I made it to P-day, thankfully. I got the first package from you guys and it meant the world to me. It made me so happy I can't even express it. I am learning and growing here, so that is good. It is taking time, but I am slowly progressing my Spanish and definitely relying on the Lord for a lot of this.

We are moving our apartment this week, so that should be interesting. I don't really want to move because it sounds like a lot of work and time we don't really have, but we have too because we can't stay in the apartment we have now.

I am trying to think what happened this week, but really it was just a lot of walking. Lots and lots of walking. Lots of contacting and meeting new people. I don't know if there is really anything too exciting other than the package that I received.

I am learning how to rely on prayer and the scriptures. I have my ups and downs here. It is a process to learn how to love it. Some days I don't feel like I can do it. But I ask the Lord to help me get through it and to learn and to grow and the day is still long, but I have the confidence that the Lord is with me and I can do it. It is interesting how it works. I will have moments where I want to throw in the towel then I pray and I am ready to convert all of Peru. Lets do it!

I did not get attacked by any more dogs. I learned to carry a rock in my hand when we pass dogs, and they will run away if you act like you are gonna throw it. If they don't run away, then I throw it. Hope that isn't against the rules or anything but I don't want that to happen again.  That was terrifying! By the way, the dog lived so I don't need a rabies shot. Thank goodness.

I hope all is well back home. Peru is not home. But it is something I am learning to love and appreciate little by little. It is awesome to see the faces of the people here when they hear our message. Either they want nothing to do with us, don't care very much about religion, or they are super attentive and listen to everything. It is cool to see.  I hope I can communicate a little better soon.

I love and miss you guys. I hope all is well and here are some pictures from this week!

Hey guys!

I hope everyone is doing well. I miss everyone so much. Love in the family is very important. I don't think I knew what love was until I was separated from those who I loved the most.

Peru is Peru. I got mauled by a dog and this dog was huge. Like some people thought it was funny, but I was terrified. I have a softball sized bruise on my leg. I was about to kill this thing, but I honestly don't know who would have won the fight. I have to make sure the dog is still alive, because if it dies, then I risk getting rabies - which means I'll have to find the jerk that tried to kill me!

I am learning and developing skills that are hard to come by. The spirit is very much a language we have to learn. In a way, I am actually learning two languages. I can't speak well in Spanish if I don't pray or read my scriptures, and I can't make it through the day if I don't have the spirit or can't speak Spanish. There is a dangerous area in our mission that we don't usually go to at night, but we had to be there and almost got robbed by our taxi driver. My companion knows the danger signs since he is Peruvian and quickly told the driver to let us out and that we were missionaries preaching the word of God. People here are kind of God fearing, so they don't really want to touch you if you claim you are a messenger of God. It is kind of interesting. But I could feel the spirit telling us to be careful. And the spirit was guiding us in this area we were in, and if our investigator didn't answer the door and come with us, we very well could have gotten robbed because there were some people who were scouting us out. I didn't know it because I am a little oblivious, but my companion did notice and acted.

I am slowly learning more and more. The process is painful. I do miss home, and I wish I could go back to my childhood sometimes. But we can't slow down time, and we sometimes can't change our circumstances, even if we want to. We have to learn to make the most of our situation and adapt. Cherish what we have and continue to make experiences we can cherish forever. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my home and man Texas is amazing. Being a missionary is hard work and I am learning to work hard, like I never have worked before. I am a missionary 24-7. I wake up early everyday, work hard and serve, and go to bed to start the day all over again. The gospel is what motivates me. Family is the central plan of God, and I feel that every time we teach. I wouldn't be here without my family. God gives us family to be happy, to have joy, to learn, grow, and to learn how to work together.

I hope all is well and support from home means so much. Keep being awesome. Also, don't hesitate to send me loads of packages because man it is the most exciting thing in the world!

Finally, the Prophet came to Peru!!!  He gave an awesome devotional to the missionaries, and he spoke to the people of Peru! Not only did he speak to the people of Peru, but he spoke to them in SPANISH. The Prophet spoke Spanish! It was so awesome! I learned a lot about the prophet in his trip to Peru, like that he receives revelation and direction for the church every single day. And man, it must be a hard job to be a prophet. It was so awesome to hear from him and the messages he had to say. You can find a summary of his visit here, or here.  And finally, here.

Okay, so I have a new area in the Robles ward. I like this place a little bit better than Indoamerica. I have no sense of direction. Usually I can figure out where I am and how to get back to the apartment, but then I quickly get lost. Everything looks the same and I am always so disoriented. It is really hard. Also, thanks for getting rid of the rooster and replacing it with a turkey.  I love hearing that thing gobble every twenty seconds. Can't wait till they kill it for Christmas.  Also, if you can kill the dog that barks in the middle of the night, that would be nice too. People here eat cat, so they might as well eat dog. I won't eat it though.  Hahaha

I am trying to think of new things to say, but am still adjusting to it here. Conference was awesome and we watched the Sunday session yesterday so I learned a lot from what the prophets had to say. They really focused on the challenges of life and adversity and it helped a lot to hear those messages.

We don't have water in our apartment, and I never thought how important water actually is. We need it to flush, to shower, to drink;  when you take that away it just stinks. Poop sits in the toilet and my hair looks so gross when I don't shower.  Apparently Trujillo won't have water for twelve days.... wish me luck.

We played soccer today for P-day, and man I really stink. I need to get into shape. My companion stops at every cake shop here and gets a cake, then makes me pay for it. Like what the heck man?

We had a cool experience with this girl named Eldi, who has cancer. She said she had this dream of her Dad and Jesus telling her to come, and she said 'no' and was given more time to change the things she needs to change in her life. When we showed up and told her about the first vision, she started crying and just telling us how grateful she is for knocking on her door and being people that listen to her and invite her to our church.

Hopefully I can learn Spanish better. Pray for me that I can understand and speak better, because man, learning a language is rough.

Love you guys.

Okay, so Peru is tough!  Let me tell ya. People usually say things that go right over my head. However, in my first area I have had two baptisms which is awesome!

This place is not America, it is sure hard to realize that I am actually in another country with a completely different way of doing things. People get super offended when you don't finish your food, which is SUPER hard for me when the food is hard to eat. I don't know how much rice I can take. Some meals I spread mayo all over my rice just to make it go down easier. That is also what people here do, which I thought was gross at first but now it is like the best thing ever.

Dogs fight all the time and I didn't know cats could be so loud.  If you ever want to make bets on dogfights, where you won't go to jail, just come to Peru!  Haha.  Also, if someone could please kill the rooster right outside my window that loves to wake me up at five in the morning, every morning, that would be great....

My Spanish is improving, slowly, but improving. I can read the scriptures and usually get the gist of what is happening. Sometimes we will be teaching a lesson and I can teach a principle and I have no clue where those words came from.  It is a huge testament that when the spirit needs to communicate something, He will communicate it, because I wasn't going to say those things.

I am transferring today and going to an area called Robles. It is really weird that I am changing companions three weeks in, but apparently the new companion I am going to have was an assistant to the mission president and like a baptizing legend, so I hope I have a Ricciardi moment here!  Hahaha

Editors note:  Elder Ricciardi was an Italian missionary in England in 1994.  He worked very hard and set a strong example to other missionaries.  Essentially, a former missionary wrote a long letter detailing all the many ways he learned from Elder Ricciardi and it set the standard for super strong mission work.  The letter is a simple google search away.

Peruvians have been going insane because they voted for Peru's new president and politics is a super hot topic to some people.  The rest of the world does not like Donald Trump and when they see an American, like me, they make sure to tell me they don't like him.

We had another baptism this week!  He is an 18-year old we have been teaching and was baptized by his friend!

Conference was awesome! It was a little crowded here because we had a bunch of American Elders packed in this ridiculously tiny room huddled over a computer screen, but everyone was so giddy about conference. I was giddy about conference. I never thought I would be so excited for conference. It was like the coolest thing since sliced bread. Oh man, I miss sliced bread.

The support from home helps and motivates me so much to be a better Elder. The mission is hard but it is improving and I am starting to get the hang of this. I love and miss all you guys. I restarted the Book of Mormon and was reading about the stories of Nephi and how his brothers were just the biggest jerks to him. In one of the verses Nephi says that he won't murmur about his afflictions. He praised the Lord with all the energy of his heart. That opened my eyes that yeah, there are a lot of challenges and things to complain about, but if we want it to get better, you gotta praise the Lord!

Mom note:  Spencer made mention in his email to me that in his ward they do not have an organ or a piano for sacrament meetings.  He also mentioned that the congregation sings very differently than they do at home, and he has a hard time recognizing which hymn they are singing since it is in Spanish but also at times, he was not sure they knew the music to the hymns.  Spencer and his companion were asked to sing a hymn in sacrament meeting which made him nervous as he has never thought of himself as a singer.  He did sing, and all in Spanish, with his companion.  Several sisters thanked them so much for singing and were very touched by the spirit that they felt.  Can't wait to hear it when he gets home in a couple of years!