My First Llama and 'Bailando Mi Trompo'

Guess what!? I saw a llama!!!! I saw my first llama in Peru! If I hadn't been running late for an appointment, I totally would have stopped to pet it...oh well, next time!

In my current area, I have really learned how important the members are for missionary work to succeed. When we have the help of the members to go with us to lessons, to help invite less active members to activities, and to befriend investigators and help them come to the chapel, there is a huge difference in the ward. There is much more success in reactivation and church attendance.

This past week, we were able to talk to several less active members that have been a little standoff-ish since we got here. It was really great to finally be able to talk with them and begin to see their needs. In fact, there is a young adult in our ward that when we got here, she and her family weren't coming to church at all. We began to visit with her and her family, and we had the help of another young adult to invite her to activities. She began to come back to church and to ward and young adult activities, and yesterday, she told us she wanted to serve a mission! It's really amazing to see the change in her, and we are super grateful for the help of the young adults in our ward. They are awesome!

I am really curious to see what they do here in Peru for Halloween. I'm starting to think that they don't do anything super fun like in the states for Halloween. I have seen a few tiendas with a couple of costumes, but that's about it. Regardless, I will definitely buy some Halloween candy, and if we don't get any trick-or-treaters, than we'll just have to eat it ourselves -- ha ha. What is Halloween without some chocolate? Maybe I'll make some decorations for our apartment.

We're still looking for another apartment, but no success yet. Although we had transfers last week, I'm still staying in Prolima 2 with Hermana Larsen. Almost everyone in our zone stayed the same, and we welcomed another set of elders to our zone. With all the new missionaries coming in, we can have even more missionaries in each ward. Anyway, we are really hoping to find something soon. We really want to cook for ourselves for breakfast and dinner, because we are really sick of rice and most the time we aren't even hungry at night because people like to give us stuff. Anyways, still looking.

My little sister asked me what I do in my spare time here. Well, I don't have a whole lot of spare time, but when I do, I have lately been practicing "bailando mi trompo." This roughly translates to "dancing my top" (the toy, not an article of clothing). I got one of those awesome toy tops like my Uncle Joel got when he was a missionary in the Philipines, becuase all the kids in Peru play with them too. I can get it to go sometimes, and I hope that I can get good at it before I go back to the States -- ha ha. Sometimes, I also work on my notebook that has all of my pictures in it, kind of like a scrapbook for my mission. It is coming along. Occasionally I draw too, but I haven't drawn in a while. We went running a couple times this past week, and we'll run some more this week, but we usually only have about 10 or 15 minutes to run. However, I enjoy the time I do have to run!

Sorry, almost out of time. I just wanted to share some of what I learned this week. I learned that I have been incredibly blessed in my life to have such great parents and a loving family. I am so incredibly grateful for my parent's examples and all the work they do for me and my siblings. I know that when I get married, I want to marry someone who is 100% committed to the Lord, becuase then I know that life will be ok no matter what. I want my kids to have a good example in their father, and have a good example in me. I can see the difference good parents make in the lives of their children, and I want to give that to my kids. Thanks you so much to my parents and my grandparents too.