It's Been a Week?

Hey Familia,
Thanks for all the love and support you've given me this week, I've
really felt it. I've got to be pretty honest, I've been searching for
something to write you all this week. The biggest news this week was
definately how fast it went by. I just couldn't believe it on Saturday
that the week was pretty much over, it felt like we were just in
church. Thanks for all the emails. I felt kind of bad for not being
able to Alex an appropriate Happy Birthday at the end of the letter
last week, but hey I was thinking of him the whole week and tons of
people in my ward heard about my "little" brother's birthday. It
sounds like you all ate good on monday and the cheesecake was
absolutely delicious (just a little jealous).
Monday was actually pretty awesome becuase we got to play soccer as a
zone. The coolest part was being able to play with Elder Parra. We
have such a good rythm together and scored like 5 goals and crushed
the other team! I totally forgot how strong the sun is here in
Arequipa. It sooo weird. It gets cold in the shade but if you stand
out in the sun you get totally burned in 5 mintues.
This week I went on Splits twice so I hardly worked in my own area.
But it was pretty cool to learn from other missionaries. I was with an
Elder Johnson from Virginia on Wednesday and we had a pretty tiring
day. We didn't go into a single house the whole day and we walk for
like ever, but we found cool people. We found a guy who spoke fairly
good English for never living in the states. We taught him about the
Book of Mormon in English. After talking to him for like 20 minutes we
parted ways and Elder Johnson told me my English is so horrible, he
was about to laugh during the lesson!! I was like, yeah, I know my
family already told me and I can tell the difference when I talk to
people in English. Its going to be fun for about a week when  I get
back home!!!!! The other Splits I went on was with a new missionary
from Ecuador, Elder Ayo. He's pretty cool and really doesn't seem like
a new missionary. Its pretty cool how you can learn from the really
new missionaries. I learned how to be a little more precise and
efficient in the lessons and I think its helped. The problem sometimes
is that Peruvians LOVE to talk, so my comp sometimes talks for like
ten minutes straight with people and then I try to talk and he cuts me
off. Sometimes its frustrating but I'm not a really outgoing speaking
person so really its not a huge deal.
We talked yesterday in church and I was actually a little nervous. I
was nervous becuase they let me know Saturday at 10:00 at night and so
I had like a few minutes to prepare my talk. That's not very new, but
right when the meeting was about to start a Stake President from part
of Arequipa that I already knew walks into our Sacrament Meeting with
another man. I didn't think too much about it till they announced them
from the pulpit as President Hales and Elder Nuñez from the Seventy!!
I was kind of freaking out at that point! The Lord gives us tender
mercies all the time though becuase right after the sacrament, they
left!!! Our ward mission leader was supposed to talk for five minutes
but talked for ten, my comp was suppposed to talk for ten but talked
for twenty, so I was left with a testimony. I talked about a Hymn
that's in Spanish and not in English that I absolutely love called
"Placentero Nos Es Trabajar". I really felt the spirit becuase it
talks about the love of missionary work!!!

Well, that's about it for this week. I hope you are all okay and that
you can do all you want to this week. I'm getting ever more excited
about General Conference. It feels like the last conference was like
last week, the time really does fly by!!! We are soo excited to hear
about the new temples, hopefully Arequipa. We are soooo close to it!
The thing that really is missing in this city is full tithe paying
priesthood holders. Elder Oaks taught us that God will never put a
temple in a city where the inhabitants can't attend becuase of
unworthiness. Sometimes its a little difficult to burn people on not
paying tithing when they barely have rice to eat everyday on their
dirt floor, but the commandments always come with blessings, always! I
know that if we put our trust in God, we might suffer for awhile (like
Nephi) but we'll eventually get to the Promised Land.

Love,

Elder Child

P.S. I had a lady in our ward fix my pants that were getting pretty
huge. She took the waist in almost 6 inches!!!!! I really don't know
what to do, I'm eating like crazy, but working hard too. I feel great
though!!!!
P.S.S Pictures of my area coming soon!!!