May 9, 2016

Well, I’m glad you loved hearing my voice. I’m just sorry that the voice didn’t have much to say. I was really looking forward to the call but I got a little discouraged that I couldn’t really see anyone very good, the quality was really bad. There was so much going on over there that I feel like I couldn’t concentrate, nor did those on the other end have much to say either. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ll be home soon, or cuz we’ve already spoken 3 times before, but it wasn’t my favorite call home.

Despite all that, I loved being able to speak with you guys. I loved that we could just sit and talk for a minute. Mom, I just want and need you to know that I love and appreciate you so much. It doesn’t have to be Mother’s Day for me to express all the love that I feel for you, but, let it be Mother’s Day! I hope you had an amazing day and that you could feel love for you from thousands of miles away. I’m so excited to see you soon and be able to hug you! I remember last year when I did the skype call home. I was in the bishop’s house in my area in San Gabriel, in Lima. I remember that our old mission president, Pres. Douglas, had told us to take a few minutes and just thank our mothers for all they do for us. I regretted not doing that last year better than I could have, but please know that you deserve and currently have, as you ALWAYS will have, all the love that I possess for you!

Don’t worry. I’m still focused here and I’m gonna live every day the best that I can remembering that I’m a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I just want to leave my area and my comp better than how I found them. Scouts honor! That’s what my goal is.

I feel like I already told you the cool stuff that’s happened to me lately. In Felipe’s baptism on Saturday, as is the Peruvian custom, he showed up an hour late to his own baptism. While we waited I conducted a baptismal interview. That was another great experience. I like doing interviews and being able to talk openly and help other people with past problems and questions that they have. Fun! Well, Felipe is super spiritual and when we asked him who he wanted to baptize him on Saturday he said he would have liked more time to think about it and ask the Lord who HE wants to baptize him. So, for about 25 minutes we were explaining to him that the Lord has already chosen all the men of the church to have the priesthood and now he (Felipe) just needs to pick one of those chosen men. At the end he just said that I could choose for him. So, I chose a man, Felix, who had accompanied us in a lesson with Felipe a couple of days ago. Felix said that it was fine. It was all good from there. After the baptism, Felix was asked to share his feelings and testimony with everyone. In his testimony he said that just the day before his dad had passed away. He and his family were planning for his burial, and that’s when I had called him to ask if he could perform the baptism. Felix, being the amazing man that he is, said yes to the offer. He testified to everyone that he was very happy to have to opportunity to baptize Felipe that day and that it helped him a lot to thank the Lord for the life that he had been given. For me, it was just a great testimony that God knows all of his children. I had no idea about Felix’s dad, but I felt inspired to ask Felix to baptize Felipe. His name just kept coming back to my head, so I called him and he said yes. I know that the Lord is aware of all of us, knows all our dealings, all that happens with us, and that through others he can answer our prayers and grant us our desires. It’s happened to me many times and it happened to brother Felix that day! I love this gospel and I love being part of this marvelous work of the Lord.

That was something cool that happened this week. I love you so much, as I previously stated. Tell dad I love him and tell him that I am praying for him every day that his surgery can go well. I trust in the Lord and I’m confident that all will be well. I know that the Lord has been taking care of my wonderful family while I’ve been here. He won’t stop taking care of us just yet. Loves, hugs and kisses to all…especially those 9 little kids that wouldn’t sit still yesterday!! Hahaha.

Pictures: Baptism of Felipe with Felix. We did a service activity fillings cracks in our pensionists roof with cement that we made. It was super sunny and that was the fnished results when we got done. Also, we ate a typical sweet food, like sugary sweet, called masa morra. It was especially espesa (thick)! It reminded me of slime from Ghostbusters. There’s a Disney channel movie called Million Dollar Cook off (I think) and it also really looked like what that kid made. That’s the reason for the pic.