Happy 4th of July

Hey Familia,
How's it going with all of you guys? Obviously today is the 4th of July back home in the states, but here it's just a regular day. I hope you all have a good time with your hamburgers, hotdogs, and whatever other barbeque you decide to do. Just know that I'll be here eating my liver soup and chicken and rice (yum). No, reallly, it's not that bad of food here I actually really like it. I get a lot of comments about my appetite. There's a lot of americans that won't eat the food here, but a ton of people are surprised that I eat and enjoy everything here (thanks for the practice of eating weird food at home Mom!!!!). I'm really getting used to life here in Peru but when I think of just how blessed we are in the United States, I can hardly believe it. We all take it for granted. I will be eternally grateful for this experience as a missionary, I've learned so much since I've been here and my eyes have been opened too. I've also had a lot of time to think about priorities and what the church really means for us. What are willing to sacrifice or give up in order to obtain exaltation? I hope the answer is, EVERYTHING. It's easy to say, but not that easy to do, I know, but sometimes those types of questions can change our attitude and redirect our actions-

I know that my last two letters have been a little shorter than regular and I haven't done a great job of writing, but that's becuase my last two weeks weren't that action-packed and becuase the keyboard I've been using hasn't been that great. But today I actually have things to write about. So much happened this week. I'll try to describe it all.

Tuesday was absolutely awesome. Why? Because we finally got the conference issue of the Liahona (Ensign). YAAAAAAAA!!!!! I was sooooo happpy. We waited for three whole months for that, but finally I can read it. I absolutely love the words of the modern day prophets and apostles. That is the only reason that our church is any different than any other one. We have the power and authority to act in the of God. We also recieve revelation from our Father in Heaven directly for our times. I was reading those conference talks and one really touched my heart. Elder Scott's talk on marriage and a family almost made me cry (again). He made me realize that there really is no other goal of more importance in this life than having a family and bringing more of God's children into this world and teaching them the things they need to know to return with HIM. Also that day I got my Book of Mormon in Portuguese. I really want to learn some things in Portuguese and utilize this time in my life that I have the gift of tongues in order to do it. I will also be able to talk a little bit with my best friend Dallin when we comes home from his mission (and Ben too). I also was pretty amazed that there are 160 temples either announced or currently operating (including one in Rome, Italy). The church really has grown so much.

Thursday was really interesting too. That's becuase during our weekly planning session as a zone something kind of intense happened. One of the Elders from Bolivia had a seizure and we had to take him to the hopsital. Before we took him out of the church though many of us gave him a blessing. In those moments of panic and distress I could really feel the love of our fahter in Heaven for his sons and daughters. I am so happy and grateful that we have the priesthood and that it can bless our lives.

This week was also the first day in about 4 months that it was cloudy. It didn't rain, but there was some cloud cover. It was amazing too. We finally got to go to church at a reasonable hour. Before this week we were going to church at 2 o'clock (horrible). But we got switched to 8 o'clock in the morning this week. It's so much better attending church in the morning. I have been a little sick though. My voice is going out a little bit, but I'm still trying to work every day. I was a little upset that my letters and Levi Savage's journal hasn't made it here though. I'll let you know when that happens. Well, that's about it for this week, hopefully stuff keeps happening in my life and all of yours too.

Love,

Elder Child