Hey hey hey
Well, it's January and we are ALL ABOUT starting a new decade down here in Peru. So happy new year to everyone! We didn’t really do anything for New Year's Eve, but that’s ok. Things have been good here and my area is really starting to improve – and that makes me very happy. I have been here for about eight weeks now with very little success, and things are starting to finally take off. The ward, which has been rather cold and not helpful, is starting to get its feet wet in the missionary work. Example – normally we have four people in the missionary correlation meeting, and that includes my companion and me. Yesterday, we had about 20. Boo yah! So things are improving significantly.
We have five people progressing right now, which is the best that we have had so far. It's been great to have people to teach for more than just one or two lessons. Seriously, I just feel so awesome that people are progressing and listening to us! I was thinking about it last night as we reported the numbers and for the first time on a Sunday night, I felt content with the numbers in my area. Usually I think, "What are we doing WRONG???" So yesterday, it was a pleasant surprise to see that things are picking up. We found a new investigator on Saturday who is really cool. Her name is Melina, and she is 24 years old. When I met her she asked me where I was from, and when I told her the United States, she got a surprised look and said she thought I must have been from Puerto Rico because of my Spanish. :) That made me feel extra good. Melina recently came in contact with the missionaries after meeting some LDS guy on Facebook who was teaching her a bit about the gospel. Kinda a weird way to find out about the gospel, but hey, it works. So there ya go. Facebook is a great gospel sharing tool - and you never know when you just might lead a golden investigator to some missionaries praying for success. So Melina came to church yesterday and . . . well to be honest I think more than anything she is the reason that most of the ward is interested in the missionary work now. All the young singles were surrounding her, asking questions, offering service, all kinds of stuff, and I just thought, "Wow this girl is never gonna come back here because these guys are gonna scare her to death." That being said, a large number of the 20 in the correlation meeting were young single men, all of a sudden asking us, "Elders when can I come teach with you? I’m free all day ever day." (ha)
But besides finding hot singles for unmarried members in our ward, ;) we are teaching two families right now that are both attending church, and another young man, Martin, 27 years old, who I think I mentioned last week. He is absolutely pumped for his baptism which is set for the 17th. We may move it to this week just because he is coming along SO well. So we’ll see. But he really is awesome. He is so excited about the gospel and it is great to talk to him and listen to him talk about how he struggles with his past drinking habits and such but is working so hard to overcome – either by reading the Book of Mormon or going running or something when he feels tempted. He is awesome. We have also started teaching the new member/investigator class in our ward. That is fun. It's cool because it makes a more relaxed environment for the investigators and it's easier for them to participate in open discussion and ask questions. So I am looking forward to doing that in the upcoming weeks as well.
Things are going good here. On the 1st we had the afternoon to play sports and stuff since everyone I, ya know, hung over. Well, because of poor planning we never really got everyone together, and I ended up throwing around an AMERICAN football all afternoon with Elder Michaelson, which turned out better than soccer anyway. So life is good. It's getting warmer, but I am definitely adjusted to Piura so I guess I don’t really feel it anymore. We are working hard, feeling good, feeling happy, feeling positive. Being a missionary rocks. The Church is true.
Elder "I'm Learning to Be Nicer to People" Royal
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