Hola familia!!!!

Este semana yo estuve enfermo y no fue divertido.

So I am still so shocked that we can call home now, but I will still make sure to write emails to keep everyone updated!!!! You know, my fans back home and all.

This week I got sick, and that was not fun. I woke up throwing up and told my companions que yo no quería NADA pero a dormir (translation - get out, shut the door, let me sleep!).   So I slept the whole day to try and regain my strength, but I was not having it. Later, I got better, but the illness was only  slowly leaving my body. The work still goes on though and we work despite the challenges we have!

We started working more in the far part of our area which is Virgen de Socorro, where it is nothing but sand. We are starting to find more and more people over there and hopefully we can plant many seeds with the people to get more hearing about the gospel! It is kinda sad because some people say they've never seen the missionaries, so I hope we can make sure they see us more. I'm also pretty sure it is our area still, because we don't know it very well since our area is so huge. However, every time we go there we have to take these ghetto cars where there is literally a million people in this small car. I am surprised at how many people you can fit in one car. People stacked on other people, but it is better than walking for 30 minutes to get there!  Haha.

Changes are coming up this week and I find out if I remain with Elder Baque in this area, or if I go to a different area. Fingers crossed for what happens next.

I also got some awesome packages!!!!  I got candies, candles, socks, an awesome calendar with pictures of Jesus, and a cute little stuffed alligator that Grandma sent me, it was awesome!  Love you family!!!!

We also had zone conference, so that was fun. I got complimented by the president about my Spanish when he asked me a question in front of everyone, so that made me feel special. Almost 7 months here, so I hope my Spanish is good  Hahahaha.  I do love that the language is coming wayyyyy easier than at the beginning. I found that my testimony of the gospel has been growing so much and I can really share the messages that the people need at this time. I love the gospel and I love sharing it with everyone. Everyone should listen to the gospel!!!   It is so awesome!!!!    I love you guys!!!

So this week was crazy!!!

We spent basically the whole week focused on Noel and Rosemary, and THANKFULLY we got them MARRIED and BAPTIZED the same day!!!!  It was a stressful, because we had to do a whole lot to get everything in order. It was so beautiful to see them make this step towards repentance and be baptized!!  I am so happy that we brought this family together, and their two adorable children will get the opportunity to grow up in the gospel! How awesome is that!?!  I got to baptize Noel, and my companion baptized his wife Rosemary.  It was so beautiful to baptize Noel and later watch him watch his wife be baptized right there in the baptismal font. I am so happy for them!!!!  I cant believe we did it and helped them make this huge step.  I will never forget bringing this family together, they are all so beautiful.

Other than that, there is some MAJOR news....... I CAN CALL MY FAM. WHAT. Who would have thought?!?!?!?!  I guess this means everyone is going to stop emailing me. Please don't stop!!!  I love hearing from you guys!!!  But dang, I am sorry for all the missionaries who recently finished, because that stinks for them. I am so happy I can call my family! It is crazy how many changes President Nelson is making! There are so many, but it is beautiful to see the Lord Hastening His work.

Life is going good! Peru is awesome! I love the life! God is great! Beer is not good.

Hola mi familia!!!!!

Comó están? todo bien? Todo fino? Espero que si!

This week was super interesting. So we have been struggling to get this coupled married. Noel and Rosemary, but we have been working our butts off to get everything organized for their marriage and their baptism, and this Saturday they are getting married and baptized the same day!!! How is that for crazy? Who would have thought that I would play a part in this eternal family, helping to make this covenant with the Lord. It is so crazy to me. They are 18 and 19 years old, but have two adorable little kids. They are the cutest things ever, and words can't describe how happy I felt to help them make these steps and to know that these kids are going to get to have the chance to grow up in the gospel and that hopefully a year from Saturday they will be able to go to the temple to be sealed for time and eternity. I am so stoked for them. My companion and I will be baptizing them this Saturday!!!!!!!!!

Other than them, we have been working our butts off trying to find the people who are prepared and want to listen to us. Our area is HUGE, and so when we have a day where we don't know what to do, we usually go and explore our area and find some people to teach. One day when we were doing this, something crazy happened. The dude who cleans our clothes was out where we were. We were over in Sol Naciente, which is literally like the middle of nowhere, it is this place where everything is dirt and sand, and pretty far from where we live, but it is our area still. We ran into the guy who cleans our clothes and he said that he has a reference for the missionaries but didn't know whose area Sol Naciente belonged too. It was crazy! But hopefully we can meet the family and have him introduce us and maybe we can work with them!

We got to go to the temple in Trujillo today!!!!!!  I will say, this temple has been my favorite so far. It is SOOOO stinking pretty. I bought a hymnal in English because I wanted to remember the songs in English, as well as Spanish, and also to help my companion learn English. But the temple was sooooooooo beautiful and the spirit there was so strong when so many missionaries were there. I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE SO MUCH. I wish we could go more often, but we only get to go every 6 months. So I had to make this one worth it.

I hope everything is going good with you guys! I love the gospel so much. We have the greatest gift and the most important information of all time. I am so honored to be the lords mensajero aqui en su obra. Vida es hermosa, I love you guys!

Also, I have a couple hats that I have been wearing as we go outside because the sun kills me, however I don't know if the stares are at the hat or because I am white.  Maybe it is just because I'm incredibly good looking.

Hola mi familia! Comó están?

Este semana era tan bueno. Me encanta la obra del Señor y siento tan satisfecho. Que tal los Estados Unidos? Escuchado que Trump va a ser algo para ayudar Venezuela! Ya sabia porque los venezolanos aquí son tan felices sobre eso.

This week we worked super hard. I have been learning and growing at a super fast pace and I can feel the work of the Lord within me and it feels so great. The harder I work, the more I feel it, and the more I feel it, the harder I want to work. We have found some really great people this week that I hope will progress.

First off, I need to be careful because I may start feeling like a Latino, but I still don't look like one. I am oblivious to everything, but apparently I am getting cat called a lot by teenage girls and my companion is explaining it to me and it feels a little uncomfortable. I felt weird when there was a volleyball team and they just started calling me Papa-cito. That was weird.

So my area, it is HUGE. Really big and we do tons and tons of walking. Thankfully, I bought some pretty heavy duty boots, that luckily I was able to talk the price down because I am a boss like that, but I have like the worst blister/bruise that is part of breaking in these boots, so that stinks. But the other day we were contacting in a part of our area that we haven't been in before, and it is LITERALLY the farthest part of our area that I had no clue about because I have never been over there. But we found some people who were like golden, and they wanted to learn more and were so open and receptive to us. They don't have anything, just a mattress on the floor inside their house, and it was humbling to have the opportunity to teach them about the restoration and share the message with them. It was awesome, however we have to go back and frankly, I don't know if I will be able to remember how to get there. ALSO, they only have time at night, so that may stink if we get stuck out there. Hopefully we can make it back to our room by the time we are supposed to be there.

I have been practicing talking with literally everyone. Every person that I have a thought about talking with, I go and do it. It has been an amazing experience to talk with so many people about the most important message in the world. Maybe not lots of people were interested, or a few wanted to fight, but my testimony has grown immensely and I am so unbelievably grateful for the message that we are bringing to the people here in Peru. I love this gospel so much and I am hoping that the people can really feel the sacred nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are sharing with them. Nothing beats the feeling of being able to go to bed at night knowing that I gave all that I could that day. It is the best feeling in the whole world, and I am looking forward to the many lessons that God has in store for me to learn here in the near future.

We are teaching English classes los dias miercoles (on Wednesday) at the church, and it has been such a blessing to get to teach the people my native language. We have been using it as an opportunity to bring investigators to the church, and after we teach some English we share a message about the gospel with them to teach them why we are really here. It is a little bit of a challenge, because there are some kids who are members and a little disruptive so we may need some discipline. I may understand how my Spanish teachers may have felt now. (Sorry coach Pickup and Señor G).  I love teaching children songs, that I sang when i was little, in English, then to hear their broken up English sing the song. To me it is the most beautiful thing in the world and makes me so happy.

Overall, this week has been a good hardworking week. I love you all, and I know this church is the best, greatest, awesome-est, and the only true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You guys are all so special to me and I am loving the service I am doing here in this amazing place. Love you all so much!!!