10-27-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU
COMPANION:ELDER MELANDER



Hey everybody,
So this was a pretty up and down week. First I'll talk about the
missionary work. The two people we had with baptismal dates are having
second thoughts. Ermogenis backed his till December, and Alejandro just
tells us now he doesn’t know. But we found this lady named Consuela who has
problems with drinking and wants us to help her. She went to church
yesterday and we commited here to baptism. We also found a man named Miercol
who seems very interested. And we have references for 3 baptism age kids
whos parents are inactive. But they want us to teach their children. It is
not out of the question for 8 people getting baptized this month.
 Well Elder Melander is basically done. He's at the missiuon office right
now. He'll come back and sleep tonight and then leave for the temple at like
5 and from there he'll go to the airport. We were pretty different, but we
got along ok, he's a good guy. I'm gonna find out who my new comp is today.
I want a latino but I really won't be surprised if they send an American to
my area. My Spanish would be so much better if I had to speak it all day. We
are also going to move houses, which is just neato. It's not a good idea to
have 4 gringos in one house, especially when one is going home. And also the
food was…. Questionable. Like it's not really exotic food like monkey brain
or something, but its just bad haha. Like yesterday for breakfast we had
bread, with a slice of fried yam, (not ham). HAHA. And a couple times we've
had to dump our soup back into the pot when the lady walks out. I'm not
exactly broken hearted about moving. And I'll get hot water again, but I'm
actually use to the cold water now.
 So ya the conference. It was sooo amazing. Elder Christopherson was so
powerful. He told us that our main goal is to baptize, to get people going
on the path to change their lives. And he really focused on using the book
of Mormon for everything, cuz that’s the physical evidence that the church
is true. And then at the end he asked if we could all come up and shake his
hand. He said he just wanted to shake our hands and look us in the eye, and
say our name, so he could feel like more of a companion with us. He was
awesome. Ha but when I shook his hand I totally froze and said nothing, just
walked away.
 But I had another surprise b4 Elder Christopherson arrived and while we
were all waiting. I was sitting with elder Jacobson, and I just look to the
back of the conference room and see this tall bald man. I thought to myself,
´´that man looks really familiar…wait.. THAT’S PRESIDENT MAYANS!!!!´´ I
finally met my mission president. I just went up and gave him a hug and
talked to him for about 10 seconds. All I said was that I was one of his
elders that never left for Santa Cruz, and he just said ´´ Don’t worry we'll
get you there´´. I had such an amazing feeling seeing him, it was way
different from the feeling I get when I talk to Pres Leyva, who is amazing
too. But after I talked to Pres Mayans I just said to myself ´´He was meant
to be my president´´. Some day I'll get there ha ha.
 I also got to spend a good 3 hours with Elder Puglisi, Meridith,
Jacobsen and Smith on the bus ride to and from the conference, that was sooo
much fun, I love those guys so much.
  I sent a bunch of pìcs from one of my disposable cameras home today, or
well the film from the camera, that pics are pretty heavy, so I just sent
the film through pouch. I think today I'm going to Eduardos house and
burning another cd of my pictures, so I'll send that next week. Also we went
and painted some of Eduardos house this week, and he put some pics of me on
his facebook, so Elise you can get on there and get those.
 Well I now have 4 months under my belt, it went too fast, b4 I know it
it’ll be Christmas. My Spanish is really improving now, because I'm starting
to read the giant grammar book they gave me, its like 700 pages or
something.

Dad- Thanks for the story that’s really funny.
Mom- I didn’t get the Halloween pckg yet. The only package I've received
since I've been out of the CCM (mtc) was the one with the twix and
glucosamine in it.
Thanks for the addresses I asked for, I'm gonna start writing people a
lot more. I'm gonna look for some pics to send Brian and Brennen today too.
And Kortney, I'm working on finding that llama picture for you.

Well I gotta split, we are going back to el hueco (the hole), which is the
giant market place. I bought some amazing ties last time, haha.

Love you guys