"He can never forget us"

1/1/2018
"Well everyone happy new year! I cant believe that we are already in 2018. WOW! We ended the year very well! I had and amazing last two weeks. So for those of you who remember a year and 2 months ago about all my emails were about the Merino Espinoza family. They are so amazing. About 2 weeks ago I got a call from my mission President telling me that they finally decided to get baptized, and they wanted me to go and do it. It was such an amazing experience. I baptized the mom and the two kids and President Stauffer baptized the dad. The testimonies of the family were incredible. After they were baptized they were all in the baptismal font and the dad said: "Well... were mormons now." And the daughter lucia just started to cry she was  so happy. It was such an amazing moment. Then we had an amazing Christmas party for reaching our goal as a mission which was awesome. In the end Presidnet shared the story with the whole mission. We have been praying so hard for that family for over a year. THEN This saturday the 30th! Hermana Florentina was baptized. She is so awesome and so nice. She has 8 dogs and 17 cats. She is so small and she didnt want to get baptized at first but thanks to all the prayers we said and that we were able to do with her she finally understood why. It was awesome!

Heres some pics! Love you all."

1/8/2018

"So this week was a really awesome but tough week. We had a few baptisms planned this weekend but Satan sure didnt like that so he decided to make everything go wrong for our investigators so that they wouldnt arrive to their baptism. BUT that doesnt stop us from being happy and working hard! We were able to have 6 investigators go to church with us this Sunday and that was awesome. I love Church!

I was able to share my testimony yesterday and I would like to share a little bit with you all. 

Its about repentance. 

I have had a lot of personal trials and problems in my life and in my mission. As everyone has I have had to repent a lot of times in my life. But something ive grown to learn in the mission is the Lord is happily waiting for us to turn away from our pain, guilts and sins. I have felt many times in my life and I have seen it as well that many think that the Lord is sick of us asking for forgiveness. Many times we feel that its necessary that we suffer for a while because the Lord is sick of us always repenting. But theres a scripture I love in Moroni 6 that says: 8 But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.

I love that with all my heart. The Lord wants us to repent and is waiting for us to do it. Hes never sick of us. So do it! Love you all.

 Heres a few pics of out hike to kays cross. 

And a pic of the most perfect little baby in the world!"

1/15/2018

"SO I had transfers! Im now in an area called Huandoy. All of my areas have been way close to eachother hahaha but all is well! I was told that it was a pretty dead area and looking at the baptisms and the new investigators that the elders have found the last few transfers you could say it was pretty dead. But this week was AWESOME! My new comp is an awkward bolivian but he is awesome haha. I told the guy that we were gonna work our butts off and that what we did. We found so many amazing and prepared people. The members here are awesome and it just so awesome here I love it. I know that if we can open our mouths and share the gospel with the people we will found those who need the Lord! Sorry I dont have pics... But I love you all! Sorry this email is short this keyboard sucks... Write me!"

1/29/2018

"Well this week was way awesome. We are working really hard as always me and my comp so that is awesome! This week I went on a work visit as well with one of my best friends Elder Bates! It was so sweet. So that was awesome. But the best part was when we found a new investigator Alexander. He showed up at the Church at the wrong hour but we set up an appointment with him and went to his house. We showed up and he is definitely one of the more wealthy people here in Peru... we walked in to his house and he had about 20 certificates from different achievments in his life hanging up on the wall. After talking about life for a minute he said "I have achieved a lot in my life but im empty. I havent gave any time for God in my life and I think its time I do it." We started to teach him and now he is preparing to get baptized in February! It was awesome. 

With out good we are empty. 

Love you all."

2/5/2018

"So this week was a little rough but we are still staying strong and being positive! Thats good! We have an investigator named Alex. Hes incredible. He is reading so much of the Book of Mormon. He also has lost a few friends because they couldnt respect his choice to attend church here so he had to let them go. He also rejected a beach party to go to church this Sunday. Hes amazing. Its so awesome to see someone change so much and have the desire to follow Christ. I know that when one puts forth the effort the Lord will bless us. Have desires to change! Do better everyday! I love you all and am so grateful for all the support I get from you all! I hope all is well.

Today we made french toast! Im pretty dang good at that. Love you all!"

2/12/2018

"So this week has been so awesome. This Sunday we had a few of our investigators go to church with us and it was awesome. This Saturday should be an awesome saturday. Our amazing golden investigator Alex doesnt want to wait until next saturday to get baptized! I love the mish! 

I wanted to share a message really quick that I love. Sometimes in this life we dont think of the Lord as much as we should. Sometimes we worry too much about the things of the world. But the Lord never forgets about us. As it says in Nephi

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

He can never forget us. We are graven upon his hands. He loves us and never forgets us. Hope all is well!

some cool pics this week with my child and grandson and with some staches and what not."

2/19/2018

'Hello everyone hope all is well and I hope that youre all ok! This week was awesome! Me and my comp baptized Luis and Soledad on Saturday

! My comps birthday! So that was way awesome! Another way cool thing is that I finished reading the BOM today with one of my buddies from the mish! It was an awesome experience. I love in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon in Moroni it says "Come unto Christ and be perfected in him." I love that line so much. If there is anything that ive learned from this short study of the Book of Mormon it is exactly that. To "Come unto Christ and be perfected in him." I know that if we can read the Book of Mormon we will surely grow closer to our Savior. So do it! Every single day!

Please pray for our friend Alex Roldan! He had to go to the jungle for his work and we are praying that he gets baptized this week! Love you all!"

"Wherefore, let us be faithful unto him"

10/30/2017
"Hello everyone another good week here in good old Lima! I remember when I got my call and was expecting to prostelite with a machete but all I really need is a broom and a dust pan to clean up the dust that builds up every 5 minutes! But its my favorite dust in the world. 

So this week was really really awesome. Me and my companion decided to give it our all. Do everything possible to find new investigators, take care of the ones that we have and get them all to Church on Sunday! So we worked really really hard and The Lord blessed us. I know the Lord keeps his promises. Whether its through the scriptures or our modern day leaders. If we have faith and do as the council us we will see the fruits. This week we were able to have 9 of our investigators go to Church with us! And we also have many people comitted to a baptismal date within the next month and a half. I love the Lord. Hard work pays of. Keep the commandments. Learn your purpose. Help and serve others. And Love the Lord. I love you all and hope you are all doing well.

I only have a few pics from our awesome pday playing trompo with the bishops kid hahaha its fun. I know I like like an idiot in the pics but im a happy guy so that all that matters."

11/6/2017

"So I kinda forgot that halloween was last week so thats a little sad haha. The only thing they really do for halloween is some people from other churchs have anti halloween parades hahahah so thats really funny hahaha and they pass out fliers about how terrible halloween is hahahaha its really funny. So this week was a good hard working week. Its been really awesome. I love the people and the work. I had a really cool experience this week. So we have an investigator that is planning on getting baptized this saturday and she is really awesome its just hard to teach her in her house sometimes so we decided to meet her in the house of her best friend whos is one of the daughters of the Chanduvi Family! (The ones who got married and now are the best members in the ward) and we walked into the house and you could just feel a lot of contention. Its really weird and hard to explain but it just didnt feel right at all. So we walked in and I just said "Lets all take a seat and talk for a minute." So they all sat down and I started to ask them if they were reading their scriptures together or praying together and they said no. I dont really remember exactly what me and my companion said but in the end a few of them were crying and you could feel the difference. It was sad at first when we walked in because we hadnt been there for a looong time because it isnt our area anymore but this time we could because we were teaching an investigator! But the spirit was really strong. Yesterday the whole family got up and bore their testimony. It was awesome. 

Read your scriptures.

Pray always.

Keep the commanmdents.

If you do those things youll be alright. Love you all. Sorry I dont have pics...

Pray for my sister Mia! I dont know if im an uncle yet but I just might be!"

11/13/2017

"So im an uncle now! Laney Mae. Ive almost never felt so happy and excited to be an uncle!!!!! I just feel like such a happy dude even though she lives miles and miles away. Im still the best uncle in the world already! 

So this week was really awesome. We baptized Yamile! (Jam-ee-lay) she was a reference from a member in the ward. She has about a month going to Church and what got her most interested was in the mission! She wants to serve a mission! Shes 17 years old and there were a few problems with her dad who didnt really want her to get baptized but she didnt care hahaha. She knew it was what she needed to do! So she finally convinced him and got his permission and it was really awesome. Wanna know how she recieved a testimony? She READ AND PRAYED about the Book of Mormon. Then she felt comfort and peace. In order to recieve the blessings we need in our lives or an anwser to something its important to act in faith. I like to think of the Lord and his promised blessings are all "If and then statements" If you do this then you will recieve, feel or know this. I invite you to act as Yamile did! But do it as Moroni exhorts us in Moroni 10:3-5. Love you all! 

Heres a few pics of Pday with my district! And the picture of the wall I had to climb to get the soccer ball someone kicked over it... and heres the pick of the baptism and also of my sobrina Laney."

11/20/2017

"So this week was a good week! This Sunday was a little rough. We couldnt get the people to go to church with us this week! I was a little upset. So we entered the sacrament room really late and sat down in the back and I was just a sad little dude. But then my best bud Daniel Chanduvi came to me and asked me what was wrong... I told him nothing and he said I know youre sad... give me your Book of Mormon. Then he read to me 1 Nephi 7:12

12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

WOW! He didnt have it marked or anything. So that was a soft little smack in the face and a huge help for me. Then we found a miracle. We have an awesome member in our ward named Marco. Hes an RM but for a few reasons was inactive for a long time. Hes recently activated back into the ward and has been going with his son who is 9 years old. He wanted to baptize him but he cant until next year. So yesterday he came to us and told us he wants us to teach his son and baptize him this week! He said his son shouldnt have to wait a year to be baptized for the mistakes of his dad. So this week we are going to baptize him! The Lord is able to do all things according to his will. Love you all!

Happy Birthday to the best mom in the entire world!!!!! She is amazing and beautiful and I just love her so much! Everyone should give her a little birthday present! Love you and miss you mom."

11/27/2017

"HELLO!!! So we had a good week! We got Rodrigo baptized! It was an awesome experience. I love baptisms! I dont have my camera I forgot it... But I just love the mission. Im a happy dude! I just want you all to know that the mission is the best. I got to internet a little late.... but its ok! I have about 60 bug bites on my body and its hot as heck here! But I love it with all my heart and I wouldnt change it for anything. I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving! I forgot about thanksgiving hahahahaha! Love you all! Write me!"

12/5/2017

"So... here I am in The Ensenada for my 5TH TRANSFER!!! AND my 4TH TRANSFER WITH THE SAME COMPANION!! Hahaha pretty sure thats the first time that this has happened in our mission while ive been here hahaha. But im happy. Love this place

This week was a good week in the mission. I felt the spirit so strong this week. We are teaching a 9 year old whos mom and sister is member but shes not and wants to get baptized! She is so awesome. She has a disability in her knees and she really cant walk that well and usually has to be in a wheel chair if she goes anywhere but she is still so happy and she wants to learn. She wrote a list of about 7 questions for us concerning baptism and Jesus and the Church. But the most impacting question was "Why did I come to the earth with this disability?" It shocked all of us. Her Grandpa and her mom were close to tears. We anwesered her question and I felt really prompted to ask her Grandpa to share his opinion. Choking back tears he looked at here and said "Nastia, God made you this way so that you can learn. He loves you so much and wants the best for you. He loves you so much so dont ever be sad that you cant walk that well because he loves you and we love you too." At that point she was in tears as was her mom and us too. It was a moment really special. It really hit me hard. It was awesome.

SO that is all. Love you all. Heres a few pics of my comp who decided to burn the pics of his girl because shes got another man now hahahaha and then of the baptism and some other pics. Love you all!"

12/11/2017

"Hey everyone. Love you all! We got in internet a little late... but everything is good! I read an awesome talk and I just want to share with you all a little. Its called "What lack I yet?" It was given in 2015 I think in general conference. But it talks all about how we can improve in life. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves the painful question "what lack I yet?" if we do it humbly God will tell us what it is. I know this email is short but I invite you all to look up the talk! Its really awesome! Love you all. Sorry I dont have pictures this week haha. I love the mission!"

12/18/2017

"Hello everyone! Hope all is well!!!  It was such and awesome week! In my zone we planned a service activity in my area for christmas because I live in the poorest area in our zone. So we brought speakers to one of the concrete soccer fields and we had a bunch of donated toys and what not and we werent thinking it was going to be that big... But out of no where some members offered to do a little party show with actors and donated hot chocolate and some cake thing here that they love but I hate and SOOOO many people showed up!! It was so awesome. Not even lying maybe 400 people. We were handing out toys and everything and the toys ran out so we only had hot chocolate to give hahaha and then when that ran out we didnt know what to do... So we handed out Books of Mormon! Hahaha it was so awesome. Also this Saturday we baptized Nastia! She is so awesome. She got about knee deep into the water and got really scared and didnt want to do it. So I told her we could say a prayer. So we said a prayer and she felt just fine! It was awesome. MERRY CHRISTMAS! I love you all and hope all is well! Hope you have a great week and are serving others as Christ did.

PICTURES!!!

So today we went to play soccer on the turf field and turns out the people rented there house to have a party for some kids that graduated from kindergarten or something like that and turns out it ended with all of them drinking haha so theres a pic of that. The rest is some buddies."

12/25/2017

"Merry Christmas everyone! So I had the best Christmas ever. This last week has been life changing for many reasons. Id like to share them with my Family first and then I can send them next week hahahaha. Christmas is always great here with fireworks covering the sky hahaha. Its been awesome. I love you all and hope you had a great Christmas! Ill send a few more pics in a sec hahaha"