LOVES VISITING MEMBERS in LIMA PERU - Aug.12, 2009

holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so much to take in from you being sick to the van being stolen at the office! im so sorry to hear all that and ill remember to keep you specifically in my prayers. i miss you and wish i were there to help and enjoy the company of everyone but im doing great and another week has gone by and on saturday we went out for the whole day and tracted, visited less actives, made street contacts, all kinds of exciting stuff, and we had great success. my companion and i have 3 lessons to go back and teach next saturday and some other people to visit so im looking forward to that! the first thing on the list is to visit the less actives in the ward that we are assigned to. LOTS of less actives! anyway, we started off and the first person wasnt home but an old man was sitting on the curb and for ¨ssome reason¨ he was sitting on the side across from his house...obviously waiting to hear us :) so i started a conversation and by the end he said he was going to go to church the next day. next man was home, and was a little old seamstress who was doing a suit at the moment, but it was the most amazing lesson and the Spirit was strong! we taught him and he commited to go to church the next day and said he knew he had been missing that Spirit that we brought into his home. next, a man who was about early-mid 30´s let us talk to him at the door and we ended up teaching him about eternal families and he has been inactive for 11 years but was going to go to church to take the sacrament because he had to work, and he shared experiences from the temple when he did baptisms when he was 15 and a brand new member. we had a lot more amazing experiences and i would love to share them, but i dont have time, but my favorite was our last, when we were knocking the doors we felt like we should...the man was awesome and seemed weird about us at first, come to find out the evangelical church a block down told the people that if they listen to us or our book, theyre dead(he motioned his thumb across his throat haha) anyway, everythings fair here and the food is alright. i got the flu friday and stayed in for the afternoon of class resting and throwing up, and i just barely got passed the diahrrea phase. but miss you all and hope to talk to and hear from you soon

Isaac Russell & his Band came to Crystal Palace!

ISAAC RUSSELL with Malcom Jackson in BAKO

July 23, 2009!

I attended

In honor of Kyle's admiration of the music that Isaac makes -
I attended the concert in HIS HONOR
so I could get the photo's and document the BIG DEAL for Elder Nichols -
they did great
they were good
they had fun
they made people believe in them
they made us proud
Lucy and I enjoyed the concert together
Just like we used to enjoy sitting at the computer
with KYLE listening to Isaac on the internet -
SO, ENJOY IT WHILE IT IS GOOD and hope Kyle get's to see you perform in person!
You made us proud!

Love My Peruvian Companion - teaching him ENGLISH!

sooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! its way different here which didnt surprise me. food is different, classes, people, everything. my days right now are different than the previous three weeks cuz my companion is peruvian! doesnt know a word in english, he´s 25!!!, and he used to be a mototaxista! its so funny cuz i try to teach him english and almost pee myself laughing at how he talks. he has had a rough life and its obvious money has never been present in his life which is so sad but so humbling to me because i see that he is happy and sweet spirited.so once again this email ldsmail crap kicked us all out so now im back starting over but to be honest, i loved the provo mtc so much more than this but this mtc has its plus's. we get to go out our 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th saturdays from 1 to 8 or 9 at night to contact inactives and tract in the streets. every 2 districts go to a ward building and meet up with missionaries from the ward and other leaders from the ward who take us out in companionships which im way excited for!to be honest, friday night and all saturday i was bummed because i just kept imagining what all my family was doing with the whole wedding and reunion but i got through it ha. i wish i were there with all you and hope all is well in all the respective homes of my family, and wish i had the time to write you all but 30 minutes isnt much for a weeks events. miss and love you all!peter-im gonna be sending my 8GB card home cuz a latin kid was messing with my camera like a retard and doesnt know english so somehow he deleted all my pictures which was a very furious moment for me because all my pictures from provo were on it but some techy kid told me theres programs on the internet and also companies that you can send the card to, to retrieve the pictures because all deleting them on the camera does is mark those pictures as though they can be written over so if you dont take any more pictures on the card they can retrieve them so im hoping thats the case!mom-i dont need warm stuff, winter here is a joke. its great weather here in lima right now...sadly no sun much but its all good. OH!!! and i heard a secret that an apostle is coming to speak to us at the end of AUGUST!!!!!!!!!!! way cool! theres 76 missionaries here in our CCM and 3/5ths are latin the other 2/5ths are americans obviously. but yeah, gotta run, love you and miss you. i might be able to write back later so feel free to write back whenever!!!!

I'm Sleeping in another Continent! July 30. 2009

so....lots to say!!!!!!!!!! im here in lima at the mtc. its 10.15 here in the morning and we just got done filling out a bunch of government papers. our plane from atlanta left way late and we were sitting in the plane at the gate for like a no hour and a half so then we didnt get in til like 11.30 and the customs line was like ridiculous for some reason all the airlines think its smart to fly in at the same time, so we waited forever and then funny enough the aduana who helped me was a member. we got onto the bus at like 1.30 and it took a good 45 minutes to get to the CCM and i passed the TEPSA Station!!!!!!!!!!!(Peter and Stacie) the picture i got was blurred though so i deleted it. the lima temple closes for 2 weeks today so i wont go for a while but its just a mile or two away. i got very little sleep, on top of like two 30 minute power naps on the plane and 2 hours of sleep the night before i left provo. so im dead!!!!!!!!!!!! the mtc here is so much better already, they have a turf soccer field, ping pong tables, fusbol tables, street soccer courts, amazingly nice bathrooms with granite countertops, very nice rooms, and its hilarious because the cafeteria is run by the concessions company Aramark ha. i have a latin companion havent met him yet hope to in a while but i get to go nap for a bit which im more than excited for. peter, my spanish just needs to be warmed up which it wasnt yesterday and already has been put on the warmer since i arrived and was helping the other elders. cant wait to send pictures! not sure if i can yet but we shall see. miss all of you and hope the beach is great again today and such. the weather is so amazing right now. when we got to the airport all the peruvians were wearing heavy coats and we were in our suits dying of the heat. talk to you all later

PROVO MTC IS AWESOME!!!!

just a recap of what im up to, lots of work going on, learning more everyday and teaching, and we got to reply to emails from people who send questions to the church website...IN SPANISH!! the sister who emailed me was from mexico so it was cool to be able to testify of what i know and stuff even through an email. first things first...still havent gotten stacies address. need that. nikkis yours as well! the letter is on my desk waiting. heidi i sent one off today for you! but nikki i think you and jordan are some amazing examples of good hard missionary work! hope all goes well with everything you told me about. peter...CALM DOWN! youre getting a little too busy! thats all so exciting, and thanks for the dodgers updates, i enjoy those. i also was aware of the trade with the lakers. i hate ron artest, but well have to see how it goes. steph, write me on dearelder or something, as well as tyler and katy. tell elyse thank you for the picture, i loved it and i miss her, and i am looking forward to her dance recital pictures. i know youll do great elyse! christian, hows soccer? i miss you bud. play a few wii games for me? mom, i miss you and am thankful for everything, wish of all my family, that YOU could be here with me! as far as things i need, just my camera battery charger and that should be good. the clothes can wait til peru! dad, hope work in the yard is coming along, sounds like it! enjoy alaska, im excited to hear about that. love you. miss all of you and hope you have a great week!p.s. i DO NEED STACIE TO GO TO LIKE ROSS AND GET ME ONE LARGE PIECE OF LUGGAGE, SHE CAN EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED TO IT, ITS NOT REPAIRABLE. BROCK ACCIDENTALY RIPPED THE MAIN POCKET WHEN HE WAS TAKING IT OUT OF THE CAR. SO LONG, OH AND THANKS FOR THE CARE PACKAGE MOM! I DONT KNOW IF YOU RWEAD THE STORY ABOUT THE PIONEER THEY SENT WITH IT BUT IT WAS AMAZING. COOKIES WERE AND STILL ARE GREAT, SHARING THEM AND ALL.