Kevin's Peru: Septembers Letters 2011

September 26,2011

                     Hello family and friends. How is everything going in the united states? Things are going really great here in El Perú. Everything is going great. First off I will explain whats up with all the work. The work is still going on and all of the families are progressing pretty good. Yesterday in church I didn't have many investigators there. It was a little sad. A lot of the families had their families come and visit them yesterday. Everyone decided to come on the same day. But most of the families have attended 5 or 6 times, so that is great. This week we are going to launch our our bread selling activity. This Friday we will have four or five families selling bread to all of the city of Iquitos. We hope to gain over 500 soles. We should be able to do it. This week the family Murayari are going to travel to their little village to get out the birth certificate that was messed up. We should be able to put the marriage papers in this week too. They should be married in a week or two weeks. But we will have to see when they are going to travel. We also found 3 other families to teach this week that were all very acccepting. It's weird that we found 3 new families because everyone in the villages knows me by name and always says hi to me. But the lord is still blessing our work.
                     2 weeks ago we found a single mom and her 2 daughters. She has progressed very rapidly. She already says that the church is true and wants to follow all of the commandments. She already has all of the lessons and has read in the book of Mormon until Alma. She has progressed really fast. Her name is Leidy Inuma, with her 2 daughters Fiorella and Margari. Leidy and Fiorella can be baptised and have baptismal dates for the 8th of October. Tonight we are doing a family home evening with her and some of the branch members. It should be really cool.
                The pictures are cool. In our chapel we found some bats. And I had to take pictures of them. They're awesome. Another is of an activity that we did on Thursday. We played games and had other stuff to do. The other one I don't remember what it is, but that's OK.
                This week is general conference. We will be able to watch it live in the stake center. I will be able to watch it in English with all of the greengos, so I am really looking forward to that. Well, life is good and things are going well. I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you, Elder Clouse

Sept. 19, 2011

     Hello family and friends. How are things going there? Well this week had a lot of ups and downs. But I am a positive person so lets start with the ups. This week I have found another family that is married. They are doing really well and reading the book of Mormon. Also on Sunday was the stake conference. But this stake conference was with all of Peru. We received a satellite broadcast from salt lake city where elder Gonzalos, Sister Beck for the relief society, Elder Christofferson, and President Monson all spoke to Peru. The only one that didn't speak Spanish was President Monson and I was astonished how well Sister Beck and Elder Christoferson speak Spanish. They both speak like they are natives. It was awesome. They spoke about the family and how we should all strive to be married and live happily with our families. The coolest part is that I had 5 families that are investigating the church, listening to it. After the conference I spoke to every single one of them and they said that these people were called of God and that they should strive to get married as quickly as possible. So that was an awesome experience. The church bought the land to build our chapel. It's right in front of our house and is really huge. It should serve as a stake center in the near future. We are really excited for that. So we have had a few things happen that are really special.
     Well, with the family Murayari. The brothers birht certificate arrived and there is a mistake in his birth date. Here in Peru they wont accept anything wrong. Sadly, it will be another month before we can get another one and get them married. Another one of our families are moving this week to another town. So there goes that marriage and baptism. Last night water entered our house and got everything completely wet. Its a little sad but that is what life is all about here.
     This week has been a little challenging. A lot of ups and downs. But the lord knows what he is doing and gives us trials to make us strong. Its a little sad but that's how it goes. Transfers are in two weeks. If you can believe it or not I have been here for 6 months already. I don't know if I will stay or not.  I don't know if I will be able to baptise all of these families. But the lord knows best and he will keep us strong no matter what.
    Well life is good and we are still working hard. I love you all and appreciate your prayers and love. Love you all TTYL Elder Clouse

September 12, 2011

Hello family and friends. Well life is good and the work here is advancing. This last week I went to the city with the family Murayari to get out all of the requirements for the marriage. We only need one birth certificate and we will have it all done. We want to put all of their papers in the government office this week so that they can get married this next weekend. We are really hoping and praying that this can go through. Its been a roller coaster trying to find solutions to all of their problems. But the lord has blessed us and we are working hard and happy. With all of the other families, we have found two families that are actually married. We are working with them to get them baptised this next month. They should be ready to go if they come through with all of their commitments and attend church. There are really good and we should be advancing with them.

Well this weekend we had a baptism, but the lady got sick and couldn't come. She has something that she can't get wet or it will get worse. I have no idea what it would be. But the only part is that she didn't tell us. SO we had everything ready in the church with all of the members there singing until it came to a point where it passed 30 minutes after the baptism should have started. We ran home to look for her and she was at her house. She said she was sick and other stuff and the asked for forgiveness. Then we went back to the church and said our testimony and ate all of the refreshments. The members were still happy that they got food, so we didn't have a whole lot of problems.

This week we have stake conference and we should have a member from the seventy come. Also President Blunck is coming, so it should be good to see and hear them speak. I am excited for that. Also we have other activities coming up to earn money to get all the families hitched. I am glad the d- backs finally came to play. That brings peace to my soul.

Well everything is going well and we are working hard. Nothing else really happened this week. Just the normal stuff. Well I love you all and will write you all this upcoming week.

Love Elder Clousito.

Sept 6, 2011
Hello family and friends. How are things going? Things are going really well here in Iquitos. There are a few exciting things to tell. The Stake President came to our ward yesterday and made a huge announcement. There are building a chapel in my area. Not just any chapel, but one big enough to be the stake center. In the next week the church is sending out some people to look at a site and then they will buy and build within the next year. This means that we have to become a ward within a year. But we won't have any problems I think. We have 8 families that will get married by December. This is 8 more priesthood holders and would make it 20 men with the Melchizedek priesthood. To be a ward, we need 17. Also we have goals with 5 families that are less active to read the book of Mormon and to pray. We hope that we can gain at least three of them to be active members again. This would mean 23 priesthood holders would be active. So we are really hoping and praying that we can get all of these people active and in the church, reading their scriptures and praying everyday so the branch can grow into a ward by the end of this year. Yesterday we had 95 people in the church compared to 43 when I first showed up, we are doing really well. So we have a lot of plans to grow here in my area.

With the family Murayari, we have plans for their marriage this month. On Which Day????????The 24 of September! The same day as mom and dad. So I am really hoping that we have their wedding that day. The family is progressing really well and so far 5 of the 7 are converted to the gospel. The other 2 or young men that are 15 and 13. They are a little bit rebellious and are really involved in the Catholic Church. One is an assistant to the catholic father and the other one is studying in the church everyday. So its a little hard to pull them out of there. But with prayer and alot of faith and hope we can help them out. Other things are going really well.

Yesterday I found a family that is married and the father wants to become closer to God. He was so excited when we showed up at his door. We are thinking that the lord has prepared him for us. Yesterday he was saying that we could come when ever we want and that he would do whatever it takes to get closer to Christ. So we PRAY he can work out. Right now they don't have work and he likes to drink alot. SO we have a little trouble but we can help him get out of his problems.