My Life Seems Boring

Dear Family,

Really, my life seems boring compared to the week you guys had! I am so jealous of all the Smuggs fun! To be honest... I miss nature almost more than anything else.  Seeing all the green just made me drool.  Keep sending the pics!

The weather is kinda funny at this point. Some days we are in really cold, dark weather (which I love), and other days it is hot as Texas in July. What's funny is the Peruvians bundle up like crazy when it's like 60 degrees. They have their snow hats and heavy coats on, and refuse to go outside. It's pretty funny. They all look at me like I'm crazy walking around with my short sleeved white shirt on.

Finally finished the Book of Mormon for the first time all the way through in Spanish! I am reading it again now, just marking it in a different way. Who knew that reading the scriptures could be so addicting?

Everything is going great here. Thanks so much for the package! Hope you like the picture. It's me standing in front of a burning field, though it didn't turn out too well. This is about as green as it gets in this part of Peru.

Love you tons!
T

Hello Family!

Feel free to check out the blog, because I AM ON IT! Haha. For like the first time ever I think. I look fat though. And really red. Anyway...

Obviously though, as you can tell from the blogsky, the big news this week is that my comp and I got to proselyte with President Turk! It was amazing. I put a few of the extra DTs in TAylor's letter, but the assistants basically just called us one morning and said, Hey President wants to go out with you guys this afternoon! It was a great experience. We felt the Spirit so strong in all the lessons, and President commended us on our hard work. I wish we could do it every week!

Anyway, everything here is going great. We might have a baptism this week if we are lucky, and we keep finding new people and teaching them. Hope you guys have a ton of fun in VT! I am jealous I am not there, but take lots of pictures please!

My pics: These are in front of a wall in La Campiña, a neighboring area in our zone. Trujillo is actually a brand of beer...but don't worry about that. It is still a great picture.

Love you guys!

T

Changes, Changes, Changes...

Hello Family & Friends!

We have had an awesome week here in Alto Moche! We ended up baptizing the young man that you see in the photo. His name is Diego, and I had the privilege to baptize him. It was actually my first ever baptism in a baptismal font in the mission, which is kinda funny. Everything else has been in rivers and the ocean. Pretty cool. Anyway, Diego is a great guy who will end up being a teacher in the priesthood! You can also see some of the other people in the ward, which is fun.

Changes came! I am staying here in Alto Moche, but I will be getting a new companion. His name is Elder Acuña, and he will be the first companion that is younger than me! I am now senior companion, which is pretty nice I guess. It basically just means that I lead all the activities we do. Should be fun! We are really enjoying working here. The people are nice, the weather is pleasant, and walking in the sand actually isn't tiring anymore!

Thanks to Aunt Charlene for the wonderful scripture markers! I use them all the time! Also thanks so much to the Owen family for the awesome package of all kinds of goodies. I gave the two little race cars to the grandson of our pensionista, and he screamed with joy and never stops playing with them.  I also taught Hermana Maria  how to make black refried beans into tacos, and so I eat that every night.  It is like my little piece of Mexican food!  Thanks again - You guys are so awesome!

Love you tons
Trace

Is It Really Cooling Down?

Family!

We have had an awesome week this week! We have actually found some miracles among the great people in Alto Moche. We will be able to finally see a baptism this coming Sunday of a young man named Diego, who is the younger brother of a less active member. He basically came up to us one day in the middle of a lesson and introduced himself. Two weeks later, and he is ready and happy to be baptized. He even asked if it would be possible to do it before he had even gone to church for the first time! He has a lot of faith.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures. The picture next to the Michael Jackson graffiti is kinda a Peru Trujillo mission tradition: everyone has taken at least one picture with it. It's basically just a wall on the side of a pizza parlor, kinda like the Hi How Are You frog in Austin on 21st. (That street is called 21st right?)

Things have been going great otherwise. Some days it is cold, and some days it is hot. All of Peru (on the coast at least) stays hot in the day and cold at night. I imagine it is kinda like living in Vegas, Dad. Desert climate.

Other news that you might find interesting...the First Presidency has declared that all worthy young men in the Sudamerica Noroeste area can report to the mission field at age 18! How crazy is that? I don't know if it will spread worldwide, but you guys could soon be seeing 18 year old elders everywhere! I definitely was not ready at 18...crazy stuff.

Thanks to Aunt Charlene for the package! I haven't opened it yet, but I am excited to see it nonetheless. I have her Mormonad posters all over my room and taped onto my stuff. They are very cool.

I miss you guys and love you so much! Keep Peru in your prayers!

Love
Trace

El Altooooo

Hello all

Another week of the usual: finding, teaching, walking, eating strange Peruvian things, and having a lot of fun. I don't have any new pictures from this week, so I just sent one that I took of the giant central plaza in Trujillo, and one of me with one of my good buddies in the zone, Elder May (that one is still from last week when we climbed the giant sand dune).

We have had a lot of success this week! With some extra effort, we were able to find some families where all of the members aren't baptized (we call them PF's in the mission) and other very good and ready investigators that we didn't even know we had. It is amazing what the Lord will give you if you just try a little harder. We were also able to go to a very cool multi-zone conference with a bunch of other missionaries where we got to hear an awesome talk by President Turk on repentance and also got to eat...wait for it...PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA! It was amazing. I don't think I have ever eaten that much pizza before in my life. It was absolutely delicious. I was sad when it was over.

Other than that, everything is great! Hopefully everyone is doing great at home. Shout out to Garett and Tanya who will be having a very fun week on the ranch this week! Wish I was there to see you guys and enjoy in the summer fun! However, I am enjoying the wind and sand of Peru. Take care all.

Trace

Still Working...Never stop...

Hello!

We are still working hard here. It really feels like it never stops. However, the work is good, and I feel good. It is nice. Pictures!! These came from our experience today for P Day. We literally hiked up a gigantic sandy hill (and I mean HUGE) to go see this lighthouse that ended up having barbed wire all the way around it. How's that for irony? It was still fun though, and I got some nice pictures of me on giant rocks again.

Not too much news going on here. We have been working really hard in the area, mostly because the people before me here did'nt do much. There has been a lot of different things to sort out. We also had interviews this week, so I actually made the blog. That also meant that we got to eat CHICKEN!!! It was so delicious...and free! I love chicken with aji (spicy sauce). That will be just about the only thing that I miss from Peruano cuisine.

Thanks so much to Tanya and Garrett for the package!! The Cheez its are my favorite. The individual bags was a great idea too! Thank you!!

Keep working hard everyone! Always keep us in your prayers, because we need it.

Love
Trace

Miss you all!

Dear Family

Wow! It was so great to talk to you guys. Thanks for filling me in on everything, even though Skype was a bit difficult to communicate through! It was awesome to see you all. Sorry that my English was terrible. I can't believe that it has suffered that much! Oh well, I guess that is the price of learning a different language right?

Anyway, everyone looked great! I am so glad you are all having so much fun and growing up so fast! Things here are fine. I am still getting used to the new area and trying to get everything in order. Our room and pensionista is way better than it was in Huarmey, so I am rather happy. We don't have too many great investigators right now, but I will definitely keep you updated! Since we teach all day every day, we should start improving! We really are working hard.

Thought you would enjoy these two pictures. The first is with me and my first convert and his grandson when I said goodbye to them in Huarmey. He is a great guy and I will miss him a lot! The other is my view from my room here. In the distance you can see the beach! Pretty cool eh?

I love you guys a ton! Thanks so much to Ben and Becky for the AMAZING packages they sent. Also, I thought I already updated her on this, but Kayleigh, I did get your little 6 month package! I wrote all about it in the letter I sent you :) Love you all!

Trace