De Dos Meses de Cartas

10/27/14

Bueno que puedo decir,

                 I´m still here and we are still breathing, so I would say we had a good week. in reality, this week was very good, Elder C.'s attitude is getting better, and we are starting to laugh instead of getting over frustrated.

                 I have learned that god really answers prayers, and in the moments that I need the most help is when I feel the most like god is right there helping me. The weather is getting hotter, and everyone likes to make fun of my glowing red cheeks, but I don´t mind I have gotten use to being a white guy in peru.

                Our investigators are starting to really get on board and the adversary is really starting to show up, but we all know who is going to come on top every time. We are working with a family named Marcos y Sonia, and they are really amazing people, Sonia has been in a wheel chair for about 10 years, and Marcos has been working to support the family. This week sister sonia got sick and was bed bound so she wasn´t able to go to curch, and Marcos is suffering from some kind of heart condition. We are healping them find faith in Jesus Christ, and helping them know that all that they are going through is to help them be stronger, and to trust that God is stronger then all the needs that they are faceing.

                We are finding a lot of new families to teach and a lot of them are really good people, but the biggest problem is that very few of them are married, and so we are trying to plan like 3,000 weddings. haha Our branch is still moving forward, this week we dropped to 45 members in church, and the stake president like to push the fact that if we don´t get to 100 by December they are going to shut down the branch, and all the members will have to go to the ward 45 minutes away, which is going to effect many people. Well we all know that God knows what he is doing so it´s time to grit our teeth and look for the hand of god in all things and see what happens in the End

10/20/14 

 Lets just say we had a fun week, my comanion was a little under the weather... and we can just say that I am now more redy than ever to be a father of a cranky teenager. But afer getting through a few few day of cold verbal abuse, my companion is starting to calm down. He is a really great missionary, but the mission life kind of got to him, and we both king of had to push through this last week one step at a time. But I told him that I understand, because I wasn´t exsactly a fan of my trainer ither. How ever, we have seen alot of amazing things this week. 

                      We were going to an appointment, and I was so sure that the door we were knocking on was the door that we were looking for, and all of a sudden, a lady that I didn´t know opened the door, and just looked at us, and said, with a smile on her face, "oh good I just got home too". She let us in and called her husband, and explained that they had talked to the missionaries before, and they really liked the message, but the missionaries just stopped coming to their house. Well We shared, a second time the message of the restored gospel, and they said that this was the first time that they really understood the reason behind why there are so many churches in the world, and Brother Christan came to church yesterday, and he loved it, and he is going to bring his whole family next sunday, and they are very excited for our next visit this Wednesday.

                       I am realy enjoying being a trainer, it is hard, but I am learning so much, and I get to see the both of us growing, which is the best gift of all. I loved conference two weeks ago, and my favorite of all is from President Eyring, and the sunday morning talk on personal revelation, because I got to see the face of one of our investigators light up at every word that he said.

                     Life in general is good, it is getting hotter, and more fruit is starting to come in, but I just feel like time is going by too quickly, but I am going to use and take advantage of every moment. I love you all and it is so good to hear from you all every week,you are all in my prayers, and I thank you for yours. Love Elder Roos

10/08/14

 This week I got my wish... I am  a trainer! (I hope that is spelled right.) Anyway, I am haveing a ball, I just picked up my new companion yesterday, and he is the best! His name is Elder Carrillo, and he is from Chilli, he is 21, a convert of a year and six months, and he is really powerful. Today we contacted the whole taxi, we gave everyone pamphlets, and everyone was talking and laughing, he just has an energy, and I am so happy to be his trainer, and I know that I am going to learn so much in these next two transfers, and we are going to see a lot of amazing things.

                        I really am so happy to finally have this chance, and it is something I have wanted to do my whole mission, and I have just been waiting for the chance. I know that this is what Independencia needs, because the best things always happen when a missionary is in training. 

                       Two of our investigatores are geting close to their baptism dates, and they are doing very well, they are Bertha and Braulio. The other day we contacted the mother of one of our investigators, she is a wonderful woman, who is now confound in a wheel chair. She has been through a lot in her life, and she is part of another church, but she was telling us a lot about the problems that she has had, and she started to talk about how her children are the most important thing in the whole world for her, and I asked her if she knew that she could live with her family forever, and she said HOW!? and today we will tell her love you all.

9/29/14
This week we saw another work of god's grace, and we went up by two in church which really is amazing because for the past six months or so they have been dancing around 25 or 30 members in the church. Something funny about this next week is the country of Peru will not go to church. Nesxt sunday it will be illigal to have a church meeting, because of Elections. When they have political elections here in peru it is maditory that everyone votes, and in they don{t vote they have to pay a heft fine to the government. So I don{t know how I am going to be able to go a whole week without inviteing poeple to go to church. Life here is cary during election time and it is really funny. It feels kind of like the part of high school when people ran for class president. people are running around in the street basting songs that sing about why people should vote for a specific person, and there are thousands of bill boards and a lot of other things that I don't want to take the time to explain, but yeah that is life here for the moment.

                 We are seeing some really wonderful things passing with some of our iinvestigators we are working with a sister named Birtha who has been talking to us for some time, and she has just gone full blast into the gospel, and she is taking her whole family with her. She and her husband have baptism dates for the 18th of October, and her 19 year-old son now wants to be baptized, because his mother is sharing the book of mormon with him, and all three of them went to church. We also found a sister named Sandra, who was really excited to hear our message, and came to church practically on her own (I say practically because we passed by her hours to remind her) but she was already getting ready to go. We are seeing the members light up and they are starting to get addicted to missionary work. Oh boy I love this gospel.

                   We are working hard, and putting on sunscreen almost everyday because the sun is starting to get hotter. Me and may companion are starting to cook more in our apartment, and I am going to be a pro at cooking rice and chicken. I love you all and hope you enjoy the wonderful colors of fall, because they don{t really have that here, it's just like Summer and Cold Summer. I love you all and hope you are happy and healthy.

9/22/14
It was a good week. We saw a lot of miracles this week, starting with a few wonderful new investigators that god led us to, and A lot of progress with some of the less active members. They have said that if the ward doesn't grow by December they are going to close down the branch here, so we have been praying and working very hard to see the members come back, and to have, well success. The first week I came here we had, 31 people in the church, second week, 32, third week, 32 again, but this week we had 50 people who attend church! It really was a merical! 50 is the goal that the ward had set to maintain the branch here in Independencia, and in one week it happened. I would like to say that we have been working our tails off, but really rally all things came down to the Grace of God. I feel so ready to keep working and to keep seeing things like we have seen this week. Well that is just about everything interesting that happened this week, I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers and thoughts

Trabjando Siempre

9/29/14

This week we saw another work of god's grace, and we went up by two in church which really is amazing because for the past six months or so they have been dancing around 25 or 30 members in the church. Something funny about this next week is the country of Peru will not go to church. Next Sunday it will be illegal to have a church meeting, because of Elections. When they have political elections here in peru it is mandatory that everyone votes, and in they don{t vote they have to pay a heft fine to the government. So I don{t know how I am going to be able to go a whole week without inviting people to go to church. Life here is scary during election time and it is really funny. It feels kind of like the part of high school when people ran for class president. people are running around in the street basting songs that sing about why people should vote for a specific person, and there are thousands of bill boards and a lot of other things that I don't want to take the time to explain, but yeah that is life here for the moment.

                 We are seeing some really wonderful things passing with some of our investigators, we are working with a sister named Birtha who has been talking to us for some time, and she has just gone full blast into the gospel, and she is taking her whole family with her. She and her husband have baptism dates for the 18th of October, and her 19 year old son now wants to be baptized, because his mother is sharing the book of mormon with him, and all three of them went to church. We also found a sister named Sandra, who was really excited to hear our message, and came to church practically on her own (I say practically because we passed by her house to remind her) but she was already getting ready to go. We are seeing the members light up and they are starting to get addicted to missionary work. Oh boy I love this gospel.

                   We are working hard, and putting on sunscreen almost everyday because the sun is starting to get hotter. Me and may companion are starting to cook more in our apartment, and I am going to be a pro at cooking rice and chicken. I love you all and hope you enjoy the wonderful colors of fall, because they don{t really have that here, it's just like Summer and Cold Summer. I love you all and hope you are happy and healthy. Love 
Elder Roos. Chaú

9/22/14
Hola Familia,

                  It was a good week. We saw a lot of mericals this week, starting with a few wonderful new investigators that god led us to, and A lot of progress with some of the less active members. They have said that if the ward doesn't grow by December they are going to close down the branch here, so we have been praying and working very hard to see the members come back, and to have, well success. The first week I came here we had, 31 people in the church, second week, 32, third week, 32 again, but this week we had 50 people who attended church! It really was a merical! 50 is the goal that the ward had set to maintain the branch here in Independencia, and in one week it happened. I would like to say that we have been working our tails off, but really rally all things came down to the Grace of God. I feel so ready to keep working and to keep seeing things like we have seen this week. Well that is just about everything interesting that happened this week, I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Love Elder Roos.

Independencia, la mas bonita.

9/15/14
 Things are still going well,

                    So we are still working hard here in Idependencia, however the attendance in sacrament meeting has only gone up by one, but hey I am not one to complain at progress.  a few interesting things that happened this week is that the branch president made us Goat for lunch, which was really good, I will never look at food the same way again after all of the things that I have eaten here, but that´s a good thing. 

                 We are working so hard to help people understand why keeping the Sabbath day holy is important, which is hard when you live in a Catholic Culture. Everyone and their dog knows that God wants us to go to church, but they don´t understand that the commandments don´t change even if the prices are better on Sunday.

                To really convert the members here, we have started to use the big guns, The Book of Mormon! We are giving all the less active members the challenge to read the book of Mormon in four months, and we are giving them a little paper with a cool little pathway, which has stepping stones representing every chapter of the book of Mormon that you color in after you have read it, and they all seem pretty happy to start it, but we will see how well it goes.

                My companion showed me a video on his camera from the CCM(MTC), and I was so embarrased, because in the video Elder Cayetano asked my where I was from, and I said (Soy donde Idaho) which in English (I where I Idaho) and then I looked at the camera and said ¡Me Gusta Queso! (I like Cheese) because that was the only thing I knew how to say well in spanish. I have come such a long way, I went from nothing to where I am now. God has blessed me so much, and I have really learned to want something so badly to really work for it. I know that God gives us things that make us suffer sometimes, but it is just because he loves us and he knows what we need to make us stronger. Well I love you all and I hope that you are all Happy and healthy, and I love you all and pray for you. Have an awesome week, Love your Goofy little missionary, Elder Roos

9/08/14
So week three,

                    it was fun to hear that it is fair time again, I have heard that they do practically the same thing here, but we have never gone to one.

                    So the work goes on here in our little branch. we reactivated a less-active member that will help the progress of our branch a lot. We are in such need of strong leaders here, almost off the members are less active, but the fact that this family came back, and so strong lets me know that nothing is impossible for the Lord. I have never felt such a love for the people, or such a need to work as I do here in Independencia. It´s kind of fun to work with less active members until they start to whine and complain about petty selfish things that don´t have anything to do with anything, but I like to see the look on their face when we start to explain everything that Jesus did for them D&C 19:15-17

                      It is truly lovely here I hope to send pictures next week, I am loving it here, there is a lot of corn, avocado, grapes, and a lot of other plants that I don´t know but I love you all

Love Elder Roos.

9/01/14
Hola todos,

                So This week was a good week, I am really enjoying my new area, and my companion. My area is the most beautiful that I have had in all of my mission life. There are a lot of green fields, and everyday we see birds that aren´t pidgins, and we continue to eat a lot of fruit. However we received something new...well new for me, Sugercain.  I have eaten it here before, but this was the first time that some one has given us big poles of sugarcane, usually people sell them in little bags already to go, but this time, this member took us out to his part of the riverbed next to his hove and hacked us four big poles of sugar with his machete.

                Like normal we have talked to a lot of people who are catholic, but just don´t have time to attend, and keep explaining the importance of the sabbath day to members who can´t find the time to go to the true church, but we are teaching a lot of young families who need to follow the law of chastity, but my favorite part about teaching families that are going through hard problems, is telling them that they can when the whole world tells them that they can´t. That they really can have a happy life together, and that one really can be married and get through every single problem and trial that comes their way, if they only put their trust en Jesus Christ. I like to see the hope that comes in to their eyes when they discover that these things really are true. Well I love you all, and hope you are ally happy and healthy, Have a great week. Love Elder Roos. 

8/16/14

I got transferred,

                     So I am now in Pisco, which is a little further south then where Canete was. It is really beautiful here with a lot more fields, and trees, and everything. I can not put into word how happy, excited, or pumped to have my new companion. His name is ELder Cayatano, and he is in my grupo from the CCM. He is super funny, an extremely hard worker, and he just loves to be here on a mission. we have a lot of work to do here, because they are talking about closing down the area. It is a really small branch, with about 35 people who go to church, but there are 180 members who live here. Me and my companion are the 1st and 2nd counselors in the Bishop rick. I am so happy to be here, I just feel good. I can't wait to see what is ahead of us here. I am am in one of the hotest arieas of the mission, but the heat wont really kick in for about a month, so that is something nice. They eat alot of fish here, so that is something that I am looking forward to. I hope you all have fun at the fair, and remember that I love you all and you are all in my prayres. Love ELder Roos

Tres Semanas

8/18/14
Hello again my friends and family.

                                       Si we are on the last week of this transfer, and I most likely will end up being changed to another area this coming week, because I have four Transfers here. This week I was thinking about how much I love this area, and how many miracles I have seen in the last six months here. Yeasterday I has happy to see Brither Renauld in the Branch Council as second counselor of the Elders Quorum. I remember the second time that we met this funny little man, he was so drunk that when we showed up the next day he didn´t remember that we had passed by the day before, but now his life has completely changed. 

                                         Brother Jorge is very excited to receive the preisthood this coming week, and we are working with alot of really good families and I have eaten alot of really good food this week. Something Cool that happened is yesterday, in branch council, I was sitting next to the frist counselor of the EQ and it turns out that the contact that we found about two weeks ago (brother Fredy= is his uncle and he has been wanted him to find the curch for along time, and he had no ideah that we where teaching him. Well life is going well down here I hope all of you are happy and healthy. Love Elder Roos.

08/11/14

Hello everyone,

                     Well we are on week five here in this transfer, and well things are going well. We are finding some amazing people. including the other night when we had nothing more to do we were walking back to the house and I turned to my companion and said wait, we still have time to save one more soul! and then He pointed the the first house with the lights on, and we knowed on the door, and made up an excuse that we were looking for some one else (not the aproche we usally use, but afective) and he looked at us and said ¨you are Elder...?¨ I said I am Elder Roos, and Have you talked to the missionaries before? Well he had, he took the lessions about four years befor, and he acepted the invitation to be baptised and well we are teaching him. 

                    The weather is starting to get to the poit where it will start to get warmer, but it´s still cold. We helped the New Missionary Couple Elder and Sister Tharp, we went shopping for couches...and we went to every strore in Imperial...which is alot, but finally we found what they were looking for. The Tharps are really cool, the have some if the most powerful testimonies I have ever seen, and they glow...and they like to feed us, so we are pritty good friends. Love you all hope you are all doing well  stay on the sunny side. Love Elder Roos. 

8/04/14
Kay and Jogre were finaly baptised!!

This wee was crazy, and the day of the baptism was the craziest, and we had to fill the Baptisaml Font with buckets of water from a local macanic shop. I am out of time but I love you all

Compañero Nuevo

Buenos tardes,

                    so I was happy to hear from mom, that my letters are okay, but I will still try to keep improveing them.

                    I hope you are all enjoying the weather down there because, yes it is starting to get very cold in this part of the world. It was a good week, my companion is the best, he is the first ¨normal¨companion that I have had up to this point in my mission, and he may never stop to make me laugh. It feels good to laugh with my companion, it´s something that I have really missed. He is a hard worker and we have seen a lot of success in just the first week that we have been together. We are working very hard to help Katy and Jorge get ready for baptism. They are starting to get a really firm testimony of the church, and they have been come to church every week. This week they ended up coming to church a little late, and we were into sacrament meeting, when there was a big ¨boom¨outside the door of the chapel, and everyone including the current speaker stopped and looked at h¡where the boom had come from, and when we all heard a little girl start to cry and a little boy yell it wasn´t me, we knew that Katy and Jorge had arrived. However little Margarita who hit her head on the door was just fine, and we all hod a good time at church.

 My Companion is from a place called Cajamarka, which is near Cuzco, and is about 15 hours in buss. So he is not super close, but the funny thing is where he is from there are al ot of white people, so we usually say that we are from the same place, He is my 3rd companion from Peru, but I think he might be my favorite. I love you all and Wish you all well. Love Elder Roos. 

This saturday Sister Saturnina, and Sister Benancia were baptized. It was an incredible experience, My companion baptized Benancia and the brother of Saturnina was able to baptise his sister. The most incredible part about the baptism of Saturnina is that her brother, Nolburto had an accident about 7 years ago, and does no have full use of his legs, and is only able to walk with the use of crutches. But with the simple help of a chair and my companion, he was able to successfully preform the baptismal ordinance. The testimony of Saturnina, and Benancia were two of the purest and most powerful that I have been able to witness in all of mission. Sister Banancia as I have mentioned before does not speak very well in spanish, but with the help of her daughter (who is member) she was able to express her feelings in a very moving way. There may or may not have been tears. (I have pictures, but I will have to send them next week)

                               The other interesting thing that happened this week, is the change of mission life, Transfers. I am still here in Imperial, Cañete. So that means that I will spend one fourth of my mission in this area, but that´s okay because I love this place. My new companion is named Elder Morales, he is from Cajamarka Peru. He has about nine months in the mission, and his is a very powerful missionary. Mom asked if my comp. goes away will I be District leader or will they change me too? The answer to that question is, the will send another one in. Elder Morales is District leader, and honestly I´m okay with that, but it is possible that I will go to my next area as District leader, but I am happy to just be focused on the people that we have to teach.

                              I am excited to see what is going to happen this next change, and I truly hope that we can work to our full potential this transfer, because this will be my last in this area. My new companion is really cool, he is relaxed, but he knows how to work hard and where to focus his energy. I think that the time we spend together is going to be an awesome experiencia. Something cool about Elder Morales is that he is a sketch artist, and he is really good, he drew my face and I felt like I was watching a camera. Well I love you all have a good week. Love Elder Roos.

Por Fin

7/9/14

    I hope that you all enjoyed the Fourth of July, here the day of independance is the 28th of July, but really it's only a big deal in the schools, Everyone knows what day it is, but nothing super big happens, but most of the men do use the day as an excuse to drink untill they can`t stand, like they do for any other holiday.

                      this week we the two baptisms this week, The baptisms of a Sister named Saturnina, and another named Benancia. Both are in their older years, but are very young in spirit. We have been working with saturnina off and on for about three months, she has such strong faith, and is ready to take the next step to advance in the gosploe, but she can`t read so it has been very dificult to learn as quickly as she would like. Sister Banacia also is super powerful, and she has an added problem, that she she can`t understand Español 100%, because here in Peru many people speek the native language called Kechuwa, and she can`t read in Kechuwa or en Español, but she is progressing so quickly. Theese two sisters are such an inpiration to me beacuse they are so humble and so willing to follow our father in heaven, and Every time that I hear Benancia pray in Kechuwa, I can feel her love for god and her willingness to do all she can to enter into the kingdom of God. I hapy to be in this area, and hope that in the comeing trasfer that I can stay here for 1 transfer more.

                      The wether here is getting a little colder, and I found that I have gotten use to a wamer kind of weather, and my husky Idaho gruff for winter weather has gon back to Idaho. I love you all and hope you are all doing well , Love Elder Roos.

6/30/14

  Bien, so mom told me that on her weather app  it says that there is rain in Lima, but it doesn´t rain in this part of Perú very often, but for the past few days it has been raining...but do you know  why? it is because we placed 3 new baptism dates, and God is prepareing the for what would have been a water shortage....that`s just a joke, but we really do have three more baptisms planed and it really has been raining. We are getting ready for Transfers this comeing week, and we are pritty shur that Elder Izquierdo will go because he will have six monthers here. But other then that no big news, my companion and I are getting thiner every day... I don´t know why because we eat a ton. Katy and Jorge are learning slowly but shurly, and we finally place a bauptism date on one sister that we have been teaching off on on for theese last three tranfers. I hope you are all doing great, sory for the short Email. Talk to you all next week. Elder Roos.

6/23/14  

    On my part I am doing well, the work also is doing well, we are have a little bit of trouble have the baptism part, but every day we are working a little harder to help these people over come their problems and concerns. I have grown to love the word ¨Problema (problem)¨ because it is a god given moment to learn and to grow.God has blessed us so much, in so many ways. We have found and taught over 30 new people in the last two weeks. We are working with some families that have true desiers to follow christ, and the Branch here is impoveing well.

                               Today I learned how service is important for missionary work. My companion, the sisters and my self, were riding in a taxi to go to our P-day activity as a zone, I was talking to the Taxi Driver, and to be honest it wasn´t going very well, it wasn´t bad, but it just didn´t feel like there was alot of progress in the conversation, when all of asuden, we ran out of gass. Here in Peru they use gass or gasoline. it went something like this... ¨¿Que paso? we ran out of gass, (but it just so happened that we were right next to a gass sation), ¨I use Gass not Gasoline¨ Oh, and where is the next gass place? ¨more than three Kilómetros ( I don´t know what that is in miles). We can push you ¨no it´s really far¨no we can push you. Then Elder Izquierdo and myself left the car and started to push...and push...I don´t know how far we pushed the car, but it was a really long time, but we never stopped, and it felt awesome. The streets here are always paked with people in justabout any time of day, and I don´t know how many peopel we passed, but they all saw what was going on. They all saw the moron missionarys pushing a caxi through many bussy streets and inter seccions. I hope that some one who saw that will one day have the chance to see to Elders standing at their door and will think ¨well they can´t be that bad, I saw two of them pushing a taxi the other day¨and then let them in to hear the message that they have. Now I don´t know if that will ever happen, but after we finally got to the gass place, the driver got out of the car and the first words he said was ¨Where is your church¨well we were more then happy to tell him, and we gave him a pamflet, and wrote down his information and commited him to come to church this week and find the missionaries there (becasue he lives in a diferent area). I flet really good, not only because we got in some really good ¨Cardiovascular¨ work in, but because, before we pushed his car, he didn´t care who we where or what we had to say, but we spaked his intest just a little, and I learned just a little more how to truely live life. ( mosiah 2:17) I love you all, have and awesome week! love Elder Roos.

6/16/14  

Okay so who are joge and Katy. They are a couple that we found about two weeks ago. One day after companionship study,after the closing prayer, Elder Izquierdo looked up at me and said ¨lets go visit Walter (a old investigator) and I said, but we alredy have plans for today, we just looked at eachother, and then we prayed again so that we could both know exsactly what to do. After we ended the prayer we looked at eachother and, ÿeah lets go! So we went to walter and when he aswered the door my companion told him that we were here to visit him, but fist ¨what families do you know that us three (including walter) could visit? Something that you should know is Walter Has a very strong testimony of the book of mormon, but has not been baptised because, if wife doesn´t want to get married and he doesn´t go to church. Anyway, just then a family walked by walter´s house and walter said, talk to them....and we did and they are a Famtastic family and they are getting married this week, and then we will baptise them.

                   But really They are a Super nice family, and they have gained a testimony so quickly, when they when to church, Key said that this is the place that she has been looking for for a long time. I love this family.

                   Other then that, it has been an interesting week, we had a lession in a pig pen...that was fun. But all is going well. I know this church is true and that it changes lives, I hope you are all doing well. Love Elder Roos

Catch up!

06/09/14

Que Tal Familia mio,

                            okay so things are going well, the work is moving more fluidly, and I am finding that my teaching skills are improving, I still have a ways to go but I am getting there, I really like to teach big classes, for examples Gospel principals class.However I also love teaching families and helping them over come their problems. We are teaching a Sister named Fransisca, and she is super interested in the message, and she goes to church ever sunday, but she will not a baptism date because of her super catholic husband. We also found a super Awesome family names Jorge and Kati, but more next week I am out of time. Love Elder Roos.

6/02/14

Hello everyone,

                     So transfers happened this week, and I am still in the same place with the same Elder, but with new hopes. I am in Imperial Cañete Lima Peru. it is starting to get colder, but that´s just because I live in south america, ¨cold¨here in peru is swimming weather in Idaho.

                    My comp. is still Elder Izquierdo, so this will be cambio number three. Which is funny, because I am one of the few Elders that has lasted more than one change with him, but I don´t say that to throw mud in the reputation of my companion, but just to let you know that these past two transfers have been something I will never forget. I really feel like this third transfer is a blessing, because I have learned so much love the pat few months, and I have seen a great change in Elder Izquierdo and in myself. It is funny how God takes people who are completely different and put them together so that they can grow and learn from one another. I really am happy to with here for a little more time, and us two have become something of a team, we still have so very much to learn, but I feel like some good this are coming to pass.

                      We have found some really interesting families, we are even teaching someone who is studying to be a preacher, and he has a big fat book of question (bring it on). I love how humble people are here, even when people hate us they still listen to what we have to say and alot of the time the are honest and say that they don´t wan´t anything, or they spew the same lame excuses about why we can not enter there houses, but my point is that the people are super nice here and we find alot of people, who really do want to change, and the fact is that we want to help them, so everyone wins.

                      The second best part of where we are is that the city is surrounded by fruit orchard, so I have eaten a lot of fruit....A LOT OF FRUIT!!!!!! and it will never get old NEVER! I love these people, I love this work, and I love fruit. I hope you are all happy and healthy, and mom that you so much for helping the Sister missionaries in Wapello they will never forget your help, and I bet when you help them you think just a little about your missionary in the field, and that sends blessings here. I love you all. Elder Roos.

05/26/14

Big News,

              Those two funny town drunks that I talked about before were baptized this week!! Brother Edwin wanted to be baptized at 3pm in a river with a tunic, just like Jesus was, and when we told him that we could only do it in the baptism font, he refused to be baptized, but after, a church video, a lot of scriptures, and a look at the baptism font my companion and myself were able to convince him to be baptized that day...but he was baptized using the tunic that usually only the women wear.

              These two men have some of the strongest testimonies that I have ever heard. after the baptism the son of Renauld gave his dad the biggest hug ever and they gust stayed there for a moment, and I was so happy to see how the gospel changes lives, and how happy his family was to see the change in this man.

Well life is good, life just keeps on going one day at a time, but it is going way too fast. It is getting cooler down here but not cold, we have found a few cool families that want the gospel, so that is good, but you will hallways have those born and die catholics and dominate peru. well I love you all so much, keep reading the Book of mormon it changes lives

05/19/14

So this week we had a really big District Conference, which is stake conference when you don't have a stake, and we had 450 people show up which was a ¨milagro. It was really cool to see all of the people there, and President Douglas Gave an amazing talk on the atonement. We are teaching some really cool families, one family is Fansica, Cristian, and Evelin, and antother are Juli and Eder. these two families are really cool, and they have a lot of desire to serve god, they are having a little trouble accepting the need to be Baptizted, again after their Catholic baptism, but the Book of mormon is a super powerful tool that is helping them see the truth of this message. I thought a lot about Christian during the presidents talk, because he has some addiction problems, and we explained to him that through the atonement all can be healed, and everything that is unjust in the world can be rectified. (alma 7:11). I am doing good and mom I did get that pizza recipe, we haven't made it yet just because we have next to no time. but thank you so much!! I love you all I am happy and healthy, and hop that all of you are the same!

5/08/14

  This week went very well...well mas o menos. After the change with the sisters, we are still trying to get off the ground in regards to our goals. we are having a few problems finding less active members who will let us in the door, and we are forever looking for more people who are ready to hear the gospel. Despite the little setbacks that we have faced this week, I am feeling very hopeful for this coming week, I feel like something good is coming. Today I read 3 nephi 1, and it talks about how the people who didn´t believe christ were ready to kill the people who believed in the signs of Christ coming. These people were ready to die for a new star that they had never seen, for a firm hope that they couldn´t explain. I learned that, that is how faith in Christ works, it keeps up happy, keeps us faithful, until the day that the new star of hope finally shines, and the hand of our enemies are stopped... and the best part of this story, it at the end the better part of people where baptized, because the missionaries never stopped preaching.

                          However we did find this ¨gigante¨ family of less actives, the ¨Dixion¨father had been away from the church for over five years, after he and his wife left eachother, wich then led to the falling away of the whole family. The children knew that the church was true, but hadn´t found the desire to go to church for years, and alot of diferent missionaries, have talked to Dixion, but they never budged. Howere we had a verry sucessfull lession, where Dixion told us every problem he had with the church, and basically his life story. At the end of his epic tale, he told us that his bigest problem was the book of mormon, and that he could not accept another book that wasn´t the bible. Well being Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Laterday Saints, we taught the Resteration, and long story ¨un poco mas¨ shorter, almost all of the family when to church this sunday and almost all of the testimonies were about the Book Of Mormon!

Can´t wait to talk to my family, I have to call on Monday the 11th, or maybe skype, but I will call today and check you you people. So I´m doing good, Read the Book of Mormon 15 min Cada Día!

4/28/14
Hello everyone!

                  The biggest thing that happened this week is that we got sisters in our branch, which is fantastic, but I changed everything. We had three investigators that have a date for baptism, all three of them are now investigators of the sisters. Two of these people are named Edwin and Rnauld, they are the most prepared investigators that I have known in my mission. Edwin was a reference of a stake leader, and the first lesson he was ready to be baptized and to start going to church, and the following week, we ended up teaching him and 6 others in one very big very well done lesson. In this group pf 6 people was this man named Renauld, and he accepted the restoration, very quickly. what we didn´t know is that he works with one of the members of our branch, and he knew that his coworker was a member of this church, and he had been waiting for the chance to talk to this man, but he never found the chance, and he was very happy to finally have the chance to learn more about this message, and the best part of this is these two guys were the biggest drunks ever!!! They have not touched alcohol in over a week, and the whole community is shocked, and everyone is talking about the change of these two crazy guys. I am so happy to see how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal us from what ever worldly problem that we suffer from (Alma 7:11). The sad part of this story is that the we no longer are able to teach them, but we know that the hand off to the sisters is going to be good.

General Conference

So I failed to send you a good letter for some time now, so I will do everything in my power to make this letter a good one. So I am in the Zone of Cañete, and my area is named Imperial (because the city is named Imperial) it is a very big farming community. we live in the city part of Imperial, but we also teach in some of the outer parts of the city. some things are similar to Sunampe (my last area) but the city part is bigger and the other ¨outer parts¨ are spread out a little farther. I love the people here, there are a lot of crazy drunk people here, but that is just kind of a Peru thing. I have meant some of the humblest people here in this area, we are teaching a lot of really devoted people, like Carlos Ojeda who will be baptized this week. He has been waiting for over three months to be baptized He really enjoyed Conference and he told us when the prophet went up to give his talk he stopped and payed close attention to everything that is said and the way he presented himself, and he said that he had seen a lot of public speakers in his day, he had been to different countries and different parts of Peru, just to hear people speak, and when we told him that there was a living Prophet he was expecting something ¨Big¨ something ground breaking, but he just told us to love God with all are heart and love everyone as ourselves. He then said ¨at that moment I knew that he was a Prophet of God, because what he said really made me think about what I was doing with my life and what God wanted me to do with my life.¨ 

                  I love the faith of Brother Carlos and I don´t have words to describe how happy I am to see him enter into this pathway to eternal life. I also know that the church is true and there is a Prophet on the earth today. the morning of conference we want to pick up a sister that we are teaching, and she told us that she could´t go because she was cooking (which seems to be the favorite excuse here in Perú) and I asked her ¨if Jesus came and knocked on your door and told you that the 12 Apostles we speaking would you leave your house to go hear them?¨ she said that she would but that is different, and I told here that it´s exactly the same because God has called a prophet and 12 apostles today, and she just told us that she was really busy and she couldn´t go.....so she failed the test of faith.

I want you to know I am happy, healthy, and growing strong, I hope you are all doing well. Love Elder Roos.

Algo mejor..

3/17/14
Hello,

       So I am sorry for my super short and incomplete letter last week, I ended up running out of time. 

       So I am in a place called Cañete, and I am in the branch of Imperial. It really isn´t too far from my last area, and it is a citty, but it is not Lima so it is pritty nice. My Comp. is named Elder Izquirdo (which is funny because Izquierda is spanish for left, so everyone makes Elder Left and Right jokes.) Something I like is that he is pretty short, so I am again one of the tallest people that I see during the day. I really love my new area, my Companion is the District Leader so I finally have a chance to know how it´s done, and the people here are very humble and want to change their lives. Saturday night we found a young man named JoseMaria (yes his first name the two names of the father and mother of Jesus, at this point latin names have stopped shocking me.) Anyway, we taught him a small lesson and invited him to church, the next day he showed up early to church and stayed for all three hours, and in Gospel principles class he introduced himself as, My name is Josemaria and I want to change my life and that is why I´m here. That point I felt very happy to be in this place. I have seen some of the best people here who really want to change their lives. 

       My Spanish is coming along very well, I feel like I am finally out of the spanish pitt, and am walking and laughing with all the short little pueru people. I still mess up some words, and there are a lot of things I don´t know, but I feel like I'm there. But yeah life is going well, and the Gospel is true. Mom please tell everyone in the ward Hi for me. I love you all thank you for your thoughts and Oraciones. Love Elder Roos.

3/11/14
Hey this is going to be short, sorry I will have a better letter next week.

                           I got your letters at last, and thank you so much that was really something that I needed this week, I am also very thankful for the letters that had your testimonies, and really just reading those two simple letters really helped my testimony, thanks.

                             The biggest thing that happened this week was transfers. I finally left Sunampe, and to be honest it was kind of sad. I was surprised at the reaction of the members when they all found out that I was going to another area. The Bishop told everyone in church at the pulpit, that one day they are going to see me as a 70 in the liahona, but I will be happy as a young men´s president. I am out of time love you all. Elder Roos

Una Semana mas

Hola everyone,

                    I am sorry of not sending an email last week, but I will just put away the lame excuses and get to the telling you stuff part. So we are getting very close to the end of this transfer and at this point I have just a little over 9 months in the mission. it is crazy how the time flies. These past two weeks we have really seen the hand of the lord in the work, we finally had the tow baptisms of Danela and Lesly, and they are two very strong converts. I think that I write this in just about every letter that write after we have a baptism, but I am truly amazed to see the new light that comes into the faces of the new members that are baptized. The scriptures say that everyone is born with the light of Christ and in this we choose right or wrong, but I am a living witness that the countenance of some one who has received the gift of the Holy Ghost is different and they really shine.

                     The ward of Sunampe in a very small ward, in fact it almost doesn´t have the correct amount of members to be a ward and is almost a branch, but I love working in this ward because the heards  of the members are so big. We are working very hard to help this ward grow, but it is something of a difficult processes when you barely have sufficent members to fill the callings of the ward. I have been thinking a lot about church callings lately and how importante every  calling in the church is because every act we do has human beings will some how effect someone else, and when some one efecively does their church calling they are helping another child of god progress. This has made me think about how important sharing this gospel is, and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to share this gospel. I love you all and hope you are all warm and happy take care and have an amazing week. Elder Roos

2/17/14

Hello everyone,

                    So this week is going very well, we are starting to have a lot more help for the ward for finding people, and God has blessed us a lot this week. Sometimes when all our plans fail God blesses us with just a little bit of success. This week we have two baptisms planed, one for Friday and one for Saturday. Their names are Lesly Banses and Danela Moran. Lesly is 22 and going to school to be a nurse and she is very interested in the plan of salvation. Her mother passed away about 10 months ago and she was very happy to hear that we can all live together as a family after this life, and I am happy to be able to testify that I know that this is true. Danela is an 11 year old girl who is the only member of her family that is not a member, but that is about to change this week, she has been very fun to teach and she is very happy to be part of the church and the ward is helping alot in this aspect.

                Something funny that happened this week was Hermano Fansisco, a new convert of about five months, was asked to give a talk on faith in church this Sunday, and I have to be honest I have never paid so much attention to a talk on Faith in my life. He got up to the pulpit, and at first he was very calm and everything was normal, but then he just started really getting into it. He started going off like a T.V. minister. He started shouting a little bit, he began using a lot of hand gestures, and walking back and forth pointing to people "There are only two types of faith!!" It was most likely the most entertaining talk I have ever seen.

but all is going well on this End. I hope you are all well happy and Warm Take Care. Love Elder Roos.

Still hot and mov'n on

Hello Every one,

                       So to start things off, this week has been interesting, but very long. The mission right now is verry low on people to teach, I thought it was just us but it seems the whole mission is down right now. So that is kind of where I am at right now. We are working with alot of less active members, because right now not alot of people are comeing to church. Some thing that I have had in my heart for Sunape from the first week I came here was to buid the members enough untill the church will okay the building of a new church building. They had a small church house once but it fell to the groung (as did the membership) after an earth-quake in 2007. We only need 10 more Tithe paying Elders in the Elders quarm, to be approved on a new building. I would like so much the see theese sweet humble people nove have to take a taxi to a diferent part of chincha just to go to church, they need this and I hope that I can help make this happen. We are going to keep moveing with all our faith untill... untill the end I supose. I ate cat...yes real cat here is a picture of it's head. Love you all Elder Roos

2014 Feliz ano nuevo y baprismo del Hermano Alezis

1/20/14

Hello todos,
So this week was fantastic because we had two
baptismos that were very important to me. That of Hermano Alexis (20)
and Gustavo (13). With Alexis, we have been teaching him for a long
time, when I got to chincha he already had a full teaching record, and
well really he has been ready for baptism for a long time. The Biggest
problem was that he was have problems leaving the catholic faith and
he had a fear of sinning after baptism, and to make a long interesting
story short for time's sake, he was baptized on saturday and now is in
the path to be one of the strongest members Sunampe has ever seen! At
the end of the baptism, he gave his testimony, and I have to say that
there are words that can describe the feeling that a missionary has
when some one that they have spent so much time and energy to help,
stands in front of a group of people and says ¨I know that this is the
true church of Jesucristo¨. After Alexis, Gustavo a thirteen year old
boy boar his testimony, and he was crying and he didn't know why, but
he stood there and looked at his parents and then at me and in the
mist of his tears and his struggle to find his breath, he said ¨I cant
describe how I feel, but I know that this church is the true
church...and then he sat down, and I can't tell you how much those two
testimonies impacted me, but I can say this; I know that this church
is true, but what is more I know that all this is a part of gods plan
for us that would not be complete with out the perfect love of Jesus
Christ. I my self have so much to learn about all of this, but I know
with every fiber of my being that if happiness, true happiness and
joy can not be found in the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus
Christ, then it can't be found anywhere. However it can be found, and
there are a few people ready to tell you about it.
I love you all, it is really hot here and yes the fruit is really good
here, and Mom I think of you every time I eat a mango, and I know that
I am dooming myself because the states don't have good mangos. Love you
all Elder Roos. Dean send this to mom her email didn't work.

01/13/14
So this week went well,

                                 Nothing too much to report, all of our investigator with a date for bapitsm are progressing and they all should be baptized if we keep praying and working hard. 

     Mom I want you to know that your comment about going Vegan made my day and I want you to know that it`s against my religion too.

     Rachel, tofu.... we tried that once and I remember that it failed drastically, and it gives you gas because your body is trying to tell you that your food choices were not correct and you need to re think about what you have just put in to your body, trust me about this I am in south america, me and my body have this conversation frequently. haha

      Dean and Cynthina, I love you guys sounds like all is going well and your photo made me want to go sleding.

   

Well, 

       Right now in Preù it is really hot and everyone tells me that it is about to get hotter down here in February. something else is we are eating a lot of fruit, the water melon is in abundance and there are always mangos, which makes me happy because mangos are the best. I found that the only two things I have ever talked about with members here is about the gospel and Food. People talk about food so much here, which I enjoy because I like food, but it never stops to amaze me how long some one can talk about fruit.

       In reference to the work all is going really well, our bishop steped up his game, and we finally have ward missionaries. Our ward is really small, and it just got smaller because of some boundary changes, but the members are so strong. The faith of these humble people are ever helping me build my testimony that this church is true. Yesterday in ward Counsel I look at the group of members that we had and realized that almost all the leaders that we have are either a return missionary that has been home for less than a year or a recent convert, for example the young mens president has less then two months as a member, and the young womans president just got home from her mission, and I could go on but I am almost out of time, But the point I am trying to make is that the church is true and I have seen here in peru that truth is stronger than anything in the world. I love you all.

01/06/14
Happy new year!

                      So they do just about the same thing for new years as they do for Christ mas, with just a few more fire works.

                       I am Sad to hear that Great Uncle Ernie past away, in fact I do remember Uncle Ernie he was a fantastic person, and I remember every time I saw him I would ask him were Burt was, and I think that was probably a very old joke but he always laughed. Something that my Zone Leader Elder Red Said ¨Don´t take life too seriously, no one makes it out alive anyway¨, but Olivia thank you for keeping me updated.

                      I got a lot of deep letters this wee, most of which told me about how proud they were of me for being out here, and so I thank each one of you for those words, it was something I need this week. However life is going very well we have four baptisms coming up this week is Hermano Gustavo so I am pumped for that one and three others that are over due. I am enjoying being companions with Elder Peralta, he is a comic relief of a string of very stiff Compañeros. I am almost out of time sorry for the short letter well here is something.

Tarde

12/18/13

para empezar,

                   

¿Como esta todos?

                          Bien bien, So we are just working away here in chincha, Elder Yucra se fue (went)to Ika and I have a new companion Named Elder Pearalta if his name was in English it would be "tall pear" which is funny because he is my first companion that is taller than me, which kind of broke my delusions of grandeur, because I really liked being one of the tallest people in perú but some times god likes to remind us that if you are 5´.11 you are only tall in perú and Japan.

                          Elder Pearalta is very very good, he is funny and kind of relaxed which is a big change from Elder Yucra, but he is really really focused, he teaches with a power and love that I haven´t seen in a missionary yet, but I am learning so much from him and hope that I have something I can teach him.

                         Well I am doing just fine down here in good o´l peú and Wish you all Feliz Festivos! Love Elder Roos

12/09/13 

  Nothing ground breaking here in Peru, we are working very hard with less actives, people here are easy to accept the gospel but it is so hard to convince them to go to church. The people here are very religious, and people plaster Jesucristo on just about everything, their cars, their skin, their walls, their cell phones, but it seems that they are just giving their wall space or their art choices to Christ and not their time, because it is easy to write the name of Christ on you arm, but it is something different to write it in your heart.

                                         We found and are teaching a really cool family, after watching the video of the Restoration they were pretty convinced that Joseph Smith is prophet and the father was kind of bummed out that his baptism in the cathloic church about a month ago didnt count.