Arizona is Little Peru...?

This past week has been an awesome one for missionary work in Cave Creek! As the summer months wind down, more ward members are returning and more people actually answer the door. Hallelujah! Elder Smart and I have picked up two new people that we are teaching/working with, one of which may turn into a whole family of new people! We're super hopeful that this trend will continue and we'll keep finding people who have been prepared to receive the restored gospel. :)

This week has also been pretty crazy activity wise. On Tuesday I attended my first zone conference, which I was asked (coughnotoptionalcough) to wear a suit to. Since, as a Philippines missionary, I was told not to bring a suit on my mission, I ended up borrowing one from Elder Smart. Thankfully he was gracious enough to lend it to me and we're roughly the same size. The conference itself was amazing. Good messages, good instruction and a tangible spirit made it worth being in a wool suit during a 118 degree Arizona day. 

On Saturday, the stake that I'm serving in held one of the most interesting events I've ever been a part of. Apparently the 28th of July is the Peruvian Independence Day, and having a very large Peruvian community in the stake boundaries, the stake decided to throw a full scale Peruvian celebration. No one had any idea how many people were going to show up since many of the invitations were sent out over Facebook. So, to be safe, the stake made food for about 250 people and set up tables and chairs for that number. You can imagine our surprise when about 480 people walked in the door, about half of whom were actually Peruvian. We really though we were in trouble at that point, but after a bunch of frantic scrambling for furniture (I think we were literally using every table and chair in the building) and a miracle to the effect of Jesus multiplying the fishes and loaves, there was enough seating and food for everyone. There was traditional clothing displayed, a legitimate Peruvian band was brought in and even church members who knew nothing about Peru were soon joining in dancing to the music. With the huge turnout, good interaction, and several missionary referrals obtained, the event became a smashing success.

Sunday I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting for two of the three wards Elder Smart and I cover. One of the talks I had 15 days notice for and came well prepared. The second I was informed of 15 hours beforehand and ended up having no time to prepare for. Oh missionary life. :) I actually ended up just throwing my well prepared talk in a mental blender and then pouring the resulting idea smoothie out of my mouth for the second talk. This created a better flavor than expected (it's raining miracles!), though I still don't want to feel that unprepared for a talk ever again... Especially when, ironically, the subject I was speaking on was "Preparation" :P

Finally, this morning we went on an awesome hike up to some Native American ruins on a hill in our area. This particular hill also happens to be in one of the most heavily guarded communities in America, so we had a bit of help getting in. The Meyers (Yup, still those Meyers) happen to live on the side of this hill, so we called them up and got their permission to get in. Being so removed from outside people (like me), the ruins were pretty much untouched, and it was cool to see lots of ancient pottery and intact stone walls. The view was incredible at the ruins, making it worth the roughly hour climb.

All in all, it's been a great week for missionary work in Cave Creek. We are making real progress, and we are hoping to have one of the people we are working with on date to be baptized within the next week. I am so grateful to God for the blessings He has poured out upon Elder Smart and I, and I'm grateful for the support of each one of you. Please take care and have a wonderful week!