La cachina

An absolute champion named Jorge Videla got baptized on saturday. His wife is a member. They got married right before I got here so she could get baptized and now he has gotten baptized as well. So cool. He is super stoked and is such a good convert. The whole family is now members and they are one of my favorite families from my mission. Families are forever. 

We went to "La cachina" in the mercado Modelo in Chiclayo. Modelo is the craziest market I have ever seen. They sell everything you can ever imagine there. There is a part called "la cachina" where people sell stolen stuff. It was nuts. It was the first time I have ever felt unsafe down here. Some sketchy people in there. 

We saw a guy throw a brick at another guy this week. Lit him up. 

A gallinaso (turkey vulture) landed on a telephone pole this week in the town center of Pomalca while we were walking down the street. All of the sudden we heard a huge boom, turned around and there were huge sparks flying and the gallinaso was blown to smithereens. Then the power went out for the whole town. So hype. It was insane. Literally out of a movie. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. 

Right after the gallinaso got blown to smithereens we had nothing going on for about 2 hours. All of us had the feeling to go to the town center park to contact. We walked straight there and walked up to the very first person. He was the most prepared person I've ever met. The first thing I said was how we are missionaries and we share the good news that through Christ's atonement we can receive forgiveness and apply his sacrifice through faith in him, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy ghost and enduring to the end. The guy broke down and told us he was waiting for an answer to all of his questions there in the park. Crazy. Very rarely do these moments happen, but when they do, it is so cool. It is so cool to feel like an instrument in God's hand and see it so clearly and prominently. Will he progress? Who knows. But man I love moments like that. 

I bought a baby chicken for 3 soles and then just gave it to someone

It always baffles me that we can receive a reference from social media, meaning that someone sees a video, fills out their name, adress, phone number, etc. Call them within 5 minutes. They answer the phone "ALÓ?!?!?!, CON QUIÉN HABLO?!?!? ALÓ?!?!?!?". I swear every time. They answer and they seem so mad. We can never hear what they're saying. I swear they are running a chainsaw half the time it is so loud. And then 90 percent of the time they don't even remember the add they saw and put every bit of personal information they have into. You put every bit of personal information you have other than your social security number in 5 minutes ago and you don't remember? Pretty funny.

Why do people answer the phone as if they were super upset here? Is that a peruvian thing? Or maybe a latino thing? I've always wondered. Why do people seem so mad that you call them? I love it, I think it is so funny. Anyone can get a call. Literally it can be the nicest peruvian ever, and yet they still seem so incredibly upset to answer the phone. It's hillarious. I've seen people get calls from the girl they like and they answer the phone as if they had just got their arm cut off. I want to know if thats a latino trait or just a perú thing. I think it is absolutely hillarious.

I forgot the moon isn't a planet. That blew my mind. Forgot about that one. Shoot. My IQ is in shambles. 

I love the talk by elder Oaks "the teachings of Jesus Christ". I remember when he gave it thinking it was interesting to give a talk using just scriptures, but it is so good. 

"We are given the scriptures to direct our lives. As the prophet Nephi taught us, we should “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” Most of the scriptures reporting Jesus’s mortal ministries are descriptions of what He did. My message today consists of a selection of the words of our Savior—what He said. These are words recorded in the New Testament (including the inspired additions of Joseph Smith) and in the Book of Mormon. Most of these selections are in the sequence in which our Savior spoke them. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are … they [which] do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.”