Huayllay (oughta!)

On Pday we went to Huayllay. It's a place with a lot of rocks that look like animals. It was really, really hot. 

Tuesday we had our zone meeting and I went on divisions with Elder Chapeton (zone leader). We had five lessons today so that was pretty cool. I also got my package from you guys and HOLY COW, you guys seriously spoil me! I will be just fine staying in Cerro de Pasco for another two changes.

Wednesday wasn't that great of a day. We helped one of our less actives walk home because he was drunk. He was crying in my arms and stuff. It was kind of weird but good, he was really scared to go home but then we walked by his place a bit later and he back drinking so I'm not sure if we helped much.

Friday didn't go that great. Elder Cunningham wasn't feeling too well so we got out really late and then had one lesson that did not go well.

Saturday we went to Kimbo's for lunch with Elder Whitaker and Elder Herron. We had four lessons and then a baptism. We baptized a nine year old girl named Jessica. I didn't have my camera so I didn't get any pictures! I'll have to hunt some down. Elder Cunningham baptized her. I also had to do some baptismal interviews for Yanacancha. I interviewed Joel and it was really cool to see how much he noticed that he has changed since visiting with the missionaries.

"The force is strong with this one"

Our assistance at church on Sunday was down a little bit. Micheli did not come to church so we will have to change her baptismal date a bit. We did find three new investigators though so that was awesome! Elder Cunningham is feeling really bad so we had to come home early. I forgot to mention that Elder White is now in the office. He is the health secretary. I thought that was kind of funny. He's a good guy. Well, I love you guys and hope you have a great week. Talk to you later.

Meet the Mormons

Monday, after I wrote you guys, we went out to eat as a district to La Moderna. It's kind of like a bakery. I had a hamburger with an egg on it and some french fries, it was pretty good. Then we went to the San Juan chapel and played some cards and watched "Meet the Mormons". On Tuesday I did divisions with Elder Gonzalez. He is from Ecuador and is a good missionary. We stayed in my area to work. Things are going pretty well with our investigators.

Here's something crazy. Betty, one of our investigators, her husband was driving with three others on their way to Lima and they got in a wreck with this huge truck. We heard that two of the four people died and the other two were in Lima. So Betty went to Lima, then we heard that one more person died so we called her. It turns out that her husband was the only survivor. He needs to have a couple of operations but he is still around.

I lost my name tag. It must've just fallen off somewhere; I don't know where it is. I still have another one but it's kind of sad to lose the first one.

Friday we had weekly planning and taught three lessons. On Saturday we started our fast. Things are going good here and are starting to get moving. We're teaching this 15-year-old girl named Micheli. She is progressing really well. On Sunday, there were 81 people attending church. That is more than normal and that is with one of the active families not in attendance. We had five less actives come to church and one investigator, Micheli. Her mom is less active and Micheli is doing really well. She's really nice and we met with her that evening. She's making good friends in the church and she's really changing, which is cool to see. I love seeing how this gospel can change people. It's crazy how different she is from when we first met her.

Well, I'm just waiting to get calls from my district for this week's numbers. I'm happy and I am doing well. I love you all!

New Digs!

This week on Pday we bought some beanies and then later had a family night with Hermano Huaipa, which went well.

My feet have really, really been hurting me again. I have no idea what it is. It's like they are asleep and the balls of my feet are hurting. I don't know it's just weird. On Tuesday I completed nine months in the mission, which is crazy! It actually happened to be one of the worst days of my mission so far. Everything fell through, it was garbage. Nothing really worked out. It was really hard to want to be out in the mission field that day. However, I know those feelings will pass and better days will come.

On Wednesday we got settled into our new room. It's on the fourth floor above this clinic and it’s mold free! We are paying 350 every month now. One of the members of the ward had a huge truck and they helped us move. The zone leaders and my district helped us too. It's seriously so nice! We can even get hot water bags for our blankets if we want!

We found three investigators and taught three lessons on Thursday. We also installed a new shower head in our shower, so that was nice! The old one keep squirting us in the eyes and getting the floor all wet.

Friday we had five lessons, three of them were with a member present which was sweet! This week we have found 8 new investigators so far.  We went knocking doors. I was sick and tired of the weak investigators we had so I knocked and knocked and found some. It's nice to finally be finding some people to work with. There was a relief society activity at the church on Saturday and a lot of people came.

The weather has been really nice lately. My feet still hurt. My moccasins are cool!

At church on Sunday our attendance went up a little bit. There were 77 people there. We had seven less active members and one new investigator attend. It was the best Sunday that we've had here in a while. Things are going well. We ended the week with 10 new investigators, which was awesome! I think at least 7 will progress really fast. We found this amazing investigator who's name is Munoz. We were sitting down and he walked up and start talking to us. He thought we were from Germany. He's from the jungle and has friends from Germany in his little pueblo.

We went out to eat one day!

It's crazy that L Tom Perry died. We just found that out today. I love you all! Hasta luego!

Party at the Church!

This week we played basketball at that one indoor court on Pday. Then we went and had a family night with this member family. It was cool and they're always fun to talk to because they like to get into deep doctrine. There are three areas in my district-my area is La Columna, there are two elders in Yanacancha, and two elders and two sisters (hermanas) in San Juan. There are three districts in our zone and our zone leaders are Elder Bradford and Elder Chapeton. On Tuesday I did divisions with Elder Herron. He is Elder Whitaker's companion and their area is San Juan. Their room is so nice! We had a couple of lessons that went well and they should have a baptism this week.

Wednesday was really nice weather, I took the numbers from the district and the district is doing well. Thursday was really nice weather again. We found a new room to stay in. We are going to be staying above this clinic type hospital thing on the 4th floor. It's a really nice room but it's not in our area. So that kind of stinks but it's a really nice room and we will be moving there next Wednesday. That was a big answer to our prayers. We're teaching this kid named Joseph right now. He's 19 and a really good investigator. He reads a lot, highlights his scriptures, etc. He is going out of town this weekend but when he gets back we will set a baptismal date with him. On Friday I gave my first baptismal interview to this nine-year-old girl named Druceli. She was taught by the missionaries in my district from San Juan. She did really well and got baptized on Saturday. We got this new investigator named Betty, she is really good and I think she will progress well. She understood the message and everything like that. Weather was great again and we had an activity at the church where we made pizzas.

We used these bottles to roll out the pizza dough

At the activity we received three references. They were from members in other wards but they are for people that live in our area so that was awesome! I did another baptismal interview on Saturday for the missionaries in the Yanacancha area. The kid that they're going to baptize this next week is really good. We should have a couple of investigators come to church this week so that will be great.  Well, I love you guys and I will talk to you next week.

Snow!

On Pday this week we played basketball at some indoor facility. The floors are concrete, there were no nets, the backboards were tilted...but it was fun. However, Elder Cunningham got his book stolen while we were playing. It had a lot of his stuff in it. He's obviously not very happy about it. On Tuesday I gave my district training again. My topic was goals. On Wednesday we went to Huánuco. We stayed with Elder White and Elder Sholey. I seriously took so many things for granted while I was living in Huánuco, like the shower and room and a bunch of things like that. It's kind of crappy in Cerro de Pasco but I'm going to look for the positive and the good things that are around me. On Thursday we played soccer at a place called the Hoya de Barro. It was this huge synthetic grass field place. We played American football there too. It ended up being like a multi zone Pday which was fun. I saw Elder John and a bunch of other missionaries.

Oh, we made a fire on the roof of Elder White's place and we got a cuye (guinea pig) and cooked it! It was super, super fun. On Friday we had the multi zone conference in Huánuco. It was great to see everybody. El Presidente is doing well; I talked to him for a little bit. We got back about 7:15 that night. It's good to be back in our area again. On Saturday we had four lessons which were good but it snowed! It snowed a lot!

It was neat to see and obviously pretty cold. I really like our ward here. I'm excited for church. We're working with two good investigators, Brian and Sonya, and hopefully they come to church and will be baptized soon. Adios!

District Leader!

On Pday we just ate ice cream and relaxed. On Tuesday I got some news that I'm not real thrilled about. I'm going to Cerro de Pasco and will be the district leader.

Wednesday I got in the car and went to Cerro de Pasco. I got here about noon and it's really, really cold. I'm not real thrilled about the room, there's mold on the walls and ceiling. It's kind of scary.

Thursday I gave my first district meeting/training. We have an awesome district. Elder Whitaker from my CCM group is in my district. We have an awesome zone too! It's a different experience being a district leader. I got the numbers for the week from our district on Friday to report and that went well. My companion is Elder Cunningham. He is actually from St. George also.

He went to Pine View high school. He Skyped his family on Friday and we seemed to have a good connection. We went to Kimbo's to eat afterwards. It was really good. We went with Elder Whitaker and Elder Herron. I am looking for a new place to stay. Where we are at is just not working. If I get up too quickly, I get a face full of mold! We made French toast for our ward for a Mother's Day activity that evening. On Saturday we Skyped each other which was awesome!

On Sunday I gave a talk in church. Our ward is great; everybody seems to do their calling. Elder Chapeton, our zone leader, called and asked me to get the numbers of every baptism and every rescue that our district had since January. So that took me a while and I got to bed really late.

It was cool that Elder Fawson came and saw you when he got back home! He's a great guy! It has been a full week so I will write you guys next week! Love you!

Sickness, Service, and Splits

On Pday after I wrote you guys, we went back to the zone leaders room and ate these banana, chocolate, peanut butter cream type things that you find here in Peru (it's kind of weird) and we had ice cream.

We had a good district meeting on Tuesday. I did divisions with Elder Hardison. We had a good day, had some good lessons.

On Wednesday, Elder Hardison and I went to Ambo to have one of the hermanas,  who is going home, sign a certain paper. Then on the way home Elder Hardison got really sick and we ended up staying in the room all day.

Thursday we went out to Yanag and built this kitchen thing out of adobe bricks. It was very much like those mud bricks that we saw in Guatemala. We helped her build a little kitchen looking thing with the bricks. We then went home and had some good meetings and found a new investigator, which was really nice.

Friday we really didn't have anything abnormal happen. We had some good lessons and found a new investigator, hermana Elsa.

Saturday I went and did service with Elder Lopez. We went and moved earth, which seems to be a normal thing to do here. We came back and showered and then had a good day of lessons. We had six lessons which is awesome. Raul did not get baptized yet. His family apparently talked him out of it.

Sunday was stake conference.  I can't believe April is already over. Time is flying by. We get to Skype on Mother’s Day so I’ll see you soon!

Trompo

Monday—Pday we really didn't do much, just went to play soccer at the church and then our appointments scheduled for the rest the day fell through.

Tuesday we had our district meeting and then I went on divisions with Elder Sholey. We had a six lesson day which was nice! It rained again but we ordered pizza that night (for delivery) to our room and it was good! It cost us $6 and was worth every penny. It was awesome!

On Thursday we had our interviews with President Henderson. We had to practice teaching a lesson with Elder John (one of the AP's) where they put us in a funny situation. The situation was that he was a new investigator that read something about polygamy, which he doesn't believe in, and he was questioning why Joseph Smith would do that. We had five minutes to resolve that doubt and set a baptismal date with him.

Friday we had five lessons and found a new investigator. I'm learning to play this little toy called a “trompo”. It's like a little top thing that you spin with a string onto the ground. Everybody thinks it's funny that this big, white man is walking around playing with this kid toy, but I don't care because it's fun. Some of the other missionaries sometimes do it too. I don't know, I just like it.

Saturday we had a good day with a lot of lessons and then that night we went out to eat with Elder Bush, Elder Sholey, Elder White, and Elder Lopez. Everything is going pretty well. We've been having a hard time finding new people to teach lately. So we're especially working on that this week. Well, have a great week! I love you all!!

Second Set of Twins!

Hey everybody! So this was a good week. After Pday we played soccer again and later that night we had a family night with Diego and his family. We watched a Joseph Smith video and ate some of my "peeps" for dessert.

On Tuesday we had a cool experience. We're teaching a new investigator named Deysi and she was telling us that about a month ago she had a dream that two people in white shirts would come to her and say that if she wanted to have peace in her heart and a calmness in her life that she would have to join their church. So when we contacted her on the street, she took that as an answer, or fulfillment, of her dream. She was out walking one night with her mom and little sister and we were walking home after a long day and I felt that I just needed to talk to them. She is really excited to come church. She said that she got off track in her life a little bit but that it's time to get back on track and she knows that this is going to help her. She's only 17 years old and is progressing really well. She's awesome!

The church is just so different here. It's just way harder for leaders to be on time and to do their jobs. We're all learning a lot of patience.

We had about 10 lessons and 20 contacts before Friday. We finished up all the lessons with Jonaton and Jonjairo; they had their baptismal interviews with Elder White, and got baptized on Saturday. Their baptism went well and was really fun. Their whole family came and I had the opportunity to baptize Jonjairo. They both said that they felt really clean and really happy that they had been "reborn". There were a lot of members that came and on Sunday they got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is baptism number seven here for me. That's just kind of crazy. This week has absolutely flown by!

Our Pensionista--Hermana Matias

I'm doing well. I just keep walking up this mountain every day in this crazy heat! (which is good for me) We just got done eating dinner and I'm back in my room. I just finished writing in my journal and now I'm going to floss and brush my teeth and do the nightly routine. This next week we are having interviews with President Henderson so that should be fun. We have interviews with him about every three months. Have a great week!

Angels Among Us!

On Pday we played soccer again and made no bake cookies. I found out that the best friend of Elder Sholey just died and he has been having a rough time dealing with things. I had the opportunity to share some thoughts and feelings with him about KJ.

I was able to use my Easter/Resurrection eggs in a couple family nights this week, we moved some rocks for the bishop's parents, and I was also able to give another blessing of health. I'm also teaching myself how to juggle right now so that's pretty exciting.

On Friday we had six lessons and found two new investigators. It's really nice when people refer to us as "angels". In one of our lessons, with Hermana Eglen, she was saying how God sent us, her angels, to fix her life. 

Plaza Paucarbamba

We had five investigators with us at church on Sunday. Elder Hardison and his companion had a bunch of investigators at church too. We had them announce in church the upcoming baptisms of Jonaton and Jonjairo.

I got the package with the scripture markers in it. I am super excited to go mark my scriptures with my new stuff right now. I never thought I would hear myself say that but I am. I love you all! Adios!

Happy Easter/Conference!

This week on Pday we didn't do much, we just went to Metros and bought a few things and then we went and played soccer.

We are teaching another set of twins, their names are Jonaton and Jonjairo. We are also teaching Raul and Julio and his wife (her name escapes me right now). We also got three new investigators too. We had seven lessons on Tuesday alone. That just doesn't happen. It's cool to have investigators that are doing their stuff, reading....They were like, "Oh yeah, Moroni is Mormon's son..." I was thinking, "You guys are amazing"! It was an awesome, awesome day!

I'm reading Jesus the Christ and am learning all kinds of crazy stuff about Jesus. A lot are things I already knew but just hadn't thought about in this way. I'm taking every chance I can to learn. I freaking love learning new things.

Here in Peru they celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week) during Easter. They eat fish for like two days straight, they reenact the crucifixion, which I think is kind of weird and messed up, and then they hike up to the big cross that's on the huge hill outside of town. Some people really want to have their hands nailed to wood and everything.

We listened to General Conference and two talks really stuck out to me. One talk was by Dale G. Renlund, where she spoke about a saint is just a sinner that keeps on trying and that we are perfected through the Savior and He expects us to keep trying and help others. If we don't keep trying then we are "latter-day sinners" and "latter-day hypocrites". In the priesthood session I liked Henry B. Eyring's talk about prayer and priesthood and that they're connected; and that we need to pray to the Lord for Him to recognize us and recognize our willingness to serve. Then we need to pray how to serve Him and what we need to do to help other people. That is something that I've always wanted. I want to be the mouthpiece for the Lord. I have given a lot of blessings lately and sometimes I feel like I'm just saying a prayer, but I want to be the Lord spokesman and have a real spiritual experience and bless other people's lives. That is probably what I will be fasting about next.  I just want to be the Lord’s mouthpiece. I really liked the talks given by Jeffrey R. Holland and Kevin Pearson as well.

My "Resurrection Eggs"

I got my Easter packages! Y'all spoil me like crazy! It was awesome!! Hope you all had a Happy Easter! I love you and we'll chat next week!