It's About People

Hey Familia,

Guess what happened last week? We finally figured out how to skip down lines on these Latin Computers. So now my letters might actually look like letters after all. I can't make the same gaurantee for my spelling though. Well where to start? This week has gone by even faster than the last week. I'm just going to stop counting what day it is because they all run together. So from now on I'm just going to count the p-days. So this is P-day number 8. I've only been in the mission field for 8 days then. Only 96 left. 

Surprisingly though, a lot has happened since last week, even though I just mostly sit in class and do nothing all day. So since last P-day, I think I've really gotten to get to know the people here. That's what my theme is going to be this week I think. We all spent Christmas together and did so much together since last week that I really want to share just a tiny bit about some of my closer friends here. What's great about these friends is that we at least have two things in common with eachother: we all have gone through some kind of trial or another while we've been on our missions (whether it is the language, some health issues, or something else), and the other is a moving testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that has driven us from our comfy homes out into this great adventure. We are nowhere near perfect people, or missionaries, but we try and we've been changed through our efforts.

 So since you already know about my companion, I'll start with the others in my room. There's Elder Biliter: a really nice, open and all around cool guy from Florida. He likes all sports, music, and fun stuff. He went to BYU Hawaii and loved it; I might go there after my mission just because of him. Then Elder Miess; he's from American Fork and says he lives like two or three minutes from the Mt. Timp temple. I asked him if he knew the Farnsworths and he said they sound familiar but not really well. There's Elder Robinaugh; another really nice and cool guy from Grand Rapids Michigan who makes life easy for everybody becuase he's easy to get along with. Then Elder Bell; he lived in Vegas most of his life then moved to Idaho with his foster parents where he met the missionaries. He was baptized like two years ago and he has an awesome testimony. Then outside of my room there's been two that i've really gotten to know lately. There's Elder Madsen: he's from Highland. He went to Olympus and played rugby at Highland high. Then he played rugby at University of Utah. He's a huge University of Utah fan. We get along really well. He's a complete jock but makes everybody feel welcome and special. Then there's Elder McKinly from Salem, Oregon. He went to BYU but we get along super well. He's into all sports and music and movies too. 

I wish I could write about more people but i want to share about Christmas. All these Elders made Christmas so special. We all grew togther so much, that we all strive to be better and follow the rules to a tee. We were told we are the President's favorite group so far in the last year that he's been here. We're going to all sing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing at the Farewell Devotional next Tuesday. We practiced a couple times and it sounds nice, especially since we're going to sing half in spanish and the other half in english. And its going to be acapella. So now on to the Christmas festivities. Christmas Eve started out like just another day until about 3 in the afternoon. We all gathered to play a special game. It was about missionary work, and scriptures, and facts about the church and stuff. It was fun for the time we played it. Then we after dinner we had a devotional all about the savior. It was special. They narrated his birth and we sang lots of songs. Then after the devotional we had this fruit cake stuff that wasn't half bad and hot chocolate. We all went into the court yard after that and each district sang a christmas song of their choice. It didn't have to be a hymn, so there were some funny ones like the Grinch song. We sang I'm Dreaming of a White Cristmas, and it definately made me think of home. Not only becuase we usually have white Christmases but also because we watched Holiday Inn a lot. Then after that we were allowed to just talk in the courtyard till bedtime, but we all wanted to continue to sing American Christmas carols, so we did that for like another half an hour. It was fun to sing those special (sometimes annoying) songs together. Then we all went to bed. I tried to at least. At like midnight, there was a war going on outside in the city. There were so many fireworks that it lit up the sky and the bedroom. It sounded literally like bombs were going off. It was scary at first but then it was cool to see them. 

The President gave us all the gift of an extra hour of sleep Christmas morning which was much appreciated. Then after breakfast we watched the 2009 First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was so nice to hear the prophet's voice and to hear all of their words about the savior and this special time around His birth. Then after that we had a huge buffet lunch that was pretty good. Then we all got changed into our P-day clothes and did piñatas, kickball, and volleyball. It was a fun day and I was very appreciative of the President's and his wife's effort into making that day special for us all. Then before bed we got to watch The Other Side of Heaven. It was a little more cheesy than I remember, but I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. I felt my savior's love for his children and especially for me at this time when i was missig my family. Christmas was definately not the same as it was at home, but it was special for us all. 

After Christmas, life went on as usual. I was feeling kind of anxious and nervous about going into the field next week. But I quickly came to realize that i was as ready as I was going to get, and that the Lord doesn't expect me to be perfect, but rather to walk by faith, trust in Him, and try my hardest. That is how we learn in this life. We struggle, make mistakes maybe, but then learn from them and rely on the Savior to make up the rest. I definately know how Nephi felt when he penned those famous, inspired words in 1Nephi 3:7. I know that if we trust in God, everything will turn out okay. I actually don't know what the travel plans are for me yet. I don't find out till like Saturday, but Arequipa is only like a 90 minute plane ride from here, so I should be fine. I will leave on Tuesday the Fourth of January though, I know that for sure. Well, my time is running out, so I'll have to call it a letter by now. Make sure to thank the whole family for their letters. I got them yesterday and it really made my day. Even though I'm not really close to my cousin's kids I felt loved by them and their thougts. Also tell Andrew thanks for his letter in spanish: I understood the whole thing. The church is true. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Also thank you for your continued efforts in reading the Book of Mormon as a family. I know that book is true and it can bring the most happiness and peace to your life. More than any other thing in this life.

 I love you as always, 

 Sincerely, 

Elder Child

Merry Christmas

Hey Familia,

I can't believe it's been another week already. Time flies by so fast here in the CCM. Sorry about the weird letter setup, my computer is being stupid and won't let me hit the enter button for some reason. Anyway, it's kind of hard to think of things to write about this week but I'll try my best. So right after I wrote you all my last letter, I met my new companion. His name is Elder Murphy, he's from Glendora, California near Los Angeles. He's a white north american so it's definately different having him as a companion as opposed to Elder Guevara. He's like a super cool guy. I really like him and we seem to get along perfectly. He actually walked on to BYU's football team this past season as a cornerback. He didn't play or anything, he didn't even get a jersey, but it's still a cool thing. He's kind of small but really strong. He and I just really seem to get along well. We teach fairly well with eachother. He spent six weeks in Provo so he only has three weeks here. He's the only new Elder in our district so it's kind of hard sometimes to teach with him because he hasn't been here and learned how to teach the way the teachers want us to teach. It's definately not a problem or anything, it's just the way it is for now. I was thoroughly impressed by his skills in spanish though. He had a hard time at first with understanding people, but that was just because he hadn't been around it as much as I have. So after I met him I got to go on a bus tour of Lima. It was really cool, even though it was only like four hours. Our tour guide was Sister Slingerland, the wife of one of the members of the CCM Presidency. She's really nice and she knows a lot of things about Lima even though she's pretty much a tourist herself. I took lots of pictures of the architecture and beaches and stuff so don't worry. I won't have time this week to send them but maybe next week, I'm hoping. So after that I just have been going to class and trying to learn as much as I can during class about how to teach and stuff. I don't mean to sound generic or anything, it's just that really, everyday here seems to blend together.

I've been trying to be a good zone leader. Pretty much my calling just involves doing some things on Sundays like setting up programs for sacrament and attending a leadership meeting in the morning, so it's not a huge deal I think. I really got closer to the Elders here which has been the hardest part for me. I'm not exactly the most social person in the world as you know, so i'm proud of myself for making friends. Pretty much the next most interesting thing that happened this week for me happened last night (i think), oh wait it was Monday night. So Monday, a lot of the Senior couples that work at the Area offices next door came Christmas Caroling to us in the courtyard, in English. It was nice and made me think of Christmas at home. I wasn't really homesick, but I guess some Elders were crying becuase they missed their familes, which is understandable. They gave us a treat package with homemade cookies in it. It was nice and different than what we usually get, so i was happy about that. It made me think of when Debbie Huff would give us our candy/treat basket for Christmas. Has she brought one yet? You should definately take advantage of that. Oh, thanks for the letters, yes they did make it here. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers as well, it has really helped me. It is really difficult for me here sometimes because for whatever reason I think I have to be perfect or something. I feel my family's love though.

I've really enjoyed my time I get to read the Ensign, it gives me a lot of hope and I really feel the spirit while I read the words of living prophets. Today was p-day so we went out to go to the Temple. I have to admit that I wasn't feeling like going before I got there, but once I was there, I felt so good. It seems like everytime I go out of these walls, the city is cleaner, the weather is nicer, the people are friendly, and the houses are nicer. I'm learnig to really like it here and to see the good in life. I don't know what the deal is with my body. I hope I'm not gaining any weight (did you notice in the pictures?) and it doesn't feel like I'm losing any either, so I guess if I'm just staying consistent that's good. I'm actually pretty nervous to go out into the field. Even though it is getting boring here, it is getting comfortable. I don't think I'm the most prepared. It seems like sometimes I don't have a clue what I'm doing in teaching situations. But I just have to remember that I will learn eventually and that Heavenly Father will help me as well. I encourge you to continue to read scriptures and pray every day. Just try to be happy as a family and have good experiences together. I think I took my time together with my family for granted a little bit. I know the Lord will bless you if you are obedient and become more like Him. This season isn't only for finding gifts to give to other people, but for finding Christ. We can truly come to know our Redeemer if we take the time to learn of Him and try to become the kind of person he was. I know that happiness in this life can only come through Christ and living His teachings. Have a Merry Christmas. I can only imagine what it's like at home with all the Christmas decorations and things. Our CCM Mother is such a nice lady. She is putting together nice Christmas things this week to make us feel more at home, I don't know what they are yet, but I've been promised they will be fun and spiritual. Some missionaries say that the slowest part of the mission is the MTC. I hope that's not true because i feel like it was just yesterday I said goodbye to you guys at the curb. Just an FYI. You should all probably start sending your letters to my mission home on Christmas. I'm leaving in two Tuesdays from here, (I think that is the 3rd) so just so you know. Sorry if I missed any of your questions about what's going on here, I'll try to write more next week. Once again, I love you and I will always pray for you, talk to you next week.

Zone Leader and Taking Naps

Hey Familia,

Sorry to hear about all your struggles with getting me my email, it sounded like a good time though. Also, its good to hear that the Christmas party was pretty fun. Lo siento (that means sorry), but I haven't gotten letters yet from you guys. It usually takes about ten days sometimes two weeks to get them here, but i don't know for sure. I would sure feel loved if I actually got mail though becuase it is so rare an occurrance here in the Peru CCM. If you get a letter it's like way big news here. Writing emails -and really anything in english here- is getting kind of hard because the spanish is all around me. So, sorry in advance for any spanish words that slip in or of any misspellings. It's kind of hard to find a place to start to tell you all about this week. I'll just start with last p-day. I tried to send some photos but the message failed or something, but I'll try again today. Also, I kind of found out some bad news too... On Christmas at the MTCs all over the world, we're not allowed to call our families. It's kind of a bummer but we can think of it like this, when we actually do get to talk to each other it will be that much more special. On saturday we went proselyting again. That was an interesting experience. We were actually in a little bit of a nicer part of Lima, but we didn't have anywhere near a successful outing. My companion is so shy and timid that he has a very hard time talking to people and getting into people's houses to teach them. The most success we had is when I would do the door contact (in my extremely limited spanish, mind you) and get them to committ to read a pamphlet. I felt really proud of myself for doing that, but that is pretty much all I can do in Spanish, so I really wanted to rely on my companion. It was kind of a let down when he would just sit there and not say anything or just say goodbye to them. Oh well, i've learned to let it go and i've actually learned to have compassion for him. This is really a hard experience for him, so i just need to be patient and excepting. I've been praying for him so i hope that helps him. So that was Saturday, but on Sunday we had like the most spiritual day ever. We had church first, then lunch (we got ice cream cones), but after that we were allowed to watch previous talks by apostles at the Provo MTC. It was so good, we watched one by Elder Uchtdorf, and one by Elder Holland. Elder Holland's passion just makes me want to run a marathon or something. He is the most driven individual I've ever seen. I felt the spirit so strong, and learned a TON about missionary work. Then we watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas. It was so good to hear the music and see the christmas stuff in that movie. It also made me miss home, and temple square and the snow, but I know I'll be fine. I would ask that you all take serious advantage of your being so close to temple square, becuase I think that besides my family, Temple Square is what I miss most about Christmas in Utah. So then after we watched that, we watched a talk by Elder Scott. He has such a soothing voice that I fell asleep though. He was talking about recognizing the spirit and stuff but I totally zonked out. Anyways, after that we went and had dinner, then after dinner we had a cool fireside where the district's that were leaving each sang a special musical number. But then after that, we watched the Joseph Smith Movie. It is such a good movie and I always feel edified every time I watch it. So that was Sunday, now on to the rest of the week. Pretty much it was the craziest three days ever. Like I said, the missionaries that came in six weeks ago all left yesterday (that includes the three week latinos). So the CCM needed new zone leaders, so guess who they called as a zone leader? Ya, it was me. So now I actually have to pay attention to the other missionaries here and make sure they're following the rules. Oh well, it's a good calling and stuff, it's just more responsibility. So, we're supposed to get new missionaries from the states this week as well. We're recieving like 75 new north americans and only 50 new latinos, so i don't get a latino companion for the next three weeks, sad. You would think that would be a blessing, but honestly that is how i learned any spanish at all here. I don't know who my new companion is yet though becuase he is one of the new north americans. So i'll probably find out on Thursday, maybe Friday who it is. We got new districts and it looks like my new distric is going to be a really good one that works hard. I'm now what's called an Avanzado (advanced), that just means i've been here for three weeks and i'm supposed to be an example of what a missionary should be. We're also supposed to be the leaders and the ruled enforcers and stuff like that. So today is really exciting because at like 1:00 we get to go take a four hour tour of Lima!!! We get to go buy cool stuff and see the sites and things. It's going to be awesome. Well that's about it for me this week, I'll try again to send pictures though because i know you guys are missing them. Have an awesome next week and remember to read the scriptures as a family. Yo sé qué si leerán, sentirán el espíritu y paz en sus vidas. Yo sé qué esta iglesia es verdadera y José Smith fue un profeta. Yo sé qué El Libro de Mormón es verdadero y Jesucristo vive. That's my spanish testimony and promise to you that if you read the scriptures you will feel the spririt and be blessed. Have a good week, I love you so much.

Love- Elder Child

District Leader

What Up Familia,

Wow! I don't know about you guys but the time is flying by so fast. It seems literally just like yesterday that you dropped me off at the MTC in Provo. Can you believe it has been a month? only 23 left. I don't really know where to start so i'll just start with my compañero. His name is Elder Guevara, he's from right here in Lima. He's super quiet and reserved. He is really nice and tiny in stature, maybe five foot nothing. The only problem with him is that he knows like almost perfect English that he taught himself for the past six years. It's bad because he'll just talk to me in english and won't make me speak to him in spanish. But that's okay. My spanish is coming along, maybe not as well as i would like but it is improving. I know i shouldn't do it, but i compare myself to other Elders in my district and it seems like they get it easier than i do. All is well, i'll be fine. So like i said in my other email, that meeting was because i'm the District Leader. It doesn't really mean much, just an extra meeting a week and the authority to open the mailbox. My teachers pretty much just talk in spanish during class and i can understand most of it so that's good, but i can't understand my companion as well as my teachers. It's super hard to do companionship study and lesson planning with him though becuase of that barrior. So in my room there's five other elders. Usually there's three norte americanos and three latinos but this one only has two nortes and four latinos. So i'm even more immersed than others. There are some latinos that are really outgoing and just want to talk to their companions about everything in spanish and want to teach them but my companion doesn't really do that so i get discouraged sometimes. The food is really good for the first few days but then it just gets boring. It's not gross or anything it's just that it's the same thing almost everyday. Meat, rice, bread, egg, and some kind of dessert. That's it. They serve ice cream on wednesdays and sundays so those are the best days ever. We get PE everyday and all we play is soccer. It´s good but then again, it´s boring. Since we're so close to the equator here its pretty easy to get a tan. I'm even showing a little bit of it; not sun burn, tan. Because we're only outside for like 45 minutes everyday, it's not long enough to sun burn, but it is long enough to tan. Like you guys said, it´s pretty humid here but it's been pretty nice, like 70-75 degrees in the day and 50 ish during the night. Today was p-day so we got to go to the temple. The temple is so small. The endowment rooms only hold like 20 people and i got to use a translator, that was wierd. And we have to take a local bus to the temple which is about 5 minutes away, but its a crazy experience. I'm kind of running out of stuff to say because everything goes by so fast here. I'm glad that the utes won becuase for a brief moment, i thought i heard someone say that byu won, but that was on monday and there's no way they would have known for sure if that was true. Oh, we go out proselyting on Saturday and i'm pretty anxious becuase i really have no idea how to teach in spanish but hopefully i'll learn really fast. I might have a chance later today to email some pictures so just wait, i don´t have time right now. But i can't make any promises. I love you all so much and i wish i could say i miss the snow, but not so much. I told my district we could only sing christmas hymns when it snows here, they didn't excactly like that. Read the scriptures as a family, just do it. I know it's hard becuase we want to watch tv and stuff but if you do it in another room that can make it easier to not be distracted. You guys could use my room. I know you will all feel the spirit. Once again i love you all (yes even lucy). Talk to you next week. Elder Child. PS. DO NOT send me packages becuase they will not get here, and they will be super expensive to pick up. Oh, and you can send letters here for the next three weeks but on the fourth you need to address them to my mission address. Thanks!

Flying, Haircuts and Thanksgiving

Familia, Hey everybody.

I know I only called Mom and Karyn but I'm sure you've already heard that I left Atlanta for Peru last night. I thought I'd be able to call you guys from the Lima airport or something when I got back but I guess not. Well, I made it so you can stop worrying. We arrived at like 11:45 last night, then we had to go through customs and stuff. Then we had to meet our escorts back to the MTC. Then we drove about half an hour to the MTC. So then we had to get into our rooms and stuff before we could go to bed at 3:00. So I pretty much got like four hours of sleep last night. The MTC itself is super nice and new. It's like all clean and white and cool. I wish I could describe it better. I'm in a room with five other missionaries, four are latin americans including my companion. His name is Elder Guevara and he's from Lima. I only met him shortly this morning because he didn't get here until then (most latinos get here wednesday morning). Yesterday was so hectic and stressful from a physical standpoint and today is looking to be kind of stressful from an emotional and mental standpoint. The room is really nice but it's smaller than the one in Provo and there's two more people. They speak a lot of spanish here of course so I can see how we will learn very quickly. I was greeted by a North American last night and it looks like they really have a good time here in the Peru MTC. They all had on those Incan sweaters and beanies and stuff. I can get that stuff for like $2 here so that's cool. There's a lot more free time and it's a lot more relaxed here than in Provo too. There's about 150 Elders here now, and that's like full capacity, so it's way smaller. The weather is kind of wierd because it was pretty hot and humid this morning but just before lunch it got really nice and beautiful with a cool breeze. There's palm trees, fountains, a full turf soccer field (of course) and all the tiles and buildings are made of white stone. We drove through some....interesting parts of Lima last night. Our escort was from Peru and served in the Lima Central Mission. He was a really nice guy that told us cool stuff about Peru. All my luggage and stuff made it safely here, but i think i kind of have a lot of stuff, oh well. So on my flight last night, the plane wasn't like huge it was just normal and i was wicked bored because i sat in the middle so there was like no space for my arms to do anything. The situation would have been just fine if I was a normal tourist because there was a screen on the back of the headrest in front of me that I could watch all these brand new movies and live tv on; but since i'm a missionary i wasn't allowed to watch all the movies i wanted :( My P-day here is on Wednesdays so that's when i'll regularly be emailing you guys. We get as much time as we want here so the letters should be good in length if i can find anything to write about. I did take a few pictures but i still don't really know the best way to send them so just hold on for a few more days. So i guess on Saturdays the elders all go proselyting around Lima, so that will be a new experience (and maybe a scary one). The food we had for lunch was pretty good. It was like Carne Asada with rice and some yummy potatoe stuff, and chicken soup. And there was a homemade doughnut too. I think i get to like take a nap or whatever for most of the rest of the day so that's nice. I'm not sure what the relationship with companions are like becuase you don't really see them. We're in different classes during the day so I'm not sure how much i'm going to see them. I just want to stay relaxed right now becuase it will be very easy to be overwhelmed. The first thing they did to me this morning was chop off all my hair. It looks crazy, and i look wierd, but everybody has to do it so i don't feel too bad about it. They told me i have a meeting today at 3:45 with the MTC president and some other missionaries. The other missionaries say we're going to be district leaders. I kind of hope not becuase it would be very hard for me, but obviously i would do it. That's pretty much it for now i guess. Unless you want to know every little thing i do all day that's about all i can think of right now. I miss you all and love you. Thank you for your prayers and your love. Oh, Happy Thanksgiving and hopefully the Utes win on Saturday. The Church is True!!

Beautiful Provo

Hey Family,

Greetings from wonderfully beautiful Provo. This place is really a prison as i'm finding out. The weather has turned bad so i'm really grateful that i'm leaving on Wednesday. Speaking of leaving, my companion is not leaving with me. That's right, his visa didn't go through but mine did. There's a group of us going to Peru on Wednesday so I won't be alone but still that's too bad for him. He'll just have to stay until his visa comes. So sorry about the tree in the back yard, I hope it's still there when I get back, it was a good tree. And also sorry about the utes losing to notre dame, that could have been good for their rep. But that's okay they'll still beat that team across the campus. I can hear their games on saturday's, it's pretty lame. Also sorry for the appliances, i didn't know Heavenly Father loved me that much, so just think of it like that. The work is continually difficult here, but it's also rewarding. My companion and I don't have great chemistry when we're teaching so it makes it awkward and stressful, but i know it's just part of learning how to be in a companionship. I've completely fell in love with the Book of Mormon this week. I've learned that it truly is the greatest tool we have herer in the mission field. You can answer any question about life from the Book of Mormon. Please read it along with Preach My Gospel and I promise you'll feel comforted and blessed. There's been alot that has happened this week but it's gone by so fast. Well, the computer totally like froze last time i got on so it cut my time by five minutes so this week's letter might be a little shorter, sorry! Thanks a lot for the pictures, they really make me feel good. It's great to see your smiling faces, i hope you guys are okay without me. Stay busy. I miss all of you but puttting my heart and sould and energy into the work makes it so much easier. Hopefully all goes well on my way to Peru. It feels like I just got here and now i'm leaving. I've started to make some really good friends with the Elders in my district so it will be hard to leave; but then again, it snowed today so now i do want to go to Lima. I still don't know the best way to send pictures from here sorry. I haven't done the best job getting pictures either, sorry again. I'll make sure to take more in peru. Also, thanks alot mom for the package of fruit. at first i wasn't happy because i can get all that fruit at the cafeteria, but i can't take it to my room so it was good after all. I think i might leave so food behind but maybe not. We can take 50 pounds international because we're flying Delta. But i'm not sure if i'm going to have to check a third bag, because i think my backpack counts as a carry on. Hopefully it all turns out okay. If not, then i'll just carry my backpack on and hope that my bags show up that day. Feel free to send letters because i can get them everyday but i can only check email once a week and i only have thirty mintutes (or 20 today) to check it. Love you All, have a great week.

Elder Child

PS The church is true.

First Letter

Dear Family,

So sorry about not emailing all of you last week. I was still trying to figure out exactly how to do it here, but it's cool now. Anyways, a lot of stuff has happened since last Monday. Well I guess I should start with my companion Elder Jones. Like I said before we are quite the opposite from each other. He's a zooie and i'm not, he's short, very talkative, knows it all, and knows everybody here because he went to BYU. I think that fact is the most disturbing because he stops and talks to everybody all day and we end up missing stuff. It's not that big of a deal it's just that all the people I know is Elder Young and Elder Broadbent. And he's very unorganized, which is something I'm trying to live with. So now you know Elder Jones. Well the food sucks. That's not completely true. It's pretty good tasting, it's just very bad for you. I was very strict about not eating alot of it which was easy at first but now i find that i'm hungier after i eat, which is a bad sign. A wierd thing though, today at the temple i tightened my belt another notch, which would mean i'm getting skinnier? Maybe it's all the work...Prrr...I'm slowly learning the Spanish. I've probably learned more in the first week than i did in all of high school. We're learning the lessons too, they're kind of hard to adapt to every single different person, but it's coming along. Hey, here's some good news... I got my travel plans to Peru! Ya that's right, we're leaving Nov. 24 at 9:45 and going to Atlanta, then to Peru. I should get in at 11:40 Lima time. so that's like 4 hours to atlanta then 8 to peru. That doesn't necessarily mean i have my visa though, so let's hope so. YES, i DID get my license, so thanks mom. Sorry to hear about Marlin, that sounds really scary. It's a good thing you guys have the address on the phones. I'm so glad to hear that job opportunity Nicole; Heavenly Father answers prayers because that's what i've been praying for. Thanks for the Jazz and Utes updates, that sounds really exciting about the "Comeback Kids". I think it's about time Lucy put herself to bed though (funny story, I dreamed about Lucy before I dreamed about any of you haha). Thanks for the picture with Chad and Jen, that made me happy. Oh, so last Sunday, Sheri Dew gave a great talk at our Devotional about Know Who We Are as Children of God, then on Tuesday Elder Bednar gave the best talk I've ever heard on Learning Doctrine at our Fireside. So that's about it for me... oh i gave the sacrament prayer in spanish on sunday, it was pretty hard actually. Thanks for all of your support and prayers, it has really helped me. I was having a hard time for awhile but i'm getting better. I've really fell in love with the Book of Mormon and i testify of it's power to answer your souls question and give peace.

Love,

Elder Child

P.S. I want to send pictures but i'm not exactly sure how, i'll try and figure it out. I might send my memory card in the mail or something and you guys can send it back.

P.S.S Sorry alex i don't know your email

P.S.S.S Ohhhh! send letters to me every day Because i'll look really cool to my district. Make up fake girl names to make them jealous.

Peace!!!!!!!!!!