October 31, 2011

Hey family,

This week has been really something. It was such a blessing and an emotional rollercoaster. I am learning always that I am here not to think about myself, but others. To help others come unto Christ by giving them the restored gospel. And I really have noticed that I am the happiest and feel amazing when we are teaching an investigator, or that feeling when someone accepts invitation to be baptized, we really are here on the Lord's errand. and to love the people just as He does.

In reality this calling only lasts so long, in fact its quite short in the scheme of things and I need to make the time that I have here in Peru count. In the mtc there was a talk that said, We as missionaries have front row seats of the greatest miracle in the world, and its so true.

Well, now on to my area!

It is everything you would hope a South American ghetto would be. Well, to a North American it would seem extremely ghetto, but here I guess its not so shabby. I really love it, and the branch is awesome, I might not be able to speak the language but the church is true all over the world, but the church is just a little more....lets say....special, in different parts of the world. The members are great and I'm really glad I have the opportunity to be here for 12 weeks. They actually don't have pianos in their church buildings, oddly enough. well, dodged that bullet! But its pretty funny because Peruvians aren't quite known for their singing, so it was pretty entertaining trying to sing with the congregation on Sunday, without a piano there were like 3 key changes and it was their own version of the hymns haha, its great.

My companions name is Elder Insaurralde. (Yeah, say that ten times fast.) from Paraguay. He is super stellar. Humble, obedient, and patient with me and the language, everything I could hope a trainer to be. And yes, as sad as it is, mother, ALL of our meals and laundry are taken care of. I know, I was a little sad too, not being able to use my usefully-honed home making skills here in the mission, but alas, I will survive. We basically just go over to a member family house (our pension) just a few blocks down, and the sister there makes us really great food. and another sister takes care of our laundry, and even folds it, now that is something that hasn't happened to my clothes in a looong time haha.

There aren't too many white people here in Chiclayo, actually, I haven't even seen one that's not a missionary, lol. So kids like to call me gringo, and one of my favorites has been Gringito, by this really old lady, but I have also come to terms with the fact that my name is no longer Elder Lonsdale, but Elder Lons-dah-lay. I would send pictures but my comp says that taking pictures is a bad idea in our area because of how dangerous it is, so we need to be careful.

Well I love you all tons, thanks for being an awesome family!

Your missionary,

Elder Derek Lonsdale

October 21, 2011

So tuesday is the the day when my mission actually begins haha. Im pretty excited, everything you do here in the mtc is preparation for the field and prep for teaching, I know im not perfect, but im ready to learn all I can from the mission field.

I would have to say probably the best thing about this mtc here in peru is the opportunity we have to go out and teach and find real investigators. We were able to do that a few nights ago and we are going again tomorrow. Talking to people about the gospel and how it can bless their lives really is amazing. That genuine love you feel for people when you see them as children of our Heavenly Father and how much he wants them to return to Him. what a great responisibilty it is to have this calling.

The teachers here really are amazing, We had this one teacher who I got to know really well, and I am 100% positive he is one of the three nephites, just like one of our other teachers in provo. 2 down one more to go. Our nephite teacher here is about 5´2 tall, and spiritually 1000 feet tall. The Lord really does put people in your way that help you along in your journey, right when you need them.

Food? well, here in the mtc....I went through this phase where I got really tired of chicken and rice, becasue thats all they give us haha, but now I think I have gotten pretty used to it, so it doesnt bother me. but the mtc president has been helping us out and has made some changes to the menu to help us out a bit, its really funny seeing the kitchen trying to imitate american food haha. but I will let you know about chiclayo, I hear that the food is pretty swell over yonder.

Shopping, yup. shopping is great here, everything is cheap and the currency is easy to use. On our tour of lima we got to see some old ruins and catholic chapels and catacombs and stuff, super cool , super dark haha, but anyways, on the tour I got to buy a bunch of neat stuff, like an alpaca sweater and a cool satchel, or man purse if you will.

We got to re-listen to elder hollands talk to us missionaries, the one he gave in provo. it is amazing. I wish I could show it to you guys. We are all speechless after we hear it. He spoke with so much power, he talked about how people have the right to think missionaries are perfect, even though we are not. But we do not have the right to make them think otherwise. so powerful. we really need to be the best representatives of Jesus Christ. Because He is perfect, and we are here to bring the world His truth.

Our mtc president challenged us to read the book of mormon during our time here at the mtc, he challenged us 2 weeks ago and I was able to finish it yesterday. What amazing book of truth we have on the earth to testify of Christ and of Joseph smith and our church, the 360 view that reading the book of mormon these past few weeks has really helped me in my understanding of it and I would encourage you guys to read it as much as possible. Thanks mom and dad for all those years of family scripture study :)

Love you all, take care

Your missionary

Elder Lonsdale

October 12, 2011

The countdown has begun, just under two weeks until we hit the mission field. Needless to say we are all pretty darn excited. Days in the mtc can sometimes be a little long and repetative but all in all things are going awesome. We got a new batch of missionaries in last week and new latino and north american companions. Both of mine are awesome. It was hard to let go of our last ones but we decided to give them a chance and werent dissapointed. My Latino companion's name is elder Balvin from Huanico Peru, he is a blast, he has this hillarious dead/pan humor,.....at least I think he does....you never know with this language barrier thing though, and he asked me to teach him piano, which also proves to be a little difficult at times but we get by :) But today I was actually able to go with him to the temple for his first time, that was a very cool experience, it brought back memories of my first time and how amazing it was. I would encourage everybody to go to the temple as often as they possibly can, the blessings of temple attendance are so important and they arent few.

Oh yeah, I got a little sidetracked there, My north american companion (elder pande(panda)) from utah, is a super hard working missionary, he is great, (funny story, he actually collided heads with another missionary during "futbol" and they both had to go and get tons of stitches to close up gaping woulds on their foreheads. Oh, it was a good time haha, )

Im glad to hear you guys had an awesome thanksgiving dinner, Its funny because I totally forgot about that little candian holiday in general.....thats what happens right? haha Im in my own little bubble here in peru, and I love it. I could go on and on about things im grateful for, but to save you from gratefulness overload sickness, I will just say that this gospel and my family are both at the top of my list. And I know that might be a little cliche, but thats really what life boils down to. You meet people without the gospel and without a loving family, and it just breaks your heart. And that drives me everyday to be a better missionary.

Teaching has become one of my favorite past times here at the mtc, practicing the fundamentals is key in missionary work, and even though we arent teaching real investigators yet, we have had some really cool experiences. The best feeling is when you come out of a lesson and you both are like 'Ýeah! What an awesome lesson! The spirit was so strong, and when you pulled out that scripture and I asked that question! That was totally the spirit!" you know, those "spiritual fist pumps" if you will haha. Seeing other people feel the spirit when you talk to them about the truth of the gospel of how they are children of Our Father in heaven, really is the best feeling.

Thank you so much family for the incredible amount of support you all give, including grandparents and friends, like I said, I've met some missionaries here who have almost zero support but still want to serve the lord. Thanks for being such great examples for me, keep being awesome missionaries, I'd love to hear about your missionary experiences.

I love you all and I will let you know next week about my travel plans for Chiclayo :)

Elder Lonsdale

October 5, 2011

This past weekend was the best we've had so far. Laura is exactly right, conference was like christmas for me and all the missionaries here. with the attitude of being the Lord's servants and called to preach His gospel, hearing a living prophet and apostles speak to us and convey what the lord wants us to know really helped us take what they said to heart. Conference has always been the same but our attitude and being willing to have our bowls upright, ready to recieve inspiration is the difference. Being a missionary I felt like I heard different things from talks than if I wasnt, things that could apply to my work as a missionary and how I can be a better servant of the lord.

Funny thing though, during one of the sessions we had a little earthquake, haha, just a little one. I just think it was God just making sure all of us missionaries were awake during conference.

These past few days have been a little quiet and a little weird here at the ccm. Our latino companions and the advanced group of missionaries all left so lately there has been about a total of 30 missionaries in the entire place, its been pretty nice, but our new latino companions will be coming in tomorrow so we are excited to meet them. It was actually pretty sad seeing our latino companions leave. We had all gotten pretty close, but we knew they were going off to do great things on their missions. Some of these little latinos were really funny, I wish you guys could meet them. Its funny because sadly pretty much the only thing that people here connect with canada is Justin Bieber, hence the nicknames came around.

Today we get to go out on a tour of lima, we are pretty excited. we are gonna go out and officially look like tourists.

Seeing the other missionaries leave made me think about myself and how I would feel if I were leaving right now for the field, and everything I wish I knew better. Which is a good thing because now I know what I will focus my study more on these next few weeks to be ready for the mission field. I realized that I am definatley not as good at spanish as I could be, so me and a few missionaries made a pact to work our butts off and learn the grammar principles super well, along with the gospel principles...if that makes sense.

I apologize I don't have as much time today, but I want you all to know that I love you so much and am so grateful for all your love and support. I am learning so much here and am loving the gospel more and more every day. keep being amazing and the awesome examples that you are.

Love ya,

Elder Lonsdale

September 27, 2011

This week has been awesome, lots of cool experiences, I wish I could tell you guys everything that has happened but I'll try just highlight a few things. first of all thank you so much family for the emails, they are really inspiring and make me want to try harder as a missionary, I am so blessed to have such amazing support coming from home. I have met missionaries here with hardly any and I know that I am truly blessed.

Well, last saturday we all packed onto some tour buses and headed off to our respective areas of Lima for the day. We broke off into groups of about 20 and met at chapels all over the city. We got some instructions, a map, and a member of the local ward to help us out with directions, and went off to teach inactive members, and invite them to come to church the next day. One of the best experiences so far. It was amazing actually teaching REAL people! Talking to them about the importance of the sacrament and feeling the spirit, reading the scriptures with them and feeling the spirit, I loved it. It really made me with I was going to that ward the next day and see if they were going to come. The member we were with said that they most likely would, so that gave me hope. It made me even more excited for the mission field, but also more determined to learn the language. I was able to communicate simply, and elder arteaga encouraged me to handle the lesson a couple of times, and all in all it was great.

The area we were in was probably one of the poorest places in Lima. It was really an eye opener. I think living in saipan has helped me see humble circumstances in my life, but we was some really really humble homes on saturday, poverty can be a sad thing, Yet you see these people who have nothing and yet are the happiest in the world. It really makes you look at your own life and see what you have, and how grateful you are. But anyways! that was only one saturday, and one area, and I hear chiclayo is a lot different in a few ways, I'll be sure to let you know how,....in four weeks of course haha. I got to pet a monkey!! not like thats a big deal or anything haha. One guy along the street had it as a pet! I know, you guys are all jealous.

I would also like to mention that after reading some of my emails and noticing how much I need to correct what I type. I have come to the conclusion that as my spanish improves, my english gets worse, so I would like to apologize in advance for that :)

I am really enjoying the CCM here in Lima. It is an amazing place to learn and grow, just like an MTC should be. we've all gotten to become really good friends with our latino companions, and it will be sad to see them go in a few days. But we know they will be stellar missionaries. (elder Arteaga says "hi" by the way, we were asked to help the latinos learn how to bear their testimony and pray in english while they were here, so thats been pretty fun, a little taste of trying to preach the gospel in a different language for them haha)

Our teachers here are also super great, I've had the opportunity to become good friends with one of the teachers here, who I also beleive could be one of the three nephite, because of how spriritual and stellar he is. We have had a few really cool experiences teaching him as an "investigator', One thing I learned in the provo mtc, is that the spirit roleplays too. I was a little skeptic at first about teaching our teachers like they are investigators but the spirit tesitifies of truth, and when you talk and teach about truth the spirit is there.

Thank you so much family for all that you do. For being awesome missionaries and good examples to those around you. I love hearing about your missionary experiences, they really are so important. I love you all so much and I am so thankful that I could be here in Peru on a mission. I know I havent been out that long and I havent even been in the field but It has changed my life. I love you all

Take care!

Elder Lonsdale

September 21, 2011

Today was the first time it really hit us new missionaries, we are in south america, because today we went to the temple and ventured off into the "world'. Crowded bus, crazy drivers, palm trees, it was awesome! I couldnt stop smiling all the way to the temple. Im sure I looked like the gringo tourist missionary.

I am really enjoying the CCM here in Lima. The first few days were a little hard, doing the 'new mtc' thing again pulled us out of our comfort zone a bit but thats alright, we're getting used to that. Its a whole lot smaller, approx 120 missionaries, and a lot different from provo. We pretty much have two companions, one Latino, and one Norte Americano(as we're called). we usually split up with our latino companions and switch to our other companions to go to class, but other than that we are usually with our latino companions. which is great, we learn so much when we spend time with our latino companions. spanish is coming along, faster than if we were still in provo i think. Just being around it all the time and trying to communicate and listening to our companions really helps. elder arteaga is great and is always patient. I can finally say that I know how our korean homestay students felt now, because i pretty much am one haha. You just have to be humble enough to say "I dont understand", right?

Other than that things are good, Our mtc president is almost as new as us actually, because he had to fill in for the other president who recently got really sick and had to go home, and he actually passed away last week which is sad. But the new president is great, he is a former naval officer so he has laid down the law haha, he keeps us in line which teaches us to be obedient.

The food here is different, but I like different so thats good for me, not so good for some of the other elders who have lived in idaho their whole life haha, its just entertaining to see what kind of wierd juice they have in the mornings and who will drink the nastiest one haha. The campus is small but super pretty, they really keep it looking fancy. they have a huge turf soccer field which is awesome and keeps all the super talented latinos entertained, along with us poser north americans haha.

After one of the first firesides this north american elder comes up to me and says hi and stuff, and i didnt really know who he was until he said, "remember me from facebook?" it was Will Wilson! haha we had a cool little reunion.(even though we've never actually met in person.

Here we actually get to have to opportunity to go out and proselyte in the city! so we are all stoked for that.

Our district is singing a song tonight at the fireside so we'll have to pull something together. I have to say, It was probably a funny sight seeing me conduct music for the first time at the mtc, missionaries arent primary children haha.

This week has been good, the time has started to go by quicker and I am trying to make sure I use all my time wisely here when studying the gospel and the language. me and my north american companion were talking about it and we were like, where else in the world would you find young men from different parts of the planet, who dont speak the same language, come and work together and be friends. the church is true! The church is the same all over the world. We are all Gods children and we as missionaries have to be able to see that. I love this gospel and am so grateful for the oppurtunity to share it.

Love you

Elder Lonsdale