This past week was not the easiest...

Just received this email from David this morning. He is not only experiencing the challenges of getting along with others with similar backgrounds and who speak the same language, but with those who do not speak his language, and who come from an entirely different culture. David is frank, funny, and seems to be taking it all in stride.

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Hola Familia!!

Alright, I'm not gonna lie, this past week was not the easiest week I've had in my life. But, I made it through and that's what's important. Anyway . . . it was just frustrating. I dunno if it's the culture down here in Peru, but everything at the CCM just seems way disorganized sometimes, and it drives us Americans crazy. So, last week...Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were all just straight bad days and very frustrating, for all of us. On Friday, Elder Brown and I had a special fast, for ourselves, our district, and for proselyting on Saturday. (Sorry if my spelling is bad) and Friday turned out a lot better. I decided I wasn't going to let anything get to me anymore...and while there were still negative emotions and all that, it was still a much better day.

Saturday was a great day where all of the missionaries in the CCM and some of the missionaries from one of the Lima missions went to a park in the middle of the city and contacted people. All 100 of us or so were out and about. It was awesome! Inside the park we had a big set up and people teaching and what not, and most of us were on the outside of the park, giving really short lessons, inviting people inside the park, and getting referrals, addresses and so forth. It was awesome. My companion is a really good guy, really. But he can be kinda weird sometimes...like when he criticizes my three week Spanish, and tells me how he hates English (part of the bad times of my week)...but anyway...we were standing around a lot at first and he kept telling me to say a prayer to find someone, and I was saying... "Let's talk to her." Response: "No." I would then say: "Okay, let's talk to him." Response: "No." I think he was waiting for some glowing person to walk up and say they want to be baptized or something. So I finally took control and began shaking everyone's hand that walked by...because I knew he had to follow me everywhere...and I couldn't do too much besides say hello in Spanish, so he would have to then teach them. Yeah, I was pulling some little trick moves on him (ha) and it's a good thing too because I would see someone that I wanted to talk to, and he would always say "No" and I would do it anyway and we would end up getting their address and everything. (Silly companion.) So, by the end of the day, we literally had about 1,000 referrals, if not more. Pretty cool. Oh, and there were a lot of tourists around that spoke English, so I got to talk to them a lot and my companion would have to sit and listen, because he speaks no English. I think he finally started to appreciate how I have felt 98 percent of the time here. It was a good humbling experience for all of us. It was way fun too! I got to practice lots of Spanish and what not...

There are only 11 of us here at the Lima MTC right now, because everyone else left for their missions yesterday or this morning. We will all have new companions tomorrow. I liked my companion a lot, but I was ready for a change, to be honest. He has been a bit high and mighty the last few days, pretty mean about me not being able to speak Spanish well enough, and I think he thought I was pretty retarded in the gospel, as well. So, that didn't help dull the frustrations of the past week. Not positive, I know, but I really think he is bipolar or something, because he literally changed from being incredibly nice, polite, patient, laughing, to being very mean, impatient, all that good stuff, and literally in seconds. It was crazy. But I was always patient with him...mostly because I couldn't communicate well enough to tell him how badly he was annoying me, but hey, whatever gets the job done. I have to say that he kinda shocked me before he left, when he had returned to nice mode, when we took some pictures and he gave me this Peruvian beanie thing. I'm not exactly sure what they call it, but it's way cool, and it just blew my mind that he wanted me to have it because he had been pretty hostile to me all day yesterday, too. So, that's that. But he'll be a good missionary in Argentina. Really good guy.

So, that's about it, I guess. I'm in a much better mood now, which is nice because I didn't want this email to sound like life is bad and just one big letter of complaints. Of course, I am still loving it, and knew that there would be challenges, bumps in the road. Rest assured that I'm up to it. Our American district is still cool, because I got Elder Brown, Elder Campbell, and Elder Hoyberg around and they are awesome! Oh and I got a couple letters from you guys this week, and a bunch of Dear Elder letters. Getting mail is huge here - and very rare. So it's its nice. And I finally wrote a letter from here...first one . . . for the Bringham family! (Mostly to scold Cody for not writing me. Ha.) Let's see... I did get some Dear Elders letters from Pres. Davie, Uncle Danny and Aunt Cheryl, as I recall... one from Jessi Isham, and Jack! Pretty sure. It's always nice to receive letters from friends - a nice surprise anyway, because I know I'll get mail from the family...so the ones from friends are extra nice. :)

So ... today since it is just us Norte Americanos...we are going on a tour into Lima with the President and his wife, which should be really fun. Oh, and we get pizza! Woo hoo! And I'm probably gonna buy a few legit Peruvian things, like a bag. Yep, gonna be fun, and we get to play soccer tonight with the stadium lights and everything. That will be a blast!

Well, that's about it I think. Thanks for all your love and support. You guys are awesome, and I'm having an absolute blast serving my mission. The Church is, very, awesomely, fantabulously, increduliciously true.

Elder David "Awesome Yet Humble" Royal ;)