Heaven Must Be In Chachapoyas

Hey Hey Hey

Ok, sorry, so sorry. I’m sure to have worried you by not writing yesterday. But it’s all good, here we go. So as I mentioned yesterday, there is some pretty big news going on in La Victoria. To begin with, I am no longer in La Victoria. I’m in HEAVEN! But I’ll get to that here in a minute. First, we finished INCREDIBLY for the end of the cambio, completing 10 baptisms during the last week. That was great, and we finished the month of April with 18 for the entire zone. It turned out pretty well. I am very happy with that but more than anything for the incredible work of the missionaries. We really did have a good zone there. Well, at least for the month of April. As you may remember we had a few problems here and there at the beginning of the change, but we got that all figured out and really just had an all star squad for the last four weeks of the cambio, and it turned out great.

So we had a great time in La Victoria. Elder Vasquez and I did well together. It was an interesting time with him. I learned a lot about him, and a lot from him, and we got along great even though we are pretty different. We had an activity with the stake and it turned out really cool. We did a Night of Parabols, in which each barrio was to act out a parable. Well, only four of the seven wards showed up, so they asked us to put on a couple of little skits to fill in some time. Yeah, our skits were by far the best. Haha. Well they were funny and stupid, and that’s what’s important. We did the Good Samaritan, but pretty much took out all of the doctrine ... I was the guy walking alone until I got jumped by robbers, but ending up beating THEM up, until I got jumped from behind from a secret robber. It was dumb, but funny, and we all enjoyed it. We also created a parabol of two missionaries that get locked out of their room for the night and sleep on park benches, and get robbed - in a nut shell. But it was cool. Anyway, even though a few wards didn’t show up, it still turned out really cool.

Hey, I finally figured out why I never took out the Plan of Salvation puzzle you got me before now - because after using it for just two weeks, I already lost the Terrestrial Kingdom. (Dang it.) The weather started cooling down a lot in Chiclayo, and that was really awesome. The shower was even colder which, well, I didn’t like so much. But, actually now it’s even colder where I am . . . in Heaven!! Oh and by the way, I received the two packages that you sent me for by birthday. Thanks! I didn’t eat much of it yet. I am gong to save most of it for this Monday, and it’s gonna be cool. I am looking forward to it.

Ok, now I’ll tell you about HEAVEN. Elder Machacuay called me Saturday morning and said that I would be going to Chachapoyas!! That is pretty much the promised land of our mission and there are only four missionaries here at a time - so it’s quite the honor. My new companion is Elder Tietjen. His name sounds like he is probably some crazy jungle man or maybe Asian - but he’s from Kansas City. He is pretty new in the mission, and I am his second companion. He is way cool. He has a positive attitude about everything and whatever he talks about is, "The Best." He is cool and his Spanish is pretty good too for not having much time in the mission. It should be a pretty cool change with him. So I am the district leader here in Chachapoyas, which is far away from the rest of the mission. It’s pretty far from everything - four hours or so to the closest city, Jaen, about 10 hours to Chiclayo, and about the same time, maybe a bit more to Piura. So yeah, we are very far from everyone else. It is kinda sad in the sense that there are a lot of people, or missionaries at least, that I might not see again. I will definitely be here until the end of my mission, two cambios. Chachapoyas is sooooo beautiful. My room is incredible. It’s on top of a hill and upon walking out the door is just the million dollar view that anybody would die for. I guarantee a house like this in the states would probably cost a bundle, but we pay about $60 a month. Uh huh. It is very different in the sense that there are a lot of hills, whereas the rest of the mission is fairly flat, the majority at least. I ate a banana for lunch today and it was probably the most delicious piece of fruit that I have ever peeled. In one word, Chacha is AWESOME. We are gonna see how the work is here. That will probably be the difficult part. President called me Sunday night and said that I had a special assignment in coming here to help strengthen the unit, leaders, and members. It is pretty small, a branch actually. I am really looking forward to it. It should be awesome. Of the four missionaries, we are all Americans - which is another interesting fun fact. All of them have seven months or less in the field, so I am pretty much the big bad veteran - which actually scares me. I guess that means I should have all the answers and always know what to do...but . . . . Well, we’ll see. Oh, and since it’s colder here, I bought a hoody yesterday!! So EXCITED about that! Oh and I bought a handsome little proselyting vest, too. I am super ready for some cold weather. And since I have been here it has already rained. And guess what? After not needing my poncho for 21 months, I gave it to a missionary from La Victoria that was leaving for his mission in Bolivia, and I figured he was probably going to need it more than me. Oh well. That’s what I get for being charitable. Haha. JK! Charity is the best. I’ll just buy myself another. I’m sure I can find one cheap here.

Well, that’s about it. La Victoria was a good time. I would have liked to have seen more success in my ward there, but it was good. They have three baptisms planned for this month. So hopefully that all goes through. The ward and my pension and all those good people were sad to see me go because they wanted to throw me a birthday party, including kidnaping me from my room early in the morning without me knowing beforehand. Good thing I left. That would have literally scared me to death probably thinking I was getting kidnaped by La Victoria gang bangers.

Okay, I guess I should close this long, long letter. Pretty exciting news, I must say, and I am looking forward to my three months here in Chachapoyas. Should be a lot of fun. The elders here are cool and it should be a fantastic finish! Gracias por todo. Thanks for praying for us in La Victoria. I know it helped us. The Church is true! Can someone ask Elder Foote if he knows an Elder Delgado in his mission? It’s another connection from La Victoria and cousin of the Elder Delgado in Cody’s mission. Small world. Bye!!

Elder “No One Accepted Last Week’s Challenge” Royal

Water Balloons in Chiclayo are Way Cool

Hey Hey Hey

Today was pretty much the best Prep Day we have had in a while. We got the whole zone together and played water balloon volleyball which turned out SWEET, and then played water balloon ultimate frisbee (compliments of Elder Winn in Guatemala). That was pretty awesome as well and everyone left the church a bit more satisfied after doing something different. So that was pretty sweet.

We had a zone counsel with President Chipman last week and it was weird to be one of the older zone leaders. It’s just amazing to see how fast time has gone. I am in my fourth change as a ZL now and that’s just weird to think about. Does anyone else believe that? I don’t. It is hard to believe I will home in three months. Very scary. Looking back on everything that I have been through since July of 2008, yeah it is just . . . amazing. I understand so much better now how the missionary work functions, and I can’t wait to be a member missionary and help the missionaries at home. We are starting our final week of this cambio. So, my mind is kind of wondering how I will be spending my final few months. With only two changes left and never having trained yet, I think that is probably the best bet. Hello Elder Kevin Foutz, Hijo Mio! Elder Foutz (of Las Vegas fame) should be arriving in the mission next week. If I train him that will be slap doggity dog cool. So we’ll wait and see. Who knows, maybe President will keep me here in La Victoria until July. Fingers crossed on the first choice.

Our zone did not finish nearly as good as last week, which was kind of a bubble burster. But with the last week of the change ahead of us, I’m sure that everyone will put forth a bit more effort to complete our goals. We have one baptism (in my area) ready and planned, for May 1st, which is after the change. So, if I leave I won’t be here for it, but that’s not super important. We have been a bit frustrated of late with the lack of progress in some we are teaching. This week we are going to work differently and just focus on finding a ton of new people for the future, because working with the same people that progress only to a certain point feels unproductive. So, hopefully we can find some new people to teach in this week and prepare more for the future weeks. Sandra and Brenda are doing pretty well, but two of our main investigator that are halting in their progression.

Here’s an interesting personal story. My companion and I were saying prayers one night this week when someone knocked on our door, which is always open. At first I thought it was the first counselor in our ward, who rents a room next door to us and always comes over during prayers or study time (yes, it is a tad annoying at times). Whoever it was knocked a couple times and when we finished our prayers, I was about to say something along the lines of: “Why are you interrupting our prayer you dummy?" As I was about to say something likely regretful, I turned and saw that it was the owner of the house who had brought up our clothes for us. Moral of the story: think before you speak. Now, let me put a spiritual twist on what could have been a really embarrassing and even offensive experience. Sometimes the Savior comes into our lives, or knocks at the door, and instead of kindly seeing what He has to say, we treat Him as a stranger, and can even be offensive, because we fail to carefully consider our thoughts and actions. So, we have to learn not to offend Christ in the way that we treat others. I mess that up a lot, but if we were to treat all people, even strangers, as we would if Christ came to our door, imagine how this world would be!!

I have been working on becoming a better person, increasing my love for others. I suppose that is something I’ll have to work on for many years to come. I am so grateful to have been blessed with the opportunity to serve a mission and being the walk to develop Christlike attributes. Well, sorry this letter has probably been rather boring. I don’t have much to say this week. One last week of this cambio and we are gonna see what we can do. I ask that you all keep praying for us, and I’ll keep praying for you. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Haha. Another joke. Full of ‘em today. Everyone have a good week! And Mom, Dad, Happy Anniversary - 27 years if I am not mistaken. And give my best to Grandpa Kelly - Happy Birthday Grandpa. The Church is true! Live it well. Serve well.

Elder “Please Send Mail!!” Royal

The Plan of Salvation is Awesome!

Did everybody pray for us this week? Because, WOW, the zone had a drastic improvement. It was just incredible. I have to give a lot of credit to all of the missionaries in our zone who are working like crazy. We ended last week with seven baptisms, which is the best we have had in a long, long time. Actually, that’s probably the best week we have had in my time in La Victoria. Speaking even more honestly, probably the best week I have had as all my time as a zone leader. We are working hard, and are expecting more results before the end of the month.

We had some ups and downs with our own investigators in our area, but things are improving as a whole. We dropped Yesenia this week. We taught her twice, she had a baptismal date, and then her mother threatened to disown her (not uncommon here when parents do not approve to really put the hammer down. So, even though she is over 18 years old, Yesenia is respecting her mother’s wishes (or threats, as the case may be). It is sad that it happened so quickly. She was doing so well. Maybe if she had more time listening to us Yesenia might have been able to gain a stronger testimony and explain to her mother why she wanted to be baptized - but we didn’t get far enough along, I guess. Hopefully Yesenia will reconsider one day in the future. The Sarate family is struggling as well. Oh, and I found out this week it’s “Zarate,” with a “Z.” That little bit of knowledge came to me after I wrote their name in a Book of Mormon incorrectly and the mother was like, "hey...its.." Ugh. Well, lesson learned. But since I use a pen, the “S” remained an “S”. Maybe that’s why they didn’t come to church yesterday. Dang (hopefully no Symonds Ryder issue there). We are still having a hard time helping them to keep commitments. If things don’t improve with them soon, will we have to drop them, sadly, because we have been teaching them for about a month now with little progress. I hope that we won’t have to do that, though, because they are a really cool family.

We are working with members much better as of late, and things are going good for us because of that. I finally decided to use one of Elder TJ Gibsons’ ideas of using Noah’s Arc to have members help us. Maybe no one else knows what I am referring to....but Elder Gibson is a genius and wére gonna see if it works here. On the plus side of investigators, Sandra is doing well and even bore her testimony in church yesterday! That was a surprise. We weren’t able to find her after church in the afternoon, but from another source, apparently she told another member that she wants to be baptized this week. So we will see. Brenda is another one that is coming along really well. I’ll tell you what, if she gets baptized and stays active it will be one of the greatest stories of my mission. Here it goes. We talked to a 12 year old deacon who was in the street to remind him about General Conference last week. The boy happened to be with his friend. We talked to his friend, a 14 year old who looked like he had no interest whatsoever in talking to us - but we asked him where he lived and said we would pass by the next day. We went and met his family. Brenda, his sister, walked by a couple times during the lesson and sat down almost at the end but outside of circle area where we were seated, just kind of listening. At the end she kind of popped up and said: "I think I found the true church." The next lesson we had with her she told us about how she had been searching for answers to many questions about the purpose of life that her faith/church could not address. She said a prayer one night asking to have God send her someone to help her gain an understanding - and the very next day we came to the door. HOORAY! So she is cool and coming along great. She went to church yesterday and for the General Conference. We have another one, Celeste, who is the younger sister of another member, who also has a baptismal date for the end of the month. So, we may end up with three baptisms before the month ends. That is very exciting.

Oh, remember the Plan of Salvation puzzle that we bought just before I started the mission? Yeah I took that out of the plastic this week for the first time. Hahaha. And it’s a huge hit. I probably should have taken it out a long time ago because people love it and it makes teaching that lesson really cool. People are all about putting that puzzle together. And it’s actually difficult if you don’t know how the Plan of Salvation goes, even though it’s only nine pieces. But it’s really cool.

Last story for this week, and it’s a sad one. We were introduced to a couple of investigators this week by a member. One of them is a 30 year old woman, sick, lying in bed, and the other also a woman, her sister in law, that was there to take care of her. We found out that the sick woman, Patricia Del Pilar Fiestas Rivera, had contracted (is that the right word?) AIDS. Apparently, her husband also as the disease but it hasn’t affected him yet. He contracted it from her, and when he found out he deserted her and left with their three very young children. It is a very sad situation, but we had a very nice visit with them. Her sister in law, Rene, was really great, as well. We taught about Christ and the Atonement, how His sacrifice can bring us strength and comfort in our diseases and sicknesses as well. It was a really cool lesson. We sang hymns with them (which I don’t think I have ever done that before in a normal lesson) and were able to keep things light and even laugh. At the end, we gave Patricia a blessing and that was kind of hard because I desperately wanted to follow the spirit as I gave that blessing. Obviously, she wasn’t able to come to church, being in so much pain, but we set up an appointment to visit them again Sunday in the afternoon. The member that presented us, Juana, told us Sunday in the morning that Patricia passed away Saturday in the afternoon. That was shocking, and left me feeling so sad. Even if she was going to die, I thought it might have happened a bit later. We went to her house anyway, where they had a little funeral viewing, I guess you could say, where people were visiting and paying their respects. It was sad to see, and we talked with Rene for a minute, but didn’t have a chance to sit down with her or anything because there were a lot of people. But, it is comforting to know is that she no longer has to deal with the pain, and I am all but sure that she will accept the Gospel in the spirit world. I also think Rene will be receptive to hear more about the gospel along with her family. She was very happy to see us yesterday and presented us to everyone that was there. That was kind of weird because I felt like everyone was waiting for us to do some kind of special blessing or something. But, I didn’t do anything because I don’t really know how funerals go down here. So, that was quite the experience this week. We taught the Plan of Salvation past week more than any other week in my entire mission. Perhaps it is because I finally put the puzzle to use. But I can definitely say that I have full trust and faith in the Plan of Salvation. But still, I would hate to have something like that happen to someone even closer to me. Death is difficult enough with knowledge of the Lord’s Plan of Salvation. I do not know how I would possibly handle it without that knowledge. It is strange that we experienced death during a week in which we were so immersed in teaching that glorious doctrine. I am so grateful to have that sweet knowledge, and love seeing the light come on in the eyes of another when they hear of the plan for the first time. Talk about hope. Wow. The truth is wonderful - and brings us all hope, which leads to faith and action.

The Church is true, and I am thankful to be here still as a missionary. I am trying very hard to stay focused with the little time I have left. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Elder “Staple Gun” Royal
(I am in the office as I am typing right now; hence, the “stapler” and “staple gun.”)

General Conference Cures the ZL Blues!

April 5, 2010

Hey Hey Hey

Last night I couldn’t believe that it was Sunday - after everything that happened this week, I thought the week might never end. It was very busy and wasn’t exactly the smoothest week. We have had to deal with a boatload of problems with a few missionaries in my zone that started late Monday night, but we weren’t able to take care of until the next morning. So...let’s get a wrap up of things that went done this week.

Monday night as we were walking to an appointment we noticed there was no street light on our pension’s block. As we got closer we saw a large group of people in front of the pension’s house, then saw a street light post on the ground in front of the house and I could see my pensionistta crying. That kinda made my heart jump, thinking the worst that one of her children had been struck by the pole - but as we arrived I saw that they were all okay. Apparently a semi truck was backing up, didn’t noticed the pole, hit it and it fell over in front of the house, where two of her kids happened to be playing outside. My pensionistta managed to grab her baby before the pole fell, and luckily her daughter was far enough away already - but she was pretty spooked about having her baby son sitting right in the poles path before it fell. Her husband left to the police station and we stayed with her so she wouldn’t be alone. I have never seen her so panicked, and I thought she was going to lose it mentally. We gave her a blessing and reassured her that everything was ok. She calmed down a lot but was still whimpering and repeated the story over and over by the time her husband got back. She is fine now and there are no problems, but it was an interesting start to the week. While we were waiting with her the assistants called me and told me that two of our missionaries had their interviews early the next morning at 7:30 a.m., which started the second problem.

I couldn’t get a hold of them in their room. I managed to contact some members over there who reported that they had left during the day and had not come back yet - by 11:00 p.m. Monday night. I called again in the morning and they still weren’t there. Sooooooo - that wasn’t good and my companion and I headed out to find them. We went and waited in front of their room and got some information from members, and the bishopric about the missionaries - and sadly enough there were a lot of problems going back quite a ways that we hadn’t known about. They finally showed up to their room at nearly 9:00 a.m. in street clothes. One of them, Elder Aliaga, has 23 months in the mission and has really struggled with rules/obedience his whole mission. His comp is very young and innocent in the mission - but boy did I let Elder Aliaga have it. I was pretty frustrated with him. He did not have much to say by way of response, other than to just say what they did wasn’t that bad. It was not a fun moment. We took them to the institute building, where the President was waiting for them. We talked to him first and then he talked to Elder Aliaga. Later in the afternoon we returned to reque where we helped them put all their stuff together and take them out of their area. The next day we went Elder Aliaga on a bus to Piura, where President will make the final decision about whether to let him stay or send him home. I was kind of shocked when President asked my opinion on what to do. He was talking with my companion and I then asked me directly whether he should let him stay or send him home. I didn’t give a direct answer, but said that he has been granted plenty of mercy during his mission and still never tried to improve himself, always being a problem and negatively affecting his companions. So, it was a pretty rough first day of the week.

The next day was zone conference, which went well, but it was hard to focus, to be honest, knowing that Elder Aliaga will probably hate me for life (and all of his other buddies (group of 5 or so) who were throwing me sharp glances the whole time). That doesn’t bother me much - but it was still rough on me because I had an overwhelming feeling that I was no longer going to have the trust nor confidence of the missionaries in my zone. But the zone conference still went well. Thursday was interviews with President. I haven’t had a real interview with him since I was in the office. Ever since I left, they have been really quick for lack of time. Even before I entered to talk with President, I think he and I both knew it was going to be a bit longer this time. He talked with my companion and me together about things in the zone, what to do and improve, little things here and there that seemed to burden me even more. My companion left and I stayed with President, and after about two minutes I just broke down. That seems to happen to me a lot when I am alone with President Chipman. He reassured me that everything was okay, that the missionaries in my zone weren’t going to lose confidence in me, and more than anything else that he assured me that he trusts me. I felt an overwhelming love during my interview. When I am in his presence, I feel so much closer to Christ. That is just how powerful and spiritual President Chipman is. He has had an amazing influence on me.

So, Elder Aliaga’s companion, Elder Alfaro, has been with us since Tuesday (when Elder Aliaga left) and he is awesome. He is from Southern Peru and is like a classic rock American. He is all into that music, the Beatles especially. He is cool and we have been having fun together. I don’t know for how long he will be with us. I was very happy to get him away from his prior situation, however. He is a really nice, great kid.

The rest of the week went smoother, especially after my interview with President. We found another new family this week that we had a great lesson with. Its hard right now because we are teaching a lot of families, but they are not progressing all that fast and need time. A test of patience, I guess. But their 20 year old niece sat in on the lesson as well, and at the end said, "I have been looking for the true church for a long time and I think I found it now." Some hope for us there. Her name is Brenda. She came to General Conference on Saturday, so that was cool.

Watching General Conference was definitely a huge highlight this week. We were able to attend all FIVE sessions, and I have never enjoyed it so much in my entire life. I was a bit nervous, and even the night before I started praying to be able to understand. My first two conferences in Spanish were very difficult, six months ago I understood a good deal, but thought I would get more - and this time around I really wanted to be able to understand and learn from conference. So I kept praying to understand, and there were very few words that I didn’t pick up in my last conference as a full time missionary. But this was was amazing! Conference was so awesome. I remember thinking as a teenager after the first Saturday session, "Oh man, eight more hours to go." But this time I was jumping up and down: "Oh man, EIGHT MORE HOURS! I love this!" Everything about it made me feel so good. I felt the spirit strongly on several occasions, and it reminded me about how much I love my family. The only thing I had trouble with was the hymns. I love listening to the hymns and the Tabernacle Choir, but here at least, the singing of hymns are kind of a break time to chat with your neighbor, tell jokes and stuff like that. So that bugged me a bit, because it kind of sent away the spirit. (We sometimes forget the Lord’s proclamation: "the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me...") So yeah, I was hoping for more reverence during the songs. The only sessions that had a decent number of people here were the General Priesthood session and Sunday morning (those are the ones that are paid attention to more than the rest, for lack of understanding the importance of the other sessions, I guess). People seem to think the sessions are, Young Womens, Relief Society, Preisthood, General, Young Mens - so they don’t attend all of them.). So during those two sessions there was more irreverence during the music. For me personally, Conference was amazing. It made me sad that so many people missed out - members and investigators. People always put small things in the way of what should be huge priority - hearing living prophets speak! But it was amazing and General Conference will forever be important to me.

So half of this cambio is now past. I sure hope that we can have more success in the second half. Just like I asked in Piura Central about two months ago, I ask that everyone can pray for my companion and I to be able to help the zone, to pray for our missionaries to be able to work hard and diligently. I know with your prayers that good things will happen. This Church is incredibly true, and I echo the words said in conference by President Henry B. Eyring, if I am not mistaken, "the only true church of God on the face of the earth." Have a great week everyone!

Elder "I Feel Good" Royal

"Holy Week" Arrives in Chiclayo - Happy Easter!

Hey, hey, hey!

Alright, well the weeks keep going by and I continue to forget what has happened when I sit down in front of the computer on Monday. Wow. Well, perhaps I can get my mind in gear. Let’s see, the zone did better this week. We didn’t end March very well, baptizing only six. That is pretty low and considering that we are the biggest zone in the entire mission. However, we are hoping that with about 500 new investigators and over 1,000 lessons taught in the month of March that there will be much better results here in the coming weeks. (Wow, that really looks impressive!) We have General Conference this coming weekend, as I am sure many of you already well know. I am pretty pumped for that. Guess what? It’s my LAST General Conference as a missionary. That’s nuts. So, it should be a good measure to see how far my Spanish has come over these last 20 months. I am looking forward to it. Oh, and this week Semana Santa (Holy Week) gets revved up. HOORAY (note sarcasm). I am not looking forward to that at all. It is pretty much the saddest excuse ever of a religious holiday. I probably explained it before, but it’s basically an excuse to be able to make a few extra bucks here and there, selling religious videos and other items, while walking around with giant crosses and ending the night with a huge beer bash. Nothing like a bunch of drunkards fighting each other to ring in holiness. Sorry, that is probably too much sarcasm. Actually I doubt it will be as ugly here in La Victoria as it was in Catacaos. It was pretty bad last year. We’ll see - and I promise to provide a full report.

On the far more positive side, we had four investigators at church yesterday. It is seriously hard to get people to church at 8:00 am - just too early for everyone here. There is a new capilla opening up here in two weeks nearby, so I am hoping the meeting schedule changes to something later in the morning. Sandra is coming along great and actually taught the young women’s class about the priesthood. Pretty impressive for an investigator who has come three times. She is already teaching! We are hoping to have her baptism this next week. We met another young lady yesterday, who is a friend of an RM that got back last week and we are teaching her now and have a date set for April 17. We actually have quite a few people with baptismal dates right now, which is great. Yolanda and her kids also have that date set, but we recently found out she is not married, but we are never able to talk to her husband because he works a lot. So that might take a bit longer but they are doing great. Last month we did a fast together as a zone to be able to find families, and we didn’t have any in February, and now we are teaching four or five, which is just amazing to me. The progression is coming along, however slowly, but the fact that we are now teaching full families and contacting families is just awesome and I am really very excited about it. The Family Sarate is doing ok. The husband has a hard time exercising his faith and wants us to be able to explain and convince him of everything (instead of relying on the spirit, going to the Lord himself), and he is not totally willing to search for answers, pray, put goals to improve, and all that good stuff. But his wife and daughters are all there listening, so it will be a process with them, but it will come. He is stuck on his belief that the Sabbath Day should be on Saturday. He kind of tests our patience with a lot of questions that seem more aimed at merely trying to find a chink in the gospel armor than to get at the truth. (The fact is that even if Alberto does believe Saturday to be the Sabbath, he doesn’t keep it holy anyway, so I am not really sure why he is allowing that to be such a stumbling block.) But, we have exercised patience and love Alberto and his family very much.

Our investigators are coming along. I am sure there will be more success this month. Our area is fun. My companion is extra frightened about getting robbed, but I’m not worried at all. People around here - including the robbers - normally respect the missionaries, and I know the area well enough where we should and shouldn’t go at late hours and what not, but Elder Vasquez is kinda worried. I just laugh at him. I have fun walking the streets here. We saw some guys get in a fight the other day and that was pretty interesting. Stuff like that happens all the time but it’s never really serious. Anyway, we are safe, especially since our pension’s husband is this big respected guy that no one messes with and everyone knows that we are in his house three times a day, so if they mess with us they have to answer to him, and they don’t want that - so they leave us alone. (Don’t worry, Mom! We are good here.) Life is going good. I am healthy and am anxiously waiting for the Peruvian summer to end. Apparently Chiclayo actually gets cold in the winter and I am sooooo down for that. I have been in what feels like a literal endless summer for way too long now. Well, I love you all very much. Everyone have a great week, and remember the Lord loves you, His gospel has been restored to the earth, and His living prophets and apostles are not only here today, but they will be speaking this weekend at General Conference. What a thrill it is to know that. If people believed Peter, James and John were speaking at the Thomas & Mack, they’d be flocking to hear them. The fact is that men just like them, in their same capacity as prophets, seers and revelators will be speaking this week - and the world will hardly notice. Take good notes this weekend. Cherish the words of counsel to be shared, and let’s all live to be great in the eyes of God!

Elder “Casino” Royal

From Chiclayo With Great Love!!

March 22, 2010

Hey hey hey!

Alright what can I say about this past week? It was interesting, to say the least, with way too much to do and the time just went by incredibly fast. Transfers were pretty nuts. We had to take care of a lot of extra chores that day - including having to beg the workers at the bus station to let on two missionaries who didn’t have their identification because it was in their bag, which was already on the bus, which left to Piura without them. WOW. I didn’t have much of a voice this week, either. I lost it last Sunday night and that was kinda rough because I had to do way too much talking this week. But now it’s back. Anyway, so after talking with the people at the bus station for a while we got the missionaries on the next bus to Piura. But, I have to say, I was pretty frustrated with the missionaries for being without ID when they were traveling. Just really dumb.

Speaking of traveling, Elder Escobar (from the office) was kind enough to send me my flight itinerary, with our arrival into Las Vegas at 11:18 a.m. on July 30th. I am NOT trunky at all. That date will come whether I am trunky or not -and I prefer to be NOT as there is still a lot of work to be done.

After transfers, we had a surprise from the assistants, who told us that a new area is going to open here in La Victoria and we had just a few hours to find a room and all that good stuff for the elders newly assigned to work there - who, as it turns out, were scheduled to arrive from Piura in just a few hours. So, we went looking like crazy and miraculously enough were able to find everything. So now were are 22 missionaries in our zone, easily the biggest in the mission. But we have really awesome district leaders in our zone right now so I don’t feel like we will have to fret as much this transfer. We’ll see. So far things are going pretty well and it looks like we should end this transfer very well in the next five weeks. We were able to get a lot done in our area as well. Not as much as we would have liked, but we have people that are really coming along. Sandra (17) is doing great, coming to church, reading her lecturas and stuff like that, and I think she will get baptized very soon. We were finally able to teach this lady, Yolanda, and her two kids the other day, and they came to church on Sunday. I feel pretty positive about them as well and think they may be baptized soon. The big surprise right now is the Sarate family. They are coming along, not too slow, not too fast, but they are coming along. We had an FHE with them and some other members that turned out pretty well. We actually have a lot of members in our ward who are really excited and willing to help us, so that is great. Maribell, the mother of the family, came to church with her 12 year old daughter yesterday. Her husband was sick this weekend and unable to participate in the FHE and the church meetings - but we were able to teach the family last night and he is really enjoying reading the Book of Mormon. And they invited us to eat a little plate of cheese - always a good sign. So they are coming along great. The problem with them right now is that they are not married. So, it may be a while before they have a baptismal date. Elder Vasquez is a really great missionary, too. I sorely miss Elder Hanke, but I know Elder Vasquez and I are going to have great success together.

That’s about it for now. I’m gonna go get a haircut. Hooray. No, I haven’t received the package yet and have come to the sad conclusion that it was intercepted by hungry, evil trolls or something like that. No biggie. They probably needed it more than I did. Glad to hear Jordan’s volleyball team did well in La Jolla last weekend (but still not as great as my championship team - ha!). Go Skyhawks! Give my love to Cousin Cody in his grief over the loss of his friend in Romania - one of the missionaries who died there a couple months ago. That is very sad. I had no idea about the incident or Cody’s connection. Where would we be without the great Plan of Salvation? Things are going good down here and I really love being in the mission. I have really learned to love the people and Chiclayo is just a great place. Our pension’s family is awesome and they treat us like we their own sons. This is definitely a strong ward and an awesome area. Being a missionary is great and it’s so awesome to have other friends and family members that are serving with me right now. Thank you everyone for all your support. Have a great week! God is real. The Savior, His Son, lives. The fullness of His gospel, with all its priesthood power and saving ordinances have been restored to the earth. The Church is true!

Elder “Ping Pong” Royal

P.S. I’ve not actually played ping pong here in Peru, but that’s the middle name of the week that just came to mind!

Never Too Old to Be a Senior ;)

Hey Hey Hey!

Ok, Let’s get one thing out of the way. Peru needs to adopt the "cheaper by the dozen" rule. It’s driving me nuts. We had to by stuff like emergency kits for the whole zone last week and, wow, that principle could really make a difference here. Okay, that’s it.

We had a pretty good week here in La Victoria. Elder Hanke and I started out pretty well, but didn’t end as well this week - kinda the opposite of what happened the week before. We do have some people that are progressing. We are teaching 14 year old Sobeida who had a fecha (baptismal date) for last Sunday but it didn’t go through. She has some family issues there. She is a great girl and completely different from her sisters who are just rude as can be. So, that might happen here in the next few weeks, we are working on it. We have another teenage girl, Sandra, 17 years old, who just sky rocketed with progression in a single week going from very strong Catholic to... I think this stuff is true...still a bit unsure, but came to church yesterday and is doing very well. So she is very hopeful for us in the next few weeks. The Sarate family that we taught last Sunday that we were so excited about was stuff to get in contact this week. We finally taught them again Saturday night, but without the father, just the mother and four daughters. Wow, lots of girls. I hope no one has any bad ideas about us missionaries here. It’s innocent, I promise. But they ALMOST came to church. They didn’t progress much this week, but I still have a lot of hope for them. They have some money struggles as the father bounces around looking for work to provide for food and schooling. But, hopefully something good happens soon. We also had a great lesson with some menos activos Saturday night - the parents with their two young children. We talked about eternal families and then in a spur the moment kind of thing, trying to think of a game to lighten the mood: “Don’t Eat Pete” came to my mind - and changed the whole attitude of the night. It turned out way good and just fun for the family. The best part, something I will never forget, was when their nearly two year old daughter was taking each little cracker, obviously not really knowing how to play...but we kept telling her, eat, eat, keep going, until she got to Pete, or Pablo, and we all screamed at her... "No comas Pablo!" She got scared, dropped the cookie, and started crying. I felt terrible, but could not stop laughing. I always do that - make kids cry on accident. I can’t count how many times I have done that - in the last six weeks alone! But at least it wasn’t JUST my fault this time. But yeah, it was pretty much hilarious. That aside, the family came to church yesterday for the first time in months. My only hope is that when they get to the celestial kingdom and someone asks how they returned to the gospel and then remained faithful Church members is that their answer will be... "No comas Pablo."

Ok, now the big news. CAMBIOS. My dear Elder Hanke is leaving me to go train a new missionary in a neighboring zone here in Chiclayo, Dorado. I am staying here in La Victoria as zone leader and my new companion will be Elder Vasquez. I am really happy about that. He is a good missionary that I have known for a long time and has a very good, humble way about him. So I am looking forward to this change with him. I will miss Elder Hanke, though. This last change was da bomb.com. I am a bit nervous about being in charge of the zone now as senior zone leader. Ya know, technically, this is my first change EVER as senior companion. Because I never was a senior companion before going to the office, then I left the office as junior zone leader. So . . . interesting. Well, I’m out 20 months tomorrow and . . . well, first time as senior comp. Haha. We have a lot of new people coming to the zone, including two new district leaders, one of them Elder Ibarra, the ex-financial secretary that I trained. That will be interesting. There are no new elders, but there will be a new sister, which is kinda nice actually since we can’t do work visits with the sisters anyway - one less thing to worry about. :) So, there is some new stuff for me here in LA Victoria. I talked to Elder Meza again today about Piura Central, and in this last change four people that I was teaching while I was there got baptized since I have been here in La Victoria. That is so awesome!! Two of them being a husband and wife with two young kids. So cool. I guess my wish that I could be part of bringing an entire family came true! So cool. And the two young single girls both got baptized. So the Los Ficus single adult crowd just got a lot more interesting. Anyway, I was very happy to hear about all that.

Glad to hear Jordan and Silverado are winning and loving volleyball. Go Skyhawks! Hey, my good bud Elder Gale sent me a letter recently indicating he will be in town this weekend for the Saves the Day concert. If you guys are going to be around, give him a call. You’d like meeting him. Well I think that is about all I have for this week. I really can’t believe that I have 20 months in the mission =0. That is pretty nuts to me. Time is just going faster and faster. But I am really enjoying it and growing more and more as time goes by. I hope everyone is doing well back home, or wherever ya’ll may be. I am happy to be serving alongside so many friends, and cousins. This Church is true. It is the Savior’s church. It has prophets, apostles, the authority of God, with all the necessary saving ordinances and principles. Live it. Join it. Find everlasting peace through it.

Elder “Got Milk?” Royal