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