I'm Still Having Fun

Hello all

I attach that title to my email this week just in case anyone thinks that I'm getting really tired and near dead. I am getting tired, but I am still having fun as well. The mission is the best, but is certainly a marathon and not a sprint. I appreciate sleep a lot more than I used to.

 

 

We had another baptism this week, this time of a great young man named Bryam (not Bryan). He simply  joined the church thanks to the example of his two best friends, Paulo and Bruno, who are also members. The three of them always hung out, and Paulo and Bruno continually talked to Bryam about how great the church was until he joined himself! Seriously, you guys can never underestimate the influence that you have on your friends and family. That's why it's so important to share your testimony with everyone you can.

We are still doing great here. Elder Hill and I have a lot of fun, especially since we have a lot of time and experience in the field, we understand when it's time to have fun and when it's time to work. He is a great guy.

One scripture that really changed my week was Alma 36:24-25. Read it and think about the impact that we can have on other people's lives as we do missionary work.

Hope you enjoy the picture of the baptism and also of me in a giant grass field in our area. Interestingly enough, there is almost no grass where we are, so this is certainly a rare occurence.

Love you all.

Trace

 

Baptisms and Revelation

Hello family and friends!

Well first of all, we did have our baptism of Alonso, which was a great experience. His mom and sister came too, which made the experience even more special. Unfortunately, Alonso's family had to have the baptism in the afternoon, which is a time that most Peruvians are out at work, so not too many members showed up, but it was a baptism nonetheless. Next time we will work a little harder on spreading the word and planning. We have one baptism planned for this coming Saturday, so we are excited for that!

 

 

In other news, we have stumbled on to an idea that is changing our zone, area, and stake! It is a program that was put on by a Seventy a long time ago that has to do with sharing the Book of Mormon with just two questions. He gives a talk on how we can ask the following two questions to any person that we meet, and share the BOM easily:

1. Do you like to read?

2. If I gave you a book that talked about Jesus Christ in the Americas, would you read it?

You then just have to write down the address of that person, give the address to the missionaries, and they provide a Book of Mormon that you can write your testimony in. They then go and give it to that person, and are usually allowed in to teach the message of the Restoration. And that's where it all starts! Isn't it such an easy program? And let me tell you, we are already seeing some huge miracles thanks to putting it in practice. The stake president even invited us to speak at two different stake firesides last night to present the program. I want to invite all of you to do the same thing with just one person this week. It's not hard at all! Just ask the two questions, and you will see the miracles!

 

 

Hope you enjoy the pictures of the baptism, and of me discovering a bunch of American sodas in a store next to our home. I went nuts.

Love you all!

 

T

Chilly

Hello all

I think I complained about how cold it is here in every letter that I sent out, so sorry if I sound like a whiner. Haha. It actually is only maybe 57 degrees here during the day, which isn't very cold at all, but since I've been in Peru for over a year and a half now, my body has gotten used to Peru weather, and 57 degrees is quite cold for the coast, so throw me a sweater and call me a cholo.

 

We are actually doing great though. We have been trying to find a lot of new investigators lately, which hasn't worked out all that well, but we aren't getting down. If I've learned anything in the mission, you got to be positive. If not, that's where Satan steps in and tells you that you can't do it. We will be having a baptism this Saturday though, which is exciting. He's a whopping 8 years old, and his name is Alonso. He's a great little kid who comes to church every Sunday with the Primary president. She's a great lady.

 

Hope everything is going well with you guys. Try and give the old lucky Astros do-rag a rub for me. The reason why we suck so bad is probably because I'm not there to work the do-rag! 

 

Love you all

Alma 26

Trace

 

It's Cold

Hello all

I never thought that I would say that on my mission, but it really is getting kinda chilly here. I wear my sweater every day and sleep with two blankets every night. Since central heating/cooling doesn't exist in any building in Peru (besides the temple), a cement house can get pretty chilly at night. It's alright though. It's definitely better than walking under the blazing sun all day.

 

 

We had an interesting week. We finally got to meet President and Sister Marler, and they are both awesome. President Marler actually reminds me a lot of Bishop DeBusk. He is a happy, very relaxed grandfather. He still wants to work hard, but he really enjoys talking to people and helping them out. Usually my interviews with President Turk lasted about 10 minutes. My interview with President Marler lasted half an hour. Both are great men.

Anyway, Elder Hill and I are doing great. We have lots of fun, as you can see by the picture I am enclosing of me shooting  arrows at our white board. Sometimes you just have to relax a bit. The mission can get pretty stressful sometimes. I'm also putting in a picture of an awesome drawing made purely from chalk that I saw a few weeks ago. Peruvians have some quirky talents.

 

 

If you guys want to see more pictures from the mission, Hermana Marler has decided to keep the MPT blog going! The address is kurtandkathymarler.blogspot.com

Love you all!

Trace

Happy 4th

Hey everyone

Hope you guys are having a great summer so far...can't believe it's almost halfway over...stinks for you guys who have to go back to class! Anyway, hope everyone has a great 4th of July first off. Are you guys going to be doing anything special? I am sure there will be a lot of smoked meat...though I suppose if Dad and Taylor are gone, maybe not! Eat a burger and a dog for me though.

 

Everything is going great here. It is actually really cold, since we are right next to the sea, and also right in the middle of winter, but that's life I suppose. It is still not that bad at all, to be honest. I've lived in Peru so long that I've become a weenie, and 60 degrees seems really cold to me. The new mission president is here though, so that should be really interesting! We haven't gotten to know him yet actually, but we will meet him and his wife this week when they come down to Chimbote. We are very excited!

 

Otherwise, Elder Hill and I are just working like monkeys and trying to get everyone that we can baptized! This new ward is actually really awesome, and bigger than any other that I've been in. The work is picking up.

 

 

Hope you guys enjoy the picture of me with my favorite family in Central. I miss them. Miss you all!

Trace