We Have to Know That He Really Suffered and Lived For Us

Dearest Everyone,

Iquitos is the place to be. Right now I'm sitting next to Elder Ridge. Tambien my papa (trainer), Elder Acevedo's here and I here Elder Griffin's in my Zone. The airplane ride to Iquitos wasn't too exciting. We had some unexpected turbulence and Elder Hyde and I were victims of the scalding hot coffee behind us. Elder Hyde got the worst of it I think.

Iquitos is great. It's sand instead of the dirt in Pucallpa so no more dust in our eyes. I think that was the only real downside of my last change.

Our ward mission leader's the best. His wife's our pension and he has a particularly big interest in the work of the Lord.

I'm way excited to get this place moving. It's kind've been hard to start out cause my compi, Elder Hernandez and I (He's Columbian) are opening an area. Basically we do a lot more contacting and working with all the members… not just the less actives. It's great though!! We have two wards so little time on Sunday to work a lot but it's good.

Iquitos is very clean. Compared to Pucallpa the people here are more accepting to the missionaries. I think if we just keep being obedient and diligent we'll be able to have success. It's amazing to be here. I don't miss Pucallpa that much cause I know I'm supposed to be here, but I do miss the people. They were my family. In April Elder Rojas is going to baptize our family of 8…we baptized two already. Yeah, that's about it for the news.

There's more jungle here and we're next to a big river. Oh yeah….my area is 9 de Octubre and Internacional.

I'm reading Jesus the Christ right now. It's an amazing book, like everyone says. Everyone, I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I don't know why in the world we lose sight of that sometimes. We have to know that he really suffered and lived for us. His example was amazing! Every single temptation he overcame. He completed everything his Father sent him to accomplish. We can do the same.

Something I learned in the mission is that we can't do the work of the Lord if we aren't obedient. Maybe it seems impossible to be 100% obedient? It's not. It's hard no mas (It's not hard now). If you want spiritual experiences go out and get them. The Lord wants us to see miracles. The Lord wants us to be closer to his presence. I think that if we completely understood that and only had faith more of us would be progressing a lot faster.

Happy Birthday to Andrea, Nathan, Gabe, ….and all the other March birthdays I can't remember right now! (Elder Layton's birthday was on March 6th)

I love you guys and pray for all of you. Pray for my investigators!

Elder Layton

Iquitos Video

Elder Layton is probably on his way to Iquitos right now. I found this video online that appears to give us a fairly good idea of what it is like there. Make sure you pause the music on the right sidebar (under Blog Playlist) before playing the video. Also, if you hit the little rectangle at the bottom part of the video, it will increase the size to full screen.

They're All My Family and Everything

VOY A IQUITOS!!!

Iquitos is located in the Northern part of Peru in the Amazon Basin. It is the largest city in the world (about 400,000 people) not accessible by roads. Access is limited by plane or boat. Three rivers, including the Amazon, surround the City.

Click Here for some great information on Iquitos or Here to learn more about the Amazon River.

Left - to give a bit of perspective, the Amazon River is well over 1 mile wide at this point. The Amazon is the largest river in the world in terms of flow, and with some controversy(according to Guinness Book of World Records), it is also the longest, even surpassing the Nile.

Iquitos, like Pucallpa, is subject to flooding during the rainy season. Many of the local homes are built on stilts.

Padres!!! Amigos!!!

VOY A IQUITOS!!! I'm excited obviously, but I'm kind've bummed at the same time to leave everything and everyone in Pucallpa. It's my favorite. It's time though, I've been here 4 and a half months.

This week's been the hardest and the best week I've ever had. We ended up marrying 6 couples. Leyder and Romi were baptized right after the wedding. We helped marry Leyder y Romi, Americo y Nilma, Isaac y Aurora, Eduardo y Stephanie, Cesar y Betty Luz, and Sarita y Jose. On Saturday we baptized Prisila y Antoni, the kids of Cesar y Betty. They actually have a family of 9 so the rest of their family will be baptized on 11th of April. It was actually really amazing to meet the goals of the mission. I know I can take what I learned here to Iquitos.

The changes are crazy. Elder Rojas is staying here in our area. I'm grateful for that because he knows everyone. I'm going to miss everyone here a ton. They're all my family and everything.

Elder Hyde is going to Iquitos, but a different Zone than me. Elder Stewart is going to Bolivia. And of course Elder Rich is staying here, holding down Pucallpa.

Everyone, the mission's the best!!!
CHAO,

Elder Layton

(Thanks to Sr. Rich for forwarding us the pictures at the left. They were taken in Pucallpa and sent by her son, standing to the right of Sean in the both pictures, Elder Landon Rich.)

Fishers of Men

Sean and Briana (left) were conquering local fishing spots as soon as we moved to Oregon. Sean was seven years old. Now at twenty, he's still fishing both literally (see last post) and figuratively.

Locos! I never said pday was on Monday. We had to change that one day no mas when President came. haha. Well, I have a ton to tell you and barely any time.

I love the mission. I'm learning so much, and serving the people only gets easier. Everyday I feel more love for them.

Well, I want to tell you about Friday. On Friday Elder Rojas and I both prayed before we left the house to help our couples get married. Finally thanks to our great new Zone Leaders we have a wedding. For real. They were rejected by a couple municipalidades and some other places but we kept trusting in the Lord. Somehow they gave us the best deal ever.

Only DNI (that's like a drivers license) , a birth certificate, and sixty soles (Peruvian currency). If they don't have the birth certificate they can pay and additional 10 soles. THANK U!!! So it turns out we're marrying 4 couples, maybe 5. We are still trying to get all the paper work from the 5th. two of the couples are getting baptized the day after the marriage, and one of the couples are members. Eduardo, the member getting married is one of my best friends in the ward. He always takes us everywhere in his moto taxi.

Remember the funeral/ viewing we spoke at? Three of the non member couples are from there. Leder and Romi were investigators we've been teaching for a while. Isaac and Aurora were a surprise on Friday morning. They had all the papers and money ready for us, we had no clue they wanted to get married, and then they accepted a baptism date. Isaac was a man that basically bashed us in front of all the people in the funeral.....haha, well he announced that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost were one person. Somehow he had a change of heart and that was an easy obstacle to get over. I feel so blessed... Americo and Nilma, nonmembers, were also at the funeral. Americo's travelling right now but we're sure they will accept baptism as soon as he returns. The 5th couple we're still working on was a reference of Hermana Zulma. They are a family of 6 and we've been teaching the kids. We have baptismal permission from the parents but the kids decided they didn't want to get baptized unless they were baptized with their parents Cesar and Betty luz. Soo....now we have to marry them, and I think we can pull it off even though the deadline passed a while ago.

Last night I had the privilege to baptize Carlos and Antonino!!! Carlos is 19 and has the hugest desire to serve a mission. I'm pretty sure he has other motives, like the girl he loves is LDS...haha, but he's great. Accepted everything we taught him because he received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. He's preparing to receive the Priesthood next week.
Other than that we have other various baptism dates for this month. Homero, Leah, and Christian. They're all young men and women with desires.

This really is the work of the Lord. These people were prepared not by us, but by the Lord.

Love,

Elder Layton

I Know Through Faith, Repentance and Keeping Covenants We Can Be Blessed

(Note: It looks like our letters may be coming on Tuesdays for now instead of Mondays. The first paragraph below was actually a quick follow up note he sent after his email.)

Oh yeah mom.....it rained a lot. We walk on small little puentes (bridges) to get to our citas (appointments). The bridges consist of a board, and two other small pieces of wood for legs. All the kids jump out their doors and go swimming in the brown water, and no I haven't fallen in. hopefully that never happens. oh yeah.... one lunch while we ate I went fishing with a stick, a hook, and a piece of bread, and I caught a catfish. I wish I had my camera then. (I should have used the title, "Gone Fishing" for this post.)
_________________________________________________

Buenos Dias, I couldn't write you yesterday because we had interviews with president, so of course I got all of your letters!!! Loved 'em. Thank you for the package Grandparents in Vegas!!! The chocolate will last me a long time. No worries though, our pday changed to today. We just got done playing futbol...soccer, in a stadium with the whole zone. Vacan. This week was a big week for us. I was a little bummed earlier this week cause all the photos I had on my camera were erased somehow. Luckily I got the pics my comp had and I made a couple cds before that happened so it's not that bad. I'll be sending em asap.

Everyone, this is the best time in my mission. There's nothing better than serving in the work of the Lord. Really I'm grateful for every one of you... my family, girlfriend, cousins, other friends...my leaders. Really, you've all helped me grow in so many ways. I got a letter from Elder Rau yesterday. He's doing so well. I can tell from his letters that he's striving to be exactly obedient and he's working hard. Same to all the other guys out in the field.

My Zone's doing great. President's happy with the results, but of course, being President, he wants more. It's so hard but I've never felt better. It's something you can't explain unless you've served a full time mission.... I love the work. It only feels right now like we´re straining to get over the next hill. I don't know if I'll be here another change, so of course we have to do everything here we can.

Yeah, my birthday was awesome. My comp invited tons of members and investigators and we watched Joepsh Smith profet of the restauracion. Hermana Lilia Reatagui (We baptized one of her grandkids Cesar, and next week I'm baptizing Antonino, a different one of her grandkids) gave me a hammock for my birthday........yeah. She knew exactly what I wanted haha. After that my comp caked me in the face and we went home happy.

I was thinking a lot about Alma this week. I'm in Helaman now, but it's so so so important. The first time in my mission when I read the BOM in the MTC I cruised through Alma 45 until Helaman....cause it's just war, war, war. But something that's so important is to look at what Moroni did. If everyone were like Capitan Moroni even the gates of hell would shake. We can be like him. These chapters teach us that he fortified his cities, prepared to defend against the Lamanites, and did everything possible to live righteously. But something that really hit me is that it explains his entire life... preparing to defend, until the end of his days. It's not just a few chapters and so what's the point? We have to do it. We can't just sit and do nothing, even if we think nothing bad's coming, or the enemy isn't even close. There was a time when the Lamanites attacked the City of Zarahemla in the middle of all the cities of the Nephites. The Nephites of course didn't expect an attack on the strongest part of their defenses. Because they weren't prepared, they fell. It's the same in our lives. We have to defend, fortify, and prepare always, like Moroni. I know these things are true, and I know through faith, repentance, keeping covenants, and living the commandments, we can be blessed and find more happiness and peace. Our families are so important.

Love you all,

Elder Layton

The Story (And Baptism) of Zulma Llerena Llerena

(Briana just showed us this picture that Andrea had posted on facebook. What we can't get over is...well, is this really the same kid that went to the Doctor's office and the Nurse asked, "Is he always this pale?")

This week went great. We had one baptism. Remember Zulma? We baptized her son a while back. Well, she finally committed to having an interview on Friday, and I had the chance to baptize her on Saturday and Sunday. (So does that count as two baptisms? We're thinking he baptized her Saturday and confirmed her on Sunday.)

The first time I visited Zulma was with Elder Paz. We visited her because she was in the old investigators section and her daughter was inactive. Ever since then we've been working with them.

The missionaries have visited her for about a year now, so she knows her stuff. She has a huge testimony, but when we committed her to be baptized she turned it down every time, even though she told us she knew the church was true. About a month ago we had a interview with her and she didn't show......so we set a goal for 28 de Feb and didn't visit her for almost a month. After that we came back, asked if she was ready to get baptized, and there we go. The story of Zulma Llerena Llerena. She's a super mom cause she has two kids and her husband left, and she's going to make a great member.

Her baptism was funny..... we had it with another ward that had four baptisms. We were just about to start and the lights went out. YEAH! So I had a flashlight handy and we found a couple candles. Luckily for us we continued with the baptism by candlelight, and everything was perfect and of course right after the closing prayer the lights went back on....

Yeah, I knew Chelsea was getting married! I received a normal letter from her but she signed it – Chelsea Brynn or something like that. Haha, I was like- is that her middle name or is she engaged? Most the BYU girls fall fast haha, congrats Chels! ;) I have letters from Nathan and Jacob, and I've written one but I'm waiting to write more so I can send them home in one big package cause I have so many people to write.

Everyone, I want to leave a thought with you. I think I've talked about this before but it's something I've been working on for my investigators. Every great person in history started with one thing super important...their thoughts. If we think we can do something, good or bad, we can do it. The Lord wants His children to put all of their mind into his work. Even if we have distractions in our lives. Of course there aren't many distractions in the mission, but outside there are tons. I would invite everyone to put their thoughts in our real purpose. In finding happiness and in what we can accomplish. Like my AP Elder Herschi always says, "Impossible is nothing".

I love you alls!!!

Elder Layton

I Gave It a Good Kick Just Like in the Movies

This week had it's ups and downs. Like always.... I really enjoyed my letters from everyone. Thanks!

Sooo, we were teaching a lesson when a lady screamed. We had to stop everything we were doing because there was a house next to us with black smoke pouring out the windows. Nobody was home and all the doors were locked. The little Peruvians couldn't break down the door so I gave it a good kick, just like in the movies, and nothing happened. About the 5th kick, haha, finally the door gave way and my compi and I put out a small fire in the kitchen. That was kind've a crazy experience. Uncle David would be proud. But because of that I was thinking about two experiences in my life when I had the opportunity to save somebody.

The first one my mom knows about. We were at a park next to a river. There was a girl drowning and I didn't do anything. (Brenda said that the girl wasn't in any immediate danger, but it was a potentially bad situation.) Luckily the rock that pinned her to the river floor came loose and she was just fine. The same thing happened here in Pucallpa when we passed in a motocar right after an accident. It had just happened and there were other people all around so I didn't stop our driver. I felt horrible after though...because I didn't know if any of those people knew how to give the proper treatment. After that I promised my Heavenly Father that I'd never pass up another opportunity to save someone.

Of course I've thought how it applies to my mission. More important than saving someone from dying is giving them salvation. I think that promise was directly related to my mission. I never thought how the atonement, and the gospel, save people. But it's literal. It's real. NEVER EVER give up a chance to share the gospel. NEVER pass up an opportunity to save someone, because of embarrassment, shame, fear........ I've done it before and I've felt the pains that only come from the devil.

We had a lot of baptism dates fall this week because our investigators didn't all attend church. Kind've sad. But I have hope cause we have a lot of new investigators and between my companion and I we're making better lesson plans and following the mission plan. It's hard but nothing's impossible.

Elder Rich is doing great as our Zone leader. He's never done it before but of course his time in the offices gave him a ton of experience. I'm sorry I can't write more.

Love,

Elder Layton

We Don't Do the Work of the Lord Without Revelation

Buenos Dias!

Estoy muy agradacido por esta semana. I really had a ton of experiences. I can't really go into detail too much because there were a lot of personal things that happened to investigators but I learned a lot.

We contacted 3 people who were in a personal crisis. Yesterday we got caught up in the middle of a divorce. Every single problem we were faced with we helped the people come to the atonement of Jesus Christ our Savior. We know from the Book of Mormon and from the Bible that he suffered for our sins, afflictions, temptations, and sicknesses. Thanks dad for teaching me that.

So, we've been helping people make and keep commitments. We had so many baptism dates set but some fell yesterday.... We visited something like 10 investigators before church but only one could come. My comp and I thought we did everything possible in the morning.... so of course the Lord blessed us with 5 different investigators in the church.

We're finally figuring out what we have to do in our companero studies. The unity in teaching is key. Really. The thing about Pucallpa is the people have problems understanding the lessons. But we try to teach as clearly as possible.

Also my companion has the best ideas that I'm going to carry out for the rest of my mission. Yesterday we brought chocolate to all the sisters in the ward to gain their love. It was that easy. I read a Proverb about how women are the best and they loved it. So, we got some references. (I had suggested 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, but it appears he found one that worked better.)

You guys.....I absolutely love the kids. This is against the rules but I think I'm in love with a girl. No worries she's only 6 hahaa, but to start our lesson with a ton of investigators (the family who had a death in their family) she said the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard. Her name's Elva and she's only 6 but her prayers are 10x better than mine....... Our bishop's the best too. We asked him to pray for a list of 10 less active families we can visit. I know if he does this we'll be blessed. If President Perez taught me one thing it's the importance of revelation in the work of the Lord. We don't do the work of the Lord without revelation.

President Perez of the Peru Lima North Mission

I would challenge anyone reading my blog to start saying prayers more from the heart. This is a huge problem I see in our world. Here since the people are so humble if we can just get them to pray they know what we say is true, and they receive a witness from our Heavenly Father. If they don't pray, of course they don't receive their answers.

Well....... what more? Elder Rich is definitely a big deal, and a great Zone Leader. I think it's freakin' awesome he came here, because he's my example. Nothing extremely exciting happened this week, and by that I mean we didn't baptize anyone. Rosalio wasn't ready but he still has a desire. I was bit by a perro for the 3rd time. The kids here in February (carnival) throw water balloon at us........and they have good aims.

Yeah, the Church is true. Have a good attitude, our lives are determined by our minds.

Love,

Elder Layton

"Lessons I Learned as a Boy"

I was forwared the link to the following video this morning by a friend. It is powerful and I wanted to inlcude it on the blog, but my first thought was, "It doesn't deal with missionary work or Sean's mission". I soon changed my mind. What do you think? Do you see the same parallel that I saw?

There's Not a Single Problem In Our Lives Jesus Christ Can't Fix

HOLA ¡!!!!!

We just found out our changes. YEAH. I'm here again. Change three in Pucallpa... lo maximo. Elder Rich is going to be my Zone Leader which is awesome! He´s always kind've been my example missionary...maybe because he was the first missionary I went with in Peru, plus Elder Ridge and I stalked his blog before the mission.

Everyone....I'm doing okay. The mission only gets more difficult. We had a huge turnout yesterday in church. 12 investigators but the sad thing is the investigators we needed to attend didn't!!! So our baptism dates fell....well all except one. We have a baptism for this week. His name´s Rosalio. He's actually been talking with missionaries for a year now. He's came to church the past two weeks which is tight! Now our challenge to set dates with all the people that attended yesterday. It shouldn't be too hard if we get right on it.

I found out some cool things about Pucallpa from some less actives. The original name of Pucallpa is May-ushin, which means land of the demons. It turns out that there was some cannibalism going on in the 19th century or something........ eek. I drank this drink called chicha de mais which isn't the best but hey.....it's 100% Peruvian so I'll take it.

Really more important to me now than anything is baptising. We're having success with everything else all we need to do is challenge them to baptism a lot better. Remember that time when we taught the big group of people at the funeral? Well 6 of them have been attending the church so we have an appointment with them this week, hopefully with the outcome of two or more families we can baptize.

I would love more letters. And sweets!

The Church is true. Never forget that Christ really is our Savior. Lately I've been working on my patience since my companion said I have a patience problem haha. It's true.... I just try to make things perfect a lot of the times but it often comes out making things more of a problem because of my impatience. I was reading in Alma 34 this week and the very last two verses caught my attention.

(And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them; But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.)

We really have to have patience in the weaknesses of others. We're not perfect and we're all learning and we're all children of God so we have to have patience, and we hope that others will have the same for us. I know there's not a single problem in our lives Jesus Christ can't fix.

Love,

Elder Layton

Faith Is Where We Start and It Grows Until We Know

Dearest Everyone! Hi, how are you? President came on Friday of course we learned a ton. I received all my letters too! Yeah, thanks everyone.

This weeks been a crazy one. We've had a little too much fun but it´s been probably the best time in my mission by far. Numbers don't really matter but this week we had a high of personal goals and lessons for the mission. It's been the best!

Zulma who decided to get baptized on Saturday didn't show to her interview... which was devastating almost, but she´s going to get baptized. We baptized both her kids so she's got to be thinking about her example as a mother haha. She's great and comes to church.

We had a ton of newbies in the church yesterday which was GREAT. A less active I didn't even know existed came with his sister and she wants to be baptized....that was a first, but I'll take the challenge. Really the Lord is blessing us. The lessons have been crazy.

I don't know if I told you about the time a bat flew in during our lesson and tormented the family we were teaching, but it happened again yesterday. And if that wasn't enough we were interrupted during a lesson for the birth of a bunch of baby cats. So yeah, I got to witness the birth of a kitten which was new to me...... cool. I took pictures but I'm thinking about erasing them cause they kind've don't give good feelings. But enough about that.

I've been studying the atonement a lot more. Because everything we teach has to do with our purpose I've been studying faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. I remember a long time ago in a galaxy far far away I asked my Dad, How can I know that the church is true for sure? Being the dad that he is, of course he showed me Alma 32. Since then I've found that faith is really where we start and it grows until we know. Here in the mission we don't need to convince anyone. We just show them to trust the Lord and have true faith until it leads them to begin making covenants with the Lord. I would love to talk more about that but I'm out of time....ugh.

I love you all, Elder Layton

(A second email followed...)

Oh yeah, Elder Rojas wants to tell you guys to send lots of sweets. that´s what we want in packages anyway. Specifically he says to send Hershey milk chocolate bars....yeah.... also if Andrea was wondering why I haven't sent her letters for a long time it's cause I'm extremely poor, and I'm working harder than ever and not cause I forgot about her. She'll understand. LOVE YOU PADRES!!!! Nana, Eric, Curtis.

I'm Happier Than Ever

Dearest Familia,

This week was awesome. Yeah, I'm blessed to have a great companion and a bunch of investigadores de oro (golden investigators). Really there are so many people that are ready to hear the message of the Restored Gospel.

A local "taxi" in Pucallpa

The green jungle of the Amazon - this just outside of Pucallpa

Saturday and Sunday were kind of crazy. Two different people in our ward died, so Elder Rojas and I had a full weekend. Actually, one of the people that passed away was one of my investigators who had a baptism date and everything. It was a good thing though because he was suffering. We gave him several blessings last change and this change.

Last night and the night before at the viewings, there were tons of people and we had the opportunity to share the plan of salvation with them. It was crazy. We had to yell almost so everyone could hear. We sang too (Families can be eternas). There were tons of investigators there and in the church, so everyone that believed in what we taught we're going to visit. The plan of redemption is something amazing. It wasn't a very sad weekend, because we knew exactly what happened thanks to the plan our Heavenly Father has given us.

A Small Farm on the Banks of the Ucayali River

To correct my email a couple weeks ago thank you Angelique and Nana for the letter too, and also we're not marrying 9 people. 9 Families. Cool huh? I don't know exactly when now because it's been postponed.....dang.... but were waiting and teaching patiently. Plus it gives us a little more time to get all the paper work from everyone and make sure everythings perfect.

I love my mission more than anything..... I can't even describe it, but I'm happier than ever. I love you all.

Nos Vemos,

Elder Layton

Beder's Baptism

Dearest Famila,

We baptized a boy named Beder (8 years old) on Saturday. Awesome!!! It could have gone better. We started late because we didn´t have another witness....but other than that it was great. We sang and I bore my testimony at the end to Beder´s parents, both non-members, that the Church was true and that Beder´s decision would change his life. We´re going to baptize his parents now.

Elders Layton and Hoton. I lifted the pictures from this post from Elder Rhoton's family site. Hopefully, they won't want them back. They fit right in here.

A Beautiful Peruvian sunset in Pucallpa.
This week has been crazy. The Zone Leaders are preparing a wedding for the 31st now because they missed a appt. With the municipalidad. Yeah.....so people not married here is a problem so my comp and I are working right now to marry 9 people.

It´s crazy how the Lord´s helping us too. A couple days ago the stake president told us we can get financial help for the people to get married, which has always been the main problem for the people. They need to get a physical from a doctor and go to a notary. The great thing is our stake president told us members in the stake can help us out with those two things too. !!!!!!!

Btw, Those boots aren´t boots here because they´re not up to my knees. Yesterday....funny story, we were running between appointments, and it was dark out, dogs were chasing us, and I didn´t see a mud hole. The first step from foot came out of my shoe, the second step the other, so I was standing there in the mud in my socks...... people were laughing, but we got two great contacts out of it.

One of the streets of Pucallpa.

We randomly contacted an older couple the other day, bore our testimony´s and they came to church!!!! Oh man, I was so excited. That almost never happens. The Lord is really helping us.

LOVE,

Elder Layton

It Was Great and a Very Spiritual Experience For Me

This week has been the best! I'm grateful for my new comp. He's Columbiano, se llama Elder Rojas, and he's great. He's an awesome missionary. Before the mission he had long hair and played in a metal band. He's a hard worker and teaches well too.

(Above - The City of Pucallpa from the air, a city of about 250,000)

So before I tell you about all my investigators I'll talk about the Peru experience yeah? Well, I ate another fish which is HUGE called Doncella. Two dogs bit me this week... they just came out of nowhere. The river by Pucallpa is called the Ucayali. It's big. We have some investigators by the river so we'll be going back. We also went down there the other day and found some less active members we never knew existed. Haha, then we had an appointment with an hermana called Leyla but we couldn't get to her house. It took us forever to get into the area, climbing on whatever floats, but they haven't built bridges yet and the water's not deep enough for canoes. I don´t know if we'll be able to go in the canoes but there's always the puentes.

(The Ucayali River at Pucallpa)

One thing that I've found out that's key for the mission is that you have to love the people, yeah. But you have to take that love and turn it into diligence. It talks about diligence all over the Book of Mormon. I still haven't totally figured it out but I know I can work harder.

So my new Zone is cool. Elder Nathan Stewart is in my Zone. Ha. I was stoked for that. We were friends at BYU and he's from the Bolivia misison. My District leader's Elder Garnica, and it just so happens that his brother, Elder Garnica, is in our district. Haha, weird huh?

When Elder Stewart came he brought my letters from Lima, bless his soul. I want to thank the following: Mis Padres, Grandpadres, the Rau's, Elder Rau, and the Greene girls for great letters!!! Everyone else, I would love to hear from you. Oh and yes i got Bryan´s letter, I still haven't written back. I'll work on that today...

Okay I had the oportunity to baptize Cesar Jr. on Saturday and be part of the confirmation yesterday . He's a great kid, and he want to become a missionary just like me. When we were changing on Saturday I told him a lot of the same stuff Dad told me when I was about to be baptized. It was great and a very spiritual experience for me. His parents want to be married now for sure so we're going to get 'em married and baptized. One big Mormon family.

Also we have the best families. Gonzalo y Luz are getting married. Luz was a little discouraged yesterday because they don't have enough to be able to get married. We explained that they needed to pray with all their faith, and do everything possible. Of course they will. They always pray and always read their scriptures. We talked to Bishop and the ward is going to have an activity to raise some funds for them this week, so they can get married, and get wet on the 24th. We're hoping and praying everything can work out. Please pray for the investigators that need marriages here. It's a huge sacrifice for them, and prayers do make a difference. (Mosiah 27!!!)

I love all of you.

Elder Layton

We Can Choose Who We Want To Be

Man, this week has been busy. I was just thinking about everything that's happened in my mission so far and I can't really believe I have 6 months out already. We found out our changes Saturday night. I'm staying here!!! I was definitely elated, if you could call it that, to hear that I wasn't going to move somewhere else like I've been doing every other change. This area is getting better, mejorando.

We have 4 baptism dates set for January and I'm sure we can manage to get more. My new companion's name is Elder Rojas. There are a lot of Elder Rojas but I've met this one in Lima one time.... no more than a handshake but I know who he is. He's from Columbia, and I'm going to work his little tush off. Elder Paz leaves tomorrow, Tuesday, and Elder Rojas comes tomorrow too. So I´ll just be waiting.

Yeah... I've eaten lots of pretty cool stuff. Mostly fish. The turtle an hermana promised us never happened so I was kind've bummed about that. We ate part of a huge fish called Paiche. I didn't have my camera but it was good. We also ate Yahuarachi. I have pictures of that I'll send you in the future. When we ate it, it still had everything there. The eyes, the head, the tail. You'll see. Yeah.... what else.... My favorite fruit of all time is called copoazu. Barely any of the people here even know about it. I ask everyone where I can find it... Nobody knows except one hermana. Mmmmmmm...

We're baptizing a 10 year old boy this Saturday named Cesar. We're trying to get his parents to get married but so far they say no. No, just means we haven't tried hard enough. Haha, no, they're great and they'll be baptized in the future just watch. Also, we have a golden family, familia de oro, that we're baptizing on the 24th. His name is Gonzalo and her name is Luz. They're going to have a baby any day now, she's past her due date, but they've come to church the past two weeks. They're not married, but we're teaching them and committed them to be married the morning of January 24th and to be baptized that night. Marriages are always a pain cause we have to get tons of paperwork, but it's worth it. They are awesome! We have a appointment with them this Wednesday...if Hermana Luz isn't in the hospital that is.

Other than that we have two really great girls, Daisy y Cecilia, ready to get baptized but are scared of their parents. We gave them the permission slips so we'll see what happens. I really want to talk with the parents but they're never at home. Luckily they get a lot of help from a young man in the ward....who happens to be their cousin. I told you about Juan Carlos yeah? Yeah he's great. The assistant to the president right now, Elder Herschi, baptized him. Elder Herschi's basically my model missionary. He´s an example to all of us, and when he came with me and my companion to teach a couple weeks ago I learned a ton!

2 Nefi 2:27-29 – We can choose who we want to be and who we follow. Always choose the right. The Church has all the truth we need in this life. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and The Book of Mormon was written by prophets other than Joseph Smith. Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet, along with his counselors and the twelve apostles. I know Christ lives.

I love you all, and for the C5 specifically always remember: We live together, we die together, bad boys for life. Tienen un buen dia!

Elder Layton

He Answered Our Prayers

Queridos Familias y Amigos Mios,

It was so great to hear from my family!!!!! I hope you know I was sick when I called so that's maybe why I didn't sound my best. Actually my companion was sick all Christmas day. Pretty much Christmas was just great though!

Thanks for everything!!!
Right now we're getting close to some new baptisms which I'm very excited about. We had 6 investigators come to church again and 3 of our investigators have dates set for January. It shouldn't be very hard if we just keep doing what we're supposed to be doing.

President mildy rebuked us in his Christmas letter and really told us that the lack of baptisms in the month of December (honestly I don't know how they went, but we didn't have any) was because of the small things we need to overcome like obedience with exactness, trusting the Lord, teaching effectively. We can always do better as missionaries every day.

One of the kids we're baptizing is named Cesar Jr. He's ten. His sister is a member and his parents can't be baptized yet because we're helping them get married. We just got a permission slip from him on Saturday and he has more than 6 asistencias (he's attended Church more than 6 times) so he's set. I was so grateful on Saturday when we taught him. Always when we tried to teach him before he honestly couldn't concentrate, and told his parents he didn't want to be baptized. But then for some reason he completely changed. He sat there, understood, listened, and told us that he was ready to be baptized. YES! Really, the Lord answered our prayers. It´s been hard for me to go through this entire month without helping someone make their first covenant.

The monkey's doing good. A rat bit it's tail while he was sleeping so he has rabies but no worries, our pensions daughter is its mom and she took Andy in right away to get all its vaccs. Haha. It has an official vaccination tag with his name on it and everything.

Today we're playing futbol. Too bad I waste all the Natives. No, just kidding. They're all way good cause it's the thing to do down here. My companion's really awesome. He's quiet and doesn't like to pay for stuff but hey, I'm sure it´s hard to live with a gringo. I'm his first gringo companion so he's holding out really well. When he bears his testimony I can feel the spirit. That's what's most important to me. He has a great conversion story too from a strong Catholic family so that definitely helps out cause I'd say 50% of our investigators are Catholic.

Honestly I don't want to leave this area. Just saying that is probably going to get me sent off somewhere different, but whatever. We find out next Monday our change. There's nothing better than the mission. Thanks for all the love this Christmas, really, from everyone. It felt like home. Man... I really need to write everyone. I think I'm going to wait until I'm out of the jungle because it's so expensive.

(It costs a significant portion of his entire monthly budget just to get one letter out of the jungle. He's mentioned several times how he feels terrible about ignoring everyone. So if you've written him and haven't heard back - that's why. He'll get to you - thanks for the letters and understanding.)

Padre, usted puede enviar sus cartas a mi en espanol, debido a porque estoy fluido en esta idioma. Yo quiero ver como esta su espanol, para que puedo ver quien es major en en el espanol. No se precupe. No voy a rub it in your face. Probalamente usted es major. Gracias padre por todas sus cartas espirituales. Me encantan esas mas que todas. Estoy leyendo del Libro de Mormon en Espanol en voz alta.

Funny - I knew this day would come. I just didn't think it would be this soon. He's basically challenging me to write to him in Spanish so he can see who's Spanish is better - his or mine. I don't think he'll have too much difficulty winning that battle six months from now, but I think I've still got him. He does say (in half English, half Spanish) not to worry - he's not going to rub it in my face. He also says that he's been reading the Book of Mormon out loud.

Your Missionary,

Elder Layton

A Christmas Day Highlight

Elders Layton and Little. Elder Little was a Zone Leader in Puente Piedra.

On Christmas day, missionaries all over the world are busy calling their families. We got to speak with Elder Layton for nearly one hour, although we were disconnected three times...but we got to have a good chat anyway. We asked a lot of questions. I don't remember who asked which questions, so I just show most of them as "family". Here are some of the highlights...

Elder Layton; "It's hard to talk English (He kept slipping back into Spanish throughout the call. He didn't have much of an accent though.). I don't think I've ever been happier. We have a ton of really good families to visit. It's hard because so many people aren't married - it's different from Lima. Most people don't have the papers they need to get married. We have to wait on papers from other areas. Right now we are waiting on papers for a guy who's from Iquitos. So we have to contact the other missionaries and wait.

The mission is probably the hardest thing I've ever done but it's so much fun. I think I'll be in Pucallpa for a long time. My companion's already been here for 4 months - everyone says they will just leave us here for a while. If I'm here in February and March, I'll be here for the rainy season. Everything floods. All the homes are built up on stilts. Every house has a boat and people just use their boats to get around. The missionaries have to use the bridges.

Our apartment is really nice. It's one of the nicest buildings in Pucallpa." Above is a picture of Avenida Saenz Pena, very close to where the Elder's apartment is.

Don: "What's been the hardest part of your mission so far?"

Elder Layton: "Finding the right people to teach. Lots of people will listen, but only a few will follow through with commitments. They'll listen, but they won't always come to Church or read. Also, I miss my family."

Don: "What's been the best part of your mission?"

Elder Layton: "That's hard, but the best part is when we're able to teach someone from the very start and watching them grow, keep commitments and gain testimonies...like Rosalina Pizarro, Liliana and Ibis Alessandra Moron Troncos. Liliana was the best investigator so far."

Elders Zepeda and Layton with Hermana Angelica & Friends While in Puente Piedra

Don: "What are your favorite parts of the culture?"

Elder Layton: "I don't know - everyone has parties all the time...they have lots of fireworks every weekend, like way more than the fourth of July. The parties go really late sometimes. Last weekend they had one from about 11:00 until 2:00. Our apartment has openings for windows with curtains on it...it keeps us up sometimes. Dancing...everyone's really good at dancing."

Don: "Do you ever run into people who don't speak Spanish - who only speak Quechua or Aymara?"

Elder Layton: "Yeah, no one really understands them, they're usually really old people. Lots of times their own families don't even understand them. It's hard to learn - it's not a written language."

Curtis: "That's so cool about your monkey".

Elder Layton: "Yeah, the monkey lives with the pension. He's still a baby. He's so cute. There's a girl - a daughter of the pension - about 23. She makes it clothes and it has it's own little hammock to sleep in. I always play with it when we come to eat. As soon as I get there, it knows me and comes and sits on my arm when I eat. It knows me. The girl reminds me of how Briana would treat the monkey."

Curtis: "Are you going to take it with you when you leave?"

Elder Layton: "No, it will stay here - it will bring joy for some other missionaries."

Family: "Do you think your mission will make their goal of 500 baptisms in December?"

Elder Layton: "No, I don't think we're going to make it. President kind of wrote us a letter - kind of called us to repentance."

Brenda: "Do you like your Mission President? What's he like?"

Elder Layton: "Our Mission President is the best, he's a great guy - the "best ever". He even lets us watch a movie once in a while. The last movie we saw was "Night At the Museum". They show it in Spanish, sometimes with English subtitles."

Briana: "Is the Church the same in Peru as it is here?"

Elder Layton: "Yes. It's the same. Our buildings are a little different, but really nice."

Family: "What's the strangest thing you've seen so far?"

Elder Layton: "Every day there are naked people (Curtis at this point said, "okay, I do NOT want to go to Peru on my mission!!" Briana said, "Gross"). I saw a guy kill like 20 chickens. He held them upside down by the feet and just kind of pulled on their necks until they popped. There are all kinds of weird bugs, parrots all over in the trees, all kinds of weird noises. The people wear a lot of the same clothes we do, but sometimes they just wear loin cloths". A loin cloth is at least better than going completely naked."

Family: "What do you normally do on your p-days?"

Elder Layton: "We plan weird things. We have to be with the zone until about 1:00 or 2:00. We play soccer all the time. Our pension does the laundry. We eat breakfasts and dinners with the pension. We have lunch with members and we get referrals."

Family: "What's your favorite food so far and what's the weirdest things you've eaten?

Elder Layton: "I love a lot of the food but in Ventanilla and Puente Piedra we ate a lot of Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice). We had it all the time but there's some really good food. We have all kinds of fresh fruit and drinks made from fruit. There's a lady in our ward who let's us get fresh coconuts whenever we want.

We were supposed to have turtle day-before-yesterday, but she wasn't there and so we had fish instead. We've eaten a lot of alligator - it tastes kind of like chicken. We eat a lot of venison - there are a lot of deer in the jungle. The weirdest was pig stomach. It's so gross. Oh, and they always put chicken feet in soup. They're mostly cartilage - nasty."

Don: "What advice would you give Eric, Curtis and maybe Briana as they prepare for their missions?"

Elder Layton: "Study the scriptures."

Don: "That sounds good - anything else?"

Elder Layton: "Yeah, study the scriptures - memorize scriptures. Have good experiences you can share with other people - become good teachers."

Brenda: "Do you play the piano for your ward?"

Elder Layton: "I play all the hymns now. I played in Puente Piedra and Ventanilla, but they don't have a piano here. They have a keyboard, but it's broken. Two nights ago, we went to the Plaza and sang with the choir. It's funny...all the Churches had time to sing or whatever. The Catholic Church took about an hour right before us and just banged and whistled. We sang hymns. Everyone loved it. Most of the Churches just blasted rock music and rap. Christmas is different here. Everyone works."

Brenda: "Is it hot there?"

Elder Layton: "Yeah, it's hot every day. We take cold showers - we don't have hot water. It's really, really cold water."

Don: "What are some of the best things you've learned so far?"

Elder Layton: "Before I didn't really know how to learn. I learn a lot here."

Family: "Is there anything you need?"

Elder Layton: "Not really - I had to leave one of my suitcases in Lima when I came to the jungle - they only allow one suitcase on the plane. I'm going to have to leave a couple of things here when I leave. My suitcase is already overweight.

People send me letters and I really feel bad. I can't write back. It's really expensive here to send letters. We only get about 90 soles per month (Peru currency) and it costs about 10 soles just to send out one letter. Tell everyone that I love them. We have to take mototaxis to church - it's pretty far away. That costs money too."

Brenda: "Grandma and Grandpa told me to tell you that they love you."

Elder Layton: "I love them too. I love all of my family and friends."

Family: We love you, we miss you, we pray for you all the time and are very proud of you.

Elder Layton: "I miss you guys too.

AT LEAST HE LEFT THE MONKEY WITH THE PENSION!!!

HEYYYYY!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!

So before I forget dad, I live on the street Saenz Pena and my wards name is Saenz Pena tambien (also). I´ll be calling you on the 24th to set up a time to talk on the 25th. I can only talk for 3 minutes on the 24th.

(Saenz Pena Street, Pucallpa, Peru)

Soooo, before I tell about my week I just have to say THANK YOU!!!! I love my family. On the 19th, President came with all our letters and packages. All I know is that I definitely received the most love in my zone.... which isn't something I was proud of. (Sean has a few overzealous uncles and aunts - sorry guys, you know it's true.) Actually it just made me feel bad, but I split everything with my compi. He was excited about that. Oh yeah.... so mom, you'll probably be mad but I opened the plan of salvation thing. (A very cool missionary gift from a good family friend, John Lewandowski) I left the others don't worry I couldn't help it. It's not the same. I should have more patience yeah? Haha.

We don't really have anything special to do on Christmas other than share the gospel, but we do have permission to be out until 10. I loved the packages from my family and my extended family those were the BEST!!! Thanks you guys. Hahaha, in particular the story of Brea eating those hotdogs with her sharp teeth made me laugh. Me gusta.

Also, just to let you know I bought a monkey (try to picture my expression right now - just try). It lives at my pension's house so Elder Hyde has fun with it too. Don´t worry you'd probably freak if you knew how little I bought it for. Almost nothing. We had an extra hour on pday! Don't worry it's not being disobedient either. (Which I interpret to mean that he checked in the "White Bible", "Preach My Gospel", AND the scriptures and he couldn't find any clear directions against a missionary purchasing a pet monkey if said monkey doesn't cost too much and lives with the pension. Curtis, our 10 year old, upon hearing of the missionary monkey, said, "A pet monkey??? That's AWESOME!! I wish he could send it home!! Dad, can I have a pet monkey?) It hangs out with us at breakfast and dinner and that´s all we see of it but whatever. I named it Andy of course.

We didn't have a baptism this week...... I'm really bummed about that. Really we had an okay week. (Of course he had an okay week even without baptisms - he has a pet monkey.) We got the members to have a fast for the missionary work on Saturday and we had 4 investigators in the Church. So many are waiting for a wedding and want to be baptized but there are barely ever weddings and the government here makes it almost impossible for the people if they don't have the right papers, and money.

I've really found though that working with the less active and recent converts is key. Really. As soon as we started doing that we had new investigators open up. Last night we gave a blessing to a man se llama Agosto. Todo su familia are members. Hopefully his health gets better so we can teach him.. (I think it's great to see him write when he's in a hurry - how he gets his English and Spanish all mixed up together. He said they gave a blessing to a man named Agosto. All of his family are members.)

Since I've been reading in the Book of Mormon in Spanish I've learned a lot since I have to read a lot slower and take my time to translate words I don't know.

Basically the mission is all about making a plan and trusting the Lord. Seriously sometimes I think our lesson went so well, and for sure our investigators will come to Church. But then they don't and I wonder why? Really there are two options. Either they rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, or I failed. That's why it's so important to follow the Lord. We have to do EVERYTHING we can. Then we pray and hope for the best. I have so much to learn....

Well, today we brought all our mattresses to the Church. We're going to fight on them, and then I think we're watching a movie. President gives us permission to watch one movie as a Zone once every change that is approved by the offices. I think we´re going to watch Narnia 2!!!! YEAH!

Christmas in Pucallpa is about the same. Everyone has little Christmas trees. The houses don't really have lights but everyone's in the same spirit so that's cool. We really just have a normal day on Christmas, but that's good for me. I love it here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Still Looking for That Christmas Spirit? Watch This!

"If we are to have the very best Christmas ever, we must listen for the sound of sandaled feet. We must reach out for the Carpenter’s hand. With every step we take in His footsteps, we abandon a doubt and gain a truth." (Thomas S. Monson, Ensign Magazine, December, 2008)

We're Here to Help People Have Spiritual Experiences

I spent a day and a night earlier this week with my zone leader Elder Brock because they were doing visits with my companion Elder Paz. I learned a lot. Really about how to teach. We're not here to give the people information. We're not here to tell people how they need to live their lives. We're here to help people have spiritual experiences, and to accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know Christ lives and that this is his gospel. I'm more sure of that than anything else I know.

This week was great after that really clicked in my mind. Every principle in our lessons I really tried to relate to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I noticed a huge change in how people responded to how we taught. First of all I felt the spirit. Second of all, I knew that our investigators could feel the spirit. Saturday night we had a lesson to follow up on the commitments of our investigators. Their names are Lois and Teresa, middle aged, and married! We felt the spirit so strong when they said that they had done what we asked them. Read, prayed, pondered. They still didn't know everything for sure, but our testimonies helped.

Yesterday they came to church. We had six investigators at church yesterday which was our goal. All of them are progressing, and all of them can have baptism dates. This week we're going to focus on setting those dates so they can be baptized this month.

Other than that, we're playing dodgeball today with the zone. So far in my mission I've been bitten by a dog, a cat, a parrot, stung by a bee, and had fleas. You would think I was trying to touch em.... yeah, no. They come out of nowhere. Oh yeah... that beetle was pretty dang big... probably an inch and a half?

(This picture was posted last time and a young man in our ward wanted to know how big it was - see the comments from last post.)

Since I've been here in Peru during the Christmas season I've found that it's really the same as anywhere else. Presents... Santa Claus..... Christ. But there's one obvious difference. There were definitely llamas in the first nativity.

He's right you know. Here's the proof.

Lots of Pictures!!!

We received a CD full of pictures a few days ago. It was like getting Christmas three weeks early. Really it was. We had to do some detective work to determine which ones happened where, and who was who, and so on. Hopefully we got most, or all of them right.

Below is a picture of the plane that Elder Layton took to fly from Lima to Pucallpa, his current area.



This one would be of Elders Layton and Paz (current companion) getting a ride in Pucallpa. Everything looks very colorful, don't you think?

That is a very cool taxi system they have there...

We know of problems he had in Ventanilla with the fleas. The jungle is full of crawling, multi-legged things. Many of them are very different than anything he has seen in the States.

At least he's eating good. This was a meal of potatoes and fried monkey brains.

Gotcha, didn't we? As far as we know, there were no monkeys harmed in the preparation of this meal.

These are a few of the pictures we received. I'll be posting others occasionally ,but you can view them now if you want. Most of them are labled. Simply click on the "Mission Pictures" link towards the top of the right sidebar to access them.

Nothing Makes You Happier Than Living the Gospel

This week has been great. We didn't have any baptisms this Saturday but we've set up several more for the month of December! Also we have a golden family that's just waiting to get married. So basically we're waiting for a matrimonio and the dad, Alberto, needs his papers, so we've been communicating with other missionaries to get his papers from Iquitos. The missionary work is so amazing. Really there´s nothing that makes you happier than living the Gospel, being obedient, and serving the Lord.

Pucallpa rocks. I'm glad Curtis thinks it's cool there are monkeys here. Because it IS cool. We have a big river in part of our area and there are a bunch of little boats and canoes all over the place. Also I learned that in February and march everything floods and that´s why all the houses are raised up. A ton of our area will be under water so we have to use bridges, and the people use canoes.

The people here are so tight. Everyone's always like GRINGO!!! So it´s a good conversation starter to begin sharing the gospel. Yeah I did English lessons on Saturday. It was great, cause we had two investigators there, and I hear we might have more this Saturday. It´s perfect because they come with members and then we can set up times to meet with them.

I don´t know how much I told you about Gustavo, but he´s a gringo that lives right above us. He teaches English lessons here in Pucallpa. We've only met with him once because of his tight schedule but after the first lesson he was really set. He wants to prepare for baptism, and he knows he needs to change a lot of things in his life. He told us all about his past life, and decisions that have led him to where he is now. Really though, I know when he accepts the gospel in his life his life will only get better.

Here's some info I found on wikipedia about Pucallpa. It provides a technical snapshot on where Elder Layton is serving.

Pucallpa (Quechua: puka hallpa, "red earth") is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Ucayali region, the Coronel Portillo Province and the Calleria District.

Pucallpa was founded in the 1840s by Franciscan missionaries who settled several families of the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group. For several decades it remained a small settlement as it was isolated from the rest of the country by the Amazon Rainforest and the Andes mountain range. From the 1880s through the 1920s a railway project to connect Pucallpa with the rest of the country via the Ferrocarril Central Andino was started and dropped several time until it was finally abandoned. Pucallpa's isolation finally ended in 1945 with the completion of a highway to Lima through Tingo Maria. The highway allowed the commercialization of regional products to the rest of the country, thus improving the economic outlook of the region and its capital, Pucallpa. However, the heavy rainfalls of the Amazon Rainforest remain a problem as they erode the highway and can even cut it by causing flash floods.

Pucallpa is served by air through the Captain Rolden International Airport and by river through its port Pucallpillo near the center of the city. During the high water season, the floating ports of La Hoyada and Puerto Italia are used for riverine communications. Pucallpa is connected by road to Lima via the cities Huánuco and Cerro de Pasco.

Liliana's Baptism

This week has been so busy. My mind is racing right now actually because there's so much to say but I can´t really say it all. Yeah the jungle is really great. There are monkey's, which are the coolest things ever by the way, but since we're in Pucallpa they´re only pets.










The first night here our pension made us alligator which is so good....I think I told you that.

(For some reason, I would love to try alligator...maybe it's just the idea of eating something before it eats you, I dont' know. But I'll bet he's right. It's probably very good.)







We're going to go play soccer in a big stadium today. We invited members and investigators to play with us. This Saturday I'm teaching English lessons again like my Puente Piedra days. If they want to come they have to bring an investigator. We already have 3 confirmed investigators coming so that's great to hear!

Like I said this week was too short. We didn't have a good turnout yesterday in the church... so maybe that's why. It seems likes that's always hard for people to commit to hear. The only thing we can do is work harder, study harder, and work more effectively.

We baptized a lady named Liliana on Saturday so that was great. Elder Paz baptized her and she already has tons of family in the church so they were all there and supported her the whole way.

We have about 7 families right now which is kind've low, but really every other family we come across isn't married. We're hopefully going to marry a family on the 13th. They are progressing but still have that barrier. The daughter's a member and they also have a 10 year old son named Cesar. We're going to sacar una fecha proxima visita (set a baptismal date on our next visit).

Yeah, this change has been really good for me as well. My companion's really shy so I get a lot more opportunities to mejor mi idioma (improve my language). He's way cool, Elder Paz. He's obedient, works hard, and has a great testimony.

It's the Other "Other Side of Heaven"

Elder Layton with Elder Zepeda and Ibis Alessandra Moron Troncos (see post of Monday, November 3, 2008) at his recent area at the time of her baptism.

The picture behind Elder Zepeda is similar to the one that hangs in my parent's home. There's a great story behind that picture in the Layton family, but I digress.

Elder Layton wrote this on the back of this picture to the left:

Pizza party con (with) Elders Layton and Zepeda. It really doesn't taste the same and it's way more expensive than other food, but it's so worth it. Don't take food for granted American Glory...OH American- How I MISS THEE!

Andrea, who sent these pictures wrote a note, "Yes, he's still goofy." I don't know why she would think that. He seems perfectly normal to me.

Here's the letter we received today.

Yeah…it´s going to be kind've hard to type because I just smashed my pointer finger in the door on the way over here…. There was blood everywhere but don´t worry. I had my first aid kit right there.

So check it! The selva (jungle) is great. My companion's awesome too. His name's Elder Paz. He's from Bolivia. A little shy but hardworking so it's good. Man I don´t even know where to start…. We have a lot of good investigators.

The jungle is better than I thought. Just imagine the sound of frogs, crickets, and a bunch of other bugs that I have no idea what to call singing in unison the whole night. And there's mango trees everywhere...and green everywhere. And we hit coconuts down from the trees at lunch and get to the inside using a machete. It's true. There aren't that many cars either just a bunch of mototaxis and motorcycles. There's a lot of streams, canals, and little bridges everywhere, and the houses are raised up because when it rains everything floods. Right now there's no connection to internet so hopefully I can send this.

We started teaching a older man here named Fructuoso. He's single and lives with his kids, and he is one of the greatest investigators I've ever had. Just for a start we didn't even have to worry Sunday morning if he was going to attend church or not. We already knew he would. He's been studying to be a pastor for 6 years and he said that he's been to most of the Evangelist and Christian churches here in Pucallpa throughout his whole life and it wasn't until we started teaching him about the Restored Church of Jesus Christ that he knew it was right. Every visit we ask how his reading went and usually he teaches us more than we teach him. He's so awesome and we're baptizing him on the 6th. Things like this strengthen my testimony so much it's not even funny!