Devil's Balcony

 I´m trying to overcome my fears here in the mission also. I´ve gotten a lot braver with dogs. haha I remember the first days of my training, we walked through this dark spot and a dog jumped out and started barking. I jumped behind Elder Matekel. haha He looked at me and said ''did you really just hide behind me?'' haha I´ve gotten a lot better having that a dozen dogs chase towards us every day. I got a new companion today! His name is Elder Pavon. He´s from Paraguay! He speaks spanish, and also a language called Wadani. Everyone in Paraguay is fluent in both languages!! He has eight brothers and sisters. He´s the only member in his family and was baptized three years ago. He got to the mission a change after I did, so he just finished his training. So, we´re both learning! haha I´m still in the same area. This week was good. We taught a less active member named Antoni and his brother Kevin, who is not a member. Kevin is sixteen. I´ve taught them before, but a  long time ago. We were talking about the book of mormon, and decided to challenge Kevin to baptism. I want to get into the habit of challenging people a lot sooner, like the first lesson, second at the latest. Kevin said yes, and seemed really stressed after that. haha but we talked to him and told him htat we are here to help him and if he has any questiopn he can ask for help from us. He´ps a great kid. We are teaching a kid named John, who doesn´t believe in God, but wants to know if He exists. So, he prayed to God. His words when he described his prayer were amazing. He told us that honestly he can´t really describe the feeling he felt, but it was something he had never felt before. Today we had a zone meeting and they talked about contacting. So, when we were walking in the street today after, we saw a lady carrying a big bucket. We asked her if we could help, and walked with her up the hill. I asked her if she had a family, and she said yes, and started talking about them . I then told her that God has created temples in the world today, where we can make promises with God, and have Eternal Families. She listened and was interested, so we got her number, and set an appointment. She was so excited asking if she could bring her kids to church! It was a great experience. I was kind of having a hard time the other day, and decided to read in Preach my Gospel. I wanted to find new people to teach, so I read the section ''How to find people'' or I don´t know what it is in English but something like that.. haha It said to follow the spirit. So, I just said to my companion (Who is super chill with doing anything, it´s so great) Hey let´s go to this person´s house. We started walking, and sure enough, a member was walking by. So, we asked her if she knew anyone who could use a visit. She said she did, so we started walking with her. A lady called to the member and asked her why she was walking with us. She explained, and turns out the lady had been wanting the Elders to teach her for a long time, just had never asked. Today we went on an amazing hike. It was so beautiful. I sent pictures, but honestly doesn´t do justice. I sent one with me and my companion by one of the four waterfalls on the trail. The hike is called ''Balcon del Diablo.'' or ''Devil´s Balcony'' in English. It was so fun. Elder Bird (the white dude in the pictures) and I jumped from rock to rock up the whole canyon. We hike through a river the whole hike until we got to a cave with a balcony really high up above the canyon. The pictures really aren´t that great of the balcony, just cool to go to really. I so want to go on this hike with you guys one day. It was a great day. I love you all and hope that you can keep your eyes open for spiritual experiences every day. I pray for you family and friends and I am so thankful for all the prayers that have been said in behalf of me and my family. It honesly means a lot. Have a great week!! LOVE YOU MOM!!!  

Resolving Conflict

THis week I decided that Elder Bejar and I are going to have success. So, I set a lesson this week for every single hour possible. I really don´t know how, but that was my goal, and there it was. We started out the week teaching Yenny (I think I wrote her name as Jeni before, but I was wrong... Sounds like Jeni still though) So, we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and asked her if she would be baptized. SHe Accepted!! We are trying to have a lesson with her and her inactive boyfriend to set a date of marriage. She has a lot of faith, and with some hard work, we will see her baptism. So, we started out this week with a few little arguments. Elder Bird and Yallico were mad at each other, and Elder Bejar and I weren´t exactly friends. We were walking, back to the apartment, and I decided to do the thing I´ve found best with these situations. Talk. So we talked. Talked about Surfing, sports, Soccer, Life, and by the time we go home, everything was cool. But, when we got back, we came in to see Yallico and Bird still mad, sooooo we decided to settle it. Elder Bird bet Elder Yallico that he could do more push-ups than Elder Yallico could do juggles with the soccer ball. THat was a mistake.... haha. If Bird won, Yallico had to contact every family they saw. If yallico won, Bird had to call every single lesson they had. Soooo, Yallico got 210. anddddd Elder Bird got 58. haha. They calmed down after that. We met a man this week, who has such a heart to change. He has his family, but has a drinking problem. His wife keeps asking him when he´s going to change, and he´s trying, but it´s so hard for him. We taught him once, and I hope so very much that we can continue having contact with him. For Elder Bejar´s last week, our goal was to have more lessons with members than he had had. His record was 15 lessons with members. I don´t like looking at numbers for success, but it was motivation for him to work, so it´s cool. We had 12 at the end of Saturday, so we had to get 4 lessons in with investigators with members. First lesson, felll through. Second, also. So we went to the young woman who has a baptism date named, Eva. She usually has a bad attitude about doing anything really, but today, she asked us if she could come to our lessons. So, we went. And got in three lessons. THe whole day I was praying we could get in our four lessons. It was late so I asked Bejar if he wanted to complete the sixteen goal, or go eat dinner. He said he was tired and wanted to eat. haha So, we ate. Elder Bejar is in the office now, getting ready to leave for home! He taught me a lot of patience, and how the mission works. I´m grateful for his service, and hope he can adjust to home life fast. THanks for all you do FAmily and Friends!! Your mission work is just as great and powerful as the work we do here. I have no idea who my companion is or what´s happening to me yet... I have to come back to internet later to see, so i´ll write you and let you know. Love you mom, and hope this week is great!! Pray for those that need your help, I´m praying for you!! 

Love, Elder Jeffery

Agent Desmond Jeffery

 I was reading in Alma a couple of weeks ago and the chapter is in my brain at this moment. It´s Alma Chapter 26. I quoted Alma 26:12 in my farewell talk, but after reading the whole chapter here in the mission, I want to go back and just read the whole thing in my talk!! It´s such an inspiration. We started off this week with Interviews with President Harbertson. What spirit filled day! I talked with him about Bountiful, and everything that´s changed since President lived in the Bountiful North Stake when he was my age. And after talked to him about Farmington and the people there that we could think of that we both knew. It´s good to have so much in common. His wife gave an amazing speech about loving your companion. She said something really interesting that  I hve been trying to apply in my life. She quote JEsus When he said that we should have NO Disputations, then she said the way to do this is through Charity. SHe said if we take out emotion there is no disputation. As soon as we through emotion into a decision, we lose control. I know I am trying to apply this concept in my life. So, we were walking in the street when all of a sudden, a drunk man started yelling towards us. Ok ok so what? A drunk dude yelling at us, this is normal day stuff people. But then I noticed his Sister standing there too, maybe had been drinking a little, but she told us that he needed help. He said back that no, she´s the one who needs help. She looked at us and said that her brother is drinking a lot and needs help, so we set an appointment to meet them in the same spot this week on Tuesday. I honestly thought nothing of it, we´ve set appointments with drunk people, and never had a lesson. But, sure enough we went back on Tuesday, and the woman was there. I don´t know if she was waiting for us, but she was there. She saw us, and told us her brother wasn+t there. We asked if we could talk to her a little bit about why we are missionaries. She said yes, and we had a lesson. On Saturday we came back to teach her. She was there waiting, and we went inside. Her brother couldn´t come. She had a lot of questions about prayer and if she could make her brother stop drinking through prayer. It was perfect becasue we had a member there with us who joined the church went on a mission, and because of his example, his family ( who were drinking before) are all now members. God knows his children. I know that through prayer and faith all things are possible. A woman we´re teaching named Jeni is very interested in the church. I think I talked about her last week. She was having thoughts of suicide. But now, she has a desire to go to church, but has to work. She´s trying to get it off, and we are praying for her to find a way to come. Please pray for her. She´s gone through so much and needs this gospel at this time. Marco Uman came to the lesson with us this week and bore his testimony of the church. It was so perfect for her because he has seen many trials, and is more than blessed since he came to the church. My companion goes home in 8 days!! He´s ready. haha poor guy is having the hardest time. President has helped me help him so much. He told me to ask him to help me with my mission, so that he can stay focused on his. It´s working! I´ll have to send pictures when he leaves. I love you Mom, family, and friends!! Have a great week and remember who you are!!

Letter to Desmond From Mariah
Welcome to Mission101 I'm your commander Mariah Jeffery and I will teach you everything you need to know about a mission first that your sister loves you second she misses you third guess what six more months until I'm 12 fourth may the force be with you love you so much agent Desmond Jeffery
 Signing out this is commander Mariah Jeffery email you later PS can't wait to hear back

Letter From Desmond to Mariah 
Reporting to Commander Mariah I repeat Reporting. Stop growing up Commander. I need you to stay young and fresh to teach me how to serve the mission. Mission Impossible is Possible. Remember that Commander. 

Signing out

Agent Desmond Jeffery

Christmas in Cusco

 was great to hear from you guys on Christmas!! And such a surprise to see everyone there to see me! I started off with a goal this week to start an exercise program with Elder Bird called, Insanity. It´s a two month program of intense exercises to get you huge. haha so, we started it on last monday, and after went and played soccer. I wasn´t sore at all after doing it and wondered if it even did anything. You don´t use weights. All body weight. Elder Bird told me to just wait till the next day. Boy, was he right. We felt it alright. I could hardly walk in the morning, and did not want to exercise. Elder Bird ended up getting sick,and so I haven´t done it since. haha THis week was full of inspiration. We were planning to teach a family named the Serain Family. They have slowely been starting to stop attending church. We´ve have been teaching about the sabbath day a lot, but this time, during planning, Missionary Work popped into my head. So, we taught Missionary Work. Turns out that the sister of this family was also at our appointment. She is inactive, and has two sons. Her sons are 17 and 23. They aregoing through some really rough times. The 17 year old has a kid on the way and the 23 year old is having doubts about taking his life. They refered us to them,and we ended up teaching them twice through out the week. Ronal, her 17 year old ended up coming to church a long with his mom and his girlfriend, who isn´t a member. I know that our lesson was inspired and is what they needed to hear in that moment. We had turkey for Christmas,and I haveto be honest, BEST TURKEY OF MY LIFE. Man, i´ll never forget that turkey. So I still can´t get over how huge Jeff is! What happened!! ? and his voice!? What grade is he in!? Wow. So, the Uman Family were all sooooo thankful for the gift to their little Isabel. They were all in tears when they saw it. I told them it was from you guys because hey, it is your money and all. They say thank you so much. On Saturday, I went on divisions with Elder Bird. We were walking back from a lesson, and a woman´s name came into my mind. Karina. We talked with Karina a few times, but neverhad had a lesson. I jokingly told elder bird that I had received revelation, and we needed to go to her house. on the way i remembered a talk from Elder Jeffrey R Holland that said that it doesn´t matter if you think it´s from you mind or from God. If it´s seems right, and goes with the church standards, do it. We could see the house, when on the other side of the hill came Karina and her daughter. We talked and she told us she couldn´t have a lesson until February. Afterwards, Elder Bird was like, was that the lady? I smiled and said it sure was. I don´t know why we needed to talk to her, but I know we were inspired to do so, and hopefully in the future, she can have a lesson and find the missionaries. Next westarted walking to another house. We ended up knocking on the door of a family named Zarate. The husband Welington was at work, but his wife Jeni was there with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. The husband and family members are members of the church. Jeni is not. We got there just in time. She told us that in the past, she had had terrible thoughts of suicide. When we started having lessons (we started having lessons about 3 weeks ago) she started to feel peace and hope in her life. SHe is having lots of problems with her husband and family. She told us that just yesterday,she had said that God is not real and that she started having these thoughts again. We were her answer. We didn´t know she was thinking this, we didn´t even have an appointment set. But God know. I hope and pray that we can help her find the truth. It will be hard, but she can do it. I have a testimony of our Heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit. if you have a prompting, ]I doesn´t matter how soft, just do it. Heavenly Father loves us all, and answers our prayers. Never forget why and what your purpose is. The Lord is on your side, He wants what´s best, even if we don´t see it. i love you family, and miss you all! I hope your new years is great, and we can all make goals that God would be happy of.. And today has been super slow and boring. haha I tried to get my companion to go with me to some ruins, but he just want

s to sleep all day. Oh well.  Until next week!

Feliz Navidad!!

Well, this week was all over the place! I started out with having divisions with Elder Bird. We went and visited a man that we contacted in a taxi one day. He´s actually a member, and his wife has assisted the church once. They are awesome! The man´s name is Ricardo. We taught the restoration, and the wife told us she felt peace during the lesson. I pray we see progress with them. The Uman family are doing great, and love helping us find people to teach. So, don´t worry I´m fine, buttttt my ankle started to swell up this week after doing some gymnastics with Elder Bird. But don´t worry becasue I rested one day, and it´s totally fine! I love talking to Elder BIrd about college what it´s like. He was sick when I rested with my ankle, so we talked for a while about random things. He told me something interesting. He said every time you see the word Hope in the scriptures, replace it with Expect. I finished the Book of Mormon this week, and I´m starting it again. A little different this time though. THe PResident gave us Book of Mormons for Christmas, and this year he challenged us to write how every page relates to you. I´m reading and writing two pages every day to accomplish the goal of reading it. I also am reading the same amount in spanish every day to finish it in spanish also. We are helping an investigator named Richard remodel his house. Which means make a bathroom, floors, and everything. haha They invited us to each lunch with them after, and we had Cuy! This time around I didn´t kill or pluck the Guinea pig, but I did take all of it´s guts out!! I don´t have pictures this week sorry next week for sure! We have been focusing a lot on ''What can I give Jesus this Christmas?'' I want to give him Charity and Obedience. I encourage you to do the same. Do what He would actually want from you. Make him smile. We went to a Christmas Recital and it made me miss the plays and performances and programs of my syblings. I never realized how awesome those were until I didn´t have them!  I can´t wait to see you for Christmas! Honestly, best gift ever!!! Just so you know I´m going strong, and haven´t opened my presents yet. I´ve been trained well. I gotta say thought, I´ve never been more tempted to open! haha Love you all and have an amazing week!!! Merry Christmas!!! I hope you have snow!! I heard you don´t have any yet??! I can see one mountain wayyyyy high up with some snow. I stare at it at times. haha LOVE YOU ALLLLL 

Love, 

Elder Jeffery

"I felt like I was in a movie"

This week we did a some crazy fun service projects! The first one was like I was in a movie. A man came out of a member´s house with pick-axes for us. Next, we walked up the hills we usually climb, and got to a giant hill passed the city. We started to zig-zag across the rocky cliff, and finally ended up on the top of the hill, and could see literally all of cusco. There was a good sized chunk of dirt on a slant at the top. We started to till up up up. The man just took his shoes off and started to go up tilling the earth. He honestly looked like he was from a movie. I decdided to try to be like him and took my shoes off, but after one row I decided to go back to shoes because there was a ton of glass all over the ground haha I don´t know how he did it! The next day, we built a floor! First we laid out a bunch of rocks flat on the dirt, as a base. THen, you have to make the cement witht these metal bowls that you have to turn to mix the cement with the water, and then pour it on the rocks! It was pretty cool and fun to see! This week we haven´t had much success with investigators, and have a goal next week to help them to get to church, and challenge to baptism. We found two families, that are ready if they pray and start attending church. I have a pillow now!!! I sleep ten times better. Last week we had a dinner with president and did a white elephant. I got a satchel. I wrote a paper with everything I wanted to say but forgot it and I can{t think of anything else right now haha so, have a great weeek Love you and can´t wait to see all of you Christmas!! Ten days left!! WEnt by sooooo fast!!!

Learning and Faith

Hey! So this week has been full of learning and faith!! I have a new companion, Elder Bejar!! This is his last change, and I was really worried he´d be trunkie, but I remember one of the first things he said to me was that he doesn´t know the word trunkie!! I´ve been trying my hardest to be as obedient as I can this week becasue I need all the help I can get! haha I was nervous at first becasue I have to lead the sector, saying where and what we do through out the whole day, talk to everyone, and lead the lessons, but honestly, this has been suchhhh a blessing!! Names come to my mind, words to my mouth, and there´s hardly a moment where I feel lost. It´s been hard at times, but every time I feel frustrated, God has honestly given me a miracle or an event we can work with. I think I´ve learned what it´s really like to love your investigators this week. We don´t have a lot of investigators at the moment who are progressing, but we do have a woman and her kids who are very interested in the Gospel, and she even prayed and had a dream that she wants us to help her understand. The problem is her husband doesn´t want his family to have anything to do with us now, and she can´t take lessons anymore. Please pray for this family, they mean so much to me, and I know this woman, Fauni, is ready for the Gospel. These cards ´´He is the gift´´ I think that´s what they are called in English? haha but these cards for Christmas from the church and the video on youtube is such a teaching tool, and have been using it in almost every lesson. This Christmas I´m asking myself, ´´what gift can I give to Him?´´ I know serving a mission in this moment is the best thing for me and if I am more and more obedient, he will bless me. I love you Mom, and everyone who is reading this letter. Share what you know is true, and try to be like Christ, and if we do this, we have given him a gift already. He loves you and can change your life if you let him. 

Love, Elder Jeffery