Elder Logan Thatcher

well its my last p day here in the mtc, and im not gonna lie... I am pumped for huancayo!!! My spanish is getting better, the only problem is it isnt where i wish it was right now but thats ok i guess, it will get better i hope. i am way excited to leave on tuesday morning at 3 in the morning for a 8-10 hour bus ride... sign me up!!! Tuesday will be an adventure, i still dont know details yet.

I love you dallin!!!! And i love you samuel!!!! welcome to the crazy big family!!!! i cant believe they were the same wieght and length! i love them so much.. i bet the kids are just having a blast with everyone!! i miss the kids!

Well ryan got a hernia in the provo mtc so he has to stay in the mtc for another month before he leaves, and he was about to leave for mexico so thats sad, but for good cause i suppose. tell Austin to email me so i have his address please, i dont have it.

this week was long but probably just cause there are ton of missionaries here! i feel like a senior again here. everyone looks up to the missionaries who are about to leave! they switched our p days because there are 3 zones now in the ccm so they have 3 p days. lot of missionaries!

Everyday is adventure with food, it is some weird meat that you have to chew for like two minutes each bite before you can swallow. and you never know what meat it is, unless its chicken.

too be honest, not much happened this week, just going to classes and firesides, oh i finished marking and tabing my scriptures, i have over 200 scriptures marked. all on the 5 lessons in preach my gospel. so i am pretty excited about that!

Oh for the 4th, we had "american" food, it was the funniest thing ever. they decorated the cafeteria and had american food. it was super cool. the meal consisted of: turkey, weird colored potatoes, rice (yes they still managed to put rice in it somehow) and applesauce.. thats about as american as it gets.. haha, it was good though, at least we knew what we were eating this time. it was cool how everything was decorated!

So brazil lost.. and that was a big deal to peruvians here so i cant even imagine what it is like in brazil, but argentina is still in so thats cool!

the cacewan language is super hard, one of the latinoes knows it and is trying to help me learn some each night before bed, its hard stuff.

Tell everyone i love them so much and that imiss them!

I love Samuel!!!!!! tell him that for me will ya?!? I just absolutely love my new nephew, and look forward to to seeing my next nephew! This week was a long week i felt like. We went prosyliting again on saturday! it is such a good experience and great practice for my spanish! I got to give a blessing in spanish to an older lady when we went. It was hard, but i was able to do it. Its so weird, im able to speak spanish to real peruvians out when we are contacting, but i feel like my spanish is not that great in the mtc. once we were done contacting we taught lessons to less actives. Which was also amazing! I just love how everyone here believes in Christ whether they are lds or not!

So me and my companion commited both our fake investigators to baptism on saturday which is awesome, because they said that at first our lessons were speratic but that we got it working pretty effectively and now we are teaching better together. It was hard at first because my companion knew a lot more spanish than i did, so it was hard for me to get engaged so they werent commiting to the commitments but now we got it all fixed out and its going a lot better now.

Today is my last day as an intermediate, after this im advanced! Then im off to huancayo!!!!!! It feels like ive been here awhile some days, then other days i feel like time has just passed. Today was also P-day (of course) and we went to the temple and i just felt the spirit stronger than ever today and it testified to me that spanish is only going to be hard if i let it discourage me. I was troubled before hand, and the temple just makes everything better. I hope you like all the stuff i got, i think its pretty cool. I got a cacewa (if thats how you spell it) book of mormon. It looks so weird inside. You should look it up on the lds site and try to read it, it is cool.

I was not able to find a sleeping bag. I also would like some more black gold toe socks just some regular ones. by the time of september its not that cold in huancayo anymore is what the teachers are telling me.

My teachers think its so cool that i have a ton of nephews and nieces! They like seeing pics of them and hearing all the stories about them. I really miss them a ton. And wish that there was a way i could hold that cutebaby while still on my mission. But as long as you guys tell him about me lots when hes older i will be fine.

I decided to start commiting you guys to a task each week like my investigators, last week was the studying the scriptures outside, this week will you show your savior by testifying about him on sunday, by exercising your faith? That is what i am looking forward to is strengthening my testimony on christ. I have been studying so much about his life and i really enjoy it. So ya that is it. report back to me next tuesday or wednesday. They might switch it to wednesday next week because 35 latinos and 36 americans arrive this week so they are making two p days and might switch ours.

So my first time going on prosyliting i was scared and nervous and Elder Farias, (aka Rocky balboa) noticed i was a little shaken up so he shared me this quote before he left for his mission, and i really like it... "Believe in anything you want to believe in, but keep God at the top of it, with him life can be a beautiful experience, without him..well your just biting time." -John Wayne, he told me basically that the people here love Christ, they put them as there savior, and that our job is to bring them closer to Christ. It made me realize that these people really need missionaries, not just the latino ones, but the amicanoes as well.

I asked myself why does missionary work have to be so hard?? Why??

and this was the answer i recieved.. Missionary work is not easy, because salvation was never easy, this is the church of jesus christ, this is the truth, he is our great eternal head. How could we believe that it would possibly be easy for us, when it was never easy for him. When we struggle.. when we are rejected...when we are spit on.. or cast out, or made a hiss and a by word, you are taking place and stand with the best life has ever known.. we have reason to stand tall..As missionaries we are proud to say we are disiciples of christ, and we are! But that means we have to be prepared to walk something of the path he walked, feel some pain he felt, shed a tear that he shed, It is only a token we can pay, But i believe it has to be paid.. I wasnt the first person to ask "Why is this so hard" Its not easy, and im ok with that, Christ never told me it was going to be when i signed those papers, i didnt expect him too.

this is my favorite quote of the week.. "wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed in all diligence. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so Amen. We are to learn our duty from the Lord, and then we are to act in all diligence, never being lazy or slothful. The pattern is simple but not easy to follow. We are so easily distracted. Studying the daily news can appear more interesting than the priesthood lesson manual. Sitting down to rest can be more attractive than making appointments to visit those who need our priesthood service. When i find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry...Remember him!, The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He ges before us. He chose us to follow him and to bring others with us. Whenever i am tempted to feel that I have finished some hard task in his service and deserve rest, I Remember Him!" -President Eyring

Christ was the best missionary, before his soul left his body he told the thieves next to him that he will see them in paradise after he taught them.. He was dying.. and he gave them a promise he would teach them, how amazing is that. I believe that through Christ we can all be able to tell people our message. If we get embarrasedd or even spit on... oh well.. we can stand taller if done so. But even if we arent called missionaries, we can still embark on somewhat of a journey Christs journey was like. And teach to all people. He is the perfect example, And to honor the savior we must follow. Perfect honor is emulation. 

Well ciao!! Tell everybody I love them!!! Follow up with the commitment, and tell me everyone who commited! I will also be doing the commitments as well!

With many llamas and much love,

Elder Thatcher

Dear family,

This week has been a rollercoaster.. and no i do not mean like shock wave or batman (like the fun ones), i mean the mine train or the judge roy scream where it just jerks you around all the time.. that is what it has felt like for a couple days, then the other days i just feel like im on a spiritual high, like the ride at sixflags where you just cool off? i dont know if you know what i am talking about or not, but anyways i am emailing earlier because the elders all got in trouble because another elders clothes went missing so we got in trouble so all we could do today is go to the temple then come back, we werent allowed to go shopping, but thats ok. Lets see, all the latinos and advanced class left last tuesday and then a new wave of missionaries came in, we only have two latinos now. Its funny cause when we are eating it is just a bunch of gringos now. All the new kids looked scared and nervous there first day, so i probably looked like that. It is crazy to think i only have 3 more weeks but then again i feel like i have been here forever. I like it here, its not cold in lima, its muggy, and the air is nasty because there is a ton of people here and the cars all run on diesel, so the pollution is really bad here. All the other guys that are going to huancayo got sleeping bags, so far i looked at stores for them and have found no luck. Its ok for now though. I have been playing a lot of soccer, everyone picks me first on there team, it makes me feel good. The spanish is coming and going. It seems like when i need it, in lessons and teaching investigadors that i can speak, but in class im just like WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!?! so ya we teach two fake investigadors, which is going well, and then my companion and i on friday saturday got asked to teach a real less active that they brought in 15 minutes prior to when they told us, so it was scary. So we went and didnt have much planned, and it has probably been our best lesson yet, she was emotional and crying and she felt the spirit so strongly, and said that she knew that the words coming from us were true. So that really boosted my spirit! oh also, a girl here, that came on tuesday was really down on her self and i knew something was wrong so i went to talk to her and she said that she was about to tell president that she wanted to go home. So i grabbed my companion and we went to teach her lesson, just to see what she would say. and we did it english for her, and she said that she still wanted to go home. So i gave her a comitment to just stay til sunday and if you dont get an answer at church that you should stay here then she can tell president. She didnt like that idea and wanted to go away from us. So as she got up and started walking away from us she turned around and said, "elder thatcher, can you give me a blessing?" so i did, and she stayed til sunday, then i talked to her yesterday and she said thanks for the blessing, and she said she got an answer that this is where she is supposed to be. Im glad i was able to help. Then we got a new district leader this week, it is Elder Simper, he is a great elder. BUt he has bad hives, and he asked me to give him a blessing on saturday! so i did! two blessings in one week! i was nervous about both of them but the spirit just comes out and says the words that need to be said. I love the spirit so much. This week i started jesus the christ, and am on chapter 6 so far, it is a great read so far and i really feel like i am getting a closer friendship with christ by reading it. I also read all of matthew 25 outside near the garden here at the mtc. What a wonderful experience that was to hear those words of christ while enjoying the beutiful nature outside. A lot of people think that just reading the scriptures is good enough, but i found a difference when i read the scriptures in a quiet place away from the scuddle bud of everything, and just read with a good scenery around me. I challenge yall to read this chapter outside at a park near the lake, or just outside away from noise and just enjoy the words of christ. I testify that as you do so, the spirit will make known unto answers to your prayers and liften any burdens that you may have. Its weird, there is this red bird that always is outside of my room, and when i go outside it starts singing all the time, and it isnt scared when we come out. it just stays there. Interesting to me. i hope all is going well. i miss the kids. tell them uncle logan saw a toucan this week! one of teachers has him as a pet, his name is tin-tin the toucan. he is super cool. They wont let us take pictures of him unfortunetly. anyways miss yall!!!!

with many llamas (and tin-tin the toucan), 

And much love,

Elder Thatcher

Oh P.S. apparently in Huancayo they dont speak spanish they speak cetchuwa?! apparently its some language the aliens spoke in star warz in a couple or scenes.. It sounds like some indian tribe language. All i know how to say is "Wa kala fi WaWa", which means hasta la vista bebe!! haha i thought it was funny the way they speak.. Spanish is already hard enough, now i have to learn that language out in the field!!

"Beunas Dias!!!! It is going by so fast here it is crazy!!!! Two weeks already???!!?? SAY WHATT?!? I went from being a beginner here to the CCm to an itermediate today... And i still dont know much spanish.. this past week has been just crazy. like really crazy.. miracles and all.. we have been teaching "fake" investegators for the past week which was good practice, mi compañero knows a lot of spanish so we are a good team, I help him with the teaching and he helps me learn spanish. so the lessons were going pretty good, and then on friday night we were invited to go contacting and knocking on doors with the advanced and itermediates as beginers. It was soooo cool and scary at the same time, we left at 1 in the afternoon on saturday to the northern slums of lima and dint return until 8 at night.. it was mind blowing to see the places i went.. i wish we were aloud to take pictures.. we climbed up mountains to peoples little huts and houses and went knocking on doors. I once walked up 575 stairs to a house.. and these are just houses in lima!!!! imagine what it is like in HUANCAYO!!! I was so pumped to go contacting though even though all i can do is great people and say who we are and that we represent Jesus Christ, say prayers, and bear my testimony. So when we went out every Gringo (American) was grouped with a Latino so they could take over the conversations, but it was just sad even just being on the streets, but it made me happy to know that I can help them get closer to the gospel and to there father in heaven. This one guy we knocked on his door and he was repairing his roof so we offered to help him out so we did, then tried to share him a message but he didnt want to hear about it, so we helped and he said we were good boys so he let us teach him. Then after we taught him we were able to get a referral for other missionaries to come back to his house. This guy was a miner and had a ton of cool gems and rocks and gave me some that apparently had gold, silver, zinc and some other elements all combined in it!! I will get a picture of it next week to send it to you, its in my closet right now. So after we taught him we were about to go knock on more doors, but i felt like we needed to go contacting at the park.. There was a ton of families and didnt know where to start because we only had an hour left before we could go back to the church.. Then i saw this man selling candy, and it hit me that we needed to talk to him even though he was busy selling candy. So we went up and i bought some weird candy and then we asked if he would like to talk to us and take a break because he seemed tired. He said sure, and he also said, "i know who yall are... MISSIONARIES.." he yelled it.. So i looked at my companion and was like maybe we shouldnt of done this.. and then he said "tell me why all are soooo great.. because your church is the reason i am alone at my house and selling candy at parks" anyways my companion did all the talking i told him to translate some stuff and apparently his wife and 5 daughters all left him for the church because he had a drinking and pornography problem like 20 years ago. Then i told my companion that its never to late to find his family again, and that there is hope for him to enter into gods presence with his family by him and to be with his family forever. He started crying later and i didnt know what was going on.. but at the end we got his referral to talk to more missionaries, and then at the end of the talking apparently he had prayed this morning that someone will help him get his life in order and he thanked us and said he wasnt going to dringk or look at pornography again, and he said he was making a goal to be worthy to enter the temple so he can be sealed to his family and finally get to see his grandchildren that he still has never met.. it was so sad, but he felt the spirit, i know i did and i dint even say much spanish, or could understand him.. It was really touching and i hope it was a miracle in my life. On the bus home thinking about him it made me realize how much i missed my family, and then i got to my room and got to see my pictures!! =) Im so happy for eternal families and the power it has in peoples lives.

Lima has dogs everywhere!!! just stray skimpy dogs that look like they want to bite you.. I saw at least over 200 dogs that night. at least.. the traffic is crazy, its worse than new york, people just drive into lanes without looking, theres no such thing as a crosswalk, so you just have to look, and they wont stop either! But its ok, i havent had a problem yet.

Yesterday we went to interpol, it was fine, we have to go 2 more times before we leave. Since we were waiting for a long time we got to go to pizza hut after... it was good, but i aint gonna lie.. it was greasy!! im getting used to just eating bread, rice, mystery meat, potatoes, and apples. It aint that bad, but the pizza was still good too, i will take american food anytime..

Today was P day, of course, and this morning we went to the temple, AND I WENT IN THE SPANISH SESSION!!! I had a transloator but it was broken.. so i did spanish, i still feel the spirit even in spanish... what do you know!?! haha. then after we went to a store to get snacks, and then a store right next to it that had soccer stuff. I got 3 soccer jerseys for like 8 dollars each. and they are so nice..

Well the latinos left this morning and the advanced gringos so a lot of my friends left which is sad, but a new wave of missionaries are coming in tonight so thats cool!"

Me and elders johanson and enrequez, they left for cuzco today

Me and Rocky Balboa (Elder Farias) He left for lima central today

Me and elder sanchez.. He loves meee, he is super cool and good at soccer

#icandohardthings