To Me, God Is a God of Miracles

Like Father...

Like Son...

Good Morning!!! Buenos Dias!!!

It's getting way to close for comfort.  I hope that my small experiences I've had have somehow helped some of you, because I`ve been blessed personally by them.  For those who really know me know I'm not exactly the best storyteller in the world so I know my letters haven't done justice to what I've really experienced here in Peru.  I would like to testify of the miracles I've seen throughout these two years.  One time I heard that for God, there are no miracles because he comprehends all things.  He's brought to pass all these things.  He's given me the strength to open my mouth, to work, to understand, to baptize.  So to me, God is a God of miracles.   I don't understand how the people I've known have changed, I don't understand why I’ve been blessed with faithful parents and a beautiful family, I don't understand why I have to leave the mission, and I definitely don't understand how God has brought to pass so many miracles in my life and the lives of others. 

Our testimony is so important for each one of us, because it can help us serve diligently our Heavenly Father. 

“yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us, and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, as in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”

We had the baptism of Mabel Oviedo this week.  In the baptism service Lupe, the mother of Mabel, gave her testimony of how happy she is to see her entire family entire the waters of baptism.  Last week Valentina had to reschedule her baptism for Tuesday.  She knows Thursday`s my last day in Barranca and I’m glad she chose Tuesday!  Last night we had a family night with the Oviedo Cornelio family.  We watched the testaments.  Lupe had invited her mom to come and also a niece that lives in another part of Peru.  They were all crying at the end of the movie and then we taught them about the Book of Mormon.  It was very spiritual for all of us… maybe cause I was just about to cry, or maybe because I just felt happy to be there and not anywhere else. 

This is off topic-

What am I going to do what I go home?  I'm not ready for this…. Work, hang out with Nate, go on visits with the missionaries, ahhh!  I wonder if I'm tan relatively speaking?  Of course when I go back to Oregon I might turn completely pale again… what else.  The food!  I want to eat a Wendy's Big BaconClassic and dip the fries in the frosty!!!Honestly I'll miss the Peruvian food here a ton- more the love put into the food than the food itself...

Things I won't miss:  ticks, drunks chasing after me, and public urination

Things I WILL miss:  THE PERUVIANS!!!, being “elder”, teaching the gospel to everybody, being in a place where things are simpler, having experiences in the mission, paying almost nothing for something, not having to choose what clothes to wear, the jungle, my monkey!!

So President Gonzalez is now the 1^st counselor in our branch and yesterday he asked me to give my testimony in Sacrament meeting because it was my last Sunday in Barranca.  I talked about fathers, and the mission work.  It made me remember the talk before the mission but this time I actually knew what I was talking about more or less. 

HAPPY FATHER`S DAY!!!! 

Well, I love you all very much I'm still working like normal, pray for the Peruvians, see you soon,

Elder Layton

Something They Had Been Looking For

Dear Family and Friends

I'd just like to start out by saying that if you're reading this just know that I`m writing this to you, since it'd be kind of frustrating to write everyone….just know I haven't completely forgotten about you…, but honestly let's hang out when I get back! Right now I'm still a missionary. I've been having a ton of experiences lately, and I don't really know where to start.

(At left: The Barranca Zone at Fortaleza...Elder Layton crouching in the lower middle with Elder Ortiz, his companion, directly behind him)

There are 5 assistants APs right now because the mission's dividing. 3 of them came to visit us on Thursday. I went with one of them, my companion with another, and another went with our district leader.

We baptized Sabino Montes on Saturday and he was confirmed yesterday. We taught him in an extremely short time period because he was so eager to be baptized…I've never really had an investigator exactly like him. We visited him every day last week and he was just anxious for it to be Saturday. He read everything we gave him and he didn't want to wait for the 2^nd assistance (attendance) at church. Who am I to tell a fully grown adult no to such a desire? Or who am I to deny the blessing of the eternal gospel to someone so prepared to be clean of sin? The greatest thing is that yesterday we officially have a mission leader and an assistant mission leader. The assistant Gerson (son of Lupe and Walter) is friends with Sabino. He also has some other friends in the church.

We found a gold family this week, mom, dad, and two daughters. They've been going to different churches, God is Love, Evangelical, Adventist, looking for a church where the pastor doesn't yell. They were surprised to hear our description of the feelings of the spirit when we read Galatas 5:22-23. It was something they had been looking for. They didn't go to church because of a commitment already planned out before we knew them but I'm sure this week they'll go!

Here in Peru the Soccer World Cup is huge. I don't know how many little flyers I have of the world cup phases, who's playing who….and everyone just yelled right now as I'm writing this that Japan just won their game. Yesterday all the people were telling me that my country tied England. Hmm…. You better be watching it back at home I'm pretty sure we're going to make it to the finals!!

Please pray for all the investigators. Elder Ortiz and I will be visiting them constantly this week. Valentina (the niece of Walter and Lupe) is preparing for her baptism this Saturday! Also we set a baptism date with Mabel Oviedo the sister of Gerson (daughter of Walter and Lupe) which is a MIRACLE!!! She had a baptism date with the evangelic church she`s been going to for June 21^st, but she's been going to the church of Jesus Christ with her family and we set a baptism date for the 19^th!!

I'm sorry I can't right more……I always don't have enough time to write.

Adios Amigos!!!!

Elder Layton

We're Praying Really Hard

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week was the BEST!!! Walter and Lupe were baptized and confirmed I will send you pictures very soon! They are the best. Now their entire family is going to church and Walter left drinking and everything. The zone is also doing very well. We met with the document secretary from city hall the other day to organize a civil wedding. We`re friends with the mayor here so he helps us out. We found a family to marry too! We need a total of 10 families to make it completely FREE! So we`re praying really hard, and crossing our fingers that all the missionaries can find enough families by MAY 7th.
Today we`re going to play soccer and basketball!

So Curtis is doing a project on black holes…. I LOVE BLACK HOLES. Gravity on earth is 9.8 meters per second (32 feet per second) because the earth is relatively small. The larger something is, or the more mass something has, the greater the gravity. A black hole has so much mass that the speed of gravity in a black hole is greater than the speed of light. Imagine that! The speed of light is something like 300,000 KILOMETROS PER SECOND, and anything in a black hole falls faster than that. That`s why it appears as if it`s a hole in space, because we only see light. That`s for you Curtis.

Well, this week we had a ton of experiences finding new people. We`re getting to know the family of Margarita. Margarita is getting baptized on May 8th and she`s being really strong because she`s getting teased by a lot of her friends and family for changing from Catholic to LDS. Honestly her attitude is the greatest. Yesterday she told us, “I`m going through with this. I prayed like you Elders told me and there`s nothing that can change my mind, even though my sister has doubts about everything.” Her sister Zoila had a baptism date but doesn`t want to get married which is sad and now is starting to have doubts about the church and everything, but I`m sure the example of her sister will help. Margarita has 3 kids. We`ve only met one, a young women who escaped from us teaching her haha…

Well that`s about it , everything is going great. Thanks for your prayers. I hope everything`s going good with you all. I`d love to hear from everyone.
Su amigo,

Elder Layton

I Can Finally See the Stars

Hello my far away family!!!

So Barranca`s still just as awesome. I can finally see the stars. In Lima and the Jungle it seemed like there was always cloud cover. So, Lupe and Walter seem to be good to go for this Saturday. We`re still working away. Eating pizza, raviolis, and chocolate milk….it`s a hard life.

Today I don`t have that much time to write. There`s places here in my area in the middle of nowhere. We contacted a guy with two tattooed tear drops below his eye which supposedly means he`s killed two people…. He graciously rejected a visit from us, but we set a baptism date with his neighbor but sadly he didn`t go to church so we`ll see… I heard that Joel got baptized back in Independencia, and also a girl we contacted with Garnica named Jackie and her sister have baptism dates. I miss Elder Garnica. My new companion Elder Santillan is cool too. The people are a lot different here so we`re still kind`ve adjusting to the way we teach.

We`re 10 missionaries in my zone. They`re all very good missionaries. I`m the only Gringo which makes things just more fun for me. Today we`re watching a movie with the whole zone in the church with the projector. Last Monday we went to the beach and played soccer. There was also a lighthouse and a giant Jesus Christ statue with his arms stretched out!

We were helping a less active family the other day for a little bit. They were having problems and were even talking about divorce, but we taught them about the triangle. Heavenly Father is at the top and a husband and wife are at the other ends. As each one draws closer to God they draw closer to each other. They understood that maybe they were lacking several things in their lives and need to live the gospel even more to find a greater happiness together. They`re going to go to church next Sunday which is a good start.

Well, I have to be going. I`ll write more next week. Thanks for everything! Fight the good fight.

Elder Layton