David Peru Mission

Machetes, This week I had the opportunity to provide some more service.  This time with machetes! Everyone here cuts their lawn with machetes. It's a lot of bending over and being in the sun. Because it is so sunny here I got a little red. New food I had the opportunity to eat this week is called papa rellena.  It's chunks of chicken or beef wrapped in mashed potatoes then deep fried.  It's pretty good. This week I started talking with the motokar drivers.  It's pretty easy but they all try to charge me more because I'm white, pero esta bien (but it's ok).  It's probably better that I don't understand what they say after I ask them to take us for 2 soles.  This week I changed companions for a day which was pretty cool, but because my area is the biggest in my zone I was a little worried we would get lost. It turned out fine.  Our area is probably 7km by 7km I'll have an exact number soon, but ...

So service is great, This week my companion and I provided some service for this member of the church.  He is a carpenter so he builds tables, cabinets and stuff like that.  We helped him with sanding a bunch of things; that was a real throw back to high school woodshop. After that he brought us into his back yard and gave us some coconuts straight from the tree!! Best coconut water I have ever had.  What really threw me off is that the coconut were a bright orange color and not brown.  Mosiah 2 :17: ...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. This week we were teaching families how to do family home evening. Family home evening is where, as a family, you have a spiritual thought and a lesson.  Following that you have the option to play a game.  Everytime we played a game with a family I lost and had to be a statue and that other people had me do things like stand on one leg or pose like...

By far the best week of my mission! On Sunday morning before church I had the opportunity to baptize my first convert. I can't describe the joy I felt.  All I wanted to do was sing, shout and jump for joy!  It was a really amazing experience. D&C 18:15-16 describes the feeling the best: 15 And if it so be that you should labour all your days in crying repentace unto this people, and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my father!   16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me! Another great experience was that we were teaching this family and the husband said something in Spanish that I didn't understand, but I felt and saw it in his eyes that he loved the message of Christ we shared with him and his family.  Other things that happened this week were that t...

What a week, This week has been quite the experience!  My companion and I talk to lots of people everyday and most of them want us to come back and share more with them.  We have lots of people to teach and most of them are very interested. There is this one boy, Anthony who we are baptizing this Saturday!  This week I feel like my Spanish has improved quite quickly.  I can understand most of what people are saying and respond. I know there is still much to learn and with the help of our Father in heaven all things are possible. There are 3 types of motorcycles here in Pucallpa: 1. regular motorcycle 2. work truck motorcycle 3. taxi motorcycle (mototkar). This week there was more rain but nothing like last week.  I got sick because of the rain. One funny thing that happened was when we went to pick up dinner from our pinchanestas house (she knew I was sick) after a day of rain and saw that I was wet and sick.  She told my companion tha...