Dear Family,
I had another great week. Only about ten more days until I get to Santa Cruz!!!! This week in my classes we just reviewed. Hermano Garcia, one of my teachers, served in Santa Cruz and got home six months ago. So he has been sharing a lot of cool stuff with us. He said he only served in the city for four months. And while he was in the jungle he saw a lot of crazy stuff. He saw anacondas and gitche (another kind of big snake) quite a bit. And tarantulas that are 10" in diameter. And kinds of little bugs and parasites that you have to be extremely careful of or they can put you out of commission. He told us that in one of his areas he had to cross a river that went up to his chest every morning in his church stuff. But it is so hot that in 10 - 15 minutes he would be dry. He said that quite often he would have snakes in his room and in some areas it was like "The other side of Heaven" movie, where rats would chew on your feet if you left them uncovered. Hearing all of this was kind of startling me but I am still very excited to get out and teach the people there. I was kind of worried with this new group of Latinos coming in because our last group was so awesome, but this new group is growing on me. Most of them are so humble that it is hard not to like them. There is only one elder from Argentina that is prideful but other than that I am really enjoying this group of elders. Tracting this week went pretty good, not as good as two weeks ago but definitely better than the first time I went out. We contacted quite a few people that we referred to the missionaries and taught two good lessons. Apparently the place we went to "Los Lobitos" was a pretty dangerous place. They wouldn't let us wear any watches or carry any money. This area looked pretty scary too. So every group that went out had a teacher or a member with them. This is a first time I ever had a teacher with me while tracting but it was pretty nice. He helped us out a lot. So the first guy we talked to was named Cesar. He was a middle aged guy who lived with his parents and family. His dad has been sick for a5 years so I think that it helped him to be submissive. He said that he had talked with the missionaries before, but he thought that we would not eat meat so we told him that was not us so he agreed to listen to us for a little bit. We taught about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was hard for me to understand because he was talking so fast and my companion and teacher talked most of the time. The spirit was strong but when i really started to feel it strongest is when i got to testify of the Book of Mormon, and we had already talked about how i was from the states, and i just told him that i have read and prayed and know that this book is true. That is why i am here for 2 years. He committed to read and pray so that is always a great feeling. the other good lesson we taught was to a lady named Yajaira. She was probably around 30 and she talked to us on the street right before lunch. We did not have time to teach her a lesson then so we went back after lunch. It was a really cool experience being able to teach her. She had attended one of the churches by her house before, but she didn't have a great knowledge of church things. She had faith in God and wanted more in her life. We taught her a quick lesson. My companion said the opening prayer and at the end we tried to teach her how to pray. Apparently we weren't specific enough because she said, " padre celestial, te agredecimos, te pedimos, en el nombre de jesus christo, amen." haha. So we tried to explain that a little better. She committed to read and pray and attend church the next day. That was awesome. Today has been kind of crazy. I blessed the sacrament for the second time in a row and because i gave a talk the second week i was here, i thought there was no way that i would go again because there are eight other people in my district who haven't gone once. Luckily i threw a couple thoughts together in English before sacrament. Low and behold i was chosen again to talk, kinda crazy. I was the last youth speaker and my district sang a special number, then in our combined district meeting i had to teach with another Elder, and tonight at the Devotional we have another special number. So needless to day i have been bussy. I hope everything is good there because it is here. Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
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