Santiago's Baptism!

All the Elders came over for Pday. We wanted an elders Pday since the sisters had a sister Pday to the jungle. We went and played soccer at the place where I lost my gold chain. I'm super excited for dad and his new calling as Bishop! I know he's going to do great! Hermano John, a member here, took us out to dinner and he asked for dad's name and phone number. He said that he called you actually! I hope that wasn't too weird. I figured you would appreciate talking to him.

Tuesday we had a decent day of lessons. We are finding tons of new people to teach! I hope they all progress.

Wednesday we went to Palca and taught Hermana Guadalupe. We played soccer at the church with Santiago. Actually I didn't play because my feet and my knee are really hurting me. I think that since my feet have been hurting me, I haven't been able to walk correctly and that is causing my knee issue. That kind of sucks but I'm going to keep on working hard!

Thursday we had an "attack" in Junín. We headed out about 10:00 in the morning and we got back around 5:30 in the evening. It was an awesome, beautiful day! I think we really helped the elders. We found a boatload of people to teach! Their area is huge for just two missionaries. I think this is going to give them a good jumpstart for the next transfer that's coming up. We had the whole district there. The "attack" was a success!

Friday we had weekly planning. We had Santiago's last lesson before his baptism. He was really, really excited! I'm not sure if I mentioned this but it is Semana Santa (Holy Week) here. They have a lot of crazy traditions here.  There are a lot of parades, flower pictures in the street, parties,...

Saturday I completed 19 months, which is kind of crazy. We had Santiago's baptism which was an amazing experience! I bought him two ties and gave him a shirt. Hermano Yarasca baptized him. It was nice to have a member do it so they could build that relationship. I called Elder Collantes, the health missionary, and talk to him about my knee and feet. He said to wait until the changes to figure it out.

Sunday was solid! Santiago was confirmed a member, received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of a priest. He was super, super happy! He is stronger than most of the members here already! He helps out with service, he comes with us to lessons....now when he comes with us to lessons, it will count as a lesson with a member, since he is a member. He is already developing relationships, he's going to start blessing the sacrament and everything like that. I really do love him! It is going to be very hard if I leave. Church classes went really well also. Well, we will see how changes go. I love and miss you all!

District Conference

We had a good time on Pday—we made tacos, which is always nice! We played soccer and basketball after making tacos; I also got my haircut.

Tuesday we had a full day of work. Elder Holmes, President Henderson's personal secretary, has been talking to the Justice Department about the bus incident last week. I had to send him an email with a bunch of facts about the company, who was involved, how and what happened, etc.

Wednesday was kind of a cruddy day I have to admit. We had one lesson; however, that one lesson was a pretty good one. We got two new investigators out of it.

Thursday was much better. We had for good lessons. Edgar's wife is going to talk to her boss to see if she can get her day off to be Sundays so she can come to church. We contacted some references that some members from another branch gave to us. They are going to be great investigators! We also went and gave a blessing to Graciela. I baptized her for the sisters a little while ago. She is getting two tumors removed.

Friday we had our weekly planning and had a few lessons. We also had our weekly meeting with the presidency of the district. We discussed how this next week we are going to go have an "attack". So the whole district here in Tarma is going to go to Junín and we're going to try and get a lot of work done there.

Saturday we started a fast with Santiago because he asked us to. We're fasting to help him take care of the debts that he has. He is doing awesome! She is super, super cool! I just love him to death! He wants to improve so badly. He's working hard to get to his baptismal date later this month. He even went to the priesthood session of the district conference and everything. He's doing really well!

Sunday was the district conference here in Tarma. All of the missionaries in the zone came as well as the members in those areas which includes: San Pedro de Cajas, Junín, Marcavalle, La Oroya, Modelo 1 y 2, Mantarana, and El Milagro 1 y 2. President and Sister Henderson came. Hermano José Villegas and Kevin received the Melchizedek  priesthood. Kevin received the calling of branch secretary and José Villegas received the calling of Sunday school president. One of the coolest things was that we also helped José give his first blessings to his wife and Valentino for their health. We also found three new families to teach this week. That is awesome because I always love to teach families!

A funny story—a guy we are teaching thinks he knows everything and makes the funniest comments. We read a scripture about repentance and he stops us midway and says, "I know what this Scripture refers to, the three Nephites who aren't dead." His wife isn't a member yet and it just confuses her. Ha ha. You guys are the best! I love you all!

Sad Stuff

Something crazy happened on Pday as we were on our way to La Merced. After traveling for some time I walked toward the front of the bus to speak with the driver's assistant (the person sitting next to the driver who opens the door, takes tickets/money...) to see if he would change the music. As I was starting to speak to him, some drunken man walks into the middle of the road. The driver swerved to try and miss him but he couldn't avoid him. He hit the man head on breaking the windshield and then we felt him get run over by the tires. I literally saw a man die. It was super sad! Once we got to La Merced it poured rain all day, we played soccer, basketball, and tossed the football around a little bit; some missionaries went to El Tirol waterfall. I did not go because it would've been like my 8 billionth time there. We are staying at Henry's Recreo and I roomed with Elders Mendoza, White, and Whitaker. It is so pretty here.

The multi zone on Tuesday was awesome. We learned about how to help investigators understand the importance of attending church. We traveled back to Tarma without any issues. Everyone stayed together that night because of the zone training the next day. We did fun little activities at the zone conference like tying balloons to shoelaces and then trying to pop each other's balloons. Inside the balloons were little puzzle pieces and then you had to put the puzzle together. The puzzle ended up being a picture of Elder Whitaker and Elder White (they were in charge of the activity), so that was pretty funny. My companion conducted the meeting and we were in charge of the practices/role playing. We did the Restoration (in four minutes) and the one about the importance of attending church. After the multi zone we went out to eat and I had mariscos (seafood). It was good!

Keyboards in Spanish

Wednesday the training went really well. We talked about repentance and I think it worked. The mission has really been emphasizing right now that everyone be clean and have the spirit because if not then we're kind of just wasting time. After the training, we got all of the missionaries sent off and then later we played soccer that night. Santiago is still excited about getting baptized!

Thursday was a pretty average day. We ran into Sergio and he asked us to help him throw out some of his vices so we helped him do that. We taught Edgar a lesson so that was good. It rained SUPER hard that night! It flooded all the streets and everything.

Friday we had four lessons and our weekly planning also went well. We sent Elder Perez to Huancayo because of his leg. I'm not sure if I mentioned but he is having problems with his leg so hopefully that all gets figured out and he gets feeling better.

We went to Palca on Saturday with President Durman. Guadalupe and her mom are doing really well. We had an awesome experience with Jorge. We planned to teach him the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. When we got there he told us he had a dream of a friend who had passed away about two years ago. She came and talked to him. Jorge thought originally she had gone to hell but somehow moved to heaven. He said he remembered reading a parable in the Bible but he didn't remember where. It was exactly what we had planned on teaching. It was cool to have prayed and received the inspiration and been able to walk in and teach exactly what he needed. The spirit was so strong. The sad part is that he didn't really accept that visitation/dream as an answer. He thought it was just coincidence. We've decided to kind of leave him for a little bit and give him some time and hopefully he will realize what he really needs.

Sunday we had an attendance of 92 people. We had a full morning of lessons and then one lesson after church. We also found a really cool family! We went to this mountain that I've always wanted to go and do contacts in ever since I got here. I've always thought that there were people waiting there and sure enough there was a less active man whose wife's not a member. His parents are actually sealed in the temple. He knows a lot of things but has been less active for two years and his wife has desires to be baptized! It is awesome! They have a little kid too. The branch is getting better and things are going well! Know that I love you and will talk to you later.

Angels Among Us!

On Pday Elders White and Whitaker came here to chill with us and we went and played soccer at this indoor place. I took off my gold chain to play and I put it in my backpack inside my shoe and while I was playing, I think somebody came over and stole it. I realized I don't have it and I cannot find it anywhere. I talked to a lot of people and the facility workers said "justo" in that moment the surveillance cameras weren't working. I must admit that I am pretty mad about it! It was an important thing to me! Any ways, we received a phone call from Elder Holmes (the office) that the zone leader conference got postponed until Wednesday because President and Sister Henderson are sick. Which means the multi zone conference got pushed back as well.

I went and asked around again on Tuesday about my gold chain. I asked to see the surveillance footage and the supervisor said that they weren't working in that one part. Maybe it fell out of my shoe but I really feel like I had it all contained in my backpack.

We went to Huancayo for our zone leader conference. The trainings were really simple but I really liked them. We had chicken sandwiches for lunch and pizza for dinner. Elder Peterson has returned. He finally was able to fly back. The elders that went and "rescued" him could not fly back though because they did not have their passports.

 Elder Calle and Elder Durante

Zone Leaders: Mendoza and Durante

Thursday we got back from Huancayo.

Friday we had our weekly planning. We have been communicating/planning with the zone leaders in La Merced about the upcoming multi zone conference/Pday this next week. It should be great. Later in the day we were walking around and ran into Jerusalem and Joanna. We stopped to talk with them and then from out of nowhere Hilario, their little brother of four years old, came up crying and throwing a fit. He always does that so we didn't pay too much attention to it. So we kept on talking and then we heard somebody yell "the baby fell!" Sure enough he fell off about a 20 foot cliff into an empty lot of dirt. But Hilario popped right up and continue to wine. I seriously have no idea how he lived. It was nuts! I felt super bad but I guess you could say there's no doubt that angels are still on the earth!

Saturday we started our day going to Palca to do some service for Guadalupe and her mom. We picked away rock on a lot so that they can build their house on. We had a bunch of members there helping us as well as Santiago. It was a good time. We started our fast, individually and as a companionship, with Santiago. It's going to be an awesome experience. Santiago also accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of March. He was planning on getting baptized in December because he wanted to pay off some debts but we decided to fast with him and even before we started the fast he told us that he wanted to be baptized.

Sunday we had all of the missionaries in the zone with us because we will be traveling to La Merced at 6:00 in the morning to get there for Internet time to write our letters etc. We will be staying at Henry's place again. We had a good day at church. We finished our fast with Santiago and he and everybody else is excited for the baptism. Well, the next email I send you will be from La Merced. I love you all and have a great week!

Peru Perniciousness!

I am still really stoked about getting into BYU! Thank you all for your help. I really do appreciate it! We had a fun Pday again on Monday. We played capture the flag again with water balloons at the church. That night though we did not have one single lesson. We went to teach the Jorge family, but they were really rowdy, so we helped them bring up water out of this well type thing by the street to their house about five blocks away.

Santiago, our investigator, came with us to Palca to visit Guadalupe, a less active 15-year-old girl. She is doing great! She's really excited to come back. She's working on her Personal Progress and we're helping her out with that. Later that evening, we went and helped Santiago chop wood for his stove and then taught him a lesson with our elders quorum president. We received the transfer information and we (Tarma district) then gathered in the chapel to do the printing and announcing of the changes. Afterwards, I went and coordinated the changes with the others zone leaders.

The changes went well on Wednesday. We were basically in the terminal from 8 AM to 2:30 PM. Elder Peterson stayed with us that night because he had to go the next day to Lima for migrations. We went to play soccer at the church but the Jorge family showed up really late so we didn't get a chance to play BUT something really cool happened. I felt that we should show them around the church before we left and so we did. When we came to the chapel where we have our sacrament, they were all amazed! The mom even said that she had dreamed of a place just like this but didn't know where it was, but this was her dream. It was awesome! They said they will be attending church on Sunday.

On Thursday we went to the restaurant "Hot and Tender" with President Durman, his wife and kids, and the sisters. It was a good time. We received news that there was a landslide on the route to Lima and Elder Peterson was stranded, but he found a car to Huancayo and made it back safely. There were some other missionaries that were on a bus that were also affected by it, but they got in a taxi made it all the way into Lima. I can't believe there are so many crazy things that happen here in Peru! We also received a call that night that a family in Mantarana burned there house down! So on instead of weekly planning, we're going to be able to go and help that family clean all of that up.

 Photos of Tarma

Friday we went to Palca with Santiago and taught Guadalupe. That it went really well. We then did two baptismal interviews and they both passed so El Milagro will be having two baptisms. We also received news that Elder Peterson has been stuck on that bus without food for a day. I thought that he had made it to Huancayo but Elders Moss and Solorzano went on a rescue trip to find him. They found him but the weather was getting really bad so they paid for a car to take them all the way to Lima. All of the flights are full so they aren't coming back til Monday. That's Peru for you! Giant landslides, bad weather but things are going well! Happy 18 months to me in the mission today! Time is flying by.

Saturday President came and did interviews with a few people here in the zone. Lately he's really been putting an emphasis on people being worthy, which is really cool. He's really an inspired guy and knows exactly where and how to help each of us.

Sunday was good day. It was Hermana Holland's birthday, so we had a little get together after our branch council meeting. We visited the Villegas family and they're doing okay. They would like us to visit them more, which we probably should, but we're trying to help the members to take on the role of fellowshipping them. They are new members and need some support to help them stay strong.

CONGRATS TO NIKENNA for winning state in basketball!! I love you all!

2 Decades Down!

We had a pretty solid Pday on Monday. We played soccer and then a few games with water balloons because it was really hot. Things are going well here. I am happy. It's kind of freaking me out that I am turning 20! I'm so excited I got into BYU. That is super sweet. It's a huge answer to a lot of prayers and fasting.

Tuesday was a pretty successful day. We taught the Jorge family, that's the family that Elder Butterfield and I found that has like 11 people in it. They're doing all right. It's just kind of hard to teach them all at the same time. I think it is hard to pay attention and hear when everybody's all together. But things are going well with them. I think they're going to start progressing pretty soon. I hope they do, they're good people and they really need this gospel.

Wednesday was not very successful. We walked around A LOT. We tried contacting a lot of stuff like that, it just kind of sucked. The highlight of the day was when we went to play soccer. We were alone with the other missionaries from Monterrana, waiting for the investigators to show up before we started playing and then out of nowhere the entire Jorge family showed up! It was awesome! Diego, another investigator, also showed up so it was great.

On Thursday we had a killer day! We went to Palca with Santiago and visited Kevin and Guadalupe. Guadalupe told us a cool spiritual experience where her family was having a problem on the farm and the seeds wouldn't sprout and so her family was arguing about it, so she went to her room. She grabbed the Book of Mormon and randomly opened it. She read 3 Nephi 18:20 where it says that we should ask in prayer for things that are necessary. She said she felt super calm and she prayed for help. The next morning they went to the farm and the seeds had sprouted! We also put a baptismal date with two people from the Jorge family, Christian and Jerusalem. They accepted a date for the 26th of March. We went and visited Sergio. When we got there, there was some weird guy on his balcony. We felt a little uneasy about who was there and what was going on. When the guy finally left we went up to teach Sergio. The smell of smoke was pretty strong and Sergio wasn't real alert. We found two new investigators contacting, which was cool. We had 7 lessons that day!

Friday we went to La Oroya to do a couple of baptismal interviews. When we got back, things kind of fell through and we didn't get much accomplished.

Saturday we visited the Jorge family and Jerusalem told us a really cool spiritual experience where she prayed to see if what we were teaching is true and while she was praying, her mind went to totally white. She said she saw people all dressed in white and they were happy and a bunch of other cool things. She said that was an answer from God. We also visited Jorge, Abraham, and Adriana.

Well Hello! If you can't tell, this is the 20-year-old Will speaking; I am no longer a 19-year-old teenager. Haha. I had a pretty good birthday today. Nothing crazy happened because I didn't really tell anyone. However, Elder Calle from the office called me, which was cool, he remembered it was my birthday. President Durman and his wife also called me. Not too many people came to church today. I think they're on summer vacation or something. It sucked that none of our investigators came. My pensionista found out that it was my birthday because she fixed banana flavored pancakes with chicken for dinner tonight, which was cool and very nice of her. That was my birthday. I love you guys!

Travel. Meetings. Travel. Valentines.

Monday we had a zone Pday and we played soccer, ping-pong, basketball, and a couple of other things. When I was playing basketball I got my face scratched and so I came away from that game with a few cuts and scratches. I got a call from Elder Gutierrez telling me that president would like me to conduct some meeting thing we are going to have with Elder Godoy later this week, so I will be doing that again.

 carnival photos

Tuesday we gave our training and it went well and then we did divisions with Marcavalle. Marcavalle is an area in La Oroya and the missionaries there are Elders Campbell and Bruno.

Wednesday we went to Huancayo and while I was shaving we got a phone call from president. Elder Calle is now the new assistant! So that is really cool! I told him he was going to be the next assistant! (Assistants always go in a week before the regular transfers) My new companion is Elder Mendoza. He is from Tumbes, Peru. He is a fun guy. All of his family are members and she has about 14 months out in the mission. We stayed in a hotel because there was no room in the mission home because of all the missionaries that were there from the various zones.

Me and Elder Mendoza emailing!

The conference went really well on Thursday. I conducted the meeting send it went just fine. The spirit was really strong, we talked about some traps that missionaries sometimes fall in to when teaching investigators. I took a lot of notes in my study journal. Only the district leaders and zone leaders stayed in the mission home that night. We ate Burger King for dinner and I also bought a nice pair of dress shoes. They only cost me 40 soles and they were so nice! Older white bought some too. My other shoes were pretty thrashed and I wanted some decent ones to come home in and I got them!

Elder Carlos A. Godoy

Friday we took a convey to Huánuco and eight hours later we arrived! The training with the leaders and Elder Godoy was good. We basically made a list of what we thought, as leaders, we could do to help the zone out and then we explained why and discussed it as a group. For lunch we went to an awesome burger joint called Locos. I had half a Mexican burger and half an American burger with a milkshake and fries. It was seriously like I was back home. It was super good. I never knew about that place when I lived in Huánuco. It's probably a good thing because I would have gone there a lot. I saw Elder Tapia. He is in Cerro and he is training. So I guess I have a "grandson"-- I think his name is Elder Crossland.

"3 generations"

Saturday I got back to Tarma in time to baptize one of the sister's investigators. She asked me last Sunday if I could baptize her and I was glad that I was able to do it. Her name is Graciela. I was really tired, I think because we had been traveling so much, and it was really nice to be back in our room.

Graciela and the sisters

Happy Valentine's Day! I have to be totally honest and say that I forgot it was Valentine's Day until someone told me at dinner. The zone is doing well. We didn't get to teach too much this week because we were gone and traveling so much. Traveling kind of sucks because it kind of feels like I have done nothing all week. I'm excited to get back to work. I miss you guys and I hope things going well. I love you all!

Life is Ever Changing

On Monday we had a "Pday of elders". We all went to the indoor soccer arena (it has artificial turf) because it was raining so hard outside. The elders from Junín stay the night with us that night as well as Elder White and Elder Whitaker because we went to Huancayo the next day for consejo.

Tuesday we had Burger King for lunch and Pizza Hut for dinner while we were in Huancayo for training. I really liked the training the assistants gave about the rock of Christ and how we can help people construct that rock or rebuild it and build a firm foundation.

Zone Leader Conference

Wednesday we had a couple lessons. Luz Osorio in Palca told us that Sergio received an offer to go to Chile to work. Now they are worried about the marriage and baptism. We told them that something was probably going to happen and we tried to prepare everything in case something did happen, so we are going to try and get everything set up for the 13th. It rained in the evening so we did not get to go play soccer but things are fine. I'm a little stressed out about all these things but it will be fine and will work out.

Happy Birthday mom! I can't believe it's your birthday. February is ticking right on by. It's kind of freaking me out, seriously, the next thing you know it will be my birthday and then there goes February and there goes another month then the last general conference then comes the Skype call for Mother's Day and everything like that. It's just going crazy. I hope you have a great day and that you get spoiled because you deserve it! Thursday we did divisions with El Milagro 2. I split with Elder Butterfield and my companion was with Elder Barrus. We helped a family move some furniture and various things while they were moving into a different house and afterwards we had a chance to teach them. We had nine new investigators! They all listened very intently and accepted another visit. They attend the MMM church. They were super receptive, which was cool!

Friday we finished our divisions. President Durman and his family went with us to Palca to visit Luz. We talked about their marriage a bit to make sure it's a sure thing and we are still waiting to get an answer. We had a meeting with the District presidency and it went well.

On Saturday, Hermana Berta's dad died. We gave him a blessing after he passed away in the hospital. He was still warm and it was kind of weird, we arrived just after he passed away. Strange. She is doing all right. We did some service for the nine investigators we taught the other day. We did not get to teach them a lesson because they went to the market. We put a baptismal dates however with Eduardo and Rosa for 13th of March.

This weekend there is this carnival/festivity going on where men are dressed up as women and they're dancing in the street. It's called carnivales. It's kind of weird but that's just life here in Peru.

On Sunday we spoke with Kevin and Luz and Sergio isn't going to be baptized until he gets back from Chile. It looks like he will be working in Chile till December. That kind of stinks. We had 91 people in Sacrament meeting today which was awesome. We have a new investigator named Jorge who came to church and Santiago came as well. Santiago still has not accepted a baptismal date because he said he had a dream where he met this like mountain man that told him that he needs to pay his debts until he works with God. We told him to pray about it and he received this dream and so who are we to tell him that it was not an answer from God but he seems to be doing pretty well. We also received the news that we are going to Huancayo Wednesday this next week instead of Thursday for training. We will have some preliminary training on Wednesday and then everyone who is not a zone leader will leave and then we will stay Thursday night to have an additional meeting with Elder Godoy. Friday we will go to Huánuco now! We will stay the whole day there and then we will come back Saturday morning. I was asked to baptize one of the ladies that the sisters are teaching on Saturday so I hope I get back in time. It's kind of crazy that we will be traveling so much. I had to carry Hermana Berta's dad's casket down the giant stairs that lead from her house. It was sad. They like put cotton in their mouth and ears and nostrils here. It's kind of gross. They took him to Cerro de Pasco to bury him. That was my week. Hope you had a great one! I love you!!

In the Zone!

Happy Birthday Dad and Mom! Don’t even think that I forgot. I was just waiting to tell you all at once! On our Pday we went to this giant cross/statue of Christ in this little town called Acobamba. It's about 15 minutes from Tarma in the direction of Palca. It kind of sucked as we were walking up because we didn't see the path—so we kind of suffered. On the way down, we saw this nice little path which cut our time basically in half. It was kind of funny. After getting down, we went to the church and played soccer. Later, we had a good lesson with the Villegas family and then watched a movie about families with our investigator, Kennedy. We watched the movie with him and his sisters. All of his sisters are members. He is the only member of his family that is not a member yet but we are working really hard with him.

Tuesday I completed 17 months in the mission, which is kind of crazy to me. We had our district meeting, which was good, as always.

On Wednesday we put a baptismal date with our investigator, Edwin. We put it for 20th February. He accepted it really quickly and it was cool. Later we played soccer at the church and Rosa Pizarro's husband came—cool. My pensionista gave me like an antibiotic kind of thing for my head to help that spot heal.

We went to Palca on Thursday and met some less active members with Hermano Jarasca. We also went to a La Oroya to approve a room that the other missionaries want to move into this month. It's a good room they just don't have a shower. So we'll have to get that built and a couple of things like that. It will be a lot better than their other room; that other room is just garbage. We worked for a few hours and then went to Hermana Rocia's, who does our laundry, for her little birthday party thing. She felt really special and we gave her a blessing because a couple of things are passing in her life.

We watched meet the Mormons on Friday for our ward mission night. We had a decent amount of people show up. There was popcorn and soda and all of that awesome stuff. We watched it on a projector upstairs in the chapel. We got a call about an emergency transfer. So we took care of that and everything went well. I had an awesome baptismal interview with a girl named Banya. It was really cool and spiritual.

On Saturday we had minimal success. We couldn't visit our planned people because we didn't have a priesthood holder to go with us. We had to give a little presentation to all of the branch presidents in the district. We talked about a few points that everyone to do a little bit better. El Milagro had two baptisms, Abner and Banya. We went to this restaurant called Pollo Stop with President Durman and his family. We also did a little service in the morning where we went and cleaned the church and helped the sisters move rooms.

On Sunday we did not have that many people in church, I really don't know why but it kind of stinks. We had a good Ward Council and then we had a good lesson with Kennedy. He mentioned that after the blessing that we gave him, he has had a much better relationship with his wife. He said that he has been reading and praying with his wife and that has been a big difference maker. We want so badly for him to be baptized!

Well, my head is doing better and things are going well. I love you guys so much and thanks for everything!

Birthday Baptism!

For Pday this week we went and played basketball at this like public pool place. We played with the missionaries, some members came and that one team that wanted to play us again. That was fun. We went and got something to eat and then went to the church and played some soccer. So nothing new there. Later we went and visited the Villegas family.

Tuesday we had our district meeting and we learned about challenging our investigators to baptism. Afterwards we went and helped the sisters move a few things out of their room. They are moving completely at the beginning of February so we were helping them get organized and ready. That evening, President Henderson came and interviewed the sisters (we got our interviews the next day).

Wednesday our interviews with President Henderson went well. In my interview we laughed almost the whole time. We talked about how things are going back home and how we can help people here—normal things, it was just really funny. We also watched a worldwide broadcast for all the missionaries which was cool. They talked about a lot of things but I really liked how they said that we teach repentance and baptize converts. That is our purpose. After our interviews with Pres, I started shaking in my stomach and I was feeling really, really bad. I had a bad fever and I ended up going to bed—so we didn't get any work done that evening, we just rested.

Thursday I was feeling a little better. I took it kind of easy—we went out to a meeting and then came back in afterwards because my head was just spinning and spinning. We had pretty good success though. Kevin had his baptismal interview and it went well. A couple of people in the zone are sick, which kind of sucks. I seriously slept like crap Wednesday night.

Friday was Kevin's baptism and birthday! Everything turned out really nice and he was super happy! Things are going well in the area. We have a new investigator whose name is Santiago and he has already come to church twice. He also came to Kevin's baptism. We challenged him to be baptized but he wants to learn a little more about the church before committing to baptism but he says he's going to be with us until he dies. He is about 65 years old and he moved here from La Merced for health reasons. A lot of people came out to Kevin's baptism. We sang him happy birthday and the branch got him a cake. I am feeling a little better; just have an upset stomach still.

Saturday I woke up with some weird thing on my head (rash?) anyways, we had a full day of work which is kind of rare for us because we usually have to do a lot of things for the zone. It was nice to work. We had five lessons. We did divisions with José Villegas.

We had five investigators at church on Sunday--Santiago, Jackie (Kevin's sister), Sergio (Kevin's dad), Rosa Pizarro and her husband. We should be putting a lot of baptismal dates this next week. I confirmed Kevin a member of the church and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was my first time doing that and it was by far the most spiritual thing that happened to me this week. When I put my hands on his head, it was kind of hard to speak. I really didn't feel like it was me talking. It was really powerful. It actually reminded me of the first time I used the priesthood to consecrate some oil with dad. It was really cool and I felt the spirit a lot! The blessing he received was really cool. It was specific and I felt like I was just the mouthpiece. I've been waiting to feel that and it was awesome! Well, that was my week. I love you guys!