Hey Family,
How's it going everybody? I hope everything is good with you all in house. I'm pretty surprised to hear that it's STILL raining in Salt Lake. That's pretty crazy. When I got here it rained for like a whole month straight everyday and I thought that I would never experience that at home. I was a little distracted while reading mom's email though becuase "I Need you Now" by Lady Antebellum was playing at the internet cafe and of course I listened becuase its the first time I've heard American Country since I've been on my mission. Anyways, this week was pretty interesting becuase I went on splits with two different elders two different days this week. I learned a ton from one of them, my zone leader Elder Vargas. He's a tall, white, Bolivian missionary that people do mistake for a gringo. I really enjoyed working with him and all of the things that he taught me. He goes home in a month.
With Elder Vargas he taught me how to challenge people to be baptized in the street. Just going up to somebody in the street, introducing yourself as a missionary, and then asking them if they will follow Jesus Christ and be baptized like he was baptized is a pretty scary experience at first, but it gets results. You would be very surprised that more than half of the time they accept and they want us to come back and teach them in their house. We found an extremely Catholic 84 year old lady and we helped her with her groceries. We walked to her house which was like a ten minute walk away. We talked to her about the gospel and about baptism. She said her niece is a member and that she actually has a Book of Mormon and has read some of it but wants to die in her tradition of Catholicism. The Book of Mormon that she had was a gift from a member that lives in Salt Lake and it was pretty cool to see that address on a spanish Book of Mormon in Peru. At first I thought she was about 60 from the way she was walking. She was keeping up pretty good with us. I didn't really walk that slow with her, and she wasn't out of breath or anything. She totally didn't have any interest about getting baptized, so we thought it was a little waste of time, but then walked in her 35 year old granddaughter. She was so sad when she walked in. So then we talked to her. Turns out she's almost as Catholic as her grandma but she's been having problems with her family. She says she feels so depressed and detached from her family. She lives with her daughter but her ex husband lives with her son in Lima. She definately needed our help and we offered it to her. She said she felt so much better when we were talking to her about Faith, Repentance, and Baptism. She wants to listen more. It really was a cool experience.
Later that day Elder Vargas got to do Skype with his family becuase it was Mother's Day in Bolivia. Apparently we have permission to do Skype or call. I'm really debating this option for Christmas because even though I love all of you I kind of don't want to see you live until I come home off that plane in a year and a half. You can all talk about that until next week.
If there was something that I really learned this week it was that God prepares each of his children and knows when they are ready to hear the gospel, like Dana (the granddaughter). The grandma took the wrong bus and that's why we found her in that moment and we were willing to help her in that moment, so that eventually lead us to somebody that needed the healing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in her life. We, as saints, need to be always willing to serve, and always willing to listen to the spirit so that we can help God's children. I hope we can all to that.
Well, time's up this week and I'm grateful for your letters. I'll talk to you all next week.
Elder Child
P.S. The mission is doing good, we baptized 196 people this month, the most in a long long time. Also, I found an original Pat Burrell Phillies jersey in a store this week. It was my size and it was 7 bucks, so of course I bought it . It's not every day you find baseball jerseys in Peru.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Just Because Cards
Hey Family,
Wow, I've got almost no time today to write, so sorry for the short letter. I was reading all of your letters and I absolutely love them by the way. I'm sorry to hear that it's raining so much and nobody can grow plants and stuff. I hear that flooding from all the snow in the mountains is also a big issue too. I'm absolutely glad to hear all the good baseball news, and that's pretty crazy about Dirk Nowitzki. I'm glad that chicago realizes what kind of a player Carlos Boozer is. Albert Pujols is my man, what's his contract status? How are the Big Four in Philly doing? Happy birthday Nicole!!!! I'm actually really sorry to hear about Edna and Terry Curling. That is a sad story but I know she is happier now.
Ummm, this week went by sooooooooooo fast that I really don't even know where to start. Last Monday was the most eventful day because I actually got to go pick up my package. It only took 3 HOURS. But that's okay, your love and thougts are worth more to me than any amount of time. The belts fit, thanks for the peanut butter, snacks, and of course vitamins. No, really, the vitamins I believe are keeping me alive. It's cold and flu season here becuase this month and the next is "winter", but I haven't felt even the slightest amount of the cold coming on. Thanks a ton for the Baseball Preview of Sports Illustrated, It only distracted me for a little bit! The only depressing thing is that it's a month old and I wish I could find out exactly what's going on right now in the league.
After I picked up your package, we just got back to work. Like I said before, the people here are just never home and it makes the work slow and frustrating. Yes, we have members and those things, but our investigators keep flaking out on us. Just trying to be patient. Thursday I got all the cards and pictures. My aunts and uncles are so hilarious, so is Alex. I too wish that you had sent me a just becuase card, why? becuase those are hilarious!!!!!!!!!! Hope the mexican food and custard was good (so jealous). I'm sorry to hear that mom didn't get to give her whole talk, maybe she could talk to the bishop about that. Friday was actually really interesting becuase we went to a new area that some missionaries are going to open next transfer. We went with the Zone leaders and the Assistants to jump start the area. It's out a ways from the zone and has a lot of humble people (no paved roads) It really reminded me of Characato and I felt at home again. I worked that day with my zone leader, Elder Vargas. He taught me a ton. I am always glad to be working in this work of the Lord becuase even though it's hard, HE always blesses us.
I can't believe my time is up, but it is. Thank you so much for everything you do for me and all your love. I look forward to hear from you all next week. Maybe we'll go play some Fútbol this week.
Love,
Your Missionary,
Elder Child
Wow, I've got almost no time today to write, so sorry for the short letter. I was reading all of your letters and I absolutely love them by the way. I'm sorry to hear that it's raining so much and nobody can grow plants and stuff. I hear that flooding from all the snow in the mountains is also a big issue too. I'm absolutely glad to hear all the good baseball news, and that's pretty crazy about Dirk Nowitzki. I'm glad that chicago realizes what kind of a player Carlos Boozer is. Albert Pujols is my man, what's his contract status? How are the Big Four in Philly doing? Happy birthday Nicole!!!! I'm actually really sorry to hear about Edna and Terry Curling. That is a sad story but I know she is happier now.
Ummm, this week went by sooooooooooo fast that I really don't even know where to start. Last Monday was the most eventful day because I actually got to go pick up my package. It only took 3 HOURS. But that's okay, your love and thougts are worth more to me than any amount of time. The belts fit, thanks for the peanut butter, snacks, and of course vitamins. No, really, the vitamins I believe are keeping me alive. It's cold and flu season here becuase this month and the next is "winter", but I haven't felt even the slightest amount of the cold coming on. Thanks a ton for the Baseball Preview of Sports Illustrated, It only distracted me for a little bit! The only depressing thing is that it's a month old and I wish I could find out exactly what's going on right now in the league.
After I picked up your package, we just got back to work. Like I said before, the people here are just never home and it makes the work slow and frustrating. Yes, we have members and those things, but our investigators keep flaking out on us. Just trying to be patient. Thursday I got all the cards and pictures. My aunts and uncles are so hilarious, so is Alex. I too wish that you had sent me a just becuase card, why? becuase those are hilarious!!!!!!!!!! Hope the mexican food and custard was good (so jealous). I'm sorry to hear that mom didn't get to give her whole talk, maybe she could talk to the bishop about that. Friday was actually really interesting becuase we went to a new area that some missionaries are going to open next transfer. We went with the Zone leaders and the Assistants to jump start the area. It's out a ways from the zone and has a lot of humble people (no paved roads) It really reminded me of Characato and I felt at home again. I worked that day with my zone leader, Elder Vargas. He taught me a ton. I am always glad to be working in this work of the Lord becuase even though it's hard, HE always blesses us.
I can't believe my time is up, but it is. Thank you so much for everything you do for me and all your love. I look forward to hear from you all next week. Maybe we'll go play some Fútbol this week.
Love,
Your Missionary,
Elder Child
Monday, May 16, 2011
A Week of Firsts
¿Qué Tal Familia?,
Querido familia how's it going with you all? This week has been very interesting in a lot of ways and I'll try to tell you everything that happened with Las Torres and with Elder Ventura (and yes, I have called him Ace, and Ventuuuura as well, it's pretty funny for me but not so much for him. He just doesn't laugh at those jokes I'm not sure why). I was glad to read all about Kim getting ordained as a bishop and that you were all able to see the family. It's pretty scary sometimes when we get new responsibility in the church, but that's always God's plan. He wants us to grow continually, not just in your childhood, your youth, your mission, your first years married, your first kids, or your first job. I am thoroughly convinced that we are always supposed to be growing and challenging ourselves. That is how we become better people and eventually like our Father in Heaven. Just when you get comfortabe with your life, your responsibilities, and your abilities, that is when God gives you more to do becuase he knows you need to keep growing. I'm not saying it's easy to get new responsibilities or to grow, but it is always worth it if we try our hardest and are cheerful while we work. Remember that if it is the will of our Heavenly Father, he will lift you up and give you the strength you need to accomplish the things which he hath commanded.
This week in Las Torres was a new experience for me. My first change, my first new companion. Elder Ventura is a good missionary. He's super obedient which is good. He loves everybody in the ward and is super friendly with everbody. Like I said before he's a little chubby guy from Piura, Peru that laughs at almost everything. He has 24 months in the mission and asked president to extend for another FOUR MONTHS. He's not going home until September 12 of this year. That's pretty crazy, I don't know if I could do that, but I guess he felt like there was more work for him to do in Arequipa. He was originally called to the Bolivia, La Paz mission. He served there for 18 months but then got sick. He recovered in Lima for awhile but then got reassigned to this Mission about 6 months ago. Our mission president, President Fernañdez was his Bishop for awhile before his mission so that's pretty cool. We get along pretty well.
My area has mostly just houses and paved roads. I've never seen so many paved roads in my time here in Peru! It's pretty crazy becuase I don't have to shine my shoes everyday like I used to in Characato. There are actually members in this ward too, I couldn't believe it. Yes, we live in the Bishop's house, and No, I do not know thier last name (that's pretty sad right). But pretty much we just live there, we don't eat there. They have five kids that I know of but I think they have three older ones. They have one that's like 24 ish that still lives at home. Then they have a 13 year old boy, an 11 year old boy, a 5 year old girl, and an 8 month old boy. We eat at another lady's house for lunch and it's pretty good. We eat at a different lady's house for dinner. The two different places that we eat at are at opposite ends of the area so that's a little difficult. My area is all one hill up against the volcanoe Misti. it's probably about a 15 minute drive away from our house.
This week was a week of firsts. It was my first time taking the sacrament in a dedicated church for 6 and a half months! It was the first time in the mission field singing the hymns with a piano accompanionment. It was the first time in the mission field that I didn't give a talk or a Sunday School Lesson. It was the first time in the field that we had a priesthood meeting. It was my first time living in the house of a member. It was the first time that we had ward committee meeting. It was a week of firsts for sure. I like having a ward, but I still miss the little group of saints in Characato too.
This week was a little difficult for the work becuase even though we have investigators and people to teach, they are almost never home. So like literally 90% of our appointments fell through. It was kind of frustrating but we found a lot of people by knocking on their doors. We taught a recent convert this week named Danay. She got baptized like a month ago. She is a young girl like 23 who had been investigating the church for a while. She wanted to be really prepared for her baptism so she kept on taking the lessons. She finally made the decision and it was a good one becuase her testimony is really strong. She shared it with us and I felt the spirit so strong I wanted to cry and so did my comp. She said that people with the most trials and difficulties in life are usually the closest to Heavenly Father. I know that that is true. If we rely on our loving Father in Heaven during our trials in life our relationship grows immensely with Him.
I finally got the notice to go pick up your package today. So we're going today to go pick it up. Hopefully it's good stuff. I also hope I get those pictures this week too. The members and investigators love to see a gringo family from the United States so it's fun to show them all your crazy faces.
Well, more next week I'm sure. I can't believe it's almost June, May has gone by so fast.
Love,
Elder Child
P.S. In your next package (you can wait till my birthday if you want) it would be super cool to get Levi Savage's journal =).
P.S.S. The bishop has a keyboard in his house and i've been playing the simplified hymns. I really enjoy playing them and yes mom, you were right, I wish I had kept up with the piano because it would be nice to play for our meetings and stuff.
Querido familia how's it going with you all? This week has been very interesting in a lot of ways and I'll try to tell you everything that happened with Las Torres and with Elder Ventura (and yes, I have called him Ace, and Ventuuuura as well, it's pretty funny for me but not so much for him. He just doesn't laugh at those jokes I'm not sure why). I was glad to read all about Kim getting ordained as a bishop and that you were all able to see the family. It's pretty scary sometimes when we get new responsibility in the church, but that's always God's plan. He wants us to grow continually, not just in your childhood, your youth, your mission, your first years married, your first kids, or your first job. I am thoroughly convinced that we are always supposed to be growing and challenging ourselves. That is how we become better people and eventually like our Father in Heaven. Just when you get comfortabe with your life, your responsibilities, and your abilities, that is when God gives you more to do becuase he knows you need to keep growing. I'm not saying it's easy to get new responsibilities or to grow, but it is always worth it if we try our hardest and are cheerful while we work. Remember that if it is the will of our Heavenly Father, he will lift you up and give you the strength you need to accomplish the things which he hath commanded.
This week in Las Torres was a new experience for me. My first change, my first new companion. Elder Ventura is a good missionary. He's super obedient which is good. He loves everybody in the ward and is super friendly with everbody. Like I said before he's a little chubby guy from Piura, Peru that laughs at almost everything. He has 24 months in the mission and asked president to extend for another FOUR MONTHS. He's not going home until September 12 of this year. That's pretty crazy, I don't know if I could do that, but I guess he felt like there was more work for him to do in Arequipa. He was originally called to the Bolivia, La Paz mission. He served there for 18 months but then got sick. He recovered in Lima for awhile but then got reassigned to this Mission about 6 months ago. Our mission president, President Fernañdez was his Bishop for awhile before his mission so that's pretty cool. We get along pretty well.
My area has mostly just houses and paved roads. I've never seen so many paved roads in my time here in Peru! It's pretty crazy becuase I don't have to shine my shoes everyday like I used to in Characato. There are actually members in this ward too, I couldn't believe it. Yes, we live in the Bishop's house, and No, I do not know thier last name (that's pretty sad right). But pretty much we just live there, we don't eat there. They have five kids that I know of but I think they have three older ones. They have one that's like 24 ish that still lives at home. Then they have a 13 year old boy, an 11 year old boy, a 5 year old girl, and an 8 month old boy. We eat at another lady's house for lunch and it's pretty good. We eat at a different lady's house for dinner. The two different places that we eat at are at opposite ends of the area so that's a little difficult. My area is all one hill up against the volcanoe Misti. it's probably about a 15 minute drive away from our house.
This week was a week of firsts. It was my first time taking the sacrament in a dedicated church for 6 and a half months! It was the first time in the mission field singing the hymns with a piano accompanionment. It was the first time in the mission field that I didn't give a talk or a Sunday School Lesson. It was the first time in the field that we had a priesthood meeting. It was my first time living in the house of a member. It was the first time that we had ward committee meeting. It was a week of firsts for sure. I like having a ward, but I still miss the little group of saints in Characato too.
This week was a little difficult for the work becuase even though we have investigators and people to teach, they are almost never home. So like literally 90% of our appointments fell through. It was kind of frustrating but we found a lot of people by knocking on their doors. We taught a recent convert this week named Danay. She got baptized like a month ago. She is a young girl like 23 who had been investigating the church for a while. She wanted to be really prepared for her baptism so she kept on taking the lessons. She finally made the decision and it was a good one becuase her testimony is really strong. She shared it with us and I felt the spirit so strong I wanted to cry and so did my comp. She said that people with the most trials and difficulties in life are usually the closest to Heavenly Father. I know that that is true. If we rely on our loving Father in Heaven during our trials in life our relationship grows immensely with Him.
I finally got the notice to go pick up your package today. So we're going today to go pick it up. Hopefully it's good stuff. I also hope I get those pictures this week too. The members and investigators love to see a gringo family from the United States so it's fun to show them all your crazy faces.
Well, more next week I'm sure. I can't believe it's almost June, May has gone by so fast.
Love,
Elder Child
P.S. In your next package (you can wait till my birthday if you want) it would be super cool to get Levi Savage's journal =).
P.S.S. The bishop has a keyboard in his house and i've been playing the simplified hymns. I really enjoy playing them and yes mom, you were right, I wish I had kept up with the piano because it would be nice to play for our meetings and stuff.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Las Torres
Hola Familia,
It was so good to be able to talk to you all yesterday for Mother's Day. It made me kind of trunky but it was so good to hear your voices and listen to what's going on in your lives. You all do a pretty good job in writing me letters so I was pretty informed before I talked to you. I really do appreciate all the love and support you have given me. I can feel the love of the Lord strengthening me every day here in the mission. I'm sorry if I sound different on the phone now becuase of my accent but that's just what happens when you learn a new language and live in a different part of the world for six months. I don't have a ton of new stuff to tell you all about my area or my life becuase I told you almost everything yesterday, but I'll try to tell you some new things.
This past week was pretty crazy. We worked really hard in our new area to find new investigators and to find new people to teach in general. We learned more about the area and went to new places. We are finally getting used to the area and where everthing is. The only hard thing about opening up a new area is that some days all you do is tracting and contacting on the street. That is how you find new people to teach, but it also gets boring after 7 hours straight in the Arequipeñan sun. Also, the hills in Sabandia are pretty steep, so I was getting a good workout this past week.
This past week, we were informed that my companion would be training a new greenie. So he went to a training meeting about how to be a trainer. That was for two days. So that meant that I was with another Elder who lives in our house. Elder Johnson has been out for 3 months in total and is in a different area than me. He had appointments all day on Thursday and most of Friday so we worked in his area. He knows little spanish and is inexperienced so I was the Senior Comp for two days. It was almost like I was training somebody. It was pretty hard work and I learned a lot about how to take the lead in lessons and how to talk to people. It was a difficult experience but I learned a lot.
It was sad to hear that my companion Elder Revelo was going to train somebody becuase that generally means that he is going to stay there and I will have to leave. So we were on pins and needles waiting to hear the news until late Sunday night at about Midnight. That is when we learn of the transfers and who is going where. Sunday as you all know was Mother's Day. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the 2000 stripling warriors in Alma 56 and 57. I talked about how they had so much faith and success in their lives becuase their mothers always bore testimony to them of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not one of them died in two battles and they showed tremendous courage in the face of danger. All of this becuase they did "not doubt that our mothers knew it". I also talked about how a year ago I was in the same place, giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting about how my mom has prepared me for my mission. My mom really did prepare me well for my mission and I am so grateful for that.
Sunday night finally came around and it turned out that I had transfers. They told me at 12:30 am and I had to pack after that. I was awake till like 3:30 am and only slept for like 2 hours. I went to a place called Las Torres in a zone called Selva Alegre (happy jungle). Its about 40 minutes away from my other area and I'm actually living like a real missionary. We have a church, members, live in the house of the bishop, have somewhere to eat, have a bathroom that works, and there are houses and no farms. I really am going to miss Characato and everything that I was able to to and everybody I was able to meet there. I hope to come back in about five years and see a church with hundreds of members in Characato.
My new comp is Elder Ventura. He is super old in the misssion. He has 24 months in the mission and just extended for another 3 months. He's from Piura, Peru. He served in Bolivia to start but got sick and was sent here in Arequipa. He's always laughing and is an easy going guy. Kind of short, and fat. He's nice. I'll see what this area brings for me in the next little while. He said I will probably be here until he leaves in September, which I hope for, becuase I never do like change.
Thank you again for all your support and love. I'm going to miss my first area and all those memories but I'll make new memories and friends here in Selva Alegre. I know that the Lord sent me here for a reason and it's all part of the plan. I just have to be obedient and
work hard.
I just want to say to Grandpa Urbane and Grandma Joan. Thank you for all of your love and support as well. I hope you are doing well and that all is well in the ward. I hope you had a good Mother's Day grandma, I'm grateful for all the love you have shown me in my life.
Well, that's about it for now, I guess I'll just wait for my packages and pictures that are coming. Everybody (especially the Latinos) love my pictures of my family, so thank you for all of that. Today should be good becuase I think we're going to play some soccer today. I hope the Red Sox improve and that the Cardinals keep up the winning. Thanks for the sports updates as usual.
Elder Child
It was so good to be able to talk to you all yesterday for Mother's Day. It made me kind of trunky but it was so good to hear your voices and listen to what's going on in your lives. You all do a pretty good job in writing me letters so I was pretty informed before I talked to you. I really do appreciate all the love and support you have given me. I can feel the love of the Lord strengthening me every day here in the mission. I'm sorry if I sound different on the phone now becuase of my accent but that's just what happens when you learn a new language and live in a different part of the world for six months. I don't have a ton of new stuff to tell you all about my area or my life becuase I told you almost everything yesterday, but I'll try to tell you some new things.
This past week was pretty crazy. We worked really hard in our new area to find new investigators and to find new people to teach in general. We learned more about the area and went to new places. We are finally getting used to the area and where everthing is. The only hard thing about opening up a new area is that some days all you do is tracting and contacting on the street. That is how you find new people to teach, but it also gets boring after 7 hours straight in the Arequipeñan sun. Also, the hills in Sabandia are pretty steep, so I was getting a good workout this past week.
This past week, we were informed that my companion would be training a new greenie. So he went to a training meeting about how to be a trainer. That was for two days. So that meant that I was with another Elder who lives in our house. Elder Johnson has been out for 3 months in total and is in a different area than me. He had appointments all day on Thursday and most of Friday so we worked in his area. He knows little spanish and is inexperienced so I was the Senior Comp for two days. It was almost like I was training somebody. It was pretty hard work and I learned a lot about how to take the lead in lessons and how to talk to people. It was a difficult experience but I learned a lot.
It was sad to hear that my companion Elder Revelo was going to train somebody becuase that generally means that he is going to stay there and I will have to leave. So we were on pins and needles waiting to hear the news until late Sunday night at about Midnight. That is when we learn of the transfers and who is going where. Sunday as you all know was Mother's Day. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the 2000 stripling warriors in Alma 56 and 57. I talked about how they had so much faith and success in their lives becuase their mothers always bore testimony to them of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not one of them died in two battles and they showed tremendous courage in the face of danger. All of this becuase they did "not doubt that our mothers knew it". I also talked about how a year ago I was in the same place, giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting about how my mom has prepared me for my mission. My mom really did prepare me well for my mission and I am so grateful for that.
Sunday night finally came around and it turned out that I had transfers. They told me at 12:30 am and I had to pack after that. I was awake till like 3:30 am and only slept for like 2 hours. I went to a place called Las Torres in a zone called Selva Alegre (happy jungle). Its about 40 minutes away from my other area and I'm actually living like a real missionary. We have a church, members, live in the house of the bishop, have somewhere to eat, have a bathroom that works, and there are houses and no farms. I really am going to miss Characato and everything that I was able to to and everybody I was able to meet there. I hope to come back in about five years and see a church with hundreds of members in Characato.
My new comp is Elder Ventura. He is super old in the misssion. He has 24 months in the mission and just extended for another 3 months. He's from Piura, Peru. He served in Bolivia to start but got sick and was sent here in Arequipa. He's always laughing and is an easy going guy. Kind of short, and fat. He's nice. I'll see what this area brings for me in the next little while. He said I will probably be here until he leaves in September, which I hope for, becuase I never do like change.
Thank you again for all your support and love. I'm going to miss my first area and all those memories but I'll make new memories and friends here in Selva Alegre. I know that the Lord sent me here for a reason and it's all part of the plan. I just have to be obedient and
work hard.
I just want to say to Grandpa Urbane and Grandma Joan. Thank you for all of your love and support as well. I hope you are doing well and that all is well in the ward. I hope you had a good Mother's Day grandma, I'm grateful for all the love you have shown me in my life.
Well, that's about it for now, I guess I'll just wait for my packages and pictures that are coming. Everybody (especially the Latinos) love my pictures of my family, so thank you for all of that. Today should be good becuase I think we're going to play some soccer today. I hope the Red Sox improve and that the Cardinals keep up the winning. Thanks for the sports updates as usual.
Elder Child
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sabandia
Hola Querido Familia,
Hey what is up everbody? This week was probably the most eventful inmy entire mission and I hope I can explain why. But first off I'm so happy to hear that you got my package. That brings me so much peace becuase sometimes we just cannot trust the mail system. If the picture size is too small to print or anything like that just tell me so I can make the changes on my camera. I just want the best pictures possible for you all. It's true, my hair looks pretty goofy, I'm getting skinnier, and I'm getting a little bit of a tan. All in the service of the Lord.
So, before I forget, I need to tell you about Mother's Day. To be completely honest I don't really know for sure when I can call you on Mother's Day. It's going to be sometime between 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm. That's all I can really tell you right now. We have to do it after church in the morning. But, we do have permission to call you on Saturday during the day to set up the time for Sunday. So I'll be calling you Saturday morning sometime between 6:00 am and 9:00 am. You guys are 2 hours behind us now becuase of daylight savings right? I'm actually not completely sure of the time difference. That's really all I know right now, I'm sorry. If Nicole has to work I can call her at her work too, so it's not a devastating thing if she has to work. I'll have about an hour to call.
Elder Usseglio is now in the mission office. Elder Gamarra got transferred about 2 hours outside of Arequipa. It was sad to see both of them go so quickly becuase we shared so many memories together. 3 months in the same house really is a special experience, even if you don't always get along with each other. Elder Ruggiero got a new companion and so did I. Elder Usseglio is in the office as a secretary, so the secretary that was there is now my companion. His name is Elder Revelo. He's the Elder that was in charge of all the mail and packages for the mission, for awhile I kind of didn't like him becuase he waited so long to go get my package, but we're okay now. He's been out for nine months, six of which was spent in the office.
The last two days have been super difficult. That's because we're opening up another new area, Sabandia. Sabandia was in our area before but it was so far from our house that we almost never went there. But, the President told us to divide the area, so we have Sabandia and they have Characato. Sabandia is so cool. It's almost all on just one giant hill. The plaza of the town is down in the valley but the houses are all on the hill. It's all like farm country, sooo green. It really is beautiful becuase we get to see the whole country side of Arequipa and also the city. The only hard part is that we started with absolutely no investigators, but we do have a member. He is a returned missionary that has given us a ton of references. Eventually we'll see some baptisms in that area. The other hard part about this area is that there are so many hills. Its quite a work out. Its getting a little cooler here at night but since I'm always hiking up hills, I don't get cold. The area is so unknown to us that we kind of lost a lot of time just walking around trying to find everything. That's okay though becuase the Lord blessed us with three really good families. We found each family at night, after all of our working and when we were tired. That just strengthened my testimony of working diligently. When we show the Lord that we are willing to work and be obedient he will bless us. We just have to show our faith when we're in trials.
The great thing about Elder Revelo is that he's a really hard worker and super obedient. That helps a lot. He's kind of a soft spoken guy and he always teaches and talks with the spirit. He makes everybody feel the love and kindness that Jesus would show. I have learned more from him in two days than I have learned in the last 4 months of my mission. We really will start to have success in Sabandia.
Good news, our shower got fixed and we don't have to take cold showers anymore. Bad news, we can't eat at our Pension's house anymore. President told us not to becuase there is a 22 year old girl there. That makes me sad becuase she always made us good food and a ton of it. We have to eat out in the streets now and in restaurants. PLEASE DO NOT SEND FOOD. Not because I don't want it, just becuase I don't want to have to wait in line for three hours every other week to go pick it up (and neither does my comp).
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support through this week. There were times when I felt lost and frustrated but when I got on my knees and asked Heavenly Father for help, I could really feel his love. I know that only throught difficult times can we see our progression and learn and grow. This next transfer is going to be
really good, I can just feel it.
Love,
Elder Child
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