Elder Nathan Pollock: Okay, the Mission is Amazing.

Hey all you amazing and wonderful people!! I FINALLY have a good amount of time this week to write so:

"No Hay Nadies"

"Hoy Día"

"Su carro de Elder Peterson (talking to Elder Peterson)"

(and many more that I don't understand)

Just some wack things they say here in Peru that really don't make sense.

OKAY honestly there has been alot that I don't think I've written about so I'm gonna just write about all the awesome stuff thats been happening that comes to mind:

A few p-days ago we climbed the only hill in our entire mission that Elder Peterson (my companion) served in for a whole 6 months and saw all the city ALIVE in the night it was quite the sight and it really opened my eyes: THIS is where I'll be for the next two years. THIS is the city that I get to be a representative of Jesus Christ in. THESE are the people that I have the amazing opportunity to love and serve.

This week we had what are called interviews with Mission President (President Strong) and his wife Hermana Strong which every single mission gets so excited for and now I know why. They so evidently have such a strong love for each and every one of us. In my interview with President we just talked about what I was doing before the mission, what my plans for the future are, what I can do to have an amazing, happy, and successful mission, and to top it all off he told me about how proud he is of me and you can really tell he cares for each of us like he does each of his sons. (Plus Hermana Strong made us American Cookies which they do not have here and it was OH so good).

A few days ago I had intercambios where we switched companions in the district and WOW that was a day. In that half a day I had in the other area with Elder Martin we taught 4 new people, one of which we extended and made a date for BAPTISM because she was just so ready and willing to accept this gospel and wanted the blessings so badly for her and her family it was so cool, made 3 new teaching appointments, and most importantly, I was just so incredibly happy doing the work and seeing these miracles and the people making so much progress up the covenant path. Plus Elder Martin really just spoiled me making me cake and fudge and then erepas w/ eggs and ham for breakfast so it was just a pretty awesome day.

I have seen myself making so much progress in such a short amount of time, I testify that the Gift of Tongues is real, along with every Gift of the Spirit. Sometimes it's hard to recognize it, but there's just some moments where I realize "Oh my goodness I actually understood this person" and "Oh my goodness I really just had a *decent* conversation with this contact". I've found that when I really focus on the people and trying to love them and just pray that I'll be able to understand and listen so that I can teach them and bring them close to Christ is when I truly begin to have success and feel the help of our All-Powerful God.

Also Elder Peterson and I were talking about our day last night and giving each other advice and things we can do better and one thing he told me is that the mission is a time where we can so easily enjoy all the gifts of the spirit and that it's not just limited to the gospel and he asked me if there was anything I wanted to learn to do and so I've taken up drawing! (Er.. I will take up drawing as soon as I find a sketchbook and art supplies and all that.. ) In the meanwhile I'm teaching him how to sing and play piano (and getting better at playing myself). Just something really cool I wanted to share!

I can't really think of anything else but I am having SUCH an amazing time out here. I am so grateful for all that the Lord has given me. Something I have been really working on has been learning to trust and have faith in the Lord, because in reality there are hard times, there are ALWAYS going to be hard times, not just on the mission, but the fact is that God is so aware and involved in every single aspect of our lives. He's here to help us grow, and that means that he's going to allow us to have trials, or in other words, allow us to gain experience. But that doesn't mean that he leaves us to these trials alone. No, not at all. We can call out to our loving, caring, kind, gracious Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. And we can receive so many blessings that we could not even comprehend. We only need to have faith in Him, and trust in His will. -- Please, Come unto Christ, and partake of this everlasting joy. Love you all!!

Elder Pollock

OH HOW COULD I FORGET:

We have the opportunity to listen to an apostle of the Lord this month, ELDER HOLLAND is coming and having a devotional with OUR MISSION!!! Needless to say everyone is ridiculously excited and we actually get to greet him personally so I'm kinda freaking out. I'll let y'all know about all the doctrine he's about to drop on u

Also here's the pictures I know that you've all been dying for: