Transfers

Hey Family!!!
Well for starters I just want to apologize for the lame title, it
happens every six weeks but I kind of didn't know what else to write.
So to stay on the topic today is transfers day. But nothing really
exciting happened. I'm staying here in Moquegua with my same companion
Elder Parra. At the end of this transfer I should have a total of
almost 6 months here! I actually am really excited for that. I really
do love it here. We have two wards and the one ward is really
improving and I'm super excited to get to work with the members even
more. I really have realized just how important it is to work with the
members. There is instantly a support system put into play when we
teach references. Instead of having to go pick people up for church,
the members do that, so it makes our lives a little bit easier. I'm so
grateful for all the people that share their testimonies and teach by
their example to their friends. I know its pretty hard to share the
gospel with people without a name tag on so thank you for the
sacrifice. But I'm reminded everyday of our eternal responsibility to
share this gospel and to live by the same things we preach.

This week was a good week for missionaries. It wasn't that exciting
with a ton of cool stories but something even more important happened.
Paola got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was such a
good sight to see her get baptized by her father and to join the rest
of her family in the church. She is a really good person and I know
she'll be a faithfull member for the rest of her life. What actually
surprises me about her is that she has a pretty strong testimony of
the church even though she doesn't know all that much about the story
of Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, the significance of the apostasy
or those kinds of things. Her testimony reminds me of a talk by Elder
Kazuhiko Yamashita (yes, I had to copy that from the Ensign to
remember his name) where he says that he got baptized becuase he felt
the love from the missionaries. Paola experienced the same thing
becuase we were there for her when she was going through some trials
and that softened her heart. I learned that conversion to the gospel
and salvation doesn't depend on the amount of knowledge we have of the
scriptures, but of the Spirit we feel. He converts us, not people on
the earth.

I'm glad to hear that all is well back home. I'm also glad to hear
that the Jazz are doing well in spite of their in experience and
youth. I hope they keep winning and I can't wait to actually go to a
game again there in Salt Lake. I wish I could fully thank you all for
the packages and the letters and things but the truth is I haven't
recieved anything yet. I know the lord is just trying my patience and
I hope I don't go crazy waiting for that stuff to get here. Well, I
hope you all have a good week and that you have time to strengthen
your testimony by diligently seeking to do so. I konw this church is
true and I know that it brings happiness to those that not only hear
it but that live it too. Something that I really liked from the
Preisthood class in the life of George Albert Smith was a story about
when someone told him that his coat had got stolen from his car one
winter. His response was pretty cool, he said "oh I wish we knew who
it was because he was probably pretty cold. I wish we could go give
him some food too and maybe some money, i hope he's okay." President
Kimball said that President Smith was one of the few men he knew that
actually practiced and lived what he taught. Imagine the impact we
could have on other people if we looked for opportunities to help
people and made charity the focus of our lives and not necessarily the
material things in life. I wish you all the best this week and just
know that I'm always praying for each and every one of you.

Love,

Elder Child

P.S. Its a TOTALLY different experience talking to a british man in
english about the gospel. That happened this week and let me tell you
it felt weird. Also, DO NOT try to do pull ups on the bunk bed when
your comp is reading the Ensign, things break!!!!