He Felt a Huge Peace Inside Him

Happy New Years!!!! 2010 Only two years until the end of the World!!! Yay!

It was a privilege to able to talk with you Mom Dad Eric Curtis Nana. I miss you lots! Honestly I felt so nervous and happy I didn't really know what to say ahhaha, but it was my Christmas present and I hope you know it meant a lot to me.

This week was ALMOST normal for us. Yesterday we went on splits with a couple youth that are preparing to go on missions. I went with a kid named Michael in our ward Los Pinos. Elder Acevedo went to the cita (appointment) we had and everything. I went to find new people! We were rejected almost all day. Then, the last visit we had of the day was a man named Jose Valverde. This guy is one of the best new investigators I've ever had. He studied with the Jehova Witnesses for 3 years and was at the point of baptism... but then he felt it wasn't right. He also has gone to the Seventh Day Adventists a lot... he knows a little about a lot of churches, but he knew nothing about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We taught the restoration with Michael and gave him a Book of Mormon. He told me that while we were there he felt a huge peace inside him, like he feels when he reads the Bible. I had him read Galatas 5:22-23 and it made even more sense to him. He said he`s going to read and pray and when he receives his answer he wants to be baptized!!!

Today we're going to play soccer in the church with the zone. I'm not writing that much today cause I need to prepare my presentation for tomorrow in the interviews. I just want to let you know that I love you very much and I'm working hard.

Love,

Elder Layton

I Love Being a Missionary

Amados Hermanos Mios,

Me siento muy alegre poder compartir algunas experiencias con ustedes.

This week turned out ... hmmm.... worse than I thought!!!! At first that might sound extremely un-optimistic to everyone but what I`m trying to say is we had really high goals and low results.

We did have one baptism hallelujah. Nao made it. His mom decided to work, Jefferson’s god-father died, Sandy wants to get baptized in the Catholic Church, Michael wants more time to prepare, and Guian Carlos is studying in his university from 6 in the morning until 10 at night. Basically I probably feel something like Alma felt in Alma 8: 9-11.

9 Now Satan had gotten great ahold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah (Zapallal); therefore they would not hearken unto the words of Alma (Los Misioneros.)
10 Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance.
11 Nevertheless, they hardened their hearts
Of course we know what happened after this. Amulek helped Alma find tons of people that would listen. I know we need to work better with the members!!!! We’re receiving tons of blessing... we just have to be patient.

PERU:
The People: The people here are wonderful. Humble, simple, hard-working. Well, many of them are very hard working. But sometimes they come to really fast conclusions.

Example. Yesterday, I left the keys in the pension. We got done eating and left to our house up the hill. We had to knock on the door so our land-lord would let us in. We studied until we had to leave but when we tried to leave, we found the door dead-bolted. The landlord had left and locked the door. I had locked the door to our room already, so we were basically prisoners inside our own house. I got up on the wall to call for the neighbors help but he thought I was trying to break into his house or something. Freak. So he started FREAKing out. Yelling shouting, and saying some words missionaries don’t understand. Oh man. We were late for church too. Talk about crazy Peruvians! Luckily our pension passed by the house randomly and threw up the keys.

The Food:
We eat 2 hard breads every morning with American cheese, a thick drink called quacker, and sometimes juice. I miss pancakes and French toast. For Lunch we eat spaghetti sometimes, different soups (delicious), chicken, French fries, etc. and for dinner that’s where we get the surprises because we eat dinner here with the members but it’s normal enough.
I’m sad to say the hamster I was holding in that picture lived only 5 minutes longer. Nooo less. They used a kitchen knife to cut off his head while most of the missionaries took video. I’m proud to say I’ve never eaten cuy (hamster) nor did I watch the horrible scene. I’m not sure if Dad would like the food here. It’s a LOT different than Mexican food.

My life in Peru: Very few people here in Zapallal have a car. Everyone rides in buses. Luckily the bus system is fairly advanced and so it makes it relatively easy to get to wherever you want. It’s almost all sand dunes because we’re so close to the beach, but our area is all paved luckily where the houses are. You can look on google earth to get an idea, but all the houses are stuck together. Almost all the houses are brick. Hmmm what else. I love being a missionary!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! See you next week. Send letters. Thank you for everything.

Love,

Elder Layton