Ho Ho Ho!

Hello everyone!

I want to start with a very Merry Christmas to all! I know you guys will be having a lot of fun tonight and tomorrow, and while I wish I could be there with you, I know I'm supposed to be here for just one more Navidad.

We had an amazing week this week, all centered on the Christmas show in the plaza in Trujillo! You should check out the Turks blog for more details, but on Tuesday night, we went and sang with all the other missionaries in the choir. There were some amazing solos, a ton of fireworks, flying doves, and Santa Claus. I also played a special musical number with some of the sisters in the morning devotional, which was quite a treat. Thursday, my comp and I had to go back and play the number again in the morning, but afterwards were instructed to go home and proselyte the rest of the day, since our zone wouldn't be singing that night in the show. However, I marched right up and begged Hermana Turk to let us stay, and she told me "Just come to the show, and I'll find something for you to do." SCORE! We came to the plaza about 6pm, and she had me tape the whole thing on her Flip camera (which is really cool btw). Those videos of the show on her blog are taken by yours truly! Enjoy! It really was a great experience though. We touched a lot of people, and seeing everyone there happy and laughing was just a great Christmas treat.

Tomorrow, I'll be getting on to say Merry Christmas. I'm in Peru, so if the technology doesn't work, I'll just get to a phone and call you guys. We found a member who has pretty fast internet though, so everything should go well. I can't wait to talk to you all!

I love you so much guys. It really is sad to have to go through Christmas without you, but I know you all will have a ton of fun. You guys are my world. Thanks for always being there and supporting and teaching me everything I know. You are the best family in the world! Read Punchinello for me!

Love ya
T
PS Thanks so much to Grandma Pettersson for the Christmas gift!  I miss you and love you and hope you have a great holiday season in Utah!  You're the best!

It's Hot!

Dear familia!

How is everyone? It really is starting to get steamy here. Christmas is honestly the hottest time of the year in Peru. It is super weird for me...I honestly forget that we are in Christmas season until I read you guys' emails. We did decorate our room though. I say "decorate", but honestly we only have two Christmas decorations in the whole place. One is a stuffed Santa that some elders left there from years back, and the other is a Mexican nativity scene inside of a hollowed out porcelain chili pepper. Feliz Navidad! I am, however, singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs in English, so I am sure Elder Almazan loves me for that...

We had quite a fun P-day. Hermana Turk invited the whole zone over to make some tacos at her house! I am sure you will see some pictures on the blog, but we played lots of games and listened to Christmas carols too. Made me miss home, to be honest. The tacos were delicious though. Their house is actually really nice. I like playing the piano there too, since it is still the only real one that I have found in Peru. Our chapel doesn't have one at all, and the others that do have them are all electric. You know how I am with electric pianos too, not a fan.

The week went well overall. We are just here preparing more people to get baptized. I am in what is probably my last few weeks in this area, so I am trying to leave it all on the field! It is a great place and I will miss all the people here, but after 8 months of it, I'm ready to go. I have certainly learned a lot though. Alto Moche will always have a part of my heart.

I am sending you some fun pictures this week of the cover that I had made for my English scriptures. This lady burns it in there with a metal pen thing, and she can literally do it with any image that you want. I only payed about 20 bucks for this one too. On one side is the temple in Trujillo (check out the Turks blog for updates on it!), and on the other side has our beloved San Antonio temple! Pretty cool eh?

Love you all. Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season. Can't wait to talk to you in just two weeks!
Thanks to grandma Pettersson for the Christmas money!  I love you and miss you!
Trace

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like...

Dear Family & Friends,

Wow! What a week we had here in Alto Moche, Peru. We started off the week a bit discouraged, as we had so many people that we felt were ready to enter the waters of baptism, and just one who was comitted to getting baptized on Saturday. We were able to see some miracles though, as we visited an investigator, Claris, that we have been teaching for awhile, and lo and behold, she said "I want to get baptized on Saturday"! It was great to see just how happy they were to make this covenant with God. They both bore their respective testimonies right after the service, and the Spirit was felt quite strong.

The pictures you see are of us right before the service. Thought I would include the one where I'm trying to instruct the 1st counselor in the bishopric on how to use my camera. My face looks funny. Also threw a "cool guys" picture in there of Elder Vanden Bosch and I. Hope you enjoy.

Check out the blog for some other pictures of my companion and I. We had to shovel Hermana Turk out of the sand, since she got her van stuck up in there while visiting our area. Good thing I already had some experience from trying to get Dad's Avalanche out of the mud at Muleshoe when Taylor, Nathan, and I got it stuck there. Haha.

Thanks to Nathan, Garrett and Tanya for the mail! I love reading what you guys are up to, even if I can't always respond to it. Thanks to Kayleigh as well for the package.

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Love you all
Trace