17 October 2009--¡¡¡¡¡Bautismo hoy día!!!!!!!

Wow it has been an awesome day. This morning Elder Cristofferson came to the CCM, and we were all there for a missionary conference. It is so amazing to hear an apostle of the Lord speak. It was cool because Richard Edgely of the presiding bishopric was there, and also L Whitney Clayton of the presidency of the 70. I could feel the spirit so strongly listening to each of them speak, and it just makes me so happy to have the opportunidad to hear them. We played soccer in the morning too, so the day has just gone awesome. Then to top it all of we are going to have a baptism tonight at 6. I actually have to go check if the font is full pretty soon, but things are just going great. We had to change the chapel that we are doing the baptism because Elder Cristofferson is going to be giving a training to all the area 70’s and mission presidents in our chapel. Its crazy how many church leaders are always around here. Elder Marcus B. Nash assists our ward every week, and he is always asking me and Elder Mera how the work is going. You got to love La Molina, its really weird compared to how my mission has been before, most of the people have their own car, and everyone has nice houses with TV’s, couches, and some even have carpet. Its pretty crazy, but the majority of the people in the area are strong catholics that usually reject us defrente. So working through the members is so important. We actually had an investigator and her son come with a member Sunday. We contacted the family that night, and they really enjoyed the message, and you could really feel the spirit strongly as we were teaching. When we went back the whole family had read the chapter we had left them, and had prayed, and each of them had a different experience, but all of the felt the spirit differently as the read the Book of Mormon and prayed. They are an awesome family, and we are going to be working way hard with them to challenge them for baptism.
Well now for your questions mom. First my clothes are still holding out great, my pants seem a little shorter than they were before. I really think I have actually grown a little bit while I have been down here! So maybe Andrew won’t catch me just yet. My first pair of shoes are still going strong, I’m going to buy a new pair of inserts though. The inserts I have split in half, and are completely destroyed. At least it looks like we are walking hard  I am feeling really healthy right now, I have been putting some good runs down in the morning, and I’m keeping track of all my splits. Pushups, situps, I’m just feeling great. I pretty much never get sick, at times we eat some bad food or something, and that puts me in the bathroom for a while, but I think my body is used to everything we eat by now. The food is amazing, and my last pensionista said she is going to send me a book of recipes too I don’t plan on cooking them, but I’m sure you would make them amazingly mom  So everything is just going great. The office is a little stressful at times, but we learn from our mistakes, and go forward with it.
I was so happy to read you letters too. Steph and Andrew are doing awesome in swimming!! Steph, I’m not going to lie, but I laughed pretty hard when I heard you threw up in the pool, and they had to postpone the meet for like 20 min. That makes me so happy though, I love to see people throw up when they finish, it means they are working hard! That’s what I’m talking about!! Andrew, what has gotten into you! I didn’t hit a 1:12 until like the end of sophomore year! Keep working hard, and you are going to slaughter all of my times. Stick with backstroke though, it is way better then breastroke  Keep up that 4.0 Jen, always remember J-pride, you gotta represent! Sounds like the cello lessons are going great too. Allison sounds like your running and swimming too. Way to go, we are going to have to hit up a few triathalons when I get home too. Dad, sounds like the new job is awesome. I love to hear it when everyone is having success. Thanks for all your letters mom, I really love hearing from you. Sounds like things at school are going great, keep up the good work.
Just want to apologize to everyone for not writing, I don’t think I have written a letter in over a month. I think our p-days are going to start being a little calmer though, hopefully. We have been working hard, but I promise I’m going to start writing again. Thanks for being so awesome, and I love you all. Thanks for your prayers, we can always use them. I’m always praying for you too. Nos vemos!! Chow!
Love, Elder Lee

11 October 2009-- Hola!

Hey Family,
How is everything going back home?! It sounds like it was an awesome conference weekend. Conference is really something I look forward to always, and its always hard to see it end. I especially liked President Holland’s talk about the Book of Mormon, and the huge spirit he had when he gave it. I’m pretty sure every single talk applied to me directly, and there are always a lot of things that I have to do better. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much though, having the prophet and apostles telling us everything that we need to do at this very moment. Its just great. It sounds like everyone is getting sick though. I hope everything is ok. The swine flu was pretty bad down here, and everyone was really worried about it. They still have someone in the door at church with hand sanitizer so germs aren’t spread as easily. I’ll be praying for Jen, and everyone else so everything turns out just fine.
Its funny because you guys are all starting the cold season, and we are heading into spring. Oh man I have always loved hot weather more than cold, so I’m pretty happy right now. It was awesome to hear you guys got the badmitten and stuff out for conference though. We had some good times playing badmitten. I’ve always loved spending conference time with the fam, and its hard to believe I’ve already had three away from you guys. Its good to hear that everyone is keeping really busy too. I’m so excited to hear how the swim season is going for Steph and Andrew. I’m excited to know how the workouts and stuff are going too. I really miss swimming big time, I really have been getting the urge to do a triathalon again, but I guess that’s just going to have to wait a little. I’m still putting down some good runs in the mornings though. We have been playing some hard core soccer too. Its usually 2 on 2 with Elder Wilding, Elder Becerra, and Elder Ranilla, and we have a blast. We even had my companion take a video of us playing, but it’s a little big to send over e-mail.
The work is going awesome. We put an investigator named Andres with a baptismal date for the 17th of October!!! We were so happy, we had challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11, and when we got to the appointment he had done his homework. He not only did his homework though he practically had the whole chapter memorized, and when he prayed he felt a huge desire to learn more, and really felt the spirit. We were planning on teaching him lesson 3, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then challenging him for baptism. I felt the spirit strongly to just challenge him immediately after hearing his experience. He accepted immediately, and it was just an awesome lesson. He is way excited too. He is a reference from a member, and it is just amazing how much more effective the work is when you have the help of members. Well in the office everything is going great. This week was a little less stressful in the office, and everything went pretty smoothly. I just couldn’t be happier to be in the Lords work.
Thanks for everything, and I just love hearing how everyone back home is doing. Thanks for all of your prayers, I really appreciate them so much Keep up the good work, and I’ll talk to you soon. Nos Vemos!!
Love, Elder Lee The pictures are of our fútbol team :)

3 October 2009--Conferencia Hoy!

Well it has been a pretty crazy week. First Monday I had to make the payment for all of the missionaries, and so I was a little stressed to get that done. Usually it takes about three days to get in there so I had to get it done to have it in for the first of the month. So I got it in, and the money actually got there a day early. The only problem is we had changes on the 30th so everyone took their money out a day early, and there were a few that left their travel money in their old area, where they were supposed to bring it to their new area. So that created a little bit of a headache yesterday trying to fix that problem, but it wasn’t too bad, and I think we got it pretty well taken care of. So we sent a bunch of missionaries home on Tuesday, and it was crazy because Elder Ebert went home, and he was the secretary when we came in. It’s just crazy how fast time flies. So we got all of that taken care of in time for the new missionaries to come in on Wednesday. We gave them their training, and everything, and got them sent off to their new areas. Let’s just say it was a relief to finally get all of that taken care of. Elder Micheal Taylor from Tooele came in, and it was awesome talking with him about what’s going on back in Tooele. It sounds like some good friends have gotten back from missions and everything. He said the new high school in Stansbury is done, and that Tooele high is going to turn into the ghetto. Let’s hope not, man I love Tooele High.
So the work in our area is going really well. We have found quite a few new investigators, and we have one named Andres that we are working hard with, and we are going to put a baptismal date for the 17th of this month. He has been to church the last three Sunday’s, and is excited for conference today too. He is great. We also have a few references from members that are starting to progress too. I just talked to a missionary that was just in Pichanaki, and it made me miss everyone over there quite a bit. He says they are always contacting in the park, and the people ask where the gringo that used to run in the mornings went. I got a good laugh about that, and it was just great to hear how everyone over there is doing. I also ran into one of my first baptisms here in the office the other day, The Hna Pajuelo. She is so awesome, and she actually has a daughter in the mission right now, and they were a little worried about their daughter so they came to talk with President. Its crazy that it has been almost a year since we baptized her, but it was so good to hear she’s still strong in the church and everything.
So it was a really good week. What made it even better was I threw down a good 5k this morning. I’m feeling pretty good in my running right now too. Just couldn’t be happier here doing the Lords work, and I just can’t believe how blessed we all are to be part of this gospel. Thanks for everything, and tell everyone hi for me. We’re going to head over to conference right now, and I am so excited. Its so amazing to hear the prophet and apostles speak. All I have to say is, OHHH YEEEAAAHHH!!!
Nos vemos pronto,
Elder Lee

REALLY SPECIAL POST!!!--Elder Lee

We are family Orihuela Rojas, from Lima, Peru.
On Saturday, we met Elder Lee. He came to our house, with his companions, Elder Ebert and Elder Mera. We spent spiritual time together.
He's a great boy! He's very spiritual and we were glad of having him in our house.
Actually, we also have a son, who is serving in Panama Mission.
We are sending you a photograph of Elder Lee, Elder Mera, elder Ebert and our family.

Blessings,

Orlando & Yovanna Orihuela.

19 September 2009--¡Hola Todos!

Well it has been an interesting week. Elder and Hermana Goede left this Wednesday, and we went to the airport to see them off. They were really excited to get home and see the family, but they were crying because we surprised them by going to the airport. We are really going to miss having them around. They were a lot of fun. I had a meeting with President the other day just going over all of the finances, and we have found that we are looking great for the end of the year. He gave me quite a few assignments to verify a bunch of different things, so this week has been the busiest I have been since I got in here. We got my bank account set up, and things are just going great right now, busy but great.
So my new area is where all of the ‘Gringos’ that live here in Lima assist. It was pretty interesting going to this ward. The first person we ran into was the President of the Lima South mission, and the rest of his family. Then we went in and there was President of Lima Central! It was crazy, and then there up on the stand was President Nash of the presidency of the 70! Man is there some priesthood power in that ward or what. They are all way nice though, and just talk like normal people. It makes me a little less nervous thinking of them as normal people too :) Oh and the other day it was crazy, I don’t know if I told you this already, but Elder Myler and I had an area 70 invite us to eat lunch with him! I had to go to this meeting for all of the stake presidents in our mission to reimburse them for their travel and hotel. So while we were sitting there waiting for them to come up to get their reimbursements the area 70, Elder Pino, told us to eat with them. I told him we were just there for reimbursements, but he said eat, and I sure wasn’t going to turn down that buffet lunch! It was awesome, and what made it even better is they had a ton of beans and rice, and that is definitely my favorite plate here now. It was awesome!
So in proselyting it was like starting from zero last week because they split the area and Elder Ebert kept there investigators. We have been working hard to get new ones though, and we have a few awesome references that are progressing great. I think this area is more like a mission in the states, where the people have more money and aren’t as willing to listen. I miss the people in the street who would just accept an appointment only talking to them for like 30 seconds, but it’s a whole different experience. The members are helping a lot to present their neighbors, and we are seeing a lot more success that way. My companion has a disease called chrom or something where he has tons of ulcers in his intestines, and he had to have part of his intestine removed. Every two months he has a medical treatment that just drains him, so we aren’t able to work as hard as I would like, but we’re working with what we got. He is such a good kid though, and he loves the work, his body just can’t go sometimes.
So everything is going awesome here, and couldn’t be happier. Its great to hear everyone is doing so well at home too. I met a family here that lived in Utah, and the son came out with a shirt that said, “It’s a BYU thing, to BEAT UTAH”. It was awesome!! It was cool to talk a little about good old life back in Utah. Lets hope BYU can keep this streak up too. Let me know how todays game goes next week Thanks for everything, and I love you all!!
Elder Lee

The pictures are: the office elderes, Elder and Sister Goede, Elder Goede giving me the keys to the safe, My new office, and my companion Elder Mera

12 Septemeber 2009--Nuevo Compañero!

Well it was an awesome week. Last Saturday we had the baptismal service of Johan Negron, and it was amazing. You could feel the spirit so strong, it was an amazing experience. His whole family was there too, and I know they felt the spirit. We have been working hard with his mom and his brother, and Johan is setting an awesome example for them. He is so awesome, he is signing up for institute classes, and just couldn´t be happier. That’s what is crazy about this area, it is like a richer area of Peru. Everyone has there own cars, and all of the streets have big huge gates that you are guarded and everything. Its really weird being in a rich area after all of my mission being in province where they didn’t have money. In my other areas you could knock on a door and about 75% of the time have a new investigator, and here is a little different. When they have money they don’t listen as well, and I was really surprised when we have had a few doors slammed in our faces. They are a little more ‘duro’ hard to get to in this area. The awesome thing is we have Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, and Dominos, and it tastes just like good old American Pizza. Oh man I’m loving it. Our pensionista is amazing too. She made tacos the other day, and I haven’t had those since I left home. We also made French toast this morning, just like last Saturday, and it was amazing. I’m not going to lie I’ve put on like 8 pounds!! I decided I had better start eating a little less since I’m not working out as much as I used to Elder Myler loves going running in the morning though so we are putting in some good runs. We have a block we run around that is just over a quarter mile, and I’m getting down to about 5:40 miles for 2 ½ miles. I’m moving up to a 5k each day next week too. It feels so good to be getting some good runs in, and still doing the good old push-ups and sit-ups too. So I’m still staying in pretty good shape.
The office this week was crazy. I got my new companion Elder Mera this week. We were in a threesome for the past couple of weeks, but now I have my new companion. He is secretary of registros, and he is awesome. He had some problems with health, so I have to keep a pretty close eye on him, and we can’t walk very fast, but things are going good. So I moved to his area, and its just like starting from 0. We are looking for new investigators like crazy, and its going to really help to get to know the members of the ward too. Its rough even after just a month leaving Santa Patricia, it’s a great ward. They say the new ward I am in is great too though. My trainer Elder Goede is leaving next Wednesday, and then its all me in the finance office. I feel ready though, and President has really put a lot of trust in me. The end of this month is going to be crazy though, with having to pay all of the missionaries during changes. Its going to be a good time though. Everything is just going great, and I’m loving the work.
Its great to hear how well everything is going at home too. Always love hearing the success everyone is having. Spencer won the keys to success car too, that is awesome, and you guys need to congratulate Toby on his mission call too. Colombus, Ohio, that is awesome. Keep up the good work, and I’m always praying for you all. Talk to you later!! Chow!
Love, Elder Lee

5 September 2009--!Bautismo hoy dia!

Well it has been an awesome week, and we are going to finish it with Johan's baptism tonight at 7:30. He is so excited, and couldn’t be more ready to make this covenant with God. He actually was interviewed by E’ Wilding, and then by President Leyva. It was a long interview, but he is ready and excited for his baptism tonight. He had some terrible problems with alcohol, and he is so ready to change his life around. He has invited tons of people and even went out and bought a bunch of new cloths for the baptism. Its going to be awesome. We also had our multi-zone conference 2 days ago, and it was amazing. I learned so much of how I can be better as a missionary. Working better with the leaders of the church, the friendship that is necessary between a companionship. We always need to think of how we can serve one another. There really aren’t any problems when everyone is trying to develop the christlike attributes. Its amazing how simple it is to be happy always. Be more like Christ. President also taught us how we can better our teachings, and how the spirit is essencial or we might as well just not teach at all. It was a really powerful conference. It was way cool because I got to see a ton of my old companions too. My papa in the mission E’ Lima was there, and it was really awesome to see him. He is really an amazing friend. E’ Maldonado, E’ Guillen, and E’ Guttierez all my friends from back in Pichanaki and it was great remembering the good times there. All of our converses are doing really well, and it was really great to here. Its interesting being in the awesome because I get to be communicating with all of the Elders a lot more. Elder Goede is going to be leaving soon, and that’s going to leave me alone in the finance office, but he has trained me really well, and I feel really comfortable with everything going on. I just really feel lucky for the opportunity to work in finances, all I’ve heard is good stuff about people who were financiero’s in their missions. I think it is good experience for me.
It sounds like everything is going so great at home, and you guys don’t know how happy it makes me to hear all the good you are all doing. I have a hard time believing that Allison is already going to be entering graduate school, that’s awesome she is taking a scuba diving class though. I was reading a few dear Elders from Steph and it hit me that she is a senior in high school now! Holy cow, I can’t believe it, and its crazy to think we’ll be hitting up SUU together next August. The projects Andrew is doing in his woods class sound awesome. You are going to have to send a few pictures of your projects. How is Jen doing with school, and the cello lessons, and everything else. I can’t wait to see the new yard too, its sounding amazing. Sounds like everything is going well in Dad’s work too. Keep up the good work with your class mom, sounds like you always have the luck of getting a few problem kids, but just keep up the good work. You’ve really learned how to handle them after so much experience with them. Toby got his mission call to Columbus, Ohio! That is awesome. I really need to get better at my letter writing to everyone. Its so good to hear that Cecily is doing so well. I’m glad she is stopping by the house, and keeping in touch with everyone. I can’t believe she is going to be getting her mission call soon! Good times, waiting for the mission call. Sounds like Cam is doing awesome with the running still. I told him he had to write me when he broke the 4 minute mile, and I haven’t heard from him yet :( I’m interested to see what his times are at right now. Oh and Cassie wrote me too, I’m sure she is just as excited as ever to have Shay coming home. Shay sounds like he is doing just awesome, its just hard to believe his is done in a month! Well it is always just amazing to get letters from everyone, and I really want to apologize for being such a bad letter writer, but I’m going to keep trying to be better. Thanks for everything, I love you guys so much. ¡Un gran abrazo para todos!
Love, Elder Lee