Hello mi gente de mi pais. Como estan? Estoy bien gracias.

This week was awesome! So I made it a goal to just work harder than I have ever worked before, and to really push myself and push my companion. And I have to say, even though sometimes it may have been a little bit of a grudge, I went to sleep exhausted but happy that I could say I gave it my all. I hope I can keep up the excitement here in the Lord's work to give it my all every day.

We had changes!!! So I got a new companion, Elder Baque from Ecuador. He has about double the time that I have in the mission, just 10 months, but I am so excited to work with him. I am staying in the same area, so I don't get a change of scenery, but I have high goals for this area and high expectations and I am going to give it my all to put in the work a lograr estés metas (achieve these goals). It is going to be awesome, so I can't wait to start seeing some of the miracles. Not gonna lie, I was sad to say goodbye to Elder Padilla. We had lots of fun together, but he is now in Cajamarca and he is going to kill it over there. He will probably be the only companion I will get from the States, but that is okay because I need to get better in my Spanish. I can understand a lot better than I can speak, so I need to work a lot on that. I still can't roll my R´s to save my life. That is the most difficult thing ever.

Speaking of miracles, I met Jesus. Literally. There is a Venezuelan that we contacted, and he looked golden. He was so nice and wanted to listen to us. We taught him the restoration and we came back the next day and he said he read the whole pamphlet and wants a Book of Mormon to read and we left him with a Book of Mormon, and I hope that we can keep up his ánimos (courage) and I can't wait to see where it goes. It would be awesome to say I baptized Jesus.

Another miracle, I made it a goal to work with the members a lot more and to really get references from them. We had a family home evening with this big family, and we got to meet this elderly couple that they knew. They are the cutest couple ever, but they can't hear to save their lives. So we have to yell for them to hear us, which is a little weird because it feels like the spirit leaves when we start yelling, but they are so awesome and want to learn more and more. The husband was even asking how he can come to church and all, so I have some hopes for them. I also learned that I really love family home evenings here. I love just being with the whole family and sharing a gospel video or two and having fun with them. The families here aren't usually just the intermediate family. It's the whole shabang, and they all live in one house. Which is actually kinda fun.

We also had a mission activity!!! We all got with the future elders and we went on splits with the future elders to give them a taste of mission life. I was with three young guys and we went out contacting and to a few citas. It felt a little weird to be the most experienced of them all, and when it was time to contact they would all look at me as to what to say which boosted my confidence and it was just awesome to get to participate in the activity with them and teach them a little bit about the mission. We also start teaching some English classes on Wednesdays, which will be super cool to get to help people here learn English and hopefully will help me better learn Spanish so I can better understand more of how a Latino thinks. And it is also a great missionary opportunity to get people to come to the church and be surrounded by other members. Lots of times we have problems getting people to church, but maybe if they get familiar with it, we can make them feel more comfortable there!

I haven't gotten attacked by any dogs lately, just scared many times when we pass by houses and the dogs FREAK OUT when I pass by. Like they are on the other side of the bars, or whatever, but they are terrifying.I can't get too close.

I got my camera and took some pictures because I feel bad for how bad my picture game has been. Hopefully the pictures help make up for it. This last change with Elder Padilla flew by, it doesn't feel like it has been a month and a half with him, so I didn't get many pictures, but its okay.

The church is true and it is awesome!! I love the gospel and it makes me so happy to get to share it every day!!! I love you all!!!!!

Hellllllooooooo Family!!!

So this is the last week before I find out if I am being changed to another area or not. Part of me wants to stay in Robles, and part of me wants to go somewhere where it is green. I have to say, in the words of Anakin Skywalker, 'sand is coarse and rough and it gets everywhere.'  I don't like sand, but I do like the people. I am sorry I don't have any photos, I tried to take some but the computer I am on right now doesn't take the SD card, so that stinks. Please forgive me since it has been a while since you have seen this beautiful sunburnt face.

We have been doing lots and lots of contacting and walking in our area trying to find people to listen to us. It has been hard to get some people progressing, but I know we will be directed to choice people if we just do what we are supposed to be doing, which is working hard. We also found the coolest place this week. We were walking through some place, and we stumbled across this abandoned complex. It was a brick building with tons of sand and literally looked like it was straight from a movie. Think Maze Runner. The not cool part was that there were vicious dogs protecting this place and we literally had to run the maze from these vicious dogs and it was the scariest thing ever. It was so weird and terrifying and cool all in one.

Have I told you about the demon kid? Well there is a demon kid. And he lives in my area. We always walk past him, and he points at me and does this weird clapping thing and tells his big scary hellhounds to attack me AND THEY LISTEN TO HIM!  This kid is literally SO SCARY.  It looks like he has some mental problems or something but to me it looks like he has some demonic powers because when those dogs come bolting by the command of this demon kid I AM OUT.  SORRY.   I don't like that he points at me and tells his dogs to kill me. Literally, just me. It is because I am white.  He doesn't point at my companion. Just me. I didn't do anything to ya buddy jeez. I need to keep my distance. Also, there is this little girl who is also terrifying. We were contacting, and I was talking to her mom, and she was only 6 years old but she kept interrupting me saying these brainwashed things about Jesus. She says it in the creepiest voice ever and a six year old shouldn't have a voice like that. I was talking about Joseph Smith and she says "blessed are you in Jesus" and like I was so taken back because I did not know what to say after the third fourth time of her saying something in her demon voice. Maybe they should change me to a different area.

This week went by alright though. I have been stressed trying to help all the people that we have and get them progressing, but I have noticed that I am really starting to love the people here and really want them to be well off. It is a little stressful worrying about them all the time, but it is a great lesson because I know Heavenly Father is probably always worrying about us as well. He wants us to learn and to grow from the lessons that He gives us. Everyone is here on earth for a reason. It is out of love from our Father in Heaven that we are here, because He wants us to understand what true happiness is. He wants us to experience love. And a part of that is learning how to overcome hard things. I know that when we do all that we can and turn it over to Him that we can overcome cualquier desafío (any challenge) that is in our lives. I love hearing from you guys and what is going on at home! The church is true!

Helllooooo yall!!!

So this week has been lots of hard work. We have been struggling to find some people to teach, but we have been working non stop searching referencias y la carpeta de área y todo pero mucho contactando.

Some interesting things that happened this week:  I had an intercambio with my friend Elder Boyce, so that was lots of fun!! He was in my same group in the CCM, in my district so we became good friends and to see us working together for a day considering neither of us knew Spanish five months ago is so crazy. His Spanish got sooooo much better than when we were together in the CCM, and I am hoping mine did too. At least I can understand a lot. Sometimes I have to say the same thing like three times for people to understand me, but it is just because i have such a gringo accent. Usually people understand me when I am talking about gospel stuff, so thank you Heavenly Father for the gift of tongues.

We haven't gotten locked out of our apartment again, so that is good. But I have gone crazy cleaning the place. I bought a bunch of cleaning supplies, and just started cleaning like a maniac. Lots of people here don't really believe in cleaning, but I need it to be clean. I hope my mom is proud of me, because I went crazy. I even made my companion start taking off his shoes when we come into the apartment because we track in so much dirt when we wear our shoes. He may have been a tad bit annoyed, but at least the place is cleaned.  Haha.

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope the parties were good.  We just slept and it was like any other day for us, but lots of people lit fireworks and had lots of fun. It is weird to think I turn 19 this year, and this whole year is dedicated to the misión. That is so crazy. Hopefully it is a good one and I can give my all to the Lord.

I hope you guys all have your resolutions and are thinking of the Savior and how you can become closer to Him this year. I know I am studying His attributes and trying to understand the atonement on a deeper level. We are all so loved by the Savior, and based on how we show our love for Him, we can feel the infinite love in our hearts stronger. Through scripture study, prayer, and renewing our convenatns por medio de la santa cena que podemos sentir el amor de dios mas fuerte en cada uno de nuestros corazones.

I love you guys!!!! Keep being awesome!!

Why helloooooooooo family! This has been quite the week. QUITE THE WEEK. Where do I begin?

Lets start with Christmas. So it was a long hot Christmas Eve, and one unfortunate Elder was about to go outside with his companion, but the keys were sadly forgotten in their room. So when they left and the doors were locked up, they had no clue. They worked hard all night, and they were so very tired. The end of the day came, and it was time to go to bed so Santa could visit them. Little did they know, they were not going to sleep that night. They didn't have the keys! The landlord was on vacation, enjoying his time with his family, and wasn't there to unlock the door. There was quite literally no place for them to go. They scratched their heads and offered some sad attempts of getting in, but nothing worked. Well, it was way past the time they were required to be in their room, and they had to go to another companionship's room to sleep. Well, they didn't have much room to sleep, but at least they would have a room. So they found a nice place on the cold tile ground with a couple of plastic bags for pillows and attempted to sleep.

So that was Christmas for me, and yes I was the Elder who forgot the keys. In a way it was kind of my fault. It was a long, Christmas-sy, but not wintry night (summer Christmas makes for a difficult adjustment). I DID NOT GET ANY SLEEP. The next day we were stuck because there was still no way to get into our room and everyone was sleeping from the millions of Christmas Eve parties the previous night.  Latinos party hard for Christmas.  So we couldn't get into our room in the morning either. It was actually kinda really sad because I really wanted to shower and get into clean clothes.

On Christmas day, I had a wonderful call home with my family. I may or may not have cried a lot. It was something very special for me to be able to call home to my eternal family. I loved being able to hear their voices and to catch up on the last few months.

Later that day we had the bishop come and he broke a window and we got into our room, so that was all good. We just have to replace the window now.  Haha.

Another funny story:

So one of the families here has twins, and they turned 14 this week. Well apparently Peru has some wacky traditions. We went to their house to say happy birthday, and talk with some of their family who aren't members, but we are working with them, and they had a cake and everything. Apparently it is tradition to sing happy birthday in English first, then Spanish second, and blow out the candle then shove their face into the birthday cake. On top of that, they crack eggs on top of their heads. I have to say, the cake face thing is funny but I do not like that eggs thing. Anyways, we went there, and there are these little girls who are crazy.  They are like 4 and 5 I think. Anyways, they started throwing eggs and cake at ME!  Like what the heck?!  I got covered in cake, eggs, and just nasty things. I FELT SO GROSS. My pants and shirt were covered in food,and my OCD kicked in so bad. They thought it was so funny though, and I laughed, but we went back to the room so fast to shower and change.  Haha.

This week has been a lot of reflecting on the Savior for me. The .Savior has so many attributes that we are trying to learn to become. It has been something that, for me, I am trying to focus on developing Christlike attributes. I know the Savior has infinite love for us and that He is there waiting for us to turn to Him and to take His hand.  For me, sometimes it is hard to remember that He is there offering us help at every moment of the day. Heavenly Father is always there waiting for us to pray and talk to Him. Something I am working on is turning to the Lord in everything. Chances are, He is gonna do it a little better than I am going to do, so if I can tap into His guidance, then I can quite literally become an instrument in His hands. I am trying to develop enough faith to be that instrument.  I know that this church is true. Many people don't listen or don't want anything to do with this church, but I know that this is literally the Church of Jesus Christ with all the truths needed  for eternal exaltation. I know it is true, I know it, I know it!  I am working on living every day as a true representative of my Lord and Savior. I am not perfect, but I know that through Him I can be made clean and whole.

I love you guys!

Guys!

The mission has been going great. Elder Padilla and I have been killing it here in Robles. We have two baptismal dates for this week, and we have two more who want to get baptized but first we have to marry them, so this is interesting learning how to get people married because we have to do everything... so I hope we can get it done right. But it would be so awesome if from a year from now I could go to their sealing.

Today we had an awesome Christmas party at the mission home and sang some songs, ate some food, made some crafts, and just got to see some old friends from the CCM which was really special. Our President of the mission gave a really powerful testimony and made me motivated to work harder here in the work of the Lord.

Elder Padilla and I have been doing LOTS AND LOTS of walking. It just so happens in the places we walk, there are LOTS AND LOTS of vicious, scary looking dogs that love to chase us, so that has been terrifying lately. Some of these dogs are huge. Like literally they could be a horse. It is terrifying.

I am really loving the mission. It was a hard learning process at first, but now I have finished my capacitación and I am excited to keep working hard in the Lords work. Nothing is more important than what I am doing right now, so that is a little bit of pressure. But I have been really developing a lot of love for the people here, and actually worry about them so much and really want them to progress. It is sad when we can't find people who we think are good, but I know the Lord has everything planned out, we just have to do everything to figure out His plan for the people here.

This time of Christmas is really special. At first, I was sad that I am missing Christmas back home. But after this week and lots of prayer and scripture study, I realized that I am actually in the best place I could be for Christmas. Literally the Savior sacrificed so much, and maybe I am sacrificing a little bit being away from my family and friends, but I am gaining so many blessings from being here in Peru that I am really not sacrificing anything. I get to experience a love that I never really have felt before, and learning, in a better way, how to love as He loved. This time of Christmas is extremely special because it is the birth of literally the point in time that changed the fate of eternity. That is why this holiday is my favorite. Because we celebrate the most important time. The Birth of our Savior.

I love you guys so much!

Hola Familia!!!!!!!  Comó están?

This week has FLOWN BY. It has been a little crazy. We had a bunch of changes, and me and another Elder were put as companions for a little over a week to manage both of our areas, so we had to do a ton of walking from our two areas. It was crazy, but it was one of the most rewarding weeks because it feels like we worked pretty hard. It is crazy to see how fast the week went by when we actually focused and worked as hard as we could. Also, I am proud of myself because I can actually contribute in lessons and teach.  It feels so good to not just be a vegetable anymore and actually start teaching. It is beautiful to see so many people here listen to us and have their hearts touched. Nothing feels better than looking in the eyes of the people here and seeing them feel the spirit for the first time.

One miracle we saw was this one girl. She is from Venezuela, in the same situation as a lot of other people from there as well who are basically refugees, and the missionaries have talked with her a little bit, but not very much. One day when it was just me and my companion, she finds us and tells us that she has had a dream and she knows our church is true. That she received a priesthood blessing and could literally feel the power and that we have the power of the priesthood and just started saying how the church is true and that it was manifested to her in this dream. She was already talking to us that she wanted to get a calling and have a role in the church to help further the work. Me and my companion literally didn't know what to say and we just said alright lets get you baptized! It was crazy. What´s crazier is that it's actually pretty common for people here to have dreams like that. It makes sense because, as one Elder described to me, it is because they are descendants of the Lamanites who were descendants of Lehi. And what is Lehi known for? Having some crazy dreams. So it is pretty cool to see that it continues on!

I got my new companion today.  His name is Elder Padilla, and he is from Las Vegas! My first companion from the States, so I am so excited to get to work with him and kill it here in Robles 2 with him. I am so excited to get to continue being in the work of the Lord here in this ward.

People here have all been putting up their Christmas decorations, which feels so weird because it is like 80 degrees outside and it is Christmas. It feels like summer. Probably because it actually is summer here.

I have been learning so much and growing so much, and it feels amazing to see myself get to learn and grow. It is such a blessing to be here in the mission. It is NOT easy, but it definitely is worth it and feels so rewarding at the end of the day when we have given all that we can to serve the people here after each day.

I love and miss you guys! I hope all is well!

Family and Friends!

I hope you guys are getting into the Christmas spirit. It is sunny and hot here and does not feel like Christmas at all, but I am trying to adjust. Currently, two missionaries reassigned in the Esperanza district, and now me and my companion are in charge of two areas and it is HUGE. We didn't have any money this past week, so we had to do a lot of walking. It is really insane. Last night we walked all the way to Virgen de Soccorro in the night, which is actually really dangerous, but I didn't know and my companion didn't tell me until AFTER we got back that he was guarding the cell phone because he didn't want them to rob me if we did get into trouble.... so that was kinda interesting!  Hahaha!  I hope we have that divine protection, but I don't want to test how much divinity can protect us!

I have been reading a lot in Alma, and Alma 5 is a pretty intense self reflection chapter. Alma asks all these questions to the people and I have been trying to think about them myself. If I were to die at this moment, can I say I have walked blameless before God? I have been thinking a lot about all these questions Alma asks, and it is something we all have to think about. Are we sufficiently humble, or do we hold on to our pride because we think we are right or that we know better? Do we listen to the priesthood authorities and actually apply their direction into our lives, or do we not take what they have to say as important?

As a missionary, I have been trying really hard to take all the direction the President has to give the missionaries, the Prophets and Apostles, and all. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, they have the keys to guide and direct us! They are literally given the authority to tell us the things we need to hear and do. The Bishop has the keys for the members of his ward, the Stake President for the stake, Area 70 for the area, and so forth all the way to the Prophet and Jesus Christ who is at the head of this church. Isn't it beautiful how the true church is a house of order? This doesn't mean the men are perfect, because no one is perfect, but it is beautiful to see the work of the Lord being hastened and organized in effective ways to maximize the aide for the people. I hope you guys can read this chapter and ask yourself the same questions Alma asks. Internalize it, ponder it, then act upon it!

I love you guys and miss you guys so much. You guys mean the world to me, and I love the support and strength I have from home to rely on. You guys are amazing, ustedes son la maximum.