# 65

Well I'm glad the crisis of last week is over because this week was soooo much better. Thank you sooo much for the prayers in my behalf. They were heard and answered and felt.

Well this week we had a baptism! I don't know if I've talked about Paty before, but we met her about a month and a half ago. In fact it was exactly 1 transfer after we met her that she got baptized. Yesterday in fact. Last transfer, in week one, we met her, and week one in this new transfer she got baptized. It is by far the fastest baptism that I have had, but it was also the most... solid. Like Paty was seriously prepared from the get-go. She's not going anywhere. She has gone through a lot of hard stuff in her life, and she is only 20 years old, like heart surgeries, possible cancer, ugly break ups (that's actually how we met her...) and the most recent one is that her mother does not support her. At all. She came to her baptism alone, crying, but with the firmness still in her heart of the decision she had made. She really is an amazing person. It's been a hard but short road with her, and yesterday, we got to participate in her baptism. Have I ever told you how cool it is being a missionary?? 

SO yeah I'll send pictures when my comp finishes sending them.

Lets see what else. 

Well, we went to a hotel to go find Rene, our recent convert from August. He's going through some stuff so we went looking for him at his work. We knocked on the door, some guy walked out, we asked if Rene was there, he said no, we turned to leave. But just as I was turning, a white guy walked out of the hotel. And it was Michael Buble!!

I hope someone actually believed that.  Probs not. Ha no it was some white skinny guy and he starts talking to me in Spanish. He says "This is a very economic hotel. Its very nice and you wont find anything like it anywhere close to here." Well I wasn't looking for a place to stay obviously so I just told him "Oh we live here in Cusco, we're just looking for someone. Thanks!" And I thought to turn again, but then something told me, "Wait!" so I stayed for a second, even though this guy was scaring me a little bit. But after just a second, he says to me now in English "Mormon right?" 

"Yeah! you know about the church?"

"Of course. I was one. A long time ago." Well his English was perfect, and his Spanish as well, so I didn't really know where he was from so I asked and he said that he was from California, but had lived in Peru for 7 years. His mom is Colombian and his dad gringo. His name is Rico Johnson. 

Well his statement about having been Mormon a long time ago intrigued me, so I asked and he spilled the whole story. Wow this guy could talk. And he did so in Spanglish. Which is the language I speak best so all good for me.

 

He was a missionary in Florida like... 20 years ago. And then just because of certain things all throughout his life, he starting distancing himself from the church. He calls himself a missionary now. He goes to little communities around Cusco and helps them and lives among them and gains their trust and becomes there friends. He doesn't have any work or anything, just goes around living. So interesting guy right? Well during all this, I was wondering why he even came out and started talking to us in the first place, because he didn't even work in the hotel. He just left. Well after talking to him for about 30 minutes, he told us why. He said that he was sitting in the lounge of the hotel, listening to some Peruvian preacher on the radio and reflecting on how he needed God more in his life. Then, he looked out the window and saw blonde hair. Blonde curls he said, I curled my hair that day, and that he figured it was some tourist looking for a place to stay. And well, he's very "good Samaritan" type so he felt that he should go help the poor tourist in distress because maybe she doesn't speak Spanish and needs help, so he exited the hotel. And then he saw the plaques and thought "Well God literally just pulled me out of the hotel and kicked me into the street saying ´you need them!´!" And he accepted the missionaries and he wants to read The Book of Mormon again. And it was just very interesting. And the weirdest part of all is that Rene, didn't even work at that hour and we knew that when we went, but completely forgot. So everything just kind of fell into place for us to find this lost brother. I don't know if he'll go back to the church, we won't even be teaching him because he lives in a different ward, but I know that he found us because God prepared the way. Everything was prepared. 

So those were just two things that happened this week. There really was much more, but alas, I do not have time. But miracles are always around the corner.

Well that is all for the week!

Hermana Rust