Elder Austin Droubay Iquitos Peru Mission: 1st Official Email & 1st Week at the CCM

Buenos Tardes,

This week has been a week filled with some super high highs, and some pretty low lows. I miss you all and I hope everything is going well. We arrived at the CCM last wednesday at 3 in the morning. It was a super long trip, and the next day we were all exhausted. I have never felt the spirit this strongly. It is pretty awesome. The CCM is kind of weird. It is all gated in with huge fences so that no one can come in and no one can come out. Its kind of funny, everyone here makes jokes calling it the high security prison. The City of Lima is cool. All of the houses are so close together, and the drivers are crazy ( the pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way.) I love being a missionary, but it is the hardest thing I have every done so far. All of the teachers speak spanish and there are very few teachers and instructors that speak english. I feel like Im moving forward very slowly with the language, however, I am getting better and starting to pick things up. I can now say a prayer, give a small testimony, and greet people, and do my best to teach lessons to fake investigators. All of us newcomers have been able to help eachother out and have been able to relate to one anothers stresses and issues in the mission field. I just need to continue pressing forward with faith. And so do all of you. Always choose faith over fear. Trust in god, he loves you and is there for you. We had a devotional last night. A peruvian member of the qourum of the seventy spoke to us, and it was translated to english. I really like what he said. He said "Work as if everything depends on you, Pray as if everything depends on God." This quote is what I feel I really need to focus on. I just need to work hard and do my best to obtain as much knowledge as possible, and then god will do the rest. The Holy Ghost is the real teacher. We are just there to provide the information.

After arriving to the CCM, I was made the district leader of my district. They are all awesome. Both the Elders and Hermanas. They all have such strong testimonies, and all of them have the spirit with them. I was truly blessed with a great district. My Companions name is Elder Greene from Queen Creek Arizona. He is a Goofball and has so much energy. I have to keep him on task a lot of the time, but he is awesome, and I love him. We also have Elder Yates from Sandy Utah ( he is the greatest kid ever. So nice.) Elder Holt from Arizona, Elder Fiame from Lehi, Utah, Elder Horton from Syracuse, Utah. We have an awesome district and have fun and are all able to relate to each other. It has been fun week, but I have also had a super diffcult time. I will keep getting better and working my hardest to be the best I can. The food is super plain. We have rice and chicken every day for lunch and dinner, and eggs and toast in the morning. But its food, and I appreciate it. Its not nearly as good as yours mom.

I love you all and miss you all like crazy. I hope you are all doing well. I'm praying for all of you and hope you guys can keep me in your prayers as well. Trust in the Lord and work hard. He loves you and wants what is best for you. Thanks for all of the love and support, I love you guys! I love being a missionary. It is hard but worth it. I love the spirit that I feel each day. Even when I doubt myself and my abilities and feel like I am not good enough, I know that the lord loves me and is looking out for me. He is there for you too. You just have to let him into your life.

Much Love,

Elder Droubay