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