FATHER OF THREE

hey what's up this past week has actually been wild but its been so good!

so last week we had a leadership meeting with President and he told us zone leaders that the next transfer, he was going to drop down most of the more experienced zone leaders down to train the new guys coming in. he wasn't lying. on Tuesday, we got transfer news and I found out I'm training!!  not just that, but I'm going to a city right along the beach called Paita and I'm opening up a brand new area!

on Wendesday, on my last day in my old area Tacalá, we went and said goodbye to all my friends there and it was sooooo sad! I hated it. I've made such good friends here. the family of four, Danitza, Hilda, Juan, and Ana are such an amazing family and I'm so proud of them and they'll all be baptized next week! then our other family of five, Henry, Blanca, Roxanna, Renato, and Emiliano is getting baptized in two weeks! I'm so excited for them but sad I won't be there for their baptism, I hate goodbyes:(

on Saturday, we went to the mission,home to pick up the hijos. they had us trainers go out and proselyte for like 3 hours while the trainees finished their meeting. I went out with my guy Elder Reckling and we talked to EVERYONE! then we went and played soccer with a group of teenagers and I WENT OFF!! scored 4 goals and had 2 assists.... literally two white guys rolled in there and destroyed these guys in their natural element. then we got our sons and I got my guy Elder Townsend and he's so sick!! he's from Corner Canyon in Utah so we have a ton of mutual friends!! he's straight from the mtc so he's got no Spanish and he's glowing green.

we got on a bus and it was like an hour and a half to get to there. so since we are opening a new area, when we first got there, we didn't have a phone, an area book, we didn't know a single member or person in the area, and we didn't even have an apartment. truly starting from rock bottom lol. we still don't have an apartment so we're living with the ZLs and we walk like 45 minutes to our area every day and we only know two members, but we're onna come up!

on Sunday, we had our stake conference which went well. my poor kid couldn't stay awake cause he didn't understand anything. it feels good being on the other side of it. afterwards, we started walking up to everyone and asking if they were in our ward just so we could know someone. we went up to someone and they asked if we were the new elders in Tablazo 2 and we said yes and she said, "ok perfect, my son-in-law has been coming to church for the past year and we want you to baptize him...." such a cool miracle!! we had a lesson with him on Monday and now he has a baptismal date!

my comp is new here so it's been so fun seeing his reactions to all the different culture changes. for example, on Sunday, we were talking to a lady and midconversation, she whipped out a boob and started breastfeeding. seen in a thousand times here. I look to my comp and he was staring at me, eyes wide open, mouth wide open. he didn't know what to do, what to say, where to look lol. I love him.

I'm really happy and excited to be where I am. I really love my comp and I love the opportunity to help an area at rock bottom, come unto Christ. it's a super cool thing to know the change we can make in this area!

I love you all, please pray we find an apartment cause we have looked for hours on end