Welcome China and India

This will be a different type of blog entry, and I hope you will enjoy this.  Over the last month we have had 5,000 people read our blog from various countries in the world.

From South America we have readers from Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Colombia.

From Central America we have readers from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador.

We have readers from Canada, the United States, France, Spain, Germany, The United Kingdom, Sweden (thanks Jennie), Russia, Serbia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the Ukraine, Indonesia, Australia and Belgium.  There are also 25 people from China and 34 from India that read our blog each week.

Many of the people from these countries have probably heard about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but in some countries the Church does not have a large presence.  We welcome the people of all nations to look at our blog and to enjoy the photos of our missionaries.  They enjoy sharing their mission experience with you, and we hope you will learn a little about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as you read our blog.

We have included a link or two for you, so you can learn a little bit about the Church of Jesus Christ, and have some of your questions answered.  We would also like to share a bit about our faith.

We are a Christian faith.  We believe in God, the Eternal Father; in His son, Jesus Christ; and in the Holy Ghost.  We believe all three are Gods, separate and distinct beings, yet inseparable in their purpose and their love for us.

We are Heavenly Father's spirit children and we lived with Him before we came to this earth to live with our earthly parents.  We chose to follow the plan of our Heavenly Father and to come to the earth to learn to become more like Him, so we could return home to Him one day.

Because we would not be perfect, we would fall short of being able to return to Heavenly Father.  His law says that we need to be perfect to live with Him.  Because of this, his plan included having His only begotten son in the flesh, Jesus Christ, pay the price for our sins, so we can ask forgiveness for our sins, keep the commandments of God and try to live our lives the way Christ lived His.  (we call this repentence).  It is a beautiful gift that Jesus gave us.  He was perfect, he lived a perfect life, and He willingly gave His life and took all of our pains, sins, hurts and disappointments upon Himself, so we could repent and return home to our Heavenly Father with our families.

Families are eternal.  If we accept the teachings of Christ and follow the path He has set for us, we can receive rich blessings from our Heavenly Father.  These great blessings are found in the Temples of the Lord that are now in many countries of the world.  In temples we are given great gifts from Heavenly Father that help us in our daily walk, and help us to know how to return home.  Families are bound together for all eternity in the temple.   Here is a picture of our eternal family:

This is a picture of our family on the day our daughter was married in the San Diego Temple

This pictures includes our parents and some of our brothers and sisters and their families as well…we love our "Forever Family"

Jesus organized His Church while he was on the earth, it was called the Church of Christ.  After His death and the death of his Apostles, the Church was changed by the votes of the Nicene Council in the year 325 after Christ.  Many churches were formed, just as there are in the world today.  In 1820 a young man, Joseph Smith prayed to determine which church he should join.  God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him, and told him to wait and not join any of them, because the true church of Christ was no longer upon the earth. 

Later, God called Joseph to be a prophet, like the prophets of the Old Testament.  Through Joseph Smith the Church of Jesus Christ was once again restored to the earth, with all of the original principles, teachings and organizations.  That Church is on the earth today. It is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We invite all to come unto Christ, unto His teachings,  

and receive all of the great blessings He has for you.  

The message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, this is His Church upon the earth, in these the Latter-days (or last days before His coming again).  We love Jesus Christ, we testify He lives, He loves us, He is our Savior and He has redeemed us from our sins and short-comings.  

This is the reason we all serve,

Love,

 the 242 missionaries of the Trujillo Peru Mission

Returning home with honor...

Here we are again, it has been another 6 weeks, and some of Trujillo's finest will be returning home to their families.  

They have served with honor, they have served the Savior diligently, they have served the people of Perú with loving and warm hearts.

They have invited many souls to Christ, many have accepted the invitation, and have received the ordinance of baptism.

Baptism is the door that puts us on the path to follow our Savior Jesus Christ.  From baptism, we learn of His atoning sacrifice for us, that He suffered and died for our sins.  We learn of His resurrection, and that He overcame death, that we all might live with Him and our Heavenly Father once again.

Here are a few pictures of some of this dedicated group at some of the most special moments in their mission.

It is that time again…missionaries returning home...

We have spent 7 wonderful months with these fabulous missionaries.  We will love and miss you all.  What a great privilege it has been to serve beside you!  

Every time our missionaries go home, we have a dinner of American Hamburgers cooked by President Marler and our Assistant Elder Smith.

Then we visit for awhile and then have a testimony meeting.
This is always a highlight, to hear our missionaries
testify of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Sister Rojas and Sister Huayman smile for the camera.

"And if it so be that you hold labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bing, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

Doctrine and Covenants 18:15-16

Elder and Sister C. Scott Grow visit Trujillo

Just a few pictures of our meeting with Elder C. Scott Grow of the Seventy.  He and Sister Grow are here visiting the Trujillo Mission.  

What an exciting time we will have for the next three days, learning from one of our 

General Authorities. 

Elder Grow and Sister Grow provide great training for our missionaries

President Marler participated with Elder Grow in the training

Sister Allred provided a beautiful musical number…that's Sister Bedoya helping out

Sister Grow greeting the Elders

Elder Grow saying hello to Sister Paiva

Elder Nystrom and Sister Flores enjoy a conversation with Elder Grow

Sister Grow with Sister Villanueva, Elder Richartt and Elder Perez

Elder Rotolo and Elder Feirrera say hello to Sister Grow

Elder Grow with Elder Amonocid

An Invitation

One of the greatest things we do is to meet with the Leaders in the mission.  Our leaders include, Sister Leader Trainers, District Leaders and Zone Leaders.  They, in turn, return to their areas and teach the principles they learn to the missionaries they serve.

Our goal as missionaries is to invite the people we meet to come unto Christ.  Our training this week was focussed on the principles that our Prophet, President Monson and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have been teaching us about the "Work of Salvation."  

Elder Castillo and Elder Smith…teaching our Leadership Council

Hermana Paiva…how to use the Area Book

Elder Marchant & Elder Hanson

Elder Palma and Elder Diaz…great teachers!

We are learning to work with Ward (Congregations) Councils throughout the church to be successful in bringing souls to Christ.    We also invite those who have been away from the Church and its teachings for a period of time to return, and join with us in our worship of our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ.

Sister Farley sharing information at a Ward Council Meeting

Ward Council in Chimbote

One of our members during the Council Meeting

The question may be asked, can't I worship, read the Scriptures and follow Christ and his example without going to Church?  The answer is yes, of course we can, but the problem is this:  part of following Christ and his example is to obey all of his commandment. 

Jesus awaits to welcome us home, to comfort us, His arms are always extended to us

 One of those commandments is to join with the body of Christ on the Sabbath Day, Partake of the Sacrament (partaking of the bread and water in remembrance of the atonement of Jesus Christ and his grace and mercy on our behalf), and  keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.

Christ administers the First Sacrament to the Twelve Apostles

So we invite all to come unto Christ.

To follow his perfect example.

Jesus appearing to the people of the American Continent

To Worship with us, to accept his atoning sacrifice and his love for us.

To recognize it is only through His Grace that we are saved from death and sin.

He loves His Sheep (that's all of us)

and that we have the desire to "be born again," become new and changed in our hearts with the desire only to serve the Lord, and do good to our fellow man, all the days of our lives.

We invite all to come home to Him

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