Happy Easter

I included this on another post, but it is so perfect for the holiday we call Easter. The Layton family wishes each of you a very happy Easter. We share our testimony with each of you, that we know and are sure that the Lord Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, and that He is risen. He lives today.

Who is This Man and What Happened to the Kid We Sent Out?

Dearest People I Love so much,

Mother, I haven't received the package yet. We've been at the Temple and at Papa Johns. I'm sure I'll get it tomorrow.

14 Million members in the church. I wouldn't be surprised if the profets (Spanish for prophets is profetas) know something about huge growth in the Church. It's kind of obvious when in two years the Church Grew a million. We had a stake conference and President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland spoke to us live on satellite. Instead of two stakes in this area, the area split into FOUR!

First of all, a Seventy spoke about sending missionaries to China, Israel, and all the Hindu countries. After that Elder Holland starting out speaking in horrible Spanish for about three or four minutes. It made me want to laugh until he said it would be better if someone translated and somebody then began translating. He told us he loved us five times in Spanish. He thanked the members for the love, for every commandment kept, for every tear, and every smile. He talked about how love in the home was found less in the world and would get worse, but the love in the homes of church members would get stronger.

President Uckdorf talked about how his mission blessed his life. In his ward as a boy, a new girl came to his church with dark eyes and long hair. He said that the missionaries there in his ward were doing a great job. He said we need to focus on two questions.

What can I do to increase my faith?

What can I do to help my family and marriage?

Since I'm not married yet I would take out the latter, but then again President Snow of the presidencia of the Seventy spoke a while ago and promised us that the harder we work here in the mission the more beautiful my wife will be. I believe in the words of President Snow and intend to keep on working hard.

This week has been crazy. I really don't know what to say. Were having success. The nine didn't get baptized all of them. Only six. I baptized Alizon, Jhair, Deibi, Martin, Miguel and Bishop baptized Nelly. Six baptisms and confirmations! The three that didn't get baptized are the Zorrilla Family. Three GREAT youth that have huge desires to be baptized. The day of the baptism on Saturday the dad came back from more than a month of travel in Pucallpa and told his kids no to the baptism. We tried to convince him Saturday night but yeah nada. Then we visited the Zorrilla Family the next day and now the dad, his wife, and the three kids of baptism dates! The Lord is so big, and the blessings were receiving are enormous.

Our baptism dates are these:

26 de Sept.
Paola Andrade
Javier Zorrilla
Jhon Zorrilla
Dalma Zorrilla
Oliver Apaza

3 Oct.
Carlos Acosta
Lesli Segura
Edwin Pablo

10 Oct.
Sheyla Javier
Joyce Rubio
Diana Rubio
Soledad Abarca
Peter Neda
Beatriz Gomez
Javier Zorrilla
Ugenia Teran
Narcisa Vasquez
Jazmin Pardo
Raul Caballero
Maria
Katy Bances

Ive never had so many baptism dates in my whole life and right now encouraging all of them at the same time seems impossible but I know the Lord will help us. Please pray for them all, we're working hard. Being a dad in the mission's hard and everything but that's the least of my worries right now. Elder Martelo's great. He learns fast and everything.

I love very much. Hopefully you could get something out of what the apostles taught me.

Love,

Your Elder, Elder 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

He's Your Savior, The Son of God

Dearest Family and Friends and Anybody else Reading this,

How's it going amigos? I loved hearing from a lot of you. My package absolutely rocked by the way. Thank you Lacey/Costello Family! I think Kelsey's letter won the contest of making me laugh the most. Great STUFF!!! The cookies exploded but everything else came in perfect condition. Thank yous. Andrea, thank you! The ipod came and I'm really happy about it….the only thing is that my charger is in Lima with my other suitcase...poochikana!! Well, today I'm going to go find one after we go to the Zoo!!! I'll take pics.

This week has been good. My new companion Elder Hernandez is awesome, and I'm excited to be working in this area. We had the chance to see all of conference in the church. We had several investigadores that were really impressed by it as well. I just have to say that I liked Jeffery R. Hollands talk the best…. It was really serious, but that´s how all his talks are. He takes his work extremely seriously. I felt the spirit a ton, and enjoyed it the most I think because I've been reading Jesus the Christ. Jesus Christ really is the Savior of the entire world. For the people that don't believe in him...it doesn't matter. He's your Savior, the Son of God, and because of him all mankind is saved. For those that believe, are we really following His commandments?

I really enjoyed the part in Jesus the Christ when Talmage talked about the temptations of Christ. Jesus was able to sin. But every temptation that Satan gave him, he overcame. If we could only have the faith and the strength to overcome every temptation. Some of us overcome sin without realizing it. On the other hand, some of us sin without realizing it. If we really just focus on why we're here it's not impossible to live the gospel.

Yeah…. What happened this week? Our neighbor Mariela gave us suri (picture at left - yes, they're big fat juicy worms, or grubs), just like I asked for. She's great! We're baptizing her on the 11th with her daughter Patricia. But anyway, I ate six of em. I did feel like Timon and Pumba a little…

I really miss all of you. Thank you so much for all the letter!!! Keep 'em coming. Only Elder Griffin's in my Zone. He's doing well….sitting next to me right now, eating sunflower seeds. Thanks to whoever sent those. I've been taking advantage of the gift as well.

Bueno….I'm out of time. Remember read the scriptures every day. Pray always. For those of you who find it hard to believe in Christ, look around, and you'll know God exists. You'll come to understand the reasons Our Heavenly Father had to give us His son Jesus Christ to redeem the sins of the world. I'm more convinced everyday that perfection is not impossible. Impossible is nothing.

Love,

Elder Sean Layton