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.

Week #32- found the solution!

This week was a little bit better than my companion, we had a few arguements but we think we found the solutions and we have been getting a long a little bit better. He still doesnt help me in the lessons very much and has actually fallen asleep a few times during the lesson but he has been talking a little bit more than just sharing his testimony. My district leader talked to our President at the multi zone and President Boswell told him that I am the senior companion, so I guess President knows about my companions record he has 16 months and I am his senior companion.. We had a multi zone this week and I got to see my last 2 companions there, it was really awesome to talk to them again. I also got to see a few other friends that were in my last zone. We didnt have church this week because they had to vote for their mayors and stuff, and we have general conference next week. I thought it was kind of weird that they cancelled church because of voting. They have to pay money if they dont vote so everyone left to vote.We only visited one person yesterday because everyone was gone to go vote. We have found a lot of cool new investigators and we are really excited to teach them. One of our contacts gave us a banana and jello the first time we even talked to them. It was awesome. The weather here has been getting warmer and warmer and the humidity here sucks, but atleast I will get a little bit tanner here. Thank you for all of your support. Love, Elder Monson

Dusty shoes!

Week #31- 2 baptisms!

This week was really hard. I got a new companion, my new companion is Elder Gonzales from Peru. It is really hard getting used to him as my companion, because he doesnt do anything, He just isnt really motivated to do anything so I have had to do everything. The first thing my zone leaders told me is that he isnt allowed to have the cell phone. Last week for p day we went to a hill in the middle of Lima where you can see all of Lima. It was really cool to see how many people live here and the line that seperates the rich people and the poor people. On saturday we had 2 baptisms for 2 people that have been listening to the missionaries for a really long time. It was amazing to see how strong their testimonies are. One of them is the only member in her family and her family really didnt want her to be baptized. Her grandma told her that she was born catholic, baptized catholic, and that she was going to die catholic. It was amazing that she still chose to be baptized even though her family is against it. It shows that she really has a testimony. This week we had about 5 people come up to talk to us just because I am white and they wanted to know what I was doing here. It was pretty funny but we had some good contacts talking with them. It is crazy that I have already been here for 7 months now, I love it here and I am learning a ton. Thats all for this week,  In our mission they put all of the sister missionaries in the rich areas, they dont put the sisters anywhere close to the dangerous missionaries. My new companion has 16 months in the mission.
Love, Elder Monson

All of Lima!

Double Baptism!! 

Week #30- where her mark was!

This week was great we had a few really cool experiences. We had an investigator who called us and asked if we could visit her that day because she had gotten a good answer to her prayers. We immediately went to her house and she told us that she had had a dream the night before that she was in a line to be judged and the people that had gotten baptized had marks on them. When it was her turn to be judged the guy asked her where her mark was. She said she looked all over the place and couldnt find one. She understood that she needed to be baptized and told us that she would be baptized that friday. We had a really fun time getting everything ready for her baptism. We had to fill up the font with buckets of water because the pump is broken. It took forever and was tiring. My companion baptized her and the baptism was really awesome. I also did divisions with our district leader this week and we visited 2 other investigators in my area that have been listening to the missionaries for many months. We had a really great lesson with them and later the next day they called us and told us that the scripture that we shared with them really helped them and that they want to be baptized. We gave them a baptism date to be baptized this Saturday so we are really excited. We are going to have transfers wednesday and my companion is most likely going to leave so he is a little sad but we are going to ask permission for him to be able to come back for their baptism. We have had an amazing week and I hope we have a lot more like it! We eat with members on sundays for lunch, and the service we did was for the mom of a member. We have transfers on wednesdays now.