The Worth of Souls Is Great In the Sight of God

(In the last post I referenced a letter about two Elders in Brazil - one was Jacob (Elder Simpson) and the other was Elder Layton's friend and Home Teaching companion at BYU. The reference below has to do with that letter.)

Hola!!!!Coma Esta!? I loved the emails from you guys including papa Rau´s (Elder Nate Rau's father) and the letter from Jacob. Me and Elder Davidson were Home Teaching companions at BYU together and we home taught Andrea, plus we hung out a bunch in the summer.

This week has been very good and not so good at the same time.

I baptized my very first person Saturday. I don't know if I told you, but there's this lady in our ward that´s amazing. She truly knows the purpose of life. She tells everyone about the church and introduces all of her friends to the missionaries. Because of her we are teaching seven different people and four of them have baptismal dates. One of them was the girl I baptized. Her name's Ibis Alessandra Moron Troncos... that was fun to say in the baptismal font. She's great. She has friends in young women's, and reads the scriptures everyday. We always have such a difficult time here helping people keep their commitments, but Ibis went through everything she needed to do to prepare for baptism in two weeks easy. I felt the spirit so strong during the baptism. We were kind've stressed out because we had to wait a while until a priesthood holder come be there to be a witness, but everything turned out great.

Elder Rich was right, one of the hardest things in this mission is the problem with the law of chastity. One of the first things we find out from people is if they're married or not. We've found that mostly people don´t get married because of inconvenience and money, but we found a free marriage on the 6th of December so we tell everyone about it and commit them to get married. There are so many people that believe what we say and the only thing that holds them back is that they don´t want to get married.... dumb.

Last Wednesday Elder Evangelista left to Bolivia, which was his actual mission, he was just waiting to be able to get into the country. So it´s just Elder Zepeda y yo. He´s a hard worker and I love him. It's nice to have a little extra time in the morning for showers.

The not so good part of this week was yesterday. Every week we basically work up until Sunday, because we kind've base if a person is progressing or not if they come to Church, keeping commitment, etc. Sunday morning is the craziest. We get up a half hour earlier and visit as many people as we can that have baptismal dates to try and get them out of bed, and to the capilla (chapel). Yesterday was so discouraging... So many people committed to attend church, our investigators and less actives, but we only had 2 investigators in the Church. I mean, that´s great, it´s just sad when people don´t keep their commitments.

Anyway, it was so good to hear from you. Dad, Mom, Briana, Eric, Curtis....Andrea, I love you guys!

Love, Elder Layton Oh yeah, I got the Halloween package on Wednesday so just in time for Halloween. Oh my freak!!! I didn't know what I was missing. I suddenly realized that I have a huge craving for candy bars, ginger snaps, and parental care.

The Mission is So Much Fun - I Love Every Minute!

Okay I have a lot to tell you and not that much time. I'll make this fast. HOLA!!! how is everything. Peru is so amazing. The reason I didn't email yesterday was because I was at the offices. I'm in a trio with Elder Acevedo and Cairampoma. Elder Acevedo is from Nicaragua and Elder Cai is from here, Peru.

When I flew in we were above the clouds and it was like a carpet of clouds everywhere you looked. When we went below the clouds everything fogged up and stayed that way until we touched the ground. In the Miami airport I met up with all the missionaries heading to the MTC here. I was the only one going into the campo (field). I talked with two Peruvians and left a Book of Mormon with one and I gave another lady some Sunchips I had. It turned out when we got on the plane the lady I gave the Book of Mormon to was right in front of me and the lady I gave the Sunchips to was right next to me....it was a big plane - go figure.

So I talked to them, and found out that the lady who I had given Sunchips to was a Jehovah's Witness, that she lived in both the United States and Peru (she spoke some English) and had been starving from her long trip so she thanked me very much for the food. The other lady I talked to mostly in the airport. She didn't speak English but I gave her the first lesson, and I think the Spirit touched her enough because it made me feel good - she wants to come to church. I got both their addresses. Tight huh? thats just proof to me that God is leading me, even when i don´t know it.

Peru is so awesome. The second day here I saw Elder Griffin (Elder Griffin was Elder Layton's first companion in the MTC - shown here on the right) at his zone conference (the office Elders took me to meet the President - I'm not in his zone) and he told me that right before he came there some guy on a bus pulled out a gun on him (Wow! Elder Griffin must really be preachin' with power if he got someone that upset - and his first week too!).... crazy stuff... haha, we played piano together just like old times. I've missed that Elder. Also there I saw my friend, Elder Nathan Stewart from BYU. He's a Bolivian Elder, but of course they're all coming here. It was random...but so good to see another familiar face. He actually looks a lot different. Way skinnier haha. He'll get more food here. We eat a lot here. Too much honestly. I always have to fight the food down. Don't get me wrong, it's all amazing. Mucho rice...corn, soup, chicken, you know, all the good stuff. The drinks are really good. We usually don't just have water. We have hot chocolate milk...herbal teas, a drink that tastes like black licorice, a lot of Inca Cola, and other stuff.

There are dogs everywhere. I'm bent at the waist in buses usually, they all drive like crazy people. Lanes dont mean nada (nothing). Freak. Everyone honks. There's party music all night too... it's not the best atmosphere to teach people, but we do what we can. I love the people. My very first night with my companions after the zone conference we had a baptism for familia Coral. Husband and wife. They're really great people. I have pictures so I'll have to send them. We're not allowed to send them over email, but maybe I'll be able to slip in an sd card.

Hmm, what else? We have several people with dates... the people are so receptive. I love it. My companions work very hard. I love it. The Mission President's my favorite. This missions my favorite. Its so great. I'm already great friends with the whole district. We have a lot more unity here with zones and districts for some reason than we did in Arizona. I like it.

It's way expensive to send one letter.... 2 bucks each. Also... you CAN'T send beef, cheese (pretty much food), clothing, anything expensive like cameras, ipods, money, basically nothing of value, ties, etc.... I guess the airport here opens everything thats sent and if its any of these things will either take it or make the recipient pay a tax on it which can be up to $200... and the Church won't pay for it...so basically dont send those things.

The work is good. I'll probably email mostly because I only have $25 a week, but don't worry. I'll try to send letters when i can. I love you guys. The mission is so much fun - I love every minute. I just hope I can do my best.