October 10, 2016
"Wow Peru is crazy! My first week in Peru is over and ive had some amazing experiences already. First ill talk about the first day. So when we got to the airport we went tp the Presidents house andwe slept at his houseand then the next morning wewent to a church where we got our new companions and are area! I am in Zapallal! <this place is just so crazy and its very sad because there is so much poverty. It is vry humbling being here. At home I would get upset because I couldnt get some things but the people here dont even have a real floor. Some people dont even have doors and its just so sad. I was freaking out my first night because it is just so different and then within the last few days its just been so awesoe. One thing weird about Peru is there are a million cat and dogs just everywhere like a million. They dont ever bother you but ya. With animals comes poop so thats nasty too. There is trash everywhere and ive seen the soon once but theres just something about this place i love. We actually have a lot of investigators. My second day my companion said to me choose a house to knock their door. so i did and we talked to fmaily Olivarez they only have a dad and a mom aand their daughter but we shared with them and they were so accepting to hear our message and we meet with them tomorrow so thats way cool! Then theres this other family the family Apaza and they have 10 kids! Some kids are baptized but we set a date of baptism on the 29th so i hope that goes well! Thanks to Erin almost every kid loves me because i give them toys and they love it! The kids are so awesome and so are all the people! I love Peru and have some pictures along with a few more stories later! Hope to hear from you all!"

Week 4 & 5 and off to Peru!

"Hello everybody start of week 4! The saying days are slow but the weeks are fast is a very true saying! So last week after I had to stop sending emails we went to a devotional and D. Todd Christofferson was there!! Pretty crazy. As soon as he walked in you could feel the spirit so strong and it was so awesome. I love it here. He talked about   

All the elders are leaving tomorrow and tuesday who i have became so close with. Its going to be really sad seeing them all leave but its all apart of the process. This Wednesday I get to host the new missionaries and we will be getting two new districts! Hopefully theyre as cool as the guys before! Another cool thing I learned this week is that my branch president is Paul Nolan Hyde who is known for his knowledge of Tolkien writings. Like look his name up and you will see everything this guy is a genius. He was a professer at BYU and he also has the biggest dissertation in the USA so that is pretty dang cool. So everyone here in the mtc was very lucky this last week. We were all blessed to hear from D. Todd Christofferson on tuesday. He gave such an amazing talk to the missionaries and I would like to share just a few things of what he said. The biggest thing that stood out to me was whe he told us "You hold the kingdom of heaven in your hands" that came from the mouth of an apostle then he went on to say how god loves everyone but he does not trust everyone. "It is greater to be trusted than to be loved." That was amazing. Like I said in my farewell talk we can all be missionaries and serve. You can literally give someone the kingdom of heaven. I am so excited to share with the people of Peru the gospel and hopefully give many the happiness the gospel brings me. Then just this last Sunday M. Russel Ballard came and spoke to us. The coolest thing in the world is feeling just thespirit as soon as they walk into the room because we have no idea who is speaking and you can just feel it when they enter the room its awesome. Anyways he literally had no talk prepared for us. His wife asked him what he was going to talk about and he said "I have no idea" he didnt have any idea what he was going to say until he got up to the stand. He ended up giving an amazing talk and it was all by the spirit. A lot of it was about positive attitudes and being grateful. He told us about how every morning we wake up at 6:30 we should smile and just be grateful we get another day to serve the lord. He also talked about how service is one of the greatest invitations to feel the spirit so thats a cool little thing to know. Then at one point in his talk he paused and said " You are the greatest and most prepared youth in the history of the Church." and apostle said that to us. This week has been amazing ive loved it all! I know this gospel is true and only three more weeks till I am in Peru! I love you everyone and I hope to hear back from all of you! One more cool thing I forgot to share! So me and my companion were teaching another companionship in our district just for practice and out of no where I could speak spanish. Like i knew exactly what to say and how to say it and its never flowed so well with me! Then we had our TRC which is like with a real investigator and the same thing happened! The gift of tongues is real! I love my mission! I hope to hear from you all!"

"Hello everyone! Start of my last week here in the mtc! Im so excited to go and start serving the people of Peru! So this week was awesome! First off me and my companion had the oppurtunity to act as investigators for the new spanish speakers and it was like their second day and this one dude knew absolutely nothing and it made me so freaking happy. Not because he was bad but because thats exactly how I was when I first got here and now I am doing not so bad! THis language is hard but so awesome I cant wait to speak in spanish! I was having sort of a rough time this Sunday and them this guy who I havent even heard of gave such an amazing talk. He said "Everyone who is giving something up to go on a mission stand" and of course everyone stood then he goes on to say "If you are scared of losing friends or a special someone while youre gone stand up"  and again everyone stood up. Then he said "Stop worrying about it. If God wants them in your life they will be there when you get back." and that just made everything easier God has a plan for all of us. Ive been missing friends and family pretty bad this last week then this guy who ive never heard of shared his testimony which was exactly what I needed. So yea that was cool! Also I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS!  My flight to leave Utah is at 9 AM and then I fly to Georgia and have a 2 hour layover and then go straight to Peru! Ill get to Peru at about 2 AM our time I think so that will be fun! Im so excited to get out there and serve! Also I talked about being in the Conference Choir this Saturday and it will be in the Afternoon session so everyone go and watch it! Im so excited its going to be an awesome but really busy weekend! I love you all and I hope to hear back from you all!"