Hey Familia!!!!
This week was actually pretty interesting and hopefully I can give you
all the good highlights. Thanks for all the updates on the world back
in the states, also thanks for making me a little trunky by giving the
heads up about Thanksgiving. Unfortunately they really don't celebrate
that holiday and when I try to explain the meaning of the holiday to
the Peruvians they kind of give me this look like, "Wow that's lame.
There wasn't even anything to do with the Virgin Mary in that story!"
But, pretty much every day here they eat way too much so I feel at
home. This week is the Day of Moquegua on the 25th so this past week
they have been celebrating. There was a food convention in the plaza
with a ton of food, so I kind of felt like it was Thanksgiving. Enough
about food, I'm getting the munchies. Also, I'm glad that Dad is okay
and that the ward is still alive and okay too.
Like I said last week, we are teaching a man named Otmar. He is super
cool!!! The Lord really does prepare people and I'm so glad that every
once in awhile I can see that here in the mission. Otmar is from
another city named Juliaca but moved here thirty years ago becuase its
super cold there and his knees are messed up. He lives alone now
becuase he got divorced when he moved here to Moquegua and has one
son. He never liked the Catholic church and never agreed with the
things they do. He is super good at sports, especially soccer. He's
kind of like Mr. Miagi from Karate Kid becuase he said he almost went
pro here in Peru when he was 17 but his Dad didn't want him to live in
a big city. He got hurt after that so he didn't go pro. He just wanted
to know more about the Book of Mormon and once we taught him about it,
he read it every day. He accepted everything we taught him and kept
his commitments easily. He said he was going to talk to us but he was
scared to come up to us in the street. He saw us twice walking in the
street but didn't come talk to us. Then one day he saw our whole zone
together for P day and he knew it was a sign from God that he should
talk to us!!
Otmar got baptized on Saturday and it all went well. There weren't a
ton of people there from the ward which makes me a little frustrated
but he didn't care. IF THERE ARE EVER BAPTISMS IN THE WARD, YOU HAVE
TO GO!!!!!! It helps the new converts so much if they see people there
to support them when they are taking steps of faith. We asked a member
to bake a cake but she didn't show up so we ordered one. An hour later
she came to the service, so we had two huge cakes. There weren't many
people at the baptism so we took a cake and a half home to eat this
week.
This week I also was given the opportunity to speak in Sacrament
Meeting. I didn't really know what to talk about but then on Saturday
I kind of felt inspired to talk about one of my ancestors, Levi
Savage. I didn't really know why but after awhile I felt that I should
really tell his life story and put emphasis on his mission. I talked
about his life and told the ward that almost all of them are pioneers
and that nowadays in the States we don't really have the opportunity
to talk to pioneers anymore. I said I was really grateful to be here
in their presence. It went really well and the Spirit testified to me
that it was becuase of my ancestors that I even have a testimony and
that's why I'm serving the Lord. After church we went to a birthday
party for a little bit and ate more cake!! The bishop's wife was there
and said she really appreciated my talk and really liked the story
about Levi Savage. She wants to see that movie, 17 Miracles too, so I
hope she can find it.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support. I feel
strengthened in this work that I know I can't do by myself.
Hope you have a good Thankgiving and you can send me tons of pictures.
Love,
Your Elder,
Child
P.S. Didn't get the package yet, hope it comes this Thursday. Have you
sent my Christmas package yet? If not, you could include a new Mo Tab
CD, or a Cardnials hat, or a jersey, or Mormon Doctrine. or a Sports
Illustrated, or a car, or a Playstation, or a TV. Just a suggestion.
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