Hey mom,
I've been thinking and praying about Tess all week, I'm so excited for her! You guys will have to send me pictures of my little nephew, I'm so excited to meet him! In two years haha.
Mom I'm so glad you mentioned Abinidi, because he is by far my favorite Libro de Mormon prophet right now. I was thinking he would be such an amazing lawyer, he completely owns and stumps King Noah and all his priests. It's like his words slapped them all in the face haha. I'll try again with the pictures this week. I'm gonna be totally honest with you, I was super depressed last Tuesday, because I sent such a short message and the pictures didn't work, and I remembered how you said you would cry if my letters sucked, and I was so worried because of that haha, but all this week I kept a flashcard in my shirt pocket with things I want to tell you all about, and of course, I forgot to bring it with me to the computer lab haha, but I'll bring it next week.
Last Tuesday, some Elders in my district and I found a guitar shop and just played and sang together for like an hour. I didn't know how much I missed it until I did it, my calluses are coming off which is so depressing haha, but it's well worth it. I can regain them. Today we went to the temple for the first time in two weeks, because it was closed, and we were all so glad when we heard it was open again because there is such a sweet, peaceful spirit there that I didn't fully realize until today.
I don't know if I told you, but the churros from the street venders here are celestial. I had three today, and they're huge haha. We went proselyting again on Saturday, and this time was totally different. Instead of pairing us up with Latino companions for the day, they sent me and Elder Bradshaw together, which was so scary, being two tall gringos who don't know any Spanish going out into Lima. But fortunately, last minute, they gave us a member from this area that obviously speaks Spanish. But he just stood behind us and only jumped in if we were crashing hard with the contact. I made a catch phrase for that day, and I hereby establish it as the catch phrase of my mission. It goes "Sin miedo!", which means "without fear", because it gave us courage to approach people even though we don't know Spanish. Let me tell you what is scary, walking up to somebody you don't know, in a place you don't know, not being able to speak their language, yet being expected to tell them about Christ. Its amazing, in the true sense of the word.
So the first door we knocked on, this lady opened up a tiny little square in the door that she talked out of. I don't know if it's for safety or just for making whoever is at her door feel like she hates them. But we were talking to here, asking if she believes in Christ, and her kids pop out of the window, which has no glass, and scream, "Mam! Ustedes hablan ingles!" They were so excited to see white people, that the mom let us in, and we taught her and her three kids and her mother about what Christ did for them, which not many people fully understand, including myself. We taught her about John chapter 10 verse 16 talks about the people here in the Americas, the people that fill the Libro de Mormon. As we were teaching, the littlest kid, Juan Diego, started pulling my arm and playing with my watch. So after he nearly removed all of the hair on my arm, I took off my watch, knelt down by him, and put the watch on his wrist. He was seriously amazed, like more amazement that I've ever seen haha, it was so funny. And when we finished teaching them, and after they agreed to have the missionaries over again, he gave it back to me and we left.
There were other people who hated that we were at their door. I had my first doors slammed in my face on Saturday. But it literally didn't discourage me at all. We walked up to a door that had a sticker that said, in Spanish, "We are Catholic, please respect our religion," and so we knocked on that door, with the intent of not disrespecting or changing their religious beliefs, but with completing it haha. And they didn't answer. People like us young white boys though, even if they aren't interested. People stare at us. I'm gonna try pictures now! Thanks for everything you do mom, and thank you everybody for your prayers! They mean more than I ever knew a prayer could!
Hasta luego!
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