Well Done Thou Good and Faithful Servant.

It seems unreal that the time for Elder Scott to come home is actually here. The past 2 years have gone by faster than I ever imagined, and ending almost sooner than I'm prepared for. It has been a marvelous ride, and one I'll forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for providing. 

In Elder Scott's last email home he included this sweet testimony about....well, testimonies, and he would like to share it with all of you.

So yesterday the bishop surprised us by saying Elder Quispe and I would both be giving talks in Sacrament Meeting 30 seconds before the meeting started. And I had the 15 minute talk. On top of that I got a call saying that President would be stopping by our house with the two assistants within an hour, and would need lunch. Talk about juggling, lol. But, I took this as my chance to share my final testimony as many didn't even know I was heading home this week. I chose the topic of the importance of a testimony. 

Each and every one of us has a testimony. Some are bigger than others. Testimonies are kind of like a dimmable light, sometimes they are lower in brightness, other times they are brighter. We need to do everything we can to always help our light shine as brightly as possible. This is done through praying, reading the scriptures, and attending church. 

Heavenly Father helps us grow our testimonies with the expectation that we use it to help our fellow brothers and sisters.  That's why it's so important that in every chance we are given we share our testimonies with others. A magical thing happens when we do that. Because when we share our testimony it not only helps the testimony of the other person grow, but it also helps our own testimony grow. It's kind of magical how it works!! 

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have an even greater duty to share our testimony in every possible time presented. There is no such thing as coincidences. Heavenly Father puts people in our path for very specific reasons, and we should do our best to never let those opportunities slip by us. People will see that you have something different in your very eyes. Something that shines and sets you apart. And thanks to the light of Christ that they have, they want to know what that is and also how they can have it. It's natural. So we need to be ready to always share our testimony. The salvation of another person literally can depend on it. That's something that I've come to know very well during these past two years and I have to say I love to share my testimony. You just feel the Spirit so strong every time you share it because the Spirit is always there testifying that the words you speak are true. 

I know that the Church that Christ himself established has been restored to the earth today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This Church has Christ at its head and is guided by a living Prophet with the same organization that Christ himself established when He was on the Earth. I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and can bring us so much peace and happiness in our lives. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have a love perfect for us. They always want what is best for us and are there to help us at every second of every day. I love my Savior and am so glad for everything he has and continues to do for me. I

I want to share this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.  

Elder Scott will miss Peru, but there's good news to be found during this tough goodbye and that is the guarantee that the Lord will continue to provide many opportunities for him to serve wherever life might take him. I have a feeling Peru will be back on his list to visit in the near-future (and he better plan on taking his dad and I!) and this goodbye is really a "see ya real soon!"

Some photos from Elder Scott's final month in Peru.

Elder Scott's final full day in Peru.

He'll miss the delicious food he's had in Peru, 

and miss the people even more.

By Small & Simple Things...

The other day I was able to go to Yungay with Elder Quincho to say goodbye to people before he left the area. During that visit we went to Hermana Karla's house. She is the mom of Jael, the 9-year old who I baptized when I first arrived in this area, even though I was not one of the Elder's who had been teaching him. Now the plan for the baptism had always been for his dad to baptize him, but his dad had fallen into inactivity prior to his baptism, and had been working hard at becoming fully active again. After working on his activation for a few weeks, his dad met with the bishop and passed an interview so everything was working out for dad to baptize Jael, but that was revised a day or two before the baptism when Jael changed his mind about who was going to baptize him and said I was going to do it! At the time I was with Elder Aldea on an interchange in their area and because of that I was part of the baptismal interview.  

We all tried to talk Jael out of it, like a lot, and have his dad baptize him. But his dad didn't push it, and said it was Jael's choice if he wanted me to do it, and then said it would be best if I baptized him. We left it at that  up until this past visit when we asked Jael why he had changed his mind. He then explained that on the way to his interview his dad had mentioned it would be best to choose someone else because he just didn't feel quite prepared to do it himself yet (by the way, dad is now fully active and serving in the Elder's Quorum presidency 🙂) As Jael was telling us this he shared these words with us, "My dad was like a peach, you have to give it time to ripen." Pretty inspiring words out of the mouth of a 9 year old! He then went on to tell us that his choice on who he wanted to baptize him was between me and Elder Quincho. He actually asked if both of us could do it, but the Elder conducting the interview told him he could only pick one. And so he picked me. So I asked him, "But why chose me if I hadn't even taught you?" He explained that days prior to the interview we had come over for lunch because we were spending the entire day in Yungay, and it wasn't feasible, or worth the money, for us to return to Caraz just to eat our lunch. After lunch we spent a few short minutes kicking around a soccer ball with Jael because he loves soccer. During that time he fell, and I helped him up and asked if he was alright. I don't even remember doing it, honestly. But that simple act impacted him so much. That was his reasoning for choosing me. So today I want to talk about the small and simple acts of service that to us might seem like literally nothing, but mean the world to other people. 

Every day we need to make it a habit to serve in small and simple ways. So simple that we might not even realize them, but these are the acts that change and put a mark on the world. These are the acts that stay with people.

It was rough narrowing down favorite photos this past month (I have over 1,000 to choose from, lol) so in the end I randomly chose a few from each batch Elder Scott sent home. I can't even tell you where he is in most of these, but each area is breathtakingly beautiful.

P-Day Activities

Zone P-Day Activity

 Celebrating the 4th of July

Making Monster Cookies

Saying Goodbye To Elder Jones

Random Photos

 A Special Greeting For Me

The Life Of A Missionary Is Filled With Blessings