Elder Luke Christensen **** Huancayo Peru Mission: WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME IT WAS EASTER!!!

Hey everyone.

So this week was a great week, but also a hard week. I'll start off with the WATERFALLS that we went to! Whoa! They are so cool!!! One was called the Ducha del Diablo (Devil's Shower). The other one that is prettier, and doesn't just go straight down, is called the Vela de la Novia (Vail of the Girlfriend) haha funny names!! But they were the biggest waterfalls I have ever seen in real life. They were so stinking cool. To get into the Vela de la Novia we had to beg the lady there to let us in. Our taxi driver said to her, "they come from super far away and they won't be able to come back". So she went to her friend and asked if it was ok, and she said, "yeah 2 people can come and see but they have to be gringos"! jaja. So we all went and talked to them ourselves and then they let all of us in. They just thought they might have to work hard if they let us in to see .... those crazy ladies.

Last Tuesday we worked hard. We invited a few people that we have been teaching to be baptized, and they accepted for the 16th of April. Yeah, Happy Birthday to me!

Then on Wednesday we didn't really do anything, we worked, but Arpires got trunkier by the day, so it was hard to get him out of the room. You'd think he'd want to work hard and finish off strong! On Thursday we taught some people for Elder Arpires's last time. We had a last goodbye activity at the church that night. It was pretty sad, I guess, he cried, and everyone else was crying for some reason, so when it was my turn to say goodbye I had to pull a good ole goofy Luke, so I did, and everyone cheered up after that! Then when we were all leaving the church our super cool investigator Eddy, gave me 3 eggs. Here in Peru smashing eggs on someone's head is a way of celebration! yeah, crazy, I know! So we smashed those eggs on Arpires's head, haha super funny. Arpires left to go home on Friday.

The next day was pretty sad. After 2 months of teaching the coolest investigator Eddy, he left us. He had to move back to Chimbote for awhile. It really bummed me out! It was a bad week because we had a date for his baptism on Saturday, but he informed us on Tuesday that he wasn't going to be here, and that he had to go back to Chimbote. That just kinda ruined my whole week.

I am getting some mail now. I got a a big envelope from you mom, with all my friend's emails and I 2 of Mimi's letters. My buddy, Ericckson, that is from here, Tingo Maria, got his mission call to La Paz, Bolivia. It's a mission of only Latinos. Woulda been cool if it was Elder Andrew Davises mission!

And also ... WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME IT WAS EASTER!!!! I just thought that the Catholics were doing crazy things and moving the date of Easter to an earlier day. Here in Peru, maybe all of South America, Easter is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week in English. They started out Sunday with a fake crusifiction with some guy dressed as Jesus, but really, it made me laugh because he looked nothing like I imagine Jesus to look. Then they reinact the resurrection. I guess it was pretty cool. I'm glad I got to see it. It made me think and realize how much I appreciate the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that because of Him I can be cleansed of all of my sins. What a huge blessing that he would take that upon himself, every sin, every mistake, every hurt or heartache. I also know that I can live with God the Father, Jesus Christ and also my family forever in the eternities. I am so grateful for what He did for me and for everyone else who has ever walked this earth. The power and magnitude of the Atonement is amazing. It's real. I want you all to know, that I KNOW that with all my heart and soul that this gospel is true and that we are here because of a loving Father in Heaven.

I love you all, be safe. Nos vemos muy pronto cholitos.

Elder Christensen