"It went swimmingly!"

Well, we had another baptism, today! It went swimmingly because we baptized in a hot springs pool (it was so difficult to get out of after the fact). A good seven members showed up, which is not too bad, but about ten strangers passing by came and enjoyed the service, and then,asked to take pictures with us. She got confirmed yesterday and we are very happy for her. She´s a great girl and an example of faith I don´t intend to forget. She shared a great testimony after her baptism about how she knows the blessings of God are worth the due sacrifices.

Transfers are going to be this Tuesday. I´m really hoping I don´t get transfered. This is becoming one of my favorite areas, just because of the people we´re teaching and the missionaries I´m here with. Every night, we have a family prayer as missionaries, and all our little handshakes and jokes are going to be something I miss if I have to leave.

Anywho, Aside from the baptism, we had a rather difficult week. I remember one day specifically, in which we walked all over Huancavelica until evening without having an appointment, when suddenly we found some less active kids who´s parents aren´t members and we shared with them a great lesson about our purpose on the earth. The father of the family felt the Spirit, and I remember saying to myself in that very moment, that walking all that time was definitely worth it. I really am glad to be here, for that reason. Even during the hard weeks. Anyway, I love you all very much and can´t wait to see you in a little more than a
 month!

With much love,
Elder Alexander

 I also found a rat in our room yesterday (which I was happy about because this entire time I´ve been hearing things moving in the room at night and was convinced our room was haunted but it turns out it was just Mr. Ratburn). So, we tried to chase it out the front door but instead it went upstairs into the upstairs apartment so  I guess we´ll just let our upstairs neighbor worry about that now.

La Boca del Sapo, or "the frog´s mouth."

Cave-man 

Last Monday we went caving. This cave here is called La Boca del Sapo, or "the frog´s mouth" and it climbs in an upward manner for about half an hour. We really enjoyed it until my companion really had to use the bathroom.

So, we had a great week! Once again we lost a couple days going to Huancayo and back, but at least this time we had car trouble and ended up spending a good half hour in some random village in between Huancavelica and Huancayo. We played soccer with some little kids, as we love to do, and got to use all the Quetchua we know (though it may not be much), and everyone one came out of their houses and were givin´ us the "care-bear stare" hard core until we left.

Whenever we don´t know the name of a town we assume it´s Qaqa-qaq-aq, pronounced with much flem (because that´s what a lot of these town´s names sound like). On a side note, there´s a town near Tingo called Trucha Frita in case I never mentioned that.

Our friend and his family came to church again, even though not working means a very difficult week for them. After he got laid off they rented a space in the market where they sell food. They just barely get by and the only days they really sell a lot are Saturday and Sunday. I´m really amazed by their faith and we´re just praying that God blesses them with new work soon. Also, our other investigator is doing great. He´s reading the Book of Mormon from the top and he´s loving the story. Every time we meet with him we discuss what he likes from the stories, and right now he´s loving Nephi´s example of faith on the subject of retreiving the plates and even killing Laban. He drew me a picture that he gave me on Sunday. For now, I´ve put it by my desk... but sometimes I like to put it away for personal study, sleeping, etc.

My current study desk.

Anywho, I´m really enjoying the work here. On this end it´s easy to tell God loves these people very very much, just by the blessings they receive as they become closer to Him.

I hope all is well and hot over there. It rained last night and then everything froze over so we basically had an ice-fight (like a snowball fight but not as fun) on the way to the pention this morning. By the way, we moved rooms and had to change pention, which was very hard on us all, but we´ve been visiting the Hna. Nanci still and our new pentionista, Hna. Nerida, is also really nice and is taking good care of us. Something I like about her house is there are always hymns going 24/7. It´s hard to be stressed there. Love y´all!

Much love,
Elder Alexander