advice for Adril

I love Mondays.  Every Monday I receive an email from Adril.  Now that he's been out a year, his emails are much more detailed.  A year ago, his emails were something like:  We had a great week.  We are teaching a lot of people.  I have a new companion and he is from (insert country here).

But now?  This is the email he sent me last week (thanks to Kathy's nephew for the translation!):


Hi Mom, how are you? Last week was wonderful, full of spiritual experiences, trying to find families in order to help them come closer to Christ. We also went to the temple and it was marvelous.

Last week we lost a brother {as an investigator} that was listening to us very well. One night we passed by his house and reminded him that we had been waiting for him at the church and he hadn't arrived. He felt really bad. I feel like pressuring them is wrong, but I'm going to improve my teaching skills. I want to teach with conviction. Mom, can you help me with your opinion on how to teach with conviction or give commitments with conviction please? Thanks. Thanks for the money Mom, if you ask me what else I need I will tell you whatever I need, but for now it is enough. Thanks mama Natalie for worrying and thinking about me, I love you.

Last week we had a beautiful experience. A boy from a part member family was baptized and before he never wanted to get baptized and wouldn't listen to his parents. His parents were very worried, they had plans to get sealed in the temple, but their son wasn't a member yet. Nevertheless, his parents worked with all their hearts to help their son. Their son felt the Spirit, and felt that his parents had greatly changed y he got baptized. His father baptized and yesterday confirmed him so that he would be a member. His father shed tears of joy and wept like a child. I could see the happiness of this family and now they can bring to pass their dream or goal of going to the temple and being sealed with all of their family. What a beautiful experience I've been able to have, I realized that the Lord brings to pass his great works when we confide in God.

I love this boy and am so proud of the work he is doing.  So my question to you is, what advice do you have for Adril?  What lessons did you learn as a missionary teaching people?

You can email me at:  nmano@yahoo.com or better yet, you can email or write to Adril directly! 

email address:  adril.garcia@myldsmail.net

Elder Adril Garcia Perez
Mision Peru - Lima Oeste
carlos salarerry #3664-los olivos
casilla de correo 39-054
lima 39
perú
 

Feliz Navidad from Elder Adril Garcia Perez!

One of the best things about Christmas and Mothers Day is we get to talk to Adril!  I count this as an extra special blessing since I'm really not his mama.  But his Mission President is apparently a very compassionate man who allows us these tender blessings.

My cousin Joy came over and we conferenced with both Adril and Tammy Olsen (who adopted Jason and Joel for those familiar with the children at the Sunflower).  It was GREAT talking with everyone!  Tammy was able to translate for us too.

Jason is 16 years old and even though we just chatted a bit, I can tell he is all grown up!  I didn't tell Adril that the Olsen's were going to be on the call so it was a really fun surprise for him to talk to them.

Adril is, as you would guess, a fabulous missionary.  He loves being a missionary and he loves serving others.  He said he's had a few difficult times.  One that I know of was just a month or so ago when they had a baptism goal of 5 in the month and fell short of that goal.  It was a disappointing time for him.  But as everyone who has served an LDS mission knows, disappointment is part of the experience and it certainly helps you grow and prepare for life.

My heart was full as we talked to him.  My eyes filled with tears as we told him how proud we were of him and how much we loved him.

Later that evening, Tony and I were driving south to a family birthday party and talking about Adril and what a good missionary he is.  I told Tony that next to whatever we do for our children, helping Adril serve a mission is the best thing we will ever do in our lives.

There are so many people who have helped Adril (and the other Sunflower children) and he wanted to tell each of you thank you and Felix Navidad! 

If you have an extra Christmas card, I know a missionary who would LOVE to receive it - even if it's several weeks late!  So here's his address - he'd love to hear from you!

Elder Adril Garcia Perez
Mision Peru - Lima Oeste
carlos salarerry #3664-los olivos
casilla de correo 39-054
lima 39
perú

His email address:  Adril Garcia:  adril.garcia@myldsmail.net

Here's a few photos from our favorite missionary!
 

Here's what he says in his last email:

I am sending pictures of my investigators.  They are progressing and my companion already baptized one of them.  This week we started working with an investigator who can’t read.  It is hard with him but we are working hard with him.  The 31^st I had the privilege of listening to one of the apostles, Eldeer Christofferson, and I liked what he said.  This week I will put into practice what I learned from the apostle.  Mama, I love you, an abrazo for you and for Tony and for all those that know me.

He'd love to hear from his friends! 

Adril's email:  adril.garcia@myldsmail.net

Adril's mailing address:

Elder Adril Garcia Perez
Mision Peru - Lima Oeste
carlos salarerry #3664-los olivos
casilla de correo 39-054
lima 39
perú

Elder Adril Garcia Perez update

Here's a quick update on our favorite missionary!  He's doing well, has a new companion (I think from Costa Rica?) and has lots of investigators.  He asked us to pray for baptisms and so I'll ask any other friends of Adril to join in.

This boy LOVES his mission.  He loves the work (and honestly, compared to how hard he always worked, I believe mission work is a vacation for him).

He sends me short emails every Monday, but I don't get a lot of detail, but he's doing great and is VERY happy to be serving a mission.

He would love to hear from anyone who would care to write, whether you've ever met him or not.  His email address is:  adril.garcia@myldsmail.net and his mailing address is:

Elder Adril Garcia Perez
Mision Peru - Lima Oeste
carlos salarerry #3664-los olivos
casilla de correo 39-054
lima 39
perú

Do you know any missionary who doesn't love receiving letters?  I imagine he doesn't get many letters in the mail, so can I make a special plea for mailed letters?

I am just like a missionary mom waiting each Monday morning for his emails.  Oh, how I love this boy!

Elder Adril Garcia Perez

Elder Adril Garcia Perez

One of the dearest children at the Sunflower (but they are ALL dear!) is Adril.  Each of those children have a special place in my heart, but Adril and his cousin Wilfredo, well, they have their own room.  Everytime I would go to visit them, Adril would remind me that he wanted to come to the US to live with me and go to school and that he wanted to go on a mission for our church. 

Tony and I tried to bring him here, but we were obviously unsuccessful.  So we turned our efforts to helping him serve an LDS mission.  It took several years and just as many miracles, but he is now Elder Adril Garcia Perez, a missionary in the Lima West Mission.  There are so many people who have helped us with this process and monetarily.  We are definitely not the only ones who have helped him.  I would love to call him "my missionary" like any other missionary mother out there, but I am well aware that he is not mine.

But can I just say that he does call me mama?  Now, there are several women who volunteer at the Sunflower who are Mama to the kids, but everytime he calls me mama, it absolutely melts my heart.  And the best part of it is he called us on Mother's Day.  We spent about an hour on Skype and it felt like I was talking to my own son.  I am so incredibly proud of him.  He has overcome so many obstacles and has had to fight tooth and nail to be the person he is today and to be serving a mission.

Let me back up just a bit...there is another boy from the Sunflower, Hilario, who came to the US as well and is living with a family that is just about 2 miles from us.  How amazing is that.  He hasn't been here very long and we hadn't been able to see him yet.  So Hilario came over to our house so he could talk to Adril.  BUT, Adril didn't know he would be here.  The video wasn't working when we first started the call so I had Hilario just say a few words without identifying himself.  Adril paused for a few seconds and then he yelled "HILARIO!" with such excitement and happiness in his voice.  It truly was priceless. 

So back to Adril, he is SO happy as a missionary.  He has a companion from Ogden - I failed to get his name (shame on me especially since that good Elder translated my terrible Spanish for Adril).  He feels so grateful to all the people who have helped him over the years.

He told me about how his Papi Leonidas saw him off at the airport when he left for his mission.  He told me how Leonidas told him he was proud of him and how much he loved him.  That really meant a lot to him.  Papi Leonidas and Mami Eunice take care of the kids at the Sunflower and they are truly wonderful people.

He specifically asked me to thank Dr. Gary Chambers who is the doctor who operated on Adril's feet several years ago.  Adril was born with 6 toes on each foot and Dr. Chambers removed the extra toes.  Adril asked me to tell Dr. Chambers that if it weren't for him, he would still have to buy shoes that were much too large for his feet to make room for that extra toe.  As a missionary, with all the traveling on foot, he was sure it would have been a problem.

Adril in his wheelbarrow after his foot surgery in December 2007.

So to each and every one of you who have helped Adril over the years, thank you from Adril.  When I asked him if he needed anything, he replied "letters!" (and a backpack and a watch).  But if we take care of the backpack and watch, will you write him a letter?  His maill address is:  adril.garcia@myldsmail.net and his mailing address is (hint, hint, EVERY missionary LOVES getting mail!):

Elder Adril Garcia Perez
Mision Peru - Lima Oeste
carlos salarerry #3664-los olivos
casilla de correo 39-054
lima 39
perú