Tres Mil Papas (Three Thousand Potatoes): Week 48 - "Hello Dudes!" Aug 1

This week we have drawn some conclusions by carefully studying the photos that Jonah has been sending. It is highly unlikely that Peru will be participating in the Olympics in basketball and Volleyball. We love the pictures he sends of the Peruvian people and are still waiting for that picture of a Peruvian that is taller than Jonah!

Hey everybody!!! I'm super excited to be able to write you all this week, and I hope that your week was espectacular!! This past week has been wonderful! We've been learning a lot of great things here in the area and we've had several huge changes to the mission that are really going to help us a lot. With the new mission president and new things that the Quorum of the Twelve wants, we are changing just a couple of things in the mission, and we're super excited to be able to do it! In this past week, we've learned a lot about faith in our church leaders, and the excitement of modern revelation. It's been super cool to see it happen first hand, and just being a part of it has been excelente. Also, as I mentioned in the last week, Luz got baptized and confirmed!! Such a cool experience. I'll send pictures and maybe a video this week too, entonces ¡prepárense!

In our room the other day, we had a super special experience. We were all talking (the 4 of us) and we shared all of our conversion stories! Elder Cogollo is 27 years old and is from Colombia. He left right before he turned 26, the oldest age possible. He's a convert to the church and has an incredible history that is actually pretty miraculous. Wonderful missionary. Elder Reyes is 23 years old, from Lima Peru, and also a convert to the church. He has sacrificed a million thousand things to be here in Trujillo on a mission. Wonderful missionary. Elder Linares is 19 years old and is from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He has 3 older sisters that are all return missionaries and has a super cool story. Wonderful missionary. Out of the 4 of us, I'm the only one that has parents that are members of the church. Elder Reyes and Elder Cogollo are the only members in their whole families. It makes me think a lot about sacrifice and what it really means. It would be extrememly difficult to leave a family behind that doesn't fully understand why their child is ''wasting 2 years of their life''. They could be studying or working, but they chose to spend all of their saved money and not study anything that will help them in their careers, right?

The mission is the best thing that will ever happen to me. I've changed and grown in these past 11 months, more than in any other time in my life. I feel prepared to live in this world, have a family, work, study, and I'm not even worried. I feel excited and calm at the same time. It's thanks to the time that I've had here in Peru, y me falta mucho todavía!! I have a testimony of the mission that it prepares sons and daughters of God to have an eternal family, more than any other thing on the face of the earth. I love my time here and testify that I have been called by God to be here.

I love this work so much! I'm loving every minute of it. I love you all so much, and hope that your week is llena de maravillas. I love you all so much!! Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and get ready to serve a mission. Love you all!