Happy fathers day

 Happy fathers day to all of the Dads reading this email. I love you all and am very thankful for all of you. I feel very blessed to have had many father figures in my life. My dad, grandpas, my dads friends, neighboors, ward members, uncles, my friends dads, coaches etc. I'm thankful for all of you. Especially my Dad. I am eternally grateful for my Dad. That guy is an absolute stud. Love you Dad. 

Absolutely crazy story this week. I have talked about the issues of people not being married here. Well there is a family we are teaching that isn't married. The lady is actually a member. They come to church and everything, they just aren't married so the husband can't be baptized. They have been being taught by the elders for like 6 years. They have been taught every single lesson like 15 times. They have just never wanted to get married. Because of this we don't visit them a whole ton because they know what they need to do, it has just been up to them. About a week ago we stopped by and taught a lesson. Familes and marriage. Something they have probably heard and been invited to do 30 times. But it was actually the first time we have taught it to them. I was extremely direct. Blunt. Promised blessings, and we left. I was maybe even a little too direct, even elder cutipa told me I needed to not be so direct or they wouldn't give us crackers next time. Well so this week we passed by again. We were planning to teach prayer or something. We said a prayer to start a lesson and then they dropped a bomb on us. They basically were like yeah after that lesson we just felt something. You were very direct and serious, but loving, and we realized we needed to get married. So we went to the municipality the next day and got everything ready and got married 2 days later 🤯 so crazy. Now the next step is baptism. The fact that it took 6 years for them to get married shows how tentative he is. We talked about baptism and he says the same thing he said about marriage for 6 years "I'm just not ready yet". I'm sure anyone in south america hears this every. single. day. "Todavía no me siento preparado hermanitos" such a classic. So he probably won't get baptized in my time here in Imperio, but holy cow is it cool to hear they got married. Super pumped for them. I've been in Peru for 9 months and never seen a wedding baptism. They just dont happen very often. Pray for the boy so he doesn't take 6 years to get baptized. 

There was some crazy air show with all sorts of planes here this week. Aparently the peruvian air force is doing a bunch of stuff in Chiclayo or something. I had not seen a single plane other than the one passanger plane that comes in and out of chiclayo every day until this week. People were here from the states for it. It has actually been really cool. I have always had a weird interest in planes like these ones. We'd be doing contacts and have to stop for 15 seconds for the loud ones to buzz the tower. Every dog in Chiclayo has been loosing it's mind the whole week. They cannot stop barking. 

The old dude Segundo that we baptized a few weeks ago was ripping off a sequence of racist, sexist, and just all around out of pocket jokes right before sacrament meeting. He had some absolutely crazy ones he was rippin. The old heads in Perú have 0 filter. I thought old timers in the states were bad. 

My knees have improved this week. I think my incredible mom virtually diagnosed me over facetime. She is so awesome. 

"If it's not rice it's not food" -Samuel James Peery

Lastly, congrats to my good friend and brother Park for returning. Can't believe he is already home 🦈

"I include in that call to fixed faithfulness every returned missionary who ever stood in a baptismal font and with arm to the square said, “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ.” That commission was to have changed your convert forever, but it was surely supposed to have changed you forever as well. To the youth of the Church rising up to missions and temples and marriage, we say: Love God and remain clean from the blood and sins of this generation. You have a monumental work to do" -Elder Holland