he has told me where to go and where to stay away from

hi dad. thanks for your email. i needed it! so i got a change..... i hopped on a plane on tuesday and now i'm in.... IQUITOS! my home! haha in family history... but family history here is full time. but this change we are going to take care of our area AND work in family history. its great. so we are in the offices with air conditioning! SO NICE! so right now all the missionaries in iquitos are sitting in an internet cafe sweating and here i am in air conditioning!! HEHEHE! so i thought i'd be sooo happy to be back in iquitos since that's where i started my mission but i felt sooo sad when i got here cause so much has changed and i missed tarapoto and the climate there and the people. but its ok. i'm getting used to it. i'm killing my new comp! (killing on the mission means they finish this change with you) so she goes home this next change. she's awesome though!! love her! she's from Lima and is 24 and very kind. we laugh a lot and worked very well together right off the bat. so remember how i said there was one other canadian on the mission here? well i FINALLY met him! haha i was so stoked cause he is from cardston and to talk to someone that is from the same place is super cool. i was talking about raymond and lethbridge and Beazer and he knew exactly who and what i was talking about. it was soooo weird! we were so weirded out hahaha.  his name is elder hilderman. he's one of the best missionaries on the mission is what EVERYONE says because he is super dilligent and loves the work.

     anyway.. so being back in iquitos has been very interesting. i forgot how different and unique it is. you can really feel how much iniquity there is here. i felt super sick in my stomach my first couple nights proselyting here. the poverty hit me hard like it did at the beginning of my mission. i sometimes feel so helpless because there is nothing i can do for them... well dad but like you said to me before the mission... the best thing i can give them is the knowledge of the gospel. right ? that is true..

    so we are teaching a boy and his mom and the grandpa is a little crazy like super out of it but he is hilarious. and you have to yell at him so he hears you. so we went there the other day to teach and no one answers but then we see the grandpa just wandering around and we asked what he was doing cause we saw he was looking in cracks and houses and garbages and he said he was looking for food. our hearts dropped. he's very skinny too it was clear that he was hungry. so we went and bought him a meal and brought it to him and he was SO happy! it about made me cry.. i cry for the people here but never in front of them. i always manage to hold it in. but i felt so bad for him. its just crazy how people here can have so much faith to stop working on sundays to keep the sabbath day holy and trust that the lord will help them with their next meal. i love this mission. it really is a special mission here in the jungle. i can't believe i've survived a year here! its sooo great! i've learnt soo much. i love jesus christ so much and its amazing learning how to discern the spirit. i notice that when i am working super hard and just super concentrated in the work the spirit talks to me, he helps me read minds and know what to say or ask the people we teach. he has told me where to go and where to stay away from. there has been some sketchy experiences here but the lord is with us. he always protects us and is on our side. thanks mom and dad for teaching me to choose the right. i was and still am far from perfect but i know where to look to when things are awesome and when things are tough... and that's Jesus Christ.

take care and i love you all!