Bertoch Arequipa Peru Mission: Testimonies and Zone Conferences (and a little excitement)

We are down to 7 days until we head home. The first Sunday of July was fast and testimony meeting at church and I had made a goal to bear my testimony in Spanish in our ward (Alto Libertad) before we leave and this was my last chance. I wrote out my testimony in English and translated it. I practiced it and prayed for divine help, especially with my pronunciation. During the meeting I tried to gauge the right time to get up. While standing at the microphone I began to shake a lot. It was the only thing I could concentrate on. I could not focus on my pronunciation. I sat down feeling inadequate and wondered why my prayer was not answered. But as I pondered the situation, I realized that my divine help came not in the pronunciation (that was not what was important), it came with feeling the strength I needed leading up to that moment. I was able to follow through with my goal without feeling overly anxious or nervous (until I actually stood in front of everyone). I realized it didn't really matter what I said, but that the ward members knew that I was bearing a testimony of my Savior and feeling the spirit that comes with that.

Since I needed to write out my testimony, I thought I'd share it. It's in English and Spanish:

Sunday night we attended a Stake devotional for new converts and those investigating the church. Our friend Alicia was there. We were excited to see her and when we greeted her she said that she was speaking and that she had a surprise. She later announced during her talk that she had received a mission call to Mexico! She was baptized a year ago May. We have seen her periodically since then, but the last time we visited her she was still dating her boyfriend. Since that time, they broke up and she submitted her mission papers. Not long after she was baptized we went with her to the temple and Tim baptized her for her family members. She has now taken out her endowment and we are going to go to the temple with her tonight. After the devotional we congratulated her and offered to buy her luggage for her mission. The following Saturday, we met Alicia and her friend Melissa at the plaza. We were able to find her luggage and ate lunch afterwards.

Here we are at the plaza after buying the luggage

With Alicia after the temple

Last week we had a bit of Peruvian excitement. I was doing my morning pilates in the apartment and thought I could smell something burning. I thought maybe Tim was making toast or maybe he had put another batch of brownies in the oven (we made six batches of brownies that week to give out as rewards at zone conference for doing homework for English Connect). I had been down at the gym and had just returned. But nothing was happening in the kitchen. I asked Tim if he smelled anything, but he was in the back of the apartment and didn't smell anything. I finished up pilates and took a shower. As I was getting dressed the fire alarm went off which isn't unusual. However, since I had smelled something earlier, I quickly threw on some clothes, grabbed my phones (personal and mission) and Tim and I went out into the hall. We looked out the window in the hallway and saw a little smoke below us. So we walked the seven flights down and went outside. There were others already outside in pjs and many had pets. We could see the doorman outside the apartment on the 5th floor trying to get in and making phone calls. It took a while for the fire department to arrive, but when they did they knocked the door down and went in and opened windows and let more smoke out. It turned out the tenants left a pot on the stove and went out. We were eventually able to go back into the apartment and we haven't heard anything since. I just kept thinking how crazy it would be if we had to go home with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

I took a video of the fireman breaking down the door. Our apartment is on the left, second from the top.

This week has been zone conferences - the first ones for the Elliotts (the last ones for us). We attended the two conferences in Arequipa. I thought they went well. The Elliotts are in Tacna now for the final conference. I'd like to hear how that drive went for them the first time. It can be a little harrowing if you aren't used to it. Here is a photo of one of the conferences here. The missionaries are all pointing at us because we are leaving soon.

Since we didn't go to Tacna the missionaries are pointing to an English Connect book:

We were also able to get some photos with some of the missionaries:

Matching ties! Alicia's friend Melissa makes those ties and gave a couple to Tim when we were at lunch with her. Elder Musgrave is going home the same time we do. There is a large group of missionaries finishing their mission next week. We all took a turn bearing our testimony at zone conference. I, again, read mine in Spanish.

Two of our English Connect missionaries, Hermana Ramirez and Hermana Perea. They are both also going home the same time as we do.

Elder Ramirez is going home in August

Elder Rivera and Alverca served in the Alto Libertad Ward with us. They are not going home yet.

Then at church last week we took a photo with John (ward mission leader) and his family:

Benjamin is next to Tim and Nickolas is next to his papa.

We spent a lot of time with John walking the streets and visiting ward members and sharing messages. We enjoyed seeing his family at church each week. We had a bag of small coins (soles) that we never used, so we gave them to his sons, Nickolas and Benjamin. Benjamin gave us this Book of Mormon that he painted: