Hey Hey Hey!
Alright, I cannot remember if I have much material or not, but I am gonna start from Monday night, when the four missionaries left Chachapoyas. We arrived in Chiclayo early after an all night bus ride and we went to visit my pension in La Victoria for breakfast. That was cool! We got to the bus station where all the missionaries were and lo and behold, there stood Elder Hanke. Boom! I love that kid. So I got to catch up with him a bit. He was going to Piura as well so we sat by each other and talked most of the way. When we got to Piura, I ran into another familiar face, Elder Kevin Foutz! Yes, I finally ran into him. I haven’t seen him since volleyball of 2007, so now I finally got to see him again. That was very cool. I think it is possible that you guys will seem him next month when you come. If not, at least I got to see him before I take off. Well, all Tuesday people were taking care of cambios, so I didn’t have too much to do. I went around with the Castilla zone leaders, one of whom is coincidentally Elder Hanke (haha), and just kinda tailed along as he and his comp got their zone organized.
Wednesday morning we had our training meeting with the Assistants. There were only a few of us, a smaller group of new missionaries that came in, six I think. It was a pretty good meeting, motivated me at least a little bit. I gotta say that I had been pretty nervous about training since March. I always knew that I was going to spend my last cambio training. So, I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. Just before lunch we all met our companions. His name is Elder Elias, and he is from Guatemala. I think all of them were from different countries and when I heard that one was from Guatemala, I hoped he was gonna be my comp. I have really liked all of the guys from Guatemala that have come through the mission, so I was pretty excited to see that we were comps. We had lunch together with President Chipman, who provided us with some final words of advice before we left. It was another wonderful all night of travel. (Just can’t get enough of that!) The four of us got back to Chacha Thursday morning. The other missionaries are both new to the area. Elder Caballero, from Lima, is training Elder Viteri, from Colombia. So much for speaking all English. (Haha.) But this is better for me now. I think I am the only English speaker here in this town now. But it will be a good way to sharpen up the Spanish just before finishing. We spent Thursday morning showing the other two around their area, and they ended up getting lost the first time they went out together, so that showing around apparently didn’t go so well. As for me and my comp, we are doing juuuuust fine. I was nervous, like I said, and had all kinds of stuff going through my mind - hoping to be an all star trainer. I don’t know what I was so nervous about. But, we have done great together...at least for the four days that we have had (haha). Elder Elias is a bit on the dorky side (haha), but it’s cool because we have fun together. He is pretty relaxed and jokes around a lot, which makes walking around all day a breeze (no awkward silence or anything). So he jokes around a lot and at the same time has come out here incredibly prepared. He teaches really well and knows his way around the scriptures and lessons. It’s making for some really good experiences. So I have relaxed a lot now. I think I was just nervous about having to teach a whole lot of information to him, or have a companion that was super discouraged in his first change, or something like that, but so far, so good. His only real issue in that he has a girlfriend back home and is struggling with that. He has already showed me a wedding invitation. He talks and talks about all that and I just laugh. He has a bunch of pictures of her and when I asked to see pictures of his family.... I learned that he doesn’t have any. HAHAHA! I couldn’t stop laughing. Just nuts. I have already had to get after him for talking about her all the time. He is a convert of about five years with his family. His family was recently sealed in the temple. I guess he took a bit longer and hasn’t been a member as long, just a couple years. But he is a way cool, way good kid and I am happy to be with him. We are going to have a good six weeks together, I’m sure.
We taught pretty well this week and were able to get three investigators to church yesterday, which is way better than the ONE that we have had three weeks in a row. Cecilia is doing AMAZING. One week and member and just really fits in and is doing awesome. I am very happy for her. Sunday is still kind of annoying here because there is always something going on Sunday morning that people want to attend instead of church...like an elementary school flag ceremony. (Joy.) Cecilias’ kids, Matias and Taira, are awesome, both younger than eight years old but are going to grow up so well in the Church. They absolutely love going and don’t give it up for anything. Matias was supposed to go to some school flag ceremony and march or something yesterday, but told his teacher he couldn’t because he has to go to church. Awwww! I love that kid. He’s gonna be a great youth and missionary. That got me thinking, to how a six year old can understand so well, and that even he can put church and God as a priority, while the vast majority simply cannot do it. We are not going to be able to justify or excuse our way into the Celestial Kingdom: "But God...if...and...but, so..." Not gonna work, and Matias and Taira understand that. They are great. What an example for the rest of us!
Ok well, I am gonna finish this up. Life is good out here, we are happy, and working hard. Everyone have a great week and let us all follow Matiaś example. Let Heavenly Father and His Plan of Salvation be our priority! The Church is true! So, be true to the Lord and His Church!!
Elder Padre de Guatemalteco Royal
P.S. I had a strange urge to eat Lucky Charms last week (because "they’re magically delicious!").
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