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

I'm Just Really Happy

HEYYY!!!Buenos Dias!!!

I'm happier than ever! We finally were able to help our investigators get into the church yesterday. 12 of them came. Most were youth but we also had a couple families.

Honestly I don't have that much to say this week other than I'm just really happy. We're having the baptism of Milagros (18 anos) and Mabel, who I mentioned last week - she is being baptized this Saturday. Hopefully everything goes well. We're encouraging Milagros the best we can because she just got baptized in another Church right before we found her. She feels like she can't take things like baptism lightly but knows what we've taught her is true so she has mixed feelings right now. She came to church again, and she's doing great.

We visited the Mitma Family and they're going through some crazy stuff. Hermano Mitma had a drinking problem and it was really affecting everything in his family. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he stopped but then he started getting huge pains in his lower stomach that he's never experienced. He was on the ground for a day almost I guess and had to go to the hospital. With this and their daughter falling from a second story window they're suffering financially, and plus they're trying to get the papers all ready for the wedding. All they need is DNI, birth certificate, and 50 soles. It seems to them impossible but we've assured them it's not. Sister Carmen (the Wife of Brother Mitma) is working like crazy and the kids all help too. The wedding's on the 20th and we need everything in a week so I'm kind of getting nervous a little, especially with all the crazy stuff that's happened. I know it´s only a test for them. It's crazy how all of this happens right before they make a life decision to change. I know if they trust the Lord they can do it. Brother Mitma has to travel to another city to get his birth certificate. Please pray for them.

Umm… what else. Today we're playing soccer at the Church. Elder Chan's doing great as my companion. The more time I have in the mission, the easier it is to work alongside companions and work together. I've never had problem companions, but you know what I mean.

The majority of the missionaries out here all want to work hard. If you just keep helping each other its just a constant work…never stops, but it's the best.

I knew Gabe would pull through, he's the greatest. Keep it up Gabers.

NANA!!! You graduated?! Holy moly pacholy I remember when you were a baby and mom and dad bought me a (toy) truck. Congrats. You're amazing and keep up the good work. You can definitely give me the PSP (Briana won a PSP and some cash at her graduation party) for a present when I return, but only if you want to. I told Elder Hudson sitting next to me (he's from Utah) and he said he won a car for his grad party. That's a little better but good job.

There's nothing better than the mission. Always help others. It will make you happy.

Love,

Elder Layton