Nothin' Better Than A Package From Home.....

Hello all! As the title says, yes, I got my package!  I love getting packages from home. They usually get here just when I need them. Right now, it is sitting in my hammock so that the rats won't eat it jajajajaj. I don't remember if I asked for pillow cases, but they are great!

We definitely saw a Red Sox player being interviewed and I totally forgot that the World Series was going on hahah. That's good to hear the sports world is still alive and strong. It is hard to remember stuff like that, being out here over a year, you just kinda forget about life back home.

This week Elder Skidmore's comp is finishing his mission, so he had lots of meetings and what not. Elder Skidmore knows what he is doing, and we taught with power and authority. It was super fun to see how much progress he has made in just a short 4 months. Elder Skidmore is the tall american in all the pictures.  He's going to play football at Northwestern University when he gets back. Pretty dope. 

I got a haircut last week, and it is super short. So yes, I'm back to rocking spiky hair. hahahahah whatta goon.

My shoes are beginning to die - small holes are appearing, there's a shoe guy who lives in my area so I'll see what he can do for me, if not, I might be needing some new shoes here soon haha. 

I had an interview with the zone leaders this week because I came this close to ringing my comp's neck. They shared Luke 6:27-36 and  3 Nephi 13:14-15. They talked about the importance of service. It is easy to love the people we like, but we don't really get a reward for it. If we can love the people who are, essentially a trial that God puts in our lives, then that is where we will receive our reward. Something to think about. 

Happy Halloween this week!

Elder Roper

Otra Semana!

Hello all! 

This week I officially hit a year, que loco. I burned my shirt with a big ol bottle of inca cola back behind my house hahah. My comp didn't wanna do it with me, so I did it alone. Life goes on. . .

This weekend we had a great conference with the Prophet. He shared about how we are in chosen territory, we are fishers of men where all the fish are. He shared lots of stuff about the 12 Tribes of Israel, that I didn't understand real well, but still pretty awersome I'll say. Later that night, he gave a devotional to all of Peru. It was interesting to see how his message changed. He really can pick his crowd, and the message he wants to giive. He also spoke in spanish, so that was amazing! He knows his stuff, I assume that he wrote it and someone latino proof read it for him and made sure all his grammar was right. I was impressed!

The other day I had a work visit with Elder Skidmore, a fellow North American. In the morning, we did a service project with a member, and we were going in his motocar with him.  The police were doing like a border patrol stop check, so,  of course we got stopped.  They were really grillin' the member about being with 2 gringos, who barely even had proper identification to be in the country hahah. I wish they would've taken us to jail or something, just for the story. I know that the mission would bail us out . . . well, I hope that they would. 

We have some good families! We're hopin' to throw some baptismal dates down this week. I think thats all for this week, not much happened.

Elder Roper

un año...... que?

Hello all! 
We had another good week! We finally got to watch conference . . . well, I should say listen to it. We downloaded it on a usb and us gringos got to listen to it together Sunday in the bishop's office with AC, that's pretty cool I guess. I absolutely loved conference, some of my questions I had concerning life and my goals right now, AGAIN, were answered. I love the Prophet and Apostles. 

This week I had a work visit with one of the zone leaders. He told me I seemed to know my area and what I was doing. I felt good about it, 4 months ago or so I had a work visit in Tushmo with Elder Jackson and he let me have it hahaha. I feel like I've really turned things around, and my motivation to do things has gotten better. 

We got a new music list from the mission this week, and it is incredible. One of my favorite songs is... hahah "Lean On Me".  I feel like the Savior could sing it to us. "Lean on me, when you're not strong, I'll be your friend....." I love music so much sometimes. 

A quote I really liked from conference was this..... "we are spiritual beings living a human experience". . . . soooo I thought, when we have spiritual experiences, the veil is close. Lots of times we can feel close to God, even though we can't see Him. One of those experiences in my life was when Grandma M passed away. I still remember how I felt that day, I couldn't explain it then, but I know for sure that the Spirit was with us.

My trainer went home early last week for ankle problems - that made me sad.

Not much to say on this week, but hopefully more for next week! 

Thanks and I love you all tons. Happy year mark! hahaha!

Elder Roper

Conferencia General . . .

Muy buenos dias a todos vosotros bwahahah

Another week down!  This week we're starting week 4 in the transfer, how time has been flying!

Sadly, we saw about half of conference. I'm pretty down about that, but from what we saw, I absoutley loved! Looking forward to getting my Conference Liahaona and studying that thing up. 

There is power in fasting my friends. I have never fasted so much in my life, and we're honestly having so much success because of it. I don't mean to brag about that, but we have seen so many small miracles lately!  We have found so many less active people in our area. I remember Wednesday I fasted, and that day sucked. We talked to a couple people who just didn't want anything to do with us. I really try to stay positive in times like this, because I know God tests us. Satan is real and does everything he can in order to discourage us. We tried and after 45 minutes of knocking doors, we finally found a returned missionary who hadn't been to church in over 7 years. We set an appointment to visit him, and he gave us a referral. You cannot deny tender mercies of the Lord like these.

This week we built a small house for a family with the Elders Quorom. Pretty fun!

I did a work visit with my dude Elder Tuquerres from Ecuador this week in my area. He finishes his mission in 3 weeks. The dude showed me up. I was really humbled and grateful for everything he taught me in the mission!

Doctrine and Covenants 41:5

"He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple; and he that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, the same is not my disciple, and shall be cast out from among you;"

Anxiously Engaged, M Russell Ballard. Great talk.

Elder Roper