Hey mom and dad and everyone. Don't have a whole lot of time. I realize that I write the President the longest letter now. Kinda weird cuz the first few weeks I only wrote him like 3 sentences.  Now its like 3 pages. It's all good here in Peru, don't have a lot of time so pictures will have to wait until next week. Sorry mom.  I did get some pretty sweet pictures at the temple the other day as well as me eating a fish.  They leave the head on and I at every bit of it even the eye. Funny thing the eye is actually not that bad it's kinda chewy though.  I have had a cool week, my comp isn't letting me talk a lot even after I told him.  The other day when we were teaching the investigator asked why we worship on Sunday and others churches on Saturday. My comp tried to prove that Saturday was the Sabbath until the resurrection and the investigator didn't seem to like that so I said to him I don't think that the day is really important, I don't know the actual day that God rested cuz I wasn't there.  I believe that the principle is what is important that we give one day that is sanctified for God. He liked that. The investigator seemed to like my answer said no 
i agree with Elder Atwood.

Anyway I have no time left but I love you all so much and thank you all, although I am a little sad no one wanted to be my valentine. haha

Love you all,

Elder Atwood

This is what Branco Abanto sent me on facebook from Peru.  (Mama este video es OLA orar Leer Assistir es bacan, su hijo Canyon)

Hey everyone! Ok so this week was cool. On P day we attended Lima Central to get some cool pictures. This week me and Elder Herrera worked pretty hard and I was pretty happy, he still doesn't really let me talk much. Yesterday in a lesson the only thing he let me say was my testimony. He is a nice guy and he is obedient  .  Anyway this week was great, I baptized two of the hermanas investigators. Funny story I was supposed to baptize 3. Well the first two were good then the 11 year old girl was about to be baptized then she started crying and stuff. Well we convinced her to just step in the water. Well the water was a little cold nothing like freezing but it was like the north pole for her.Well we got her in the water she was crying and I said the prayer then put her in the water. Immediately when I started putting her in the water she started kicking and kind of trying to do a sit up so that her face wouldn't go in, well it didn't . I told her that we needed to do it again and that she needed to be completely under the water, i guess that idea freaked her out or something and she started crying and screaming really bad. Her mom convinced or forced her to try again. Well in the middle of the prayer she started screaming and crying again and she let go of my hands. As it was my first baptism I didn't know what to do so I looked at my companion and Hermano Miguel and they said to just do it. So I tried and before I put her in the water she let go of my hands and was screaming and crying 10 times worse than before. Well that one didn't work out so they said we will do it another week. Not with me that freaked me out. HAHA!!

Brett Weidmann how is the dude? Was his fireside cool or what?

THE two people i baptized are Delia and Cesar. Cesar was so cool and he even asked for my email, facebook, and phone number to stay in contact. The kid is only 9 years old but he is so cool. He actually reminds me a lot of you Ridge. He plays soccer but loves video games and things like that. Lets see nothing else really happened this week just kinda teaching and stuff. We did have a work visit with the zone leaders  and I was with Elder Aoki ,the dude is part Japanese but he's American just in case your wondering. He was cool, I thought he would be like one of those guys that are really strict and my way or the highway. No the dude was relaxed. A hard worker but he seemed to be like one of those missionaries that really enjoys  the mission. I liked him because he let me take the lead and actually talk in lessons which was good. It felt good to actually participate. We seemed to work pretty well together in my opinion.  Anyway dad thanks for the advice it really helps. I love you for setting the example for me to go on a mission.

Love you all

The day began with a bus trip from the Miraflores district to the top of the Cerro San Cristóbal, the steep hill that overlooks the city. It’s a vertiginous ride up a narrow road, but worth it. The 360-degree view gave missionaires a better sense of the vastness of this city of 9 million. The hill was worshipped in pre-Colombian times as an Apu, or divine protector. When the Spaniards seized the area, they erected a wooden cross on the summit and renamed the hill.

Ok hey everyone this is my week. Well we finally got our shower fixed so there is hot water !!! I was so happy except when I found out that it's almost boiling hot water which kinda hurts. I turn the heat on then the heat off so when it was burning hot I turn the heat off and it gradually cools down until freezing cold then I repeat the process. I might just go back to showering cold considering I was getting used to it. I am sleeping alright at night, my beds a little small but its nothing to complain about. The only problem is the heat it is 1000 degrees here. At night I blaze a fan on and I  probably loose 5 pounds of sweat every night here.  Anyway, so I read River's email, can he send me some of the steroids he's using I could use some haha!!! My companion Elder Herrera is from peru but his original mission was for Venezuela.  I guess they are having some problems down there with the president or something so hes serving here. He is 23 years old so thats cool. Doesn't really speak  a whole lot of English but repeats one phrase a lot.... she's my future wife haha!! He says that alot as a joke. I dont know what it is but the latinos here love to go into detail about the creation almost like about 20 minutes just on the creation.  Anyhow I am doing good still,struggling with Spanish but I have made a lot of progress. I got a notepad to write down what something means and I take it with me everywhere I go. My main focus is memorizing all the conjugations and stuff that way when I learn a word I can conjugate it. Its a slow process so make sure that the priests know that the gift of tongues is earned not given and it is a slow process. Anyway, yesterday two of the Hermanas investigators want me to baptize them this week as they have had there final interviews so I said yes.  It will be cool but hard considering I have to memorize the prayer and there names. People here take  the last name of the father and the last name of the mother but I guess when you get married you only use the last name of your father and the last name of your spouse. So ya its a lot to memorize . Oh well I will be sure to get lots of pictures mom. I love you all and hope you have another great week.

Love Elder Atwood

Hey everyone hows a going. First things first River Jon Brandon River River EMAIL ME !!!!

I miss you guys and if you can tell i miss my brother the most.Well this week my comp had transfers i didnt which sucks but oh well. I have a new companion Elder Herrera.   The shower has been broken for 3 weeks.,more specifically the heater is broken. I was taking cold showers and finally decided I couldn't do it so what I do now is I have this bucket and I just fill it up with water and cover myself in soap and shampoo then just dump the bucket of water over my head. Oh well! I've also had some really weird dreams since that time. Like the other day I think that I was literally a vampire. That was really weird. Also last night I had a dream that I was in a music video. I just remember waking up thinking man that was  a weird freaking dream.  Well maybe its something in the shampoo here haha!!!

These are pictures that we took a couple of weeks before Christmas The latino is Hermana Osignaga The other is Hermana Karrate.

Ok everybody, so this week has been alright. We have transfers tomorrow so we will see what happens . Our investigators are doing alright and we are just trying to get more. I'm really looking forward to having a new companion, one that doesn't speak any English just so i will be less tempted to speak English. I do have one experience to share....my companion and I just finished teaching this girl and we starting walking and we see these drunk guys waving at us.  My comp loves drunk people for some reason so they start talking to us. This drunk guy comes over and gives me a hug which sucked cuz he stunk so bad and didn't have a shirt on. Well this guy starts giving me dudes like hitting his fist against mine and thenl he started doing it really hard and missed and hit my stomach.  My comp started talking to him and decided that we needed to help take him home. My comp and I spent about 1 hour taking this dude home and he decides that we are going to teach him the next day.  I told my comp that we will do divisions because that drunk guy won't progress . He kinda flipped out and said," fine I will see who wants to save a life, I really feel like he can progress. I said fine i will go with you and if he is sober we will teach him. Well we go the next day and what do you know he is wasted and almost passed out in front of his house. The moral of this story is use the spirit of discernment. If they are just chilling with some friends or just at a restaurant with a beer its all good go and talk to them but its when they are down right wasted and can't remember there own name  you just have to keep walking. It kinda sucks but you really have to think is this person going to progress and live the gospel of Christ. I know its harsh but who do you think is going to progress more the drunk who is passed out everyday or the woman who is morning because of the loss of a family member . There are so many people out there that are ready to hear the Gospel you just have to pick them out from everyone else.  Anyway, this is my advice to the future missionaries. One, this is from the advice that my dad gave to me, pray like everything depends on the Lord then work like everything depends on YOU. Second,  sometimes it can be hard to get motivated for the day and that's completely normal, so to get motivated read you patriarchal blessing.  Every time I read it I get so pumped to study and preach the gospel that day and it works because it will remind you the importance of your mission. . If you don't have you patriarchal blessing get it,it is great and and insane testimony that God knows each of us individually. I have an amazing patriarchal blessing,I did not deserve that blessing. I think to myself why would God love me a sinner so much to give all these blessings to me.  I don't have the answered  but all I can say is I am insanely thankful for it. Then this is something that I encourage all of you to do... pray out loud. I just started doing it this weekend and for some reason it has made a big difference.  I was pouring my heart out and telling the Lord things that I didn't ever even think to tell him, it was an amazing experience that I had and I  hope you all give it a try. This next one is give your heart to the Lord and let him do the work . That means say what Christ would say, you are a representative of HIM. When you give him your heart you put your will aside and let his will take over. I am still working on that but I try to do it everyday by asking him for that blessing. It has made an amazing difference and I have felt the holy ghost with me more constantly and I remembered the other day when I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith I felt as if I had just been struck by lightning. It was awesome.  I love you all and I cant explain the blessings of being a missionary. It is hard but it is worth it. 
LOVE YOU ALL

Elder ATWOOD

This is a picture of my mission area at night.

This is where we did service i just thought the view was amazing.

We were doing service for a family with missionaries in our zone this is their area.

This is the man that we were doing service for. This is Elder Walker, it's almost scary how much he is like Jon. 

 That picture is of me and Elder Moreyra last night.  We just got a no show appointment and a member saw us and asked us if we could join him for dinner. We had only 30 minutes left for the day with no appointments and we hadn't eaten so we decided to join him. His name is Brother Sanchez. Well, what I'm holding in my hand is chicken feet!! Yep, that's right chicken feet!! It's actually pretty good but doesn't have alot of meat so it's not very filling.

This is Fernando and his daughter Valeria. She is the cuteist little girl in the entire world. 

This is me and my Friend Elder Huaroc. This is me eating the first burger that I  have had my entire mission! This is actually not in our mission area but in Lima Central Mission. We went there on P day to Chilles, it felt so good to eat american food again

Ok everyone whats up?  Here in Peru its been a good week. Francois was baptized on Saturday and Sunday received the gift of the Holy Ghost as well as the Aaronic Preisthood. I was able to take part in both blessings but our ward mission leader Brother Miguel was able to baptize him since they have become really good friends. It was a beautiful ordinance with a lot of members that attended. I really felt the spirit when he shared his testimony afterwards, I was about to cry. He is truly the perfect investigator. Also, this week at the gym a man named Joseph approached me asking if I was a missionary and if I could share my message with him sometime. I said ok.  We shared a message with him in English because he is studying it in school. This is the second person here that speaks English.   We asked him to read 3 Nephi 11 and 12 . The next day he approached me at the gym and told me he had read and when he prayed he felt something in his heart. He described it as peace and tranqulity. I explained to him that it was the Holy Ghost and then I  committed him to baptism there which was kinda cool. Anyway, so this is the experience that I was going to check if i could share. HERE IT IS:::: So me and my comp were just blown off as usual and were walking by the church. We saw this home of a less active family that we have never visited so we decided to knock . They said come in and they had some nonmember friends at there house and we asked if we could share a message. They asked what about  and I said about Jesus Christ.  I asked them if they believed in Christ? Then she just went off crying. Apparently that day she was going to kill someone and went to her friends house to find someone to talk about it with. Well long story short the guy that she wanted to kill was her stalker who used to be her ex boyfriend who gave her an STD and because of that she had to get her Ovaries removed . Welll we basically started talking about how God loves her and knows what she is going through. WE CAME RIGHT ON TIME!! WOW that was a scary experience! 

LOVE ELDER ATWOOD