Los Lomas and the one with the monkey

Dear Family and Friends,

To quickly explain my subject there is a recent convert here and she found a monkey and was keeping it as a pet but then she returned it to its owner..

To celebrate the 24th of July a little bit I went outside and cleaned the windows of our apartment. Only a few of you will understand that reference.

I mentioned a while ago about Angely who is the sister of a recent convert. It is basically like teaching a member she is super good and already has a really good testimony. We are going to try and get her baptized the next week, it was going to be this week but there is a huge ward activity so we had to push it back.  

Something changed this week. You probably won't understand because it was so small but I think it changed the whole course of my mission maybe even my life. I said in my group email last week that now we have to have 10 names in the back of our planner at the end of every day. I can say that 5 days in a row I have completed it but holy cow is it difficult. I think we have talked to 60 or 70 people maybe 80. I can feel I am on the brink of something big here in this area, I think this was the change we needed, but certainly one that I needed personally. I can't say we found an extraordinary number of new people this week because when you plant a tree the fruits don't come immediately but I feel really good. I found a new definition to "giving it my all" this week.

This week I got sun burnt! For the first time in months where I have seen the sun and it just so happens that it happened on the day to do service. Every other day is cold and cloudy. I have only got one picture today and it is nothing special but it is a good representation of the average street here in Peru, well at least where I am serving and have served.

I am learning a lot out here and I can't believe time has gone by as fast as it actually has. I still have a lot to learn before I become the missionary I know I can be. In a lot of ways I am improving but mainly my testimony is one that has been solidified and pounded into what it is now.

I love being a missionary, you have no idea how happy it makes me nor how blessed it makes me feel neither how humbled I am by my calling. I feel like I have a lot of expectations for myself that still are unattended but I like feeling like I can be better.

I love all you guys and I can assure you I am happy.

Elder Craythorne

The outside world

Ceviche de Pollo