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

13 Months

Hello all,

Well, Peruvian thanksgiving doesn't exist, but we still had a super fun week, as you can see from the photos! In our district meeting, I had everyone write on a piece of paper something that impedes them from being a good missionary (not being obedient, fear of talking to people), and then had them shape it into a weapon (I made a prison-style shank). We then put all the "weapons" in a shoe-box and buried them outside the church, just like the converted Lamanites (see Alma 24)! It was quite fun, and really helped the missionaries see the importance of leaving behind bad habits and excuses.

The assistants also came to proselyte with us, and told us that they wanted to make a bonfire on our roof after the nightly session of planning, which we did. We roasted marshmallows and listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the whole nine yards. It was a blast.

Lastly, since changes came, we said goodbye to one of our zone leaders, Elder Johnson, by playing soccer super early this morning. The picture you see is about half of the zone, sweaty and having fun. I, of course, stayed right hear in Alto Moche, but it is all but 100% guaranteed that this WILL be my last change here. Haha. I sure will miss it. We are working hard though, and should be having lots of baptisms in December and January! All the fun is coming up, though I do miss you guys and wish I could pass the holidays with you. But no matter! We must keep pressing forward and doing what we have to. Hope you enjoyed the pics and comments. I love you all more than you know!

Love to all,
Trace

Piano Man

Dear family and friends,

Yes, I have turned into Elder Billy Joel these past few weeks, as you can see from the photo I'm sending. Hermana Turk asked me if I could accompany a sister companionship singing a special number for this upcoming zone conference where one of the Seventy is going to come and speak to us, and so she let me take the keyboard from the office to our room. I must say, it is quite fun. I might be jamming out too all the hymns on the organ setting, just as if I were playing for MoTab. It is a blast.

Everything has gone well this week. We are finding lots of new people to teach, and using the Book of Mormon in every single lesson. The Spirit is so strong! I love it when you can see in the faces of the people when they feel it too. I really have gained a testimony that the Lord loves all of us, each in our own individual way.

Hope you enjoy the other picture of the district on the soccer field. It's not really a field, it's a giant piece of cement, but that's what they call a field here in Peru.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Eat an extra piece of turkey for me please. At least you won't have to make so many rolls this year!

Love ya
T

November

Hello all

Can you believe we are almost halfway through November? Seriously...time sure flies. I would like to apologize first and foremost for not sending pictures once again. Seriously, one of my big changes this week will be taking my camera with me everywhere I go to take pictures! I just never have been that guy to take a ton, but I know it is boring for you guys to see pure text, and I know I will regret not taking more pix when the mission is over (I hope it never ends!)

We had a fabulous week this week! I caught a cold, but that didn't stop us from working our ninnies off (as Dad says). We ran around looking for all the new people we met, and we were even able to committ one to getting baptized on the 24th! He is a great man named Alejandro. What is interesting is how we got him to that committment. We had interviews with President this week, in the which he told us that the mission basically wasn't using the Book Of Mormon effectively at all. He even asked us to teach the first 4 lessons in one appointment each, and then after that, read the BOM with the investigators every day until their baptism! This seemed a bit odd to me at first, but, true to the revelation, we did exactly as Prez said! We were originally going to teach Alejandro about keeping the Sabbath day holy when we went into our appointment last night, but ended up changing and just reading all of 1 Nephi 3 with him. The Spirit completely invaded the room, and he committed to being baptized on the 24th before I could even get the invitation fully out of my mouth! This too coming from a man who refused to completely committ to anything else we had invited him to do. The Lord really does work through His mission presidents, and the BOM really is the word of God!

I am excited with all the progress that we have been seeing lately. The mission is always full of ups and downs, but I feel like a young elder again with lots of time ahead of me! I think the key is really just exercising a mental discipline strong enough to keep us grounded and focused. I plan on pushing harder and harder every week.

Hope you are all doing well. Let me know what else you want to hear about in the letters! I received the Thanksgiving box! Seriously, the chips are a HUGE hit with me. I especially loved the Flamin Cheeetos with limon! You guys are the best!
Love ya
Trace

PS Stole a picture from the Turks blog. This is all the zone eating chicken at Norkys after the interviews!

Fall for All

Hi Everyone,

Things are definitely looking up here. It is nice and warm in the day, though since we are next to the beach, we also get a nice constant breeze which makes me happy. We actually already have a soccer ball to play with which is nice, and also we found out that the guy who owns the house where we live is going to be putting a ping pong table downstairs!! We are super pumped to use that baby on P days, though it will definitely be a temptation during study time...haha

Everything is going fine here, and I am actually starting to get used to the food. My packages are running dangerously low on goodies though, which scares me. Those Dynamite Dorito roll thingies were AMAZING btw! Send more!!

First off, I must say that the Ricky themed pumpkin is THE BEST PUMPKIN OF ALL TIME IN LEVOS FAMILY HISTORY. Seriously, a work of art. The words are nice, but the rendering of the Ricky face is absolutely exquisite! It shall be forever etched in the annals of Halloween-land. You are the best Dad.

Sounds like you had a ton of fun for H day per usual. Scaring girls is always part of the game. I think it's rather amusing that you get MORE excited about it every year, even though you're getting more elderly. How did you guys flavor the seeds this year? Was it typical Tony Saccheres? Were there any trick or treaters in Rustic Lane? Anybody else decorate? I remember it was a bit difficult to decorate for Christmas last year, since the land is so...spacious

We did have a baptism this week but I will give you all the details next week. I can't believe that half the mission is over either! It is exciting to know I will be back with my family this time next year, but at the same time, I will NEVER be able to be a missionary again, so I am definitely trying to soak up every moment.

Thanks to the Owens for the great package!  I miss all of you and appreciate all that has been done on my behalf. The goodies are great and the kids in the village love the toys.
Much Love,
Trace