Dec. 13th

Dearest Family,

     This Friday and Saturday was pretty crazy.  Our couple that we were trying to help marry needed to sign paperwork on Friday. The sister never arrived at the municipalidad
to sign the paperwork.  We went to her house and she had forgotten.  We dashed off to the municipalidad again with only thrity minutes to spare until the municipalidad closed, and blessedly she was able to sign the paperwork.  There is a lady in the municipalidad that is a true angel.  She could go directly to the celestial kingdom for how nice she has been to us in our frantic moments.
     Saturday morning was kind of the same situation as Friday.  The couple arrived forty five minutes late to the marriage ceremony.  This is so Peruvian, arrive when you can.  I was a nervous wreck until they arrived.  Saturday was also fun, because I was able to be one of the two witnesses in the marriage of this couple.  Can you believe I was a marriage witness? 
     The spouse ultimately decided that he did not want to get baptized on Saturday like he had planned.  His baptism is tenatively planned for this next Saturday.  It was heart breaking because he can finally be baptized now that he is married.  The big problem that exists in Peru is a lot of couples live together and have a family together but they haven't been married by law.  Peru does not recognize church marriages.  We can not baptize them until they have been married by the state, as we believe in living the law of the land.
     Here is my favorite experience of the week.  I was riding in a combi ( a small van they pack a lot of people in) and I started up a conversation with a man in his fifties.  He first informed me that he solely believes in God.  Shortly there after this man named Juan started asking me all sorts of questions.  All of his questions centered around the first lesson we teach. So, in the bus I shared the first lesson with Juan and gave him a Book of Mormon to read.
     All the questions Juan asked lead me to believe that Juan believes in more that just God.  I think he made that statement becuase he did not want me to be pushy with him.  I tried not to be pushy.  Rather, I tried to honestly answer Juan's questions and sincerely share my testimony of the message we share. One of the questions Juan presented, which I loved , was how is your church any different than the Jehovah's Witness church.  I explained that we believe in personal modern day revelation and that we have a living day prophet.   I also explained that we do not ask the people we teach to believe our words as missionaries or as a church.  The promise in the Book of Mormon is very clear in that every person can pray and ask to recieve a witness from God in their hearts if  our message is true and if the Book of Mormon is true.  Everyone can find out for themselves if the Book of Mormon is another witness of Jesus Christ.  The one thing that saddens me is Juan doesn not live in my area.  The elders I have given Juan's name to are lucky.  Juan asked some great questions.  I think Juan could be a very strong investigator and member of the church.
     The news is in, I will remain in Raymi for a least another six weeks.  Tomorrow I am going to meet my new companion.  I don't feel nervous to meet her.  My only hope is that she is not finishing her mission at the end of six weeks.  I hope to have a companion that I could potentially work with a couple of transfers in Inti Raymi. 
     Mom and Dad, I can't believe you met my bishop at the temple in Lima.  How awesome!  Heavenly Father's tender mercies are truly amazing.  Of all days and hours to be at the temple at the same time. 
     I am thrilled Janeece has our house in Oregon decorated.  Christmas is my favorite holiday.  I can envision it perfectly in my mind. 

All my love,
Hermana Blunck II