"Facing adversity head on and overcoming it." -Dad

This week was great. Not the best week that I have ever had, obviously, but I went into it optomistically, so it came out alright. I am grateful for all of your support and motivation! Like mom, I don't really think that I have a lot to talk about. Let's go by day, see if I can remeber anything super special.

Lunes: We started "Mini-Sión" in a different place called "Las Viñas".  We didn't like the place, but decided that we would give it a shot. the first day was okay, but it wasn't very good. Then, we had lessons and stuff. That was it.

Martes: We have been trying to do 10 ways to find this week, and we did a lot of it. I will explain more later.  Mini-Sión was a lot better feeling the second day.

Miercoles: District meeting. Elder Hiuish brought some guacamole that he made. It was really good. Then, someone said to me "You've got something in the mail." Kool! That's a first.  So it was this shoebox. It was from mom, but was Brady's idea. :) I loved it. Twix (I bragged to everyone about it today.) Some cookies, milk duds, junior mints.  a couple weeks ago, I told my mom, jokingly, that I wanted some banana bread... and she actually sent it!!!!!!!! That was sooo funny to me.  It was good, but not as good as it is when it is fresh, and toasted. It was all wet with a wierd juice stuff that came out of it, it was super dense, and it was cold, because I kept it in the fridge.  Oh well, I ate it, so it's ok. The cookies were great though! Molases crinkles. :) And then, to top it off, there were Pictures of the Temple, and My family.  The frame with my family in it was broken, but the temple one was intact. as I looked through the piuctures, I got SO happy. But, I got to the last one in the stack, and I cried. I am so embarassed. Elder Guevara doesn't like babies. :P Jk, but the last picture was the picture of me and my brothers. The first thing that came to my mind was "Every Brother is a Superhero."  Wow.  Freaking. Awsome. I love you guys so much. Thank you so much.

Jueves: Saw a pretty serious fight happen. It was interesting. The cops came, and arrested the attacker. Fun stuff.

Viernes: Las Viñas turned out to be perfect. Lots of people who could be ready. We have done a lot of contacting. 

Sábado: Nothing super special. In the night, I had a little pep talk with myself. I got super ready and happy. I am getting the language, sometimes, and I just felt awesome. I made a goal to talk only in Spanish on Sunday, and to make a joke. Great night.

Domingo: I did it! Only Spanish today! I didn't make a joke, and I didn't talk a lot, But, I did it, and I found out that I am doing exchanges again. with the same guy. So, no English. kool. Bring it on!

Today was zone P-Day. We had a little party, sort of. It is our Zone Leader's las P-Day. he goes home next week, to Nevada. He is kool. I will miss him a little, but I didn't get to know him too well. But, good for him! His name is Elder Hackleman.  I was trying to learn some children's hymns, and wasn't doing to bad!" I learned 2, almost memorized. We'll Bring the World His Truth, and My Heavenly Father Loves me. I love that song. It reminds me of Mom. Anyways, that was my day.

And my week. The names of the family that I baptized last week are: Miguel Morales Mendoza(42); Lidia Rodas Hernandez de Morales(34), Leidi Julissa Morales Rodas(15), Miguel Angel Morales Rodas(13), and Sergio Joel Morales Rodas (9).  Names are different here. Everyone has 2 last names. For instance, my name if I was born here would have been Riley Jacob Olsen Arave. It is strange. And then, If youare a girl, and are married, your name doesn't change. You just get one added on.  For instance, the wife of this family, her name is Lidia Rodas Hernandez, but she is married to a Morales, so she gets a "de Morales" added on. Interesting. I forgot my camera, so you will have to wait until next week for the pictures. 

"Las 10 Maneras de Encontrar" are just 10 different ways to contact or find people. We are supposed to have 10 every week, and it is harder than it seems.  These, for us, are as follows: FHE (a game to play with families), BoM challenge (give someone a book of mormon with the challenge to read it and pray, and we will stop by in 3 days to see.), Mini-Sión, Contact Neighbors of members, contact in a Plaza (which was a complete failure, but we tried it), ward BoM (give a member a book of mormon, and have them give it to someone, and bring them to church), Old investigators, contact with a video (Together Forever), Church Tour (Thursdays, where I saw the fight), and teach a lesson to a member and ask referals.  They worked somewhat. it was the first week that we used it, and we trippled our number of new investigators from last week. (That isn't saying much, last week was terrible, with only 3 investigators. This week we had 8, which isn't completely trippled, but close enough.) We will continue to use the 10 ways, and hopefully, we won't be transferred next week. TRANSFERS ARE NEXT WEEK! Wow! 6 weeks. Faster than the CCM, that's for sure. I really hope that Elder Guevara is not transferred, and I REALLY hope that I have to show around a new companion that doesn't speak English. Anyways, we will see what happens next week. This week is what I will focus on.

Testimonio: Sé que esta iglesia es la únicamente verdadera iglesia en todo del mundo. Solo en esta iglesia tenemos la plenitud del evangelio, y la autoridad para hacer ordenanzas como bautismo y la santa cena. Yo estoy muy agradecido por esta oportunidad de servir aquí en Misión Perú Lima Oeste.  La misión realmente es maravillosa. Sí, la misión es un deber, pero para mi, es mucho más que eso. Es una bendición. Gracias por toda su ayuda. estoy feliz por eso. Hasta el 23 de Marzo! Les amo!