Feliz dia del padre

Hey hey hey,

First of all, happy Father's Day, pops! I hope you enjoyed your day. It is just another excuse to drink for many of the people here. We had some guy come up to us in his moto taxi and try to charge double the normal because: "It's a party today! I have to charge more!" Then I told him that he was drunk and sent him away. I'm all about arguing with taxi drivers (haha). Well, here's a Father's Day note. Thanks for all your help over the years, Dad. I've grown up a lot in the past couple years. Going to BYU was a huge step up for me. Going on a mission was an even bigger step. And it's all be so good! I thoroughly enjoyed my childhood, and would do it 10 times over. I owe so much to you and Mom. You were and are absolutely amazing parents who did all you could for your children. I guess children and teenagers are just blind sometimes - that we have a hard time looking at the big picture, or get so absorbed over one thing that we don't always realize the blessings and love for us that we have elsewhere. But one conversation that you and I had together at a time of decision really stuck with me:"David, just have faith, do what you know is right, and your Heavenly Father will take care of the rest." From that moment on, I pretty much based my life around that. I think that I greatly improved the last year before going on my mission. So thank you for keeping me straight, keeping me on track as a teenager. If you hadn't, I may not have had the grades to get into BYU at all. But not only in school – I followed your example in the Church. I doubt it would have been as easy to be a good Church member without parents who weren't doing it themselves. And then for pushing us to develop musical skills. I still regret not doing better with the piano, but I love playing. Actually, Elder Nash, the Area President here, came and spoke to us recently. He gave an amazing talk on Helaman 5! I played prelude before the meeting. I love playing prelude. I am pretty good and just making something up and playing and received a lot of compliments, including from Elder Nash – always special. The hymns, though, that's something else. They are hard for some reason! Don't tell Jordan I said that, then he'll put that in his mind and won't develop them either. But that's still something for me to do, a goal, to be able to play the hymns well (at least more of them). Anyway, Pops, I owe a lot to you and love you tons. I am grateful for the relationship that we have developed together. I am grateful for a father that taught me correct principles. I couldn't be happier. I am proud to be your son and call you my father. I love you, Dad. Thanks for being awesome. ¡Feliz día del Padre!

Okay, now . . . about the week. It didn't begin well. I was having a hard time getting all the money problems figured out, which continue to just be endless . . . and my patience was running thin. But ya know, as far as my patience has been tested lately, I'm just proud of myself for not freaking out on anyone. There was this missionary in the office who is a bit…different, who asked me the same question about his personal money about every 45 minutes. And it was always at a stressful moment for me. And yet, I never yelled at anyone. Not once. I just had to stomp on my own feet underneath the desk and take really deep breaths to avoid an explosion, but I did it. (No, I don't normally explode on people, but I just wanted to show you that I can master - or mask - my stressed out emotions better.) So, I made it through another week.

We went to Chachapoyas again. We left Friday morning in the combi with President and Sister Solís. The 10 hour car ride was not much fun. We drove all day and made a few stops and got to Chacha at about 9:00 pm. During the drive, Elder Calderon pulled out some Big Red gum, and I told him to lick the wrapper and stick it to his forehead. Now, Elder Calderon is a pretty tough guy :] so he wasn't gonna say no. (I told him it would burn.) I dunno how many people know about licking a big red gum wrapper and sticking it to your forehead, but man, wait and few minutes and it becomes pretty painful. He lasted about 30 seconds before he ripped it off in pain and complained for about 10 minutes about how bad it burned. I was laughing the whole time. We got to stay in a hotel, which was cool. I thought it was really nice, and it was funny the next day when I asked the president, "so hoẃd you like the hotel?" He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "eh." It was hilarious. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We woke up at 4:00 a.m. on Friday and started driving up the mountain with the Chacha missionaries until we arrived at Kúelap. It was cool because Elder Bult and Elder Borup are both there right now with their companions. So I got to hang out with them again and that was sweet. Kuélap is awesome. It's considered the Machu Pichu of northern Peru. It was BEAUTIFUL! It is way up high in the mountains, took forever to get to, and was probably in the 40's when we got there. Nice and cold. We had to hike a little ways before we got there. It's like this big ancient fortress that has all these big walls, and staircases to get to different levels of the…fortress. Pretty cool stuff. Elder Borup and I decided it was most likely the hideout of the Gadianton Robbers. So we got a big tour around the whole place and I took about 160 pictures before my camera died. I will get those out as soon as possible, because they are awesome. Probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It's very green, and actually part of the Amazon. Very, very cool experience. On the way back everyone was really tired and falling asleep in the car. I couldn't sleep very well, just because it was ridiculously bumpy. Elder Velez de Villa was driving, and this was the only time during the whole trip that I decided to check on the driver. I sat up as everyone was asleep and looked in the rearview mirror, and as we drove on mountain cliff roads, I saw in the mirror that Elder Velez de Villa's eyes were closed. I yelled his name and his eyes shot open – and I decided it was the spirit helping us so we wouldn't fall off a few hundred foot cliff, explode and die. Later we went back and got ready to go, and Elder Calderon, Elder Bates, and I left Chacha last night at 7:30 a.m. on a bus. I was SOOOO happy to not ride the combi back. The bus ride the Chiclayo took about 11 hours, and we missed our scheduled bus from Chiclayo to Piura, and had to wait a bit in Chiclayo. From being in the office and traveling with President Solis, I have been to almost all of the mission.

Since we got to Piura late we went around to a couple different wards before we actually got one in time to take the sacrament. Awesomely enough, we had to go outside of Piura to Catacaos. Everyone was really excited to see me there – it was exciting. And this was WAY COOL – there is this kid that was being taught before I got there, and we taught him the three months I was there, and today he was up on the stand to bless the sacrament. It was so awesome!! His name is Luis. I can't remember if I ever mentioned him or not, but he finally got baptized three weeks ago. He blessed the water and after he finished, the spirit was just so strong. It's so awesome to see and hear about people that I taught that get baptized later. Very cool. And Catacaos is a great place. I miss it.

Alright this is just starting to ramble now. The mission is going G-G-GREAT! I absolutely love being out here. Peru is amazing. The mission is the greatest experience ever. Those who aren't sure whether they should go, or don't want to go – change your mind right now, because there is nothing better. We have been able to teach a lot more lately, and are started to build up a good pool of investigators here in the office. I don't think it will be any less crazy this week, or ever really, because the whole transition of presidents will probably be insane – but it doesn't matter, I just love being out here. The Church is true. Live it. Love it. Embrace it.

Elder feliz dia del padre Royal