January 31, 2011

Hey everybody!!!Well we finally had a change in my sector. Elder Kasat wastransferred to Zona Condavia... which is in Lima... like all of thezones in my mission. The interesting thing is that he started in thatZone so he his headed back to the Zone he came from, which is prettyfunny because about 2 days before transfers we talked about how hewould like to spend some time in as many zones as possible. (Thereare 10 in the mission). So his number of different zones in themission is still only 2. :)Well as you know, I am starting my fourth transfer here in Porvenir.And the best news is, I´m still junior companion! :) Well, sort-of.My new companion obviously doesn`t know anything about my sector so Iam pretty much in charge of the area right now as far as what we do.My companion´s name is Elder Linares. He is from Tacna, Perù. If youlook for tacna on a map all you have to do is look where Perù turnsinto Chile and thats about it. Lots of people here joke about howTacna is as much Chile as Perù, and Elder Linares lived in Chile for15 years of his life, so I have another (partly) Chilean companion.He is awesome and has been in the mission for 20 months now. Heactually started his mission in the Perù Lima East mission, and whenthe missions divided and changed a little bit he changed missions tomy mission in Perù Lima Central. He is awesome and wants to do a lothere in the ward. Its really cool because we have a goal for Februaryof 5 baptisms, and really there is no doubt in my mind we could haveas much as 8. :) About home,Sounds like everything is going pretty well in Washington D.C. even ifthe earth is a little frozen there. (Better than really hot.) That`ssomething Ive decided. As a missionary cold has got to be better thanhot. You can always put on more layers. You can never lose the tieand the dress pants. Needless to say it feels really hot here.I like the fact that everyone is doing well in basketball. Soundslike the ward teams are pretty good. Keep trying hard, and rememberthat sportsmanship is more important than winning. I wish I hadlearned that a little better a little earlier.Im super excited to hear that Utah State is still undefeated in theWAC, even if its not incredibly impressive. Hopefully they can keepit up in order to get a seed better than 13. :) Although unlessHawaii is a whole lot better than they have been in the past, I am notterribly impressed with the Aggies´ 2ot win.Im glad to hear that you have been getting the opportunities to sharethe gospel with people in the communities and in dads work. These arethe people who progress the most. The one`s who know people in thegospel and can see the effect it has on their lives. Biggest news about Perù:I FINALLY FOUND A USE FOR VALENTINE`S DAY!This one use is that it convinces people in Perù to get married. Herein Perù they have what are called Matrimonios Massivos, whichbasically is a really cheap way for a lot of people to get married allat once, and we happen to have about 6 people that need to get marriedbefore they can get baptized. 3 of them are Sandra, Elizabeth, andSislet. Sandra is ready and is currently gathering information.Elizabeth, I`m not sure, but I think it will happen, and for Sislet,if there is one in La Victoria her husband has agreed to get married.Which means 3 marraiges, closely followed by three baptisms, and 1year later Sandra and Elizabeth can be sealed in the temple. It`ssomething really special. We are also teaching Julia and Enrique, amother and son, who have progressed quite a bit. We are teaching Bettyand halfway teaching her husband, Joel. We are still teachingLourdes, although lately she has been a little difficult to find. Wealso found two teenage cousins, Kevin and Miguel, who could becomereally good.The list goes on, which is something awesome here in Perù, but theseare the people I am most excited about. We are planning lots ofactivities to get members involved and this should be an awesome monthand an awesome transfer. Its probably my last transfer here whichmakes it even better.I don`t have pictures this week, but I do have a scripture to share.My scripture is in Helaman 10:4-5 which talks about Nephi who wasgiven the promise of anything he said would be bound on earth and inheaven because his will was the same as God`s will. He was given tonsof power and tons of promises. And if we follow his example theblessings will come. They will quickly and they will be many.I love you all, and hope that everything will continue to go well at home. Tyler