A couple of cool letters...

We got these two really sweet letters last week from some recently returned missionaries and I wanted to share them with you....they make all this hard work worthwhile when we see them applying the principles they have learned through their missionary service!


Querido Presidente,

It has been a fast couple of months. I can hardly believe that I have been home that long. I guess I should apologize for not writing sooner, life just kinda gets crazy. I am doing very well, I have been working on road construction doing the chip and seal coat stuff. It pays very well, but the language is a little harder to learn than spanish. haha. There are some colorful words, but it is neat to see how some of the guys start to notice and show respect by talking differently around me. I have been able to share some pamphlets and talk with a few them about the church so it has been good. Also we work with some Guatemalans and Mexicans so I get to practice my spanish little bit. Life isn't as easy as I thought it would be. It's actually very frustrating trying to figure it out. As a missionary I learned so much and became someone who as I came home the world didn't want me to be. So as you know its been kinda hard, but I am doing fine. I am soooooo grateful for all I learned and the discipline that is now starting to take effect in my future. I know and have had a few experiences where I can see why I was called to serve under your direction. one story about a month ago. We had a very busy job going and had worked about 70 hours in a week and we were making good money because it was a federal job so the wages were high. Our boss informed us that we would probably be working on sunday, everybody was happy for more overtime hours which was something like $40 an hour. For me, I felt bad cuz I had learned so much about keeping the sabbath day, since we had to teach it real good in peru, also I had promised so many people blessings for not working on Sunday and going to church that I knew I couldn't. I work with three other rm's whom it didn't seem to bother. One justified his actions explaining that how he felt it was alright as long as he was paying tithing and going to the temple. Not to me, all I could think was "obediencia con exactitud", and 1 nefi 3:7. So I talked with my boss and got the day off. They made jokes and said stuff but I have seen many blessings come to me for choosing not to work on sunday. My co-workers often speak of their lives and all they have and I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned. I am very excited to go back to school which starts sept. 8 at byu-i. How is the mission doing? Is the goal to double progressing? Are the missionaries becoming more converted and better Preach my gospel missionaries? My prayers are always for you and the mission. May the lord continue to bless you with success and revelation. Send my best to your awesome wife, sister elmer. take care. JF

Dear Pte. and Sister Elmer,

Well I promised that I would write you guys and so hear I am! Well, I just want you guys to know how much I miss and loved the mission. I thought coming home would be cool, but its not as easy as everyone makes it out to be. I can only tell you that the devil is making things worse in the world every year. And it's so hard coming off this great spiritual high for 2 years and then dropping back into the real world. But I am so happy for the great blessings that I am receiving from the mission. If it wasn't for the habits that I picked up in the mission I would be a lost cause. I can just say that studying the scriptures, and daily prayer unto the Lord has helped me more than anything. If I wouldn't have put an honest effort into my studies in the mission it would be really hard to do it now. But I am so glad that I learned how to be obedient in the mission because when you are placed back into the real world the little things make a huge difference. I'm so greatfull for the mission and for what it has taught me because if your not a "ruler" here in the real world your going to fall and fall fast. I am happy that I learned to obey the Lord on the mission and His rules, because now I have the strength to be strong in the real world. I think a lot on that, and if I would have justified myself in the mission I would be doing it here. Thank heaven for the mission!

Well, I have some great news! I am going to be playing ball for the University of Utah! I made the team, I am a walk on and I will be red shirting. Which pretty much means that I will be practicing on the team but I won't be playing. But it saves me a whole year and it doesnt take a year of eligibility away. So I'm pretty happy about that. I can honestly see how much the Lord has blessed me for my service, it was amazing to see how the Lords hand was in this. When I came home the U of U basketball team was completely full--they didn't have any spots. But 2 weeks ago one of their walk-on players went to play at a Junior College and a spot opened up with just 2 weeks to go! I have no idea how it all worked out but I know the Lord was right there and he helped me get on the team! So I'm pretty happy and excited!

Well, I just want you guys to know how much I love you and apreciate your work. Remember that your always in my prayers and that I'm thinking about you guys and the mission a lot. Keep working and giving your all and the Lord will bless you when you return, I can testify of that! -BB!

Ps DyC 58:3-4

The small plates of Elmer...

This is my little miracle!
It comes with everything from towels to silverware to appliances!

I know this probably doesn't look like much but it is a true modern day miracle!

Okay so I missed a day...I knew this wasn't going to be perfect!

I had a really great experience a couple of weeks ago. I had the assignment to find an apartment for an office couple that are coming to our mission. (They are actually Kay and Karen Cleverly--Kay is the husband of James Peterson's daughter Claudia who passed away a few years ago.) I only had one day to find this apartment and so I had been fasting because I knew of the slim possiblities of finding something reasonable in San Isidro district close to the office. San Isidro is like trying to find an apartment in Beverly Hills! Well, my whole day became consumed by other problems and when I realized that the day was almost gone I panicked and said a quick prayer and started driving towards the office. I had seen a sign in a window of an apartment and so I thought I would start there to see how much and if it was available. The doorman was pretty rude and said it was 1,200 dollars a month and that it didn't include anything. So alittle discouraged, I went to the building where the South mission office elders live to see if they had anything and the doorman was real nice but they had nothing available and so now alittle desperate I said a prayer of faith and got in the car again and looked at the clock---it was now after 5:00pm! But I got the impression that I should drive down a little side street one block from the office in between Ave. Jorge Basadre and Ave. Javier Prado and as I drove slowly down the street I felt impressed to stop. I looked to the right and saw a nice secluded apartment building and I went up and knocked on the door. The doorman opened the door and when I asked if they had a one bedroom apartment he immediately said, Yes, one had just come available and to top it off it was fully furnished! (This is an added blessing because these couples come on their missions with only their clothes and a few books etc. and I was wondering how in the world we were going to furnish an apartment!) Anyway, he showed it to me and it was perfect but I was afraid to ask the price, especially being fully furnished, but to my surprize it was only 450$ and that included the water and lights etc. It also has a really nice club house with a pool and a gym and everything and I thought, this is where the mission presidents need to live!! Just kidding!! I felt so greatful to the Lord for directing me there and I have no doubt that He directs this work---He knows our needs and he loves us and its just wonderful to see the small miracles unfold before our eyes if we will ask in faith, nothing waivering! There is a scripture in Mormon 9:19-21 that I love--read it, its great!

2 days straight--waahoo!

Okay, here is alittle of what has been happening this past week...We are exhausted but feeling the urgency to keep going hard with the last year ticking away on us now! It is amazing how fast the time goes by and you wonder sometimes if you are really doing that much good in building the church. There are many baptisms in Peru but the retention is always a struggle. They are many wonderful people here but the false tradtions of their fathers is also a constant battle. We love the work though and the missionaries are wonderful and their faith is growing. It is awesome to see the change that happens over a two year period of time in their lives...they go from boys to men in a hurry! I think we as parents underestimate our kids when they return home from a mission and don't always realize the tremendous responsibilities they have carried on their young shoulders. We are learning to have alot more faith and we are seeing many miracles happen when we have the prayer of faith in our hearts. The prayer of faith has been my topic this change in zone conference and I am learning the importance of being specific in our prayers to the Lord. I love Ama's prayer in Alma 31:30-35 where he really talks to the Lord and asks for specific blessings. I think too often I have been very general in my prayers and I am learning that I have to be more specific if I want specific blessings. I feel more of the Lords guidance too when I pray this way. I have been praying to have my own personal misisonary experiences and the other night when I went to the grocery store as I was walking back to the car with the young man who was helping me I realized it was the same young man who had helped me before and with which I had a had a gospel discussion and so I asked him how he was doing. I told him about Institute and what they do there and he said: "What can I do to have someone come and talk with me about the church?" Well, it just so happened that one of our assistents was ending that night his mission and in the office with Jeff having his final interview and he lives in the same area of town as this kids does. So I gavehim the reference and tld him you need to go right away and teach this young man. I knew too right then that God does guide us and does answer our prayers in marvelous ways and I felt so grateful to be able to be the one to open my mouth and ask. I am sure you feel the same about your friends that were just baptized--you feel honored to be able to share in the conversion process and your testimony grows along with theirs. Jeff always says that I do all the talking when we get in a taxi and he never gets a chance to make a contact himself! So the other day he went to Cusco ahead of me and had to take a taxi so he was praying for the opportunity to find someone to talk to when the taxi driver turned to him and said: "You're religious aren't you?" To which Jeff told him: "Yes, I am a mormon and a missionary". Then the guy shows him a pamphlet of the Restoration that some missonaries had given him to read. He had read it and had hoped they would come to his house but they never came! So Jeff gave him the whole 1st discussion all the way to the airport and it turned out that he lived in Callao so when he got into the airport he immediately called the elders and gave them the reference...it is a miracle alone that the reference was in our mission!

More random pics from Peru...

Have you ever seen such big watermelons??? Well the ladies are pretty big too!!
Cutting up with the missionaries!! And you thought the nursery was a handful?
Me visiting a district meeting and having fun! Amazing what a little chocolate will do!
Some of our returned missionaries came back to the "despedida" in July
The Puerto Maldonado Zone out in the jungle...by the Madre de Dios River.

Surprize I'm baaaack!

Us and the sisters with family ready to be baptized in Sicuani!
These pretty sunflowers are in the garden of the hotel we stay at in Valle Sagrado...nice huh?!
Mini sisters conference in Lima at the temple!
The missionaries that came out with us when we started and are already ending...boo hoo!
View from the airplane as we fly to Cusco...I will miss the wonderful mountains of Peru.

I know everyone has probably stopped even looking at our blog page it has been so long since I have been able to update it but today is the day and for what its worth we are still alive and kicking down in Peru!

It seems like as we passed the 2 year mark in the mission things started to gear up another notch and go even faster (if that is possible?) Jeff sat down one day and filled out our calendar for the whole entire next year up until the day we leave in July and I am exhausted just looking at it. (So I don't!) I have a gnawing anxiety that I have really neglected to write down all that has happened in these 2 years so far and I don't want this next year to escape us too! I will try to be better. I keep trying to think of ways to keep everyone in the loop but many days I am just too tired to think straight....but my resolution is to do better with this blog page so we shall see how diligent I really am.

I thought I would write down ten things I have learned these past two years that have significantly marked my life:

1. I have a truly awesome and amazing husband who never ceases to keep me on my toes every single day! He has the kind of energy that only the duracell bunny possesses! We go from activity to activity, meeting to meeting where we have to speak and think at a moments notice without warning and he is truly inspiring every time he speaks! I love to listen to his talks as I always learn something new. It is fun to watch the missionaries watch him as they love his counsel too.

2. I am learning patience with myself, with others and with the Lord!

3. I have learned to be less selfish in my wants and as a result I think we are becoming much better as a couple and eternity doesn't seem as long as it used too! The Lord is really teaching us how to be truly happy and it is mostly by the difficult things which we have been asked to pass through together these past 2 years. Its pretty much a refining process!

4. I have learned that this is the Lord's work and that when he promised that he would always be with us and would not leave us comfortless he really does keep his promises! He is especially by our side when we try to share the gospel with others. He will help us to not be afraid and he will show us miracles if we will but only believe in Him and trust Him.

5. I have learned that the Lord loves all his children and is mindful of their special needs and puts people in our paths that will help us in the very moment we need it.

6. I have always loved my chidren but I have learned how very precious and unique they are and that the Lord loves their uniquness too. What a blessing it is to be a parent. More than anything I want us to be together for ever and I want them to be happy. I know that the Lord sometimes he gives us difficult burdens to carry to help us to grow to be more like him. I have learned to accept these burdenss even though as a parent I don't like to see my children suffer.

7. I have learned to trust more in the Lord and less in myself.

8. I have learned that I can live just about anywhere in the world as long as I have hot water and a good pillow under my head!

9. I have learned that friends are a precious comodity that we should never take for granted.

10. I have learned that there is always room in our hearts for more love and it is never wasted when we share it. We should say "I love you" everyday to everyone we come in contact with especially our family.

So to all our family and friends out there in blogland I want you to know how very much we love you all, especially our 5 grandkids, Porter Maya, Bennett, Benjamin, and Ryan!