Jamie's Letter Jan 17,2011

Hello!
I was so happy to hear from you. I've been wondering about Cameron's departure into the MTC all week. I hope he's doing okay.

As far as I go, life here in Peru is great! I'm taller than everyone, and very very white (that's in the process of changing though.) I even had one investigator tell me that I looked like a barbie...I don't think so.

My talk and lesson went well. In the MTC, we had to write a 5 minute talk (in spanish) each week, so I just adjusted one of the talks that I had and I had Hna Lopez help me fix it. The members I think understand too that I'm still learning Spanish. I read a lot of scriptures in my talks too because the scriptures speak Spanish way better than I can.

Right now, as far as investigators go, we have...some. I'm not exactly sure how many. We were teaching some sisters-Silvia is 18, and has a little daughter who is 6 months old. She is married, but I guess she and her husband are separated. We were also teaching her little sister, who is 9. Her name is Yuleydi, and I love her so much!! But I guess their dad doesn't want us teaching them, because "we're Catholic." Of course. Everyone here is Catholic, it feels like. But that's okay! I think because of that people are a lot more willing to let us talk about religion, and about God and Jesus Christ. Anywho, technically, their dad can't tell us that we can't teach Silvia, so we're going to go back to their house tomorrow and see if we can continue to teach them. I hope so. Silvia needs some light in her eyes. She always seems so sad when we first visit her.

We also have another woman named Imma. She's about 52 years old, and she actually lives pretty close to us. We found her because we walked past her store, and her dad (who is about 80, and reminds me of Grandpa Williams) stopped us because he recognized us as missionaries. I'm not sure if he's a member or not...a lot of the time I nod my head and say yes to the things people say...the life of total complete Spanish. Anyhow, we had our first lesson with her, and we taught about the restoration. It was cool. Hna Lopez and I both stopped talking, and the Spirit bore witness to her that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Pres Monson is a prophet today. She said she would be baptized on Jan 23 but she didn't come to Church yesterday because she was out of town. So I think we're going to shoot for the 30th. We're actually going to go visit her once we're done on the computers here :)

Life here is great. I'm learning to like some of the food (some of the food is great and others is...not so much). My Spanish is...improving. A lot of the times Hna Lopez will have to explain a conversation to me after it was over. I'm getting better though. I want to start to be able to teach more, and not just say a sentance or two from my testimony when Hna Lopez looks at me, but I guess that's where the whole concept of patience comes in. At this point, I can't really picture myself being fluent, but I know it will come. Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf. I love hearing about your lives, and I hope all is well at home. I love this church. I know that it's true.
Stay Strong!
Hna Williams