Happy Presidents Day!!!

Hey Familia What Up,

Its so good to write to you all this week even though Ive kind of been struggling with what I'm going to say today. Well, here we go let be lead like Nephi by the spirit without knowing before hand what he was going to do. In the end Nephi had to kill a drunk guy for his brass book, lets hope it doesn't come down to that becuase I actually do love my companion! Thanks so much for all the updates about the snow in Salt Lake or lack thereof. This city has gotten some rain this past week and everybody freaked out. They don't have storm drains, gutters, cannals, a public sewer system or even pitched roofs, so the rain was pretty hard for them. The funny thing is that they say it never rains here, then they go off about the horrible rains they've had every year for the past ten years!! Pretty funny Lamanites! Also thanks for telling a bit about Alex's Eagle Project with the shoes. We had a conversation here with my ward mission leader and he asked me why all the Americans use their clothes once then throw them away. It turns out the Peruvians recieve all this almost new american clothing from our government (for free) then sell it!!! That kind of made me think for a little bit becuase sometimes that's true. I know that in my own life I've bought a shirt, worn it once, decided I didn't like it, and we donated it to the DI. There's people here that have like two shirts in thier whole closet and use their clothes till they fall apart. I'm definately grateful for all the blessings we recieve at home. I'm also glad that I can say I finished by Eagle Scout Award. I know I didn't exactly appreciate scouts when I was doing that stuff, but now I look back and appreciate it quite a bit.

This week went by soooo fast. We we pretty focused this week on finding some new people to teach because we kind of just baptized a lot of them, or they moved away. When you are just worried about talking to a ton of people and trying to teach everybody that will listen, the time goes by pretty fast. We found some pretty cool people and some pretty lame people too, but that's just how it goes. We found these super crazy people that are always willing to listen but just talk and talk. Once, the lady was talking forever and then suddenly a huge gas tanker semi rolled by this tiny house and I couldn't hear here for like a whole minute, it was pretty funny. Some people are just destined to learn in the Spirit World I guess. Surprisingly I got to baptize a little girl in our ward this week. The lady that used to washed our clothes has a little girl and she (the little girl Diana) wanted me to baptize her. I really feel that one of the reasons I was sent here to this area was to help that family especially. They had a lot of problems, were pretty inactive and suffered a death in the family but eventually they started coming every week with the family. I sent the pictures to Nicole so I hope you get them. Well, the hour has pasted by pretty fast and I have to close out. I gave a talk in church and I felt soooo inspired to talk about the importance of being exactly obedience. I felt the spirit soo strong and many were crying, even my comp. I talked for like fifteen minutes but it felt like two. The church is true and I'm happy to be here!!!

Elder Child

Ps. Have a good week everyone. Happy presidents day, happy washington's birthday, the pitchers and catcher reported to spring training and the field players will get there on friday. I don't know, I'm just reading the calender you guys sent me!!!

Picture Time

Rain Rain Go Away

Hey Child Family!!!!!
Thank you so much for the letters that you have sent me this week. I am so grateful for all your thoughts and prayers and for your experiences. I can't believe it was actually a week ago that I last heard from you all. I honestly believe that time just speeds by ten times faster here in the mission. I hope Nicole sends you all the pictures that I sent her from the past week and the baptisms and some other stuff.

So as you all know we moved last week to a room that's way closer to our food and is all around just so much nicer. So las monday we thought we were going to move at like 1:00 so we ate lunch really fast then started taking everything apart and packing everything up. We planned with a member to take all our stuff in his truck our new room so that we didn't have to pay for people to do it for us. So we were just like waiting there for another hour and decided to call him. Turns out he was in another city and wouldn't be back till 4:00 so we were just like, yea that's fine we can take a nap and listen to MoTab. Then it started raining!!!!! It almost never rains here in Moquegua but it just so happened that last monday it had to rain!!! The problem is that we moved all our stuff outside to clean the room and pack everthing up. So we had to hurry up and move everything back in the room, so much trouble. Then we called the member again and he said he couldn't get there till 8:00 so we were like yea lets just go hire somebody. But becuase of the rain nobody wanted to work and we were pretty much left out to dry (or wet). We prayed a little and decided to just start taking our stuff to the other room and prepare it for the beds and furniture that we have. We had to take everything up three flights of stairs and move a whole bunch of stuff that was in the stairwells. It was a lot of working out!!!! We finally we able to get the member to help us and we finished moving in at like 9:30!! Finally free!!! I was so happy to be able to sleep in the new room.

After monday, this week just flew by. I honestly don't know where the time went. One day we were able to go to a tiny town that is part of our area in the mountains. Its called Torata and it reminded me a lot of my first area in Characato. I was at home!!! We went with a member to teach his extended family who aren't members and we had some good experiences there. We were blessed to have three baptisms on Saturday too!!! I was so happy to see that actually go through. A member's two boys got baptized and another sister's husband got baptized too. We had to do two seperate services and I had to baptize at night in the cold water. It was a good experience though. I'm sorry but I have to go. I know that this gospel is true and that it makes us happier than anything else. I love to teach people this and I hope I can be a good example to these people in Peru.

Elder Child

P.S. Thanks soooooooooooooooo much for the Cards calendar. It FINALLY got here on Thursday and I was soo happy. I think I might be able to get some packages here in the next week!!

Moving Day

Hey Family!!,

Its so good to hear from all of you this week. Every Monday I always feel like the church is still true at least in the States haha. Sometimes the members here in Peru just didn't learn how to do things so we have to correct some stuff but its nothing to worry about. Thanks for letting me know that I've been out here for like 15 months now, not that I'm counting or anything. I'm grateful for the updates on the family and I'm glad that everybody is okay and fine in health stuff. It sounds like winter just kind of forgot to come out this year which is pretty crazy. I actually remember when last year you all were telling me just how much snow was coming down. It's pretty interesting to see the difference. Also, thanks for the reminder about the Super Bowl. We were doing some tracting yesterday and actually somebody told us he was going to watch the Super Bowl. I made sure he was talking about THE super bowl, you know, real Football. He was like ya, you know the Giants and the Patriots. I was pretty surprised. The only bad thing is that NOBODY told me what actually happened. Its not like I really wanted to know but you sparked my interest is all.

So this email I think is going to be a little bit short, sorry. Its just that we are moving today, finally!!!!! Our room is so tiny. Its like a ten foot squared room with no windows and a light bulb. We have just enough room for our beds and our desks, and that's about it. And, its like 6 blocks away from where we eat so its kind of hard to walk super far in the morning for breakfast. Today we are going to move to a better room that is two houses away from where we eat. We are going to be on the third floor/roof of the place. And its super close to the main plaza and the catholic cathedral, so its a pretty sweet view. I'm excited to finally be in a room where we can feel the spirit a little bit more.

So this week was a little difficult. It was just becuase a lot of the people we contacted in the street and knocking doors just weren't there for the next appointment. We honestly tried super hard to find new people but it just didn't happen this week. But, we did talk to a lot of people and tried to share the gospel with as many as possible. Sometimes we get into a routine of doing things as missionaries and that's just when we have to mix stuff up. I love being with my companion. He's super cool and we get along super well. I am honestly thinking about going to the temple dedication in Colombia in a few years so we can meet up again and hang out.

Something cool that's going on here is that we could possibly have 3 baptisms this week!!! There's one guy whose wife is a member and he is for sure getting baptized on Saturday, its like already planned. The other two are kids whose dad is a member. They are actually really awesome. They read the Book of Mormon and come to church by themselves and are more responsible than the majority of the adults we teach. I've been thinking about all the things I have learned here in Peru. It really struck me how much the mission just amplifies the person you are. Its true that I've had to come out of my shell, talk to people, be more outgoing and friendly, just get up in church and gives talks on the spot, and give leadership advice to bishops; all that stuff I really never did before the mission. So I guess I've changed a little bit, but really our Father in Heaven just made me bring out the talents He knew I had in me. That is something that I will be eternally grateful for. If we are EXACTLY obedient to the gospel and make it our way of life, we will become the people God wants us to be. I know that most people try to make excuses for not being exactly obedient to the gospel and I just think, you really don't know what you're missing by not paying tithing, not going to Sunday School, not doing Family Home Evening, not praying, or not reading the scriptures.

I hope this letter finds you all well over there in Salt Lake. Its true that I kind of miss the Christmas package but hey, its just stuff. It's not like I'll get to keep that stuff with me after I die, so what do I care. It would be nice to know who won the Super Bowl. Also, when does Spring Training start, its pretty close right? I'm sorry about the fat dogs, here's an idea, just stop putting out food, that might work!!!! Till next week. I'll be sure to send the pictures of the baptisms and the new room. PEACE!!!!

With love,

Elder Child


P.S. Did you get my pictures last week. Just wondering. Everybody says I'm Clark Kent with my glasses hahaha!!!!