Never Give Up

Querido Famila,
Hey everybody. How's it going? Another week and another letter. I was
thinking about this week the last couple of days and it went by really
fast until yesterday. Sunday was so long, and I don't even know why.
It was kind of weird that's all. I'm kind of just going to be a little
random about everything in this letter, so, sorry if it doesn't make a
lot of sense.

First of all, I have to talk about what happened last P-day. We only
had like 140 contacts last week as a companionship, so the office said
we had to work last p-day instead of doing free stuff. We were kind of
mad but then realized that we're not here for ourselves. We're not
here to be comfortable and to just have a "good time". So this week we
were a little more motivated to get the mission goal of 350 contacts
in one week. We actually did it this week and I was proud of
ourselves.

This week was a fun week because it was my comp's birthday. He turned
24. We bought pizza and threw water balloons at him, it was pretty
fun. But actually, the fun didn't last too long because he was super
sick the next morning. We went to the doctor's and the doctor said
that he has an ulcer or something like that. So he couldn't eat any
food for like two days. Then when he did eat food, he was sick again.
It was kind of tough and I felt bad for him. But some good news, I'm
feeling mostly better because I finally got my medicine this week. I
have to take three pills a day for ten days and that should kill all
the bad parasite stuff that's inside me. The bad news is that we lost
like two days of working this week becuase of my comp's sickness.
That's okay though, we'll do better this week.

I was feeling pretty trunky this morning because the other American
Elder in our house, Elder Ruggiero, got to call his house this
morning. He got to talk to his brother becuase his brother was going
into Air Force Basic Training this week and he won't be able to talk
to him on Mother's day. I was thinking about the States a lot and
stuff like that, but I'm okay now.

We actually didn't have baptisms this week, which was kind of sad. But
the other two Elders had their first baptism in two tranfers here in
Characato. They baptized a 22 year old girl that really is special.
She has a super strong testimony and wants to share the gospel with
here whole family. She teaches Primary in our little branch of the
Church here in Characato. She even said she is going on a mission
soon. Those kinds of people is what makes this whole experience worth
it. Even though she wasn't "our" investigator, I felt God's love for
her as His daughter. I'm really glad to be here serving other people
and helping people come unto Christ and make their lives better.

Don't worry, should all be getting pictures soon enough. This is
possibly my last week here in Characato, so this P-day we are going to
all the cool picture spots to take pictures. We can only take pictures
on p-days, it's a rule of the Mission. So we're going to spend all day
taking pictures today. So that means I can't send them to you until
next week. Just wondering, in what format do you want the pictures? Do
you just want me to send you the memory card, or do you want me do
burn a DVD with all the pictures on there and send it to you? I could
do both, just let me know what would be easier to view/print. Nicole
would know more about that than me.

I found out this week too that General Conference is on April 2nd and
3rd. I'm so excited about that. I really want to here all that our
living prophets have to say to us. I also found out that the members
here do something special for the Gringo missionaries. They get an
English feed of General Conference and let us all see and hear it in
English in a seperate room. That's really exciting becuase I thought
that I would have to watch English in the translated version, which
just isn't the same.

Well, that's about it for me this week. I hope you all had a good St.
Patrick's Day. I also hope that March Madness is going well, as well
as baseball. I miss sports more than my family (is that bad?). The
season here in Arequipa is full of sun and warm weather so I better
get used to it for another 9 months until the rains come again.
Something I learned this week that really struck me hard was how much
patience we need to have with people. Sometimes in the mission field
we are so concerned about getting baptisms that we forget to have
patience with people. Brigham Young spent two years investigating the
church before he was baptized. Can you imagine what would have
happened if his family, friends, and members around him would have
given up on him after just a little while? Some people just take more
time than others. Like it says in Alma 32:16, some people are just
easier to believe the word of God than others. But we need to be there
for people for our entire lives if necessary. Never give up on your
home/visiting teaching families, no matter how long it takes to get
some of those less actives to church.

I love all of you once again and am thankful for all of your prayers.

Love,
Elder Child