Week #39- she made us eat turtle meat!

This week was good, and we are having some success. We should have 2 baptisms this week and we are really excited. We are going to go to the Temple Wednesday with a few converts so that they can do baptisms for their ancestors. I cant wait to go to the Temple again. Our zone leaders called us and told us that we are going to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we dont know what we are going to do, but it sounds like it is going to be fun. The weather here is getting hotter and hotter, it felt like a desert yesterday it was so hot.  Me and my companion are getting a long well, and he is trying to memorize our area so that he can figure his way around when I leave. I had to go to the center of Lima today because my companion had to go to migrations and do some paperwork. So I am on a little bit late. It was really boring and is taking up a ton of our p day. We had another mission night and we played a game kind of like jeapordy with the scriptures and random things. It was pretty fun but hardly anyone showed up. There was only 2 members there so we were kind of mad about that. This branch doesnt really help the missionaries very much but well work through it Other than that this week was pretty normal. our pensionista told us that she made us eat turtle meat without even telling us haha
Love, Elder Monson

Week #38- teaching together with the spirit!

This week was good, we gave a few more investigators a baptismal date and we are really excited to have baptisms in this area after going about a month without one. We are having more lessons these past 2 weeks than I ever had with my last companion and I love it. I feel like we are a lot closer companionship and that we are teaching together and with the spirit. I love how my companion teaches with all of his examples, the investigators understand a lot better so they are really being converted. I loved one of my recent studies of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. I learned so much about how important it is for our investigators to read it and gain a testimony. If they gain a testimony that it is true they know that the church is true. It is really simple. I really liked when I was able to  tell this to one of our investigators and then he told he would read it that same day and pray about it. We are still waiting to see what he says but I know he will recieve his answer. We now have 6 people with a baptismal date and one this saturday. It is getting really hot here and was 75 degrees when I woke up at 6 30 I miss Utah and the cold so much! It is way to humid here. I am having a lot better time with my new companion and we are having a lot more success. haha Do you think it will live? I dont know about skype because I am going to be transferred from this area before Christmas. I am hoping to go to a rich area haha.
Love, Elder Monson

Week #37- new companion, same area!

This week was good. I got a new companion and stayed in the same area. My companion is E. Orosco from Ecuador and is really cool. He is cool and he works a lot better than my last companion. My companion has been out for 11 months. And then some drunk guy invited me to drink with him because I am white. It was funny.  I had to eat a chicken foot this week so remind your kids to be greatful of what you make them eat. There is always something weirder that they could be eating haha. We went to the temple this week as a mission and it was really cool. I am the only american in my district now so I wont be able to talk english in our room anymore and I will be the only one to teach the english classes. I finally got sick in the mission. I just woke up one day and I was sick to my stomach then we were contacting a reference. I threw up in the street, it was really embarrassing but my companion just kept talking to the reference. haha the kids are awesome here but they are crazy
Love, Elder Monson

This is where Elder Monson lives...

Day at the Temple!

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Week #36- her kid is obsessed with giants!

This week was awesome we go to go to the Temple because we took a recent convert to do baptisms for the dead. We were able to take her whole family who are investigators and her brother should be baptized on saturday. We went to the Temple as a branch and I go tot be the guy that checks off the names for the confirmations.We get to go to the Temple on Wednesday as a mission, so I am really excited to go again. Halloween is a little bit different here, not as many kids dress up and they only go to the little stores here. It was really weird when we saw people giving out little cards that said. No to Halloween Yes to Jesus. There are a lot of people here that think Halloween is satanic and that people shouldnt celebrate it. We found a new investigator this week and her kid is obsessed with giants. Everytime we have gone over there he has tried measuring some part of my body and has compared me to a ton of old time giants. He is really wierd and it makes me really uncomfortable, but his mom is a great investigator. We have transfers tomorrow so I will either be in a new area or have a new companion the next time I write! That's all for this week.
Love, Elder Monson

Dinner!!

Week #35- a goal to be sealed in the Temple!

Some of the Presidents assistants came to proselyte with us and they checked everything in my companions suitcases. They found a ton of stuff he shouldnt have... We are expecting to have an interview with President Boswell pretty soon. Next wednesdays are transfers and I think I will actually stay because of what he has done. We cant visit a recent convert anymore because he was flirting with her a lot. It sucks because she is the only member in her family and her family is against her being a member. We have 5 people with a baptismal date right now and they are looking pretty good. They are all for after transfers so I really hope I stay here. We also helped a family put a goal to be sealed in the Temple for December 6th they told me that if I leave they are going to invite me to their sealing. I love this family so much they are so awesome. Me and my last companion reactivated them into the church and now they are going to get sealed in the temple. I dont know what we will do for p day today my zone leaders have told me that I cant play sports anymore, but that is all we ever do for p day so I dont know what to do. I got 20 emails today so not a ton like usual so I will have more time to just chat. I wrote a list of some of the things i would like in this package for Christmas haha Poptarts (smores, or cookie dough) Gatorade powder, Nike socks, sour patch kids and a photo album FULL of pictures  and of course choc. cinnamon bears haha They celebrate Halloween here but it isnt as big. We eat dinner at 9 or 930 everynight. My favorite food here in papa a la huancaina and pollo a la brasa with lots of aji. We have eaten cow stomache a few times, and it is just really chewy.
Love, Elder Monson

Our room!

Week #34- investigators that are willing to follow Christ!

This week was good we recieved an amazing reference that accepted a baptismal date the very first time we met with him. He had read to Alma before we even visited him and has read the Bible all the way through 7 times. We are having pretty good success and have 4 people with a baptismal date in our area. Even though they are all after the next transfers I am happy that we have investigators that are willing to follow Christ. The other Elders that are in this branch had a baptism on Friday so we are getting even closer to being a ward. The problem here is that we have 340 people that are members in this area but this week we only had 113 go to church. I am really close to finishing the Book of Mormon. I am in Ether 11 right now so I am hoping to be able to finish it this week. I have learned so much and love reading it for my personal studies. Last week for p day we went to a huge zoo and saw a ton of really cool animals. We almost had a member make us some guinea pig to eat today but she had to cancel at the last minute. I was really excited to try it because everyone says that it tastes really good. She said she will have to do it some other day. Thats pretty much it for this week.
Love Elder Monson

Week #33- conference!

This week was great we got to listen to all of the conference sessions on Saturday and Sunday and I took about 10 pages of notes. It really built my confidence in my spanish, because I was able to understand almost everything. I learned a lot from conference and cant wait for the next one. Everyone kept asking me if I was related to the Prophet and everytime we teach investigators that we have a living prophet and we tell them who it is, they always stare and point at my name and then ask me if I am related to him. I have been asked that question SO MANY times. Also this week we put 2 investigators to a baptismal date for November 8th, so it would be after transfers. But they already told me that if they get baptized this day that they want to invite me to their baptism so I might get to come back if I leave. I love their family, they are the brother and sister of a recent convert that we just baptized a few weeks ago. Last week for p day was awesome we watched Rio in spanish and ate something called a completo which is a meter long sandwhich of hotdogs, tomato, guacomole, mayo, and ketchup. It was huge! and then we played soccer for the rest of the day. For service this week we got to cut some wood with an axe for a recent convert and it was really fun. All four of the missionaries here went to help and we got done pretty fast. I have been reading the Book of Mormon for my personal study and I am almost done I should be able to finish it next week. I have learned so much from reading it and have grown my testimony so much. If you want to build your testimony just read the Book of Mormon everyday for 10 minutes a day and you will slowly build your testimony. Thank you for all of your support. I havent gotten the packages yet. We watched every session of conference in spanish they had translators for everyone speaking a different language that wasnt spanish. For lunch we went back to our pension saturday and for sunday we bought our food the night before and just ate in the church. I bought muffins and chips. My companion is doing a few things he shouldnt be doing so i have already talked to my district leader and he talked to our zone leaders so we are working on him. We actually have an assignment here that we have to ask our family history from our families we need the info and stories our our ancestors back to our great grandparents.