It's What the Lord is Asking of Us

Wait. Curtis is 6th grade? I'm confused I thought he was in kindergarten still..

Okay, good morning. Elder Martelo my kid is doing great. (In Peru, trainers are called "fathers". There's a whole patriarchal thing going on with fathers, grandfathers and so on.) Actually he knows more than I do. He's almost 26! He looks young though, so nobody knows his secret haha, his birthday's this transfer so I'll give him a surprise birthday hopefully.

We had 4 baptisms and confirmations this week. Carmen, Brayan, and Angel Apaza, and Elva Barragan. Elva is in her 70's and the great grandma of Astrid, who we baptized a couple weeks back.

Just to tell you a little about the baptism it was hard to baptize a great grandmother. But she was the easiest of the four! Angel was first, but we know the promise of the Lord. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. Angel stood in the water for 20 minutes, then watched his brother and sister and Elva get baptized and still didn't want to go through with it. Hahaha. But, I told him that it was shameful that his brother and sister and an old lady would beat him, so he went through with it. He has a fear of water cause he almost drowned in a pool before I'm thankful he could get over his fear.

Today were going to watch The Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith (not to be confused with "Man's Search for Happiness" - GRIN).

Elder Rojas, my old companion, is my Zone Leader now!!! It's awesome because we're best friends and I haven't seen him forever.

This transfer I was talking with my new companion. We put the goal to have 30 baptisms this transfer. You can call me crazy but I know we'll do it. It's what the Lord is asking of us. We started out on a good note...4. If we work harder than ever I think we can have 9 next week. For the whole mission, our goal is uno mas!! or one more!!! One more than yesterday, to work a little harder than last week. Please pray that we can complete our goals. More importantly pray for the people to keep commitments, and to come to church, and to get baptized.

We're extremely blessed in this area. We're working hard and being happy.

Love,

Elder Layton

Thanks to Heavenly Father We've Been Blessed With Success

Hey what's up?

Things out here in Zapallal 1 of Puente Piedra are doing amazingly. I just got out of the temple. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning.... so of course I feel a little exhausted right now. I think we'll go home and sleep an hour or two before 6pm. We've been busy here working hard.

Thanks to my Heavenly Father we've been blessed with success beyond anything I could have ever hoped for.

13 INCAS! (Investigators in the Church) I was privileged again to be John the Baptist on Saturday! We baptized five people. William, a young man who has a brother in the ward but their parents aren't members. Leidy a young women and reference from the grandmother of Astrid (Astrid the girl we baptized two weeks ago). Claudia, a girl whose mother is less active. Rosa, the best friend of a women in the ward named Adela. Rosa has two little children and a husband but her husband is never home so we haven't had the opportunity to talk with him yet. Rosa had been taught by missionaries for a long time but they never challenged her to baptism. She accepted right away! Also we baptized Rosa's younger brother who's 19 years old!!! (I thought he was 16 before). All of them were confirmed on Sunday and are doing great!!!

I ate chicken feet this week. I would have to lie if I said they were delicious.

We contacted 202 people.

The girl that was baptized on Saturday named Leidy has two sisters Shirley and Giosselyn and a friend that lives with them named Edith. Leidy introduced us to them a while back and they're stoked for their baptism this week. Also a young man named Junior will be getting baptized this week. We've taught him all of the discussions as of last Thursday and a little in Church because it's impossible to find him because of work, but he's committed to come to his interview this week and be baptized on Saturday. Junior's great! He's fifteen years old and he has family that lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

On the 5th of September we'll be baptizing a man named Jesus (he'll really feel like John the Baptist on the 5th) who has been going to church forever but finally made the decision to get baptized. He told me a story about a while back his life was really messed up and he was about to join the Neo Nazis or something, but he has a changed spirit and I feel he's prepared for the 5th. Also a girl named Paola will be getting baptized on the 5th.

The cousins and brothers of Paola need a little more time to prepare. Jhair and Alizon her cousins and Martin her brother have baptism dates for September 19th. The mother would be getting baptized but she's not married. We taught her the law of chastity and we have to verify but I think she'll decide to split up from her boyfriend. The mom's been living with this guy for 20 years or something but he abuses her and I encouraged her that to live the law of chastity one of her options was to split up. She said that she wants to.

We also found a family that have 8 kids, the parents are married. We have an appointment to go back and the mom and 3 of the kids have baptism dates for September 12th. We have permission slips signed and everything so it should all go pretty smoothly.

Also a mom and her daughter came to church. The mom didn't have desires to get baptized but she signed the permission slip of her daughter Merlit and she wants to prepare for September 19th.

All I know is I haven't really done anything but be obedient and work hard. It's been hard being Senior companion but my companion is one of the best examples to me. I feel blessed more than I can explain.

Saturday was so funny. I got to the last baptism and Claudia didn't want to get into the water. She was screaming because the water was freezing cold... hahaha. After about 15 minutes with the help of her aunt and uncle she got into the water, step by step. Also when Rosa (Women with two kids) came up out of the water she made the loudest gasp of air of any baptism I've ever had. Funny stuff. She sounded like an injured animal or something.

That's about it. Hasta luego. The Gospel blesses lives.

I love you all, keep writing people!

Your Elder,

Elder Layton

Elder Layton Nearly Gets Baptized

Buenos Dias,

(Shown at left are Salym and Kelsey Costello. Kelsey is Elder Layton's cousin. I believe this was taken while they were on a Church History trip.)

Yes I received the packages! Thank you Aunt Karen and Kelsey, you guys are the best. Tell Austin thanks for the paper airplanes, I loved the tie. Kelsey I have to hide all the pictures of you and Salym because my companion kept looking at 'em…hmmm. I remember when I went back East. We went to Niagara Falls too! Those were good days. Anyway, after all the packages I know who loves me. Jaja.

I have a lot to talk about and very little time.

Our Zone wanted to make shirts like always and I was the only one who knew where the guy that makes them lives, so I went on a work visit with Elder Zuniga my district leader to my old area, Puente Piedra. The family that makes them was my very first baptism. Victoriano, his wife Elsa, and the kids Rocio and Christian (I call Christian Chino because he looks Chinese) It was an honor to say goodbye to them for the third time!

When I was over their we went to an activity at night. Ten minutes before we got there the Mitma family (my family that wants to get married and baptized) from Independencia passed by the church!!!! They asked a youth if she knew Elder Layton (Their house is in Puente and they moved back there. I told them I was coming to Puente at the same time too). She said that Elder Layton was here before in Puente but heard that I was in Zapallal. The Mitma family said they'd go look for me there…..ahhh. I missed them by 10 minutes. I gave the reference to my district leader so he'll be visiting them.

We had a baptism! We baptized Astrid (10 Years old), Flor de Maria (16 years with a baby boy), and Gisela (20 years old, she wants to serve a mission)! I finally got to use my new white clothes.
The baptisms really are the best times in the mission. Even though the water's freezing cold, I felt so much calmness and love from the people being baptized, their families, and friends. I heard Gisela went to a party after with the Young Adults and had a blast. Good stuff.

I don't have that many little missionary experiences to share…hmmm. We're working harder than ever. Twelve People came to church. Nine have baptism dates, and we have a few different families we're visiting. Also, we had interviews with President this week.

President talked about how every family should have a Preach My Gospel and that we should encourage families in the ward to use PMG for family home evening, and that it was one of President Hinckley's last wishes. He also talked about how we have to all go to Gethsemane in our lives and trust Jesus Christ.

Well, it was a pretty seriously hard week. The funniest part happened last night. I didn't sleep at all last night!!! I had the worst stomach ache of my life and I had to be walking around the room last night cause it was only a million times worse when I laid down. At about three, I woke up my companion to give me a blessing. He started out…. "Having been commissioned by…." When I realized he was trying to baptize me, I stopped him and told him he needed to wake up. After he got to his senses I was able to sleep, after six hours excruciating pain. It was a spiritual experience for me, and I know the priesthood is a real power. I'm thankful for every experience that I'm having and for the testimony I'm receiving.

Well…that's just about it. I love you and miss you much. I'm glad Eric's voice sounds like mine.

Elder Layton