Christmas 2015

"On this Christmas I send my love to every missionary, every man or woman in the military, every student, or employee, or traveller who "won't be home for Christmas," as the carol says. Keep your faith. Look for the good in your situation. Do something kind for someone. Seek Christ devoid of wrapping and tinsel. You will find that despite your external circumstances, Christmas, like the Kingdom of God, is...within you. -Jeffrey R Holland

I love what Elder Holland said, it made me think that we (Missionaries) aren't the only ones away from home. Instead of turning into ourselves, we can turn out to others and comfort them in this time.

We had 2 baptisms scheduled for this week that fell through, one is a sweet old lady who we found contacting and she received a testimony of the book of mormon and priesthood authority, what stops her from being baptized already is her very catholic husband who refuses to sign because "she doesn't need a second baptism."

The other is a sweet old lady who has had contact with the church for many years now and recently opened up her old Book of Mormon that she has had forever and received a strong testimony. She came to the chapel and said "after many years I have finally decided, heat up the water, I want to get baptized" so we were so excited, she had her assistances, we were teaching all the lessons, but then she told us "Elders, I want to get baptized, but I don't want to pay tithing, and there is no way you can convince me to." 

With these both great challenges we have been able to recognize that it is by the grace of God that these people are saved, after everything possible that we can do. We taught her husband and explained to him with many scriptures, but his traditions and beliefs don't allow him, he said maybe with more time. So that is a great hope that here in a few weeks or months his heart will be softened. And with the other sister, we have testified of the Book of Mormon and in another lesson dedicated to sincere prayer, her heart has opened up as well and this Sunday we saw her pick up a tithing slip and study it. I know God has a plan for these two sisters, and I trust in him when he says that everything has its proper time and place.

It was a great week though, I've never had so much fun before in the mission. I love my companions. This whole week we have gone with out water in our house! The pipes from the hills broke and got filled with mud, and our whole street has been w/out water all week. I finally got sick of the bathroom smell so I went down to the river with a few buckets to bring to at least flush the toilet haha. We have been going about 4 blocks up to where the pension lives to shower in a members house, the house that I used to live in haha. (how I told you changed houses with Tio).

We went up to that same place for pday last week where we had gone the week before, but this time with the whole zone, of 18, 8 got half way up the hike, another 6 to the top, but only me and 3 others to the top top. You get to the top, and then there is another little way to go to get to this really beautiful garden up in the cliff side a little above. I'm so grateful for all of the endurance training from rugby and football and I'm not worried at all for when I get back to start right up again playing sports. I might have a better heart rate now that what I did before (tell that to Rocky and Rachelle) haha.

It was awesome talking to you for a minute on the phone to set up our Christmas call! So yeah Christmas I'm going to call home!! Plans for Christmas, Today we are going to a buffet as a whole mission and then we are going to a stake there in Lima to play games, make treats, and have a talent show and have a good time, then on Christmas day we are doing almost the same thing but just lunch as a zone, and then we are having a massive baptism, everyone who has investigators who wants to get baptized, we put their date for the same day... Christmas! It may not snow here, but it will still be a white Christmas :)

Life is amazing!! You wouldn't believe the progress and amazing things I am learning. This is a time of joy! I gave a talk in sacrament and I started out saying really loud "Rejoice, a savior was born! If you're sleeping right now, Rejoice, a savior was born! If you're on your phone instead of listening, Rejoice, a savior was born!" It was the best. MERRY CHRISTMAS! I love you so much!
--
Love,
Elder Lambson :)

December 14, 2015

We went to the coolest little place last week for Pday. It is a town in the mountains almost an hour up from our zone. It's headed out to the jungle, you take a turn to a road that goes by a river just full of trees and greenness. We go up until we get to the bottom and go up 20 minutes of switch backs until we get to the little town hidden in the trees haha it is one of the coolest places I've been to ever.

This was a great week, we had another baptism, a 10 year old who's grandma is a member. He's the coolest! We have met lots of cool people this week and my companion and I are working diligently. 

Prayer is the most important thing we can do. God really is guiding us, none of these things that we are accomplishing here in this work is because we are awesome, no one is more awesome than God. That's why we always have to humble ourselves to him and let him guide us. We had an awesome Stake Conference, I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ!

With the converts we watched the life of Thomas S. Monson to know the Prophet better, and I made a new little friend :) 

--

Love,

Elder Lambson :)

December 7, 2015

Sweeping all day every day haha. 

With Tio, he's the best. He is the owner of our house and the 2nd councilor of the bishopric, he is the Elders best friend here always. We ate thanksgiving dinner with him and his family.

At the multizone we had WALKING TACOS haha it was so funny! It reminded me of you (mom:) 

And I was able to answer the prayer of an older lady painting her house who couldn't reach the highest part, just then we walked by and offered to help :) then she and her husband listened to the message of the Restoration :) 

Two sisters that we have been teaching were baptized together with R from the other Elders area. It was soo cool! :)

A family wanted to see what our homes are like so my comp showed them Colombia and I showed them St George and we saw a picture of John Ward hahaha. He is on there in Snow Canyon rescuing some one. Super cool haha. 

Love,

Elder Lambson :)

November 30, 2015

The week did not start out strong. 

On wednesday we only had 6 lessons in total for the whole week. We had a really great planning that night and we put goals on what we were going to change and the effort we were going to put. We knew that it was still possible to achieve excellency in many indicators. 

Saturday night we needed 15 more contacts and ask for 16 more referrals so we put the goal for sunday to reach these numbers, we talked to everyone all day in the street and ended up having three new investigators and we took out many visits for this week! We reached the goal! As we felt satisfied after reaching the goal the desire to keep doing it wasn't as strong, yeah we got it now we don't have to do any more. But as we were on the way to our first planned lesson of the day we felt very strong to knock on a door that we pass by almost every day. I thought, we already met the goals, just go to the visit. But the spirit strongly testified to go, that its not for the numbers, but to change lives. So we went, and we met a family of three who had received a pamphlet of the Restoration from a friend who lives far and were praying for missionaries to find them. 

I am so so grateful for the blessing that it is to be influenced by the Holy Ghost. I know Im not perfect, but I know God has higher knowledge and higher ways, as I continue striving to be better I feel him using me in more occasions to bless his children. 

The gift that I want to give him this Christmas is show him that I can be worthy of his Holy Spirit by forcing my self even more and honestly overcoming the natural man than is with in me.

With my companion Elder Herazo, from the colombian coast and Elder Quadas new comp 

Chillin with the comp

Pday, we played capture the flag in the forest, I had the idea that we could do it like a St George snowball fight so we bought all the flour and everyone brought a pair of 

(clean) socks! It was so cool!

Another Chosica Sunset

--

Love,
Elder Lambson :)

November 23, 2015

Pic of the Baptism of the other Elders! The pensions daughter. My new comp, Colombiano. We had 10 investigators from our sector come to church today! The work is speeding up!! Love you!

November 16, 2015

Waiting for some recent converts to get changed to go teach them in the chapel.

Laying on the ground.... In the street.... I got sick again haha, only through out the night and up till about mid day, so it wasn't as bad as last time, but it was pretty much exactly the same thing. The usual. The members are like "when are you not sick" hahaha. Its all good, it's worth it!

Fun to hear about SCHS football and the family and all the friends!! Time flies right? This was a cool week. A couple got baptized from the other Elders in our ward, Elder Quada and Elder Romero. They each baptized one of them. It was cool to see him going out baptizing. Elder Romero finishes his mission today. It was a cool way to finish his mission.

Our district is super fun. We had a great transfer and really have been working so hard. We will have a lot of baptisms in December, all of the new years resolutions are going to be "Stay Pure" haha. Our investigator who is missing one leg, came to church this week, he was super happy that they finally fixed the elevator in the chapel. (I know, how crazy right, we have an elevator) he kept making the joke "they finally paid the electricity bill" haha. He is a cool dude, he really enjoyed the classes and being with the high priests. We have two new really great investigators. They have come to church 2 times now and they are so awesome! They have been members of a local church for a long time and know so much about the Bible, and now that they have learned about the Restoration it all makes so much since to them and they already look like active members haha. They have a baptism date for the first week of December if everything goes well! :)

Its been a great few months with Elder Montoya! We have been a great companionship. Today there are transfers, I have no clue whats going to happen! Ill let you guys know who my new comp is next week :) Everything is going so good! Im just trying to take advantage of every single moment! Before we know its already Christmas and I have 6 months til I'm home! Wow! I love you so much!! Thanks for everything! Have an awesome week!
--

Love,
Elder Lambson :)

November 9, 2015

We went to Gamarra this week. A huge huge huge shopping center, literally a town of stores. We bought district Peru jerseys . Mine says Lambsonsito and we put the Ward on the bottom but instead of Moyopampa we put MoyoPimpin haha. The district is legit.

Elder Quada is from North Carolina. We are having an awesome time here. Elder Romero goes home next week and I'm pretty sure my companion is getting transferred too. We had 8 investigators come to church this week and 3 are on track for baptism here soon.  One is 20, 21 and 70.  He only has 1 leg he is so cool! It's cool that we are finding lots and lots of people to teach, I love being busy. I am sooo tired but I love it, its so worth it, every moment counts.

We had interviews today. President said he is very happy with my work, I feel really good too. Content but never satisfied ;) Lots of work to do and not that much time to do it. Lots of lots of people that have to repent. Repentance is so so special, and I am sooo grateful that I also have been able to repent and I continue every day to make a real change. We can not be afraid of repentance, it is the true way to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives and we need to embrace it and take advantage of the blessing that it is. I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessings that it brings me it my life, the blessings that He gives me.

Have a better week than what you had this week, smile, be happy, God loves you and so do I!! 
The new room (so sweet!)

Peruvian Chosica sunset

I love my camera, but I love the scenery even better
--
Love,
Elder Lambson :)

November 2, 1015

So I realize that I don't really tell you guys a whole lot that goes on every week. Some people say everything they write in their planners but I just say how cool life is and all that I'm learning. So I guess today is the day I finally tell some stories of whats going on. 

Well, this week started with a good Pday on Monday as a district, we used the cookie recipe you sent and made chocolate chip cookies with two awesome recent convert families. We ate cookies and played with their monkey haha.

Tuesday, we taught lots of lessons and contacted almost 15 new people. 

Wednesday, we taught on the top of the mountain, the mom of the young girl who was baptized almost a month ago, her mom, and a few of the families that live close always all come to listen to us when we go up there, its like a small reunion that we do a few times a week. Its awesome, theres almost 10 people up there that always come to listen. 

Thursday, we started the day with service at the little pig farm in the middle of the jungle again. I sat down in the middle of the pig pin of some pigs that are like a month old now... They all started trying to eat my clothes and my shoes haha. Then we taught a really sweet lady who works for some recent converts in their restaurant. She doesn't know how to read so it makes it a little bit harder for her to understand things, but we were able to teach with the spirit and more than understand the message, she was able to really feel the message. 

Friday, Friday was great, although we walked all day long, the day was great because we saw a miracle. There is a sister that is facing a few trials against debt and hasn't gone to church for a while because she doesn't want to lose the income on Sunday. Here in Peru, the biggest shopping day is Sunday and it's where lots of people make big earnings for the whole week. But last week we taught how God blesses us when we make sacrifices and obey his commandments. She built up enough faith to trust in the promise and to trust in God and for the first time in a long time she closed her doors on Sunday, and came to the church with us! She told us on Friday about an experience that happened this week how she was walking in the street and kicked something by accident, she kept walking but then felt prompted to go back, she picked it up and saw 800 soles (about $270 US dollars) she looked around and waited for a long time but no one came so she prayed and said "thank you God. Although we teach that the blessings are more spiritual than temporal, God manifests himself to his children. He blesses us when we follow his commandments and he gives us what we need to believe in him. Money isn't going to fall from the sky for everybody, but God always keeps his promises and in one way or another, he always blesses the lives of those who obey his commandments. 

There are miracles all around us :) I promise that there are miracles every day, we just have to be able to recognize them. Have a great week! I love you!

-- 

Love,
Elder Lambson :)

October 26, 2015

Hey! We had a really great week. Now that the 4 of us live together its a lot more fun, it seems like there is more time in the morning to work out, and to read while waiting for the shower. I have a really good habit of waking up right on time and making my bed and praying. It makes a big difference in the day when we wake up on top of things, or if we wake up lazy. Something that would've helped a lot in high school but hey what can you do haha, I'll definitely apply it for the rest of my life though. 

We are seeing a lot of miracles. I love a quote that Mr. Tousa always said "if you're not getting better, you're getting worse". We always do self analysis in the mission, personally and in companionship. We see what things we need to start doing, what things we need to stop doing, and what things we should continue doing. We put about 3-5 things in each category and it really helps us to focus more on being efficient and effective. We cant fall into routines, we always have to be creative! 

We are being a lot more direct with the people who we teach. Some times we seem to beat around the bush and are scared to invite people to do things, but if we really love our brothers and sisters we are going to tell them what they need to hear, and what God wants them to hear. I love a funny quote that says "Friends tell you what you want to hear, but true friends tell you what you NEED to hear." I am only appointed for so much time, I need to use it as wisely as possible and what I have been called of God to do is bring his children unto him through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. If not now then when? Today is the day to receive the blessings of an eternity! 

I love the Book of Mormon. It is so clear what God has in store for us, and how we are going to receive it. Obey the commandments! Its so clear. The consistency, every single day, don't be lazy. Pray, Read the scriptures, Apply them, and go to church on Sunday, humble yourself, repent. He loves us so much, what are we doing to show him that we love him too? Take advantage of the blessings! :)
Love you! Have an amazing week! Remember the little things!

Cooking Aji de Gallina with the Bylon family!

better picture from the english class awhile ago. The new district, E Montoya Col, E Romero Equ, 

E Quada S Carolina. 

--

Love,
Elder Lambson :)

October 19, 2015

What a blessing it is to have such amazing family and friends! Yes I was able to get all of the packages. It always makes me so happy to read how everyone is and know that the Lord is blessing you. I am so grateful for the way the Lord blesses us spiritually and temporally as we keep his commandments. And I loved what Elder Chalmers shared in his letter that as we keep the commandments we are really putting our lives in an easier position to receive happiness.

Sorry I cant send any photos today, the internet cabin is a little slower. The reason why we didn't email yesterday is because for this week we changed Pday to today because we went to the Temple! Its always amazing to go to the temple and feel the spirit so strongly. I remember that one time you told me that you get a real good feeling of what heaven will be like when you go to the temple because you are there all pure and clean, and you get to be with lots of friends and family. When we went into the celestial room, there was another zone coming in as well and I saw a bunch of old friends like my trainer Elder Balderrama, and also one of my best friends Elder Jolley. So I knew just what you were talking about. It was a great feeling.

The Gospel is amazing and we have to really take advantage of how great it is haha. Some times when we have something so amazing in our lives, but it is in front of our faces everyday, we depreciate it a little and we don't realize how great it really is! Do the small and simple things! Thank God everyday for every blessing and every trial, this time is amazing, and it is also very short. So we have to take advantage of it! "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" The Gospel is true! God loves us, so show him that you love him too! I hope you have an amazing week! I will write more next week about some of the adventures that we are having here in Chosica, Peru!
--

Love,
Elder Lambson :)

October 12, 2015

That sounds like an awesome week! I'm glad you're loving life! I am too! Are new covnerts are doing really well! Even though one of them  is only 13 she is going to seminary with her best friend. F is doing really well too, he is having a great time with all of the other youth singles in the ward and he is pretty set on going on a mission here in a year! 

I hope you like the pictures haha ..I love the animals here so much! One is with a pure bread "Pero Peruano" (peruvian dog) and the other is with the cutest little baby boxer who fell asleep on my lap while we were teaching a less active family.

As you can see we are loving the area, mountains and stairs all day every day. When I get back the Red Mountain will be a piece of cake.

 
My companion and I are together again for a second transfer! We get along really well, we are always focusing on the positive! The first few days we were together he would always ask me "Are you mad?" and finally I told him, if you ask someone everyday if they're mad I can assure you that with time you will receive the answer you are looking for. I told him that instead of asking me if I'm mad he should ask me "Are you happy?" haha. It really did make a big difference in our relationship though. We cant set up ourselves, or others to fail from the very start, we have to always focus on the positive. Every single night after we finish planning we always say 5 good things each that happened in the day, as we focus on the positive it makes every day so much more rewarding, and easier to enjoy. I want to invite you to do it too! Every night before you go to bed think of at least 5 good things that happened in your day and watch the change that comes!! I love you! Have a great week!
--
Love,
Elder Lambson :)

October 5, 2015

This was such an amazing week! It went so perfect. Saturday was the best day ever! I prayed so much that everything would go perfectly and that it would be the will of the Lord. 5:20 futbol as a zone, so fun. Then prepare the baptismal font and rooms, studies and Conference all day was amazing. Then after the second session the baptisms went perfectly! Both who were baptized (F & J) came on time with their families, we had a full room and for the first time in my whole mission the baptism started on time! That's what I call a miracle :) haha. Everything went amazing and then we went together with F to watch the Priesthood session. Wow it was the most perfect day and I know that God guided every single moment and if we wouldn't have trusted and gone to him (F the new convert) this wouldn't have happened.



--
Love,


Elder Lambson :)

September 28, 2015

Loving the new zone, new companion is legit were working hard. Sweet district, lots of success in here. Awesome ward and super cool members. I haven't written that much in the past few weeks sorry haha. Im feeling better, not so sick anymore, my insides are just a little sore, I don't know what it could be... But we are still working hard, that'll never stop. We are having some amazing experiences. I'll tell you few. We met a man the other day, he knows a little about the church through one of his children who came to the church one day to tell them to send the missionaries. We got to his small apartment room that smelt strongly of cigaret smoke, he is a humble older man that has been in and out of gangs his whole life and always has been addicted to smoking. He let us in with a huge smile and told us about his health problems and his desire to change for once and for all. We shared the story of the conversion of Alma, how he went around destroying the church of God, but how God didn't look at who he was, but who he could become, and when he made the great change he said how great his joy was, the same as how great had been his sadness and pain before. The next time we went back he told us about how he had thinking about what we shared him and said how before he had hear how our bodies are temples, so just like Alma was destroying the church of God, he was destroying the temple of God by smoking and now was the time to stop. He is going to be baptized at the end of October. 

We are super excited for general conference this week its going to be amazing! We will see it in the stake center, and right after the second session we will have 3 baptisms! We are seeing miracles in every single moment. The spirit really is guiding our every decision. 

I gave a talk in sacrament about the Atonement, and how the best way that we can truly apply the Atonement to our lives, is through sincere repentance. If we really want to receive all of the blessings of the sacrifice Jesus has made for us, we have to want to be better, and we have to do a self analysis. We have to sincerely repent and make a real change. As I have been able to apply this, I have felt a difference in the work. As I have made my prayers more sincere, and by really striving harder to repent, I have seen greater miracles everyday, and I feel closer to my Savior. I know He lives, and I know that when we do what is right, always striving to be better, He guides us, He loves us and He is with us. 

Love you! Have a great week!






We did a sweet service this week! We helped a brother with his pig farm. We helped build a few stalls, and move about 10 little piglets to their new home. It was the funniest thing ever. We herded them like little sheep and there were a few who escaped and we had to sneak up, grab their back legs and carry them to the stall. It was soo funny! They scream so loud haha. I have a video of me carrying one but its too big to send hahaha.
--

Love,


Elder Lambson :)

September 21, 2015

It was an awesome week! I got sick on Friday night and I was down all Saturday and half of Sunday. I went to church, everyone said I looked super white. I was like, don't you know me already? I'm white haha. But yeah I was pretty weak, and couldn't walk very well, I just had to rest a lot. I stayed with our ward mission leader, and my companion went out to visit all the people with another youth that is preparing for the mission. It was fun, the family took care of me, they gave me some herbal tea, and I took the pills that the mission doctor told me to take and with a Priesthood blessing I was better in no time. Being sick is the worst haha. but it really helps you to be more grateful for everything you have. I was really grateful for the help of everyone and for the great blessings that I have in my life. This week we got to meet Elder Godoy, he is a 70, he is super cool (Elder Carlos A Godoy).  We learned a lot from him. First he had a reunion with all of the leaders and then a reunion with the whole mission! it was awesome we learned a ton! It was a great week! Love you so much! You're amazing!!

--

Love,


Elder Lambson :)

September 14, 2015

Such an awesome week! I love my companion and my district. The wards great, the people even greater. I love hiking every day, the views are so beautiful! The activities are going awesome and we are finding a ton of people to teach!! Baptisms for the month of October looking good! I love my area so much. Chosica is amazing! I am feeling the spirit so strongly in every moment, its the best thing ever! Testimony growing stronger and stronger every day. So much revelation and so many awesome experiences. Lots of service as well! I'll send more pictures next week! I love you so much!!

--

Love,


Elder Lambson :)

September 7, 2015

Transfers. I'm in Chosica!! I basically went from the desert to the jungle!! Haha its the furthest zone from the mission and its all green! My new companion is Colombian! His name is Elder Montoya,

I love the new Ward. I'm the District Leader here, something funny that I've realized, I have always been the youngest of every District that I'm the District Leader, sometimes with more time in the mission than others, but always the youngest in age haha. The new Ward is sweet! But before I tell you about this Ward I want to tell you about the good news that happened in my last ward! J and C were married! And so were N and E!   Two 11 year olds that we were teaching got baptized on Saturday. N is getting baptized this Saturday and there are just a few more things to get done before two others can get baptized here soon also!

The new Ward is super sweet! The leaders are all super on top of things and our Ward Mission Leader is the best!! He is a cousin to someone from my old ward who was baptized in May, so It was cool to have that connection and we are getting along great and working hard. 

My comp is awesome too! Like I said he is really chill and wow we are working hard! There are 2 investigators on track for baptism the 26th of Sept. And another for the 3rd of October. We are having Ward mission night every Thursday and we are teaching english classes every friday! At least 20 people come to each activity, members and non members.  Our Investigator is super cool, he is 22 and he loves the church and the english classes and he is bringing a bunch of friends. Haha he put pictures of us teaching on face book and said "come to the english classes every Friday at 7 with North American professors. It's in the Mormon church, they don't force you to be Mormon (but you can be if you want). Come learn english completely free!" hahahaha. 

I'm loving the work, we are teaching hard and wow super exhausted but super happy. This is the steepest area I've had haha, literally all stairs, at least my other areas have had a little bit of flat, or just hills, but here is is literally all stairs at just a tad bit less than a 90 degree angle. Just a tad bit haha. But its worth it. It builds character haha. There are some awesome recent convert families here that we are helping get to the temple and endure to the end. Also something cool here is that they let us eat with the members for lunch and dinner on sunday, so its super fun and we are knowing a lot more families.

The work is awesome, my testimony is growing so much and I know what the principles are that I am going to base my whole life upon. The family is the most important unit in the whole universe and it literally is established by God. No one can truly know our Heavenly Father with out doing His will, no man can love a Master who he does not serve. Read the scriptures to know God's plan, pray to him to know his will, and act upon the impressions that he sends to you through his holy spirit. This is the great and simple answer. Follow the impressions of the Spirit and grow closer to our Father in Heaven every day! I love you soo soo much! Have an amazing week!

Kiel asked me to send him the Ear Candles - I asked him if he received them. This is what he sent me to let me know, Yes he received them....

Love,


Elder Lambson :)