back to the city

Dear Family,

I'm back in Trujillo again, smack dab in downtown. My area includes most of downtown Trujillo and a smaller residential area next door where we live. I'm still getting over the initial shock of being back at sea level - both for the elevation change and the cultural difference. I think I've decided that country living runs in my blood (for generations back, if I'm not wrong), so I'm missing Cajamarca a bit. Nevertheless, I know the Lord has important work for me to do here in Trujillo.

Wednesday, I met my new companion, Elder Valencia. He's from Guatemala, fresh from the MTC. We spent the afternoon figuring out where we we were going to live, eat, and work every day. There had been sister missionaries in our area (who we were replacing), and for more than circumstantial reasons, we couldn't live in their same apartment. Luckily, our zone leaders had found us a nice room (third floor, looks like a college dorm) - we just didn't have any mattresses for our beds. So we stayed the night at the office elders' apartment (I slept on a mattress on the floor and my companion slept on the couch) and started working in our area first thing in the morning. Thursday, we got brand new mattresses - all we lack is blankets. But I didn't sleep with blankets the last time I was in Trujillo, even though we had them... but I imagine the blankets will be here soon.

About a block away from where we live sits the enormous Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (Trujillo National University) campus - so our apartment looks like a college dorm room for exactly that reason: it was designed for college students. Across the street is a Pre-University academy that prepares young students for the entry exams. We're basically in a little college town stuck onto Trujillo.

On Sunday, I learned that our ward is receiving the blessing of not just four, but six missionaries to work in it (while my old area two miles away remains without any). The assistants, who both worked in this area over a year ago, have been assigned to work here as their time permits. They're mostly going to look for all the families they taught the last time they were here and bring them to us to teach. It's an exciting time to be working here: I believe the Lord expects big things from us. And it's a bit of a trial for me, because I'm not yet used to working in the city again. A lot more doors get closed in our faces and people don't accept us as much, so I'm going to have to adapt to a new style of work. Furthermore, I get to train my new companion - which is a challenge from which I'm learning a lot.

Yet even in the midst of the discouraging difficulty, the Lord has blessed us with twice as many spiritual experiences. On our first night here, we knocked a door and a young man (college student) came out and talked with us. While we conversed, a young woman (his sister, also a college student) passed by and attempted to go inside the same house, but we started talking to her as well. We set an appointment for Saturday and came by, where the sister was waiting for us. She started out by asking what "Mormon" means, so we taught the Restoration of the Gospel in reverse, starting with the Book of Mormon and what it is, then teaching about where it came from. The young woman got really excited, and told us that the last week she had been feeling a little empty inside, even though she was surrounded by the people she loved and taking advantage of the great privilege of university education. She suggested that perhaps God had brought us here in answer to her prayers. (I believe that's true.)

The same night, we were searching for some members, using the directory of "Elders" from our ward. We went to the street looking for "Jorge Chavez 259", and found the houses going from 255, 257, and then jumping to 263. I imagined a little Harry Potter allusion, but didn't try running full speed into the wall between 257 and 263 - rather, we asked a young man in a store nearby. He gave some suggestions, but not answers. We explained who we were, and he said something along the lines of "no, religion isn't for me" and proceeded to cite some outrageous crimes, wrongs, and other atrocities committed in the name of religion - I mostly didn't understand what he was saying because he mentioned so many different things in such little time, but I got the gist of it. I held up the Book of Mormon in my hand and asked if he knew what it was. I asked him if he'd give it a chance, and my companion and I explained a little bit of what the book was about. The young man, who a moment before claimed to be an atheist, agreed to read 6 chapters before we come back (1 Nephi 13-14, 2 Nephi 28-29, 4 Nephi 1, Moroni 10 - we stuck in little bookmarks for all of them). It was amazing to see the change in his expression and the spark of interest in his eyes.

Last night, we were talking with a family that has been less-active for a little while. They had goals to go to the temple and be sealed, but they had some economic problems and the mother had to start working, and her job required that she work Sundays. She couldn't go to church, and her husband just wouldn't go alone (or with his two daughters, without their mother). But they were excited to have the missionaries over once again, and I think we talked about every subject under the moon before getting to the spiritual side of things. I tried to share the scriptural story of Abraham when he was required to sacrifice his son, Isaac. But I didn't need to read it, because the oldest daughter had seen it on TV during Semana Santa (that's the week before and including Easter) and gave a brief, but satisfactory, explanation. We then proceeded to ask a few questions. Why did God require it? They gave the usual response that He wanted to see Abraham's faith. But didn't God already know that Abraham had faith? What was the point of the task, really? Perhaps the Lord wanted to show Abraham something? Maybe He wanted Abraham to know just how much faith Abraham had. Maybe He wanted Abraham to feel that God was going to make of him something much more than he imagined. The words I shared seemed to come from another source, and the family was left without words. The mother said that it touched her deeply. There was an astounding peace in my heart as I watched the effect the little example had on a family that was about to start making sacrifices to reach a worthy goal.

Well, I have to go, my hour's about up. I love you all, and I thank you for your prayers and encouraging words.

Love,
Elder Withers