"Happy USA DAY...the USA ROCKS!!!"

June 29, 2009 - Happy 8 Months Today!!! :) Sorry I wrote late today... We came in the morning to write, but the LDS website wasn't working. We left to do our activity which was going deep into the jungle area to hike to a jungly area... We read Enos and then all of us had time to offer a prayer in the silence of the jungle... It was awesome. I kind of felt like Joseph Smith, but just in a jungle setting. The only thing I asked of Heavenly Father is that He will keep me going strong and also that He will keep watching over and protecting my family... I honestly can't express the amount of love that I have for you guys and the support and faith and hope that you all give to me... I miss you like crazy and can't wait to see you... This week, I ate a fish called Paco... It was absolutely disgusting... The paco is the cousin of the Pirhana... The cute member served me a head... It was so disgusting... The way it looked, smelled, and tasted just made me want to throw up... Before I could eat it, I had to take out its rows of teeth and its tracheus (throat, I think)... It was absolutely disgusting, but when I get to talk to you guys in person, you will get all the details of the story...We had interviews this week, and I had a good talk with President Pérez. He asked me about what I did before the mission. I told him that I love to sing, dance, and act... He then asked me what type of music I liked. I answered by asking him if he had seen High School Musical... He said that yes, he had... I told him that that type of music is the music I love... He told me that he also loves that type of upbeat, happy music. He then proceeded to tell me that that type of music totally reflects in my personality, that it is the reason I am such a happy, successful missionary... It made me feel good, and I hope it gives you guys a little bit of comfort...
Happy USA Day this week... I want you guys to celebrate this day with tons of joy because the USA ROCKS!!! You guys have no idea how much we are blessed to have been born and raised in the United States of America... A lot of times I wonder... What did my family and I do in the Pre-Existence to be blessed like we have been blessed? I know that our family was already perfect in Heaven, and now that we are here on earth, we just have to perform the ordinances that will allow us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ... We are a Celestial and Eternal Family!!! :)

"I am glad that we get to go to the Temple and get Sealed for Eternity"

June 22, 2009 - "We had two baptisms this week. I baptized a 14-year-old girl named Silene Gonzales Huayllahua. She has been attending Seminary and Church for a while, but we finally got her into the waters of baptism. The other was a young 9-year-old girl named Milagros Veridiana Lozano Manihuari. Her family has been a little less active, and because she turned 9, she becomes duty of the missionaries... We met with her and her family and prepared her for baptism. I am hoping that her baptism will bring her family back to the Church... The Bishop of Venecia baptized her...We also went to the wedding of Aldo and Mayra... Mayra is the older sister of Angelo and Jair who were baptized on May 2nd... It was a fun night to see the bride and groom all dressed up, but it definitely will never compare with weddings in the USA... Like the reception of Amanda's sister, and Whitney's reception... But, it was still done up for what the Peruvians can do... It was interesting to see a civil marriage because they are only married until death... Here in Peru, it is a law to be married civily... I don't like this... I am glad that we get to go to the Temple and get sealed for Eternity... I am so glad that I am part of the Best Eternal Family on Earth!!! :) This week, I tried coconut... The member cut a hole in the coconut and put a straw in it... I was so excited to drink straight from a coconut because I have always loved Almond Joys and other cookies made from coconut... I was suprised with disappointment... The water inside of a coconut is absolutely disgusting... I started to drink it and immediately knew that I wouldn't make it to the end... I didn't want to leave a full coconut, so I just started to gulp it down... But the thing that makes you gag is that aftertaste... I stopped for two seconds to take a breath and the aftertaste hit me wrong... I started gagging and was about to throw up... I held it in, but I am sure that I looked like a sick dog for a second, trying to hold my throw up in my stomach... It was absolutely disgusting... The problem is that the water doesn't really have any flavor... It was so gross... There are a million other fruits that taste good and we will try them all, but I wouldn't recommend the coconut... Hey Dad!!! Happy Father's Day Yesterday!!! I hope you were able to just relax and enjoy yesterday... I worked like crazy yesterday, and I hung out with Yolanda and Mishel... Know that I am grateful for everything that you have done for me and will never forget the impression you have made in my life...

"Sachachorro - Ginkana - Higado - Mondongo...Huh?"

June 15, 2009 - "We found out changes today and............I'm staying in Iquitos with the same companion, Elder Llacsa. This will be our third change together... And I am happy. We are a good companionship and we get along really well. Last P-Day, we played soccer in the morning on a huge grass field in the middle of a jungle area... It was so much fun... It rained the night before, and so by the end of the game, we were all covered in mud and soaking wet from head to toe... It was a lot of fun. We had a huge fiesta last Saturday with Sachachorro (one of our wards). It's called a GINKANA!!! We had games, prizes, food, music, and it was a lot of fun... I have so many friends in that ward...
There is a disgusting food that I have eaten a couple times and it is disgusting... I am going to give you the names in Spanish so that you can look them up in the dictionary and find out what I have been eating... Just be warned that it is disgusting... People serve us hígado... It is disgusting... I have tried it from cow and chicken, and I have yet to try it from turtle... But I hate eating it because it is just bland and doesn't have any taste. People serve it because it doesn't cost a lot, but to eat it... Oh man, I suffer like crazy... But hey, I've got to eat it... Another food that people serve us is mondongo... It is a little bit better than hígado, but I really don't like it... Be thankful that in the United States, we don't eat every part of the animal... We only eat the good parts... Here, they eat EVERY part... Ugh... But, I only have to live with it for 2 years... Then, I get to come home to you guys and share an amazingly wonderfully prepared meal, with a tall glass of good ice-cold milk... MMMMMM......"

"It won't last forever..."

June 8, 2009 - "Hey my lovely family who I adore a ton and miss like crazy…
Well, the tally came in for the amount of baptisms in the month of May… 404!!!
As a mission, we had 404 confirmations! It is a new record for the mission. The Peru Lima North Mission is really a very powerful mission with tons of baptisms… I am really thankful to be part of a mission where I can see a lot of success, not only in myself, but also in the other Missionaries that are from my group… Peru really is nice… When I talked with the Returned Missionaries that visited a couple of weeks ago, they told me that if I come back to Peru, which I for sure am going to do, they told me to spend most of my vacation in Iquitos because it is much cooler… I totally agree. Iquitos is much prettier and there is more culture to explore. We can’t go visit the native tribes as Missionaries because we can’t travel by boat, but I really cannot wait to visit and see how their cultures live… We are going to have so much fun when all of us come to Peru… I’ve heard that they have a huge butterfly house full of beautiful butterflies… There are some nice beaches. There are ancient tribes. There are tons of cool cultural things to learn and visit… We are going to have a blast in Peru…
Chase: Get feeling better. Have fun with Les Miserables and have a fun last summer with your friends because the next summer, everyone is going to leave to do their own things…college, marriage, vacations, senior trips… Enjoy it bud because it won’t last forever… Just like the mission, it won’t last forever… Mom: You already know that I love you beyond what words can describe, and know that I always hope you are finding things to keep you busy so that you don’t worry about me… Dallis, keep taking care of mom and being her Best Friend while I am gone, but when I get back… I call being the Best Friend again… :) Family, I love you so much! I miss you like crazy! I can’t wait to see you! It won’t last forever… I love you… Love, Coco…

8 Baptisms in May!!!!

June 1, 2009 - "Life is going so good down here. I absolutely love the jungle and I don't want to leave. We had 3 baptisms this weekend! We have been teaching a married couple the gospel along with a few of their kids. Their names are Ricardo Montes Pinedo and Rosa Elvira Cadillo Vela. Rosa was visited by missionaries 25 years ago and they gave her a Book of Mormon. She never had contact with missionaries again, and never touched the book either. She moved to Lima for a while, and moved back to Iquitos 8 years ago... Then came the moment when we walked into her life. We were passing by her house just contacting people and looking for people to teach. Ricardo came running from his house to retrieve us... We followed him to his house where he presented us to his wife, Rosa. He told us that she had sent him to call us... We used this story as a witness that Heavenly Father had sent us at this time to teach them the Gospel. And from there, we continued teaching them. The two of them got baptized... We are hoping that their kids get baptized in the coming weeks... Before the baptism on Saturday, we had a dinner with the family, but before arriving at dinner, it started to rain hard... The roads instantly became rivers, but we had to get to dinner and then follow through with the baptism. We ran through the rain, jumping and hopping through the puddles, which were just growing and growing... It is amazing how much rain can fall... We arrived at their house soaking wet from head to toe. Ricardo instantly took care of us by giving us newspaper to put between our skin and our shirts... It was quite funny. Dinner was good and then we went to the baptism... The baptism went really well. I baptized Rosa and my companion Elder Llacsa baptized Ricardo. :)
We also baptized a 9- year -old girl named Kimberly. Her parents are members. It was another beautiful weekend of baptisms... We finished May with 8 baptisms."

"I love this family and I will never be able to forget them!"

May 25, 2009 - "I have to tell you about how awesome Hermana Yolanda is. She is soooo cool. I love just going to her house to sit and chat and hang out. She always takes such good care of us... inviting us to have some Inca Kola, other drinks, popcorn, cake, and all other sorts of foods... She is such a loving person. She also has two awesome grandkids, Anthony and Mishel, who always wait for us to pass by, and hate it when we have to leave, just like their grandmother. Anthony is 6 and Mishel is 10. I love just sitting and talking with them. Mishel is a huge fan of High School Musical and she gets such a huge kick out of the fact that I know so much about it. I have to tell you about how fun and cute Church was yesterday. You already know that I play piano for Sacrament Meeting, but when I am not playing, I sit with the congregation. I finished playing the Sacrament Hymn, and the passing of the Sacrament was over, so I went and sat down on a bench to listen to the talks that had been prepared. I was sitting alone, and about half way through the first talk, Anthony came and sat by me... :) He is learning to read right now, so I had him read me some of the names of the songs from the Hymnbook. It is so fun to help him learn to read. I also had my photo album that you sent me in the MTC, so I decided to show him my pictures. He was laughing and making fun of me, that I have a cute girlfriend (Whitley), and when he got to the picture of me and all of my friends at my Missionary Farewell, he asked why Whitley and me aren't next to each other. He asked why we were separated and it just made me laugh... He had fun finding me in every picture... "Hay estás tú. Hay están tus hermanos, tu mamá, tu papá..." ("There you are. There's your brothers, your mom, your dad...") He is so intelligent and cute... Then he took the picture book to Mishel. Mishel asked me if she could borrow my book for a while. I told her to just take care of it... I was planning on getting it back at the end of Church, but she left before I could talk with her... We passed by her house yesterday, and come to find out, she took it home to see if Whitley was a famous girl from a soap opera they like watching... She thought Whitley looked like her... :) I thought it was cute that she wanted to check and see if it could be true... At the end of being with their family yesterday, Mishel gave me a High School Musical 3 poster with Troy, Ryan, and Chad... I love this family and I will never be able to forget them... They are Number 1 on my list of people to visit when we come back to Peru... Honestly, when I am with their family, I don't want the time to pass. (That tells you how much I love them because I always want the time to keep passing so that I can see you guys sooner...) I am 100% sure that you guys will love Yolanda and her family when you meet her... She is too good not to love. There are two Returned Missionaries, Gringos, that are visiting the family that I live with right now. They served here two years ago in Iquitos, but finished their missions about a year ago... It has been fun to hang out with them and know that the USA still exists and that life is still totally awesome there... One is already married, and the other has his girlfriend, and both are studying at BYU. They came down to Peru to be interpreters for some Dentists that are coming to do some operations.
I want you to know that I am still doing fine, living in Iquitos, chilling out in the jungle of Peru. I miss you like crazy! I love you tons! I can't wait to see you! Love you guys forever! Love, Coco..."

"This work is hard, but it is also beautiful."

May 18, 2009 - "This week wasn't way exciting... I wasn't looking forward to a phone call on Sunday because that had already passed... And I am already looking forward to the next one... We had interviews with Presidente Pérez, and it was good to talk with him. He is so nice, and always gives me motivation to just keep going on... In his prayer to end my interview, he asked the Lord to bless me with success, because I have the personality to touch the hearts of the people here. Presidente Pérez is a really sweet guy, and I was thankful for his prayer for me...
As a mission, our goal for this month of May is 505 baptisms, or 5 baptisms for every companionship. My companion and I have already had 5 baptisms, but we are trying so hard to have even more... We have to help out the other companionships who maybe are not going to be able to achieve the goal... We are praying like crazy as a mission that we will have 505 baptisms... May 1st, we slept in our baptism clothing and then fasted as a mission the next day for our goal... I have a ton of faith that we are going to do it, but every missionary has to work... This work is hard, but it is also beautiful. And I will never forget the relationships that I have formed with other missionaries, with members, and especially with my converts... :) We are going to have to visit every single one of them when we come back to Peru...It is going to be awesome."