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.

Hola Familia,

We had a great week this week! We had two baptisms! One for a 17-year old called Lesly and the other for 24-year old Engelbert!  It was such an awesome experience to get to be there for their baptisms and to make their first covenant with God.  I got to play the piano for both services, that was a little nerve-racking considering I haven't practiced in forever. I also had to give a talk for the baptism of Lesly, which was a little nerve-racking because the President of our mission was there too, but he gave me a huge compliment and said I sounded like I have been here a year already. Which is really nice because there are still many things i don't understand or can't communicate.  Hahaha.

They were both two really beautiful services, and they are both amazing people. Engelbert even is wanting to serve a mission, so it is crazy to think about how we baptized him, and if he goes and serves a mission how many more lives he could change. It is so beautiful to see the work of the Lord working here in Peru. Especially among the Venezuelans, because there are so many of them coming here to Peru since the corruption over there. It is terrible to see, yet very humbling because they are looking for anything to grasp on for hope and feel the love from their Heavenly Father despite the terrible challenges they are going through. Engelbert was baptized by his uncle, which was so beautiful to see this family together as one striving to keep the commandments of the Lord. I really love this family.

We got to go to the Trujillo temple for my first time, as well as one of our converts first time this last Thursday! We went with Sebastian, who we baptized earlier in October, to do baptisms in the Trujillo Temple, and holy cow the temple here is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. It is so huge and quiet and reverent and just super sacred. It was such a powerful experience to be with someone who we baptized, then to witness him being baptized for people on the other side of the veil so desperately wanting to make the same covenant with God that we have made. It was so beautiful, and powerful. We only get to go to the temple 4 times in our mission just to go, but if we baptize we can go with our converts once to do baptisms, and for their endowments. Sebastian also wants to serve a mission, which is another miracle to baptize someone who wants to be a missionary.

We had an intercambio of our companions last Tuesday, and i was leading my area and it was humbling with how much I still need to work on.  Missionary work is tough, finding people to teach and then teaching them. On top of doing it in a different language and culture that is still surprising me every day. I have two more weeks with Elder Moncada, then I receive a new companion where I will have to teach him our area and the members and investigators, so hopefully I can remember everything and know the area well enough.

Remember the poor man that can´t walk and works on a moto? Well some punk stole his wheelchair. It made me so mad to hear this, I mean this poor guy has nothing and on top of that someone stole this man´s wheelchair. I hope we can get him a new one.

I hope you guys had a amazing Thanksgiving. We didn't do anything for it.  Most of the Elders didn't even know, which was kinda sad. But, I know the work here is super important and we need to bring as many people as we can back to our Heavenly Father.

Something we always teach is something called OLA, which is Orar, Leer, and Asistir.  A Capilla which means pray, read, and attend church. This is important for everyone to do. Once we have made covenants, we are not done. We have to endure to the end, which means always doing all we can to strive to have the spirit with us. Something that i have felt strongly lately is taking the sacrament. Every time we take the sacrament, it is as if we are baptized again. we are made clean through the atonement of Jesus Christ, when we do the simple things He asks of us, like pray, read, and take the sacrament. This is only for our benefit. For our happiness. For our joy. Why not do these simple things if the Lord promises us to make our burdens light, to comfort us in our afflictions, to deliver us out of bondage?  I was reading in the end of Mosiah, and the people were baptized by Alma, and then taken into bondage.  Because they covenanted with the Lord, and poured their hearts out to the Lord, the Lord remembered his promise and he delivered them. This is the promise if we just turn to Him. That is something I am always trying to learn.

I love and miss you guys so much. You guys are so amazing, and thanks so much for the support back home and your love! I love you guys.

This week we had one of our baptisms! It was nice to see one of our people get baptized. Funny story, I had to do the baptism last minute and I didn't have a change of clothes or anything, so I spent the rest of the evening in a soaking wet shirt and garments so that was interesting and embarrassing. We have two more baptisms coming up this week so that is exciting to see so many of our people getting baptized.

I have had such busy days, it is hard to keep track of everything that is happening. So much happens and each week feels like a whole month! I hope Thanksgiving is fun.  I am so sad I am missing Thanksgiving. It is weird how much is happening at home without me there and present. I hope it is all going well.

Today we visited some ancient ruins, which was cool, but honestly it was a little boring because there wasn't much to it. We got some cool pictures though.

I got the best package ever, the Christmas package from mom! I set up the tree on my desk and the flags and everything. I can't wait to call you guys and hear your voices and see your faces. I literally cannot wait. I am counting down the days till Christmas. It is a very special time.

I got a terrible haircut today.  I couldn't communicate what I wanted and it is way out of code, so that is super frustrating. I was actually really mad because this haircut looks stupid. I wish I knew Spanish fluently. The language is a challenge, and I know more than at first, but man there are still things that are impossible.

I hope all is going well at home. I look forward so much to reading emails! I love and miss you guys so much.

Oh one more story.

My companion got sick this week and he was really not feeling well. So we went back to the cuarto early at 4 in the afternoon and he went straight to sleep, and I had some time to write in my journal, study the scriptures, eat dinner, and this evening to myself was literally the best evening I have had this whole time. I even went to bed early at 10. It was a super nice break and I thoroughly enjoyed my time alone somewhat while my companion was snoozing in the bed. It was nice. Then we went right back to work the next day as usual.  Haha

Another Story,

I have learned how to eat and drink food I don't like. I have seen so many weird things. Chicken intestines, chicken feet, chicken blood, octopus, chicha (which is like this corn drink), and much more. They really use every single part of the chicken here. I was so peeved when I drank all the chicken blood and all the chica and my companion keeps serving me more and telling them I want more even though he knows I don't like it, eye roll emoji. Also there is this nasty thing called acituna - nicknamed here gringo killer - and they know white people don't like them. And for some reason it seems like I am eating this thing every meal. It literally tastes like I am eating straight vinegar. It is not pleasant. I did eat octopus today and actually it wasn't bad. I kinda liked it. The rest of the chicken stuff is a no go. Sometimes I put my foot down and say sorry I'm full I can't eat more, and sometimes I have to suck it up and consume it in my body. Drinks are a little bit easier because I just chug it and try not to taste it. I learned that if I just drink it really fast, I don't really taste it. Food is harder. Also, I really don't like fish. There is so much fish here and so many bones in the fish that I choke on.

I. Really. Don't. Like. Fish.

But yeah, the food here is so different and I am trying to stick with my mayo rice because that stuff is the bomb compared to chicken intestines...... but yeah buen provecho.

Hey!  So I have been doing lots of walking, lots and lots and lots of walking. We have been talking with so many people and teaching so much. We have three baptismal dates lined up this month already. It is awesome to see people making changes in their lives and, even though I can only poorly communicate, I can communicate well enough that I don´t feel completely useless!  Hahaha! 

I am still trying to get use to the culture here, it is SO different from everything I was used too. Everything is different here. The smell, the place, the people, the culture, everything. The one thing that has not changed is the Gospel.  It is a nice reminder that Heavenly Father is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We moved into our new apartment and it is super nice, except it is super noisy. We are on the side of a busy road, so all I hear is cars honking, loud music, motos, everything so I am learning to block out noise when I sleep. Everyone plays their music here, like they blast it from their houses, cars, shops.  It is interesting how much they love their loud music and sound systems.  Hahaha!  But I guess I am guilty because I did the same thing every morning getting ready for school.

People here are already setting up their Christmas decorations. It makes me so sad I am not home to set up the Christmas decorations, but hopefully I can have peace that I am doing the Lord's work and even though we are away for the holidays, we can be in each others hearts.

My Spanish is still improving slowly, but  I get super excited when the people here tell me that I have improved a lot from when they first met me. So that makes me really excited and motivated to hear compliments like that.

These next two weeks I am going to be doing intercambios with other missionaries since my companion is the district leader, so it should be fun to be able to go to a different area for 24 hours. Honestly, it is kinda hard for me because I don't really want to leave my area, because I want to stay focused on the people we are teaching and I don't want to miss the lessons, but I can't get everything I want.

I am not sure what day is Thanksgiving, but I know it is coming up soon. Make sure you guys are being thankful for things! For me, it has been difficult to find things to be thankful for. There is so much to complain about. I have practiced in my prayers giving things I am grateful for, and I found when I tried to focus on the positive things, the negative things kinda get drowned out because you are not focusing on the bad things. I have been practicing thanking God for the challenges and troubles I have, because I know He does not give us challenges if it was not to make us better people. Ether 12:7 makes this clear! That if we humble ourselves before God, He will show us our weaknesses and make us strong! I have been learning, still am learning how to be humbled. I feel a little bit ridiculous sometimes when I feel upset, and then we go and teach someone who has it much worse than I do.  Then I just feel sad because all I want to do is help them.

I had a powerful moment this week. There is a member in the ward who is an old man and he can't walk. He can't use his legs at all. He lives in the poorest part of our area, and when we went to visit him, I was shocked at how he lived. He has a bed and a dirt floor with a TV made in like the 70s with just a bunch of old worn down junk surrounding this tiny little hut. All he wants is people to talk too, and I honestly had to hold back tears sharing a message with him because he reminded me so much of Grandpa McGreer. He acted the same way, said the same sort of things, and it broke my heart to see his situation. And even though he can't use his legs, he still hops on a moto to go to work as a taxi driver, driving around other people because if he can't work he can't get food or medicine or anything. I shared Enos 1:27 with him, which was a powerful scripture that I read in my personal study, and he just, in tears, thanked me for giving up two years of my life for service for the Lord and helping people like him. I was really humbled by this experience and I could feel Grandpa McGreer next to me, comforting me in the words I should say to this man. Honestly, it was a really powerful experience for me. Whether Grandpa was actually there I don't know, but he reminded me so much of him and I just felt so much empathy for him.

I hope all is well and you guys are doing good. I miss you guys so much and remember to always read your scriptures and say your prayers. I have so much love for you guys and I miss you all so much.

So this week was one of the better weeks! We had some difficulties finding a new room for us, but we are moving into a way better room today and it is way awesome compared to the other rooms I stayed in. Hopefully we can move without breaking anything.

It is weird to think that I have been here for a little over three months. Time went by so slow. It is starting to speed up. I can talk somewhat in Spanish. I still am handicapped, but I can communicate the lessons and understand the general topic of what people are talking about. I am developing lots and lots of patience. With myself, with the language. It is hard to have patience, but I am learning.

We spend lots of time walking. Lots and lots and lots of walking. This place is nothing but sand. It is all brown! I saw some pictures of Cajamarca, and man it is green over there. I am really hoping the Lord needs me in Cajamarca some time because it looks gorgeous. I am learning to love the area. If I am honest, I was not liking this place at first. It was rough. It didn't look pretty, it smelled weird, I couldn't understand or communicate. But it is true what they say - over time it does get better. I do like the people, and maybe the place isn't that pretty, but that is okay! I am starting to enjoy it because I am doing the Lord's work. He has placed lessons and challenges in front of me for me to learn and to grow. If I can learn to love this, I can learn to love anything! There is so much about life to be grateful for. We focus on the bad a lot, and at least for me, I didn't focus on the good very much. I don't think I will get to celebrate Thanksgiving here, which I am sad about, but I have so much to continue to learn and the Lord will bless me when I constantly rededicate myself to him.

So, find things to be grateful for! Especially in the people around you. If you see something bad about someone, find three good things about them! Because usually people have more good than bad. Unless you are just a terrible person. Then I am sorry. Find the good things in the area around you. Life feels like it sucks and life was meant to suck. We couldn't be happy if we didn't know sadness.  But there is so much to be happy for. I know it! Cry out and shout 'The Lord is my strength and my song!'  2 Nephi 22 was the scripture I read this week that made me so happy. And it is true. It was an MCO song I realized, but it is so true.

I love and miss you guys. I hope everything is going well. Have love for each other. Know that I am here, learning to love, and I have so much love for my home, and for the Lord, and for Peru. I hope what I say helps. Love y'all!