I Love My Life

Hey all :)

Let's keep this brief. The mission is absolutely the best. I love being here, even when it's hard and even when we mess up.

Cool story from this week: We taught the second half of a lesson 4, tithing/word of wisdom/fasting, to Herman, a wonderful guy who's so so excited and has an awesome testimony, and it was one of the best lessons I've taught in the mission. I went to teach him tithing, and literally just went and taught me the principle. One of those times where you can't decide whether to laugh or cry, the Spirit's so strong. Then we taught fasting, and he's like, great! I haven't eaten since lunch (we fast lunch to lunch) and I'll start right now.

Inspiration for the week: Hermana Tatafu. A sister missionary who's in my group (it's her first transfer) and in my zone. She's from Tonga, and right now learning English and learning Spanish from her English, and her English is, uh, not wonderful. Here's the thing though: she never stops smiling. At any service project, she'll outwork any three elders, and she's more bold with her contacting than anyone, even though she doesn't understand hardly any Spanish. It's awesome.

Peru moment: here, instead of door-to-door salesmen, there'll just be a dude marching through a neighborhood with a monster of a bullhorn, announcing a deal to buy cell phone plans. Or chicken.

I'm going to have my first baptism! Rodrigo Herrera wants me to do the baptism, an 11-year-old with such a strong testimony. He's wonderful and really wants to follow Christ even though his family is quite inactive.

We built an awesome floor for this service project. Wish I'd had my camera, but you'll have to take my word for it that I deserve "brick-layer-extraordinaire" added to my list of titles.

PLEASE we need your prayers for Luciana to get permission to be baptized from her mother, and for Erick to get work that lets him come to church on Sundays. And while we're at it, prayers are appreciated for Paola, Teresa, Herman, Rodrigo, Lucero, and Reina also.

Love you all :) the pic is a decent overlook of my area.

Elder Child