in the Indepedencia Stake. Indepedencia is really close to the mission offices. About 10 minutes away. I thought my old area had a large hill, which is true, but nothing compared to my new area. My old area started out flat and then went up the hill. My new area is just a hill or mountain. I live in the hill in my area. We have to climb up so many staircases and hills everyday just to visit our investigators. I thought that would make it more difficult for them to come to church but we had five investigators there. So that is great. I have heard that this area has a lot of success. There are 22 converts in the last year in just my area. In the ward, between the two companionships, there are just over 50 converts in the last year. I hope I can have success here too.

My new companion is Elder Rivas. He is from Ecuador. He just has three months in his mission. He just finished his 12 week training. I am now the senor companion and have to take a lot more responsibility. He was trained really well though. He knows the lessons really well and I don't worry when he teaches parts of the lesson. He is a really cool kid. His birthday was Tuesday, or the day I arrived. A few of the members gave him cake for his birthday.

The new house I live in is not near as nice as the old house I lived in. I now don't have couches and the room is a lot hotter during the day. My companion told me that it would get up to 95 degrees in the house during the summer during the day. It isn't that hot now but it is still really hot. We study outside on the porch so we don't burn to death. It isn't hot at night though. I sleep fine other than the bed has bed bugs or fleas. We are going to go buy insecticide to kill them today.

That is super sad about the missionary in Kaylee's ward. I can't believe she died in her mission. You don't have to worry Mom. I don't drink dirty water and I eat fine. I don't know why you worry so much about things like that.

I am glad Kenzie had a fun time at Prom. I still can't believe she is old enough to go to Prom. I thought life would stop and wait for me while I was on the mission, but I guess I was wrong. Kenzie is going to prom and Kyle is getting married. Life still goes on.

You really should send me a bracket. I think it would be fun to play March Madness. Let's hope the teams from Utah do good.

Love you lots,
Elder Karter Isaacson

There are cats that live on the roof above my room and we are pretty sure a few fleas fell off of them and into our beds. I am fine without a flea collar. I can't believe you guys gave in and actually bought Kenzie a hedgehog. Maybe it tastes like guinnia? pig. I will just have to get home and try it out. Just fatten it up for me so I can cook it and eat it when I get home. I will just ask some members to teach me how to cook it.

These are two pictures I took with a missionary while on a work visit. With the first one, I am sorry if I ever complained about cutting the grass. I am so greatful for a lawn mower.


The other one is of the mom and step-dad of Hugo. Hugo was baptized. The step-dad is way drunk. He was drinking pure alcohol with Cifrut (it is like Sunny D).


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

March 9, 2015

Como estan,

Well, I had a great week. I will start with Monday. I thought it was early too for a Mundial. We were right. Appearanetly (I forgot how to spell it in English) a few elders tried to plan a mission wide activity before they went home. They wanted to have another soccer tournament before they went home. I don't know quite what they were thinking. How is president not going to find out about a mission wide activity. The President found out and cancelled it. We ended up playing with 1 other zone in a different dirt field. It was fun. Afterwards we all went to Chili's in Megaplaza to eat.

I went on a work visit this Friday with Elder Lee. His dad served in Holland on his mission at about the same time as you Dad. Maybe you know each other. We had a great time. We worked really hard and contacted everyone. We knocked on one door and a lady named Adelina answered. She let us right in. She told us that her sister had been baptized just 2 weeks before in another zone in the mission. She was super excited to learn the same things her sister had learned. I gave her a Book of Mormon yesterday and I am pretty sure she will start to read it.

The baptism of Estify went great. There were 3 baptisms this week in my ward. Two for the ZL, and one for me. We couldn't do the baptisms together because of the peoples schedule, but both ceremonies were really nice. Elder Lee, Zundel, and I sang I am a Child of God during the first baptism. We sang the first verse in Spanish and then we sang the first verse again in English. The people really liked it. The three investigators were super excited to be baptized and all three were confirmed yesterday in sacrement meeting.

I am really excited, yet scared for changes. I have been here since I started my mission in August. I only know Año Nuevo. I would like to go other places and meet new people, but I have also grown to love the people here and don't want to leave them. They have become great friends to me. I said goodbye to some members this week and the things they told me really touched me. I am so glad I was able to help so many people get to know the church or come back to it. I will just have to wait a couple more hours to find out if I go or not.

I am glad you guys had such a great week. Kaylee's and Dex's new car should be great. Subaru's are great cars. I like that year because they put a new body on the same chassis. It will be a good car.

To settle your argument, my shoes are soccer cleats, but with the indoor tread. I can use them as normal shoes if I want to. They are great and felt good on my feet as I played monday and this morning.

That's great to hear that Carson had a great mission. It sounds like he learned a lot. I really like the small story you shared with me this week. It is so true.

Te amo,
Elder Isaacson

I love this family so much. I went there on my first day. They have finally started coming back to church. They live at the top of the hill so I think that makes it hard for them to get there. I know it is hard for us to get to them.

Only one photo today, I just ran out of time.


Monday, March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015

Feliz Dia,

I figured you would like to see some photos of me since I haven't sent any since I got here. I hope I am not getting fat. I will have to start doing more excercise than just walking up a hill all day long. I will have to do a little more to keep my perfect form it looks like. It sounds like you are more trunky than me (one third of your mission complete), but I already knew. I actually knew about Anne and Harrison. I write them almost every week. It is crazy what happened in his mission. That is great how Tyler was able to baptize Alex. Just a little preperation for his mission. I can't believe Kenzie is going to Prom. She's not old enough to do that. And Kyle's wedding, what is he thinking doing it in May? First his anniversary, then Mother's day, and then his birthday. That will be a crazy month for him. You might be able to use a cardboard cut out of Obama and put my face on it. I am in the sun so much here I might just be that dark by the time I get home. Although I do have a horrible farmers tan.

This week was great. We got the baptismal permission for Estify. She will be baptized this Saturday at 11 in the morning. She is starting to invite all her family and friends. She can hardly wait. We are teaching a couple of her cousins with her right now and maybe they will want to get baptized after they see her baptism. I will just have to wait and see. Actually I don't think I will be able to see. Transfers are March 10. I am almost 100 percent sure I am going. Everyone keeps telling me that I am going to go this change and I think they are right. I am kind of excited to see different areas and meet new people. I will start saying goodbyes this week and taking lots of photos with the people.

I was able to work really hard this week doing service with the hermanas in Belaunde. We put in a staircase in the side of a hill with old tires. We dug a stair into the side of the hill, and then we would put a tire there and fill the tire with dirt to make it stable. It was an older couple who needed it. We did it because the wife had fallen a few weeks ago. I was really glad we could help. We worked really hard. Afterwards, when I got home I really didn't want to go work because I was tired. I then thought of this: I will never say after my mission that I worked too hard in my mission. I might say that I didn't work hard enough. I don't want to say that. It made me realize that I will work my hardest every day for my entire mission. I hope I can do it. Oh, also while we dug, I saw a small scorpion. It kind of scared me when I first saw it. I wonder if there are a lot here.

Today is the next soccer tournament. We made jerseys as a zone. They are pretty cool. I also bought new shoes last week. I wanted to have new ones for the tournament. I also needed new ones because the ones I brought have no tread and have two giant holes on top. They needed to be replaced. I ended up buying Umbros for 80 soles. Thats about 27 dollars. I really like how everything is really cheap here.

Well I think that is about all. I love you and take care,
Elder Karter