Blessings of the Book of Mormon

Familia! Amigos!

We baptized Julia Martinez this week. Her sister was happier than she was I think! Erica is an active member , secretary of the Relief Society but she was the only member of her family before. Now that her sister's going regularly she won't feel as alone.

Next week we have two baptisms. Johnny Guzman, a young man, and Martha, a mother of a member named Paola Vasquez. I'm really close with the Vasquez family so it's going to be great to have them there. Paola's brother-in-law Joel is coming home from his mission this Friday so that'll be cool to be there. He comes home Friday morning, and we're going to eat lunch in the afternoon. My companion Elder Rodriguez is friends with Joel from the MTC here in Peru. So I thought that was cool.

I like the room you showed me. It looks cool. Mostly the pool. This Saturday we're going over to Presidents house for lunch too because my companion's ending and everything. My companion's thinking a lot about home and everything so I'm doing my best to encourage him to keep working hard haha. He surfs for billabong so he's always talking about that and other things.

The Assistants told me that you called the offices dad and that you're trunky or something thinking about home ahha honestly I'm getting nervous even knowing that it's getting closer and closer. (Actually, I called to get info on his release details as I was instructed to do. The secretarty told me that Sean was his zone leader so I told him to tell Sean NOT to get trunky. So it got twisted.)

My plans are really only a few things right when I get home. New clothes, a job, to visit everyone... I'm planning on having some sort of short term calling so I've also been thinking a ton about that. I don't know.....if you want to start passing out that Returned Missionary Form too I'd appreciate it. ;)

Okay enough of that....that feels weird. It's not that often I talk about leaving Peru....hmmm. Sunday was Carnival. Well....all February is carnival but especially the Sunday so what that means is that everyone tries to throw water balloons at us. It's dangerous cause some of them have paint. Crazy Peruvians!!!! I love em.

Okay here's something I was reading the other day.

3rd Nephi 26:

6 And now there cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people

11 Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people.

I was impressed the reason we don't have the rest of the things Jesus Christ taught this people. The Lord said I will try the faith of my people. Honestly I think some of the things he taught these people were revelations specifically for our day. It would make sense because right before verse 6 Jesus was addressing the last days. I think that if Mormon had written those things down on the gold plates, the physical evidence of those sacred things wouldn't give us the same opportunity to test the faith of many in the last days. It's just a theory I have I guess, but I really know that the Book of Mormon is just that. A test of faith. The Church stands or falls on the Book of Mormon. So for anyone who's read it and prayed it stands. For anyone who doesn't, it falls, for them at least. I'm blessed to have this testimony and I hope that we can all grow closer to our Heavenly Father everyday. That's why we should read the Book of Mormon, because there's not another book that brings us closer to God.

I love you all so much. Happy Valentines Day.

Love love love,

Elder Layton

Everyday I'm Learning How to Be a Better Child of God

HEYYYY,

How's everyone? This week has been great. We're being very blessed. You remember the Earls right? The gringo couple from Utah in my zone. They're still working on the Spanish. Not completely fluent yet.... but on Wednesday I went out with them all day to help out. I taught them how to do the numbers and everything because it' not like they have a senior companion to teach them everything. We worked on the grammar a bit and taught several families.

They also came with us to an appointment yesterday that was a reference they gave us, and....it's an absolutely great family. They're the Galazar family....and it's a big family. Honestly I felt the spirit incredibly strong during the lesson. We taught the restauration with the help of the Earls. They taught the first principles and everything. What I like about this family is that they were paying a lot of attention. We left a Book of Mormon and everything and invited them to read and pray so we'll see what happen in our return visit.

Peru is getting to feel more like home... I really can't imagine the states anymore. That's weird.

Haha, I can't believe you found my passport! I looked for a week for that thing! About rooming, I can't find the info to Elder Stewart and Cope.....they were in my mission but they went back to their real mission in Bolivia. I'm not sure if they're done or about to get done but they definitely have more time than I do. So....if you can't get a hold of them, the most important is just get a room with Nate. Something cool south of campus is what I'm thinking. My companion will call in a couple of weeks. He's ending his mission the 24th of Feb. What else...

Tell Eileen I say hi. (My voice teacher.) I would do lessons again if I have a little time before school. I'm planning on getting relatively involved there at BYU. I have no clue what yet, but you'll see. Tell Logan I say hi when he comes home. I miss you all very much. Today we're going to go throw water balloons, play soccer, and have a BBQ. Very cool.

I'll just add that I really know the Church of Jesus Christ is true. Everyday I'm learning how to be a better child of God, and through constant prayer and scripture study we can do it better. It's so important to be constant. Like Elder Bednar talked about in one of his conference talks. If you were to ask his kids how were the scripture studies they wouldn't tell you it was exactly spectacular. They fought at times and didn't always learn a ton, but what they would tell you is that they were constant. They never missed a day of family prayer, or a night of scripture study. For that they've been blessed. They did what was necessary to overcome the temptation the rise up every day in our lives.

Have a good day!!!!

Elder Layton

The People That Read It Believe It

Dearest Family,

Briana, what are you doing at BYUI? Why do you have a picture with you and an RM? That's definitely breaking big brother rules!!!!! I'm the first RM you get to know. GRACIAS. That's not a joke.

This week was a good one. We left a lot of investigators that just weren't progressing. There's one important rule in the mission. If you can't feel the spirit in the lesson, the investigator probably isn't feeling it... Sometimes, investigators simply don't want to keep commitments and we never force them. It's something hard you have to learn here in the mission... sometimes you have to leave an investigator because they're just not prepared right in that moment. We had 10 investigators come to church!!! 10 INCAS.

Earlier in the week we contacted a lady named Marcela Primomatos. VACAN!!!! She's oro! Yesterday she came like she said she would and enjoyed every part. She sincerely told the sisters that she wants to come every week. She told us when we were at her house with her family that the Lord must have sent us to her house. I believe that. One day this week we were running short on time and the thought came through my head that we shouldn't visit her. It was only a contact and a quick appointment and we were completely across our area.... but.... then the thought came to my mind that we should go. So we went and she accepted to be baptized with her daughter Yesea. I'm happy about that. We're going to visit her again tomorrow and try to talk with her husband.

Thanks for the package!!! I'm actually wearing the sweatshirt you sent me right now. We're at an Internet by the beach. Today we're going to the beach again to BBQ and play soccer, and who knows what else. Eating hamsters..... I don't know. The mission's amazing.

I ended Doctrine and Covenants and I started to read the Bible....but then I felt like I really should just read the Book of Mormon again. That book here in Peru is more important to know than anything else. If you read the cover page of the Book of Mormon carefully you'll understand why. It was literally written FOR THE LAMANITES (Peruvians...) and then it explains AND ALSO for the Jews and also for the Gentiles. It's for everyone....... but firstly, for my people. It amazes me the promise that it has. The people that read it believe it. Even the people here that don't believe in the Bible (yes, there are some of those) find it easier to believe in the Bible when they have read the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is more my companion than Elder Yaez I think. Elder Yaez, my kid's, doing great btw. He's learning.

I'm sleeping very well know, thank you mom. This week I also did my first work visit. I visited Elder Andica. I interviewed investigators pretty much all Thursday haha. That's my life now as District Leader. Interviews, work visits, etc. And of course we still are working with a bunch of awesome investigators.

THE MISSION'S FLYING BY SO FAST!!!!! I feel old....not trying to know how much time I have....okay, I have 17 months. Jesse's ending this week no?! I love you very much!

Love, Elder Layton

(Note from Don: Yesterday Brenda attended a ward in Tigard, Oregon...a suburb of Portland, and the town where the temple is located. A returning missionary named Michael Tapete Tanuvasa (Polynesian) spoke. He had just come home from the Lima, Peru South Mission. It was exciting to hear him describe the people in Peru as "the most loving people I've met in my life". He said that through them he had learned to be more like Christ. His talk was on "Love Thy Neighbor".)

P.S. Christie your baby is beautiful, even if he's blowing spit bubbles in the picture. He's my nephew!!!!!!!

I Feel Very Blessed to Be Here in the Work of the Lord

I don't have much to write today. Everything is going just great. I taught the District yesterday in District Meeting. Today we went to the temple and it was amazing like always although I did get close to falling asleep. We woke up at 4:00. Bueno, from the letters it sounds like everyone's doing really well.

As for the investigators go, we have many. Right now we have 9 baptism dates but there's a lot more to set, especially because we have muchas families to complete. I'm excited for this month especially now that I'm learning about being a district leader and being a papa at the same time. My district is doing really well again. The investigators that had baptism dates came to church.

THANKS!!!! For the Halloween package. It came just in time. Perfecto. I shared with my companion and my Zone leaders and I took pics with my spider man mask. That's about it for my Halloween. Better than last year.

Tell Landon to get married already.

I have a lot of friends in the mission that are getting ready to end. I feel old. Luckily I have a lot of time left to work.

All that I know is that the Lord is blessing us. Were able to have a ton of success because the members are on top of it. Seriously, I ask for references from the members and they spill them out to us. Bishop is seriously talking about splitting the ward almost every week which is kind of funny because we just split last change, so we need some more Priesthood holders. We have a complete family but the dad's in the hospital...but give him 2 weeks. He was set in convincing his whole family to get baptized. This Saturday if everything goes perfect well be baptizing Jose Louis, Italo, Guian Carlos, and Jefferson the next week we have several more.

Bueno, muchas gracias por todas las oraciones de verdad. Me siento muy bendecido poder estar aqui en la obra del Senor. Les quiero a ustedes bastante y estn en mis oraciones cada dia. Se que el Evangelio de Cristo bendice a las familias en todas partes del mundo. Me siento un poco orgulloso a poder compartir el Libro de Mormon cada dia con los lamanitas especialmente cuando veo que realmente eso libro los hacen sentir un espritu familiar como profetiza la misma escritura.

(Well, thank you for all of the prayers, really. I feel very blessed to be here in the work of the Lord. I love you all a lot and you are in my prayers every day. I know that the Gospel of Christ blesses families in all over the world. I feel a little proud to be able to share the Book of Mormon each day with the Lamanites, especially when I see that truthfully this book makes them feel a familiar spirit as prophesied in scripture.)

I love yas bye bye,

Elder Layton

We Have to Keep Pushing Forward

Buenos Dias,

Vamos a la playa!!! Oh oh ohhh oh You've probably never heard that song before. We're going to the beach to bbq and play soccer. I finally got the package!! THANK YOU! It was the best ever. I felt loved. I haven't had the time to play any of the songs you sent me though...but one day.

This week was a hard one.

Yesterday a lot of the investigators didn't come to church. We challenged some of them that fell for the 17th of Oct. I was kind of bummed yesterday too when Oliver didn't come to his confirmation. There's a first time for everything. John, Dalma, and Angel who are all siblings and their cousin Paula were all confirmed. So 15 Baptisms for September but only 14 confirmations. I feel blessed but I know that we need to work even harder than we did this week for October!

We had interviews with President this week. He gave me Mosiah 23:15-22 to read. He talks to me using the scriptures I think. I studied it and everything and I'm trying to apply it. It describes that Alma had success when he put his trust in the Lord. I only hope that I can continue trusting in my Heavenly Father.

I learned this week that maybe our commitments need work. It feels so overwhelming to commit so many people at the same time and visit each one every day but I know we have to just keep pushing forward. President was really happy about the success were having and told me to keep growing.

It looks like my usb lost the pictures it had. Luckily I have backups. But I need to make more now. Ill try sending pictures soon.

Thanks so much for everything!!!! Oh yeah! Christie! Congrats on being a mommy. That's crazy. I guess that makes me an Uncle! I think that's a tear in my eye. Bueno, I love you very much.

I'd just like to share a little bit of my testimony.

I love the gospel and I know it's true. The mission has been the best part of my life. Better than video games, better than American food, better than girls. Of course I miss those things but not really. I want to serve the mission for another 12 years like Ammon did in the Book of Mormon, but they might send me home before then.

I know the profet Thomas Monson is called of God just like his counselors, the twelve apostle, and other leaders in the church. I know that Jesus Christ is the Key cornerstone of The Church of ]esus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Book of Mormon is true si o si. There's not even room to doubt from the physical evidence, and the spiritual confirmation and the promise of that book is something hard to explain but I know by the power of the Holy Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true.

Joseph Smith was a true profet with more fruits than almost any other profet I know of.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

ps.

I know that going to the beach today will bring joy to my heart, as well as the BBQ. I know that playing soccer on the beach is true. And.... nos vemos hasta pronto... bueno, proximo lunes. Send pics if you can. I love getting them.

Chow,

Elder Layton

It's Amazing How the Lord Leads Us to Those Who Are Prepared

If somebody wanted to know how I was doing, I'd tell them I'm doing FANTASTIC!!!

Yeahh. We found out the changes right now. I stay here with a new Elder named Elder Martelo. I have no idea how much time he has but Ill keep you updated.

We've been working hard, Elder Moreira and I. We challenged a bunch of new people to baptism. Now we have 15 dates for this month.

Okay, an Elder just came over and told me. Elder Martelo has 2 months in the mission and he's from Columbia. Lo Maximo - I'm a daddy (trainer)!

15 baptism dates feels a little stressful to have under our belt right now. We have to visit these people every day, encourage them, pray for them, teach them all they need to know, and find new people at the same time, but, I'm sure everything's going to be great. I'll miss Elder Moreira.

We had 17 baptism dates on Saturday but 3 fell, and we challenged another to baptism on Sunday. Two of the investigators fell because they didn't come to church. They were excited and everything and wanted to prepare for this Sept 19th but we went to visit them yesterday and the mom said that they were discouraged and didn't want to listen to us. Sad but that's their choice. We found a guy named Jaime yesterday. He has 21 years. (He's 21 years old.) I committed him to be baptized in the contact, and we have an appointment to go back. He wants to be baptized on the 26th of Sept.

This week was cool. We went to lunch with President and his wife!!! It was a buffet restaurant, so I ate 4 heaping plates of everything. After we had to work, so I felt like I was going to throw up, heehee.

After we taught Jahir, Alizon, Martin the family that lives by the church, we started talking to the mother Jessica (she loves the church but her and her "husband" aren't married) and as we left I felt like I should ask her if she had family nearby or friends we could visit. The door closed and I didn't knock again. But we started walking down the road. After passing a few houses, one house caught my eye, but there was a huge dog (which I later found our was named Gordita, Fatty) My companion stopped because he's scared of dogs - so am I, in Peru. Bueno we knocked. A boy came to the door. He left and called his mom. She let us in and we started teaching until we saw a Book of Mormon. It turns out that my old companion Elder Chan had taught them. Also they are family with sister Jessica. Now all of them have baptism dates! I think it's amazing how the Lord leads us to those who are prepared.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!!! I didn't forget your birthday yesterday, but I'd being lying if I told you I did anything for you. Ha. Good luck driving. Take care of my car please.

(Eric just turned 16 yesterday (Sunday) and will be taking the test for his driver's license on Thursday...for those of you in Central Oregon, consider yourselves warned.)

Love you all,

Elder Sean Ryan Layton

Physicians in the Name of the Great Physician

FAMILY!!! FRIENDS!!!

Yesterday was the best. I love talking to you guys but it only made me miss you more. I'm doing excellent. All I can think about though right now is how hard we need to work this week. We only have this week to help people get baptized in May. They have to have 2 attendances in church before the actual baptism.

We found an 18 year old young man yesterday named Josmel. It was a reference we recieved the other day. When we went we found out a guy that lives with him is a member and he has old friends that went on missions but lost contact with them. Basically he is GOLDEN. Accepted everything and wants to be baptized. We have several more referencias that seem like sure baptisms.

Theres no way to describe the experience of helping somebody change. It's kind of crazy - we walk into the homes of people three or four times our age and help them come to Christ. Of course they are almost always wiser, smarter, more experienced than us. The difference is that we are the physicians elder Holland spoke about, coming in the name of the Great Physician. I've been out 10 months and I'm definetly NOT a seasoned physician yet, but it feels good to help in every way I can. We HAVE to forget EVERTHING the world's ever taught us. We have to give 24/7 365 twice.

I envy Elder Pullan for being able to be at the MTC when Elder Holland came actually…. But everything Ricky my awesome cousin said is true. So Dad, thank you for telling me about Jordan Hollowell. If I could give him advice I would say that there's nothing more important for him at this time in his life than his mission. Prepare now. Dont wait until the MTC. And have fun too. If I'm not mistaken Jordan and I have the same birthday March 6th? Im not sure. I respect the fact that hes decided to serve. Thank you Jordan.

Ummm….. what more? I LOVE WORKING HARD!!! I was such a lazy kid before my mission. Seriously. We have to work like burros out here, so the sooner a missionary learns to love to work is when the missionary can really enjoy every single experience. The thing is, if you don't work hard you won't be able to enjoy every experience because you most likely won't have them. I love in the Book of Mormon how much it talks about diligence. A lot!

My companion Elder Chan, also known as Jackie Chan is just great. Were on the same page here. He has 16 months in the mission. I really loved President Rau's thought about “Dew from Heaven.” How we can feel the rain on our faces and we know when it is raining, but dew often times comes without our knowing. It's true.

If I didn't answer other questions sorry…. Elder Gomez, my companion from Puente Piedra is from California USA. A gringo bamba. My Mission President's great. Kelsey Costello, Grandma and Grandpa Layton, and my Parents are winning in respect to letters. I LOVE LETTERS! GABE!!!! I'm sending you a letter out soon man. Congrats on getting your mission call. You're an example to me. Don't go on (double) dates with adults.

Love,

Elder Sean Ryan Layton

We Don't Do the Work of the Lord Without Revelation

Buenos Dias!

Estoy muy agradacido por esta semana. I really had a ton of experiences. I can't really go into detail too much because there were a lot of personal things that happened to investigators but I learned a lot.

We contacted 3 people who were in a personal crisis. Yesterday we got caught up in the middle of a divorce. Every single problem we were faced with we helped the people come to the atonement of Jesus Christ our Savior. We know from the Book of Mormon and from the Bible that he suffered for our sins, afflictions, temptations, and sicknesses. Thanks dad for teaching me that.

So, we've been helping people make and keep commitments. We had so many baptism dates set but some fell yesterday.... We visited something like 10 investigators before church but only one could come. My comp and I thought we did everything possible in the morning.... so of course the Lord blessed us with 5 different investigators in the church.

We're finally figuring out what we have to do in our companero studies. The unity in teaching is key. Really. The thing about Pucallpa is the people have problems understanding the lessons. But we try to teach as clearly as possible.

Also my companion has the best ideas that I'm going to carry out for the rest of my mission. Yesterday we brought chocolate to all the sisters in the ward to gain their love. It was that easy. I read a Proverb about how women are the best and they loved it. So, we got some references. (I had suggested 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, but it appears he found one that worked better.)

You guys.....I absolutely love the kids. This is against the rules but I think I'm in love with a girl. No worries she's only 6 hahaa, but to start our lesson with a ton of investigators (the family who had a death in their family) she said the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard. Her name's Elva and she's only 6 but her prayers are 10x better than mine....... Our bishop's the best too. We asked him to pray for a list of 10 less active families we can visit. I know if he does this we'll be blessed. If President Perez taught me one thing it's the importance of revelation in the work of the Lord. We don't do the work of the Lord without revelation.

President Perez of the Peru Lima North Mission

I would challenge anyone reading my blog to start saying prayers more from the heart. This is a huge problem I see in our world. Here since the people are so humble if we can just get them to pray they know what we say is true, and they receive a witness from our Heavenly Father. If they don't pray, of course they don't receive their answers.

Well....... what more? Elder Rich is definitely a big deal, and a great Zone Leader. I think it's freakin' awesome he came here, because he's my example. Nothing extremely exciting happened this week, and by that I mean we didn't baptize anyone. Rosalio wasn't ready but he still has a desire. I was bit by a perro for the 3rd time. The kids here in February (carnival) throw water balloon at us........and they have good aims.

Yeah, the Church is true. Have a good attitude, our lives are determined by our minds.

Love,

Elder Layton

Just Another Amazing Week in Peru

This week has been amazing. To start off all the missionaries in Lima were shipped off to the ccm (that's the missionary training center in Lima) on Wednesday and we got to hear from Elder Christofferson and Elder Acosta of the Seventy. He talked about the differences between people in this world. Those who get baptized, and those who don´t. He talked about exactly how they chose missionaries. My favorite though was when he talked about us being his companions. He said the seventy were companions to the twelve, and we were also their companions... I don´t know... you had to be there. He spoke perfect Spanish, and after we all got to shake their hands!

The missionary work´s been tough since we've been in this area because we didn't have much to work with coming in. Finally we started seeing things happen this week. We committed lots of people to baptism, and had a good turnout on Sunday. I was so happy. The best though was one appointment we had with a contact. We taught him about the restoration, and asked him to pray and receive a witness for himself, and if he did, commit to be baptized... he said he already knew it was true so he needed to be baptized. That happened on more than one occasion this week. Of course we stressed the importance of prayer to obtain a sure witness...

We were just walking down the street a couple days ago and an old man was standing next to the sidewalk with his cane in the air. As we passed by we greeted him, but then he greeted me back by hitting me – HARD- with his cane! It was interesting because we saw him at least five times in different places that day. I swear he was stalking me...waiting for the opportune moment.

I started the Book of Mormon again under the direct orders of President, even though it´s the third time I will have read it since being out. Elder Christofferson talked a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon. Now my companions and I always carry a book of Mormon in our hands everywhere we go. I've found it´s one of the most powerful contacting tools. At the start of my mission I kind've liked to tell people how our message blesses families, the church is restored....but most people here react differently to the Book of Mormon than anything else.

Anyway, I was sick all last night off something so we´ll see how today goes. We get to go to the temple tomorrow I´m so excited. The Spanish is coming along just great, with lots of study of course so I think I´ll go through the Spanish session tomorrow.