Hey Family!
Sorry I'm SUPER late today. I'm sure ya'll have been freakin' out. And I don't think I will always be writing this late. I doubt it anyway. It just happens sometimes. First off . . . not gonna lie . . . if you didn't know, the last three months was a good struggle for me with Elder Calderon. He's a good enough guy, but, yeah . . . not quite the worker and a little bit, or a lot, on the eternally trunky side. But, he is still a good teacher. At any rate, here I am in Catacaos. And its awesome! Elder Rios is my new companion - and seeing as Elder Calderon had absolutely nothing good to say about him, that this cambio was gonna stink for me, and that I was going to die...naturally I'm not surprised that in reality, Elder Rios is a super effective, super focused missionary, and knows how to get the job done. Elder Rios is from Cuzco, Peru. There is only one other North American in the zone, the zone leader. So, there will be a lot more Spanish for me this transfer. Mike Taylor, buddy you called it. I remember you saying I would get an awesome comp for this transfer, and sad to say... I doubted you. But woah, this kid is amazing. The ward is awesome, incredible amount of help from leaders, other members, and even the youth. It's a really big ward too - attendance of 180, compared to the average of 80-100 in San Pedro. We have noche misional every Friday with members and investigators, and get this - I'm teaching English!! WHAT?? Yes, it's true. But hey, when you're the only English speaker for miles, who the heck is gonna think I'm wrong? It's a once a week, every Saturday night thing. So that's fun. At any rate, it's going great so far. We have already found some awesome people that we are teaching and had 10 investigators at church yesterday - more than I ever had in my first area. But, I still love San Pedro.
Catacaos is cool - a little town outside of Piura that is actually, well, a town with streets and sidewalks and all that good stuff - and then is surrounded by little mud and stick hut houses. It's awesome! I love when we walk into a house with sticks and mud for walls, a metal sheet roof, halfway broken door - and a TV. Everyone has a TV. Oh the beauty of this country. A few interesting sight sees this week: two men carrying a pig head, and a stripped clean dog with no head getting ready to be cooked, and a guy with a monkey - named Obama (no kidding). Well, I heard Elder Higley went home due to illness. I hope he's okay. And I loved hearing from TJ or Elder Gibson today. That was sweet! Dad, that high school picture you sent of you with the gymnastics team was . . . interesting. (I could have totally taken you if we were in high school together. ha.)
So it's going well. Very, very well. Everyone says to lose yourself in the Lord's work, and I think I'm finally learning how to do it. It's definitely a process, not something that happens overnight. But I'm beginning to worry less about time, seeing as its going so fast anyway, no need to worry about it. A couple months ago, I was on the fence of thinking that learning a language was a waste of time, that the first six months could be better spent than struggling to understand, teach, and punch the wall in frustration (although I never actually did that). But the mission is a great learning experience and it takes time. Something the movie, "Money or Mission" teaches is to pray on your knees - and I know that definitely helps. It really makes prayer more meaningful when we are kneeling. I highly recommend it. The mission truly is amazing - but one can hear that 1000 times and still not grasp the understanding of the importance and greatness of this calling. It has to be experienced and it's the best thing in the whole world! Any young man that deprives himself the blessings, the experience, the privilege - well quite frankly, what a terribly awful thing to do to yourself. The Church is true. I love love this!!
Elder Royal
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rjp
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